Author: Eric Mendelman

The Great Way is calm and large-hearted; for it nothing is easy, nothing is hard; small views are irresolute. The more in haste the tardier we go.

— Sosan Ganchi Zenji, On Believing in Mind

Election speeches are filled with both big and small ideas-big ideas about the higher good and small ideas imbued with fear and xenophobia.

If returning to the Great Way in the midst of political turmoil via one Emptiness seems abstract or too Zen, then Sosan helps with a generous expansion of his message.

The Great Way is calm and large hearted he says. Where can we find this in the midst of political discourse or daily life? We simply need to listen for it.

This is why sitting is so important. Zazen helps us listen to the rhetoric and feel the underlying truth.

This is because in Zen there are no big ideas, no small ideas, no hard work, no easy work, no quick solutions, no slow solutions.

All we need to know is that small views are irresolute. In other words small ideas never get resolved! So, in our day to day life, if we are struggling, it is safe to assume that small, dualistic views have grasped us.

In a certain sense, we don’t need to know anything more about the Way. Sosan has expressed its essence already here and in previous passages presented in these emails:

• The Great Way is perfect like unto vast space
• The Great Way rests in one Emptiness.
• The Great Way is calm and large hearted.

What more do we need to know?

Can we feel the Large Heart of the Great Way arise within us during Zazen?

Can we perceive its reflection in everything we feel, taste, smell, hear, see, and think?

Abide not with dualism, carefully avoid pursuing it; as soon as you have right and wrong, confusion ensues and Mind is lost.

The two exist because of the One, but hold not even to this One; when a mind is not disturbed, the ten thousand things offer no offense.

No offense offered, and no ten thousand things; no disturbance going, and no mind set up to work; the subject is quiet when the object ceases, the object ceases when the subject is quieted.

The object is an object for the subject, the subject is a subject for the object; know that the relativity of the two rests ultimately in one Emptiness.

— Sosan Ganchi Zenji, On Believing In Mind

When a conflict arises with our spouse, partner, coworker, or child, when we hear about terrorism or acts of brutality and injustice, how do we respond according to the Way? Sosan tells us that right and wrong, good and bad, truth and falsehood, love and hate rest in one Emptiness.

Last week we heard Hakuin reply in the face of judgment and falsehood, ” Is it so? “. His response emerged from emptiness, an emptiness from which a compassionate response arose without effort or thought, without moral obligation or a sense of pity.

Hakuin was empty, but not passive or inert. He expressed no preference or judgment when presented with the baby, yet all was resolved of its own accord.

Just as the couple abandoned the baby, then confessed the truth and retrieved the baby, Hakuin returns to his response again and again, ” Is it so? “.

So too in Zazen does our breath, like Hakuin’s response, arise again and again of its own accord, compassionately sustaining us without effort or thought.

Wordiness and intellection- the more with them the further astray we go; away therefore with wordiness and intellection, and there is no place where we cannot pass freely.

When we return to the root, we gain the meaning; when we pursue external objects, we lose the reason. The moment we are enlightened within, we go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.

Transformations going on in an empty world which confronts us appear real all because of ignorance; try not to seek after the true, only cease to cherish opinions.

— From On Believing in Mind, Sosan Ganchi Zenji, 3rd Zen Patriarch

This passage reminds me of a story about one of the great Zen Masters, Hakuin Ekaku, b.1686-d.1769.
Master Hakuin And The Baby
The great Zen Master Hakuin lived in a small hut outside a village where he was greatly respected. One day a village girl announced she had become pregnant. The father of the baby left town and she was alone and frightened. She did not know what else to do and told the entire village that Master Hakuin was the father.

All the townspeople were shocked. They stopped bringing Hakuin food and offerings. Instead of praising Hakuin. they now blamed him. “You are the worst of all beings,” they said.
“Is that so?” replied Hakuin.
When the baby was born the village girl brought the child to Hakuin.
“This baby is yours,” she said.
“Is that so?” Hakuin said and took the baby.
Hakuin cared for the baby for several years, feeding, clothing and caring for the child. Then, one day, the father of the baby returned to the village to marry the mother. The new couple told everybody the truth about what happened. The people were astonished and began to praise Master Hakuin, rushing to his hut with offerings. When they announced that the father had returned and that the couple had revealed the truth, Hakuin replied: “Is that so?”

Soon the couple and the girls parents arrived at Hakuins hut and announced that they were going to take the baby back. Hakuin simply responded: Is that so and handed them the child.

