Lost Coin Dharma Talk, 08/30/10

Doen introduced a koan from the Mumonkan called Hakujo and the Fox.  A famous older monk or an Osho was greatly revered by the younger students in the temple.  The older monk went to see a Zen master who asked him “Does a man of enlightenment undergo the law of causation?”  He answered no and spent 400-something lives in reincarnation as a fox.  Foxes in China are like rats in our society.  The older monk wanted out of the cycle of rebirths so he went back and was asked again, “Does a man undergo causation?”  The older monk answered in the affirmative and was immediately liberated.  This teacher achieved self realization; which means he came to a point of ‘opening’.  He was no longer limited by his personality, he was beyond that.  He came to embrace everything.

In early development we begin to draw distinctions.  These drop away until in meditation until realization.  Making the realization clear is the first 1/3 of the practice.  That’s why we practice; to experience no-self.  Life and death are what its all about.  Death is not something that happens when we make mistakes.  Stopping and starting thoughts are what we observe in zazen.  In the koan; the older monk messed up causation and spent 400-something lives as, say, Bruce Willis or Newt Gingrich. 

The old monk said, “I knew what enlightenment was, but I was turned into a fox, what happened?’  This is the same thing as saying ‘Why do people hate me?  Why do total strangers throw spitballs at me?  What am I doing?’  An enlightened being does not ignore causation.  This is also a scientific concept (causation), not solely Buddhist.  But do we notice what repeats in our lives?  Karma is not about superstition.  If you kill an ant, your mother won’t move to town.  In the koan, the old monk finally gets rid of his fox body.  This old man and Hakujo worked to prove that enlightenment does involve causation to his students.

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Exercise: What’s happening in your life?  How did you cause it?  What would you like to happen in your life?  How will you cause it?
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Doen explained he once had an office where he was holding appointments as a psychologist at a place on Fair St.  He would relay messages to patients, as part of an exercise, to walk down Fair St. and smile at people.  They would come back and report that everyone had been nice to them.  The message is; to do way obvious things as a way to achieve the results we desire.

This is what Lost Coin is about.  What we do, how we evolve together, is what determines our life.  We’re in charge.

The world of spiritual practice is full of a lot of thoughts.  We read one book, a second book and the thoughts travel around in our heads.  There are those people that ride a ghost train in the self help aisle in bookstores.  In other words, when you think about something like this you have to make it real.  You have to say, “I am going to be the one to get my life where I want it.”  It’s not magic.  Understand that other people are real.  You’re creating what is happening in your life. 

Vows are something without intellectual content.  They are expressions of how we wish to use our will.  These vows have power.  The mind is not the instrument of change, the gut or will is.  When the vow is taken to liberate all beings, you can go in that direction.  Group vows also have power.  That’s our secret weapon, the vow, the will.  Whatever cause and effect we want to change; look to the will.  Don Juan talks a lot about personal power, that’s how people get things done, will – consciousness- vows. 
