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In recent weeks Bluegrass Zen has taken up koans about crossing over to the distant shore, the transition of perspective from a life lived in support and defense of self-image to a life lived awake, alert and alive to what is.

First was an encounter with a koan from the Rinzai curriculum:

A student asked Yantou, “How about when the old sail has yet to be hoisted?”
Yantou replied, “A small fish swallows a big fish.”
The student said, “How about after it’s been hoisted?”
Yantou said, “A donkey grazes in the back garden.”

—Entangling Vines Case 61

What is our experience with reality before and after the sail is hoisted, before and after awakening? With this koan we hear echoes of Yunmen’s “Every day is a good day,” and we remember Yantou, who during the repression of Chan during the Tang dynasty, took the symbolic role of ferryman taking folks “over to the other side,” continuing his role as master while keeping a low profile.

This reminds me of those other incognito masters in koanworld, the tea ladies—just ask Deshan or Zhaozhou.

With the next koan we enter the land of demons: your boat, your life, your practice, is blown off course by the fierce winds of difficult circumstances. Your responses to life when things are not going your way can enter the realm of demons, a sort of possession taken up to defend self image, a preferred notion of self and world gets held up in the face of reality. This is the edge of practice, what you have to work with as you make your way.

A state minister asked a teacher, “What is meant by, ‘Because of unfortunate circumstances,
fierce winds blew the ship off course and set it drifting toward the land of the flesh-eating demons?’”

The master replied, “Minister, why are you so ignorant? Why are you asking about that?”
The minister’s face turned white.

And the master said, “Because of unfortunate circumstances,
fierce winds blew them off course and set them adrift toward the land of the flesh-eating demons.”
And the minister understood.

—Entangling Vines Case 42

Like the minister, this we understand. We all know that place, the land of the flesh-eating, all-consuming demons.

Maybe the sail is hard to hoist or perhaps the winds are just too fierce, with flesh-eating demons on the horizon. There is no advance and the progress you have always pursued in practice is unattainable. Maybe you have given up. You cannot find hope.

When Hakuin Ekaku heard the story of Yantou and his great scream while suffering a bloody death at the hands of bandits, he entered such a place of no hope. At its dawning, this great doubt permeates our whole lives. Perhaps now is the time to forgo our practice? Great horse master Mazu might suggest another way as we take a step away from self.

We’ll take up his koan on Thursday:

To advance from where you can no longer advance and to do what can no longer be done,
you must make yourself into a raft or ferryboat for others.

—David Parks

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COME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate.

David Parks Roshi, Director of Bluegrass Zen