When asked about generosity in terms of “would you like me to pay for whatever is the sense of owing something to someone is not really generosity in a transcendent practice. It is a quid pro quo…in other words, the lowest form of giving a “one hand washes the other.”

One hand washing the other is materialistic – you go to the store and pay for the goods. Buddhism, and I’d say all spiritual practices need to go beyond the mercantile exchange of goods and services. The mercantile exchange is not to be forgotten – but it is not generosity, and it is also not unselfishness.

Generosity is interior for the giver and arises without any selfish expectation or payback of ‘one hand washing the other.’ It is part of meeting the Buddha on the road and killing him. This teaching was given in the ninth century by Linji…and it comes in handy when giving comes up for any one of us. We first must kill the Buddha – meaning if we think we are doing good, if we believe we become more and more Buddha by giving then we are far away from the Truth. For thinking and believing something about our ego-selfish self is polishing the ego. And when the ego is involved, it measures the giving and concludes the debt is paid and we are now even. Again, a mercantile, materialist exchange.

Generosity, fearlessness, and the death of the ego selfish self-construction is a triad. We give without reward, without a quid pro quo – we remain fearless because we have no concern for ourselves and this generosity does not get tallied on and by the ego, e.g., I gave and now I owe no one. What a relief.

The ego must be without wanting anything in return. Christmas giving is in general a mercantile exchange of gifts.

We need to give without expectation of paying a debt or being a good person. No credit. Just giving. It is rare to find someone who gives without self-regard. Our tendency is to choose for self and not for the unborn, undying, immutable Self called by many names.

We do not ask for so and so or this or that. We, however, encourage each of us to contemplate ‘generosity, fearlessness, and selflessness. It is akin to: THOU will be done…not by me, not for me, not because of me…more along the lines of to open to generosity and see within what generosity, fearlessness and no-self responds to life. The work is within. The clarity is there.

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A Mahayana Bodhisattva trusts without doubt.

After building his new hut next to his temple, Shitou explains to himself and to us that trust is an essential aspect to his life. Sure, he has lived in the hut, relaxed and calm, has seen it begin to change, which is inevitable for all worldly things, and reaches a place of illuminating forms and their nature.

He sounds set, doesn’t he?

…trusts without doubt.

But he goes on to tell us he needs the vision of trust against any doubt that might be within him. A better word is confidence. He is confident in being a practitioner of light – a bright light without uncertainty or hesitation. Hurrah!

And still, he continues to give us more understanding…when he points out that those of us who are still playing around with the material things of worldly life question the validity and truth of this move Shitou has made.

Those who are …middling or lowly can’t help wondering…will the hut perish or not?

The depth of our wondering is an opportunity to those of us who follow this path. When we wonder, doubt, feel uncertain, hesitate, worry about whether our life as it is will perish or not, we are subject to the worldly ego-mind and have lost not only our confidence but our master. This brings to light the question, “who is our original master?”

And if we know who that is, do we have confidence that our original master is ever-present in our life right where we have built our life? A better definition will help us understand.

Our original master that is present in all aspects of existence is unborn, undying, immutable – which goes by many names. There is THAT which was never born, does not die and does not change. So, the things of the world, our worldly life, change and perish and change and change and change and in THAT the original beloved is present. Our problem is that we do not know who and what we are.

We are as Shitou exclaims he is…a being of light, the light that sees THAT. But our tendency is to see the change as frightening and uncontrollable – the ego-self sees THAT as frightening and uncontrollable because we are attached to the worldly things that delude us. We are attached to comfort. And we get frightened by change.

Not dwelling south or north, east, or west…is the line that gives a clue of our unborn, undying, immutable existence. The original master is everywhere, not dwelling in one specific place. But is One consciousness. When we know this…we begin to rest in the confidence of this truth.

Firmly based on steadiness…

Yes, this is what we need. A shift to resting on concentration & focus, a steady hand, a focused eye – a wise and unselfish mind.

Our conditioned mind does not trust without doubt because it has been trained to label and acquire forms which we think and believe will protect us from change. It is the standard fare of “…if only…or if when I do, get, have, keep…I will feel safe, happy, content, at ease, steady, relaxed…” and the list goes on. Unfortunately, this conditioning leads to a distorted view of the delusion we are in.

