WHAT IS THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING -- MINDFULLY?

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Photo taken by the author.

As a lawyer I was trained to think logically and rationally. Part of ‘thinking like a lawyer’ is being able to draw appropriate conclusions and inferences from objective facts. Later, when I taught law for many years--I still do—I tried to instil in my students the importance of fact-finding, logic and reason.

Yet, after many setbacks and failures in my life, I am compelled to say this --- real, lasting happiness and peace of mind require the exercise of an altogether different type of mindset. Indeed, the logical and rational mind, and education itself, can be a real stumbling block on the path to satori (‘waking up’, ‘awakening’). The real problems in my life have never been solved by the application of logic and reason alone, and in some instances I am convinced that the problems were made worse by their application.

One real problem with applying logic and reason alone is that one is still working on the same level of the problem itself. As Albert Einstein pointed out, ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.’ What is needed, at least at times, is something supra-rational-- not irrational, but supra-rational. The ‘key’ to solving many problems in our lives transcends ordinary reason and logic. Many advocate the use of intuition, but uninformed intuition can be a real stumbling block as well. What are the characteristics of the supra-rational mind? Please read on.

Now, most of you would have heard of the Zen kōan, ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ The full version of the kōan goes something like this. The much-respected master of the major Kyoto temple of Kennin-ji was Mokurai (1854-1930) [pictured left]. He had a young protégé named Toyo who was only 12 years old. Toyo saw the older disciples visit Mokurai’s room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen (personal guidance with a Zen master) in which they were given kōans to stop mind-wandering. Toyo wished to do sanzen also.

‘Wait a while,’ said Mokurai. ‘You are too young.’ However, Toyo insisted, so the teacher finally consented. So, in the evening little Toyo went at the proper time to the threshold of Mokurai's sanzen room. He struck the gong to announce his presence, bowed respectfully three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master in respectful silence.

‘You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together,’ said Mokurai. ‘Now show me the sound of one hand.’ Toyo bowed and went to his room to consider this problem. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. ‘Ah, I have it!’ he proclaimed. The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hand, Toyo began to play the music of the geishas. ‘No, no,’ said Mokurai. ‘That will never do. That is not the sound of one hand. You've not got it at all.’

Thinking that such music might interrupt, Toyo moved his abode to a quiet place. He meditated again. ‘What can the sound of one hand be?’ He happened to hear some water dripping. ‘I have it,’ imagined Toyo. So, when he next appeared before his teacher, Toyo imitated dripping water. ‘What is that?’ asked Mokurai. ‘That is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hand. Try again.’ In vain Toyo meditated to hear the sound of one hand. He heard the sighing of the wind, but the sound was rejected. He heard the cry of an owl. That also was refused.  The sound of one hand was not the locusts. And so it went on.

For more than ten times Toyo visited Mokurai with different sounds. All were wrong. For almost a year Toyo pondered what the sound of one hand might be. At last Toyo entered true meditation and transcended all sounds. ‘I could collect no more,’ he explained later, ‘so I reached the soundless sound.’ Finally, Toyo had realized the sound of one hand clapping.

So, what is the sound of one hand clapping? If you say, ‘There can be no clapping with only one hand. It takes two hands to clap. Thus, there is no sound of one hand clapping,’ you are using your rational and logical mind. Yes, you are right in a sense, but you are ‘dead’ right as well … with the emphasis on that word ‘dead’. The purpose of kōans---if 'purpose' be the right word, which it probably isn’t---is to still the active, rational, intellectual, analytical mind. The mind then finds itself (note those words, ‘finds itself,’ for that is the way it happens) in an existential cul-de-sac of sorts where there is no way out but enlightenment. That is the only way we will ever be able to experience a direct, immediate and unmediated apprehension or realization of truth.

As I’ve said before on this blog, a kōan is not a method or technique. It is the complete absence of any method or technique. It is the absence of any meaning or purpose as those terms are ordinarily understood. It is seeing and experiencing things-as-they-really-are---without any filters, beliefs or conditioned thinking of any kind. It is waking up to what really is, and that can be an earth-shattering experience.

There is a ‘sound’ that is not even a ‘no-sound’. It is not merely the absence of sound, it is the active presence of stillness, quietness and tranquillity. You can ‘hear’ this ‘no-sound’ when the active, rational and logical mind is stilled. In such a state of heightened awareness there is no analysis, comparison, judgment or interpretation. The kōan has done its work. Remember, there is never a logical, rational answer to any kōan. However, a kōan can be solved, but never from the same level of consciousness that created the kōan in the first place.

