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Harada Shodo The Path To Bodhidharma
Harada Shodo The Path To Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma
The teachings
of
Shodo Harada Roshi
1
Table of Contents
Preface................................................................................................ 3
Zazen ................................................................................................ 52
2
Preface
Shodo Harada, the abbot of Sogenji, a three-hundred-year-old
Rinzai Zen Temple in Okayama, Japan, is the Dharma heir of
Yamada Mumon Roshi (1890-1988), one of the great Rinzai
masters of the twentieth century. Harada Roshi offers his teachings
to everyone, ordained monks and laypeople, men and women,
young and old, from all parts of the world. His students have
begun more than a dozen affiliated Zen groups, known as One
Drop Zendos, in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
3
forms of their names are provided in the Glossary.
Last but not least, I owe a personal dept of thanks to Tim Jundo
Williams, for his constant love and support, and for having
encouraged me to go to Japan and meet Shodo Harada Roshi.
Jane Lago
4
Bodhidharmas Outline of Practice
There are many avenues for entering the Way, but essentially they
are all of two kinds: entering through the Principle and entering
through practice.
5
Second is the practice of accepting circumstances. Living beings,
having no [fixed] self, are entirely shaped by the impact of
circumstances. Both suffering and pleasured by circumstance. If
you experience such positive rewards as wealth and fame, this
results from past causes. You receive the benefits now, but as
soon as these circumstances are played out, it will be over. Why
should you celebrate? Success and failure depend upon
circumstances, while the Mind does not gain or lose. Not being
moved even by the winds of the good fortune is ineffable accord
with the Way. This is the practice of accepting ones circumstances.
7
was so moved by Hannyatra Sonjas way of teaching the Dharma
that he gave him a jade ball. Hannyatara Sonja showed this ball to
the first son of the king, asking him what it was. Getsujo Tara
answered, 'It was a wonderful ball, unequaled in all the country -
a great national treasure.' Next, Hannyatara Sonja asked Kudoku
Tara how he saw the ball. Kodoku answered, 'This is a superb
wonderful jade ball, but if a regular person held it would have little
meaning. Only because you are holding it is it so wonderful.'
Then he asked Bodai Tara what he thought of the ball. Bodai Tara
answered, 'This is a wonderful treasure in this world perhaps, but it
is not the most important thing. Mind is by far more important. It is
like comparing the moon with the sun.' Hannyatara Sonja was
amazed at the boys deep understanding.
When several years later, the king died, Bodai Tara became the
disciple of the Hannyatara Sonja, who gave him the name
Bodhidharma. For forty years Bodhidharma was with his teacher,
it is said, and for sixty more he taught, walking all over India. At
the end of this time, he knew that conditions were right for him to
go to China.
8
transmission could never been passed down. This awakened
experience of the Buddha, that which created a path for us to
experience, is what the Buddha conveyed that morning; this
path cannot be understood on by studying the Buddhas words.
9
those with great wisdom will suffer. Here, a higher training a
greater training is necessary. This is what Joshu was saying
when he answered, 'The oak tree in the garden.'
'If there is any meaning at all, you can never save yourself.' This
is not an intellectual problem. Rinzai is saying that if you take the
question up intellectually, you will never get it. In fact, you will
be doing what all the scholars and social theorists are doing.
There is essentially no difference. But how can we then say that
Bodhidharma did not have self-awareness? How can we say that
we should not be working consciously when we are out in the
world? How can we go about living our lives so that we will not be
caught by our own thoughts and fantasies when we are out
there functioning in the world? What is Rinzai saying? This is
what we are all trying to know, and what Bodhidharma taught.
10
and awaited him eagerly.
If you are thinking about these questions all the time, you still have
far to go. As Joshu wrote, 'The dogs Buddha-nature: Offer up
yourself from the tips of your toes to the very top of your head!' if
there is the slightest awareness of good or bad, you are as good
as dead. If you are still aware of your breathing and your
body, the zazen of no merit is far away. When you
experience the mind without a single speck of clutter, you will, for
the first time, experience the zazen of no merit.
12
many years and mastered the scriptures, but in his heart he
was never able to be secure. Dissatisfied with what he could
discover through his intellect, he went to see Bodhidharma, to ask
for his help and guidance.
13
Niso Eka, standing in the snow and asked him, 'You have long
been standing in the snow. What are you here for? What are you
seeking?'
Niso Eka replied, 'I came to learn the true Dharma. I came to find
true faith. Please, Bodhidharma , have compassion and teach me,
teach us, the truth.' In tears, he pleaded with Bodhidharma .
Bodhidharma told him, 'The true path is not so easy to get out. You
will not get there just like that. With your knowledge in your head,
you will never get there. With only belief, you will never get there.
The Truth is at the Source of all beings; but if any shadow of
information and learning is still there, you will never be able to see it.
It is best that you stop your searching right now.'
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possible that this tradition, still followed today, derives from this
legacy of Bodhidharma and Niso Eka and their first encounter.
Niso Eka replied, 'Until now I have studied how to live, I have
studied the Tao, I have studied the sutras, and I know the path
very well, but I am not satisfied deep inside. After all that
endless study, I still cannot find true peace of mind anywhere!'
he was asking Bodhidharma for help, for the courage to awaken
himself.
Niso Eka was brilliant; even as a child he had been able to read
the most difficult philosophical texts. Even when he was young
he was looking for some word of advice on awakening, but this
is something that does not come easily. With a well-studied
mind come images and ideas that are always the true light.
Those ideas are not necessary. If you are settled in your heart,
you do not have to think, you do not have to worry whether you
exist or not, you do not have to pursue any such philosophical
questions. This was Bodhidharmas truth.
15
Niso Eka said to Bodhidharma, 'Your disciples mind is not yet at
peace. I beg of you, my teacher, please give it peace.'
Bodhidharma said, 'Bring your mind to me, and I will set it at rest.'
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of the mind there is no thought, but this was not Shakyamunis final
realization. He knew he would have to work harder, work
longer, and take it to the very end. It took Mumon Ekai six years
to finally understand. It took Niso Eka eight. It is not easy to
understand the words of Bodhidharma .
Niso Eka said, 'I have searched for the mind, and it is finally
unattainable.' He had come to a very good place and worked very
hard, or he would have been able to say this. It took him many
years to reach this place. Perhaps the shadows were all gone and
his thoughts had all disappeared, perhaps there was nothing left
there. He had comprehended this point, and Bodhidharma saw
his purity. Niso Eka had reached the very roots of his mind when
he approached Bodhidharma and said, 'I have searched for the
mind, and it is finally unattainable.'
'I have thoroughly set it at rest for you,' Bodhidharma said. There,
that is it; if you look there, that is it. Bodhidharma cut right through
what remained of Niso Ekas thoughts. We all have to be able to
achieve that clear cutting edge of Bodhidharma - no body, no
mind, nothing anywhere, nothing but that clear place: 'I have
thoroughly set it at rest for you.' It is that simple. As Shakyamuni
was also teaching us, if we meet that true Source completely, if
we know our true living minds, then no thoughts are necessary.
Rinzai, too, received that clear teaching from his teachin, Obaku.
We all have to believe and come to see this.
17
Tokyo.'
This is not just any old path - this Great Path of no gate with no
planned shapes! You can enter everywhere. It can be confusing
because the possibilities are many. However, as Bodhidharma
tells us, this can generally be divided into two main divisions.
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will understand the rest without problems. This is the first entrance
of which Bodhidharma speaks. This is how the sixth patriarch did it.
Can you hear the Dharma of this very moment? What is there to
listen to right now? Is the Dharma in peoples explanations? Will
speaking words of kindness be thought of as the teaching of the
Dharma? Right here, right now, hearing the drum go boom,
hearing the ring of sutra gong - or even the sound of the book
page tuning - what is it that hears this? Directly and clearly
experience that, and then there will be nothing left to seek; for
your whole life you will live as a true person. Rinzai taught this time
and time again: that which hears the boom of the drum - this i s
neither man nor woman, young nor old, rich nor poor, neither
scholar no an uneducated person, not square and not round, not
red and not white - it is simply one True Person of No Rank and
only that. It is not form or substance and has no standing at all. It is
that which becomes our nose and smells, and becomes our mouth
and tastes. It is that which becomes our hands and can hold things,
becomes our feet and can try our body. Rinzai would say, 'Do you
still not understand?'
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our daily lives - eating, going to the bathroom, moving our arms
and legs. We can realize it in lifes very midst. This is Entering
through Practice, or Entering through Conduct. And if our conduct
is truly correct conduct, we naturally enter 'through the Principle' as
well.
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animosity. Thus it is called the practice of requiting animosity.
We often think - mistakenly - that we were life in our first cry at birth.
This is an easy illusion and one that occurs frequently. But if
we look more closely, we can see it is not like this. We have
not sprung from the earth and the rocks. We have come from
the living bodies of our life separate from theirs? Of course not.
Our life comes from theirs, and if we look back through time into
endless past, we find a connection to all of our ancestors, and even
beyond that. More than four billion years ago the earth was born. It
is said that one million years ago or so human life as we know it
appeared on the earth. That means it took many millions of years
for this very life to be given birth to. Our life, the life, the life that
we are expressing right now, did not easily appear in one moment.
We did not come to be living here so simply, so coincidentally. Our
life is part of a continuous line of hundreds of millions of years.
We are a t this historys present point, expressed at its fullest
in this very moment. And that is only looking at it from the point
of view of the age of this earth. If humans originally came from
another planet or celestial body, we may have an even greater
amount of history behind us.
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instincts. And because of that we have the civilization that is here
today. Did we all do such good things? Of course not. Because
we left everything to instinct there were wars and struggles.
History teaches this clearly. Finally, twenty-five hundred years ago,
the Buddhas teaching came forth. Two thousand years ago
came the teachings of Christ, Socrates, and Confucius. At around
the same time they all appeared and finally offered a guiding light to
humanity. Maybe there were glimpses before this, but no one carried
them on.
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who understand profoundly the deepest path know that we have
reached the true and solid character of human beings when we
realize that we must throw away the stingy idea of not accepting
our own behavior. If we can see this, no matter what happens to
us, we can accept it, we can say, 'Even if people of society
do not know, I do.' We must clearly be able to say that we
have understood where this responsibility lies, and not just say it
after justice has been decided by others. If we are truly clear in
our state of mind, then we will let what has come be as it is. This
attitude is identical in Christianity and Buddhism.
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great person of the Way like Hakuin to be able to do something like
this.
This is the first of the four paths of Entering through Practice, the
practice of requiting animosity. Bodhidharma is telling us about this
very clearly, not to confuse us but to encourage us to accept this
truth in everyday lives.
Disaster and illness, being alive every day and then dying - these
are all passing varieties of scenery. Once we know their source
and their transience, we will not be caught by them, we will be able
to remain unmoved by pain and pleasure. Then clean, pure mind
of zazen shows us the way things truly are in society, in the world
around us. It is all synchronicity. When we can live our everyday
life in this way, knowing this like kensho. The sutras teach us that
when we receive others revenge and suffer through torturous
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worlds, we should receive it all just as it is - and not only that, but
make it into our foundation and live that place and express ourselves
from the Great Mind beyond all attachments. If we can accept the
difficulties and use them in our own favor, not running away from
them but following them, we will certainly come to enlightenment.
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servant he had never learned any kanji. This troubled the Kinzan
roshi. Heshiro was a very enthusiastic student, and the roshi
wanted to do something for him. Then the roshi had an idea. He
drew a huge circle with a big J in the middle and asked Heshiro what
it was. Heshiro did zazen day and night trying to figure out what
the circle and the J meant. He had been deeply injured by the
daimyos insults, and he trained desperately - harder than anyone
else. Maybe there was no meaning in that circle with the J in it,
but through his deep efforts he reached enlightenment doing
zazen on this drawing. That one deep thought of anger and revenge
at the daimyo brought him to this great understanding; finally he
was able to drop it all, to lose all sense of inner and outer, his
whole sense of self and other, earth and heavens, until, like a huge
explosion, it all fell away. He could not understand the drawing, but
everything around him appeared illumined. After that he returned
to Kyoto to the temple of Myoshinji.
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to enlightenment.
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saw that the actual truth could not be destroyed, that it was not a
mater of winning or losing or being happy for one brief period of
time. Buddhism is the Way that teaches us this eternal truth. This
Way is not a transient way. It is the ultimate resolution, not a
temporary one. We must heed the teaching of this Way.
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like when entered it. We accepted our situation to be born into
this difficult-to-live-in house, into this period of history. After the term
of pregnancy we are merely born, and we arrive with a big cry
and total acceptance. Our mothers, fathers, and ancestors
habits are give to us without our expectation. Therefore, to say
'This is good' and 'This is bad' is to add something on afterward
- it is not something that is part of our pure mind at birth.
Were we not pure when we were first born? No one comes out of
the womb complaining about having to be born - that is what
Bodhidharma is saying. In this part he is teaching that we are
fundamentally without any egoistic self whatsoever. The baby
accepts the world with which it is presented without judgment,
exactly as the world is presented. Adults are always judging and
complaining. Which is the easier way to live?
When our minds are free from egoistic view, we can accept things
exactly as they are. We can see everything with our eyes because
our eye empty; they no longer take double exposures. As one
thing leaves, then the next thing appears. My teacher, Mumon
Roshi, used to tell a funny story about someone looking in the
mirror one morning and noticing that she had a wrinkled face
and white hair all of a sudden. Upon investigation, she found that
her grandmother had just used the mirror, and he image was
still reflected there. Of course, mirrors do not act like that. Nor
do our eyes. Only our egoistic consciousness does this, and this is
unfortunate.
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the dog when it barks. This empty mind that hears the dogs barking
is Unborn Buddha Nature, this mind that works with no
expectation or preparation or plan. Our True Mind is empty of ego,
like a babys mind.
30
being made exactly alike at the bakery each day. We have our
fathers personality and also the karma of being born from him.
We have our mothers personality and also the karma of being
born from her. Why does the person next to me come from such
a rich family? No matter how much I worry about it, it will not
make any difference. All of our difference come from karmic
connections reaching back long before our own birth.
First the sake maker took out a little plate. Using some leaves he
gathered nearby, he sprinkled sake in the four directions; then
he gave two other offerings as well. The samurai asked him what
was doing. The sake maker said that he had just opened a new
sake barrel and was thanking all the gods in the four directions,
and the daimyo as well, with his offerings. The samurai
understood thanking the gods, but why, he asked, was the sake
maker thanking the daimyo? The sake maker answered, 'Because
the daimyo keeps the country in peace so the sake can be
made. We always thank him before taking the first drink out of the
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sake barrel.'
The samurai, who was high rank in Uwajima Castle, returned to the
daimyo and told him what had happened. The daimyo made the
sake maker into the royal sake maker who provided all the
sake to the castle, and he became very famous and his sake
very popular. For many generations his family continued to hold
this position, until the time in history came when the current sake
make had to give up his home, his lands, and all of his
possessions to the country. When the karmic connection is finished,
everything changes. All circumstances are only borrowed; good
things, bad things, suffering, joy - all come out of past karma. So
there is nothing to be so proud or so happy about. If you see the
present reality clearly, you will not be tossed and turned about by
current conditions, knowing they are only transient and will change.
There was once one very, very rich family named Tajima. There was
a strict rule in his family, however, that when each years rice
harvest came in, only what the family needed was to be kept - all
the rest was to be given away. The rule was never to build
storehouse or warehouses, but to give rice to all the temples and
shrines and to the poor people. When the end of the
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Tokugawa era came, the daimyo ran out of money and asked
everyone to give something from the wealth in their stores. The
Tajima family had no money at all - they had given all of their
rice and profit away. This was known by everyone; it was
known that they could not give money. The government, too,
was aware of this and did not ask them for anything. Other
great houses went broke, but the Tajima had known from the
beginning that it was all borrowed profit.