We have been trained to think and believe that the world is concrete – an actual, substantial thing that is eternal. Something we rely on. And yet, we know the world itself changes.

Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage Part Three

This Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage  is a sutra, which means thread, a thread of the Dharma. It was written by Shitou, a devoted ancestor of the Chinese Caodong lineage in the sixth century. He is also the author of another thread, The Merging of Difference and Unity. Both threads are exemplary works.

Although his works are old, the light shines from them in the 21^st century. If we commit to a spiritual practice of everydayness, Shitou’s works sustain us along our daily path. Yes, the teachings are as true for us as they were for Shitou. All we need to do is to interpret them for our time and place.

We begin with a song of praise for whatever comes into our life as our life. Whether we live in a mansion or a hut, there is nothing left out. Everything right here, right now is in the place we live. We may, however, not know this reality to be true. Our conditioned tendencies and habits keep us caught and blind.

Instead of knowing this truth we yearn, long for, daydream, wish for something else, someone else, somewhere else. When this infatuation occurs, we have been blinded by the shadow of the world. We believe whatever we seek is somewhere else, something else, someone else. The Truth, however, is everything-all-at-once right wherever we are, whatever thing we focus on and with whomever we are within the present.

We are very much like the bear that went over the mountain. A silly, curious bear who decided to see what was on the other side of the mountain. His desire led him away from where he was.

The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see
To see what he could see
To see what he could see.

The other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
Was all that he could see
Was all that he could see
Was all that he could see.

His curious impulse carried him over to see the other side of where he was – and nothing more.

At some point, we realize we have been doing the same old thing in the same old place with the same old people. This awareness, if we attend to it, helps us STOP the desire for being somewhere else, with someone else and attaining something else. We concentrate and attend to what is right at hand with nothing in for our gain. This last point is a key to realization. It requires us to forget ourselves. Forget all the myriad mental forms that are pulling, tempting, pressuring us to do, to get, to have, to keep.

*****

So…let us look at the text and let the text show us the place where we realize the undying person in our grass hut right where we are. We may build and sing our song along with Shitou.

Have a look at what you have built. Is it full of yourself or empty of any value at all? Where there is nothing in it for your ego-self. The first line of the Song cannot be skipped. Here it is.

I’ve built a grass hut where there is nothing of value.

This line is challenging in a world that measures success, achievement, triumph according to amount and price of things. But THAT is the point of Shitou’s brilliance. It is clear and simple.

What have you put together?

The thread refers to whether we measure success – achievement and triumph from the point of view of “I – me – my – mine.” In other words, the focus on the ego-self is the problem. Or we do not measure at all. We do not get invested in “me, my, mine.”

Sounds impossible?

It isn’t impossible for those of us who do not get stirred up by thoughts, feelings, perceptions, impulses, and a consciousness of memories. Those who do not get stirred up know that all the mental pop-ups are merely fragments of conditions tempting us to go after something in the material realm. They are the ghosts in the mind that lead us to be worried, anxious, angry, hurt, fearful, foolish, and ignorant. In simple language, suffering comes when we follow something for me-my-mine.

 Find out for yourself.

Yes, this is the Way. Study what you have built. Are you counting on whatever it is to give you success – fame, name, accolades, attainments, achievements. What else? Or the other side giving you failure – shame, calumny, penury, losses. In either success or failure, we have placed values that will never provide freedom from suffering. This is not to be believed – it is to find out for yourself.

Ask yourself – do you measure yourself according to the measurements of success and failure, whatever that might be. Each one, whether success or failure, suffering follows. See for yourself if that is true in your life.

And…consider the first teaching of this song by Shitou…

I’ve built a grass hut where there is nothing of value.

And consider what Shitou says after constructing a grass hut…

After eating I relax and enjoy a nap.

Yep. That’s it. The mind is not out of control. He does not run after anything.

Photo by Bill Arsenault

Religion is not something for remaking the outside world. It is for remaking our eyes, ears and our point of view.

Sawaki Roshi

A Flirtation with Spiritual Reality – A Vampire in Disguise

Topic: Morning Sitting

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