Shaman Tiger Zen Roshi : My Zen Confession

I must admit that I don't understand most of what people are talking about when they worry about this or that aspect of "Zen" or if they're enlightened or not enlightened.

For me Zen has always just been the freedom to go laughingly along my own outrageous way. I find this world extremely amusing. But I am also struck breathless, sometimes moved to tears, at least ten times every day by the sheer brilliant thereness of Reality.

It's shocking to be not a "mind" or a "body" but the naked and baseless awareness of This-Here-Now! Shocking and wonderful.

I know that nobody else sees it with my eyes any more than I can see with theirs, or has my experiences any more than I can have anybody else's! So it seems to me that "I" am just this Awareness-of-Being which is singular.

Once I realized the absolute singularity and incomprehensible self-nature of my baseless awareness, I relaxed and had a good laugh at every Zen book I'd ever read.

Sitting meditation seems beside the point; I need no ko-an to taste the immediacy of sensations; lengthy discourses and sutras bore me; I don't like people who sit around in black robes and lecture like Dr. Phil. So how is my innocent, direct, everyday life not Zen?

I am perfectly free to call it Zen. I am free to call it the Supreme Zen, if I like!

And as regards your own singular, incomprehensible and baseless awareness of being, you're free to do the same!

SHIBUMI TEA ROOM

I've recently begun equipping a small tea room in the old style. Here, I plan to conduct the simplest and most ancient form of the Zen tea ceremony.

"Cool in summer, warm in winter; flowers from the field; prepare for rain; enjoy a sip of tea together." (利休) The tea ceremony cleanses the senses and refreshes the mind.

Yet I still need a traditional sign-board, gold lettered kanji on black lacquered wood, as well as an antique iron kettle and some traditional Japanese tea implements.

This will be good place to sit and drink tea and listen to rain clattering on the roof. "One meeting, full of friendship . . . After all there is no difficulty in tea, only enjoyment." (Master Kaji Aso) The same as life itself. For "the taste of tea is the bitter, refreshing taste of Zen." (Master Eisai)

⼭家富貴銀千樹⿂夫⾵流⽟⼀蓑 TO DONATE A FEW DOLLARS MORE

"At the Gateless Barrier"

At the Gateless Barrier, I play the old tunes on my bamboo flute./It's cold at night and everybody weeps to hear the ancient songs./Yet Zen is without sentiment.

I live in the majestic Pacific Northwest. I write. I play the Zen bamboo flute.

"Great Nature, Great Manifestation, Great Realization." What does this mean? Every aspect of this life, which is Zen Enlightenment itself, is "great." Whether wonderful or terrifying or both it always "is" in a way that cannot be explained. Just try to explain it. Can you, or can't you?

It's just like when Master Ko Bong shouted "That's it! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" and broke his fan. Do you get it, or not? If you can tell me what you get, I'll bow to you. If you can't, I'll call you my Master. Either way, you win.

For more notes, poems and aphorisms: go here. See also 老虎: Lao Hu. Contact me at jyakunen(at)gmail.com.

SHAMAN TIGER ZEN TEMPLE

Stick your head into the Old Tiger's mouth to ask the question: What is my true self (Honshin)?

神通並妙用

Shaman Tiger Zen Temple, in the majestic Pacific Northwest rainforest, revives the profound direct realization and training methods of ancient Zen.

"A Yes, a No, a Straight Line -- a Goal." -Nietzsche

Why is it called Shaman Tiger Zen Temple? Because it is a small Zen temple founded by a man given the Daoist-sounding Dharma name Lao Hu, which means "Old Tiger," "Venerable Tiger," or -- if you like -- "Shamanic Tiger."

Joshu's Mu

To call Buddha "Awareness" or anything else is to make Buddha an object of thought.

Show me the location of this Buddha! What kind of shoes does he wear? If he goes barefoot, do his feet get dirty? Does he shiver in the winter?

Who is it that's actually reading this right now?

Is it your mind? Amazing! Where exactly is this Mind located in physical space?

Also, is this by any chance the same mind that was here before your parents got born? Ah!

In Zen there is always an instant when the "mind" stops and you break out in a cold, shivering sweat at the sheer vividness of This!

Joshu's "Mu" is really just the "natural freedom of the myriad Buddhas" and is in itself clear about everything. There is no point in trying to make anything special out of it.

This afternoon clumps of snow are falling from the tops of the tall Douglas firs. Crows are taunting each other wickedly. A big cloud just covered the sun. Ah!

Look for my upcoming Zen and Ki-training "self-help" manual The Book of Zen & Haragei.

2 comments:

PxZJanuary 11, 2013 at 3:00 AM
You can call it Orthodox Christianity if you like. You can call it whatever you want. You live in a free country!
UnknownJanuary 11, 2013 at 6:03 AM
I am 27, and if i had read your article one year ago, i would have called BS.

Recently, I have come to TRULY grasp the ability to let nearly everything slide that keeps me from being happy, or keeps me from realizing my goals. I have lost 80-90% of my fear about everyday anxieties. I really am finally able to live here in the present moment.

I was raised with the philosophy that as long as you are always moving steadily towards something, you will eventually end up on the right path, without fail. This has helped me to both calm my everyday anxieties about what the immediate future will hold.

Remember RIGHT NOW, EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE. Trust yourself that you will get what you need for you to be happy.