Someone asked [Linji], “What was the purpose of [Bodhidharma] coming from the West?”
The master said, “If he had had a purpose he couldn’t have saved even himself.”
Someone asked, “Since he had no purpose, how did the Second Patriarch obtain the dharma?”
The master said, “‘To obtain’ is to not obtain.”
Someone asked, “If it is ‘to not obtain,’ what is the meaning of ‘to not obtain’?”
The master said, “It is because you cannot stop your mind which runs on seeking everywhere that [an ancestor] said, ‘Bah, superior [people]! Searching for your heads with your heads!’ When at these words you turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere, then you’ll know that your body and mind are not different from those of the [ancestor]-buddhas and on the instant have nothing to do—this is called ‘obtaining the dharma.’”
Kirchner, Thomas Yuho; Sasaki, Ruth Fuller. The Record of Linji (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture) (p. 85). University of Hawaii Press. Kindle Edition.
Questions about Bodhidharma coming from the west are sprinkled through our literature. Adepts use them like flint on steel to generate a spark. In this story, Linji doesn’t disappoint.
What was the purpose of [Bodhidharma] coming from the West?”
The master said, “If he had had a purpose he couldn’t have saved even himself.”
The unnamed someone asks Linji what business plan Bodhidharma had when crossing India and China such that he would be the patriarch in stories that spread through the world for centuries to come. Linji’s answer – “If he had had a purpose he couldn’t have saved even himself,” – communicates to us that Bodhidharma had no purpose in the manner we might think of it, that he saved many people through his actions, and if he had had a purpose he could not have done so.
What was the purpose of Linji’s reply? Linji is striking flint to steel to start a fire in me and you. It’s up to us to burn.
We could also ask a peach in Yakima Valley about its purpose in ripening. What is the purpose of the sun shining on peaches in Washington 93 million miles away? Or what is your purpose in grimacing a little when stretching out your leg at the sound of the bell for kinhin?
As much as we look forward to eating delicious fresh peaches, pies, and jams, graphs of progress and milestones are of no help to the ripening. Sun, rain, and the efforts of farmers with water and fertilizer act together such that ripening happens in its own time.
Neither Linji nor I have any beef with organization and planning – we rely on it to do all that’s necessary so we can meet in sesshin this week. Now that we’re here, Linji reminds us we are fruit hanging on the tree in the dojo letting the elements do the work. As we hang in the dojo, each child outside the window, each jet, and each bell fertilizes us.
Yet we know Bodhidharma’s journey in the fifth century must have been arduous, and demanding persistence. According to one text found in the Dunhuang caves of China, he was born in southern India.[i] War with the Huns at the time blocked the land routes, so he went by sea, traveling three years to get from his home to the southern coast of China. To make the whole journey from his home to his meeting with the emperor of China required travel of 5,000 miles.
The unnamed someone in Linji’s conversation is me and you. In it, Linji is painting a picture for us related to our endeavor of sesshin today. Picture Bodhidharma as being deeply engaged in order to cross the known and unknown worlds of India and China, and doing so without purpose or goal. Walking without purpose, he arrived in China without ever leaving home. When driving to the dojo immersed in trees, bumps, pedals and a steering wheel, we aren’t going anywhere. Here we all are. What is it for you to be fully engaged in sesshin without purpose or goal?
There is another presumption in these first lines of the story – that Bodhidharma saved people. Using the word “saved” sounds active, as if Bodhidharma fostered a change of state for people. In English, “saved” has Christian context as in delivered from sin. In another definition, it can mean emancipated or rescued.
Jonathan looked up the Chinese character used here for “save,” and found it could be translated as “help,” “save,” or “rescue,” as in to save someone’s life. He also found that a different character was used in the Four Infinite Vows. In our version of the first vow, we vow to free. Other translations vow to save or to cross over or ferry over. If we vow to cross over to where we have always been, can that still be described as purposeful?
We see different language used in case 41 of the Gateless Barrier with Bodhidharma and the Second Ancestor, Huike:
Bodhidharma faced the wall. The Second Ancestor stood in the snow, cut off his arm, and said, “Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, Master, please put it to rest.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest.” The Second Ancestor said, “I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.” Bodhidharma said, “I have completely put it to rest for you.”
