Commentary on Bendōwa
by Uchiyama Roshi
Part One
THAT WHICH CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED, THE SELF THAT IS ONLY THE SELF, IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH ZAZEN. THAT IS WHY ZAZEN IS CALLED THE MARVELOUS DHARMA.
Usually we begin to practice the buddha way with an idea that practice has no meaning unless we attain enlightenment and become great persons. However, this is completely contrary to the true buddha way. We must see the difference between this kind of worldly idea and the real buddha way. Then we must put all of our energy into practicing it. This is the meaning of ben in Bendōwa.
What is the true buddha way? It is jijuyū zanmai. I will explain this in relation to the next part of the text.
All buddha-tathagatas together have been simply transmitting wondrous dharma and actualizing anuttara samyak sambodhi for which there is an unsurpassable, unfabricated, wondrous method.
Whenever I encounter the word buddha in a text, I am not satisfied unless I talk about what its real meaning is. However, I'll pass it by for now and go on to the next phrase, "wondrous dharma" (myōhō), because it is more troublesome.
Among all the chapters considered part of Shōbōgenzō in the later Honzan version, I think Bendōwa and Genjōkōan are the most popular. The other chapters seem rather difficult to understand, but Bendōwa and Genjōkōan are relatively easy, and I think this is why many people like to read them.
However, you will probably find that you do not really understand them even after a number of readings. They seem understandable, but it is not easy to grasp their true meaning. Various renditions into modern Japanese, as well as commentaries, have been published recently. Even if you read all of them, you would not understand what Dōgen really meant. Why is that so? It is only natural. No commentary or record of teishō on these two chapters explains dharma or, in this case, "wondrous dharma." I have never found any that render this term into modern Japanese. Furthermore, in the opening paragraph of Genjōkōan we find expressions such as shōhō or banpō, both of which imply myriad dharmas. Neither of these terms is explained in any commentary. Some commentaries on Bendōwa simply say that dharma means buddha-dharma. They deal with these technical terms only by using other technical terms.
Since there are no explanations of dharma, which is the most important word in the text, no one will understand it. Needless to say, dharma cannot be grasped with the intellect. But if it is completely incomprehensible, we should not bother to talk about it at all. We have to understand, at least intellectually, why buddha-dharma cannot be grasped with the intellect. Otherwise it becomes complete nonsense. So what on earth does dharma mean here? Instead of simply saying "Words cannot explain it" or "The buddha-dharma is precious," we have to start by making a thorough investigation of dharma as a matter closely related to ourselves.
First of all, in the Abhidharma Kosha, it is said that a dharma is something that keeps its own nature and does not change. It becomes a code for recognizing things. For example, here is a cup, and this cup seems to have its own nature. This was a cup yesterday, and it is still a cup today. It seems as if its self nature doesn't change. Yet actually everything is changing. This cup will not be a cup if it falls on the floor and breaks. It does not keep its self nature.
The Abhidharma Kosha was written in terms of the philosophy of an Indian Buddhist school called Sarvastivadin. [This name refers to those who insist that all dharmas exist and are real.] One of the basic theories in the Abhidharma Kosha is that each phenomenal and individual thing is empty, but that dharmas exist and are real. This is similar to an idea in Greek philosophy that the past, present, and future actually exist and entities exist eternally. The Sarvastivadins thought that each phenomenal thing is not substantial, but dharmas and elemental entities are substantial. According to this philosophy, this cup does not exist as a substance, yet it remains in existence as an entity. This is called material dharma (shikihō or rupa dharma), and the Sarvastivadins thought everything exists in this way.
They called the objects of our senses and consciousness dharmas as objects (hōshō or hōkyō). This means that when our senses and consciousness encounter something outside of ourselves, we recognize that it exists. This is why they called everything we encounter the myriad dharmas (hōshō or hōkyō). Dharma, in this sense, means all existence. They also used the word dharma, as in buddha-dharma, to mean the Buddha's teachings (in the sense of the reality or truth of the myriad dharmas), and to mean the method we must follow in doing something. In this third interpretation dharma also means rules, regulations, morals, customs, and laws.
I have given a brief explanation of the various meanings of dharma according to the Abhidharma, but what I want to say next is much more important. In Mahayana Buddhism, and especially in Dōgen Zenji's teachings, the meaning of dharma has more depth. According to the concepts we accept, we think that everything exists as objects outside the self. For example, we usually think that all phenomenal things that appear before our eyes, or this twentieth-century human society, have existence outside our individual self. We believe that when we are born we appear on this world's stage, and when we die we leave that stage. All of us think this way. But the truth is that this common-sense concept is questionable.
Mahayana Buddhism began from a reexamination of this common-sense attitude. I'll give you one of my favorite examples. I am looking at this cup now. You are also looking at the same cup. We think that we are looking at the very same cup, but this is not true. I am looking at it from my angle, with my eyesight, in the lighting that occurs where I am sitting, and with my own feelings or emotions. Furthermore, the angle, my feeling, and everything else is changing from moment to moment. This cup I am looking at now is not the same one that I will be looking at in the next moment. Each of you is also looking at it from your own angle, with your eyesight, with your own feelings, and these also are constantly changing.
This is the way actual life experience is. However, if we use our common-sense way of thinking, we think we are looking at the very same cup. This is an abstraction and not the reality of life. Abstract concepts and living reality are entirely different. The Buddhist view is completely different from our ordinary thinking.
Western philosophy's way of thinking is also based on abstractions. It assumes that all of us are seeing the same cup. Greek philosophers went further and further in their abstractions until they came up with the concept of the idea that cannot be seen or felt. One example is Venus, the goddess of beauty. In the real world, no woman is as well-proportioned as Venus, or embodies perfect beauty as she does. Yet the Greeks idealized beauty and created a statue of Venus, just as they had thought of the "idea" of a circle that is abstracted from something round. In other words, the Greek way of thinking is abstraction to the highest degree. Buddhism is different. Buddhism puts emphasis on life, the actual life experience of the reality of the self.
In mathematics, one plus one equals two. None of us doubt this. But actually, this is only correct from the standpoint of mathematics. In life experience, when my car crashes into another car, the hoods are dented, tires come off, and glass breaks into pieces. No cars remain. With cars, one plus one makes zero, or we could say that one plus one makes infinity, because the two cars break apart into an infinite number of pieces.
The following example is even clearer. One man plus one woman makes three or four when they have children.
Once I took a piss in the ocean. At that moment I clearly understood that one plus one makes only one. The one was the ocean. Nothing was changed even after my piss was added. The ocean was not concerned about my piss at all.
What Buddhism is concerned about is not something abstract, but the very concrete and actual reality of life. All beings exist through life experience of the self. The self lives out itself in the life experience of all beings. The life experience of the self and the myriad beings that we experience are one. This is the reality of life. The life experience of the self and the life experience of all beings can never separate into subject and object. That which experiences and that which is experienced cannot be divided into two. This reality that cannot be differentiated into two is called dharma or mind, and it is the meaning of the expression "dharma and mind are one reality" (shinpō ichinyo).
Therefore, we cannot say that we appear on the world's stage when we are born, and leave it when we die. We were born with this world in which we live out our lives as life experience. We live with this whole world. When we die, our whole world will die with us also. If you interpret this incorrectly, it might be mistaken for experiential idealism [the idea of experience as produced by our consciousness]. This philosophy is the basis of Seichō no ie, one of the new Japanese religions. Yet what I am talking about is totally different.
People involved in Seichō no ie think that material existence is the shadow of our mind. They say that if we think there is no sickness, it won't exist. Then what will happen if a dump truck is coming toward you? If you think that the truck is a shadow of your mind, will the truck disappear? If you are lucky, the truck driver will yell, "You idiot! Where are your eyes?" If you are not lucky, you will be run over and killed. This is reality. What I am talking about is not experiential idealism. We recognize things through abstractions in our mind or consciousness, but those conceptualized things are not the reality of life. If we say the word fire, our tongues will not be burned. The force that is reflecting, imagining, abstracting, and conceptualizing things is the reality of life.
The reality of life for human beings who have rational faculties includes reason. If we cut off the rational faculty, there is no reality of human life. This is the point at which the reality of life is entirely different from the theory that material existence is only a shadow of the mind.
The reality of life has a multidimensional structure, and since it has many aspects, it is very difficult to explain in words. Yet the reality of life experience is just one and can never be divided. It is not two.
Dōgen Zenji expressed this nondualistic reality in Shōbōgenzō Sokushin Zebutsu (Mind is itself buddha) in the following way: "The mind which has been properly transmitted is one mind that is myriad dharmas, and myriad dharmas are one mind." People today think that mind means the functioning of psychological consciousness. However, if you think this way you won't be able to understand Buddhism. When the word mind is used in Buddhist texts, it often means the vivid life experience that I have been talking about. This is what the word mind means when Dōgen talks about that which has been correctly transmitted in Buddhism. "One mind is myriad dharmas" means that the one mind includes the myriad dharmas, or my life experience of the world. This is the meaning of mind and dharma in Buddhism.
In Shōbōgenzō Beppon Butsukōjōji (Another version of the matter going beyond buddha) we find, "Buddha-dharma is the myriad dharmas, the hundred grasses." Buddha-dharma is all myriad dharmas, which is the reality that includes my own life experience. I was born. I am living. I am going to die. This is the life of a buddha. Dōgen Zenji also said in Shōbōgenzō Shōji (Life and death) that life and death is the life of buddha. After all, for each and every one of us, being born, living, and dying is the complete expression of our life experience. Nothing is more precious than this life experience of the self. The only basis of any possible system of values must be the fact that I am living right now, right here. This vitality of buddha has the highest value.
Therefore, a lowbrow idea such as that money is most important is below criticism. It is possible for you to think that money is important or that social status is desirable only because you are alive. Someone said that the emperor is the most important person in this country, but he has this opinion only because he lives in Japan as a Japanese. If he were born in America as an American, there would be no reason to place such importance on the Japanese emperor.
Something that can be evaluated in various ways depending upon arbitrary conditions is not really valuable. The most valuable thing is the fact that we are living right here and now, and this must be the basis of all evaluation. This life experience is the foundation of all existence and the basis of the world, so for this reason we call it buddha-dharma and give it absolute value.
When we hear the word buddha, we usually think of the buddha statues in the main hall of a temple, but those are just dolls. The real buddha is nothing but the zazen we practice. The buddha statues enshrined in temples are no more than models of zazen. When you clearly understand this, you should then think once more about the expression, "all buddha-tathagatas together have been simply transmitting wondrous dharma." What does this mean?
When people hear "transmitting wondrous dharma," they are apt to think that the wondrous dharma is something like a scroll on which some kind of hidden mystery is written. They imagine that this dharma scroll is transmitted from one person to another secretly, and when one receives it that person becomes great. Yet this has nothing to do with what Dōgen Zenji meant by transmitting wondrous dharma. In essence, "one mind is the myriad dharmas, and myriad dharmas are the one mind" means that the absolute self is the life experience of the self. Therefore, it is impossible to transmit it from one person to another. As Sawaki Roshi used to say, we cannot exchange so much as a fart with another person. This is the nature of the real self.
In spite of the fact that it cannot be transmitted, it is somehow transmitted. It is called wondrous because the dharma that cannot be transmitted in fact has been transmitted right up to this moment, and is present right now.
Therefore, when we read Bendōwa, the most important thing for us to do is to understand wondrous dharma in this way. If you read Bendōwa after you have understood what dharma is, then you might understand the essence of what Dōgen Zenji taught. If you don't understand what dharma is, you won't be able to grasp the true meaning no matter how many times you read Bendōwa or commentaries on it.
"All buddha-tathagatas have been actualizing anuttara samyaku sambodhi." Anuttara samyaku sambodhi is a Sanskrit phrase that is rendered into Japanese as mujō shōtō kaku (the ultimate right awareness). Mujō (ultimate) means "incomparable or absolute," and shō (right) means "to be one." There is only one absolute reality. It is prior to any division, in other words, not two. There will be only one reality forever. Jitsubutsu (reality) is my term for that, and it means "being alive." To (equality) in shoto means "all beings are equal and are without differentiation." Usually we think that this thing and that thing are different, but their foundation is the reality of our life experience, the reality before division. However, even though there is just one reality of life experience, we human beings differentiate things and say, "This is a pine tree," or "This is a wall." Such discrimination is simply the scenery of life. Having clear vision of this one reality is called kaku (awakening).
In the Honyaku myōgishu [a text explaining translated Buddhist terms], it is said that this means awakening from the dream of samsara (life and death). There is a famous verse, "Today, crossing the deep mountains of human fabrication, I am beyond dreaming and intoxication." Waking up from the dream of samsara is called kaku. Fabrication means basing one's life on notions created in the human mind. Lack of fabrication means living out the reality of life as it is, without relying on anything created in the human mind. This is the ultimate way of life, yet it can never be expressed in words, and so it is called wondrous.
There is an unsurpassable, unfabricated, wondrous method. This wondrous dharma, which has been transmitted only from buddha to buddha without deviation, has as its criterion jijuyū zanmai.
