Zen and Creativity 03 10

7/27/2019 Zen and Creativity 03 10

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date of the document's last update/modification {18/09/93}

This file is the work of Stan Rosenthal. It has been placed here, with hiskind permission, by Bill Fear. The author has asked that no hard copies, ie.paper copies, are made.

Stan Rosenthal may be contacted at 44 High street, St. Davids,Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, Wales, UK.

Bill Fear may be contacted at 29 Blackweir Terrace, Cathays, Cardiff, SouthGlamorgan, Wales, UK. email [email protected].

Please use email as first method of contact, if possible. Messages can besentto Stan Rosenthal via the above email address - they will be forwarded on inperson by myself................................Beginning of file................................

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LETTING GO

Value love and true friendship,but remember that security is found within oneself,rather than in others.

Let go of that which cannot be held,or which is destroyed by grasping.

Knowing that reality is most truly seenin everyday events and things,seek liberation from the negative passionsof hatred, envy, greed and rage,from delusion, deceit and sensory desire.

Knowing that change exists in everything,learn to accept transience,the inevitable and the irrevocable,and to accept the unknown.

Knowing that you are not the centre of the universe,learn to put the universe at your centreby accepting the instant of your being.

Whilst Zen teaches us that we should rely upon our own sense of 'being' for oursecurity, rather than upon others, Zen acknowledges that love is a major factorin the lives of humankind. Some of the poems of Ryokan for example, containlines which allude to his loneliness, and illustrate that even Zen masters have

human feelings. Apparently Ryokan did not experience an intimate lovingrelationship until he met the Buddhist nun Teishin when he was sixty-nine.Shortly after they met, Ryokan wrote the beautiful verse,

"Soon the winter will be ended;please, please come and visitmy simple home."

It seems that Ryokan's 'winter' was soon ended, for Teishin did visit his


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'simple home', and stayed with him until his death at the age of seventy-four.She was forty years younger than Ryokan, and outlived him by many years. It wasTeishin who was responsible for making Ryokan's poetry known to the world.

Even though companionship is a desirable condition for most of us, this is notto say that we should rely on anyone else for our sense of security. It is aZen belief that insecurity is a major inhibitor of human development, and thatmany people (and organizations) use the insecurity of others as a means ofgaining and retaining control over them. This all too frequently succeedsbecause many people are prepared to accept lack of personal growth as the'price' to be paid for security, particularly since we cannot have experiencedthe result of any development which has not yet occurred! So it is that many ofus settle for the security which results from what we believe to be the 'statusquo' (which Zen teaches, does not even exist in reality, since everything isalways in the process of change). This is why Zen teaches that there is no realsecurity other than that which we can find or develop within ourselves.

'Letting go' is a major teaching in Zen, and our attempts to hold on to that'which cannot be held, or which is destroyed by grasping' is believed to beclosely related to our need for love, and to our feelings of insecurity. Theteacher Suiteki told of this in an example which his close friends knew to betaken from his own life.....

A Zen teacher and one of his students (whose name was Getsuro) fell in love.

Since Getsuro still lived at her parents' home, the teacher and student toldthem of their feelings. Her parents were understanding, and assured them thatwhilst the situation did not meet with their approval, they would not intervene.

Unfortunately Getsuro's father, a fundamentalist Christian, could not keep hispromise, and began to harass his daughter, who became ill as a result of hertorn loyalties. Her father blamed her teacher for her ill health, and theteacher agreed that he would not see her.

Getsuro's health grew steadily worse, and the teacher was called to see her.Her father asked him to let his daughter resume her Zen studies, and promisedthat he would no longer harass her. The teacher was very annoyed at the risk towhich Getsuro had been subjected, but agreed readily to her father's request.

He did not know that the young lady had been told that she could see him againonly on condition that she spent time with her father in order that he could'assure the wellbeing of her soul'.

