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原田雪渓 Harada Sekkei (1926-2020)
Dharma name: 証庵雪渓 Shōan Sekkei
Sekkei Harada is the abbot of 発心時 Hosshin-ji, a Soto Zen training monastery and temple, in Fukui Prefecture, near the coast of central Japan. He was born in 1926 in Okazaki, near Nagoya, and was ordained at Hosshin-ji in 1951. In 1953, he went to Hamamatsu to practice under Zen Master 井上義衍 Inōe Gien (1894-1981), and received inkashomei (certification of realization) in 1957.
In 1974, he was installed as resident priest and abbot of Hosshin-ji and was formally recognized by the Soto Zen sect as a certified Zen master (shike) in 1976. Since 1982, Harada has traveled abroad frequently, teaching in such countries as Germany, France, the United States, and India. He also leads zazen groups within Japan, in Tokyo and Saitama. From 2003-2005, he was Director of the Soto Zen Buddhism Europe Office located in Milan.
This article is adapted from his book, The Essence of Zen, published by Kodansha International, and from several of his teachings published in Hosshin-ji Newsletter.
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In Memoriam
Sekkei Harada Roshi (1926-2020)
A Tribute to my teacher
by Daigaku Rummé
Harada Sekkei Roshi died on Saturday, June 20, 2020 at the age of 93. He had been in hospice care for more than a year at a small hospital run by one of his students in the town of Obama, Fukui Prefecture. This is the same town where Hosshinji Monastery is located.
Although I lived at Hosshinji Monastery and practiced under Roshi for more than 25 years, I never knew very much about the details of his life. I am now in the process of translating books by his teacher, Inoue Gien Roshi, and recently had to translate Inoue Roshi’s biography. In so doing, I know many more details about Inoue Roshi’s life than I do about Harada Roshi. This says a lot about my teacher. In his interactions with his disciples, and perhaps particularly with his western disciples, he really kept to the straight and narrow matter of realizing the Way.
I had heard indirectly that Roshi had been a young officer in the Japanese Navy and had experienced Japan’s defeat in World War II. I had heard that he was impressed at the end of the war by American soldiers because of their lack of emphasis on hierarchy. I had heard that he had thought of becoming a lawyer, but it’s clear that he was ordained a Soto monk in 1951 by Harada Sessui Roshi. He began his practice at Hosshinji Monastery but became disappointed with the teaching he was receiving there; Roshi went to practice in Hamamatsu with Inoue Roshi in 1953. I’m quite sure he attained the Way and was a fully realized person by the age of 31. But all these details are vague.
He often spoke about the question Inoue Roshi had asked him one day while they were weeding the temple garden. “What are you doing now, Sekkei-san?” Inoue Roshi had asked him. “Surely, he can see what I’m doing,” Harada Roshi thought. But then, the doubt arose, “There must be a reason he’s asking me this question. I’ve got to be able to answer it.” This doubt pushed him to devote himself to being able to answer this question, which he finally was able to do. After much hardship and suffering, he finally forgot himself and realized the Way. Inoue Roshi acknowledged him as his successor with the following poem:
A cow has entered the mountains
And had plenty of water to drink
And grass to eat.
That cow now leaves the mountains
Touching the East, touching the West.
I do know that he had made it his life’s work to become abbot of Hosshinji Monastery, the place where he had been ordained. He was married to Korin, his teacher’s niece. Together, they lived at Shimpukuji, a small Soto temple about five miles away from Hosshinji. I remember hearing that Roshi was Ino (head monk) for some years at Hosshinji. In 1974, he was installed as abbot of Hosshinji. From that time on, he and his wife did not live together until much later (about 2013) when he became ill and they moved into Kakushoken, the small hermitage located outside the main gate at Hosshinji.
Roshi was always hospitable to westerners who wanted to learn about Zen and do Zen practice. He never learned to speak English, however, which forced a certain number of the western monks to study Japanese. I can’t remember the exact number, but I’m quite sure he ordained at least twenty westerners, both men and women.
I can’t remember exactly when I first met him, although it would have probably been around June 1976. Guren Martin, who I knew from Kyoto, had gone to live at Hosshinji in 1975, and I went up to visit him and see Hosshinji. I do remember my first meeting with Harada Roshi at that time. I returned to Hosshinji for part of the October 1976 sesshin and received permission to stay there, which I did on Nov. 12, 1976.
Roshi was always a generous man, but he was also strict. There were several contrasting sides to him. In a real way, he could be unpredictable. He could get angry, but the anger dissipated quickly. He could be joyful, and when he laughed, it was complete.
Many memories come back to me, but I don’t want to go on at length now. The main thing I want to say is that Roshi was a mountain of the Way. I knew from early on that he was a special person. He was always completely present, ready to do what needed to be done. He was without human sentiment and doubt. He was always clear, fair, kind, and strict. In Japan, Zen monastic life is known for being a strict way of life. He once said that strictness is only a matter of whether a person has attained the Way or not. For him, that was the standard and it was his job to point the direction for those who were seeking it.
Daigaku Rummé
Confluence Zen Center, St. Louis
June 24, 2020
Unfathomable Depths: drawing wisdom for today from a classical Zen poem
Translated by Daigaku Rummé and
Heiko Narrog
Wisdom Publications, 2014
同安常察 Tong'an Changcha [active 10th century]:
「十玄談」 Shi xuantan 'Ten Verses of Unfathomable Depth'
Ten poems (“mystery discussions”) in the early Song master Tong'an Changcha's 同安常察 Shi xuantan 十玄談. Each discussion consists of a seven-syllable verse, the first entitled “mind seal” (xinyin 心印). Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (T2076.51.455a27-b2).
Unfathomable Depths presents a concise treatment of Soto theory and practice, while delivering approachableadvice from Sekkei Harada, one of Zen's most esteemed teachers. Rooting himself in Tong'an Changcha's classical and enigmatic poem, “Ten Verses of Unfathomable Depth,” Harada intimately speaks to the world of Zen today, answering some of our most pressing questions:
What is the true nature and function of Dharma transmission
How do I appropriately practice with koans?
How do I understand the “just sitting” of Soto Zen?
PDF Preview pp. 1-61.
Table of Contents
Translators' Preface
Ten Verses of Unfathomable Depth
I. Introduction
Heiko Narrog & Hongliang Gu
The Text
The Author
The Title and an Overview of the Text
Tong'an Changcha's Verses and Sekkei Harada's Dharma Lectures
II. Commentary on the Ten Verses
Prologue: Master Tong'an and the Verses of Unfathomable Depth
1. The Mind Seal
2. The Mind of the Enlightened Ones
3. The Unfathomable Function
4. The Transcendent within Dust and Dirt
5. The Buddhist Teaching
6. The Song of Returning Home
7. The Song of Not Returning Home
8. The Revolving Function
9. Changing Ranks
10. Before the Rank of the Absolute
Appendix I: Chinese Edition of the Ten Verses
Appendix II: Contemporary Comments on the Ten Verses
Table 1: List of Personal Names
Table 2: List of Texts Cited
The Essence of Zen: The Teachings of Sekkei Harada
Translated by Daigaku Rummé
Wisdom Publications, 2008
Table of Contents
Translator's Preface ix
Introduction 1Part I. Dogen's Fukan-Zazengi and Commentary
The Fukan-Zazengi: A Universal Recommendation for Zazen 7
An Explanation of the Title 11
You Are Already Within the Way 13
Giving Up the Ego-Self 19
How to Sit in Zazen 25Part II. Being Thoroughly Familiar with the True Self
In the Whole Universe, There Is Only You 43
You are Both Zen and the Way 43
Your Reality Is Zen 44
Do Not Forget Your True Self 45
Three Principal Teachings 46
Nothing Is Better Than Something Good 50
Nansen Cuts the Cat 51
The Deluding Passions Are Enlightenment 53
Throwing Yourself into Zazen 54
Hyakujo's Wild Fox 55
The Daily Practice of Zen 59
Continuing with Perseverance 61
Sitting in Zazen 62
Putting an End to the Discriminating Mind 64
"Done, Done, Finally It Is Done!" 65
Being One with the Questioning Mind 67
The Way Is One 68Part III. Awakening to the True Self
What Is Sesshin? 73
Kyogen's QuestioningMind 75
What Is "This Thing"? 76
"Everyday Mind Is the Way" 78
Accepting Your Condition Now 81
Are You Awake? 83
Shakyamuni Buddha's Practice 84
The Deluding Attachment to the Ego-Self 85
All Things Exist Within the Six Sense Functions 86
What Is the Teaching of the Buddhadharma? 87
In Japan Only the Form of the Dharma Remains 88
Self-Taught Zen vs. Zen That Is in Accordance with the Dharma 89
Good and Evil Is Time; Time Is Not Good or Evil 92
The Wind Blows Everywhere 95
On Emptiness 96
The Ten Realms 97
The One Arrow of Sekkyo 102
Becoming Your Own Master 103
"No Dependence on Words and Letters" and "A Special Transmission Outside the Teachings" 104
Stealing the Farmer's Cow, Snatching the Beggar's Bowl 104
Exaggerating the Importance of Doctrinal Study 106
Verification for Oneself and Certification by a Master 107
The Certification of True Peace of Mind 108
To Study the Way Is to Study the Self 109
Letting Go of Oneness 110
The First Step on the Way 111
The Problem with Shikantaza 112
The Problem with Koan Zen 113
Using the Form of Zen as an Expedient 114
The Condition Right Now 116
What Is Consciousness? 117
The Light of the Dharma, the Light within Yourself 119
Awakening to the Chaos within You 120
The Law of Cause and Effect 121Part IV. Elements in the Practice of Zen
The Functions of the Body, Speech, and Thought 125
The Problem of the Self That Knows 125
Three Essential Elements of Zazen Practice 127
Throwing Away Your Standards 130
Great Diligence 130
"What Is the Way" 131
The Sickness of Being Attached to Emptiness 133
The Nature of Zen 135
Repentance 138
Zen and the Precepts Are One 141
Mind Cannot Be Grasped 143
The Enlightenment of Gensha 146
Zen within Movement, Zen within Stillness 148
Being Attached to the Ego-Self 150
Liberation Is Leaving the Dharma As-It-Is 153
Dead or Alive? 154Afterword 157
Zen Masters and Monks Appearing in the Text 161
Glossary 163
PDF: L'Essence du Zen - Entretiens sur le Dharma à l'intention des Occidentaux
by Sekkei Harada Roshi
Traduit de l’anglais par Monto de Paco et Laurie Small
2013
Being Thoroughly Familiar with the True Self
Excerpts from The Essence of Zen: The Teachings of Sekkei Harada
http://wearebuddhamind.blogspot.hu/2008/12/being-thoroughly-familiar-with-true.html
IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, THERE IS ONLY YOU
In what way can you become familiar or intimate with your true self? Zen, the Dharma, and the Way point the direction. Consequently, Zen, zazen, and the Way are all means to take us to the world of the Dharma. Many people, though, are greatly mistaken on this point. They think it is sufficient simply to do zazen, or simply to seek the Way, and this is the end of it for them. I would like to explain why this type of thinking is mistaken.
The present population of the earth is said to be almost six billion, or even more. This means that each of us is one of these six billion people. Each of us is irreplaceable; we each have our individual existence. This is something that must be clearly discerned. First, we must see our own essential Self, and then it is necessary to make sure that we live our lives with our feet firmly on the ground. We are each one part of six billion people, and we must ascertain that we are truly the only person in the whole universe, someone who doesn't need to rely on Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha. This is the first step in being familiar or intimate with the true Self.
YOU ARE BOTH ZEN AND THE WAY
I would like to tell you a story from China. You may be familiar with the name of Joshu, who was a priest long ago. One day a monk asked him, "I am just a beginner in the practice of Zen. Please teach me how to do zazen." Joshu said, "Have you eaten breakfast? .... Yes," replied the monk, "I've had plenty for breakfast." Joshu said, "That's fine. Then wash your bowl and put it away." At that point the monk, who had resolved to seek the Dharma was just beginning the practice of zazen, said "I understand. Now I realize the direction of practice." So he went off happily.
There is an important point in the story for those of us who practice. We tend to think of our eating bowls as things that are outside of us. Yet Joshu said, "Wash your bowl and put it away." What does the bowl signify? You yourself. Each one of you must clean yourself thoroughly and then bring the matter of the ego-self to a conclusion. If Joshu's words are not understood in this way, a great mistake will arise. We perceive Zen, the Dharma, and the Way to be outside of ourselves. But it is a serious error to create a distance between yourself and these things in this manner. If you make a separation between yourself and what you are looking for, no matter how much effort you make to lessen that distance, that effort will be in vain.
It is a mistake to look for something that is far off in the distance. The Dharma is something that is everywhere at any time.
YOUR REALITY IS ZEN
I come from Japan, but Zen, the Dharma, and the Way do not exist solely in Japan. Zen, the Dharma, and the Way--these are things that cannot be exported. Since they cannot be exported, they cannot be imported. Consequently, that which has been imported from India, China, or Korea in not Zen, the Dharma, or the Way; these are each of you--your reality as-it-is. The reason I say this is so that you will understand that reality as-it-is is Zen, the Dharma, and the Way.
But if you do not "walk the Way," it will never be possible to reach your destination. The first human being to awaken and realize he himself was the Way was Shakyamuni Buddha. It was not the case, however, that he grasped something new. For those who believe in the Way of the Buddha and aspire to practice Zen, it is only natural that they will practice in the manner taught by Shakyamuni Buddha and the enlightened ones of India, China, and Japan who transmitted the Dharma.
If you clearly and certainly walk the Way, you will awaken to yourself. However, if you create a distance between yourself and Zen, the Dharma, and the Way, even if you walk the Way, I think you'll always feel great anxiety as to whether you will be able to truly realize the Way or not.
Since the Way and Zen is your condition as-it-is, there will definitely come a time when you realize, "Ah! So that's how it is!" There is no doubt about this. It will take longer for some of you to reach this point than others, but nevertheless you will definitely realize it. For some people it has taken thirty years to realize themselves, it took Shakyamuni six years. Others have realized in a single day. It varies from person to person. However, it will undoubtedly happen.
Shakyamuni Buddha gave the following example to indicate how certain this is: If you hold a stick in your hand and aim for the ground below you, no matter which way you strike the ground, it is impossible to miss it. In the same way, it is impossible not to come to an understanding of the true Self if you seek the Dharma and Zen.
DO NOT FORGET YOUR TRUE SELF
There is a story about a priest named Zuigan. Each morning, on awakening, he would always address himself, saying, "Master, master!" which could also be translated as "True Self, true Self!" He would ask himself, "Master, are you awake?" He would answer, "Yes, yes." And then he would say, "Don't be fooled by others." Whereupon he would answer, "No, no." This was his practice.
We are apt to forget our true Self. "To forget" means that we are always out traveling and away from home and so our home--or body--is vacant. We will be in a condition where we always think that sometime in the future, eventually, we must return home.
You may be familiar with the great thirteenth-century Zen master, Master Dogen. At first he traveled to Ghina in search of the Way. This was a condition in which his true Self was absent. But then he met Tendo Nyojo, another Zen master, and was able to "cast off body and mind." How did he express what he had attained?
The eyes are horizontal
The nose is vertical.
I won't be fooled by others.
The Buddhadharma does not exist in the least.
In another story, old Master Joshu said, "Before I knew that the Way is myself, I was used by time. But after I realized that the Way is myself, I was no longer used by time. Now I am able to live using time." For Joshu, hot was still hot, cold was still cold, and pain was still pain. He was still the same person--and yet depending on whether Joshu realized his true nature or not, he lived being used by things or he lived being able to use things.
The fact is that each of you possesses the same power as Joshu. By becoming intimate with Zen, you will understand how it is possible to find and master this power. When you do, each of you will be Joshu, Dogen, and Shakyamuni Buddha.
THREE PRINCIPAL TEACHINGS
In Buddhism there are three principal teachings: all things are impermanent; all things are without self-nature; and all things dwell in the peace and quiet of Nirvana. The first of these--all things are impermanent means that there is no condition that is fixed or determined for any length of time. It is not a matter of there being one thing that is undergoing change. It means that things---including yourself--are always changing and are without a center or an essence. As human beings we are always perceiving through the senses; which means that we are cognizant or aware of things. We can only perceive past and future. All anxieties--the opposite of peace of mind--as well as agitation, restlessness, and haste, arise from either the past or the future.
As I said earlier, the present moment is a condition where there is absolutely no separation between yourself and things. This is not to say, though, that there exists such a thing as the present moment. The condition we refer to as "now" is one where there is truly no.gap between yourself and other things. When you don't have peace of mind, this means that you are in a condition in which you are constantly aware of a distance between yourself and other things. In our present life, regardless of whether we know it or not, we are one with things. This is what is meant by the challenging expression "all things are impermanent."
No one remembers the time when they were born, the time they emerged from their mother's womb. In the same way, there is no one who knows their own death, thinking "I've just died." We know neither our birth nor our death. We first become aware of ourselves at the age of three or four. If we live to the age 0f eighty, during the intervening years we experience many things that are good and bad. There is gain and loss, there is this thing and that, but whose life is it.~ This world of perception and cognition--what we usually think of as the way human life must be or should be--this is all the life of the ego. Zen is the means that can help you discover the true nature of the ego.
When people are asked to give proof that they are living, they often cite the fact that they can see and hear and feel things. But this is not proof that you are living. It is merely a description of living. You perceive your self, the ego, "me," and then simply describe your present condition by saying that because you can see and hear and feel you are living. Someone who is dead cannot, obviously, describe what the condition of death is like. The reason is that it is already their reality. There is a problem of how to demonstrate the reality of living without description.
Even if you are aware of minute changes within the flux of events, you must understand that it is the ego that knows it and n6t the true Self. This means that with regard to our whole life, as long as the thing we call "me" does not stop intervening, it is not possible to lead a life that is truly free and peaceful. You already are free, but since you want freedom, you lose it. Consequently, it is necessary to free yourself from thinking that things must be this way or that way. This too is the meaning of the first teaching, "all things are impermanent."
The second teaching states "All things are without self-nature." As all things are selfless, this means there is no possibility of grasping on to something as your unchanging essence. For example, imagine it is now 8:00 in the evening. Let us say we go to bed at 10:00 and drift off to sleep without knowing it. While sleeping, who knows that they are asleep? Most likely, there is no one who is aware that they are fast asleep. In the same wa~, when we awake, it is not possible to be aware of awakening. All you can do is, by perceiving "this thing" (the body), say you are "awakened." But who is it, through perceiving "this thing," that calls it "you"?
