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― …………………………………………………… To learn the Buddha Way is to learn one’s own self. To learn one’s own self is to forget one’s own self. To forget one’s own self is to be enlightened by the myriad dharmas. To be enlightened by the myriad dharmas is to let one’s own mind and body as well as that of all others fall off. ( from: Chapter “Genjô-kôan” in the Shôbôgenzô by Master Dôgen ) …………………………………………………… Photo by HARA Akira Opening Comments : Report on the Sesshin in Santa Fe ……………………………… by YAMADA Ryôun 04 Teisho: Shôyôroku (38) ………………………………… by YAMADA Ryôun 7 Teisho: Shinjinmei (3) ………………………………… by YAMADA Kôun 15 Words of Yamada Kôun Roshi (70) ………………………… by TONOIKE Zen’yû 25 One, great big ball of love ………………………………… by Maura NOONE 32 Personnel Matters ……………………………………………………………… 35 Financial Report 2012 ………………………………………………………… 35 Zenkai Schedule ………………………………………………………………… 36 Gallery …………………………………………………… by YOKO’O Tatsuhiko 37 Editor’s Note ……………………………………………………………………… 38 Opening Comments: YAMADA Ryôun Report on the Sesshin in Santa Fe In this issue I will report on the 7th Sanbô-Kyôdan sesshin held in North America (Canada and the U.S.A.). It was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from 27 April to 2 May. This sesshin was the second to be held in Santa Fe with the first one having been held three years ago. After the previous one I had reported that Santa Fe, a Spanish word meaning holy faith, is a beautiful town of about 60,000 people, at 2100 meters above sea level, roughly at a latitude parallel to Tokyo. It is said to be the second oldest town in America, having been founded by the Spanish in 1607, a date preceding 1620 when the Pilgrim Fathers sailing from England, reached the eastern shore of America. This sesshin was held in the same place as the one before, namely, IHM, Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat and Conference Center, a very beautiful setting on the outskirts of Santa Fe. And likewise it was planned and carried out through the fine efforts of Joan Rieck Roshi and her group from neighboring Albuquerque and Zen Teacher Henry Shukman who leads a group in Santa Fe. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Joan Rieck Roshi, Zen Teacher Henry Shukman, and all of those who cooperated in this endeavor. Participants, including myself, numbered 56 and came mainly from America and Canada, although there were some also from Germany, Switzerland, and the Philippines, along with Mr. Honda and my daughter Mutsuko from Japan. Especially remarkable among the participants were five or six who had trained in the line of Aitken Roshi and Zen Teacher Philip Kapleau. Such had not participated before. 4 The teisho for the first day was on Jôshû’s dog, followed the next days by a continuation from last year from the Book of Equanimity (Case 28: Gokoku’s “Three Disgraces”, Case 29: Fuketsu’s “Iron Ox”, Case 30:Daizui’s “Kalpa Fire”). At every day’s teisho I always felt a powerful reaction from within the zendo. Although there were others who strongly reacted to the teishos, I could formally recognize two for a jahai ceremony: Maura Noone, from Henry Shukman’s group, and Nancy Shaefer, from Brian Chisholm’s group. On the last evening I enjoyed as customary a pleasant evening with the Zen Teachers. Personally for me a memorable occasion during this sesshin was the visit to the zendo built in Santa Fe by Zen Teacher Philip Kapleau, a man well-known as the author of The Three Pillars of Zen. This zendo, named Mountain Cloud Zen Center, was built by Mr. Kapleau in 1985. It is a five minute drive by car from the IHM where we had our sesshin. I am sure that many of you know that Mr. Kapleau trained in Kamakura under Haku’un Roshi, and he and Koun Roshi were collaborators in writing The Three Pillars of Zen. In 1966 he left Japan, built a Zen center in Rochester, New York, and began to lead Zen practitioners. Although there was an age gap of 30 years between him and myself, during his days in Kamakura we became quite good friends. The year he left Kamakura, 1966, was my second year working in a company. From 1967 to 1969, making use of the company’s study abroad system, I studied at Harvard University. During that period, I think it was the summer of 1968, I visited Mr. Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center and spent a pleasant evening with him. It would be the last time I saw him. I had not known that he had established a Zen center in Santa Fe and directed it for three years. It is this Zen center left by Mr. Kapleau that Zen Teacher Henry Shukman now leads. It is also the place where Maura Noone who received jahai during this sesshin has been practicing. I was quite surprised by what a big piece of property it is. It seems to extend as far as the eye could see. The building itself was not so big, but the zendo was a high quality genuine zendo. The place is such that there is an almost infinite room for expansion. This institution is governed by a board of five members. However, since four of the five, 5 with Henry Shukman as head, are members of the Sanbô-Kyôdan, it is for all practical purposes an establishment run by the Sanbô-Kyôdan. Mr. Kapleau died in 2004 and left us with a wonderful Zen center. Even now I feel a deep connection with him and feel much gratitude toward him. After completing this sesshin my feeling that at last true Zen was becoming established in North America became even stronger. I would like to thank once again all those who worked so hard to make this sesshin a success. I would also like to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone. Last year in response to the start of the New Zendo project you were all so generous in making donations. As you know, I explained in the previous issue why the project had to be aborted. Because of that we suddenly had to return the donations that had been received. However, I suggested that if anyone could donate part of the original donation for the upkeep of San’un Zendo and the activities of the Sanbô-Kyôdan it would be most welcome. The response to this appeal was once again far beyond my expectations. To be more precise, of the original ¥26,000,000 (approximately $260,000) donated for the New Zendo project ¥16,000,000 (approximately $160,000) was re-donated. Not only do I extend my deepest gratitude for this generous display of the Buddhist spirit, but I promise that this gift will be used effectively for the spread of the true Dharma Way. Thank you so much. (translated by Jerome CUSUMANO) Picture by Ursula OKLE 6 SHÔYÔROKU (Book of Equanimity) CASE 38 Rinzai’s True Person By YAMADA Ryôun Instruction: Taking a robber for your own child, taking a servant for the master: Could a broken ladle of wood ever be your ancestor’s skull? The saddle bone for a donkey could never be your father’s jawbone. When bestowing land with a new branch temple, how would you discern the master? Case: Presenting: Rinzai instructed his assembly and said, “There is one true person of no rank, always coming out and going in through the gates of your face. Beginners who have not yet witnessed that, look! look!” Then a monk came out and asked, “What is the one true person of no rank?” Rinzai descended from the rostrum and grabbed him. The monk hesitated. Rinzai pushed him away and said, “The true person of no rank – what a shit-stick you are! Verse: Delusion and enlightenment are two sides of the same coin; Transmission is subtle, and yet simple. When the spring wind once breezes, hundreds of flowers open; When the powerful person yanks once, nine bulls turn back. It cannot be helped: mud and sand are removed, yet it does not open; 7 The eye of the fountain is evidently blocked. If it suddenly burst open, the water would freely flow. The master also says, “Watch out!” On the Instruction: Taking a robber for your own child, taking a servant for the master: could a broken ladle of wood ever be your ancestor’s skull? The saddle bone for a donkey could never be your father’s jawbone. Taking something fake for what is real. Here we are given four examples of such cases. To be fake is to appear similar to something but to not actually be so. The “robber” here is a mind full of dualistic and deluded thoughts. refers to the true fact. The “child” In other words, we mistake our mind full of dualistic and deluded thoughts for the true fact. But if we look a bit deeper, our deluded mind is itself true fact. There is a saying that goes, “In catching a robber, you realize it is your own child.” Now again if we understand it rightly, the “robber,” rather than my “own child,” is my own self! But this is not what this phrase is saying here. Mistakenly taking the servant to be the master. Really, is there anyone who would mistake a broken wooden ladle for one’s own ancestor’s skull? A donkey’s saddle bone is not your father’s jawbone! In short, these sayings warn us not to mistake something else to be our own essential nature. More than ninety-nine percent of all people mistake a conceptual kind of Buddhism for the true Buddha Dharma. When bestowing land with a new branch temple, how would you