Gate 91: Dhyana paramita

The dhyāna pāramitā is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we accomplish all balanced states of dhyāna and mystical powers, and we teach and guide distracted living beings.
禪度是法明門、成就一切禪定及通、化散亂衆生故

As we continue consideration of the paramitas, here's the fifth one, dyana paramita.  Dhyama is Sanskrit and means meditation or concentration--for us, zazen.  Sanshin style is really all about "concentration" as in "distillation;" our whole tradition is here, but it might not be obvious because it’s been distilled down to its essence--but we’ll come back to that in a little while.

First let’s look at the gate statement in a more literal sense.  Although there are various techniques of "meditation" in the Buddhist tradition, the general sense of the word is that the person concentrates by letting go of the intellectual or reasoning process and sometimes focuses on just one thought or image.  That's said to move the person toward pure thought or attaining enlightenment.  Now for us in our zazen, we’re not meditating “on” something in particular but dropping off body and mind, and letting go of the separation of this one unified reality into “I” or self and everything else out there.

We've seen previously that the English word “meditation” is not a good translation of zazen.  Sometimes we have to use it provisionally to indicate that we’re doing a spiritual practice of sitting quietly as opposed to chanting or studying texts or cleaning the temple.  When we say “meditation,” people have some idea of what that is.  However, the root of the word means to remedy something--to fix what’s broken--and it’s typically got an object: I’m going to meditate on something, like a teaching or a problem.  In any case, it’s a mental exercise; I’m going to solve a problem, come to a decision, achieve a higher state, etc. and this isn’t what we do in zazen.

In fact, Dogen took issue with zazen being conflated with dhyana paramita at all.  In the Bendowa, he says: Zazen is not to be equated with the samadhi or dhyana included among the Six Paramitas or Three Studies.  He’s making the point that zazen is not something practiced alongside other practices.  It’s not one thing in a group of six things or three things, and it’s not a stage or step in a process.  He says you can’t compare zazen with other practices because it contains everything.  Prajna, sila and samadi are all there and interpenetrated; you can’t pull out samadhi or dhyana as a separate thing.  Thus right away we need to understand that the historical sense of dhyana paramita is different from the point of view of Dogen and our more immediate ancestors.  That doesn’t mean that it’s not still useful for us to consider concentration and what that’s about.  We’ve talked about it related to a number of other gates.

Gate statement says that with dhyana paramita we accomplish all balanced states of dhyāna and mystical powers.  We need to go back to the source to understand what this means.  The three kanji that are translated here as balanced states of dhyana 一切禪 are pointing to a specific kind of Mahayana meditation.  One translation is “meditation on achieving the development of self and all others to the utmost.”  This is one of nine kinds of Mahayana meditation or dhyana for bodhisattvas.  The others are things like meditation on the original nature of things, and meditation on freeing beings from suffering.

“Balanced states of dhyana or developing self and others to the utmost” itself has three types.  The first is to live a contented life of meditation, dropping away all delusions and establishing some peace and equanimity.  The second is the arising of samadhi which comes with unobstructed wisdom, a powerful vow or aspiration, and the boundless ten powers.  Now we start to see where the mystical powers reference comes in, and we’ll get back to that.  The third type is practice for the benefit of all living beings.

Again, just to be clear about how the pieces fit together: traditionally there are nine kinds of meditation for bodhisattvas; this gate is pointing to one about fully developing self and others, and that has three elements:

• doing your sitting practice to drop delusion and settle down
• the arising of awakening that comes with wisdom, bodhicitta and ten powers
• practicing for all beings

All this is coming from a quite linear practice of early Buddhism.  One you did certain things at certain stages, attained some ability or insight or special power, and that served as preparation for the next stage.  Practitioners worked their way up from being deluded beginners doing entry-level practices to being arhats or bodhisattvas or buddhas doing really high-level advanced practices.

This doesn’t sound like what we do here, right?  Our approach is different, not really linear at all.  The zazen I was taught decades ago as a beginner is the zazen I’m doing now, and it’s the same for you.  One thing we hear a lot here is that zazen is good for nothing, and that we don’t do it in order to move up the attainment ladder, but we can misunderstand this “zazen is good for nothing” as “zazen has no result” which is not the same thing.  Sawaki’s original expression was mushotoku-mushogo “beyond gain and beyond satori” 無所得—無所悟.  He’s not saying that the result of zazen is nothing.  He’s saying that we sit whether or not we gain anything or reach something called satori.  That’s an important distinction.

