Discussion on the Record of Linji
It is for this reason that his question to the head priest, Huangbo, brought him the beating that is the norm in the Buddhist teachings. Huangbo hit him with the rattan, which was a ten-foot bamboo pole, used for this purpose. The teachings that Linji adhered to were part of the Buddhist monastery teaching that involved beating and shouting. He asked the question three times, and was beaten three times. The idea was for him to receive enlightenment, but he clearly did not get that. If he had been mindful and enlightened, there would have been no need for him to ask the question. A man of no rank would ask such a question, and therefore, the head monk sent Linji to find his way. He was fully aware that the true man is within Linji and needed to be set free.
Linji had been at the monastery for three years, and clearly many noticed him for all the activity with which he had been involved. It was also clear that this was not the way in which to find the true self and enlightenment. When he arrived at the head priest his reputation was, therefore, known as well. The priest determined his lack of understanding and lack of mindfulness by whacking him three times. After the first whack, the hope was that he would become enlightened, but that evaded Linji. Even after three years, he still did not understand why he was at the monastery. Instead of looking for the inner source of enlightenment, he sought for it on the outside. This was what he was known for initially. His question indicated that he was looking for answers outside himself. There is no need to know the answer to the question because the principles of the buddhadharma cannot be taught.
Teachings were given to Linji in ways that he needed to find his own truth. For this reason, the head monk sent him back to the priest to tell him that he, Linji, was leaving the monastery. In doing so, the priest gives him specific instructions at the behest of the head monk. The idea is not for Linji to be instructed, but for him to realize and find the truth of what he seeks in the dharma – the very dharma for which he gets the stick. The priest sends him to a place where he knows that Linji would be able to find what he seeks. As a man of dharma, he had all the necessary vishayas that would make him a great Buddhist. All he needed to do was bring mindfulness into the equation and he would have enlightenment. He is, therefore, ready to be mindful of all that is within and around through the six senses, of which the mind was the beginning. His mind was already involved, but needed the balance with the rest of the senses of the body. These are the ears, which involves the sounds; the eyes that involve the sights he saw around him on a daily basis; the tongue, which delivers taste, and the nose that allows for the smell in the body.
A bamboo stick, ten feet long, was the usual teaching method in Linji’s teaching school – the monastery he chose to attend. If you did not get the teaching, the rattan stick was employed to make it clearer, or even give you immediate enlightenment. It is meant to give you instant understanding of the vishayas. The accompanying pain is what would jar all the senses to into action. It is supposed to (as said before) give insight and result in enlightenment. Added to this are the shouts that are meant to give the desired insight (enlightenment). It is added to bring emphasis to the teachings. Enlightenment brings the true man to the fore. Both the priests and the monks would use the shouts to increase the participation of the senses through the shouts. During Linji’s time, the shout and the stick was a means of bringing about the sought after enlightenment – the reason for being in the monastery.
There is “nothing-to-do” for you to attain enlightenment. This is one of the major aspects that Linji missed in the “teaching.” He needed only to be mindful of all that he was already doing, and he would have been “there.” The teachings or principles are about “nothing-to-do” when you are seeking enlightenment. You need not gain an understanding of what it is that you need to know. There are no long lists of anything to learn. Being mindful is the key to enlightenment. Everything that is done with mindfulness such as a simple bow could give access to the enlightenment that you are after. Thus, there is mothering that you need to do to accomplish that. It happens in the process of doing nothing to achieve it.
Doubt or dithering is expressed with a shout. There is no need for doubt because it reflects incomplete knowledge of the teachings of Buddha. Whacking someone with the stick, as well as shouting often leads to enlightenment, hence it is practiced for as long as the person remains ignorant of the teaching. However, doubt and dithering are part of learning and adds to further learning that can lead to enlightenment.
