Bassui: An Arrow Flies Straight to Hell

"The mind is host, the body is guest."

Zen master and historical figure, Bassui was born in Japan in 1327. Rejected by his mother at birth, Bassui is recorded to have been raised by a family servant. At age 29 he became a monk, but he did not shave his head or wear robes; he did not recite Sutras, like other monks. His practice was the most simple practice. It can be called the practice of no practice. This was to be Bassui's Way throughout his life.

As a Zen master, Bassui was often questioned; often he gave reply. In one instance he was asked: "The spirit is this skin, this skin is the one spirit. Is this correct?"

Bassui replied affirmatively to the question.

"If so,' continued the questioner, 'who will become buddha after the body's dispersed to the four winds? Who will sink into the sea? What will be the reason for keeping the precept that prevents crime?"

To this Bassui replied, "If you continue holding this view, in which you deny cause and effect [karma], like an arrow, you will fly straight to hell. Do you have dreams?

Questioner: Yes.

Bassui: What do you usually see in your dreams?

Questioner: It's not always fixed. I usually see things that occur in my mind and through my body.

Bassui: The rising and sinking after death are also like that. All thoughts that come are by way of the four elements that comprise the physical body. Dreams in the night follow suit and appear in accordance to the good or bad thoughts of the day... An ancient said, 'You receive a body according to Karma, and your body in turn produces Karma. You should realize the continuity of the body in this life and in the next... If you truly understand this, then you cannot doubt the statement that the one spirit in this skin is the one spirit in that skin.

Questioner: Now I realize that the body and the mind are not separate. This being the case, the significance of 'seeing into one's Buddha nature' is relegated to the leaves and branches [of a tree]. If you simply stop doing bad deeds concerning your physical body, practice various good deeds, practice the precepts, and eliminate evil thoughts, will you then become a Buddha?

Bassui:
All thoughts are born of deluded ideas feelings [disordered thinking]. If you do not see penetratingly into your own nature, though you try to eliminate evil thoughts, you will be like the one who tries to stop dreaming without waking up. All evil deeds are rooted in deluded thoughts. If you cut out the roots, how can the leaves grow?... If he were a man who penetrated his own nature, how could he even think of committing a sin in which he breaks precepts?

On Right and Mistaken Paths

"If one not yet having attained true perception were to gather followers... discoursing from limited perception, he would become a demon and his followers hell-dwellers." --Bassui

Bassui writes, "The way of Zen began without the establishment of any sect. It is simply a religion that points to the original mind of all buddhas and ordinary people. The mind is nothing other than Buddha nature. To see this nature is what is meant by religious practice. When you realize your buddha nature, wrong relationships will disappear, will not be of concern, the dust of dharma will not stain you. This is what is called Zen. This real buddha is nothing other than the heart of all beings, the master of seeing, hearing, and perceiving."

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Misguided Students of the Way

Said Bassui, "They care only about their relation to the teacher and his name, not knowing whether he is a teacher of the Right or a misguided heretic. They count names, journeys to the East, West, North and South, and take pride in having met many teachers. Some may for example, place their faith in one place, spending their summer training there. During this summer period, however, they are just spending their time preparing for a pilgrimage in the Fall. Some may consider a summer and a winter place, counting the days. Others may hold onto sacred relics, secretly forming groups of three to five persons, discoursing upon inferiority or superiority among them... some burn their bodies, inflicting severe pain to their minds and bodies... Others ignore the laws of cause and effect, meeting others and desiring what they possess, they desire it for themselves. They love to talk Zen and wish only to be victorious in Zen combat. They talk of their long practice of Zen while they drag their juniors down the road of heresy."

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"Today's students of the Way go to teachers everywhere, but they don't want to penetrate all the way to the bottom of the great matter... They try to surpass others with great Zen stories and they collect paradoxical words and clever expressions from old masters. These are examples of the way of heretics." --Zen Master Bassui, 14th century Japan

The Precious Jewel

"Don't covet the leftovers of others while losing the precious jewel that hangs around your own neck."  --Zen Master Bassui

Prayer versus practice: As many others before and since him, the Zen Master Bassui wrote
"A monk is one who leaves the house of delusion. He is a liberated person. One who recites prayers from the sutras and performs various formal practices but does not have an alert mind and creative mind may well experience happiness and prosperity in his next life; if however one whose mind remains in this dull state, and who commits evil acts... will finally in his own body sink into hell."
So for this reason "foolish prosperity" can be called the enemy of all time."