Dharma is the reality of life, and each and every one of us is living out absolute life, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. We live out the self that is only the self. No one can become a different person. In a sense, from birth to death, we are completely alone. Even if you think that you have good friends, family, or a loving wife, the fact is that your wife can never be you. You and your wife have different dreams and think differently. We sometimes say that we know everything about an intimate friend, but that is really just something that we have thought up. It is impossible to really understand another person. In this sense, every one of us is living out the self that is only the self, and living out the present that is only the present. This is an absolute truth.
These days, probably as a result of the development of bulldozers and other power equipment, archaeologists dig here and there excavating ancient artifacts like pottery and swords. They claim that some were made a thousand years ago or ten thousand years ago, but there is no absolute way to exactly prove this (aside from our present views). Buddhist scholars argue whether Shakyamuni Buddha was born in the fourth or fifth century B.C.E. It is impossible to prove this too. [According to the viewpoints of historians,] it may not even be clear that Shakyamuni Buddha ever lived. Everything in the past is uncertain.
In other words, time itself is uncertain. We say that this temple is quite old, but this only means that we imagine the past through what it looks like at this present moment. Other people are nothing but myself, and the past is nothing but the present. No one thinks this temple was built recently. It obviously looks old in the present, but these sliding doors look new in the present.
As we can see from this example, whether something is old or new is simply the nature of reality as we are encountering it, at this moment. From the nature of reality in our life experience at the present time, we say these sliding doors are new, or the ceiling is old. We imagine that this ceiling was made several decades or several centuries ago because of its present nature of appearing old. Yet in reality, only the present exists. The past and the future do not exist [separate from the present].
Each and every one of us, without exception, is living out the self which is only the self and the present that is only the present. This is the reality of life regardless of whether we think it is true or not.
Yet in spite of this, we usually think that things existed in the past or that there are things outside of our self. As long as we think this way, we remain separated from reality in an illusion produced in our minds. Actually, each one of us is living out the self that is exactly the self, and living out the present that is exactly the present.
This is what jijuyū zanmai means. Sawaki Roshi, my late teacher, used to express jijuyū zanmai as "the self making the self into the self." This jijuyū zanmai is the foundation of the reality of life experience, and for this reason it is said that the criterion of dharma is jijuyū zanmai.
For disporting oneself freely in this samadhi, practicing zazen in an upright posture is the true gate.
Practicing zazen is the true gate to playing in this samadhi of the self that is only the self. The other side of this statement is that only practicing the zazen of the absolute self and absolute present is jijuyū zanmai. Yet if you assume the zazen posture and think that satori or buddha is outside of yourself, it will not be possible to enter jijuyū zanmai.
Although this dharma is abundantly inherent in each person, it is not manifested without practice; it is not attained without realization.
This self that is only the self, the vivid reality of life, is abundantly inherent in all people. There is no one who lacks it. You cannot fail or succeed in practicing zazen. This truth is obvious. No one can do anything but live out the self. However, in some prescribed paths of practice it is necessary to receive the affirmation of your teacher after having practiced a certain length of time. If your teacher says your realization is correct, you succeed. If not, you fail. Even though many people try with all their might, I would guess that the percentage of people who gain satori is low. The gate to enlightenment for them must be narrower than the gate to Japanese universities is for Japanese students.
However, the zazen taught by Dōgen Zenji is not like that; it is zazen as a true religion. It is not zazen as a kind of discipline or training. There is no failure or success in zazen as a true religion. All of us can be saved. This is only natural because we just practice the reality of life that is abundantly inherent in every person.
However, the reality of life is not manifested without practicing zazen, and it is actualized only inasmuch as you practice zazen. The reality of life is not attained without realization. If you do not actualize the reality of life, it is not attained.
When you let go, the dharma fills your hands; it is not within the boundary of one or many. When you try to speak, it fills your mouth, it is not limited to vertical or horizontal.
When we practice this zazen that actualizes the reality of life, we become the universal self only when we let go of illusory thoughts that stray from reality. My expression for "letting go" is "opening the hand of thought." When we open the hand of thought, the dharma fills our hands; the universal reality of life is right here. This reality of life fills your mouth when you speak. It cannot be limited vertically or horizontally, and it can be expressed in immeasurable ways.
Buddhas constantly dwell in and maintain this dharma, yet no trace of conceptualization remains.
All Buddhas are dwelling in and maintaining this jijuyū zanmai. However, although they are dwelling in and maintaining it, they never perceive samadhi; this consciousness does not exist.
It is the same as driving a car. When you drive a car, pedestrians and cars coming from the opposite direction are reflected in your vision. You turn the steering wheel to the right or left, and step on the brake or gas pedal, performing these actions without being conscious of them. You drive a car just as if you are moving your own body. When you can drive that way, you drive freely. There is no trace of conception. We drive freely in jijuyū zanmai.
Living beings constantly function in and use this dharma, yet it does not appear in their perception.
We living beings have been living out the self that is only the self and the life that is only life from the beginning, yet no aspect appears in our perception. In our day-to-day activities we fail to freely drive ourselves.
The wholehearted practice of the Way that I am talking about allows all things to exist in enlightenment and enables us to live out oneness in the path of emancipation. When we break through the barrier and drop off all limitations, we are no longer concerned with conceptional distinctions.
"Enlightenment" is the reality of life; "all things" means all the different kinds of scenery in our life. So the practice of the way that we are talking about enables all different kinds of situations in our life to exist in awareness of the reality of life. The path of emancipation means actualizing indivisible life (one absolute reality) without being deterred by any "other."
"Breaking through the barrier and dropping off limitations" means that we usually build a barrier between ourselves and the outside world. We separate ourselves and others, subject and object. When we go beyond this barrier by letting go of thoughts, then all conceptional distinctions and verbal explanations like the ones I have been giving are no longer necessary.
BEING ENLIGHTENED IS PUTTING YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND OF THE REALITY OF LIFE
After Dōgen aroused bodhi mind and aspired to seek buddha-dharma, he visited various teachers in Japan. Among these teachers, he studied and practiced the way of Rinzai Zen for nine years with master Myōzen, who was the senior disciple of the famous Zen master Eisai. Later Myōzen went to China with Dōgen Zenji and died there. Myōzen must have been a great person. Dōgen Zenji praised him any time he could. Here, too, he praises Myōzen saying that "Master Myōzen was a great disciple of Zen Master Eisai, from whom he alone received correct transmission of the unsurpassable buddha-dharma," and that he had no equal.
Later I went to Song China and visited various masters in Zhejiang Province, where I learned the ways of the five schools of Zen.
Dōgen Zenji himself was not satisfied with his practice in Japan and went to Song China with his master. They visited various masters in the province of Zhejiang, and Dōgen Zenji learned the ways of the five schools of Zen. The Qiantong River, which flows from west to east, divides the province into north and south. That is why Dōgen Zenji said he "visited teachers in both parts of Zhejiang province." At that time Zen Buddhism was in full bloom in China, and this area was the center of Zen Buddhism. Dōgen Zenji travelled about visiting various masters and studying the ways of the five schools of Zen: Hōgen, Igyō, Unmon, Rinzai, and Sōtō.
However, he was dissatisfied with what he saw, and decided to go back to Japan. On his way back he heard of Zen master Nyojō, who had just become the abbot of a monastery Dōgen Zenji had once stayed at on Mount Tendo (Tiantong in Chinese). Dōgen Zenji visited Nyojō, decided to practice under him, and finally completely clarified the Way of practice throughout this lifetime. He gained the buddha way.
When you hear "completely clarified the great matter of lifelong practice," you probably think this means you don't have to practice anymore, but it is not true. Completing life's great matter, gaining the Way, or attaining satori means only that you have clarified the true meaning of practice, clearly understand in which direction you have to go, and on what you should place absolute value in life.
We usually live our lives without a sense of the true point. All of us become prisoners of our own desires and wander here and there without any direction. "Clarifying the Way" means that we determine the point we should aim at throughout our lives, based on the self that is only the self and life that is only life. This is the sole great matter, and this is what "completing the sole great matter of one's life" means. True practice begins at this point.
[After he realized the buddha way] Dōgen Zenji returned to Japan. Spreading this dharma and saving all living beings had become his vow. This vow is most important for Buddhist practitioners.
However, spreading the dharma and saving all living beings is not an easy thing to do in this day and age. We also can't help feeling that we are carrying a heavy burden on our shoulders.
A contemporary way is to try to become famous through the mass media, lecture all over the country, or write and sell a lot of books. But the buddha-dharma is different from a commercially advertised product. If you really understand the self that is only the self and life that is only life, you don't propagate it like this.
Some Buddhist bluffers are going to America or Europe and collecting money. It appears that there are some millionaires who are willing to give them huge donations. These Buddhist bluffers then build imposing temples and try to get people to come to them.
The zazen practiced among the followers of Bodhi-dharma and Dōgen Zenji has nothing to do with whether we have a magnificent building or not. What's really important is to foster real practitioners. To do that we have to teach bit by bit. The followers of Bodhidharma must persist in this way no matter where they go.
In my case, when I was practicing under Sawaki Roshi, since he used to travel from one place to another to teach, I usually sat sesshinō [all-day zazen, often for five or seven days] by myself without speaking to anyone. When Sawaki Roshi came back I sat with him and with others who came. I continued this way of practice without fellow practitioners from the time I became a monk in 1941 until around 1955. In 1957 Sato Myōshin joined me, and around 1960 Honda Tekifu came. Watanabe Kōhō, who later took over Antaiji, came in 1962. After that the number of people who sat with me gradually began to increase, and after a while dozens of people began to gather for sesshin at Antaiji.
Before doing anything else, first determine your aim and sit alone. This is like sowing seeds. The seeds germinate when spring comes. However, during the cold winter, plants can only spread their roots little by little. If plants do not take deep enough root, they won't grow after they sprout. As for fostering practitioners, we should not think in terms of five or ten years. I think in terms of several centuries. We have to increase the number of people who really devote themselves to the practice of Dōgen Zenji's zazen one by one. In this sense the spring has not yet come; now is the winter when zazen has just begun to take root.
This is what Dōgen Zenji meant when he said,
In spite of that, I set aside my vow to propagate this, in order to wait for conditions under which it could flourish. For now I will live alone, moving from place to place like a cloud or duckweed, and follow the way of the ancient sages.
While he was writing Bendōwa Dōgen Zenji was moving from one place to another. This was in 1231, when he was 32 years old. Dōgen Zenji came back from China in 1228 and first stayed at Kenninji temple in Kyoto, where he had practiced before he went to China. However, two years later he had to move into Anyoin temple in Fukakusa, outside Kyoto, because of oppression from the Tendai school at Mount Hiei.
The way of the ancient sages means the way of life of one who does not have a certain place to settle down, and moves from one place to another. Bodhidharma, the First Ancestor of China, came to China from India and after wandering here and there, he entered Mount Shaolin and became a parasite at a monastery of the Ritsu (Precept) School. He did not take up his own abode. This is the lifestyle of a cloud or a water plant.
However, there might be some sincere practitioners who on their own do not seek after fame or profit, and who give priority to the mind that seeks the Way.
Since he lived like this, even if there were some sincere practitioners who weren't concerned with gaining fame or profit and had true aspiration to seek the Way, they would not be able to find the Way through him.
When we read the collections of biographies of famous priests, we find that almost all the priests who were regarded as famous or venerable people at that time were patronized by emperors or aristocrats and given access to the imperial palace. They attended the empress or the imperial concubines when they were ill, and offered prayers for their recovery. In return they received favored status or were presented beautiful robes. They sought after fame and profit and made light of bodhi mind. They were all false practitioners. If no one had shown the true buddha way, all monks would have been subordinate to those priests, even if some of the monks had true aspiration to begin with. It would have been the inevitable result.
They still may be vainly led astray by false teachers, and recklessly cover up correct understanding and become drunk in their own confusion, sinking into delusion for a long time. How will it be possible for [these sincere practitioners] to nurture the true seed of prajna arid have appropriate occasion to attain the Way?
Therefore, Dōgen Zenji was carried away by the feeling that,
Since this unworthy wayfarer [Dōgen] is now living like a cloud or duckweed, how will they find the mountain or river where they can visit me?
For this reason,
Because I care about these people, I have collected and written about what I saw with my own eyes of the style of practice in the Zen monasteries of Song China, and what I received and uphold as the profound teaching of my master, and I leave this for devoted practitioners of the way of serenity in order to let them know about the true dharma of buddhas. Here is the genuine expression of the essence.
He wrote down what he heard and saw in Chinese monasteries regarding true practice of zazen and the true buddha-dharma taught by Nyojō Zenji. The buddha way manifested as concrete everyday activities. He left these words so that sincere practitioners of the Way might understand the true dharma of the Buddha.
Great Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha imparted the dharma to Mahakashyapa at the Vulture Peak assembly, and it was correctly transmitted from ancestor to ancestor until it reached the venerable Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma himself went to China and imparted the dharma to the Great Teacher Eka. This was the first transmission of the buddha-dharma in the East (China).
Here we trace the dharma back to Shakyamuni Buddha.
