Return to Summer/Fall 1995

Seeing and Hearing, Blind and Deaf

From a recent dharma talk by Zen Master Wu Kwang

From the eighty-eighth case, "Hsuan-Sha's Guiding and Aiding Living Beings, " in the Blue Cliff Record collection of kong-ans (Zen sayings):

"The old adepts all speak of relating to things for all people. If they unexpectedly encountered three kinds of sick people, how would they relate to them? With a blind person, they could pick up the gavel, but he would not see. With a deaf person, he would not understand the samadhi of words. With a mute person, he would not be able to speak. If they could not relate, then the Buddhadharma has no miraculous effect." A monk then asked Yun-Men for instruction on this matter. Yun-Men said, "Bow." The monk bowed and rose up, Yun-Men poked him with a stick, and the monk drew back. Yun-Men remarked, "Well, you're not blind! Now come closer." The monk stepped forward, and Yun-Men said, "And you're not deaf." Then Yun-Men held up his staff and asked, "Do you understand?" The monk said, "No, I don't." Yun-Men remarked, "Neither are you mute." At that the monk attained an insight."

So, what does it mean to relate to things for all people? This means that with skill any situation can be used to help someone even if it means breaking the "Golden Chains." Golden Chains are traditions and rules. But even a golden chain is still a chain, and you can become bound up in it if you place too much importance in it. Kyong Ho Sunim, the grand teacher of our teacher Dae Soen Sa Nim, lived alone in a small hermitage in Korea with Man Gong Sunim, his student and attendant. One day, a woman afflicted with leprosy came begging alms. She stuck out her hands from a distance, and Kyong Ho Sunim, instead of just putting something in her bowl, grabbed her arms and brought her inside his little hermitage. He then took her into his room where they stayed for the next three days. He instructed his attendant to "Please bring food for two people."

Finally, Man Gong Sunim began to question himself about what was going on. Once, when he brought the food, he gave a look that revealed his doubts. He then said, "You're my teacher, and I follow you no matter what." Perceiving his student's concern, Kyong Ho Sunim explained. "When I first saw this woman begging alms, I could see that because of the way that she related to herself as a leper, there was almost no human feeling left. Seeing this, I took hold of her, and invited her into my room for three days." Recently, upon hearing this story, a Catholic monk from Gethsemane Monastery exclaimed, "Oh, Kyong Ho Sunim even renounced his holiness."

The kong-an asks how one should relate topersons afflicted with the three kinds of sickness -- those who are blind, deaf, and mute. These are none other than our own sicknesses. They may be viewed in several ways. The first meaning is that in certain inwardly peaceful meditation states, the person may no longer see or hear anything. There is just profound quiet. That person is in one sense deaf, blind, and mute.

There is a danger of being attached to internalization, quiet and stillness. This becomes like another Golden Chain, and can become gold dust in your eyes. Gold dust is very valuable, but it can blind you just like the dust off the floor can blind you. In the Zen tradition, this is called "falling down in emptiness," and is not yet complete understanding.

On the other hand, there is a saying, "Though it fills his eyes, he doesn't see form. Though it fills her ears, she doesn't hear sound. Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, is always covering his eyes and Kwan Se Um Bosal, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is always covering her ears This means to SEE as if blind and to HEAR as if deaf. The temple bell rings in the distance, and all you know is Boooonnngggg. Just one complete, full round experience with no hearer or heard. This is Zen deafness and blindness. Buddha revealed this truth when he said, "Though I talked for forty-nine years, I never said a word."

Zen means seeing this world just as it is. There is a kong-an in our tradition that says, "The whole world is on fire. Through what kind of meditation can you escape being burnt?" This means to see more than just what is "beautiful" and to hear more than just what is interesting." How do we relate to pain, to suffering, to sorrow, to injustice, or to inequity? You can become one with any situation, pleasant or unpleasant, rather than trying to get away from it. I had an interesting experience today. While I was home, I lit a stick of very fine incense, and the fragrance was wonderful. When I got on the bus to return to my office, a woman, perhaps homeless, got on the bus and sat next to me. Her clothes had a very strong musty odor and my mind started to move toward aversion. I thought, "Should I get up and change my seat?" And then I thought, "Oh, this is just another kind of incense! What is your problem? Can you sit here and just be with this?" I can't say I completely overcame my impulse to pull away. However, when it fills your eyes, but you don't make it into form, when it fills your ears and you don't make it into sound, and it fills your nose and you don't make it into aversion, then this is the Buddhadharma having miraculous effect.

Today there is a lot of blindness to the fundamental fact that we' re already interconnected and interdependent far beyond the narrow scope of our sense of individual existence. There is also the deafness of not listening to one another, and many of us could learn to be more mute! Seeing why we ignore this fundamental fact is to open oμr eyes and to cure our blindness. We are always faced with this choice. We must recognize that in some way we are all World Teachers, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas, and that this kind of seeing is our responsibility, and is the essence of compassion towards ourselves and towards others. Our practice is rooted in that.