Vine of Obstacles Zen

This Entire Ten-Direction World is the Eye of a Practitioner: A Photo Essay from Solo Retreat

Dosho Port -

We recently did a week-long in-home retreat at the Neyaashi Zen Hermitage. After early morning and afternoon zazen, I did a half-hour of fast kinhin along the shore of the big lake. A few photos were also taken.

Sometime during the retreat, a passage by the Tang Dynasty Zen Master, Changsha (aka, Tiger Cen), that I'd recently translated from The Record of Going Easy, came to mind. At the end of the retreat, the idea arose to share the two things with you together. So here they.

First, a bit about Changsha. His full name was Changsha Jingcen (d 868). Like another great Master, Zhaozhou, he was a tenth-generation successor in China of the wild and crazy Nanquan Puyuan. Changsha's nickname was "Tiger Cen." Here's how his nickname came about:

One evening Changsha Jingcen was enjoying the moon. Yangshan Huiji pointed to it and said, “Everyone without exception has that. They’re just unable to use it.” Changsha replied, “Precisely. So let’s see you use it.” Yangshan said, “You try using it!” Thereupon Changsha gave Yangshan a kick and knocked him down. Getting up, Yangshan said, “Teacher, you’re just like a tiger.”

Most of the photos you find here are from the same area of the beach. The passages from Changsha are in tan text boxes. My brief explanations or comments are in plain text. At the end, I'll offer you the Changsha passage in full.

Ten-feet high grasses, more or less.
Changsha went up to the main hall and said, “If I were to present the entire teaching of the school, inside the dharma hall the grass would be ten feet high. Talking to you people, this matter is already not guarded."

In Zen "grass" represents differentiation. The metaphor highlights how rapidly and persistently differentiation can take root and spread. When one opens one's mouth about Zen, the grasses go wild. Like in this post.

The phrase "not guarded, 不護, is a technical term. The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism says it refers to: “Since the buddhas have eliminated their afflictions, they do not need to be on guard regarding karmic activity.”

So "this matter is already not guarded" refers to a great master's functioning that is directed toward the awakening of all beings without concern or self protection.

The self's radiant light.
"This entire ten-direction world is the eye of a practitioner. This entire ten-direction world is the whole body of a practitioner. This entire ten-direction world is the original self’s radiant light."

The self's radiant light is the Buddha's radiant light. That light is neither blue, nor yellow, nor white, nor red. What color is the self's radiant light?

Neither blue, nor yellow, nor white, nor red.
"This entire ten-direction world is within the original self’s radiant light. In this entire ten-direction world there is not one person that is not the original self."

On the morning this photo was taken, it was cold. Or as we say in northern Minnesota, "Yah ... a bit nippy out there then." Mounds of ice formed along the shore. Each one the original self. Each one cold.

All living beings.
"I always tell you people, 'All Buddhas of the three worlds share the dharma realm with all living beings.' This is the light of great wisdom."

Buddhas and eagles and black birds and icy sand and tangling branches too.

Before the light shines....
"Before the light shines, where can all living beings turn to and surrender? Before the light shines, there are no buddhas and no living beings. Where do mountains, rivers, and earth come from?”

This was from the middle of the week, late in the day. Wave after wave of sand rolls into wave after wave of water. In the dark, there are really no waves of sand or water.

And Changsha's dharma presentation altogether:

“If I were to present the entire teaching of the school, inside the dharma hall the grass would be ten feet high. Talking to you people, this matter is already not guarded. This entire ten-direction world is the eye of a practitioner. This entire ten-direction world is the whole body of a practitioner. This entire ten-direction world is the original self’s radiant light. This entire ten-direction world is within the original self’s radiant light. In this entire ten-direction world there is not one person that is not the original self. I always tell you people, all Buddhas of the three worlds share the dharma realm with all living beings. This is the light of maha prajna. Before the light shines, where can all living beings turn to and surrender? Before the light shines, there are no buddhas and no living beings. Where do mountains, rivers, and earth come from?”
The view from my zazen seat from deep in the retreat.

Thank you for reading and viewing!

The comment section is open for paid subscribers.

Coming soon

Speak Truth Now! and Ow! (subscribers)

Shushan’s Eternal-Life Stupa (paid subscribers)