Koan Stories and Being Here and Now

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[recitation, 00:00:02–00:00:22]

This morning I wanted to talk about koan stories. I think many of you have heard of koan stories. Some of you may have read them, or discussed them. In some schools of Buddhism, koan stories are used during zazen, during meditation. That's some kind of way to stop thinking logically, and to make some kind of leap into a state beyond logic, or kensho. But to me, those stories which they use, and the way they think about the koan story while they're sitting in zazen in order to get free from some kind of thinking, is absolutely ridiculous. I can't understand how you can get into some free state by thinking about the story. But many people do. There is a very famous koan joke: What is the sound of one hand clapping? Lots of people will know this if they learn about Zen. And I think it's ridiculous. It's impossible to clap your hands if you only have one hand. So I really don't understand the purpose. Fortunately, in Master Dogen's time the situation was similar, and he felt also that koan stories were not some strange stories that you can think about during zazen.

He collected together three hundred stories, and they were written in Chinese. He kept them, and after he died these stories were preserved. We translated the three hundred stories into English and made a book. So the stories which are on the sheets are chosen from this book. Master Dogen didn't think that we should think about koan stories in order to get some special state. But he thought that if we read them, if we study them, we can understand something about Buddha's teaching. In medieval China, in the ninth and tenth and eleventh centuries, it wasn't so easy to print books and to get access to Buddhist literature. So these stories may have been passed on verbally, as a way of passing on Buddha's teachings.

And they're all stories about conversations between a Buddhist teacher and a student or a monk, or sometimes a lay person. Some of them are quite long. On the sheet which you have, number eight is quite a long story, and the number ninety-six on the top right is very short. But all of them contain something about Buddhist teaching. So if we read them and discuss them, we can get some idea of what Buddhism is. If you find some stories which don't make sense, usually the reason is that something is missing from the story. If you record the conversation between you and your friend, if you write it down and give it to somebody else, they may say, It doesn't make sense. Because we talk in many different ways.

For instance: Are you going tomorrow? No, I'm not going tomorrow. I'm... Going where? So we don't need to write that. And these stories are sometimes like that. So we have to use our imagination to make a picture of the two people talking, or sometimes only one person. The longer stories seem to always have four stages. Sometimes we can't find these four stages clearly, and sometimes we can see them quite clearly. I'd like to tell you what those four stages are.

The first stage: the student, or the person who's asking the teacher, asks a very intellectual question, based on imagination, for example. So, for example, What's the most important thing in Buddhism? Then the teacher says something concrete. So not floating here, but... For instance, when the person asks, What's the most important thing in Buddhism? the teacher answers, Have you finished eating your meal? So the first question is rather intellectual, and the teacher's answer is practical: Have you finished your meal? Yes, answers the student. So the teacher says, Go and wash your bowl. So there are four stages in that story. First is very abstract, a spiritual question. Maybe the student was expecting to hear that the important thing about Buddhism is very difficult. I have to explain to you in great detail, complicated. But the teacher said, What are you doing? Have you finished eating? So, from the abstract into the concrete. Then from the concrete situation, the student answered, a concrete answer, Yes, I have. So the teacher said, Go and wash your bowl. When the student goes to wash his bowl, he has the whole of Buddhism. Because what Buddhism teaches is that what we are doing at this moment is the only reality.

Rather an amusing story. But we can see stepping from high in heaven down to earth, and we do this all the time in normal life. The man says to the woman, Let's go and see this film. It's very interesting, and it's got a very complicated story I want to tell you about. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And the woman says, I can't listen to you now. I have to change the baby's nappy. Or situations like that. So I don't mean that it's wrong to be abstract. Without being abstract, we don't have any culture. So it's not a question of stopping thinking or stopping being abstract. It's a question of noticing what's happening at this moment.

Let's have a look at number eighty-three. This is a story between a master called Gensa Shibi and a monk called Kozan Shinan. Sometimes in the stories it's a little confusing, because everybody's called master. So we have to know something about the history if we want to understand who is the teacher and who is the student. So Master Gensa Shibi is the teacher. Sorry, Master Kozan Shinan is the teacher, and Master Gensa Shibi is a student. Maybe the opposite. Let's see.

Master Gensa Shibi watched Master Kozan Shinan arriving. And he traced a round circle in the air with his finger.

So when the monk comes in, then he goes...

Master Kozan said, It's impossible for anyone to get out of that. Master Gensa said, I realise completely. The vigorous efforts you are making are directed to the insides of the donkey, to a horse's belly. Master Kozan said, What about yourself, Master? What's the situation with you? Master Gensa said, It is impossible for anyone to get out of that. Master Kozan said, That's what Master Gensa says, and that's what I said. Then why is it impossible for me to get it? Master Gensa said, I can get it, you can't get it.

This is the koan story. So it's supposed to be strange. What can it mean? Obviously, these two people knew each other, so they're having some kind of humorous conversation. When Master Gensa traces a circle in the air with his finger, Master Kozan says to him, Nobody can escape from that. What do you think it means? It's very interesting, because the meaning is very simple. When Master Gensa drew a circle and Master Kozan said, It's impossible to get out of it, they are talking about the reality of the present. We never think very simply about the present. We never think very simply about where we are now. But if we do think simply in this way, we can notice that we're always here.

