Explore every episode of Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin
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09 Sep 2023
Dogen's "Fukanzazengi", Koans, and the Lord of the Rings
00:56:01
Recorded on Saturday, July 9, 2023.
This talk marks the first zazenkai of the fall. Roshi Martin starts with perspectives on koan practice from Merry and Pippin - "You can't live long on the heights, but what a difference it makes." Then moved to reading and comments on Dogen's Shobogenzo (from The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo, translated by Norman Waddell and Masao Abe)). Background on Shobogenzo is followed by reading and discussion of the opening fascicle - Fukanzazengi.
Altar image from the Endless Path Zendo, photography by Rafe Martin
Recorded Saturday, July 29, 2023. (Last teisho before August break.)
Case 14 from the Gateless Barrier (The Wu-Men Kuan | Mumonkan) - Nan-ch’üan Kills the Cat
The case: The priest Nan-ch’üan found monks of the eastern and western halls arguing about a cat. He held up the cat and said, “Everyone! If you can say something, I will spare this cat. If you can’t say anything, I will cut off its head.” No one could say a word, so Nan-ch’üan cut the cat into two.
That evening, Chao-chou returned from outside and Nan-ch’üan told him what happened. Chao-chou removed a sandal from his foot, put it on his head, and walked out. Nan-ch’üan said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been spared.”
Roshi Martin looks at the nature of ghosts in Buddhist tradition and how this relates to our own practice of being a genuine human being (and not a ghost). Includes three brief retellings of Jataka tales, illustrating the way of the Bodhisattva - a being choosing to go beyond unconscious, habitual clinging to concepts of self centeredness.
Recorded on October 14, 2023; the 1st day of the annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center.
Roshi Rafe Martin explores the Campeyya Jataka (#506 in the Pali collection).
Jatakas are stories told by the Buddha 2500 years ago of his past lives. They were one of his central ways of teaching. Through these tales he resolved complex issues in his Sangha by revealing root causes and demonstrating the working of cause and effect.
Image: Buddhist mythology and legends depicted at a Vipassana Meditation Center, Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commonsfrom Wikimedia
Recorded on October 15, 2023; the 2nd day of the annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center.
Roshi Rafe Martin explores the central role of trees in many Jataka tales. Tales shared:
Bhadda-Kunala Jataka (#465), the Rajovada Jataka (#334), and the Ganatindu Jataka number (#520) in the Pali Jataka in the of 547 such past-life tales
Jatakas are stories told by the Buddha 2500 years ago of his past lives. They were one of his central ways of teaching. Through these tales he resolved complex issues in his Sangha by revealing root causes and demonstrating the working of cause and effect.
Image: Buddhist mythology and legends depicted at a Vipassana Meditation Center, Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commonsfrom Wikimedia
2023 Jataka Sesshin - Day 3: The Buddha as a Child of an Ogre
00:31:31
Recorded on October 16, 2023; the 3rd day of the annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center.
Roshi Rafe Martin explores the Padakusalamanava Jataka (#432 from the Pali Jataka) in which the Buddha is born as the child of an ogre.
Jatakas are stories told by the Buddha 2500 years ago of his past lives. They were one of his central ways of teaching. Through these tales he resolved complex issues in his Sangha by revealing root causes and demonstrating the working of cause and effect.
Image: Buddhist mythology and legends depicted at a Vipassana Meditation Center, Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commonsfrom Wikimedia
Recorded on October 17, 2023, the 4th and final teisho of the annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center.
Roshi Rafe Martin explores the Kuddala Jataka (#70 in the Pali Jataka), the Spade Sage.
Jatakas are stories told by the Buddha 2500 years ago of his past lives. They were one of his central ways of teaching. Through these tales he resolved complex issues in his Sangha by revealing root causes and demonstrating the working of cause and effect.
Image: Buddhist mythology and legends depicted at a Vipassana Meditation Center, Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commonsfrom Wikimedia
Case 41 from the Gateless Barrier, Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind
The case: Bodhidharma faced the wall. The Second Ancestor stood in the snow, cut off his arm, and said, “Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, Master, please put it to rest.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest.” The Second Ancestor said, “I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.” Bodhidharma said, “I have completely put it to rest for you.”
Zen Bodhisattvas: Maitreya - The Dream Within a Dream
00:46:59
Recorded on June 24, 2023.
Roshi Martin shares a chapter from the forthcoming book - The Zen Life of Bodhisattvas - on Case 25 of the Gateless Barrier, Yang-shan’s Sermon from the Third Seat.
The case: Yang-shan dreamed he went to Maitreya’s realm and was led to the third seat. A senior monkstruck the stand with a gavel and announced, “Today, the one in the third seat will preach.”
Yang-shan arose, struck the stand with the gavel, and said, “The truth of the Mahayana isbeyond the Four Propositions and transcends the Hundred Negations. Listen, listen.”
Image: Manjushri, photography and art by Rafe Martin
Zen Bodhisattvas: Bodhisattva of Wisdom and the Young Woman
00:42:59
Recorded on March 19, 2023.
This talk features a chapter from the recently published book by Roshi Martin - The Zen Life of Bodhisattvas on the Bodhisattva Manjushri. The talk explores Case # 42 in the Gateless Barrier.
