The blockhead years
As much as this blog has tried to emphasize the overarching importance of Mind in Buddhism, most Western Buddhists are, I hate to say this, blockheads when it comes to even accepting the possibility that Buddhisms Mind is the very medium or stuff of this universe including even our pesky little thoughts and emotions that whirl around in our skandha, Mara the killer, brain.
Well, I was once a blockhead, too. A damn good one!
When I first began my study of Zen I can remember coming across passages talking about Mind. Being a devout blockhead, at the time, I was clueless about Buddha Mind. Even my teacher was clueless. He never once, as I can recall, gave a comprehensivebut short and sweetsermon on Mind. It wasnt until a lecture by the great Nichiren Bishop, Nippo Shaku, that I received the clue I needed about Mind (imagine that, a Nichiren Bishop knew more about Zen than the Zennies!).
Nippos lecture at San Jose State College that night sent me on the right trail (hey, Nippo, I know you are up there with MaitreyaI still remember your crazy art work that night which told me how to find pure Mind). To make a long story short, excluding many extraordinary experiences I had that were on a par with Asangas, I came to profound comprehension of Mind. I have to say, it is truly amazing. All the Suttas and Sutra, in one way or another, point to absolute Mind which comes by way of various names.
Looking back over my blockhead years as a struggling Buddhist, and why it took me so long to get it (Mind, I mean). Partially, it was because Mind has been virtually ignored in the modern Buddhist discourse; nor is it understood to be a concrete reality like space. I suppose there are even Buddhists who equate Buddha Mind with awareness. (Sorry dudes, but any Buddhist who preaches that awareness is Buddha Mind is a lunatic and deserves no respecta swift kick in the arse is what they need.)
Being a Buddhist blockhead is no fun. To tell you the truth, youre mis! sing 99% of what the Buddha really taught if you havent connected with the hyper-reality of Mind. Youve got to wake upI mean really wake up. All of Zen Buddhism and Buddhism rests upon Mind (please dont argue about thisits a fact). To miss or ignore Minds great importance sitting, instead, in zazen as if this is enlightenment, is to follow the way (bhumi) of a worldling (S., prithagjana) which is hardly noble.
While I am working on the next exciting blog (wink, wink) please read the following, carefully. Its from the sayings of Chung Feng Kuang Lu. (Brackets are mine.)
"What is Ch'an [Zen]? Ch'an is the name of mind. What is mind? Mind is the substance of Ch'an. Bodhidharma came from the West and expounded only the direct pointing at man's mind. At first, the term Ch'an was not used, but the outcome of this direct pointing was the subsequent awakening (of followers of the sect). In their questions and answers, that (which had no name) was referred to as Ch'an (for conveniences sake). However, Ch'an cannot be understood by learning or by a lucky chance. When the self-mind is realized, either speech or silence, and motions or stillness, is unexpectedly Chan. At the moment of this unexpected Ch'an, automatically the mind manifests itself. Thus we know that Ch'an does not stray from mind and that mind does not stray from Ch'an. Ch'an and mind are, therefore, two names of the same substance (Lu Kuan Y Lu (Charles Luk), Ch'an and Zen Teaching (Series One),p. 9).
