Question
- Is mondo an exercise, an essential practice in the life of a
zazen practitioner, essential in the sense of avoiding
self-deception by checking one’s understanding with a master?
2) Must there be a question, or can we simply describe what is
happening, with the confusion of what is happening itself being the question?
3) Must the question be short?
4) Or are there no rules at all for mondo?
I am not asking questions about questions, but I would prefer
to ask what a mondo really is before I start asking you
my questions.
Thank you very much.
Shéhérazade
Master Kosen’s answer
It is indeed good to be corrected by a master, both in posture and state of mind. Mondo is an entirely traditional practice that can take place alone with the master in his room or during a grand ceremony in the Buddha hall. Generally answers are short and cutting. In modern times, they can be more explanatory and developed, or both at once: a very spontaneous, short answer appealing to intuition, and a more developed one that explores the subject further.
Electronic mondo is my invention. Of course I cannot answer every question, since I receive them in English, Spanish, and French and cannot spend too much time at my computer. But whenever I have free time, I answer the most interesting questions. Yours is one of them.
There are several categories of question.
Some people have not reflected at all on the value of being able to express a fundamental question. They ask something shallow and uninteresting just to test the machine and keep the ball rolling.
Others ask a sincere question to receive help, but here too the wording should be as simple and concise as possible, one question at a time.
Still others try to test the master or get noticed. They think Zen is an intellectual game they have mastered perfectly and cannot see how ridiculous they are.
Others are aggressive because I do not answer quickly enough. They are so self-centered they think I am a machine entirely at their ego’s disposal.
Then there are bodhisattvas’ questions: universal questions aimed at helping all existences. They allow the master to express something important for everyone.
All Buddhist sutras arise from Buddha’s answers to great bodhisattvas’ questions.
Thank you, Shéhérazade. You are a person of great depth.
Kosen