Blue Cliff Record Case 87: Medicine and Disease Subdue Each Other – Talk 1
October 15, 1988 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Transcript
This transcript is in draft stage.
0:00
Katagiri Roshi: Case 87 of The Blue Cliff Record: “Medicine and Disease Subdue Each Other.” I will first read the pointer:
A clear-eyed fellow has no nest: sometimes on the summit of the solitary peak weeds grow in profusion; sometimes he’s naked and free in the bustling marketplace. Suddenly he appears as an angry titan with three heads and six arms; suddenly as Sun Face or Moon Face Buddha he releases the light of all-embracing mercy. In a single atom he manifests all physical forms; to save people according to their type, he mixes with mud and water. If suddenly he releases an opening upwards, not even the Buddha’s eye could see him; even if a thousand sages appeared, they too would have to fall back three thousand miles. Is there anyone with the same attainment and same realization? To test, I cite this to see.
( From The Blue Cliff Record, translated by Thomas Cleary & J.C. Cleary.)
The case:
Yun Men, teaching his community, said, “Medicine and disease subdue each other: the whole earth is medicine; what is your self?”
This is the case.
2:27
Let me explain the pointer first, simply. The key point is that we as human beings shouldn’t express our strong individual experience in our own life, staying with it and emphasizing it too much, and forcing people to learn that experience. Your life must be in fluidity, like water: constantly deepening your life, day to day. That is [the] point it says.
A clear-eyed fellow has no nest: …
That’s [because] there is nothing to hide, [nothing] to be hidden. Always a clear-eyed person has no place to be hidden [or] to hide. That means he is always open, [manifesting] himself according to circumstances and according to individual different persons, et cetera.
So that’s why next it says,
sometimes on the summit of the solitary peak weeds grow in profusion; …
“On the summit of the solitary peak” means Buddha. In other words, perfect aloneness, absolute aloneness in the whole world – that is Buddha. Buddha appears. But “weeds grow in profusion”: that [means] his compassion always comes out [of] his life. Wherever he may go, he is always alone absolutely, and nevertheless [there are] many people around, and his compassion is over them. That is [why it says here] “sometimes on the summit of solitary peak weeds grow in profusion.” This “weeds grow in profusion” means the human world needs compassion, Buddha’s compassion. […]
… sometimes he is naked and free in the bustling marketplace.
“He is naked and free” means completely his life is open, his life is active and quiet in every circumstance. Particularly in the human world. It says here “in the bustling marketplace”: human society is a kind of a bustling marketplace. So your life is really kind of “merchandise” in the marketplace. But not [just a marketplace] in the United States, you know? You have to show your merchandise, [it] must be there, but in the universal marketplace. Not only your life, but also religions – Buddhism – and sciences – whatever they are, they must be displayed in the universal marketplace. And then, people see it.
7:15
Suddenly he appears as angry titan with three heads and six arms; …
That means that compassion is not always gentle, considerate and charitable. Sometimes [it is] angry – angry face, angry feeling, angry titan. But this angry is not the usual angry, this is wisdom, the functioning of wisdom. Because wisdom is human resolute will in your life. Basically you do [life]; no one helps you. “You do [life]” means you do accept your life, you do accept any human problem with your hand, softly, gently, compassionately. That requires your really great resolute human will. It’s simple – it’s very simple – but you cannot do it; it’s very difficult.
In other words, “accept” means basically you should trust in you, trust in other, and then trust [that] any problem occurs in the universal perspective, so [there is] nothing to hate, or to attach to. Anyway accept [it] and work on [it step by step]. But the first attitude toward [problems] is to trust, to accept totally in your hand, softly, gently. And then, work on [them] one by one.
That is wisdom; that’s why first you need wisdom. That is, plainly speaking, perfect resolute will. And then, compassion comes up.
So, “Suddenly he appears as an angry titan with three heads and six arms.” This wisdom […] functioning with three heads and six arms means [being] free, wherever you may go. This is very important for us.