The Case Once Mañjuśrī went to a place where many Buddhas had assembled with the World-Honored One. When he arrived, all the Buddhas had returned to their original dwelling place. Only a young woman remained, seated in samādhi, near the Buddha’s seat.
Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha and asked, “How can the young woman get near the Buddha’s seat when I cannot?”
The Buddha replied to Mañjuśrī, “Awaken this young woman from her samādhi and ask her yourself!” Mañjuśrī walked around the young woman three times, snapped his fingers once, took her to the Brahma Heaven and exerted all his supernatural powers, but he could not bringher out.
The World-Honored One said, “Even a hundred thousand Mañjuśrīs cannot awaken her. Down below, past twelve hundred million lands, as innumerable as sands of the Ganges, lives the Bodhisattva of Delusive Wisdom. He will be able to bring her out of her samādhi.”
Instantly the Bodhisattva of Delusive Wisdom emerged from the earth and made bows before the World-Honored One, who gave him his imperial order. Delusive Wisdom stepped before the young woman, snapped his fingers once, and at this she came out of samādhi.
Roshi Martin explores Case 35 from Blue Cliff Record - The Dialogue of Manjusri and WuCho
Manjusri asked Wu Cho, "Where have you just come from?" Wu Cho said, "The South." Manjusri said, "How is the Buddhist Teaching being carried on in the South?" Wu Cho said, "Monks of the Last Age have little regard for the rules of discipline." Manjusri said, "How numerous are the congregations?"5Wu Cho said, "Some three hundred, some five hundred." Wu Cho asked Manjusri, "How is it being carried on here-abouts?" Manjusri said, "Ordinary people and sages dwell together; dragons and snakes intermingle." Wu Cho said, "How numerous are the congregations?"9 Manjusri said, "In front, three by three; in back, three by three."
Roshi Martin share the last chapter of his forthcoming book - A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas - on the subject of the zen of failure - a necessary part of the Bodhisattva path...and of growing up! Each failure offering new opportunities to improve, mature, and understand.
Image: Teeny Tiny Tower, photo is by Ariya Aladjem Wolf (Ariya Martin)
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin reads and comments on Zen Master Dogen's extraordinary "One Bright Pearl" (Ikka Myōju) from The Heart of Shobogenzo, translated by Norman Waddell and Masao Abe.
Note: A few of the Chinese names in this talk may sound a bit similar; to see the text, use the link above and go to page 31! - Hsüeh-feng I-ts'un was the teacher of Hsüan-sha Shih-pei (whose given name was Hsieh). Hsüan-sha's teaching was "All the universe is one bright pearl."
Recorded on December 3, 2023 during the second full day of the EPZ Rohatsu sesshin.
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin starts with a discussion of how to engage with teisho. He then moves to an exploration of the deep realization that emerged from the Buddha's leaving home and koans as an expression of that teaching.
Recorded on December 9, 2023 during the final day of the EPZ Rohatsu sesshin.
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin shares the story of the Buddha's great enlightenment - the moment when "after life times of effort, [and after] six very intense years of practice, he glanced up at the morning star and realized the falling away of all self centeredness; the universe itself entered and awoke."
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin offers a teisho in preparation for Jukai (taking precepts) that will be done by EPZ community members on New Year's Eve. The talk begins with a selection of winter haiku. Referenced:
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin offers the first teisho of the new year. He addresses the subject of why we practice and, as lay practitioners, the forms that dedicated practice could take.
Referenced is Case 17 of the Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku): A monk asked Kyorin, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the west?” “Sitting long and getting tired.”
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin continued to read and comment on selections from The Heart of Shobogenzo.
Roshi Martin leads into the talk by sharing writings of Blake and Emily Dickinson illustrating how - paraphrasing Hakuin - Zen is something that has always been right here, wherever human beings are.
Referenced:
The Heart of Shobogenzo, translated by Norman Waddel and Mateo Abe
Emily Dickinson's Complete Poems edited by Thomas H. Johnson
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin discusses vows - the vow of the Bodhisattva, our own vows, Zen practice vows, and how vows play out in our lives. In raising the question - where do vows come from - Roshi Martin brings us to the Jataka tales (past lives of the Buddha), explaining how all the Pali tradition Jataka follow from a single mythic vow that arose when Sumeda (a past life of Gotama Buddha) encountered Dipankara (a Buddha of the more distant past).
Photography: Wooden Standing Buddha by Rafe Martin
Roshi Rafe Martin explores Case 32 from The Gateless Barrier - A Non-Buddhist Questions the Buddha (also known as The Buddha Responds to an Outsider).
An outsider asked the World-Honored One, “I do not ask for the spoken; I do not ask for the unspoken.” The World-Honored One just sat still. | The outsider praised him, saying, “The World-Honored One with his great compassion and mercy has opened the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter the Way.” He then made bows and took his leave. | Ānanda asked, “What did that outsider realize to make him praise you?” | The World-Honored One said, “He is like the fine horse who runs even at the shadow of the whip.”
The traditionally recognized date of the Buddha's Parinirvana is February 16, which is the date of his complete entrance into nirvana, his death that is understood as a great fulfillment and completion of his life and his vow.
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin details and explores the meaning of this event to the historical Buddha as well as to our own lives, underscoring the opportunity inherent in committing to the Bodhisattva Vow and the practice of zazen.