The teacher took Getsuro away on holiday so that she could recuperate, andwhilst they were away in the country she grew steadily more strong, the colourreturning to her cheeks. The teacher suggested to her that she move to hishome, but she declined, saying that it would upset her father too much at thattime.

Soon after their return from holiday it became apparent to the teacher thatGetsuro's health was deteriorating, and he then discovered that her father hadstarted to harass her again. He pleaded with her to at least leave her home if

only to take lodgings elsewhere, but she said she could not.

Although Getsuro had not achieved a high ranking in her academic examinations,her Zen teacher persuaded her to apply for a position at a place of highereducation in the capital, many leagues distant from the place where they lived.He had realised that she could not allow her father to believe that she had lefthome to live with him, but that leaving home to undertake formal academic studywould be socially acceptable in her parents' social structure.

Getsuro applied for a studentship as had been suggested to her, and gained a


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place. However, shortly before she was due to leave, she told her teacher thatshe was unsure about leaving home. Knowing that she needed to leave in order toachieve any sort of freedom from her father, and having explained this to her,but to no avail, he pretended to act so aggressively towards her that she becamefrightened to stay in the town.

Two hours after his beloved Getsuro had left for the capital, the teacher fellsick, ovecome with sadness, and weak from the strain of pretending aggressiontowards her. For many months he was close to death.

Unfortunately it is by no means unusual for the act of of 'letting go' to causesuch suffering, and the pain is just as real for all of us, whether we practiceZen or not. Letting go is never easy, and those of us who have a philosophywhich encompasses this all too necessary act are indeed fortunate.

Since so many of these instances concern our ability (or inability) to love, ourinsecurities, and our relationships with loved ones, it is said in Zen that,

"Human relationships are the sourceof our greatest joys,and of our deepest sorrows."

There is another story which illustrates (in a somewhat lighter vein), thenecessity of letting go. In this instance though it illustrates the high

priority given to compassion, and to helping others, even beyond adhering to anoath.

Two monks who were sworn to celibacy were walking along a road in silentmeditation. Approaching a ford, they saw a young lady trying to cross thestream. The stream was running high, and the young lady was obviously worriedthat the hem of her kimono would become soiled by the water. One of the monksignored her, but the other picked her up, carried her across the stream and puther down on the other side before rejoining his companion.

The two monks continued walking for some miles. Suddenly the monk who had goneahead said to his friend,

"You should not have done that!"

"Done what?"his companion asked.

"Carried that girl across the stream...You should not have picked her up."

"What girl?"asked the second monk.

"That girl you carried across the stream."the first monk repeated angrily.

"Oh!" his companion replied, "That girl...I put her down five miles back."

There are many misconceptions concerning Zen, and those who do not know itsreality are sometimes concerned that it may be a 'cult', similar in some way tothose which gain their followers by promising such rewards as 'eternalsalvation', 'life after death' or 'instant enlightenment'. Of course, Zenoffers no such promises (in fact it warns against them, and makes no promises atall other than hard work) and offers no rewards. With regard to the quality ofour lives though, it does offer guidelines. Of these, perhaps the most


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significant for the individual is that which advises us to seek liberation fromwhat it terms 'the negative passions', these being hatred, envy, greed and rage,delusion, deceit and sensory desire.

On this particular matter, Tekisui wrote (in 'Tao, the Gateless Gate'),

"Many are the true pathswhich to enlightenment do lead,and there is no enlightened onewho would deny the truth of any one of these.But among those paths we must avoidare those....which do but seekto gratify the body, senses, or the mind,and those which require of usthat we abstain from worldly life."

Whilst illustrating well that Zen does not consider itself the only path ofvalue, this verse does provide a warning against those paths which offer 'escapefrom reality', and which are therefore considered to 'do the chooser harm'.

Sensory desire (literally the desire to 'feed' or gratify the senses) isconsidered to be a form of lust for that which we see or apprehend through anyof the senses, and try to obtain with disregard for ethical considerations.This does not mean that we should cease to want or need, nor that we should

ignore sensory pleasure; rather it implies that we should not allow sensoryconsiderations to take priority over our dealing with other human beings, orover our own developmental needs.

