Onibaba Zen: Manjusri and the Art of Zen Archery

Friday, February 28, 2014

Manjusri and the Art of Zen Archery

The Buddha asked, “You have entered the inconceivable samādhi?”

Mañjuśrī replied, “No, World-Honored One, I am the inconceivable. Not seeing a mind that can conceive, how can I be said to enter the inconceivable samādhi? When I first activated the bodhi mind, I resolved to enter this samādhi. Now I think that I have entered this samādhi without any mental appearances. To learn archery, a student has to practice for a long time to acquire the skill. Because of his longtime practice, he now shoots without using his mind, and all his arrows hit the target. I have trained in the same way. When I started learning the inconceivable samādhi, I had to focus my mind on one object. After practicing for a long time, I have come to accomplishment. I now am constantly in this samādhi without thinking.”

from the Sūtra of Mahā-Prajñā-Pāramitā Pronounced by Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva

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"Put Strength Into It, Abandon Conceit"

This page is a direct, yet still veiled, transmission of the Way. Zen is just the "ordinary" and straightfoward mind of no-thought, not the calculating mind that refuses to put forth effort, shies from heartbreak, and resists all transformation.

If you've landed on this page and you are reading this note, you are probably interested in Zen's moon-clear Realization (Kensho, Wu/Satori -- maybe if you're lucky even Daigo).

How can I help you? Maybe I can't! That won't stop me from doing my best. How can I help it? There is nothing willful about the instantaneousness of the moon shining everywhere, getting reflected everywhere. Cup water in your hands and there it is! Wonderful. "Intoxicated by moonlight." "A hammer striking the Void -- before and after, the mysterious sounds going everywhere."

What do you want Zen Realization for anyway? Don't you know that Master Yunmen compared the Buddha to a "dried shit stick?" In any case, it's so simple nobody will ever recognize that you "have" it, and they won't be able to envy you any more than you envy a dusty tramp sitting by the road eating a raw turnip.

Still, there are some who want to penetrate right through to the Mind-Essence. Maybe you've already had a small glimpse of your essential nature, like the moon gliding out briefly from behind clustering dark clouds. That would be extremely helpful.

"Satori" in the Japanese kanji breaks down into the radicals "I" and "Mind." It is the direct experience of the true mind. You ask, How will I know when I've had it? I answer: You'll know. Is the hair standing up on the back of your neck yet?

The "Mind-to-Mind" transmission of Zen is always eccentric, idiosyncratic. It can even be hazardous to your social relationships by making you seem crazy. Do you still want the Mind-Seal?

For more Great Zen see: DSZ.

"Being is what is visible, and Non-Being is the vessel. That which manifests Being is Non-Being. A crystal, for example, is clear and transparent in essence, and though its essential voidness has nothing to do with either colors or patterns it can give birth to both fire and water. How is it that both fire and water, which have different natures, can be produced from a colorless, empty essence?" -Yugaku shudo fukensho, Zeami.