I saw in Yoshino's billows of blossoms that long ago time of great passing when the sala trees surrounding him had turned as white as cranes. - Saigyo (1118 – March 23, 1190)
The case: One day, the World-Honored One ascended to the rostrum. Manjusri struck the table withthe gavel and said, “Contemplate clearly the Dharma of the Dharma-King! The Dharma of the Dharma-King is like this!” Thereupon, the World-Honored One descended from the rostrum.
"The teisho of the actual body is the harbor and the weir. This is the most important thing in the world. Its virtue finds its home in the ocean of essential nature. It is beyond explanation." - from Dogen's Shobogenzo
Photography: Buddha in the EPZ Shrine Room, by Rafe Martin
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin explores Case 97 from the Blue Cliff Record - "The Diamond Sutra and Being Reviled." In commenting on the koan he uses the 2500 year-old story of the robber, Angulimala, (Grisly-Garland"), to bring alive a Buddhist vision of paying back karmic debts and facing head-on the causes of our own suffering.
The koan itself is as follows: "The Diamond Sutra says, “One who is reviled by others has done wicked acts in former lifetimes which doom him to fall into evil worlds, but because of the scorn and vilification by others in the present life, the transgressions in the former life are wiped out.”
So should you see all of the fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in the stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud; A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. –The Diamond Sutra
Photography: Monju and the Students, by Rafe Martin
Pilgrimage to Buddhist India: Dharma Talk by Rose Martin
00:51:42
Recorded on March 9, 2024.
Rose Martin is a lay ordained, senior student of Sunyana Graef Roshi, who is the founder and Abbot of the Vermont Zen Center and a Dharma Heir of Philip Kapleau Roshi (author of The Three Pillars of Zen).Along with her husband, Roshi Rafe Martin, Rose is a personal disciple of Philip Kapleau Roshi, and is presently head of zendo at Endless Path Zendo.
In the Footsteps of the Buddha: A Buddhist Pilgrimage (February 10-23, 2024) was led by tour leaders Buddha Path. Rose writes of the experience: On the pilgrimage we visited sites of deepest significance to Buddhist tradition and history -- the places where the Buddha was born (Lumbini), where he spent his childhood (Kapilavastu), attained full enlightenment, (Bodhgaya), as well as various places where he actually taught, meditated, and finally passed away and entered parinirvana (Sarnath.) We saw the remains of ancient monasteries and stupas as well as temples and villages that have changed little since the time of the Buddha 2,500 years ago. We also visited the Buddhist cave-temples of Ajanta and Ellora with their awe-inspiring paintings and sculptures, (declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO).
Photo credit: Buddha at Ajanta Caves, India, by Rose Martin
At the start of this two-day sesshin, Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin delivers the first in a trilogy of teishos on the koans of Te-shan — and the things he carried. Setting down his backpack of brilliant commentaries on the Diamond Sutra, Te-shan personally discovers that even the greatest knowledge is like a drop of water tossed into a vast ravine, compared to realization of his own Mind.
Roshi Martin starts with a short review of the koan practice in our combined Diamond Sangha /Kapleau Roshi lineage.
In this second teisho on the trilogy of Te-shan koans, Roshi Martin looks at Case 4 of the Blue Cliff Record: “Te-shan Carries His Bundle.” In the previous teisho Te-shan set down the backpack of brilliant commentaries on the Diamond Sutra he’d been lugging around. Here he carries his bundle of monk’s gear and, post-satori, seems hardly to know what to do with it.
Roshi Rafe Martin completes his exploration of the Zen pilgrimage of Te-shan and the things he carried as he matures from youthful firebrand into refined and mature teacher. In this teisho, Te-shan is carrying his bowls to the noon-day meal. Is he early? Is the meal late? What is "the last word"? Does he have it or doesn't he? Does anyone? And how about us -- what is the last word? Can we say?
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin shares Case 36 from The Blue Cliff Record "Ch'ang Sha Wandering in the Mountains."
With Ch’ang Sha’s spring time stroll in the hills we discover (and clarify) that ongoing Zen practice means a full life, not isolation. The Buddha got up from under the Bodhi Tree. The point of Zen — if we can speak in such terms — is not to stay forever seated in zazen facing a wall, but to live fully, maturing with family, careers, relationships, interests, ups and downs, sickness and health, activism, citizenship, music and art all as the Way. Ch’ang Sha shows how it goes. Hsueh t’ou, compiler of The Blue Cliff Record, says, “I’m grateful for that answer.” As are we!
The Buddha's Birth -- What does it mean for us today?
00:45:43
Recorded April 13, 2024.
Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin explores the meaning of the Buddha's birth, which took place roughly 2600 years ago. A birth that is so remarkable prompts us to ask: Where did someone come from who was able to so quickly give up all wealth and privilege, and by devoting himself fully to the great anguish of our common human condition, realize a way of helping all beings? What does his effort and insight mean for us today?
Roshi Martin reads from his recently published book -- "A Zen Life of Buddha" (Sumeru Books, 2023).