When you know and ‘hear’ the sound of one hand clapping---mindfully---you have come to experience a veritable awakening. There is a peace that passes understanding, and a power that makes all things new. It lives and moves in the one who ‘hears’ not just with their ears but with their whole be-ing-ness … and also their whole no-thing-ness, that is, pure, unadulterated, unconditioned consciousness.

Yes, when we come to know the no-thing-ness underlying and interpenetrating all reality, we can truly say that we have experienced an awakening, for the latter is not a ‘thing-in-itself’. Indeed, it is a ‘no-thing’, that is, the complete absence of thought, conditioning, materialism and all other limitations of time and space. It is living with choiceless, unadorned awareness.

I am reminded of what Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, had to say about mindfulness. He said, ‘Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep.’ Falling awake. Yes, and also staying awake. That is mindfulness. And that is enlightenment. It is also the ‘sound of one hand clapping’ ... mindfully.

Calligraphy: Ensō by Mokurai. The ensō or Zen circle symbolises absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe and mu (the void, no-thing-ness). 

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MINDFULNESS---NOT TOO LOOSE AND NOT TOO TIGHT

‘All things in moderation,’ so the saying goes. Like all so-called truisms this one is not at all true in some respects. For example, even moderation as respects the doing of things that are inherently dangerous or otherwise unsafe is definitely not a good thing.

Buddhism is a philosophy of living according to the ‘middle way’ or ‘middle path.’ The historical Buddha advocated a lifestyle that was neither unduly ascetic or unduly immoderate and indulgent. The middle way permeates all Buddhist thought. Thus, the Buddha neither affirmed the ‘self’ nor denied its existence. Instead, he advocated the need to surrender and thus eradicate the self. 

When the Zen monk Joshu was asked whether a dog had Buddha nature Josh replied, ‘Mu.’ Mu (wú in Chinese) means ‘no’ but not exactly no. You see, mu is used when a question is incapable of being answered with a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ that is, when both of those ‘answers’ would be erroneous or otherwise inadequate. 

The middle way seeks to afford the practitioner with an understanding of life that transcends seemingly opposite statements about existence, and with insight into life and, in particular, into the the true nature of things. Seemingly opposite statements as to such matters as belief and disbelief, existence and non-existence, self and non-self, and all other positive and negative statements and assertions) are all part and parcel of a single continuous spectrum with affirmation at one end and negation at the other. For example, both belief and disbelief in God are in fact the exercise of the one and the same function, that is, mental faculty or mindset. Truth---that is, life, reality and meaning---lies beyond both affirmation and negation. All such thinking is conditioned. It is never the truth. That is why it is written in the Zen writings:

Has a dog Buddha-nature?
This is the most serious question of all.
If you say yes or no,
You lose your own Buddha-nature.

So, what exactly is the true nature of things? It is this---all things are ‘empty,’ meaning that every thing lacks a permanent and unchanging identity. All is impermanent, inconstant, transient, identityless and conditioned. Nothing is independent of all other things. Things arise dependent on conditions and cease when those same conditions cease. That is all of life. And how does one know that to be the case? Through the practice of mindfulness. That is certainly one way of coming to both know and understand the emptiness of all things. Yes, mu is indeed the answer---and the sensible alternative to all dualistic thinking.

Here’s a delightful story that illustrates the application of the middle way to the practice of meditation and, relevantly, mindfulness which is simply the practice of the presence (both physical and psychological) of being choicelessly aware of the action of the moment from one moment to the next.

Sona, a monk who had been a very accomplished and well-known veena player, engaged in extremely strenuous meditations to achieve enlightenment. He subjected his body to tremendous pain but he was unable to achieve the desired enlightenment. The Buddha said to Sona, ‘How did you get the best sound out of your veena? Was it when the strings of the veena were very tight or when they were very loose?’ Sona replied, ‘Neither. It was when the strings had just the right tension---that is, when they were neither too taut nor too slack.’ The Buddha said, ‘So it is with meditation, indeed with all the activities of the mind.’

In mindfulness there is both bare attention and choiceless awareness. Those words ‘bare’ and ‘attention’ and extremely important. ‘Bare’ attention involves no strain; there is simply a bare registering of the facts of what is seen, heard, felt, etc. ‘Choiceless’ awareness is an awareness without judgment, analysis, interpretation, comparison, etc. It is the total awareness of an undivided and unconditioned mind with there being no judgment, condemnation or selectiveness as respects the content of one’s awareness. Instead, there is simply 'unadorned observation,' that is, you simply see and observe what is present in each experience of the moment as present, and additionally what is absent as absent---without any self-identification and without attachment to any ‘I,’ ‘me,’ or ‘mine’ on your part. 