There is a story about Shakyamuni and Mahakashyapa. In front of a great assembly, Shakyamuni picked up a flower and twirled it a little. No one could understand the meaning, and they kept silent. Only venerable Mahakashyapa smiled. It is said that the Buddha's true dharma was transmitted to venerable Mahakashyapa at that time.
After that the dharma was transmitted through various ancestors generation to generation, and finally venerable Bodhidharma received the dharma as the Twenty-eighth Ancestor. The great master Bodhidharma went to China and transmitted the dharma to the great master Eka. That was the first transmission of dharma from India to the East.
At that time, the authentic buddha-dharma actually spread throughout China, and reality beyond conceptual distinctions was manifested.
Buddhist scriptures were first introduced into China in the latter Han dynasty (first century B.C.E.) However, even though concepts were imported through scriptures and teachings were studied through words, it was not real. It was stiff and awkward.
The living human being who embodies enlightenment and who is a real example of buddha-dharma would not be so uncouth. Buddha-dharma was unmistakenly transmitted from the great master Bodhidharma to the great master Eka, and it was handed down one to another, generation to generation, reaching the Sixth Ancestor Enō.
There were two superior disciples under the Sixth Ancestor, Seigen Gyoshi and Nangaku Ejō. Both of them held the buddha mudra and were equally teachers of all living beings. Mudra means "a mark or seal," which is zazen. In the streams of those two masters who transmitted and maintained zazen, five gates were later established: that is, Hōgen, Igyō, Sōtō, Unmon, and Rinzai. By the time of Dōgen Zenj, only the Rinzai school was flourishing throughout Song China.
Each one of the five schools had its own characteristics, yet essentially they maintained only one buddha mind mudra. Each and every one of them equally actualized only one buddha teaching through the mind mudra, that is, zazen. Before these living examples, no one in China knew which was the real teaching of the Buddha. Buddhism as a religion has various aspects. We could say that every aspect in our lives is included in Buddhism. Among those miscellaneous elements, what is the true and basic thing? This question was not clearly answered. The great master Bodhidharma came to China and cut off the root of this complicated problem like cutting a wisteria vine. The essential point of Buddhism was revealed by showing a real, living example.
Therefore, Dōgen Zenji said,
We cannot help but yearn for this to happen in our country also.
For all ancestors and buddhas who have been dwelling in and maintaining buddha-dharma, practicing upright sitting in jijuyū zanmai is the true path for opening up enlightenment. Both in India and in China, those who have attained enlightenment have followed this way. This is because each teacher and each disciple has been intimately and correctly transmitting this subtle method and receiving and maintaining its true spirit.
In this part Dōgen Zenji reiterates what he said in the very beginning. "All buddha-tathagatas have been simply transmitting wondrous dharma and actualizing anuttara samyak sambodhi for which there is an unsurpassable, unfabricated, wondrous method. This wondrous dharma, which has been transmitted only from buddha to buddha without deviation, has as its criterion jijuyū zanmai." The buddha-dharma has been maintained by transmitting the buddha mudra of jijuyū zanmai, or sitting zazen. Above everything else, this is the point Dōgen Zenji is trying to make in Bendōwa.
Usually Dōgen Zenji directly states the most important thing in the very beginning of his writings and repeats it in the text for emphasis. This is also the case here. The vital point in Bendōwa is this jijuyū zanmai. Therefore I'd like to talk about it once again to emphasize its importance a little more. In the beginning of this talk I discussed "dharma" in detail. It is far different from what we think of as common sense in the ordinary world. You may think that you understand and accept it when you are listening to me talk about it, but after you go back to your day-to-day life, you get confused and gradually forget about it.
We should not listen to the buddha-dharma in a light way. We have to listen to the buddha-dharma in a way such that the dharma permeates into the core of our mind and becomes our bone and marrow, so that we won't forget it no matter what happens to us. This is the crucial point in Bendōwa. Unless we grasp this, we will never be able to understand Bendōwa as buddha-dharma.
Although we always think that we are really living, as a matter of fact we are not living out the reality of life. It is essential to become aware of this fact. Well then, in what way are we living? In a word, each and every one of us lives by treating abstract concepts as real.
We treat abstract concepts as if they are real and live in a world created by these abstract concepts. As I said before, we assume that each one of us sees the very same cup. But in reality, we do not see the same cup. Each person sees it from his own individual viewpoint.
The Japanese word for abstract is chūshō. Chū means to pull out, and shō means shape or form. We take the concept of a cup from real experience, and think there exists one cup that we are all looking at. This is treating abstract concepts as if they are real, and we should understand this clearly. Not only when we look at a cup, but throughout our lives we make the same mistake. For example, when we use the word society, we assume that we are living in the same society. But this is far from reality. Each person has his own picture of society which is different from anyone else's. Yet we take it for granted that all of us understand society in the same way. A great deviation from reality arises here. Each individual is living in his or her own particular society.
When I began to live by takuhatsu in 1949, people could not care less about five-sen or ten-sen bills. Yet for me, each of those bills was my lifeline. I rarely received ten-yen coins. So when I was given four ten-yen coins one after another, I could not help gloating. And if somebody gave me a one-hundred-yen bill, I lost my motivation, stopped doing takuhatsu for that day, and went back to the temple right away.
I have no idea of the purchasing power of money today, but I have often heard that a ten-thousand-yen bill disappears before you know it when you go shopping these days. I recently read a newspaper article about purse-snatching. A purse that contained her bonus—300,000 yen—was stolen from a young woman. What surprised me was that a young woman would receive such a large bonus. She must have felt it was a lot of money, but for me it was an inconceivable sum. On the other hand, there must be some rich people who could not care less about such a small amount of money.
Money is only one example of a subject for which there are innumerable viewpoints. If there are one hundred people, there must be one hundred opinions about every topic. Each and every one of us lives out the self that is only the self with our own particular way of viewing things in our own particular world. In spite of this fact, we believe that the same money and the same society exist objectively outside of ourselves. We accept worldly conventions such as people getting a certain amount of money as a bonus each year. In other words, we live treating many layers of abstract concepts as if they were real. Money, the cup, society; we treat every imaginable thing this way. The number of layers of concepts we fabricate is not one or two, but hundreds or thousands.
Fabrication of abstract concepts is like clouds in the sky. The clouds do not exist as we imagine them to exist, yet we cannot say that clouds do not exist. They do exist. People these days are heavenly beings who live in clouds. Although the life of heavenly beings is comfortable, in Buddhist cosmology it is said that they feel sadness because there are five things that cause them to fall from the clouds. When they grow old their feather garments wear out. Sometimes the clouds also become thinner, and consequently they tumble down to earth.
People who live in clouds can't help but fall when the clouds disappear. As long as they dwell in clouds of concepts, they live in this kind of precarious condition.
Sawaki Roshi often said, "Everyone runs helter-skelter in the great hubbub going on in the world. But this is nothing but scrambling for clouds." This is an interesting way of describing it. In our society, our life consists of scrambling for clouds. The clouds will inevitably disappear sooner or later. Then, when people fall, the higher they are the more painful the shock. Look at the Shah of Iran. He thought he was the great emperor of a rich country that earned a tremendous amount of money because of its oil production. Yet his throne was taken from him, and he went into exile, moving from country to country: America, Panama, Egypt. He must have been really shocked.
The six realms of samsara are simply the way people live, losing touch with the reality of life, floating around in space. These six realms are hell, the realms of hungry ghosts, animals, titans, human beings, and heavenly beings. People lose their heads by treating abstract concepts as if they were real. The six realms are a measurement of the degree to which one does this.
Satori is getting our feet on the ground of the reality of life before we fall from the clouds. The phrases "actualizing enlightenment" and "actualizing anuttara samyak sambodhi" refer to this.
How do we live on the ground of the reality of life in a concrete way, rather than living with our heads in the clouds of concepts? We see a cup, society, and money in our own particular world. In this whole world, north, east, south, and west, no matter where we look we see nothing but our self. Instead of living in the world that is shared by all of us, the self lives in a world in which there is nothing but the self. This oneness of the world and self is dharma. Both "wondrous dharma" and "buddha-dharma" refer to this.
Seen from the point of view of absolute reality, every one of us was born holding our own world. As soon as we are born, we have a world in which there is nothing but our own self. We are born and live holding our own world. When we die, the world in which there is nothing but our self also dies with us.
In Buddhism, life like this, which is only self, is called shin. Therefore, mind (shin) and dharma (ho) are never divided into two. The world that we experience (dharma) and our life experience (mind) are not two, nondual. Mind or subject (shin) and dharma or object (ho) are one reality. In other words, one mind is all dharma, and all dharma is one mind.
On hearing the word mind, we automatically associate it with the psychological mind or consciousness. Sometimes the word is used in this way, but in many cases it means that the mind of one mind is all the myriad dharmas, all the myriad dharmas are one mind. I use the word life for the modern sense of the word mind. This life is not physiological life but the fundamental life that animates all physiological life, whether it is psychological or physical. This is the one mind.
In other words, by living my own life, all things come to exist in my own world. By living my life, all things are able to exist, and I create a world in which I live. For this reason, one mind (my life) is all the myriad dharmas (all beings). At the same time, I am living out my life experience of this world. Therefore, all the myriad dharmas are this one mind.
At this moment I am looking at all of your different faces and they are reflected in my eyes. However, the basis of this function is simply that since I am living, you are able to exist and are reflected in my retinas. After all, there is nothing but my self. Each and every one of you is also living out your self that is only your self.
This is called jijuyū zanmai. The self receives and uses the self. jijuyū zanmai is living out the self that is nothing but the self, without losing sight of this jijuyū (the self receiving and using the self).
YOU ARE IN TROUBLE IF YOU THINK, "I WILL REALLY BE SOMEBODY IF I DO ZAZEN AND ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT."
If we look at it logically, jijuyū zanmai is the self that is only the self, so basically it cannot be transmitted from one person to another. I am just me. You are just you. Shakyamuni is just Shakyamuni. There is no way that the dharma was transmitted from Shakyamuni to Mahakashyapa. Yet the wonder of zazen is that although Shakyamuni is sitting the self that is only the self, when Mahakashyapa sits zazen in the very same way, Mahakashyapa also becomes the self that is only the self.
This is the reason why Dōgen Zenji said in the first paragraph, "All buddha-tathagatas together have been simply transmitting wondrous dharma and actualizing anuttara samyak sambodhi for which there is an unsurpassable, un-fabricated, wondrous method. This wondrous dharma, which has been transmitted only from buddha to buddha without deviation, has as its criterion jijuyū zanmai." Zazen is the standard.
He also says the same thing with "For all ancestors and buddhas who have been dwelling in and maintaining buddha-dharma, practicing upright sitting in jijuyū zanmai is the true path for opening up enlightenment."
Jijuyū zanmai, in other words the reality of the life of the self that is only the self, is far beyond any comparison. Consequently, even though the expression "actualizing enlightenment" is used, it does not mean that I am enlightened but someone else is deluded. Comparisons like this have nothing to do with jijuyū zanmai.
It is also mistaken to say "I was deluded but attained enlightenment the instant I heard such and such." The self that is only the self, the present that is only the present, surpasses all comparison.
Sawaki Roshi always said, "Satori is not something to be attained." People who practice kensho Zen insist that no matter what anyone says, it's no use unless one attains enlightenment. In Bendōwa, Dōgen Zenji also used the expression "actualizing" or "attaining enlightenment." People who practice for the purpose of gaining enlightenment through kensho Zen often cite this phrase.
However, Buddhist terms are completely beyond comparison. In Buddhism, words are used in a decisive and absolute way.
For example, when we say "big" in Buddhism, we mean big in an absolute way. An elephant is bigger than a human being. A whale is bigger than an elephant. But big when used in Buddhist terminology is different. A whale just swims in a puddle on the earth. Is the earth big? No! The earth is just a speck of dust floating around the sun. Well, is the solar system big? The solar system is just a spot in the Milky Way galaxy. And there are supposed to be an infinite number of galaxies in the universe. Comparison is beside the point in Buddhism.
The other day I finally found the Andromeda nebula with a pair of binoculars. I look at it with my whole heart every night. In the old days, the world was much bigger, yet recently it has gotten smaller. In the past, animals such as raccoons and foxes played active parts in Japanese fairy tales, and we enjoyed them. We had a lot of romantic dreams then. But now, this is no longer possible in Japan. Japan is jammed with cars. Countries outside Japan, like Tibet, were mysterious realms, and the Arctic and Antarctic were unknown worlds. Mount Everest was thought to be unconquerable, and the sun and moon were objects of worship. But now, because of the development of science and technology, there is no place left that we cannot reach. Things have really changed within the past fifty years. The possibility of knowing everything now exists, so we have lost our dreams. I feel the earth has become smaller and our life has become dull. That is why, when I found the Andromeda nebula with my binoculars, I was delighted. It is just a dim distant shape, but I was so happy to see it. There are supposed to be billions of such nebulas in the universe, so we feel that space is really huge.
Yet if we think it over, it is not so simple. Space is huge only when we think and compare it with other things. We cannot judge what is big and what is small in this way.