This talk, given by Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin, explores case 38 from the Gateless Barrier - "Wu-tsu's Buffalo Passes Through the Window." A most interesting koan! In the case, a buffalo's massive head, horns, shoulders, legs and hooves all pass easily through the latticed window. So, why can't the tiny tail pass through? Impossible! Crazy! -- and yet -- it's a wonderful koan in which the Buddha's most profound wisdom meets the lively wisdom of fairy tales. Zen Master Hakuin called this a nanto koan, meaning that he felt that it was one of the eight most difficult koan cases. Is it? See what you think.
This talk, given by Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin, explores case 35 of the Gateless Barrier: “Which is the True Ch’ien?” This wonderfully creative koan uses a T’ang era ghost tale of a young woman divided from herself, to help us uncover our own real Self today. It’s the old old story of Identity — the essential quest of myth and folklore worldwide — recast as a koan with the power to help us live more fully. [This case is sometimes also known as “Sei and Her Soul Are Separated.”}
May 6, 2024 is the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Roshi Philip Kapleau. Rose and Rafe Martin were his personal disciples. They traveled with him, shared meals with him, watched movies with him, were his attendants for various formal functions, stayed with him by his invitation in Mexico, New Mexico, and Florida. Roshi Kapleau also chose Rafe to be his editor for his two final books.
On May 4th 2024 at our annual 1/2 day zazenkai/memorial for Roshi Kapleau at Endless Path Zendo, a recorded teisho originally presented by Roshi Kapleau’s at a 7-day sesshin at Bodhi Mandala in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico in 1986 (which Rafe attended), was played. The teisho is on case 37 of the Blue Cliff Record, P’AN SHAN’S (BANZAN’S) “THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TRIPLE WORLD and the case is as follows:
"P’an Shan (Banzan) said to his disciples, 'There is nothing in the triple world; where then can Mind be found?'"
Roshi Martin adds: “Roshi Philip Kapleau was a unique man. Former Chief Court Reporter for the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal as well as the Tokyo War Crimes Trials, he came to Zen through a recognition of the horrors to which human beings can sink when lost from their True Nature, as well as through a sense that the Zen he first encountered while in Japan for the trials, offered a doorway to something of great value. We are the fortunate heirs of his determination to find out what that unknown "thing" of great value actually was."
If we mean to fulfill our life journey, our personal pilgrimage to maturity — which is the point of Zen practice — what we seek can’t be somewhere far off, but must be in our own back — or front — yard.
Gateless Barrier, (Wu-men Kuan, Mumonkan), Case 37: “Chao-chou: The Oak Tree in the Front Garden” goes like this:
The Case A monk asked Chao-chou, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”
Chao-chou said, “The oak tree in the front yard.”
“Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?” is a traditional Zen way of saying, “What is the highest teaching of the Buddhadharma?” It means, why did Bodhidharma, at an advanced age too, choose to make the difficult crossing from Southern India to China? What was so important that it was worth risking his life to do it? And how does “the oak tree in the front garden” answer this question? Let’s take a look!
The Challenge of Lay Zen Practice and the Essence of Renunciation or "Letting Go."
00:54:16
Recorded June 8, 2024.
The first 18 minutes of this recording are the “teisho proper,” focusing on the essential worth — and challenge — of ongoing lay Zen practice.
If you stop there you’ll have a short and direct teisho. But the rest of the recording adds resonance. Roshi Martin then reads Kipling’s, “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat,” a tale that presents the essence of renunciation, the ancient traditional path of maturing beyond self-centeredness. We modern lay Zen practitioners must do the same, too BUT — and here lies our challenge —we must leave home without literally leaving home. For us, family, work, national and planetary citizenship are central to our path of maturing as whole human beings. Yet the fundamental awareness of what lies at the core are the same. The tale gives us a sense of that core.
In response to this teisho a senior Zen student wrote: ‘. . it is nice to leave the world of sesshin-style exhortation and just settle back into a good story whose connections with the first part are not explicit. The first part of the teisho is so forceful. The second part is like falling under a subtle mesmerizing spell.’
Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:50:18
Recorded June 13, 2024.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to our Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
In four teishos recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
This is the first of the four teishos offered. It opens up Tangen’s autobiography from his earliest childhood and his mother’s sacrifice of her own life in bringing him into this world, through the announcement of end of the war just as he was about to get into the cockpit and take off on his first — and last — kamikaze flight. And the subsequent dedication of his life to the welfare of all.
Part 2 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:45:16
Recorded June 14 2024.
In this second of the four teishos recorded at Endless Path Zendo's June 2024 four-day sesshin (June 12-16th), Roshi Martin continues to read from and comment on “Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" the stirring autobiography and profoundly inspiring teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi of Bukkoji.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 3 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:54:14
Recorded June 15, 2024.
In this third teisho recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi of Bukkoji.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 4 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:46:44
Recorded June 16, 2024.
In this fourth teisho recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 5 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:48:01
Recorded June 22, 2024.
In this fifth teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 6 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
01:00:43
Recorded June 29, 2024.
In this sixth teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 7 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:48:08
Recorded July 13, 2024.
In this teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 8 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:49:00
Recorded July 20, 2024.
In this teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Part 9 - Tangen Roshi and "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha"
00:48:23
Recorded July 27, 2024.
In this teisho, Roshi Martin concludes his reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and offers his comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
Roshi Rafe Martin speaks about the deep meaning of the 11-headed, many-armed Bodhisattva of Great Compassion and his/her relevance to our own lives and times right now.