There is a popular maxim, ‘Keep it simple,’ and that idea makes great sense. Don’t complicate your practice of mindfulness. Sit still. Relax the body, which is always the very best way to relax the mind. (That’s the law of indirectness.) Be alert, but simply alert to the bare facts of the perceived content of your awareness. Remain choicelessly aware of what is happening in and around you. Avoid strain. Practise the principle of non-resistance, for whatever we resist will persist. 

Above all, be neither too taut nor too slack. Let there be both an alert relaxation and a relaxed alertness as respects both your body and your mind.

Acknowledgment. Joshu's Dog illustration courtesy and copyright Mark T Morse and The Gateless Gate. All rights reserved.

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There is a Zen story that goes like this. ‘Master, how do I enter Zen?’ asked the pupil. ‘Do you hear the sound of that little mountain steam?’ asked the master. ‘Yes, I do,’ replied the pupil. ‘Enter Zen from there,’ said the master. 

The pupil then thought for a while about what the master had said to him, before eventually saying to the master, ‘Master, I’ve been thinking … What if I had said I couldn’t hear the mountain stream? … What would you have said then?’ 

‘Disciple?’ said the master. ‘Yes, master?’ said the pupil. ‘Enter Zen from there,’ replied the master.

‘Enter Zen from there.’ What wisdom there is in those four English words!

If you ask, ‘What is Zen,’ you should not expect an answer---certainly not an answer that says something definite and intelligible to the conscious, rational intellect. You see, Zen is something inherently indescribable. Words fail to explain it or exhaust its meaning. However, if the Zen story set forth above says anything, it says this---Zen is to be experienced in the real and the ‘concrete’ as opposed to the abstract. 

In Western religion the Ultimate ('God,' if you wish) is sometimes referred to as Pure Being or something like that---a very abstract idea. In Eastern religion the Ultimate---Zen, the Tao---is more like Pure Be-ing-ness/Living-ness of life itself experienced as real, living things---something (actually, 'no-thing') much more concrete. Get the idea? (If you do, you can explain it to me. Just kidding.) In Western religion the Ultimate creates by making. In Eastern religion the Ultimate creates (not quite the right word here) by 'not-making.' The Tao, the very essence of life, is something growing and evolving. It is forever dynamic and not static. It must be found in the everyday things of life---for example, in the sound of a mountain stream, or in the absence of any such sound, or in those inexplicable and gratuitously unfair things of life such as the death of one of your children.

The Chinese refer to this Ultimate as wu-wei---wu (mu in Japanese) meaning ‘not’ or ‘non-’ and wei action, doing, striving, making, and busyness. So, wu-wei refers to a state of mind that is characterized by ‘non-graspingness’ or ‘non-strivingness.’ It is not so much non-action, non-doing, or not-doing, but the ‘action of non-action.’ It is a mindset that is totally and openly accepting of what is, of what unfolds from one moment to the next. It is a mind which is constantly moving, both spontaneously and effortlessly, with and in response to changes that occur both inside and outside the mind. It is a mindset that is not fixed on any particular object.

Both Zen and mindfulness have each been described as the ‘method of no method.’ Each is the ‘technique of no technique.’ (All so-called methods or techniques are forms of brainwashing by some other person. They are means of control and subjugation, as Krishnamurti [pictured below] often said. Avoid them. Eschew them.) Living mindfully requires no method or technique as such. You just do ‘it,’ whatever the ‘it’ may be … mindfully. You just drop your attachments---and look and observe choicelessly.

Do you want to know the 'secret to life'? Well, start with this. There is no secret to life, and no ‘way’ or ‘path’ to Truth other than the moment-to-moment direct and immediate and unmediated experience of life itself as it unfolds from one moment to the next. 

Yes, the so-called ‘meaning’ (such an ugly word!) of life is to be found in the living of your days, in the very livingness of life itself. You will not find true meaning in anything or anyone other than in the real and concrete things of life. Those things include, of course, human relationships which can be quite meaningful. The intangible is to be found in the tangible. Indeed, the intangible and the tangible are one and the same. The extraordinary is to be found in the ordinary. Again, they are one and the same.

So, look for the Ultimate in the so-called ordinary things of life and nature---yes, in the everyday things of life, whatever they may be. Forget all about striving, straining, doing, and making. Most importantly, forget all about grasping and clinging. Instead, live mindfully, spontaneously, and effortlessly.

Calligraphy: (top left) mu [not, nothing, no-thing]; (below) mindfulness.

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