My teachers

We live in a age where by everything is relative and nothing is absolute. Everything depends!
To take the plunge of spiritual life  ---do we need to talk some more , think some more, argue some more ? Relative is relative to what ?
We need grounding and the best grounding is a good friend --our Guru .

kg

silent

It seems many highly attained being meditate with their mouth. Talk and talk, books after books.
Seriously if your mind runs like monkey --what attainment can that be ?
Silent !
kg

why meditate ?

Over the years many people had sought me out as their meditation teacher.
It is unfortunate most are not ready or has other motives behind their pursue of the spiritual life.
Why do you meditate ?
then ask for instruction for meditation !

kg

Transcendence and salvation

Zen Master:

Duality is an illusion of our language.

For a new born, does he know he/she is here or there?

When a young child looks at a Monet, does he know it is a great monet? Or does he think, “What is a monet?”.

Have you tried visiting a picture gallery using your childhood innocence?

Dr Tan Kee Guan 
@ tea bone zen mind 

where is nirvana

Zen Master:

“Where is Nirvana? “

“Is It here?”

“Is It there?”

“Is it everywhere?”

Zen Master

“It is only found under your nose!”

“Look at a mirror, please!”

Dr Tan Kee Guan 

@ 20 hoot kiam road 

mindfulness

every moment mindfulness 

Practise of ZEN

Zen Student:

“Teach me the practice of Zen?”

Zen Master:

“All I do is curl up on my Bed!”

Reflections:

The Buddha described meditation like this: “When a man is running he will naturally slow down to a walk, when he is walking he will naturally come to a standstill, from the standstill he will naturally lie down.”

The practice of meditation is exactly like this.

Dt Tan kee Guan 

@ Tea bone Zen Mind 

Death

Zen Master : 

Will you die?

Can you prepare to die?

Do you know when you are going die?

When is dying not a suffering?

 Are you ready to do the most important work in life?

Are you thinking that spiritual work can be done later in life?

Why not when you are young, healthy and of good mental state? 

Dr Tan Kee Guan 

@ tea bone zen mind 

Death and rebirth

Zen master:

“For every rebirth you had to squeeze out of the pelvis and vagina,  get sick, growing up, fed milk in the infancy, eat rice at adulthood, go to school, take examinations,  start work, get old and die again!  Then you press the repeat button over and over again.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

Dr Tan kee guan 

@Tea bone zen mind 

20 hoot kiam road 

Faith

Zen Master

“The gate of deathlessness is opened to those who have faith! “

Dr Tan Kee Guan 
@ Teab one zen mind 
20 hoot kiam road 
65- 63344212 

In every thing Zen

Zen is not about precepts , dogmas , theology, philosophy ...
Just BE !
Dr Tan

Full of shit

Zen Master:
無言無說，無示無識，離諸問答。
Beyond words and language,
Beyond meaning and understandings,
Beyond all questions and answers.
汝不是患盲，
汝不是患聾，
汝不是患啞。
Are you aware of yourselves?
Are you deaf, blind, mute to yourselves?

Are you dead to yourselves?
Are you ready for spiritual life?

Or, are you simply full of shit!

Dr Tan 

zen poem

Teaching the mahayana monks by jiao ran

815 – 53
Not reaching
The shore of no more Thriving
Emptiness has No regards to what boat you are travelling .

East Mountain The way of the white clouds.
Is ridiculous If you die of old age.