Referenced: "The Record of Lin-chi" Ruth Fuller Sasaki (translation and commentary) "A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas" by Rafe Jnan Martin
Zen History -- D.T. Suzuki and the Transmission of Zen to the West
00:44:23
Recorded September 21, 2024.
Roshi Martin reads from (and comments on) "A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki Remembered" focusing on the important, indeed, seminal role Dr. D.T. Suzuki (NOT Shunryu Suzuki) played in the transmission of Zen to the West. In his reading aloud from the book he focuses on the chapters written by his own teachers -- Philip Kapleau and Robert Aitken -- as well as the chapter by Gary Snyder, all of whom reveal that Suzuki was absolutely central to their own personal turn to the actual practice of Zen. It made for an inspiring morning, putting our own connection with Zen tradition within a larger context.
Roshi Martin comments on case 41 in The Gateless Barrier — “Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind,” the core of which is as follows:
Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. Huike, the Second Ancestor . . . said, “Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, master, to please put it to rest.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest.” The Second Ancestor said, “I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.” Bodhidharma said, “Then I have completely put it to rest for you.”
Buddhist practice is not simply a matter of study, of amassing learning, of finding psychological nuance, or of gaining “merit.” At its core where Zen resides is the practice of realization, actually awakening to Mind itself. Bodhidharma’s Zen was and is radical – in the primary sense of aiming for the root.
The Zen brought to life by Bodhidharma, shifted the Buddha’s teaching from the cosmological/philosophical to the practical. It’s aim remains to help us come to the end of suffering and realize Peace. At some point we all recognize the difficulties and challenges of this life, and are anguished by them. This is where we begin. To find Peace all we need do then, as Bodhidharma insisted, is bring forth our troubled mind so it can be pacified. That shouldn’t be too hard should it? What do you think?
Halloween 2024 -- The Fox Koan and Putting Old Ghosts to Rest
00:36:17
Recorded October 26, 2024.
Roshi Rafe Martin examines the important koan of Pai-chang and the Fox (case 2 of the Gateless Barrier), in light of both Halloween and the ghostly anxieties of our pre-election week.
Referenced:
The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan), Translated and with a Commentary by Robert Aitken
Photo : Hungry Ghost Altar, Endless Path Zendo 10/2024, by Rose Martin
Teisho by Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin, 10/15/2024 Vermont Zen Center
Recorded October 15, 2024.
In this teisho, the final teisho of the October 2024 Jataka Sesshin at the Vermont Zen Center, Roshi Martin tells an ancient jataka (past life tale of the Buddha) that's very much like a sci-fi story! He then examines it from the perspective of Zen practice. In the story, which the Buddha told near the time of his approaching parinirvana (death), shows him attempting to satisfy desire. And how that necessary failure changed him.
The Banyan Deer -- a teisho on non-duality and justice
00:50:19
Recorded on October 12, 2024
This teisho was presented by Roshi Martin on the first day of the recent, Oct. 11-16th 2024, 16th Annual Jataka sesshin at the Vermont Zen Center. In it, Roshi Martin first puts on his hat as an award-winning author and storyteller, giving a dramatic reading of his book, The Banyan Deer: A Parable of Wisdom and Courage (Wisdom Publications, 2010). Then, putting his Zen teacher hat back on, he comments on this ancient Buddhist jataka tale from the perspective of actual ongoing Zen practice-realization! Enjoy!
Image: Cover art for Rafe Martin's "The Banyan Deer" (Wisdom Publications), by Richard Wehrman
In this first post-Nov. 5th election teisho, Roshi Martin opens with two poems of W.B. Yeats, speaking from the Irish “Troubles,” then moves on to read from and comment on Chapter Seven —“The Resource of Shame” — in Nelson Foster Roshi’s new book: Storehouse of Treasures: Recovering the riches of Chan and Zen.
Some bits to savor:
The great T’ang era Zen master Chao-chou (Joshu) was once asked — “What place to you accord an individual entirely without shame?” “Not among us,” the master answered. The questioner persisted, How about if one suddenly appeared? “Throw him out!” said Chao-chou.
And from Mencius, 372-289 BC, “Cunning opportunists have no use for shame. Unashamed of being inhuman, what humanity to they have?”
Or this — from Nelson — “Recognition that you’ve erred [i.e. shame] becomes an indicator of which way your ethical compass points, lending shame an ennobling aspect.”
In short, shame has nothing to do with “shaming,” or with guilt — or with beating ourselves up. But as a matter of scrupulous honesty and character, it helps us proceed along the ancient Way of the maturing Human Being — whatever comes. Not to own up to the uneasiness caused by one’s own errors and shortcomings, and not to resolve to correct our mistakes and do better would be rather . . . shameful.
Manjusri Fails to Awaken the Young Woman. Is failure "wonderful indeed"?
00:44:57
Recorded November 16, 2024.
With this teisho Roshi Martin looks into the nature of painful failure: “Is it wonderful indeed” as the koan of “Manjusri and the Young Woman” (“Gateless Barrier” 35) proclaims? If so, how? Roshi Martin begins with the opening lines of "The Odyssey” pointing out how they reveal that it is Odysseus’s failure that sets the epic of a man overcoming difficulties and temptations to return to his true home, in motion. Then he reads and comments on Chapter 5 of his recent book “A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas,” which explores the koan of how the great Bodhisattva of Wisdom fails to awaken a young woman. The koan’s conclusion that “the failure is wonderful indeed” merits special exploration. What does it mean?!
