Conned By "Enlightenment:" A Soto Zen View

This is a Dharma talk that supports Zen meditation practice by questioning the notion of "enlightenment" from the Soto Zen perspective; describes two approaches to Zen practice: "facilitative" or goal-oriented and "expressive" or goal-free and concludes with suggestions for practice.

Transcript

Don't get conned by enlightenment.

There are basically two approaches to Zen practice.

They can be reduced to either seeking enlightenment by practice or by enacting enlightenment through the practice itself.

We can refer to the first as instrumental or facilitative and the second approach as expressive or what the Zen teacher Taigen Dan Leighton refers to as an enactment ritual.

The first approach is a deficit model because the basic premise is that we lack something,

Something called enlightenment.

We lack enlightenment and we have to strive for it in one way or another.

The second approach can be described as a fullness or as an abundance model,

That is,

There is nothing to seek.

It's guided by Musho Toku or no gaining mind and Shusho Ichinyo or practice and realization are one.

That is,

There is no practice without realization and no realization without practice.

The something lacking or the deficit approach is subject to objectification and reification,

Meaning that we turn enlightenment,

An abstract concept,

Into a thing,

An object,

Or a state of mind.

In other words,

A something that we seek and that needs to be found.

In this regard,

It is practice based on a dualistic assumption,

That is,

The split between not having and acquiring,

Being deluded and being enlightened.

The second approach is expressed as an action,

As a relationship to all being.

We could say that the first is about a state of mind and the second approach is about lived relationships.

On this point,

The influential 19th century Soto Zen teacher Nishihari Bokusan points out that discrepancy with the first view with the comment,

What is it that we are deluded about?

He answers enlightenment.

What is it that we want to become enlightened about?

He answers delusion.

In this manner,

He cuts through the illusion that delusion and enlightenment are different states of being.

The Chan teacher Sheng Yen expresses it this way,

And I quote him,

However,

The approach to practice espoused by the Chan school dispenses with all conditioned views and expedients and advocates direct identification with the enlightened nature of mind and the world,

Just as it is.

There is no delusion to remove,

No enlightenment to attain.

The first deficit or facilitative view is dualistic because it's about what we have or what we don't have and is based on the saying,

All beings have Buddha nature.

The second approach is non-dualistic and is expressed by Dogen as whole being is Buddha nature.

Dogen made this shift in the expression from all beings have Buddha nature to whole being is Buddha nature because there is one Chinese pictogram for both have and for is.

This latter view finds expression in this moon image.

In the Zen approach,

The moon functions as a symbol for enlightenment.

Here's the quote,

When the full moon is in view,

Where is the crescent?

When the crescent moon is in view,

Where is the full moon?

So you can see it becomes a matter of perceptual shifts.

From the non-dualistic point of view,

There are two different perceptions,

But only one moon.

This exemplifies the Zen notion of the identity of the relative and the absolute.

The relative is represented by the crescent or a part and the absolute is represented by the full moon or the whole,

Also expressed as the identity of the one and the many.

This seems like a contradiction and a paradox that can't be resolved by discursive thought or logical reasoning.

However,

Through practice,

We realize this through prajna or intuitive wisdom.

How does this happen?

Authentic practice induces perceptual shifts and a lived understanding of this one reality.

It shifts into the foreground of our awareness.

Authentic practice can be summarized as the harmonization of body,

Breath,

And mind.

That is,

Correct posture,

Relaxed body,

And a calm mind all work together in harmony.

Hong Shi,

The 12th century Chinese Zen teacher,

Describes this practice as silent illumination.

When the mind is calm,

We have silence.

When we have silence,

We have clarity.

This is illumination.

Dogen describes this harmonization through practice very clearly in his Shobugenzo,

The true Dharma-ari chapter,

Zanmai,

Ozanmai,

The samadhi that is the king of samadhis.

He writes,

The Buddha teaches his disciples to sit in the full lotus posture,

Sitting with the mind upright.

Why?

Because if the body is upright,

The mind is easily set right.

When the body sits upright,

The mind is not weary,

The mind is regulated,

The intention is right,

And the attention is bound to what is immediately present.