discern the master? This refers to a Zen master training a disciple to become a reliable guide for others in Zen and transmitting the Dharma to that person. In such a case, how do you judge if that disciple has become a reliable guide or not? With this statement Master Banshō introduces the main case. On the Case: Presenting: Rinzai instructed his assembly and said, “There is one true person of no rank, always coming out and going in through 8 the gates of your face. Beginners who have not yet witnessed that, look! look!” What is a person of no rank? In one word, it is the true self, our original face. One could say that grasping the “true” person of no rank in direct experience and embodying that true person of no rank in one’s being is the whole of Zen. The emphasis on “true” takes the cue from the introduction by Master Banshō, where he tells us that most people mistake what is fake for the true thing. Most people commit the mistake of thinking they have grasped the “true person without rank” with a conceptual kind of Buddhism in their mind. There is no way to grasp the “true person without rank” in a conceptual or philosophical way. This can only be grasped in direct experience. If we try to describe the experience of grasping the “true person of no rank” in words, we can say that the whole universe in its entirety is as such the true person with no rank; nothing exists outside of the true person of no rank. We can say that that the “true person with no rank” has no position, no color, no height, no weight, no feet, no hands, no mind, nothing at all. If you think there is nothing, everything is there! We may describe it in such ways. The mountain is the head of the true person with no rank, the great wide earth is the body, the valleys are the feet, the rivers the hands, the stars the eyes, “life” is the exhalation, and death is the inhalation. This is so because outside of this “true person with no rank” nothing exists. Here Rinzai describes the true person with no rank as “right in front of your face going in and out,” but even going in and out is preposterously redundant. This is because other than you yourself, the true person with no rank does not exist at all. “True person with no rank” is but another name for the real “you.” Beginners are those who have not yet grasped that “true person without rank” in direct experience. Rinzai here is pressing us here to grasp that true person with no rank by all means. Rinzai, needless to say, is the founder of the Rinzai School, Rinzai Gison [Linji Yixuan, dates unclear, died in the year 867]. Then a monk came out and asked, “What is the one true person of no rank?” Rinzai descended from the rostrum and grabbed him. The monk hesitated. Rinzai pushed him away and said, “The true person of no rank – what a shit-stick you are!” A monk who was listening to 9 Rinzai’s Dharma talk said, “What in the world is this person without rank?” Rinzai got off his seat, grabbed the monk’s throat and held him tight right there. The monk began to wonder what that was all about and was confused. Thereupon, Rinzai yelled at the monk, “What is the true person with no rank? You foolish shit-stick!” and pushed him down. The original meaning of shit-stick is a stick used as a toilet instrument, but here it is used in a way to denote something of no value at all. What a rigorous and strict way of guiding students, indeed, typical of Rinzai. I would like you to savor this. As I said before, outside of the person asking, “What is this one true person of no rank?” there is no true person of no rank. And moreover, there exists no such thing as “a true person without rank.” Again as I said previously, this is just attaching the name “true person of no rank” to the person who is asking about the “one true person without rank” – nothing more. In that sense, on Rinzai’s saying “the true person without rank – what a shit-stick you are!” – I would like you to feel the nuance, “True person with no rank? Eat shit!” This is to digress a bit from this case, but I’d like to speak a bit about Master Rinzai and Master Dōgen here. Master Rinzai was originally a very dedicated scholar of doctrinal Buddhism. He studied under Ōbaku Kiun [Huangbo Xiun, dates unclear, died in 805, Dharma heir of Hyakujō Ekai], but not being able to come to enlightenment, he studied under Zen Master Daigu [Gaoan Dayu], a Dharma brother of Ōbaku, and attained great enlightenment under the guidance of Daigu (though his Dharma transmission is through Ōbaku). Master Dōgen thought very highly of Rinzai in the beginning, but then he reversed his opinion later on. This is clear from what he says himself in the Shōbōgenzō. In Chapter 16 of the Shōbōgenzō “On Practice” there is the following entry: “Rinzai [Linji] who would later become great master Eshō [Huizhao], an heir of Ōbaku [Huangbo] was in Ōbaku’s assembly for three years. After a concentrated endeavor on the way, following the encouragement of his senior Dharma brother Bokushū, he asked Ōbaku three times about the essential meaning of Buddha Dharma. He received sixty blows of the stick, but still 10 did not slacken his determination. He was sent to Daigu and had great realization. This was the result of his study with these two revered masters, Ōbaku and Bokushū. Rinzai and Tokusan are called heroes of the ancestral seats. But how can Tokusan compare with Rinzai? Indeed, Rinzai was extraordinary. Those who were ordinary in his time excel those who are outstanding in our time.” (translation adapted from TAKAHASHI Kazuaki (ed.), Dōgen. Treasure of the True Dharma Eye, Shambala 2012, Vol.1, p. 349-350.) This is what Dōgen said during the instruction at the Kōshō Temple in 1242. But in his instruction on July 7, 1243, also in Kōshō Temple, he said the following in Chapter 38, entitled “Entangling Vines”: “The Old Buddha Jōshū was pointing out to his assembly just precisely what the Way of the Buddha is. This is beyond what others like Rinzai, Tokusan, Isan, and Ummon attained. It is something that they had never even dreamt of, much less expressed.” (Translation by Rev. Hubert NERMAN, OBC, Shōbōgenzō, Mt. Shasta, California: Shasta Abbey Press, 2007, p. 583). Again, in the instruction held at Kōshō Temple in August of 1243 he said the following in Chapter 42, “Expounding the Mind, Expounding One’s True Nature”: “The strongest way that Rinzai phrased it was merely as ‘a real person who is beyond rank’; he still had not phrased it as ‘a real person who has a rank’. He had not yet displayed any other ways of exploring this through his training or any other ways of putting it. Thus, we must say that he had not yet reached the field of the Ultimate.” (Nearman, p. 535) Further, in September of 1243, in his instructions given at Yoshimine Temple, he leaves us the following words (from Shōbōgenzō No. 47: “Buddhist Scriptures”): “To tell the truth, in the case of Rinzai, he was a newcomer in Ōbaku’s assembly. Ōbaku had already used his staff to inflict sixty blows on Rinzai before the latter left to make a formal call on Daigu, with whom he had a meeting to 11 discuss the mind of a certain old woman. This Dharma conversation helped to illuminate matters in his daily conduct and, as a consequence, he returned to Ōbaku. Because those who heard this account were deeply impressed by it, they believed that Rinzai, and Rinzai alone had received Ōbaku’s Buddha Dharma, and, moreover, they even fancied that Rinzai had surpassed Ōbaku. But this is simply not so. Although it must be said that Rinzai had barely entered Ōbaku’s assembly and was as yet the junior-most monk at the time, nevertheless, when the venerable senior monk Chin [=Bokushū] prompted him to ask his spiritual question, Rinzai did not know what to say. Even though someone has not yet clarified what the Great Matter is, how could anyone who is committed to exploring It through their training fail to rise to the occasion while listening to the Dharma and simply be dumbstruck like that? You should realize that such a one is not foremost in ability. Further, Rinzai never had the ardor of his celebrated Master, and we have yet to hear of any sayings of his that surpass those of his Master. Ōbaku, though, did have ways of putting things which evinced a greater wisdom than that of his own Master… Rinzai lacked such an eminent spirit. And why? Because he never made any remark, not even in his dreams, which had not already been expressed in the past or present. It is as if he merely understood the many and overlooked the One, or grasped the One and overlooked the many. How can we possibly think that …it serves as a compass that points in the correct way to explore the Teaching?” (Nearman, pp. 616- 617) Without going into the details, from these passages we can understand that sometime between 1242 and 1243 Dōgen had a 180 degree reversal of his view of Master Rinzai. What does this mean? What I feel most strongly on this point is that sometime between 1242 and 1243, Dōgen had another kenshō experience that was undoubtedly a great enlightenment experience. It was that great experience of enlightenment that led him to change his view of Rinzai by 180 degrees. If this were not the case it would be difficult to explain this change. What then was the “content” of this new enlightenment? This is a theme I would 12 like to explore more deeply. Regarding what I call this “new great enlightenment experience” of Dōgen at this point, for your reference I would like to line up some keywords: 1. From “Body and Mind Dropping Off” to the world of “Dropped-off Body and Mind, Dropping-off of Dropping-off.” (Denkōroku No. 51) 2. From “Donkey looking at the well” to the world of “Well looking at the donkey” (Shōyōroku No. 52) 3. From “Mind is no other than the mountains and the rivers, the great wide earth, the sun, the moon, the stars” to the world of “the Mountains, the rivers, the great wide earth, the sun, the moon, the stars” 4. From the world of “Your Self practices” to the world of “Mountains, rivers, the great wide earth practice.” 