Wearing the Buddha's Teaching

Dharma Talk by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei Transmission of the Light, Case 43 "Liangshan"

The Main Case

Liangshan studied with Zen master Tongan, who asked him, What is the business under the patchwork robe? Liangshan had no answer. Tongan said, In studying Buddhism, if you dont reach this state, that is most miserable. You ask me and Ill tell you. Liangshan said, What is the business under the patchwork robe? Tongan said, Its within. Liangshan was thereupon greatly enlightened.

The Capping Verse

The water is clear to the very depths; It shines without needing polish.

The two Chinese masters in this case, Liangshan and Tongan, were student and teacher. Theres not much information about either of them

other than that they lived during the tenth century. They were part of the Dongshan lineagetherefore part of the lineage of ancestors of the Mountains and Rivers Order. At the time that this dialogue took place, Liangshan was serving as Tongans personal attendant. One morning, as Tongan entered the buddha hall for morning service, Liangshan brought Tongan his patchwork robe. This refers specifically to the monastic robe, which is made in a traditional pattern of patchwork. It originated during the time of the Buddha when the only garment that the monastics wore was a patchwork piece of clothing created from discarded clothmaterials nobody else wanted. That quilted or patchwork quality has continued to this time. But Tongans question, ultimately, is not about being a monastic or a homedweller, about living in the monastery or in the city, about having a robe thats black or gray or having no robe at all. Tongans question is addressing something thats everybodys business.

Receiving the robe, Tongan asked, What is the business under the patchwork robe? Every morning we chant, Vast is the robe of liberation, A formless field of benefaction, I wear the Tathagatas

teaching, Saving all sentient beings. As students of Zen, the business we are to study and realize is this vast robe of liberation, which is nothing other than a formless field of benefaction. It has no beginning or end. It is not limited by ideas of boundary or difference. Its nature is formless, and yet, being without form how can it be a field of benefaction? This is the profound teaching of the non-dual dharma, the Middle Waynot clinging to any fixed form which includes any concept of formlessness. Wearing the Buddhas teaching is not simply about wearing a piece of cloth, although the robe itself is a teaching and is given at the time of monastic ordination and when receiving jukai, the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism. If we are truly wearing the Buddhas teaching, how could it be taken off? How could it be contained in a piece of cloth? Liangshan couldnt answer Tongans question. Tongan said, In studying Buddhism, if you dont reach this state, that is most miserable. The history of Buddhism is the history of people suffering great adversity and going to great lengths to encounter the dharma, to practice and realize that which is true, to dedicate themselves to a genuine spiritual path. The question is why? Why do people do this? We live at a time when weve been conditioned to think that everything should be easy. This is a dangerous thought. At no other time in the history of humanity have people thought such a thing in the way that is commonplace for many of us today, to feel that were entitled to a life of ease. In fact, adversity has always been understood as a part of life. With modern technology, we have made life easier and more comfortable. Thats not a bad thing. But one of the consequences is a shift in our way of thinking. Weve learnedbeen conditionedto assume that everything should be easy. To take up the most fundamental questions of life and death, of human existence, questions that have gripped human beings since we have been walking the earth, is not just to take them up philosophically. Its to actually look deeply at our lives through those questions, to gain some genuine understanding about what this life is, about the nature of things,

about the nature of our own existence. Who am I? What is the nature of this I? What is the real nature of suffering? Why does it arise? What is the nature of peace and equanimity? Why do we both yearn for peace and yet fight against it? Its unrealistic to think that we can take up these most essential questions without great effort, that we can want to transform our lives in the most profound way possible and yet expect not to be inconvenienced or not to have to shift or rearrange anything in our lives. Most of us would never say that we expect that to be so, but we may still be confused and distressed when our practice requires significant time, energy and resources. Its as though we want everything to change and we want nothing to change. One of the female ancestors whose name we chant each Sunday is a Japanese woman named Ryonen Genso. Ryonen lived in the seventeenth century, and she grew up in a family of nobility. She received a fine education and at a young age was assigned to be the companion of the granddaughter of the Empress which allowed her to experience a great deal of privilege. Yet through all this, and from a very early age, she had always wanted to be a nun. Her brothers were both monastics, and she would ask them endless questions about the dharma and the religious life. However, her father wanted her to marry, and she was obligated to do what her father wanted, but she managed to work out a deal with him. She agreed to marry and bear a child for her husband if after doing so she would be released from the obligation. Her father and husband agreed, and so she went on to not only bear a child but also found another wife for her husband and was then released. She immediately went to a nearby monastery and was ordained. She left after about a year because she was dissatisfied with the trainingit wasnt rigorous enough. Then she went to another master at a temple named Kofukuji. She was denied admission by the abbot because she was a woman. She left and went to another, smaller hermitage temple to study with another master in the same lineage, and he also refused her because she was a woman. Some versions of her story indicate that she wasnt allowed to enter because she was a particularly beautiful woman,

