Who Gathers and Chops Firewood for the Cook's Kitchen?

 The Fireplace Records, Chapter 8

Huineng Chopping Bamboo
Ink on paper by Liang Kai
Circa 1200 CE

Who Gathers and Chops Firewood for the Cook's Kitchen?
When he leaves, somebody new will take his place. 

Huineng (638-713 CE) was an hardworking monk who quietly followed all the Temple lifestyle rules.  His job was to gather firewood to use in the kitchen or elsewhere at the Temple.  He pulled a little cart and gathered sticks, driftwood, wood donations, and downed limbs.  He sawed, split up, and cut up dried wood to give to the cooks in the Temple kitchen or others tending fires.  He did this humble task well for many years.  

Huineng is remembered for emphasizing the power of simple useful work activities as a valid path to enlightenment (e.g., gardening, Temple maintenance, cooking, chores, firewood working, samu = work, transcribing, etc.)  Huineng became enlightened while chopping up bamboo.  He later became a leading Zen Master featured in many stories.  

Also, we all have roles, duties, work, and responsibilities to others and to ourselves. This is an underlying reality.  

"The kitchen was a hell of heat.  Woks large enough to bathe a child in sat on roaring, wood-burning brick stoves.  Young monks fed the insatiable fires, while others stirred the boiling rice.  Some chopped vegetables or prepared them for pickling. They were all under the direction of a senior priest, who was known only as "the Old Cook.""
- By Deng Ming Dao;, Chronicles of Tao, p. 166
The Kitchen of a Daoist Temple Monastery in the Huashan Mountains of China, circa 1930's.  

Somebody is still chopping wood for a fireplace stove, or providing you with the electricity or gas or coal for you kitchen ovens and stoves and cooking appliances.  

Without the fire in the kitchen for cooking we could not survive. 

So, who chops the firewood for your kitchen stove?

Comments, Sources

Refer to Cases ??? in Koan Classics.  OK. find any?  

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Mondos/Tests

The Daodejing by Laozi  

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans 

Fireplaces, Campfires, Stoves

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Three Requirements for the Study of Zen

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 10

One afternoon, Master Hakuin said "I once read that Master Gaofeng Yuanmiao preached that there are three requirements for the study of Zen. The first is a great root of faith. The second is a great ball of doubt. The third is a great tenacity of purpose.  A man who lacks any of these is like a three-legged kettle with one broken leg."  

Layman Mujiang, replied to Hakuin saying, "There are always more than three."

Hakuin asked "More?"

Mujiang said, "How about being able to sit still quietly for many hours?" 

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Mujiang said, "How about reciting the sacred scripture or Names more?"

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Mujian said, "You will never give up the quest for Buddhahood, will you Master Hakuin."

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Layman Mujiang's Verse:

Grab hold of the Koan by one of its Three Limbs:
Have faith in the Buddha's Hands;
Heal the bruises of Doubts;
Hold on tightly, keep your grip, Persist.

The Three gives birth to the Ten Thousand Things.
Somehow/someway changing by profound and decent ways.
Doubts hinder many and spur a few to act.
Plant the great Root of Faith deep in good soil.  Water it daily.
Big Doubts, little doubts, Great Doubts, minor doubts.
I don't know, doubting it, maybe so, hypothetical, provisional. 

I can't see the Big Harbor because of the dense fogs.  
I doubt the fog will lift this morning.  

Japanese Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (1868-1769) was extremely influential in reviving the practice of using koans/mondos/verbal encounters/stories in his Rinzai Zen Buddhist training program and with his priestly work with rural workers.  He stresses the direct interaction between a master koan teacher and a koan student, face to face dialogues, regular one on one testing, interaction, and evaluation. 

Hakuin Ekaku was an accomplished artist and calligrapher.  He also emphasized good fitness and health practices to prepare the body for the rigors of Zen training.  

Hakuin believed that quiet sitting or simple daily activities combined with the contemplation of koans was a very effective practice for imparting Buddhist wisdom teachings (Dharma) and inducing enlightenment. 

Hakuin thought about and he experienced personal realization, or kensho, or satori, or enlightenment, or interpenetration of suchness at the intersection of the Fundamental Point, or fully understood his authentic changing selfhood by using koan practice while sitting or gently moving.  

You can Contemplate your Assigned Koan: absorb it, mull over it, get frustrated by it, doubt it, think about it, meditate on it, discard it, cuss it, sink into it, respect it, analyze it, confound it, introspect it, leap over it, word tail it, kick it around, not-think it, hear its messages, swallow it and spit it out, submerge with it, cherish it and hate it, study it diligently, become one with it, keep it first in mind, squeeze all the insight from it, be surprised and amazed by it, catch it with a capping phrase, reflect on it, huatou keypoint at it, laugh at it, reflect on it, cry over it, stop analyzing it, grab it by the throat, don't let it go.  