At Sogenji is the story of the master whose bath-water was far too
hot. He told the disciple who was in charge of the bath that day to
bring some cold water. At that time, of course, there was no
faucet to make the water start running. The disciple had to go all
the way out to the well, pull up a bucketful of water, take the water
into the bath, and then go back to the well again to bring up another
bucketful of water, and go back into the bath with it. Many times he
went back and forth from the well bringing cold water. When the
bath was finally cooled to just the right temperature, the master said,
'Okay, thats good enough.'
When he said 'thats good enough,' the monk took the little bit of
the water that was left in the bucket and dumped it out on the floor.
He put the bucket upside down and, thinking his work was
finished, prepared to leave. His teacher was furious and said,
'What are you doing?' The monk was amazed and did not
understand why, when he had just finished his job, his teacher was
suddenly angry at him. The master said, 'You thought there was
only a little bit of water left in that bucket, so you dumped it
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out so carelessly. Why, just because it was a little bit of water, did
you not perceive how to give that little bit of water life? If you had
taken it outside you could have put it on a flower, you could have
given it to a tree, you could have used it for the vegetables in the
garden.'
The master knew and was telling the monk that in one drop of
water, even in the slightest drop of water, there is an entire
universe of energy and functioning. We must make our efforts so
that we are using hat comes to us totally - if there is a lots of water
we can use it in a big way, but with even the smallest drop of
water we should put our efforts totally into taking the life of that
one drop seriously and using it in the best possible way. That is
what doing our practice is all about.
There are four major temples of Myoshinji, for whom there were
four big pine trees planted, which are still growing at Myoshinji
today. A story that comes from the time of the planting of those
pines tells us that at that time one of the Myoshinji priests was
traveling near Lake Biwa. It was a very hot day, and he saw the
cool-looking water. One man was swimming in the water, a
second man was bathing himself in the water, a third man was
washing himself on the bank at the edge of the water, and a forth
man was washing himself with a towel that had been dampened
in the water. The meaning of this story is that we can easily
jump into the water and swim and bathe. But the priest - being the
one who had the most understanding - said, 'I dont have the merit
to use the water like this; some must be left for those who come
later. If I do what is easiest and use up all the water now, what
will be left for generation to come?'
The same is true for our pollution today; if everyone thought like
this priest, there would be no problem. If we think that our life is
only from the moment we are born until the moment we die, we
are making a big mistake. We exist from the very beginning of
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history, one million years ago. The straight line that comes down
from that moment through now - this is my life! And this moment is
the ultimate point of it, right now. Every being breathing the air and
drinking the water on this planet, on this earth, is my life as well. If a
big bomb drops, it is over for all of us. The earth is turning, and the
radiation will fall everywhere.
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peace? If you understand this full, you quit all thoughts of others
states of being, no longer crave them. A sutra says, 'To crave
is to suffer; to crave nothing is bliss.' Thus we understand clearly
that craving nothing is the true practice of the Way.
Those who have understood the truth - those wise people who
know well how the mind and society and nature and the truth
work - these are the wise people. In China, a lord asked a wise
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man, 'How can I make all of my people wise?' Rather than
suggesting various activities that the lord might have his people
do, the wise man simply answered, 'Have them be virtuous. By
thinking of others first, that virtue will gradually, naturally becomes a
huge expression of sincere heart. As this expands further, peace in
all the country will reign.' And the old lord was very happy with this
teaching from the wise man.
People of the world want everything they see. They crave it all,
yet they never find satisfaction with any of it. One who has
understood clearly the Buddhas teaching the nirvana exist in
the extinguishing of the flames of greed, anger, and delusion -
what the Buddha realized in his deep enlightenment - has
obtained this same wisdom and is called an Awaken One.
He or she knows this True Mind, empty and clear, containing
nothing at all, without one speck. Someone who truly experiences
this mind will not need one thing, not one single thing. What are
you looking up in the sky and asking for, when from the origin it is
all empty?
If you need nothing, then you naturally want to give away what you
already have to someone else. Your enjoyment comes from giving
your mind of the Dharma to everyone. Every time you come into
contact with someone you give it away. People who do this are not
craving, they are eager to give; that is their pleasure.
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When we can live without great concern for our own welfare, the
food we need usually comes. In doing takuhatsu, I have never
had a single day of receiving no money or offering of food. If
you are truly walking the path, living with only exactly what you
really need, and truly practicing, you will be able to stay alive and
receive what you need. It is possible to go without eating for a
full month, and even if you die sitting, it will be a fine way to go. It is
truly foolish, the way everybody rushes around working for the
money and the food and the possessions they think they need.
At one point during my training I could not pass a koan, and was
packing up my things in the monastery, ready to leave, giving up. At
that time I thought it should not have taken me - or anyone else -
more than three years to reach kensho. I remember my tears at
the end of my first rohatsu sesshin when I could not realize
kensho. Was something wrong with the way I was sitting in the
zendo? I would even go out and sit all night long, but still I
could not break through. So I packed my things and went to the
roshi. I told him I was going to sit for long as I possibly could
alone. The roshi asked, 'Then what are you going to do?' I said I
would know then, that I did not know at the moment, but when
that time came I would know what I had to do. The roshi did not
say anything.
38
moment, all the burdens I had been carrying around fell away,
and I knew that I had never left the Buddhas palm. I became
suddenly light, as if my body were weightless. I returned to Nara
and found a letter from my previous training temple asking me to
come there for rohatsu.
Knowing the path would always open in front of me, I have never
lost that confidence that I have never left the Buddhas palm at any
time in any way. From that time on, sanzen was never terrible
again. All of the koans were just my karma ripening, and to be
done going on and on. Since then, the path has always been
open to me. I could accept whatever came. If there was no food,
it would be OK to die sitting. This is the important point: to
entrust completely, to live today with ones fullest energy; to have
no anxiety deep within, to have no sense of having done this and
that, leaving it all up to the natural way, leaving it up to heaven and
earth.
39
had thought that if people thought and talked about things - if
they were willing to talk things out - they could make anything
things happen; they could have made this new village. But all this
his hopes had been dashed. What would he do from tomorrow? He
had nobody to go home to, no money for food.
Tenko felt that his life was decided with that, and he borrowed
cleaning tools from a nearby grandmother to clean the shrine. Later
she said that her breakfast was made, and invited him to eat with
her. He said he had used the shrine, and that was why he had
cleaned it, but that she had no reason to feed him. She told him not
to be like that, and finally he agreed to eat, for he had not eaten for
a long time. He washed his dishes after eating and saw that the
toilet area was also dirty. He cleaned it, and here and there as well,
as he saw other things that were dirty, and finally she gave him
lunch. He returned to his inn and asked if he could work there for
no money at all about just to be able to live there. This is where it
began. For fifty years, from that time, he never had a time of not
eating. He started the community of Itoen, and all of its members
cleaned everywhere: stations, public buildings, shrines. They raised
gardens together and lived equally, working and laboring in a
40
community way, giving their whole bodies, their entire energy, in
service, knowing they would be provided for through that.
41
things happened, that good fortune would last as long as she was
there. The man was overjoyed and invited her to come in and
stay for long time in his best rooms. But soon afterward, an
ugly and miserable woman came to the same entranceway.
W hen he asked who she was, she said she was the Goddess of
Bad Luck and Poverty, and she told him that however she went the
world would be ill fortune. He told her to go away immediately,
but she said she could not leave because her older sister, the
Goddess of Good Fortune, was there, and they always had to
stay together. Greatly dismayed, the man had to ask them both
to leave. Always entwined like the strands of rope are good
fortune and ill fortune. Being born we have to die; we cannot get
away with only being born. We want only the good things and
none of the bad. This is the life of the sentient being - wanting
only the good things.
In one twenty-four hour period we have both day and night. With
both we have one complete cycle. Happiness and sadness are
both of life that we must take together. We cannot accept just
one without the other. In the Lotus Sutra there is a teaching
about a house that is on fire - a great rich old mans house where
many families lived together. All of the younger parents were
out, going about their business, but the children were home
playing, unaware of the great danger of fire. The old man tried
to tell the children to run out, to get away quickly, but the children
did not know what fire meant, nor what danger was. This story
is not about that house and these children; it is also about us,
right now. How shall we spend our time? Do we have any idea
when our lives will end? We know only that death has not arrived
for us yet. We are still unenlightened and do not even know
where are going. Having this body we suffer. We cannot run
away from that. We are planting the seeds of our suffering all the
time. Why dont we face it directly, head-on and go beyond it!
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Thus we understand clearly that craving nothing is the true
practice of the Way. Doing zazen, our bodies suffer - our legs
hurt, we become sleepy. We cannot reach the place of peace,
things around us continue to bother us. 'To crave is to suffer.'
We are all looking for something. But no matter how much we crave
and receive things, we cannot take them with us; when we die we
have to leave it all behind.
When Emperor Godaigo was ruling Japan, the country was divided
into the northern and the southern parts, and the emperor was
forced to flee his home. But he left behind a poem:
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giving their bodies, lives and possessions without any regret in
their minds. Fully understanding the emptiness of giver, gift, and
recipient, they do not fall into bias or attachment. Riding
themselves of all defilements, they aid in the liberation of living
beings without grasping at appearances. In this way they benefit
themselves and others both, gracing the Way of
Enlightenment. In the same fashion, they practice the other five
perfections. To eliminate false thinking in practicing the six
perfections means having no thought of practicing them. This is
practicing in accord with the Dharma.
Through this is the fourth and last party, it is in fact the most
important. In Christianity we have, from the beginning, God. But in
Buddhism we do not put the Buddha first. We have the Buddha, the
truth he preached, and those who follow it, but that truth - the
Dharma - come first. On the eight of December, under the
bodhi tree, the Buddha saw the morning star and realized his
True Mind, exclaiming, 'Thats it! Thats it! Thats me shining!'
Having spent six years doing training, getting rid of everything, in
that deep samadhi he realized that new life out of a place of
complete emptiness. What was the substance there? That body of
nothingness, seeing the trees and hearing the birds - what is that?
What is that which is clear-minded, that which beyond expression?
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Buddha knew from his own experience that even if there were
many gods, there was not even one to be prayed to. There was
nothing as wonderful, as sublime, as that very mind which he
had now realized. This was the Dharma, the source of all life, of
the sun, the moon, the flowers, and all the Ten Thousand Things.
This was the source of life consciousness, the roots of Mu. This
is what we have given the borrowed name of our True Mind. This
clear, bright mind is all that exist, and it itself gives birth to all those
gods. This mind that the Buddha had newly realized - this deep life
within each of us - was given the name of Dharma.
The Buddha brought forth the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold
Path, the Twelve Ways of Causation, and went to teach of his
experience to his five training friends, who all attained
enlightenment on the spot after hearing what he said. These
were the first sangha members. At just that time there came rich
young man who had used up all his money and was now broke.
He was going to the mountains to commit suicide when he met the
Buddha.
The Buddha told him of his realization, and the young man
attained enlightenment on the spot and became his next
disciple. Then the rich young mans father came looking for him.
He, too, heard of the Buddhas realization and became
enlightened himself, and was the first to call him Buddha, the
Awaken One.
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origin and it cannot die. Consciousness can die, but its source, its
roots, do not. That which gives birth to consciousness does not
die. There is never too much nor not enough. In every single
case the source is just as it as it is, never soiled or clean. It is
sometimes called the universe, but that is already an imagined
things, an explanation.
The true Dharma Eye, the source of all that is: This is what
the Buddha passed on to his disciples, who continued passing it on
to their disciples, to Bodhidharma , who passed it on to Niso Eka.
But what was transmitted? When people see someone point
finger at the moon, they always look at the finger, when the
point of course is to see the beautiful moon. The 'moon' we
must see is that understanding that was passed on by each
person to another became pure by realizing that source of all, the
true root. To know the Dharma, our True Nature, to experience that
same thing which the Buddha experienced - to understand each
other - we have to experience this for ourselves. It cannot be
found in thinking about it or in reading a sutra or in trying to
understand it with our heads.
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whom shall we turn to guide us when you are gone?' The Buddha
replied, 'Take refuge in the Dharma. Find guiding light in your
own true, pure mind. Never look outside yourselves for it. Even
if there seems to be something wonderful outside yourself, that
will only lead to confusion and doubt.' If his disciple had not
themselves attained enlightenment as well, they would not have
been able to understand. If they had only read about it or heard
about it, their experience would not have been the real thing.
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promise ourselves that we, too, will understand it like this.
This life force is neither good nor bad, nor is it stained by the
outer world. We are usually stained by likes and dislikes,
becoming attached to things that brings us joy and trying to avoid
what we dislike. But because our very center is pure and
unstained, there is truly nothing to be attached to! In truth,
there is no such being as a sentient being, because everything is
a part of the Basic True Nature. In the Dharma, in our purest self,
there is no ego, because we are not attached to a small self. Those
who have realized the truth, who have understood it with their own
experience, have the same understanding as the Buddha because
the mind is understood as the same mind, without any
attachment, moving freely. To live in this ways is to practice
the Dharma. One who has understood deeply will always be living
in this way easily.
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If you live in this essence of Dharma there is an unchanging center
that has no wish to posses. It can be truly sad when meeting a
sad person, and be ready to do whatever is possible for a suffering
of miserable person, helping not just physically but the totality of
ones life energy. The closest things to this completely selfless
functioning may be the love of a mother for her child. It can be
called instinct, yet it is more than that. It is possible to call it the
purest human emotion, yet it is not limited to humans; it is
found in animals as well. Practicing charity, giving offerings, never
being greedy with property, body, or a life - this greatness of mind
is found in one who truly loves humankind with a pure, clear mind.
It is one expression of the understanding of True Mind.
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and he said, 'Let us go look for something that might have been
left in the warehouses or somewhere.' But the doors of the
warehouse would not open. They tried one after another until finally
one gave, and looking inside they found the warehouses to be again
full of and silver. This is of course a symbol of spiritual wealth.
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attached to any form, whatsoever; this is the most important lesson.
The practice of charity, just as it is, saves society and aids in the
development of the Buddha world. The other virtues - such as
endurance, meditation, great care, and wisdom - are also for the
purpose of saving society and ourselves, and all of them
originate from within our own True Nature. The way of the mind
is to endure but not get angry. As we do zazen, be enduring
the pain, the cold, and the wish to move around, we develop
and express our True Mind, the source of all activities. To want to
clean and care for everything around us, to help those in trouble or
those in need - these are activities of our True Nature; they are
nothing but the expression of our Original Mind, just as it is.
To move when we should move and yet be totally still when we
are still, expressing appropriately the love for humanity that come
from our deepest mind - to be able to do this is to practice the
Dharma.
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Zazen
Joshu Jushin was born in China during the Tang dynasty
(618-907). A student of Master Nansen, he attained enlightenment
at the age of eighteen and continued his training with Nansen until
the latters death nearly forty years later. At the age of sixty, after
several years of tending his teachers grave Joshu left on a
pilgrimage, 'I will ask even a child of seven to teach me if his
understanding is greater than mine, and I will teach even a man of
one hundred if my understanding is greater than his.' For the
next twenty years he traveled to every corner of China, seeking out
teachers and studying the Dharma until, at the age of eighty, he
was invited to the city of Joshu to become abbot of the temple
Kannon-in. There, until his death at age of 120, Joshu devoted
himself to instructing the many disciples who gather around him.
Among Zen people he is regarded as a model of ideal Zen
practice and living, and is noted for his penetrating use of words
'Joshus lips,' it was said, 'flash light.'
