by Erik Storlie
My mind opens to the ten thousand things, reflected, floating—the raven keeping his black watch—the hawks in sexual feint and parry soaring high above the land—the Douglas firs, lightning scarred, roots knotted into living rock, bolts bowed back from centuries of storm winds blown blustering across this crest of land—these rough black rocks, inhospitable yet warm from the afternoon sun, re-radiating that ancient radioactive fire—the great basins below me, encircled by mountains, drifting in the hazy warm distance, darkening as the sun’s red orb is sliced finer and finer by a thin sawblade of distant western peaks.
All this the effortless weaving of the vast mind loom, all this floating on mind stuff—floating through the pinhole in the iris of my eye, carried on waves of vibrating energy down fibrous nerve passageways, sunlight reaching deep inside my skull.
“It’s getting late,” I think. “Time to get back down to the cabin.” Stiff, aching, happy, I unwind my legs and gather my things into the little pack. Standing, with palms pressed together, I bow slowly to each of the four directions—first north, then east, then south, then west—softly whispering, “Thank you!” with each bow.
Then I step from rock to rock down the black pile of glacial rubble, hit open sage, and settle into hip-swinging strides that carry me fast down the steep hills, my boots taking long slides in gravel until the heels bite into hummocks of turf. The fine dust and crushed sage fill my nose as the basin darkens before me.
In an hour I’m comfortable, sitting in my folding chair in the cabin. The room is warm, the wood cookstove roars, and my dishpan of breakfast dishes sits on top, waiting to be washed. Ice tinkles in a glass of scotch I cup in my lap.
“Well,” I think, “tomorrow I’ll have to get after the ditch again. Installing a waste valve and pulling the line straight up is really the best way to go. I’d better get to the dump, too.”
“Hold it!” says another voice. “Keep your mind on Katagiri’s mat. Zen is every minute. Remember the old story? ‘Have you finished your tea? Well, wash your cup!’”
I set down my scotch, stand, and walk over to the dishpan. On the top of the pile is my white coffee cup. I rinse it with soapy water, brush it with the dish brush, then pick up a scrubber and begin to work out stubborn, dark stains at the bottom.
Out the window, in fading autumn light, the sky is darkening blue, the dying heather a glowing red.
Glossary
BARDO Tibetan for “in-between state”; the period after death and before a new rebirth, traditionally forty-nine days. In The Psychedelic Experience, Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner suggest that the descriptions of after-death experiences in The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo thodol) are also descriptions of states of consciousness experienced in meditation—and therefore important guideposts to orient psychedelic voyagers.
BODHIDHARMA Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth patriarch after the Buddha, brought a profound meditation practice and authentic understanding of the Buddha’s teachings from India to China in the sixth century. Some consider him a mythical figure.
BODHISATTVA Sanskrit for “awakened being.” An enlightened one who, out of compassion, accepts rebirth after rebirth in order to aid myriad suffering beings.
BUDDHA The term comes from the Sanskrit root budh, “to awaken.” Thus a buddha is a human being who has awakened from the sleep of the ordinary dualistic mind and now fully experiences the fundamental oneness of all Being. The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (563?–483? B.C.E.), was born into a noble family in what is now Nepal. It is said that after renouncing a long, debilitating, and spiritually fruitless asceticism, he vowed to sit in meditation until he had resolved the dilemma of human suffering. After forty-nine days seated under the Bodhi Tree, he realized perfect enlightenment. Later he would describe this liberation simply as “bliss.”
CH’AN See dhyana.
CURANDERO (masc.), CURANDERA (fem.) Spanish for “healer”; a shaman. In Huatla de Jimenez in June of 1955, Maria Sabina was introduced to Gordon Wasson as a “curandera de primera categoria” who could guide him in the mushroom ceremony.
DHARMA A key term in Buddhism used to denote ordinary things like chairs and trees, as well as the underlying Law of the universe. In its broadest sense, the Dharma is the ultimate reality known fully by the Buddha and expressed in his teaching.
DHYANA Sanskrit for meditation, concentration, and mental absorption, but the term suggests more than a mere focusing of the mind. It points toward an infinite and unitive awareness. The word became ch’an in Chinese and zen in Japanese and gave a name to the schools that emphasized the Buddha’s silent sitting as the path to realization.
DOAN The title of the person who, among other duties, rings the bells that mark the beginnings and endings of meditation periods in the zendo.
DOGEN ZENJI (1200–1253) The Japanese zen master who, after intense practice in China, established the Soto zen school in Japan. His writings are pregnant with poetry, philosophical insight, and enlightenment.
DOKUSAN A private interview between zen student and zen master in which questions of zen practice are raised.
EIHEIJI One of the two principal monasteries of the Japanese Soto Zen School, founded by Dogen in 1243.