In this teisho, using Dharma Transmission case 30 in the “Transmission of Light,” Bodhidharma’s heir, Huike, to Seng t’san, (the author of “Affirming Faith in Mind”) as a case in point, Roshi Martin explores gratitude and thanksgiving — from a Zen perspective.
Seng t’san, suffering from a serious illness, realized the empty ground of his disease, the foundation of what the koan calls his “sins,” and awoke to wholeness and gratitude.
The Buddha upon his great Awakening, didn’t exclaim that one day all beings will be Buddha. Instead, legend insists what he said was that all beings are Buddha, right now! How can that be? And what did he mean? The work of finding out is called, “practice.” To come to see and know for ourselves, to even a slight degree, who or what we already Truly are, is to uncover a life of endless gratitude, endless Thanks.
Photo: Standing Buddha at Endless Path Zendo by Rafe Martin
The Buddha Leaves Home, (and how this relates to our own Zen practice!)
00:47:37
Record December 7, 2024
This teisho, the opening teisho of our two-day rohatsu sesshin, itself the culminating event of five previous days of heightened daily practice, is on the Buddha’s leaving home and its relation to our own maturing Zen practice.
According to legend, when at the age of twenty-nine, the long-sheltered prince, Siddhartha Gautama, left his comfortable palace to explore life in his home city, he suddenly saw an aged person, a sick person, a dead person, and a homeless truth-seeker and his life was irrevocably changed. Traumatized by this collision with reality, he didn’t turn and run, but became determined, instead, to get to the root of it.
With lay Zen practice we leave home without leaving home. What we learn to leave is our unconscious, self-centered habits regarding relationships, family, meaningful work. We abandon nothing but our own painfully dualistic habits of mind. Home leaving is actually the beginning of coming home. The Korean ex-Zen monk poet Ko Un, wrote – “But surely you can only come home/if you’ve really left home, can’t you?”
The Buddha's Enlightenment and Our Own Zen Practice
00:59:04
Recorded December 8, 2024
In this teisho Roshi Rafe Martin tells the dramatic story of the Buddha’s great enlightenment then comments on it (using his recent book A Zen Life of Buddha as his source), from the ground of ongoing Zen practice:
“Zen Buddhism reveres the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment because it so dramatically reveals our own potential, even as it reveals the determined, dedicated work that “even as it reveals the determined, dedicated work that underlies all milestone experiences. ”
“Buddhist tradition says that we all have the nature of Buddha, have exactly the same, vast, empty nature of endlessly creative and compassionate potential as Shakyamuni and all previous and future Buddhas. From the first we are each fully and equally endowed with limitless wisdom and virtue. And because it is already who we are, if we practice, if we make sincere efforts then we, too, can to one degree or another, awake to this same Original Mind.
“. . . After a long night of focused zazen, the Buddha-About-To-Be glanced up and saw the morning star. And suddenly, AHA! “Gone, gone, entirely gone!” That’s IT! A morning star sat beneath the Bodhi tree: “Star! No “me”, just Star!”
It need not be so dramatic. A poem of Li Po’s from ancient China titled, “Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain,” goes like this:
The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.
– Trans. by Sam Hamill, from Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese
To end the year - a teisho on the Buddha’s teaching — and a flower!
It should come as no surprise that Zen tradition sees the Buddha as the original Zen Master, someone who teaches by demonstrating and presenting, rather than simply by lecturing, or talking “about.” The Buddha offers living truth, not philosophy. Like the monk in the final Zen Oxherding picture, he enters the marketplace of human life with helping hands. Which sounds pretty good. Who doesn't need help? But what does such help look like? What kind of help does the enlightened Buddha offer?
To clarify, let’s look at Gateless Barrier, case # 6: “The Buddha Holds Up a Flower.”
For the first teisho of 2025 — and its challenges — Roshi Rafe Martin offers a vision of Buddhist insight/outlook and behavior, by looking at the Buddhist jataka tales (past life stories of the Buddha) and their deep import for us today. In these stories equal attention is given to the needs and aspirations of all living things, not just human beings. The tales, taken as a whole, offer a doorway into a primary realm of the imagination, which connects all life.
The source of this teisho is an article Roshi Martin originally wrote as the final chapter for the 1999, Completely Revised and Expanded Edition of his book, The Hungry Tigress: Buddhist Myths, Legends, and Jataka Tales (Yellowmoon Press) and includes his interviews with noted Buddhist teachers and writers, (including both Aitken Roshi and Kapleau Roshi) on their favorite jataka tale, and why they were drawn to that particular story. An inspiring teisho for the New Year!
Fundamentally, Zen is not about becoming some better you. You are it, just as you are. Even a baby knows it. Maybe only a baby knows it. Perhaps the clearest take on this, koan-wise, is Blue Cliff Record 80 — “Chao Chou’s(Joshu’s) A Newborn Baby.”
“A monk asked Chao Chou (Joshu), ‘Does a newborn baby possess the 6th sense or not?’ Chao Chou (Joshu) said, 'It is like a ball bouncing on swift-flowing water.’
