Discussion on the Record of Linji
The search for truth is within each man. As a young monk, Linji did not quite understand the truth of what one should be as a person in the light of Buddhist teaching. He was a simple down to earth person, and spent his days minding his own business. His question to the head priest, Huangbo, brought about severe retribution. Huangbo hit him with a ten-foot bamboo pole. The use of the rattan that was popular in the Buddhist monasteries and especially in the teachings to which Linji was exposed. This happened three times, after he asked the question: what the cardinal principle of the buddhadharma was? If he had the mindfulness of an enlightened monk, he had no need to ask such a question. He was a man of no rank, and therefore he asked the question. It was a well-orchestrated way of the head monk to set Linji on his way to enlightenment and becoming a true man of rank.
The assumption is that the priest did notice Linji. He therefore knew that Linji had been at the monastery for three years. He might also have noticed that the head monk and others have also noticed the young monk, and regarded him as a good person. His lack of understanding, and his lack of mindfulness was the cause that he was whacked. He had asked no one for instruction, and was doing what he though he was supposed to do. What the young monk projected was that of a good person, but the difficulty is that he did not learn much of what was being taught at the monastery as his retribution indicates. He still looked at himself as a person with the need to find the truth outside of himself – being of service to those around, doing the right things. He asked the same question three times and received the same answer three times. This means that within the three years that he had been at the monastery, he had not learnt the truth about himself or about the teachings for which he had come to the monastery – he had not discovered the true person. His reaction to this reveals that even after the whacks, he still did not understand that the truth was inside of him and that the true man has no need to ask the question about what the cardinal principle of the buddhadharma was. The result is that he decides to go away to find the answer.
Linji’s decision to leave the monastery allows the head monk to give him some advice on what to do. The head monk suggests that he informs the master of his intention. The reason for this is that, he is aware of Linji's need and wishes for him to be given the correct instructions. His wish is that Linji would be trained in becoming the great teacher he saw in him. The head monk speaks to the master regarding the training he feels Linji would need. Linji is seen as a man of dharma because of his involvement around the monastery. Thus, the master directs him to a place where he knows Linji would receive the best answers to his question.
Linji might not be seen as enlightened at this time, but he has the vishayas that are needed to be a great Buddhist. In minding his own business, he has had time for much introspection, but there is room for improvement in being mindful of the internal which is connected to the external. Therefore, the idea is that Linji should not change completely, but find the balance of the six senses that is required by his teachings. He should incorporate the five physical senses, which has the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue and the body with its objects which is sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. His mind would be included as the sixth sense.
The ways in which these aspects are taught and enhanced are with the rattan stick. This is the stick as mentioned before that is made from bamboo and was ten feet long. It had as its task the teaching of the vishayas. One could imagine the pain inflicted and, thus, would evoke all to these senses to get to work in gaining insight and the result would be enlightenment. When there are shouts, it is to emphasize the teachings and to bring out the true man. The monks and the priests at the monasteries invoke all the senses by participating in shouts. This is in direct relation to bring about the enlightenment that the monks are after. The stick and the shout was a type of teaching method in the time of Linji.
The phrase “nothing-to-do” is a direct reflection on what happened in Linji’s presence. It teaches that there is nothing to do when you are seeking enlightenment. There is no need to struggle to understand, or learn many things. All there is need of is the fact that you surrender yourself to the fact that you need to do nothing to attain that. Elder Ding discovered that even a simple bow could give you that “great enlightenment.” There is no need to do anything, as there is nothing to achieve. This reflects back to the true man. It is about the genuine presence to the self in every moment (Thich Nhat Hah)
Adding to the explanation of why there is shouting is the fact that if there is any doubt or dithering, the shout is used to express this too. If there is any doubt, it is frowned upon, as it is seen as an incomplete knowledge of the teaching s of Buddha. To overcome this there is the need for further training, which is accompanied by the whacking with the stick as well as shouting. Lack of understanding, doubt, and dithering are a part of the learning and leads to further instruction, and further instruction leads to enlightenment. The shouting and the striking with the rattan was an attempt to bring about enlightenment in that moment.
