True Eye

This Teisho (expression that points to where the truth is) by Genjo Marinello Osho was given at the April 24th half-day sit at Chobo-Ji.  It examines the second case of Ascending the High Seat in The Book of Rinzai.  Rinzai is asked, "Which one is the true eye?" His expression of awakening mind, feels very seamless, closing gaps and distance. 

Beautifully Genjo Osho begins, “This mini Sesshin coincides with Easter Sunday, which in the Christian tradition, Jesus is said to have arisen, from being deceased. So this is a time of, in the Christian tradition of resurrection, which of course corresponds to spring, happening all around us. The tree across the street in full bloom… and the flowers in the garden in bloom… and the fern getting ready to unfold and the rose bush sending out new stems… leaves and buds. As it happens resurrection comes every year.

And what is resurrected? Something that cannot be killed. Something that transcends life and death. And whether we call that nature with a capital ‘N’ or Dharma or spirit or ground of being, it can’t be killed. And no matter how it’s put down, in the coldest winter, or the darkest day, or the deepest black hole, It all comes back and cannot be kept down. It can’t really go anywhere. Spirit… Dharma… Tao… is outside the realm of life and death, and includes the cycles of life and death. 

In this case the koan centers around the questions, ‘What is the True eye?’ The Great Compassionate One of course refers too, the Bodhisattva of Compassion Kannon in Japanese, Kwan Yin in Chinese, or the root Avalokiteshvara. The Great Compassionate One is sometimes imaged with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes… At Dai Bosatsu Monastery, there’s a wonderful wall mural that has this image with a thousand hands… So the question is this case is ‘Which is the true eye,’ but can also be asked as ‘Which is the True hand,’ or ‘Which is the True voice,’ ‘Which is the True Mind,’ ‘Which is the True body,’ ‘What’s more True, life or death?’

Let’s turn off of this question for a moment. ‘What is the True voice?’ This morning we had a cacophony of voices. There was a train whistle, or the ferry, or the airplane, or the jet, the wind chimes of course… the pattering of rain… the seagulls… crows… probably the robins, sparrows and larks. Which one is the True voice?  There’s even the thoughts going on in our own heads. Which one is the True voice? There’s our sleepiness or our bright Samadhi… which one is the True voice? There’s the new flower in Spring, or the snow in Winter… which one is the True voice?  We also heard the ambulance and the car alarm. Which one is the True voice? It might be listening to music downstairs, a shakuhachi, the piano, or Jazz, or Classical, which one is the True voice?  Which note of the wind chime is the True note? Exactly the same question and exactly the same silliness as, in asking, which is the true eye or which is the true hand. There’s lots of different hands around the room. What is the True hand? There are many eyes in the room. Which is the True eye?

One point is that they are all, the great Compassionate One. Of course the question is the answer… almost always the question is the answer… They’re all the Great Compassionate One, whether it’s the voice of the raindrops, or the wind chimes, or the siren, or the car alarm. But the question still comes down too, which one is the True eye… hand… or mind…

There’s an idea in Christianity called Christ consciousness… the Consciousness of Mind of Christ…  and it’s purported in that tradition that you can know the Mind of Christ, and be alive in Christ consciousness… so which one is the real Christ consciousness? Which is the real Mind of the Great Compassionate One? Is it your mind or my mind or limited to one or the other? Is it not in the mass murders mind, this Christ consciousness or Great Compassionate One? How about Eido Roshi’s mind… or Genki Roshi’s mind… or Rinzai’s mind. Is it just limited to Roshi’s… and are they always Christ consciousness… or the Great Compassionate One? Looking at the history of Eido Roshi or Genki Roshi, the answer is no… not always manifesting clearly  as Christ consciousness or the Great Compassionate One. And yet Rinzai himself would say, This One shining alone is going in and out of your face all the time. If you look in the mirror, sometimes you see it and sometimes you don’t… But it’s always there. 

We say when we’re not seeing it, that it’s covered up. It’s also true that It’s always shining and can’t be hidden. Even in war, or hurricane, or genocide, it can be seen… even in a tsunami or nuclear disaster, It can be seen. Sometimes it takes a terrible disaster or a terrible blindness to see. Sometimes in our darkest night is the moment that we have our greatest breakthrough… and we say ohhh yes… what folly… what blindness…” 

If you’d like to hear the complete teisho, you can download it for free from either the Choboji Podcast site or iTunes… Genjo Osho’s clear, open-hearted, lifts a window that is full of opportunities to grow, heal and unify our heart.

May Your Life Go Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris 淸峰, Curator
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