ENLIGHTENMENT A word commonly used to translate the Sanskrit bodhi (awake). The Buddha is literally “the awakened one.” In this context, the term enlightenment has no relation to its traditional use in the West to denote rational, scientific understanding as opposed to superstition and dogma. Various Buddhist traditions countenance various types and levels of enlightenment, but the Buddha’s awakening is presumed to be final and complete.
HAN A wooden board suspended from a rope and struck with a hammer three times a day to signal dawn, dusk, and bedtime.
HEART SUTRA A short section taken from the Prajnaparamita Sutra and commonly recited in the Mahayana tradition. It asserts the interdependence and ultimate oneness of form and emptiness—yet their independent existence. Form implies the myriad objects that humans can perceive. Emptiness implies infinite unconditioned Being. This affirmation of paradox underpins the many contradictory and a-logical statements in zen koans, as well as the presumption in zen that all philosophical and theological systems (even Buddhist ones) are but verbal nets cast to catch the reflection of the moon in the water.
HOKYOJI The country temple founded by Katagiri Roshi in southeastern Minnesota. It is presently a center for zen retreats and seminars, and has several year-round residents.
HYAKUJO (720–814 C.E.) A great Chinese zen (ch’an) master of the T’ang dynasty. From him comes the rule “A day of no working is a day of no eating.”
JOSHU The Chinese zen master who was asked the question, “Does the dog have buddha nature?” He answered, “No!” This question is often given as a koan.
KASHYAPA BUDDHA The Buddha of a supposed age that preceded the current one in which we now live and into which Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, was born.
KINHIN In Soto Zen, a slow, walking meditation of five to fifteen minutes that is practiced between periods of sitting meditation.
KOAN A paradoxical or a-logical statement given by the zen master to a disciple as a problem to solve. The disciple works with the koan in meditation and confronts the master in dokusan with possible solutions. A famous example is “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” The Zen Master Mumon Ekai said a koan is brick with which to knock at a gate so as to awaken those inside. When someone finally opens the gate, the brick can be thrown away.
LUTEFISK Norwegian for “lye fish.” A traditional Christmas dish of the nineteenth-century Norwegian immigrant communities on the Midwestern prairies, who now had no access to the sea and fresh fish. It is prepared from dried cod preserved in lye, reconstituted by soaking and then boiling. The dish has lost popularity with subsequent generations.
MAHAYANA The Mahayana (Sanskrit for “Great Vehicle”) and Hinayana (Sanskrit for “Small Vehicle”) are the two major schools of Buddhism. The M
ahayana is a later development, which went beyond the traditional monasticism of the Hinayana to emphasize the laity and the Bodhisattva ideal of awakening all beings.
MOKUGYO A wooden drum, first made in the shape of a fish, now assuming a more rounded form. The drum establishes a steady beat during the chant of sutras.
NANSEN (748–835 C.E.) Hyakujo’s teacher. His is the famous saying, “The ordinary mind is the way.” This ordinary mind, he explains, is “vast emptiness.”
ORYOKI The set of nesting eating bowls with utensils, napkin, and wrapping cloth that is traditional in the zen monastery.
PRATYEKA BUDDHA Sanskrit for “solitary awakened one.” The Mahayana tradition is critical of the Pratyeka Buddha, for unlike the Bodhisattva, he enjoys his awakening selfishly, failing to help other beings to enlightenment.
RINZAI See Soto.
ROHATSU SESSHIN A sesshin held from December 1 to December 8 that commemorates the Buddha’s enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth month.
ROSHI Japanese for “old master,” a title for a zen teacher who has had deep enlightenment experience. After some years in Minnesota, Katagiri Roshi became impatient with the corrupted uses of this term and asked students to address him as Hojo-san, a less exalted term for an elder monk or the abbot of a monastery.
SAMADHI Sanskrit for “to place together; to make one.” A state of undistracted concentration in which the mind is one-pointed. Huston Smith notes the parallel between sam and the Greek syn, and between adhi and the Hebrew adonai, suggesting the meaning “completely absorbed in God.”
SENSEI A Japanese title used for teachers and other professionals.
SESSHIN Japanese for “gathering the mind.” An intensive meditation retreat lasting one to seven days.
SOTO Soto and Rinzai are the two principal zen schools active today in Japan. Traditionally, Rinzai emphasizes the koan in an encounter between master and disciple to push the student to awaken. Soto emphasizes awakening without words through the quiet, formless meditation of zazen.
TOZAN (807–869 C.E.) One of the founders of the Soto school in China. While wandering as a pilgrim, he is said to have experienced a profound awakening after glimpsing his reflection in the water as he crossed a stream.
ZAFU A round black meditation cushion stuffed with kapok, traditional in Japanese zen practice.
ZAZEN Japanese for “sitting meditation.” The form is commonly seen in statues of the Buddha sitting erect, legs crossed, hands placed one atop the other in his lap with thumb tips lightly touching, eyes cast gently down before him.
ZEN See dhyana.
ZENDO Japanese for “meditation hall.”
ZORIS Traditional straw sandals that are held on by a thong that goes between the great and the next toe.
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