Discussion of “An Account of My Hut”
Kamo-no-Chōmei tells us about the hut that he built when he was no longer living in the world that he once knew. He left the spaces he occupied for a ten-feet square hut. The hut had no semblance of a proper house because he felt that he only needed the smallest space to serve his purpose. It was easy for him to do so as he did not have any attachments. At the time when the story was written, the hut was in a state of disrepair giving it a further state of impermanence. The choice of the site, as well as the impermanence of the building was part of such that it could have been moved anywhere at any time. In its state of disrepair, it reflects the end of dharma. It is also closely related to the fact that he feels that he is old and nearing the end of his life. He states that the hut would be where he would spend his remaining years that would mean the end of his suffering and his existence. It would be the end of the feeling of mappō.
Even though he feels that he and the “unsympathetic world” are ending, the hut remained the place where he experienced the place of quietness and stillness. He is aware of the fact that his seclusion brings about a freedom to do as he pleases. Even tough there is no one around to keep him from not following Buddha’s commandments, he continues repeat the Invocations to Buddha and to read the Sutras that is required. The hut represents to him what he needed in his life. Its stillness and quietness leads him to enlightenment, and his true person. He knew that he was in a good place because many have failed to do the things as required by Buddhism. He feels that he has been protected by his separation from the real, “failing” world.
Even though Kamo-no-Chōmei built the hut motivated by being unattached, and it having no permanence, he feels that in the light of what Buddha taught, he was in fact sinning because he was attached to the hut. His hut is in fact perfect in every way. It serves him well, and this makes him feel that he is not doing the right thing because he is attached to it and the life that he is living in it. At the same time, though, it presents him with all the opportunities to be the Buddhist that he would like to be. The hut evokes in him the mindfulness that is necessary for his enlightenment. He is in touch with all six of his senses, as Buddhism requires of its followers.
He had built the hut for that specific purpose, and being secluded and separated for the world that he once knew, he could experience it all. He could hear the sounds of the cuckoo in the woods; he could see all the beauty surrounding his hut, especially the cherry blossoms, which he could smell in the summer time. He would walk about the mountains, fully aware of the body that tastes food with its tongue. He is mindful of his body that is reaching the end of its time on earth. Kamo-no-Chōmei knows that his hut is an example of all that represents Buddhism. It is a teaching method in its own way.
Discussion of “The Narrow Road of Oku”
When Bashō started planning and thinking about his arduous journey, he started feeling very anxious. He “could not concentrate on anything.” He had heard of all the places that he wanted to visit on this planned journey. He desired the trip with all of his heart, as it would be a teaching experience, but it was also a very dangerous trip. The thought of the trip overwhelmed him. Even so, it did not really matter that much because he knew, as a Buddhist, that the world was fleeting. When he left on his trip, he found himself crying because he was leaving all that he knew behind him. He also left many of his possessions behind. Even though the journey was difficult, and his leaving was difficult, he knew that he needed to go and find all the places that would enrich his Buddhist experience. He was still fearful, but he knew that this was the only way to know what it means to have no possessions and to know transcendence. Having these travelling experiences were the only way that, as a poet, he would have been able to it all write down.
His travelling experiences would take him to the places of which Bashō had only heard. Current as well as past masters, teachers, monks, and priests occupied the places that were on his roadmap. It was a real world that he needed to see, but at the same time it was also, the spiritual world he sought. It was, therefore, a world that was "empty," but also "full" because it was real. It is for this reason that he felt that he needed to be there physically to worship at the shrines, such as Muro-no-yashima, and meet the people who were still alive and able to give him some deeper insights into his teachings.
For Bashō the narrow road of Oku was a necessity to not only to complete his experiences as a Buddhist, but also to have his poems written down. Thus, he left behind the poems that captured the experiences of his long and dangerous road to Oku. This journey, but more so his interaction with the people he met along the way added to his enlightenment. This real and physical experience also emphasized Bashō’s world as “empty,” but also “full” for the complete mindful experience of the Buddhist he was.
