r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/10gctc2/huineng_dating_advice_personalizing_the_text/

Post Summary:

Huineng: "To concentrate the mind on quietness is a disease of the mind, and not Zen at all. What an idea, restricting the body to sitting all the time! That is useless. Listen to my verse:

To sit and not lie down during one's life-time

To lie and never sit during one's death-time,

Why should we thus task

This stinking bag of bones?"

Zen Teaching: Platform Sutra? I don’t know. Prove me wrong.

Post Cast Overview:

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r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://reddit.com/r/zen/comments/10qb691/already_gone/

Post Summary:

Later on,‭ when the Master (Yin-feng) arrived at (Guishan’s),‭ he put his robe and bowl on the head monk's seat.‭ When Guishan heard that his younger Dharma-brother had come,‭ he formally went to the hall to meet him.‭ When the Master saw him,‭ he lay down as if asleep.‭ Guishan’s returned to his quarters,‭ and the Master started to leave.‭ A bit later,‭ Guishan asked his attendant,‭ "Is my younger Dharma-brother still here?" The attendant told him,‭ "He is already gone.‭" Guishan asked,‭ "What did he say when he left?" The attendant replied,‭ "He didn't say anything.‭" Guishan said,‭ "Don't say he didn't say anything.‭ His voice was like a thunder.‭"

Zen Teaching: Sun Face Buddha, in the Disciples section.

Post Cast Overview: What the heck is going on? Traditions from Zen – You go to visit your enlightened relatives. Dharma relationships. Levels of tone in explanations in youtube physics video. Harry Houdini THE GREAT. “When you get to the ultimate end, all the great Buddhas having mouths hung on the wall”. Enlightenment driver’s license. Inter-generational mockery in Zen. Head monks, what’s up with that? Astromi ruins the whole podcast. Repaying the debt.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/10dzy9t/zen_under_the_gun_the_great_bell_of_the_zen/

Post Summary:

"The Dharma is like a great bell hanging in an arch. Strike it hard and the sound is great, strike it lightly and the sound is slight. It is like a clear mirror on its stand-when a foreigner comes up to it, a foreigner appears in it, and when a native comes up to it, a native appears in it.

Zen Teaching: Zen Under the Gun, trans. Cleary

Post Cast Overview: bell v/s mirror, bell as dharma, zen masters as bells, transforming, identity as function (bell, mirror, lamp, mind). It’s hard to be honest… being honest is big risk, and lying may hurt but it’s better than the fear, unknown, and danger of honesty.

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r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/10b4bv4/xiangyans_three_verses/

Post Summary: The XIANGYAN SHOW

One strike and all knowledge is forgotten. 

No more the mere pretense of practice. 

Transformed to uphold the ancient path, 

Not sunk in idle devices. 

Far and wide, not a trace is left. 

The great purpose lies beyond sound and form. 

In every direction the realized Way, 

Beyond all speech, the ultimate principle. 

Zen Teaching: I think this is an original translation?

Post Cast Overview: Like visiting the four holy places of Zen Master Buddha’s life, the whole sordid story of Xiangyan’s enlightenment is gone over step by step. Guishan’s weird demand. Xiangyan is running a race with a finish line, not some kind of Christian Buddhism quit or die.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

 

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://reddit.com/r/zen/comments/107vxz0/zen_under_the_gun_when_you_meet_people/

Post Summary:

Daian said: "In Zen centers everywhere, they speak of Zen and the Way and quote ancient and modern. Dragons and elephants crowd around and the Dharma assemblies are flourishing and full. "Here at Jingshan with one-flavor Zen I settle cases on the basis of the facts. If someone comes in with his whole body covered with silk brocade, I make him go away stark naked. If someone comes in stark naked. I cover his whole body with silk brocade.

Zen Teaching: Zen Under the Gun, Cleary trans. (and collector)

Post Cast Overview:

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://old.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/103kkjg/zhaozhous_two_hermits/?

