Mind Sky: Zen Teaching on Living and Dying

EDITOR’S PREFACE

SONOMA M OUNTAIN is an ancient mountain, known to be a place of great spiritual power. This feeling is palpable. The ground of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center speaks the Dharma directly — simply to enter the zendo is to breathe its essence intimately. But really, it is everywhere. Of the Zen Center itself, one can say that the whole place is the practice.

Sonoma Mountain Zen Center’s true temple name is Genjo-ji. Kwong-roshi says that "Genjo can be translated as ‘being here in the present moment,’ or ‘the actualization of this moment.’ Zen asks you to be here within this moment, to recognize that you and this moment are not separate."

Long ago, when I first visited Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, it was just that: an overnight visit. When I finally found my way back, it was with firm intention. This time I stayed.

Early on, Roshi’s greeting to me as I was filling out the membership form was Watch out — don’t get caught! but it was already too late. I was hooked. In Jakusho Kwong I found my teacher, heir to Shunryu Suzuki and a true Soto Zen master. In his low-key, unassuming manner, Jakusho Kwong expresses not only deep wisdom, but also always a sense of wonder and childlike enthusiasm.

An artist rather than a scholar, he expresses himself most vividly in his unique calligraphy.

Kwong-roshi’s memorable talks, or teishos, are often discursive, at times sounding like random free association. But underneath, these tangential threads are skillfully woven together, and their interconnectedness is clear.

Adapting them for the written page and editing them was challenging. In doing so, I nonetheless hoped to keep the original flavor, the essence of Jakusho Kwong-roshi.

It has been a rare privilege to work with Roshi on Mind Sky. The entire process has been a teaching.

Despite editorial nitpicking about syntax and word usage, our many meetings have been inspiring — and a great deal of fun! Roshi has a great sense of humor, so there have been many detours as he’s shared stories and photographs — lots of recollections, anecdotes, and lots of laughter. I leave every meeting happy and with renewed energy.

He manifests prajna awareness in all his actions and in his sense of detail — his precise placement of objects, whether in oryoki setting or simply placing shoes together on the floor (so they won’t feel lonely) — showing his care and respect for all things: each thing is of equal value.

I remember once trying to straighten the framed picture of our Third Ancestor hanging behind our zendo altar. Walking by, Roshi laughed and said, You’ll never do it! — as the vertical redwood wall boards of the original barn, over a hundred years old, are not always quite perpendicular.

A true bodhisattva, Kwong-roshi has shown me infinite compassion, loving-kindness, patience, and generosity. With infinite gratitude, I bow deeply to you, Roshi.

I also want to thank all the sangha members for their encouragement, and particularly those who have helped me on this project: thanks to Neil Meyer, for the work he did before me, and for his trenchant critiques. Thanks to readers Ed Cadman, Nancy Reder, and Peter Pocock, who copyedited much of the draft manuscript and made excellent suggestions along the way, and to Katsuzen King, editor of Mountain Wind, who also read and commented. I am grateful to you all for your efforts.

Thanks to Nyoze Kwong, for meticulously scanning all the calligraphy and photographs in this book, somehow finding time despite his many responsibilities.

Thanks to Tom Huffman for providing me with transportation as well as delivery service during the COVID-19 lockdown. This is danaparamita.

Thanks to Max, for bearing with me, and for helping with computer glitches.

And to my very dear old friend Ike Williams — thanks for coming out of retirement to give expert counsel, pro bono.

Much of this book was completed before the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Sonoma Mountain Zen Center to close to the public. During this period, many ongoing programs and projects had to be postponed indefinitely as we were obliged to work remotely. Still, we continue, with residents as caretakers. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Nyoze Kwong and the SMZC office, our programs have gone onto Zoom, with twice-daily zazen periods, sesshins, speakers, and participants from all over the world joining in. Despite the COVID-19 lockdown and financial hardship, the Zen Center is thriving.

Sally Scoville

Editor

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of No Beginning, No End , I was urged by many friends to do a second book. I first initiated this project almost ten years ago, but it was postponed because of other commitments.

Still, I returned to it, feeling the importance of transmitting the Dharma to a much wider audience — now possible, thanks to social media. In this way I carry on the directly transmitted teachings of my own teacher, Shunryu Suzuki-roshi.

Transmitting the Dharma is more urgent than ever now — with the climate crisis, the world in turmoil, and COVID-19 affecting us all. We should realize that we are not separate; we are interconnected with everyone, with all things. Right here, right now.

Mind Sky has come to fruition after many years of practice, study, and teaching — and thanks to the dedication of the students who worked on this project.

So many people have been instrumental in so many ways in the development of the book that it would be difficult to name them all.

First, I wish to acknowledge my teacher, Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, whose wisdom and compassion led me to Zen practice. Although I was with him for only eleven years before he died, his profound influence inspired me to build Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, Genjo-ji, in 1973 as a gesture of gratitude for his teaching. I feel his presence to this day, as we continue to practice here.

I acknowledge with deepest gratitude his influence and that of three other Zen teachers early on: Dainin Katagiri, Kobun Chino Otogawa, and Hoitsu Suzuki. I was blessed to have direct connections with many other teachers as well, including Taizan Maezumi, Kosho Uchiyama, Preah Maha Ghosananda, H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Seung Sahn Sunim, Chögyam Trungpa, and Mitsu Suzuki, who all represent the spirit behind the words in this book.

