Zen words is The best word “本来無一物 Honrai muichibustu”

2022年2月3日2024年12月12日

Zen is difficult. Zen word is also difficult. That’s why I interpret it as I please. I think that’s fine. Enou　Zenji,Dogen Zenji, Ikkyu-san, and Ryokan-san are likely to say, “That’s fine, that’s fine. Let it be."

Today’s Zen word is “本来無一物　all things are essentially nothingness"

1. Words of Platform Sutra
2. If Huineng is a modern student
3. Sit half tatami mat, sleep one tatami mat

Words of Platform Sutra

Originally nothing is a saying of Tang Dynasty Zen monk Huineng. It is found in the Rokusodankyo in the collection of sermons. People are born with nothing. Worries and commitments come later. Many worries can be thrown away if you think that it is originally nothing.

Huineng grew up in a poor family and couldn’t read or write. Even though he entered the Zen temple, he couldn’t become a Zen priest and lived as a sexton who “made rice". One day he saw his teacher, Yuquan Shenxi（神秀）, writing poetry on the wall.

He can’t read. He can’t help it, so he asks a young monk to read it.It was written that “The body is a bodhi tree to open the flower of enlightenment, the mind is as beautiful as a mirror. You have to practice hard every day to keep it dust-free."

Huineng doesn’t fall into my mind. After thinking about it, he asked the monk to write his poem.

“There is no bodhi tree, there is no bright mirror or stand, and all things are essentially nothing wherever dust is collected."

The Bodhi tree and the clear mirror weren’t originally there. Originally they are nothing. They are essentially nothing, so they don’t get dust on them. The fact that they still have the consciousness of wiping away the dust is proof that they haven’t attained enlightenment. If you are enlightened, you will not be conscious of dust.

Zen temples has a strict hierarchical relationship. A sexton who couldn’t write was refuting the poem of a high priest. The inside of the Zen temple would have been noisy. Some monks must have accused the sexton of being rude.

If Huineng is a modern student

In modern times, at MIT in the United States, a renowned mathematician wrote an equation on a blackboard. The equation was left unerased. One day, a young man (not a student) who worked part-time happened to see the equation. The young man thought the equation was incorrect.

His mind only grows stronger. He cannot read or write English. Fortunately, equations can be written with numbers and symbols. He wrote his formula under his professor’s equations. The equation was more beautiful than the professor’s. There were many different opinions on campus. Such was the situation.

Huineng was about to be kicked out of the temple, but Shenshu stopped him. Shenxiu appreciated Huineng’s talent and told his disciples that The world of Zen does not require status or trivial knowledge.

Ever since he was born, Huineng had nothing. Being illiterate, he had no useless knowledge. Therefore, he must have arrived at the realm of nothingness.

Sit half tatami mat, sleep one tatami mat

In Japan, there is a saying, “Sit down to half a tatami mat, lie down in one tatami mat." One tatami mat is the size of one tatami mat. A half tatami mat is half that. People can live with just that. No matter how glorious a person is, that’s all the space they need.

People are born with nothing and when they die they have nothing. Born from nothing and returning to nothing. When I think about it like that, it becomes futile to worry about wanting that thing, wanting a position.

It is said that Huineng became a Buddha in his own life and that he is still in China. What does he think of the present age when desires swirl？本来無一物、喝！