It is considered in Zen that such desires, if not tempered by ethicalconsiderations or compassion, frequently lead to deceit and self-delusion.However, it is not only the senses which demand gratification,

It is worth mentioning briefly, the apparently strange manner of Zen teachers('roshi'), in particular with regard to what seems to be violent behaviour, forthis is probably unique to Zen. It should be said that Zen roshi do not useviolence for its own sake, nor to gratify their own pleasure. In actual fact,if we examine individual cases, we discover that such action is used only where

it is necessary and appropriate. In such instances, if physical action isrequired in order to provide meaning, a roshi would not shirk from taking suchaction, even if the necessity was to direct the violence against himself.....

In that instance the teacher was dealing with his own delusion, and the story ismeant to illustrate, not a love of violence, but an acceptance of 'whatever itis that is required'. In a similar vein, the story of 'Tekisui's finger' showshow a teacher will use an

uncontrived or 'real life situation' to demonstrate something of value to hisstudents, in this case, 'letting go of pain'.....

A master took a class, and for two days

showed them how to exercise and how to sit.The students complained most bitterly

throughout this time,that the pain they felt was great,

and that if the master felt such painthen he would not stay still,as he bade them do.The master's words,that he too felt the pain, were to no avail.


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The students arguing that he, through practice,no longer had such pain.

The third day dawned, the students stood outside,beside the gate, to wait for he who was to comeand teach them yet again.The master came, and seeing them around the gate,was overjoyed to see that theyhad learned some etiquette.And in his pleasure, as he closed the gate,he forgot to take his finger out.

The gate still closed, but with no sound,except the sound the master madeas his finger turned from blue to blackand then to mauve.

And when they had establishedthat the bone was whole,the master chided them for lack of practice,and sat with them again to meditate.And thus, with mindless mindand multi-coloured finger,the teacher proved that little pains alone should not prevent our meditation,

provided we accept itas physical, and with no mind.

The story is not meant to imply that pain has no mental aspect, but rather thatthe mental aspect is 'knowledge of' pain, rather than the pain itself, which is,of itself, physical. The teacher is therefore using this story to demonstratethat it is a delusion, caused by the need to gratify the mind, to think of painitself as being mental. All delusion is considered to be 'of the mind', and assuch, exists only in the mind.

The necessity of 'letting go of delusion' is somewhat obvious, and the desire tolet go of that which causes pain or anguish, even if it is only a memory, isquite logical. However, Zen teaches that we should also be prepared to 'let go'

of that which gives happiness.

Although this at first seems ilogical, further thought shows that it is soundjudgement. The best example is probably found in relationships, for by the timewe reach adulthood most of us have had cause to realise that trying to 'hold on'is especially damaging, if only because it is claustrophobic to the otherperson, and therefore to the relationship itself.

A major aspect of Zen teaching is that nothing is static or permanent, usuallyexpressed in a more positive manner, by the expression, 'all things are in astate of flux'. Our relationship with and attitude to change are thereforeconsidered to be of particular significance, and this is why we are advised inthe precepts to accept transience, the inevitable and the irrevocable, and to

accept the fact that change exists in everything.

The term 'transience' describes the fact that nothing remains for ever, and thatthe nature of all things and processes is only temporary. In terms of 'life',this is exemplified in the verse,

"Between heaven and earth,laughter and tears,laughter and tears."


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When the term 'inevitable' is used in Zen, it refers to the fact that althoughthere are some things which we can influence, there are others which we cannotprevent from happening, nor change in any way.The term 'irrevocable' refers to something which has already occurred and whichtherefore cannot 'unoccur'. The most usual way in the term is used in Zen iswith regard to actions which, once taken, cannot be redeemed.

