The last few days, I've been thinking about three qualities
that we speak of a lot in Zen Buddhism.
Three qualities that make up a rich, a deep, and an authentic practice.
The first quality is a quality that we call
Great Confidence, or Great Faith.
And this means finally acknowledging to yourself
that you have the capacity to wake up, that you can do this,
that you have the seed of Buddha-nature within you.
At the same time, this Great Confidence, Great Faith, is acknowledging that
every other person, every other living being, has this capacity also.
This is not something superficial, something idealistic.
In fact, this realization rocks you to your core.
We're so convinced of our own inadequacy.
And we find ways to have this confirmed for us constantly.
With this doorway, this gateway of practice,
the gateway of Great Confidence,
we acknowledge to ourselves our innate goodness,
and our innate capacity.
And also all of the ways that we closed off towards it.
We understand that meditation practice is about uncovering
that which has been there all along.
The second doorway of authentic, or deep, or rich practice is called Great Doubt.
Notice that this is Great Doubt, not small or cynical doubt.
One way to approach this quality of Great Doubt in the practice is
to understand that it is the whole-hearted capacity to not settle.
To not settle in any one place, thinking that is the ultimate.
But to be willing to let go over and over again.
Even of the insights that we think are great or deep or the ultimate insight.
To be willing to let go over and over again,
so that the new growth can spring forth.
In the Zen world, particularly in Japanese Zen,
one of the first koans that's offered to students
is based on the story of when a student came to Master Chao-Chou,
and asked him: "Does a dog have a Buddha-nature?"
Master Chao-Chou looked at the student and said, "No."
I like to imagine the look on this student's face
since it's a fundamental and core teaching of Buddhism
that every single living being has this innate seed of goodness.
But here, Master Chao-Chou cut out the foundation from under the student.
Perhaps one reason might be that, as Thay has shared with us so many times,
often our idea of something can prevent us from touching its reality.
In the Book of Eights, the Atthakavagga,
we've been reminded that all views, every single view, is a wrong view.
And any view we have will at best only be partial.
Here in this koan, the student came to Master Chao-Chou
and basically asked him to confirm his conceptual viewpoint.
Master Chao-Chou was an amazing teacher.
And so as any good teacher would do,
he challenged the student into deeper growth
rather than allowing that student to remain stagnant.
I think this is an important thing for us to consider.
Do we want to have a teacher or a teaching
that just confirms everything that we think we know?
If so, how on Earth do we expect to grow?
Our idea of something can prevent us from touching the reality.
If you've generated the capacity of Great Confidence,
then naturally, this sense of "Am I sure?",
and "If I'm sure, I'll check again", will arise.
If not, there's no growth.
The third doorway, or gateway, or aspect of a rich practice
is called Great Practice, or sometimes, Great Determination.
Sometimes the two go together.
This is the capacity to just keep going.
In this quality, in this gateway, in this essense of the practice,
I often think of the old maxim,
"I don't know what my path is, but I'm walking it."
Or sometimes the image that's given in the text of a person
who wants every so often climbs up to the top of the mountain
and brushes a silk cloth lightly over a rock on the top of the mountain,
knowing that eventually this will wear away the mountain.
This is the doorway of
"There's no reason that I can't do what others have done.
I'll keep going."