Case 21 - Chih Men's Lotus Flower, Lotus Leaves
A
monk asked Chih
Men, "How is it when the lotus flower has not yet emerged from the
water?"
Chih
Men said, "A Lotus flower."
The
monk said, "What about after it has emerged from the water?"
Men
said, "Lotus leaves."
Reflections
This
is a koan of
transformation. A koan of birth and death. This is a koan of before and
after.
This koan is similar, but not quite, to the koan, "Show me the face you
had before your parents were born." Or, “What is that plant
before it has
risen from the earth?”
Chi
Men may say a rose is a
rose.
But
what is the rose before
it has emerged from the ground?
What
is "before?"
What
is "after?"
What
is before pregnancy?
Before
your father’s seed
joined your mother’ egg?
Where
were you?
Where
are you?
Is
there such a thing as
tense?
What
face did you have
before your parents were born?
What
is Chih Men saying?
What is his teaching? And why is the transformation of this koan going
backwards? Obviously, before the lotus emerges from the sea of water it
is not
a flower, it is a leaf. Before the rose emerges it is a seed, a root, a
vine, a
leaf, and then the rose emerges—then it is a flower.
How
does the lotus emerge
from the water?
And
is a flower?
What
is Chih Men telling us?
Is
there a difference
between before and after?
Is
this the nub of this
koan?
What
is the absolute in this
koan?
What
is the relative?
Is
the absolute before or
after?
Is
the relative before or
after?
It
would seem that before
emerging we are in the realm of the absolute and after emerging we
enter the
realm of the relative. If this is so, how can we become enlightened in
the
realm of the relative? But Shakyamuni was enlightened in the realm of
the
relative and thunderously declared,
All
sentient beings are enlightened together with me—
here
and now!
Is
there indeed a difference
between "before" and "after?"
Is
there a before before?
Is
there an after after?
Is
there an after before?
Is
there a before after?
Is
the face I had before my
parents were born the same face facing you now?
How
is that possible?
I
am a mishmash of particles
of Cleopatra, of Julius Caesar, of Leonardo da Vinci, of the Marquis de
Sade,
of Adolf Hitler, of Hammurabi, of Moses, Shakyamuni Buddha, Saint
Francis of
Assisi, Jack the Ripper, of the terrorists who smashed the planes into
the
World Trade Center. How can there be a before and after? Where is
before and
after if I am all of these?
I
contain the particles of
all humanity. You contain the particles of all humanity. You and you
and you.
Each of you. All of you. Together, one body. One mixed-up, broken,
suffering,
joyful, hateful, sorrowful, enthusiastic, loving, lousy, wonderful
body. One
body.
Is
there before and after?
What is this koan telling us?
What
is the teaching of this
koan?
Were
the old-sourpuss
Buddhas wrong?
About
birth and death?
Is
there birth and death?
Is
there a birth before
death.
A
death, before birth?
Or
are birth and death the
same?
Or
is what we see as birth
and death, or what we think we see as birth and death, a flow of
creation, like
the flow of a river, emerging, moving in and out, flowing past the
rocks and
rapids, the tossed beer cans, the soda bottles, the refuse and sewage?
Are
we standing by the
river?
Are
we standing in the
river?
Are
we the river? The water?
The rocks? The beer cans? The sand?
The
fish? The current?
Maybe
even a lotus flower?
A
monk asked Chih Men,
"How is it when the lotus flower has not yet emerged from the water?"
Chih
Men said, "A Lotus
flower."
The
monk said, "What
about after it has emerged from the water?"
Men
said, "Lotus
leaves."