in the baseball analogy of enlightenment, first base is initial insight, second base is true equanimity in the sense of uniform nonreactivity, third base is called skill in means, and crossing home plate is called going beyond.
the base paths are called the four knowledges. the path to first base involves acquiring the great perfect mirror knowledge, achieved by unplugging the default mechanisms of the discriminating mind.
hakuin says of initial insight: because your power in the way is slight and your perception of reality is not perfectly clear, the great perfect mirror knowledge is associated with the eastern direction and is called the gate of inspiration. though one day you see the way of the buddhas clearly, when your power of shining insight is not great and strong, you are prone to hindrance by instinctual and habitual afflictions and are still not free and independent in both favorable and adverse circumstances.
the path to second base, then, involves removing those residual obstructions through constant refinement of one’s state, through the gate of practice, as when zen master ku-shan replies to the question, what is the basic object of investigation, by saying: how one has gotten to such a state.
hakuin says of the gate of practice: if your mind doesn’t regress from this work, the nature created by your actions naturally dissolves, inconceivable liberation is realized, your actions and understanding correspond, principle and fact merge completely, body and mind are not two, fundamental reality and all the forms and appearances in the world do not obstruct each other. attaining this, managing to attain the realm of true equanimity, also called the gate of nonduality, is called the knowledge of the equality of the nature of reality, as when the goddess in the householder sutra says to the buddha’s disciple sariputra, the ultimate liberation is the equality of all things.
the path to third base involves penetrating study, acquiring what is called the knowledge of differentiation, or the subtle observing analytic knowledge. this is the knowledge of bodhisattvas, who master techniques for recognizing the potentials of all human beings and helping them by changing in any way necessary, or appearing in any form, to activate those potentials and free them from the ordinary entrapments of lived experience.
hakuin says: in order to penetrate the principles of all things in their infinite variety, that is, to acquire what is called the eye to read the scriptures, it is essential to conceive an attitude of great compassion. his student torei writes: the correct course for cultivating practice is based on vows. the strength of vows is rooted in compassion. you should realize that great compassion is the foundation for actual attainment of the way of the buddhas. whoever has great compassion can extinguish all obstructions caused by past actions and can fulfill all virtues. no path cannot be practiced, no knowledge not attained, no virtue not developed.
hakuin emphasizes that responding to sentient beings’ potentials everywhere with mastery and freedom of technique is not investigation by means of intellectual considerations: the knowledge to liberate oneself and others, when completely fulfilled and mastered, is called the gate of enlightenment.
the path to home plate is called the knowledge of accomplishment of works, the gateway of mental command in the realm of ultimate liberation. it is also called undefiled knowledge and uncreated virtue. hakuin says: because the preceding subtle observing analytic knowledge is accomplished by successful practice and is in the realm of cultivation, realization, and attainment by study, it is called knowledge with effort. the knowledge to accomplish works is not in the realm of understanding or comprehension, it is called the knowledge of the essential nature of the cosmos, attained by direct experience only, not acquired from outside.
householder zen 