cultivating the empty field

zazoom on tuesday 22^nd of july 2025

Carl: So, good morning again. Do you hear me clearly? Okay. Because that was a problem some weeks ago: I talked, and it was just some static coming out of the speakers. Good. So, Axel, good morning.

Axel: Morning. I'm in Berlin.

Carl: In Berlin? Okay. I was born in Berlin.

Axel: Ah. Great.

Carl: So we are in Germany, Mozambique, Egypt, Portugal, and France — almost France. So, I will communicate my text. I have prepared some words from Master Hongchi. He lived in China, in the 12th century, allmost a contemporary of Dogen, and he was one of the greatest advocates for the practice of silent illumination. At that time, the practice of silent illumination was in fierce competition with the koan Zen of Master Rinzai, different approaches to realize emptiness, non-ego.

The text I read today is called Cultivate the Empty Field. It is written by Hongchi, in Japanese he is called Wanshi Shogaku. Two weeks ago, I read another text from Hongchi Admonition for Zazen here in our weekly meeting. Dogen recited this text also in the Shobogenzo These texts are highly esteemed in the Soto sect, just as Hongchi is also the author of the poem Silent Illumination. So, I will first read this text now and finish with the last part of the poem Silent Illumination. This practice is called Shikantaza in Japan, and it's what we do in fact. We concentrate on sitting in bare being and on the respiration, and keep the mind vigilant and open.

So the following text is about this bright, boundless field.

It is a fantastic text, because Hongchi explains it so clearly. It seems to be a manual, a technical instruction manual.

The text goes as follows:

The field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You have to purify, cure, grind down, brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. Utter emptiness has no image. Upright independence does not rely on anything. Just expand and illuminate the original truth, unconcerned by external conditions. Accordingly, we are told to realize that not a single thing exists.

Not a single thing exists permanently. This is the teaching of the Buddha, in other words, that our world is a dream, a flickering lamp, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a phantom. The DIAMOND SUTRA ends with those lines.

So accordingly, we are told to realize that not a single thing exists. In this field, birth and death do not appear. The deep source, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. The whole affair functions without leaving traces in mirrors, without obscurations. Very naturally, mind and dharmas emerge and harmonize.

The clear mind, our awareness, and all dharmas, all the phenomena emerge naturally and harmonize with eachother.

Very naturally, mind and dharmas emerge and harmonize. An ancient said that non-mind enacts and fulfills the way of non-mind. Enacting and fulfilling the way of non-mind, finally you can rest. Proceeding, you are able to guide the assembly. With thoughts clear, sitting silently, wander into the center of the circle of wonder. This is how you must penetrate and study.

The practice of true reality is simply to sit serenely in silent introspection. When you have fathomed this, you cannot be turned around by external causes and conditions. This empty, wide-open mind is subtly and correctly illuminating, spacious and content. Without confusion from inner thoughts of grasping, effectively overcome habitual behavior and realize the self that is not possessed by emotions.

You have to be broad-minded, whole without relying on others. Such an upright, independent spirit can begin not pursuing degrading situations. Here you can rest and become clean, pure, and lucid. Bright and penetrating, you can immediately return, accord, and respond to deal with events. Everything is unhindered. Clouds gracefully floating up to the peaks, the moonlight glittering, flowing down mountain streams. The entire place is brightly illumined and spiritually transformed, totally unobstructed and clearly manifesting responsive interactions, like box and lid or arrow points meeting. Continuing, cultivate and nourish yourself to enact maturity and achieve stability. If you accord everywhere with thorough clarity and cut off sharp corners without dependence on doctrines, you can be called a complete person. So we hear that this is how one on the way of non-mind acts. But before realizing non-mind, we still have great hardship.

So that is the last phrase of this text, "Cultivate the Empty Field." Before realizing non-mind, which seems to be the basis of our practice, I say the basis, not the goal, the original state, non-mind. The white sheet of paper without words written on, habits. Before realizing no mind, we still have great hardship.

