Zen monks risk death on extraordinary journey

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Journeyman.TV (Journeyman Pictures)

The Monks Risking Death On An Extraordinary Journey (Produced by ABC Australia. Ref - 2471)

The lionized Bodhidharma

The "Marathon Monks" of Japan undertake a perilous journey to "enlightenment" (satori, which is not enlightenment in Zen or kenshō but only an "epiphany") -- choosing suicide if they fail to complete the journey, and often dying en route. 

The world's greatest athletes may well live on top of a sacred mountain in Japan. As part of their spiritual training, the monks run 84 km every day for over three months.

 

"First Day of Zen Garden School" (Dan Piraro/bizarrocomics.com)

 
Genshin Fujinami runs through the forest for 17 hours every day. His straw sandals offer him little protection from the venomous snakes and jagged rocks. His feet are blistered and bruised.

But if he stops, he would be obliged to immediately kill himself (in a foolish act of hari kari or honor killing to save face).

What endogenous drugs are created by asceticism?

"You must think positively," he explains. "I cannot allow myself to think, 'What if?'" The grueling Kaihygo is the conclusion of seven years of training. He must also go nine days without food, water, or sleep. If he completes the quest, he will become a living "saint."

But only 46 monks have completed it in the last four centuries, and fewer and fewer people are attempting it.

[These are the ascetic extremes the Buddha warned about, self-mortification, the clinging to rites and rituals as if they could ever lead to actual enlightenment. The way to enlightenment is calm-and-insight (systematic contemplation founded on profound concentration), nothing more, nothing less.]

"Japanese culture is gradually dying away," Fujinami laments. The monks may have a wonderful history, but their future is one of uncertainty.

  

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Debate: Is Zen Stupid? (cartoons)

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Old Zen Master to fellow monk: "Nothing happens next. This is it." (Gahan Wilson)

 

"Not thinking of you." (Dan Piraro)

The American-Zen school is getting old and hackneyed. It "stinks of Zen." 

 

Shall we ignore koans from now on and focus instead on the wonderful devotional teachings of Pure Land (which seems fresh in the hands of Master Miao Lien) or the magical chanting of Nichiren (Nam myoho renge kyo) Buddhism?

• Zen is not what Americans think (Prof. Robert Buswell on Why Zen is not "Zen")

Zen novice: "Master, why did Bodhi-Dharma come from the West?" How the koan would I know, dummy? (Ioanna Salajan/Zen Comics)

To think that we could be on bowing-pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash or doing 100,000 Tibetan prostrations at the Bodhi tree shrine in Bodh Gaya, but instead we are sorting koans ("main cases," aphorisms, riddles) from Japan's most perplexing school -- it just does not seem right. (Zen may have begun in China and grown in Korea, but it is the Japanese version that became most famous and distinctive).

We forgive you. - I still feel guilty!

Certainly if it were not for Alan Watts, cartoonist Ioanna Salajan, D.K. Suzuki, and Bernie ("The Little Lobowski") Glassman, we would not have come this far. How did we come this far except that Roshi Albrizze believes and the post-WW II and Korean "Conflict" American GIs and their generation overcompensated with a fascination for all things "Oriental" in general and Japanese in particular?

But "Zen is stupid." That is the proposition. Who can say different? Zazen (just sitting in meditation) is good, satori (epiphany) good, luohans (arhats) good, ch'an (zen, dhyana, jhana, or "meditative-absorption") great! But Zen as a path of practice-of-practice or non-practice? Humbug!
 

Look how clever I can be in college! "What is the sound of no hands typing?" (PHD ZEN)

  
It's complete foolishness, a whole school with a single message, or so it seems: "Don't strive," "There is nothing to strive for," "What are you striving for, dummy?"

 

Can anyone utter 100 words without a cute aphorism, a dull platitude, or unconventional mode of expression like setting a grass sandal atop the head and walking out of the room?

