donutszenmom.com

Dharma Combat

Dharma encounters (or Dharma combat or Dharma assembly) are public dialogues between master and student. These dialogues happen in the zendo or the assembly hall, in front of the entire group and have a long tradition as well, going back to the days when a monk might encounter another monk or teacher and engage in a dialogue covering a teaching point. Over time this engagement became formalized in the monastery with a fixed structure and became an important part of Zen training that continues today in many Zen centres.

Zen Master Bon Yeon (Kwan Um School) [Posted at the end of this entry is a terrific talk by Bon Yeon]

One of the things that I appreciate about the “combat” side of dharma combat is the way it teaches us to trust your experience. A great example of that is to go in for an interview with someone who, in our case, is very male and very strong, like Zen Master Seung Sahn. He asks you a simple thing like, “What’s your name?” But he has such a strength and clarity that you’re stunned–you can’t even answer!!! Then he teaches you, “Your name is Jane.” Ha Ha! Oh Jane, yeah, good. The next day you come in and he says “What’s your name?” and you proudly say “Jane!” and he says “No good!” Then what happens? You fall down. You think, “Oh, something’s changed, today is different. I must be off the track again.” Then he pokes you and says, “You were right! I’m just seeing how much you believe in yourself!” Can you imagine–Buddha gets up from six years under the bodhi tree and somebody asks him a question and he says, “The sky is blue,” and they say “No good!” Will Buddha stumble and say, “Oh, was that not a good answer?” No! Why? Because he believes his eyes, he can trust his experience. Both women and men in today’s complex world have been so beaten down by all the thinking and all the different choices we have that we fall down very easily. Zen Master Soeng Hyang, who is a woman, was one of the first teachers to teach me that I, too, can be strong. I, too, can believe in myself. I can see that blue sky. I know my name, it’s Jane. Twenty years later I can really say that. If somebody says to me, “No, it isn’t,” I’m not going to fall down. Very basic stuff, not about winning or losing, and not about fighting–it’s about trusting in yourself.

Zen Master Seung Sahn

[Long ago] many [zen] schools appeared, and there was some fighting between them. Many techniques also appeared, many different intellectual styles. Before, the teaching had been very simple. When these intellectual styles of teaching appeared, dharma combat also appeared.

***

On Checking

Zen Master Dae Kwang (Kwan Um School)

The Third Patriarch Seng Tsang said, “The great way is not difficult, simply cut off all thought of good and bad.” The Sixth Patriarch taught that one “…who treads the path in earnest sees not the mistakes of the world. If we find fault with others we too are in the wrong. Restlessly we will pass our days and in the end we will be disappointed.” Our school, too, says, “Don’t check!” Cutting off your checking mind reveals your true self.

The injunction about not checking is one of my favorite teachings. If you are busy fussing about what others are doing (“So-and-so is eating meat!”, “Someone said something ridiculous!”, “That person is driving like an idiot!”), you are spending your energy outside yourself. Paying attention to others’ behavior is a great way to distract yourself from your own practice, from your own behavior, from your own mind. Setting “checking” aside is an unbelievably powerful practice.

***

Dharma Talk by Bon Yeon