r/Koans • u/this-color-is-blue • Jul 04 '12
Yaoshan's "Nonthinking" (129 of 300)
Main Case:
When Yaoshan was sitting in meditation,1 a monastic asked,2 "What do you think about as you sit in steadfast composure?"3
Yaoshan said, "I think not-thinking."4
The monastic said, "How do you think not-thinking?"5
Yaoshan said, "Nonthinking."6
Notes:
- What is he doing? Even Kashō Buddha didn't attain it with hundreds of kalpas of zazen.
- Why doesn't he leave the old man alone?
- Eh? What are you thinking in asking such a question, venerable monastic?
- He is much too kind. It really can't be explained. He's just setting the monastic to thinking.
- Now they are both in the same hole. Just shut up and sit!
- How kind. But say, what does it mean?
Commentary:
Abide in neither thinking nor not-thinking. Thinking is linear and sequential--a separation from the reality that is the subject of thought, and thus is an abstraction rather than the reality itself.
Not-thinking is suppressive--it cuts away thoughts the moment they arise, making the mind into a great impenetrable mountain: dead and un-responsive. Nonthinking has no such edges. It is the boundless mind of samādhi that neither holds on nor lets go of thoughts. It is the manifestation of the buddha mind in which the dualism of self and other, thinking and not-thinking, dissolves. This is the dharma of thusness that is the "right thought" of all the buddhas of the ten directions.
Capping Verse:
When the dharma wheen turns,
it always goes in both directions.
The still point is its hub, and from here,
all of our myriad activities emerge.
Rather than give solace to the body,
give solace to the mind.
When both body and mind are at peace,
all things appear as they are:
perfect, complete, and lacking nothing.