So I read parts the poem of "Silent Illumination," what Hongchi wrote in the 12th century, short before Dogen came to China from where he exported finally the teaching of silent illumination, what is called Shikantaza in Japan and is the foundation of the Soto sect.

the poem goes as follows:

at last through the door one emerges,
the fruit has ripened on the branch.
only the silence is the ultimate teaching,
only this illumination, the universal response. the response is without effort,
 the teaching is not heard with the ears.
throughout the universe, all things emit light and speak the Dharma.
they testify to each other,
 answering each other's questions. mutually answering and testifying,
responding in perfect harmony.
when illumination is without serenity,
distinctions will be seen.
mutually testifying and answering, giving rise to disharmony. if within serenity illumination is lost,
all will become wasteful and secondary.
when silent illumination is complete,
the lotus will blossom,
the dreamer will awaken. the hundred rivers flow to the ocean,
the thousand mountains face the loftiest peak.
like the goose preferring milk to water,
like a busy bee gathering pollen.
when silent illumination reaches the ultimate,
I carry on the original tradition of my sect. this practice is called silent illumination.
it penetrates from the deepest to the highest.

I thank you for listening.

Group Discussion:

Gerry Rickard: Thank you, Carl. It's not a view, per se, it's just a... just an observation or confirmation of things. Your text, I think, just using the word "silent" from silent illumination, just reinforced the importance of that silence, that pure awareness before thought, before conceptions, perceptions, that this is our practice of going back to this place. This is the silence from which everything appears. And I'm glad you brought it up, because when we talk about Shikantaza, the word "silence" is very rarely used. But for me, this is the core, this is the root, this is the source of what is our true nature, this silent place of awareness. So, yeah, I'd just like to thank you for sort of bringing that back up, the importance of the silent place. The silence that is the source of everything, is behind everything. And just to get your views on it, Carl, if I may, I've read a little bit about Chan and silent illumination, but just if you could clarify the... you have the silent and you have the illumination together, obviously, but what is... does that refer to the luminous mind? Is that what Chan Buddhism is referring to? The luminosity of the mind as well as the silence?

Carl: This is a question?

Gerry Rickard: Yeah.

Carl: In my experience, the Chinese way, as I practiced with Chan Master Sheng Yen, is more a determined practice on these things. He always said, "Bring the mind from the scattered state to the one mind." This he called samadhi; we are concentrated and the mind is bright from not being disturbed. But this one mind, he said, has to fall off — what Dogen calls shinjin datsuraku, to cast off body and mind. It is not the goal of just sitting happily and concentrated. I mean, if it comes to the goal, we forget the goal, but it is the way to non-ego. It's a way to emptiness. This is to non-mind. What is also said in the text: "non-mind acts". It says... "An ancient said non-mind enacts and fulfills the way of non-mind." So if reality is non-mind, if reality is clarity without form, as it is said, "where nothing exists," this is a heavy thing to understand, to digest, because we are completely bound to existence. We come here to meet, to talk, afterwards we go in the kitchen to make a coffee, we work and... but our practice means actively going to non-mind. When I practiced with Deshimaru, the Japanese style is maybe more "let it happen". Wait and see. It can seem a bit lazy. We just sit there and wait. But it's not this. There has to be the continuity. In this continuity are the obstacles. Allways come back to Zazen. Then it can happen automatically, unconsciously when we do a retreat of five days, that the obstacles or our views, our habits... habits, habits are the great obstacles, they vanish. They go. So this, I would say, might be a different approach. The Chinese way seems to be more like this text, structered, step by step. When we read Dogen's texts, he's always citing and quoting other masters, ancient stories, examples of the masters. And this one, this text is very accurate in how we should be, how we should practice. Makes it almost difficult, but also very clear. So this is for me a bit the difference, but it's not a difference, in fact. It is a different approach, different view. As if you have a glass, you can... it is always a view. You can see from the right side, you can see from the left side. It is a question of the view. Also when we talk, your view, my view, Hamid's view, Ahmed's view, it fertilizes. It is a kind of... yeah, it is all the dharmas what emerge in the mind but the mind does not take position, it stays empty. We fight so much for our views. This is an advice: have a clear mind which is not moving and see the different views passing, all the dharmas, there's no difference. This is how I see it, but... but. This is how I see it, no but...

