The Zen Koan by Isshū Miura & Ruther Fuller
Book Extracts
In this Book Extract, Zen Master Hakuin tells us how to find the Buddha, urging us not to seek it in the sutras or words of men.
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The great Japanese Zen Master Hakuin is one of those who have much to say on kensho, and in his Sokkō roku kaien fusetsu explains kindly and with scrupulous care the preparatory attitude of mind necessary for this experience. He says:
If you wish to seek Buddha, you must first have insight into your own real nature. Without this insight, what benefit will you derive from reciting the Nembutsu or chanting the sutras? The word “Buddha” means ‘Awakened.” When you awaken, it is your own mind that is Buddha. If somewhere else than in your own mind you seek a Buddha having a tangible form, you are a foolish fellow. It is like a man who is seeking for fish. He must first of all look in the water because, since fish are the product of water, outside water there are no fish. Just so, he who wishes to seek Buddha must first of all look into his own mind because, since Buddha is the product of mind, outside mind there is no Buddha…
Thus Hakuin Zenji painstakingly explains the matter for the sake of those of us who are studying Zen. Although he tells us not to search in the sutras and other writings, not to be led astray by the words of men, this is very difficult indeed. However, our patriarchs have not left us without assistance. I said previously that, in our ceaseless seeking for kensho, we Zen monks always keep foremost in our minds the koan we have been given. What is the koan we are given when we first enter the monastery and begin our Zen study? Our teacher usually selects one of these three:
The Sixth Patriarch asked the head monk Myo: “Thinking neither of good nor of evil, at this very moment what was your original aspect before your father and mother were born?”
A monk asked Master Jōshū: “Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?”
Jōshū answered: “Mu!”
Hakuin Zenji used to say to his disciples: “Listen to the sound of the Single Hand!”
(The Zen Koan by Isshū Miura & Ruther Fuller Sasaki, pub. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1965)
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