Always Present According to an eight-page biography of Bankei Yotaku (1622-93), in The Roaring Stream, this son of a samurai began Zen study at age 16, and was enlightened at age 25. He seriously began teaching Zen ten years later; and fifteen years after that, he became abbot of a monastery. By age 55, he was being sought out, by both male and female seekers of the Dharma, from all over Japan—and even from Okinawa. The reason apparently had much to do with the fact that he was not “practice” oriented. Though he didn’t like his talks to be transcribed, some were preserved by followers. Here then are various of his points (as given in the book). What he calls the “Unborn” and “buddha-mind” are alternate terms. He is speaking of the pre-cognitive “wisdom” that is innate in each human organism which is born; it is prior to our acquiring discursive thought. His purpose is to remind listeners that there is not something which they must do in order for this buddha-mind to “come into existence,” or be present. “Just stop and look back to the origin of this self of yours. When you were born, your parents didn’t give you any happy, evil, or bitter thoughts. There was only your buddha-mind…What I teach everyone in these talks of mine is the unborn buddha-mind of illuminative wisdom, nothing else. Everyone is endowed with this buddha-mind, only they don’t know it. My reason for coming and speaking to you like this is to make it known to you.”
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