simmonds@demon.siemens.com (Tom Simmonds) (06/28/91)
Lin-chi (Rinzai in Japanese) lived in the ninth century AD and is considered to be the founder of one school of Zen Buddhism. His approach was primarily non-rational. He preferred to expose limited thinking by confronting his students with direct experience. I get the impression that he was very skillful in perceiving that kind of thinking and at choosing just the right action to reveal its inadequacy. He was famous for his shouts of "kaa!", which he would frequently use when somebody was expecting some rational response, and for doing something else whenever somebody was expecting him to say "kaa!". It seems that he did whatever he could to yank people out of their thoughts and into direct, here-and-now experience. His teachings were recorded by his students in a collection called the Lin-Chi Lu. In it, there is an interesting discourse that is relevant to the discussion about the purpose of a guru. It's quite lengthy, and I'm not inclined to post such a lengthy quote; but I'll try to summarize it as best I can. Lin-Chi criticized his students for looking to him for enlightenment. He told them that reality was already there in their own experience and that there was nothing he could add to it. He said that their only problem was a lack of confidence in the reality of their own nature, and that his function was to try to help them to overcome that lack of confidence. He urged them not to look outside of themselves for Buddha-nature, as if it were something missing that they could acquire from some outside source. He said that they would not find it in the scriptures and that all the Buddhas of the past could not give it to them. Instead, he told them that the six senses [seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking (ie. mental experiences)] are no other than the Buddha-mind itself, and that they need look no further. He said that all he could do for them was to point them back to their own experience. Just one final point of clarification: the reference to the six senses refers not to the organs of sense, nor to their objects, nor to some subjective medium, but to the vividly present experiences themselves as conscious events, without the conceptual assumption of some underlying substance or external cause. -- )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) (( (( . ((( ( (((((( (((( ((( ( ((( ( ((( . ((( ( ((( , ((( (((((( ))) )))) ))) ) ) ))))))) ))) ))) ) ) ))) ) ) ))) ))) ) ))) )))) ))))) ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
johnw@farside.eng.ready.com (John Wheeler) (06/28/91)
In article 197 of soc.religion.eastern, Tom Simmonds writes: >>[Linchi's] teachings were recorded by his students in a collection called >>the Lin-Chi Lu. In it, there is an interesting discourse that is relevant >>to the discussion about the purpose of a guru. It's quite lengthy, and I'm >>not inclined to post such a lengthy quote; but I'll try to summarize it as >>best I can. >>Lin-Chi criticized his students for looking to him for enlightenment. He told >>them that reality was already there in their own experience and that there was >>nothing he could add to it. He said that their only problem was a lack of >>confidence in the reality of their own nature, and that his function was to >>try to help them to overcome that lack of confidence. He urged them not to >>look outside of themselves for Buddha-nature, as if it were something missing >>that they could acquire from some outside source. He said that they would not >>find it in the scriptures and that all the Buddhas of the past could not give >>it to them. Instead, he told them that the six senses [seeing, hearing, >>smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking (ie. mental experiences)] are no other >>than the Buddha-mind itself, and that they need look no further. He said that >>all he could do for them was to point them back to their own experience. This is right on, in my opinion. I do not see that Lin Chi is questioning or devaluing the idea of a master. He is obviously functioning as such here. As any genuine master would, he is pointing his students to the reality available within themselves. Take note: nowhere is he saying a master in unecessary, or detrimental, or out of harmony with realizing the truth. He is, I believe, discouraging his students from conceiving reality as something external to themselves. When he says "all he could do for them was to point them back to their own experience" it is not to be taken lightly. For those practicing under him, it was the most significant aspect of their spiritual lives, I would venture to guess. >>Just one final point of clarification: the reference to the six senses refers >>not to the organs of sense, nor to their objects, nor to some subjective >>medium, but to the vividly present experiences themselves as conscious >>events, without the conceptual assumption of some underlying substance or >>external cause. I do not think this interpretation is warranted, Tom. Don't forget, Lin Chi was a Chinese master of the Ch'an lineage, not a Japanese Zen Buddhist. Lin Chi speaks freely and often of the Buddha-nature, the "True Man," and the Tao. His teaching is based on the realization of this reality. Like it or not, all of Mahayana Bhuddhism has, as one of its basic tenets, the doctrine of an ultimate metaphysical principle. What do you think Buddhist sages are talking about when they speak of the Tao, the Buddha-mind, the Dharmakaya, Self-born Wisdom, etc. Even in the Pali texts one finds statements such as, "There is, O monks, an Unborn, an Uncreated, an Unbecome..," etc. By the way, I appreciated your post. It is refreshing to hear some teaching from an enlightended master for a change.