Persist in Contemplating your Assigned Koan until your deeper intuitive understanding occurs, or you are somehow/someway changed in profound and decent ways, or you have chosen to work/study another koan, or you just try and try again like a dog begging for extra treats, or you somehow/someway graduate to a new awareness of our precious lives, or you quit doing koan practice, or ...   

You might find that "something should take place not unlike the cat springing upon the mouse or the mother hen hatching her eggs, then in a flash great livingness surges up. This is the moment when the phoenix escapes from the golden net, when the crane breaks the bars of its cage."
- Ruth Fuller Sasaki, The Zen Koan, 1965, p. 42

Cloud Dragon: The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works

Joan Sutherland Koan Collections  

Gates: Miscellaneous Koans  Joan Sutherland

Gateless Gateway  Joan Sutherland

The Blue Cliff Record  Joan Sutherland and John Tarrant  

Rinzai Zen Buddhist School  

Pacific Zen Institute  

  

"Sometimes our practice is something like this. We don’t know how much our understanding is limited. That is why you have to study koans. Koans will open up your mind. If you understand your way of life more objectively, you will understand what you are doing."
- Suzuki Roshi

  

Hakuin, Self-Portrait, 1767 

He gently touches his ceremonial whisk;
he frowns, he seems displeased
about something or someone.  
Maybe his stomach is upset.
Maybe that great ball of doubt
is stuck in his soul.

Related Links, Resources, References

The Zen Koan by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 1965, p. 42.

Blue Cliff Record, Case 52, The Bridge at Zhaozhou, Joshu's Stone Bridge

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Song Dynasty, China, 960-1279  

Zen Koans, Testing Verses, Mondos, Dialogues, Stories
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Bodhidharma by Hakuin

The Teacher Mentors His Students

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 7

The Teacher Mentors His Students

Some call it "teaching"; some call it "indoctrination."
Some call it "making another brick in the wall'; some call it "liberation."
Some call it "listening"; some call it "swallowing."
Some call it "learning"; some call it "unlearning."

What do you call it? 

A Teacher Mentoring His Students
Ink and Color on Paper by Yang Zhiguang, 1959
From the Chinese Art Book, p.77

How does the Watcher/Observer, from the outside,
me viewing the painting, make the distinctions?

How does the Insider/Experiencer, from the inside,
make the distinctions?

How does your place in history, your real life,
your existential circumstances,
make the distinctions?

Maybe there are few distinctions between the two options. 

I attended Cantwell Catholic High School from 1959-1963 in Montebello, California.  Our respected teachers were Irish Christian Brothers and a few lay teachers.  

The Brothers lived in a three story building next door to the High School and grounds.  Across the street north of our campus was the all girls Sacred Heart of Mary High School.

The Brothers wore black or brown uniforms.  Some were old men and a few were young.  I remember one tall and fit gentleman, Brother Parent, lecturing us in class, working as our coach in sports, and talking casually and mentoring to us small groups of men.  We learned from them, listened to them, and tried to model them in our lives.

Our fellow students were a mixture of lower middle class youngsters of Mexican-American and Anglo heritage families. A Latin combo dish spiced with fellows Homeboy, Kool-Serious, Fit/Fist, Surfer, and all Catholics. 

One friend of mine, from my Bandini neighborhood, Jerry Garcia, graduated from Cantwell and went to college to become himself an Irish Cristian Brother Teacher.  We rode in the back of a pick up truck, driven by two carpenters, each morning to high school; and we walked home together many times after school.  Jerry introduced me to  Latin jazz, good books, and Catholic mystics.  

The above painting reflects the mood of my youthful, serious, religious, and impressionable High School days.  My conscious and unconscious sense of learning, role models, respected teachers, and mentors was formed in those bygone days over 60 years ago. 

The special clothing, a teacher's uniform, a religious costume, a formal attire when teaching was standard.  In my college and university days, 1963-1968, the professors all wore suits with shirts and ties. I remember Professor Benson's crisp cleaned starched white long sleeved shirt and a perfect bow tie. In the above painting, the main taller speaker is the only one wearing a long white tunic.   

Some of my secular college philosophy teachers at California State University at Los Angeles influenced me in a similar manner: like Professor Burrill's ethics and history of philosophy classes or Professor Glathe's or Professor Benson's logic and philosophy of science classes. 
Many Gassho Bows to all of them!!!

The above painting by Yang Zhiquang was commissioned by the Communist Party in 1959. They wanted to glorify recent revolutionary Communist Chinese history.  The painting supposedly depicts "Mao Zedong at the Peasant's Training School" in 1925.  Mao Zedong was likely proselytizing.  

Comments, Sources

Refer to Cases ??? in Koan Classics.  OK. find any?  

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Why Did the Bodhidharma Walk So Far Away?

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 3

The Young Bodhidharma Walks Back to India from China
He did not sit for seven years in a cave.
Where is his Backpack?
Why are his clothes not dirty?
Is he a Fang-shih?

