A Zen Exploration of the Bahiya Sutta
Some excerpts of postings about Bahiya Sutta by AlexWeith (who
is a lay Soto Zen priest who recently realized anatta) from
http://kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/thread/4765011/A+Zen+exploration+of+the+Bahiya+Sutta?offset=0&maxResults=20
"In the seen, there is only the seen, in the heard,
there is only the heard, in the sensed, there is only the
sensed,
in the cognized, there is only the cognized. Thus you should see
that indeed there is no thing here;
this, Bahiya, is how you should train yourself. Since, Bahiya,
there is for you
in the seen, only the seen, in the heard, only the heard, in the
sensed, only the sensed,
in the cognized, only the cognized, and you see that there is no
thing here,
you will therefore see that indeed there is no thing there. As you
see that there is no thing there,
you will see that you are therefore located neither in the world of
this,
nor in the world of that, nor in any place betwixt the two.
This alone is the end of suffering.” (Ud. 1.10)
.............
There is no end to the process of awakening, but in
Zen Buddhism there are steps and strategies. These introductory
posts will explain my position, what I discovered so far, and how
it unfolds.
Having got hold of the ox, one has realized the One Mind. In Zen
literature this One Mind has often been compared to a bright mirror
that reflects phenomena and yet remains untouched by appearances.
As discussed with one of Sheng-yen's first Western students, this
One Mind is still an illusion. One is not anymore identified to the
self-center, ego and personality, yet one (the man) is still
holding to pure non-dual awareness (the ox). Having tamed the ox,
the ox-herder must let go of the ox (ox forgotten) and then forget
himself and the ox (ox and man forgotten).
The problem is that we still maintain a subtle duality between what
we know ourself to be, a pure non-dual awareness that is not a
thing, and our daily existence often marked by self-contractions.
Hoping to get more and more identified with pure non-dual
awareness, we may train concentration, try to hold on to the event
of awakening reifying an experience, or rationalize the whole thing
to conclude that self-contraction is not a problem and that
suffering is not suffering because our true nature is ultimately
beyond suffering. This explains why I got stuck in what Zen calls
"stagnating waters" for about a year.
This is however not seen as a problem in other traditions such as
Advaita Vedanta where the One Mind is identified with the Brahman
that contains and manifests the three states of waking, dreaming
and deep sleep within itself, yet remains untouched by its
dreamlike manifestation.
.............
So what has been puzzling me what the sense of presence, the sense
of being and its relation with the sense that things around me
manifest their presence. Over the months I realized that if this
beingness seems to be located as the center of our being, it is
actually the flavor of all things.
Reading the blog "Awakening to Reality" that has become my main
source of inspiration, I realized that this presence felt as the
presence of 'what is' is the *luminosity* that the Mahamudra
teachings are talking about. Gradually, feeling my own sense of
being has become feeling the beingness of all things, leading to a
deeper non-dual realization that gradually colapsed the sense of a
Primoridal Awareness, True Self, or Bright Mirror into what is
present here and now.
The conclusion is that all phenomena are in themself empty and
luminous, ungraspable and self-aware, ever changing and alive. The
conclusion is also that there is nothing beyond that; no permanent
pure potential beyond phenomena, no true self that would be the
source and substance of phenomena and above all no primordial
awareness or Consciousness that would contain the five
aggregates.
The whole universe is contained and expressed in a the "cypress
tree in the court", simply because in the absence of a super Self
in the background, the cypress tree brightly present in this very
moment is the absolute reality made manifest in its suchness
(tathata). Most Zen koans point to this realization, together with
Hui-neng poem "Fundamentally no wisdom-tree exists, Nor the stand
of a mirror bright. Since all is empty from the beginning, Where
can the dust alight".
Surprizingly this deconstruction leads to a deeper level of
non-duality. Huang-po's "One Mind' is starting to become Mazu's "No
Mind, no Buddha".
.............
Practically speaking this means:
1). becoming aware of one's sense of existence and focusing on it
until it starts to feel as if the only reality is this pure
presence-awareness containing everything;
2). shifting this sense of being-existence-presence-awareness to
apprehend the beingness of all things, until everything starts to
feel bright, luminous, present and alive. At this stage, there is
no more "self" and "other", nor is there any subtle duality between
primordial awareness and phenomena arising and passing away within
it. There is only "seeing seeing the seen" without a seer, nor
solid material objects behind the seen.
