Is it the flag or the wind that moves - or your mind?
"One monk said that the wind was moving,
while another monk said the flag was moving. They argued on and on, so I went
forward and said, ‘It is not the wind that is moving, and it is not the flag that is moving. It is your minds that are moving.’"
Huineng (638-713), Sixth Patriarch of Zen
Buddhism
The wind is a great teacher. Just like Buddha, Ajahn Chah or Zen Master Huineng, it teaches us the Dharma.
Unlike those teachers it doesn't use words, however, nor does it have what we
would normally define as a language to communicate its wisdom. Yet, in its own
subtle way it's constantly teaching us the way things are, using what we might
name 'the language of the wind.'
We might understandably wonder what form this
language takes if it doesn't involve words. Well, we humans use languages that
have no words when we pull a face to indicate displeasure, produce or listen to
music to inspire pleasure, or construct a building in a specific style. (A Gothic cathedral with all its angels and devils communicates very different
messages to us than a modern, shiny hospital. Although the inhabitants of both
would claim to deeply care about people.)
So, how exactly does the wind teach us? We
can't even see the wind, although we can hear it, especially clearly in a gale,
for example. We can also feel it on our skins & in our hair as it blows
past us. And, although we can't see it directly, we can see the effects of the
wind, which I am enjoying as I write these words, occasionally glancing up to
see the treetops waving back and forth as the gentle breeze plays with them.
Now, accepting that all this is the 'language'
of the wind, why would interpret it as pertaining to the Dharma, particularly.
Surely, we can understand this language in a variety of ways, not necessarily
in terms of the Dharma. This is true, as it it of anything in life. We can look
at the surface of an act involving thought, word, or deed and understand it in
that specific context, so that those rustled trees over there simply mean that
it's a windy day. But, we can look a little deeper into the implications of
what we are seeing, and this what we do when we listen to the Dharma rather than
to other aspects of life's many modes of communication.
Returning to those trees for a moment, I will
pause in this commentary - the wind manipulates them, and teaches of the
continual flux of this universe. They aren't still for a moment, swishing this
way and that, in a kind of existential dance. Sometimes they slow down, only to
speed up and become almost manic in their movements, all directed by the
invisible wind. This characteristic of the wind, that it is unseeable, speaks
of another important fact of life, which is that there are unseen forces at
work, which we are usually (if not constantly!) unaware of. They are not only
active in the wind, but also in everything else that exists in this wondrous
cosmos, including in these bizarre constructions that we call our bodies, and
which we normally (mistakenly, according to the Dharma), identify with.
Back to this present moment, and the wind
softly caresses the skin of this body that sits on the balcony typing with its
tapping fingers. It soothes the mind within this body, like an amorphous
masseuse tenderly kneading limbs and head. It teaches that the body is part of
nature, linked to it in invisible connections that include the wind's breath.
But, learning the Dharma is not all pleasant feelings, and when the wind blows
over those garments hanging from a clothes horse, annoyance arises in the mind.
This too, is a teaching, for it is the same wind that blows on those clothes
and this body. So, too, should the mind reflect the balance between what it
deems good and bad, for such ideas do not always correspond to the way the
world actually is.
Taking a moment to reflect on the quotation
from the Platform Sutra at the top of this piece, Huineng's wisdom shines forth
as if born on the wind itself, blowing away our delusion. He points to the
discriminating mind that will argue over just about anything, including whether
the wind is moving or those treetops over there are moving. Pointing directly
to the mind that is moving, Huineng brings our attention to that which never
moves, what he called our 'original face.' This face, we might call it
Buddha-face or even no-face, is what sees the waving trees; it is the space in
which those branches and leaves have their being.
All this talk of wind-blown trees takes me back
to my childhood and early teens when I used to gaze out of my bedroom window at
the tree in my family's front garden. Bathed in the yellow light of street
lamps, it was a real attention-grabber. Somewhat hypnotic in its movements, the
tree flowed in the wind, its disparate parts unified in a graceful undulation
of golden leaves. I would find my mind silenced in these moments, awareness tied
to the tree's fluctuations. A state of what Buddhism calls samadhi, or
concentration, would ensue. This was my meditation at that time, long before I
explored the teachings of Buddha. And, what the wind taught on those quiet
evenings long ago isn't so different from Buddha's own words of wisdom that
I later came to discover.
A bell tinkles in the wind, bringing attention
back from the mind's reveries and to this actual moment. It was the mind that
was moving after all! The shadow of a flag catches attention, reminiscent of an
early satori, or enlightenment, experience from my late teens, when a
fluttering plastic bag caught on a branch of a tree brought about a sudden
awakening. Each moment, which is of course this moment, is a chance to
glimpse, or better still rest in, this 'original face' that watches fluttering
leaves, bags, or banners. And those trees, that bell, or a fluid shadow can all
call to attention the Dharma, the way things really are, as they arise and
dissolve in this no-face, this 'Buddha Space.' Time to go 'inside' now, the
wind's getting cold!
For more on Zen Master Huineng, see here: Master Huineng on Meditation & Wisdom
For more on Ajahn Chah, see here: Ajahn Chah Day 2012
For more on Zen Master Huineng, see here: Master Huineng on Meditation & Wisdom
For more on Ajahn Chah, see here: Ajahn Chah Day 2012