A liberated person may not always recite invocations from the Sutras and may not perform memorial services, but all those who have contact with this one will eventually become believers in the teaching of liberation... That's why even in the teaching sects, the true purpose is studying the commentaries of the sutras and practicing the teachings set forth to attain Buddahood. paraphrased

Why so? the Simple mind asks. It seems that the Master seeks to instruct in the difference between belief and faith. Many of us see religion strictly in terms of belief. We are instructed and do seek to self-instruct in the tenets and the sutras of any given sect. We seek merit and we seek to learn prayers, yet Bassui insists that the one who is liberated may not always aspire to master these things and yet attain Buddhahood.

How so? It is because as Bassui also observes that belief without the conjunction of faith is insufficient to "leave the house of delusion." One must live those beliefs in a real, concrete way, the way of experience and then faith enters one's practice as community. The community of believers is Sangha. This practice life is as important as any idea one might read. It is "a precious jewel which hangs readily available about each person's neck."

The Buddhahood of Ordinary People

"Those whose karmic inclination led them on the right path, ended up realizing their true nature and became enlightened." --Mud and Water by Bassui, ed. by A. Braverman

Bassui notes that "the way of the lesser vehicle and path of expedient means, are all established as temporary dharmas... What ordinary person does not have karmic inclination for the Way?" Further, he writes, "there is no ice or snow apart from water, and the Buddhahood of ordinary people can be likened to snow and ice melting and becoming water. From the beginning nothing has ever been lost."

And because of "one mistaken thought -- I am ordinary -- they think that they cannot; enlightenment is difficult to realize." Even for those in who this thought becomes deeply embedded in their minds Bassui continues his talk by saying, "people who preach to others without clearly seeing into their own nature are like the blind leading the blind. This mind is nothing other than Buddha nature.

Amida Buddha, The Buddha of Light

" I have nothing to say. Even if I were to explain, people attached to the phenomenal world would not believe me; on the contrary, they would criticize the sutra."

--Bassui, Zen Master, 14th century Japan

Amida Buddha is the heart of Ch'an Buddhist faith and practice. Originating in Mahayana practice and revealed by the historical Buddha over 2,600 years ago, the name Amida is Japanese (from the ancient Sanskrit language) which means ‘Immeasurable Life and Light’ or Oneness.

Bassui wrote, "Amida means the Buddha nature of ordinary people. Upon realizing your true nature, eighty thousand delusions will change into eighty thousand wonderful meanings. These are referred to as Kwan Yin Bodhisattva and Seishi Bodhisattva and other sages."
Kwan Yin, or Kannon as the bodhisattva is also called, sometimes considered the Great Compassionate One, freely loving, and universal, assures spiritual liberation for all. By this living experience of love and compassion, no one is left behind.
Religions offer sacred or mythical stories so that ordinary people can understand that which is not visible to the eye. For example, there are stories of virgin births, crucifixions, visits by angels, ascensions through heavens and resurrections. Some may dismiss myths as false, or just nice little stories but in reality, myth serves as the medium by which our inner deep subconscious mind interacts with our outer conscious mind and world. Myths manifest themselves in a many ways, often most clearly in religious experience and rituals.

In The Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life, the main Ch'an Buddhist scripture, the historical Buddha tells Ananda, one of his chief disciples this sacred story, "There was a prince called Dharmakara, which means Storehouse of the Dharma, who like the true historical Prince Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamuni, renounced his royal position, and became a monk. His reason for pursuing the religious life was motivated by his great compassion and deep understanding for all suffering beings throughout the universe and time. Due to his compassion, Dharmakara declared 48 religious vows, the Primal Vows, creating a Pure Land that would liberate each and every suffering being throughout time and space." The Way was now open for the ordinary people of ordinary minds.

A Pure Land, "depends upon the purity of the mind," writes Bassui, "the appearance of the Amida buddha comes when the mind remains undisturbed... If you destroy all thoughts, your true nature being no mind, the resting mind, the most basic, empty mind, both pain and pleasure cease. This is what is referred to as the land of bliss... The physical body... is a temporary formation of the five aggregates."

The undisturbed mind is described by Bassui as a mind that is, "consisting of the four elements, having no individual form; when there is thus no individual form, the nature of the mind is as it is, and there is no aspect of disorder. This is called the one undisturbed mind as it is said in a sutra that the undisturbed, straightforward mind is the abode of the Buddha Way because there is no misconception there."

Bassui: The Sole Practice of Zen

Zen Master Bassui writes in the Book, Mud and Water, "clearly seeing into one's nature is called practice. And the seat that puts an end to analytic thoughts is called zazen...There is no gate through which demons and heretics can secretly enter... On perceiving that the five skandas are empty, one is saved from all kinds of pain and misfortune... If, while practicing, you have thoughts of gain... this kind of reason will immediately create demons inside of you, attracting demons from outside, and causing chaos within, like a stinking carcass attracts blowflies... You will very quickly lose sight of the seeds of the right karma."