No Buddha, No Enlightenment

I was visiting with the Abbot of Tam Bao Buddhist Temple, Thich Duc Tri, here in Tulsa a few years ago. I asked him, "Are you enlightened?" "No Buddha, No Enlightenment", he said. I smiled and just sat there in silence with him a few minutes. His English wasn't very well at the time, but I heard him loud and clear. Zen says all sentient beings have Buddha Nature, an Awakened Nature. Was he contradicting this theory?

I have heard the saying,"If along your path you shall meet the Buddha, kill him!" Though some may take offence to this, it is a profound statement. Putting the Buddha on a pedestal and naming him as this holy object only increases the distance from us seeing our own enlightened nature. The ego wants to understand the Buddha and enlightenment, but this requires us to be separate from it in order to do so. While going through a Big Mind dialogue with my teacher Sensei Al Fusho Rapaport, I was asked to give Big Mind a voice. "I don't know how to speak from Big Mind", I finally said after struggling. "OK, lets stop here. During this retreat I want this to be your koan", he said. After about a day I realized I was trying to see Big Mind while maintaining my ego perspective. Letting go of the ego, is being Big Mind. I was so used to seeing everything through the ego that I had no other option. I was fully identified with the ego.

Controlling our meditation is a way for the ego to understand what is going on. Being aware of controlling is a way for us to know that we are identified with the ego. I hear many say, "I can't get my mind to be quiet. Too many thoughts are going through my mind." "So what is the mind?", I may say. Really what I am asking is, what is the relationship with the mind? Our thinking may slow down while doing zazen, but this is not what we are trying to do. Being aware of our thinking is enough.

Naming is another way for the ego to maintain its object/subject dichotomy. Bringing an all inclusive perspective to the zafu means letting go of naming objects. This means getting down to the bare bones of what mind is. Just experiment with how the name arises instantly, and you'll find a way of letting go of naming. We really need to feel the mind, be the mind. this requires us to be completely honest and accepting with what ever we feel.

There is no Buddha for the ego to understand. There is no ego enlightenment. So if you meet the Buddha, kill him. That is, kill the difference.