5. From the world of “Your Self experiences great enlightenment” to “The sun, the moon, the stars experience great enlightenment.” 6. From the world of “True person of no rank, true person of rank” to the world of “true rank.” On the Verse: Delusion and enlightenment are two sides of the same coin; transmission is subtle, and yet simple. Rinzai is telling us in a simple and direct, and truly marvelous way, that delusion and enlightenment are two facets of the same thing. Not realizing what is “true person with no rank,” that very monk himself who asks that question, “What is a true person with no rank?” – as well as the very question itself, no less the very delusion that asking the question entails, are each in themselves the true embodiment of that “true person with no rank.” Rinzai is conveying this point in a marvelous way here. When the spring wind once breezes, hundreds of flowers open; when the powerful person yanks once, nine bulls turn back. As the 13 spring wind blows through, flowers of different kinds begin to bloom all at once. “There is one true person of no rank, always going in and going out through the gates of your face. Beginners, look, look!” Saying this, Rinzai blows like the spring wind, seeking to make the flowers bloom. In this, he is also like a powerful person yanking a bull by its nose to turn in this direction. Wanting the monk to attain realization by all means, Rinzai grasps him, and pushes him back. It cannot be helped: mud and sand are removed, yet it does not open; the eye of the fountain is evidently blocked. Even if you try to wipe away the mud and sand with all your might, if the eye of the fountain is blocked, the sweet spring waters will not come up. Rinzai is skillfully and carefully doing all he can to open the eye of the monk, but the mud of dualistic delusions is firmly stuck, and the eye does not open. The sweet spring waters refer to the eye of enlightenment. If it suddenly burst open, the water would freely flow. The master also says, “Watch out!” Once the eye of the fountain is opened, the water comes up bubbling and flowing. You’ll get soaked. Danger! Watch out! don’t know when and at what point the true person of no rank will jump out. You Stay alert! (translated by Maria REIS-HABITO) Photo by HARA Akira 14 Third Teisho By YAMADA Kôun The conflict between attraction and repulsion is a sickness of the When you return to the root, you gain the principle; if you pursue appearances, you lose the essential source. Turn your light inward for even an instant, and you surpass the former emptiness. Changes in this former emptiness are all due to delusion. You need not pursue the truth, just stop trying to see. Not dwelling in dualistic views, you should be careful not to pursue it. Even a little true or false, and the Mind is lost in confusion. There are two because there is one, but you should also not hold onto one. If the mind of oneness has not arisen, the ten-thousand things are without blame. When you return to the root, you gain the principle; if you pursue appearances, you lose the essential source. Some of you have already worked on the koan “the source of Mu.” The source is the same as the root referred to here. It is the foundation of the true self. There is also the koan “What is it that hears these sounds?” In this case, too, the one who is hearing is the root. This is the basis and if you return to the basis you clearly understand the true fact. To “gain the principle” means to understand the fundamental fact. To “pursue appearances” means that the subject is viewing the object. What we usually refer to as “consciousness” Buddhism divides into six types: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and the object of thought [Japanese: i]. The final type refers to the mind; it means the surface mind in the usual sense of using the mind to think and discern. This surface mind “pursues” the objects of the external world. As long as we are pursuing the external world we lose the fundamental reality. Bassui Zenji often asked, “What is it that hears these sounds?” You can hear various sounds at this moment but the question remains: who is hearing those sounds? Some may say that it is your ears that are hearing. But the ears are nothing more than a medium 15 that I use when hearing, much like a telephone receiver. If the receiver is broken I can no longer hear. Thus, we cannot say that the receiver is that which hears. Likewise, if there is something wrong with my ears I also cannot hear. The ears, too, cannot be called that which hears. The ears are also a tool that we use to hear. The koan is: Who is it that hears? When I speak on the telephone, I am the one who is hearing. But who is that “I” who is hearing? That is the real question. I don’t know who that “I” is. If I am asked to produce it, I might show my hands. But those are just my hands. I know about my hands, my head, my feet. But who is the “I” who is implied by the possessive pronoun “my”? I cannot show it. And yet, it is that basic “I” to which I must return. Bassui Zenji advised his disciples to pursue the question “What is it that hears these sounds?” or “What is the mind?” I know that there is a mind, because I am speaking and hearing. But if I am asked to show that mind, I cannot do it. Curiously enough, however, if you come to kensho you can do it with ease. When you return to the source of the true self, you understand the true fact. If you attend only to the objective world of externals, pursuing appearances, you lose the basic fact. No matter how far natural science advances, because it pursues the external world, we cannot grasp the essential fact by means of science alone. Although it is true enough that natural science has clearly grasped one side of the coin, there is another side. Significantly enough, however, these two are gradually becoming one. At any rate, if you pursue appearances you lose the source. As long as the mind is pursuing the external world it will lose the fundamental fact. Turn your light inward for even an instant, and you surpass the former emptiness. To “turn your light inward” means to turn your mind’s eye within. In his Fukan Zazengi (“Universal Recommendation for Zazen”), Dôgen Zenji tells us to “learn to withdraw and reflect upon yourself.” This is also turning the light inward. We withdraw a step and turn our light inward. To advance instead of withdrawing is the method of natural science, which marches forward ceaselessly. Such a method is a specialty of the Western spirit, and science could be called a product of that spirit. People in the West have trouble turning the light of the mind inward since they are so used to doing the opposite. They might think that they are looking inward but that inwardness often turns out to be a conceptualized inwardness. Thus, if we can turn the light of the mind inward for even a brief period, that is superior to the former emptiness. The “former emptiness” refers back to the previous line, which says: “If you do not pass through the one, you lose the effect of both sides. If you attempt to discard being, you lose being; if you follow emptiness, you go against emptiness.” The word 16 “emptiness” appears twice here with two different meanings. The “former emptiness” means a so-called vacuum or void. If we follow such emptiness we go against the latter emptiness. The latter emptiness is true emptiness/wondrous being [Japanese: shinkû- myô’u]. In other words, although it is empty, it is everything in the universe. The Heart Sutra says: “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” It is the emptiness in which emptiness and form are one. True emptiness/wondrous being is not a vacuum; it is emptiness that is simultaneously wondrous being. The essential world is no other than the world of phenomena. There is the essential world, the world where there is “not a speck of cloud obstructing the eye.” But that is only half of it. It is completely one with the world of phenomena. This is expressed as “form is emptiness.” In the Five Aspects [Goi], these two aspects are separated into hen-i and shô-i. Something that is intrinsically one is separated into two parts for the sake of explanation. Thus, as I mentioned, if we turn the light of the mind inward for even