Long - from another list

[Guest guest]

QUOTATIONS FROM THE MYSTICS

 

All I'm telling you is: 'Realize the Buddha Mind that each of you has

from

your parents innately!' What's essential is to realize the Buddha Mind

each

of you has, and simply abide in it with faith.

 

For the man who functions with the Unborn, whoever he may be, all things

are managed perfectly.

 

Keep from switching the Buddha Mind for some 'thing'.

 

Let things take care of themselves, and whatever comes along will be

smoothly managed - whether you like it or not!

 

Bankei 1622-1693

__________________

COMMENTARY

 

Bankei is one of the greatest of Japanese Zen masters. Awakening to his

own

true nature without help from others, he taught directly from his own

experience. He spoke again and again of the availability of the Unborn

Buddha Mind, and how it takes care of everything.

 

As a boy Bankei was, according to his mother, a naughty child. Leader of

the local gang of children he often got into trouble. Whenever he played

in

the local game where two teams of children threw rocks at each other

across

a river, he never backed down. It was always the other side that

withdrew

first. Such was his spirit. He also had from the age of two or three a

horror of death. After his father died in 1632 Bankei's brother became

head

of the household and Bankei came into repeated conflict with him -

mostly

because Bankei refused to go to school. In part this was because he

found

the Confucian teaching there dry and unininteresting. Yet ironically it

was

at school that he became inspired with a quest that became an obsession.

In

the Confucian classics he came across the following text: "The Way of

the

Great Learning lies in illuminating the Bright Virtue." From this moment

on

he wanted to know what the Bright Virtue was. But no-one seemed able to

help him.

 

Because of his unruly behaviour Bankei's brother kicked him out of the

house. This did not, however, deter Bankei from his search. Over the

next

ten years he one-pointedly pursued his spiritual goal, meditating for

days

on end, consulting teachers whenever he had the opportunity. It was to

no

avail. In 1645 he embarked on a particularly gruelling schedule of

meditation. By 1647 he had become exhausted and ill. He was on the brink

of

death. Then suddenly it struck him that he was the "Unborn", and that

everything was perfectly managed by the Unborn. Immediately he felt so

much

better. Having been unable to eat for days, he now asked his surprised

servant to cook him food, and wolfed down two bowls of rice.

 

Bankei had awoken to who he really was. How obvious his Original Face

was

to him now - faceless, empty yet full of the world, functioning

perfectly.

He had stumbled upon his innermost being - the treasure that all true

mystics find. It was a relief, a joy. Within him abided the unborn

source

of all things, nearer to him than his breathing, closer than his

thoughts.

Thoughts and feelings, indeed everything, came and went within the

clear,

edgeless space of his true nature. Bankei sometimes compared the Unborn

Buddha Mind to a mirror that choicelessly reflected things - except that

the Unborn was the dynamic source of these things, not just a passive

register. According to Bankei, problems arise when people overlook the

Buddha Mind, identifying with whatever is in it - feelings, self-image,

a

job, relationships. However the solution is simple - awake again to what

you really are. Don't switch the Unborn Buddha Mind for anything.

 

Following on from this awakening Bankei began teaching, though at first

he

received a cool response. People were suspicious of him, for he taught

differently from other contemporary Zen teachers. Speaking directly from

his own experience, he told people that the Unborn was available here

and

now - they didn't need to struggle for years as he had done, or study

the

scriptures, or even meditate. All they had to do was "Abide in the

Unborn."

Gradually, however, Bankei won people over. He was so obviously genuine.

 

A change in Bankei's teaching method came some years later in 1679 when

he

changed to teaching large groups and giving public sermons. By 1690 he

was

at the height of his career - he had a huge and devoted following with

people travelling from all over Japan to hear him. In this year the

Emperor

awarded him the title "Zen Master of Beneficent Enlightened Wisdom."

During

this same year he conducted the most famous of his training sessions,

attended by nearly seventeen hundred monks drawn from every Buddhist

sect.

 

By 1693, however, Bankei's health had seriously deteriorated - damaged

by

the years of strenuous meditation practice in his youth. He died later

that

year.

 

I can imagine Bankei in his sixties delivering his sermons to the crowds

who came to hear him. He isn't speaking from notes, he isn't relying on

quotations from the scriptures - he is speaking directly and

spontaneously

from his own experience, from No-thing, from the Buddha Mind that

illuminates whatever is happening. Not knowing in detail what it he is

going to say, he is letting the Unborn itself speak - letting it manage

the

situation. And it does.

 

We can do this too - it is our birthright. Awakening to the One within,

and

abiding in this Awareness, we come to see that the One can be trusted to

manage our lives, to give us what we really need - which is not

necessarily

what we want! Seeing directly into our true nature, we find the Unborn

acting skilfully. Clearly this is not something that we as individuals

can

take credit for. It is not us but the Unborn that "functions

marvellously".

Our job is simply to stay awake to the Unborn, to "simply abide in it

with

faith."

 

And then, Bankei says, "Whoever you may be, at that moment, you are my

heir!"

__________________

Richard Lang

feedback welcome

headexchange

http://www.headless.org

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/28/99 8:04:02 PM Central Daylight Time,

michele writes:

 

<< Our job is simply to stay awake to the Unborn, to "simply abide in it

with faith." >>

 

Thanks for posting!!! This is identical with dzogchen - a Tibetan tradition.

But I do not think these understandings belong to any one culture. It is a

universal human experience - and capability -

diana

[Guest guest]

My feelings also. Behind the cultural and traditional differences lies

the greater truth. We are all indeed ONE.

OM Shanti

Michele

 

Xena10000 wrote:

>

> Xena10000

>

> In a message dated 10/28/99 8:04:02 PM Central Daylight Time,

> michele writes:

>

> << Our job is simply to stay awake to the Unborn, to "simply abide in it

> with faith." >>

>

> Thanks for posting!!! This is identical with dzogchen - a Tibetan tradition.

> But I do not think these understandings belong to any one culture. It is a

> universal human experience - and capability -

> diana

>

> > All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back

into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean,

all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does

not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is.

Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee

relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into

It Self. Welcome all to a.