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Talk Notes
We are going to teach a five class dharma seminar called Entering The Mirror and it is based on the Platform Sutra.
There are many dharma seminars about the Platform Sutra and so we were interested in a slightly different approach and that approach is that the Buddhist teachings have all the same aim, the same teaching. So we are trying something different and I hope it will work for you.
Hannah will be presenting on the Platform Sutra and I will draw parallels in Dogen's teachings and then together we will look at how this applies to us in our daily life. Thank you very much.
Thank you all for being here. So, our purpose as Chris said in sharing this seminar is to look at some of the pivotal verses of the Platform Sutra. Sometimes when we study a sutra, we read it word for word, but we won't be doing that. We'll look at some of the verses that we think are the most profound, I guess I'd say. We're going to use Red Pines's translation. There are other translations, but this is the one that we're primarily drawing from and then relate them to Dogen's observations and explore how they work in our lives. Just like she said.
So my first teacher really who was in the Vipassana tradition used to always interrupt his dharma talks by going "story, story". So I'm going to tell the story of Huineng. We actually have dates for his life. 638 to 713. That's part of the story. He was raised in poverty after his father who had been an official in the government lost his position and subsequently died. Huineng must have been quite young and once he and his mother decamped to live in simplicity and he allegedly as an illiterate cut and sold wood in the marketplace. One day, as the story goes, he heard someone walking by chanting the diamond sutra. Now this was common place at the time. Many people were illiterate and the way the dharma was transmitted was by singing or chanting verses and people would memorize them. So they were always somewhat repetitive and it is said that upon hearing that recitation he had a great awakening. And though there are many translations, this is one translation of the line that supposedly galvanized him. One should be non-abiding, thus giving rise to one's mind.
On the basis of this moment, he resolved to find a teacher. So he left home and he lived in the south and he arrived at the monastery of Hongren who is the fifth ancestor in Chinese Buddhism. He was given the job of rice pounder which is the lowliest position or a low-level position and he stayed there for a long time.
At that point, Hongren was ready to pass on his robes and everyone assumed that the head student would be, and that was Shenxiu, would be the next the receiver of the robe, the dharma heir. But what he wanted to do was establish a poetry contest. And so he instructed all the students to compose a verse that would express the dharma essence.
Well, everyone assumed that Shenxiu would be the next person, so not very many people wrote. And he did write one and presented it to Hongren and he wrote, "The body is the bodhi tree. The mind is like a stand for a clear mirror. At times, at all times, diligently wipe it. do not allow it to become dusty.
So he presented that to his master Hongren who said, "Well, it's pretty good, but it doesn't go all the way. You have taken it to a point where anyone who receives this teaching won't regress in their practice, but they won't have gone all the way through. Why don't you go back and write another poem?" And he went back and he hemmed and hawed and didn't really write another poem. And Huineng heard about this and he decided that he would try his hand and allegedly he asked someone to write it for him and he wrote the body is a bodhi tree.
Oh, wait a second here. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go again. Second poem, I goofed. There was a second poem. The body is like a bodhi tree. The mind is like a standing mirror. Always try to keep it clean. Don't let it gather dust.
That is the poem that was written by Shenxiu.
Huineng's response was this. Bodhi doesn't have any trees. The mirror doesn't have a stand. Our Buddha nature is forever pure. Where do you get this dust?
And so Hongren the fifth patriarch took way to his quarter in the dark of night and gave him what we call transmission. Now he did it in the dark of night because this was not a popular decision. Shenxiu was a was a very well-liked head student and there was a lot of commotion. So there they are in the dark. He got the robe, he got the bowl and at that point Hongren said, "You better get out of here because you are not going to be safe.
You should go out of town. You should lay low for three years and then teach the dharma."
So that practice of bestowing the robes has continued to this day that when a person reaches transmission, they do it in the dark of night. There's an exchange and the dharma is transmitted face-to-face.
So as Huineng left for the south, his homeland, he started to finally teach. And eventually his teachings became the establishment of what was called the southern school. And that was the school of, if you could guess from the poem, sudden enlightenment.
This also corresponded with a great rise in population in the south. So many followers were influenced by the sudden enlightenment doctrine.
The poem that Shenxiu wrote was based on gradual enlightenment. But Huineng's emphasis on direct experience, simplicity and purity of the mind resonates with many contemporary practitioners who seek a practical and accessible path to awakening.