"Boundless and unlimited" in Buddhism means absolutely boundless and unlimited beyond any comparison. The often-used term maha (big) means surpassing any comparison.
This is also true when we think about being old. We cannot simply say that something old is something good. For example, at Eiheiji monastery they attach importance to old traditional rituals. Yet if we use the concept of being old in a comparative way, it is completely removed from the buddha-dharma. When they eat at Eiheiji, they observe the old customs and use lacquered wooden bowls (oryoki). But if they truly feel "the older the better," they should be using big iron bowls as the monks do in South Asian countries. They also use wooden spoons and chopsticks when they eat. Yet this custom began in Chinese monasteries, or perhaps even Dōgen Zenji started it. If "the older the better" is true, they should eat in the Indian manner, using their fingers. It is said that Indian people can taste with their fingers before they actually put the food in their mouth. Yet in Japan, we eat with wooden spoons and chopsticks. At Eiheiji if they really think old tradition itself is important and should not be changed, they should eat with their fingers as the Buddha did. If they want to find even older ways, they can just chomp the way a chimpanzee or a gorilla does. I guess the oldest table manners are the way an amoeba eats.
As long as we think in this comparative way, discussion becomes endless, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion. This is not Buddhism. If we use the word old in the Buddhist sense, it must be old beyond any comparison.
For example, there is a chapter called Kokyo (Old mirror) in Shōbōgenzō. This old mirror does not mean being old in the sense of time or age. It means being eternal beyond comparison.
In the same way, we must be careful when we use words like kaigō (to attain enlightenment) or genjō (to actualize or manifest). Gen, literally meaning "to appear," does not mean that something that was not previously there suddenly appears. It means that eternal reality, which cannot be hidden nor revealed, which neither exists nor ceases to exist, must be actualized right here, right now. Also kai (to open) does not mean that something that had been closed is opened. Even when we use the expression "to attain enlightenment," it does not mean that someone who has been deluded becomes enlightened. We actualize the enlightenment that is inherent in each one of us. This is the meaning of attaining enlightenment. The Buddhist usage of the term is very difficult to understand.
According to popular writers like Kato Totsudo (1872-1949) of the Meiji era, Buddhism teaches us to attain enlightenment by transforming delusion. However, this is not correct. It may be easier to understand, but it is not what Buddhism teaches. We have difficulty understanding this point in the buddha-dharma when we look at it in our usual comparative way. Yet if we try to make it easy to grasp, it turns out to be something different from Buddhism. The idea of transforming delusion to attain enlightenment is easy to understand in terms of our ordinary way of thinking, yet it is not in accord with the buddha-dharma. In Buddhism, the dichotomy of delusion and enlightenment is transcended from the very beginning. We have to practice and actualize right now, right here the buddha-dharma (reality of life) that transcends both delusion and enlightenment. This is Great Enlightenment (daigo).
Therefore, from the first, we are neither deluded nor enlightened. Reality itself exists before we divide and name delusion and enlightenment. We are practicing this reality right here and right now. This is called attaining or actualizing enlightenment (kaigo). We practice with enlightenment as our base. Practice and enlightenment are simply one (shushō ichinyo).
Consequently, a confused attitude such as that I am deluded, or enlightened, or I was deluded and now I am enlightened, is not jijuyū zanmai. Since we are the self that is only the self, surpassing the dichotomy of delusion and enlightenment, we sit in the self that is only the self. This is jijuyū zanmai. This is the true meaning of "actualizing enlightenment." Dōgen Zenji says in Shōbōgenzō Genjōkōan, "When you attain one dharma, you are proficient in one dharma; when you encounter one practice, you carry out one practice." Since what we are encountering now is the reality of life, we live it right here. This is the attitude of jijuyū zanmai, and we continue practicing with this attitude until the end.
Why is zazen the reality of life or jijuyū zanmai? In our everyday life, we carry on accepting the kinds of concepts I mentioned previously. We stop this when we sit zazen and let go of thought.
In Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, we find that zazen itself is the practice of Buddha. Zazen itself is nondoing (fui). This zazen itself is the real form of the self. To sit zazen is to stop believing concepts—nondoing, or no fabrication. This is the real self that you will see when you actually practice zazen.
People often ask, "Are desires eliminated when we sit zazen?" There is no time when our desires or thoughts stop welling up. As long as we are human, various kinds of thoughts come up no matter how hard we practice zazen. Since it is quiet when we sit, thoughts come up much more than usual. If you are a rich person, you may think that you have to check your bank balance. We who have nothing to do with either money or social status think about women. My disciples at Antaiji are still young, so it must be hard for them. When they sit, they probably think more about women than they do about koans. A woman's face appears as if it were real; we talk with her, we imagine grasping her hands, and so on. Yet when we become aware of the reality that we are doing zazen, we come back to zazen. Then the thoughts coming up in our head disappear in an instant. It is interesting because the fantasies disappear immediately, and only the wall remains in front of our eyes. You will see this when you sit. To experience this is zazen.
Therefore, you will understand clearly that from the point of view of the reality of life, the thoughts we have been caught up in are nothing more than secretions from our brains. It is just scenery painted by the secretions from our brains.
Only when we sit zazen can we understand this clearly, yet it is so difficult to see it in our usual day-to-day life. Ordinarily, we believe that those thoughts in our head are the master of the self. We abstract and reify the fantasies secreted from our brains and are convinced that they are substantial. We take it for granted that what we think is reality. As a result, our original life is bound hand and foot by the fantasies.
Actually, what binds our self hand and foot is nothing but reified concepts or secretions from our brains. For this reason, when we let go of our thoughts, they disappear immediately. It would be interesting if somehow we could make it into a movie. A person who is caught up with money, women, status, or power, and bound hand and foot, becomes free as soon as he lets go of thought. The rope that binds him is immediately cut off, and he is released.
This is a matter of fact. When you sit zazen and let go of thoughts, any kind of thought disappears. All kinds of thoughts can be released if we do not grasp them. When we see things from the ground of this letting go of thoughts, we can clearly see that all thoughts are nothing other than secretions from our brains.
People have a preconception about attaining enlightenment that someone who has been deluded becomes enlightened through some kind of sudden experience, and that person will never be deluded again. This is not true. When you sit and let go of thoughts right now, you can certainly do it. At that moment, all restraints that bind you hand and foot disappear at once. This is attaining enlightenment. However, on the next day, the woman's face again appears. It will appear again and again, not on the next day but today, or even the next moment. So it is not true that if you attain enlightenment once, you finish the great matter and you need not practice anymore. As long as there is life, a kind of ready-made enlightenment does not work. Dried, frozen, or preserved enlightenment is no good. The enlightenment you attained yesterday has already passed away today. Consequently, where you practice continuously, right here, right now, moment by moment, you actualize enlightenment. To practice this attaining enlightenment until the end of the world is vital.
However, we ordinary people have a desire to abstract and reify even this enlightenment. We want to gain some enlightenment that is valid until we die. So people want to visit some roshi and receive inka, a verification that they have finished practice, so that they can print it on their name cards to show others that they are enlightened ones. Yet when you have such a desire to gain some fixed enlightenment, you are out of jijuyū zanmai.
The reality of life is not something fixed; it is vivid, fresh, and vigorous. We always practice and actualize it right now, right here. We should not reify the concept of enlightenment.
By the way, we cannot say that we can never expect some effect such as becoming bold or courageous as a result of a practice that seeks after enlightenment. It is the same as the case of an athlete who trains himself; he will become more capable as a matter of course.
I make it a rule to take a walk along the banks of the Uji River every day. Lately I see a lot of people jogging. Among them are people who are as fat as a broiler chicken, and others who are as skinny as a deity of poverty. I made a haiku:
Even broilers and deities of poverty
are jogging
these days.
I wonder whether it is good for them to jog, or not? People who are as fat as broilers should do some exercise before they become so fat. And people who are as skinny as a deity of poverty must have something wrong with their lungs or heart, so they had better not push themselves to run. Yet these days, since it is said that jogging is good for health, everyone has begun to do it. This is the reification of concepts.
On the contrary, if young people practice for a marathon and train themselves as hard as possible, then their legs and heart become stronger, and to that extent the discipline has an effect.
In the same way, if we practice zazen for our own power, such as seeking to become bolder, it might be possible for us to feel bolder or courageous. However, this is the same as the athlete. Although hard training makes him more capable, the effect has a limitation. It has nothing to do with the life that lives and dies. It does not help you when you have to face the matter of life and death.
Consider whether or not athletes can continue to play forever. For example, once when I was a kid I was taken to the Kōdōkan, the headquarters of judo. I saw Kanō Jigorō sitting upright in front of the dōjō. Although he looked just like a small, old man, he was a tenth-grade judo player and called "the great master." That was in the Taisho era [1912-1926]. Though only a child, I thought that he must be the greatest and strongest, because he surveyed the huge men who were playing judo matches there in such a dignified manner. However, later I heard that in both judo and kendo Japanese fencing), players who are at the fifth or sixth grade (in their middle twenties or thirties at most) are the strongest. Those in the seventh, eighth, or ninth grades are respected because of their careers, yet they are not strong anymore. I guess Kanō Jigorō was not so strong when I saw him.
When I was a kid, storybooks on samurai were very popular. I remember a story of Tsukahara Bokuden and Miyamoto Musashi. Bokuden, the old master of kendo, was living by himself in a hermitage in the deep mountains. One day when Bokuden was cooking, Musashi, still a young samurai, sneaked in and suddenly attacked Bokuden from behind with a sword. Bokuden parried the sword with a pot lid, then held the young samurai down. I admired him and was convinced that only a master could pull such a stunt. Yet now I think it must not be true. In the first place, it is impossible to receive a sword strike with a wooden pot lid. If he tried, he would have been slashed. But in storybooks everything is exaggerated and told as if such a feat could be accomplished by result of hard training. As for reality, no matter how strong or skillful a man was when young, when he becomes old he loses vigor. There is a proverb that says, "In the end, a flying arrow shot from a strong crossbow does not pierce through a thin sheet of silk cloth." In reality, capability attained through discipline loses its power when a person becomes old and decrepit.
I feel this deeply when I remember Sawaki Roshi's closing years. Sawaki Roshi had a big voice. He often said that he had never lost the will to lay down his life in the battlefield. He was a brave warrior during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Once the fighting was so fierce that even a battalion commander shrank back. At that time, although he was a mere private first class, Sawaki Roshi rushed out yelling "Forward!" Then all the others followed him, a private first class at the head of a battalion. Sawaki Roshi was a man of pluck long before he became a Zen monk. His voice was also tremendously loud. When I was practicing under him he was already quite old, but when he got angry and scolded others in a voice of thunder, people could not help feeling as if the whole temple building was quaking. However, in his closing years, his voice became very thin. When visitors talked with him they could not hear his voice clearly, and I had to translate for him.
After all, human capability is like that. Therefore it is not bad to train physically or mentally, but such capability is not helpful at all when we encounter a matter of life and death. It has nothing to do with life, which includes birth, old age, sickness, and death. We have to realize that the zazen that Dōgen Zenji taught must be clearly distinguished from such training for the sake of having much nerve. There are some people who practice zazen as a discipline for the sake of becoming courageous. I predict that the technique of using zazen as training for the sake of becoming brave, of eliminating delusions, or of concentrating one's mind will be studied by psychologists, and those techniques will be put to use in psychotherapy, which is very popular now in America. This is not bad.
However, Dōgen Zenji's zazen has nothing to do with such techniques for psychotherapy. It is a religion that shows us the true way of life. Yet I think the time will come, within a few decades or centuries, when the word religion will also die out, because as soon as we use the word religion some peculiar atmosphere arises. Religion is a kind of disgusting word. I hope this word will fall into disuse.
Dōgen Zenji's zazen is simply the most fundamental matter of our life. It is the matter of the life of one's self, which is born, lives, and dies. Therefore, it is essentially different from the kinds of zazen used as training for conventional and worldly purposes. I want you to understand this thoroughly. This matter of life that is born, lives, and dies, is not a matter of individuals separated from other individuals. This is the matter of the self that is only the self, the present that is only the present of each and every one of us who lives out our own life.
Self-power training is a matter of individuality in which "I" train myself; I become enlightened and a great person. Shinran Shōnin, the founder of the Jōdo Shin School, called such people jajoshu (those who are wrongly established), and called people who have faith in other-power shōjōshū (those who are rightly established). Basically, he said that self-power training is not right. In the same sense, the word kaigo (attaining enlightenment) does not mean that some "I" trains myself and I become enlightened for a human purpose. True kaigo means that we actualize the life that transcends delusion and enlightenment.
In the Jōdō Shin School, they use the expression "determined faith." I think there is a time when one settles down in faith and never doubts anymore. What does this mean? According to our common sense, we firmly believe that our own thought is absolutely correct and the only measure of all things. But instead we settle ourselves in this faith, and never doubt that our thoughts are nothing more than secretions from our brain, which cannot be a yardstick. Instead of thinking that our thoughts are true, we can actually let go of our thoughts. In that world we see everything as the reality of life, which is reforming the self. This is determined faith. When we see reality after reforming the self, the world that is seen through our thoughts is an illusory world. Prince Shōtoku (574—621, a very important early Japanese Buddhist patron, scholar, and practitioner) said that the world is illusory, and only the Buddha is real. This means that reality is seen from the ground of letting go of thought; that is, just life itself is of highest value. When you understand this, your eyes of faith open.
