Bankei Zen

by Peter Haskel

  “The neighbor remarked: ‘How can you go back home alone after fighting with your husband and coming all this way? First, go to your parents’ place; then, I’ll go back to your husband’s with you and see that your return works out all right.’

  “‘No, no,’ the woman said, ‘it doesn’t matter how it’s going to work out. Since, after all, it was I who behaved badly, it’s up to me to make up to them both and see that everything comes right. Besides, if this wonderful sermon remained for my hearing alone, it wouldn’t be worthwhile. When I’ve shared it with them both and encouraged them to take an interest in salvation, only then will my having heard it be truly meaningful.’

  “As the two of them walked along speaking this way, they were overheard by the people around them coming from the temple.

  “‘What a remarkable person this woman is!’ they marveled. ‘Today, after hearing a single sermon, she repents her errors. What extraordinary behavior for a mere woman! This other person certainly spoke ignorantly. To try to dissuade her from going back alone, and to have him straighten things out for her return—what sort of business would that be! Since he’s from ōzu, he must have heard that sermon over and over, but, still, what bad advice he hands out!’

  “In this fashion, those who’d been able to hear what had happened rebuked the man, and told the woman who had announced that she was going home: ‘Your attitude really is admirable! Hurry home right away!’

  “‘Yes, I will!’ she replied, and returned.

  “That day, I’d been invited to visit an ōzu clansman, and while I was there, a crowd of acquaintances came by.

  “‘Your sermon today caused a miracle!’ they told me, all of them at once blurting out this story.

  “Afterwards, I learned what happened when the woman went back to her husband.

  “Returning as she’d intended, she told them both:83 ‘Even though neither of you ordered me out, my own wrongheadedness made me go against your wishes and leave home. Yet, since my decision to return to my parents led me to ōzu, my leaving home today must itself have been the result of some karmic affinity with Buddhism. On my way, I met a crowd of people traveling to the temple, and, joining them, I went along. When I listened to the sermon, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t apply to me personally. As I listened, I realized how wrong my own attitude had been, and instead of going on to my parents, I came straight home from the temple. It was my own wrongmindedness that made you both angry with me. From here on, I’ll obey you in everything, so if you’re angry with me now, go ahead and satisfy your anger—do anything to me you want! No matter how trying things may be for me, I won’t bear you any resentment at all, so I hope you’ll both forgive me.’

  “Like the honest folk they were, when they heard this, both husband and mother-in-law declared: ‘It was you who got yourself upset over nothing and ran out on your own, even though no one had told you to go. Now that you’ve realized you were mistaken and come back, how could we hold it against you!’

  “So they were happy to have her back again, and everything turned out for the best. Thereafter, the woman was scrupulously obedient to her husband, with whom she lived in perfect harmony, and was respectful toward her mother-in-law as well, looking after the meals and telling them from time to time about the marvelous sermon she’d heard. Finally, she prevailed upon them both, so that while I was staying [in the area], the three of them would often come together to hear me.

  “For people who have an affinity like this with Buddhism to be freed of their quarrels and resentments by a single sermon—even if they’re only ignorant folk without any sort of understanding—certainly shows a wonderful attitude, don’t you agree? I’ve been telling you this with the idea that if all of you, too, hear these things, you’re sure to form an instant affinity of your own. Because the Buddha Mind is unborn and marvelously illuminating, even a mere woman, without any sort of understanding, can find herself relying on the Buddha Mind. So all you people as well, from here on, should constantly summon up your faith in order to abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind!

  “Today’s talk was long, and you’re probably all worn out, so let’s stop here. Everyone take your time leaving, and please come again tomorrow.”

  “Buddha” Magoemon

  “. . . Well, then, let me tell you something about the marvelous workings of the Buddha Mind. About thirty years ago there was a fellow who became a disciple of mine, [a merchant] who outdid everyone else in selling his goods, frequently turning a handsome profit, so that people all began to call him ‘Thief Magoemon.’84 Whenever he’d pass by, everyone would point to him and say: ‘There’s that Thief Magoemon!’ Still, as he was clever at turning a profit, outdoing all the rest, later on things went well for him—he got himself a house, made money—and from that time on, he often came to my place. I told him: ‘If people are calling you an outrageous thief, something must be wrong. Particularly when someone who’s coming regularly to this temple gets called such bad names by everyone and has everybody talking about him, there’s no two ways about it—its his own fault!’

  “When I’d taken him to task like this, Magoemon said to me: ‘If I went to people’s places and stole things, or cut my way into their storerooms, I’d certainly feel ashamed; but I’m not stealing like that. And I’m hardly the only one around who’s making a profit in business. Besides, the people who are slandering me are mostly merchants themselves, but since they can’t turn a profit like I do, unfortunately you end up hearing bad things about me. After all, the whole point of doing business is to make a profit. . . .’ And going on in this vein, he remained unconcerned.