Because human life is already entangled; this is already human life. But entanglement comes from where? Well, from you. But you and the tangled state of human life both exist in the universal perspective; if so, the tangled thread is not something you try to keep away from.
So wherever you may go, you have to face this tangle of threads directly, instead of escaping. If you try to escape, very naturally you become critical toward object, toward the human problem, toward your life, toward others, toward circumstances. And that criticism implies you don’t face any problem directly.
So you have to face [things] directly; in order to face [things] directly you need the great human resolute will. “Right now, you have to accept it.” “Accept” means blindly accept, with compassion. Anyway, accept it, and then work on loosening the tangle of threads, one by one.
That’s why “with three heads and six arms” wherever you may go – this is the most basic, important attitude toward human life.
… suddenly as Sun Face or Moon Face Buddha he releases the light of all-embracing mercy.
Sometimes just like a Buddha – you can see usually Sun Face [or] Moon Face Buddha: very compassionate, kind, gentle Buddha.
“He releases the light of all-embracing mercy”: so this brightens human life and fills your life.
13:14
In a single atom he manifests all physical forms; …
The Buddha is vast. That vastness can be seen in a single atom – a single moment, a single atom. Because the moment or single atom is not a small world, it’s simultaneously the huge world. Because if you research a very small world through and through, you can break the wall of existence, so-called small world, and it becomes big, huge. And if you research the big huge universe through and through, it returns to the moment, time.
That’s natural. That’s why in the Diamond Sutra it says a bodhisattva always lives in a moment, simultaneously it is eternal. For the bodhisattva, moment is not moment, a short period of time, but it’s eternal.
So “in a single atom he manifests all physical forms; …”
… to save people according to their type, he mixes with mud and water.
If you read the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, “Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva” is Chapter 24. Avalokiteshvara […] appears as a little girl when she meets a girl; when he meets the old man, he appears as an old man. So [there are] thirty-two ways of his appearance in the human world. That means Buddha’s life is “naked and free” under all circumstances.
Buddha is not far from us. This is our life.
If you [look at] your life and [there is] nothing to be seen like a bodhisattva’s life – Avalokiteshvara’s life or Buddha’s life – don’t be discouraged. You can try; you can do it. So day to day, even a little bit, we try. We try to follow Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas’ way.
That’s why “to save” means not to “guide” or to “teach”, but to walk with all beings, hand in hand – forever.
Can you walk with your friend, with your husband, with your girlfriend, with your teacher, hand in hand? Forever – under all circumstances? Can you do that?
In the process of walking alone like this, then you can learn. You learn about your life, and about the human world, about what kindness is, what gentleness is, what considerate feeling heart is, what is charitable heart is. You can learn.
You have already lots of knowledge of charitable heart, or kindness, or considerate heart – but actually, this is just ideas. Sometimes it works, but mostly, it doesn’t work. So I think you should give lots of content, quality, meaning to your ideas, which is good enough to manifest it in your life actually.
So “to save people” means to walk. That is really Buddha’s way.
And leadership – we use the [words] leadership or teacher. If we say “I save you,” at that time there is a discrimination: “I” and “you”. “I” am superior; “you” are inferior; because “I” am saving “you”. [He chuckles.] So very naturally there is a discrimination there. But the real meaning of “leadership” or “spiritual teacher” must be a peaceful walker. Forever, under all circumstances: this is Buddha’s life, bodhisattvas’ life. Not under particular circumstances.
“To save people according to their type, he mixes with mud and water” – that is just like mud and water become one. Because human beings have completely different personality, different characters. There is no same type of human beings. Even though your experience day to day is not always the same, if there are ten people, ten people always brings different lifestyle, different problems, different experiences. Every day, different.
So, from this point, if I see some person, that is like mud and water. Temporarily we can say “mud”, temporarily we can say “water”, but water and mud must walk together in peace and harmony. This is Buddha’s way.