Carl: Axel, in Berlin, is this the first time you come to our meeting?

Axel: Yes, Hamid invited me to this meeting. I met him some months ago on a silent meditation week in Bali.

Carl: So you are part of the practitioners.

Axel: Yes. I'm happy to be here today for the first time.

Carl: Very nice. You have a stable practice in Berlin? You have a group?

Axel: No. No, I don't at the moment. So I'm practicing on my own every day. But to be honest, I haven't looked for a sangha in Berlin at the moment. Eventually I will do, but I'm happy to be here.

Carl: Good. Thank you for coming.

Axel: Yeah, thank you for having me. So, what I would ask is like, about this, from what you were talking about — this going from, like, coming to serenity first to then tap into the emptiness or vastness. I think it was like that in the text. So, how would you describe this dynamic between serenity and emptiness?

Carl Freude: Very good question. I think it's very clearly written in the text when he says, "If serenity"... I hope I get it now. "If illumination is without serenity, all the differences are seen clearly, and we go into fruitless discussions also inside ourselves." We go into discussions, because if there is no serenity, there is just illumination, there is clearness, but without... now I interpret, I can read the text quickly afterwards, but I interpret first. If there is serenity without clearness, there is just, I would interpret, a sleepy state of quietness. These two things, serenity and clarity are, in fact, necessary, and they are a result of one another. It can happen when a certain quietness is installed. It begins with quietness and we can perceive clearly, because we sit quietly without moving, and there are a lot of disturbances, lots of noises. There are the... all the stuff in our brain, our mind, emotions, physical pain, etc., and there are external things like wind, weather, noise. But by clearness, by clearly looking at them, they become quiet. Suddenly we see their existence instead of seeing their effect on us. Maybe it's just this. I speak from my own experience now: we see that the phenomena exist. We see the weather, but we don't say it is cold or warm. We don't make... we don't react to it. And with this clarity, what comes,that things just are, outside of our views, independent of our habit to react to them, comes a moment of clarity. And this clarity is reflected in the silence. So, as he says in fact, "mutually answering and testifying, responding in harmony. When illumination is without serenity, distinctions will be seen." And distinctions are our view. Buddha said in fact, that also is a very strong phrase, "With characteristics, when there are characteristics, there is error." There is absence of the whole. In the moment when we see characteristics, we don't see the whole anymore. What is completely necessary in our daily life, because with these distinctions, we function socially. But to face the whole, emptiness, we go out of social life, out of our habits. The monks are the home-leavers. They left family and social context. "So when illumination is without serenity, distinctions will be seen, mutually testifying and answering, giving rise to disharmony." We know. We know that is the daily life. You have an opinion, I have an opinion, we discuss who is right. This is the egocentric aspect. "If within serenity illumination is lost, all will become wasteful and secondary."

Ahmed: I just wanted to add maybe just a small thing. I think it was from Dogen himself in Bendōwa, and he said, "Because practice within realization occurs at the moment of practice, the practice of beginner's mind is itself the entire original realization," which I always find quite an inspiring teaching, because it keeps it always at that point. There's no gap between the current practice and complete enlightenment, and each moment of sincere practice is itself the manifestation of Buddha nature. I was reading this some time, a few days ago, so when you were speaking about serenity and sincerity, that beginner's mind and the constancy of beginner's mind resonated with me again. So I wanted to share that with you as a part of our talk. Thank you.

Carl: Thank you. Dogen also said every step is necessary on the Way. The first step is as necessary as the 127th.

Carl: I think on the very last phrase, that before realizing emptiness, there lies a lot of hardship. This is a very important thing for me in the moment of practice. It's a very important thing to see that our obstacles, that my obstacles, are in fact a self-created thing. This, I mean, it's a paradox. You fall into your obstacles, and at the same moment you see that they are self-created. This makes it even harder, that makes our practice even harder: to face this, and not just to mourn and go to a friend... and not just to complain — in fact, to transform our obstacles. I don't know if I make myself understandable. It doesn't mean that we should not go and complain and say, "I feel bad," and share our misery. It's not this. But to feel that our misery is also self-created misery. This is a hard nut to crack, I would say. And wonderful when it cracks. It is not an intellectual act.

