Bankei Zen

by Peter Haskel

  Bankei’s Kannon

  The principal object of worship at the Ryōmonji was a Kannon made by the Master.62 Knowing this, when the Master was delivering a sermon, a monk from ōshū63 stood leaning against a pillar and asked:

  “Is that image an old buddha or a new buddha?”

  The Master replied: “How does it look to you?”

  The monk said: “It looks to me like a new buddha.”

  The Master said: “If it looks to you like a new buddha, then it’s a new buddha, and that’s that; so what’s the problem? Because you haven’t understood that what is unborn is the Buddha Mind, you come and ask this sort of useless thing, thinking that’s Zen. Rather than ask this kind of worthless stuff and disturb everyone, just keep quiet, take a seat, and listen carefully to what I’m saying.”

  Getting sidetracked

  A layman from Izumo64 presented himself for private instruction65 with the Master and asked: “When one is enlightened like your Reverence, do the Three Worlds [of the past, present and future] really appear as if they were glimpsed in the palm of the hand?”

  The Master said: “What you asked me just now was whether, when one is enlightened like myself, the Three Worlds appear as if glimpsed in the palm of the hand; is that correct?”

  The layman said: “It is.”

  The Master said: “Is that question something you’ve been thinking over, or is it something that suddenly occurred to you just now to ask?”

  The layman said: “Well, I didn’t really form this question on the spur of the moment, but as I’ve been mulling it over and just happened to think of it now, I asked you about it.”

  The Master told him: “In that case, you needn’t bother asking about my affairs. Your wanting to see the Three Worlds can wait. First, thoroughly examine your own self—what’s really essential right here and now. Until you’ve examined your own self, however much I tell you about how things look [to me], you won’t be recognizing it, seeing it or settling it for yourself, so you won’t be convinced. And even if you did believe it, you still wouldn’t be proving my words. Since you won’t have seen the Three Worlds for yourself, it won’t be of any use to you. When you thoroughly examine your own self, you’ll know for yourself both the visible and invisible. There won’t be any need for me to tell you, or for you to ask me. Without first of all thoroughly examining your own self—what’s really essential right here and now—you come asking me extraneous questions about whether or not the Three Worlds can be seen, all of which can easily wait. It’s just getting sidetracked, going off on a tangent; it’s all irrelevant to you, like counting up my money for me without having even half a cent of your own. First off, listen closely to what I’m saying, and when you’ve really acknowledged it, today everything will be settled for you once and for all! So pay close attention and do just as I tell you, following my instructions. When you’ve acknowledged what I say and realized it conclusively, you’ll be an instant living buddha here today. As for your question about whether one can see the Three Worlds or not, you won’t have to carry it around to distant places, chasing about all over and asking others. Simply realize your mistake, and you’ll stop sidetracking yourself, so listen closely to what I say.”

  The Master then presented his teaching of the Unborn, just as usual.

  The layman, having heard it through, readily acknowledged it, and declaring, “How grateful I am!” withdrew.

  Self-power/other-power

  “My teaching isn’t concerned with either self-power or other-power:66 that which transcends both self-power and other-power, that’s what my teaching is about. Let me prove this to you: While everyone is turned this way to hear me saying this, out back there may be sparrows chirping, crows cawing, the voices of men or women, or the sighing of the wind. But, without your deliberately trying to hear every one of those sounds, each of them comes to you clearly recognized and distinguished. It’s not you doing the hearing, so it’s not a matter of self-power. On the other hand, since you can’t very well have someone else do your hearing for you, you couldn’t call it other-power! So, that which isn’t concerned with self-power or other-power but transcends them both is what my teaching is about. Isn’t that right? When you listen this way with the Unborn, you transcend whatever there is. And all the rest of your activities are perfectly managed like this with the Unborn too. For the man who functions with the Unborn, whoever he may be, all things are perfectly managed. So, whoever he is, the man of the Unborn isn’t concerned with either self-power or other-power, but transcends them both.”

  Dreams

  A monk asked: “When I’m sleeping soundly, I have dreams. How is it that we have dreams? I’d like your opinion on this.”

  The Master said: “When a person is sound asleep he doesn’t have dreams. When you have dreams, you’re not sleeping soundly.”

  The monk was speechless.

  Everybody has the Buddha Mind

  The Master addressed the assembly:67 “What I tell everyone is nothing but the fact that the Unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating. You’re all endowed with the Buddha Mind, but since you don’t know it, I’m telling you and trying to make you understand.