When your eyes open to reality, you cannot help arousing an awareness that is disgusted by this dirty, illusory world and seeks after the Pure Land. Since this world is illusory, it is by nature defiled and incorrect. People of Pure Land Buddhism view the world from the perspective that only the world of Amitabha Buddha is real. They measure things by seeing with the eyes of Amitabha Buddha. This is very important.
Each and every one of us has many different kinds of problems in our day-to-day life. There is no one without anguish or anxiety. But it is necessary to reflect upon our anguish and anxiety with buddha's eye. When we see things with buddha's eyes, we will find that we are perplexed by trifles. We suffer from what we do not need to suffer from, and we do not suffer from what we must suffer from. When we reconsider our perplexity or suffering from this direction, we will be able to find comfort. With buddha's eye, we see that ordinary people do not worry about that which human beings should worry about. We must repeatedly reflect upon and reconsider this essential point of our practice.
By the way, there is a group of people who have complicated brains. They would say that it is not bad to have such an attitude toward faith, yet isn't it also a secretion from our brain to think of seeing from the buddha's eye? This doubt may arise in their minds.
Now I am going to talk about a really difficult matter. If you want to listen to a simple talk, you had better go to Seichōno Ie or Sōka Gakkai [modern popular Japanese Buddhist groups]. Their ideas are very easy to understand. I think you are here because you are not satisfied with such shallow teachings. I also talk for the sake of people who have complicated brains and are, so to speak, deeply deluded, and who do not believe what they are taught without questioning. Consequently, my talk will become difficult to understand. Please be patient.
Having faith means believing that things seen through one's own eyes are not real, but things seen by buddha's eye are real. However, if you think that believing this is also nothing but a kind of thought, you overturn the idea. This is doubting. But the idea is overturned yet again when you let go of the doubt, because such a doubt itself is nothing other than a thought. It is an interesting world. You can let go of such doubts, too. This is determined faith. No matter what kind of thought it is, it will fall away when we let go. This is where the whole world of zazen opens.
It is said in Shōbōgenzō Zanmai Ō Zanmai (The samadhi of the king of samadhis), "We must know that the whole world of zazen and the whole world of other things are totally different. Realizing this, we must clarify and affirm the arousing of bodhi-mind; practice; awakening; and the nirvana of buddhas and ancestors."
Understanding deeply and clarifying how different the whole world of zazen and the whole world of other things are from each other, as a buddha one has to clarify and affirm "the arousing of bodhi-mind; practice; awakening; and the nirvana of buddhas and ancestors" in the world of zazen. When we arouse bodhi mind (aspiration for the Way), we must do it from the ground of letting go of thought. We must do the practice and actualize the awakening and the nirvana of letting go of thought.
From the beginning, it is completely different from the arousing of aspiration, practice, and attaining enlightenment of ordinary human beings who try to make the egocentric "I" greater. If you practice zazen because you want to become plucky and courageous like Saigō Takamori or Katsu Kaishu (Japanese heroes), your attitude is totally different from the aspiration, practice, awakening, and nirvana of the buddhas and ancestors. After all, as a foundation for determined faith, there must be jijuyū zanmai, which actualizes the reality of life through just doing zazen. In that sense, the teaching of other-power (tariki) of Shinran Shōnin is a good attitude for faith. It is grounded in buddha-dharma.
However, there are a lot of people who are deeply deluded and cannot enter the faith of other-power. For those people, just sitting zazen is the easiest practice, because as soon as they sit zazen right now, right here, the world of zazen will open. Yet even if you sit zazen, it can be overturned into self-power (jiriki) practice, depending exclusively upon your attitude toward zazen. Realizing this thoroughly, you must practice zazen on the basis of letting go of thought.
For us zazen practitioners, determination and faith is important. We have to believe that even though we do not understand it, zazen is the reality of life. And when we actually sit zazen, we should not think that we are sitting good zazen. If you think so, it is a mere thought. So sitting from the ground of letting go of thought is even letting go of thoughts that we are doing good zazen. Consequently, we cannot know whether we are doing good zazen or not. When we sit zazen, in this sense, our faith must be settled.
It is not necessary to discuss such complicated things as mentioned above. It is good enough if you just sit zazen. Yet I think you are all deeply deluded and have a lot of doubts before becoming convinced, so I am talking about how we should deal with those doubts.
I would like to talk a little more on a deeply deluded matter. I think human beings have two sorts of eyes. One is the eye of thought; another is the eye that goes beyond human thoughts. The view through the eye of thought puts thought as the foundation of all things and firmly believes that its own thought is the measure for all things. This is the eye of ordinary human beings.
We often hear of troubles caused by marriage, especially in the countryside. For example, a son from a rich family falls in love with a woman and asks his parents' permission to marry her. His parents say, "No! A woman from a poor family like hers is not a good match because of the status of our family."
This assessment coming up in the parents' minds becomes an absolute for them. From my point of view, family standing is not so noble that they should be proud of it. It is not a big deal. If they broaden their view, their family status is not so different from that of the woman's family. Although there is no reason to be against their son's marriage, they attach themselves to their idea of their family standing. As a final outcome, the trouble may become bigger and bigger until their son leaves his family or even commits suicide. They have a preconception and take it for granted that something that is of no value objectively is tremendously valuable subjectively. This is the way ordinary human beings view things.
Such a subjective way of viewing things through our own narrow eyes is not right. The right way of seeing things must be objective and rational. This is the way modern science sees things. It was brought forward by the Greek philosophers. What is the basis of objective observation? According to Kant, it is Ego as a general concept. The scientific way of viewing things is based upon this thinking. What is the Ego as a general concept? It is not a mere individual "I" but a universal "I." For example, I call myself "I"; you call yourself "I"; we set up the general concept of "I" or ego. The scientific way of seeing things is based upon general concepts, the root of modern science. From the viewpoint of science, when science improves, all problems we have now will be resolved. This is an idea held by many people in this science-oriented society. However, it is not in reality true.
Concepts of thought are abstractions. If abstract thought pursues the reality of life, it will be endless. Even if it is pursued to the atom, it cannot reach an end. You can cut one thing in half, and cut it in half again, and again, continuing to cut it in half infinitely. Even when it becomes as small as an atom, you still can cut it in half. It never becomes zero. You could add an infinite number of zeros after the decimal, yet it never becomes zero. As long as there is one at the end of an infinite number of zeros, if we enlarge that, it could still make a huge difference. Maybe scientists today assume that when they analyze things down to an atom, they can reach the reality of life. Yet no matter how science develops, scientists will be caught seeking it in the gap between zero and the one far after the decimal point. That is all they can do.
It is impossible for a general concept of "I" to resolve all problems. Both the eyes of a subjective "I" and the eyes of an objective and reasonable "I" are the same, because both of them are the eyes of thought.
There is another eye from ancient times, the eye that does not assume that egocentric thought is absolute. This is the eye of religion, which believes that instead of our thought, only God is the true eye. However, since this eye negates all thought and human reason, it is possible for it to become one with superstitious false belief. People might think, "In the Bible it is said that leprosy and paralysis were healed by prayer. The Bible is absolutely right. Therefore, when we have some serious disease, we should not go to a hospital. We should heal it by prayer." Even the way of reading the Bible can become fanatical depending upon our attitudes. I think this is not the right way either.
In the case of Buddhism, though, it is different. The buddha's eye is that of letting go of thought. It does not negate thoughts. We just let them come and go freely. This is practice that is actual activity. When we put letting go of thought into words, someone who is a philosopher might say that it is also a kind of thought. However, we have to let go of even such doubting thought. The practice of zazen as letting go of thought is an actual activity grounded in life instead of thoughts or concepts.
As I said before, we have two kind of eyes. One is the eye of thought; the other is the eye that negates thoughts. When we consider these two eyes with thoughts or concepts, they absolutely contradict each other. Yet if we see them in the practice of letting go of thought in the ground of life, they never contradict each other.
In the ground of reality of life as practice, our brain belongs to life. Life animates our brain and enables it to function. Consequently, in our practice of zazen we should not negate or eliminate our thoughts, because thoughts are just secretions from our brain.
Christianity and other religions negate our thoughts or reasoning because they believe our thoughts are evil and only God is true. Then there is a danger of accepting superstition or false belief. On the contrary, in our practice of zazen, we just let go of thought in the ground of life that animates our brain and enables it to function.
When we drive a car safely, we do not handle the steering wheel and the brake pedal after thinking in our brain that we have to deal with these various things. Naturally and freely we keep away from other cars in the opposite lane, or push the brake pedal when we see a pedestrian. This is the way our brain functions in life.
We should drive our life safely in the same way we drive a car. The eye of thought is like driving a car with tension. For example, since I have no experience, if I drive a car I will be tense and even frightened, fearful of what is happening. It is dangerous, so I do not drive a car. On the other hand, if you negate your thought and leave everything to God, it is like driving a car with your eyes closed. This is also dangerous.
Driving a car by letting go of thought means putting your brain as life into full function. When we sit zazen, our brain must be wide awake instead of being spaced out. Yet we should let go of thought and drive freely. We have to drive our life in this way.
I don't mean that you should not practice zazen unless you understand and memorize what I am saying, and keep it in your mind when you actually sit. Rather you must just sit, letting go of even those thoughts I've discussed. That is all.
THE BASIS OF ALL VALUE LIES IN THE FACT: "I AM LIVING." THEN, WHAT IS THE REALITY OF LIFE OF THE SELF?
What we actually do in sitting zazen as jijuyū zanmai is let go of thought, which reifies abstract concepts, and live out the actual life that is the oneness of the self and of the world of our own life experience.
We must be careful to understand that the self that is only the self is not mere self-consciousness. Do not misunderstand. This is the self even when we let go of self-consciousness. It is interesting, isn't it? In common sense, we believe that we exist only because we are conscious of our selves. However, in reality, the self exists even when we let go of self-consciousness. It would be interesting if the self ceased to exist when we sat zazen and let go of thought, in the same way as snow melts on a heating stove. Instead, only when we let go of thought does the real self appear. This is important. Doing zazen is nothing but actually experiencing this. So in doing zazen, the self that lives life experience (mind) and the world that is lived as life experience (dharma) are not two, but one. This is the absolute one reality before any division into two.
This is the meaning of "one mind is all the myriad dharmas; all the myriad dharmas are one mind." This is the reality of life of the self.
In just practicing this absolute reality of life, I am just I. Shakyamuni is just Shakyamuni. Mahakashyapa is just Mahakashyapa. When they sit zazen they are just themselves, and yet they become one in the fact that both of them are just living out the self that is only the self. This is the way the wondrous dharma of the reality of life is correctly transmitted. In the same way, it has been transmitted from one to another up to the present day. This is the buddha-dharma. This is why Dōgen Zenji said "practicing proper sitting in jijuyū zanmai has been the true way to actualize enlightenment."
According to the unmistakenly handed down tradition.
The Japanese word for tradition is shūmon. The Chinese character shu means the essence or the most important thing. Mon means a gate. In general usage, shiimon is a school or a sect that is a gate for entering the truth. Yet here this shūmon or tradition does not mean the Zen sect as one of the schools of Buddhism; it means the center of the buddha-dharma. In other words, it is zazen that has been transmitted among the followers of Bodhidharma as the buddha-dharma itself.
According to that tradition, it is said,
The straightforward buddha-dharma that has been simply transmitted is supreme among the supreme.
The buddha-dharma is transmitted from the self that is only the self to the self that is only the self. Such directly transmitted dharma is supreme beyond comparison. We always attach ourselves to something that we think relatively better or more valuable than other things, and we are blinded to real life by that. We must purify our system of value. For living out our own life, we must first of all clarify absolute value. Many people live for fulfillment of their desires. These people are like chickens at a poultry farm. I feel sorry for the chickens that just eat nutritious feed day and night and lay as many eggs as possible. This is all that they do in their lives. Chicken raisers keep the light on in the chicken coop all night to keep the chickens producing eggs efficiently. They calculate how many eggs can be laid by one chicken, and they kill the chickens when they become old.
People who pursue money, power, efficiency, delicious food, drinking, and playing as the most valuable things are no different from chickens. We must clearly understand what is of supreme value in our lives. This is a crucial matter.
I wrote on my New Year's greeting card this year that the life of the self in life and death is the be-all and end-all. The fact is that "I," which is alive and going to die, exists as the basis here and now only when I exist and my world in which I live exists. Such a world of the self that is only the self is the only basis for a system of value.
I say to my disciples that by all means, they should sit zazen silently for ten years. If they go through ten years, I will say sit another ten years. When they sit for twenty years, I will say sit ten more years. Anyway, we must sit silently for at least ten years.