a moment this is superior to the “former emptiness” that was explained just now. The former emptiness is nothing at all; it is a vacuum, a “pure” emptiness. It is not the emptiness we realize in experience but rather a conceptualized emptiness that does not actually exist. Physics often speaks in terms of a vacuum, a state in which all air has been removed. But that, too, is a theoretical state. The world of emptiness that we grasp in zazen – that is, the world of emptiness, which is simultaneously the world of phenomena – is not the same as the theoretical emptiness of physics. The Shinjinmei tells us that turning the light of the mind inward is infinitely superior to such a theoretical emptiness. If we cling to theoretical views of emptiness, we succumb to the “sickness of emptiness.” This is true for zazen as well. It is not the emptiness encountered in true experience but a conceptual emptiness. True emptiness must be the emptiness that is simultaneously wondrous being. Let me digress a moment. Although physics speaks about a vacuum in which everything has been removed, such a state evidently does not exist. For, if it were a true vacuum it would not be possible to transmit light. But since light is transmitted from point to point, something must be that makes this possible. It would not be possible in an absolute vacuum. When sunlight travels to the earth it passes through a so-called vacuum. How is this possible? Physicists tell us that there is something even where we thought there was nothing. They give the name “place” to that something and say that it exists in what was previously considered by physics to be a vacuum. But such an explanation is proof that space in physics can never be a “pure vacuum” either. A “pure” vacuum does not exist. It is only something we imagine in our head. In clinging to such a “vacuum” we lose the true emptiness that is simultaneously wondrous being. 17 Changes in this former emptiness are all due to delusion. Because the “former emptiness” is just a concept, it is referred to here as delusion. Because it is the result of discriminating thinking, it is thought and not the true fact. Thought is a sort of constant flow. It is only to be expected that a vacuum, which we imagine in our heads is continuously in flux since it is only a product of our thinking. Such products of thought are like rootless grasses; they are illusory flowers in the air and cannot help but change constantly. You need not pursue the truth, just stop trying to see. Thus, when you seek after truth, you are always pursuing it outside of yourself. It is like trying to catch your own shadow. The more you run after it, the more it eludes your grasp. Yet if you remain still your shadow is right here. Since truth is like the shadow, we will be lost if we try to pursue the truth. This is difficult but important. Some may say, then, that we should do nothing, that everything is all right just as it is. Such a view is called buji-zen, the “Zen of no matter.” The true condition for not pursuing truth comes after seeking until we clearly grasp the truth and gain the experience of satori. We then go on to forget that experience, until we finally return to our original, natural self. It is then that we realize there is no truth to purse. The poet is speaking from a very lofty standpoint of realization when he says that there is no need to pursue truth. If we simply take his words at face value, we may wrongly conclude that we don’t have to do anything. But that is not the case. It is very important to search and search until we realize that there is nothing more to search for. Recall the first lines from the Shôdôka: “There is the leisurely one, walking the Tao, beyond philosophy, not avoiding illusion, not seeking truth. The real nature of ignorance is the Buddha-nature itself.” We are told that illusion is Buddha-nature itself. But it is only when we have practiced ardently and gained a satori experience that we can say this. The author of the Shôdôka proceeds as follows: “The empty delusory body is the very body of the Dharma. When the Dharma body awakens completely there is nothing at all.” That agrees completely with what is said in the Shinjinmei. As was mentioned, we should neither avoid delusion nor seek truth, since seeking the truth is like chasing one’s own shadow. If we sit perfectly still our shadow is right beneath us. Nevertheless, we must clearly realize this in order to attain true peace of mind. Although there is no mistaking the truth of this fact, we cannot really be at ease until we realize it ourselves. I once read an interesting novel in my middle schools days. At a memorial ceremony held at a certain middle school in Japan (this was during the pre-war school system), one of the 18 alumni gives an address to the assembled students in which he says: “I hated math. Once we were told during geometry class to prove that the sum of the three interior angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles. I said it is a fact that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles and wanted to know why it was necessary to prove it further.” This is a prefect example of the above-mentioned buji-zen, the Zen of no matter. You have to prove it yourself and make it clear to yourself. This class alumnus was of the opinion that, once something had been established as true, it was no longer necessary to prove it for yourself. Some members of the modern-day Soto School of Zen in Japan are proposing views that are not very different from this: “Dôgen Zenji’s writings include the statement that ‘all beings are intrinsically Buddha.’ This is an irrefutable truth that was clearly realized by Shakyamuni Buddha. What need is there, then, for us to make extraordinary efforts to come to enlightenment? Isn’t it enough simply to believe?” Views of this sort are being proposed by some of the leading scholars of Soto Zen. This is buji-zen. You need not pursue the truth, just stop trying to see. “Trying to see” in this context means attempting through conceptual thought to grasp the truth. We are told to stop trying to “see” in this way. In this case, too, such a thing can only be said when we have clearly grasped the truth. Otherwise it descends to the level of buji-zen. Why is such Zen of no use? Because true belief has not been established and is thus incapable of strongly convincing others. When belief is not thoroughgoing you are unable to attain true peace of mind or bring peace to others. There is no real belief other than seeing with your own eyes. Just believing it because you read about it in a book or heard it from someone is not true belief. For example, if you talk about the Nijûbashi (the “Double Bridge” at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo) to an old man in the countryside who has never been there, he won’t understand. You then might show him photographs or picture postcards or even a film while describing the Nijûbashi to him until he gains an image of it. This is usually known as belief. However, until he goes himself to the Nijûbashi and sees it with his own eyes, confirming beyond any doubt that it actually exists, true faith cannot be established. Once that has happened he will not be shaken in his faith no matter what anyone says. I sincerely hope that all of you will come to this point. Unless you see it for yourself you cannot gain true peace for yourself. And if you are not at peace in your own heart you cannot bring peace to others. There is no power there to carry out the religious work of saving others. Unless you have truly realized, you will always be attempting to save face, not really sure whether you have grasped it or not. 19 Not dwelling in dualistic views, you should not try to pursue it. “Dualistic views” means concepts involving dualistic position. We are told not to remain stuck in such views. The world of the everyday is always dualistic. For example, there is self and others, subject and object, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, like and dislike, long and short. They are all dualities. Although the phenomenal world is based on dualistic opposition, we should not be caught up in that duality. “You should not try to pursue,” we are told. We should not endlessly pursue those dualistic views. The most representative example of such a pursuit is philosophy, an occupation for which the German mind seems to be particularly suited. Continually acting as the basis for those speculations is a standoff between subject and object or self and other. During my student days the German philosopher Heinrich RICKERT was very popular. Among his works is the outstanding book entitled Der Gegenstand der Erkenntnis (“The Object of Understanding”). While I was still in Manchuria after Japan’s defeat, waiting to return to Japan and not knowing when that would be possible, I studied his works carefully. However, when I consider the matter now, I feel that even those works are based on the duality of subject and object. Although Rickert’s philosophical thought is extremely subtle, and although I pay him the highest respect as a philosopher, it is still based on