ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE ZEN TRADITION
SMASHING THE BLACK LACQUER BARREL






THE WANDERLING UNMASKED


OR AT LEAST






The

of the
Wanderling



















THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY:
Jijimuge
the author of
ALL THINGS ZEN






One afternoon late in the fall several years ago I found myself in California heading north on Highway 395 along the east side of the High Sierras. I stopped at an isolated place in the middle of nowhere called Manzanar, a now deserted, barren, former WWII Japanese interment camp.

It is a strange foreboding place and very quiet. The peaks of the Sierras, just a few miles away, reach heights of nearly fifteen thousand feet, and in the dusk are vaguely similar in appearance to the Himalayas. I saw a man, a very strange man, walking from the mountains toward the highway. As he passed by we exchanged greetings. Then he stopped for a moment and turned back. Except for a small canvas bag over his shoulder he was dressed like what I would call regular and looked regular...no special hiking gear, protective clothing, or other things you would expect for a person seemingly hiking in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.







(please click)





He kneeled down, dug a small hole in the dirt with his hands, put a circle of stones around it, made a tiny little fire from some sort of candle like thing he was carrying in his bag and in a few minutes the two of us were sharing hot tea and conversation.


In a short time it came up we were both interested in Zen. Several hours passed, it was getting dark, and I had to go. I asked if he needed a ride and he said although we were on the same path he was going in a different direction. For some reason I gave him my email address and we parted company.


Several days later I was returning south and again came upon Manzanar. Hoping to possibly see the man again I pulled in and got out. As before the place was strangely quiet, and except for the small circle of stones still around the fire pit, there was no sign of the man and no sign of us ever having been there. All the way down 395 toward Los Angeles I hoped to see the man walking along the highway, but never did. Then a year or so ago I received an email with a link to a webpage. Reading the page I recognized it as being about the man I met over tea that day.


That man: the Wanderling, his webpage: ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT: The Path Unfolds.





The above message was written, posted and signed by:
Jijimuge
ALL THINGS ZEN














--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





As a young boy growing up I loved Leonardo Da Vinci,
astronomy, the cosmos,_ rockets to the Moon and Mars,
Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, along with comic books
and all cowboy western movie stars such as Gene Autry,
the Durango Kid (in the photo above), and Roy Rogers.









WHY HIDE BEHIND THE MASK?



FROM THE DIAMOND CUTTER SUTRA SECTION III: The Real Teaching of the Great Way


Buddha said: Subhuti, all the Bodhisattva-Heroes should discipline their thoughts as follows: All living creatures of whatever class, born from eggs, from wombs, from moisture, or by transformation, whether with form or without form, whether in a state of thinking or exempt from thought-necessity, or wholly beyond all thought realms-all these are caused by Me to attain Unbounded Liberation Nirvana. Yet when vast, uncountable, immeasurable numbers of beings have thus been liberated, verily no being has been liberated. Why is this, Subhuti? It is because no Bodhisattva who is a real Bodhisattva cherishes the idea of an ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality.


For the Sixth Patriarch of Ch'an Buddhism (Zen), Hui Neng, thoughts on liberating uncountable, immeasurable numbers of beings or if it is possible or not, see:



COMMENTS REGARDING THE FIRST BODHISATTVA VOW.



When it comes to teachers, gurus, masters, mentors and so on, there are those that insist on or only consider such things as Lineage and who and what others of credible status may think, and in many cases, justifiably so. In my case, for a hint, access the links below then scroll down to the Wanderling. Be sure to click the "MORE" link here or following the Wanderling name on the Sarlo page as well:



ZEN CAN BE FOUND IN ANY ACTIVITY
HOW THE WANDERLING GOT HIS NAME



THE GATE KEEPER: List of Spiritual Teachers



AWAKENING 101 APPROVED SITE LIST



SARLO'S GURU RATING SERVICE



DARK LUMINOSITY





By going to the Google search engine for example, and typing in the word wanderling, the Google Web Directory as well as DMOZ and others such as the Data Segment Web Directory, etc., the following comes up under the Open Directory Project category, which you can click through here: society >religion >spirituality >buddhism >zen >teachers and masters and lists the following:





The Wanderling - http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/ZenEnlighten01.html
Anonymous self-proclaimed Zen Master. Founder of Awakening 101.



While it would be an accurate statement to say that I am truly most grateful and humbled to be included and listed in such prestigious internet resources as the ones above, surrounded on the list by many extraodinarily impressive teachers and masters of the Dharma, it is not quite accurate to say that I am a "self-proclaimed Zen Master." So saying on two counts because, first, if one were to actually go to AWAKENING 101, the following quote, which is mine, appears on the very first page:





"Being neither teacher nor guru, and since from the first not a thing is, the most one can do is to offer a glimpse or help point the way. In the end it resides in you"





Second, by accessing the link suggested above by the directories and reading through to Page Two, you would come to the following, which includes a link to The Unmanifested SAT that investigates the so called TWELVE YEAR RULE: True or False? that some say one must meet in any quest toward Enlightenment, and that just happened to be met by the Wanderling:





"...at age 31, after an intermittent slow start followed by twelve years of serious practice, because, for the lack of anything else to call it, the bottom of eternity consciousness literally broke through, and thus therefore, the equivalent of Inka Shomei, the Seal of Approval, at the Fourth Level (ken-chu-shi), was graciously accorded me by the person from which I sought guidence; he himself, having experienced Full Realization under the grace and light of Sri Ramana Maharshi some thirty-nine years earlier, also at the age of 31." (source)





The Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi is universally accepted and recognized as being fully Awakened to the Absolute, while my own Mentor, who studied under Ramana and who inturn I studied under (as well as the venerated Japanese Zen master, Yasutani Hakuun Roshi, without much success I might add --- followed with somewhat better results under the mysterious American Zen master, Alfred Pulyan) is well documented and known throughout literature and various writings. (see)





Third, as to being Anonymous, the following is offered:





"Tom, Dick, and Harry think they have written the books that they sign (or painted the pictures, composed the music, built the churches). But they exaggerate. It was a pen that did it, or some other implement. They held the pen? Yes, but the hand that held the pen was an implement too, and the brain that controlled the hand. They were intermediaries, instruments, just apparatus. Even the best apparatus does not need a personal name like Tom, Dick, or Harry." (source)











SEE:
THE WANDERLING, CONTINUED
(please click)





There is NO excessive over-concern on MY part in regards to anything that others may say, write, or think about me one way or the other EXCEPT how anything offered might adversely affect a seeker along the path. Hundreds and hundreds of pages are presented through my offerings, many, many of them written by others with a wide range of views, and NO claim is made by me for any work not done by me specifically. Authors and sources, when available, are always cited. Although the main thrust of what is offered is "Zen outside the Doctrine" you will find pages and pages of viewpoints that run the gamut, allowing YOU to formulate your own decisions one way or the other regarding important Zen and Dharma related issues.





"Real Masters never charge for their services, nor do they accept payment in any form or any sort of material benefits for their instructions. This is a universal law among Masters, and yet it is an amazing fact that thousands of eager seekers in America and elsewhere, go on paying large sums of money for "spiritual instruction.". Masters are always self-sustaining. They are never supported by their students or by public charity."


---Julian P. Johnson, The Path of the Masters (1939)