20:45
If suddenly he releases an opening upwards, not even the Buddha’s eye could see him; …
“He releases an opening upward” – I don’t know, this is a little funny translation. Do you understand this? “If suddenly he releases an opening upward.” I don’t know… kind of, would you say, a single path, moving towards the truth. That [is the meaning of] “upward”. “Downward” means to descend to the human world; that is “downward”.
So there are two ways for human life: it must be based on going upward and going downward. Upward means seeking constantly for the truth; going up. And downward means even if you seek for the truth through the practice, if your life is not rooted in the human world it doesn’t make sense, so you have to come back to human world, you have to live with all beings. Those are the two types.
So that is, here it says, “releases an opening upward”; it means a single path, seeking towards the truth. Going upward.
So [in that case], “not even the Buddha’s eye could see him” if suddenly he releases [or] he opens this way. If he opens this way, wherever he may go, not even the Buddha’s eye can see him.
I think […] “if suddenly he opens a single path going upward” means he doesn’t cling, he doesn’t attach to this particular way to seek for the truth. In the process of going upward, nevertheless he opens. So that means a way of going upward is simultaneously a way of going downward. Is that clear? Simultaneously. Because his way of going upward is simultaneously your way and the others’ way. It’s open, so it’s universal; his way is universal. So at that time, “even the Buddha’s eye could not see him.” Even the Buddha’s eye, Buddha cannot see it, because it’s completely open.
For instance, I always [talk about] the diver from a high cliff, you know, in Acapulco. I always use this analogy because it’s a very good analogy for you. His life is very serious. His way is constantly going upward: connected with unity, oneness. But it is not abstract. Unity is closely related with air, mountains, his consciousness, emotions, the ocean, the climate; all things. So it is simultaneously his way of going downward. That is [that] his life is exactly open, displayed there. He shows his life exactly like this: […] standing in his place straightly. And then, if he sees exactly the moment when he becomes unity with all sentient beings, with the air, and water, and climate, emotions, et cetera – all become one, and he finds the absolute moment – at that time his life is completely open. And then, anytime, it is the moment when […] he can jump into the ocean. So that is the time he is ready to go.
And then, he says – he doesn’t say it actually, but – “one, two, three, jump.” Then when he does it, at that time, you or I can see through the TV how beautiful it is. The form is beautiful – perfect jumping, diving, exactly. We can give “points” to him.
But [that] is the surface; it’s exactly the surface. What is the real thing?
When he completely opens a way of going upward and downward, and becoming one with whole nature, and displaying that unity in the air. That is the form of diving into the ocean. At that time, the real beauty is… no one knows. But it speaks: how beautiful. How beautiful it is. But real beauty cannot be seen.
That is real way. Your real beauty cannot be seen by anyone. This is unity; this is the ultimate nature of existence.
But it speaks everyday, because people are impressed by this form, by this diving into the ocean, becoming one with [it].
So from this point, the ultimate nature of the existence doesn’t have any forms, smells, colors, flavors. No one knows. But it speaks, because everyone is impressed by it.
So the koan [asks], “How do you know that?” If no one knows that real beauty – how do you know? Real beauty exists – how do you know that?
And then the Zen master completely says, “I am busy with taking care of everyday life,” so he left.
This is just jumping, exactly: jumping from the cliff into the ocean. Actual practice.
Zen koans always [talk about] that real point, between no one knows real truth, but that truth no one knows speaks so much.
How do you know that? Because there are many beings who are saved by or who are very much impressed by this real fact.
That’s why here it says, “if suddenly he releases an opening upward, not even the Buddha’s eye could see him…”
31:20
… even if a thousand sages appeared, they too would have to fall back three thousand miles.
You know… many, many scholars and Buddhists in the United States research the Buddha’s teaching: what is the Buddha’s teaching, in terms of philosophy, in terms of psychology, many ways. But the more you try to do [this], the [Buddha’s real] point is going far from you. Which makes you confused sometimes. Not sometimes; pretty often.
