Who are you & what are you looking for?

Former & later Buddhas have transmitted mind to mind without depending on the written word. - Bodhidharma

So what the hell am I going to say about it?

One of the central things spoken of about Zen is that it is a teaching outside of the scriptures, a transmission outside of the sutras. The opening lines of the Daodejing say, “The Way that can be spoken of is not the true way”. So, the idea of writing a blog about Zen or talking about it is in one sense the ultimate arrogance. The words I say are not IT.

There’s a great scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce goes to give one of his Shaolin students a private lesson. “It is like a finger pointing to the moon,” he says, pausing to smack his student, who was staring at Bruce’s outstretched finger. “If you focus only on the finger, then you will miss all of the heavenly glory.” This scene is actually a classic Zen teaching that Bruce Lee brought to life in an iconic fashion that has influenced martial artists and kung fu film buffs since then. A few know it’s a Zen teaching. Very few actually take the time to get what that means.

This is perhaps the foundational lesson we can learn in our Zen practice. We have to cut through these things to see the thing in itself. Our words, our discussions, the sutras, the koan, the talks of great past teachers, even that ubiquitous exercise of sitting meditation…none of these things are anymore true than the finger.

In the Heart Sutra, Gwanseum-bosal, the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, tells us, “All Dharmas are empty.” Some love to latch on to emptiness when they begin to study Buddhism, going to nihilistic extremes that many unfortunately never grow out of...

“It’s all emptiness, bro...”

Uh-huh…I got some emptiness for ya right here, buddy.

Dharmas are empty, but not some whacked out trip into the void empty. Dharmas aren’t the moon. They’re the finger pointing at it.

So, while we engage in these practices, and discuss these things, we are at best, beating around the bush. At worst, we’re looking at Bruce Lee’s finger & thinking we understand the glories of the moon & stars. So why still use the finger? Because you have to point with something.

In Zen practice, we don’t seek to understand what the sages taught, to grasp some banal theoretic knowledge, but rather to attain the mind that they taught from. It’s the same mind that we already have. Enlightenment isn’t something we can chase down, it’s not found outside of us in the right ritual or praying to long dead Asian dudes or some ethereal life force outside of us. We are the one’s who awaken. Nirvana’s not some heavenly realm where we eventually go to experience no more suffering. It’s here and now and it’s right within us. If someone tells you it’s somewhere else, be sure to get the GPS coordinates! Then sell them and make a ton of cash. Just remember to donate a portion of it to the Baltimore Zen Center.