One minute of zazen is one minute of Buddha. Your first zazen is your first sitting Buddha. That is good zazen. You don't need to accumulate experiences to do true zazen. However, the reason I tell them to sit silently for ten years is that because we are usually apt to think that gaining money, power, or fame is good; we have to go through long practice before we can truly convince ourselves that such things are not valuable at all. If you practice zazen for ten or twenty years without concern for money, power, or fame, you will see that there is something more valuable than those things. Otherwise you cannot lead others to practice zazen.
If you practice by yourself, you don't need to practice in such a strict way. Yet what I expect of my disciples is not that, but for them to become locomotives that draw people in throughout the world. To be a locomotive, one should not change one's system of value or direction of life in midstream. For this reason, monks have to sit twenty or thirty years and embody the supreme buddha-dharma to the point where they can see that dharma absolutely unquestionably. This is why I encourage my disciples to sit even if it means going through many difficulties.
From the time you begin practicing with a teacher, the practices of incense burning, bowing, nembutsu, repentance, and reading sutras are not at all essential.
Dōgen Zenji said that when one meets a teacher who is like the previously mentioned locomotive, and begins to receive instruction about zazen, one need not carry on incense burning, bowing, nembutsu, repentance, or reading sutras.
Strictly speaking, Dōgen Zenji said that since chanting nembutsu and reading sutras are nonessential and unnecessary practices, we should not practice them.
There are many people who talk as if they live for the sake of eating brown rice because they have heard that brown rice is good for health. Or someone may say that he will live by eating only vegetables, like a silkworm, because vegetarianism is good for health. For the same reason, people burn incense in front of a buddha statue, bow, chant nembutsu, repent, and recite sutras. When we do these things we become calm, and some people say that it is better to practice things like these. But this way of practice clouds the pure value system. When we are involved in those things, we are apt to take them as the purpose of practice, and we should not practice in that way. From the outset we should not engage in such extra activities, because purifying our system of value is important.
Shinran threw away everything except nembutsu. In the Jōdo Shin School, nembutsu is supreme beyond comparison, so they practice only nembutsu. The important matter is to make our system of value pure.
Just sit, dropping off body and mind.
"Simply" means single-mindedly. Practice zazen single-mindedly and drop off body and mind. In Hokyoki (Dōgen's journals from his study in China), it is said that to practice zazen is to drop off body and mind. Some people say that we should gain satori in order to experience dropping off of body and mind. However, dropping off body and mind should not be misunderstood as a kind of satori experience in which our body and mind seem to disappear. In the later part of Hōkyōki, it is said that dropping off body and mind is zazen. This is clearly mentioned. Just to sit wholeheartedly is dropping off body and mind. When we sit, letting go of all thoughts that reify abstract concepts, all things fall off. This is dropping off body and mind.
When one displays the buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi even for a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment.
This paragraph is Dōgen Zenji's description of the merit of zazen as jijuyū zanmai. The merit of buddha-dharma is completely different from the merit in a worldly system of value, which is good for nothing in Sawaki Roshi's expression. This is not easy to understand.
Nishiari Zenji (Nishiari Bokusan, 1821-1910; a great modern Sōtō Zen master) often said to his disciples, "Talking about buddha-dharma to you is the same as trying to have a love affair with a kid." I suppose that many of his disciples were forced to become monks by their parents and disliked practice of the buddha way. Once a person becomes a novice, he has to go to a monastery, and while staying there he is forced to practice zazen and listen to lectures on the buddha-dharma. To give a talk on buddha-dharma is really like attempting to have a love affair with a kid. It's really difficult to entice a baby who is not yet sexually awakened to have a love affair.
I am lucky on this point. My disciples at Antaiji were all awakened to bodhi mind and practiced spontaneously. There was no one who stayed in order to get a license to be a priest. Also, all of you who come to listen to my talk here are at least interested in the buddha-dharma and want to practice zazen of your own accord. My talk can be understood by people like you.
Expressions like "letting go of thought" or "dropping off body and mind" become mere concepts or words in literature if the audience has not yet awakened to the way-seeking mind. I read a treatise by a scholar who tried to research the meaning of "dropping off body and mind" by referring to much literature. If you want to refer to literature about "dropping off body and mind," Dōgen Zenji's "dropping off body and mind is zazen" is good enough. Then you can understand that it is nonsense to discuss "dropping off body and mind" without practicing zazen. "Dropping off body and mind," "shikantaza," and "letting go of thought" cannot be understood without actually letting go of thought in the practice of zazen right now, right here.
"When one displays buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind" means with one's three kinds of actions: physical, verbal, and mental. We sit in full lotus with our body, put our tongue against the roof of our mouth and keep silent, and mentally we do not seek to become a buddha but put aside the operation of our intellect, volition, and consciousness. This is to display buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind.
That "sitting upright in this samadhi even for a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra," is really wonderful. When we sit in proper form in samadhi, the whole universe of sitting, the world of zazen, opens. The world of zazen is completely different from the world of other things.
Usually we only think of saving secret money for our own sake in the moneybag of our thoughts. We are happy when we put some savings in our moneybag, secretly thinking it is our possession. Let go of this secret savings of thought. Then the world of life opens. The self that is only the self is the self letting go of thought. When we let go of saving our thoughts, we are in the world of reality of life. This is what is meant by "everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra." This is the world of "one mind is all the myriad dharmas; all the myriad dharmas are one mind."
"All space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment." The word enlightenment differs from the commonly used word, satori. If you say that you got enlightened, your enlightenment is nothing but a kind of personal savings.
Enlightenment is not personal savings; enlightenment is letting go of thought that claims things as mine. Casting aside the discrimination between enlightenment and delusion, the reality of life is enlightenment in its true sense. We must understand that when Dōgen Zenji uses words like satori or kaigo (to attain satori), the words do not mean "enlightenment" like personal savings.
Therefore, it enables buddha-tathagatas to increase the dharma joy of their own original grounds, and renew the adornment of the way of awakening.
This means that all buddhas naturally exist in the pleasure of being buddhas. They let go of personal savings and stand on the ground of life. When we examine the final set-dement of our accounts of the reality of life, living out the reality of life through letting go of thought makes the reality of life richer.
This may not be a good example, but if a wife takes secret savings from her husband's salary and gets interest of four or five percent, while on the other hand her husband borrows money at high interest, eventually they lose their money and may have to flee in the night.
When I lived in Ogaki, I saw the Red Flag at a big spinning company, Daikōbō. The employees of the company went on strike for higher wages. While the dispute was dragging on, their slogan changed from demanding higher wages to not selling the factory. Unfortunately, it was during a depression in the textile industry, and, since it was a long dispute, the company didn't honor its bills. In the end, the company went under, and the big factory was sold, with the land becoming an empty lot. When we calculate on the basis of personal savings, things go in that way.
Our attitude should be different: no personal savings. When each one of us lets go of all kinds of thoughts, both family and company become rich. In the same manner, on the basis of letting go of thought, the reality of life becomes rich as the reality of life. This is the meaning of "increasing the dharma joy of their own original grounds."
Simultaneously, all living beings of the dharma world in the ten directions and six realms become clear and pure in body and mind, realize great emancipation, and their own original face appears.
The dharma world of the ten directions means all worlds in the east, west, south, north, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, up, and down. The six realms are the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, titans, human beings, and heavenly beings. These six realms are the measurement of how we human beings are involved in delusion and pulled by desires. As ordinary human beings, each one of us believes that our thoughts are the lord of ourselves, and thinking in this way with our thoughts as our base, we are bound firmly hand and foot by them. The one who is caught up most severely is the dweller in hell, with the degree and nature of binding varying among beings in the other five realms.
"To become clear and pure in body and mind" means to become free from such ignorance and defilement. "To become aware of great emancipation" means to be released from such binding thoughts.
These days, I've heard that some kids commit suicide out of spite when their desires are not fulfilled. From a mature point of view, it is ridiculous to kill yourself over such trifles. However, for a kid it might be natural to think that if he wants this or that and his parents refuse to buy them, he should commit suicide out of spite.
This is an analogy for the difference between a kid and a mature person, but as a matter of fact, from the point of view of a person mature in the buddha-dharma, though we think we are adults, all of us are childish. When we see things with truly mature eyes, there is no need to struggle over money or power. This is what is meant by the saying "to become aware of great emancipation."
"Actualizing their own original face" is actualizing the true reality of life. This wonderful reality of life is inherent in each and every one of us without seeking after it, yet in spite of that fact, since we are bound up by our thoughts, we put up a fuss. This is the scenery of the six realms, but when we sit in zazen, we let go of such thought. This is dropping off body and mind.
I have already repeated that the reality of life is "the one mind is all the myriad dharmas; all the myriad dharmas are one mind." That is, in the reality of life, life experience (mind) and the world that is experienced (dharma) are not two, but one reality. But when we view things from the perspective of dharma (object), "all things (dharmas) together awaken to supreme enlightenment." All the myriad dharmas are themselves nothing but absolute enlightenment.
Absolute enlightenment (anuttara samyak sambodhi) is Shakyamuni's enlightenment. When Shakyamuni attained enlightenment he said, "I and all living beings on the great earth completed the Way together. Mountains, rivers, grass, and trees, all attained buddhahood without exception." He did not say that he became enlightened but the rest of the beings still remained in delusion. When one person attains enlightenment, one mind is all the myriad dharmas, all the myriad dharmas are one mind, and the whole universe of the person's life experience becomes enlightened. This is the reason I say that when we sit in zazen and let go of thought, the whole world suddenly and completely changes.
When Shakyamuni attained enlightenment, all the myriad dharmas within buddha's mind, that is, mountains, rivers, grass, and trees, all became buddha. All are aspects of buddha.
In this sense, each and every one of us has been enlightened by Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Jōdo Shin School, this is expressed as our having already been saved by Amitabha Buddha.
Nevertheless, we ordinary human beings are screaming that we are deluded. Among my disciples, there was a person who had a manic-depressive psychosis. One morning, since he did not come out of his room, I went to him. He was crying "It's dark! It's dark!" Actually, he had covered his eyes with his hands. In the same manner we believe that our thought is our lord and, caught up by our thought, we start to cry, "We are deluded human beings!" Only if we let go of thoughts without any exception can we have bodies that are enlightened by Shakyamuni Buddha and live within the world that is enlightened by Shakyamuni Buddha. This is an absolute fact. In other words, "all things together awaken to supreme enlightenment and utilize buddha-body." This is undoubtedly true.
They immediately go beyond the culmination of awakening and sit upright under the kingly bodhi tree. At the same time, they turn the incomparable great dharma wheel and begin expressing ultimate and unfabricated profound prajna.
Without a doubt, all things are nothing other than buddha's body, yet they are even beyond the buddha's body. This is what Dōgen Zenji meant when he said that "they go beyond the culmination of awakening."
In the world of reality, a violet is a violet, a rose is a rose, good is good, evil is evil, everything is just as it is. This is what is meant by the expression shōhō jisso (all the myriad dharmas are the true form). All of us, as the reality of life, are buddha's body, which is ultimate awareness; but none cling to the ultimate awareness. A violet is just a violet, a rose is just a rose, good is good, evil is evil.
Doing zazen is not sleeping. Our brain has to be awake. We cannot say that no thoughts come up, yet if we let go of the thoughts, we can let go of them. Sometimes we mindlessly start to think, for example, that we should invest money in this or that because we would get more profit. However, when we become aware of the thought and go back to zazen, there is only a wall in front of us.
During the time of Shakyamuni, zazen was called tree watching. In ancient India they sat facing a huge tree. I suppose after sitting practice was introduced into China they started to sit facing a wall. When we let go of thought, only the wall remains. This is "form is empty." Form (rupa) means "materials" in Buddhist terminology. When we are sitting in zazen, everything coming up is the scenery within zazen. Various sorts of thinking well up, but when we let go of them, there is only a wall in front of us. Form is empty. Within emptiness there are various things. This is "emptiness is form."
If we practice this zazen continuously, we realize that what we think in our brain is nothing but secretions from our brain. Experiencing this is important, for to understand this is to "express ultimate and unfabricated profound prajna."
"To sit under the kingly bodhi tree" means to sit in the world of zazen seeing only a tree or a wall. "To be incomparable" means it is beyond comparison or judgments as to what it is equal to and what it is not. That is, it is absolute equality. A violet is a violet, a rose is a rose, without comparison. Everything is as it is. "Ultimate and unfabricated" means that it reaches the most refined way of life and being without man-made defilements. It is zazen in which we live out the reality of life, letting go of thoughts.
There is a path through which the anuttara samyak sam-bodhi of all things returns [to the person in zazen], and whereby [that person and the enlightenment of all things] intimately and imperceptibly assist each other. Therefore this zazen person without fail drops off body and mind, cuts away previous tainted views and thoughts, awakens genuine buddha-dharma, universally helps the buddha work in each place, as numerous as atoms, where buddha-tathagatas teach and practice, and widely influences practitioners who are going beyond buddha, thereby vigorously exalting the dharma that goes beyond buddha.