Reaching the other shore is a idiom quoted by The Buddha. First found in the Sutta nipatta, where nirvanna is described as reaching the other shore and the practice of the teachings of the Buddha is liken to be a boat that carries one across the sea of rebirth . In the polemic of the Lotus sutta there is a constant reference to the Maha yana vehicle is the true vehicle and the others does not leads to enlightenment. Jiao Ran in this poem is referring the polemic and rheotic of the Mahayana is a waste of precious time seen in the following verse.
East Mountain refers to fifth Patricah of Chan . It also referrs to the Chan school before the schismof North and south. Taking into consideration at Jiao Ran time there were much polemis and rheoteric between this 2 schools. Jiao Ran was saying the arguments between them were schematic and not realy related in reaching enlightment. Thus missing the point of the teaching of the Hong Ren, ie The white cloud are the teachings that rains on the mountains ( meaning senior monks ) which nourishes the mountains.
Ending with the punch line of You You. 悠悠。 Which in singular you means lesiurely. Double emphasize reverse the meaning meaning ridiculous or out of context. Thus when you are getting on in age can you afford to be so leisurely. One should thrive as quickly as one can and leaves the arguments behind.

see the Buddha

The Buddha:

 “A monk once approached the Buddha asked to be taught everything the Buddha knew.  The Buddha answered if I teach you everything you will go mad!”

The Buddha: “All I teach is the way leading to enlightenment---the utter destruction of suffering and the cause of your suffering.”

The Buddha:

“ The leaves in my palm is all I teach not all the leaves on the tree.”

The Buddha:

“those who penetrate my dharma will see me!”

Zen Master:

“Secret in spiritual life is actually an open secret.  You can read about it, listen to it, study it and still go nowhere.  That is simply because you are not ready for the whole Truth.  You need to be guided- as a baby taking baby steps. As the Great cloud gate Zen master says : “one for one”.  So this is the secret of the spiritual life.”

“Is your dharma practice alive? Is the Buddha alive to you? “

“Or is he just a meaningless chant or mantra? “ 

Peace in a bowl of tea

Tea ceremony in my Za zen room.  Wife is Urenseke Tea School Tea Master .
@ 20 hoot kiam road , Singapore . Tel : 63344212

Meditation room

My ZaZen Tea Room
@ 20 hoot kiam road 

faith , object of faith

Zen Student:

 “Master, I seek refuge in the Buddha!!”

Zen Master:

“If you see the Buddha, kill him!!”

[i]Reflections:

Objects of faith and acts of faith are different. The Buddha is only an object of faith. Can the !Buddha save you? Can a statue or a mantra or some mystical incantation release you from the world?

Zen asks this simple question of all its practitioners through the ages:

“Is the finger pointing to the moon, ‘the moon’?”

Why burden yourself with more dogma when you are already overburdened in modern life?

Why make the yoke more difficult when it can be easy?

Why burden yourself when the burden can be light?

---

! 如 何 佛 ？

! 殺 佛 ！

! 逢 著 便 殺

---

[i] 臨 濟 語 錄； 大  正 47：500。

Siddhi!

Zen Student:

“Master, how does one achieve Siddhi[1]?”

Zen Master:

“Come closer and I will tell you how in secret.”

Zen student approaches.

Zen Master slaps him!.

“That is all the Siddhi you ever will need”

[i]Reflections:

Buddhism emphasizes the most important Siddhi are:

Knowledge of one’s enlightenment, which is the utter destruction of three roots of existence: Craving, hatred and ignorance.

Anything else is hubris. While it is easy to say one meditates not to become superman/woman, meditators are frequently attracted to and go astray for more simple reasons.

Being in touch with one’s own thoughts, emotions, memory and images, these meditators start to use these experiences in their daily lives eg. manipulating others, scheming, planning, plotting… none of which lead to release but plunges them further into the cycle of life and most likely Hell.

Dr Tan 

@ 20 hoot kiam road

---

[1] Siddhi are extraordinary psycho-physical power, such as to become one and many at the same time, levitation, reading minds, speaking in different languages, even to animals.

! 遇 著 便 打

---

[i] 景 德 錄， 大 正 51：436。

BE

BE

Chan/Zen way does not talk about the method or methods or techniques of achieving enlightenment.  These fanciful methods or techniques in itself constitutes another obstacle to enlightenment.  The crazy or mad monks in Zen serves as a reminder what the world expects or want is not the spiritual life.

