T’aego was an outstanding Zen teacher in the fourteenth-century Koryo dynasty (918-1392), the National Teacher, the man from whom all the later lineages of Korean Zen (Kr.: Seon) claim ultimate descent. He was born in 1301 and died in 1382, after decades at work to further the dharma. As a famous religious leader, he lived through the turbulent period when the cosmopolitan but oppressive Mongol rule over East Asia was broken, and new regimes were emerging over decades of struggle. His was the age when gunpowder weapons and firearms spread across the old world.
Early on T’aego committed himself to the Buddhist life, and over the years he lived to fulfill many of its characteristic roles: youthful seeker, practicing discipline and traveling to Buddhist centers to seek wisdom; dedicated mystic, approaching wisdom with the cool intensity of the practical path; mature teacher, staying a while here and there to guide people and aid their development. In his fifties, T’aego became a national figure: he was invited to the capital, pursued by high society and a fickle king, honored and exiled and honored again.
T’aego’s “biography” is as frustrating as many other Zen biographies, which in general only mention key moments in a master’s early life, relating incidents that epitomize his quest for enlightenment, without filling in all of the details. The enlightenment stories only record the climax of a long process of effort. The main focus of Zen biographies is usually on a master’s activities after enlightenment, after he appears in the world as a teacher. But here, too, only a few anecdotes may be recorded to stand for decades of a teaching career. Sometimes, as in T’aego’s case, there are collections of recorded sayings that give a deeper view of a master’s teaching style. But even then, if we compare what is recorded with all that the teacher said and did, it is like a handful of leaves out of all the leaves in the forest.
Reading these bare, brief accounts of the religious feats of Zen masters, one might be tempted to imagine that these people never had any weaknesses to start with, that enlightenment came easily to them. But this would be a misreading of the stories. Zen biographies rarely dwell on the human frailties of Zen masters because this aspect was taken for granted. The significant part of the story for the Zen school was how the adepts rose above the basic limitations of ignorance, craving, and aggression, and what they accomplished afterward. A classic saying warns against the false image of the superhuman Zen master: “Everyone knows the achievement that crowns the age, but no one sees the sweating horses of antiquity.”
If we compare what is recorded with all that [T’aego] said and did, it is like a handful of leaves out of all the leaves in the forest.
T’aego’s biography says little about his early life, except in a Buddhist context. He was born in 1301 in Kwangju, in the southern part of Korea. At thirteen, he was ordained a monk and began his studies. In his later teens and twenties, he traveled around Korea visiting various temples and retreats to seek out teachers. Through his twenties, T’aego meditated on the Zen case: “The myriad things return to the one: what does the one return to?” He pursued this mediation until, at thirty-two, he was enlightened. Five years later came his decisive great enlightenment as he contemplated the Zen meditation-saying “[Does a dog have buddha-nature?] No.”
As usual, we have a sparse list of key points, not a life story in the secular sense. T’aego may well have been from a devout Buddhist family, to be ordained so young, or perhaps he was a boy with an early religious bent. Traveling in search of teachers was the normal course for a young Zen monk: hoping to meet a flesh-and-blood representative of the dharma who could show him a living road. (Social restraints on women traveling made it harder for them in the Zen path.) The custom of traveling to various Zen centers was a way to institutionalize the idea that formalism and rote learning were not enough, that real work under a real expert was necessary.
T’aego’s enlightenment story centers on his meditation work with two Zen sayings, but from his writings, we can be sure that he had made a deep study of the Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist philosophy, and Zen lore as a whole. The details of how he found the path and exactly how he practiced in his early years were not recorded as such: the record just says that he meditated on Zen sayings.
Doubt
[To Zen man Mon]
Buddha preached discipline, concentration, and wisdom to purify the realms of body, mouth, and mind. You should uphold pure discipline, not commit the misdeeds of body, mouth, and mind. From moment to moment, bring up Zhaozhou’s No. You should never at any time let yourself become oblivious of the No. Keep this No before you at all times, whether you are walking or standing or sitting or lying down or going to the toilet or putting on clothes or eating food. Be like a cat stalking a rat or like a chicken guarding an egg. Do not become oblivious: just raise this No.
As you [keep your attention on] the meditation saying like this without a break, studying it and doubting it [and asking] why Zhaozhou said No, before you break through the doubt, your mind feels vexed. This is precisely when you should bring up this meditation saying. When continuous correct mindfulness of the meditation saying is achieved, you should keep studying again and again in fine detail as you observe the meditation saying. Your doubt and the meditation saying fuse into one whole. Whether moving or still, speak or silent, constantly bring up this No. Gradually, you arrive at the time when being awake and being asleep are one suchness. Just do not let the meditation saying and the mind separate.
When your doubting reaches the place where sentiments are cut off and mind is forgotten, then the golden raven flies through the sky at midnight [true yang, inherent enlightened perception emerges at the proper moment.] When this happens, you should not feel happy or sad: you must visit a genuine Zen teacher to resolve your doubts forever.
How to Study Zen
The days and months go by like lightning: we should value the time. We pass from life to death in the time it takes to breathe in and breathe out: it’s hard to guarantee even a morning and an evening. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, do not waste even a minute of time. Become even braver and bolder. Be like our original teacher, Shakyamuni, who kept on progressing energetically.
When the mind-ground is equanimous and awake and still, you will have profound certainty in the intent of the buddhas and ancestral teachers. You must accomplish this correctly. Mind is the natural buddha: why bother seeking elsewhere? Put down your myriad concerns and wake up. At the end of the road, it’s like an iron wall. False thoughts are all extinguished, and extinguishing is wiped away: body and mind seem to be resting on the void. In the stillness, a light reaches everywhere with its brilliance.
The original face: who is it? As soon as it is mentioned, the arrow sinks in stone. When the mass of doubt is shattered amidst all the particulars, one thing covers the sky of blue. Do not talk of this with people without wisdom. Do not become overjoyed. You must visit Zen teachers: show them how your mind works and ask for their teaching. After that, you can be called one who continues the tradition of the ancestral teachers.
Our family style is not remote. When tired, we stretch out our legs and sleep. When hungry, we let our mouths eat. In the human realm, what school is this? Blows and shouts fall like raindrops.
“The Pure Stream”
It issues from the green mountain valley
Flowing on to the blue-green sea
The sound of the rushing water is most intimate
Does anyone know how to approach and listen?
“The Inner Moon”
It does not dwell in east or west
Hundred percent pure light permeates everything
Revealed alone within the myriad forms
Perfect illumination eternal and indestructible
♦
From A Buddha from Korea: The Zen Teachings of T’aego translated by J. C. Cleary. © 1988 by Kathryn Dodgson. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. T’aego image via Tibbut Archive / Alamy Stock Photo.