To practice zazen as jijuyū zanmai is to sit within the reality of life as "one mind is all the myriad dharmas; all the myriad dharmas are one mind." When we practice this, all the myriad dharmas influence the one mind. This occurs without concern for whether you believe it or not. One mind (my life experience) and all the myriad dharmas (the world that I experience) are not two, but one reality. Therefore, the two help each other. This is the meaning of the "path through which the incomparable awareness of all things returns [to the person in zazen], and [that person and the enlightenment of all things] intimately and imperceptibly assist each other." This can be said to be the case of all the myriad dharmas too, but here it is referring to the one mind.
"Dropping off body and mind" means letting go of thought. When the reality of all the myriad dharmas becomes clear in its aspect as object, our body and mind will naturally drop off, and worthless personal views or thoughts will be completely cut off.
You may think personal views or thoughts are a big deal, but they are actually insignificant. Putting value on such trifling things, you go astray. In this human world, we cannot always be friendly to everyone. Sometimes we have to go on strike. There is no reason to allow only capitalists to gain profit, so if employers are mean, we should walk out in order to teach them a lesson.
But on the other hand, we should see that such a conflict is a kind of sport. This is the view of a mature person. Neither workers nor employers should take it too seriously. If they fight in complete earnest, as in the case of the spinning company, they will only come to ruin together. Even when we have to go on strike, we should have a mature eye that "cuts away previous tainted views and thoughts." I think this is most important.
"Awakens genuine buddha-dharma" means to be the original true reality of life. "Universally helps the buddha work in each place, as numerous as atoms, where buddha-tathagatas teach and practice," means that even a small entity like an atom becomes a practice place of buddhas and tathagatas.
You may know that there are innumerable small buddha images carved on the platform and the halo of the great image of buddha at Todaiji temple in Nara. Do you know what this means?
Buddha statues are artistic expressions of our zazen. The small buddhas on the platform and the halo of the great buddha mean that each and every action of the zazen person becomes zazen and preaches the dharma. When we practice zazen, all activities are expressions of dharma.
To go beyond buddha means to become buddha and yet never stay in buddhahood. If someone becomes buddha and claims he is a buddha, he is clinging to some view of buddha.
Although they are buddha, they continuously and endlessly go beyond buddha. They must always be vividly alive moment to moment, and not stay within a certain state of satori, saying they have attained enlightenment. They do not become like lifeless, dried fish of satori.
IF THERE IS THE SLIGHTEST GAP BETWEEN ONE'S REALITY AND APPEARANCE, ONE CANNOT BE A HUMAN LIVING IN RELIGION
At this time, because earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in ten directions, carry out buddha work, therefore everyone receives the benefit of wind and water movement caused by this functioning, and all are imperceptibly helped by the wondrous and incomprehensible influence of buddha to actualize the enlightenment at hand.
In the previous section, the merit of zazen within the dharma (object) and mind (subject) of a zazen person was described. In this section, Dōgen Zenji talks about the merit of zazen in the conventional world created by our thought, the world in which you and I meet each other.
Once we sit in zazen, our environment actually and completely changes. For example, today you are here. There might be someone who was going to go to a bar to drink with his friends but changed his mind and decided to come to this temple, Sōsenji. In such a case, if he went to go drinking, he might have a few glasses of sake and become cheerful. If a hostess serves him, he would drink more. After a while he would drink more and more, and would not be satisfied with just being served by the hostess and holding her hand. Then he would go deeper and deeper into the world of drink.
In the beginning, a person drinks sake. In the next stage, sake drinks sake, and finally, sake drinks the person.
Yet if you come to Sōsenji to practice zazen instead of going to drink, and you actually sit, the whole world of zazen appears.
Zazen is wondrous. When we think of zazen in the context of the world in which we don't sit (the world of other things), it seems pretty irksome. When we sit, we only have to bring out a cushion and just sit on it, yet we think it a great trouble to do so. But once you begin to sit, your mind changes, and it feels good to do zazen.
You should just sit without thinking anything. To support this, living in a monastery is convenient. When the time comes, the bell for zazen is rung and we sit zazen, setting everything aside without concern for whether we like it or not. We have no time to think it irksome. When we sit, we are obstructed by immovable zazen. In exactly the same way that sake drinks a person, the immovable zazen posture makes a person immovable. When other people are also sitting, it is impossible for only me to stand up and walk around. Dōgen Zenji's expression, "to be obstructed by immovable sitting" is really wonderful. Once we begin to sit, the whole world changes.
In his final days, Sawaki Roshi once accompanied me to Ryūunji temple in Fukui Prefecture. He said, "I am going to visit the temple where I was worshipped while I was sitting. Come with me." When Sawaki Roshi was still a novice, he stayed at this temple. After a segaki ceremony during obon had been finished (the ceremony to lay to rest uneasy spirits during the summer month when they return), the head priest there told the monks to take the day off. The other monks went to the town of Fukui to have a good time, but Sawaki Roshi did not know what to do in the town; he made up his mind to do zazen. He entered a room in the living quarters of the temple and began to sit zazen. An old woman working for the temple came into the room. She was a nagging old woman who worked her men hard; there are such old women everywhere. She always made novices work like horses. When she opened the sliding door, she was struck dumb with surprise at seeing Sawaki Roshi sitting, and suddenly prostrated herself in front of him as he sat.
Although Roshi was still a boy, he thought that zazen was really wondrous. This experience was one reason Roshi later devoted himself to the practice of zazen and spent his whole life as a practitioner of zazen. There are innumerable people who began to practice zazen because of Sawaki Roshi's influence. I also started to practice zazen because I became his follower, and as a result, here and now I encourage you to practice zazen. The origin of this was that time as a boy, when he once decided to sit. The fact that the old woman prostrated herself in front of his zazen made him practice zazen for his whole life, and I was also tempted into zazen for my whole life. Now you try to do zazen based on listening to my talk. This is really continuous and endless.
Since those who receive and use this water and fire extend the buddha influence of original enlightenment, all who live and talk with these people also share and universally unfold the boundless buddha virtue.
This is completely true. I sit zazen in this moment but it does not die out. There must be people who practice because they were attracted by my practice, and those people will work in the future world. If zazen permeates into the world in this manner, there must come a day when all human beings on the earth will practice zazen. This is practice of the vow, "However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them all."
Without concern as to whether you believe it or not, one mind is all the myriad dharmas; all the myriad dharmas are one mind. A person's action finds an echo in the whole world; an overall trend determines one person's activity. This is the structure of life.
The fact that I sit zazen by myself is a fabulously great matter.
When I was first at Antaiji, I stayed there with Yokoyama Sodo-san. Actually I stayed by myself, and he stayed by himself in separate rooms; Sodō-san sat alone, and I sat alone. That was the reality.
At that time students visited me and often asked, "Why don't you work in society? Why do you sit alone in such an isolated place?" I always replied in this way, "Society always moves without direction. Within such a society it is the greatest contribution to sit immovably by oneself."
When society moves without any direction, if I move in the same way, it becomes all the more entangled and confused. Without being pulled by such movement, I just sit. This is the greatest contribution to society. I have been practicing based on this belief.
My belief came from the way of Bodhidharma's life. The Great Master Bodhidharma came to China from India and exclusively sat facing a wall for nine years. That was his greatest function. Actually, now zazen works widely in the East due to his silent and immovable sitting, and this is not the end. I believe that zazen will someday permeate into all parts of the earth. The origin of this process of evolution is the fact that Bodhidharma came to China and sat silently by himself.
I told my disciples in America to sit silently for ten years. They cannot support themselves through takuhatsu in America. If they did, people would think they were only beggars. So now they are practicing zazen while supporting themselves with part-time jobs. I suppose it is very hard to continue practice for ten years in such a situation. However, if they continue sitting for ten years, I'm sure the situation must change.
They circulate the inexhaustible, ceaseless, incomprehensible, and immeasurable buddha-dharma "within and without the whole dharma world.
This is not a false statement. I am living based on this belief.
However, these various things do not mix into the perceptions of this person sitting, because they take place within stillness without any fabrication, and they are enlightenment itself. If practice and enlightenment were separate as people commonly believe, it would be possible for them to perceive each other.
The merit of zazen I mentioned above cannot be grasped by our intellects. We cannot preview what a great contribution zazen will make in the world.
In our common sense we separate practice and enlightenment into two and think that as the result of a certain amount of zazen practice we can enter such-and-such a state of mind. Then we smile with satisfaction. If satori is something like personal savings, it is pretty understandable to our calculating mind.
However, for the followers of Bodhidharma and Dōgen Zenji, zazen practice is not such a thing. Our zazen is "non-fabrication within stillness" and "zazen itself is enlightenment." We do zazen without expectation of some reward; we just sit, letting go of everything. Dōgen's Fukanzazengi says, "Let go of all associations and put all affairs aside. Do not think of either good or evil. Do not be concerned with either right or wrong." Since our just sitting zazen is limitless and boundless, the merit of zazen cannot be measured by perception.
I myself, from my long experience of living in a monastery, think the merit of zazen is really wondrous. Even in a community of practitioners, troubles arise somehow without any particular reason when we don't sit, for example for a month during summer vacation. Since the monastery is a community of people with the same bodhi mind, there should not be any conflict. Yet as soon as the bodhi mind becomes even a little bit weak, the world of individual strangers appears. When we uphold bodhi mind and devote ourselves to practice and cooperate together, practitioners become even more intimate with each other than parents or brothers and sisters. When bodhi mind weakens, the world of conflict arises.
When we start sesshin and daily zazen schedule again, the disputatious mind melts away. This is a concrete example of the merit of zazen, one we can see. The true, great merit of zazen is, needless to say, beyond our perception.
That which is associated with perceptions cannot be the standard of enlightenment because deluded human sentiment cannot reach the standard of enlightenment.
Moreover, although both mind and object appear and disappear within stillness, because this takes place in the realm of self-receiving and self employing (jijuyū) without moving a speck of dust or destroying a single form, extensive buddha work and profound, subtle buddha influence are carried out.
Something we can perceive cannot be the principle of enlightenment.
Dōgen Zenji's zazen is not for the purpose of making deluded persons into enlightened ones as a sort of conventional Buddhism advocates. True Buddhism is difficult to understand on this point.
In Gakudō Yojinshū Dōgen Zenji also said, "A practitioner should not practice buddha-dharma for his own sake, to gain fame and profit, to attain good results, or to pursue miraculous power. Practice only for the sake of the buddha-dharma." This is the difficult point of Dōgen Zenji's zazen. Shakyamuni Buddha questioned his own life and practiced zazen and attained enlightenment. It is the same in the case of Dōgen Zenji. The buddha-dharma lies in the background or as the foundation of zazen, and one's own life lies as the foundation of the buddha-dharma. This is the important point.
Therefore, we study buddha-dharma on the basis of our own lives, and we practice zazen on the basis of the buddha-dharma. Having this attitude is a crucial matter, for in many cases people do not think of their own lives; therefore they cannot understand the buddha-dharma, and in the end, even if they practice zazen, they deviate from genuine zazen.
Since all human beings are alive, each one of us has our own life, and in thinking about our own life each of us has our own outlook or attitude toward life. Yet many people do not truly look at their own lives.
With the example of the cup again, we take it for granted that all of us see the same cup, but it is not true. Each and every one of us sees this cup with our own eyes, from our own angle, through our own way of thinking.
Someone may think that they are lucky to be able to eat lunch today for 1,000 yen, while someone else may think 1,000 yen is too little even for lunch. Some are satisfied with 100,000 yen a month as a salary; others may complain it is too little.
In reality, everything is different without exception, each one of us is living out our own unique life.
Some think this is a good world as it is; others ask themselves why they must live in such a terrible world. Even within a single person, actual feelings are always changing moment by moment.
However, we usually think we see the same cup. We think we are spending money that has the same value. We assume we are living together as members within the same world. This is reification of abstract concepts. When we think of how we should live, we only consider how to spend our lifetime in this world we share. This is merely a technique for living without trouble. Although each of us thinks of our own life and has our own view of life, we only think of various techniques for social climbing. Only a few people really think of their own life as it is.
Although I repeat this many times, it is very difficult to understand. But it is really essential, so please listen again and again. If you listen to it more than a million times, you may finally be convinced and believe it must be so.
One example is the transplanting of Western civilization in Japan. In the Ashikaga (Muromachi) era (1392-1573), guns were introduced by Portuguese who were cast away on Tanegashima Island in the south of Japan. Japanese could use guns as soon as they arrived, but four hundred years later, at the end of the Tokugawa era, their use had been abandoned. In the nineteenth century Westerners came by steamship to Japan with many soldiers armed with much better guns and powerful artillery. In the background of this modernized army was modern Western civilization. Unless we studied modernized society itself, it would be impossible to create a scientific, organized army able to employ such military strength. First of all, we had to accomplish an industrial revolution and attain economic power. In order to do that an educational system had to be established, and the feudalistic system of social rank had to be abolished, lest Japan become a colony of a Western country, conquered by overwhelming military power.
Since India and countries in Southeast Asia failed to study Western civilization, they became colonies of Western countries. The same thing happened in China, too. But Japan studied Western civilization desperately and tried to modernize from within the country. It is said that this is the reason Japan was able to avoid becoming a colony. I read this in Arnold Toynbee's history book.