So that’s why here it says “even if a thousand sages appeared, they too would have to fall back three thousand miles.” More than three thousand miles.
So, absolute, or the truth, or ultimate nature of being, is exactly one with you, with the trees, with the sky. Exactly one. But it’s not one, it’s two. But they’re not two, they’re one. That is called the absolute one.
So if we say “you and the absolute”, “the absolute is one” – at that time we imagine something mixed, with two things. But it’s not. The unity is not something like that. If so, are there two? No, not two. “Two” is already dualistic. So whatever kind of word we use, always we are right in the middle of dualism. But if you realize you are right in the midst of the dualism, you can be free from dualism.
[…]
Is there anyone with the same attainment and same realization?
Is there anyone? That is the case: there is someone called Yun Men Zen teacher. So:
To test, I cite this to see.
34:30
Yun Men, teaching his community, said, “Medicine and disease subdue each other: the whole earth is medicine; what is your self?”
There are several remarkable features of the ultimate nature of being we call the truth, et cetera.
The first one is [that] it is vast and all-pervading. [It has] no sections, no segments. So all beings exist, but it’s vast, no segments. That is one characteristic of your ultimate nature.
Second: [it is] lacking in form, color, smell, and flavor – anything. Completely nothing; it’s penetrating. Even though in the bottom of human existence there are many beings, so-called conditions, each condition doesn’t have any form or color or smell. So always they are interconnected, interpenetrated, but it’s not mixed up. [They are] always smoothly working together, freely. That is the second characteristic.
Third: the ultimate nature is acting at super-speed.
Fourth: it is tranquil. Because if it is acting at super-speed, it becomes quiet – very quiet. [If] something is very quiet, tranquil, you can see the active aspect of human life. If you sit down in zazen, you see lots of active aspects of energy. Your energies, body, and mind – constantly you can see it. So the basic nature of existence is very, very active, at super-speed, always active – but simultaneously it is still very quiet. Two things: both are coincident. This is your original nature.
And fifth, the working of three and four is coincident. This is what I said already.
That’s why if your life is very active, you don’t like it, you aren’t satisfied. So you want to be quiet. But if you are quiet, always you don’t like that either. [He laughs a little.] So you want to be active, you know? Always activity and tranquility work together. So in real, everyday life you have to find the tranquility in activity; you have to find activity in tranquility.
So in sitting on the cushion, it’s not always quiet. It’s active, very active. Because you are tired, exhausted. If you sit down quietly, wholeheartedly, you completely exhaust [yourself]. Don’t you think? Not only the pain, physical pain, but totally mentally and physically you are exhausted. That is natural. And then that means your body and mind is very active, very active. So when you become quiet more and more, you can see the activity more and more. That’s why if you sit down in zazen, then it comes into everyday life. You can put it into everyday life. Everyday [life] which is very active, but in the activity, quietness can be [found].
So whatever you do in acting, I think you must be always quiet and do it. In order to be quiet within the activity, it requires your great human resolute will: “Yes, I do.” With clear mind. That is the wisdom I mentioned [before].
The sixth: something arises and perishes. Always in the bottom of basic nature, there is always something arising, because it’s active, very active. When something is moving, naturally something arises. Not only one thing; many things arise [in] the moment. Many things, many beings arise actively and quietly [in] the moment. Very quietly, but very actively. [Of] which all are interconnected with each other, and each of those arises under different conditions. So many beings arise, but very quietly and very actively. And then, in the moment, many beings come up, appear. And each of the beings always appears under completely different circumstances. You appear in different circumstances from others. Katagiri appears under different circumstances. You, everyone, trees, birds. But they all arise at the moment. Very quietly, very actively. That’s why we can live. Like this. Very quietly. Sometimes we can pray.
