Zen and The Lay Practitioner

       Ladies and Gentleman in this corner we have Sariputra a monk who we all know and love. He has appeared in countless Theravadin sutra’s and is best known for his bumbling comic repartee with the Buddha and friends. He has decided to appear in one of the first Mahayana sutras, never a good idea, were he will reprise his role as the guy who always gets it wrong. He represents Theravadin Buddhism in this play.

         Now in the other corner we have Vimalakīrti, appearing for the first time in his role as the ideal Mahayanist lay practitioner and a contemporary of Gautama Buddha. The first records of this play are believed to be from around 100 CE. It appears to have had a very short run in India but to have been extremely popular for centuries in China and later Japan. That’s right folks the “VIMALAKIRTI SUTRA” is in town.

       This play is surely the foundation of so much that we know and love in modern Zen Buddhism. Here we have a non-monastic so enlightened virtually every one but Buddha is intimidated by him. Vimalakirti kicks doctrinal rear literally working his way through the Buddhist pantheon with ease, and get this he isn’t a monk or an ascetic. So along with the foundational Mahayanist teachings he for the first time demonstrates that Lay Buddhist can be more than cash donors for Buddhist monks.

         Then to top it off this layman will now teach the Dharma of non duality. Yes Zen lovers here is that now famous scene:



("Salutation to the Sangha").

“Then the crown prince Manjusri said to the Licchavi Vimalakirti, "We have all given our own teachings, noble sir. Now, may you elucidate the teaching of the entrance into the principle of nonduality!"

Thereupon, the Licchavi Vimalakirti kept his silence, saying nothing at all.

The crown prince Manjusri applauded the Licchavi Vimalakirti: "Excellent! Excellent, noble sir! This is indeed the entrance into the nonduality of the bodhisattvas. Here there is no use for syllables, sounds, and ideas."

When these teachings had been declared, five thousand bodhisattvas entered the door of the Dharma of nonduality and attained tolerance of the birthlessness of things. “

              That’s right Zen lovers he expounds non duality by his “silence”. And what about our friend Sariputra who after arguing Dharma with a Goddess who has been crashing at Vimalakirti’s house is rendered, you got it absolutely silent. Well could anything be more Zen than that, I ask you, wait! No don’t answer that.

              Now can we have a round of applause for the prototypical Zen master of the 21st century? Vimalakirti is a Mahayanist, he is a layman, yes folks he has a job and pays rent. And what is this guy into, that’s right non duality as he sits around the house in silence. As for our Theravadin hero Sariputra, well he has been taught the value of keeping his mouth closed.
            Now I know I don’t sit as much as my teachers want, but I am a laymen and after all Dogen said if you sit for five minutes a day your Buddha five minutes a day, didn’t he?  Well isn't it better to be Buddha for five minutes than not at all, but I digress.

You could say that Zen is the Vimalakirti school of Buddism, but if your really Zen, you won't say a word.

“The purpose of Zen Buddhism is to become deeply aware of the fact that the Buddha-nature is within and to develop it. When you sit in meditation with this realization or faith, the original enlightenment of the Buddha permeates your body and mind. Continued sitting perfects them. You are sitting in the same bodily position as the Buddha when he reached enlightenment, and you have the same Buddha-nature within you. Your mind cannot be separated from this sitting, and your meditation "becomes" that of the Buddha. Your life is like a diamond. Under the surface of the raw diamond is a precious jewel, but without polish it does not shine. The jewel is the Buddha-nature, and the polish is practice. The practice is both sitting in meditation and daily work.”    ---- Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka, Roshi
                    January 12, 1964
©August 10, 2000 Zenkai Taiun Michael J. Elliston.

          We laymen are the past present and future of Zen, we always have been and always will be. So cheer up sensei, we can not lose.

We will sit.