I have great appreciation for the many Sonoma Mountain Zen Center sangha members who helped at different stages in the development of this project.

Thanks to all the students who transcribed these discourses, including Neil Meyers, Chuck Tensan Ramey, Tim Metzger, Ed Genzen Cadman, John Kaian Jennings, Kathy Dennison, Fern LaRocca, Sophia Close, and Sally Scoville. My thanks to Jundo Farrand, Choan Atwell, and others who recorded Dharma talks in the zendo, and to Dan Landault for converting earlier talks to digital format. I am grateful to Katsuzen King and Neil Meyers for careful verification of quotations, sources, and references.

I can never adequately acknowledge the contributions made by my wife, Shinko — as my lifelong partner, senior student, and cofounder of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center. She has been selflessly at my side, always.

Thanks to my son and co-abbot, Nyoze, and his wife, Kashin, who are beyond any dreams as they continue to maintain our Soto Zen heritage. They are exemplars of the true spirit of practice at Genjo-ji. And thanks to my other three sons: Ryokan and Cam Shunryu have helped greatly in redefining the Zen Center’s operations during the COVID crisis and beyond, while Evri practices his art and teaches art as well. We all live near each other and are in close contact.

Last but not least, thanks to my editor, longtime student, and former SMZC resident Sally Myogetsu Scoville.

Though Neil Meyers had worked on editing transcripts in the early stages of this project, he had since retired. Some ten years later, it seemed as if no one in the sangha would be able to undertake the job of editing this book and seeing it through to completion. Finally, in January 2018, Sally stepped up to the plate and took on the challenge.

She worked wholeheartedly and tirelessly on this project for three years, first culling more than fifty transcripts — thousands of pages — and then selecting thirty to translate into the material that would become this book. She crafted and edited all the chapters, revising and fine-tuning each one with me. She was indefatigable, asking questions, verifying quotes and sources; and she persisted, patiently prodding me to continue, and urging me on to the end.

Sally was ably assisted by readers Ed Cadman, Peter Pocock, and Nancy Reder, who copyedited and offered valuable suggestions.

In addition, Sally was instrumental in finding the ideal publisher for Mind Sky in Wisdom Publications, and for coordinating communications with them to see this book come to fruition.

My deepest gratitude goes to Sally for her work on this project.

I have great appreciaton for Ben Gleason, my editor at Wisdom, who edited the manuscript with scrupulous attention to detail and shepherded production of the entire book. Mind Sky would not have been published without him. I also appreciate the work of Laura Cunningham, and proofreader Gretchen Gordon.

Many thanks to Gopa Campbell for book design, and to Kat Davis for coordinating the cover design of Mind Sky, which turned out beyond my expectations.

J.K.

EMPTYING INTO SPACIOUSNESS

As we merge sound, breath, and air,

we’re emptying into spaciousness.

— DOGEN

PEOPLE OFTEN ASK me about the distinction between Zen and mindfulness meditation. Zen practice — zazen meditation — may seem difficult and intimidating compared to mindfulness meditation. But put simply, it goes beyond the samadhi of mindfulness. In zazen, samadhi eventually leads to shikantaza — which means just sitting.

Shikantaza is objectless meditation, in which we don’t concentrate on any object or goal, or expect any gain. We let go of thoughts. We are just sitting.

Our great ancestor Dogen gave instructions in his essay Fukanzazengi for what to do with the mind in zazen: Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Nonthinking. This in itself is the essential art of zazen.

This quotation refers to a story about Yakusan Igen (Ch. Yaoshan Weiyan), who lived in eighth-century China. Yakusan was Sekito Kisen’s disciple. One day after Yakusan had finished zazen, a monk asked him, What are you thinking of in the immoveable, mountain-like state of zazen? Yakusan replied, I think of not-thinking. The monk asked, How can one think of not-thinking? Yakusan answered, By nonthinking.

Living in this troubling and chaotic world profoundly affects everyone’s well-being. Do you have to be continually stressed out and hurried? Is there a choice? An alternative?

Can you just sit down and give your mind a rest in meditation?

Mindfulness meditation has really helped a lot of people with stress reduction and pain management. But there can also be great misuse of mindfulness. In Buddhism, mindfulness or insight meditation — vipassana — is the Theravada tradition of calming the body and mind. The misuse of mindfulness is that, without a spiritual basis, people may hope to be acquiring something. In mindfulness, instead of giving something up, there can be a goal of gaining something, like relief from stress or chronic pain — or blissful happiness. I think we have to be careful about this.

People find that this form of meditation is a way to ease anxiety and stress, and it has become hugely popular and widespread. Ever since Time magazine devoted its cover and a full issue to the Mindfulness Revolution in 2014, there have been endless articles and bestselling books — even monthly magazines — devoted to the subject of mindfulness. But without some spiritual foundation, meditation practice doesn’t go very far. Mindfulness programs are marketed commercially and are found in large corporations, public schools, and government agencies. Corporate mindfulness programs are intended, essentially,