  “Well, then, just what does it mean that everybody has the Buddha Mind? All of you came from home with the express intention of hearing what I’ve got to say, so you’re supposed to be listening to the sermon. But, in the course of listening to my talk, if a dog barks outside the temple, you recognize it as the voice of a dog; if a crow caws, you know it’s a crow; if you hear the voice of an adult, you know it’s an adult; if you hear the voice of a child, you know it’s a child. What I mean is that when you all left your homes to come here to the temple, you did so precisely in order to hear me speak this way; you didn’t come with any preconceived idea that if, while I was talking, there were sounds of dogs and birds, children or grown-ups somewhere outside, you were deliberately going to try to hear them. Yet here in the meeting you recognize the noises of dogs and crows outside and the sounds of people talking; your eyes can distinguish red from white, and your nose tell good smells from bad. From the start, you had no deliberate intention of doing this, so you had no way to know which sounds, colors or smells you would encounter. But the fact that you recognize these things you didn’t expect to see or hear shows you’re seeing and hearing with the Unborn Buddha Mind. If outside the temple a dog barks, you know it’s a dog; if a crow caws, you know it’s a crow. Even though you’re not deliberately trying to hear or not to hear these different sounds, you recognize each one the moment it appears, and this is proof of the Buddha Mind, unborn and marvelously illuminating. This not deliberately trying to see or hear is the Unborn. . . .

  “I tell everyone how they’re endowed with the Buddha Mind like this. From the time I was young, I devoted myself to realizing the Buddha Mind, going about everywhere engaging in religious practice, seeking out accomplished teachers and interviewing them, questioning them this way and that about my problem, but there wasn’t one who could tell me what I had to know. The result was that I failed to get a clear understanding and struggled in all kinds of ways, doing zazen, living off in the mountains, punishing my body, but I was still in the dark about the matter of the Buddha Mind. Then, at last, when I was twenty-six, suddenly I hit on it, and ever since, I’ve been telling everyone how the Unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating, so that they can also understand. I doubt there are many people around who can give you this kind of detail!

  “As I’ve told you, I finally realized this Buddha Mind after long years of religious practice. But the fact that all of you can easily come to know the Buddha Mind right at this meeting, in perfect comfort, without engaging in religious practice or punishing your bodies, means that your affinity with buddhahood is far deeper than mine was, and makes you lucky people indeed, each and every one! Having discovered that the Unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating, I’ve taught this everywhere, and many have understood. Of course, this Unborn Buddha Mind isn�
�t anything I learned from my teacher—this Unborn is something I discovered for myself, and at every one of these meetings I teach according to my own realization. Since if I told it to you only once or twice you probably wouldn’t understand, I tell it to you again and again. So if you’ve got any question about anything, just ask me, and I’ll speak to you some more. . . .

  “What is it I tell everyone? I only talk about the Unborn Buddha Mind you all intrinsically possess. The main thing is to realize this Buddha Mind. Originally, there isn’t anything evil in you; but from just one little slip, you switch the Buddha Mind for thoughts. Take a thief, for example: At first, he pinches a few trifles, and then thinks: ‘I got hold of these things without even having to put up any cash; I’m sure there’s no handier way [to make a living]!’ After that, he becomes a confirmed and reckless thief, is inevitably found out, collared, bound, jailed and [led off to be] crucified. But then, confronted with the punishment for his crimes, he forgets all about the evils he committed and rails against the innocent officials who must carry out his execution, protesting that what he’s done doesn’t deserve such harsh treatment and that it’s heartlessly cruel besides! Terribly mistaken, isn’t it? This is how people switch their precious Buddha Mind for the realms of hungry ghosts and fighting demons—it all begins from one little slip.

  “I also have a temple in Kyoto, at Yamashina,68 and when I’m staying there I go into the city every day. Awadaguchi69 lies along my way, and at Awadaguchi is a place where criminals are crucified and their heads gibbeted before the prison gates. Having to pass by there frequently, I’d see this sort of thing from time to time.

  “In Edo, the Criminal Magistrate is a man named Lord Kōide ōzumi.70 I’m on friendly terms with him, and whenever I’d visit at his mansion, I’d see various criminals led out, confronted by the officers, bound and tied and put to the torture, suffering the most terrible agony. At that moment, these criminals quite forgot their own mischief was to blame and berated the officers, who were in no way at fault, as if it were all their doing. I often witnessed this. Afterwards, seeing how things were, I’d make sure I visited only on Official Days of Abstinence,71 as on these days such criminals weren’t brought to the mansion. This is an example of how, from one little slip, people thoughtlessly change the Buddha Mind for a hell-dweller. Everyone, grasp this clearly! When it comes to what you all have from your parents innately, there’s not a single thing you’ve got except the Buddha Mind. So take great care not to create delusions and bad habits, which result from self-centeredness and selfish desires that you do not have innately. It’s to illustrate this that I’ve told you about the criminals. . . .

  “When your parents gave you life, there wasn’t a trace of selfish desire, bad habits or self-centeredness. But from the age of four or five you picked up the mean things you saw other people do and the bad things you heard them say, so that gradually as you matured, growing up badly, you developed selfish desire, which in turn produced self-centeredness. Deluded by this self-centeredness, you then proceeded to create every sort of evil. If it weren’t for being centered on yourself, delusions wouldn’t arise. When they don’t arise, that’s none other than abiding in the Unborn Buddha Mind. Apart from this, there’s no buddha, so if there’s anything you people don’t understand, come along and ask me, no matter what it is. There’s no need to feel any hesitation in asking about this. This is different from asking about worldly concerns of the moment—it’s a matter of eternity! So if you’ve got any doubts, better come ask me right now. I can’t be sure of meeting you all again, so take this opportunity to ask me about whatever puzzles you, and when you’ve thoroughly grasped how the Buddha Mind is unborn and marvelously illuminating, each of you will have his reward.”