Aitken, Robert. The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan) (p. 305). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.
To say Huike’s mind was not at rest is too mild – whether his cutting off his arm was mythic or literal, we can’t miss his passion in seeking Bodhidharma’s help. More than asking for help, he’s begging for it. He’s desperate, and is standing right there before Bodhidharma only because Huike had faith there was something of peace to be recognized as here on the way of the Buddha. From his desperation, no purpose was needed. It would have required purpose to withhold his begging.
Turning back to the exchange with Linji:
Someone asked, “Since he had no purpose, how did the Second Patriarch obtain the dharma?”
The master said, “‘To obtain’ is to not obtain.”
How can you and I sit this sesshin with all the requisite physical effort and no purpose, no goal? That begs the question, what’s the peach’s part in ripening?
The story then continues. I’ll read it, pointing out where within the quote of Linji, he is saying what he believes we seek when we read the words of our ancestors (added comments when presented).
Someone asked, “If it is ‘to not obtain,’ what is the meaning of ‘to not obtain’?”
Linji replied:
“It is because you cannot stop your mind which runs on seeking everywhere that [an ancestor] said, ‘Bah, superior [people]! Searching for your heads with your heads!’ When at these words you turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere, then you’ll know that your body and mind are not different from those of the [ancestor]-buddhas and on the instant have nothing to do—this is called ‘obtaining the dharma.’”
Our seeking minds are using our heads to find our heads – as ridiculous as that statement sounds, I can relate to it. Even in reading that paragraph there’s a seductive urge to use my seeking mind to parse and figure it out. We can trip on ideas of inside and outside and miss the instant of having nothing to do. I’ll read it one more time; please set aside the mind that parses and take it in:
The master said, “It is because you cannot stop your mind which runs on seeking everywhere that [an ancestor] said, ‘Bah, superior [people]! Searching for your heads with your heads!’ When at these words you turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere, then you’ll know that your body and mind are not different from those of the [ancestor]-buddhas and on the instant have nothing to do—this is called ‘obtaining the dharma.’”
Distilling this, stop your mind from seeking outside. Use the one head you have without confusion of a second. Have nothing to do and you are free.
During sesshin we can apply this with less ambiguity – this is not the time for complicated life decisions and planning. The wakeup bell sounds and we rise without goal. Teeth are brushed without purpose. Breakfast is cooked and dishes are cleaned up without need of seeking. We bow to the altar, bow to the cushion and bow to each other and settle in our seats with nothing to do. The breath breathes, sound sounds, bells ring. Hands together, body bows, rises, bows and walks.
Having nothing to do, we are already free. When seeking falls away we can recognize we have nothing to do. Yet peaches ripen, cheese is sliced, and sandwiches are made with lettuce and tomato.
Is the unripened peach non-obtained, and the ripened peach obtained? You can respond without adding a head to your head and all is at rest. The peach has no trouble responding.
In another place, Linji is recorded as saying this:
“I say to you there is no buddha, no dharma, nothing to practice, nothing to enlighten to. Just what are you seeking in the highways and byways? Blind [people]! You’re putting a head on top of the one you already have. What do you yourselves lack?
Kirchner, Thomas Yuho; Sasaki, Ruth Fuller. The Record of Linji (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture) (p. 76). University of Hawaii Press. Kindle Edition.
Here we are following the schedule and absolutely free, with nothing to practice and nothing lacking. Whether or not there is anything lacking, the unrest of our own minds is the sun ripening us as we sit. The unrest can be mistaken for a drive to the highways and byways that exhausts us fruitlessly. It is that fruitless search that brings us to a place to hear the words of Linji and of Bodhidharma. Those words tell us we can stop seeking the words of Linji, Bodhidharma, and others, and do nothing.
What’s remarkable is how deeply it is that we can do nothing. Huike searched everywhere and could not find his mind. Of course, he searched everywhere – we know how compelling our thoughts and concerns are, and in this troubled world we have good reasons! Seeking is not today’s task. With the faith of Huike, drop your seeking with this breath. And drop your seeking with this one.
Dropping is not helped by purpose; it is the release of purpose.
[i] https://www.thezengateway.com/teachings/the-origin-of-bodhidharma