The monk later asked T’ou Tzu (Tosu), ‘What is the meaning of a ball bouncing on swift-flowing water?’
Tosu said, ‘Moment by moment it flows on without stopping.’”
In his teisho on this, master Yuan-wu says that of the 16 forms of meditation practice, the baby’s practice is best. Voidness is not biblical in the sense of all was Void on the waters of Creation. Moment by moment, it flows on without stopping — as T’ou Tzu says. No sticking. This is it; right now is IT. “Form is emptiness, emptiness form” — the fundamental realization of non-dual prajna wisdom. We don’t have to go out and get to it, as if it were elsewhere in either space or time. An analogy might be living on planet Earth; we are just as far out in space as any planet in the universe. We don’t have to go anywhere to be out in space. Emptiness, too, is not something we have to get to.
The fresh eyes of baby practice restores us, and all things. Jesus said you must become as a child again, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Yuan wu says this, too — right in the Blue Cliff Record: “A person who studies the Path must become again like an infant.” Why? Do you see the point?
This teisho is the first of a series from a new book by Roshi Rafe Martin, titled, "A Zen Life As Pilgrimage: Coming Home (To What Zen Is Really All About)."
What is the relevance of Zen to the difficulties of our time, right now? What is Zen really all about?
A personal anecdote from Roshi Martin —
I was having lunch with Aitken Roshi in an Italian restaurant in Honolulu when I asked,“Roshi. What is this Zen thing, anyway? Why do we do it?” He answered quickly, saying “Happiness.” And then he stopped, put down his fork, and sat quietly, as if he’d caught himself mouthing a cliche. Then he looked at me and said,“No. Many people are happy. Absorbed in work, family, or hobbies they’re happy. But if impermanence has bitten too deeply, and a yearning for something more, a way to be at peace in the face of impermanence has taken root, then Zen can show you the way to happiness.”
A personal anecdote told to Roshi Martin by Danan Henry Roshi —
“Have you ever seen anything so wonderful?!!” Roshi Philip Kapleau exclaimed, with a radiant smile on his face, upon seeing a rooster strutting down the dirt lane, just outside Tepotzlan, Morelos Province, Mexico. Now, remember, he’d been the Chief Court Reporter at both the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. The anguish caused by the horrors of the testimony he took down at those trials had moved him to begin Zen practice. That radiant smile was a result of what Zen practice had opened to him.
“Let’s be honest: Death is our greatest difficulty. Accepting it and, for lack of a better word, doing it, are our most severe challenges, fraught with deepest anxiety and trauma. All challenges and difficulties in life seem to stem from or circle around this primal one of awesome finality. To face head-on what, as Shakespeare wrote, “... ends this strange eventful history ... Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything,” (As You Like It), can be terribly hard. It is beyond everything and anything we can imagine. A lifetime of practicing, of learning to be fully present with what IS, seeing through habitual, unconscious identifications with the isolated, interior, small-minded sense of ourselves crouched down and terrified, is our best preparation.
“Roshi Kapleau liked Woody Allen’s joke: “I don’t mind dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” He used to say, “You know, he almost had it there.” What was missing? I think of the old saying – “To gain a certain thing, you must become a certain person, but once you become that person, you may no longer need to gain that thing.” In short, Woody could joke about it but what about “living” it?
“Death is at the core of Zen because it is at the core of life. Hakuin wrote about the terrific virtue of what he called, “The great death,” his version of Dogen’s “Dropping body and mind; mind and body dropped.” It is liberation itself he is referencing. . . The Buddha’s teaching is traditionally known as a poison drum. Anyone who hears it is killed dead. Isn’t that great news?!
“It’s not just an Eastern thing. In 1826 in London, William Blake signed a guest book with a beautiful drawing of a human figure stretched out as if reclining or flying. Surrounding this elegant form were the words – “William Blake who is very much delighted in being in good company. Born November 28, 1757 in London and has died several times since.” I wonder what the other guests at that gathering made of that. ”
-Excerpt from “A Zen Life of Buddha” by Rafe Martin, Sumeru Press 2022
Before Te-shan left home, his mind was indignant and his tongue sharp. Full of arrogance, he went south to exterminate the doctrine of the special transmission outside the sutras. When he reached the road to Li-cho he sought to buy refreshments from an old woman at a roadside tea stand. The old woman said, “Venerable monk, what are all those books you are carrying on your back?” Te-shan said, “They are my notes and commentaries on the Diamond Sutra.” The old woman said, “I hear the Diamond Sutra says, ‘Past mind cannot be grasped, present mind cannot be grasped, future mind cannot be grasped.’ Which mind does Your Reverence intend to refresh?” Te-shan was dumbfounded . . . Unable to die the Great Death under the old woman’s words, he asked, “Is there a Zen master nearby?”
Now, here’s Gary Snyder (and I hope you know who he is!) speaking about koans in an Interview with Poetry Foundation, 2008:
‘The intention of a koan is to make people who are bright in an ordinary way, or ordinary people who are bright in an odd way, work harder and go further into themselves. . . So in a way we’re not talking about “language,” we’re talking about the theater of life.
For this to actually work, it needs the relation of student and mentor . . . Going into the teacher’s room and trying out your view of the koan on him or her is the only way to move through it. Without the mentor, you only dig yourself deeper into the hole, or you make up your own answer, which is invariably wrong.