If the mind races or becomes distracted,

And if the body leans or becomes agitated,

Sitting upright regulates them and causes them to recover.

When we want to experience samadhi and want to enter samadhi,

Even if the mind is chasing various images and is variously distracted,

Sitting upright completely regulates all such states.

Practicing like this,

We experience and enter the samadhi that is the king of samadhis.

Don't get conned by the promise of enlightenment.

Realize the Buddha nature or basic goodness that we already are through compassionate and wise action.

Don't be fooled by the con.

It's nothing but a carrot dangling on a stick,

Leading the donkey.

If you do this,

You will get that.

Follow me,

I have it,

You don't.

Unfortunately,

Cults are born this way.

We don't want to reify an abstract concept,

So-called enlightenment,

And turn it into an object,

A desirable object at that.

Desire for this illusion is still desire and functions from a sense of lack.

We must first believe that we lack something.

The desire for enlightenment is still desire and no different than the desire for any tangible object,

Like money for instance.

Shikantaza practice,

Or just sitting,

Guided by musho toku,

Or no gaining mind,

Functions out of fullness and abundance,

Not lack.

In the Heart Sutra,

It is written that form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

Emptiness is fullness,

Abundance,

Infinite becoming,

Sometimes depicted as a pregnant gourd that's constantly evolving and putting forth the moving reality.

In this regard,

We say that enlightenment is beginningless,

Practice is endless.

Imagine that you have a brand new knife.

It is as sharp as it ever will be.

You use it,

And over time,

It becomes a little dull and needs to be sharpened.

Similarly,

You are buddha nature from the beginning.

As Dogen describes in Bendoa,

The wholehearted practice of the way,

He writes,

This dharma is abundantly present in each human being,

But if we do not practice it,

It does not manifest itself.

And if we do not experience it,

It cannot be realized.

However,

Over time,

Due to causes and conditions,

All the events of your life,

You become dulled to our basic goodness,

Our basic buddha nature,

By the three poisons,

Ignorance,

Attachment,

And aversion,

Which are enacted as greed,

Envy,

Aggression,

Hate,

Or fear,

To name a few manifestations.

Practice sharpens us and functions to keep wisdom and compassion from becoming dull and out of contact.

The dullness that occurs is often depicted as afflictions.

The afflictions are an aspect of relative reality,

The ten thousand things,

The infinite shapes of the shoreline,

The countless grasses.

Alterations in perception bring unitive experience into the foreground.

We're not talking here about two different realities,

One characterized by afflictions,

The other experienced as nirvana.

The Lotus Sutra teaches one reality.

So,

When you practice zazen,

Just sit,

Nothing else.

Maintain a sense of presence.

Drop the sense of seeking out anything.

By this,

I don't mean becoming lazy or complacent.

That's not it either.

Maintain correct posture with a relaxed body and a calm mind.

A calm mind doesn't mean no thoughts,

Although we might experience no-thought moments from time to time.

Rather,

We are shifting our relationship to thoughts to a non-judgmental awareness of just noticing the arising and dissolving of all experience,

Including thinking,

Without attachment and without aversion.

Just sitting.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you for a very clear explanation. It's very helpful for my practice. I'm very grateful for that

Thankyou for your beautiful, simplistic reminders in teaching of “The Way.” Namaste Seiso.🙏🌹

Thank you, Seiso 🙏 I appreciated the language and distinction of “lack” vs. “abundance”. That shifts something for me. Thank you 🙏

A very good lesson. Very informative and helpful 🙏🙏

A succinct clarification of a perennial misconception. Thank you Sensei! 🙏

So glad that more of his wonderful talks are now available. Absolutely nails the Zen practice of Shikantaza. Many, many thanks!!

Thank you Seiso for your richly informed and helpful talk. I am intrigued by your mention of the moon being an expression of enlightenment for Buddhist ancestors, as the moon reflects light but does not embody it. What insight could this bring forth?

Reminders about the value of sitting straight and “just sitting” are always welcome. 🙏

This leaves no escape from personal responsibility, does it? No one else can sit for us, memorising the right words or attending the right meetings won’t do it. It’s just down to me. Thank you .