In total, these three terms imply that it is fruitless to wish or pretend thatthings are other than they are, or that something which has happened did notoccur. Whilst this makes sound sense to all of us, it is quite often difficultto prevent such thoughts or wishes from arising, especially where our feelings,emotions or desires are involved.

Zen teaches that the reason for this is the confusion between 'wishing' and'faith or hope'. Whilst we might have faith in a divinity, or hope that achange will occur to improve a particular state, neither of these is the same as'wishing' in the delusory sense in which it has been used here. This sort ofwishing, although understandable, is not to be recommended, especially since itcan all too easily change to a state of pretending that things are actuallyother than they really are; and this can prevent us from discovering just whatwe can and cannot influence.

Recognising the difference between that which is inevitable and that which isnot (and between that which is irrevocable and that which is not) is said in Zen

to be the hallmark of a wise person, but even a wise person might havedifficulty in accepting what he or she can recognise, and even if it isaccepted, using that knowledge to decide a course of action or 'non-action' canfrequently require much courage. We are reminded of this by Lao Tzu.....

"There are times when even brightness seems dim;when progress seems like regression;when the easy seems most difficult,and virtue seems empty,inadequate and frail;times when purity seems sullied;when even reality seems unreal;when even great talent is to no avail,

and the highest note cannot be heard;when the formed seem formless,and when the way of natureis out of sight."

A particularly poignant example of this is found in the life of Kotan, andconcerns Jade, a student whom he helped, and who, in return helped him. On manyoccasions he described her as the most natural Taoist he had ever known.

About ten years after she went to live in Kotan's school, Jade fell in lovewith a novice, a young man who had joined the school as a 'part- time student'only a few months before. When other students discovered this, knowing of hishistory of violence and drug abuse, they warned Jade of the likely outcome of

her new relationship, but she would not heed their words.

Although Jade swore that she had no intention of leaving the school, Kotan couldsee that it was

probably only a matter of time before the young man's persuasive tongue and woebegone manner would cause Jade to go and live with him.

During 'sosan' (a talk to the group by the teacher), Kotan gave a koan on'letting go'. He said,


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"There is nothing permanent in the world.We are born and we die.Between these two events we seek to own everything pleasant which happens.In reality of course, we can own nothing,for there is nothing for us to ownother than the instant of our being.The great secret is to let go,for until we let go of that instant,there cannot be another."

To the surprise of the teacher, within a few moments of the sosan, duringinformal 'kinhin' (a break from seated meditation) the young man sat besideJade, kissed her, and laughed. That same evening, after refusing to takedokusan (a private interview with the teacher) as requested by the teacher, hewas discharged from the school, and when Jade took dokusan, Kotan told her ofhis concern for her welfare.

At the next sesshin, when the students offered their responses to the koan, Jadesaid,

"Holding too tightly, you might crush it.How hard though to let gowhen you fear it might fall."

A few days later she left the school, but her new lover took secret action tohave Kotan taken before a judge for attacking him, and then began to derideKotan's own teacher in public, knowing that Kotan would be bound by his honourto seek him out to at least demand an apology, or, the former student hoped, toattack him, thus giving him an excuse to have the teacher brought to trial.

Fortunately an officer of the court informed the teacher of the young man'splan, and the teacher was able to withdraw from the situation in time, and sawhow he had been played like a fish by the two young people. He meditated uponhis problem, and realized that although he had let go of Jade, he had not yetlet go of his ego.

Having seen this for himself, he withdrew from teaching and entered 'kensho' (aform of meditation used to discover 'one's own true face'). Four months laterhe emerged, free from his ego, and was able to resume his teaching. He nevermade any attempt to contact Jade again, but often thought of her with gratitudefor the help she had given him early in their relationship.

'Discovering one's own true face' means learning to be without ego and withoutconditioning. It is therefore a means by which we can become free from ego. InZen, this is considered a freedom which is essential as a precursor to thedevelopment of the individual.