No one can think two thoughts at the same time. If you were asked to think a good thought and a bad thought at the same time, it would not be possible. Have you ever considered why it is not possible to think two things simultaneously? Whether you think about this or not, you are yourself and you are living your own life. In fact, it is not possible to think of yourself. This means that it is not good to insert your own egoistic opinions. If the ego-self intervenes, it means that inevitably you will see things by comparing them. Zen practice is the practice of letting go of that intervention of the ego-self.
The third teaching is that "all things dwell in the peace and quiet of Nirvana." As I said at the beginning, Nirvana, or true peace of mind, is something that we must not seek elsewhere As long as you seek it elsewhere, you will never be free of feelings of satisfaction or anxiety. If we open our eyes, even when seeing something for the first time, we can clearly see all of it. If you hear something for the first time, you can hear it perfectly. You are endowed with the free functioning of the senses. This means that no matter what you see or hear, you assimilate all of it. You have the power to digest things in this way.
In a life where there is no separation, there is neither peace of mind nor anxiety. When there is peace of mind, there is also anxiety. In a world of the true Dharma, there is neither peace of mind nor anxiety. Having said that, there may be some people who wonder, "Then why is it necessary to practice.~" But really try living "now." There is no room for thoughts like peace of mind and anxiety to enter in. In this way, no matter how insignificant or important something may be, whether for yourself or for someone else, forgetting yourself and immersing yourself wholeheartedly in your work and making an effort, that is the life of Zen. It is the life of the Way.
People often speak of doing something for this or that purpose but in Zen we do not live our lives for this or that purpose. Even if we are doing something for ourselves or for someone else, the life of Zen is to forget all that comes before and after and really do each deed for the purpose of the deed itself. Wholeheartedly applying yourself to the task at hand, exhausting yourself in each activity, that is the life of Zen. Consequently, I would like you not to understand Zen, the Buddhadharma, or the Way by means of your intellect or your education.
Although I have just said that all of our life is Zen, the Dharma, and the Way, actually these things do not exist.
NOTHING IS BETTER
THAN SOMETHING GOOD
In everyday life, we often hear people say, "Now I can really believe it." But as long as you are satisfied with "really believing," it means that there is still belief. You must forget belief. It is the same with fact and reality. If you think something is true or real, it means you perceive "real" or "true," and there remains a gap between you and "real" or "true." The life of someone who has realized the true Dharma is one where there is r~o reality. In other words, it is to dwell peacefully in the world now.
There is a Chinese proverb that says: "Better than something good is nothing." Zazen is a wonderful thing. But even though it's wonderful, nothing is better. The reason is that something good is a condition on the way to the ultimate. We do not know if it will become better or worse. The key to zazen is to "grind up" zazen by means of the practice of zazen. If you follow through with this, then no matter what you are doing or where, each activity can be called Zen. When zazen is finally completely ground up and disappears, then for the first time everything is truly the Way, Zen, the Dharma. This is what is called "everyday mind."
Finally, I would like you not to simply understand Zen or the Buddhadharma conceptually. It is fine to investigate what others have said or written in books. But to say, "I've understood something that I didn't understand before," that is not Zen practice.
NANSEN CUTS THE CAT
Consider this koan from the Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku), "Nansen Cuts the Cat":
There were about 5oo monks training under Nansen. The monks slept in one hall that was divided into east and west. One day the monks were fighting over a cat. Seeing this, Nansen picked up the cat and said, "If you can say anything, I won't cut it in two." No one spoke, so Nansen cut it.
Later, Nansen told Joshu what had happened. Joshu immediately took off his sandals, put them on his head, and walked out. Nansen said, "If you had been there, you would have saved the cat."
This particular koan originated in China 1,200 years ago but it is not just a story. I would now like to explain why.
Nansen is the abbreviated name of Nansen Fugan, a famous priest of Tang China. Nansen cut a cat in two, and this cat is the central problem of this koan. Three people or groups of people appear: the monks who are asked the question, Nansen, and Joshu--plus the cat. Each of you are now Nansen, you are now the monks being asked the question, you are now Joshu, and you are now the cat.
An argument began among some of the monks concerning the cat. "Does the cat have buddha:nature or not?" "In the future, will it become a buddha?" "Can it do zazen?" They argued about the Dharma and Zen just as we do every day. While the monks were arguing, Nansen appeared and picked up the cat by the scruff of the neck. He said to the monks, "If you can say something about this cat, you will save it. If you can't say anything, I'll cut the cat in two."
In your heart you wonder, "What is Zen? What is the Way?" You have been practicing zazen for a long time, but will you really be able to attain the wonderful results related by the buddhas and enlightened ones? These were the questions the cat represented. If you become the cat, then you will clearly understand. Or if you become the monks, I think you will also understand. Nansen, by picking up the cat by the neck, symbolically demonstrates to each of us the need to get a grip on the questioning mind. "How will you resolve this?" You must understand Nansen's question this way. It is as if Nansen appears in front of you and asks, "How will you deal with this matter?" For those of you who have this questioning, inquiring mind, this questioning mind is the cat. For those of you who practice shikan-taza, this shikantaza is the cat.
In this koan, you must be able to give the answer immediately, "Say it now." Understand this is your problem. "Out with it!" Can you clearly awaken to your essential self? That is the meaning of this case. None of the monks could answer Nansen--how would you answer? Have you been able to get a firm grip on the cat or not? Perhaps, while you are sitting zazen, the inquiring mind is clear, and perhaps you understand clearly how to practice shikantaza. But when you are eating or doing work, doesn't the cat get away?
The Way as well as Zen must be everywhere at any time. If Zen or Zen practice exists only when you think of it, then you will never be able to resolve the problem of the cat. Whatever we see or hear or feel, everything we experience is buddha-nature. In the case I have related, it is written that Nansen cut the cat in two. But is it possible to cut buddha-nature in two? Please consider this. If you are "just" sitting, you will get stuck in "just." The reason I am presenting this case is so that you can check and see to what extent you are "just" sitting. How do you see the cat? I am waiting to hear your answer.
None of the monks could answer Nansen, so he finally cut the cat in two. Joshu was out working when Nansen cut the cat, but when he returned, Nansen said to him, "Today a problem arose concerning a cat, but none of the monks could give an answer, so I cut the cat in two. How would you have answered?" On hearing this, Joshu put the sandals he was wearing on his head and went outside without saying anything. Whereupon Nansen said, "If you had been there, it would have not been necessary to cut the cat." The problem this koan represents for us, then, is how we will answer so that the cat is not cut. I would like you to be Nansen, the monks who were asked the question, Joshu, and the cat. While you are in this condition, thoroughly think through this case.
All of the buddhas and enlightened ones who appear in collections of Zen sayings and records are you. They are speaking about each one of us. This story comes to us across twelve centuries, but if each of you save the cat, then Nansen as well as ]oshu will be resurrected.
THE DELUDING PASSIONS
ARE ENLIGHTENMENT
Within our minds, there is a cat called "greed." There is also a cat named "anger" and another cat called "folly" or "ignorance." In Buddhism, we call these the three deluding passions. These passions or desires are the source of all our suffering. However, if there was no greed, we would not be able to do zazen. Without anger, the determination and enthusiasm not to lose out or be beaten would not arise. Without ignorance, there would be no reflection or introspection. For these reasons, I would like you to understand that greed, anger, and ignorance are also other names for buddha-nature. It is only because we are used by greed, anger, and ignorance that we have come to think of them as being bad.
Shakyamuni Buddha also said that the deluding passions are themselves enlightenment.
If you sit in shikantaza and let whatever thoughts appear and take no notice of them and do not deal with them, then they will definitely turn into enlightenment. You may recall the expression "everyday mind is the Way." Anger, ignorance, greed, as well as all kinds of anxiety, impatience, and irritation, exist within the "everyday mind." This is called "everyday mind as-it-is is the Way." I would like you to realize that it is a mistake, then, to throw away something bad that is inside us. In Buddhism, however, everything is buddha-nature, so there is nothing to throw away. The problem lies within your thoughts, or how you think. Inevitably you cannot accept your thoughts, so you create a distance between you and them. But, as I often say, zazen is the way to verify that you and your thoughts are one. We practice so we can confirm this.
THROWING YOURSELF INTO ZAZEN
I will digress for a moment to speak of a man named Toyohiro Akiyama. He is a reporter working for TBS, a Japanese television company. Some time ago, he was sent into space on a Soviet rocket. Later, when he returned to Earth, he was asked, "While you were in space, did you have any kind of religious experience? Have you returned with any philosophical impressions?" Akiyama replied, "I was already so preoccupied with my affairs here on Earth that I experienced absolutely nothing different on venturing into space."
As I always say, as long as you do not truly bring a resolution to the ego-self, no matter how wonderful a universe you travel to or whichever world of God or Buddha you may reach, there will be no change. Throw yourselves into zazen and really forget your own thoughts. With this kind of practice, you will certainly be able to meet your true Self. Please believe until belief is no longer necessary.
HYAKUJO'S WILD FOX
Consider this koan:
Whenever Master Hyakujo gave a teisho, or Dharma talk, an old man always came to join the monks and listen to the teaching. When the monks left, the old man would also leave. One day the old man stayed behind. Hyakuio asked him, "Who are you who stands before me now.?' The old man said, "I am not a human being. In those days of the Ashy Buddha, I used to live on this mountain. One day a monk asked me, 'Is an enlightened person also subject to causality or not?" I said 'No, he is not.' Since then I have lived the life of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. I now beg you to say a few words on my behalf to release me from my life as a fox. For that reason I ask you, 'Is an enlightened person also subject to causality or not?'" Hyakuio said, "Such a person is not blind to causality." No sooner had the old man heard these words than he became greatly enlightened.
If you could not quite become completely one with Nansen's cat, perhaps you can become one with Hyakuio's fox. This case concerns cause and effect and appears in every collection of Zen koans. It is regarded as very difficult. The particular problem dealt with is whether a person who is enlightened and "finished" with practice is subject to the principle of cause and effect or not.
First of all, let me speak about the principle of cause and effect. It is said that if you wish to know a past cause, then look at the present effect, the present result. There is always a continuum of past, present, past, present. We cannot say that the past is only something that happened long, long ago--it also is five minutes ago, or even a single moment. Your condition now is inevitably attributable to past causes. The present circumstance also becomes the cause of some future outcome.
With regard to breathing, each breath is new. So too with thoughts. When one idea or thought arises, that is birth. When one idea or thought vanishes, that is death. Always there is a constant repetition of birth and death. This repetition continues through past, present, and future.
We are in the habit of perceiving "this thing" (this body) as "me." The reason for this is that from birth we have come to believe that things exist. In fact, though, they do not~but we usually cannot accept this. This is the meaning of "all things have no self-nature." If there is a center, essence, or permanent self-nature that is perceived, this is a delusion. Similarly we make errors about time; we can only perceive time either through the past, which has already gone, or by the future, which has not yet come.
Consider the method of zazen in which we practice counting breaths. If you reach "two," for example, then "two" is everything. There i~s no "one" or "three." "Two" is all. At that point, you should have truly forgotten yourself and cast off body and mind.
Nonetheless, we perceive that something that does not exist does exist. This is the ego, which inevitably becomes the center of what we perceive. For this reason we are in the habit of seeing things and comparing them in terms of good and bad. Consequently, it is easy for people to think that if all bad things could be eliminated, only good things would remain. Nevertheless, good and bad exist only in contrast to each other. If all bad things were to disappear, then it stands to reason that there would no longer be any good things. If one half of a duality were not to exist, its opposite would also not exist. Please understand this clearly as we explore the principle that cause and effect are one.
In the teaching of Buddhism, everything is taught from the standpoint of the result. This means that for those people who have not yet reached the final result, it is not possible for them to say that they either understand or do not understand simply by looking at the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha or of the enlightened ones who have transmitted the Dharma.
The "dharma" of Buddhadharma means a natural principle or law. Every aspect of our life is the Dharma. There is the Dharma of bad and the Dharma of good. There is als9 the Dharma of understanding and the Dharma of misunderstanding. Moreover, these two are not in opposition. Our condition now is one that is already separate from good and bad, enlightenment and delusion. We are always peacefully dwelling in a condition where there is only the result itself. Yet, in order to awaken to the condition, it is necessary, by means of Zen, to let go of our dualistic viewpoint of comparing good and bad.
Results unavoidably correspond with causes. There should be no feelings of surprise or disappointment. If our efforts result in failure, it is only reasonable to be content with that result. The same applies to successful results. If there is a successful outcome, the requirements for this success were present, so there is nothing to be happy about. Similarly, do not feel disappointed in failure. Nevertheless, people can be seen to be selfish because when we have some success, we are naturally pleased with that success, and when we encounter some failure, by comparison we are not happy.
Returning to the case about Priest Hyakujo: Why then, on answering "does not fall under the principle of cause and effect" did the priest become a fox? And why on hearing "not blind to cause and effect" did the old man again become a human being and realize great enlightenment? What is the degree of difference between "not falling under cause and effect" and "not being blind to cause and effect"? Investigate this problem; generate this inquiring mind.
The point of this case is whether the wild fox is at peace with being a wild fox. If the fox could truly be one with being a fox, then it would not want to become human. To be a fox would be enough. The state of being truly satisfied as a fox is what we call being "a buddha." On the other hand, a human being who is not satisfied with being human and who constantly looking for something else is seeking to be a buddha; this state we call being "a wild fox." This is a very difficult problem.
In Buddhism, we speak of transmigration though the six realms. These realms are the six worlds of delusion: heaven, human beings, hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and fighting devils (asuras). As 10rig as we are deluded, we can never live peacefully as human beings. If you cannot be at ease with your present situation, you will forever be seeking something else. This is a condition where you will go around and around, migrating through the six realms, never feeling settled. Essentially, though, regardless of whether we are a being in hell, a human being, or a being in heaven, we must be able to exist peacefully in these respective worlds.
In Zen, we have the expression "unblemished" or "undefiled." The Japanese word for this, fuzenna, literally means "not-dyed-dirty" in other words, "untainted." Many people understand this to mean that if you practice and achieve a certain strength or power through that practice, no matter which world you go to, you will not be dyed the color of, or be sullied by, that world. But this is a great mistake. "Unblemished" or "undefiled" means to be completely dyed that color. If you go into the color red, then you are completely dyed red. If you enter something white, then you completely become the color white.
In the Rinzai Zen sect, the expression "be master of yourself wherever you are;' is often used. If this expression is misunderstood, it will be misunderstood in the same way as "unblemished." If you cannot be truly at one with the world you have in, you will always see other worlds as being beautiful and wonderful. The words "not falling under the principle of cause and effect" and "not being blind to cause and effect" are concerned with this condition of not being settled, of not accepting your situation.
The main purpose of practice is to bring an end to the seeking mind and to live accepting your present circumstances. It is important that you sit in zazen and are content with the result. As you sit, inevitably the thought arises that somehow or other you should be able to sit better. This is a fact. But sit without thinking that because you cannot sit well, you want somehow to sit better, If you cannot sit well, then accept it and leave it that way. If you are not settled, then accept it and leave it that way. I would like you to make the effort to live peacefully in whatever condition you are in.
To be truly what you are without being jealous of someone else is what we call Buddha. However, if a person cannot peacefully accept being a person, he or she will always want to be a buddha, to experience enlightenment. We liken this condition of trying to seek peace of mind to that of a fox. Think this through carefully as you continue with your practice.
In Japan, a fox is regarded as an animal that tricks people. Please practice steadfastly and confidently without being tricked or misled. If a fox is tricked by a fox and continues being tricked, that is all right, but it isn't good to set up the ego-self with the attitude that you cannot be tricked.
THE DAILY PRACTICE OF ZEN
Zazen can broadly be divided in two: Zen within activity and Zen within stillness. Zen within activity embraces the other activities in our life, such as our work and so forth. Zen within stillness is what we do in the zendo, the meditation hall.
I would like to speak practically about how you can continue with Zen outside of the meditation hall, outside of retreat. Everyday life itself is Zen. As I have already said many times, drinking coffee, eating toast, washing your face, taking a bath, these are all Zen even though we do not label them Zen. I would like you to be clear about this. Consequently, there is absolutely no need to choose between activities that are Zen and those that are not. Believe this firmly and have unshakable confidence in it. Then let go of this faith. This is the way I would like you to act, but in practice this is not easy. It is a mistake for you to incorporate into your life things you have learned about Zen through books or by listening to others. This also includes the Zen practice you have done up until now.
There is an expression in Zen "to put another head on top of the one you already have." This is a mistake. It really is not possible, and I want you to take great care not to make this mistake. Even though I say this, I am sure you will live and experience many things, learning by trial and error. You make an effort to build up your practice, but then you become lax and it falls apart. Again you make an effort to build up your practice, but again you become lax and it falls apart. It is important not to give up. While living your everyday life, I ask you once again not to adopt or bring Zen into that life. Apart from those times when you are sitting quietly, I would like you to forget completely about Zen.
I also have some comments about formal sitting, Zen within stillness. Make sure to sit each day. Thirty minutes is fine, fifteen minutes is fine. The length of time will depend on your circumstances, and these vary from person to person. Be sure to set aside some time to sit every day. At that time, no matter how much you are concerned about your work or what is happening in your household, forget those things and sit in a samadhl of zazen.
From the beginning, I would like you to divide your life into Zen within stillness and Ten within activity. In this way, I believe you will be able to be one with your work and be one with a samadhi of zazen. If you do this, I believe you will not even have time to think "this is Zen." Then, during Zen in stillness, you will be able to forget yourself and be one with a samadhi of zazen.
Continue to persevere: building up your practice, it falls apart~ again building up your practice, it falls apart. In this way, I am sure there will come a time when it is no longer necessary to divide Zen in two.
CONTINUING WITH PERSEVERANCE
It is not easy to sit zazen. Zen practice is a difficult thing. Please do not lose heart and give up along the way. It is not something that must be concluded within a set number of years. Nor is it something that, if not taken care of quickly, will prevent you doing something else. I would like you to persevere steadfastly. That is what we call "continual mindfulness."
There are three things that any person who aspires to the Way of Zen must do: asking a master about the Dharma, the practice of zazen, and observing the precepts. Many people ask me how they can know if the zazen they are practicing is correct or mistaken. I will give you some guidance about this.
Mistaken zazen and mistaken guidance result when, figuratively speaking, the teacher first makes a suit of clothes and a pair of shoes into which you must make yourself fit. This is a grave error. A similar mistake occurs when the teaching prescribes that you mimic the teacher's form until the teacher releases you from the form.
In Zen it is said that all the teachings of Buddhism and Zen are "skillful means." They are like a finger pointing at the moon. If you look in the direction indicated by the fingertip you will see the moon.