In the history of the world, nobody has ever been in a different place to here. That sounds a rather stupid statement, but it's true. Sometimes we can hear about Tibetan lamas who go back into past lives, or people going back into the past and seeing what kind of lives they were living. But even the person who's going back into their past lives is doing it in the present. Even if we sit and think about our holiday in three weeks' time, and we think in great detail about what we're going to do, we're doing it now. So Buddhism says we can never escape from being here and now. It's absolutely impossible. And if you can show me that you're not here and now, I'd like to give you a reward. It sounds a very stupid statement because it's very simple. But actually we forget it. We forget that because we are here and now, and we're never anywhere else. Because we're here and now. And we're never anywhere else.

What comes next? So these two masters, Gensa Shibi and Kozan, are, if you like, playing with each other. So you can't get out of this reality, says Master Gensa. Sorry, it says Master Kozan. And Master Gensa says, Yes, yes, it's true, but what you're explaining is a complete waste of time. The strange expression, the vigorous efforts you are making are directed to the inside of the donkey, is a kind of common expression in medieval Chinese. It means, what you're saying is a complete waste of time. Do you have any expressions like that in Czech? Stroke. There's a lovely expression like that. So this expression, which sounds so strange, just means, I understand what you're saying. You don't need to make so much effort. You're wasting your words. When Master Kozan hears that, he says, So what do you say then? And then Master Gensa says the same thing, actually. So Master Kozan said, That's what you say. That's what I say. Why can't I get it? The master again said, I can get it. You can't get it. What do you think he means?

Participant: It is the reality. I can get it, you cannot get it, etcetera. There is nothing more about it.

Mike: Why can't?

Participant: It's like I am tall, you are short, that's it.

Mike: Why can't the other person?

Question: Is this your situation at that moment?

Mike: Why isn't it the other person's real situation?

Participant: Because they have different experiences.

Mike: Do they? So everyone has a different experience. Are we experiencing a different room?

Participant: Yes.

Mike: What's your room like? For example, I see it from this angle, you see it from that angle. Is your room different from mine? Yes. How can they be together...

Participant: in the same room? The thing has two aspects, so it is the same and different.

Mike: What is the same?

Participant: I really don't know what you experience. We are in the same room, but actually the room is a concept. It becomes an abstract idea when you say, what is the same and what is different.

Mike: And do you think that's what it means in the story?

Participant: Yeah, I think... I can get it, you cannot get it. So you experience something else, I experience something else.

Mike: That's one interpretation. What Master Gensa said was, you are wasting your time to try and describe the fact. So although Master Kozan says it's impossible to escape from the present moment, Master Gensa is saying, Yes, yes, I know, but it's a waste of time to talk about it. And then Master Kozan says, Well, what would you say? Master Gensa said, It's impossible to get out of it. And then Master Kozan said, Why do you say the same thing as me? Why can't I understand it?

So we can say that Master Gensa realises that words are completely useless to describe our real situation. But although they're completely useless, we have nothing else, so he said the same thing. But Master Kozan couldn't understand. If you think about it, it would seem that to say words to describe reality, which are completely useless, is a waste of time, so we shouldn't do it. But Master Gensa realises that although it's a waste of time, this is our life. Yesterday in the fields we picked up stones, and today in the fields we picked up stones again. I wonder, why am I picking up stones? There seem to be lots of stones there. So our life is a series of activities, and if we try to describe them in words, we can't capture the situation. But even though we can't capture the situation, we only have words. So that's the meaning of the story. Sounds like a waste of time, doesn't it? Do you think there's any point in that story? Is there any value in saying reality is only here and now, that we can never escape from it? Can you find any value in it?

Participant: But we can be happy right now because this is the only reality that we have. We can't be looking for anything else.

Mike: That's true. So if we remember that what we are in now is our life, and that there is no other life, we cannot escape from what we are in now. Then we can face it. And if we face what we are in now, we can step forward. But many people want to escape what's in front of them, and we all want to escape what's in front of us sometimes. So we wish that our life was different, but actually it's impossible to be in a different place. So a very, very simple teaching can be very helpful for us, to face the situation we're in.

At the bottom, number sixty-nine.

Master Hyakujo Nehan spoke one day before many monks: You many monks, when you finish clearing the land for me, I would like to preach the great teachings for you. A monk said, I have cleared all the fields, Master. Please preach the great teachings. The master spread his two arms.

Very good. The monks were expecting, after they finished clearing the fields, for the master to give them some kind of very intellectual or spiritual teaching. But instead of that, he spread his arms. What kind of teachings is that?

Let's look at the one at the top of the page, number ninety-six.

Master Unmon Bunen preached to an assembly: In all directions, and inside the whole universe, there is one treasure, which is concealed in the human body. This treasure is in entering the Buddha hall, carrying a lantern.

Yes, like the big hall in the temple with the statue of Buddha.