One day a monk came to see Joshu. 'Im a new monk who has just
arrived. Please teach me what is important in training - how
should I live? The monk was undoubtedly hoping for a few
precious words of guidance to treasure and follow in his Zen
practice. Joshu, however, responded from precisely the opposite
direction. 'Have you eaten your gruel this morning?' he asked.
The monk was probably surprised by Joshus seemingly
irrelevant response - he had requested instruction on how to go
about Zen training; he did not expect to be asked if he had had his
breakfast. Joshu, however, was not asking, just about the monks
morning meal. He was pointing a central aspect of training:
the need to be attentive in whatever one does. When the
monk answered, 'Yes, Master, I have eaten,' Joshu immediately
responded, 'Then be sure to wash your bowls!' with this the
monk suddenly understood what Joshu had been saying.
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This story tells it all. The words zazen and training are
constantly on our lips, and we never tire of talking about Dharma
and Truth, making it seem as thought there is something special
and out-of-the-ordinary to be attained. This only proves that our
truth creativity has yet to come alive. We may have reached a
certain understanding on the level of reasoning and logic, but we
have still to see the very place upon which we stand; we may have
fathomed the workings of the universe, but we have yet to grasp the
essence of our very own minds.
Since the process of alignment starts with the body, let us begin
with the physical side of Zen practice. There are four aspects to
this physical side, corresponding to the four basic postures - gyo,
'moving'; ju, 'standing'; za, 'sitting'; and ga, 'lying' - that a
human beings assumes during the course of the day. There
are times in which we are engaged in activity (gyo), during
which we attempt to remain focused and aware; times of
standing still (ju), during which we attempt to return to the
source and observe the content of our minds; times of sitting
(za), during which we delve even deeper into our inner source;
and, finally, times of lying down (ga), when we ret our bodies.
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doing. Standing still permits a greater inner focus, but it is in the
posture of sitting that this element finds its deepest expression.
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essential nature of things. If liberation was all that mattered, it
would be enough to drug ourselves to sleep, but this would
hardly resolve the problem of how to act in our everyday live form
a stable inner essence, regardless of how turbulent or
dangerous the outer circumstances are. It is here that the
important of sitting emerges, for it is though sitting we are most
easily able to stabilize ourselves in this inner essence.
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The folded legs comprise a triangle where the knees form the
two base angles and the coccyx form the apex. The buttocks
are pushed back the lower abdomen is pressed forward, while
the trunk rises perpendicularly from the middle of this
foundation, forming a balanced centerline for the overall body
pyramid. The lower back is curved in as much as possible to
provide a solid support for the upper trunk; sitting with your back
bent out may seen more comfortable, but it easily leads to
sleepiness and random thoughts, and makes the attainment of
deeper meditative states impossible. The upper body should rise up
in a light and relaxed manner, almost as if it is not there. The chin
should be pulled back and the top of head thrust upward, while
the neck should touch against the back of the collar. With the body
in this posture the strength will quite naturally settle into the
tanden, the place in the lower abdomen, two or three inches
below the navel, the physical and mental foundation of zazen
practice. It is important, however, to think the tanden not as a
specific point the body but as something that appears when a
number of factors are in proper balance - the tanden is, in a sense,
the expression of an overall condition. It will not appear unless the
upper trunk is relaxed, the back is straight, and the lumbar area
is firmly tucked in. When the back is curved in as far as possible,
the trunk naturally straightens and the ki, the vital energy, flows
freely upward along the spine.
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When you start a period of meditation, particularly if you are a
beginner, straighten your spine by leaning forward slightly, then
leave your pelvis tripped forward and your lower back curved in as
bring the rest of your trunk to an upright position. Continue to rock
forward and backward until you find the proper point of
centeredness. Doing this will provide a quite clear sense of both the
lower back and the tanden. Some practitioners find themselves
sleepy, unfocused, of full of scattered thoughts nearly every time
they sit. Ive found that almost always this is because their back is
not curves in and their centerline is off.
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stability of the lower trunk is thus disturbed, causing a loss of
balance in the entire body; you feel unsettled and overact
emotionally. Even the ordinary activities of daily life become difficult.
In this way, the study of Zen must proceed through the body -
theorizing alone cannot lead to the inner experience of true zazen,
in which your ki fill your tanden and provides a sense of
boundless energy that seems to extend to the very ends of the
universe. When you are grounded in your physical center and
the various bodily parts are settled in their proper positions,
the energy circulates naturally; the spine is straight, and the
entire physical structure rests in a position of optimal balance, like a
pagoda rising up with each story settle firmly on the one below. By
maintaining this posture not only during zazen but in daily life - in
walking, in working, and in all other activities - you are remaining
centered in your lower abdomen, so your upper body feels fresh
and light and you are filled with a sense of clarity.
This will be aided by loose clothing that does not restrict the flow
of your breath. Another factor to be careful about is eating. Meat
and other greasy fare thicken the blood and should be reduced;
the emphasis should be on good nourishment. The matter of
sleep, too, is important - neither too much nor too little is good
for zazen.
One receives energy and support from food, from sleep, and
from surrounding environment. A balanced approach to these
factors not only helps your practice but also contributes to good
health, and a state of good heath is, needless to say, the most
suitable physical condition for the practice of Zen. I might add that it
is best to sit with other Zen practitioners, so that everyone can
sense everyone elses zazen energy and draw strength from their
efforts to harmonize the mind. It works the other way around,
too - it is quite difficult to sit among people who no interest in
meditation.
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Ones inner, mental environment is also important. You must make
a conscious decision to practice, vowing from deep within to bring
your body into balance, to harmonize your breathing, and to clarify
your mind. Merely crossing your legs and sitting vacantly on a
cushion is not enough. Useless you express your commitment in
the form of conscious, directed effort, you will never be capable of
genuine zazen.
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deep breathing during athletic warm-up exercises generally
focuses on inhalation, but in zazen it is the exhalation that is
the central. It might be called 'exhalation-type deep breathing.'
This necessitates, first of all, that the upper body be straight and
completely free of tension. Centering your respiration in your
tanden, begin with an exhalation; if you start with an inhalation
there is a tendency for the body to stiffen. Exhale completely,
using the mouth, not the nose, for the first several breaths.
After this, breathe through the nostrils. The respiration should be
neither overly forceful nor overly gentle - it should feel full and
expansive, as though it extends infinitely and without constraint.
The breath should feel as though it comes not from the chest but
directly from the lower abdomen, as though there was an open
pipe directly connecting the tanden and the mouth.
This type of breathing, in which the air is released until the belly
becomes concave, is called abdominal breathing. Try to take about
ten breaths in this way, being careful to exhale fully with each
one. When the exhalation is complete, the ideas filling the head
are, as it were, expelled along with the air. This is the best way to
effect the mental 'turnabout' that enables you to leave behind the
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agitations of everyday life and begin zazen with a mind that is
fresh, clear, and empty. With only a partial exhalation, your
mental state in zazen remains a mere continuation of what
was in your mind before.
When you have settled into this abdominal breathing, with the
shoulders and chest free if tension, the entire upper body relaxed,
and your strength seated in the tanden, then a shift takes place -
from abdominal breathing to tanden breathing. In the former, the
abdominal muscles play the major role in the drawing in and
letting out of the breath, expanding and contracting to enable
long, relaxed, free respiration. This quickly brings about a
settling of ki in the tanden, which in turn gives rise to a sense of
strength and lower abdomen, drawing the consciousness there and
filling it with relaxed energy. In this case, the abdomen remains
rounded and nearly motionless even as the breath moves freely in
and out, as though (in words of Hakuin) there were a fully inflated
ball inside. Were the belly to be poked from the outside, it would fee
taut and firm but not rigid.
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This state of integration alone, however, is not in itself enough
to bring about the third type of alignment mentioned above:
alignment of the mind. Attaining the stability of a well-aligned
mind is essential in Zen training, since most of us do not live in
a quite world of our own, cut off from other people, but are
instead surrounded by the constant distractions and demands of
everyday life. In daily life there are, of course, important matters
that demand careful thought, but so much of what fills our heads is
utterly unnecessary. We constantly replay emotionally charged
situations and fret endlessly over personal relationships,
overloading our minds with thoughts that are of no real
account. One memory leads to another to create an endless
chain of ideas that clouds our awareness and confuse our mental
functions. We end up enable to judge situations accurately and
therefore act in inappropriate ways.
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In susokkan, the out-breath should be long and steady. One
breath after other, inhale and exhale with the entire body,
keeping centered in your lower abdomen and taking care not
force the outbreath, as this would prevent the expensive, free
respiration necessary to zazen. The full exhalation should last for
ten to fifteen seconds (or, for beginners, for about eight seconds,
with eight seconds for inhalation, so that there are about four
complete breath cycles a minute). As you become accustomed to
this type of breathing, the exhalations will grow longer, while
the inhalations will remain about the same length.
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abdomen feels unnatural; you become very self-conscious about
how the process is going, and about whether you are 'succeeding'
or not. As your sitting ripens with constant practice, you will be
able to remain with your breathing quite naturally, you body in
perfect harmony with the rhythm of respiration.
In this way, follow the coming in and going out of your breath
from until night. Count and count and keep on counting the
breaths whether you are doing zazen or not; count whether you
are standing or sitting, whether you are asleep or awake. As you
continue, the inhalation and exhalations become completely
natural, and finally you enter a clear, open state of perfect
unity mind and respiration, where it is no longer necessary to count
help focus your attention. This stage, in which the awareness
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and the breathing are one, with no need for numbers, is that zui,
'following.'
This state must be deepened to the point that all connection with
the outside world is cut off and nothing whatsoever touches or
enters your awareness. This does not mean, however, that the
senses are shut down. Externally, the correct way to cut off
connections is to collect the mind into a single point and maintain
this state of absolute attention and clear awareness. Internally, it
is to avoid holding on to anything at all. Do not get caught by
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thoughts or fantasies - just let the breath flow in and out while
staying with susokkan or your koan. Allow the images that arise
to come and go as they will - like pictures passing on a screen -
but keep your awareness focused on the breath, allowing nothing
to linger in your mind, until you and your breath become one.
Breathing never stops - it is with you all the time. You need only
remain attentive to its flow. Even if thoughts arise, even if stimuli
press in from the outside, just push on without pause, allowing no
breaks in your awareness. Put everything into the process and
move relentlessly ahead. No matter what comes along, do not let
it become on obstacle. If you lack the courage to advance in one
connection line, you should not begin in the first place. To do
zazen and susokkan just because you think you ought to will never
lead to a true understanding of the mind. If you want to touch the
True Mind that connects each and every one of us, you must be
willing to push beyond any problems that arise.
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case of the Mumonkan it clearly: Zazen must involve every bit
of your being, all 'three hundred and sixty bones and joints and
eighty-four thousand hair follicles.' In the face of such total
awareness, random thoughts and fantasies soon vanish. In true
zazen, not so much as a speck must remain of dualistic notions of
self. Our existence fills the universe, and it is this existence that
speaks words, that moves the body, that carries on the
activities of everyday life. It is only when we realize this inner
essence that koan work has any meaning. Zazen is not a trance -
the eyes are fully open, the ears are fully open, the mind is fully
open, the inner and outer worlds are one. It doesnt matter if you
are sitting in the zendo, walking, or cleaning the grounds; the
essence is the same.
This explanation, however, does not yet express the full purpose of
zazen. At the entrance of a Zen temple we often see the
words kyakka shoko: 'Watch you step!' What these words are
telling us is to be aware of everything we do. We take off our
footwear attentively and in such a way that later no one has to
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rearrange it correctly for us. We put our shoes at the side of the
entranceway, not in the middle, so that other people may more
easily slip out of their shoes. In this way, even to the way in which
we take off our shoes, continual awareness is necessary.
When the Buddha spoke from the top Vulture Peak, he held
a single flower in front of everyone. This was not just any
flower - it was the Buddhas experience, the manifesting of the
Buddhas very essence. Even if it is true that humans are simply
another type for animal, as some people so dismissively put it, we
are not here simply to live our lives eating and sleeping. If we
simply live and dies as the animals do, then our existence as human
beings has no significance. To be truly human we must live in
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a humane and dignified way. We are not alive merely to
accumulate things and fulfill our desires. Our life, our mind - how
brightly can they shine and illuminate all that we encounter?
One lifetime is not very long. In the time you have left, live
in the way indicated by Master Joshu when he said, 'When youve
finished your gruel, be sure to wash your bowls!' How brightly can
you make our bowls shine? You have to work energetically and
deeply on this! It is not someone elses problem - only you can
resolve it. Your life in this world is not someone elses
69
responsibility. To grasp this deeply is what Zen teaches us. If
one person truly understands, then that persons way of living will
have a lasting effect on all of society.
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Hakuin and His Song of Zazen
All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth is, we seek it far away - what a pity!
We are like a one who in the midst of water cries out desperately in
thirst. We are like the son of a rich man who wandered away among
the poor.
Even those who have sat zazen only once will see all karma
erased. Nowhere will they find evil paths, and the Pure Land will not
be far away.
If we listen even once with open heart to this truth, then praise it
and gladly embrace it, how much more so then, if on reflecting
within ourselves we directly realize Self-nature is no-nature. We
will have gone far beyond idle speculation.
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Realizing the thought of no-thought as thought, whether singing
or dancing, we are the voice of the Dharma.
How vast and wide the unobstructed sky of Samadhi! How bright and
clear the perfect moonlight of the Fourfold Wisdom!
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and trembling. Perhaps more than most children, he was very
sensitive and nervous. He wept and gabbed at his mothers knees,
weeping and crying. 'Hell is too scary! Hell is so scary! Even when
I have you nearby, hell is so scary! If I fall into hell it will be terrible!
Please make it so that I do not have to fall into hell!' He was a child
very affected by things. At the age of twelve, he heard a monk say
'Even if in fire, it wont burn, even if in water, it wont drown.'
Hearing this, he made a vow and gathered his own mind to realize
this state of mind. He imitated the monk by taking a fire that was
heated to red-hot and touching it to his calf, to try to see if he,
too, could do this without being burned. This is how dedicated he
was.
It has been said that Hakuin was a man who lived his life while he
kept an eye open on hell. As a young man, he carried his fear of hell
with him, and it was perhaps as a result of fear that he yearned to
be ordained. At the age of fifteen, overcoming his parents
reluctance to his being ordained, he became a monk with their
permission. He was ordained at Shoinji in Hara by Tanrei Soden.
This priest ordained and supported him and gave him the name
Ekaku. When Hakuin was seventeen, Tanrei died; under
another teacher, at the age of nineteen, he began actual training.
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ordinary person in society? Hakuin thought that if Gantos death
was in spite of all that training, then the training must have no
meaning whatsoever.
One sunny day at the temple where he was living, the monks
were airing the old books to rid them of bugs that might destroy
them. Facing all the book sitting there, Hakuin made a vow and put
his future in the hands of the gods: 'Please tell me in which
direction I should go!' he prayed. 'Please, I promise that I will follow
whatever you tell me to do!' From the bottom of his heart, Hakuin
Zenji made this deep commitment. Then, from the pile of
books spread all over the room, he took one in his hands and
opened it.
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People of old always said, 'Great efforts will, without exception,
bring great Realization. To be alive in this world without any
reason - to live and yet be known by no one - for what are we
born into this world if this how it is?'
At the age of twenty, having decided how the rest of his life would
be lived, Hakuin Zenji traveled to the east and to the west looking
for teachers and places to train. At a temple in the Banshu area he
wrote this poem:
If you would practice in the same way that these rivers flow, before
long you will without fail realize kensho.
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He then trained with no book or brushes or calligraphies or pictures
or inkstones - none of it at all. He pursued his path with total
determination.
His still and clear mind had been pierced through by the bells
sound, and that and every moment was full of deep wonder.
