KENSHO SCHMENSHO!
So I'm in a
book store
the other day and I see this book called The Best Buddhist Writing of
2004 and
I wondered what these guys might think is the best Buddhist writing of
2004. So
I pick up the book, and what do you know -- I'm in it! Gosh.
My
publishers had
mentioned something about this to me ages ago. But this is the first
I'd
actually seen of the book. It's a purty little book and it's a
great honor to
be included. I'm very happy they chose my work.
There's just
one little
thing. The last little bit of their introduction to my stuff really
stuck in my
craw. And I thought I needed to clear things up a bit here. Now I know
that to
a lot of you this will just come off as nitpicking. But it's actually
really important
to me, so let me get it off my chest. OK?
After saying
lots of
nice stuff about my book (thank you), the editor then goes on to say
that the
chapter is about how I was suddenly struck by what he calls a "kensho
experience." "A sudden hit of the enlightened mind" is how he describes
it, I think (nobody
ever sent me a copy so I'm doing this from memory). For those of you
not up on
your hipster Buddhist-speak I should explain that kensho
— which is Japanese for seeing into
one's nature — is a
euphemism
for what they used to call Enlightenment. You know, that one moment
where you
supposedly get the big download from on high and everything is right
and
beautiful forever and ever amen.
The chapter
they chose
is the one in which I was walking along the street one morning and
happened to
just kinda notice what the whole Buddhist philosophical system was all
about. I
can't blame the editor of the Best Buddhist Writing book for thinking
this was
a description of a "kensho" experience. Quite a number of readers have
made the
same mistake. The blame is entirely mine for not writing more clearly.
If I had
do-overs on my life I'd probably replace that chapter with something
more
useful, like a critical study of Voyage to the Planet of
Prehistoric Women.
Just for the
record
then, the chapter is not about a kensho experience. I have never had a
kensho
experience. I hope I never do. I've never come across anyone who
claimed to
have had one of those who could convince me it was anything worth
experiencing.
The
expression I used in
that chapter to describe what happened that day is one learned from my
teacher.
He never talks about kensho. In fact, when asked about kensho, he'd
likely
quote you Dogen's famous phrase, "Kensho is the animated activity of
non-Buddhists." He does sometimes talk about the experience of "solving
philosophical problems." He calls it this because that's all it is. If
you
practice zazen long enough there may come a time when you see through
most of
the philosophical problems you've held for most of your life. It's nice
if that
happens. But it is not the goal of Buddhist practice. At best
itÕs a little
perk you might get on the side. And if it doesn't happen, it's no big
deal.
Consider yourself lucky!
You cannot
induce such
an experience. Never. Never. Never. Drugs won't do it. Mantras won't do
it.
Meditation won't do it. So-called "koan introspection" definitely won't
do it.
Such methods are just ways of adding confusion on top of confusion.
See, the
only thing you
understand when you solve your philosophical problems is that this is just this. That life is what it is, that you
are what you
are, that the universe is what it is. Get me? You can't even explain
what the
universe is. It just is what it is. That's it. Anyone who claims
there's
anything beyond that is a lying sack of excrement.
It's not
that people who
reach this understanding are special in any way. In fact, since it's
only the
understanding that things are exactly what they are, the real wonder is
not
that some rare few get it. The real wonder is how so many people can
possibly
miss something so exceedingly obvious.
The main
reason we miss
it, though, might be that we're just too damned clever for our own
good. Maybe "clever" isn't the best word. Perhaps "intellectual" is
closer to the mark.
See, the problem is that we believe our own thoughts. We believe the
picture of
reality we've created inside our own heads more than we believe reality
itself.
Or worse, we believe in our own "kensho experiences" and in those of
others.
In order to
have any
understanding at all of the true situation we need to turn away from
that
elaborate creation and start paying attention to what's really here.
You can
never will the
truth to appear because the very act is based on a complete
misunderstanding of
the truth. You cannot hurry the process along in any way. There are no
"expedient means" to use another favorite bit of Buddhist-speak.
All you can
do is to sit
down, shut up and let reality present itself. There are no other ways,
I'm
afraid. I know a lot of people don't like to hear me say such things.
And if
you don't like to hear it, go listen to someone else. You'll find
plenty of
folks out there who'll happily play up to whatever fantasies you've
got.
But if
you're willing to
face up to what's real, there is no reason why you cannot reach the
deepest
understanding. It may take a long time before you're ready to
look. And the
process itself will always, always, always entail a certain degree of
pain. Pain
— mental as well as physical — is born of your unwillingness to see
things as they are. But even your unwillingness to see reality for what
it is,
is part of reality as it is. So even your delusion itself is
"Enlightenment" if
there is such a thing.
But it sure
ain't
kensho!