To act from ego, which is to be 'ego-based', or ego- centric, is likened toputting oneself at 'the centre of the universe'. An individual who believes

himself or herself to be at 'the centre of the universe' can only be at thecentre of his or her own universe, and therefore cannot be in harmony with otherpeople, nor with the rest of the 'real world'. Such a person considers others,nature and things to exist primarily for their personal benefit, and as aresult, is unable to act with wu wei, and therefore cannot make real their fullcreative potential.

This is one reason why we are advised to put the universe at our centre, ratherthan thinking of ourselves as being at the centre of the universe. The otherreason is somewhat more 'down to earth', being concerned with attitude to life.


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We believe that much of the antagonism and anguish in life stems from humanrelationships, and that the roots of such problems are quite commonly to befound in the ego; that is, in the attitude which many people have, that theworld should revolve around their needs, or that it should exist primarily fortheir benefit.

Although, to the 'non-practitioner' it may seem somewhat harsh, such an attitudeis being displayed when we respond to certain negative situations by thinkingrhetorically,

'Why has this happened to me!',or

'What did I do to deserve this!'.

In Zen terms, ego-centredness is called 'putting oneself at the centre of theuniverse' and is considered to be a barrier to one's own development, and anegation of society and the world at large, especially if it results in ourapplying one set of rules to ourselves, and a different set to the rest ofsociety. This is referred to in the precept which reminds us that we are notthe centre of the universe, and that we should learn to put the universe at ourcentre by accepting the instant of our being.

What this precept means is that we should try to 'encompass the universe withinourselves'. This in turn implies that we should try to appreciate how even

macrocosmic principles (the Tao) are reflected in the individual at microcosmiclevel, and within society at intermediate level. In Zen we are taught that thiscan be accomplished by 'right meditation' and positive interaction. This is whywe are taught;

The ordinary man is the centreof his own universe,but the wise man has the universe as his centre.So it is that the ordinary man must contriveto remain at the centre of his universeas that universe changes,whilst the wise man has no needof contrived action,

for the movement of his universedetermines his fluidity;he changes with it, for it is a part of him,he grows in wisdom from it,and changes it without contriving to do so.This is what is meant by non-contrived action.

The inner world of the wise manis in harmony with his external world,and his inner world can be at restwhilst the external world is in turmoil.It can slow down the multitudeby negating the greed of the senses.

This is what is meant by stillness.The wise man knowsthat he cannot cause things to happen,but that they can be prevented from happening.He works in a non-contrived wayto create an environmentin which positive things can happen.His beauty comes from beautiful thoughts,and since beauty is the environmentwhich begets beauty,


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beautiful things are more likelyto happen for him.

(Lao Tzu)

When we consider the situations which lead to the thought that 'the worldconspires against us', we quite often discover that these events did not 'happento us' at all, but simply occurred as a part of a much broader natural process,of which we, as individuals, are only a small part. For example, as Lao Tzutells us,

"Nature acts without intent,so cannot be describedas acting with benevolencenor malevolence of any kind."

But even though such a statement is obvious and acceptable to all of us, andeven though we know that of itself, rain is neither good nor bad, if we are outof doors, dressed in our new clothes when the shower begins, we are unhappy; butif we earn our living from the land and the shower is the first after a long dryspell, we welcome it. This is the meaning of the haiku,

"Rain clouds gathering.The scurrying geisha girl,the smiling farmer."

BARRIERS AND GATEWAYS

When you are required to act,know that right motive is essential to right action,just as right thought is essential to right words.In this way you will avoid creating burdensfor yourself or others to carry.

Know that a thing or an actionwhich may seem of little value to oneself,may be a priceless treasure to another.

Help those who are suffering or disadvantaged,and as you yourself become awakened,help those who seek to make real their own potential.

Negate the barriers to your awakening;discover the positive in the negative,and seek a meaningful purpose in what you do.

