After a Sunday night lecture,
a student asked Seung Sahn Soen Sa, How many kinds of Zen are
there?
Soen Sa said, There are five kinds of Zen.
What are the five kinds?
They are: The outer path Zen, the common peoples Zen, Hinayana
Zen, Mahayana Zen and The Utmost Vehicle Zen.
The student then asked for an explanation of each of these
classifications.
Soen Sa said, Zen is meditation. Outer path Zen includes many
different types of
meditation. For example, Christian meditation, Divine Light
meditation,
Transcendental meditation, etc.
The Common Peoples Zen is concentration meditation, Dharma play
meditation,
sports, the tea ceremony, ritual ceremonies, etc.
Hinayana meditation is insight into non-self, impurity, and
impermanence.
Mahayana meditation is: 1. Insight into the existence and
non-existence of the nature of the dharmas; 2. Insight into the
fact that there are no external, tangible characteristics, and that
all is emptiness; 3. Insight into existence emptiness, and the
Middle Way; 4. Insight into the true aspect of all phenomena; 5.
Insight into the mutual penetration of all phenomena; 6. Insight
that sees that phenomena itself is the Absolute. These six are
equal to the following statement from the Hua-Yen Sutra, If a man
wishes to thoroughly understand all the Buddhas of the three time
spheres, then he should view the nature of the whole Universe as
being created by the mind alone.
Finally there is the Utmost Vehicle Zen which is divided into
three types: Theoretical Zen, Tathagata Zen, and Patriarchal
Zen.
The student then asked, The five kinds of Zen are all very good.
Which one is best?
Soen Sa said, Do you understand your mind?
I dont know.
When you do not know your mind all Zen is no good. When you
understand your mind, all Zen is best.
I want to understand my mind. What kind of Zen is the best
training?
Soen Sa said, Understanding ones mind is the aim of the the
Utmost Vehicle Zen. You mentioned before that this Zen is further
divided into three kinds. Which of the three is the best
training?
The three kinds are only one, not three. Thinking understanding of
Zen is Theoretical Zen. The attainment of emptiness, the unity of
mind and the Universe is the Tathagaya Zen. Like this is
Patriarchal Zen. This means a relaxed mind, the attainment of the
big I. Big I is infinite time and infinite space.
The student asked Soen Sa, Thats all very difficult. Why all this
thinking kind, empty kind, and like this kind? I dont
understand.
Soen Sa said, I will explain it to you. The Heart Sutra says,
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. So your substance and the
substance of all things is the same. Your original mind is Buddha,
Buddha is your original mind.
Then Soen Sa, holding a pencil in his hand, asked the student,
This is a pencil. Are you and the pencil same or different?
Same.
Soen Sa said, Thats right. This is theoretical Zen.
Thank you very much. What then is Tathagata Zen?
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says, All formations are impermanent,
this is the law of arising and disappearing. When arising and
disappearing are extinguished, then this stillness is bliss. This
means that when there is no appearance nor disappearance in your
mind, that mind is bliss. This is a mind devoid of all thinking,
and so I ask you again, this pencil and you, are they the same or
different?
The student said, Same.
Soen Sa said, If you say same, you deserve thirty blows. If you
say different, you still deserve thirty blows. What can you
do?
The student could not answer and became very confused.
Soen Sa hit the floor and immediately after said, The keeping of
your mind, as it is just now, is the Tathagata Zen. Do you
understand?
I dont know.
This dont know mind has no Buddha, no Dharma, no good, no bad,
no light, no dark, no sky, no ground, no same, no different, no
emptiness, no form, no anything in it. This is a truly empty mind.
Empty mind is a mind which does not appear nor disappear. Keeping
this mind at all times is Tathagata Zen. Before you said that the
pencil and you are the same. This same is thinking, so you
deserved thirty blows. Do you understand?
The student said, I have a little understanding.
Little understanding is good. You must practice and understand
your mind. To my same or different question I hit the floor. When
you understand my action of hitting the floor, you will understand
Tathagata Zen.
Thank you very much. Please explain the Patriarchal Zen.
Long ago a person asked Zen Master Man-Gong, What is
Buddhism?
Man-Gong said, Sky is high, ground is wide. Do you understand
what this means?
I dont know.
Soen Sa said Thats right. Like this is enlightenment.
Patriarchal Zen is enlightenment
Zen. An eminent teacher said:
1. Sky is ground, ground is sky. Sky and ground are constantly
changing.
Water is mountain, mountain is water. Water and mountain is
emptiness.
2. Sky is sky. Ground is ground. How can they ever change? Mountain
is mountain. Water is water. Such is the truth.
The first strophe is of the Tathagata Zen realm, and the second
belongs to the Patriarchal Zen. Long ago, a person asked Zen Master
Dong-Sun, What is Buddha? He said, Three
pounds of flax. The person did not understand and went to another
Zen Master, related his encounter with Dong-Sun and asked, What
does three pounds of flax mean? The Zen Master said, In the
North, pine; In the South, bamboo. The person still did not
understand and so he went to one of his friends who had practiced
Zen for some time. His
friend said, You open your mouth, your teeth are yellow. Do you
understand? I dont know. First understand your mind, then all
of this will be clear.
Then Soen Sa asked the student, Do you understand?
The student said, I understand, thank you.
What do you understand?
Like this is Patriarchal Zen.
Soen Sa asked, What is like this?
The student did not know. Soen Sa pinched his arm hard and twisted
it. The student yelled, Owwwww!
This is like this., Soen Sa said, Who is in pain?
I dont know.
You must understand that which is in pain, then you will
understand the Utmost Vehicle Zen, and see all the Universe as
truth.
Thank you very much. The student bowed and left.
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