Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán: Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen — A Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds (VIII)

2006/2/2 14:26:04

Compared to equality, moderns are even more fond of discoursing on so-called freedom. Those who advocate freedom, like those who advocate so-called equality, are all wolves in sheep's clothing — deceiving the masses and pursuing private gain. Freedom: from whom the self, and whose is the self? From whom the freedom, and whose is the freedom? Without self, whence freedom? With self, freedom from what? As with equality: the one who is able to be free is not free; what is made free is also not free. Self-of-self is not self; without self there is no freedom. Why even speak of freedom?

Yet there are those who wish to establish an axiomatic definition of freedom using the method of axiomatization. But axioms are originally neither public nor principle — they are a hegemonic game of language. Traced to their source, they are nothing but the collective karma of greed, anger, delusion, doubt, and arrogance. Collective karma has no basis whatsoever — it is ultimately empty.

Zen is neither public nor principle. There are originally no axioms, yet this world has its axioms. Zen is not emptiness, yet this world has its ultimate emptiness. Those who cling to Zen as "Originally there is not a single thing — where can dust alight?" commit a great error. Emptiness is not emptiness; not-emptiness is true emptiness. All things of this world are originally pure. Where is the dust? The dust is where?

Entanglement: originally there is no subject of entanglement and no object of entanglement — this is called entanglement. If there truly were a subject and object of entanglement, then there would be no such thing as entanglement in this world. Those who seek to escape entanglement — that is entanglement. Those who do not seek to escape entanglement — that is also entanglement. Entanglement that is not entanglement — who escapes? Who enters? Those who can escape and enter, the subject and object of escape and entry — that is entanglement. Not-entanglement as entanglement: truly there is no escape or entry. Entanglement is freedom.

A verse:

Casting the jar into the vast sea — how frequent the dreams,
A single leaf drifts with the waves, four hosts and guests.
The Milky Way, a clear sky, stars scattered across the wild,
Lapis lazuli, jade-pure, the universe free of dust.
Tossed through the six paths — all share the same affliction,
Turning through the three destinies — not two bodies but one.
Nine-five — weapons of war; seven-eight — cunning devices,
Pursuing conditions, grasping at effects — ever more lost in causes.