How about the relationship between “balanced states of dhyana and mystical powers” and practicing to fully develop ourselves and others in order to liberate all beings?  We’ve established our practice, developed some equanimity by keeping the precepts and seeing through our delusion, and made enough space for our bodhicitta natural wisdom to arise.  In the gate statement and in the traditional system, that somes with a set of ten mystical powers.  You may recognize "ten powers" from the short gatha that dharma centers sometimes use after informal meals:
As we have taken food and drink, I vow with all beings
to be filled with virtuous practice, completing the ten powers

There are various lists of ten powers, but they generally include the same sort of things:  being able to manifest a body anywhere, being able to read minds, knowing the skillful means for liberating all beings, etc.  About 25 or 30 gates ago we looked at how the five faculties of liberation become powers and we learned that Dogen says that facilities become unshakable powers when we realize that there is no self that’s cultivating or exercising them -- that they’re not really about us.  Also, there’s a sense in the way this gate is worded in which mystical powers are simply a buddha or bodhisattva functioning completely freely and unhindered.  As soon as we get the small self out of the way, we’re able to move and operate seamlessly within this one unified reality, without obstruction.  If we can see through our delusion, or dissolve some of it with wisdom, we can do things we can’t do otherwise.  This sounds magical, but actually we experience it all the time.

I watched an anime once about a high school volleyball team.  Individually, the players had some ability, but their egos were getting in the way.  When they each started to see how to put that aside, they were able to make plays that looked like magic to everyone else.  They were able to function completely unhindered within the context of the game, and they stopped obstructing themselves and each other.

I’m also reminded of the many years I worked creating presentation materials for speakers.  I got so good with my tools that I could build or change screens very quickly, move things around, create elements, whatever the speaker wanted without looking at the keyboard or pulling down menus.  It was a fine experience of no separation between me and my tools.  If they were sitting with me looking over my shoulder while I worked, it looked like magic, like stuff just appeared and flew around on the screen.  I’m not superhuman; I had simply spent so much time doing this that I knew where things were, I knew what would and wouldn’t work, and I could see pretty clearly what was going on.

You probably have some ability too that looks mystical to someone who doesn’t have your understanding of what you’re doing .  Just think of how things look today to someone who could time travel here from a century or two ago.  How much of what we encounter every day would seem like mystical, magical stuff?  
We’re simply not blocked or hindered by not knowing how some things work (though there’s plenty we don’t know yet).  For instance, we know the reality of how sound waves work, so we can send signals through the air.

Whatever powers or abilities we have, as bodhisattvas the point of that is to use them to liberate beings, not just to aggrandize ourselves or control people or things.  Using our powers for own unethical purposes turns us into demons.  Thus “balanced states of dhyana and mystical powers” or practicing to fully develop ourselves and others is always in order to liberate all beings from suffering.  Complete functioning is a circle of giving and receiving--I use my power to help you and you use your power to help me.  My zazen puts a little more wisdom and compassion into the world for you, and your zazen does the same for me.

That brings us to the last element of the gate statement, teaching and guiding distracted beings.  Again, as with all of the paramita gates, this kind of teaching is not intellectual teaching or book study.  The feeling of this particular word is helping something or someone to transform.  The idea is that bodhisattvas work to transform deluded or suffering beings into bodhisattvas like themselves.  How do we do that?  Do we all have to ordain and be dharma teachers in order to practice seriously and sincerely?

In this dharma family, at least, the answer is no.  We need to understand how we all participate in this transformation.  Okumura Roshi's dharma brother Arthur Braverman wrote this about his teacher’s practice:  When Uchiyama Roshi faced the wall during sesshin, neither lecturing nor holding private meetings, he was giving us his most profound teaching. Do zazen, depend on nobody and I too will join you in this practice.

The important piece here is:  I too will join you in this practice.  His way of teaching and transforming was simply to practice with people and to let everyone transform each other, and this approach is the basis of Sanshin style.  Okumura Roshi did his practice, and if we wanted to join him, we were welcome -- if not, that was fine.

Our approach is: Do the practice and I will join you and we will all be buddhas together, not I will convince you to do the practice and I will provide a lot of direction and correction and turn you into my idea of what a good student is.  What’s really powering the transformation is your own bodhicitta.  Just showing up to sesshin or morning practice or Sundays with everyone else supports their practice and transformation because it supports the arising and maintaining of bodhicitta.

Lastly, the gate statement says we’re teaching and guiding distracted living beings.  The kanji here are  indicating something that is scattered but also confused.  There’s a sense of something broken apart.  This is the opposite of concentration, or dhyana or zazen, so interestingly, here we are again at the intersection of meditation and fixing something that’s broken, and that does make some sense if we think of a sitting practice as a practice of returning to non-separation.  I can accept zazen as “meditation” in that sense.

We all know how distraction feels.  We’re riding the wave from one thought, sensation or feeling to the next, and it can feel sort of random and disconnected.  It feels like there’s no connection between the reality of this moment and what’s going on in our heads.  Interestingly, the root of the English word "confuse" means to mingle things together, but this isn’t a good kind of interconnectedness or non-separation.  This is what happens when we can’t muster up enough prajna or wisdom to see clearly.  There’s a subtle difference between being distracted or scattered and surrounded by many elements that are pulling your attention here and there, and being collected enough to see interconnectedness and hold those many elements equally--in other words, to see both form and emptiness.

Concentration, zazen or dhyana are at the opposite end of the spectrum from distraction and confusion.  When we have concentration and equanimity, we’re able to make full use of our abilities to help others, but when we’re feeling distracted and confused, that may be when we need the help and support of others, so this thing isn’t a one way street.  

Sometimes we’re in positions of leadership in the sangha, or if not, at least we might be sort of humming along in our practice without any doubts or crises, and then something causes us to do some discernment about our practice.  We’re confused about what we’re doing on this path.  Something changes in our lives, sometimes something pretty big, or maybe we’re feeling stuck, like we’re going through the motions of practice but it’s lost its meaning.  Suddenly we’re distracted and confused and aren’t sure who we are as practitioners any more.  Have you ever had a dark night of the soul?  This is when we really need the person who is standing in this gateway and saying, “For right now, I have enough balance and clarity to help you with your discernment and get some clarity.”

This person doesn’t have to be a dharma teacher or someone with a degree, but it should be someone committed to practice and Buddha way.  He/she/they should be able to communicate with you clearly, to speak in a way you can understand and explain things in a way that makes sense to you.  They’ve done some significant practice, have some life experience and try to live a bodhisattva life so they can serve as an example or model for you.  

This is not the same as having a teacher in some formal or even informal way.  There’s no rule that says you can only get help and support from one person on this path.  I’ve had lots of mentors in various ways.  Turning to a big brother or sister to help regain some clarity is not being disloyal to a teacher somehow.  You’re probably looking for something different than you would ask of a teacher.  Just know that the job of the bodhisattva standing in this gateway is not to give you all the answers.  Helping with discernment is about asking helpful questions and often about pointing out what you already know!

Today, that bodhisattva might be you, having a cup of tea with your sangha friend who’s trying to figure out why her practice has gone stale.  Tomorrow you might be the one looking for friendly guidance to decide what kind of dharma leadership you really want to be doing.

Let's come back to something we considered at the beginning: that Sanshin style is really all about concentration or distillation.  Our whole tradition is here, but it might not be obvious because it’s been distilled down to its essence.  It’s a common misperception in my experience that folks think we don’t do or have certain thngs here because we don’t like them, we don’t think they’re important or relevant, or we just plain don’t know how.  That’s not it--100% of our tradition is right here.  Each of those myriad elements might not be physically manifested, but they are in no way cut off.  It’s not that we’re doing only certain parts of the practice or recognizing certain aspects of the tradition.  It’s more like zazen is the most concentrated way to do a lot of things.  For example, there’s a teachiing that zazen and precepts are same thing.  There’s no precept we’re breaking or not keeping in zazen.  For another example, if there’s nothing outside of zazen, then we don’t necessarily need to invoke buddhas and bodhisattvas in order for them to be present.  We could do that with liturgy or ritual, but even if we don’t carry out those activities, buddhas and bodhisattcas are already here.

We can consider that by doing zazen, work, study and ritual, we do all practices and the entire tradition is here.  Sometimes it’s useful to actually bring out artifacts or engage in various activities, but those physical manifestations don’t necessarily add something that wasn’t already here.  Doshis at Sanshin don’t use kotsu (a ceremonial sceptre) to indicate who’s in charge; we know!  However, in the context of a very formal Sotoshu ceremony where that's important, of course we know what to do and we do it.  This is the part of Sanshin style called keeping forms simple so we know what we’re doing and why.  Keeping forms simple doesn’t cut off what isn’t physically present.  It’s that forms are concentrated and distilled down to their essence.  It’s the tip of the iceberg, with the rest floating below the surface of the ocean.  You just see the part above the water, but you know the rest is there, sometimes miles deep.  When we need to expand a bit from that really concentrated place, we can and do, and we’re not really adding anything new.

What does that mean for us as practitioners?  It means we carry the entire tradition ourselves, even if what we see here every day is not an ornate building, a morning service that lasts an hour, or teachers in red robes when we ordain people.  We still have a responsibility to deeply investigate this tradition, what our ancestors were teaching and practicing, and maybe not to pass up opportunities to learn about how other sanghas are practicing.  It can be easy for Sanshin to feel insulated and isolated because we’re very clear on what we do here, and it’s not like most other Western dharma centers or even like Antaiji or other kinds of temples in Japan.  However, we’re part of the larger shared culture of Soto Zen, the Mahayana and Buddhism itself, and rather than say we only do this part and cut off everything else, what we’re really doing is engaging in a concentrated form of the practice tradition that includes everything.

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Questions for reflection and discussion:

• What do you think about "meditation" as a fix for something broken, as a means of pondering something, or as a view of non-separation?
• How do you see the difference between "zazen is good for nothing" and "zazen has no result"?
  
• What's your "magical" power?  What can do you that seems fantastic to someone who doesn't have your skill?  What's that experience like for you and for others?
  
• How do you see your own practice contributing to the transformation of other beings into bodhisattvas?