Question
Hello. I listened to one of your kusen and wanted to understand what it means that we can think with our hands, or with a brick, a wall, or a car in the street.
Ed
Master Kosen’s answer
Master Wanshi tells us in his Zazenshin: "The essential pillar transmitted by every buddha and every patriarch." In other words: "The state of mind, or the posture of consciousness, through which we must practice zazen."
This posture of consciousness during zazen should be not to position ourselves in relation to the objective world, but instead to perceive the whole.
Master Wanshi says:
"Do not oppose circumstances, yet be illuminated.
Do not touch the object or the objective world, yet feel it.
This way of 'feeling' is necessarily natural and subtle..."
In other words:
"Shedding body and mind" means ceasing to position ourselves in relation to "the object," embodied first of all by our body and thinking mind.
Stop defining the universe in relation to objects, and begin perceiving objects in relation to ku, Japanese for "space."
This is putting into practice the understanding of "Shiki soku ze ku, ku soku ze shiki" from the Heart Sutra.
Kosen