  “Later on, I don’t know what came over him, but he turned his affairs over to his nephew and even distributed all the money he’d accumulated among his family, coming to me and asking to receive the tonsure. I told him: ‘If it were anyone else, there’d certainly be some question in my mind, but in your case, as someone who’s always had a bad reputation, it shows a splendid resolve.’ So saying, I made him a monk right away.

  “From then on, he gradually deepened his faith and became a man of faith. And what does this show? That what’s called the Buddha Mind possesses a marvelously illuminating dynamic function. Not thirty days after this fellow had become a monk, everyone had already taken to calling him ’Buddha Magoemon!’ That’s how it goes, so I want you all to grasp this clearly. There’s nothing in the world so precious as the Buddha Mind. Since you’re all trying to realize the Unborn Buddha Mind, you can’t get by without understanding this conclusively. I don’t go telling you: ‘It’s no good unless you perform this practice!’ ‘Observe the precepts!’ ‘Read the sutras and records!’ ‘Do zazen!’ Because the Buddha Mind is present in each one of you, there’s no question of my giving you the Buddha Mind. Listening closely to this sermon, realize the Buddha Mind that each of you has right within himself, and from today on you’re abiding in the Unborn Buddha Mind. Once you’ve affirmed the Buddha Mind that everyone has innately, you can all do just as you please: if you want to read the sutras, read the sutras; if you feel like doing zazen, do zazen; if you want to keep the precepts, take the precepts; even if it’s chanting the nembutsu or the daimoku,85 or simply performing your allotted tasks—whether as a samurai, a farmer, an artisan or a merchant86—that becomes your samādhi.87 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. . . .”

  Like little children of three or four

  The Master instructed the assembly: “As you’ve all been hearing me say, everyone has the innate Buddha Mind, so all you need to do is abide in the Unborn just as it is. However, [following] the ways of the world, you get into bad habits in life and switch the Buddha Mind for the wretched realm of hungry ghosts with its clinging and craving. Grasp this thoroughly and you’ll always abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind. But if, wishing to realize the Unborn, you people try to stop y
our thoughts of anger and rage, clinging and craving from arising, then by stopping them you divide one mind into two. It’s as if you were pursuing something that’s running away. As long as you deliberately try to stop your rising thoughts, the thought of trying to stop them wars against the continually arising thoughts themselves, and there’s never an end to it. To give you an example, it would be like washing away blood with blood. Of course, you might get out the original blood; but the blood after that would stick, and the red never go away. Similarly, the original angry thoughts that you were able to stop may have come to an end, but the subsequent thoughts concerned with your stopping them won’t ever cease.

  “‘Well,’ you may wonder, ‘then what can I do to stop them?’ Even if suddenly, despite yourself and wholly unawares, rage or anger should appear, or thoughts of clinging and craving arise, just let them come—don’t develop them any further, don’t attach to them. Without concerning yourself about whether to stop your rising thoughts or not to stop them, just don’t bother with them, and then there’s nothing else they can do but stop. You can’t have an argument with the fence if you’re standing there all alone! When there’s no one there to fight with, things can’t help but simply come to an end of themselves.

  “Even when all sorts of thoughts do crop up, it’s only for the time being while they arise. So, just like little children of three or four who are busy at play, when you don’t continue holding onto those thoughts and don’t cling to any [particular] thoughts, whether they’re happy or sad, not thinking about whether to stop or not to stop them—why, that’s nothing else but abiding in the Unborn Buddha Mind. So keep the one mind as one mind. If you always have your mind like this, then, whether it’s good things or bad, even though you’re neither trying not to think them nor to stop them, they can’t help but just stop of themselves. What you call anger and joy you produce entirely yourself due to the strength of your self-centeredness, the result of selfish desire. Transcend all thoughts of attachment and these thoughts can’t help but perish. This ‘perishing’ is none other than the Imperishable. And that which is imperishable is the Unborn Buddha Mind.

  “At any rate, the main thing is always to be mindful of the Unborn Buddha Mind and not go cooking up thoughts of this or that on the ground of the Unborn, attaching to things that come your way, changing the Buddha Mind for thoughts. As long as you don’t waver in this, no thoughts will arise, whether good or bad, and so, of course, there won’t be any need to try to stop them, either. Then, aren’t you neither creating nor destroying? That’s nothing but the Unborn and Imperishable Buddha Mind, so you’d better grasp this clearly!”

  Getting angry

  “Looking around me, I see that we have an even larger crowd than usual this morning, so probably a lot of you didn’t hear the talk I just gave. All those who heard it should leave at this point and give their places to those who didn’t.”

  When those present had changed places and seated themselves, a certain man brought forward a question he wished to ask the Master.

  “In your sermons,” he said, “you always state that, getting into bad habits in life, we switch the Buddha mind for evil thoughts. Hearing you, I realize that doing this is wrong. Still, I’m a townsman, my business is trade, and things people say make me angry or annoyed. Inside me, I don’t harbor any evil thoughts of anger or annoyance, but other people often get me angry, whether it’s my wife and children or my servants. After hearing your sermon, I realized doing this was wrong and tried to put an end to it. But if I stop those angry thoughts, they only come up again, and there’s no end to them after all. What can I do, then, to stop them?”