Great joy filled every moment of his hands and feet. Hakuin
expressed it jubilantly: 'Ganto has never died! He is here, right
here. Alive, just like this!'
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He was such deep wonder that he became very excited. And when
he saw people everywhere suffering, he was moved to tears that
the Buddhadharma had come to this earth to help them. He was
deeply, deeply moved. Yet the priest of Eiganji, Shotetsu, could
not do anything with him. Hakuin had fallen into a severe case of
conceited self-importance. This Hakuin Zenji, if he had stopped
there, would never have become as famous throughout the world
as he is today. The great functioning that he expressed in his life
would never have been possible.
No matter what Hakuin answered, Shoju Rojin would not accept it.
One time Shoju Rojin grabbed him and hit him and almost threw
him off the porch - this was how strong and energetic he was. He
yelled at Hakuin, 'You stupid priest - stuck in the dark hole and
blind besides!' Hakuin had experienced that Mind of the Great
Death, but from there he was unable to function; he was stuck and
fixed. With that reborn consciousness and way of being, he was
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deeply troubled. Whenever he encountered Shoju Rojin, Shoju
Rojin would call him 'that Ekaku Joza who was stuck in a deep
dark hole.' It is written that Shoju Rojin would hit him and pull
him around. Yet Hakuin stayed with Shoju Rojin and trained at his
hermitage for eight months.
One day Hakuin was doing takuhatsu in the town of liyama. Still
working on the koan about where Nansen had gone when he died,
Hakuin was standing in front of a house steeped deeply in
Samadhi when an old lady came out of the house and told him to
go to the other the side of the street. Because he was in deep
Samadhi, he did not hear her. The old lady became very
angry. 'If you dont get over there across the street, I will hit you
with my broom!' She began hitting him, and he suddenly came to
and spontaneously encountered his true Life Source - that actual
Truth was touched. Koans that he could not touched before he
could now pass one right after the next. He saw them all in one
flash. He was so full of joy, he returned to see Shoju Rojin. When
Shoju Rojin saw how Hakuin looked, he confirmed his experience
completely.
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and so he wrote a book, Yasen kanna, in the common language
that would be easy for anyone to read and understand.
In his diary he described how, without even thinking about it, he had
given a great cry of joy and astonishment. He must have been
deeply moved. Until then he had thought this sutra was a shallow
work without much meaning, and he had taught people in this way.
He realized now that he must apologize from the roots of his being
for having done this. At this time, also for the first time, he
understood what a great state mind Shoju Rojin lived in every single
day of his life.
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compassion of the Buddha was absorbed more and more deeply
into his being. He knew without doubt that all beings are from the
origin Buddhas, and that all of these Buddhas have come into this
world to open the eye of wisdom in all beings - to open and
enlighten this eye of wisdom. In all of this subtlety, he knew that
there is nothing but this in the Buddhadharma.
In the Lotus Sutra it is written, 'I do not have any feeling against
you, nor deride you. You are one who will become a Buddha.' In
this way it is said to both old and young people, to both rich
and poor people: prostrate and realize this vow. Shakyamunis
mind is expressed in this teaching clearly. For those of you who
do zazen, it is in the realizing of this that what we are able to be
rid of our own heaviness. To awaken to this, we let go of the
layers of accumulation and realize the essence. This is what
our zazen teaches us. For all beings to be liberate it is
required that all beings be awakened to this very fact.
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From that time on, Hakuin Zenji worked with truly sharp
intensity. In his fifties and sixties, never resting and not needing
to regret the passing of a single wasted moment, he taught the
many disciples who came to him, spoke wherever he was
invited. Did calligraphy, painted, and wrote, leaving simple texts and
dynamically working in every direction.
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this imperfect, small self.
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countrymen. Why? He had seen how meaningless material and
animal pleasures are, and he had seen that no matter how we
try, it is impossible to fully and completely satisfy the urge for
them. He had understood this melancholy state of mind thoroughly.
He went to the mountains to find true eternal life and meaning, to
know true joy. He sought the answer there to his questions and
the resolution to the unfulfilled path he had been walking. He was
taking on the greatest problems of all beings and making a
determined commitment to resolve them. Someone had to do it, or
the truth would never be realized.
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most important. In accordance with the teaching of Samadhi as
the way of utmost importance, we are able to encounter that
true quality of our Mind, finally, 'this very body is the body of the
Buddha' is known clearly. This is the overall flow of this Song of
Zazen.
Even though it says in the very first line that 'All sentient beings are
essentially Buddhas,' we are all born with both a very thick egoistic
layer as well as the clear mind of Buddha. Yet the next line tells us
that this egoistic layer and this clear, purified mind of Buddha
are in fact that very same thing. We may perceive them as
separate, but they are in fact only two sides of the whole: 'As
with water and ice, there is no ice without water; apart from
sentient beings, there are no Buddhas.' An old song says that
rain, snow, ice, and hail are no different from water; when
they fall all become the same for the valleys stream. Water
becomes rain, becomes snow, becomes sleet, becomes hail,
becomes ice, becomes frost. The form changes, but the source
material is one and the same. Ice and water are of the same
material and essence, but they are completely different in shape.
Water is warm; ice is cold. Water has no form; ice has a form.
Water flows; ice cannot flow. Water seeps into any place and
leave no cracks between itself and its container; ice cannot blend
or accommodate. Water can bring life to trees and plants; ice
harms trees and plants and kills fish. Water and ice are the same
material, yet because their form is different they function
differently. They are very different, yet they are in essence the
same. In this same way, Buddhas and ignorant beings are different
yet also the same.
The water that gives life can also be destructive. Sometimes there
are great floods, and in these great floods homes and precious
belongings are destroyed. A piece of ice is hard and resistant, yet
if you heat it, or if it is touched by the warmth of the sun, it
melts and turns to water. 'As with water and ice, there is no ice
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without water.' As there is no ice apart from this water our chunk
of being egoistic is also part of our clear Buddha Nature.
Even that mind which is concerned all day long with winning
and losing and gaining and profiting, even that mind, just as it is, is
the mind of the Buddha. There is nothing separate or different from
that.
For ice to become water, heat must be applied. For human beings
to return to the Original Mind, they have to throw away
everything and offer themselves to society; they must let go of
all delusive and extraneous thoughts. The only question that
actually exists is: Do we have the wisdom to make use of that
mind? We learn to prosper, to bring ourselves what we need, to
take care of ourselves, but do we have the wisdom to work not
only for our own good but also for the good of all beings, of all
people in society, of everyone in the world? This wisdom knows
that our greatest joy is the growth and prospering of all people,
not for the food of our own selves but because when everyone
grows, everyone flourishes, and we flourish as well.
Usually, those people who enter the path of Zen have already
read too many books and have done too much thinking about Zen.
They want somehow to actualize all of the complicated
explanations and all of the words they have picked up from those
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books. What they are attempting to do is truly a difficult thing. In
fact, for zazen - which literally means 'sitting Zen' - it is better
not to read so much but simply to sit, as the word implies. What
sits is not our mind but our body - that is the base.
We deal with this deep and vast question through zazen because it
cannot be understood with our heads. That which can be
experienced can be found in books. This path, however, has to
be experienced. Although there are many books about Zazen, it is
better to keep our heads empty. We need to let go of all knowledge
or information and awaken to that with which we are already
endowed at birth - this zazen. What has to be done is not to learn
something but to awaken to something - this is zazen. We have to let
go of intellectual studies, of any idea of how much we already know,
of how many books we have read; then we have to just sit. To deeply
awaken to that Original Mind is what we do in zazen. That which is
the base of doing this is our body. That is why it is necessary to
correctly align our body and to awaken to our clear pure nature and
the natural wisdom that springs forth from within us. The natural
sense of how things truly are will become clear to us from within.
From the bottom up we have to look once more at
everything and see life as a whole, not small separated parts. This
is Zen. The body is always the base. The actuality of this is what we
have to align - this is zazen.
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entangled in confusing words. To just sit and think nothing - we
imagine what this is, and think we should turn our backs on society
and go into the mountains and do this and only this. If we choose
not to go to the mountains, we still do the same thing by trying to
maintain silence in our mind. We mistakenly think that this is
zazen. And this kind of thinking is a very common mistake. If we
were to just sit and separate ourselves from everything, would we
be resolving our challenges, would we be bringing forth our true and
correct inner wisdom?
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suffering is what the next greatest importance. Next, we have to
look at this suffering correctly; if we do this we will, without fail, be
liberated from such suffering. We are taught to believe that each
one of us can be liberated and then live as an awakened person.
For this we enter the path and thoroughly clarify it to its ultimate
point - this is how liberation works. This is how the Buddha taught
his disciples. This teaching can be found in the Flower Garland
Sutra or the Lotus Sutra, earlier in which these teachings are
frequently repeated. The words of the Buddha, as we look at them
quietly and carefully, in every sentence, need to be realized not with
our heads but within our daily lives. If we give them practice,
then our minds will be freed from their delusion and confusion.
We become simple and clear, and from within ourselves our minds
become liberated. This process is one of understanding not our
heads but our bodies. We need to do it in our daily live; whether
we are sitting, standing, or walking, we need to keep doing it as
if one straight line. When we can hold just one word - looking at it
and concentrating on it all the time - the clutter in minds will be
swept away naturally, and our minds will become truly vast and
luminous. Our Bodhisattva vow to awaken everyone to this truth
will become full, and our desires will no longer catch us in
attachment.
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The words spoken by the Buddha feel very far away as the
days and centuries go by, and we need more intimate and familiar
words to guide us. Zen is taught within the living air of every era; it
must function in a way that is alive, vivid, and full of essence. From
China there is the famous Mu koan of Joshu. Other koan lines are
the answer to the question of why Bodhidharma came to China,
'The oak tree in the garden,' or Master Unmons answer, 'Every day
is a good day.'
We have to separate ourselves from our ego filter and the idea
of self on which we are stuck. It is true that there is also the small 'I'
that lives, but we cannot function from the essential way of being
and the true way of seeing when we are stuck and attached
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and unclear. The small self is always obstructive to the higher
quality way of doing things. Those who find the higher way of
doing things are the ones who do Zen and work hard to let go of
their small selves. People who do kendo and are obstructed
by their small selves are unable to know their opponents mind. If
they cannot see the others mind, their movements become small
and limited; they cannot move in a large and free-flowing way. For
those who do flower arranging, if the arrangement is full of their
own small-minded concepts, then the flowers will be full of a
sense of self-importance, and there will not be any true
harmony. In tea ceremony as well, if you present tea with
dualistic ideas coming first, then the tea will not be served freely
and without the stain of small mindedness. There is no smooth
flow to it, and while it is perhaps harmonious in form, it is not
harmony from the deep heart. In the Noh theater or in
calligraphy or in archery, zazen is given life in this same way.
After we have learned the technique we can go beyond it and
separate from it, becoming one with the entire universe. In this
way, we can give live to a magnanimous functioning.
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and say we cannot think, that we should not think. Rather, za is
the place where we have lost track of all of this. Zen is saying,
'You cannot let that mind move, you should not move your mind
around to this and that!' it is not struggling like that. But when
your mind is well aligned, it does not go wandering around. This
mind that does not stray from the Origin Nature - this is Zen. This
is how the sixth patriarch defined it.
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high level emotions, but there is a difference between holding
them important and drowning in them. When we drown in them
everything becomes suffering. Instead, we must live every single
day anew, every day fresh again. In each second every new
moment is born anew. Confidently and firmly living each
moment - this is the humans natural way of being. When
laughing, laugh from your deepest heart; when crying, cry from
your deepest heart; when it is necessary to be angry, be angry
from your deepest heart; and in this way you can fill the heaven
and the earth with the essence of what you are feeling and
then leave nothing behind. With a full and abundant mind we live
in this original state of mind, in the way of healthy mind. To
experience this essence is zazen. This place of no attachment, this
free state of mind, is zazen.
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'Mu.'
Isan replied, 'But that is what Joshu said.' 'Form does not differ from
emptiness.'
Isan responded, 'But that is what is written in the Heart Sutra.' 'From
the origin there is only one bit of emptiness.'
'But that was already said by the sixth patriarch.'
No matter what Kyogen said, Isan Reiyu told him that it was all
someone elses words. That face before you were born - prior
to any experience and learned knowledge - what id that? Speak it
from yourself. So Kyogen reread everything and all of his notes on
everything as well. Still, Isan would not accept anything he offered,
only calling his answers the fart gas of the ancients - no matter
what Kyogen tried it all got him nowhere. When finally he had
nothing else to say, Kyogen pleaded within Isan to show
some compassion and tell the answer. But Isan just laughed and
said, 'I want to tell you, but then it will be with my words. You
have to speak your own answer with your own words
Kyogen had studied so hard, and now he could not speak even
a single word. How pitiful! It had all come to noting. He felt he had
no potential and would never be able to go back to society, so
he decided to go and take care of the cleaning of a cemetery and
not to show his face. The successor of the sixth patriarch, Echu
Kokushi, was buried in a secluded place in the mountains, and this
is where Kyogen went.
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was deeply enlightened. 'This is it! This sound! I did not hear it from
anyone, nor did I read it in a book! This sound is what was received
by that self before I was born - that is it!' he felt directly, so
joyfully it came up from the very bottom of his mind. He looked
far into the distance, in the direction when Isan was, and lit
license and said: 'Isan, great priest! You did well to chide me so
thoroughly! If you had not kept me going like this, I would never
have tasted his flavor today.' Kyogen had been able to go
beyond that place of preconceived notions and ideas, forgetting
time completely, forgetting even his own existence, and from there
he heard that sound, clunk! At that point his consciousness
was directly perceived as well, that which came from nowhere at
all; in this pure awareness was his face before his parents were
even born, his True Self. To say it another way, it was life as it
is, not the physical body, but that life energy which fills the
heavens and the earth - this is what he experienced. This is
enlightenment, satori, and when we know this experience, the
things we see every day are fresh, and each day our mind is new.
So many people still read books and learn explanations that say to
look at it this way or that way. That is all reasoning and
dualistic knowledge and information. That is not Zen. We have
to teach the limit of words and do zazen to find true
understanding. No matter what we say, we do not reach the true
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essence until there is nothing left to say; only when we
have reached that place can we do zazen with our life on the line
in one straight line. Then we work on one koan with everything
we are, completely and totally. Without even noticing it, we lose
track of our bodies, and we lose track of any sense of the zendo
as well, everything around us faces away. From morning until
night, there is only the koan that we have been given. And then,
as we dig in deeper, even the koan disappears. All that is left the
breath, and finally that disappears as well. This is the place of
slashing through the great root - when there is no self left at all. We
enter that state of mind where we are totally transparent. With no
heaviness and nothing left to hold on to, we become like a clear
mirror, like a crystal palace.
When Kyogen heard the sound of the tile on the bamboo it was
not taught to him by his teacher or by his parents or by a book - it
was his own mind. He knew that essence for himself. How can it
be expressed to other? We do not know. The state of mind that
cannot be explained comes from a place of no thoughts or ideas
- just that clunk; the source of that which is unnameable - so we
call it Buddha Nature.
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sleep and wake, without any attachment at all - it is a free way of
living we can living in our Buddha Nature, 'Never abiding in any
place yet manifesting continually.'
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As Hakuin also says, 'Even those who have sat zazen only once will
see all karma erased.' Even if for only a few times you have worked
creatively and inventively on doing this zazen of letting go
knowledge and awakening to that with which we are already
endowed at birth, you will be able to see the results directly.
'Realizing the form of no-form as form,' you will be able to see
that there was nothing to be caught by in the first place. The
essential words being given here - 'All sentient beings are
essentially Buddhas' - are accompanied with this most important
phrase, 'Realizing the form of no-form as form.' How to see that
in its ultimate way is told to us in these words of Hakuin. Our
breathing is very important, but what is this deep breath
important for? It is important for us to be able to see that from
the origin there has been nothing to be caught by, nothing to be
stuck on, not even once.
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universe have led up to this moment, and within each of us there
are all the many components of our subconscious and our
gathered awareness. Within that awareness we hold the stains of
all human beings. We have to cut that awareness away to get rid
of it from the root, or we will be passing it down to all the people
who come after us. Because we are here, because we are alive,
we have this awareness of an 'I,' but at the same time, if we do
not cut that away completely, we will not be able to experience
this place free from all egoistic filters.
From the times of old we have Engo Kokushis calligraphy with the
words of Daito Kokushi and Haikuin Zenjis calligraphy, which have
been carefully preserved. There is also Miyamoto Musashis
Eight-view Daruma, with its letters that were so powerful not
because they have been written skillfully but because a vast state
of mind is coming forth from them. This state of mind affects us
when we look at them. We are astonished that his mind could
become so vast, taut, and energetic that we can feel it even today
in this calligraphy. We can only be amazed and deeply impressed.
That which has no from is being manifested there. This state of
mind is Zen and also called the Buddha and is called life. Every
human has this from birth, and we all have the same capability
to encounter this Original Mind. Yet the majority of people cover
this over with the ego.
From the olden days, people of the path have sought and followed
the path of Zen, this path of suffering, to find an awakened
teacher from whom to learn. 'What is the ultimate teaching of
Buddhism?' It is to see that Zen beyond form, that state of mind
beyond form. 'What is life?' Those teachers would give a great
shout, or should single finger, or hit many blows with a stick, or
their eyes look piercingly, glaring, and in that way only could it be
expressed.
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express what cannot be put into words. This is where Zen and
various other paths connect and where calligraphy and Zen join.
Daito Kokushis words, Hakuin Zenjis calligraphy, these state of
mind and this energy, are still living and vivid. In fact, this state of
mind of Zen is what Zen brings forth and develops. This is that
highest quality of mind of all people and it is an important
grace. Hakuin Zenji is teaching us about this important zazen
when he says, 'All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas.'
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Sesshin
Among Hakuins talks that were preserved by his disciple Torei Enji
are the teachings called the Rohatsu Jisshu. This is a collection
of the teachings given on each night of the rohatsu osesshin,
which is held in honor of the deep enlightenment of Shakyamuni
and represents the culmination of the years practice. Hakuin Zenji
taught from his own experience to encourage his disciples and to
give them energy for their practice. Through the first four nights,
Hakuins teaching is almost all about the breathing practice of
susokkan. He was teaching his students the very basic of the zazen
practice and expressing to them clearly and emphatically the
importance of susokkan, as we have done here as well.
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the first four days we have a hard time with our bodies. By the fifth
day we are a little tired, but we have become accustomed to our
legs hurting. Remember, though, at this point it is not about
having only two more days to go, but that this day comes only
once. We must understand this. On the sixth day, seeing the end,
we finally put forth everything we have. The seventh day is
the last day stretch. We cannot do our practice vaguely or
haphazardly - to do so would be a waste of sesshin days. Our
life is being shaved off by the second! We must understand how to
use the sesshin in the best possible way.
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true energy that lives through all of us. During the time that I
was training at Shofukuji monastery in Kobe, President Kennedy
was assassinated. A month later, without having heard any news of
this, I saw a piece of newspaper lying in a gutter ion which the
terrible news was written; only then did I know of the tragic
incident. Dojos are for the purpose of doing this - to completely cut
oneself off from the outside world, and for the first time to even in
the slightest way directly encounter that clear True Mind.
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Everybody is always being deluded by the superficial shadow of this
matter, believing that the shadow is the genuine thing. When it is our
very mind that is giving birth to the whole world, we falsely think
that it is the world that moves us. This is the great confusing
source of so much delusion. But if we want to actually see that
place from which all life energy comes, we have cut off all external
connection, cut away worlds that concern us - at least once, cut
them all cleanly away. Then, not holding a single concern within -
not having a single trace of anything remaining whatsoever in our
minds - we are able to become totally pure and clear. We
have to cut subtly and refinedly to this place, to become pure
and clear to this degree, or it will ends up being a big waste of
time.
In recent years there was a man in village near here who craved a
stone image of Fudo the Immovable. He enshrined it beside a
waterfall in the mountains of Yoshiwara.
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a good time, when suddenly Heshiro was struck by something.
As he looked up and down at the waterfall - as the water fell into
the pool below and as foam rose - he saw many bubbles coming
and going. He did not have any particular intention of looking at
these bubbles, but suddenly he became aware of something.
One day, as he watching the water tumbling down the Cliffside, his
gaze fixed on the bubbles that formed in the pool at the foot the
falls. Some moved over the water for a foot or so before
disappearing, some for two or three feet, and some continued
floating two or three yards. Watching their progress, the mans past
karma enabled him to perceive the impermanence of worldly
existence.
He realized that the exact same thing was true for all humans: We
are all born with the same great birth cry, but there are some
who die in birth, some who die at age three or five, some who
die just after reaching adulthood - in the prime of their lives - and
some who reach a ripe old age of eighty or ninety years. The
lives of humans are the same as these bubbles. We are all born
the same, but we never know when we are going to die. Seeing it
like this, he was suddenly struck by the fact that everybody
eventually dies; in spite of all of our differences, we will all
burst and disappear! 'The impact of this realization made him feels
the worthlessness of just living, just spending his days without
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understanding the mystery of life.' He then was struck again: Wait!
That means I am going to die, too! It is true for me, too! I am going
to die! For first time he had seen his own death in front of him, and
he could not sit still, knowing that he would also die. But he had no
idea when. Everyone knows this in their heads, but how few
actually understand this from the very marrow of their bones -
no one applies this fact to the deep knowing of their own eventual
death. No, this is not something that we can easily understand and
accept even we try to do so.
In the Diamond Sutra it says: 'Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting
world: a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; a flash of lighting in a
summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.' All is
empty, and if we do not see this as something that relates to
ourselves, we will become continually deluded by shadows and
by reflections, by this fleeting world. 'Thus shall ye think of all
this fleeting world.' If we do not look closely at this we will never
see the true, actual essence of it. The Buddha said this
himself. People who enter training come in many different form
and varieties. They have their own personalities, which they want
to improve; they have a life they want to live correctly; they come
with many problems. But they must all understand the fleeting
transience of all things, this impermanence of all things always
passing along - that in all things there is nothing that can be
depended upon. We must see this, know it as the ultimate first
point before we enter training, or in the middle of the training we
will quit, when exception. This has been said from ancient times.
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everything is false; everything is shadow given forth around that
truth - merely that. Heshiro of Iihara became very anxious. He
could not possibly eat delicious food and drink sake if he did not
know how long he would be alive. No matter what he thought or
did it felt meaningless. This is the ripening of true karmic
conditions - when we know and feel deeply that we have to train
right now and cannot do anything else.
This was very mysterious. Here he had just been wondering how to
live his life in the best possible way, and these words came into
his ears - these words from the sayings of Master Takusui.
'Courageous beings attain Buddhahood in a single instant of
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thought' - everyone who really puts their lives on the line with true
bravery, everyone who does this wholeheartedly and with
everything they have, will without fail find the resolution to their
problem. 'Lax and indolent beings take three long kalpas to attain
Nirvana.' However, someone who does this while keeping another
world going at the same time - living a social life, just putting a little
time aside for practice - will never taste the true flavor of that
subtle ultimate place of being on the razors edge. If we are going
to do it, it has to be done all in one fell swoop. To carry it along
limply for many attempts of years has no meaning and will only be
a total waste of time, never bringing us to a deep, clear resolution or
enabling us to find true understanding. If you are going to do it, do
it totally and completely - this is what the sutra was saying.
Heshiro saw that was how it had to be done and made up his mind
to do it.
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do these things that way; but to put everything that have,
everything there is, into this one nen, this one moment, is what
makes the difference between whether one can do this or not.
He did this. 'He entered the bathing room and shut the door
behind him.' He went into the guest bathroom, which
ordinarily no one would use. He locked the door tightly; he made
his spine tall and straight - although he never had any instruction on
how to do zazen he imitated what he had seen. He straightened
his back and gripped his fists and opened both eyes wide,
looking straight ahead, at a spot on the floor a meter or a meter
and half in front of him. He opened his eye so wide that light could
fill them - it has to be like that or we will lose to pain and
distraction. He did pure zazen, not letting anything distract him or
concern him, nothing added on, not doing it to stabilize his life or
to become happier or to improve the quality of his mind, not for
any of that, just putting everything he had into it, no matter what
came along - there was only this zazen, nothing else existed.
He was determined to do it this way and to keep going.
Delusory thoughts flew thick and fast through his mind. The
obstructions of the demon realms rose up to confuse him. But
because he threw himself body and soul into the great Dharma
battle, he finally severed life at the roots and entered into the
formless realm of deep Samadhi.
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start enjoying the fact that we are feeling good. Our body may
feel like its floating in air or being pulled into the ground; all kinds
of strange sensations may intrude. As they come up, one after
another, we have to just cut and throw away, cut and throw away,
on and on and on and on and doing this we go deeper and
deeper.
For this we also have the excellent tools susokkan and the koan.
Just trying to be peaceful and quiet by itself will not bring about
Samadhi. 'Delusory thoughts flew thick and fast through his mind.
The obstructions of the demon realms rose up to confuse him. But
because he threw himself body and soul into the great Dharma
battle, he finally severed life at the roots and entered into the
formless realm of deep samadhi.'
'He finally severed life at the roots and entered into the formless
realm of deep Samadhi.'
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This is the most important point. Most people think that if they sit
quietly their bodies and thoughts will disappear, but it does not work
like that. It is not that easy. If it were that easy you could sleep or
take drugs and do it. If you could just vaguely and lackadaisically
sit on the cushion, doing nothing, and lose track of everything,
then anybody would be able to do it. To really cut through the very
root of life and death, to really get rid of that small self, one must
experience and go beyond the limits of that small self. If we do not
cross that boundary, we cannot taste the true flavor of this
experience. To actually experience losing track of the zendo
and of the people around us, to lose all my sense of bodies - if we
cannot experience that we cannot pass the barrier. But Heshiro did
just that.
He had lost track of his body, but he had no idea how he had
done it or what happened. Somehow it had become morning. The
birds were singing in the garden. 'Chirp, chirp - chirp, chirp,' he
heard the sparrows, but for some reason it felt as if were chirping
inside his own abdomen. His whole body had become the sparrow.
It was so incomprehensible! So mysterious! He felt the birds voices
with his whole body, but there was no body - only the chirp of the
birds! There was nothing he could do about it. It was as if his
eyes were stuck to the ground; he had opened them wide when he
sat, and that was all that was left of his body. How strange!
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Only a consciousness was remaining. After a while he returned to
his usual way of seeing things. He could feel his body again.
When his tightly gripped fists were loosened, he could feel the pain
again his fingernails had been digging in, and he could feel the
pain in his legs. He came back to normal and moved his body; he
could finally stand up. 'How strange that was! Ive never felt
anything like this before! It is really hard to understand! But it feels so
good! So clear and fresh. This is interesting; Ill do it again!'
Heshiro went to tell the local Zen priest about this unusual
experience. He described it to the priest and asked him what he
thought or knew about it. He asked the priest what it meant. But
the priest said he had never had such experience himself; he
had never passed through that barrier; he did not understand, so
he could not tell Heshiro anything about it. 'The kind of sitting you
have just done and that kind of experience Ive never done it!
Thats a pretty amazing experience youve had! Hakuin Zenji lives
in Hara at Shoinji Temple and he had deep experiences likes
this. He had really experienced that enlightenment of the Buddha.
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You should ask him about it - hell know what to tell you - thats the
best idea.' This is what the priest told Heshiro, so Heshiro decided
to go and see Hakuin while his experience was still fresh and alive in
him.
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arrived there, he was invited in and described his experience to
Hakuin. Hakuin said: 'It is a deep experience, but not yet
complete.' At that point Hakuin questioned on two or three of
the patriarchs koans. He answered them precisely and on the
spot, as if they were his very own question and he had already the
answers himself. Hakuin confirmed, 'This is the real thing, not
just a one-shot momentary glimpse! This is not just some
abnormal state of mind - this is the real thing.' That is what
Hakuin said in affirmation.
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The great victory he gained in the struggle against delusory
thought was the result of courageous determination and single-
minded resolve. How can you, full-fledged Zen monks, fail to
generate this same fierce and dauntless spirit?
Hakuin says to all of us: 'Why dont you do it? What are you
waiting will never get you anywhere - even if you spend your
whole life at it, you will only be chasing shadows!'
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Enlightenment
The essential point of any religion must be whether or not one
has a true, deep, and actual experience of the Original Nature. As
Kanzan Egen said in his final words, 'I ask that you work only
on the Great Matter.' This is beyond any need for explanation.
We can still partake today of the 'rice,' the essence of the
Buddhadharma, because every single patriarch, with clear
purpose and fiery determination, thoroughly chewed and digested
this rice of the Buddhadharma so as to feed and raise others in
the truth. It is deep compassion that has kept this rice feeding us to
today.
Todays young people look for satisfaction in sex and, when they
are a little older, in fame and money, but when these things have
been obtained, what is left? We have simply become older and
we find ourselves in a meaningless state. If there is no living
function for religion in our lives, then religion becomes useless.
Sex, fame, and money may bring us pleasure, but it is only
pleasure of the moment. Such pleasure is transient and always
fades away. True religion is also of this moment, but it has a
changeless form extending from the past through the future, an
absolute center unchanged by external occurrences. For people to
have times of temporal enjoyment is fine, but if that changeless
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root, that experience of clear mind, is not also realized, then, as we
age. We begin to feel more and more that our life is already
over. This happens because we live in a world of pleasure
instead of a world of each days joy beyond temporal pleasure.
No matter what path you follow to reach the place of truth, the
place you arrive at is the same. When people are totally
committed to their religious practice, they no longer need to be
chauvinistic about it. All that is necessary is to dig into that basic
question, to reach that deepest essence, and humbly accept Grace.
This path is not about searching for information but about reaching
for those answers and knowledge that are not limited by such
names as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. When
one will still need to hang on to a sect, then one has only a
shadow of the real thing, a mere reflection of a religion that does not
constitute a true and deep understanding of it. The true
understanding takes place prior to the teaching of any religion. We
must reach that place of true humanity, that place where we can
truly realize that the life energy of every single person has exactly
this very same root. This state of mind is beyond explanation and
teaching with words and phrases. It cannot be spoken about; it can
only be realized through each persons individual experience.
For those who have realized this place, there is nothing more to
search for externally, or to find in another religion. All people in
society need to realize this true human nature - not Buddha, or
God, or that self that yearns for sex, fame, and money, but that
which would naturally be respected by anyone who come in
contact with it. Directly feeling the great depth and clarity of this
true human nature, we bow not only to God and to Buddha but to
that holy human quality that does not come from a life spent napping
and yawning. To say 'that person can do but I cannot' is indulgent
and comes from not looking at things in the right way and living in
accord with that way.
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When you can clarify and realize your own deepest essence, that
is what will give you a clear understanding of the essence of
others. Here is the central, most important point and the truth
of what is being done in the practice of Zen. If we train only for
ourselves, for our own improvement, for our own enlightenment, for
our own awakening, then our training energy will not continue with
the same momentum. And why is this? It is because in thinking
only of ourselves we are cutting up and dividing the total life
energy.
When we have made a vow that burns intensely within us, when
we feel more deeply than anything else that we must train and
work for all beings, then no matter what occurs it will not obstruct
us. But when our vow waves and weakens, even a small matter will
become a great obstruction. For this reason, above everything else,
first and foremost, people of the Way must raise a great
determined vow. We vow that no matter what happens we will work
until we realize the truth that we must enter Samadhi. If we do
not hold this vow firmly, it will not do. It will not work if we vow with
only a lukewarm commitment; our vow must be absolutely clear.
If that vow comes as an egoistic expression, it will not work
either, because the ego is only for what is good for itself. For one
brief period of time such as a vow may bring energy, but that
energy will always fade away. Because an egoistic idea is one that
ultimately concerns only the ego, it puts society aside and has no
regard for lifes true source. This total life energy has to be
clarified; if you are doing it only for your own small self-expression
of it, it is useless. Only because your life energy and that of all
people come from exactly the same source does this have any
meaning.
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committed mind, from having the determination to continue until
the truth is understood. You cannot run away from reality.
What is everyone really suffering from? There are many
economic and political problems in the world today, but more
basic is the suffering of the mind that has nothing to believe in,
the continually anxious mind. Today, people do not believe in
God and do not know where to turn. How easily men and women
come together and then when they do not like each other
anymore. It may be OK for them, but what about their children,
many of whom do not even know who their parents are? What
can they grow up believing? Knowing nobody thought about their
birth and their life, how can they believe in anything? If
everybody looks out only for his or her own pleasure and
ignores the great problems such self-centeredness cause in
society where will that take us in the future? This is not
somebody elses problem.
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determination taken that sharp stance that will enable us to cut
through everything that comes along. By always moving
according to our surroundings - the day-to-day conditions,
preconceived time limits, and the circumstance in which we find
ourselves - we lose our resolve, we do not make the efforts
necessary to take our practice to completion. And because we
do not make our determination totally firm, we give up the middle -
that is why we do not experience kensho. If we have true bravery
and take our practice to its final point, it will work - no matter who it
is that is doing it. There is not single person in the world for
whom enlightenment is impossible; if we sincerely put our lives on
the line, each and every one of us can realize it. Anyone can
encounter True Mind.
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who have not climbed the mountain for themselves have lost
the chance to understand those things about themselves that are in
fact the main point of the process. People want to go straight
to the mountain top, they want to go for this one special
occasion of kensho without looking at the step-by-step process that
comes before it. They decide that kensho is what they are going
after, and that is what the entire process is about. This is why
enlightenment is viewed as such an extraordinary part of the
process, rather than being properly looked at as just the next step
in a long, ongoing process.
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this way you continue, vowing always that you will non stop until
you have attained the very final realization.
Your breath, your counting even - they also disappear. Only the
clearest mind, with not the smallest speck of awareness in it,
remains.
Joshu called this state of mind Mu because that is all there was to be
said - not because there is some meaning in the word, but because
this state of mind could not be expressed in any other words.
But this state of mind continually deepens until finally even this
Mu disappears. That is also a place we have to pass through.
Until then we become vague, then sharp, then vague; our inner
essence becomes strong, it fades, it comes back again, but we
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cannot throw our hands up in despair and quit and retreat at this
point.
If you can continue with your deep vow, never lessening your
intensity and not giving up, putting everything you have into it,
then all of your desires, delusions, and attachments, one after
another, will fall away. From within your deepest mind you can
experience for yourself the original Nature. You can encounter
the deepest source of Zen and Buddhism; from your own
experience you can see that true essence in every aspect, arising
from your own life energy and revealed before you. You can
understand how your life energy, just as it is, is expanding
throughout the universe. You can tell that there is not even the
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slightest difference between your life energy and that of others.
You can know clearly for yourself, not just conceptually, that
everyone share the same life energy that everyones energy
comes from the same root.
If one truly awakens, then those long years of effort and work
result in awakening to the true deepest Original Nature. The
moment we know this is realized completely. In this very moment, in
this one instant, at this time. All of the attachments that have
obstructed our mind until that moment - the delusions, the opinions
that things had to be like this or like that, the dualistic ideas of the
past - all of it falls away in that one moment, disappearing
completely. This awakening comes both suddenly and not
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suddenly. For those who can throw it all away, throw everything
away, it happens every day. For those who cannot, no matter how
many things, how many concepts, how many methods they
accumulate, it will not occur. This process is about how we can
live our everyday lives, and it is about what we hold important. It is
about what we can let go of, how we can feel the joy of having
nothing at all, of returning to the Original Nature. This is what will
bring us to awakening. It has to be done by each and every
person, and done totally. Especially in todays society - in
which we are constantly overwhelmed with external stimulation -
this stance of cutting totally to the roots of our problems and
resolving them exactly where we are right now is very important. If
we do not do this, it will be impossible to awaken, to
understand directly the true value of being human, to have that
true, deep, and actual experience of Original Nature.
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Work and Society
In todays society, with its increasingly sophisticated uses of
technology, everything is being organized by computers. We
communicate with each other through computers and receive
information through computers. Our lives are being programmed
by computers, and we are feeling secure about it. When we are
unwell, we go to the doctor; receiving medicine, we feel
comforted. In human relationships as well, we are all seeking
kindness and comfort; we are searching for some essence of
security amid the turbulence and complexity of the world in which we
live.
This is how insecure this era is, causing people to look for safety in
everything they do. To put it a different way: separated from
reality. Our thoughts are constantly running ahead of our actions
in this present moment. Within all daikon radishes, growing leafy
vegetables, raking the garden, pulling up weeds. Doing this, the
truth is realized in all things. The living pulse of live that unites
all things is realized in this. Zen is about sweating with your
entire body and moving all your limbs and every part of yourself,
no matter what you are doing. Even when you find yourself in the
most difficult and painful circumstance, to be unswerving and always
raising this state of mind is Zen.
Rinzai Zenji taught us this especially when, at the end of the Tang
dynasty, he himself was living in times of great economic
confusion and rebellion in all of the various local religions.
Everywhere temples were being demolished, statues of the
Buddha were being destroyed, and sutra books were being
burned. People of religion were forced to leave their posts;
bribes and treachery in government were rampant. There was
nothing whatsoever in the political establishments or in society in
which one could find something to believe. God and Buddha,
which should have brought refuge and something to believe in,
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were lost in the chaos, along with that to which everyone should
be awakened: that True Person of No Rank within this lump
of red flash, that bag that will bleed if it is cut into, from
morning until night that physical body we are always spending
time with. That True Person of No Rank - beyond description or
measure, the only one throughout the heavens and earth, just one
human - isnt this where that true quality of being human is? That
which has no rank and measure among humans - isnt this
where that can be found? To awaken to this mind is what Rinzai
taught.
Zen teaches labor first, but it is not just any old work or
samu. Samu, everyone working together, is the basis of living Zen.
And in that, what has to be realized is the most human quality that
unites all people. If there is not an actual awakening to this, then the
way of Zen becomes nothing but labor alone and that which has to
be taught will lose its life. Within that labor there must be a
polishing of this and a developing of the human being. This is
where the essence of Zen must be fond and be at WORK.
Dogen Zenji went to China at the age of twenty-four. At the age of
twenty-eight, he put aside his training in China and returned to
Japan. Upon his return, when asked what he had learned, he
said, 'Only this: In the morning the sun rises without thinking
from the East; in the same way, our eyes are horizontal in our
face. This I realized clearly. No one is exempt from this. Empty-
handed I went and empty-handed I returned; there was no single
word of Dharma spoken. The sun rises in the morning in the east,
the moon sets in the west, the rooster crows at the break of
dawn, and every four years a leap year comes.'
Dogen Zenji did not bring home any special statue of the Buddha
to pray to and treasure; he did not bring home any special
sutra book to read and treasure; he did not bring back any
special item of great cultural value. He came home truly empty-
handed. 'I am alive right there.' This clear realization of his life
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energy, just this understanding, was what he had been able to
experience deeply. this same life energy rises as the sun in the east
morning; and in the evening it rises again in the east as the moon,
and as the sun it sets in the west. Every four years another
leap year comes around. This actual truth is all there is; anything
besides this, anything with a fancy name like the Buddhadharma -
'I know nothing about it.' Dogen Zenji spoke like this, spoke about
the natural, obvious way things are, about things just as they are.
Just as it is, our being alive right here, right now, at this very
moment - we can receive this truth, the natural, obvious
understanding of what that is. There is nothing besides that to be
called a 'Buddhadharma.' If we do not know the actual life
energy, alive and vivid in this very moment, we will never find
something called Buddhadharma. The Dharma is not about
reasoning and intellect. The Buddhas Dharma is about life and how
we live it. Separated from what is alive and living, there is no
Dharma, it has no meaning. For a man there must be this mans
purpose of life; for woman, this womans purpose. While we are
all equal as human beings, we each have our own individual life
to live, own individual qualities of how to live. Parents have their
own particular way of understanding things; children have their
own responsibility to live as children. People have to act in the
way that is most appropriate and natural for their situation.
Schoolteachers have their own way of looking at life and how
things should be done. For students, there is a student-like way of
living, with the creative and intensive efforts that go along with
learning in the best possible way. The obvious and natural way of
things is Buddhadharma. Obvious and natural things being done
in a natural way - aside from that there is no Dharma.
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Parents die
Children die
Grandchildren die
In those days, every egg that was laid without exception could
become a chick. Today, the eggs that chickens lay do not
become chicks; chickens have become nothing more than egg-
laying machines. According to the needs of society, they merely
lay the eggs. Those chickens who cannot lay eggs anymore are
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killed; they are machines, no longer something natural. For those
of us who receive those eggs, it is as if our naturalness as humans
has also disappeared. We no longer see cows, goats, and chickens
raised among trees and grass. This natural and simple world has
been replaced by the culture of technology and the convenience of
living comfortably. One after another the things of nature are
disappearing from view.
Kanzan Egen said, 'The Original Mind is great and round, why
do we fall into delusion and darkness?' Everyone has the same
mind as the Buddha and a clear Buddha Nature form birth. Yet if
this is so, why do we become so deluded and confused? This is
challenge given in Kanzans question. As a boy, Dogen Zenji went
to Mount Hiei to study, but with this very question he was brought
to a point of intense doubt. 'The Original Mind is great and round,
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why do we fall into delusion and darkness?' From the origin we
are all Buddhas, so why did we begin to be deluded? Such
questions Dogen asked, but no one could answer him. Very
near Hiei lived a priest, Eisai Zenji, who had just come back
from China. Dogen was told that while in China, Eisai Zenji had
practiced Zen, and he would understand. So Dogen offered himself
to the path of Zen.
Our original and true mind, our Original Nature and true Self just as
it is, is, in Buddhism, called the great round mirrorlike mind. Our
original mind has no shape and no form - the all-embracing mind
is like a mirror embracing the entire universe, in which all sorts
of shapes and forms are reflected. Rinzai Zenji teaches with
clarity about how a mirror reflects what comes in front of it exactly
and then retains no trace of anything after it is gone. The everyday
practice of Rinzai Zenji is in this state of mind that leaves not a
single bit of clutter behind. This is his clear mind and the Original
Nature of each and every one of us: to enter fire without being
burned, to enter water without drowning, to fall into hell and yet be
as if we are playing gladly. Not being attached to anything we see,
and not being deluded by that which we hear - to live so that no
matter what world we find ourselves in it is as if we are sightseeing
- this state of mind is that of Rinzai.
This is the Zen of Rinzai. At the same time, the Rinzai-roku, his
collected writings, also teaches us a way of living our daily lives:
to not add on a second or third nen, or associative thought, to
the first nen. To do this is worth more than ten years of
pilgrimage, he tells us. When those nen arise, simply do not add
any associative thoughts to them. If you are angry, just leave it at
that. If you are happy, just leave it at that. If you are sad, just leave
it at that. No matter how much we have, we always want more.
This greedy love that always wants more but will not let go of
what it already has, all of this attachment, has to be cut,
otherwise our live are painful. Once we cut this need for
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attachment we can know peace of mind for the first time. We
spend so much time with thoughts of our children and our
bodies - this must be cut though, or we will never be liberated. All
our thoughts must be thrown away - those lingering wisps of
thoughts that are always flying back and forth - we must get rid of
them and awaken to that true and clear mind with which we are all
endowed. This is our guide to the liberation of our mind.
In the Ten Oxherding Pictures this clear mind - that which we have
always had - is symbolized by the ox. These pictures begin at the
point when the Bodhisattva mind has been awakened, and with
the help of the Buddhas teaching we are able to let go of our
thoughts, even those we have so carefully gathered. We can
then see that minds rot is our own true source; as this becomes
clearer and clearer, we are seeing the oxs footprints. We dig and
dig to where there is nothing at all within our minds, reaching that
place of caring for the ox. We think this is our clear mind,
but we still become caught by the expressions of others and by
what we hear and see. This mind must always be shepherded to
keep it settles and centered. As we become able to tend it
easily, it becomes the mind of riding the ox home. As we see
and hear and live in our daily life in an innocent state of mind, we
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can be with the ox in its original state and be at home. Yet there is
still a need for the ox. Eventually, however, we do not even
need to ox; there is no need to even think about aligning our
state of mind - this will occur naturally. There is no longer any
self or ox to keep track of. The realization of this is that source
of the mind of God and Buddha, but this is not yet absolute. From
here we must go back into the world. If we stop here we will be
ignoring the suffering of the world and just protecting our own
happiness. This is why the tenth picture is necessary - where we
feel it all with our clear mind.
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and is not a way of liberating others. We have to always work
creatively and intensively on how to let go of ourselves. All of our
hate and resentment centering on our own small self have to be
forgotten and thrown away, along with all those thoughts that we
find difficult and uncomfortable. We have to let go and see the world
exactly as it is. With new eyes we have to always see the truth of
all things. And to do this these eyes have to be open. If
everyones eyes are open to this way of seeing, then how bright the
world will become. We can easily blame other for our problems,
bring up other peoples faults, and worry about our mistakes,
clinging to our thoughts about them. Zen is not about being
irresponsible and ignoring things; it is about not being becoming
caught by the things we hold in our mind, about being able to
remain unattached, about seeing clearly and beginning again and
letting go of the mind that lingers on something over and over
again. If we could all forgive and see each another with an
open heart, see the mistakes we make ourselves, humbly and
deeply looking at our own behavior, then how wonderful our lives
together could be.
To see every single day, every meeting person and thing, and
everything we do as fresh - this is the religious and spiritual
way of life. This i s not something that can be done
instantaneously. The world of the mind cannot be realized in an
instant. This is the mind we are endowed with for our entire life;
to clarify and keep it right is what we have this life for, and to
sincerely and wholeheartedly do this is our responsibility for our
entire life. This is what we need to do, the way the ox keeps his
efforts going until the job is done.
If we are not careful we begin to think of our zazen and our life in
society as two separate things. When we return to our usual place
of living, our state of mind of zazen is left behind; it fades away.
We see our friends and go into town, and our state of mind of
zazen disappears. That is not meaning of true zazen. No matter
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how much we talk to friends and no matter where we go or what
we do, within that functioning our mind must always find the place
to which it can return. That place of no stain whatsoever must
always be worked on creatively and inventively. This essence not
be let go of, or it is not true zazen.
For most of us the tiredness of our mind is much greater than the
tiredness of our physical body. The tiredness of our body will be
relieved if we rest, but even when we rest the tiredness of our
mind does not go away. When we suffer from the heaviness of a
'self' - an attachment and opinion based on being stuck on the idea
of a self - we crush many things in the world. It is as if we are
running around all day adding clutter to our minds. And if by doing
zazen we become heavier and darker, then we have a mistaken
way of looking at it, we are chasing something far away. Zazen is
not for making dark and miserable but for realizing that there is
nothing far away to be chased after. We must instead trow
away what is unnecessary in every days work. The more we do
this the brighter and clearer and fresher we should become.
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If in our minds we are truly bright and pure, completely empty
and clear, then in this world there is nothing to be caught
on. We can work and function freely and openly and be bright
with that joy which is the brilliance of the radiant mind. From all
parts of us great radiance will shine forth. Even though we give up
the joy of wearing beautiful clothing, or savoring empty mind, even
a patched cotton robe, just as it is, is a luxurious garment. Even
oats and rice, with rice bran pickles - even what might seem such a
small, plain meal - will become a great feast of a hundred flavors. In
this way we receive and experience everything that comes to us.
Takuan told his disciple, 'You are a master of the sword. You
must, then when you practice, be careful of the following.
You must not follow the activity of your mind. You must not
follow the activity of your body. You must not try to win; you
must not try to lose. You must open your mind completely.'
Opening yourself up to the heavens and earth completely,
letting go all the thoughts in your mind, standing in front of your
opponent, before he moves, you see it, you move there. Before he
acts, you block and move. This is the way of kendo master, and
Takuan Zenji knew this. This mind is not moved by form, by outside
activities; wide and clear, in each it is renewed. In each moment not
allowing consciousness to arise at all: this is the state of mind of the
kendo master. This is state of mind zazen.
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to make us feel secure for a while. In the modern world we
have learned many techniques for gathering information and
knowledge. We think it is our responsibility to learn these
things; learning this and gathering that makes us feel we have
done our job in the world. But doesnt our insecurity continue all of
the technology, all of the information? Whatever our efforts are, at
work and at home, no matter how much we keep learning and
how many efforts we keep making, this place of insecurity seems
to go on; in fact, it often seems to be growing.
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waste of precious time.
When we can keep our egoistic wishes from ruling us, we can then
use our wide-open inner eyes to clearly see the suffering and
confusion in society. In this way, instead of shutting ourselves
up in our own small world and settle up boundaries to protect
our own selves, we will be able to look wholeheartedly at the
confused minds of those in society and know that we must do
something to help them, that we do something to liberate them. We
will know that this is our very own problem, and that our
problems are societys problems as well. We will be able to see in
details, and we will no longer push aside the problems of
society to pursue our own individual wishes. We will then want
to work among the people of society, liberating each other. We
must put all of our efforts into doing this, vowing deeply within
our minds that not a single being will be left behind, all will
be liberated through our efforts, and that this work will be done
without regret for any of the energy used for it.
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In society we cannot stop our work, our lives with our families.
To give these things up in order to only practice zazen, to only
train, would not be fulfilling the responsibilities that we have taken
on in the world. If we take our training this far, until only that
which is the consciousness of the whole universe remains, vast
and wide, until there is no self, here our responsibilities are
completely fulfilled. When we let go of all the shadows, when our
thoughts are completely cleared away, our true social
responsibilities is taken care of. When we go to work, we take
care of our responsibilities there. At home, with our family, we
take care of our obligations there, too. This work we do with our
consciousness, and it is our obligation, but if we are seeing with
the eyes of the Buddha, then a whole new way of working and a
whole new world will be open to us.
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Kobe, January 1995
The year 1995 began peacefully. Then, on the morning of the
seventeenth of January, in and around the city of Kobe,
Japan, there was a severe earthquake, a great shift. At dawn in
the chill wintertime, before most people were up and around, in
one brief second the earthquake struck. It was experienced by
everybody at exactly the same time, happening so suddenly that
there was no time for anyone to form any dualistic idea about it.
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did takuhatsu in the downtown area of Okayama. On a frost-fallen
morning of icy coldness, everyone went out to do takuhatsu with
wholehearted energy. We gathered quite a large amount of money
and gave it to the local newspaper, which was collecting donations
for the victims of the earthquake. We asked that the money be used
where it was most needed.
The next morning, the third day after the earthquake - because we
were in the middle of sesshin - everyone continued with their
zazen. But with the deep karmic connection I have with Kobe, I
felt that there must be something more that could be done to help.
We decided to go to Shofukuji monastery, where I had trained, and
to other temples in the demolished city to see how our friends there
were doing and what we could do to help. We filled two cars with
as much food as possible - vegetables, bread, cheese, better, and
other supplies - and sought whatever advice was available on how
to enter the disaster area. Because regular cars were not being
allowed into the city and its surrounding area, we applied to the
Prefectural government and received special permission and
stickers designating our cars as emergency supply vehicles. With
this preparation complete, we left for Kobe. There were many police
barriers, but we were able to pass through them easily with special
permission.
When we saw what remained of the areas where the earthquake had
actually struck, we became physically ill. One could only
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wonder at how violently the city and had been shaken to be
so completely and totally destroyed. At the temple of Shofukuji,
which stands on a stone foundation at the foot of the mountain, the
mountain gate had been destroyed, and tiles from the great of
hondo had fallen off in large numbers. For even such a sturdy
and solidly built building to be so shaken, it had to have been
an excessive, intense shock.
The monks were very grateful for the vegetables and supplies,
and just as one would except of them as monks in training they
were continuing with their daily samu, along with their zazen. They
were working on cleaning up the debris and destruction throughout
the surrounding areas.
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smashed down to the earth.
What has been the progress of Japan as we look at it, fifty years
after the Second World War? This is also something I thought
about. In the new era we have seemingly made progress in
superficial form, but in this one instant of the earthquake that
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superficial form was destroyed, demolished. This is how it seems
now. How transient. As the ancients said, 'Things of the world are
transient and passing, only the clear mind of true meaning.'
What should we hold as our goal and our refuge in life? In todays
world where is that something in which we can take refuge,
and in which we can find meaning?
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During the war, those who were able to stay alive watched their
homes and warm hearts abruptly vanish. They were suddenly
parted form beloved family members. Of course they could no
longer believe or trust in anything then, either.
In the old days in China there was a priest named Master Tozan.
A monk asked him, 'How can we escape from this severe heat
and cold?' This is not just a question about severe heat and
cold. It is a question about the very reality we are always facing
- a melancholy and difficult reality, a reality that is full of
suffering. People are sick and in pain; people have lost their homes
in disasters and wars and have nothing in which to believe any
longer and are suffering in their despair. For those whose beliefs
have all been destroyed, their refuge in the material world has
been shown to be empty and meaningless. This kind of pain is
always occurring all around us.
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experienced, to go to where you feel that pain and that
sadness directly and totally. Touch that life energy directly and with
your own experience. Use that actual direct experience which you
have grasped as your base, and stand up strong and firm. This is
how the master answered the monk.
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after this great ordeal and to give them, even a little at a time, the
help to start over again - to begin again and return to their life
energy. I pray that they will be able to awaken to this new
awareness. Buddhism is not something special. It is just being able
to feel things directly with our own life energy.
Shiki Masaoka, in the midst of his pain, lived it to the end. This way
of doing it was his Zen. This is not something to be understood or
not understood. All people who live, every one of us, will experience
our minds True Origin.
Not limited by the name of God or Buddha, our actual life energy
and the way we realize it and live our lives is the true religion.
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within that experience use your tanden as the very base for
everything throughout the heavens and earth. With both hand
stretched outward, experience the joy of being alive! In this is Zen
- the true quality of being human alive. I pray for everyones most
excellent quality of life.
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Questions and Answers
Q: How in Zen training can you be touched by life? How do you
gain that tender heart of compassion?
People who seriously enter Zen training are all aiming toward
a particular goal, the future possibility of enlightenment. They
have felt a need to do something in the world, and they want to
learn how to go about doing it. So people who are trying to be
compassionate, trying to be in moment, trying to be loving, trying to
be in the present without looking for something outside themselves
come to Zen training because they have felt the need to be able to
develop in certain way. They have found that their ability to feel
love and compassion has been frustrated because they do not
know that source of the mind that allows one to fully express these
things. Zen teaching aims toward that particular goal of reaching
enlightenment, assuming that those working toward that goal
have already felt the desire, the heart of compassion.
What I teach is that which I know from direct experience, that which
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I know the way to realizing. People reach a point in their
efforts to directly realize the Original Mind where they feel need
for more ki training, more energy training. They try to be
compassionate, but they find that is not so easy because their
ego gets in the ways, or they try to be in the moment, but there
is something preventing them from being able to live in that way.
To be able to work on the things that make it difficult for us to
experience that true compassion, we have the agenda at Sogenji,
what I have learned and am teaching there in specifics.
Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama, for example, often talk in
terms of compassion when they address large groups of people
who need constant reminding, as do the people at Sogenji, that we
need to be compassionate, we need to be present, and we need to
work from the heart. This is what we are all working toward, and
working for. But I am pretty sure that when Dalai Lama and Thich
Nhat Hanh are talking with their own monks, they teach them
more specifically and in a more severe, direct way. Their approach
to people in general, to those who are looking for an open way
to go about living their lives and learn about inner practices, is to
present the need for compassion as one of most important basics.
Yet when push comes to shove, when you just do not know how to
go bout realizing the place where this compassion, this heart, this
presence come from, then you need a more severe of tool,
and that is what Zen training offers, what these teachings are
about. One monk who was deeply training at Sogenji left to care
for a friend who was dying of AIDS. After this friend died, the
monk stayed to help another AIDS patient, and then another. His
third AIDS patient went completely crazy - he actually had to be
taken to a mental hospital. The monk could not handle it. He
had had all of this training, and all of this preparation, and yet
he found himself in a situation where he could not hold on to that
Mu, that center. Because he realized he had not trained enough,
he had not dug in far enough to develop fully that compassion,
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heart, and presence, he returned to do sesshin, just to regain a
little bit of that essence of training. He had worked so hard for the
three years he was at Sogenji, yet he had not been able to dig
deep enough to know the place that would have supplied those
things when he needed them the most.
Q: But how does that ki and energy of Zen training all of a sudden
open into compassion?
But unless your love and compassion arise naturally from a clarified
state of mind, you are only repressing a state of mind that is the
opposite of what you are making yourself feel. Eventually you are
going to suffer the consequences for this. The feelings that are
being repressed are merely being camouflaged by those feelings
you think you should feel; they will not go away just because it
is the popular conception that love, tenderheartedness, and
compassion are the emotions to have. That is why this experience
of the clear mind is so important. When the clear mind is
realized, when theses feeling of love and compassion are coming
forth, naturally, and spontaneously out of a clear mind, then they
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are not something that is chosen. Love rather than hate,
compassion rather than narrow-mindedness, will evolve naturally
from a state of clarity, which brings forth the wisdom to express
those things, in the moment. With that experience of a clear mind,
there will not be even a thought about whether this is compassion,
whether this is love, whether this is tenderheartedness. That
clarified mind, from which these things come forth naturally, must
be realized and reached before we can begin expressing those
emotions truly.
Unless you realize this clarified place, you will be acting from a
conception of what compassion is rather than from true
compassion. So, again, we come back to what people need to
know: How do you go about realizing the clear mind that is within
all of us? It has to be truly encountered and expressed all of
the time, not just in one experience that solves your problems for
the rest of your life, but by knowing where to return to, how you
can reach that clarified mind. Then, as constantly as you are able,
you can stay in that clear mind, capable of naturally expressing
a true compassion.
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That is why, when I teach, I am addressing people who have
realized that this training is not about a dualistic idea of 'being
compassionate or not being compassionate,' but about going to
that place where there is not even a dualistic sense of 'I am
now compassionate' or 'I am now not compassionate,' of
reaching the place from which that state of mind comes forth of its
own.
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red color is seeing only one side of the flower, thinking of it as a
red thing and not seeing its other aspects. When we listen to a
person, if we are not 'zero' ourselves we hear according to our
own opinions rather than truly listening to what the other person
is saying. If, as the patient, we speak from the experience of the
pain and are not in clear-mind state, then we will experience that
physical pain as suffering.
The only way to truly alleviate the suffering is to help the person
realize that source from which all things - including suffering - arise.
Any other ways of relieving suffering, with medications or material
gifts, are just stopgaps and will not provide true relief. The only
way to provide actual relief is to allow a person to be able to
clarify and realize directly that source from which the suffering
comes - to realize that which is prior to the suffering. That which
brings us closer to that original source, that which enables us to
realize it, is what is necessary to really see the suffering and know
its root and therein its relief.
The whole point of spiritual caregiving is that you cannot give it.
What you can do - for yourself and for other person - is to take
away as much as possible. But there is nothing that can be
given. When everything is taken away that the person is caught on,
then he or she is closest to zero and the clear mind; the pain is
no longer held on to, and neither is the person attached to
things that bring pain and suffering with them. So to spiritually
give is to be able to take away everything that keeps a person
(whether oneself or another) from being zero, from being empty -
whatever that is.
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The idea of the extraordinary comes from the American dream. We
are at a time in the history of human being when people can
choose among an enormous range of possibilities when deciding
how to live their lives. They think about what they would like,
and they believe that once they have obtained enough material
possessions, their lives will be without problems. In fact, this is a
time of great problems in terms of our state of mind, because
people have come to see enlightenment as just one more thing to
be obtained. They decide that they want this particular part of what
is called Zen without knowing the means to go about realizing it.
In the same way, there are those today who have understood
that enlightenment is not something extraordinary, who have seen
that there is a long process involved. But there are also people
who have just seen this excellent little framed jewel of an
experience and said, 'I want that, please.' They think enlightenment
is some extraordinary thing, and they want the results of the
process without looking at what it takes to realize the process itself.
This must be seen as a problem, when just that one aspect is
looked at as opposed to be the whole of the training.
In the world today there are people who do not have the
wherewithal even to be able to read about enlightenment in books.
If you ask people in parts of the world what they want more than
anything else, they will say, 'I want a potato and cabbage for my
soup tomorrow.' What you would teach them about their state off
mind is quite different from what you would teach a person
who has read the whole of the Lotus Sutra and said, 'I want
this wonderful experience.'
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That is why the Buddhas teachings cover such a broad
expanse. In the Lotus Sutra he was saying, 'Accept everything,
accept even your difficult places, accept all of it.' For someone
who already has a satisfying life, and all the material comforts one
needs, that may be possible. Even so, the idea of accepting
everything all too often becomes a conceptual understanding of
acceptance only - so that one ends up gritting ones teeth and
saying, 'I accept this, I accept this.' Yet even when we are not yet
able to have the state of mind that actually accepts everything,
at least we may know we need more to move toward it.
Those people who want a potato for tomorrows soup could not
care less about accepting anything that come along, or a bout
the question of what their state of mind is - all they want is
potato. They have no interest whatsoever in understanding their
mind. The spiritual needs of the people on this planet vary widely.
If we look at the people of America or the West who have
satisfied their material need, what is their greatest problem? It is a
problem of their state of mind. Now that they have satisfied their
physical needs, how do they go about satisfying the spiritual needs?
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different people. You cannot teach people who are just beginning
about these extraordinary things without also teaching the whole
process that leads to their realization. By wanting these things,
but not what they have to go through to realize them, they
actually begin to follow the Path.
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described, it is like putting paint on a canvas, or projecting a
film on the screen, or writing words on the chalkboard. What we
are talking about is all prior to that.
When you are in that state of mind, whether you want to name it
after you have experienced, there is no possibility of awareness
of a descriptive way to look at it, because everything is without
a dualistic sense at that time. There are tools that can be
described - for example, prayer or susokkan or koan work - and
those tools are part of a process that leads to that state of mind,
but when that state of mind is realized, then even though we
have a physical body we are no longer aware of any sense of it. We
may be sitting in a room, but we are no longer aware of our
surroundings. We have lost track of all those distinctions and
dualistic ways of looking at thing. It is not that they do not exist in
some sense, but what is being aware is the mind that has been
described as being like a mirror, the mind that reflects back but is
empty of anything itself, the mind of zero. These are all, again,
descriptions, but this is what is being talked about as that basic
bottom line in which there is no sense of any dualism perception of
things as relative to each other.
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day. When we experience this place in which we are free from
any egoistic delusion, we do not all of a sudden lose all of our
previous experience. We still have our brain cells, and we retain
all of the things we have learned; in that sense we do not
become babies that are like blank slates. Everything we have
learned, everything we have experienced is still available to us, but
we now have the choice of whether or not we want to view the world
through an egoistic filter. In talking about this, we can use the
analog of a lens, which can be cleansed when it becomes dirty.
When we know that we have a clear vision, we can still use our
ego, but at the same time we can also choose to be free from it.
Because we are no longer attached to it, we can use it
appropriately. We can also be free to experience things directly
without that attachment to a small self, without the
intellectualized, egoistic filter through which we so often view
things.
In the same way, people frequently ask, 'If you are looking at
things in that way, if you have gotten rid of your self, then isnt
it hard to know how to go about doing the things you need to
do to live in the world?' In fact, quite the opposite is true.
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through our lives. When we can let go of that ego at any
given moment, rather than being without the ability to function,
we are full of a much greater wisdom. We are able to move and
act and behave in a richer way because we are no longer caught
by some idea of how things should be. This emptiness is not
something that you can conceptualize; it is a state of being empty of
ego, but being full of what can come through when that ego has
been let go of.
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This idea of the incarnation and the problem of a next life arise in
peoples minds when they ask about what they see in this
present life: Why is this person that way? How can that person be
so awful? When you start to think about it, it seems that each
persons personality must come from something they have done in
the past or in some other life. This is natural. This person is born to
a rich family, that one to a poor family. This person is intelligent,
that one is foolish. There are many such things we can see.
Everybody wants to be the one born in the rich family and happy;
nobody wants to be unlucky one. So when you analyze it, you
come to the conclusion that it is because of past difficulties that
one is born into difficult circumstances. When we look at our
ancestors, things seem to have been handed down from each
parent to the next child for many generations, so it is natural to
assume the existence of that kind of cause and effect from past
lives. There is nothing mysterious about that. Also, it is natural
to think that because there seems to be future, there must also
have been a past, and vice versa. We live in this natural flow of life
continuously appearing.
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of being reincarnated in another small separate form. It is not like
that. The difference between a pig and a monkey is irrelevant
within this immense universal flow. Everything is a part of the
same life, and those specific forms are just concrete manifestations
of that large flow.
People often think: 'I cant believe what this person say'; 'I cant
trust this person who is sitting next to me', 'I cant believe in this
person who believes in this person who lives next door to me'; 'I
cant really trust that person down the street, I really dont believe
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what they say' - there is no hell more horrible than not being able to
believe in our fellow human beings or even in people whom we
know well. And then there are times when, without knowing why,
we become irritated and upset and angry, when for no reason at
all deep feelings of irritation arise and we hurt someones
feeling and make them feel bad, with no control over what we
are doing - these are the feelings of the angry guardians.
Sometimes, even though we have everything we need, even
though we have enough to eat, we want more, we just have to
have more; we are not really hungry, we not really need
anything, we just want more - this kind of greediness is the realm
of the hungry ghost. Sometimes we do something about which we
are embarrassed, about which we become so deeply ashamed,
that we are unable to tell anybody about it - this is world of
animals. Sometimes we truly reflect on and regret the things we
have done, reviewing our behavior and working to change
ourselves, thinking, 'I just really should not have done that' or 'I
wish I had not said that' - this is the world of humans. And
sometimes we forget ourselves completely while enjoying the
pleasures of music, or sports, or some wonderful pastime in which
we are so happy that we become absorbed in it totally - this is the
world of heavenly beings.
When one sees clearly into ones own mind, one sees that the
world of the hell things, the hungry ghosts, the angry gods, the
animals, humans, and heavenly beings are all based within oneself
- that we are the vehicle. But the self-conscious ego is very heavy
and this is always pushing us to the right and to the left. It is
easy to believe that when this small ego dies, this self-conscious
self, then there all will become nothing more, that life will end.
But such a way of seeing things is just not accurate.
Nothing will truly disappear; nothing real will die. The flow of the
universe just as it is, vast and infinite - this continuity is the
substance of our true body. From our own experience of clarity
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and serenity we can recognize this as ourselves. Of course, the
self-conscious ego manifest in many different forms, one after the
other. These, however, are all contained in and moving within
the great womb of universe. In reality there is not even an actual
ego to be reborn. It is because people think there is a separate
self that they believe in reincarnation. They think they are moving
through these different worlds of animals, humans, heavenly
beings, and so on. Bu the universal self is not such a tiny limited
thing. It is vast spaciousness, infinite expansiveness - this is what
we are!
You can spend a lot of time thinking a bout why this happened and
why that person is that way, but that is useless and has nothing to
do with Buddhism. Rather, the idea of rebirth can be used to teach
us to let go of our limitations in this present life - not in order to
have a better life next time around but as a way of seeing that
the concept of life itself as a small separate ego with all these
troubles has nothing to do with the vast spaciousness of the flow
of the universe. Calculating and worrying about problems and
what kind of family you might be born into is all deluded and self-
centered concern that can last only for space of this lifetime. Within
the vastness and immensity of the universe it is all the same.
From that vast spaciousness life is born within that great life. It
is obvious that individual forms do come forth and die away, but we
do not live in our own small world. Rather, we live within the
circulating energy of all of humanity.
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Buddhism demands that you go beyond such limiting concepts as
thing that your small self alone is universe. It is only one bit of the
scenery. Wake up to this rich expansiveness, this bounteous flow -
the world of zazen! When you let go of that tiny separate self-
concept you will be able for the first time to know the small self as
one of the manifestations of the entire universe - only one bit of the
scenery. By letting go of this concept of a separate self and
allowing all extraneous things to drop away, you can for the first
time understand this individual physical self as the immensity and
expansiveness of the universe itself. You can know there is no birth
and no death.
When I say that there is no birth and no death I do not mean that
there is no physical birth and no physical death, but rather that
living and dying take place within the flow of the universe. We can
understand this state of mind through our own experience and
have no fear. This does not mean that we will lose all fear of
dying or that we will not feel lonely at being separated from
those who have died; rather, it means that, although we are
separated, we know we will meet again in some form. We will
meet in a different way, thus realizing reunion in the grand sense.
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the material factors seem to be equal, the inner part of it, peoples
minds and inner workings, will never actually be equal. It is not
possible for people in a physical sense ever to be totally equal.
What the Buddha was talking about was being able to see that all
things are equal from the inside and that all of us have the same
Buddha Nature - that no matter how we appear to be from the
outside, there is a part of all of us that is exactly the same. The
monastery attempts to put into action what the Buddha taught, to
function in terms of the very excellent way of looking at this that
Buddha had. The 'poison equality,' in which things are
superficially looked at as equal but in fact are inwardly not at all
equal, can be avoided by having the person who has, for even one
second or one day, moved in the direction of clarifying his or her
true nature be considered a senior. The person who was even one
moment ahead of someone else, not considering age or anything
else, would be the one who was the senior, and the people who
came after that person would be the juniors - that is how this
hierarchy of the monastery was born.
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it is because of their egoistic self that they are first, rather than
because of their vow to realize their True Nature. In the monastery
one frequently sees examples of people who are able for a
moment to reach this way of seeing that the Buddha expressed,
but soon they want to protect their position, they want to protect
their egoistic personality, and they express their senior, unclear
place and begin bossing people around.
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that is also true of much behavior in the monastery. With the
keisaku, for example, it is taught that what is most important is the
mind with which it is given and received; the bowing and the
carefulness with which the keisaku is given and received are
for the purpose of maintaining a compassionate frame of mind.
We can truly think that we are doing things for other people. Yet
over and over, although we intend to act in the right way
when we speak to our juniors, when we take care of our sangha
and the people around us, we find that even though we are acting
with that intention we are unable to keep the ego from influencing
our actions because we are not yet all realized people. For that
reason, and from the olden days when the Buddha was teaching
his sangha, there developed a practice that was still observed
until the Middle Ages in Japan, although it is not formally
practiced anymore. The word for this practice in Japanese
could be translated as 'confessional repentance,' but it does
not have the sense of medieval penitence that comes with the
English translation. Rather, the practice is a process of
reviewing your behavior, of looking at what you have done
and seeing whether the ego was involved, whether you were
acting with a clear mind. This is not something to do once a year
or once a month or once a week; everything single day you should
review your behavior, truly examining it to see if during that day you
were acting from a clear mind or in an ego-driven way.
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problems would be for everyone, no matter where they are in the
hierarchy, to have the practice of reviewing their behavior to see
if their actions are coming from the right state of mind.
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ourselves in a way that is far different from what we intended. We
end up deceiving not only ourselves but also others when we act
from an unclear or deluded state of mind, or when words we
speak reflect our egoistic needs instead of our clear mind.
In the same way we review each of the six senses to see to this
meticulous degree how our behavior actually appears to others.
Thus the first of this sutra is 'Review! Repent! The stains of the six
senses.' Then it directs you to cut away desires and cut away
deep karma. Finally you offer 'honor to the Buddha,' 'honor to
Bodhidharma,' and 'honor to the infinite Buddhas, past present,
and future.' By repeating this sutra over and over and carefully
looking into your behavior, you come to a place - it is the same
place you reach in zazen - where your mind is completely
clear and transparent. You see only the scenery immediately in
front of you, with nothing distracting you from that direct
perception. This state of mind in itself is Samadhi. We often
have a difficult time entering this state because we have an idea
what Samadhi is and we try to reach for that idea. But, in fact, this
repentance or reviewing of behavior is in itself clarifying zazen and
can provide and entrance into this state of absolute attention
and clear awareness.
I am often asked why in or busy lives we should take the time to sit
zazen everyone has so much to do, and they think they cannot
take time from their daily activities to just sit. But by taking this time
we can in fact clarify what it is we are actually doing during all
those busy hours. Zazen is the process of being able to see
ourselves. When we attain a stable and well-aligned mind, we
can for the first time see clearly what we are doing, and we will no
longer make the same mistake. For the reason, repentance is a
very important practice to teach.
People who sit for zazen trying to become something, not letting
go of the things they are holding on to but trying to obtain or attain
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a certain state of mind, move further and further away from what
this clarifying of mind, this repentance, can do. When we try to
find some sate of mind that we have experienced before, or we
have an idea about what our state of mind should be and
strive to attain that goal, our sitting becomes more and more
cumbersome; when we cannot reach the state of mind we think
we should be attaining, the weight of the ego becomes heavier
and heavier. This process I am describing - of clarifying our
behavior - is a way of emptying rather than of putting on. I try
always to bring this into my teaching because people are often
unaware of this way of practicing. I feel that much of the behavior
that creates problems in the monastery comes from the lack of this
type of practice, from people doing their practice without ever
reviewing their behavior or looking carefully at how the
behavior is reflecting their zazen. We have a great gift from
society to be able to spend so much time doing zazen, but zazen
also allows us the opportunity to look at our behavior and clearly
see how we are manifesting our practice. If we do not use it for
that, we are wasting an excellent chance and will be endlessly
doing a form of dead-end, closed-circuit zazen that exists only as an
idea of something we think we are tying to pursue. We will never be
able to attain a state of clear awareness and function in the world
with that actual clear mind.
The last line of the sutra of repentance talks of honoring all the
Budhhas of the past, present, and future. Although the words refer
to 'the infinite Buddhas,' they actually include all things: all the
rocks, the stars, the sun, the earth, the water, everything; to all
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the myriad things, you are also repenting, to everything that
exists you bow down and prostrate in repentance and in review
of your behavior. I find this very important practice, and I do tit
myself every day, particularly at nighttime when I am doing yaza,
or late-night sitting after the regular bedtime. During the first
part of my yaza I do this part of my zazen, and then I find my clear
mind to be relieved. Of course, there has to be an intent behind
this reviewing of your behavior - it is not just an empty repetitive
chanting - but as you do this practice, then from that practice of
repentance will come this vast wide- open mind, and then you sit
in that. For everybody to make a practice of doing this once a day
is a very good idea.
The student asked further, 'Are you saying that even though
there are thousands all over China who are practicing Zen,
there is not one single person who is valid among those teaching
them?'
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always and everyway, but there is not one true teacher.' What he
was saying is that this true teacher does not have a specific
form. If you believe the priests everywhere who say, ' I am a
teacher,' if you believe there is someone who is actually as
enlightened and as deeply awakened as the Buddha, you are
making a big mistake. Zen is not about looking outside yourself for
that person; it is about finding that teacher where you are and in
everything around you. To think in terms of finding a person who is
saying 'I am a true teacher,' 'I am deeply enlightened,' is a great
mistake; what needs to be done is to see the real thing right in
front of you.
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clear mind for refuge, only to the Dharma for refuge. Only to
these should they look for wisdom and comfort when he was
gone. To go beyond all conceptions of a teacher and experience
that place where there is no longer any need for or any lingering
idea of Buddha is what Obaku was pointing his student to
when he gave him this very kind answer.
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Glossary
Bodhidharma : The twenty-eight patriarch in line from the
Buddha and the first patriarch of Zen. For more on his life and
teachings, see the chapter 'Bodhidharmas Outline of Practice.'
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Dharma. As Rinzai say, the True Mind has no form and extend
in all ten directions; our mind has no from or substance, yet it
extends throughout the universe and embraces all without
exception. All peoples minds, when they encounter the true root,
experience the same essence and realize that we are all
embraced in this with no exception. The law of clear minds
as defined by the sixth patriarch is (1) While having a nen (mind
moment), not to be caught on any nen. This means having no
attachment to anything that we see, hear, taste, or feel. (2) While
working and functioning, not to be caught on any external object
or event. Forgetting ourselves in our work or activity we encounter
objects and people but are not caught on each other and every
detail. In the same way that water fits into a vessel, we have no
separate or fixed idea of who we are. (3)With nothing before
birth and nothing after birth, the mind is always new. In this very
moment and place the mind is always unhampered, not fixed or
moved around. The simple clear mind works like this, and this is
Dharma, which cannot be defined in hard, fast words.
Dojo : Most commonly, dojo refers to a place where one can join a
teacher and according to his teaching dig deep within and
clarify the essence of Zen. In Japan, each Zen training dojo is
affiliated with a headquarters temple that is then responsible for it.
Nevertheless, as it is written in the Vimalakirti Sutra, a dojo is not
necessarily a formal location but rather refers to the minds true
clarification of this essence. All people of training can be working to
clarify this essence wherever they go; it does not require a
system or prescribed building. Three people and a true teacher
supporting and polishing each other are a dojo.
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teacher with the same awakening experience as the Buddha
taught the Dharma. The mountain gate, or main gate of the temple,
was in front of these two buildings. Later, the functions of the
butsuden and the hato were combined into one building, known as
the hondo.
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opportunity of the Rohatsu osesshin.
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Sanzen : The process of encountering a true teacher so that
ones ego attachment can be removed and the state of mind of
the Buddha and the patriarchs can be realized. It is also called
the great furnace or the great anvil. This is because, like any
excellent cutting tool, ones Buddha Nature has to be forged over
and over in a very hot flame and then pounded again and again to
remove all the impurities. Sanzen is not a process of vague
discussion or of analyzing ones personality. To get rid of the
impurities in our mind we must work on and over until we finally
realize directly our pure clear mind.
Sesshin : One week of continuous zazen with breaks only for sutras,
eating, and sleeping. Sesshin allows one to spend seven days
deepening ones inner being, gathering the mind in order to
encounter and touch True Mind. See the chapter 'Sesshin.'
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takuhatsu with a proud mind; one must become humble. To be
able to receive and give with an enemy mind, with no ego
attachment rising, is the point of practice of takuhatsu.
Zendo : The meditation hall in which monks live and people practice
zazen.
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