dualism. No true peace can emerge there. Unless you grasp the world of oneness you cannot gain true peace. Let me give a concrete example of the world of oneness. Here are my left and right hands. Seen from outside, they are unquestionably in dualistic opposition to each other. There are left and right hands, my left and right eyes, my left and right legs. However, from the standpoint of the life in them—although the problem of defining life remains here—both my left hand and my right hand are living that single life in me. Nevertheless it remains difficult, especially for non-Japanese, to grasp that single life; it always tends to become dualism, even though this will not do. In order to bring about true peace in the world it is crucial that people realize the world of oneness, not as a concept but as a living fact. “Not dwelling in dualistic views, you should not try to pursue it.” Once again, you should be careful not to obstinately pursue the world of dualistic opposition. Those who are practicing with the koan MU should not have a picture of MU in their heads or pursue MU outside themselves. If you imagine that MU is somewhere outside of you and make a physical effort to grasp MU, you will never achieve it no matter how hard you try. Instead, MU is always with you, although you of course have to come to an experience of that fact to grasp it. 20 Stop trying to pursue MU with brute strength. Instead, silently and naturally practice MU, forgetting yourself completely in that practice. You must become completely one with MU. From this arises kensho. Although there have been cases of people being confirmed as having experienced kensho while practicing MU with physical force, such experiences are highly suspect. If you practice MU with all your might in a great physical effort, it might seem as if you have forgotten yourself in the sheer effort, but such experiences are questionable. If brute force alone were enough to achieve kensho, sumo wrestlers would experience enlightenment in rapid succession. But such a method of practice will never do. You must forget yourself completely in quiet practice. Even a little true or false, and the Mind is lost in confusion. What is translated here as true or false can also mean good and bad. True and false appear here as representative dualistic views of delusion. The “picking and choosing” that appear at the start of the Shinjinmei are also examples of this. If there is even a little thinking in terms of good and bad or picking and choosing, everything becomes confused and the Mind is lost. The Mind can be seen as meaning the true self, also known as the original mind or the Buddha mind. In other words, if we used thinking in the pursuit of something outside ourselves we lose our true self. This is actually very difficult. In preparing for these teisho, I have been referring to the commentary by ARAI Sekizen Roshi. Although he has many fine things to say, when it comes to answering our practical questions there are problems. For example, he writes as follows about the above-cited line from the Shinjinmei: If you can truly transcend dualistic views, you must be called the true and peerless person of the Way, the person who has completed Buddhism. The roshi says that if we transcend dualistic views and thoughts we can grasp the most essential matter of Buddhism. That is certainly true, but how are we to actually transcend such views? If we knew that, things would be a lot easier. Although the roshi’s words are interesting, he does not pursue his train of thought any further, and we are left wondering what we should actually do. Here is another passage from the same book: 21 If you merge with the subtle principle of true suchness and the single fact, the distinctions of the phenomenal world are themselves transcendence and deliverance. Here again, the words are very interesting. “True suchness and the single fact” means the world of oneness. The “subtle principle” is the principle that is extremely subtle and wonderful. If we become one with this, the distinctions of the phenomenal world are no other than the essential world itself. But just to present an explanation like this and give no instructions on how we can actually merge with the subtle principle of true suchness and the single fact is doing a disservice to one’s readers. Arai Sekizen Roshi was a very illustrious person and a man of great character who was the abbot of Sôjiji Temple during my student days. When several thousand people died in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, a memorial service for the dead was held at Sôjiji Temple. I attended that service and listened to his sermon. I remember that this sermon by Sekizen Roshi, who hailed from my native Fukushima Prefecture, was quite impressive. I once asked Yasutani Roshi what he thought of Arai Sekizen roshi since I knew he always expressed his frank opinion about other monks. He said the roshi was a man of great character with considerable literary gifts. Because Yasutani Roshi did not say anything outright about Zen experience, I do not know if he considered Sekizen roshi to have achieved great enlightenment or not. However, when I now read Sekizen Roshi’s commentary on the Shinjinmei, I can’t help feeling that there is an itchy spot and that he is only scratching the surface. I feel that even such an illustrious person as Sekizen Roshi fails to hit the nail on the head. At any rate, I consider it a disservice to one’s readers to give explanations without giving any practical advice about how to achieve what one is advocating. To truly transcend dualistic views and merge with the subtle principle of suchness and unity, there is only one way: zazen. Only when we practice zazen and break through to a clear Zen experience do we gain the world of oneness. I wonder why the roshi fails to say this straightforwardly. “Even a little true or false, the Mind is lost in confusion.” If even a little dualistic thinking appears in your head, the true self and the Buddha mind are lost. There are two because there is one, but you should also not hold onto one. Although the poem just spoke of duality and dualistic opposition, at the root of that duality is oneness and at the root of oneness is zero. Unless there is one there can be no 22 two. In my example of the fraction, two is the world of the numerator where everything is two. One is the denominator, the world that is zero and infinite. The phenomenal world is the world of two, which is constructed on one. Thus, if you do not know the world of the denominator but only the world of duality, you cannot gain absolute peace of mind. We previously encountered the line: “Remain peaceful in the one, and all worries will disappear by themselves.” The “one” is the world of oneness, the world of the single mind. When this becomes peaceful, all discriminating thinking, suffering and sadness naturally disappear. The “one” is the same as the one in this present line; it is the world of oneness. Unless you clearly grasp this world of oneness you cannot understand the true appearance of all things. We usually assume that only the world of duality, the phenomenal world, truly exists. Generally speaking, Western thinking is characterized by duality. For some reason, it appears easier for Oriental people to have an intuition of the world of oneness. I believe this is because eastern people have an instinctive feeling for the world of zero. I often hear from my German students who have lived in Japan for many years that they somehow feel constricted whey they return to their native land. I can understand what they are saying. If you are aware of the world of oneness there is a feeling of elbowroom. But if you are living only with thoughts and feelings of dualistic opposition you will certainly feel constricted. It is an error to believe that only the world of dualistic opposition is real. No true peace can emerge from such a view. This is expressed in the Shinjinmei line just quoted: “There is two because there is one.” Underlying phenomena is the world of oneness, although it is also a mistake to cling to that world of oneness. To think in terms of “oneness as opposed to duality” is to cling to oneness. Even that oneness must disappear. This matter is often addressed in koans. For example, there is Case 45 of the Blue Cliff Record: A monk asked Jôshû, “They myriad things return to one. Where does the one return to?” All phenomena become one. That is, everything in the numerator becomes the one of the denominator. But where does that one go? -- What did Jôshû say then? Listening to his reply, the average person would conclude that Zen says strange things indeed: Jôshû said, “When I was in Seishû I made a cloth shirt. It weighed seven pounds.” What in the world is this? It is the total manifestation of the fact that transcends oneness. The true fact is neither two nor one. There is only a division into one and two for the sake 23 of explanation. The true reality is standing, sitting, eating and drinking…..just that. Another variation would be: “I had a robe made in Kyoto. It costs 30,000 yen.” That is the true fact. You must