Readers will not sit just to sit, not even in Zen circles. Everyone is itching to talk and socialize. Can words be said that engender serene sitting, emotional-intellectual stilling, and self-development toward tranquility (jhana) and insight (vipassana), toward enlightenment (bodhi), toward final liberation (nirvana)?

Q: Now, Master Albrizze, how say you?

A: It's kind of like this, like when "Ryuge..."

KOAN: Ryuge Passes the Chin Rest

PasaDharma Koan Study Group (pasadharma.org), The Book of Equanimity, Case 80

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

A great sound is rarely heard; a great vessel matures slowly.

In the hurly-burly of a hundred chatterings, one plays the fool, patiently letting time pass for thousands of years.

Tell me: What kind of person is this?

MAIN CASE

Here I am, wasn't I? (Ioanna Salajan)

Attention!

Ryuge asked Master Suibi, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch [Bodhidharma] coming from the West?”

Master Suibi said, “Go and get the chin rest for me.”

Ryuge brought the chin rest for Master Suibi, and Suibi then treated him to a blow.

Ryuge remarked, “Hit me if you wish, but there’s still no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the West.”

Later Ryuge asked Master Rinzai, “What’s the meaning of the Patriarch coming from the West?”

Master Rinzai said, “Go get the cushion for me.”

Ryuge brought Master Rinzai the cushion, and Rinzai treated him to a blow.

Ryuge remarked, “Hit me if you wish, but there’s still no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the West.”

Much later still, when Ryuge was living in a temple, a monk asked him: “Great teacher, in former times you asked Suibi and Rinzai about the meaning of the coming of the Patriarch. Did they both clarify it or not?”

Ryuge replied, “They clarified it alright -- but there’s still no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the West.”

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Cushion and chin rest confront Ryuge.

Having the chance, why are you not an adept?

He doesn’t think to clarify it by making quick conclusions.

He’s afraid of their loss of position and having to go to heaven’s edge.

How can you hang a sword in the vast sky?

KOAN: Beiko's No Enlightenment

Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly with Roshi Jeff Albrizze (PasaDharma.org), Book of Equanimity, Case 62; ZCLA (ZenCenter.com); Alan Watts(KPFK.org/Pacifica Radio)

Zen is a Mahayana school that developed in China during the 6th century as Chán (jhana). Zen spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea, and east to Japan (desktopc.com).

Kipp Ryodo Hawley (left), Lorraine Gesho Kumpf, John Heart Mirror Trotter, Mark Shogen Bloodgood, George Mukei Horner, ZCLA at special open house service (Wisdom Quarterly)

  

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

(photographybydavidmcmeekin/flickr.com)

The primary meaning of Bodhidharma's principle muddled Emperor Wu's head.

The non-dual [Mahayana Buddhism adopted the Brahminical, Vedic, Hindu concept of Advaita rather than keeping to what the historical Buddha taught] Dharma gate of Vimalakirti made Manjushri's speech go wrong.

Is there anything here of enlightenment to enter and use?

MAIN CASE

Attention!

Master Beiko sent a monk to ask Kyozan, "Do people these days have to attain enlightenment?"

Kyozan replied, "It's not that there's no enlightenment,

But how can one not fall down into the second level?"*

The monk related this to Beiko, who wholeheartedly approved it.

• *How can one not remain stuck in "the second level," that is, in one's foundational serenity (zen) practice rather than ascending to final liberating-insight (vipassana)?
• AUDIO: Alan Watts explains Zen, koans, "Haiku" (Pacifica)

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Kwannon in the garden (WQ)

The second level divides enlightenment and rends delusion.

Better to promptly let go and discard traps and snares.

Merit, if not yet extinguished, becomes an extra appendage.

It is as difficult to know wisdom as to bite one's navel.

The waning moon's icy disk; autumn dew weeps.

Benumbed birds, jeweled trees, dawn's breeze chills.

Bringing it out, great Kyozan discerns true and false.

Completely without flaw, the splendid jewel is priceless.

 

Outside the "Gateless Gate" of the uber urban Zen Center, Los Angeles (WQ)