This remarkable practice, developed and handed down for 1,000 years and more, is very refined and does not fit any exact paradigm of philosophy, rational analysis, or aesthetic strategy. Yet it throws light on them all.
I have no doubt that the Buddhist teachings are grounded in the remarkable, almost unique, exquisitely relevant insights of Gautama Shakyamuni, who is well-named “the Buddha,” the realized one. The koans—also known as the kungan, public cases, or teaching phrases—of Chan/Zen Buddhist practice go back to his mind and his insight.’
Te-shan Carries His Bundle. Is he right -- or wrong?
00:22:39
Recorded Saturday, February 8, 2025.
In our previous koan teisho, (case 28, "Gateless Barrier"), Te-shan, that noted scholar of the Diamond Sutra, had set off with the clear intention of wiping out the “Zen devils” in the South. Fortunately for him -- and for us -- he fell into Master Lung-t’an’s Dragon Pond where he found his Original Face from before his parents were even born.
Even so, he was still the same old hot head. Now, sure that all his learning was wrong and only realization "right," he sets off to check himself against against “the best minds of his generation,” (Allen Ginsberg, Howl). In this second koan on Te-shan ( case 4, "Blue Cliff Record") we find out that when he arrives at Master Keui-shan’s monastery he breaks with monastic convention, just storms in, peers around, announces, “Nothing, Nothing,” and then leaves, all while still carrying his unopened monk’s bundle. Is he now right or is he still wrong? If right, how right? If wrong, how wrong? What’s he now got, and what’s still missing before he’ll actually be mature? Let's see!
Interview with Rafe Martin, courtesy of Simplicity Zen
01:24:55
We’re happy to add this excellent interview with Roshi Rafe Martin to our podcast series. The interview was conducted by Berry Crawford of “Simplicity Zen” on January 27, 2023. While informal and enjoyable it is also informative, focusing on the essence of Roshi Martin’s teaching as well as his background as a lay Zen practitioner, and his emphasis, as a teacher, on the importance of lay practice. If you’re interested in getting a sense of what Rafe is about, this interview ill give you a good sense of his approach to teaching, practice, and realization, as well as his dual inheritance in both Kapleau and Diamond Sangha (Robert Aitken Roshi) lineages. (Note: This interview is also available as a video on the Home Page [“About Us”] of the Endless Path Zendo Website.)
This third and final Te-shan koan completes our overview of Zen practice as the hero/heroine’s journey/pilgrimage from unconscious self-centeredness to selfless wisdom and compassion. Maturing means more than aging. Becoming not just “olders” but “elders,” takes conscious effort and perseverance. Yamada Roshi counseled his Zen students to take care of their health so as to live as long as possible, continue working on their practice, and become as mature as possible. Let’s see how Te-shan does.
As commentary on the koan itself is rather brief ( 20 mins), for the teisho’s first 15 minutes Roshi Martin offers a respite from our troubled times by reading and commenting on short (including haiku) Chinese and Japanese Zen-related poems, to help us touch base with our essential humanity of wisdom and compassion, “in such hard times.”
If wisdom is real, it should be popping up all over — in life, in folklore, in songs and movies emerging from popular culture. Real wisdom should be common knowledge, not hidden, or secret, or esoteric. “You’ll find your happiness lies right under your eyes/Back in your own backyard” sounds such a chord. And to quote Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.” Still, why do such fundamental insights keep having to pop up? Why don’t we just “get it”? The great, Chao-chou (J. Joshu; 778–897), perhaps the most mature of all Chinese Zen masters, was once asked, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?” Or what is the highest teaching of the Buddhadharma. He answered, “The oak tree in the front yard.” What did he mean?
Aitken Roshi once told me that the whole point of Zen was happiness. Actually what he said was “Many people in this world are happy. Absorbed in their work, or family, or hobbies, no longer caught up in themselves, they’re happy. But if impermanence has bitten too deeply, and a yearning for something more, a way to be at peace in the face of impermanence has taken root, then Zen can show you the way to happiness.”
Is it happiness, then, that resides at the core of Zen? Did gruff old Bodhidharma have a soft heart and make that risky journey because he wanted us to be happy? But, then, what about that oak tree? Let’s find out?!
This teisho is on Case 35, The Gateless Barrier -- "Wu-tsu: Which is the True Ch'ien?"
"Wu-tsu asked a monk, 'The woman Ch’ien and her spirit separated. Which is the true Ch’ien?' ”
Zen master Wu-tsu uses a popular ghost tale of his time to explore something truly intimate. He is facing directly into the question of Identity: Who am I? Isn’t this at the root of all that drives and bugs and puzzles and torments us? Beneath all such questions as “Why did I do that?” or “Why must I suffer this?” lies the most direct and challenging query of all: “Who am I?”
Peace, genuine peace — or at least a greater degree of it — Zen teaching says -- lies in digging down into this fundamental question and finding out just who it is we’re referring to and talking about when we say — or think — “I”.
Wu-men’s commentary on the case as follows: "If you realize the true one, then you’ll know that emerging from one husk and entering another is like a traveler putting up at an inn. If this is not clear, don’t rush about wildly. When you suddenly separate into earth, water, fire and air, you’ll be like a crab dropped into boiling water, struggling with your seven arms and eight legs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!"
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