CHIN 2080 · 10/13 · Individual practice · 40 min

Three Zen Encounters

心佛三禪機 · Back to the Rhinoceros Fan

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This activity takes 40 minutes.

Intro + Encounter 1: 15 min · Encounter 2: 10 min · Encounter 3: 10 min · Closing: 5 min

You can keep working after class. Submit by Sunday, Oct 18, 11:00 PM.

Introwith Encounter 1: 15 min

Read the koan ‘The Plum Is Ripe’ slowly, then read the three encounters. Notice which line catches you. No writing yet.

AI can give you an answer in seconds. A plum can't be forced to ripen. Today you walk through three encounters, drawn from Mazu and Damei (“The plum is ripe”).

Three Zen Encounters

Encounter 1 · “This very mind is Buddha”: Turn the light around (a Chan phrase: turn your attention back to yourself) and look into your own mind. Begin to notice: how are you taking part in shaping your own understanding?
Encounter 2 · “Not mind, not Buddha”: Let go of the categories and habits of thought you already hold. Can you stay with “not knowing”?
Encounter 3 · “Just this very mind is Buddha”: As new insight arises and old understanding falls away, how do you return to the text, the world, and yourself, make a value judgment, and take responsibility for it?

Read the koan first: The Plum Is Ripe →

Encounter 1 · This very mind is Buddhapart of the opening 15 min

Turn the light around (a Chan phrase: turn your attention back to yourself) and look into your own mind. Begin to notice: how are you taking part in shaping your own understanding?

While watching the rhino documentary, what was going through my mind about the rhinoceros? What did I already think, feel, or assume, and how did that shape what I saw?Now think of your own life: what is something you care about but may be losing? What's going through your mind about it?

Missed the documentary? Start with the second question.

Encounter 2 · Not mind, not Buddha10 min

Let go of the categories and habits of thought you already hold. Can you stay with “not knowing”? Sit still for three minutes. Hold only this line. Don't look for an answer.

“The fan is broken. Bring me back the rhinoceros.”

3:00

A bell will sound when the time is up.

Write only where you got stuck. No answers.

Encounter 3 · Just this very mind is Buddha (The plum is ripe)10 min

Come back to your own life. Maybe it isn't a literal rhinoceros. What is the ‘rhinoceros’ in your life, and what ‘fan’ have you been taking from it? It could be an animal (not necessarily a rhinoceros) and the “fan” you take from it: the dolphin show, the zoo selfie, the cute animal videos you scroll, the chicken nuggets, the leather jacket, the pet bought from a shop. The fan is broken. How would you bring your rhinoceros back? Make a judgment and own it.

Sit with your own rhinoceros. Don’t plan what to write. Just let it be here.

5:00

A bell will sound when the time is up.

My rhinoceros is ____, and the fan I've been taking from it is ____.One thing I'll do this week to bring it back is ____.What I'm willing to be responsible for is ____.I might be wrong because ____.

Closing5 min

Which line from today is still with you, one you can't quite figure out but can't let go of? It could be from the koan, a question, or your own writing. Write it down and carry it until Thursday.

Having walked through the three encounters, which encounter are you in right now with your own rhinoceros?

(The encounters aren't levels. You can be in a different encounter on different questions, or on different days.)

What makes you say so? (one sentence)

You can keep working after class. Submit by Sunday, Oct 18, 11:00 PM.

Autosave keeps your draft, but it isn't submitted until you click Submit.