understand what is going on here. Let me summarize. If you are still clinging to oneness, you are not yet there. You must go on to forget even that oneness. This is known as “the thought of oneness does not arise” [ichinen fushô]. Underlying one is zero. What happens when “the thought of oneness does not arise”? That is described in the next line of the Shinjinmei: If the mind of oneness has not arisen, the ten-thousand things are without blame. As I said, if you are still clinging to the One-Mind, the world of oneness, you cannot gain true peace. The mind of oneness does not arise. A thought of oneness does not arise. It is just as it is from moment to moment. And when that is so, “the ten thousand things are without blame.” Then you are equal to anything. If I were asked to explain what is meant by the mind of oneness not arising I would say tada kore kore [Just this]. Why? Because when you stand there is just that standing. When you sit there is just that sitting. When you eat there is just that eating. There is no obstruction. Our lives should be a continuum of “just this, just this.” But, you say, there are also difficult times. What about then? Then, when it hurts there is just that pain. When you are sad there is just that sadness. That is how we want to live our lives. Just this, just this. Please practice zazen fervently and, before you know it, your lives will be like this. Although it will not happen right away, it will surely happen. Tada kore kore, just this. These are wonderful words. (translated by Paul SHPHERD) picture by HARA Akira 24 ************************************************ Words of Yamada Kôun Roshi (70) *********************************************** Visiting the Grave of the Reverend Sonnō Towards the end of the year before last (1964), I received an invitation from relatives in Sendai to attend the wedding of their oldest son. I was born and brought up in Fukushima Prefecture but attended Sendai First Middle School (now known as First High School). Sendai was the cradle of my dreams during an impressionable age and was a nostalgic place for me, but since I’m a procrastinator by birth and had spent my days being occupied by the various tasks of the moment, I had put off going there, visiting Sendai only once since repatriation from Manchuria after the war. Deciding that this invitation was a good opportunity to go again, I set out on December 13th. Of course attending the wedding was something I looked forward to, but for some time I had also been thinking that if I had the chance, I’d like to make a trip to Sendai to hunt down the Reverend Sonnō’s1 grave and pay my respects. Come to think of it, with one thing and another, nearly ten years had passed since I first had had this wish and had kept putting it off. Be that as it may, I thought I should take this chance if I could. The wedding was on the 14th at eleven o’clock, which meant that I would have time free for myself from the afternoon of the 13th until around ten o’clock on the morning of the 14th. My plan was to take the express train back to Tokyo the evening of the 14th. As some of you may know, the Reverend Sonnō was an esteemed Sōtō priest who lived 1 A Soto monk, born in Yonezawa (=Yamagata Prefecture). He became a monk at the age of 12, practicing under Master Ranshū in Zenrinji and Master Yōzan in Kanzanji. Later he came to Edo (=Tokyo) and practiced under many masters. Then, he went to Master Gesshū Sōko in Daijōji in Kaga (=Ishikawa Prefecture) as well as to Master Manjizan Dōhaku. In 1697 he became the abbot of Taishin-in Temple in Sendai after Master Kazan Dōetsu. One of his Dharma successors was Menzan Zuihō. 25 from 1645 to 1705, roughly during the Genroku Era (1688-1704) in Japan. He was chief priest of Taishin-in Temple in Sendai and was the master written about in Sonnō’s Zen Talks. I’ll never forget how in November of 1953, thanks to a karmic connection mediated by Sonnō’s Zen Talks, I was granted a great turning point as the result of a Zen experience. Since then, I’ve felt as though there is some sort of profound relation between the Reverend Sonnō and myself. Because it is mentioned in Sōnnō’s Zen Talks, I knew that he had resided in Taishin-in, but since the majority of streets in Sendai had been blown up during the war and reduced to ashes, I had little confidence that the temple had escaped destruction and was still standing. When I arrived at my relatives’ house and asked to check it on a map, we found the name Taishin-in with the symbol for a temple in a section of town called Minami-Kajichō. I immediately hired a car and, accompanied by my aunt, left to go there. Using the map as guide, we came to a large tombstone on the side of the street on which was carved, “Grave of the Yokozuna(=Grand Champion) Tanikaze2”, a monument that I remembered passing every day long ago on my way to and from middle school. For a moment I was carried away by a feeling of myself standing there forty years ago. It was the first I knew that the temple with Tanikaze’s tomb was a Shinshū temple called Tōzenji. Taishin-in was on the street next to it, about 150 meters off the road at the end of a drive. From the large red temple gate to the main hall of the temple was a distance of roughly 100 meters back. Surrounded by a fairly spacious compound, Taishin-in had a dignified appearance. I imagined it must have been quite splendid in earlier times, although at present it looked a bit run-down. When I told the woman who answered the bell – probably the lady of the house – the object of our visit, she said that the head priest was out and was not expected to return until late. The next morning would be a good time to come, she said, no matter how early. Promising to come early, we took our leave. When we arrived at Taishin-in around eight o’clock next morning, the head priest, Master Satō Shōkō, was waiting for us as he sprinkled water before the entrance. He had the kindly face of an educated country gentleman. The explanation on the signboard hanging inside the temple gate said that Daishin-in was designated Sanriku-zan by the Soto School. It was the temple where Lady Daishin-in was buried, the wife of Shukushū, the 14th lord of the Clan of DATE, and 2 A sumo wrestler (1694-1736). He entered the world of sumo at the age of 17. A huge man (191 cm, 154kg), he was undefeated for 9 years. 26 the great-grandmother of the famous warrior lord, DATE Masamune. According to head priest Satō, the temple with the same name “Daishin-in” – as it was dedicated to Daishin-in herself – had originally been located in the Yonezawa region. But when the above-mentioned Date Masumune decided that Sendai would be the site of his residential castle, the temple too was moved to the present location. The head priest said that the name of the temple was changed to Taishin-in (instead of Daishin-in) at that time, in order to give it a more auspicious connotation: that is, if you combine the two characters dai (great) and shin (heart-mind) into one, you get the character for okotaru, which means to be lazy or neglectful. Since that would not do for a temple name, it was changed to Taishin-in (taishin meaning “peaceful heart-mind”) by order of Date Masamune. The priest led me to the graves behind the temple. The cemetery had been rearranged sometime in the past so the place where the Reverend Sonnō was actually buried may be a bit different, he said. At any rate, among the row of egg-shaped tombs, the one with the inscription “Eighth-Generation Abbot, the Restorer” was his “seamless tomb” (=typical tomb for a monk), according to the head priest. Having achieved my desire of many years, I was filled with deep emotion as I bowed in respect before it. It is mentioned in Sonnō’s Zen Talks that he wrote the Lotus Sutra in blood. It may be a rather lengthy story, but I will quote it here: The venerable Founder began by building a zendo and making temple rules. Then he wanted to build a Buddha hall, but both personal resources and temple funds were lacking. It was for this reason that he drew his own blood and wrote eight scrolls of the Lotus Sutra with it, collecting voluntary donations for the original cause. He said, “I have made a Dharma offering of a sutra, every character in blood, for the sake of you all. None of you should begrudge giving this foolish priest some small sum in alms. Moreover, by using spare time every day outside of copying the sutra, I have expounded to you the essence of the wonderful sutra and explained why I have come to do this copying as well as how ancient sages had offered their lives to the Buddha way. Furthermore, I say that the meritorious virtue of offering both alms and Dharma is immeasurable, that self and other are not two sentient bodies, that your alms are exactly the blood of my body and that my body’s blood is precisely the wondrous Dharma. In 84,000 pores, 84,000 dharanis open on the spot. When we build the Buddha hall using them, Buddhas and Tathagatas, innumerable as 27 the sands of the rivers of the three worlds and ten directions, will enter it together, and the joy of the intrinsic Dharma will flourish endlessly ….” The