Dae Gak - Upright With Poise and Grace: Coming Forward as You Are

At every mealtime,the master Chin-niu

would personallytake the rice bowl and do

a dance before thedoor of the dining room.

Laughing loudly,he would announce,

"Littlebodhisattvas, come and

eatyour rice!"

BLUECLIFF RECORD, CASE 74

Zen Master Chin-niu was aDharma heir of the great Ma-tsu. For over twenty years he would always offerthe main meal of the day, rice, to his monks. He would strike the mok-tak andhit the drum and laughing cry out, "Bodhisattvas, come eat!" What washis intention?

Rice is the essential food of abodhisattva. We all are bodhisattvas-in-training. We take as our food thealiveness of this moment. When we participate fully in this aliveness, we growin love and understanding. It is our intention to use this energy and insight inorder to be of service in this troubled world.

We call this great intentionour bodhisattva vow. The bodhisattva understands that all aspects of daily lifecan be transformed.

Sources of alienation andanxiety become manifestations of compassion and understanding. This alchemy ismade possible by the willingness to be in the aliveness of THIS moment without separatingin anger, fear or denial. As Soen Nakagawa Roshi said, "As bodhisattvas,we have the marvelous capacity to transform our miserable karma into ourwonderful dharma!"

This book is Zen Master Dae Gak'snourishing bowl of rice. It is the expression of a life of Zen practice,presented as a collection of deeply personal anecdotes and teachings on koancases, precepts, and The Four Great Bodhisattva Vows. These vows are thecentral theme of the book.

Zen Master Dae Gak's intimatedharma contemplations remind us that with a clear mind and open heart we havethe innate capacity to reflect and be what comes before us and act accordinglywith kindness. Zen Master Dae Gak calls this marvelous functioning "sittingupright with poise and grace" in the middle of whatever comes along.

Of course, the poisons ofgreed, anger, and denial rise endlessly in our minds and in the minds of allpeople who have ever lived. Certainly Chin-niu had to deal with them. He alsomade the choice to abandon these three poisons for a life of helping andnourishing others.

Over the years I have beennourished by many dharma friends, including my life-long dharma friendship withZen Master Dae Gak. We met in the seventies at the Providence Zen Center where Iwas a disciple of Zen Master Seung Sahn. Zen Master Dae Gak was a clinicalpsychologist and student of Soen Nakagawa Roshi. Soon he became a disciple ofZen Master Seung Sahn. For over thirty years we have journeyed through thepeaks and valleys of Zen practice, at times astonished at the unimpeded beautyof the view, and at times walking through the valley on a moonless night. Inthe midst of it all there has always been his paradoxical mix of humor,irreverence, and steadfast determination to create and maintain an environmentfor Zen practice.

In that spirit he has become atruly unique lineage holder in this ancient tradition. He is the founder andabbot of the Furnace Mountain Zen Retreat Center in Kentucky. Its 800 acres ofwoodlands is one of the most pristine, beautiful, and cloistered Dharma practicecenters in the United States. This retreat center, his teachings, and his lifeof Zen study and practice are his offering to us all.

A monk asked Ch'ang Ch'ing, "Whenthe man of old [Chin-niu] said, 'Little bodhisattvas, come and eat your rice,'what was his meaning?" Ch'ang Ch'ing said, "That was a joyful kind ofgrace before the meal."

This record of a life of Zen isa heartfelt offeringa steaming bowl of nutritious rice. May it fill your bellyand send you forward into your life, with energy and possibility.

ZEN MASTER BOMUN