Ahmed: I think it's the hardest nut to crack, because we fall into it, then realize it's self-created. However, we fell into it, and this definitely makes the practice harder. And the will, I think, that is required to sit through these hardships is quite... yes, is quite challenging at times.

Carl: Yeah, that's right.

Gerry Rickard: Isn't that the illumination part of our big mind, as Suzuki said? You know, to be aware of this, to be... to know that this is happening and these thoughts are there or these emotions are there. You know, you have that initial awareness of something, and then you have the awareness that you are aware of something. Just two different things. So I guess that for me, that brings the silence and the illumination together. You know, the deep silence of awareness and the illumination of being aware that you are aware, deeply knowing the nature of the mind.

Carl: And you recognize this during your practice? Or it is a thought afterwards?

Gerry Rickard: I recognize it during my practice. Sure. Yeah.

Carl Freude: I understand.

Gerry Rickard: Again, we're putting terms and names to something that's unnamable.

Carl Freude: Yes, we are talking now.

Gerry Rickard: Mmm.

Carl: But I feel it very difficult sometimes to turn the back to attachment, to turn the back to self-attachment, it's like mud on a moving soil. You say "me," to say "me" also is a disgrace. And then to say it is an illusion, nothing is real — it's a difficult thing. It is the practice. Though I know I have to go. Though I know I have to die. But it is the practice. No doubt. And as Ahmed said, it's a very difficult part then to sit through it, to practice through it, to see how it fades into emptiness.

Carl: So Axel, to you again, I'm interested. It was your first retreat you did with Hamid, the Bali retreat?

Axel: Yes. Yeah.

Carl Freude: For seven days?

Axel: Yes, for seven days.

Carl Freude: Difficult?

Axel: I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed the silence, to be honest. No, it was a very good time. There were definitely some hard days and so on, but, yeah... it was really good, to be honest. Like, I mean, in all different ways, but yeah, it was a very special experience for me and I think it definitely helped to deepen my practice.

Carl: The first touch is — "the first cut is the deepest," Rod Stewart wrote. It is maybe the first event when you meet the mind and see something that you never have thought about. This was my first experience with Zen.

Axel: Yeah, one nice story to the end of this retreat. On the last day, I was sitting outside and I was very deep with my emotions, you know, and everything, and all the stories that are underneath. And then I saw like a tree that was like cut off by a chainsaw. It was lying there and, yeah, I felt so heartbroken in a way. And then I stood up from my chair and then I walked around, and a new branch was growing out of this dead tree. And, yeah, this was a very impactful moment, and it really, you know, showed all the practice in a way that I went through and the practice itself. And, yeah.

Carl: So the view is new as the little sprout of the tree. There is no difference between view and Dharma. As it is written in the text, no difference between mind and phenomenon, there is no gap.

Axel: I have to tap now into my work reality.

Carl: Nice to see you, Axel. Come back next week.

Axel: Yeah.

Ahmed: Axel, I'd just like to ask you a quick question. I hope you don't mind. We take transcripts, recordings of our meetings, and we share it with the larger sangha. I hope that you'd be okay with us doing that as well, because you're new, so I thought I'd let you know first.

Axel: Yeah, thank you so much. It's absolutely fine. Great. Thank you so much. Great to meet you — Ahmed, Gerry and...It's actually your name, Freude (Joy — that's my Zoom name) ?

Carl: I got it from my sister, this program. She had it and her Zoom name was Freude. I didn’t change it. My name is Carl. Maybe it is time to change it, though it's a very good name — I mean, "joy." Joy is the base of our practice.

Ahmed: It's a happening.

Carl: The Buddha's way is to be joyful. So, as we know each other and I'm Carl, maybe I don't change it until next time.

Axel: Nice to meet you. So everyone, wish you a great week.

Carl: So we stop, we stop now together. Gerry, we stop, yeah? Nothing to say anymore for now. So, see you next week. Bye bye. Have a good week. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye.