Whip, rope, person, and Ox -
all merge in No Thing.
This heaven is so vast,
no message can stain it.
How may a snowflake exist
in a raging fire.
Here are the footprints of
the Ancestors.

When both self and the idea of becoming a Buddha are forgotten, the practitioner is in the neighborhood of Nirvana. As long as a self strives toward a goal, there is no emptiness of self.

Rather than read works of mental pollution, we should read the sutras instead. A good list of sutras can be found at a site that Dr. Ron Epstein no longer maintains.

The sheer volume and length of the sutras is one reason the Zen sect has historically de-emphasized sutra study. Many historians have also pointed out that the Samurai warrior class was attracted to Zen in large part for that very reason; most warriors in those days were illiterate.

However, we modern Zen practitioners have no excuse; we can read and to shun the sutras is to knowingly reject the teachings of the Buddhas.

The Theravada school rejects the Mahayana sutras as being syncretic, i.e., borrowing from non-Buddhist sources such as Chinese Taoism (Daoism). The Hsin Hsin Ming, one of the most prominent of all Zen chants, is a Daoist (Taoist) chant. Zen itself, of course, was created when Indian Buddhism blended with Chinese Daoism.

It may well be that the only sutras uttered by the Buddha are the Theravada sutras; Zen practitioners should not reject them.

However, the teachers of the Buddhadharma often caution their students that the spoken words of the teachers and the written words of the Buddha are a finger that points to the moon. If you want a cat to look at the moon, you can point at the moon but the cat will look intently at your finger, especially if you wave it around.

Some practitioners become attached to the words of the Buddha and they forget that the words are pointing at the moon and are not the moon itself. The Mahayana sutras evolved from the original sutras, and broke away from the prison of words that some practitioners imposed on themselves. They point at the moon using much loftier speech than the Buddha ever used, but the lofty speech, a product of Chinese culture, is still the Buddhadharma.

Many scholars have pointed out that if the Mahayana had not arisen about a hundred years after the passing away of the Buddha, Buddhism would not have become a world religion. It would have remained a regional religion, the religion of the southeast Asian countries.

The Buddhism taught by the Theravadans is authentic. Every Buddhist should study with the Theravadans to learn the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path (which is the Fourth Noble Truth). The Tripitaka (the Three Baskets) of the Vinaya (rules of discipline), the Sutras, and the Abhidharma have been preserved by the Theravadans from the days of the Buddha and they are a treasure. But the whole of Buddhism contains the Mahayana Sutras as well.

Both Self and Ox Forgotten is the eighth step of ten. We can read The Dhammapada Sutra, a Theravada, Pali Canon sutra that is perhaps the most widely read of all the surtas, in a short period of time. The Mahayana Sutras will take a lot longer. They will seem more foreign than The Dhammapada Sutra, due to the style of the Chinese writers who translated them from Sanskrit. The Zen practitioner who resolves to ignore them will find it difficult if not impossible to establish and maintain an authentic Zen practice.

The average westerner will find the Mahayana sutras to be quite bizarre at first. They take some getting used to. But the mere process of reading them is enlightening. The soaring descriptions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas arriving to hear a sermon, complete with some pretty far out names, as well as the extraordinarily strange way of delivering the main teaching of the sutra itself will strike most people as unusual indeed. Yet, the experience of reading such sutras is not to be missed. As they are read and re-read, they work their magic.

There are so many sutras and many of them are so lengthy that we recommend reading at least part of one lengthy sutra before moving on to step nine. Daily sutra reading, preferably at the end of the day, will become second nature. In this way, the eighth step, like the previous seven, is practiced daily.

In our previous lives, we skipped sutra study. That's why we have to do it now. We failed to awaken to Buddhahood then because we deemed such practice unimportant. Now we know better.

Intermediate Zen

Intermediate practitioners read about half an hour of sutras each night.

Advanced Zen

Advanced practitioners read an hour or more each night, and read the sutra commentaries as well. The commentary on the Shurangama Sutra by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua is highly recommended.

Step Nine: Yaza