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Kyogen's Man Up a
Tree
(an edited Dharma Talk)
by Elihu Genmyo Smith
Being who we are, what we are, is zazen, is our practice. And yet, we can
miss this life. Always it is being exactly as we are, where we are - right
this moment. And yet, often we manage to avoid who and what we are. In
exploring this, let us consider Kyogen (Xiangyan), who was a student of
Isan (Kueishan) in 9th century China. One day he asked about the ultimate
truth. Isan said, "I’m told you studied under my late master Hyakujo (Baizhang)
and that you are very intelligent. What is your understanding? What is
your original face before your parents were born?" Isan is asking, aside
from psychological and social upbringing, from thoughts about conditions
and circumstance - that which you got from your parents, from others - who
are you? It is a very direct question: Show me - not tell me - show me.
I’m not interested in your book learning, in concepts and the other things
you have accumulated. What is this? Kyogen couldn’t respond. He tried to
say one thing, tried to explain it, and his teacher said, no, no, that is
not this. Kyogen looked in his books, in his notes, but couldn’t come up
with anything suitable. He said to Isan, "I don’t have an answer. Please,
teach me the essential point, explain it to me." Isan said: "My
explanation would be my own realization. What use would it be to you?
Whatever I have is my own, not yours. And if I tried to explain it to you,
you would later revile me."
Kyogen was very frustrated. "All my notes, all my study, are of no
use...In this life it will be impossible for me to come to a knowledge of
this truth.” He burnt his notes and books, giving up his usual habits of
study and practice. Have you felt frustrated like this? What decisions
have you made? Notice what Kyogen then decides, how his practice
continues. Kyogen states: “In this life I shall never again study
Buddhism. I shall be a plain homeless monk, wandering the roads. I shall
torment my mind no longer with such studies, I shall be a rice gruel
monk.” "Rice gruel monk" meaning I will beg for and gather my food, and
live a hermit’s practice life. He wept and bade goodbye to his teacher
Isan, and went wandering. He settled down near the tomb of National
Teacher Echu, living a simple life, sweeping the grounds, caring for the
tomb.
"What is your original face?" asks for our understanding, who and what we
are - not something that we have figured out or learned from outside, such
as book knowledge; not an explanation; not the habits of body-mind that we
turn to in circumstances, in reactions that are almost automatic. We turn
to all sorts of things to take care of this moment's request by the
universe. See, the universe is always asking, our life is always asking,
"Show me, right now, who and what you are." For all of us, our life is the
opportunity to clarify this matter, manifest this. Not as something extra,
but in the arising conditions and circumstances. Be this moment. Respond
as this. This is all we need to take care of.
Unfortunately, often we are like Kyogen, turning to habits, the things
learned, the things figured out. Or, if we don’t know what to do, we look
elsewhere. Ask people, go to lectures, read things, figure out new
strategies; ways that we think are necessary and that will "enable" us to
be who we are. Just this; and yet we miss this, are confused about this.
Often, it is only when these usual habits are frustrated that we open to
this fundamental life we are.
Case 5 of the Gateless Gate, the Mumonkan, grows out of Kyogen’s own
realization; it is his way of articulating his own struggle and
realization. In Case 5 Kyogen asks, “It is like a person up a tree,
hanging from a branch by his mouth. His hands can’t grasp a bough, his
feet won’t reach one. Under the tree there is another person, who asked
him the meaning of Daruma’s coming from the West?" (i.e. the meaning of
Zen; the original face, who and what we are.) "If he doesn’t answer, he
evades his duty. If he answers, he will lose his life. What should he do?"
Very straightforward. We could say the hands and feet "trying to reach"
are all the strategies, intellectual and conceptual understanding, like
the notes Kyogen had; in our case the various habits of body-mind that we
reach for in reacting to circumstances. What is the problem in habitual
reactions? Most everyday activities like driving require habitual patterns
and reactions. Nevertheless, if we are living out of habitual body-mind we
perpetuate self-centeredness and delusion, with resulting suffering and
harming. We miss this very life that we are. Is there anything like this
in your life?
Mumon’s commentary is, "Even if your eloquence flows like a river it is
all in vain, to no avail. Even if you can expound the whole body of the
Buddhist teachings, that is also useless. If you can answer the problem
properly, you can kill the living and bring the dead to life. But if you
can’t answer it, you must ask Maitreya when he comes." Maitreya is the
Buddha of the next kalpa, which means a long, long time in the future. It
means it is hopeless, you are not going to get it. The verse is, "Kyogen
is just blabbing nonsense, but his poisonous intentions are limitless."
Poisonous meaning poisoning all that we hold on to, that we get from
"outside." "He stops up the monks’ mouths and makes his whole body the
demon eye." Stops up the mouths. Though the verse may seem like criticism
but it is actually praise.
The case depicts how we might attempt to avoid life, how useless that is
and how to practice. Examine this closely, be this trying to reach with
hands, with feet, all the ways we try to deal with ever changing
conditions. Kyogen then says, "No, you can not use any of those." Kyogen
stops us from reaching, from using habitual ways, in order to force us to
respond genuinely as the circumstance of this moment. You must respond -
hanging from the tree. Because that is where we all are hanging. No matter
what the conditions of the moment, just this. We fool our self if we
believe it is otherwise; fool our self in grabbing with hands, with feet,
with mind, with habits. We might even decide that "original face,"
"meaning of Daruma's coming" and an "inquiry" is artificial,
self-defeating.
When Kyogen leaves Isan he has given up trying to figure it out - to use
his knowledge and habits to try to answer. Given up seeking from other
people and other circumstances what is his own. “What is your original
face?” points to "before" all the things that you “get” from others; From
your parents you “get” this body-mind; from people you meet you get all
sorts of ideas and habits that you rely on - mental, psychological,
philosophical. With his question Kyogen is pulling all that away from you.
And he can do that because he went through that himself. Not as a planned
strategy, “I’m going to go off and figure this out.” He actually came to
the end. He saw that his thoughts, the things he learned, were not useful.
He was hanging from the branch by his mouth. He said: “I’m not going to
get this by figuring it out.” Being remarkably intelligent didn’t make a
difference; it is just one of many habits, strategies and ways that we
humans deal with this world. They may be fine, even skillful, except if we
become attached and stuck on them, if we think it is the truth of who we
are. Then it blinds us and binds us; it is blinding who we are. Being who
we are, manifesting this everyday life, even the habitual reactions, is
that which liberates us from seeming bondage, revealing this liberated
life we always are. Kyogen gave up on "figuring it out" and decided, ok,
I’m simply going to practice, day by day, sweeping the grounds, taking
care of the hermitage and memorial. Doing exactly what he was doing.
Living an ordinary, straightforward practice life, forgetting this
self-habit, habits of turning to various strategies, in his case,
intellectual understanding. Each of us "have" habits of body-mind that we
turn to. Of course, there is nothing wrong with conceptual understanding,
nothing wrong with intellect, with habits, it is just another thing we do,
except if we live our life through that and fail to see it is as it is, an
aspect of our functioning.
One day while sweeping, Kyogen knocked a stone against a bamboo, [tak].
And with that, he was awakened. He burst out laughing. He awakened, opened
to who and what he was. He was awakened by "the ten thousand things,” the
conditions and circumstances which is always our life. Kyogen cleaned up,
lit incense and did bows to his teacher, saying: "Your kindness is even
greater than my parents. If you had explained it to me, I would have never
known this joy." The kindness of parents is something that we don’t always
appreciate, but in Chinese culture, this is the highest of praise. Parents
give us life, and the opportunity to practice and actualize. And yet the
question is: what is your original face before your parents were born? The
kindness of parents is great praise; beyond the kindness of parents he
bows to his teacher. “If you had explained this to me," - if I hadn’t been
forced to face that none of the ways, none of the habits, are it - being
forced to turn, to forget my self habit, to be just this - "how could this
have happened?”