Huineng's story also serves as a powerful reminder that spiritual realization transcends social status, education, and cultural barriers. His legacy lives on not only in monastic communities, but also among lay practitioners who find meaning in the teachings. And as we look at the poem, they are rather straightforward, which makes the platform sutra a very worthy book of your attention.
Oh yeah, we're just getting the hang of this dual offering.
Thank you for sharing this story. If you read it in the book, it's actually really involved and it's a fun read, especially this, Red Pine's commentary.
So, what I want to do is pick up the question that Hannah has opened with Huineng and these two different verses and bring it into Dogen's teaching and then into our own lives. So the question that I see is, what if awakening is not the result of polishing ourselves into perfection but the recognition of something that has never been absent. To me that question could actually fill all five classes. It gives us a way into Huineng's story. It connects it to the Diamond Sutra line, the contrast between Shenxiu and Huineng and also the bridge to Dogen and to lived practice. Because I think if we only hear this story about two monks hundreds of years ago in ancient China, we missed the point or at least we missed the point for our practice.
These two verses are still alive in the way we practice, the way we think about ourselves, the way we get discouraged, and the way we try to improve really hard. The way we sit down on the cushion hoping to become a better version of ourselves.
So the question I want to stay with is this. What if awakening is not the result of polishing ourselves into perfection but this recognition that has that it never has been absent?
And if that is true, what becomes of our practice? Why do we sit, if there is no mirror to polish and no dust that can stain it? Why do we sit? Why do we make any effort at all? Why bow, chant, apologize, confess, pay attention to our conduct and keep coming back?
And I want to say that Shenxiu's verse deserves a little more sympathy than he usually gets. It's easy to set this up like he's the loser, but his verse makes very good sense. The body is a bodhi tree. The mind is like a bright mirror stand. At all times we wipe it. Do not let dust collect. That works very nicely for our practice.
And I do know this self-improvement mind very well. When I'm reactive, when I'm self-absorbed, angry. So when I feel these rough edges in myself, it draws me to practice because I do see more clearly when I do practice.
There's something sincere in Shenxiu's expression. There's dignity in it. And it's not stupid to want to be less harmful. But then Huineng comes along and changes the whole picture. Originally there is no bodhi tree nor a stand of a mirror pride since all is empty from the beginning where it can dust a light. However you translate it, it's a real interruption. He's not saying actually I have the more advanced Zen view. He's questioning the whole setup of the head monk. If there is no fixed mirror and no dust, what are we doing when we practice? And maybe more to the point, who is it that is doing the polishing? So that's why we can go straight to Dogen because he'll shake up everything all the time anyways.
Dogen does not let us go to either extreme. He does not let us turn our practice into a self-improvement project. But he also doesn't let us turn "there is no dust" into an excuse to not do anything.
He doesn't say well if there is nothing to polish who cares. And he doesn't say, yes you are a flawed person over there and if you work really hard you'll eventually become spiritually acceptable.
Dogen is more subtle and the first place I went to is Fukanzazengi which actually translates as universal recommendation of zazen.
Dogen starts by saying, "The way is originally perfect and all pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and realization?" I love that line because it does sound a lot like Huineng. The way is perfect and all pervading. So why practice? Why get up in the morning and sit on a cushion? But then Dogen does what he always does. He doesn't leave us there. He says, "And yet if there's the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth." So on one hand, nothing is missing. On the other hand, if there's the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. And there is no contradiction in that. He's pointing at something very simple and human. The way is never absent. Awakening is not absent. But we live at a distance from our lives at all times. Just like not quite there. We live a lot in our ideas and our resentments, self judgment, our stories that we make up about ourselves.
We are not that often where we really are. And Dogen says zazen is not learning meditation. It is simply the dharma gate of repose and bliss. That's the part I want to underline that comes now. It is the practice realization of totally culminated enlightenment. Practice and realization are not two separate things. We do not practice in order to become awakened later. Practice itself is awakening taking form. Sitting is the expression of Buddha nature.
Well, sometimes we get bored, right? We want to go to sleep. My knee hurts.
Trying not to fall asleep. But still, Dogen says, "Zazen is not a method for improving ourselves. It's not spiritual housekeeping. It is the reenactment of the Buddha's enlightenment.
I'm going to check. Still have a little time. That's also what I hear in Bendōwa translated on the endeavor of the way. Dogen keeps insisting that practice is not something we do now so we can get enlightened later.
Dogen keeps on telling us that practice is the expression of awakening, not the acquisition.
It's not how we get somewhere else.
And last but not least, I want to bring in Genjo Koan actualizing the fundamental point. I know you're really tired of this line by now, but to study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by the myriad things.
Now, if you put this line right next to the two poems of the sixth ancestor and the head monk, it really starts to shine. To study the self is not to improve the self. It is not to turn myself into a better spiritual product. To study the self is to look closely enough and honestly enough that the self that I'm so hard trying to improve starts to loosen up a little.
And to forget the self is to be actualized by the myriad things. So the goal is not to escape this life and not to transcend life but to become intimate with it. To see the myriad things coming forward.
And to be actualized by the myriad things means to be actualized by this world, by this body, by these relationships, by this grief and by this sink full of dishes.
So to me that that's very real.
Because if I'm honest and maybe you want to check with yourself, often our practice looks a lot like Shenxiu's. I practice as if the point were to become a better version of myself. A kinder version maybe less anxious, less messy.
If I could just get rid of this fear, this resentment, this impatience, this old grief, then maybe I could really practice. Yeah. No.
So, Huineng and Dogen both come along and say, "Really? That's your plan? You're going to fix yourself into enlightenment?"
I'm exaggerating but not by too much.
The problem is not that I want to be kinder. Of course I want to be. The problem is the whole structure of, I'm over here flawed and dusty and awakening in a shiny mirror is somewhere over there. They're both waiting for me to make it over to that place.
And that whole setup gets challenged and Huineng says, "What is this mirror you are polishing? Where is it and who is polishing it and where is this dust coming from?"
Dogen says if you study the self deeply enough, the self you're trying to perfect, it begins to fall apart. Not in a bad way, but in a liberating way.
And this is where I want to come back to the Diamond Sutra line Huineng hears. Abide nowhere and let the mind arise. Or in other translation depending on no thing, find your own mind. To me that is the question. Where do I abide? Where do I set up house? In my anxiety, in my story of inadequacy, in trying to become a better self?
So to abide nowhere doesn't mean becoming detached or vague or kind of blank.
It means not moving into every passing state and calling that home. Anger comes, fear comes, grief comes. If I try to follow these mental states around, it's like a rocking like a rocking horse, like a swing, and we have no place to stand.
Do I immediately want to build a house there? Do I, am I tempted to turn these passing states into my identity?
This is me. This is how I am. This is my failure. This is my life. Well, when Huineng heard something in that line and something opened and Dogen asks us to do the same thing. Sit down in the middle of our life and stop building a house in every passing weather system of the mind. At the same time, I want to be careful here because there is no dust can become nonsense pretty quickly. Somebody hurts me and I say, "Well, originally there is not a single thing." Or I hurt someone and I say, "Where can dust the light?" No, that's totally not it. No dust does not mean nothing matters. It doesn't mean our conduct doesn't matter. Our speech doesn't matter.
It means we stop making a solid self out of every passing state.
So awakening doesn't belong to the finally cleaned up version of ourselves. It is right here. And I don't Shenxiu and Huineng as opponents. I see them as two parts of practice life. Yes, there is effort. And yes, I care. And we keep the precepts and we apologize. We begin again. We clean up after ourselves and we sit down again on our cushion tomorrow morning whether we feel like it or not.
But all of that is held inside a bigger understanding. We're not doing those things in order to be become someone else.
We are worthy right now. We are practicing because this life exactly this one is where awakening is enacted.
So because we don't want to keep this on the level of the story, we came up with some practice questions and we're going to split up into triads and you can pick any of the themes that I'm going to bring up now or whatever else came up during our dharma seminar here.
And you can totally take this into the week. So number one, notice where you are abiding. Just notice where the mind takes up residence in planning, in self-criticism, in fantasy, in daydreaming.
You don't have to fix it. Just notice, this is where I'm living right now. Number two, when you notice what you would what I'm calling the polishing mind or mind polishing, the mind that is really trying to improve, repair or purify itself. Pause for a second and ask, "What is it that I am trying to fix right now? And who is it that needs fixing? Not as a clever Zen question, just as a way of slowing down the process.
So the question, what am I trying to fix and who is doing the fixing? And third, number three, when a difficult feeling comes up, maybe not try to move away from it too quickly. We often do that because we don't want to feel what doesn't feel good. So, but just hanging out with it without feeding it by affirming it or indulging it and not turning it into yet another story. Not to immediately clean it up. Let anger be like anger for a little while and grief be grief without making it me or my failure. Kind of just testing what's really lying underneath.