What is the connection between Hakuin’s response, “Is that so?” and Sosan’s passage? Consider this “…when you return to the root…”.Can you see how Hakuin returns to the root? Can you see directly into this matter in your zazen?

Pursue not the outer entanglements, dwell not in the inner void,
be serene in the oneness of things,
and dualism vanishes by itself.

When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion,
The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion,
As long as you tarry in dualism,
How can you realize oneness?

And when oneness is not thoroughly understood,
In two ways loss is sustained:
The denying of reality is the asserting of it; and,
The asserting of emptiness is the denying of it.

— From On Believing in Mind, by Sosan Ganchi Zenji, 3rd Zen Patriarch

Thinking hard about this ​hurts my head! The phrase, When you strive to gain quiescence by stopping motion, The quiescence thus gained is ever in motion, reminds me of this famous scene from the I Love Lucy TV show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI

The funny part is that Lucy and Ethel’s attempts to stop motion have the opposite effect. Their supervisor speeds up the conveyor!

Can you imagine the result if Buster Keaton’s character attempts to stop the motion in this scene?

In Buster Keaton’s scene, his character’s ignorance saves him. He neither denies nor asserts the reality of the falling wall. And he neither asserts nor denies emptiness of mind because he simpl​y​ does not know that the wall is falling toward him until it hits the ground.

So without resorting to ignorance or simply “sticking our head in the sand”, how can we find the middle ground between the inner void and the outer entanglements? Let’s not think about it. That hurts my head! How ’bout we just sit and breathe into it?

The Way is perfect like unto vast space,With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous.
It is indeed due to making choices that its suchness is lost sight of.

— Sosan Ganchi Zenji

This passage is the 3rd in On Believing in Mind by Sosan Ganchi Zenji. This passage reminds me of looking for a lost object to the point of frustration; and then, upon giving up the search, the lost object magically appears.

Sosan’s passage resonates with this experience in an interesting way. Note that Sosan does not say the Way is perfect like vast space. Instead, he says the Way is perfect like unto vast space implying an action, a process, or movement with respect to vast space.

So what does this have to do with looking for a lost object only for it to be revealed upon abandoning the search? And more so, what does this have to do with Zazen meditation?

Life can be frustrating and unsettling if we seek the Truth outside ourselves. Zazen invites us to abandon everything with our breath- our thoughts, our feelings, our physical pain, even our own life!

And as we enter this path with total trust, can we begin to sense what magically reveals itself?

To set up what you like against what you do not like- this is the disease of the mind; when the deep meaning of the Way is not understood, peace of mind is disturbed to no purpose.

— Sosan Ganchi Zenji

I read a Facebook post this week in which a young man related how grateful he was for his drug addiction. He explained that if it were not for his drug addiction, he would never have found his current path of healing and health.

Even though he had been sober for years, he faced addiction every day. By embracing his addiction daily and making the choice to live free of it, he had grown to understand the deep meaning of the Way.

For him, peace of mind was not about getting rid of his desire to get high. In fact, the mental disturbance of addiction was intrinsic to his peace of mind.

A lot of times we seek out meditation to feel better, to escape bad things in life in order have more good things, kind of like a drug fix for an addict. But Zazen compels us to face both the good and the bad as two aspects of one thing. Well, what is this One thing?

Consider these questions:

• To what purpose is my mind disturbed?
• How is this disturbance leading me to true peace of mind?

These are great questions to ask ourselves in our daily meditation. Can you sense how asking these questions draws us closer toward this One thing? This One thing which holds the deep meaning of the Way?

Someone confided in me today that they were nervous about coming to meditation because they did not feel advanced enough in their meditation practice. Do you feel the same way? Consider the following questions:

1. Can you sit still for 15 minutes with your back straight?
2. Can you keep your gaze toward the floor?
3. Can you count each breath up to 10 breaths?

If we answer yes to these questions, then we are able to meditate. All we need to do then is bring our anxiousness with us, observe it in our meditation, and return to our breath.

As we move through life this week and feel anxious, nervous, or ill at ease in any way, we are offered perspective in “Shin Jin Mei” (On Believing in Mind) :

The Perfect Way knows no difficulties,
except that it refuses to make preferences;
only when freed from hate and love, It reveals itself fully
and without disguise;
a tenth of an inch’s difference,
and heaven and earth are set apart;
if you wish to see it before your own eyes,
have no fixed thoughts either for or against it.

….One in All, All in One-
If only this is realized, no more worry about your not being perfect!

May we move through our week with ease in perfect imperfection!