And in the temple gate brought into the lantern's light.

What is he talking about? He says there's a treasure in the human body, and it's concealed, which suggests we don't notice. And this treasure is when we enter the Buddha hall carrying a lantern, and when the gate to the temple comes into the light of the lantern. So what he's saying is something very, very simple. He's saying that out of all the things in the universe, he decides that one thing is the most important, and it's somewhere inside us. And when he goes into the Buddha hall carrying a lantern on the end of a stick, so that he can hang the lantern onto the hook, and when he walks across the courtyard in the dark carrying a lantern on the top of a stick, so that he can hook it onto the gate of the temple, he finds his treasure.

What can the treasure be? Can you find any treasure in carrying a lantern on the end of a stick? Can you find any treasure in walking from the zendo where we practise zazen into the dining room? And pouring water into a mug to make you a cup of coffee? Could you find any treasure in going out this morning to do samu? The treasure that Master Unmon is talking about, inside us, must be present in our simple activities. Can you find it? Yesterday we talked about zazen, getting rid of stress, for example.

Participant: Yeah.

Mike: And I talked about if we are having a very busy day, for example working with computers or studying something very closely, when we feel we had enough and we want a break, we can get up and walk down the corridor towards the coffee machine. When we do that, we feel something happy. That simple happiness in the present moment is what Master Unmon is talking about. He talks about carrying a lantern in the temple because that was his life. But he means that in the centre of all our very simple activities is something very valuable, but we don't notice it. What does he say? This is what he preached. So those three stories seem so simple. There's some things similar between them. They're all saying something very simple. We want to say, Well, yes. Yes, of course, we're always here. We can't get out of here. Yes, of course.

Yes, of course, there's something important in our small activity. And in the last one, when the master spread his arms, we can say, Yes, of course, the whole of reality is here. But why do we need to talk about it? So Buddhism talks about something which we don't need to talk about. It talks about something so simple that we think, Yes, I knew already. But in pointing to the very simple things, we can notice the basis of our real life. Sometimes we think the basis of our life is very complicated. Our life is composed of our plans for the future and many complicated things which we hold in our head, many duties that we have to do, and modern life is very complicated. In that very complicated situation, Buddhism says, right in the middle is a very simple activity, which I'm doing again and again. And this is the most important thing. That's what you said, but why can't I get it?

So all these stories are like that. But if you read them, you can notice that in ancient China what Buddhist teachers were teaching was always like this: Look at the very simple things we are doing, and notice the basis of our life. And that's all. But because it's so simple, we find it very difficult.

Participant: I don't think so.

Mike: My talk seems to be very stupid.

Participant: I notice in my own life, when I study these koans and the explanations, when I try to remind myself of the simplicity of the greatness in every single moment, when I don't study it, then I take everything for granted and then I miss the opportunity to enjoy simplicity. So I think there's never enough of it. I think it's very important to study something like this to remind ourselves this is it, this is the great thing. There will never be anything better. Because I see in myself that when I sometimes stop studying Buddhism or koans, then this whole book has helped me a lot. So then everything becomes something taken for granted, and I stop realising how wonderful it is that we can be here at this moment, whatever we experience, however simple. One has to learn to appreciate it. It is not a simple thing in life, because most people do not appreciate it, or take it for granted. They are simply lucky, always, in that it keeps reminding us where we are and how great it is that we are here, that we will be nowhere else.

Mike: The book is very thick, and you can use it to put under the table. Or to put flowers inside. Or you can tear the pages out and use them for many different purposes.

Participant: This needs to be commented, because when I would read it without comments, I don't know if I would get much of it, much understanding. I mean, when you comment it, it's completely different to when I would be reading it just...

Participant: I mean, the book itself, I don't know if I would have much use or...

Participant: Not so useful.

Participant: Because in my stage, I would not understand it so much, or maybe I...

Mike: It's true.

Participant: No, no, if I read only the book itself and didn't get, for example, Mike's commentary here, I probably wouldn't have noticed the story. Or yes, probably something, of course, but with the commentary it is different, knowledge-wise. You add something to the stories that is not in the stories, and I couldn't.

Mike: Yes, it's true. So because I studied these stories and translated them over eighteen years, I realised, I see, they're talking about something very simple. And looking at lots of different stories, I can see they're saying something very similar. And when I look in the bookshop and see all the different books on Buddhism, some of them are very, very complicated. And if I start to read them, I fall asleep. But having worked on this book, I can say to myself, There were people in the past who taught something very simple. So I don't need to bother about all those complications. I can just understand something very simple. So for me, it was very helpful.

Participant: Can I say something? I'm not sure if, like, ... knows that there are excellent commentaries. Every koan has comments that Mike wrote, and he explained every koan, right? The way you explained it today. So the book is wonderful. I would recommend it, because you can understand the koans are nothing special. They're just...

Mike: In a way, it's a kind of confirmation that what my teacher taught me in Japan is the same as what people were teaching in the medieval times. Actually, I don't have any interest in complicated Buddhist theories. But if I look around the modern world, there seem to be many very complicated theories about Buddhism with many complicated practices.