Why Did the Bodhidharma Walk So Far Away? 

Two old friends were resting after morning chores on the farm.  They sat and watched the busy traffic on the dirt road from Wuhan to Huarong. 

Seigen asked Obaku: "What was Master Bodhidharma's intention in walking west from India to China?"

Obaku, a Taoist scholar, answered: "He likely preferred the warmer winters of  Wuhan to the blizzards in Tibet.  Or, he just enjoyed backpacking for great distances back and forth."

Seigen, a Chan man, said: "Really, Obaku, don't you believe he traveled to spread the Buddha Dharma to our Chinese people?"

Obaku replied: "Maybe, but why then did he choose to sit in silence facing a stone wall for seven years in China? How could he help others in so doing? He could have died from such extreme austerities.  And, he could have saved Dazu Huike's arm. He should have spent the time learning to speak, read, write, and teach in Chinese."

Seigen, a bit annoyed, said; "But, Obaku, was he not a great leader at the Shaolin Temple in Luoyang and the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism?"

Obaku retorted: "He could have been more gracious towards the generous and kind Emperor Wu. Was he not sort of a rough Tibetan hardened fellow, a Foreigner?  His alleged name, "Bodhidharma," seems suspicious to me."

Seigen would not give up, and said: "What? Did not the Bodhidharma bring vital bodily exercises and martial arts to those lazy Shaolin monks?"

Obaku replied: "The Chinese people were doing many longevity exercises and internal alchemy practices a thousand years before the Bodhidharma arrived.  Hua Tuo and He Gong were more influential in this respect for more people."

Seigen said: "The Bodhidharma lived for 150 years to show his great healing powers."

Obaku snorted: "50 years or 150 years ... In the end we all rot in our graves.  Only but a few are reborn as the fictions of legends."

Seigen responded: "Obaku, you are full of harsh judgments today.  I sense a bit much of the judgmental thinking of the Action and Karma brothers of your creed; also, your being rather chauvinistic about our beloved Chinese heritage."

Obaku replied: "You are correct, Seigen!  Too much judging distorts our greater awareness, and threatens wisdom.  Also, I should be more respectful of the Patriarchs and our shared new insights. I'm sorry old friend.  

Seigen said: "You are also correct, Obaku. I must curb my hero worship and simple love of legends.  Anyway, back to some quiet sitting, my brother."

Obaku's daughter brought them both a cup of hot tea.  They sipped in silence.  They listened to the oxen carts rattling by on the road, and watched the many walkers traveling west.  A smattering of being enlightened occurred for both of them.  

Considerations 

Too much sitting stiffens the body-mind.
Even the Bodhidharma made the monks work more.
Many Chan monks distained learning and reading,
and because they could not read.
Beware of overgrown imagination and legends.
Question the scriptures and tales.
Don't read with one eye blind.
Beliefs can disrupt sound judgments.
Without right judgments we cannot flourish.
Friendships close the door to petty arguments.  

Comments, Sources

Refer to Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo, Case 10.

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Refer Also to Fireplaces, Hearths, Campfires, Stoves

The painting shown at the top of this post is from the book: The Chinese Art Book, p. 182.  It was a famous oil on canvas painting made in 1967 by the artist Liu Chunua.  It is titled: Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan.   

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

"A monk asked Joshu in all earnestness, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"  Joshu said, "The oak tree there in the garden."
- Gateless Barrier, Case 37

"A monk asked Xianglin, "Why did the Patriarch come from the West?" Xianglin said, "Sitting for a long time becomes tiresome."
- Blue Cliff Record, Case 17

A monk asked Master Ma, "Please, directly point out to me the meaning of the coming from the West?" Master Ma replied, "I'm tired today and can't explain it to you."
- Blue Cliff Record, Case 73

A monk asked Master Wei, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming to the West?" Master Wei replied, "Please pass me the meditation cushion."
- Blue Cliff Record, Case 20

Now, I understand that the Bodhidharma traveled from India to China.  He would be coming from the East, and thus traveling and coming in or to a Westerly direction.  He traveled to the West from India by the Silk Road from India to China on foot or horseback; or, he traveled by sea. 

For all of these speakers, living in China, the Bodhidharma never came from the West.  He came from the East.

Maybe the Bodhidharma came from a place in China that was in Western China by the Pacific Ocean and then walked to a place in Eastern China in the mountains.  Then, he would be coming from the West.  No wonder Master Ma was tired of this koan.    

Many Patriarchs, over many centuries, many famous Taoist/Buddhist philosophers and spiritual seekers, traveled from East to West, from West to East, from North to South, and from South to North.  Why?  Pilgrimages by monks between Temples and famous scenery locales was a common practice. People like travel adventures. Monks wanted to study with different famous teachers. Civil and governmental strife and war caused the relocation of many monks.