  Having thus instructed the assembly, the Master mounted the altar platform72 to perform the closing ceremonies, and when he had finished, he said: “I’m going back inside now. Today’s crowd was quite a big one, so, to avoid a rush, everyone please leave in an orderly fashion, and, above all, take your time going so there won’t be any mishaps.”

  Being living buddhas

  “What has brought this vast throng here like this since daybreak, hoping to hear what I’ve got to say, is none other than the Unborn Buddha Mind. The way you’ve all gathered here since early this morning, unless you’d felt the sermon was something really unusual, you’d never have shown this sort of resolve. Well, then, among those of you who’ve come to this meeting, all those who’ve reached the age of fifty have lived for fifty years without realizing you had the Buddha Mind right within yourself, while those who are thirty have failed to realize this truth for thirty years up till today—you’ve all been passing the months and years in a daze. But at our meeting today when you thoroughly grasp that each of you has the Unborn Buddha Mind right within himself, from today on you’ll live in the Buddha Mind and be living buddhas forever after. What I’m telling you all is simply to make you realize that the Unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating. When you’ve thoroughly realized this, from then on forever after you’ll possess a buddhas body no different from Shaka’s73 and never again fall into the Three Evil Realms. However, even if you grasp the Unborn Buddha Mind when I explain it to you here like this, once you go back home, things you see and hear may start up your angry mind again. And then, even if it’s only a tiny bit of anger, your sin will be a million times worse than it was before you’d heard me tell you about the Unborn Buddha Mind! You’ll switch the Unborn Buddha Mind you learned about now for hell-dwellers, beasts and hungry ghosts, transmigrating forever.

  “I’m sure there’s not a person present who objects to becoming a buddha. That’s why I’m here preaching to you all. Grasp things clearly, and from today on you’re living buddhas. Even if I were to urge you all, ‘Forget about becoming buddhas—just fall into hell!’ I doubt there would be a single one of you who’d actually volunteer to go! The proof of this is that, in order to come to this meeting and hear my sermon, you roused yourselves in the dark of night, traveling here and jostling for space in this huge crowd, accepting all the hardships to listen to my talk. Isn’t it because you all wanted to become buddhas? Since you have this sort of resolve, from here on you should take great care in everything you do. . . .

  “ ‘Just what sort of thing is this Unborn Buddha Mind?’ you’re probably wondering. While all of you here are turned this way intent on hearing what I’m saying, if outside the temple there’s the barking of a dog or the cry of some tradesman peddling his wares, even though you’re not trying to hear these things in the course of the sermon, each of the different sounds is heard—the dog’s bark, the tradesman’s cry; that’s hearing with the Unborn, the dynamic function of the Buddha Mind. Let me give you an example. The Buddha Mind, unborn and marvelously illuminating, is like a bright mirror. A mirror reflects whatever is in front of it. It’s not deliberately trying to reflect things, but whatever comes before the mirror, its color and form are sure to appear. Likewise, when the object being reflected is removed, the mirror isn’t deliberately trying not to reflect it, but when it’s taken away it doesn’t appear in the mirror. The Unborn Buddha Mind is just like this. It’s natural that you see and hear things, whatever they are, when you deliberately try to see and hear them; but when you see and hear things that you hadn’t originally anticipated seeing or hearing, it’s through the dynamic function of the Buddha Mind that every one of you has. That’s what’s meant by the Unborn Buddha Mind. Now that I’ve given you my instruction on the Unborn in such a way that all of you can understand, if after this you still don’t grasp it, then whether you’ve listened to one thousand sermons or ten thousand, it won’t make any difference. Even if it’s only one sermon, the person who realizes this Buddha Mind that everyone intrinsically possesses is a living tathagata from that moment on!

  “To give you another example, suppose there’s someone traveling here to Marugame from Takamatsu,74 and he doesn’t know the way. There’s another person who does know i
t, and when the traveler asks him, he explains precisely what route to follow and, memorizing this thoroughly, the traveler goes just as he’d been told and arrives here without any problem. The same way, when you all grasp exactly what I’m saying now, from that moment on you’ll abide in the Buddha Mind just as it is. On the other hand, if you fail to do so, it’s just as if you were able to learn the road to Marugame, but didn’t go as you’d been told and headed for some place else. That’s why you’d better listen closely to what I say. I can’t be sure I’ll be back here again to talk to you; and even if you hear sermons somewhere else, I doubt there’s anyone who’s going to make a special point of explaining to you how this Buddha Mind is unborn and marvelously illuminating. So if you think the sermon I’m giving makes sense, be on your guard to stop stirring up all kinds of thoughts, and put an end to your transmigrating. If you fail to realize buddhahood now, you’ll never again be born into this human world, not even in ten thousand kalpas,75 so do your utmost to conclusively realize the Unborn Buddha Mind, and don’t be deluded. Then, from today you men will be men abiding in the Buddha Mind, and you women will be women abiding in the Buddha Mind, all without being deluded. That’s none other than buddhahood, none other than enlightenment.