which could have led to problems for the male monastics. In any event, when she was refused entry a second time she went to a nearby inn and scarred her face. She then returned to one of the previous masters, knocked on the door, and seeing how determined she was, he took her in and gave her ordination. Its pathetic and tragic that she had to do this to gain entrythat her sincerity was not taken seriously until she hurt herself. But its also a testimony to what was happening within her. She so deeply wanted the dharma that she was committed to finding a way in. What is it that drives someone to do that? After Ryonen scarred her face she wrote a poem: When I was a girl, we played in court burning incense. Now I burn my face to study Zen. Each season flows easily into the other, and I do not know who writes this in a world of change. Is this an expression of confusion or enlightenment? Is this not knowing arising from darkness or illumination? When we enter into practice we see that time passes, seasons come and go. We collect one pay check after the next as the children get older. We perform our obligations and responsibilities, and yet all the while I do not know who does this in a world of change. In the midst of this life and all our daily activities, we ask, Who am I? Many people never ask this question. And even when they do, it doesnt really mean anything. Yet for others, it becomes a driving tension in their lives. They see more and more that they do not know this world. Theyre in it, but somehow estranged from it. They do not know this person. Theyre going through the motions of life, but somehow sense that theyre not fully living. To recognize this is indeed most distressing.

Several generations before Tongan, Master Dongshan asked a monastic, What thing in the world is most miserable? And the monastic said, Hell. Hell is most miserable. Dongshan said, No, what is most miserable is to wear this vestment and fail to clarify the great matter.

Wearing the vestment is a vow. Just like the rakusu is a vow. Dongshan is saying that to vowto turn ones attention with ones whole being towards trying to understand this life, from within this life, while living this life, while working, while raising children, having a family, carrying on our everyday affairsis most difficult. What is more difficult still though, is to never have tried.

One of Dongshans successors said, My late teacher said hell is not what is really miserable but to wear this vestment and not understand the great matter. We should exert ourselves even more. Dont weary of your journey towards enlightenment. Dont violate the ways of the Zen community. In other words, dont go against the sangha. An ancient said, If you want to be able to carry this matter through you must stand atop the highest mountain and walk on the bottom of the deepest sea. Then you will have some life. If you havent comprehended the great matter yet, for the time being, you should walk the mystic path. These masters are trying to encourage, inspire and move us to clarify the great matter. If we are complacent, their words should shake us out of our complacency. If we lack faith in ourselves, such encouragement should instill faith. Theirs is an attempt to get each of us to see what they seea buddha, a person who does not need to lead a life of suffering, who does not need to lament over the fact that we do not know who we are. If you havent comprehended the great matter yet... walk the mystic path. Practice! Dont just bemoan the fact. Ryonen didnt write her poem and then just sit there saying, Woe is me. I dont know who I am. She wrote the poem and then she knocked on the teachers door, and said, You will let me in. You will not keep me from this dharma. And he finally said, Come in. She practiced diligently and went on to become a well-respected teacher in her own right. Raising the bodhichittathe mind of enlightenmentis to recognize that we cannot continue as before. We sense that there is somethinga vast robe of liberationand we must discover it. At the moment of our vow to realize ourselves, we have not yet discovered the truth. This is a place of enormous tension. If we had no path this would be terribly frightening because wed just be stuck in a place of confusion without any means to move forward. But having found a true path, that very same tension becomes a source of powera source of incredible energy, direction, perseverance and faith that moves mountains.

Liangshan said, What is the business under the patchwork robe? Tongan said, Its within. At this, Liangshan was enlightened. He made bows at his realization and was so overcome with emotion that he started to weep, and his own robe became wet. Tongan said, Now that you are awakened, can you answer? Liangshan said, Yes. Tongan asked, What is the business under the patchwork robe? Liangshan said, It is within. Liangshan seems to be repeating what he just heard his teacher say, but is he? Where is within? Is it somewhere in our body? Is it in our hara? Is it in the breath, which is why you follow your breath? Is it in the mind? Is it in the heart? Where is the place that is within? Its never been found. Its not a place. We cant get there, which means well never arrive. We cant leave there, which means weve never left. I recently met with a group of school children that had come to the Temple in New York City for an introduction to Buddhism. I asked them different questions to try to help them understand for themselves the inherent dissatisfaction of attachment. They quickly saw that when they are unhappy they go running after something to make them happy, and it seems to work for a while. Then the happiness fades, so they go looking for something else to make them happy again, and on and on it goes. I said, Okay, so that doesnt really seem to work. What shall we do? A little boy said, Look within. I said, Bravo. How? And he replied, I dont know. Many people understand that true peace must come from within, but what does that mean? If we are to sincerely take up the questions of life and death through our practice of the dharma, the endless searching outside of ourselves needs to end. We need to realize we are not going to find the answers out there. There is no out there. There is no one who is going to save us. Thats why my teacher has said, There is no hope. There were many times in my own training when I would be stuck on the cushion feeling sorry for myself, just waiting for someone to notice, to make me feel better, to take away my problems, to save me. I would sit and sit, and I would wait, and no one ever came. How wonderful! There is no one who