The Chinese tradition is to write a poem upon enlightenment, upon
awakening. Kyogen gave this to his teacher:
One tak, all previous knowledge is forgotten. No artificial cultivation is
needed for this. In every movement I uphold the ancient way, and am free
from mere quietism. Wherever I go, no traces are left. Senses are not
fettered by rules of conduct. Everywhere those who have found this truth
proclaim this to be the greatest action.
Isan accepted the poem. But Isan's senior disciple, Kyozan (Yangshan),
said, “Ok, but it is not quite good enough.” So Kyogen wrote another poem:
My poverty last year was not true poverty. This year it is the real thing.
Last year a fine gimlet could find a place. This year, even the gimlet is
gone.
True poverty - not holding onto self, habits, body-mind. Of course,
explaining this is not much good. Kyozan said of the second poem, that is
ok but still lacking Ancestral Zen. So Kyogen wrote another poem. I have a
single potential. It can be seen in a twinkling of eye. If you still don’t
understand, call the acolyte and ask him about it.
Sound of something struck and I have forgotten all I knew - very clear and
straightforward. There is an English expression, "hanging on by my teeth,"
which we use as a negative, as a problem. In the Mumonkan case, Kyogen is
asking: hanging by your teeth, being this, how do you respond to someone
saying show me the meaning of zen; show me your life. Simple and
straightforward - if you see that your life is always hanging from this
branch. Not in a negative sense, not in a sense of desperation - this
moment life, right here [knocks on floor], right now, is the whole of what
you have. Hanging here completely right now, this is it; you are called on
to respond to the circumstance of this moment, respond by showing your
self, giving your self to this moment, being this. Always your practice in
sesshin is very straightforward. It is being right where you are. Sitting,
working, eating. In the midst of your particular practice, being exactly
where you are, body-mind, whole universe is hanging from the tree. So what
do you do? What should he/she do? Your life asks this all the time. Not to
answer with words but with your life. You always respond; is your response
adequate? Kyogen saw that his old ways of life was not adequate or
appropriate. His intellectual understanding and study were not useful, the
habits of how he responded to circumstances didn’t take care of things.
This drove his practice; and his teacher drove it, not by pushing him, but
simply by refusing to give him what he wanted, forcing him to turn, to
struggle for himself.
Our life keeps giving us circumstances, sometimes requiring us - I say
requiring, not just requesting but requiring us - to respond to seemingly
impossible conditions, illness, pain, suffering of those close to us, etc.
Hanging from the tree is impossible if we think it out in reasoned terms.
If you say anything, aahh, you lose your life. Falling thirty, forty feet
- aahhh. But if you don’t answer, you evade your duty - even more, you
evade your life, lose your life. See, hanging onto habits and living out
of habits, mental, emotional, physical, all the ways we avoid who we are,
when we do this we really lose our life, even though we think we are
saving our self. Despite the fact that we can’t avoid it, we manage
somehow to miss our life. So Kyogen's question is being tough, expressing
this in very stark, straightforward circumstances.
Mumon's poem states, Kyogen really has bad taste, just blabbing nonsense,
but his poisonous intentions are limitless. See - he poisons all the
things we try to live out of, habits and attachments, beliefs, because he
sets this up so that none of those ways, none of those habits, are
adequate. You are just hanging here, and despite the fact that you want it
easy, you can not get it from outside, from any one else. But he is
straightforwardly setting it out. Here it is. [tak] This is your life. You
may think you have plenty of time to take care of it and that you don’t
have to do it right now. But you do. If you don’t - you miss your life.
Always the practice is simple and straightforward, exactly where you are,
no matter the condition, no matter the circumstance. In the midst of
ongoing practice, at the appropriate point - appropriate because of
conditions and circumstances, cause and effect - you see this.
Appreciating my teachers’ kindnesses, let me quote two of my teachers:
Soen Roshi reminded us, "all is revealed as is." So, as Maezumi Roshi
often encouraged us, "appreciate your life."
(c) 2008 Elihu Genmyo Smith
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