The object of the teaching is to see the moon. However, the moon and the finger are one. If you are taught that the moon and the finger are separate, this is mistaken. In simple terms, as long as you do not understand, skillful means exist as skillful means. However, when you come to understand Zen, you understand that the means are also the result itself.
If you truly attain the Way, you will no longer have to think about yourself. Since it is not necessary to think of your own matters, it is possible to concentrate one hundred percent on your work, on the needs of others, and on your own families. In this way, you wiI1 feel great ease and comfort. This is the practice of a bodhisattva, the activity you are doing now becomes the practice of the bodhisattva. Please continue your endeavors diligently.
The Key to Zen
Teachings by Sekkei Harada Roshi
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/web-archive/2003/12/1/the-key-to-zen.html
Sekkei Harada Roshi is abbot of Hosshinji, a Soto Zen monastery in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. This article is adapted from his book, The Essence of Zen, published by Kodansha International, and from several of his teachings published in Hosshinji Newsletter.
A series of short teachings by Sekkei Harada Roshi
Where Is the Way to Achieve Peace of Mind?
Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto Zen sect in Japan, defined Zen in the following manner: “Zazen isn't step-by-step meditation; it is simply the Dharma Gate to peace and joy. It is both the practice and the realization of totally culminated enlightenment.” Step-by-step meditation is to seek for satori , or liberation, at some time in the future. In the Soto Zen sect, the teaching is that Zen itself is satori. Because practice and realization are one, apart from practice there is no realization and within realization there is practice. If you seek to attain some result in the future, then Zen will die. That is why Dogen Zenji says, "Zazen isn't step-by step meditation."
Zen is all of human life. Walking, standing, sitting and lying down—these activities themselves are said to be satori. But there is a tendency to think that, in terms of practice, one or another activity is relatively more important. There are some people with the conspicuously heretical point of view that "Only sitting zazen is the kindest, sincerest activity of practice. Everything else is of secondary importance." But this is a great mistake. Both sitting zazen and working are the dharma. It isn't possible for there to be two dharmas within the dharma. Some people sit zazen with the objective of gathering up courage or curing an illness, but this is also-step-by-step meditation. When you sit zazen, you must only be zazen. This is what we call shikantaza . Don't make Zen impure. You mustn't add meaning or significance to it.
I am often asked, "Is there no other way besides zazen to achieve peace of mind?" I answer, "No." Zen is to assimilate the whole dharma (truth); it is to be one with it. If within the religions of the world the various practices taught direct one to assimilate the dharma irrespective of the distinction between liberation through one's own effort (jiriki) and liberation through the power of some other being such as Amida or God (tariki), then it must be said such teachings are Zen. If we get hung up on the word "zazen," there is a tendency to think it is some special practice, but it isn't. Consequently, Zen is the only way to attain peace of mind.
The Functions of the Body, Speech and Thought
One big mistake made by many people concerning zazen is thinking that it is limited to the form in which we sit in meditation. Actually, all functions of the body, speech and thought must be zazen. Zazen of the body refers to the posture of sitting straight, crossing the legs and holding the hands together. Zazen of speech includes the words we use during the day, seasonal or morning greetings, the Heart Sutra which we chant during the morning sutra service and the verses chanted before eating, as well as the various words used throughout the day. Lastly, zazen of thought is the functioning of the mind, something that we cannot see. Thinking various ideas, planning, devising, discriminating and so on—all movements of the mind are zazen.
On saying, then, that all functions of the body, speech and thought are zazen, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Why is it necessary to do zazen or seek something by means of Zen?” The problem here with thinking “all activities are zazen” is that we know it by means of learning. It is merely intellectual understanding. Reality is therefore divided in two—subject and object—and the thought arises that there is no need to do zazen. We must be careful about this.
The Problem of the Self that Knows
In the beginning, Zen Master Dogen had a question, which can be expressed in the following way: “The teaching of Buddhism is that this body itself is Buddha. Essentially, a human being is Buddha, the dharma and Zen. Why, then, is it necessary to practice?” As there were no teachers in Japan who could resolve this question for him, he went to seek the answer in China. After a long period and many hardships, he finally met Zen Master Nyojo, and then “cast off body and mind.” At that time he said:
“Willows are green, flowers are red.” Or, “All human beings are endowed with buddhanature.” Or, “All beings are essentially Buddha itself, are Zen itself.” Dogen said unequivocally that there is no mistake in these statements either before or after “body and mind are cast off.”
From the vantage point of the dharma, everything is empty. There is no need to “cast off body and mind.” We are already within that state of freedom. Why, then, can't you accept all phenomena as they are? The only major problem lies in whether, in the activities of seeing, hearing, experiencing and knowing, the ego-self intervenes or whether it has completely disappeared. It is because of the intervention of the ego-self that you cannot accept things as they are. This is something I would really like you to be aware of. It is in order to completely wash away the intervention of the ego-self that zazen is so necessary.
Many people mistakenly think: “What I'm now observing and experiencing is my real self. To forget that self or to accept another true self is unnecessary.” This is how most people think. Others, on perceiving the self as an object, think: “I must let the self drop away. The ego-self must be let go of.” If you think this way, please understand that it is a serious mistake.
All beings and all phenomena of the world (mountains, rivers, grass, trees and so on) are composed of the four elements—earth, water, fire and air. These elements have no fixed center; they freely change according to circumstances. However, if “I” is fixed as a sort of center or source, then it is no longer possible to change freely anymore. Fixing the “I” in this way is the source of delusion. And because “I” is perceived as existing, the deluding thought arises that there must be something that is the source.
In the beginning, Shakyamuni Buddha also thought that there must be something that is the source, or origin, of suffering. This was the reason he began to practice. But on seeing the morning star, that is, on realizing enlightenment, he knew that there was no source of suffering. In other words, all things arise because of conditions and all things disappear for the same reason. He realized that all phenomena are produced by causation (Jap., engi ; Skt., pratitya-samutpada ). In order to explain causation, Shakyamuni built a “ghost castle” and named it emptiness.
Emptiness is an explanation of oneness, where there is not the slightest gap for the opinions of the ego-self to enter. Please consider emptiness as a condition where all conceptions have been taken away. The quickest way to be free of such deluding opinions is Zen. It is unnecessary to repeat this, but I would like you to remember that zazen is all the activities of the body, speech and thought. I often use words like “Zen,” or “the dharma,” or “the Way.” Please remember that these are all references to the same thing.
Three Essential Elements of Zazen Practice
There are three elements you cannot do without in Zen practice: asking a master about the dharma, the practice of zazen, and observing the precepts. The objective of Zen practice is to graduate as quickly as possible from zazen and return to the time before you knew anything about zazen.
Some people become intoxicated with zazen and in this way lose sight of their real self. They mistakenly fall into the habit of thinking that they are doing zazen wholeheartedly. Such people are a long way from true Zen practice.
Others mistakenly teach that zazen is very good for your whole life and simply ask people to sit. However, if zazen is not free of all viewpoints, such as good and bad, it isn't the real thing. It is all right, though, to take time off from your busy life and work in order to develop your powers of concentration by absorbing yourself wholeheartedly in Zen practice.
With regard to the first element—asking a master about the dharma—Zen Master Dogen had advice for people who don't know what to do if they cannot find a true master. He cautioned them strictly, saying, “In such a case it is best to stop practicing temporarily. There is less danger in quitting than in practicing in a mistaken manner.” The reason is that practicing is like crossing the ocean without a chart—there is always the danger of unknown reefs.
Concerning the second element, the practice of zazen, it is less dangerous for those who have no master to devote themselves to their work instead of doing zazen in a mistaken way. Simply lose yourself in your work and become engrossed in it.
The last essential element is observing the precepts. This involves leaving all things as they are, without interfering or imposing your own opinions on the way things are. If you are free from your ideas, then the precepts are already observed even before you intend to do so. Why is it necessary to do things the way they have been decided? All things have laws or principles that govern them. To observe the precepts is to follow those laws. Observing the precepts means that all things are one and there is no way to interfere with that oneness. A person who can live life following these laws or rules—whose life is in accordance with these laws—is a Buddha. This is a life in which cause and result are one.
If you sit for a long time, your legs will gradually begin to hurt. No matter how long a person has been sitting or how much experience he or she has, there will always be times when your legs hurt. The only difference is whether or not you lose your zazen method because of the pain. It isn't good if the pain in your legs stops you from practicing. In that case, you and zazen are two separate things. You must be able to leave the pain in your legs as it is and still be able to do zazen properly.
When the power of zazen is weak, you end up going off in the direction of whatever condition arises. But when the power of zazen is strong, no matter what arises, zazen is right there. It is easy to realize the Way if you sit like that.
The practice of Zen is the study of the self. It isn't a matter of following the words of some Zen master, whether written or spoken. I would like you not to be mistaken on this point. Don't look for Zen in the Buddhist teachings or in the words of a teacher. The role of a teacher is to keep a person going in a straight line in the study of the self.
“Once in a Lifetime, This One Encounter”
In the tea ceremony, the expression “once in a lifetime, this one encounter” is often used. The usual way this is interpreted is “a one-and-only encounter.” In Zen, though, we interpret this expression in the following way: In the course of our lifetime, there is one person we must meet. No matter through which grasslands we may walk or which mountains we may climb, we must meet this person. This person is in this world. Who is this person? It is the true self. You must meet the true self. As long as you don't, it will not be possible to be truly satisfied in the depths of your heart. You will never lose the sense that something is lacking. Nor will you be able to clarify the way things are.
This is the objective of life as well as of the teaching of Buddhism—to meet yourself. The shortest, most practical way to do this is through Zen.
Throwing Away Your Standards
The key to Zen is that no matter how important something is, it must be thrown away. Keep on throwing and throwing and throwing away your standards.
Noh is one of the traditional drama forms of Japan. The following story about a Noh actor named Konparu Zenchiku (1405-1470?) illustrates how one man threw away all the opinions he had been using as standards. Konparu Zenchiku made a great effort to practice zazen and later received certification of his realization from his master. He expressed the condition of having forgotten the ego-self (the condition in which all standards have been thrown away) in this way: “No matter how I look at it, there is nothing blacker than snow.” His master said, “If you understand that, then all is well,” and he gave him the certification.
All of you here are deeply cultured and have considerable knowledge. I would like you to forget all of your standards just once. Then you will be able to use them in a more meaningful way. My only wish is for you to throw away the standards you have had until now, and later you will be able to use them in a more vital way. If you are free from any viewpoint, then you live for the sake of the dharma.
Also Forgetting Satori
I would like to speak about kensho (to realize that the self has no self-nature) or satori , the thing that people who practice zazen are most curious about. Kensho, satori and Great Enlightenment are different words, but they must represent the same thing. It seems that in some books it is written that there are different depths or levels of enlightenment, but in Zen there are no such distinctions. Kensho or satori must be something which only happens once. If levels or depths are spoken of, then it must be said that this is proof the final result has not been attained. From long ago, it has been said that Zen practice is very strict, but in fact the only strictness of Zen relates to whether or not kensho is truly acknowledged.
Kensho or satori is the condition of being free of all delusion and perplexity. Of course, delusion arises because of the attachment to the ego-self and so it only makes sense that the ego-self must be cast off. Essentially, there is neither ego-self nor delusion. Consequently, it isn't possible to say that the result of Zen practice is to have become selfless or that delusion has disappeared. Essentially, these things do not exist, but some time ago you came to think of them as existing (that things exist outside of you), which is a delusion arising from attachment to the ego-self. Kensho is to return to the original condition where things have no substance.
This doesn't mean that because of kensho or satori you become a special person. It is a great mistake to think that kensho or satori is the final objective of practice. The dharma which the Buddha expounded came after his Great Enlightenment. Consequently, to think in terms of a specific goal is only to do so within the teaching called the Way of Buddha. Forget Zen, forget satori, forget practice. Finally, you mustn't forget that practice is to forget what has been forgotten.
To Really Know that the Five Skandhas Are Empty
All dharmas (things) are the myriad distinctions both with and without form that arise from the five skandhas. These are all things which appear because of causes and conditions and so they have no substance. The five skandhas are: matter, sensations, thoughts, perceptions and consciousness. A skandha has the meaning of things piling up and collecting. Sometimes these things appear individually; at other times combinations of them coalesce. However, it is necessary to realize that the things that coalesce are empty. In the widest sense, the five skandhas are heaven and earth. In the narrower sense, they are the human body. That is why we say that human beings are microcosms of heaven and earth. And heaven and earth are a macrocosm of a human being.
As I have said before, matter is comprised of the four basic elements: earth water, fire and air. Earth is bones and flesh, water is blood, fire is body temperature and air is the breath. Through the harmonious interactions of causes and conditions, these elements form human beings and all other things. In the case of people, matter is the human body. Sensations are the sense functions, which in response to a myriad of conditions receive impulses such as suffering, enjoyment and rejection. This is the source of delusion. The skandha of thought refers to the unlimited flow of never ceasing thoughts. Depending on the manner in which we think, these thoughts can be delusive. Perception is the condition whereby perceiving things other than us, the mind continues to maintain that image. Consciousness is the totality of the mind and is comprised of the function of discrimination. It is because of mistaken judgment that we create a distinction between enlightened and unenlightened. Consciousness is also called mind or mind only. In any case, if something is perceived, that is delusion; if there is no perception, that is satori.
Matter is the actual human body. Sensations, thoughts, perceptions and consciousness are mental functions which cannot be seen. The objective of Buddhist practice is to truly know that the five skandhas are completely empty as they are. Completely empty means that all things coalesce through causation and so it isn't possible to perceive substance. Both matter (things with form) and sensations, thoughts, perceptions and consciousness (things with no form) are ever-present. They cannot be separated and that is the meaning of the expression, "Body and mind are one."
Fundamentally, you must realize that views and opinions created by the ego-self arise because of the delusive attachment to the ego-self consciousness. It isn't enough just to sit zazen. It is important that you clearly understand the rationale of the dharma which I have mentioned above. In order to realize liberation, it is both important and necessary to know such things. The most important issue for human beings is, by means of religion, to become free of the restraints of God and Buddha, to be liberated from dualistic thought and discriminations, such as believing and not believing, and to awaken to the essential self.
Question: Should a person who has lost the ego-self be called a Buddha?
Harada Roshi: Buddha is only a provisional name. It isn't really possible to attach a name to something which has no center, is it? However, the Patriarchs, those people who attained “no-self,” used various names to refer to this condition. To give one example, long ago in China there was a priest named Zuigan. Everyday he would call out to himself, “True Self! Are your eyes wide open?” “Yes, yes.” Then he would say, “Don't be fooled by others (symbols).” “No, no,” he would answer. He lived his life always admonishing himself in this manner.
I think you all have mirrors at home. If you have time, why not try facing a mirror and calling out “True Self” (Roshi laughs).
I understand the story. But in real terms, how should I live my life?
No matter how much we think about the past, it isn't possible to change it. And in the same way, even if we worry about how we should live our life in the future, finally this is something we cannot know. So, it is important that we be able to live now without feeling dissatisfied or discontented.
It is because we think there is a center to something that essentially doesn't exist that all delusion and suffering arises. So to truly accept that there is nothing which is the center, or in other words to ascertain that there is no ego-self, the only thing we can do is to become a Buddha. This is what I mean by living life with no discontent. At the very least, it is important to be one with now and then forget that thought of being one. It is important to live with this attitude.
The Awakened Self,
Harada Sekkei Roshi
Buddhism Now, August 2000
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/05/21/the-awakened-self-harada-sekkei-roshi
The following is from a 1993 television programme, ‘The Awakened Self'—an interview with Harada Sekkei, abbot of Hosshinji Training Monastery by Shiratori Motoo, a former NHK-TV presenter.
Mr Shiratori: Excuse me for disturbing you during the middle of sesshin.
Harada Roshi: Thank you for coming.
S: Sesshin is a time when people concentrate on zazen. This is an important thing in Zen, isn't it?
Roshi: Yes. Going back for quite a long time, sesshin is an important activity which has been strictly practised in Zen temples. Although it may sound a bit strange to say, sesshin is very effective or fruitful for a person's zazen. It's definitely a way of expanding a person's state of mind.
S: You follow quite a strict schedule during sesshin, don't you?
Roshi: We get up at 4:00 am and until 9:00 pm spend most of our time in the zendo. We, of course, sleep in the zendo, as well as eat there, too.
S: You really pack it in, don't you?
Roshi: Yes. But not only within the zendo, in the individual rooms or while drinking tea after meals as well. These activities must all be Zen. Zen is walking, sitting, standing, and lying down; in other words, all of our everyday activities. My request is that especially during sesshin everyone concentrates on each activity.
S: I took a look inside the zendo and saw many foreigners there.
Roshi: There are about thirty foreigners here for this sesshin. Usually we have about that many come for each sesshin.
S: From which countries?
Roshi: This time there are people from America, Germany . . . Also there are two men from India living here.
S: The two in the yellow robes?
Roshi: Yes. There's a person from Switzerland as well as others from other European countries. Some stay for a long time, others do not. But there are many.
S: People from the general Japanese public are here, too. How does that work?
Roshi: Hosshinji is an official training monastery. However, for the last eighty years or so lay people have been permitted to attend sesshin. They are requested to follow the same rules as the monks and if they can, they are allowed to come and sit sesshin.
S: Eighty years ago would be the Taisho Period.
Roshi: Yes. At most training monasteries, I think there is quite a bit of resistance to having lay people come and sit zazen. Out of consideration for those with ‘bodaishin'—the mind which seeks the way of liberation—lay people are allowed to come and sit with us.
S: In conveying Zen to people of other countries, there must be differences which appear.
Roshi: Some changes must be made. For example, one person said, ‘We've already learned enough from religions in the form of teaching, including Buddhism, but I want to know what is the essence of those teachings?' I explain that the essence is the Dharma [truth]. Buddhism, or the Buddhadharma, is the religious teaching based on the Dharma as expounded by Shakyamuni [the Buddha]. This teaching came into being because he clarified himself. So if you people here truly clarify yourselves, then the teaching becomes your own. This means that the Dharma doesn't belong to any one single person. It belongs to anyone who grasps it. It doesn't only belong to Shakyamuni. Since it belongs to those who grasp it, if those people expound what they have grasped, then it becomes their teaching. This means it isn't only restricted to Shakyamuni's teaching.
S: This means that the teaching and the Dharma are different.
Roshi: Yes. When Bodhidharma went from India to China, he met the emperor of China, Wutei. The emperor had a great intellectual understanding of Buddhism and asked many questions, but Bodhidharma rejected all of it. He realised that in such conditions there would only be the possibility of spreading the teaching, but no chance to spread the Dharma. So Bodhidharma went into the mountains and sat for nine years in a cave facing the wall. In that way he demonstrated the Dharma itself. In other words, Zen, sitting, single-minded sitting—this is the Dharma. He sat without giving explanations. Finally, as he had thought, he was able to foster a great disciple, Taiso Eka.