is going to save us. It is within. But what is within? To discover this we must go beyond any notion of inside and outside, self and other, enlightenment and delusion. Within is not a place; thus it is a vast robe of liberation with the power to bring great benefit to all beings. When we turn the light around, take the backward step, and look deep within ourselves, then we are finally free of the confining notion of needing to be saved. This is the place of true intimacy. When we turn within, what do we find?

Dont look with your ordinary eyes because they are conditioned to see things in terms of what is you and not you, what is your fault and what is not your fault, where you begin and where you end. So, you have to see with unconditioned eyes, with the eyes that you had before you were born. How do we do that? Stop grasping and forget the self. Let go of all attachments, which are based in non-acceptance. This is why attachments are so burdensome and exhausting, because when we attach to things, were immediately in conflict with ourselves and the world.

Conflict is based in wanting something that we dont have. We want a life that we dont have. We want to be someone were not. We want people to be kinder and more aware, for the environment to be clean, for governments to take care of all the people. The desire may be good, yet the moment we become attached we are in conflict and theres suffering. When we really begin to see our attachments, we realize how much of our lives are spent in conflict, even on the brightest, clearest of days. Little wonder theres so much conflict in the world. So to see with the eyes that are not conditioned is to recognize when we are seeing with cloudy eyes. Practice occurs at the moment when theres conflict. Yet all along, as Keizan said, The water is clear to the very depths; It shines without needing polishing. The water is always clear. Thats the nature of water. You can stir up the sediment on the bottom, and it appears murky. You cant see through it, but the nature of water is pureit can hold that cloudiness. It doesnt argue. It doesnt fight. Just like the sky: clouds, birds and planes all pass through. The sky doesnt protest or complain. It doesnt wish for a different day, to be something other than what it is. We practice so that we can cease polishing. We have to apply ourselves with great effort and work diligently during zazen, when our mind is running wild and our leg is hurting and we just want it to stop. Why not make it stop? Because in that moment, in a situation thats simple and safe, we have a chance to really practice. Theres nothing simpler than zazen. Discipline is needed, not because it should be difficult but because were so conditioned to avoid difficulty and in so doing create unnecessary difficulty. We have to break the cycle of avoidance. If we just acknowledge that our leg hurts and accept it, then things become clear and simple. Can we do thatjust that one simple thingfor the next five minutes? If we can enter there and stop polishingstop trying to be somewhere elsethen when it is not so simple and not so safe, we begin to understand how to be present in a way that is alive and free.

When we turn toward whats in front of us and dont fight, the mind becomes spacious, the body relaxes, and we merge rather than separate. A kind of revolution is set in motion. We begin to realize something about the nature of suffering and conflict and avoidance and ourselves. We can simply arrive at the place weve always been. Keizan said, What is the purpose of asking people to sit and let go of their worldly attachments? Its just to allow them to arrive at the knowledge and insight of buddhahood. The reason for taking the trouble to establish Zen communities and assemble ordained and lay people is to reveal this matter. Thats why the meditation hall is called a place for selecting buddhas. Its not an arbitrary matter. It is just for the purpose of helping people understand themselves. Thats it. At the end of Ryonens life she said: Im sixty-six years old. It is autumn. I have lived a long life. Moonlight shines strongly on my face. We dont need to discuss the koans. Just listen to the wind in the cedars outside. The moonlight on her scarred face was radiant. Nothing could hide her true beauty. We dont need to discuss koans. We dont need to talk. Just listen, listen! This is the point of entry. Thats what our practice is bringing us to every single moment. Just this. Tongan said, Its within. How did Liangshan awaken? He experienced the truth of within. We practice for the single purpose of understanding ourselves. When we understand ourselves, we understand each other. When we understand each other, we understand the suffering on the streets. We understand how it is that we are still at war. And from that understanding, were able to accept and work for change from a very different place. Not from a place of conflicttheres no real power in conflictbut from a place of acceptance