Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei

Not a lot to add to what's already been said in previous reviews - besides the fact that Bankei is (or has been) grossly under-rated. He is refreshing - after the institutional Zen claptrap and posturing, which leaves us stranded in the same old gunk we hoped to extricate ourselves from. Still, I would qualify a few things. Bankei did not claim to have originated anything startlingly 'new' - with his notion of the 'Unborn Mind.'It is there in the teachings of the early Chinese masters. Again, some worry that Bankei didn't recommend 'striving' - or didn't 'strive' himself - but, his biography makes his questing mind clear. Hakuin - for example, didn't altogether approve of Bankei. Yet Bankei might be said to have had a 'natural' koan, insofar as his deep questioning sprang from the failure of Confucian teachers (and whoever else he could find) to explain what "brightening the bright virtue" (mei-toku) actually meant. The point is, we ought not to adopt arbitrary views about the place of a questing 'doubt' - in Zen practice.Bankei asks why we should saddle ourselves with an arbitrary 'doubt.' But that's it, the 'doubt' should not be artificial. Bankei had his own doubt, and without it - he wouldn't have been driven to dis-cover the 'Unborn Mind.' We must allow ourselves that privilege.

As of this date, there are only two comprehensive English translations of this essential teaching on the nature of Zen: Norman Waddell's The Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei and Peter Haskel's Bankei Zen.Much of what I offered in my posted review of Waddell's translation would equally apply to the Haskel text reviewed here. Subjectively, I feel that the Waddel version is a slightly more fluid read. Bankei Zen, however, offers the additional benefits of selected letters and poems including Bankei's famous "Song of the Original Mind." Photographs of his calligraphy, paintings, and intricately carved statues further enhance the text.Both volumes were originally published in 1984, and there is inevitable overlap between the two texts. Nevertheless, they are complementary and each has its own merit. I have personally benefited from reading both.

Bankei Yotaku was an interesting character in our Zen heritage, at a very young age he had left home and took to the hillside. He had always been fascinated by Confucian texts, but eventually turned to Zen. He practiced for 14 hard years under various lineages, settling with the lineage of the Rinzai. He would address large audiences attending his sermons with great ease and simplicity. Usually Zen at that time had been an aristocratic practice, yet Bankei would teach absolutely anyone; a trait which has helped his teachings remain a pillar of wisdom. His style recalls the brilliance and straightforwardness of the Great Chinese masters like Joju; in fact Bankei had trained under a Chinese master for several of those 14 years, and that style was more reflected in his teaching style than that of the Rinzai of Japan in many respects. This book explores the sayings of this enigmatic figure within a skilled and delicate approach. Expounding his now famous Unborn Buddha Mind speeches in great simplicity and conciseness. This book can illuminate our understanding in some very powerful ways, taking us back to a time that is still as relevant as yesteryear. Great Book, enjoy! If you are interested in further reading on Bankei, purchase "The Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei" by Norman Waddell. The Unborn is really like realizing that our mother is Kannon bodhisattva.

A great gem of a book for any seeker. Master Bankei's teachings revolved around the principal that we are all a part of the Unborn-here and now and that once we abide in that no other knowledge or practice is really necessary. His teachings mainly point this out from many angles based on peoples questions and issues at the time. After many years of his own struggle as a seeker he came to the realization that since everything arises from the Unborn we are all Buddhas once we really abide in the Unborn, which is possible NOW without any other knowledge. He felt that seekers distanced themselves from this very direct teaching by doing too many things like working on koans or spending a lot of time reading religious Buddhist texts, all the while missing the Unborn Buddha Mind right now that is always present. It seems hard to believe but Master Bankei very profoundly and intelligently makes a great case for this teaching in this wonderful book. I strongly recommend it. It is along the lines of the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and more recently Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now & Stillness Speaks).

BANKEI ZEN : Translations from the Record of Bankei by Peter Haskel. Edited by Yoshito Hakeda. 196 pp. New York : Grove Press, 1984.If Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) is Zen's supersonic jet, Bankei (1622-1693) is its horse-and-buggy. But when it's simply a matter of getting from point A to point A, since what we are looking for is no further than the end of our nose, either type of conveyance will suffice.Dogen transports us to the stratospheric heights of Zen. His thought is totally brilliant and hyper-sophisticated, and once you get a taste of him you may find yourself completely captivated. Those who may be interested might care to take a look at Kazuaki Tanahashi's fine anthology, 'Moon in a Dewdrop : Writings of Zen Master Dogen.'Bankei, in contrast, is a very different kettle of fish. For him the sutras, the koans, and the works of the great Chinese Masters were so much waste paper we needn't be bothering our heads about. Very much a man of the people, and immensely popular in his day, his following, as Haskel tells us, "embraced nearly every segment of Japanese society : samurai with their families and retainers, merchants, artisans, farmers, servants, even gamblers and gangsters, as well as monks and nuns of all the Buddhist sects" (page xvii). All of them, in crowds that could number over a thousand, would flock from all parts of Japan to listen to his unusual teaching.What was the teaching that held such a powerful appeal for so many different kinds of people? Basically Bankei's Zen of the Unborn is simplicity itself, and can, as Haskel points out, be reduced to just three points: "What we have from our parents innately is the Unborn Buddha Mind and nothing else"; "The Buddha Mind is Unborn and marvelously illuminating, and with the Unborn everything is perfectly managed"; "Abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind!" (page xxxii).Enlightenment, for Bankei, in other words, is not the prerogative of some sort of spiritual elite but is everyone's birthright. We don't need to undergo some sort of extensive training or arduous discipline to realize it because it's always been there. What gets in the way of the free and unobstructed flow of the Buddha Mind which we all possess is our selfishness, our habit of judging things as good or bad. All we need to do to return to our original nature is to LET GO NOW!For the rest I'll have to refer you to Peter Haskel's fine Introduction to Bankei's life and thought, and to his selections from Bankei's sermons, instructions, poems, and letters. Haskel spent ten years working on this book, and he has succeeded brilliantly in bringing maverick straight-talking Bankei, and his times and the people who flocked to hear him, vividly before us. One can hear the authentic tones of a loving and concerned and no-nonsense Bankei as he urges his flock to set aside all preconceptions and just let the marvelously illuminating Unborn Mind manage all things perfectly for them:"Everyone, do exactly as I'm telling you,