S: Is that why you gave the Dharma talk in America in which you said the people there shouldn't understand Zen or the Way of Buddha conceptually or intellectually?
Roshi: That's right. The Chinese characters for the word ‘religion' mean ‘the teaching of the source'. Therefore people generally think that all religions, including Buddhism, are teachings of the source. I think there is the danger of getting them confused. There is a need to point out that the teaching of Buddha is slightly different from other religions.
As long as we do not clarify ourselves, we hear the teaching through the self, the ego, and then interpret the teaching in numerous different ways. This means there is a big gap. So no matter how well or clearly you have studied and learned the teaching, you still won't reach the Dharma. The teaching of Buddhism is “no self” because it is the teaching of someone who has truly got rid of the ego. As long as the ego exists, it isn't possible to truly hear the teaching.
S: It seems like a whole life of self-contradiction.
Roshi: This means that the people sitting sesshin here are hearing the teaching even though they don't really understand it. ‘Be selfless!' But they are still practising within the confines of the ego. Until a person truly forgets the self, it won't be possible to truly practice and become the teaching of Shakyamuni.
S: That means inevitably the ego is included within understanding the teaching and the world of the Dharma is apart from that understanding.
Roshi: That' s right.
S: Is this the meaning of the Zen expression ‘no dependence on words and letters'?
Roshi: Yes. Zen was brought to China from India by Bodhidharma. But before he arrived in China, the teaching of Buddha (i.e. the sutras), had been there a long time. This teaching was like a prescription for medicine.
S: A prescription?
Roshi: If your head hurts, then take this . If you have a stomach ache, then take this . At that time there was only this kind of discussion. Then Bodhidharma arrived. He embodied the Dharma itself. He pointed out that debating and arguing about this and that has nothing to do with the real teaching of the Buddha. However, they were only accustomed to the intellectual teaching of Emperor Wutei and other scholars. The teaching of Bodhidharma seemed to be strange and unusual for them, so none of them could believe it. Bodhidharma knew that the Dharma would die even if the intellectual teaching of Buddhism was passed on. Coming to this conclusion, he went to the mountains.
S: It's not in the letters. It's not in sutra books.
Roshi: That's right. It must be ‘a special transmission outside the teachings'. There is something which must be transmitted separate from the teachings. That is the meaning of ‘no dependence on words and letters; a special transmission outside the teachings'.
S: Then by means of zazen it is possible to reach the world of the Dharma without relying on the sutras.
Roshi: Yes. It is important to know that it isn't possible to use zazen or Zen as a means to reach the final point which is the world of the Dharma. Zen itself is the Dharma itself. This is something you can realise for yourself, ‘Ah, so that's the way it is!' To simply sit and think about concepts which appear in the sutras like KU (emptiness) or MU (nothingness) and imagine what they're like isn't Zen. If that is what people are going to do, they may as well go to school and study various commentaries on the sutras.
S: I've read your book, which is a compilation of your Dharma talks. In it, expressions such as ‘true person of the Dharma' or ‘a liberated person' or ‘true peace of mind' appear. Now hearing you say that the teaching and the Dharma are different, I wonder what is a ‘true person of the Dharma'.
Roshi: A ‘true person of the Dharma' includes everyone, regardless of whether they've made the Dharma their own or not, or whether they've experienced satori or not. This is to say that we are only able to perceive the past and the future. What is the present which divides past and future? ‘Now' or the present is impossible to perceive. There is no so-called ‘now', no instant which you can say is ‘now'. This is exactly what we explain with the word ‘Dharma'. This means that something which cannot actually be perceived is explained simply as the Dharma, so at least we can perceive it intellectually. To grasp the Dharma, then, means for the self to assimilate something which doesn't exist. We can only perceive the past and future and yet certainly there is the present, even if it isn't possible to know it. It's not there and yet it is, the moment ‘now'.
S: We usually think we understand the moment ‘now'.
Roshi: But that is in the past. To understand something creates a distance. Because there is a distance, we can see something. If we can't see something, it is because there is no distance between it. This means we are one with it. The condition of being one with things is explained as the Dharma.
S: That means that we are within the Dharma?
Roshi: Yes. To sit and realise, ‘Yes, that's the way it is.' This is what we call satori . This means there is no one who is not liberated. It is simply a question of whether you realise it or not. This means that there is no one who cannot awaken by practising according to the correct teaching. Satori is your own reality. Anyone can realise it.
S: The Dharma itself. What interferes? What are the obstacles?
Roshi: In Buddhist terms, we say it is ignorance. Essentially all is one. Ignorance is to divide that in two—subjective, objective. No one can think these two thoughts at the same time—subjective and objective. Or good and bad. Or like and dislike. No one can consciously think two things at the same time. But because we are changing so rapidly, we think we can think subjectively and objectively or good and bad at the same time. For that reason we compare. But in fact it isn't possible to compare. As long as one thought doesn't disappear, another new one cannot appear. And yet it seems as if we can compare good and bad. This is the human condition.
S: This sort of thinking, then, is delusion.
Roshi: That' s right. It is the function of the ego. No one is born a buddha. We say everyone is a buddha, so this may seem contradictory. But without going through the process of ignorance and clarifying it, it isn't possible to understand that you are Buddha and an enlightened being.
S: So we are endowed with Buddha-nature at birth. But as human beings we are also born into a condition of ignorance.
Roshi: That's right. For example, these days salt is manufactured from sodium nitrium, but formerly salt was refined from sea water on salt beds. Yet it isn't possible to use sea water to flavour food simply because it is salty. It must be refined into salt using appropriate procedures and then it can be used to season food. Without this process, it doesn't become salt nor will we become buddhas.
S: This means that we all essentially possess the nature of salt, but we are still like ocean water.
Roshi: Yes. Of course sea water can be used to some extent, but there are limitations. It must be made into salt. In Buddhism we refer to this process as practice. And when it finally becomes salt, the practice has been accomplished. This, in other words, is liberation or satori .
S: So putting the sea water on the salt beds, that process is zazen.
Roshi: ‘That' s right. Zazen isn't only a matter of sitting. It is the attitude or intention of trying to eliminate the gap between yourself and other things. If people live their lives in this way, even if they don't sit, they are doing Zen practice. There is no doubt about that.
S: It's that wide in scope?
Roshi: On the other hand, if a person does zazen and that person is separate from zazen, then they are split in two. So even if that person is sitting, they aren't doing zazen.
S: ‘Zazen split in two'—an interesting expression.
Roshi: This is when the ‘I' practices zazen.
S: Is this the ego of which you were speaking earlier?
Roshi: Yes. If the ‘I' practices zazen, then they are separate. In that case a person is constantly watching the condition of their zazen. Because they are separate, they can easily see that condition. But in this way, even if a person is sitting zazen, they are not one with it. A person who is lying in bed making the proper effort to be one with their condition is doing zazen to a far greater degree.
S: So it's not simply a matter of the posture of one's body?
Roshi: That' s right.
S: I'd like to turn that around and ask if it is necessary to practice zazen in order to produce salt.
Roshi: Yes. To forget the ego, to become one with things, is Zen. To be one, you must be one with things. So there is no other way, is there?
S: To return to our earlier conversation, we were talking about conceptual or intellectual understanding; in other words the realm of teaching. To leave this realm and enter the realm of being the Dharma itself—which is the objective of Zen—are there any conditions for doing that?
Roshi: If the ego-self isn't inserted between the teaching and that which hears or that which sees, then things are heard and seen directly—if there is no intervention of the self, no self-consciousness where the self is not raised. And, in fact, that is the way we always are. We aren't conscious of the self when we see or hear. Wherever we are and whatever we are doing we are in a condition of being one with things. But a split second apart from ‘now' and we perceive things. This is the biggest problem, the perception of things.
S: In Buddhism, we speak of Shakyamuni Buddha or Lord Buddha. Or the sutras, the teachings which Buddha expounded. Or the founders of various Buddhist sects and their writings. These are felt to be very important and many people study these writings in a frantic sort of way.
Roshi: That's true.
S: Is it true, then, that it isn't possible to attain the objective of Zen through such studies?
Roshi: It isn't possible to attain the Dharma by means of deeply studying the teaching. Inevitably, ‘I' remains. As long as the self or ‘I' is not completely forgotten, it isn't possible to become the teaching itself. Inevitably the self exists.
S: In one of your Dharma talks you speak quite strictly about not being fooled by others. What does this mean?
Roshi: For example, if you see some very beautiful scenery or hear a superb talk and forget yourself and think, ‘How wonderful!' This is a condition of being deeply impressed or inspired. This is fine, of course. It happens temporarily and then you return to your normal condition. So it's a short-lived experience. With regard to the teaching of Buddha, you may think, ‘How wonderful!' Or you may think, ‘How wonderful is the world of Zen.' In this way you forget yourself, but it's only as if you are being impressed by a beautiful flower in bloom without truly making it your own. The practice of Zen is to study the self. I think it is important to be careful of this. While it is important to be inspired and impressed by figures of Buddha or by the teachings, if it isn't turned toward the self . . . The realm of subject and object is not the real one.
S: You also speak of establishing the ‘true self'.
Roshi: Usually when we use this expression ‘ shujinko' in Japanese, we mean the central character or the proprietor of such and such a business. But when we use this word in Buddhism, it has a slightly different meaning. In Zen we use it to mean ‘an awakened person', ‘a person who has clarified himself'.
S: To awaken to the self, does that mean . . .
Roshi: To awaken from delusion.
S: In other words, a person who has become the Dharma.
Roshi: Someone who has become such an awakened person cannot conceive of himself in that way. There is the expression, ‘To be the master of each place; to be one with each condition,' sometimes being the master, sometimes being a farmer in a field. In that way being able to do various kinds of work—a truly free person.
S: Earlier you spoke of eliminating the ego-self, and now—at least in the Japanese language—to speak of being the master of oneself seems like a contradiction.
Roshi: The self we perceive is really a small self, a truly small self. But if we ask, ‘Where is the self?' We have to say that essentially it doesn't exist. And yet everybody thinks as if it does. It's as if within the body there is a centre which controls us. We think there is something within the body which continually exists. This kind of thinking is delusion. If we become aware that it isn't like that and never has been, then our condition as-it-is is the true awakened self. The self becomes big, a bigness beyond comparison. At that point there is only that awakened self. This is what is meant in Zen by the ‘awakened self'. In Buddha's words, ‘I alone am holy throughout heaven and earth.' Rinzai Zenji said, ‘A true person without rank.' There are different expressions for the ‘awakened self'. If we get stuck on the words ‘master of oneself', then it's likely we will think of being such and such a master. But the real meaning is somewhat different.
S: In this connection we tend to think in western terms when we think of the ego-self, for example, or the establishment of the self. Japanese are often thought in this regard to be weak, and that, to the contrary, it would be ideal to firmly establish the self. If we think of this sort of objective, would this be a mistake as far as the teaching of the Buddhadharma is concerned?
Roshi: As long as you perceive your own self, this is a very small self. For example, things are comprised of the four elements—earth, water, air and fire. These four things are also comprised of many different elements brought together by cause and effect. Within these elements there is no place where the ego can be perceived.
S: This is ‘now'.
Roshi: That's right. This self which is perceived is small and, for that reason, limited. Essentially all things, including human beings, are without limit because they come together through cause and effect. Because the self is perceived, limits are created in limitlessness. That is what is born and dies. But the law of causation is not like that. If you awaken to the true self, then you realise a self which is truly without limit, a vast self. The foreign monks here all think that to throw away ‘I' is a defeat; for them this is a complete defeat. So in the process of practice, they firmly hold onto thought centred on the self. From this self-centred viewpoint, they try to coordinate their teacher's words with their own thoughts. They really think and think how they can make these two agree. This is no good, but they don't ask about it. They can't. So whether it's their teacher's words or what they've read somewhere, they wholeheartedly think how to make these one with their own ideas. They can't throw this away.
S: They have a stronger attachment to the self than we . . .
Roshi: That's right. If you can't throw it away, then carry it. Carry the ego. If by carrying the self you feel very much burdened, then how about turning it into a truly big self. Temporarily it may seem like a defeat, but in the future it will become a very great thing. The small self will turn into a large, awakened self.
S: But this awakened self seems like a very difficult thing.
Roshi: No, not at all. This came out when we were speaking earlier. We already are the awakened self. It's simply a matter of noticing it. It isn't something which is born new as a process of practice. Nor is it a matter of completely turning over and changing our way of thinking. This is a unique characteristic of Zen.
S: Each person is endowed with Buddha-nature . . .
Roshi: That's right. If people practice correctly according to the correct teaching, then certainly they will come to realise that, ‘Yes, I always have been all right just as I am now.'
S: To completely accept things as-they-are—this is difficult.
Roshi: As I've already said many times, inevitably the ego-self intervenes at that point. The whole problem of the existence of other things is dependent on whether there is the intervention of the self or not. If you remove the intervention of the self, then all your intellectual knowledge as it is, which is limited by the ego, will become of tremendous, unlimited use. For example, during the lifetime of Shakyamuni, the people who first took refuge in his teaching were philosophers and scholars who had studied various other religions. They couldn't believe in his teaching at first, but later they came to agree with his teaching and then really made the knowledge their own. Many of the sutras are concerned with such cases. Shakyamuni, after removing the intervention of the self, could make use of any kind of knowledge as his own. Depending on the intervention of the self, knowledge is either dead or alive. If the intervention of the self is taken away just once, if it is taken away now, then you would all be the awakened self.
S: . . able to peacefully accept all things as-they-are.
Roshi: This expression ‘the awakened self' appears in the Mumonkan . A priest named Zuigan, in the course of his practice, would always call to himself, ‘Are you awake?' Then readily he would answer, ‘Yes!' Then again he would say to himself, ‘Don' t be fooled by others.' And he would answer, ‘No, no!' This asking and answering himself is what we call the awakened self. Here in the monastery we use a stick called the kyosaku . This word means ‘awakening stick'. It isn't only used to wake people up who are sleepy. For those who haven't yet awakened to the true self, it is also used to encourage them to do so. Kyosaku also has the meaning of ‘cautioning stick'. In olden times, a bell was rung near a person's ear if they were sleepy, and this was enough to awaken them, but gradually people have become lazy, so a bell isn't enough any more.
S: The sound of the kyosaku seems very severe.
Roshi: Most people associate this type of thing with strictness in a Zen temple and of course it is necessary. But here at Hosshinji the matter of severity is focused on the question: Are your eyes really open or are you still asleep? This is true strictness. Strictness which comes from the outside such as the kyosaku or the rules and manners of the monastery is something which in time we get accustomed to. But it's no good for someone to think they're awake if they're still asleep. So that strictness of acknowledging whether someone has thoroughly awakened or not, as well as the certainty on the part of the person that they have in fact awakened—that is what is necessary. Without this strictness, Zen will be destroyed.
S: To awaken to the self . . . Hearing Roshi's explanation, it seems very difficult I think.
Roshi: Please don't think so. It's your own reality. It isn't difficult. It's simply a question of whether you realise it or not.
S: We are endowed with Buddha-nature, always to remember that is important . . .
Roshi: If we say it exists, then we must look for it. It's not that; it's not something to look for.
S: Buddha-nature as-it-is . . .
Roshi: As-it-is—the activity of things as-they-are.
S: The more I ask, the more it seems as if I don't understand.
Roshi: No. That not understanding itself is Buddha-nature. The problem is that we've been taught we need to change the way we think. For that reason, it's troublesome. Not understanding is the Dharma. Not being transparent or distinct or certain is also the Dharma as well. These conditions exist as facts, as reality.
S: To include these things as well means to accept things as-they-are?
Roshi: Yes. If not, a distinction will be made between what is the Dharma and what isn't.
S: Sitting zazen and continuing with it in order to realise this. Sitting, sitting, sitting. You do this through the autumn—October, November, December. This seems like a very difficult practice.
Roshi: It's a mistake for a common person to try to become a buddha. If an ordinary person tries to become a buddha by means of practice, trying to awaken to the true self, then a great mistake arises. What I want to say is that an ordinary person should truly be an ordinary person, completely giving up seeking mind and practice, and then just to be truly ordinary. That is enough. That is why we say, ‘Don't be fooled by others.' If you are too impressed and inspired by the great teachings of Buddha or in worshipping wonderful images of Buddha, you will lose your self. And that is no good. To be really ordinary is to be a buddha. That is ‘the awakened self'. This is the teaching of Zen.
S: In a Dharma talk you gave in Germany, you said that the vital point of zazen is grinding up zazen by means of zazen. I remembered this in connection with what you just said now about an ordinary person becoming an ordinary person.
Roshi: If we tell someone who has a keen sense of self to be one with things, for example, to be one with a pillar or a wall, this is something that they can't even imagine. For a Japanese, though, they'll try to do it simply because they've been told to do so. They'll think that it surely is possible. But for westerners, they aren't able to think this way. So, rather than saying, ‘Be one with things', I've come to say, ‘By means of zazen, grind up zazen.' This is easier for them to understand. We say, ‘Be one with things,' or ‘Be that thing,' or ‘Leave it as-it-is,' in what for us seems a natural sort of way, but this is difficult for them to understand. However, if I say, ‘Grind up what you're doing by means of that activity,' then it seems as if they can more easily understand.
S: Earlier you spoke of splitting zazen in two, where the ego watches the condition of its own zazen. Is that related to what you're now saying?
Roshi: Yes. Instead of elimination or not seeing something which exists, there is a grinding up of the distinction between subject and object. Then it will completely disappear. Essentially, there is nothing which exists, so there should be nothing. By means of something which exists, then, grinding it up. By means of thought, grinding up thought. To explain it that way seems easier for westerners to understand than, ‘Be one with things,' or ‘Forget the self.' However, for Japanese people this expression ‘to grind up something' seems to be more difficult to understand.
S: It is a fresh way of hearing this. When thinking about religion as a general conceptual framework and the words which are used to express it, it is, first of all, difficult for us Japanese. It must be even more so to try to express this to westerners or people from India. Their understanding of religion must be quite a bit different from ours. I thought of this earlier when you were speaking of the ego. How can you transcend that cultural gap?
Roshi: It would be unreasonable for me to try to establish something of my own in other countries. The Dharma isn't something which can be imported or exported. It is the way of each country itself. Religion must be the way of life itself of each country. So to take the Buddhadharma and impress by saying this or that about attaining the Dharma by means of zazen will be met with refusal, I think. On the other hand, to say that your reality itself—laughing, crying, confusion and so on. These facts are the Dharma as they are. And furthermore, there must be no reality. If there is reality, then from that standpoint many other things will arise. So I say, ‘Please grind up reality by means of reality.' And then there will be a resolution.
