Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘The practice of the doctrine of emptiness has been called the teaching of liberation right from the beginning. If neither beings nor Buddha bind you, how can you be concerned with life and death? Thus, it is not to be pondered as body or mind, neither is it to be discriminated as delusion or enlightment.

Though you may speak of Mind or the objective world, and though you may speak of defilement or awakening, these are all just names for one true Self. Therefore, mountains and rivers are not apart from it, nor is it different from you and your external environment. When it is cold, you become totally cold; when it is hot, you become totally hot.

Once this barrier of liberation is crossed, this principle of liberation no longer exists either. That is to say, there is no bondage, no liberation, no that, no this. Therefore, none of these names is established, none of the shapes of things is distinguished. You penetrate the results of practice, so how can you be concerned with relative and absolute? There are no distinctions in this place, nor should you get stuck in any direction. If you can see in this way, you will not use the word “liberation,” so how can you hate bondage?

You truly have a light, and this is called “seeing the three worlds.” Your tongue has an abundance of the sense of taste. This is called “blending the six tastes.” You emanate the light everywhere and blend delicacies at all times. Taste and taste though you may, there is something delicious where there is nothing delicious. Look and look though you may, there is a true form where there are no forms.’ (Denkoroku)

I picked this up recently for a couple of reasons: first to check up on Nagarjuna, who we have been discussing in the Dogen study group, but also to remind myself of a koan that will probably be at the start of my upcoming dharma talk for Zen Center (on July 1st). I found Keizan’s teisho on the koan pretty amazing.