the struggle is over

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VI.                    Riding the Bull

Mounting the bull, slowly I return homeward.

The voice of my flute intones through the evening.

Measuring with hand-beats the pulsation harmony, I direct the endless rhythm.

Whoever hears this melody will join me.

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Comment: 

 

 This struggle is over; gain and loss are assimilated. 

 I sing the song of the village woodsman, and play the tunes of the children. 

 Astride the bull, I observe the clouds above.  

Onward I go, no matter who may wish to call me back.

.

 

 

 

 

 ~ Kakuan

from 10 BULLS

Transcribed by. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps 

 Illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki

 

 

 

a parable

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

 

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled,

the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold

of a root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge.

 

The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man

looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting

to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. 

 

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started

to gnaw away the vine.  The man saw a luscious strawberry

near him.  Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked

the strawberry with the other.

 

How sweet it tasted!

 

 

 

 

 

~ Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings 

 

 

 

 

Is that so?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

 

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parent owned a food store lived near him.

  Suddenly,  without any warning,  her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry.  She would not confess who the man was, 

 but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

 

In great anger the parents went to the master.   "Is that so?"  was all he would say.

 

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. 

 By this time he had lost his reputation,  which did not trouble him, 

 but he took very good care of the child. 

 He obtained milk from his neighbors and 

everything else the little one needed.

 

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer.  

 She told her parents the truth - that the real father of the child

 was a young man who worked in the fish market.

 

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness,

  to apologize at length,  and to get the child back again.

Hakuin was willing.  In yielding the child,  all he said was: "Is that so?"

.

~ from 'Zen Flesh Zen Bones',
 compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki
Self-portrait by Hakuin Ekaku

The thief who became a disciple

One evening as Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras a thief with a sharp sword entered,
 demanding either his money or his life.

Shichiri told him:  "Do not disturb me.  You can find the money in that drawer." 
 Then he resumed his recitation.

A little while afterwards he stopped and called:  "Don't take it all. 
 I need some to pay taxes with tomorrow."

The intruder gathered up most of the money and started to leave. 
 "Thank a person when you receive a gift,"  Shichiri added. 
 The man thanked him and made off.

A few days afterwards the fellow was caught and confessed,
 among others, the offence against Shichiri.  
When Shichiri was called as a witness he said:  
 "This man is no thief, at least as far as I am concerned.  
I gave him the money and he thanked me for it."

After he had finished his prison term,
 the man went to Shichiri and became his disciple.

~ from Zen Flesh Zen Bones
 compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

the best

.

.

When Banzan was walking through a market he over heard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.

"Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer.

"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. 

 "You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best."

At these words Banzan became enlightened.

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from Zen Flesh Zen Bones

compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

.

The 10 Bulls

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The 10 Bulls

By Kakuan

Illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki

Transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps

 

 

The bull is the eternal principle of life, truth in action.

The ten bulls represent sequent steps in the realization of one’s true nature.

 

The 10 Bulls is more than poetry, more than pictures.  It is a revelation of spiritual unfoldment paralleled in every bible of human experience.

 

In the twelfth century the Chinese master Kakuan drew the pictures of the ten bulls,

 basing them on earlier Taoist bulls, and wrote the comments in prose and verse translated here. 

 

 His version was pure Zen, going deeper than earlier versions, 

which had ended with the nothingness of the eighth picture.

 

 

I. The Search for the Bull

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I.                    The Search for the Bull

In the pastures of this world, I endlessly push aside the tall grasses in search of the bull.

Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains,

My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the bull.

I only hear the locusts chirring through the forest at night.

 

 

 

 

Comment: 

 

 The bull never has been lost.  What need is there to search?  

Only because of separation from my true nature, I fail to find him. 

 In the confusion of the senses I lose even his tracks. 

 Far from home, I see many crossroads,

 but which way is the right one I know not. 

 Greed and fear, good and bad, entangle me.

.

 ~ Kakuan

from 10 BULLS

Transcribed by. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps 

 Illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki

 

II. Discovering the Footprints

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II.                    Discovering the Footprints

Along the riverbank under the trees, I discover footprints!

Even under the fragrant grass I see his prints.

Deep in remote mountains they are found.

These traces no more can be hidden that one’s nose, looking heavenward.

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Comment:  Understanding the teaching, I see the footprints of the bull.  Then I learn that, just as many utensils are made from one metal, so too are myriad entities made of the fabric of self.  Unless I discriminate, how will I perceive the true from the untrue?  Not yet having entered the gate, nevertheless I have discerned the path.

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III. Perceiving the Bull

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III.                    Perceiving the Bull

I hear the song of the nightingale.

The sun is warm, the wind is mild, willows are green along the shore,

Here no bull can hide!

What artist can draw that massive head, those majestic horns?

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Comment:  When one hears the voice, one can sense its source.  As soon as the six senses merge, the gate is entered.  Wherever one enters one sees the head of the bull!  This unity is like salt in water, like color in dyestuff.  The slightest thing is not apart from self.

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IV. Catching the Bull

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IV.                    Catching the Bull

I seize him with a terrific struggle.

His great will and power are inexhaustible.

He charges to the high plateau far above the cloud-mists,

Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.

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Comment:  He dwelt in the forest a long time, but I caught him today!  Infatuation for scenery interferes with his direction.  Longing for sweeter grass, he wanders away.  His mind still is stubborn and unbridled.  If I wish him to submit, I must raise my whip.

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V. Taming the Bull

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V.                    Taming the Bull

The whip and rope are necessary,

Else he might stray off down some dusty road.

Being well trained, he becomes naturally gentle.

Then, unfettered, he obeys his master.

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Comment:  When one thought arises, another thought follows.  When the first thought springs from enlightenment, all subsequent thoughts are true.  Through delusion, one makes everything untrue.  Delusion is not caused by objectivity;  it is the result of subjectivity.  Hold the nose-ring tight and do not allow even a doubt.

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VII. The Bull Transcended

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VII.                    The Bull Transcended

Astride the bull, I reach home.

I am serene.  The bull too can rest.

The dawn has come.  In blissful repose,

Within my thatched dwelling I have abandoned the whip and rope.

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Comment:   All is one law, not two.  We only make the bull a temporary subject.  It is as the relation of the rabbit and trap, of fish and net.  It is as gold and dross, or the moon emerging from a cloud.  One path of clear light travels on throughout endless time.

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VIII. Both Bull & Self Transcended

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VIII.                    Both Bull & Self Transcended

Whip, rope, person, and bull – all merge in NO-THING.

This heaven is so vast no message can stain it.

How may a snowflake exist in a raging fire?

Here are the footprints of the patriarchs.

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Comment:  Mediocrity is gone.  Mind is clear of limitation.  I seek no state of enlightenment.  Neither do I remain where no enlightenment exists.  Since I linger in neither condition, eyes cannot see me.  If hundreds of birds strew my path with flowers, such praise would be meaningless.

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IX. Reaching the Source

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IX.                    Reaching the Source

Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and the source.

Better to have been blind and deaf from the beginning!

Dwelling in one’s true abode, unconcerned with that without –

The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red.

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Comment:  From the beginning, truth is clear.  Poised in silence, I observe the forms of integration and disintegration.  One who is not attached to “form” need not be “reformed.”  The water is emerald, the mountain is indigo, and I see that which is creating and that which is destroying.

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