English.pd

―
……………………………………………………
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.
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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,
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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;
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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“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.
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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”?
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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
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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.”
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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)
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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: [email protected]
At: -Chitose Building, 3F
Uehara 1-33-12
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0064
or:
Mr. SATO Migaku
Email:
[email protected]
Contact:
Mr. MATSU'URA Yoshihisa
Tel: +81-(0)3-466-9225
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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: [email protected]
http://www.sanbo-zen.org/
38