Discussion of “An Account of My Hut”
Kamo-no-Chōmei starts his account of his hut with the explanation of where he finds himself at the time – in his self-imposed retreat as a monk and hermit. It is especially in the way he feels and sees his presence in the shelter he had built. He concludes that the hut is no longer, what it should be – that it is in a state of impermanence. In it, he feels the sense of the end of dharma. In his description of the hut, he emphasizes the contemplation of interdependence, but he also focuses on the feeling of mappō. He is reaching the end of his life, and feels that he is coming to the end of the “unsympathetic world” that he has lived in for so long. Most of all he feels that, here, he did not have to force himself to keep the Buddhist Commandments, even though he did not always feel that he wanted to read the Sutras or repeat the Invocations to Buddha. This was the perfect place where he would find enlightenment. This was where he could be a true person and not have a façade of pretense. This was especially at a time when there were many distractions of the failings of Buddhism in the real world.
Kamo-no-Chōmei finds that, in his account of his hut, he has had an attachment to it, even though it had no permanence in it, as it was built with minimum requirements in the form of a shed. He recognizes that in the light of Buddhist teachings, he is in fact sinning, because of his love and attachment to it. All of what he is experiencing seems to point to the sin, but at the same time he had broken all ties with the world, especially the one that he knew before. He continues to speak of his lack of attachment, comparing his life with that of a “drifting cloud.” Much of what he does in his everyday living in the hut can be seen as self-indulgent. Yet, this place is conducive for deep contemplation on the interdependence of the bodily and physical forms around the hut. It is concerned with the feelings it evokes, the perceptions, and the mental functioning of Kamo-no-Chōmei’s mind. It is here that he discovers, in the love for the quiet and stillness of his one-room thatched hut that he could be unattached, because it is an impermanent place.
The hut gives itself to incorporate all the dharmas that are part of Buddhism. He experiences all the five physical senses. He sees the beauty and the activity around him (the eye). He hears the cuckoo in the summer time (the ear). The smells around of the cherry blossoms (nose), the food he tastes with his tongue and the body with which he walks about and now feel the oncoming death – the ending of his life as a Buddhist.
Discussion of “The Narrow Road of Oku”
Bashō finds himself at the beginning of a journey. A journey that became a desire that was so strong that he “could not concentrate on anything.” Even though the prospect of the journey was filled with such desire, he found that it overwhelmed him. In his thoughts as a Buddhist, it did not matter, because the world was a short-live entity. It was still very difficult for him to leave what he knew behind. Even though he has great fear for the long journey, he set out knowing that this is where he must go. This was his pathway to enlightenment. He had to experience this journey in the moment in order for his poems to be what it is. This path would also be filled with the lack of many worldly possessions, and a life of transience.
The journey that lies ahead of Bashō, finds him facing the reality of the world of which he had only heard. He set off to see the places and spaces of the masters, the places of honor, and the historical people he had heard of. He had to do this even though he knew he would face hardships. The places he envisages are real as his first stop was at the Muro-no-yashima shrine. The indication is that the journey included both landscapes of the "empty" (in the Buddhist sense), and the "full" ("real" in the sense used by ordinary persons). The reason for saying this is that the places were real, but they also involved worship. Thus, Bashō and his companion followed the vast journey of the narrow road of Oku, because this journey gave them the insight into the many things that happened in the lives of others. The experience of the places he visited made Bashō shed tears.
His journey was one of finding the physical spaces he had heard of, but more so the fullness of it its spiritual sense, as most of these were the places and spaces that were conducive to enlightenment. The treacherous journey was a necessary one as Bashō was a poet who needed to have the experience to gather it in words (Renku). The collection of his poems captures the experiences he had in visiting the temples, and shrines specifically, as well as his interaction with the people he had met at the destinations he reached. Furthermore, as a Buddhist, he needed to pay full respect to the historical figures as well as the shrines and temples he found along the way. One of the most important aspects of the journey is the fact that he could worship at these places, of which he had only heard.
