Zen Koan: Gokoku's Three Shames

Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity; Koan Study Group, PasaDharma.org

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

The person without clothing is indeed a naked heretic.

The person who doesn't chew a grain of rice is certainly the burned-face demon king.

Even if you were born in a holy place, you can't avoid falling from the top of the pole.

Is there anything to cover up this shame?

MAIN CASE

Attention!

A monk asked Gokoku, "When a crane stands upon a withered pine, then what?"

Gokoku said, "On the ground below, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "When dripping water freezes, what then?"

Gokoku replied, "After sunrise, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "At the time of Esho's persecution of Buddhism,

Where were the good gods [kami, ten, tiān, devas] to protect the Dharma?"

Gokoku said, "For the two guardians of the triple gate, it's a shame."

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Vigorous in the prime of life, one's temples are not yet grey;

A man who doesn't exert himself is not awarded nobility.

Instead recall the family members of unbroken honor;

The brook for washing ears is not for watering the ox.

Commentary

Pagoda Toji, Kyoto, Japan

Comments cannot hope to make clear a koan -- which presents a riddle or conundrum that leads to insight when one realizes the futility of linear reasoning. These comments, therefore, are only meant to set the proper historical stage for pondering the story and averting misguided assumptions particular to our social and historical setting.

   

Preface to the Assembly

A "heretic" is simply anyone professing another dharma or doctrine of liberation, of which there were six famous Indian teachers at the time of the historical Buddha. The Jains were famous for their extreme asceticism and spiritual nudity. The Buddha pointed out the concern with external matters leaving internal ones untended. If one moves toward more and more asceticism, it is presumed less and less internal work is actually being done. The outside cannot cure the inside, but the inside can.

Prof.sor Buswell (The Zen Monastic Experience)

What sort of person eschews the "staff of life" (rice rather than wheat) in Asia? At that time in China or Japan, it would have been unimaginable. (Food allergies are a modern phenomenon related to genetic manipulation, pesticides, contaminants like aflatoxin, and our confused and damaged immune systems. Moreover, who is the "burned face demon king"?

   

It would seem to be Mara, who delights in erecting obstacles to liberation. He is the leader of armies of yakkhas or rakshasas, which are ogres that are often called "demons." It may refer to Yama, the King of the Dead, who is the leader of wardens on hellish planes of torment (niraya loka). But Yama is not regarded as evil nor are the tormentors in hells as understood in the West. While they seem to delight in their work, it is said that they are creations of the person who falls into the Great Waste, unfortunate destinations of rebirth due to the fruition of unskillful karma.

Even if one is born in a heaven or a good and prosperous human home, one is sure to fall eventually into realms of woe. Why? Simply speaking, in the absence of enlightenment/awakening or enlightened guidance teaching us the nature of this world and the worlds to come (other worlds one may be reborn in and the karma that leads to those abodes), we engage in unprofitable karma. Because of ignorance, greed and aversion are dependently originated. Therefore, the highest highs do not prevent one from falling to the lowest lows. Stream entry means safety; all other kinds of spiritual attainments only delay the revolving of samsara (wheel of life and death) and the cycling through unfortunate rebirth destinations. 

  

There are more than Six Realms emphasized by Zen and Chinese Mahayana, which is often only talking about the lowest of three spheres. It is indeed a shame that no matter how lovely one looks, how safe one feels in a particular rebirth, there is hell to come, ignominy, devastation. The Dharma exists to prevent this, but we ourselves set off on the path, practice the techniques, calm the mind/heart and develop liberating insight. What can disguise or "cover up" this pitiful situation, this "shame"?

Main Case

Gokoku Jinja, Osaka, Japan

Gokoku is a wise Zen master being asked, When a bird meant to wade and poke around in water instead stands on a dessicated tree -- like a tall pole from which it will fall -- what about that? It's a shame, Gokoku replies, on the ground.

When what is of a nature to be fluid and drip temporarily freezes and holds, what about that? the monk goes on.

Gokoku thinks that's a shame, too: After the dark, when it's coldest and being held by such cold, this position will not be something the water can hold. It will drip and fall.

The monk gets historical to the time of the ruler Esho who resisted the spread of the Dharma, the teaching of liberation making use of one's own efforts rather than depending totally on a priesthood or elite class of spiritual interpreters. Buddhism upset the cart and was persecuted, suppressed, and inadvertently made more attractive. The truth, like the sun and moon, cannot be kept hidden for long.

Why did the helpful devas (generally superior space beings) not prevent this counter-revolution? What did they know about the ultimate effects of intervening and letting the oppression play itself out? Esho's efforts would only help entrench the Dharma; opposition would only strengthen it or at least spur interest in it.

Gokoku makes reference to the typical layout of a temple compound, "the triple gate," with its two watchmen. While they fail to guard, yet what the temple is guarding is safe. The temple complex is not the Dharma. So even if it is ruined to the chagrin of gatekeepers, the Gateless Gate is still there. The ideas, lessons, practical instructions still exist even when the external elements are attacked.

Appreciatory Verse

"Look!" - "It's a shame."

Near the beginning, one has not yet aged enough to show it. But temples, the sides of the head, will show it. (No clever reference to religious temples are likely being implied in Chinese or Japanese). How foolish a person is not to make an effort for liberation, or at least the storing up merit that will be carried into the future when everything else has to be left behind, when one is strong and full of vigor.

The way to noble attainments is exertion, not to be confused with over-efforting. Rather than going down that road, reflect and contemplate on lineages of enlightened persons, who made the right effort (the balanced effort) and succeeded. This will inspire one in a very profitable way.

The pure, clean water for hearers (shravakas) devoted to hearing the Dharma to use to ready themselves to receive instruction and explanation is not the same H20 used for dousing the oxen, which need not be as pure or precious. H20 is H20 but the source matters for what it is to be used for, a supramundane or mundane task.