This does not mean that there is absolutely no Primordial
Awareness, Self or One Mind. This would be an extreme position
rejected by the Buddha. This explains why the Buddha remained
silent when asked about the existence of a Self. Answering "Yes"
would mean that there is an eternal abiding inherent essence beyond
phenomena (eternalism), while answering "No" would lead to
nihilism, the other extreme view. The Buddha's way is the middle
way, between these two extremes. There is a self, but this self is
an conventional concept to describe something that appears to be
and is experienced as such, but it not an abiding ultimate
reality.
There is a Mind, but this Mind is empty [of an abiding essence].
This Mind is the *non-abiding mind* of the Diamond Sutra.
Therefore, *Mind* is *No Mind*.
.............
This also means that the first step is to disembed from impermanent
phenomena until the only thing that feels real is this all
pervading uncreated all pervading awareness that feels like the
source and substance of phenomena. Holding on to it after this
realization can hower become a subtle form of grasping diguised as
letting go.
The second step is therefore to realize that this brightness,
awakeness or luminosity is there very nature of phenomena and then
only does the duality between the True Self and the appearences
arising and passing within the Self dissolve, revealing the
suchness of what is.
The next step that I found very practical is to push the process of
deconstruction a step further, realizing that all that is
experienced is one of the six consciousness. In other words, there
is neither a super Awareness beyond phenomena, not solid material
objects, but only six streams of sensory experiences. The seen, the
heard, the sensed, the tasted, the smelled and the cognized
(including thoughts, emotions, and subtle thougths like absorbtion
states, jhanas).
At this point it is not difficult to see how relevent the Bahiya
Sutta can become.
.............
This also means that the first step is to disembed from impermanent
phenomena until the only thing that feels real is this all
pervading uncreated all pervading awareness that feels like the
source and substance of phenomena. Holding on to it after this
realization can hower become a subtle form of grasping diguised as
letting go.
The second step is therefore to realize that this brightness,
awakeness or luminosity is there very nature of phenomena and then
only does the duality between the True Self and the appearences
arising and passing within the Self dissolve, revealing the
suchness of what is.
The next step that I found very practical is to push the process of
deconstruction a step further, realizing that all that is
experienced is one of the six consciousness. In other words, there
is neither a super Awareness beyond phenomena, not solid material
objects, but only six streams of sensory experiences. The seen, the
heard, the sensed, the tasted, the smelled and the cognized
(including thoughts, emotions, and subtle thougths like absorbtion
states, jhanas).
At this point it is not difficult to see how relevent the Bahiya
Sutta can become.
.............
@beoman & @giragirasol:
Yes, when we realize that there is no super Awareness beyond
consciousnes and become mindful of
consciousness as it manifests at the 6 doors of the senses, we also
realize that everything that we can ever experience is contained
within one of these 6 streams of consciousness, including the 4
other aggregates that are known through the agregate of
consciousness and the arupa jhanas that are in reality very subtle
non-conceptual mind-states of the cognizing-consciousness.
Arriving at this point, we can start to investigate the 5 aggregate
as well as the sense of self.
If we start with the aggregate of form (the physical body), we
realize that our direct experience of the body is nothing more than
stream of images (seeing legs, arms, a nose), the other senses and
above all sensations. Exploring these sensations we realize that
there is an impermanent stream of sensations that more of less
matches the images of the body. However, the stream of
seeing-consciousness is always distinct from the stream of
sensing-consciousness. One never sees a sensation, but an
unpleasant sensations can match the sight of a wounder arm. These
stream are therfore seem as independent, yet totally
interdependent. A sound, can trigger a thought that can trigger a
sensations, that can trigger the images of a hand moving.
Altogether, these 6 impermanent every changing streams of
consciousness create the illusion of a solid substancial body. The
same method applies to the other aggregates.
.............
When it comes to the investiation of the sense of self, we must
first realize that, even after what some have called technical 4th
path, and even if we know that what we are is not any of the 5
aggregates, we still have a sense of self, a sense of existence.
The sense "I am" has not been overcome yet.
This issue is discussed in the Khemaka Sutta.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.089.than.html
In this text, Ven. Dasaka meets the Arhant Khemaka and tells him
that "there is nothing I assume to be self or belonging to self,
and yet I am not an arahant. With regard to these five
clinging-aggregates, 'I am' has not been overcome, although I don't
assume that 'I am this." (...) ""Friends, it's not that I say 'I am
form,' nor do I say 'I am something other than form.' It's not that
I say, 'I am feeling... perception... fabrications...
consciousness,' nor do I say, 'I am something other than
consciousness.' With regard to these five clinging-aggregates, 'I
am' has not been overcome, although I don't assume that 'I am
this.'"
The Arhat answers saying "friends, even though a noble disciple has
abandoned the five lower fetters, he still has with regard to the
five clinging-aggregates a lingering residual 'I am' conceit, an 'I
am' desire, an 'I am' obsession."
Abendoning the five lower fetters means being an Anagami. Here the
Arhant says that that even Anagami may still have a residual sense
of self that he calls, the 'I am' conceit, an 'I am' desire, an 'I
am' obsession."
As to how this sense 'I am' is experienced, the Arhant asks: "then
how would he describe it if he were describing it correctly?"
And the monk replies, "as the scent of the flower: That's how he
would describe it if he were describing it correctly." he sense of
self is like the scent of the flower. It is the flavor of
being.
In order to get rid of this residual sense of self and become an
Arahat, the sage explains:
"As he keeps focusing on the arising & passing away of these
five clinging-aggregates, the lingering residual 'I am' conceit, 'I
am' desire, 'I am' obsession is fully obliterated. Just like a
cloth, dirty & stained: Its owners give it over to a washerman,
who scrubs it with salt earth or lye or cow-dung and then rinses it
in clear water. Now even though the cloth is clean & spotless,
it still has a lingering residual scent of salt earth or lye or
cow-dung. The washerman gives it to the owners, the owners put it
away in a scent-infused wicker hamper, and its lingering residual
scent of salt earth, lye, or cow-dung is fully obliterated".
This means observing the arising and passing away of the 5
aggregates until "the lingering residual 'I am' conceit, 'I am'
desire, 'I am' obsession is fully obliterated".
.............
Practically speaking, the above mentioned method
works in the same way. One can either split each of the 5
aggregates into 6 streams of consciousness, to see how the sense of
"a body" (aggregate of form) arises when all senses working
together create the illusion of substantiality, pretty much like
the images track and the sounds tracks of a movie that together
create the illusion of reality. Using the same method we can also
see how the illusion of a solid body dissolves when we look deeply
and see that what we had assumed to be a body is nothing more than
an illusion created by 6 impermanent, separate-yet-interdependent
streams of consciousness.
We can also investigate the sense of self as such.
In the seen, only the seen. We first realize that we cannot know
the objects seen as such, but only the seen (shapes, colors,
textures, etc.). We also realize that there is no separate entity
that sees. There is seeing, but no seer. Seeing is seeing. Same
with the other streams of sense consciousness.
Then, what I do is to look for a sense of self, and see whether it
is more assocated to one of these 6 streams of consciousness. It is
generally associated with a physical sensation around the solar
plexus or gut, and is therefore related to the stream of
sensing-consciousness. When this is seen for what it is, the sense
of self drops. There is nothing beside the spontanious functioning
of the senses.
Here the purpose is not to lock and make permanent a special state
of consciousness, but only to gain deeper and deeper insights into
Anatta and Shunyata until we become absolutely unable to make
anything into "me" or "mine".
.............
@giragirasol - and yes the results experienced
during meditation when we stop investigating and let go of clinging
that what has been seen as an illusion does match the traditional
description of Rigpa. It first come for a brief moment, until it
eventually becomes the only game in town. This is no surpize, since
the Dzogchen teachings are basically about seeing the fruit (of
mainstream Buddhism) as its ground (view) and the path
(practice).
But here one should clearly mention that there is absolutely no
inherently existing "Awareness" that is felt as existing separately
from "phenomena arising witghin awareness", which would be Advaita
Vedanta and maybe Kashmir Shaivism, but not Dzogchen. The Dalai
Lama was very clear about that and insisted on the fact that
Dzogchen can lead people astay if they lack a clear understanding
of no-self, emptiness, co-dependent origination, interdependence,
etc., recommending the in-depth study of Longchenpa with a solid
background rooted in Tsongkapa's Lam Rim or other similar
treaties.
.............
With respect to the Zen 10 ox-herding pictures this above deals
with "ox forgotten, man remains" (no more super-Awareness, One Mind
beyond the 18 dhatus, 6 senses) and then "ox and man forgotten"
when the lingering "sense I am" that used to apprehend the
aggregate of consciousnes as the One Mind is also extinguished.
This is not the only interpretation, but it does match Zen master
Sheng-yen's commentaries.
.............
And of course, mindfulness of the mind/6 sense doors/citta, being
totally one with the seen, the heard, etc. is at the heart of Zen
practice.
Ultimately, meditation practice is always "allowing everything to
be as it is". However can only let go of what we see as an
illusion. As an exemple disembedding from thoughts, sensations and
perceptions allows us see them as mere reflexions. It then becomes
easier to let go of thougths, sensations and perceptions. However,
the same practice will also crystalize the sense of a witness
untouched by phenomena that gradually evolves into a super non-dual
Awareness seen as the source and substance of phenomena. Without
further investigation, letting go is letting go thoughts,
sensations and perceptions, but unknowingly also holding on to the
Witness, Awareness or some other illusory inherent self hanging
somewhere in the background. It is only when we investigate and
look deeply into this awareness that we become able to let go of
clinging to what looked like the Absolute leading to a deeper
non-dual realization from the Awareness vs
reflections-within-awareness duality.
.............
@jhsaintonge - hi, it's pretty much on topic actually. On May 12,
2011, I was doing the laundry after struggling for days on the
fundamental koan "if you knew that you couldn't do anything to gain
elightenment, then what do you do?" Suddenly, everything felt
dreamlike, everything namely may life, the universe, several past
lives, everything felt like a dream, something that never happened,
something illusory arising from a great void, a creative
nothingness, unborn, uncreated, beyond birth and death, beyond
time, non existing yet source and substance of all things; me,
awareness, consciousness was seen as being nothing more than its
projection that would then get identified with its projected
dreamlike appearences to create the illusion of a real life in a
real world. As a result of this event, everything felt perfect,
whole and complete for weeks. And something did shift
permanently.
Now what is that? Advaita Vedanta Jnanis told me you are That". You
are a jnani. Zen masters said, "you have seen the ox", the essence
of the Mind. Reading Christian mystics, it is clear that this event
is seeing God as the Ground of Being, the unmanifest source of all
things. Nothing wrong with the experience. It is great, awesome,
and enlightening in the sense that it opened the an abiding
non-dual state that some call technical 4th path.
But then, iis this the Buddha's awakening? Not so sure. Because
although this event does validate the teachings of Neoplantonism,
Advaita Vedanta, Christian mysticsm, there is no real insight into
"Co-dependent origination" and most as the other things that set
the Buddha's teachings apart from other great Indian spiritual
traditions.
.............
There remains a duality between "That" and phenomena. "That" feels
like an impersonal uncreated clean mirror in the background that
reflect phenomena, yet remains untouched. As a matter of fact that
is the Self that Raman Maharishi talked about. That is the Arma (or
Atta in Pali).
On a later stage, we realize that "That" can self-contract or on
the contrary expend. It is like zooming in an out. In reality, it
never changes, but gets more or less identified with phenomena.
Attending to this pure presence-awareness, it naturally grows and
overpowers phenomena to the point where everything is seen as
appearences reflected within it. Yet "That" is the Self.
The problem is not the Self, but what we make out of it. Grasping
at it tends to create a subtle duality, since we can become more or
less identified with its dreamlike projections. There is Awareness
vs phenomena arising within awareness. Awarenees is IT. Phenomena
arising within it are Maya, illusions. We must cease identification
with, or disembed from illusory (empty, impermanent, not-the-self)
phenomena. This is precisely what great Advaita Jnanis did, like
Ramana Maharishi who meditated for years in a cave after his
awakening.
The problem is that the more we disembed as this stage, the more we
grasp at this pure non-dual Awareness, Absolute or Self and fail to
realize what the Buddha realized under the Bodhi Tree.
My conviction is that in order to realize No-Self (Anatta), the
Buddha has realized the Self. He was already an accomplished yogi,
a master in his own right. But he still wasn't satisfied, because
it wasn't yet the end of suffering. Why, because as long as there
remains any tiny sense of "me" or "mine" either in relation with
body and mind, or with a Self, primordial awareness, Consciousness,
Brahman, the One Mind, God, etc. there will be
suffering.
.............
My guess is that the Buddha first realized the Self and then
started deconstructing it. He took this non-dual awareness and
thought, "how can I be sure that this will not perish with the
body?", "isn't awareness nothing more than something that arises as
the result of sense contact"; "can awareness or consciousness exist
beyond the 5 aggregates?", "what is the sense of self, being,
existence?", "how does it arise?", "why is it still there after
self-realization?", "why is it still there in the highest arupa
jhanas?", "how can it be extinguished without dying?"
Then one day, Gautama awakened to impermanence, co-dependent
origination, no-Atma (antta), emptiness, suchness, etc. and knew
that, "this is the end of suffering", "the holy life has been
lived, there is no more coming and going, etc.".
I am far from that, but I am starting to realize that the Buddha
did go beyond what everybody saw (and still seem to see -even
Buddhists- as enlightenment, awakening or self-realization.
Something that implies the realization of the Self, but goes
further.
.............
So what is this pure, unborn, empty, timeless and nondual
Awareness? As I see it now, it is just the non-arising,
unsupported, empty and self-luminous nature of what is that the
mind grasps and imagines to be an essential sustancial inherhent
ultimate reality beyond phenomena. Seeing a white ox on a while
empty field covered with snow (common Zen simile for the experience
of the One Mind), the mind assumes that there is a pure "Whiteness"
beyond all white objects.
Why? Because when the mind is not yet freed from ignorance, it
needs to hold on to some kind of stable reference point, reifying
its unconditioned and nonabiding nature realized in a moment of
total surrender into seeing the eternal Source and substance of all
things.
As I am starting to see it now, there is no clean mirror behind the
images reflected in the mirror.The mirror cannot be separated from
its reflected images. The reflected images are the mirror. Reality
is like a lucid dream, but there is no dreamer, nor dreamed reality
beyond the dream. There is just an timeless flow of dream images
dreaming themselves within the dream. In dreaming, only the dream /
in seeing, only the seen / in hearing, only the heard.
.............
Padmasambhava's take on the same subject (where we see that
Dzogchen and Vajrayana do not contract Pali Buddhism):
"The mind that observes is also devoid of an ego or
self-entity.
It is neither seen as something different from the aggregates
Nor as identical with these five aggregates.
If the first were true, there would exist some other
substance.
This is not the case, so were the second true,
That would contradict a permanent self, since the aggregates are
impermanent.
Therefore, based on the five aggregates,
The self is a mere imputation based on the power of the
ego-clinging.
As to that which imputes, the past thought has vanished and is
nonexistent.
The future thought has not occurred, and the present thought does
not withstand scrutiny."
.............
The suggestions that I have received were to acquire 'right view'.
The mind needs to acquire some form of conceptual model that allows
it to accept the possibility of its own non-abiding ungraspable
empty nature. Right view is therefore required to facilitate the
shift of perspective from "I am Awareness, everything is in me" to
"nothing whatsoever is me or mine, all dharmas are empty".
A good start would be Walpola Rahula's classic "What the Buddha
Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and
Dhammapada". It can be completed by "The Way to Buddhahood:
Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master" by Ven. Yin-shun. A
great autoritative summary of the Mahayana path. Then, based on a
solid understanding of the core insights of Buddhism, Dakpo Tashi
Namgyal's "Clarifying the Natural State" (if still in print, or
anything from the same great 16th century yogi) will be the best
introduction to the Mahamudra and indirectly to the the sem-de
series of Dzogchen.
The logical progression is therefore:
- Advaita Vedanta
- Pali Buddhism
- Mahayana Buddhism
- Mahamudra, Dzogchen
If we skip Pali and Mahayana Buddhism and jump directly to
Mahamudra or Dzogchen, the risk is to interpret Mahamudra or
Dzogchen as a Buddhist version of pop-neo-advaita, equating
emptiness and rigpa with awareness.
This is very common nowadays and some Western lamas seem to
encourage this trend to water-down the Dzogchen teachings, as
always in order to appeal to a larger public. Business is
business.
.............
The great thing about Buddhism is that is never goes beyond our
direct experience.
In our direct experience, "the seen" does not imply the existence
of solid objects out there that are the objects of what is seen.
They may or may may not exist, but our direct experience is only
"in seeing, only the seen".
In our direct experience, "the seen" does not imply the existence
of a subject (an entity located in our brain looking through our
eyes) or an impersonal unmanifest eternal witness (the Self,
Awareness). In our direct experience there is only "the seen",
without anybody seeing.
The dream is just a metaphor. "The seen" is itself: not existing,
not non-existing, nor both existing and non-existing
;-)
.............
Mahamudra is often defined as the union of emptiness and clarity.
In Zen we call it the inseparability of the empty essence and
luminous function of the mind.
What does it mean exacty and how is it related to practice.
As I see it, the practice of what Kenneth called 1st and 2nd gear
(noting vipassana and self-inquiry) allows us to witness the
impermanent nature or phenomena that are gradually seen as being
dreamlike, impermanent and ungraspable. As a result, we disembed
from our identification to phenomena and wake up to our existence
as pure awareness, first as the silent witness untouched by
thoughts, then as an impersonal presence-awareness somehow detached
from phenomena (3rd path) and finally as a non-dual awareness [that
is not a thing] that includes phenomena and manifests as phenomena
(4th path).
Through this process, the witness crystalizes the *clarity* aspect
of what is, while phenomena manifest the *emptiness* aspect of what
is. When the separation is complete, empty phenomedna are seen as
dreamlike apprearences within pure clarity apprehended as non-dual
awareness.
In the Direct Mode (3rd gear?) some have noticed that phenomena
become more alive, luminous, clear, in a way hyper-real, while the
sense of an observing witness tends to dissolve.
Why? Because at this stage the direct mode shifts the our attention
for the witnessing position beyond or behind phenomena towards
phenomena and objects on the foreground. As a result phenomena (the
seen, the heard, etc.) become more clear, alive, actual and
hyper-real revealing its *clarity* aspect, while the sense of self,
the witness, the observer or the sense of existing as a pure
impersonal univolved awareness dissolves and fades away, revealing
the *emptiness* aspect.
In both cases, *emptiness* and *clarity* are present but are
somehow divided into two opposites sides:
a). The subject is the only reality: the all pervading witnessing
non-dual awareness (clarity) on one side, and empty impermanent
phenomena reflected within awareness on the other (emptiness),
or
b.) The objects are the only reality in the absence of a knower:
the "actual" world bright clear and luminous out there (clarity)
and no self, witness or presence on the other side
(emptiness).
Both states are valid point of views as long as we understand that
everything is both *empty* and *luminous*. Then there is no
opposion or conflict between cycling mode and direct mode, this or
that. Gaining freedom from fixed views we gradually realize the
union of emptiness and clarity.
Zen master Linji (Jap. Rinzai) illustrates a). and b). as the 1st
and 2nd of his Four Positions:
1). Remove the objects, not the man (non-dual awareness that is
both the source and substance of all things)
2). Remove the man, not the objects (no sense of self or agency,
all that remains is the functioning of the six senses)
3). Remove both man and objects (emptiness of both self and
phenomena)
4). Remove neither man, nor objects (traceless enlightenment beyond
enlightenment)
.............
What is nibbana?
"If we wish to go by the Buddha's words, there is an easy principle
that the Buddha taught to a disciple named Bahiya. "O Bahiya,
whenever you see a form, let there be just the seeing; whenever you
hear a sound, let there be just the hearing; when you smell an
odor, let there be just the smelling (...) When you practice like
this, there will be no self, no "I". When there is no self, there
will be no running that way and no coming this way and no stopping
anywhere. Self does not exist. That is the end of dukkha. That
itself is nibbana". Whenever life is like that, it's nibbana. If
it's lasting, then it is lasting nibanna; if it is temporary, then
it is temporary nibanna. In other words, there is just one
principle to live by".
- Buddhdassa Bhikkhu, 'Heartwood of the bodhi Tree'
For more, see the original link