Bodhi Isn't Gained Or Lost

I never spoke about Bodhi (Enlightenment) until about fifteen years after a big satori. Even so, maybe it was too soon!

I was doing Ki "misogi" breathing and found a consistent way into real Zen. Living every day in the inexpressible and indescribable absolute state energized and gave me new abilities.

I realized I could show people this by giving them some basic pointers. Although my pointers are often not precise but analogic and even poetic, they work (sometimes almost too well). What's more, they're completely in accord with Ch'an. I transmit what the Masters and Patriarchs did. There's not a hair of difference, except this: you can't go to ancient China to study Zen with Lin-chi, but you could come to Oregon to study Zen with me! If I'd go along with it, that is.

Anyhow, no sooner had I started talking about Bodhi on my blogs and Twitter page than I began to encounter "Buddhists" who raged at and insulted me for what I said. Some of them were ordained monks. The worst offenders were the saffron-robed psychopaths of an American "Tibetan Buddhist" cult group; that's a story in itself. I put Sanskrit protective spells on my blog page to keep the Madhyamika madmen away. Even this didn't work.

I always emphasize that Bodhi isn't gained or lost. It can't be attained by an intellectual process or a meditation program. It's the "true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma gate, the marvelous mind of Nirvana." "Direct entry into True Reality with a sharp chopper." Here's a poem about the true nature of Nirvana for you:

Extinction extinguishes extinguishing;
at dusk the moon and stars come out, no hesitation!
Bare attention leads to formless form;
It is immediately clear in movement and stillness.
It doesn't go to one side or the other;
It has no up or down, no in or out.
Can't be lost, is never gained by anyone.
Try to cut It off, it persists;
try to grasp It, nothing to get hold of!

Svaha!