Post Summary:

Zhaozhou went to a hermit's place and asked, "Is there? Is there?" The hermit raised his fist. Zhaozhou said, "Where the water is shallow is not the place to moor a ship," and he left. He went to another hermit's place and said, "Is there? Is there?" That hermit also raised his fist. Zhaozhou said, "Able to let go, able to take away; able to kill, able to give life," and then he bowed. Jiangshan Ai said, "Zhaozhou only sees the sharpness of the awl." Yunju Shun said, "Zhaozhou was quite spunky at that time, but even so his nose is in the hands of the two hermits."

Zen Teaching: Wumen’s Checkpoint, aka The Gateless Barrier (Get the JC Cleary trans)

Post Cast Overview: Two hermits, lots of conversation for 1500 years. Where can you moor a ship? What’s another way to say it… Starbucks! Is one hermit just wrong. Is Zhaozhou mistaken. Pushing Down. Turning the Light around.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://old.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/103kkjg/zhaozhous_two_hermits/?

Post Summary:

Zhaozhou went to a hermit's place and asked, "Is there? Is there?" The hermit raised his fist. Zhaozhou said, "Where the water is shallow is not the place to moor a ship," and he left. He went to another hermit's place and said, "Is there? Is there?" That hermit also raised his fist. Zhaozhou said, "Able to let go, able to take away; able to kill, able to give life," and then he bowed. Jiangshan Ai said, "Zhaozhou only sees the sharpness of the awl." Yunju Shun said, "Zhaozhou was quite spunky at that time, but even so his nose is in the hands of the two hermits."

Zen Teaching: Wumen’s Checkpoint, aka The Gateless Barrier (Get the JC Cleary trans)

Post Cast Overview: Don’t bore Astromi. He doesn’t like it. Dahui has this case (457) and Wumen’s Case 11. Comparing translations. Why do people say “Zen is not supposed to make sense”? Japanese Buddhism offers misinterpretations based on illiteracy and religious bias. Wumen and Shakespeare. You have to answer yourself. Popularity contests and fist waving.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/zxefwk/a_true_man_of_no_rank_changes_the_former_behavior/

Post Summary:

Linji said to the assembly, "There is a true man with no rank always going out and in through the portals of your face. Beginners who have not yet witnessed it, look! Look!

Zen Teaching:  38th case from Wansong’s Book of Serenity, Modern Zen Bible! Soto Zen Book of Instruction!

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Serenity-One-Hundred-Dialogues/dp/1590302494

Post Cast Overview: Why does the monk hesitate? Why does anybody? How is thought formulated? What are the consequences of what you are going to say? Monty Python. What’s your favorite color? What is sincere-in-the-moment response?

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted

r/zen is a reddit forum about Zen scholarship, study, and practice.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/zz5gls/9_years_is_a_long_time_to_stare_at_a_wall/

Post Summary:

Emperor Wu of Liang asked Great Master Bodhidharma, “What is the highest meaning of the holy reality?” Bodhidharma replied, “Vast and void, no holiness.” The emperor said, “Who are you in front of me?” Bodhidharma said, “I don't know.” The emperor did not match him. Finally, Bodhidharma crossed the Yangtze River and came to the Shaolin Temple. There he sat for nine years, facing the wall.

Huangbo:

Thus, Bodhidharma sat rapt in meditation before a wall; he did not seek to lead people into having opinions. Therefore it is written: ‘To put out of mind even the principle from which action springs is the true teaching of the Buddhas, while dualism belongs to the sphere of demons.'

Zen Teaching: Book of Serenity?

Post Cast Overview: What was he doing? Is it a metaphor? Or is it a metaless? When Bodhidharma came to China, he was enlightened, so he wasn’t religious meditating. What was he doing? Was he trying to overcome something? What Huangbo said. A theory of community management from a literary analysis of Shakespeare. Not joking.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted