Yesterday someone asked me what is luminosity. I think this
article is well written.
http://www.wwzc.org/book/denkoroku-record-transmission-luminosity-29
Chapter 29: Bodhidharma
Koan
The Venerable Prajnatara asks Bodhidharma, "What is it that is
formless amongst things?"
Bodhidharma says, "Formlessness is unborn."
Prajnatara asks, "What is the highest amongst things?"
Bodhidharma says, "The Actual Nature is the highest."
Comments
Bodhidharma was born into the Kshtraya caste. His original name
was Bodhitara and he was the third son of the king of Koshi in
southern India. This king was a great devotee of the Buddhadharma
and once he made an offering of a precious jewel to Prajnatara.
The king had three sons, named Chandravimalatara, Punyatara and
Bodhitara. Wishing to test the wisdom of these three princes,
Prajnatara held up the jewel that their father had offered and
said, "Is there anything which can compare to this jewel?"
The first two princes said, "This jewel is the finest of all
precious gems and can be surpassed by none. Only one of your
spiritual greatness would be worthy to receive it."
The third prince was Bodhitara, and he said, "This is just a
mundane gem and cannot be counted within the highest rank because
the highest of all jewels is the jewel of reality. This has only a
mundane glittering and cannot be considered to be the highest
because the lustre of wisdom is supreme. This has a mundane clarity
and cannot be considered to be the finest because the clarity of
Awareness is supreme.
"This jewel cannot even sparkle as it does without the
luminosity that knows its gleaming. If you know, you know that this
is a jewel and knowing it as a jewel, you know that it is precious.
If you know that it is precious, then you should know that it’s
value is not true value itself. If you know that this is a jewel,
you should also know that the jewel is not a jewel itself.
"This jewel is not a jewel because it is only the jewel of
knowing that can discern it as even a mundane jewel. Its value is
not true value itself because it is only the jewel of knowing that
has true value.
"The Way that you teach is a treasury of knowing and thus you
have been offered this mundane treasure. Just as this treasure has
appeared due to your wisdom, so may the treasure of Awareness
appear in those who awaken to it."
When the Venerable Master Prajnatara heard this eloquent
understanding from the third prince, he knew that this was the
incarnation of a sage and saw that the prince would be the heir to
his Dharma. However, the moment was not yet ripe, and so he kept
silent and left Bodhitara still mixed with the others.
Later, however, Prajnatara asks the prince, "What is it that is
formless amongst things?"
The prince answers, "Formlessness is unborn."
The Venerable Master asks, "What is it that all things are hung
on?"
The prince answers, "All things hang on the sense of self and
other."
Finally, Prajnatara asks, "What is the highest amongst
things?"
The prince says, "The Actual Nature is the highest."
Although this discussion showed the resonance between the minds
of teacher and student, Prajnatara still waited until the moment
had ripened.
Some time after this, the king died. While everyone was
mourning, Bodhitara sat before the coffin in samadhi for seven
days. When he left this he went to Prajnatara and requested
ordination as a monk. Seeing that the moment had arrived,
Prajnatara conferred the precepts and ordained the prince.
Following this, Bodhitara sat and practiced for seven days
before the presence of Prajnatara and received complete
instructions from Prajnatara on the subtleties of practice. On
hearing these teachings, Bodhitara realized supreme insight.
Prajnatara said to him, "You have complete wisdom into all
principles of the Dharma. "Dharma" means complete knowing. Thus I
shall name you Bodhidharma."
Having received the transmission, Bodhidharma knelt and asked,
"I have realized the Dharma. Now where shall I go to do the work of
the Buddhas?"
Prajnatara said, "You have realized the Dharma. Stay here in
southern India for a time. Sixty-seven years following my death you
should travel to China and establish there strong medicine to teach
those of excellent potential."
Bodhidharma asked, "Will I be able to find those who can become
vessels this teaching? Will there be troubles there over the next
thousand years?"
Prajnatara answered, "There will be numberless people who will
wake up in that land where you shall teach. There will be some
trouble so you should lay low. When you arrive in China, don’t
tarry in the south because the people there are only interested in
‘good works’ and do not know the essence of the Buddhadharma."
Prajnatara then gave a teaching verse to Bodhidharma:
On the way you will cross a stream
and meet a sheep.
Alone and restless
you will cross the dark water.
Under the sun, kindness
to two animals: elephant and horse.
Two cassia saplings will flourish forever.
He also said, "You will encounter one in the forests who will
realize enlightenment."
He spoke this verse as well:
China is broad but there is no other road
for you to find those who will follow your path.
A golden rooster can pick up a single grain
to sustain all of the sages of the world.
Having thus received the transmission and instructions,
Bodhidharma attended Prajnatara for forty years. Following
Prajnatara’s death, Bodhidharma began to teach as did his fellow
heir Buddhasena. Another heir named Bodhisanta had broken the
transmission into six different sects but Bodhidharma was able to
unify these through his teaching and was revered throughout the
land.
After sixty years had thus passed, Bodhidharma knew that the
time was come to journey to China. He went to the ruler of the
people and said, "Dedicate yourself to the Buddha, the Dharma and
the Sangha and thus be of benefit to the people. It is now time for
me to go to China. When this work is done, I shall return."
The king wept and said, "What crime has this country commited
and why is that one so auspicious? Still, when your work in China
is completed, do not forget the land of your birth and come back to
us." The king accompanied him to the part and watched his
departure.
Bodhidharma travelled for three years by sea and finally arrived
in southern China in the year 527. From there he was called to his
meeting with Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty of southern China.
This is what Prajnatara was speaking of when he said, "don’t tarry
in the south." From there Bodhidharma travelled to the northern
kingdom of Wei. It is said that he travelled on a reed; some people
have taken this literally and so Bodhidharma is sometimes painted
standing on a river but this is wrong. The reed was a reed-shaped
boat, not an actual reed. "Meeting a sheep" was a reference to
Emperor Wu of Liang. "Crossing the dark water" meant the Yangzi
river which was the border between the kingdom of Wei in the north
and Liang in the south.
Bodhidharma then arrived at the Shaolin-si near Songshan and
stayed there in the eastern hall. He sat there throughout the day
and night. No one could understand anything about him and they just
referred to him as the "wall-gazing Brahmin." Bodhidharma just sat
in this way without complicated explanations or trying to hurry up
his presentation.
After nine years he passed on his "skin, meat, bones, and
marrow" to his four disciples Daofu, Daoyu, Congzhi, and Huike when
he saw that their potentials were ripe.
At this time there were two teachers of deviant paths called
Bodhiruci and Guangtong who were angered because of the way that
Bodhidharma’s virtue was known throughout the land and that he was
honoured and trusted by so many. Once they stoned him and smashed
out his front teeth and they even tried to poison him five
times.
The sixth time, Bodhidharma poured the poison out onto a large
rock and the rock split. Finding that his work was now complete, he
thought to himself, "Having received the transmission and
predictions from my Master, I saw in the sky signs that there will
be people with capacity for this great teaching but since my
meeting with Emperor Wu of Liang I was unable to find anyone
suitable. I sat in coolness, doing nothing for nine years until I
found the unexcelled Huike and to him I have transmitted my
realization of the Way. I have done this and now the time is over.
I will leave." Having said this, he then died in zazen. He is
buried on Mount Xionger. There is a later story that a man named
Songyun met him in the Himalayan mountains, but the truth is that
he was buried at Mount Xionger.
Teisho
Through the transmission and final teachings of the Venerable
Master Prajnatara, Bodhidharma became the founder of Zen in China.
In his first meeting with Prajnatara when he was explaining about
the jewel, Prajnatara asks him, "What is it that is formless
amongst things?" Bodhidharma says, "Formlessness is unborn."
Even if you speak about silent emptiness, this isn’t really
formless. Thus he said, "Formlessness is unborn." If your
understanding is like scaling a mile high sheer cliff, then you can
clearly understand it as everything and realize that everything is
nothing else. But this is still not the unborn and so it is not
formlessness. Before any division betwen heaven and earth how can
there be any split between holy and profane? In this realm, not a
single thing appears and there is not even a speck that can stain
it. It is not that there is originally some kind of blankness but
rather that you are emptied and open, cleary aware, wide awake and
without confusion. There is nothing to compare anything to and
there is nothing other than just this. Thus it is called "the
highest among things." Thus the highest is called "beyond concept"
and this "beyond concept" is called the Actual Nature.
Even a priceless gem cannot be compared to it and even the clear
luminosity of the mind cannot objectify itself. Thus Bodhidharma
said that the jewel had only a worldly glitter that could not be
considered the finest because the clarity of Awareness is supreme.
This understanding was natural to him and so when he sat for seven
days and received the complete and subtle teachings he realized the
supreme wisdom of the Way.
You should know that is through such detailed examinination and
true entry that you know for yourself what the Buddhas and Zen
Masters have realized. Through clarifying what the Awakened Ones of
the past have realized, one becomes a true descendant of the
Buddhas. We can see this fact through the example of this worthy
one; although he had already deep natural wisdom, he went on and
realized the supreme wisdom of the Way. As well he Mastered the
mind of being able to preserve and maintain it for the future. He
practiced deeply through forty years of attending to Prajnatara and
then for another sixty carried Prajnatara’s gift for the future.
After three years crossing the sea he arrived in a foriegn land and
sat in coolness for nine years until he found persons with the
capacity for this great teaching. Finally he was able to repay his
debt to his teacher by establishing the True Dharma of the Buddhas.
His hardships were the hardest and his austerities the most
austere.
Zen students these days though want to take it easy even though
the times are so degenerate and people’s capacities are so small. I
am afraid that I must tell you people who would like to claim to
have attained what you have not that you are just too full of
yourselves and that you should just withdraw from the practice of
Zen.
If you have any penetration at all into this koan then you will
see just how profound it all is and that it gets more and more so.
Break up this "mind" and let go of this "body." Just deeply
question into the Way and through the subtle transmission of the
Awakened Ones you will directly meet for yourself what the Buddhas
have realized. Don’t think that your little understandings and
insights are all that there is.
Once more, I’ve got a little poem:
Nothing is located anywhere:
no boundary
and no outside.
Is there even
the slightest thing?