blood-letting lasted from spring to fall. How many people offered alms is unknown, but by the following spring, the Buddha hall was completed. In front reposed Shakyamuni, Kashyapa and Ananda, and on the sides were shelves with boxes to store all the scriptures of Shakyamuni. The people and priests came daily for religious services. Consequently a plaque was put up calling it the En’i-den (Pavillion of the Perfect Circle), with the calligraphy by Master Yōhō Manjiyama. Our master once said, “The one who dedicates body and mind to the Three Treasures possesses the great happiness of encountering the Buddha’s Dharma in this life. Acting for the sentient beings of this Dharma world simultaneously includes one’s parents and the parents of one’s parents, thus completing their happiness beyond this life.” When I asked the temple priest about this story, he said that the sutra written in blood, the temple’s treasure, was safely preserved in the temple. In spite of the fact that the greater part of Sendai was reduced to ashes as a result of American bombing in the final period of the war, this temple had fortunately escaped damage. In the past it had caught fire a number of times, however, even as recently as June 17, 1937, when it sustained damage from fires that broke out in the neighborhood. That the Lotus Sutra written in blood had been kept safe at that time was most likely due to the protection of the Buddhas and Tathagatas of the three worlds and ten directions. When I asked if I could look at the temple treasure, my request was kindly granted. I followed the temple priest to the main hall where he took out an ancient-looking letter box and said, “This is it,” as he laid it on the sutra table. Taking off the lid with fear and trembling and looking inside, I saw that it contained a number of bluish-grey sutra books. Picking them up, I found eight volumes of the Mahayana Wondrous Sutra as well as two or three volumes (I neglected to count exactly) of the Brahmajala Bodhisattva Precept Sutra, all written in blood. Needless to say, the Mahayana Wondrous Sutra is the Lotus Sutra, parts of which were in darker writing, parts of which were lighter. And the book itself, depending on the section, was not written uniformly in either square-character or cursive style. When I looked closely, I saw that there were numerous fine dots of coagulated blood scattered on it. This indeed was Sonnō Zenji’s blood that he had dedicated to the Three Treasures 260 years earlier. I quietly lifted it up in reverence and held it high for a time in awe. 28 It is said that the book called Sonnō’s Zen Talks is more accurately entitled Record of Experiences with Old Man Sonnō in the Era of Hōei. It is a collection of 108 Zen talks about daily occurrences, collected and edited by his disciple the Reverend Menzan, that the Reverend Sonnō gave casually on occasion. The Reverend Menzan3 was a man of great scholarship and eminent virtue who wrote a commentary on the Shōbōgenzō along with many other books; popularly he was much better known than the Reverend Sonnō. In the dictionary of the Zen Sect published by YAMADA Kōdō, there are entries relating to Menzan Zuihō but none for Sonnō Shūeki. The Reverend Menzan closely attended his teacher priest and compiled his actual words and actions as he observed him and then handed them down to us. This is much the same as Dōgen Zenji’s Precious Auspicious Record (Hōkyōki) about his master Nyōjō Zenji’s talks and Ejō Zenji’s Record of Things Heard (Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki) about his master Dōgen Zenji’s talks. If this record of the Reverend Sonnō’s talks had not been left to us, the fact of his greatness would probably have buried in the course of history and there would have been no cause for future generations to know of him. We cannot be grateful enough to the Reverend Menzan. However, if I may be excused for daring to say this, ultimately the Reverend Menzan probably never knew the Reverend Sonnō’s state of mind even in a dream. I can’t help feeling that way. The circumstance of the Reverend Menzan’s first meeting with the Reverend Sonnō appears in the first talk of the book. I’ll abbreviate the first half and begin the quotation from around the middle: ….Accompanying Ekizan, I (=Menzan) first paid my respects to Master Manji in Asakusa and subsequently bowed to Master Sonnō at his residence. It was the fifth day of the fifth month in 1703 (Genroku 16). The master was suffering from an itchy rash on his elbow that he was was scratching as he exposed it to the air in front of the window. I paid my respects to him in a dignified manner. The master was only wearing informal attire. When our conversation finished, he turned slowly to me and said, “Now, if you 3 Menzan Zuihō (1683-1769), later called Menzan Zuihō Zenji, also surnamed Eifuku Rōjin. A Soto priest born in Higo (now Kumamoto Prefecture), he became a priest at the age of 15. At 21 he entered Seishōji Temple in Edo (= Tokyo) and practiced under Manjiyama Dōhaku, Sonnō Sōeki and Tokuō Ryōkō. When Sonnō returned to Taishin-in in Sendai, Menzan followed him and practiced day and night under him. He then visited many masters in the Kantō area before returning to Taishin-in and inheriting the Dharma from Sonnō. He was abbot of Rōbai-an in Sagami (=Kanagawa Prefecture), Tōshōji in Hitachi (=Ibaragi Prefecture) and Kūinji in Wakasa (=Fukui Prefecture), until he finally retired to Eifuku-an. Buddha way in various places, and wrote many books. Later he preached on ancestral works of the He died in Seirai-an in Ken’ninji. 29 are at Seishōji Temple, you are surely working on ancient koans every night. What case are you handling these days?” I said, “The case about Gensha’s Wide Travels.” The master quoted Gensha, who said, “Bodhidharma did not come to the East (=China); the Second Zen Ancestor does not go to the West (=India),” and asked, “What do you say about this?” I said, “No increasing, no diminishing.” The master laughed and said, “Far from it.” I said, “I humbly beg you to show me.” The master said, “Until you gain the wondrous mind of the highest wisdom, you will not understand my words. Your answers are only clever scholarship. I beg you to come to dokusan to get free of the rut you are stuck in. While this mountain priest (= I) is temporarily residing here, come from time to time and let’s talk at our leisure.” His kindness touched my innermost heart. I then paid my respects and withdrew, realizing my own mistakes and immediately correcting my former ways. At this time, the Reverend Menzan was still a monk in training, but it is interesting that in those days even Sōtō Zen had practitioners work on traditional koans. In the story about Gensha’s wide travels, the famous Sekitō Zenji turned to Gensha and asked intently, “Why do you want to go around the country practicing?” To this Gensha replied, “Bodhidharma did not come to the East, the Second Zen Ancestor does not go to the West.” Since Menzan was still a young monk in training, it can’t be helped, but isn’t his response to the Reverend Sonnō – “No increasing, no diminishing” – rather pitiful? The Reverend Sonnō laughed and said, “You are far off. If you don’t once intimately experience the wondrous mind of perfect wisdom (your true self), what you say is not worth mentioning. Your words are just logic that you’ve come to by thinking. Stop that and come to dokusan. As long as I am here, you can come at any time and I’ll check you.” His advice to Menzan was full of mercy. Menzan wrote that he became aware of his faults and immediately corrected his behavior, but I feel that this is extremely questionable. How did he correct his former ways and gain the wondrous mind of perfect wisdom? Until I study the Reverend Menzan a little more deeply, I must be cautious in speaking, but theoretically, to try to break a habit by understanding it theoretically is a difficult and huge undertaking, which becomes clear if we compare it with the case of Master Kyōgen and so on. In the titles of things that the Reverend Menzan wrote later on, there were sometimes the words “….Understanding by Hearing (jikai)”, which made me wonder if he had really corrected his former ways. The real thing is not in “understanding by hearing”. Didn’t Master Gantō say, “What comes in through the gate is not the family treasure”? 