In the same manner, when we study the buddha-dharma, to study Buddhist terminology is not nearly enough. We should study life itself, which exists as the foundation of Buddhism. We never actually live within the common society we create through reifying abstract concepts, as we usually believe. We should truly believe that each and every one of us, whether we think so or not, is living out the self that is only the self, and we must thoroughly become a person living out the self that is only the self or we cannot embody the genuine buddha-dharma.
When you clearly understand that this world you see is really the world of the self only, and that when you die you die with this whole world, the conventional system of values will disappear.
We think that to be born means to make an entrance into the common society, to live means to compete with others for existence in the common society, and to die means to make one's exit from this society. All people firmly believe in this kind of outlook toward life, but it is not true. Common society does not exist at all. Everyone is born with the world of the self only, lives out life with the original life force of the self that is only the self, and dies with the whole world.
This is an extraordinary idea from the common point of view. You cannot understand it easily, but it is true. As a matter of fact, whether you understand it or not, whether you believe so or not, this is reality.
Before I became a monk, I read Keiteki by Nishiari Bokusan Zenji again and again. In this commentary to Shōbōgenzō, he said that our zazen should be one in which we get a look equally at both enlightenment and delusion. At that time I could not understand enough to get an equal look. Now I understand, since "that which is associated with perception cannot be the standard of enlightenment." In the true zazen, enlightenment is not good, delusion is not bad. We should look equally at both enlightenment and delusion. Our sitting should be like this. We sit as the self of the entirety of myriad dharmas, as Dōgen Zenji said. Sitting as the self that is only the self, we sit within jijuyū zanmai (samadhi of the self). This zazen has no comparison with zazen based on the desire to get satori and feel good, a kind of personal, psychological condition.
Dōgen Zenji said that to sit in such a way is the true way of enlightenment; such zazen itself is enlightenment. Zazen is not a means to gradually attain enlightenment. We sit zazen, which is dropping off body and mind right now, right here. Practice and enlightenment are not something different. We should not separate practice and enlightenment into two. Since zazen is itself enlightenment, there is no way to think that I become enlightened as a result of zazen practice. To sit zazen is to be in the profound sleep of enlightenment. Therefore, to think that I am enlightened is the same as to think that I sleep well within sound sleep. This is sham sleep. When we sleep really well, we cannot think that we sleep well. In the same way, within zazen, we cannot see if we are enlightened or not. Sometimes we feel clear in zazen, sometimes not; certainly we don't feel clear more often than not. In either condition, zazen is zazen. We sit right in that place where we can look at both enlightenment and delusion equally.
Zazen is not like a realm of death without any scenery. It is untrue that we attain a mental condition of no-thought and no-imagination in zazen. Many and various kinds of thoughts come in and go away. Sometimes we think of food during sitting; we may think of the opposite sex; we usually have fantasies or delusions. However, even if we think of women or food, those are merely the scenery of zazen.
This is the meaning of "both mind and object appear and disappear within stillness."
Here, mind means the six sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, tactile body, and mind), which are the subjects that perceive. Then there are six objects (color and shape, sound, odor, taste, tactile objects, and mental objects) that are perceived. Even within zazen there is various scenery, comings and goings of subjects that see and things seen.
Although there is scenery, this takes place within the whole world sitting in jijuyū zanmai, in which the self is only the self. Since this is scenery inside the world of zazen, it is nothing but enlightenment, appearance and disappearance within enlightenment. To the extent that we are sitting within jijuyū zanmai, there is nothing good, nothing bad. This is the meaning of "without moving a speck of dust or destroying a single form."
This is well explained in the Keiteki of Nishiari Zenji: "This should be said as follows. Although there are both subjects and objects which are appearing and disappearing, since this is the realm of jijuyū (self receiving and using), all of them equally become enlightenment. They neither move the slightest bit of dust nor break any single form."
In other words, in the stillness (when we are sitting zazen) various kinds of thoughts arise and go away when we let them go. They disappear, and only the wall remains in front of our eyes. We should be grateful to zazen, which teaches us that all kinds of thoughts fall off when we open our hands, and only the wall is left. We should understand this thoroughly. If we continuously practice, we will understand that various thoughts appearing in our mind are nothing but secretions of our brain.
I don't say thoughts are valueless because they are only secretions. The stomach secretes gastric juice, and the gastric juice digests the food we eat. It is necessary. However, if we eat too much delicious food every day, according to medical books, it causes gastric hyperacidity and might lead to a stomach ulcer or cancer. Also, as a result of too much nutrition, we may get diabetes or heart disease. It's best to remain natural. It's most healthy to leave secretions secreting as secretion.
It is the same in the case of secretions from our brain. Our brain secretes various thoughts. We just keep letting go of them. This is most sound. Firmly grasping our thoughts in the brain or negating them are both no good. Just be natural. See secretion as secretion. Thoughts coming up in our brain are merely scenery. It's no good to chase after them. If you chase them, you are enmeshed in thinking. No chasing after; no throwing away. This is the most important point of zazen.
At that time, nothing "moves a speck of dust or destroys a single form," and everything becomes scenery in the whole world of zazen.
No success or failure exists there. We cannot judge one thing as good and another thing as bad; everything is all right as it is. Both appearing and disappearing are the reality of myriad dharmas.
"Extensive buddha work and profound subtle buddha influence are carried out." We see enlightenment and delusion equally as they are. There is no success or failure. This is true merit.
In the New Testament we read, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and He pours rain upon the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). True merit is like this. The sun does not distinguish between people. God makes the sun rise on both the good and the evil, and pours rain equally upon all people.
People wear diamond rings on their fingers and think that the fingers feel happy, but actually it is best to wear nothing on the fingers. Fingers feel happy when they forget themselves. Usually we do not use the little finger, but once a little finger is injured, we are very conscious of the finger.
In the same manner, it is not necessarily good for a stomach to eat a lot of delicious food. When we have delicious food, we are apt to eat too much, and the food lies heavily in the stomach. We are conscious of the stomach, and this is certainly not good. It is best to forget the existence of the stomach.
A student preparing for an entrance examination wants to pass; no one wants to fail. Yet the world in which there is no success or failure is the best. We cannot expect such a world in Japan today. It is possible only in the world of zazen. However, there is a group of people who try to put pass and fail into the world of zazen through satori. If you attain satori you succeed, if not you fail. This attitude has nothing to do with the buddha-dharma; it is samsara.
We only have to sit with the self that is only the self, without comparing it to others. It is not necessary at all to visit a Zen master to ask if one is enlightened or not. That is really a stupid question. First of all, to practice the buddha-dharma is to live out the self that is only the self. The truth is that one always has to live out the self that is only the self in any situation, so it is impossible to bring up the question of whether one succeeds or fails.
The grass, trees, and earth affected by this functioning radiate great brilliance together and endlessly expound the deep, wondrous dharma.
The grass, trees, and the land, all things in Nature itself, are the reality of life that is at peace and ease beyond discrimination. To radiate a great light means to be at peace and ease within the self that is only the self.
There are some human beings who become neurotic and have a warped mind; they become timid when they are treated harshly in the world of success and failure. When we practice zazen we are at peace and ease, as the self that is only the self is beyond success and failure. Then we radiate a great light and express the profound and wondrous dharma.
Grasses and trees, fences and walls demonstrate and exalt it for the sake of living beings, both ordinary and sage, and in turn, living beings, both ordinary and sage, express and unfold it for the sake of grasses and trees, fences and walls.
When we sit in zazen facing the trunk of a tree or a wall, even though delusions arise, once we go back to zazen and let go of thoughts, the illusions disappear. Only the tree or the wall remains.
When I was a kid, at the end of the Taisho era or the beginning of the Shōwa era (around the 1920s), there was a person who walked around Tokyo playing the mandolin and begging for money. He wore a cloth on his shoulder on which was the message, "Look up at the sky once a day." Although I was a kid, I thought it was romantic to look up at the sky once a day. But I myself did not look up.
However, when I lived in Ogaki after retiring from Antaiji, I became interested in watching the sky. After I moved to Uji city, I began to take a walk every day for one or one-and-a-half hours on the bank of the Uji River, choosing paths where no cars run. I feel very good when I walk looking up at the sky.
The sky is something wondrous. There is no pattern; it is the same as a wall. Each cloud has a different form. Only when I look up at the sky does it preach that there is a world in which we do not need to be excited. The sky expounds and exalts this for living beings, and that which makes nature the buddha-dharma is zazen. Therefore, living beings expound and exalt this for grass, trees, and fences.
The realm of self awakening and awakening others is fundamentally endowed with the quality of enlightenment lacking nothing, and allows the standard of enlightenment to be actualized ceaselessly.
Since zazen is jijuyū zanmai, all the myriad dharmas lie within the self. Therefore, the self allows everything to become enlightened, and everything allows the self to be enlightened. This is true self-awakening and awakening of others.
The enlightenment of jijuyū zanmai lacks not even a speck of dust. The standard of enlightenment never ceases to be actualized.
Therefore, even if only one person sits for a short time, because this zazen is one with all existence and completely permeates all time, it performs everlasting buddha guidance within the inexhaustible dharma world in the past, present, and future.
I live with the whole universe in which I am living. Whether I improve or backslide depends only on me. Wherever I go, I am the self that is only the self. When one understands this thoroughly, naturally one will have an aspiration to improve without fail. This is original life force. One puts one's whole energy into this practice right now, right here. "When one accomplishes one thing, one penetrates one thing. When one encounters one practice, one cultivates one practice" (Genjōkōan).
Although I have many disciples, I think it strange that an undependable person like me has so many disciples. I do not have any intention to teach my disciples, because people who come to a poor temple like Antaiji to practice and become monks must have within themselves their own aspiration to practice. I don't need to worry about teaching them.
No matter how unreliable I am, there is the wonderful practice of zazen as a community of practitioners at Antaiji. The zazen that each one of us practices is the true teacher. The only thing I should teach my disciples is that zazen is their true teacher. Then each one of them develops without my guidance.
I make them thoroughly aware of the fact that to grow or fall only depends upon the self, and then I allow them to practice with their own aspiration. They cannot refrain from practice of their own accord. I suppose the reason that Dōgen Zenji described the merit of zazen in Bendōwa is the same.
Since I thought that way, I completely stopped using the kyōsaku (hitting staff) during sesshin at Antaiji. There are some priests who think that they cannot practice zazen without someone hitting their shoulder with a kyosaku. It is not true. It may be good to hit practitioners who only come to sit for one period once in a while. Awakening them by hitting is merit for them in such cases. However, at Antaiji we sit all day long. No matter how sleepy you may be, you cannot sleep fifteen or sixteen hours a day. Once you have slept as long as needed, you naturally awaken. When you awaken you sit zazen wholeheartedly, since it is your own practice.
This is not only relative to the kyosaku. In ordinary society, for example at a company, a boss is always concerned about whether his employees do something bad or not, whether they work hard or not, and how he can oversee them. At schools, teachers keep on the lookout for their students. The buds of youth will be nipped by this attitude.
Each person works to do good for a company or studies to improve himself. We should trust in people's motivation; that is their original life force. Then everyone should try to do their best in things they are good at. A boss or a teacher should only watch over people. My fundamental attitude toward my disciples is not overseeing, but watching over.
Even one period of zazen of a single person, if it is practiced mindfully, is one with all things and completely permeates all time. It is essential to sit with an attitude of being one with the whole world in which the self is living.
If you maintain this attitude, you perform everlasting buddha function within this inexhaustible dharma universe in the past, present, and future. Even one person's zazen has immeasurable influence.
[Zazen] is equally the same practice and the same enlightenment for both the person sitting and for all dharmas. The melodious sound continues to resonate as it echoes, not only during sitting practice, but before and after striking sunyata, which continues endlessly before and after a hammer hits it. Not only that, but all things are endowed with original practice within the original face, which is impossible to measure.
When each one of us practices right now, right here as the self that is only the self, that zazen is the equal and same practice.
Not only in zazen, but when a bell is struck, the melodious sound lasts for a while. Thus the merit of zazen appears within all aspects of the life of the zazen person. One should live to revere zazen as a most venerable buddha, being watched over by zazen and led by zazen. Zazen is not only when we sit on a zafu (cushion).
For a true practitioner, there should be no gap between outward appearance and reality. Yet religionists often pretend to be holy persons in front of their believers. Eventually a gap arises between actuality and outward appearance. I believe that if even a slight gap arises, one cannot be a person of living religion.
This is especially important for a person who practices zazen as the self that is only the self. To practice zazen is to practice the reality of the self. If reality and outside appearance are different, the person's practice is no good at all. We should strictly live out the reality of the self and be like the melodious sound made by striking sunyata, continuing endlessly.
There is no success and failure in the reality of the self. Just be as it is. We are totally liberated. The self that is only the self is itself absolute enlightenment, and yet as the original life force, it possesses original practice in its original face. Just be the original life force and keep going on to purify yourself endlessly within the life force. This is true practice.
When we practice the reality of the self that is absolute enlightenment to the end, enlightenment and practice cannot be separate. Since we practice based on enlightenment, it is called practice of enlightenment. Practice and enlightenment are one. Therefore, it cannot be measured or grasped. