i wanted to clarify something.
first there is kensho.
then there is enlightenment or completing a koan course [which i think is the ten faiths, resolute faith that does not backslide, sudden enlightenment and seeing one's true nature]. what is the equivalent in soto?
and some proportion of people [usually three or four for each teacher] who are enlightened under a master and receive dharma transmission from them.
is that right? at what point might one arouse bodhicitta?
thanks for an answers...
With respect _/|\_, this is somewhat scrambled up.
first there is kensho.
No “first” about it. In one way we can say first there is "sho" (nature, 性) as we all come from the root of our nature, then there is "kensho" (seeing the nature, 見性), when after the trip through delusion (called growing up and being socialized) we are able to see our nature, but even that conceptualization is too time bound to be grasped literally, because time itself is our nature and seeing time in its true suchness is kensho, too.
In terrms of self-consciousness, first is ignorance. For without ignorance there is no arising of the function of self-awareness or self-consciousness. There is no "one" or "first" until discrimination arises, and the acceptance of discrimination at its literal face value is what is ignorance. And ignorance is a parent to kensho, for without the ignorance of self-consciousness there is no birth of kensho.
In terms of practice, before seeing the nature (kensho) there comes all the various intimations, suggestions, and intuitions of the nature which arouse the faith to look for the nature, and these are usually called the beginnings of bodhicitta (heart-mind of enlightenment). The encouragement of bodhicitta is called the arousal of bodhicitta.
then there is enlightenment or completing a koan course [which i think is the ten faiths, resolute faith that does not backslide, sudden enlightenment and seeing one's true nature].
“Completing a koan course” is not synonymous with enlightenment, and vice versa. I’m not clear what the list (from the ten faiths to seeing one’s true nature) is supposed to represent. Is it being suggested that each of the items of this list is an equivalent of enlightenment or that the list represents the stages to enlightenment or what?
Like the word “love” that can be applied to our feeling for a piece of chocolate cake or to our most cherished intimate relationship, the word “enlightenment” has a range of application. Here is one system of four degrees of enlightenment: (1) bodhi (enlightenment), (2) sambodhi (evened or leveled enlightenment, (3) samyak sambodhi (unified and leveled enlightenment, and (4) annutara samyak sambodhi (unexcelled unified and leveled enlightenment).
Most people’s initial kensho is usually just to the first degree, but in some cases can penetrate even to the third degree, but it takes sustained repetitions of kensho to actualize the fourth degree of being unexcelled, i.e., nothing more supreme. In Buddha’s life story, this sustained repetition of kensho is told through the story of Buddha’s deepening of his awakening over several weeks immediately following his initial awakening at seeing the morning star, and in those weeks assaying how awareness functions at all levels of consciousness as his meditations ran through the various [i]jnanas[/i]. Only after this ultimate degree of bodhi realization can it be said that one has realized annutara samyak sambodhi.
It looks like you are equating inka--the certification given upon completing training to be a fully independent teacher--with enlightenment, and that is thin ice at best.
what is the equivalent in soto?
I’ll let the Soto teachers be more specific on the procedural aspects of Soto Dharma transmission, but essentially, the enlightenment in all Zen lineages is only one enlightenment, as it is the enlightenment of the one mind of true suchness, or alternatively the true suchness of the one mind. The distinctions of how the practical “churchy” affairs of “Dharma transmission” for the maintenance of the institution of Zen are concerned and conducted are of secondary importance at best, compared to having a Dharma transmission. So there are differences in how different Zen lineages bestow “Dharma transmission” for the sake of continuing their lineage, but those differences are superficial. Dharma transmission is “bestowed” by some in “pieces” or “stages” and by others all at once. Dharma transmission is a worldly expression that is for the benefit of human beings living in ignorance in order to give us the faith of bodhicitta.
The Dharma itself is not “transmitted,” in the same sense that Yunmen (J. Ummon) said “I didn’t say there is no Zen, but in all of the Great Tang there are no Zen Masters.” Though we speak of the Dharma being historically transmitted from master to master, and from country to country, the True Dharma is not something that comes and goes from India to China or across the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. The Dharma is ubiquitous like the atmosphere, sky, Earth, or space depending on the metaphorical context.
and some proportion of people [usually three or four for each teacher] who are enlightened under a master and receive dharma transmission from them.
There are no number requirements. It is said that if a teacher finds one-half of a student to whom the Dharma is transmitted, that is enough, but of course it is better to find a single student who is twice the teacher. Some Zen masters found no one they had confidence in to transmit the Dharma so their lineage terminated with their death. Other rare teachers had 70, 100, or more Dharma transmissions. It is told that Mazu Daoyi (J. Baso Doitsu) had up to 139 Dharma heirs.
is that right? at what point might one arouse bodhicitta?
As discussed above, the bodhicitta arises spontaneously in intuitions and intimations and so the point to “arouse” it is to encourage it when it arises. Any remembrance of (i.e., turning the heart-mind toward) bodhicitta is the arousal of bodhicitta. Turning awareness toward “Who is the one remembering bodhicitta” is one style of koan method of arousing bodhicitta. Reciting the Nembutsu is another way of arousing bodhicitta as long as the focus of the recitation is turned around to “Who is the one reciting Buddha’s name.”
In the sense that enlightenment at the root is birthless, so is bodhicitta birthless at our root and thus is never lost or destroyed. But in our ignorance we forget about the root and travel the dark roads of birth and death. Any remembrance or reflection of bodhi while traveling on the dark roads is an arousal of bodhicitta.
_/|\_
Gregory
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