30 Be that as it may, it can’t be denied that the Reverend Menzan had the innocence of a baby in accepting the Reverend Sonnō’s merciful admonition. I think that more than anything else, his purity of heart is precious. “Bodhidharma did not come to the East; the Second Zen Ancestor does not go to the West.” What can you say to this that will not be laughed at by the Reverend Sonnō? Everybody, please try to work on it. I beg your pardon that this account of my visit to a grave to pay my respects has ended up in theorizing that had better be left unsaid, but old passions are hard to forget, and this is also the karma of the writer. Please forgive me. (compiled by TONOIKE Zen’yū, translated by Joan RIECK) Photo by TOKUI Hiroshi 31 One, great big ball of love by Maura NOONE NASK Sesshin, Santa Fe, New Mexico. April 28, 2013: I was sitting with Mu and “Shogen's Three Turning Words.” The first teisho was Mu. I moved my cushion closer to Yamada Roshi. I was still deeply in my practice. As soon as he began to speak, everything and everyone became one – one and gone. This was not a new experience for me; this often happened while sitting and during teisho. The cushion in front of me would become the wall; the people around me would disappear. Something was very different this time and it was immediate. I was deeply listening; listening without reaction, without my self. I had no self. As Yamada Roshi spoke, each sound flowed through me. Each sound was Mu. There was a vague awareness of the sound of a pen on paper – a woman next to me frantically taking notes. It hit me suddenly – THIS is REAL. This is REAL! This is a fact. I know this. I do not need to write anything down or remember anything. This just is – just so. I can trust this. I can trust myself. This is not some kind of special state that I can achieve while sitting. This is a fact, not a state of mind or how I see. I've always had a unique way of seeing the world, an “artist's eye,” you might say. I often see what others do not. It is not this, I thought. This is REAL and I know it. Yamada Roshi continued – "oneness – NO exception, NO exception," he said. I felt the words. This was the truth. It was a fact. He said for most of us this is difficult to believe, difficult to understand. I thought, “I understand! I see! I see it!” With every question he posed, the answer emerged from deep inside. It was a deep and certain knowing. “If you meet a Buddha, you will kill him. If you meet a patriarch, you will kill him.” IT is not outside of me. It IS me. The Buddha is not outside of me. For an instant, I could see the room from the back corner, a radically different angle from where I was actually sitting. It became clear what is seeing. This is who I am! My body was gone. I could not feel my body at all. There is no time, no space, no self, no Maura. I am the room. Then, it's all gone. It's all gone and one and there is no me. This is real! “Where do we go after we die?” Nowhere. NOWHERE. I know this. I don't need to be validated. I know this is true. This is a fact. I can trust myself. Who is seeing? What is seeing? THIS is seeing. The Buddha is seeing, the one, true essence – ONE is seeing. I am Buddha. If it is outside you, it's not real. I am the one, true essence. “I, alone, am the world-honored one.” 32 I suddenly knew where we go after we die. I knew who I was. I knew that oneness, no exception was a fact and that I am this. I understood why you would kill the Buddha you meet on the road. I am Buddha. Nothing, no thing is separate from me, because I am IT! Oneness, emptiness and no self is ONE thing, no thing. I am this empty fullness. Yamada Roshi partially disappears into white. He is gone and not gone. He is real. There are many, many people in this room – one person, many people – all love. Why is one peak not white? My body is gone but I feel drenched with tears. They stream down my face, soaking my shirt. I don't move. I can't move. I have no body – no body, no time, no space, no maura. I was neither happy or sad in that moment. It felt like a deep knowing; truly being one thing – this one, true essence. When the teisho ended, I was overwhelmed and a bit in shock. I needed to sob uncontrollably but kept myself composed. I didn't know what to do. It was a feeling I cannot describe. The subsequent hours and days have been an ongoing unfolding. Each day, a little clearer; each day, more certain of this fact. I've never felt so Maura, so alive, and so very, very, very happy to be alive. I am over the moon. I am ecstatic. Destroyed and not destroyed. Freedom from birth and death – the freedom to truly live, now that I'm dead; to be more Maura, now that I know there is no Maura. I can trust this. I can trust myself. This is REAL! I want to shriek like a child. The “awakening moment” seems less important than what it feels like is clear about love. Seeing clearly, it seems, can truly transform our ability to love, to be in the love and be love. It is a gift. My every cell is swelling with gratitude. May 1, 2013, 4:50 a.m.: (journal entries) Oh My God! I AM this oneness goneness no exception it's SO full full of the one, true, essence “one, great big ball of love.” (Henry) “every flower, every stone, every leaf recognize me...” (Thich Nhat Hanh) 33 enlightened ONE who is seeing this world...empty world? IT one essence Buddha May 6-7, 2013,11:50p.m.: I wake up every night and every morning with a sense of this vastness – the full emptiness that I am. I am this. It has nothing to do with me, Maura and everything to do with me, Maura. vast and void full of love holding it's right here it's close it's knowable 4:50 a.m.: The bottom fell out. no bottom. there is no bottom, top or sides – total freedom. May 8, 2013, 5:00 a.m.: It is like planting a seed in a warm greenhouse deep roots then birth birth, death, birth, death birth, death – both – now every moment birth death I am free Photo by HARA Akira 34 Personnel Matters On May 15, 2013, Mr. MARUTA Minoru was appointed Secretary-General of the Sanbo-Kyodan Society as well as of the Sanbo-Kyodan by the abbot YAMADA Ryoun Roshi. ************************* Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2012 (2012.1.1.-2012.12.31) (currency: Jpn. Yen) Brought forward from fiscal year 2007 3,620,260 Total income 3,389,572 Membership fees 2,169,404 Donations 771,205 Book sales 73,580 Miscellaneous income 375,383 Total expenses 3,424,058 Kyosho-related expenditures 2,436,601 printing 1,249,161 work 1,044,000 shipping 143,440 Office-related expenditures 641,513 stationary goods 138,761 transportation/communication 433,249 expenses for editorial board meetings 69,503 345,944 Miscellaneous expenditures gifts/condolences 110,632 miscellaneous expenses 175,027 money transfer provisions 5,285 membership fee covered 55,000 Total income – total expenses = Cash -34,486 To be carried over to the year 2009 3,585,774 To be carried over to the year 2009 incl. US Dollars/Euro converted into Japanese currency (2,002,318 Yen) 4,142,972 Abbot of the Sanbo-Kyodan Masamichi YAMADA 35 0 ZENKAI SCHEDULE of Sanbo-Kyodan Society in Japan for JULY, AUGUST & SEPTEMBER 2013 San’un Zendo Zazenkai Ryôun-an Zazenkai (Only for people working on post-kensho kôans) Dir. by: YAMADA Ryôun Roshi July 28 (Sun)* Aug. none Sept. 15 (Sun)* Dir. by: YAMADA Ryôun Roshi Aug. none Sept. 14 (Sat) 9:00 am - 4:30 pm: Zazen, teisho, dokusan & samu * Memorial service for the late YAMADA Koun Roshi 9:00 am - 12:00 am: Zazen, dokusan. The schedule is subject to change. Contact: Ms. Ursula OKLE (see above) San’un Zendo Sesshin Dir. by: YAMADA Ryôun Roshi July 10 (Wed) 19:00 – July 15 (Mon) 15:00 Yoyogi-Uehara Zazenkai Dir. by: KUBOTA Ji’un Roshi July 20 (Sat) Aug. 10 (Sat)* Sept. 7 (Sat) Sept. 18 (Wed) 19:00 – Sept. 23 (Mon) 15:00 9:00 am - 4:00 pm: Zazen, teisho, dokusan Contact: Ms. Ursula OKLE *without Teisho and Dokusan.. Fax: +81-(0)467-23-5147 Email: uvokle@sky.plala.or.jp At: -Chitose Building, 3F Uehara 1-33-12 Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0064 or: Mr. SATO Migaku Email: sanbo7@rikkyo.ac.jp Contact: Mr. MATSU'URA Yoshihisa Tel: +81-(0)3-466-9225 36 Gallery 聖歌 Psalm 2008 110×110cm Acryl,Sand/canvas YOKO’O Tatsuhiko 37 Picture by Ursula OKLE Editor’s Note First a sincere apology for the delay of this number of the Kyosho! can enjoy the rich content of the issue. Still, I hope you “Personnel Matters” announces that MARUTA Roshi has become the Secretary-General of the Sanbo-Kyodan and the Sanbo-Kyodan Society. This came about because TONOIKE Heki’un Roshi resigned from all his offices of the Sanbo-Kyodan last March on account of his advanced age. He has done literally everything for the operation of the Sanbo-Kyodan, and it has continued for such a long time (at least 25 years). We are more than indebted to him for all preparations and setups for our practice as well as for his intense and merciful guidance in the zendo. Our heartfelt and never-ending thanks to him! Although he is now free from all obligations of the Sanbo-Kyodan, he agreed to guide us as the “First Sitter” (tantô) in the coming sesshins and zazenkais in the San’un Zendo as long as his health allows, while he is no more involved in all the chores related to the zendo. It relieves us to know that he still accompanies us, and we deeply appreciate his new decision for the sake of us practitioners. The summer has exploded in Japan! May the “heat” of our message reach all friends on the Way that our Zazen would save the entire universe. We are once again ready to sit more fervently Gassho. (editor) The KYôSHô (Awakening Gong), No. 360 (July 1, 2013) Issued by: The Religious Foundation Sanbô-Kyôdan Hase 1-6-5, Kamakura-shi, 248-0016 Japan Edited by: The Sanbô-Kyôdan Society (Sanbô-Kôryûkai) Hase 1-6-5, Kamakura-shi, 248-0016 Japan Tel: 0467-25-3636 Fax: 0467-23-5147 Email: sanbo7@rikkyo.ac.jp http://www.sanbo-zen.org/ 38
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