As we are beginning a new set of five koans in our series,
It's time to review and reflect upon what this series is all about.
Koans are meant for people to see suddenly enlightenment,
To see the truth beyond all words.
Koan and Zen masters help us break through our thinking and logical mind to see in an enlightened way.
These koans are read from Dr.
Yu Wu's The Mind of Chinese Chan,
Zen,
The Chan school masters and their koans.
First we read the koan as is,
Then we take time to reflect.
Koans are meant for us to reflect.
Koans may hit us at one point or another and help us to see more clearly the depth of enlightenment.
After we pause for reflection,
Then we take time to look at what the meaning may offer.
Now begins case 6,
Tianshu's Wind and Moon.
Someone asked,
Before Bodhidharma came to this country,
Was there any Buddha Dharma here?
The master replied,
Do not talk about the past,
What is the present?
The man said,
I do not know,
Please be kind and tell me.
The master answered,
An eternity of endless space,
A day of wind and moon.
After a while he continued saying,
Do you understand?
You should know yourself,
Do not concern yourself with whether Bodhidharma had come or not.
Pause here for reflection.
So again,
Our reflection may take one moment,
One week,
One month.
Sometimes koans just hit us as we're walking down the street and the meaning becomes more clear or visceral.
As we reflect on this koan,
We first look at what is this question,
Before Bodhidharma came to this country was there any Buddha Dharma here?
The answer is,
Of course,
All things have their depth whether we know it or not,
But Bodhidharma was the one that opened minds to it in this way.
But a Zen master doesn't answer in a lecture,
A Zen master answers very concisely,
Very strongly sometimes.
Do not talk about the past,
What is the present?
Because the man still did not understand,
Then Tianshu was compassionate and answered further,
An eternity of endless space,
A day of wind and moon.
In foundational Chinese philosophy this could be considered non-being and being,
Or in a more Zen type of mentality,
In a more Zen type of language,
It could be called real emptiness.
The eternity of endless space is real emptiness,
And a day of wind and moon is being or subtle existence.
There are many obstacles to seeing things as they are,
To seeing true suchness.
In this case,
The man had an obstacle,
Dwelling on the past,
Dwelling on Bodhidharma,
Dwelling on this type of thinking.
Tianshu,
In this case,
Is allowing the person to see directly,
To see in that moment what is real,
What exists,
The emptiness,
The non-being,
The being,
The subtle existence,
The subtle existence and real emptiness,
The being and non-being.
That is what exists in the present.
That is what Tianshu wants us to understand.
