This episode and the last, “Dharma Study: Wrestling with the Teachings,” comprise chapter four of my book, The Ten Fields of Zen Practice: A Primer for Practitioners. In the last episode, Part 1, I talked about the value of Dharma Study and how best to approach it. Then I discussed how to go about deciding what you want to study. In this episode I offer a list of eight fundamental teachings I recommend becoming familiar with, along with suggested texts to begin your investigation of each topic. I’ll end with a discussion of how to engage the teachings you study in a meaningful way.
Read/listen to Chapter 4, Part 1
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Eight Fundamental Teachings
1. The Three Marks: Anicca, Anatta, and Dukkha
2. The Four Noble Truths
3. The Noble Eightfold Path
4. Sunyata, or Emptiness
5. Tathata, or Suchness
6. The Two Truths
7. Buddhata, or Buddha-Nature
8. The Bodhisattva Path
Wrestling with the Teachings
Eight Fundamental Teachings
Although there are countless Buddhist texts and teachings, the list of fundamental teachings important to Zen is not all that long. Each teaching has many dimensions and offers an opportunity for lifelong study, but the Buddhist tradition as a whole may seem less daunting if you aim, over time, to develop an understanding of the following eight topics:
1. The Three Marks: Anicca, Anatta, and Dukkha
One of the very first teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha was that all phenomena bear three marks, or characteristics: Anicca, or impermanence; Anatta, not-self or non-substantiality, and Dukkha, stress or dissatisfactoriness. Everything in the universe is constantly changing, nothing whatsoever can be grasped. Because of this, there is nothing you can define or hold on to as being “self.” By definition, self-nature is something inherent, independent, enduring, and autonomous. You believe you have or contain such a nature, and assume other beings and things have similar natures. Your worldview is based on this belief, so the inevitable experience of impermanence brings a sense of existential insecurity, stress, dissatisfaction, or even suffering. This is Dukkha, the dis-ease that arises when you seek permanent refuge in impermanent phenomena.
If you want to learn more about Anicca, Anatta, and Dukkha, I recommend the book Basic Teachings of the Buddha by Glenn Wallis.[i] It includes translations of 16 important Pali Canon suttas along with plenty of notes and helpful explanations.
2. The Four Noble Truths
This teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha follows from the Three Marks. The Four Noble Truths are four things you need to verify and enact for yourself if you want to become free from Dukkha. First, you need to learn to recognize Dukkha when it arises in you and come to terms with its impact on your life. Second, you need to look deeply into the nature of Dukkha until you see how it originates in your resistance to Reality. Third, you need to become intimately familiar with the workings of your own mind until you learn how to give up your resistance to Reality, and thereby experience peace and clarity. The fourth Noble Truth is how you manage to verify and enact the first three truths, or the Noble Eightfold Path. The essence of the Four Noble Truths is that you need not live your life buffeted about by the winds of fate but can change your own mind and behavior to attain unconditional inner peace and strength.
The book Basic Teachings of the Buddha by Glenn Wallis[ii] includes material on the Four Noble Truths.
3. The Noble Eightfold Path
You may or may not hear much explicit discussion of the Eightfold Path in a Zen lineage, but all its component parts are present, they are just called different things. The central message of the Eightfold Path is that Buddhist practice is holistic. It’s not just something you learn intellectually, or something you believe based on faith. It’s not just about meditating. The Eightfold Path includes developing an accurate view of Reality; cultivating an intention to face the truth, relieve Dukkha, and transcend self-centeredness; speaking, behaving, and making your living in ways that are beneficial, ethical, kind, and minimize harm; cultivating energetic determination to make progress on the path of practice; cultivating mindful awareness of everything that happens around you and within you, and practicing meditation. The Eightfold Path is a way of life.
You can find a discussion of the Eightfold Path in Wallis’ Basic Teachings of the Buddha.[iii]
4. Sunyata, or Emptiness
Emptiness is a Mahayana teaching that represents an evolution of the Buddha’s teachings about the Three Marks. All phenomena – including you, and anything you encounter or experience – are empty of inherent, independent, enduring, and autonomous self-nature. They aren’t empty of meaning or value, they simply don’t exist the way you think they do. Another way to put this is that all things are boundaryless – impermanent, in flux, interdependent, and ultimately ungraspable. Your delusion of inherent self-hood is the source of stress, greed, aversion, fear, anger, and many harmful actions. Awakening to the truth of Emptiness frees you from fear, allows you to see Reality more clearly, and arouses great compassion within you.
The classic source text on Emptiness is the Heart Sutra. Kaz Tanahashi offers a new translation and a very helpful commentary in his book, The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism.[iv]
5. Tathata, or Suchness
Suchness, or Thusness, describes the Reality of phenomena in their Emptiness. You probably assume that when you perceive something as Empty, you will perceive it as meaningless or mechanical. You assume that the most important essence of anything – especially you – is an autonomous, enduring self-nature. Without it, what are you? To your delight and surprise, however, in their Emptiness all things are complete and luminous just as they are, infinitely precious in their Own-Being.
For more on Suchness, see Taigen Dan Leighton’s book, Just This Is It: Dongshan and the Practice of Suchness, which includes discussion of the classic Zen teaching poem about Suchness, the Precious Mirror Samadhi.[v]
6. The Two Truths
A fascinating aspect of Reality-with-a-Capital-R is that it has two dimensions. The dependent dimension, typically called the “relative,” is that of space, time, and causality. This is the dimension that is obvious to you most of the time. Reality also has an independent dimension, most often called the “absolute.” In a sense this isn’t a dimension at all because it is only right here, right now, and is boundaryless. It’s along the independent dimension that you can perceive Emptiness and Suchness, so it is extremely valuable to deepen your awareness of this side of Reality. However, just as important as awakening to the independent dimension of things is realizing dependent and independent are not separate realities, just ways of experiencing a single Reality. Just as a physical object can’t exist in only two dimensions, and its height does not stand in opposition to its width, so the dependent and independent dimensions only manifest because the other exists and they do not conflict.
The classic Zen teaching poem on the Two Truths is the Sandokai, or Harmony of Difference and Sameness, and Shunryu Suzuki’s book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness[vi] offers a translation and commentary on this teaching.
7. Buddhata, or Buddha-Nature
Buddha-Nature is essentially the truths of Emptiness and Suchness as they manifest in a living being. There is no inherently existing “you” to either take credit for bear blame, and along the independent dimension of Reality you a unique and indispensable part of a single, seamless Reality. Just as all things, in their Emptiness, are complete and luminous just as they are, infinitely precious in their Own-Being, so are you. Because you are not ultimately separate from anything, you are capable of awakening to the nature of Reality, which is your own nature. In fact, because all beings are thus, they are naturally drawn toward awakening, even if that awakening might not happen any time soon.
The teaching of Buddha-Nature celebrates the existence of individuals, without whom there would be no awakening. When you become aware of your own Buddha-Nature, you realize it is identical to the Buddha-Nature of anyone else and does not depend on any aspects of your phenomenal manifestation. Still, recognizing it is powerfully redemptive, as you can stop searching outside yourself for what you have been longing for. Like all the fundamental Buddhist teachings, Buddha-Nature does you little good until you realize the truth of it for yourself, in your own direct experience.
Unfortunately, in time for this episode I was unable to come up with a text or commentary to recommend if you want to explore the teaching of Buddha-Nature. There are extremely dense and long source texts about Buddha-Nature (such as the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra[vii]), more accessible texts which speak to the potential for all people to awaken but which were compiled before the term “Buddha-Nature” was developed (such as the Lotus Sutra[viii]), and inspiring but poetic Zen literature on the topic (such as Dogen’s essay Bussho, or Buddha-Nature[ix]) which would be challenging to understand without a teacher or a commentary, and I don’t know of any commentaries. I will work on a recommendation for a text, but I don’t know of any ideal candidates for an introduction.
8. The Bodhisattva Path
If you read about the previous seven fundamental teachings without personally awakening to their meaning, you could easily draw the conclusion that Buddhist practice is about self-cultivation aimed at peace and insight for the individual. After all, if you have realized everything is empty of inherent existence and precious just as it is, if you can take refuge along the independent dimension no matter what is happening in the dependent dimension, what reason do you have to help anyone else or work for positive change in the world? If all beings have Buddha-Nature and will eventually awaken, what responsibility is it of yours?
When you truly awaken to the Dharma, though, you recognize there is no separation between you and anyone or anything else. Freed from obsession with self, your heart opens up and you feel goodwill and compassion for all the baby Buddhas out there. You are naturally motivated to be generous and kind, as causing harm to anyone else is no different than causing harm to yourself. You see how beings are caught in suffering that they generate for themselves, but you don’t judge them for this. Instead, there arises in you a determination to do whatever you can to help them awaken to the Dharma for themselves. This necessitates that you diligently continue your own practice so you can become wiser, more compassionate, and more skillful in your actions.
The Four Bodhisattva Vows are:
Beings are numberless, I vow to free them [all]
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them [all]
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them [all]
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.
From the beginning, then, a bodhisattva consciously makes vows that are impossible to fulfill completely. Thus, the Bodhisattva Path is endless – an aspiration that guides all of our actions to the end of our days. Because the goal of the bodhisattva can never be attained, there is no point in evaluating how far along the path you have come; wherever you are, the only way for the bodhisattva is forward.
Even as the ideal bodhisattva is motivated by great compassion for living beings and lives by impossible vows, they avoid getting drawn into a savior complex or despair at how much work remains undone. This is because they are in touch with Reality-with-a-Capital-R. The Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra[x] says that when bodhisattvas “engender in themselves the great compassion which is… free from any notion of a being,” they are practicing in accord with the truth. But, the Sutra goes on, “when the notion of suffering and beings leads [them] to think: ‘Suffering I shall remove, the weal of the world I shall work!’ beings are then imagined, a self is imagined, [and] the practice of wisdom, the highest perfection, is lacking.” The Bodhisattva Path illustrates the surprising and wonderful unity of awakening to Reality-with-a-Capital-R and infinite compassion for, and generosity toward, all living beings.
A lovely source for studying the Bodhisattva Path is Thich Nhat Hanh’s book The Bodhisattva Path.[xi]
This is by no means a comprehensive list of all Zen and Buddhist teachings, and other Dharma teachers are likely to have concepts or texts they consider essential that I have not included. However, a familiarity with the eight fundamental teachings mentioned will give you a firm foundation on which to build your practice.
Wrestling with the Teachings
As you encounter Dharma teachings, it’s important to let them touch you. This doesn’t mean you have to understand them right away, or believe them, or like them. You don’t even have to trust them completely, just trust them enough to expose yourself to them.
As you experience a teaching, note your responses to it. You may immediately appreciate it and find it helpful, inspiring, or intriguing, and this is great. On the other hand, you may have a negative response either to the content of the teaching or the way it’s presented. This is fine, and your response is worth investigating. It may be helpful to tell yourself that you are right to doubt what you think it means.[xii] Trust your intuition about what is ultimately true and beneficial but consider whether there is more to the teaching than is immediately evident to you. In the case of source texts and fundamental teachings, generations of Dharma practitioners have valued them enough to pass them on, so there is usually something of merit to be found in them. You may never find a particular text or teaching helpful personally, but it’s surprising how often the teachings you initially feel aversion toward end up offering you a profound lesson.
Many teachings and texts end up being quite difficult to study, let alone understand. When this is the case, the value of Dharma Study comes from “wrestling” with the teachings. This means to engage them with body and mind, questioning them, probing them, and testing them. Instead of simply passively receiving the teachings and putting aside anything you don’t immediately understand or resonate with, you choose a teaching and put yourself in relationship to it. “Okay, teaching,” you tell it, “What’s going on here?” Then you throw everything you have at it.
Sometimes Zen students are so afraid of over-intellectualizing that they avoid engaging a teaching with their minds at all, as if our Dharma ancestors’ carefully chosen words are just an arbitrarily chosen substrate and the essence of the teaching should pour out of them into our minds with no effort on our part. It is totally appropriate to immerse yourself in the words of Dharma texts. Maybe you look up definitions, compare alternative translations, and explore the multi-dimensional meanings of Chinese kanji (written characters). Maybe you make a guess at the meaning of each phrase and image, rewriting it using different language.
Many Chan and Zen source texts, originating in China and Japan, are very poetic. They use language and imagery that are not easily translated into straightforward prose, such as, “When Dogen says ________, he means _________.” If you study these teachings for some time, it becomes clear that poetic language and imagery are the best way to communicate nondualistic truths. Straightforward explanatory language defines and discriminates, but much of Dharma teaching is about our direct experience of the independent dimension of Reality, along which discriminations are meaningless.
To access poetic teachings, engaging the meanings of words and phrases can still be helpful. Then it can be fruitful to “dream your way” into the text. Imagine the text is describing the circumstances of a dream you are having. Within the context of the dream, you can readily accept an alternative reality where, for example, stone women get up dancing and where walls and tiles are buddhas. Within the dream, what is the significance of these things? What are the implications and repercussions of what happens in this dream? Alternatively, ask yourself what you hope the text is saying, without censoring yourself based on what you think the “correct” understanding is.
After wrestling with a teaching for a while, it’s time to set aside such active engagement and allow yourself to absorb and integrate whatever you have learned. Sit Zazen. Go about your daily life. Without willfully dwelling on it, allow the teaching to arise in your mind if it’s going to. When you go back to Dharma Study, you may find the teachings opening up for you in a new way. It’s important to keep in mind that the most valuable part of study is not arriving at some fixed understanding, it’s the process of wrestling with the teachings and allowing them to gradually shape and inform your practice.
Read/listen to Chapter 4, Part 1
See all Ten Fields of Zen Practice
Endnotes
[i] Wallis, Glenn; Buddha. Basic Teachings of the Buddha (Modern Library Classics). York, NY: Random House Publishing Group, 2007.
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Tanahashi, Kazuaki. The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism. Boulder, Colorado: Shambala Publications, 2014.
[v] Leighton, Taigen Dan. Just This Is It: Dongshan and the Practice of Suchness. Boston, MA: Shambala Publications, 2015.
[vi] Suzuki, Shunryu. Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
[vii] The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Translated into English by Kosho Yamamoto, 1973, from Dharmakshema’s Chinese version. (Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 12, No. 374) Edited, revised and copyright by Dr. Tony Page, 2007. http://lirs.ru/do/Mahaparinirvana_Sutra,Yamamoto,Page,2007.pdf
[viii] Reeves, Gene (translator). The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
[ix] Tanahashi, Kazuaki, trans., ed. Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo. Boston, MA: Shambala Publications, 2010.
[x] Conze, Edward. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary. San Francisco, CA: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973.
[xi] Nhat Hanh, Thich. The Bodhisattva Path EBOOK: Commentary on the Vimalakirti and Ugrapariprccha Sutras (p. 224). Parallax Press. Kindle Edition.
[xii] My Dharma grandmother Roshi Jiyu Kennett used this phrase.
