Author: Roshi Philip Kapleau
If the absorption in Mu continues without interruption, the “I-ness” dies out in the subconscious mind. Suddenly “Plap!”—there is no more duality. To experience this directly is kensho.
“Why can’t I realize that when I hear there is nothing more than hearing? Why can’t I realize that when I look there is nothing more than seeing?”
All existence is relative, yet each of us creates our own world; each of us perceives according to the state of our own mind.
when you die the universe dies with you, you and the universe are not separate
While it is true that innately you are a Buddha, until you have concretely perceived your Buddha-nature you are speaking in borrowed phrases when you speak of enlightenment. The purpose of your practice is to lead you to this experience.
The purpose of this koan, then, is to teach you how to be at one with every aspect of your life.
Stated negatively, it is the realization that the universe is not external to you. Positively, it is experiencing the universe as yourself.
Remember, you are neither your body nor your mind. And you are not your mind added to your body. Then what are you?
Many think that when they are tired effective zazen is impossible. But this is a mistaken idea. When you are tired so is your “foe”—that is, the mind of ignorance—and when you are energetic so is it. In reality they are not two.
So when a bell rings it is only the bell listening to the sound of the bell. Or to put it another way, it is the sound of yourself ringing. This is the moment of enlightenment.
Imagine a child sleeping next to its parents and dreaming it is being beaten or is painfully sick. The parents cannot help the child no matter how much it suffers, for no one can enter the dreaming mind of another. If the child could awaken itself, it could be freed of this suffering automatically. In the same way, one who realizes that one’s own Mind is Buddha is instantly free from the sufferings arising from [ignorance of the law of] ceaseless change of birth-and-death.
Nothing but your own halfhearted desire for truth.
Suddenly the sick man realized that the “baby snake” was the reflection of the hanging bow. Both men looked at each other and laughed.
there is neither subjective nor objective reality.
you would get rid of your foe, you have only to realize that that foe is delusion
Tell me now, who is this most intimate of yours? Today is the eighth of the month. Tomorrow is the thirteenth!
Do not try to prevent thoughts from arising and do not cling to any that have arisen. Let them appear and disappear as they will; don’t struggle with them.
There comes a point in your sitting when insights about yourself will flash into your mind. For example, relationships that previously were incomprehensible will suddenly be clarified and difficult personal problems abruptly solved.