S: At that point it seems as if the difference between Christianity, Islam and other religions are transcended . . .
Roshi: I've never really thought of these other religions such as Christianity or Islam. I've never thought that because I'm going to an Islamic country or a Christian country I should study those religions. But in any country, black is black, white is white, hot is hot. In any country when we are sad, we cry. I say that these realities themselves are the Dharma. It is necessary to use concepts as a means to explain this. So sometimes sitting zazen, sometimes giving Dharma talks to explain—this is necessary. It isn't possible to simply say, ‘Just sit.' This would be like trying to cross the ocean without a sea chart.
S: At the end of your talks you say, ‘Please don't get caught up in my words.'
Roshi: ‘Don't be fooled by others.'
S: It is a matter of each person realising their innate Buddha-nature . . .
Roshi: Dogen Zenji said, ‘To study the Way of Buddha is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the self.' To study the Self is the attitude of questioning yourself on hearing the teaching. The question, then, is if there is a questioning, inquiring consciousness on the part of the person hearing it. Depending on whether or not there is this questioning, the Dharma or zazen will either be medicine or poison. If the person listening does not have this questioning mind, then they will simply follow the words of the teaching as it is without really making it their own. This is to say that no matter how great the medicine might be, it can become poisonous. This is something we need to be careful of, I think.
S: Today is October 5 which happens to coincide with Bodhidharma Day. Thanks to him we can hear this teaching of Zen.
Roshi: Without Bodhidharma, there absolutely would be no Zen sect. Nor would we have the teaching of ‘a special transmission outside the teachings; no dependence on words and letters.' There would only be argument about the meaning of the teachings.
Harada Sekkei Roshi is the abbot of Hosshinji, Japan, and the author of Essential Zen. This transcript is taken from the Hosshinji Newsletter of Spring 1995 and reproduced with their kind permission.
Zazen is not step-by-step learning meditation
by Harada Sekkei Roshi
Buddhism Now, August 2001
http://buddhismnow.com/2014/02/19/zazen-not-step-by-step-harada-roshi/
I've often spoken of the following words of Dogen Zenji: `Zazen is not step-by-step learning meditation, it is the culmination of totally realised enlightenment.' `Step-by-step learning meditation' is to think of peace of mind, or awakening, or practice as something which is separate from yourself. You think you are confused or that you are a practitioner of Zen and that from now on you will practise in order to attain enlightenment or get peace of mind or some kind of quietness. In other words, you perceive a result or an ideal which is far away from you. This is `step-by-step learning meditation'.
In contrast to this, I've often spoken of `beyond learning'. This is to leave all thoughts and emotions which arise and disappear as they are, and realise that these things are the ultimate, that they are the Way. It is to awaken to this. This is something I speak about every chance I get. Practice must be beyond learning. For example, Daiman Konin Zenji devised a test to choose his successor. At that time, Jinshu wrote a verse which said: `Always make an effort to keep the mind clean. Never let it get dusty or dirty.' He said that we must always work to keep ourselves clean so that dirt or dust does not collect. For that reason, he said we must always carry a cleaning tool with us to polish ourselves. For him, this was practice and Zen. This is a story with which you are all familiar.
However, there was a layman at the monastery named Roanja, the man who later become Daikan Eno Zenji. He wrote a verse that said: ‘Essentially, there is nothing. How then can dust or dirt collect?' In other words, the true nature of things is formless. If there is nothing, then there is no way that dirt or dust can collect. Dust and dirt are also Buddha-nature; they are also the Dharma. Of course, the thing itself—dust or dirt—is formless; there is no substance to it. The True Dharma which had been passed down from Shakyamuni Buddha was then transmitted to Roanja.
Jinshu, the head monk of a monastery which contained five hundred monks, failed the test. Daiman Konin said that according to Jinshu's interpretation, eventually we can understand the true nature of things. Eventually might be tomorrow, it might be the day after tomorrow, it might be five, ten or twenty years from now, or it might be at the moment of death. Most people think that practice is something which is lifelong. They don't have the firm conviction, the strong confidence in `beyond learning'. Because they don't have that faith, they always forget this moment now, and think that if they do this or that, eventually they will realise their goal. Because of this attitude, `eventually' never happens. All that their practice comes to, therefore, is this idea of eventually, that practice is something one does till one dies, and that people these days cannot awaken to the true nature of things. This happens to most people. They end up doing practice within the Buddhist teaching, within concepts like ‘practice and realisation are one', or `the subtle practice of original enlightenment'.
As long as you do not understand the Way of Buddha, you think that practice is the result of the Way. This is a great contradiction. While in the midst of the Way, you don't clearly understand what the Way is. It is as if you are in the midst of water and seek here and there for water! Over and over again I say, `Don't think of practice in terms of “eventually”.'
A monk posed the following question to the well-known Zen priest Joshu, `I've just arrived at this monastery. How should I practice?'
Joshu said, `Have you eaten breakfast?'
The monk said, `Yes, I have.'
`Then wash your bowls and put them away,' said Joshu.
Hearing this, the monk suddenly realised the nature of practice, `Ah! That's how I should practice.'
Until then, he had been groping in the dark, but on hearing Joshu's answer, he suddenly knew how to set about the practice. What did he understand? Usually, we carry our bowls with us in both hands when we come to the eating hall. Unavoidably, we think of things as being separate from us. We don't realise that all things are the Self. If we understand this in a very usual, common sort of way, we think, `So that's all there is to it. Just put things back where they belong.' This is a point which is easy to misunderstand about Zen. This is to see things as being separate from yourself. But this is ‘step-by-step learning meditation'. The young monk asking the question realised `Ah! The bowls are me. I must clean myself.' In other words, if you do shikantaza, or koan practice, or breathing practice, then as quickly as possible wash yourself clean of those things. To do zazen or to do your method is dust and dirt. So it is necessary to quickly wash yourself clean of these things. This is what the young monk realised.
He was a new monk who had just started to practice. On hearing this one phrase: `Wash your bowls and put them away,' he understood the point of practice. He realised that practice must be `beyond learning', that he should not seek elsewhere. For those who hold onto a conceptual understanding of Zen, they will always overlook the result which is called `practice and realisation are one', or `original enlightenment is subtle practice'. I would like you to realise this.
It seems as if things are separate from you, but actually everything is you. To speak ill of others, to break something which belongs to the monastery, and so on, all such activities are you yourself. In old Japan there was the saying: `If you spit at heaven, it will fall back on you.' All things, including other people, are you yourself. To break something or damage something or kill something—actually, these are not things. All things are you yourself. If you don't realise this, there will never be true peace in the world.
I would like you to awaken to the objective of practice, to understand that this is the way it must be. If you can truly believe this, then it is important to practise in such a way that you let go of that faith. No one begins to practise with the great mind to seek the Way. By learning from the examples of others who have practised and are practising wholeheartedly, we also learn to do the same. Please practise wholeheartedly.
Harada Sekkei Roshi is the Abbot of Hosshinji, Japan. He is the author of Essential Zen . This article was first published in the Hosshinji Spring 1999 newsletter and is here reproduced with their kind permission.
True Peace of Mind
by Harada Sekkei Roshi
Buddhism Now, August 2002
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/12/21/true-peace-of-mind-by-harada-sekkei-roshi/
The above article is from a talk entitled A Guide to the Way of Peace of Mind originally published in the Spring 2000 issue of Hosshinji Newsletter and reproduced here with their kind permission.
Zazen Is the Dharma Gate of Comfort and Ease (The Way of Peace of Mind)
In our lives, we find we have entered into a labyrinth of conflicts and perplexities from which there seems to be no way out. Our nerves are frayed because of the complications of human relationships. Isn't it at such a time that from the bottom of our hearts we desire to find peace and tranquillity by quietly seeking for the Way of Peace of Mind ? It is when we become aware of our anxiety that we begin to sit in zazen.
Many people think Zen is something difficult. However, the Chinese character used for ‘Zen' means ‘to demonstrate simplicity'. As this character implies, Zen is an extremely clear and concise teaching. Zen is also said to be the Buddha-dharma itself. The Chinese character for ‘Dharma' is written with the components for ‘water' and ‘to leave'. This implies that water flows from a high place to a low place. Zen, then, is to realise the Truth (the natural principles of things) which is completely separate from the judgement and intervention of the ego-self. Zazen is the shortest, most practical way to make the Way of Peace of Mind your own. The founder of Eihei-ji, Dogen Zenji, said that Zen is ‘the Dharma Gate of comfort and ease'. In other words, it is the Way of Peace of Mind. The only teaching of our Soto sect is to awaken to the fact that you already are within ‘the Dharma Gate of comfort and ease'.
No Dependence on Words and Letters' and ‘A Transmission Outside the Teachings' (To be Free from Discrimination )
The teaching of Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth Patriarch of Zen after Shakyamuni Buddha, was ‘no dependence on words and letters' and ‘a transmission outside the teachings'. The significance of these words is that the Way of Peace of Mind is separate from human knowledge and scholarship. Before Bodhidharma arrived in sixth century China, these teachings of ‘no dependence on words and letters' and ‘a transmission outside the teachings' did not exist there. For that reason, people looked for the Way of Peace of Mind within the Buddhist sutras. There was much debate among scholars as to how peace of mind might be attained by studying the sutras. However, the sutras themselves only fulfilled the function of describing the effects of the medicine and were not the actual medication itself.
There is a well-known story from eighth century China that I would like to introduce. One day, a monk named Baso Doitsu was sitting wholeheartedly in zazen. His master, Nangaku Ejo Zenji, saw him and asked him, ‘What are you doing?' Baso answered, ‘I'm sitting in zazen because I would like to become a Buddha.' Ejo Zenji picked up a piece of tile that was lying nearby and began to vigorously scrape the tile with a rock as if he were polishing it. Seeing this, Baso asked ‘Master, what is your intention in polishing that piece of tile?' Ejo Zenji said, ‘I'm polishing this piece of tile in order to make it into a mirror.' Baso was astonished and said, ‘Is it really possible to make a piece of tile into a mirror?' Ejo Zenji replied, ‘Is it possible to become a Buddha by sitting in zazen?' Hearing these words, Baso suddenly realised that he had been using zazen as a means or method to attain something. From then on, he was able to diligently sit in zazen without using it as a means to try to achieve a certain goal.
Shikantaza (Just Sitting)
In the Soto sect, we use the expression ‘Shikantaza'. This means to ‘just sit'. It doesn't mean that the zazen referred to as shikantaza has a certain fixed form. To ‘just sit' means to be one with zazen to the extent that you forget ‘I am sitting'. In Buddhism, there is an expression ‘entering samadhi by listening, thinking, and practising'. From the standpoint of the practice of the Way of Buddha, this is very important and something that you must remember. This means it is necessary to listen carefully to the teaching of the Buddha and those who have transmitted the Dharma, think thoroughly about what you have heard, and then put it into practice. By following this sequence, you can enter samadhi (awaken). You must remember that Zen (the Buddha-dharma) begins first with listening to a true master speak about the Dharma.
One thing you must be careful about at this point is not to set up standards and then judge whether your practice of zazen is correct or incorrect, it is essential that by means of ‘just sitting' you forget ‘just', forget ‘having forgotten', and forget ‘sitting'. Dogen Zenji used the expression ‘casting off body and mind; body and mind cast off.' The expression ‘casting off body and mind' means that by being one with a certain condition or circumstance, you assimilate all other things. It is said that for three years Dogen Zenji didn't lie down to sleep and that he couldn't recognise the faces of the monks who sat next to him. These words ‘casting off body and mind' express the result of his ‘just sitting'. The other half of the above expression, ‘body and mind cast off', refers to a condition where having forgotten the ego-self, everything disappears. This is all the splendid result of his having sat zazen single-mindedly.
Dwelling Peacefully Within Cause and Effect (‘I and All Things are One' )
By practising zazen, it is possible to come to honestly accept yourself as you are now. This means that you will be able to completely entrust yourself to the conditions of anxiety and dissatisfaction, without setting up standards of good and bad. Please be careful to understand that ‘entrust' doesn't mean it is all right to simply not do anything. Furthermore, it isn't possible for us as human beings to think of two things at the same time. Consequently, when we are anxious, there isn't the slightest possibility of thinking about peace of mind. When we are dissatisfied, whatever we see and hear is dissatisfying, and so again there isn't even the slightest possibility of thinking about satisfaction.
It is important that we can live peacefully and not be disturbed by the circumstances of our lives, regardless of whether they are favourable or unfavourable. In Buddhism, we say this is ‘dwelling peacefully within cause and effect' and 'cause and effect are one'. In Soto Zen, this is also expressed as ‘practice and realisation are not two' and ‘subtle practice of original enlightenment'. Cause-condition-effect are always one and in a process of change that we call ‘transmigration'. There is no substance at all within cause and effect. It is only because of the intervention of the ego-self that we think cause, condition, and effect are separate. When we experience this principle with our bodies and realise that essentially we never were deluded, at the same time the thought of choosing between this and that will cease and ‘seeking mind' will disappear. This is called ‘awakening to the Self' or ‘attaining true Peace of Mind'.
Great Peace of Mind
by Harada Sekkei Roshi
Buddhism Now, August 2003
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/11/20/great-peace-of-mind-by-harada-sekkei-roshi/
[Extract from Harada Sekkei Roshi's inaugural speech in Milan on taking up the position of General Director of the Soto Zen sect's European Office for Administration and Teaching. Reprinted from the Fall 2002 issue of Hosshinji Newsletter with their kind permission. Harada Roshi is also the Abbot of Hosshinji in Japan and is the author of The Essence of Zen.]
I would like each of you to individually investigate and thoroughly study the Self. And then, I would like you to awaken to the essential true Self that is, in other words, Emptiness—a condition that transcends the comparison between true form and formlessness. I would like you to realise this and that is why I have come to Europe. I would like each of you to awaken to your unlimited, big Self and attain great peace of mind.
In Japan we write the word for ‘religion' with two Chinese characters—'source' and ‘teaching'. ‘Source' is the essence of all things. Those who have awakened to the true nature of all things in the universe, or the Dharma-nature, are called Shakyamuni Buddha or the Tathagata or the Dharma. Buddhism is the teaching which sets forth the Way whereby you can awaken to Buddha-nature. With regard to religion, we tend to think of it as belief in something outside of ourselves. But please understand and accept that in Buddhism, the person who conveys the teaching as well as the person who hears and listens to the teaching are both you. Consequently, even if people who have different ideas or religions practise zazen, which is the study of the Self (clarification of the Self), and awaken to the essential big Self, it means that they could then really bring to life and make great use of their own religion, scholarship, ideas, and knowledge.
The condition where Buddhism prospers signifies a world where peaceful coexistence is possible, because rather than seeing the world through the small window of the ego, a succession of people appear who can really function in a totally free manner.
Dogen Zenji's Three Minds
by Harada Sekkei Roshi
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/08/23/dogen-zenjis-three-minds-by-harada-sekkei-roshi/
This article was first published in the Hosshinji Newsletter , Fall 2001, and is here reproduced with their kind permission.
Published in the February 2002 Buddhism Now
In the Instructions of Dogen Zenji , there is the following passage:
The successive Buddhas and Patriarchs were all seekers of the Way. Without this mind that seeks the Way (bodhi-mind), everything one does is in vain. Hence, monks must generate bodhi-mind. To generate bodhi-mind is to arouse the mind that vows to save all sentient beings. Secondly, there must be a yearning for olden times (mokoshin) . Thirdly, there must be truth-seeking mind. These Three Minds are studied by beginners as well as those who have been practising for a longer time.
These Three Minds—bodhi-mind, yearning for former times, and truth-seeking mind—cannot be divided and used according to time, place, and rank. Rather, they are always one mind fulfilling one great role.
With regard to `bodhi' in bodhi-mind, in the Dainichi Sutra are the words, `What is bodhi? Bodhi is to truly know one's own mind.' And so, bodhi has been translated as `awakening'. It is awakening to the true nature of the practitioner's mind. Bodhi-mind, then, is awakening to the Way or Dharma that is expressed as `the true nature of things is formless.' In so doing, there arises the feeling of wishing to save all sentient beings. Consequently, there is the danger of a great mistake being made if we understand in a literal way the following passage from the chapter `Awakening the Bodhi-mind' in Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo : `To awaken the bodhi-mind means to vow not to cross over to the other shore of enlightenment before all sentient beings have done so.' It is necessary to really chew this up well and digest it.
`Mokoshin‘ is a word that describes the yearning for the Buddhas and Patriarchs. In the Buddha-dharma, `yearning for' means that we must meet them face-to-face (shoken) . Whenever we first meet another person or thing face-to-face, we say this is ` shoken ‘. The Chinese character for `sho' is written with two components `tree' and `eye'. This means that if we climb to the top of a tree, we can see well. And so, this word ` shoken ‘ is used for those times when we see something intimately or clearly. When Dogen Zenji first had ` shoken ‘ with Nyojo Zenji, he said, `I have come from a small country that is far away. I beg your permission to allow me to visit you privately for dokusan (to ask a master about the Dharma) at any time of day or season.' Taking one glance at Dogen Zenji, Nyojo Zenji replied, `From now on, you may come to my room and ask about the Dharma at any time of the day or night. I will allow it as a father allows his son.'
`The truth' of `seeking for the truth' means `the Dharma of thusness', the source of bodhi. When we sit in zazen, all sorts of thoughts come and go that cannot be labelled delusion, confusion, or satori. These thoughts are the truth, they are the Dharma of thusness. In other words, they are the true form of your own mind that was mentioned above. However, quickly the viewpoint of the ego-self arises saying, `This is delusion. That is confusion.' Even though such egoistic viewpoints themselves are the Dharma of thusness, you seek elsewhere for the truth. The Dharma of thusness is all of the activities throughout the day. It is life and death, coming and going. It is pain and comfort, rising and sinking. It is the viewpoint of the ego that clouds and obscures thusness. These viewpoints arise because a separation is created between what is seen and that which sees.
Tenkei Zenji said, `Those who are true to the Buddha-dharma are true to the way of the world. Those who are true to the way of the world are true to the Buddha-dharma.' It is the ego-consciousness that makes a distinction between the way of the world and the Buddha-dharma. Zen is the instrument that shows the direction of how to grind up the ego-consciousness so that we can truly know the nature of our minds. For those of us who aspire to practise Zen, it is necessary to live our lives with the Three Minds mentioned in the Instructions of Dogen Zenji as our motto deeply ingrained in our minds. And then, it is also necessary to constantly make the effort to forget the self in each activity.
To Study the Way of Buddha
by Harada Sekkei
Buddhism Now, May 2004
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/10/12/to-study-the-way-of-buddha-by-harada-sekkei/
This article is taken from the Spring 2001 issue of Hosshinji Newsletter and reprinted with their kind permission.
‘ To study the Way of Buddha is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things. To be enlightened by all things is to cast off the body and mind of the self as well as all others. All traces of enlightenment disappear and this traceless enlightenment continues on and on endlessly.' In this teaching of Eihei Dogen Zenji, everything is thoroughly stated about the nature of human life and the world.
Practice (studying the Way of Buddha) is to ascertain the essence of things (Self). This is to realise that there is no separation between self and things (forgetting) and that everything is part of one's body (enlightened by all things). Seikyo Zenji said, ‘Sentient beings are deluded by the self and chase after things.' However, when there is the realisation that there is nothing to compare outside of one's functioning right now (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking), seeking mind ceases, great loving mind flows forth, and the true nature of the Self is manifested. Seeing that self and other are the same body is expressed in Zen as ‘Self and other are not two' and the condition where self and all things are one is called ‘the Dharma (causality)'. However, this is a realm that does not permit the intervention of any viewpoint arising from the ego-self.
The habit (viewpoint arising from the ego-self) of dividing the essential nature of oneness into self and other, life and death, pain and pleasure, rising and falling, and so on, is the source of all delusion and anxiety. However, when the source of this delusion disappears completely, this condition is called liberation. It is also called ‘essentially there is no substance to anything', ‘nirvana', and ‘the moment now'.
Shikantaza (just sitting) is the quickest way to forget the ego-self and verify this matter for yourself. When the self is forgotten, then the joyous activity that is free of the ego-self is born (all traces of enlightenment disappear) and verifies yourself at every moment, in every place, in any situation (continues on and on endlessly).
It is from this that the Buddhist precepts originate. It is the only way that mankind can make great progress, reach great peace. Long ago a Chinese poet called Tufu wrote ‘These days, people reject this Way (of Buddha) as if it were dirt. (1) ' If there is no awakening to the Way of Buddha, won't human beings continue to wander endlessly in this chaotic world?
(1:) ‘Friendship in Times of Poverty'
Turning the hand up, clouds form; turning the hand down, rain falls.
Many are the fickle and insincere who turn their hands this way or that.
Don't you remember the devoted friendship of Kan and Po when they were poor?
These days, people reject this Way as if it were dirt.
The Heart Sutra,
Harada Sekkei Roshi
http://buddhismnow.com/2011/10/06/the-heart-sutra-harada-sekkei-roshi/
http://www.buddhistpublishing.com/BN/application/workfiles/resources/BNow-e10-Heart-Sutra-HSR.pdf
This article is taken from the Fall 2003 issue of Hosshinji Newsletter and reprinted with their kind permission.
The Heart of Wisdom Sutra (the Heart Sutra) is the sutra we are most familiar with. It is a sutra in which Avalokiteshvara (Jap. Kanjizai) Bodhisattva, in place of Shakyamuni Buddha, clearly expounds Emptiness to his disciple Shariputra. In terms of compassion, Kanzeon is the Japanese name for this Bodhisattva and in terms of wisdom, Kanjizai is the Japanese name. In either case, this Bodhisattva is actually we ourselves.
The name Kanjizai (Seeing Freely) is derived from the sense function of sight and by being able to use this sense function freely and completely, it represents the freedom to use the other five functions in the same way. Shariputra was the leader of a group of more than one hundred people, and after Shakyamuni Buddha realised the Way, all of them took refuge in the Buddha. Shariputra was one of the ten main disciples of the Buddha and because he was reputed to have the deepest wisdom was known as Shariputra Sonja.
Emptiness is not something where things that exist disappear by means of practice. There is the expression ‘turning delusion around and awakening to satori ', yet we are always living within Emptiness. It is because we create a separation from the life within Emptiness and think ‘Is that really so?' that delusion arises. One person recently came to me lamenting, ‘My greatest suffering is to see things separately.' This is what is said to be hell. This all arises, however, from the function of the ego (the viewpoint of the ego). In terms of our Zen practice and everyday life, the Heart Sutra in which the essence of Emptiness (being one with things) is expounded, is the most important instruction.
The paramita [perfection] of wisdom is the greatest Wisdom. There is the Sutra of Great Wisdom, but as it is extremely long, we abbreviate reading it by simply turning the pages. When the pages are turned, we chant the words, ‘All things arise because of conditions. Because everything arises from conditions, there is no coming or going. Because there is no coming or going, there is no stopping. Because there is no stopping, essentially everything is Empty. This is called the paramita [perfection] of Wisdom.' However, wisdom is not the same as knowledge. Regardless of whether we practise or do not practise, whether we know or do not know, ‘this thing' (yourself) is perfect. To realise that this is so is Wisdom and to attain true Wisdom is called Enlightenment (Bodhi).
In the Heart Sutra, there is the phrase: ‘The five skandhas are completely empty.' The five skandhas are aggregates of form, sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness. Form is the physical body and the other four are the mind and things that cannot be seen. These five skandhas mutually merge together. Many people say ‘I think' or ‘I practise,' but this ‘I' does not exist anywhere. As it doesn't exist, it isn't possible for only the eye to be deluded or only the ear. Even if all sorts of conditions were to swarm in at once, everything is always entrusted to conditions. Even without using consciousness to entrust yourself to conditions, there is never a mistake made between a dog's bark and the sound of a bird. It can only be said that this is something truly mysterious, something that cannot be grasped by thought.
In the Heart Sutra, the word ‘not' as in ‘not born, not dying' and so on isn't simply a negation. If there is difference, there is sameness. If there is sameness, there is difference. Certainly, these are two sides of the same thing, front and back, and they are always kept in harmony. This is expressed in the word ‘not'. To see this phenomenally is the world of matter. Then, in order to have you feel intuitively that there is no Emptiness apart from matter, the words ‘not different from' are used. Consequently, ‘form is emptiness, emptiness is form' is a way of emphasising by repeating that form is no different from Emptiness. All dharmas or all things are born of the five skandhas.
‘Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by Emptiness. They neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease.' Shakyamuni Buddha was the first human being to realise the nature of causality (that there is no substance to things) and as a result became completely free. This is referred to as the Dharma. And the Dharma (teaching) expounded by him was called the Buddha-dharma. This is to say that the Dharma doesn't belong to any one person. Rather, it belongs to anyone who grasps it.
What is the source of delusion and anxiety? We must become delusion and anxiety. There is no other way to dissolve them. Anxiety has no substance. But because we are confused by the idea of trying to be free of anxiety, not only does anxiety not disappear, it only grows larger and larger. At one moment we cry and in the next moment we laugh. This constant change is expressed in the Heart Sutra as ‘not born, not dying'. No one can remember his or her own birth, nor is it possible to be aware of our own death. It is because we were not born that we will never die. This condition where if something is born, it is born as-it-is, and if it dies, it dies as-it-is is expressed in the Heart Sutra with ‘not' or ‘does not differ from'.
‘Impurity' is the deluding passions. ‘Neither increase nor decrease' means that even if there is enlightenment, there is no gain, and even if a person is a common mortal, there is no loss. This is the same, finally, as in the well-known koan of Joshu's in which he sometimes replied, ‘No' and sometimes ‘Yes.' In this way, everything is without form and everything is resolved as-it-is, this is Buddhism. Consequently, in Buddhism there are no sacred scriptures. This is because people who have awakened to themselves stretch out their hands to show others how to awaken. If you see into yourself by awakening, it is then no longer possible to compare. So, there are no longer two things—self and other. This condition where there is no self and no other we call ‘Emptiness.' The forty-nine years of Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching were all for the purpose of getting others to understand that the self is completely empty.
In our everyday lives, we are always thinking and thinking. But all thought is without substance. At this point, we have the words, ‘A Bodhisattva relies on Prajna Paramita [Perfection of Wisdom], and thus the mind is without hindrance.' All things that exist in the universe are created through conditions and so there is no central substance. It is to that degree that in our lives we are completely free of any restriction and are able to respond flexibly and resourcefully to any situation. And yet, it is because of the activity of the ego, ‘me', we think and think, thinking so that thoughts get piled up on top of other thoughts. I would like you to memorise the Heart Sutra, a sutra that completely expounds Emptiness. And then, at some time, you will suddenly think, ‘Ah! To think like this is because there is an ego.' Once you realise that, I would like you to endeavour at practise-within-activity.
There are the words ‘No knowledge and no attainments. With nothing to attain . . . ‘ A person who is able to think in a way that is free of the ego-self viewpoint knows this. If you simply become free of the ego-self viewpoint, then a self is born that is pure and clean, without any dirt or impurity just as when a baby is born. However, if once you do not hold onto confusion and anxiety to the extent that you die, then it is difficult to ascertain the essence for which Shakyamuni Buddha and the Patriarchs made so much effort to attain. And no matter how much you only think about this, the ego viewpoint will not disappear. This is to say that to bring an end to the ego is truly difficult, but it is a fact that if you practise according to the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Patriarchs, then certainly it will disappear.
Our purpose for living is to become No-mind/No-self, and a person who has become No-mind/No-self is called a Buddha. Each action we make is completely Empty, it is Nothingness, and if we express this using words, this is the ‘Buddha-dharma'. It is not possible for the ego to intervene in the Dharma. This means it is enough to become the Dharma. In order to become the Dharma, you must forget the ego. In order to forget the ego, you must sit. That is all there is to it.
When it is hot, it is hot. When something is unpleasant, it is unpleasant. Half believing and half doubting—it is all the Dharma. As there is nothing to compare, there really should be no Dharma, but inevitably there is something remaining that thinks it isn't possible to let go of the Dharma. Thus, it is necessary to resolutely let go of that thing which doesn't want to let go. Where will you let it go? Essentially, it doesn't exist and so there is nowhere to let it go. Already we are within Emptiness, so please notice that there is a self that tries to be empty. Please, I would like you to sit in zazen, to study, and to work freely, without holding onto anything.
At the very end of the Heart Sutra, there are the words ‘ Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi! Svaha! ' ‘Rejoice! It has been accomplished together with all things.' If you can memorise just these words, then in accordance with some condition, there will come a time when suddenly you will understand the whole Heart Sutra. In this way, then, I would like you to always be empty.
The Heart Sutra
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practising profound Prajna Paramita [Perfection of Wisdom]; clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty and thus relieved all suffering.
‘Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself form; sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this.
‘Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness. They neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease.
‘Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind, no realm of sight . . . no realm of mind consciousness. There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance, neither old age and death nor extinction of old age and death. No suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path. No knowledge and no attainments. With nothing to attain a Bodhisattva relies on Prajna Paramita [Perfection of Wisdom], and thus the mind is without hindrance. Without hindrance, there is no fear. Far beyond all inverted views, this is Nirvana.
‘All Buddhas of past, present, and future rely on Prajna Paramita and thereby attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.
‘Therefore know Prajna Paramita as the great miraculous mantra, as the great bright mantra, as the supreme mantra, as the incomparable mantra, which removes all suffering and is true, not false, therefore, we proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra, the mantra that says:
Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha!'
A Talk to Students From Luther College
With Questions and Answers At Hosshinji Zen Monastery
by Harada Sekkei Roshi
http://faculty.luther.edu/~kopfg/internal/fullsyllabai/Roshi.html
Thank you for coming today. Hosshinji was built about 740 years ago. But just because something is old doesn't mean it's good. It's said that the pillars and beams and so on of the temple structures are good for about another 500 years. We presently have a plan to rebuild the temple and when that rebuilding takes place, the roof will be taken off and the reusable parts of the temple will be used in the new temple structure. I think you know of the famous temples and monasteries in Kyoto. These temples are said to be built with materials that will last for 200 years. The reason they can last so long id that formerly temples were built in the area of mountains. Timber from those mountains was used to construct the temple buildings and because materials from the local area were used they could last for such a long time.
As you know, Buddhism originated in India. The Buddhist teaching was passed from India to China to Korea to Japan. But when we call the Buddha Dharma is something, which cannot be imported or exported from one country to another. In other words, there is a difference between the Buddhist teaching and the Dharma, which is the essence of that teaching. Zen was brought from India to China by Bodhidharma, the 28th Patriarch in the lineage following Shakyamuni Buddha. He went to great effort and trouble to make the trip to China. Previous to this arrival in China, the Buddhist teaching was already present in the form of sutras and commentaries. The teaching in this form was like a prescription for medicine. But Bodhidharma brought the essence of that teaching to China and that essence was the actual medicine.
The Golden Age of Zen in China was during the T'ang Period. This was when Zen really flowered in China. Before the arrival of Buddhism in China, there were already many kinds of native beliefs and religions like Taoism, for example. Some of them were hostile to Buddhism. But on of the characteristics of Buddhism is that it doesn't say that other religions are bad. It doesn't say you must stop believing in another religion. Rather what happened was that Buddhism was grafted onto the trunk of the tree, the trunk representing the native teachings and beliefs of China. Consequently, Buddhism was able to use the teachings that were there and then it really grew into a big tree. At that time, the people in power became Buddhists and built many big temples, fostered many monks, and had many periodically fell from power, the people who actually practiced Buddhism went to live in the mountains away from the centers of power.
Returning to the subject of India, at the time of Bodhidharma, Buddhism has nearly disappeared from India. The reason for this was that many, many people were in need of food, clothing and shelter. These people sought these basic needs from religion. They sought compassion and love through religion. Bodhidharma realized that people seeking the Dharma - the natural principles of things - were gradually disappearing. Because of his concern about this, he decided it was not good to remain in India and so he decided to go to China. This is also true of religion in present day Japan. Many people think religion is first of all to do good things for other people, especially those people who are needy or in distress. Of course, such activities are important but they are a by-product of religion. Such work isn't the main purpose of religion and I would like you to know that.
Turning to the matter of the Dharma, the people practicing here at Hosshinji are seeking the Dharma. That is the nature of Zen practice. In Japanese Zen, there are three sects: Rinzai, Obaku and Soto. (Hosshinji belongs to the Soto sect). What is the Dharma? It is the natural laws and principles of things. I have been able to travel to teach in Europe, India and the United States, but when I go to such places I don't explain the teaching of Shakyamuni. I don't explain the teaching of Dogen Zenji, the man who brought Soto Zen from China to Japan. Even if I do mention their teachings, it is only as a means to speak of the Dharma, something which exists in any country. The Dharma is the thing which in most close to you: Sugar is sweet, salt is salty, fire is hot, water is cold. These are natural laws an d that is Dharma. It must be the same in your country too. No one says that sugar is salty or that salt is sweet, do they? This is to say that in order for the Dharma to be passed on it must be of that country. I think you can easily understand what I've been saying so far. Sugar is sweet, salt is salty, fire is hot, water is cold. Surely it is this way, but we must go one step further and think about the fact that as far as sugar or salt or fire or water are concerned, there are conventions which people have decided amongst themselves long, long ago, that sugar is sweet, salt is salty and so on.
We must return to a condition, which exists previous to what people have thought. For example, everyone thinks that fire is hot. But if we say the word "fire", it doesn't burn our lips. Have you ever thought about that? We think that water is cold. But if we are thirsty, we won't be ale to quench out thirst simply by saying the word "water". This is to say that whether we are talking about sugar or salt of fire or water there is a great gap between the explanation and the actual reality. It is necessary to eliminate that gap or separation between you and reality. For those who really want to know the Truth, it is necessary for them to become one with the Truth. If that does not happen, you will never know the Truth. This is the practice of Zen: to really become one with reality. This is very important. It is the most basic aspect of Zen and Buddhism in general.
Now think of this in terms of yourself. Each of you has a name. A, B or C. That name is a symbol and as long as you think of yourself as being that symbol then there is a separation between you and reality. Do you understand? If you don't, you can ask about it later. You think of the symbol as being yourself, but that is only an explanation. There is a self, which cannot be explained. This means that even though essentially there is only one self, it seems as if there are two. You live a life where you are split in two and for that reason your thoughts seem to be at odds with themselves. This is what we call delusion. How can we make the true, essential self and the symbolic self one? The way to do this is called the Way of Buddha. If you don't follow that way, you won't be able to find the way to become one with your true self. It is the symbolic self, which is born, and dies, which gets sick and grows old, which becomes enlightened and feels anxious. The true self is neither alive nor dead, it isn't in Nirvana nor is it within confusion. It is only the symbolic self which is born and which dies, which feels suffering and confusion. In fact that symbolic self does not exist, and yet at some time, without being aware of it, we began to think of that self as "me". That non-existent self is the ego. It is only the ego which is born and dies, is enlightened and confused. This isn't difficult, is it? Is it difficult?
Student: It's different, very different.
Roshi: Zen is called "a transmission outside of the teachings." A unique characteristic of Zen is this matter of "not relying on words or texts." Let's go to the questions.
Question: What is the difference between Zen practice and practice in the Pure Land set of Buddhism?
Roshi: Honen founded The Pure Land sect and his disciple, Shinran, succeeded him. Shinran was a person who truly had a lot of desires and delusions, which is to say he was a usual person. In Buddhism, these delusions and desires are often defined as greed, anger and ignorance. He suffered greatly because of these desires and delusions. The final result of his practice at Mt. Hiei was that he completely entrusted himself to Amida Buddha, a Buddha who is eternal. Shinran thought that simply by chanting the name of Amida - Namu Amida Butsu - it would be possible to be saved, but in order for him to come to his understanding he personally went to great, great trouble. After going through that great suffering, the result was that he realized that a person who is deluded of confused or filled with many desires cannot go to paradise simply by chanting Namu Amida Butsu. For that reason, he thought that a person should chat this name wholeheartedly and this is the basic teaching of the Pure Land sect.
In the Zen teaching, no matter how confused, anxious or perplexed we might be, we already are Amida Buddha as we are. This is the teaching of Buddha and the Zen Patriarchs. It is because we have come to think of the symbolic self as "me" that we do not realize that essentially we are Amida Buddha. So, in the Zen sect we teach that when a person chants Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu, Nami Amida Butsu…that this is not done toward some Buddha which is separate from you, but rather you yourself are Amida Buddha and then by calling your own name you enter samadhi (a condition of forgetting the ego-self by being completely absorbed in any certain activity). This is the way zen teaches about the Pure Land teaching. So regardless if we are talking about Shakyamuni Buddha or Avalokiteshvara (the bodhisattva of compassion) or Jizo (the bodhisattva of children), in Buddhism the teaching is that there is no Buddha separate from you yourself. People are free to believe as they wish, but as long as the God or Buddha which you believe in is separate from you, that isn't good. We must practice with the intention of eliminating that separation as we make prostrations, do practice and enter samadhi. If you practice in this way, then certainly you will come to realize that you yourself are the Truth, the natural principles of things.
Question: What is the difference between MU (Nothingness) and KU (Emptiness)?
Roshi: There is no moment now. Even if we use the word "now", please understand that that is only a provisional name we use and that in fact there is no now. Human beings can think of the past and the future, but it isn't possible to think about the moment right now. It isn't possible to see it or think about it. Whatever, you think about is either about what has happened in the past or about what might happen in the future. Surely this is the nature of whatever you think about. But there is nothing we can do about the past. We can neither bring back the past nor can we know what the future will bring. In other words, we think of things about which we can do nothing. The human condition is one in which people are always suffering because of what they think about. And it is the symbolic or imaginary self which is doing this thinking.
The must important think for us to think about is the moment now. "How should I be living now? What should I be doing now? How should things be now?" The moment now is the mist important thing that we should be concerned about, but finally most people don't think about this. No one things that this moment now, which is the important think, doesn't actually exist. That is why provisionally the word "now" is used to describe this condition which doesn't exist. Most people think now exists. One aspect of Zen practice, then, is to have a person consciously be ware of the moment now and then grind up that consciousness so that they can really make the now of now their own. This also applies to believing in something. If you believe in something, that something isn't some other thing. Rather, the thing you believe in is you yourself. So, Zen practice is to really believe in yourself and then using that belief to grind up what you believe in until there is nothing left. A person who has really reached that condition where everything is completely ground up to the extent that even the idea of nothing no longer exists provisionally describes it with concepts like MU (nothingness) and KU (emptiness). That is the only meaning of such worlds like Emptiness and Nothingness. This is to say that Buddhism isn't the teaching of MU (Nothingness) and KU (Emptiness).
You might ask "Is it really possible to grin up Emptiness with Emptiness? Is it possible to grind up something which doesn't exist with something else which doesn't exist?" To actually do that is the practice of zazen. The worst condition in which to do zazen of meditation is to monitor your own condition. When you monitor your own condition, you decide if your sitting condition is good or bad. That is the worst way to do zazen. The best kind of zazen is where there is no intention of dong practice, no intention of entering samadhi and then forgetting what you have forgotten and simply sitting like a fool warming the sitting cushion. That is the best form of zazen. A person who has truly reached this condition has assigned the names of Emptiness and Nothingness to describe it. This isn't to say that originally there was something and then that disappeared.
Question: What is the difference of realizing Nirvana in one's own everyday life and the condition of Nirvana after one dies?
Roshi: Nobody remembers the moment when they left their mother's womb. Not me, nor daigaku, nor any of you here. Nobody remember their own birth. It was after someone told you when and where you were born that you knew about your own birth. When you were born, you didn't know you name. It was when someone began to call you Susan or Michael that you began to thin of having a certain name, For some time you lived not knowing your name or when you were born and then after a certain time self-consciousness was born and you began to discriminate between yourself and other things. This is the function of the ego-self consciousness. You don't remember your own birth and consequently what you have come to thin of "me" is the symbolic self. In the same way, no one can know their own death. If someone is aware of their own death, it means they are still alive. This is to say we neither know their own birth now our own death. So who, then, is seeing, hearing and thinking as we are now? This is all your ego-self. It is only that symbolic, ego-self which suffers and worries, which is concerned and feels fear about life and death. In fat, though, the self is as big as the universe. If you simply do not perceive "this thing" (Roshi points to his body) as yourself, if you simply forget this small self, then each of you can realize that self which as big as the universe. You have forgotten the big, universal self and the teaching of zen and Buddhism is to shale you up and get you to awaken to that big self. Zen practice is to actually awaken to that big self.
These days throughout the world there is much concern about human right, but human rights is only concerned with the small self. But if you let go of discriminating between that small self and other things, each person can realize the big, universal self. Until each person does that, the problem of human rights will not be resolved. Nirvana is the condition where everything is the self. Pillars, tatami and so on, when whatever we can see, hear, taste, smell, feel and think - when all things become the self with other things. That is why we say that a Buddha or Avalokiteshvara (the bodhisattva of compassion) is neither a man nor a woman. When everything becomes one in this way is when try difference first arises. In other words, unity only exists within difference. Only a person who has realized this for himself can speak about the problem of equality and discrimination.
Question: Samsara and satroi are sometimes said to be different and sometimes said to be the same. What does that mean?
Roshi: Samsara and satroi are one thing. What is the source of our confusion? You create your own confusion. You create your own confusion, and you are able the one who can become free of what confusion. This is to say that samsara and satroi arise from the same source. When people feel anxious, they seek peace of mind, but because they seek peace of mind they get confused. They are confused by peace of mind. Try no seeking peace of mind when you feel anxious. If you do, there will only be anxiety and if there is only anxiety, there will be no confusion. In your schooling, you've been taught that it isn't good not to know. For that reason you study in order to understand. But this isn't like that in Buddhism. When you really understand not understanding, we say that is real understanding. If you five that answer to your teacher, he or she should give you fill marks.
Modern education is mistaken. Education should be a matter where the teacher plunges you into the Jungle, a place from which you don't know how to get out. In the past, everyone leavened then how to get out of such a place. But people these days don't know that the jungle. From the beginning they are already out of the jungle and as quickly as possible they find a good job or enter a good school. The function of a teacher should be to put the students into a jungle.
Question: What is the significance of the various representations of Buddhas and Bodhisttvas which we see in the form of statues in Buddhist temples?
Roshi: These representations are all you according to time, standpoint and place. Yakushi Nyorai, Fudo-sama and so on are all representations of you. As I said earlier, all things ar eyou. There is nothing separate from you. This also includes your friends, for example. Your friends are you and you are your friends. The condition where the separation between self and other things has disappeared is such a condition.
Question: How can I explain Buddhism in two or three sentences?
Roshi: Buddhism is about you yourself. If someone asks you "what is yourself?" you can say "The moment now." If they ask "What is the moment now?" you can say "It's a condition where there is nothing." If they're still confused, tell them that Buddhism is the way things should be (aru beki youni). If we use words or things to explain, then the teaching of Buddhism already ceases to exist. This is to say we mist be able to speak without using our tongue.
Question: What can we bring back home from this very short three-week trip?
Roshi: When Dogen Zenji returned to Japan from China, he wrote the following verse.
With empty hands, I return to my native country.
The only think I've realized is
That the eyes are horizontal, the nose is vertical.
There is no Buddha Dharma in the very least.
Earlier I was speaking about KU (Emptiness) and MU (Nothingness). This verse was Dogen's expression of his realization of nothingness and upon that foundation he built the structure by which he taught and guided others. Within all things, there is neither good nor bad, neither likes nor dislikes. To really see things as they are, to hear things as they are, to just see, to just hear, to just feel, this is the way you should explain what you've heard while you were in Japan. As long as you still see things in terms of likes and dislikes, upper and lower, and so on, then the opinions of the ego-self are intervening. When you come to the point where the opinions of the ego-self do not intervene and you really become that, ten for the first time you are truly an individual. I am I, you are truly your self. At that point, for the firs time the self is clearly established. Then, fire is hot, sugar is sweet, salt is salty and you are completely settled and at peace with things just as they are. It is necessary to return to the beginning.
Thank you very much. You listened very carefully to what I had to say even though you didn't understand it. Not understanding is the very best. As I said earlier, the important thing is to truly understand not understanding. Any other questions?
Question: One thing, which is often asked, is if the construction of the self is an illusion and the self constructs the illusion, how did the illusion of the self get constructed in the first place?
Roshi: You first come to know that there is no self because there was someone who realizes that there is no self. Shakyamuni Buddha was the first human being to realize that in fact there is no self.
About Hosshinji
http://www.zendo-staefa.ch/Hosshinji-Text.pdf
http://androniki.photoshelter.com/gallery/LIVING-ZEN-Hoshinji-Zen-monastery-in-Obama-city-of-wester-Japan-tight-selection/G00006m0MVbOGA1o
Hosshinji was built in 1522 by Motomitsu Takeda, the feudal lord who ruled this area.
The Takeda clan was one of oldest samurai families, descended from a Japanese emperor.
You can see the emblem on your cookies in many other places in this temple. This is the
Takeda family crest. Motomitsu Takeda had his castle on the mountain behind this
temple. The temple is located in Northwest of the castle. According to geomancy the
Northwest is considered an unlucky direction and called demons’ gate (Kimon). The
temple was built here to ward off evil and practically served as a fort.
Hosshinji has about a 500 years history. But the history of Hosshinji as a modern Zen
monastery began with the 27th head priest, Sogaku Harada roshi.
Sogaku roshi was born in Obama 1871 and become a monk in a Soto temple when he was
seven years old. He practiced not only in a Soto temple but also in a Rinzai monastery.
He visited famous Masters in both Soto and Rinzai school at that time and learned from
them. After he worked as a professor at Komazawa Buddhist College of the Soto school,
he was invited to Hosshinji as head priest in 1922.
Before Sogaku roshi came, Hosshinji was already a monastery, but a small one with 4
or 5 monks and didn’t have an excellent Master. There were only the main hall and a
small zazen hall. Sogaku Roshi raised the money and had the new zazen hall, monkshall,
ihaido, kaisando and koushishitsu built.
The new phase of the monastery started with about 20 monks. Many of them ware
former students of Sogaku Roshi at Komazawa Buddhist College. Since he practiced also
at Rinzai-temples, he introduced some Rinzai methods to Hosshinji, for example, koan
practice. Although Hosshinji got famous as a very rigorous monastery, it got more and
more monks and in the 1930’s there were always 60 to 70 monks. There were
one-week-sesshins six times a year that lay people also participated in. More than 100
people, including laypeople, practiced zazen at rohatsu sesshins in December.
After World War II, foreign Zen practitioners started to come to Hosshinji. In1953
Philip Kapleau joined the rohatsu sesshin and in the next year he came again and
stayed at Hosshinji for three years. He later published The Three Pillars of Zen. After
him some foreigners practiced under the guidance of Sogaku roshi. Among them Father
Hugo Makibi Enomiya Lassalle was very impressive to Sogaku roshi. He says in his
autobiography, “He is a really nice person. He maintains the celibacy and seems to lead
a life according to strict precepts. He has a lot in common with Zen monks. He is a
likable person”. Father Hugo Lassalle visited many times Hosshinji Sesshin, sometimes
with his friends. Later he reported about the practice at Hosshinji in a book and sent the
book to Sogaku roshi. Sogaku roshi was very happy about that, although he didn’t
understand any words, only pictures, because he didn’t know German.
After Sogaku roshi retired, his disciple Sessui Harada took over as the head priest and
the abbot of Hosshinji monastery. After Sessui Harada roshi, Ungan Kakudo roshi
became the 29th head priest of Hosshinji. After the short period of the 29th head priest, in
1974 Sekkei Harada roshi took over as the head priest and abbot. He is the incumbent
head priest.
大雲祖岳 Daiun Sogaku (1871-1961) [原田 Harada ]
頚癌雪水 Keigan Sessui [原田 Harada]玄魯義衍 Genro Gien (1894-1981) [井上 Inōe]
証庵雪渓 Shōan Sekkei (1926-2020) [原田 Harada]
He was ordained by Sessui Harada roshi, but he didn’t become his dharma heir.
He left Hosshinji for a while and practiced under the guidance of Gien Inoue roshi, who
is considered one of greatest Soto Zen Master in the Showa era. Gien Inoue roshi gave
Sekkei Harada roshi his Inka, that means, he officially recognized the enlightenment of
Sekkei roshi. Sekkei roshi is one of a few people that received Inka from Gien Inoue
roshi. Sekkei roshi started to teach Zen in sesshins in Europe and USA 1982.
From 2002 to 2004 Sekkei roshi stayed in Milan, Italy as director of Soto Zen Buddhism
Europe Office.
Daily practice at Hosshinji
There are 14 Monks including the head priest and vice head priest and two lay residents
now. Among them there are practitioners from abroad too, one monk from Colombia and
layman from America and one from Greece.
The typical schedule of our daily activity is as follows:
4:00 wake up, zazen, sutra-chanting, and cleaning
7:00 breakfast
8:30 to 11:00 work-practice which we call samu
11:30 lunch
13:30 to 15:30 samu
16:20 sutra chanting
17:00 supper
19:20 zazen
21: 00 lights out
For samu we do maintenance and cleaning of the temple and the grave yard, gardening,
making of firewood and so on. The samu is as important as zazen. It is said that the
samu is Zen in motion. We go on takuhatsu, begging, every now and then. Especially in
winter, January the fifth to February the third, we go on takuhatsu every day. This
takuhatsu is also important Zen practice. Just like in Sogaku roshi’s time we have
sesshins six times a year.
Explanation to Halls
Hatto (Dharma hall)
Sutra chanting in mornings and evenings and various ceremonies take place in the hatto.
Main stature on the alter is Kanzeon bosatsu. Behind the alter we have a sculpture of
Bodhi dharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism in China) and Daigenshuri bosatsu
(guardian God of temples). This disposition of statues is quite common in Soto temples.
Ihaido (memorial tablets hall)
This room is called the Ihaido, because Ihais, memorial tablets for the deceased, are
placed by danka members. On the memorial tablet the posthumous names of danka
members’ family are inscribed. I have to explain now what danka is. Danka originally
means a patron of a temple. Practically speaking dankas mean people who have a family
grave in the graveyard of the temples. Monks of the temples take care of the graveyard
and conduct funeral and memorial services of the deceased. Dankas pay an annual
membership fee and when monks conduct funeral and memorial services, they pay for
that too. This is usually the main revenue of a temple. Dankas don’t have the habit of
going to temple on Sunday like church, but they quite often visit the grave of their family,
because in Japan ancestor veneration is strong. When they pay a visit to the grave, they
come to this room and offer the incense at the memorial tablet of their family. On a tablet
often many names are inscribed. They are not memorial tablets for a single parson, but
for a whole family. The same thing goes for graves.
Kaisando (Founders Hall)
Statues
-Cyugansoujo: the first head priest
-Tenganzensaku: the one who revived the temple
After the Takeda clan was overthrown, the temple was rundown. Tengenzensaku had
the temple rebuild in 1616.
-Dogen Zenji: He is said to be the Founder of the Japanese Soto school, He transmitted
Tendo Nyojyo‘s dharma, who belong to Chinese Soto school. But Dogen Zenji never
used the word Soto school.
-Keizan Zenji: The master four generations after Dogen Zenji
He is the one who spread the teaching of Dogen Zenji all over Japan.
Dogen Zenji and Keizan Zenji are said to be two great patriarchs in the Soto school
-Motomitsu Takeda
The sculpture is designated as a culture property of Fukui prefecture
The memorial tablets of head priests
Picture of Sogaku Harada roshi and Sessui Harada roshi
The memorial tablets of war dead
Syuryou (Monkshall)
The Monkshall built in Sogaku roshi’s time was decrepit, we had it rebuild.
It opened just three days ago.
Sodo or zazendo (zazen hall)
The calligraphy on the board was drawn by Sogaku roshi.
It says undo literally “cloud hall”. It is another name of zazendo
We, monks, practice zazen here, mornings and evenings and in free time.
The platform where we practice zazen is called tan. A space of one tatami is given to each
monk. We sleep here too. In the closet above the tan, futons, blankets and pillows are
stored.
Monjyusyuri bosatsu: Representation of enlightenment or wisdom of Buddha
A tip for zazen
The motto of the Soto school is Shikantaza, ‘just sitting’ as you might know.
But this just is the most difficult. You do usually too much. You do unnecessary things.
Or you can say that you yourself are too much. During zazen you don’t need yourself.
If You do zazen, that is not yet zazen, Real zazen means zazen does zazen.
When you find it difficult, you can focus on your breathing. But that doesn’t mean that
you observe your breath, but you become your breath. You should become one with your
breathing. So long as you observe your breath, you are not one with you.
When you become one with breath, the breath breathes.
Let’s try it!
October 16. 2012
Joe Itaka
Hosshin-ji 発心寺
Fushiwara 45-3
Obama-shi 小浜市
Fukui-ken 福井県
917-0054 Japan 日本
Daigaku Rummé (1950-)
(ルメー大岳 Rumme Daigaku; born as David Rumme)
Rev. Daigaku Rummé
Confluence Zen Center in St. Louis, Missouri
https://www.confluencezen.org/from-our-teacher/
Daigaku Rummé was born in Mason City, Iowa in 1950.
He was ordained a Soto priest by Sekkei Harada
Roshi in 1978. For more than twenty-seven years,
he practiced under Harada Roshi at Hosshin-ji
Monastery in Fukui, Japan. In March 2003, he moved
to San Francisco to work on the staff of the Soto
Zen Buddhism International Center. For the seven
years he worked there, he resided at the San
Francisco Zen Center. In April 2010, Rummé moved
to Los Angeles where he worked as the Director of
the Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office and as
the Head Priest of Zenshuji Soto Temple. In April
2015, he resigned from his position in Los Angeles
and moved to St. Louis.
He is the translator of the Essence of Zen and, with Heiko Narrog,
Unfathomable Depths, both by Harada Roshi, both published by
Wisdom Publications.
http://www.culturalnews.com/?p=4605
American-born and Japan-trained Zen monk Appointed as Head of Soto Zen North America
by Shige Higashi (Shige Higashi is Publisher and Editor of Cultural News. Naomi Otani contributed to this text.)
The article is appeared in the Cultural News, 2010 May Issue
For the first time in 90 years, the Japan-based Soto Zen Mission in North America receives an American-born and non-Japanese monk as head of the organization. Born as David Rumme into a Christian family in Iowa, Daigaku Rumme Roshi, who spent 27 years at one of most rigid Zen monasteries in Japan, was appointed the General-Director, or Sokan in Japanese, of the Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office, located at Zenshuji Soto Mission in Little Tokyo, Downtown Los Angeles. His appointment was officially made as of April 1.
Roshi is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means “old teacher” or “elder master” and usually denotes the person who gives spiritual guidance to Zen monks. Despite the literal meaning, the title has nothing to do with the actual age of the individual who receives it and is used to indicate respect and veneration.
Prior to the Sokan appointment, Rumme Roshi served as Administrative Secretary of Soto Zen International Center, located at Sokoji Zen Temple in San Francisco, for seven years.
Daigaku Rumme was born in Mason City, Iowa in 1950. In 1961, at the age of 11, his family went to Japan because his father had been sent there as a Lutheran missionary. He attended the American School in Japan, originally located in downtown Tokyo and later moved to Chofu, a suburb of Tokyo. The American School in Japan is one of the best-known international schools in Japan where children of American diplomats, scholars, businessmen, and missionaries are sent.
After graduation form the international high school in Tokyo, he returned to his home state, Iowa, and graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he majored in history and French. He again returned to Japan in 1974, and in 1976 started his Zen monk training at the Hosshinji Monastery in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture.
The city name coincidentally has the same pronunciation as the current US President. During the 2008 US presidential campaign, a support committee for “Barak Obama for the US President” was spontaneously formed by people of Obama. That fact made headlines in newspapers several times in Japan.
On 1978, Daigaku Rumme was ordained a Soto monk by his master Sekkei Harada Roshi, head of Hosshinji Monastery. Harada Roshi, 84 years old, is not only a respected Zen master but also renowned as an author and speaker about Zen Buddhism. Rumme's experiences for 27 years with Harada Roshi culminated in his English publication of The Essence of Zen, The Teachings of Sekkei Harada , which was published by Wisdom Publications in 2008.
At Hosshinji Temple in Obama, Daigaku Rumme took the part of translator for the other foreign trainees. The monastery had a most peaceful and tranquil atmosphere and was, therefore, quite conducive to traditional Zen training and for this reason attracted many foreigners.
After Harada Roshi was appointed to Sokan of the Soto Zen Buddhism Europe Office in 2002, Daigaku Rumme moved to San Francisco and served as Administrative Secretary at the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center from 2003 to 2010. Rumme Roshi is also known as a Japanese calligrapher and had art exhibitions in San Francisco.
In North America, there are currently five Japanese temples and more than 170 Zen centers which are run by American priests, as well as more than 350 registered American priests. The main tasks of the Soto Zen North America Office are to provide supports to American priests and guide them in Soto Zen tradition. Rumme Roshi says American priests tend to concentrate on Zazen (sitting meditation) more than Japanese priests and do not pay as much attention to the ceremonial ritual of Soto Zen.
When Gengo Akiba Roshi, previous Sokan of Soto Zen North America Office for 13 years before Rumme Roshi, observes Soto Zen in comparison with the popularity of Tibetan Buddhism in North America, he says “We do not have a super monk like the Dalai Lama, but our local Zen centers across the nation are grass roots Buddhism.”
Soto Zen has been gaining numbers across racial and cultural boundaries since the 1960's. But Soto Zen was first spread to North America by Japanese priests in the 1920's to Japanese immigrants. Zenshuji Soto Mission, considered the flagship temple for Soto Zen in North America, was founded in 1922 and has served as a spiritual and culture center for the dominant Japanese-American memberships.
In addition to providing Buddhist services such as funerals and memorial services, Zenshuji has acted as a base for spreading traditional Japanese culture and entertainment as well as a place where people of Japanese ancestry can take a break and relax.
The Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office was established in 1937 when the Zenshuji Soto Mission in Los Angeles was approved as a branch of the Sotoshu's two head temples, Eiheiji and Sojiji.
Following its establishment, the North America Office has performed a variety of activities including registration of temples and priests in North America, training sessions and workshops on rituals and ceremonies, sesshin'e (intensive day-and-night Zen meditation sessions), and support and guidance for memorial services.
Not only in the Soto Zen School but also in other Buddhism schools in North America, the dominant memberships of Japanese-Americans are decreasing quickly. The immediate task of most Japanese temples in general is keeping Japanese atmosphere while looking for ways to attract new members.
Globalization is inevitable even for the Soto Zen School of Japan. For the first time in 800 years, the Administration Office of the Soto Zen School provided an official three-month Zen monk training course outside of Japan. The Shuritsu Senmon Sodo (Soto School-sponsored exclusive Monk Training Site) took place from the middle of December 2009 through the middle of March 2010 at Yokoji Zen Temple, located in San Bernardino National Forest.
Akiba Roshi, who presided over the authentic Japanese Zen monk training, says “The program of the course is better than one in Japan, and the spirits of the 15 trainee monks from North America, South America, and Europe are especially high.”
Responsibilities such as presiding over authentic Soto Zen training course outside of Japan now is brought to the shoulders of Daigaku Rumme Roshi. The task of increasing the memberships of temples is an uphill climb for any of the Buddhist schools. The American-born and Japan-trained Zen monk will face a lot of challenges.
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A Dharma Talk Given at Chapel Hill Zen Center
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018
“What Is It That Must Be Done In Zen Practice?”
It is a great pleasure to be back at the Chapel Hill Zen Center and an honor to give the Dharma talk this morning.
This morning, I am going to talk about two stories from China. These stories provide a structure for me to speak about the question: what is that must be done in Zen practice?
The first story has to do with a monk named Hyakujo (Baizhang, Chinese). Hyakujo was one of the great Zen masters in Chinese history. Both stories that I’m going to speak about today are stories that I think many of you are familiar with. One of the great things about these stories is that if we put ourselves in the shoes of the person asking the questions, it’s possible to really make these stories our own. Hyakujo is well-known because he was the first man said to have formulated the standards for monastic life in China. At a certain time in Chinese history, the monks at Zen temples had to work to provide their food. They had to grow their own food, and consequently, work became an important part of their practice. This story about Hyakujo contains a well-known teaching attributed to him: “A day without working is a day without eating.”
In our meal sutras, we chant the words “We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us. We reflect on our virtue and practice and whether we are worthy of this offering.” Through the words in the meal chant, we are being asked to consider how the food we eat comes to us. Are we worthy to receive the offering of food we are going to eat? The Chinese character for rice can be read as “eight ten eight”, in other words, the number “88.” This is sometimes said to mean that it takes eighty-eight steps to bring rice to the table so that we can eat it. In other words, it takes a lot of work to grow and produce rice. In the monastic standards, it specifically mentions that physical work was an important element of practice; that all people in the monastic community were expected to come out and work, even the abbot of the monastery. However, as Hyakujo got older, his disciples became concerned about him. They thought, “He’s coming out every day with his hoe and helping to work in the fields, weeding the vegetables and so on. So, why don’t we hide his hoe? That way, he won’t have to work.” It may have been that Hyakujo was eighty years old. The monks’ plan sounded like a good idea but when Hyakujo came out the next morning, he couldn’t find his hoe. “Where’s my hoe?” he asked. And then he said, “If I can’t find my hoe, I’m not going to eat.” His disciples then thought, Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. They explained to him that they thought he was getting too old to work. But he said, “No. If I’m going to continue living and practicing here, I’m going to work in the garden.” So, they returned his hoe to him and he continued working, as he had been, in the vegetable fields. This was the origin of his teaching, “A day without working is a day without eating.”
I mention this story partly because in my own case, I lived for many years in a Japanese monastery and I’ve often thought about how important work is in the monastery. We had six or seven sesshin a year. And zazen was, of course, part of the daily schedule, especially during the angoor practice period. But there was also a lot of work to do. The environment surrounding the monastery was a little bit like Chapel Hill Zen Center with many trees, but there were more mountains. The monastery was surrounded on three sides by mountains. There was a lot of sweeping to do to keep the temple gardens neat and orderly, especially in the autumn. There was much wood that had to be chopped and carried and stacked. We used wood in two different ways. One was to boil water in the kitchen. This hot water was used both for cooking and for hot water pots that were used in each of the rooms where people lived to make tea and coffee and so forth. The bath water was also heated with wood. So, it was a big job to cut, chop, and carry the wood that was used for those fires. And then, we had a big vegetable garden. It was often my work to take care of the vegetable garden. We were busy in the vegetable garden from the end of February through December. In Fukui, where the monastery was located, the winter was not a harsh winter there, although sometimes there was a lot of snow. I think it might be like the winters you have here in Chapel Hill. The temperature rarely went below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit), so, we were able to grow two crops of vegetables every year. That was a lot of work and that was something I enjoyed doing. I enjoyed working. Of course, work doesn’t have to be physical. There is work as a teacher, as an administrator, and so forth.
One of the things I took away from monastic life in Japan was the value of physical work. A lot of the practice was with the body. For example, getting down on our knees and haunches and wiping the temple floors. The floors were not wiped with mops, but rather with rags. We would squat down near the bucket, take the rag, wring it out well, and get down and push it along the floor. I don’t know if there was any intention for this activity to be physical exercise, but certainly it was exercise. Simply to get down like that and wipe the floors requires a certain flexibility. We got good exercise that way and then there was all sorts of other work that had to be done. Westerners frequently came to the monastery and it wasn’t uncommon for them to ask, “Why is there so much work? Why isn’t there more zazen? I thought zazen is what we’re supposed to do in the monastery.” And we would have to explain, “Well, we do have many sesshin throughout the year. And we do sit zazen every day, but we are also taught that working is zazen.” My teacher was fond of talking about Zen within stillness. That was what we were doing this morning, right? Sitting quietly. In fact, “za-Zen” literally means “sitting Zen.” So, it’s easy to think that sitting quietly is zazen. But there is also Zen within movement or activity. That’s weeding the garden, sweeping up and carrying the leaves, making compost, cutting and chopping wood, all the things including cooking that take place in the kitchen. Of course, it’s well known that in the monastery that there is all this work and the importance, of course, of cooking. In Dogen Zenji’s “Standards for Eiheiji Monastery,” one of the chapters is “Instructions for the Cook.” This was an important part of the monastic life and placed first in his book of monastic standards.
So, a day without working is a day without eating, I wanted to mention the importance of work. Now, this is not a criticism, but rather an observation that here in the West, we have a tendency, I think, to try and get the teaching by reading and listening to podcasts and so on. As I often say, we need to hear the teaching. We must hear the teaching. And then, it is necessary to think about the teaching. And thinking is something that we can do while we are working. So, there is the importance of the body, of movement, of being one with work in Japanese practice that is also a big part of zazen. And it can be a big part of your life as well, that your work is Zen, regardless of whether you are doing physical work or work that requires thinking. That is Zen and to try to add something to it is extra.
One of the interesting things about this story “A day without working is a day without eating” is that these Chinese characters can also be read, “A day without doing what has to be done is a day without eating.” “A day without doing what has to be done…”, so this way of interpreting these characters makes it a broader statement, a broader teaching. Then, it isn’t just about physical work, although it can certainly be understood that way. And yet, Hyakujo’s statement can be understood to mean “Today, have I really done what has to be done?”
I lived for several years at City Center in San Francisco and often heard it said, “Just do the schedule.” This was said especially regarding the schedule at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where the schedule is quite strenuous. It’s even tougher, in some ways, than in a Japanese Zen monastery. My teacher liked to joke that Zen practice in America is even tougher than in Japan. That’s a good joke (laughter from the audience). He thought it was funny, because it’s easy for Americans to imagine that Zen practice in Japan is tough, and it is. But what we see here in America is that the schedule is often set. You get up at 4:00 am and go to bed at 9:00 pm, that that schedule is carved in stone. I often thought when I was training at Hosshinji that every day the schedule was different. The schedule was constantly changing, and the way that could work was that we had great trust in our teacher. We simply did what we were told to do. It wasn’t “Why are we doing it like this?” which isn’t to say that that question didn’t arise from time to time, but we just went along with the changes that were made. One day the wake-up bell was at 5:00 am, the next day it was at 6:00 am, the next day at 4:00 am, and so forth. In any event, Hyakujo’s statement can be formulated this way. Is there something that needs to be done apart from the daily monastic schedule? In the zendo, we hear the bells: three bells for the beginning of a period of zazen, two bells for kinhin, one bell for the end of kinhin or perhaps there is a Dharma talk, and so on. But what must be done beyond the schedule? What is Zen practice beyond what we are told to do or what we are expected to do?
We hear the teaching “A day without working is a day without eating” or “A day without doing what has to be done is a day without eating” (“Ichinichi nasazareba, ichinichi kuwazu”), what is the purpose of Zen practice that allows us to eat? When I was in Asheville with my family, my nephew asked me, “Well, what are you going to talk about at Great Tree Zen Temple?” I mentioned that I was thinking of talking about the Chinese story of “A day of not working is a day without eating,” and he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’ve been working since I was sixteen years old.” For him, of course, if he doesn’t work, he also doesn’t eat. The conversation quickly went elsewhere.
The second story I would like to speak about is also a well-known Chinese story, “Everyday mind is the Way.” I’d like to speak about this story in the context of “What is it that has to be done every day?” This story, as many of such stories, involves the student and the teacher. The student, in this case, was a man named Joshu (Zhaozhou, Chinese). He later became, like Hyakujo, one of the all-time great Zen teachers in ninth-century China. However, in this story, he was a student. Maybe like you guys. Maybe like me. He wasn’t sure about practice or the teaching. So, he asked his teacher, Nansen, “What is the Way?” I’m sure many of you are familiar with this story. We can understand this to mean, What is the way of Buddha? What is the way of liberation? Please tell me, Joshu said. What is the way of enlightenment? If you’ve ever had a question like one of these, imagine that you are asking the master. Don’t just think of this as a story about Joshu, as if it were only his story. It could also be your story. We must have the confidence that we can also be Joshu because in some very basic sense there is no difference between you and Joshu. And Nansen said – a very famous answer – “Everyday mind is the Way.” Your everyday, ordinary mind, that’s the Way. The trouble with these great teachings, I think, is that we can get stuck there. It’s quite easy to say, “Oh, yeah, everyday, ordinary mind, of course, that’s the Way. Whatever I do, that’s the Way. He said it, they said it, Nansen said it. I’ve read it.” This is the same with a teaching like “Beginner’s mind”, which I know in the San Francisco Zen center lineage is often spoken of. It’s very easy to think, “Yeah, I know what ‘beginner’s mind’ is.” But these stories, these teachings of the Zen masters are really pointing to something that we cannot perceive. If we think, “I’m going to do this with beginner’s mind,” already that’s not beginner’s mind. The instant we think, “Everyday mind is the Way,” that isn’t everyday mind. And this is a problem. We often don’t realize that these words are pointing to a world that is completely empty and before thought, and that those people who have transmitted the Way have really made “everyday mind is the Way” their own. Consequently, they have let go of those words, that teaching. They have realized, as we often say in Zen, that these teachings are simply fingers pointing at the moon.
And Joshu, when he heard Nansen’s answer, he thought about that, Hmmm…. everyday mind is the Way. Well, why don’t I know that? Maybe he thought that. Or, How can greed, anger, and ignorance, how can those things be the Way? Greed, anger, and ignorance are also part of everyday life, so how can those things be the Way? Certainly, Joshu thought of many things and finally he was compelled to ask another question. And that question was, “How can I find the Way?” This is a likely question. He had that question, “What is the Way?” And now, “You’re telling me that ‘everyday mind is the Way,’ but how can I really find it?” And, the teacher gave him a surprising answer, he said, “If you try to find the Way, you will only get further away from it.” In other words, if you have some idea of the Way – let’s say you’ve got some books about Zen at home; we all do, right? – and we’ve read these books and have some idea of what the Way is, if we have some conceptual understanding of the Way and try to practice like this, Nansen is saying we will only get further and further away from it. Nansen is saying, “You are already in the Way. Your whole life itself is the Way. If you try to find it, you’ll go in the wrong direction.”
This had to be confusing for Joshu, the person asking these questions. He was certainly an earnest young man, said to be very young when this story took place. Who knows how long he thought about that answer? When we read about these stories, it may seem as if the questions and answers happened instantaneously, but it’s likely that he thought about that answer for some time. And then, at a certain point, he was compelled to ask another question, “Well, if I look for the Way and I simply get further and further away from it, how am I ever going to make the Way my own?” And Nansen gave a very famous answer, “The Way is neither knowing nor not knowing. Knowing is delusion, not knowing is indifference. When you reach that place that is beyond doubt. You will find that it is as vast as outer space. How, then, can [the Way] be talked about in terms of right and wrong?” And this was the condition by which Joshu awakened. In that instant, he really made the Way his own. And in that instant, both Joshu and the Way disappeared.
As human beings, we can think of either the past or the future. It is simply not possible for us to think about what is happening in the moment now, what we call “now.” That may seem puzzling. “I’m having a good time now” or not, that’s how we usually think about the present moment. But according to the Buddhist teaching, the instant we perceive the moment now, it’s already gone. And the more we know from modern psychology, there is a gap between what we perceive and that actual experience of something. Whatever we perceive is no longer there. [Daigaku claps his hands.] “He’s clapping his hands,” by the time you perceive that sound, the sound is no longer there. But, as I was saying earlier, if we perceive “Everyday mind”, from our point of view, from the ego’s point of view, then it’s very easy to think, “Oh yeah, everything is fine as it is. I’ll just do things as they have to be done.” There are well-known Zen teachings like “nothing to realize, nothing to attain.” You might think, “That’s the condition of ‘everyday mind.’” But if we perceive these teachings in this way, if we perceive “everyday mind”, then we are creating a wall between the self and the way things are. In fact, it’s the self that is creating that wall, and then, that wall becomes even more important to you than what the teaching is pointing at. We get stuck holding onto or looking at the teaching and that becomes a barrier. Zen practice is really a matter of becoming the Way by grinding it up, by bringing an end to what is called “seeking mind.” Nansen’s teaching “Everyday mind is the Way” is telling us not to look for the Way outside of our everyday life. That our everyday life itself is the Way. And yet, we must take this one step further, otherwise, it’s very easy to create a barrier which prevents us from realizing the Way. Joshu, on the other hand, was able, because of his questioning mind, to realize the Way.
Dogen Zenji, in the “Bendowa” chapter of the Shobogenzo, wrote, “For Buddhists, it is not a matter of debating the superiority or inferiority of a teaching or of choosing between the depth or shallowness of someone’s understanding. All we must know is whether our practice is genuine or not.” This is another way of expressing this matter of what it is in practice that must be done. What is the nature of our practice? Whether it is sitting in stillness or whether it is in activity, what is it that must be done? That’s the question I would like to leave you with.
In my lineage, we have an important teaching: zazen is zazen. It’s possible to find this teaching in only one or two places in the Shobogenzo, Dogen Zenji’s great masterwork. “Zazen is zazen;” that zazen, whether in stillness or in activity, is to be the thing itself. If “I’m” doing zazen, if I’m sitting, I’m working, I’m sweeping, that’s two things. Zazen is zazen. This points to the underlying oneness of all things, that our practice is really to eliminate that sense of separation between the self and other things. That our practice is to forget the self. That is the place where everyday mind is the Way, that place where the ego cannot enter, cannot interfere, cannot impose its own ideas of the way it thinks things should or should not be. So, we must make that effort to investigate the Zen teaching, “A day without doing what has to be done is a day without eating.” What is it that must be done? Everyday mind is the Way, what does that mean? To really study the self with those questions is, I believe, what Zen practice is all about.
Thanks so much for listening.
Daigaku Rummé, November 2018
