{"id":750,"date":"2009-09-22T00:10:19","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T00:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html"},"modified":"2009-09-22T00:10:19","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T00:10:19","slug":"whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html","title":{"rendered":"Whattsa Who&#8217;sa Bodhisattva? &#8211; (MORE) The Virtue of Mystical Powers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <i><br \/>More of the Bodhisattva Virtue of <b>Miraculous, Mystical Powers<\/b><\/i> (bala)<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><i><br \/><\/i><big><font face=\"Times New Roman, Times, serif\"><small>In the <i>Tashints\u00c3\u00bb<\/i> (Penetration of Other&#8217;s Minds) portion of the <i>Sh\u00c3\u00b4b\u00c3\u00b4genz\u00c3\u00b4<\/i>, the subject is mental telepathy, one of the supernormal powers (abhij\u00c3\u00b1\u00c3\u00a2)regularly said in Buddhist literature to be accessible to great meditators. Here, D\u00c3\u00b4gentakes up the famous story of a Zen master&#8217;s test of the mind-readingpowers of an Indian monk claiming such ability. Dogen expresses his doubts about such powers, while seeing the mind of self and the mind of others in a grander way &#8230;<\/small><\/font><i><font face=\"Times New Roman, Times, serif\"><small> :<\/p>\n<p><\/small><\/font><\/i><\/big><i><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>&#8220;Tell me,&#8221; said the [National Teacher, <\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>Master Dazheng Huizheng to the Indian Master]<\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>, &#8220;where&#8217;s this old monk right now?&#8221;<br \/>The [Indian] Master said, &#8220;Reverend Preceptor, you&#8217;re the teacher to anation;&nbsp; [so, why are you thinking to] go off to Xichuan to watch the boat races?&#8221;<br \/>The Teacher asked again, &#8220;Tell me, where&#8217;s this old monk right now?&#8221;<br \/>The [Indian] Master said, &#8220;Reverend Preceptor, you&#8217;re the teacher to anation; how could you be on the T&#8217;ianjin bridge watching the playingmonkeys?&#8221;<br \/>The Teacher asked a third time, &#8220;Tell me, where&#8217;s this old monk right now?&#8221;<br \/>The [Indian] Master said nothing for a while, not knowing where the Teacher had gone.<br \/>The Teacher said, &#8220;This fox spirit! Where&#8217;s his penetration of other minds?&#8221;<\/small><\/font><\/small><\/i><br \/><big><i><font face=\"Times New Roman, Times, serif\"><small><br \/>[Dogen comments]:<\/p>\n<p><\/small><\/font><\/i><\/big><i><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>[T]he National Teacher&#8217;s <\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>basic intention in testing the Master [from India by] saying,            &#8220;Tell me, where&#8217;s this old monk right now?&#8221; is to test            whether the [Indian] Master is an eye to see the buddha dharma            &#8212; to test whether the [Indian] Master has the penetration of            other minds in the buddha dharma. &#8230; The National Teacher&#8217;s saying, &#8220;Where&#8217;s this old monk right            now?&#8221; is like his asking, &#8220;What is this old monk?&#8221;            [To say,] &#8220;Where&#8217;s this old monk right now?&#8221; is to            ask, &#8220;What time is right now?&#8221; [To ask,] &#8220;Where?&#8221;            is to say, &#8220;Where is here?&#8221; There is a reason [to ask]            what to call this old monk: a national teacher is not always            an &#8220;old monk&#8221;; an &#8220;old monk&#8221; is always a            &#8220;fist.&#8221; &#8230; <\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>Do not think            that those types who seek to get the penetration of other minds            can know the whereabouts of the National Teacher &#8230; <\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>If it cannot know the way of the buddhas and ancestors, what            good is [such ability]? It is useless to the way of the buddha &#8230;<\/small><\/font><\/small><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small>In the buddha dharma, if weare going to say that there is the penetration of other minds, thereshould be the penetration of other bodies, the penetration of otherfists, the penetration of other eyes. If this is so, there should alsobe the penetration of one&#8217;s own mind, the penetration of one&#8217;s ownbody. And once this is the case, one&#8217;s own mind taking up itself is atonce the penetration of one&#8217;s own mind. To express such a statement isthe penetration of other minds as one&#8217;s own mind itself. Let me justask, &#8220;Should we take up the penetration of other minds, or should wetake up the penetration of one&#8217;s own mind?<br \/>&nbsp;Speak up! Speak up!<\/small><\/font><\/small><\/i><br \/><small><font face=\"Times\" size=\"+1\"><small><br \/><\/small><\/font><\/small><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<div align=\"center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><object width=\"480\" height=\"385\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/fEKGTu9RewE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/fEKGTu9RewE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\"><\/object><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><u>(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;<\/u><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><u>a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)<\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"left\"><\/p>\n<div align=\"left\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedburner.com\/fb\/a\/emailverifySubmit?feedId=2769166\">To subscribe to &#8220;Treeleaf Zen&#8221; click here.<\/a><o:p><\/o:p> <o:p><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More of the Bodhisattva Virtue of Miraculous, Mystical Powers (bala) In the Tashints\u00c3\u00bb (Penetration of Other&#8217;s Minds) portion of the Sh\u00c3\u00b4b\u00c3\u00b4genz\u00c3\u00b4, the subject is mental telepathy, one of the supernormal powers (abhij\u00c3\u00b1\u00c3\u00a2)regularly said in Buddhist literature to be accessible to great meditators. Here, D\u00c3\u00b4gentakes up the famous story of a Zen master&#8217;s test of the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guided-meditation","category-meditation-techniques","category-zen-buddhist-meditation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Whattsa Who&#039;sa Bodhisattva? - (MORE) The Virtue of Mystical Powers - Treeleaf Zen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whattsa Who&#039;sa Bodhisattva? - (MORE) The Virtue of Mystical Powers - Treeleaf Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More of the Bodhisattva Virtue of Miraculous, Mystical Powers (bala) In the Tashints\u00c3\u00bb (Penetration of Other&#8217;s Minds) portion of the Sh\u00c3\u00b4b\u00c3\u00b4genz\u00c3\u00b4, the subject is mental telepathy, one of the supernormal powers (abhij\u00c3\u00b1\u00c3\u00a2)regularly said in Buddhist literature to be accessible to great meditators. 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Here, D\u00c3\u00b4gentakes up the famous story of a Zen master&#8217;s test of the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html","og_site_name":"Treeleaf Zen","article_published_time":"2009-09-22T00:10:19+00:00","author":"Jundo Cohen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html","name":"Whattsa Who'sa Bodhisattva? - (MORE) The Virtue of Mystical Powers - Treeleaf Zen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-22T00:10:19+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-22T00:10:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/c25489413be73e43628d544c75b1b5aa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/09\/whattsa-whosa-bodhisattva-mo.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Whattsa Who&#8217;sa Bodhisattva? &#8211; (MORE) The Virtue of Mystical Powers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/","name":"Treeleaf Zen","description":"Guided meditation with Zen Buddhist teacher Jundo Cohen","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/c25489413be73e43628d544c75b1b5aa","name":"Jundo Cohen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f56\/f56e4ade27409ea229290b207b20157ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f56\/f56e4ade27409ea229290b207b20157ex96.jpg","caption":"Jundo Cohen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/author\/jundo"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}