"Bodhi Originally Has No Tree"

Photo by Kuno Schweizer on Unsplash

---

Hello Spark Zen Listeners!

This episode is a Dharma talk I offered at the Hartford Street Zen Center; my understanding of Case 29 in the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan) koan collection. Legend has it that it’s the first teaching of Huineng (638-713), the Sixth Zen Ancestor, upon emerging from the forest after years of hiding from his adversaries. To learn more about the Sixth Ancestor you can read these previous posts: No Wind, No Flag, No Mind and It is Your Mind that Moves. Below is one translation of this case:

Case 29 in the Gateless Gate
The wind was flapping a temple flag, and two were having an argument about it.
One said, "The flag is moving."
The other said, "The wind is moving."
They argued back and forth but could not reach the truth.
The sixth patriarch [Huineng] said, "It is not the wind that moves. It is not the flag that moves. It is your mind that moves."
The two monks were stuck with awe.

Below is the verse of understanding that the Fifth Ancestor’s top disciple offered that was later “bested” by Huineng’s verse:

The body is the bodhi tree,

The body is the bodhi tree,

The mind is like a clear mirror.

At all times we must strive to polish it,

And must not let the dust collect.

Here is Huineng’s verse demonstrating his understanding and leading to the Fifth Ancestor’s transmitting him as his Dharma heir:

Bodhi originally has no tree,

The mirror(-like mind) has no stand.

Buddha-nature (emptiness/oneness) is always clean and pure;

Where is there room for dust (to alight)?

---