Expert: Joe McSorley - 3/7/2011

Question
Good morning Mr McSorley, How may I set up the right conditions to awaken in this lifetime? And what signs might there be that will signal that I am going in the right direction?
Thank you, sir.

Answer
Hello Lauren,
  Yours is a good question but it’s like asking ‘how do I set up the right conditions to succeed at any particular goal’.   I suppose the first thing is to ask yourself why you want to do this; do you have some driving existential force eating away at you, are you just curious, is it something that resonates with you?  I’d like to refer to the story of Bodhidharma and his encounter with Hui Ka.  This is the beginning of Zen/Chan in China and although might be partly myth it still conveys the truth of the situation.  Hui Ka comes to Bodhidharma’s cave and wait for him outside.  Bodhi doesn’t come out.  Days pass and it snows and it’s up to Hui Ka’s waist.  Finally Bodhidharma comes out and asks, “ What is it you want”?  Hui Ka replies, “My heart/mind is not at ease”. (Generally translated as ‘I have great existential anxiety”.)  Bodhi says, “The way is long and difficult”.  With that Hui Ka takes the sword from his waist and cuts off his left arm and hands it to Bodhi. Bodhi then says, “What is it you want’? And Hui Ka says, “My heart/mind is not at ease”.  Bodhi says, “Hand it to me that I might pacify it”.  With that Hui Ka becomes awakened.
  This might sound like a bizarre story but the point of is it that to seek the answer takes great determination and arduous work.  There are some people in the course of history that have awakened rather quickly and spontaneously but generally their story contains the idea that they, at some point, went through great fear and thought they were dying before they awakened.  In any case for the majority of people it appears to take a long time of hard work culminating in an instant pure awakening.  Sort of like the overnight sensation that took 10 years to get there.  So Bodhi let Hui Ka know it was difficult and Hui showed he was up to the task.  In fact for him to come to the cave in the first place shows that he was already in the process of dealing with his own suffering.  He had spent a long time struggling and finally came to this place where he might get an answer.  Bodhi gives him nothing but rather demands him to present that which is suffering; who is it that came here, what is the heart/mind you speak of?  Note he did not tell him to meditate, be mindful or to do koan practice, all hallmarks of Zen today, what he told him to do was to face who he was.  This is the essence of self-inquiry.
   Let’s now throw out the idea of Zen, the concept, the practice and the history and face what this is all about.  It is to know who the self is, who am I?  The root of this is self-inquiry; who is it that was born and will die?  Who projects there is a God, heaven, hell or rebirth?  When did you/I come into being, not when was the baby born but when did you first realize that you were you?  What makes you in fact you?  It is when these questions take root in you and a deep and thoroughgoing manner that you begin on your path to answer them.  There is no prescribed way to do this although that is exactly what Zen schools do; set prescribed ways.  In a sense they are attempting to create an artificial existential crisis in the hope a real one arises.  Think of it this way; you can go to medical school because you want to learn how to practice medicine but if you go to medical school because you have cancer and want to cure it you would be a lot more motivated to work at it.  If your desire for awakening is driven by some deep yearning or personal suffering you are more likely to go at it in a more efficacious manner.
   People are set on this path for a myriad of different reasons.  It might be because you really want to know what love is or how time begins, what history is or in my case, you try to grasp infinity.  This occurred to me when I was 11 years old and I had no awareness that there was this thing called Zen or awakening.  There are different things that trigger the quest but they all have one thing in common; who is the self that seeks the answer?  I have no idea what your motivation is or how you are driven but no matter what it is the conditions will occur when you realize that you yourself is the source of the problem.  That the very mind that seeks awakening is the mind that prevents you from awakening.  So you set the conditions by your own personal deep self-inquiry.   You can of course facilitate this by reading about others who went through this.  People like Ramana Mahareshi, Bankei, D.T. Suzuki, Sri Nisargadatta, Masao Abe, Zenkei Shibayama, Umon, Richard DeMartino and others.  Unfortunately there is a plethora of new age Zen feel good books out there that far out number the good ones so it is difficult to find the best ones.  I once stood in a ‘spiritual’ bookstore with Masao Abe sensei and we were standing in the Eastern philosophy aisle, which had hundreds of books, and I asked him to pick out the good ones.  Out of the hundreds he picked two.
   So Lauren, you set the conditions by how much you are driven.  What are the conditions to become a concert violinist or professional athlete?  How do you get to Carnegie Hall?   Practice!
    Your next question if difficult to answer.  I know people that have sought for years and had no insight and it appeared that nothing was happening.  One day without warning or expectation they transform because a bird sang or they dropped their keys.  Other people will have deep insights that although transient will forever alter their outlook on life and drive them to an authentic awakening.  People in all walks of life can come upon this without realizing they were setting up the conditions.  There is a wonderful story by Jane Goodall about this in her book, “Through a Window”.  She is observing chimps not seeking awakening yet something happened, if only momentarily, that affected her way of seeing.   You might have many insights that drive you or you might have none, there is no way of knowing.  Beware that the so-called ‘aha’ moments that Zen teachers talk about having over and over again are from the side of the ego, not from awakening.  That which has the ‘aha’ is that which is the problem.  Many people are pacified by these moments thinking they are real insights but they are just the ego easing up for a moment only to be reestablished as strongly as ever.  If you look at the paintings of the early monks there is a look of grim determination and perseverance.  Today the standard Buddhist look is a big grin as if it is suppose to represent the person is awakened ….or perhaps delusional.
  Good luck to you in your quest whatever you do.  I hope I have helped you.  Take care,
        Joe