Sometimes your life is [bustling], you know? …
[Tape change.]
… as tranquil as a serene lake, or a quiet figure of a standing tree in a peaceful morning. So that’s why your life is what? Just like a lake, a serene lake. Nothing. Very quiet. But it’s always active.
That is you. That is a tree. That is a bird. That is a pebble’s life.
Number seven: However, if you are conscious of a tree, it appears precisely and clearly, and simultaneously, the rest of beings also appears as the quality of its life.
If you see a tree with your consciousness, that means the consciousness picks up a tree, like picking up a single frame of a net. And the rest of the frames of the net follow, come up with it. That means the rest of the frames don’t appear in front, but behind. But their life doesn’t separate from it. They become the content of this life.
You should remember your life. When you see you, that means pick up a frame of a net. And then at that time the rest of the beings, all beings, follow it, and become the content of your life. Remember this one!
Just like a pyramid. Simultaneously you build up a huge pyramid. In Buddhism we say Mount Sumeru: huge Mount Sumeru, right in the center of the universe, like a pyramid. But human beings are very egoistic, kicking out the many things, and that’s a problem. Because that way of life is naturally against the rhythm of the basic nature of existence.
Number eight: Only a single tree you have consciousness of appears absolutely alone in the whole world.
Because the serene lake and trees exist in the same state of being. So all beings exist, many beings exist, [in] the moment. So only a single tree you have been conscious of appears absolutely alone in the whole world. If you pick up you, and appear in the whole world, that is you are completely alone. But it’s not alone in the usual sense, because it is perfectly alone, but the rest of the beings support.
So, that’s why, and at the same time, the rest of beings do not appear in front, but completely support it, and become excellent contents for it.
That’s why Dogen Zenji says, “when you witness one side, one side is obscure.” (Transcriber’s Note: This is from Genjokoan.) When one side, your life, appears precisely and clearly, so-called I, at that time the rest of the beings, the other persons and trees, birds, don’t appear in front. Their life becomes very obscure; but they always support you as the contents of your life. That’s why you cannot ignore others’ life.
But apparently, the egoistic sense always tries to ignore, and is saying “don’t touch me.” That is a human problem; that always happens.
47:37
And then from this: in this case, Yun Men teaching this community said, “Medicine and disease subdue each other.”
So […] all the world becomes medicine; the whole world becomes medicine. And then, on the other hand, the whole world becomes disease. Because when you pick up a disease, the whole world becomes disease. And then, next moment, when you pick up another frame of a net, called medicine, the whole world becomes medicine.
This is true.
So very naturally, if you see the human world as a medicine, all becomes medicine, but if you see the whole world as in terms of your disease, the whole world becomes disease. But strictly speaking, the basic nature of existence cannot be pinned down by any ideas. “The whole world is disease”, “the whole world is medicine” – no. Only when you pick up medicine – a frame of the one net as medicine – the whole world is medicine.
Because psychological affliction makes your body more and more sick – but if your mental situation is peaceful, and [you] face the disease and the sickness without any sense of escaping from it, at that time, the mental aspect of human life really helps for the recovery of your sickness. The physical situation is connected with mental. So if you see whole universe like this, the whole universe is medicine at that time, wherever you may go. You can carry disease, sickness, but nevertheless you can walk step by step, always in the path of recovery.
Unfortunately, you might die. But that’s okay. This is the human world, based on impermanence.
So, that is [where] he says, “medicine and disease subdue each other, the whole earth is medicine.” The whole earth is medicine.
“What is your life?” What is yourself?
You are the whole world.
If you stand up in the zendo, or you sit down in the zendo, this is whole world. That’s why Gensha Zen Master says, “Self is the whole world in ten directions.”
This is called repose and bliss.
So zazen is not learning something from zazen, but zazen is repose and bliss: peace, exactly. At that time, zazen becomes the whole world.
That is not something you try to discuss. You have to sit down, always, like that.