There are many philosophies and religions which teach that 'actions speak louderthan words', but Zen takes an even wider view. It teaches that the thoughtwhich underlies the words, and the motive which gives rise to the action shouldalso be considered important. An example of this is demonstrated in a story byTekisui. It refers to the all-important first meeting or interview between a Zen

teacher and a would-be student. It is a cautionary tale, developed from an oldZen story.....

A young man wished to attend Zen sesshin. Having a friend who already didso, he asked his friend to mention to the roshi that he would like to attend.His friend agreed, but warned him,

"If the roshi agrees to meet you, forgoodness' sake be careful that you do notappear to think that you know too much.


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The roshi is really very kind, but hebelieves very strongly that we should notboast of what we know. He told a story onceof an ancient teacher interviewing a newstudent for the first time. Well, it seemsthat the student kept boasting of what healready knew, but the teacher ignored this,and asked if he would like a cup of tea."

"The student held the cup, and the oldteacher began to pour some tea into it....but the student kept on boasting. The morethe student boasted, the more tea was poured, until it overflowed onto thestudent's lap. He shouted out for theteacher to stop, and the old man did so,but said,

"When the cup is full, behold,no room for more.

So if this mystic wisdom,you would sup,

ensure that you come hitherwith an empty cup."

The would-be student laughed at the story, and thanked his friend for thewarning, assuring him that he would remember it. When the time came for him tomeet the teacher, he presented himself. Bowing deeply, he said,

"Behold master, my cup is empty."

To his surprise, the teacher shook his head sadly, and said to him,"Oh dear. You'd best go away,and come backwhen you've learnt some manners."

When the would-be student next saw his friend, he complained at the treatment hehad received, and told him exactly what had happened. His friend replied,

"That's a real pity, but you can't say

that I didn't warn you."

Although it may be somewhat difficult for a novice to understand, the storyillustrates that motive, words and actions must support each other. Althoughthe student's bow (the action) was appropriate, his words implied that hethought he both knew and understood about having 'an empty cup'. However, thefact that it was the first thing he said, (and presumably, the manner in whichhe said it) indicated to the teacher that he did not understand it well enoughto apply it, for the concept of 'the empty cup' implies that in order to learn,we must have humility; even to the point that we should not boast of 'our cupbeing empty'.

To someone who knows nothing of Zen, the roshi's response to the would-be

student might seem somewhat harsh. In point of fact it should be said that thisis often the case, for there are many stories of ancient teachers being quiteviolent towards their students. It should be remembered however that the periodin world history when those incidents occurred (if they occurred at all in theway they are described) was itself violent, and in many instances the storiesrelate to what is known as the 'Kamakura period', a time in the history of Zenwhen it had recently reached Japan. At this time many of the Zen students weresamurai. If it was the case that the students referred to in such stories weresamurai it would have been appropriate that the roshi of the period usedphysical means, because this would have been the language which the samurai


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understood.

As regards the initial interview described in the previous story, it helps us tounderstand the behaviour of the roshi if we know that the purpose of such aninterview is to provide both the student and the teacher with an opportunity todecide whether the other person is one with whom they think a student/ teacherrelationship would be fruitful. In the words of Tekisui,

"With that same rightthe student has to choose his guide,the master also makes his choiceas to whom to teach, and whom to leave alone.For as the student seeks a masterin whom he sees that which he seeks,so does the master, through his experience,seek to test the student,and his willingness to learn."

In essence, during the initial interview, the roshi is seeking to discover thestudent's 'state of mind', or to be more accurate, to discover whether thestudent can act with 'no-mind'. Like many phrases, it can mean different thingsin different situations, which is to say that its meaning depends upon thecontext in which it is being used. In this instance it means to act withoutpreconception of what is required. The reason for this is that in the intitial

interview the teacher 'expects' nothing, which is to say that he is open to whathappens, and without preconception.

In many respects this is the basis of 'no-mindedness', for the situations towhich it is most usually applied are those where a preconceived notion of whatis expected of us precludes us from acting appropriately, and there are manyinstances in Zen where this can prevent us from learning.....

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Zen and Creativity 03 10