Inspiration, Ishvara Pranidhana and Zen

Jim Tarran

Ch’an or Zen is a school or Buddhism developed first in India, China then Japan. It is recognisable by its pragmatic, uncompromising approach to truth. Its spirit connects closely with the yogic teaching of Ishvara pranidhana (dedication or surrender to god). Although Buddhism is a non-theistic tradition, the two traditions (yoga and Buddhism) are pointing at the same place, that is a spacious attitude, and a mind that accepts and allows reality, without attachment or entanglement, from where a sense of inner guidance and wisdom springs up.

The term Ishvara pranidhana could also be translated as surrender to your deepest nature, that part of you that is non-personal, not learned or conditioned, and so on some levels, could not be described as one’s self at all. The sensation, however, is local, that is tangible, as a present experience within one’s own space. Because of the non-personal, universal experience, this wisdom feels like it runs equally within and without us, and at this point it is easy to see why expressions such as ‘God’ would be used to point to this contactable, intelligent, supportive layer of one’s self. It is that which elevates one from the compulsive, unconscious nature of personal conditioning. Here then by way of inspiration are a few quotes from some Ch’an or Zen tradition.

‘As to the dharma [teaching, path], this is transmitted from heart to heart and the recipient must realize it by his own efforts,

Hui-neng

‘The Dharma goes on forever and never abides in anything. You must not, therefore, be attached to nor abandon any particular phase of it. To sit yourself into Buddha is to kill the Buddha. To be attached to the sitting posture is to fail to comprehend the essential principle.’

Nan-yueh Huai-jang (677-744)

‘Wu says that the term he translated as “Self-So” is the Chinese for the Sanskrit “Bhutatathata”, which corresponds to the Eternal “Tao”, the Hindu “Brahman”, and the Old Testament “I am That I Am”. This is a remarkable distinction, as Wu comments, unlike that of the lesser “unitive” experience of Cosmic Consciousness. While HE is I, I am not HE. God is more myself than myself. This is the distinction between the Atman and the Brahman, between the True Man of Tao and the Eternal Tao.’

Tung-shan Liang-chieh (807-869)

‘Great Tao is perfectly empty and free of all barriers; it defies all thought and meditation… All that you need is to let the mind function and rest in its perfect spontaneity. Do not set it upon contemplation or action, nor try to purify it. Without craving, without anger, without sorrow or care, let the mind move in untrammeled freedom, going where it pleases…’

Tao-hsin (Fourth Patriarch)

Quotes

In this life, in this life, in this life,
In this, oh sweet life:
We’re (we’re coming in from the cold);
We’re coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in),
Coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in),
Coming in from the cold.

It’s you - it’s you - it’s you I’m talkin’ to -
Well, you (it’s you) - you (it’s you) - you I’m talking to now.
Why do you look so sad and forsaken?
When one door is closed, don’t you know other is open?

— Bob Marley