Outsiders are baffled in particular with the Chinese form of Chan.  The monks seem to be a lazy bunch.  Beside the scheduled retreats and twice-daily period of chanting, they seem to be drinking tea; eating sweets all the time. So much so that the Rinzai tradition in Japan calls the Chinese Chan tradition as corrupted.

While there is some truth in this, religions are founded by humans and humans are corrupted so the complaints seems quite void. This complaint misses the point that meditation is not just sitting cross-legged. It is every moment of our life. Whether eating, sleeping, walking, standing, going to the toilet; it is the mindfulness of every moment. Only with this sharp insight can we cut the chains of ignorance. Obsessing with methods, techniques and external appearances only creates new obstacles to our path.

To just be with ourselves is the most difficult part in meditation. In retreats, frequently meditators escape by sticking to the comfort of a routine.  The form of meditation is a crutch for beginners and after you learn to walk; throw away your crutch. Meditation is not about creating another universe!!! 

 Just be!

Have your eaten your instant noodle soup? 

Dr Tan 

My Introduction to Chinese Chan

My Introduction to Chinese Chan
I encountered Buddhism at the age of 18 and fell in love “head-over-heels” with it. I was struck by its logical approach to life and most of all its intellectual faith. I spent the next few years studying Buddhism under several renowned Therivada teachers like Venerable Mahathera Dhammaratana and Venerable S Dhammika.  I learned sutta, abdhidhamma, meditations and the whole works of a devout lay follower.
When I first met my Chan master, he did not give me a good impression. Venerable Yu Tang was a small little Chinese man. His cotton robe hangs on him.  The colors of his robes I could never quite figure out because all his robes were so faded and most distinctly his robes were all patched over and over. If I had met him on a studio set I would have believed he was the grandmaster of the beggar clan rather then a Buddhist monk.  When he spoke, he did not have the intellectual air of my Theravada teachers. He spoke no English so I conversed with him in mandarin.  Even then, he spoke with such a heavy Zhenjiang accent that I had to focus my mind to understand him.
I was introduced to Grandmaster through a mutual friend. My friend happened to be a wealthy patron of his temple.  She thought that my temperament would tempt the Grandmaster to keep me as a trophy disciple.
The next day, Grandmaster paged and asked to see me. I reached his temple at about 6pm. He asked me to the kitchen and sat me down.
“Come! Let’s eat! You must be hungry!”
So he brought out a big soup bowl filled with vegetables and some instant noodles. Eating it was a strange and surreal experience. I had this very old monk(eight-one years old!) watching me eat!
After the instant noodle soup he said, “Good, you can be my disciple! You have no fear. Good for Chan!”  He then read my palms, asked my birth date, then dismissed me with a cryptic sentence saying, “ You will go very far, I will see you everyday.”
After a week of eating instant noodle soup I told him I was going bankrupt taking a cab to his temple every evening. I asked, “Why don’t I come once a week and eat the noodles?”  That evening he gave me a fifty dollar note and told me never to worry about money.
The next day the same thing happened. Vegetable instant noodles followed by some cryptic comments and another fifty dollar note.
Weeks turn to months when I finally asked him “What is it? Surely you are not just a bowl of soup noodles!”
Old monk answered, “ Then what you have been doing?”
I replied, frankly quite irritated, “ Eating bowl of instant noodle soup!”
Old Monk(he referred to himself as old monk), “Good, you passed!”
The routine continued and after soup he will sit me down in his meditation room.  Half expecting some esoteric teachings, I sat myself down cross-legged on the floor.
Old monk said, “Sit properly! Why do you cross yours legs? There is a chair over there; you are Chinese so sit on the chair! Don’t tell me there are no chairs in your house?”
Next few months we sat together in silence in his meditation room. Not doing anything, just sitting. No annapanasati, no mantra, no chanting, none whatsoever.
Sometimes he would break the silence and ask me some “dharma” question.
Old monk would ask, “Tell me something about of heart sutra.”
I would launch into a half hour exposition on the theory, philosophy and historical critique of the sutra.
He would sit there expressionless. Looking quite bored, he would say,
“Very good, but you know what? It is a load of horse shit!”
Another time with the diamond sutra, he replied, “more horse manure!”
On weekends our meeting started after lunch. Sometimes he would ask me to come earlier, other times, later.  This was to coincide with visiting guests. It dawned on me quite quickly that these visitors were all the rich, influential and powerful people in the Buddhist world.  Whenever a senior monk or famous monk visited him he would ask me to stand on his side while he received the guest. Old monk would smile or grin gleefully and tell me this was so and so who just kow-towed to me! If the visiting monk failed to start bowing at the doorway, Grandmaster would say, “Where are your manners? Who was your teacher? Didn’t you learn anything from him?”
The shamed monk would have to start from the doorway again.
If the monk stood up from the kneeling position without his permission, he would say, “where are your knees?”
Old monk would pass some more cryptic remarks like, “What was your face before you were born?” After taking the ang pows, he would say, “You stench of money!”
For lay visitors he was more generous. He would sit them down and ask the servants to serve tea.  If there were any dharma question he would turn to me and say, “This young doctor/fat bodhisattva will explain it to you!” After the visitor had left he would turn to me and say, “that was good horse shit!”
Some nights he would call me at 10pm to come and see him.  After I arrived we would just sit! Seemingly unsympathetic that on the following day I would still have to turn up at work with a mere one or two hours of sleep!
One day he asked me, “ What have you learned from me?”
I answered, “I did not know there were so many vulgar words in mandarin till I met you!”
Old monk, “Good, the old monk is a vulgar monk!”
Another day he would ask me, “Is there anything you don’t understand?”
Seizing the chance, I would launch into a long list of Dharma dilemmas, like the position of cittamantra, the consciousness of alaya, rebirth consciousness, the different schools of madymikas, the culamadymika karikas…
Sometimes he would just laugh or say, “That is shit and I hope you know that!”
Other times the old monk would say, “Hai! That would be worth a few large ang pows!”
Old monk passed away 3 years later and his constant refrain for me in the last months of his life was: “Put it down, put it all down!”  On his last day he said, “Where I go, none can follow! See you there!”
His funeral was a grand affair. With a special committee formed: politicians, media, famous monks, rich people; they all wanted to be part of the action. He left behind a pair of shoes, 3 patched robes and his broken begging bowl.
It has been twenty years since the Old monk’s passing. I wonder how many really knew him? I count my blessing that I met this Old monk. If he read my writing today he would probably say, “You are full of shit!”

Dr Tan 

Bodhi-dharma coming to China / Tea bone Zen mind

Zen Student:

“What is the meaning of Bodhi-dharma coming to China?”

Zen Master:

“If a man falls into a deep well, how do you save him without a ladder or a rope?”

西 來 無 意！ 

Reflections:

The need for meaning in life - - - what is the meaning?

It is irrelevant! 

Like trying to save a man in the well without ladder or rope. Pure stupidity! It’s as though through mere talking one can save the man!

 Zen Master:

“Quick get a rope or a ladder!”

---

Dr Tan 

---

[i]Blue cliff record koan 17 

Zen Master

My dear departed Guru, every day i realize more of your teachings.

踞 地 金 毛 狮 王

鬻鼞 老 和 尚


Dr Tan 

Zen Encounters

I celebrated my 45^th birthday this year. My birthday treat was to sit quietly and enjoy a rare moment of solitude. It dawn on me it has been 20 years since the passing of my Zen Master. How time has flown by.

You can read Zen Encounters: use it as a tea coaster, toilet paper or a paperweight…

To maximize its ‘good shit’ power may I suggest you use it the following way:

Be the Student, the Zen Master, and the Reflections to benefit from this book.  If this book irritates you and makes you scream, then it has worked its ‘good shit’ power!

Zen Student.

KG

神 光