  The Master replied: “The fact is, you want to get angry, so you’re getting yourself mad. If you hadn’t the least bad thought to begin with, no matter how much others provoked you, you surely wouldn’t get angry. But if, in you, feelings of anger and annoyance have already been formed, then, even though [the other people] don’t set out deliberately to say things to make you mad, you get carried away by the force of your own self-centeredness, lose your temper and insist, ‘I don’t say anything that’s untrue or improper!’ Your thoughts create the karma of the Three Evil Realms, while your demonic mind torments you. This is the fiery cart88 of self and self-created karma.

  “Outside, hell, hungry ghosts, karma, demons and fiery carts simply don’t exist. What’s more, to try to stop your rising thoughts, holding them back and suppressing them, is a bad idea. The original, innate Buddha Mind is one alone—it’s never two. But when you try to stop your rising anger, [your mind] is split between your angry thoughts and your thoughts of stopping them. It’s as if you’re chasing after someone who is running away, except that you’re both the runner and the one pursuing him as well! Let me give you an example of what I mean: You can busy yourself sweeping under a tree with thick [autumn] foliage; but since the tree’s leaves will keep scattering down from above, even if, for the moment, you manage to get things neatly swept away, more leaves will only come falling later on, won’t they? In the same way, even if you stop your original thoughts of anger, the subsequent thoughts involved with the stopping of them will never come to an end. So the idea of trying to stop [your thoughts] is wrong. Since that’s how it is, when you no longer bother about those rising thoughts, not trying either to stop them or not to stop them, why, that’s the Unborn Buddha Mind. That’s what I’ve been telling about just now in such detail. Weren’t you listening? [If you weren’t,] it’s a shame!”89

  Blindness and the Unborn

  A blind woman addressed the Master: “I have heard that one who is physically handicapped cannot attain buddhahood. I, as you see, am blind, and without the opportunity even to worship the image of a buddha, I feel that my being born a human has been truly in vain and that when I die I’ll just sink into the Evil Paths. If there’s any way by which even one who is blind can be said to attain buddhahood, I beg you to instruct me.”

  The Master replied: “People do talk that way, but in the Unborn I speak of, there’s no distinction between being handicapped or not being handicapped. Even if you’re blind, in the innate Buddha Mind itself there’s not the slightest difference. Do not doubt this! Just keep clear of clinging, anger and foolishness90 and fully affirm these sermons I’ve been giving, abiding always in the Unborn Buddha Mind, and you’ll attain buddhahood right in this life!

  “There was another blind woman, in Aboshi, who asked me the same sort of thing. When I told her what I’ve said to you now, she grasped it thoroughly, and from then on she completely changed and upheld the Unborn, telling me time and again: ‘Thanks to your instruction, I’ve now gained some understanding of the fact that I am unborn. How grateful I feel! Had I been able to see, thoughts of clinging and craving would have been roused by whatever I saw; I would have formed deep attachments, and how could this faith have appeared? Strangely enough, precisely because I was blind, I couldn’t see the good and bad things of the world, so that such thoughts of attachment didn’t arise, and when I heard your sermon, I was able to place myself in the Unborn. It’s due entirely to my blindness!’

  “Thus she became a person of faith. So grasp this clearly, and your religious practice will end up going even more smoothly than that of someone who could see!”

  When the Master had finished instructing her, this blind woman too exclaimed, “How wonderful! How marvelous!”

  It is said that, convinced of the truth of the Master’s words, she thoroughly acknowledged the Unborn Buddha Mind, assured beyond a doubt that even one who is handicapped can realize buddhahood.

  Bodhidharma. Painted by Bankei. Property of the Ryōmonji. (Courtesy Shunjūsha)

  “The Unborn” (fushō). Calligraphy by Bankei. Property of the Futetsufi, Aboshi. (Courtesy Daizō shuppan)

  Bankei’s meditation rock at Nonaka in Akō, the site of his enlightenment in 1647, described in the Sermons. (Courtesy Daizō shuppan)

  Portrait of Tao-che. Property of the Tafukuji, Usuki (ōita Prefecture
). (Courtesy Daizō shuppan)

  Medicines and medicine box used by Bankei’s father and elder brother. Property of the Gitoku-in, Aboshi. (Courtesy Daizō shuppan)

  Portrait of Bankei, by the painter Yamamoto Soken (n.d.). The portrait was commissioned by Bankei’s disciple Tairyō Sokyō (1638–1688). The san, or appreciatory verse, dated 1677, is by Bankei’s colleague, the Rinzai Zen Master Kengan Zenetsu (1618–1696). (Courtesy Shunjūsha)

  View of the Ryōmonji, showing the principal temple buildings. The Fudō Hall stands directly to the right of the gate. To the left, are the bell (gong) tower, the main hall and, at the far left corner, the zendō, or meditation hall. (Courtesy Daizō shuppan)

  Entry to the Ryōmonji. (Courtesy Shunjūsha)