2016-05-16 The Old Woman's Enlightenment 1

A series of four talks exploring enlightenment: 1. Prompted by a teisho from Master Hakuin, an old woman looks deeply into her heart day and night until she sees her own mind as the Pure Land, her body as that of Amitabha Buddha. She sees the great light that shines out of everything. Hakuin tests her by scoffing and asking, “Does it shine even out of your arsehole?” She pushes him and exclaims, “I can see that you’re not enlightened yet!”. What does she mean? 2. What is the enlightenment referred to in the story? What do we mean when we talk about enlightenment and kensho? Do these terms as they are used in the Three Pillars of Zen, mislead us? Roshi Sunyana Graef’s comments on how the kensho accounts affected the first generation of Roshi Kapleau’s students. 3. Kensho as a third step of the Ten Oxherding Pictures. 4. Putting kensho in perspective; the importance of cultivating compassion as well as wisdom.