Case 37: Isan asked Kyôzan, “Suppose a man asks you, saying, ‘All living beings are tossed in a vast karma-consciousness. Does this karma-consciousness have any origin from which it arises?’ How would you check him?”
Kyôzan said, “If such a monk appears, I call out to him, ‘Mr. So-and-so!’ When he turns his head, instantly I say, ‘What is this?’ If he hesitates, then I say to him, ‘Not only is there a vast karma-consciousness, but also there is no origin where it comes from.’”
Isan said, “Good.”
Description: In this second teisho from the 2016 NASZ sesshin, Yamada Roshi explores and explicates Isan’s “Karma-Consciousness.” Roshi delves into the details, the history and the wisdom of this koan, and continues to explore the experience of our true nature. He also examines why it is that the Igyo Sect of Zen may have died out.
Post Image: “Rock-cut basins with some showing the pebble which the kolk spins to cause the erosion. Caaf Water, Lynn Glen, Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland,” by Rosser1954, Public Domain , via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Images courtesy Cherie Manifest.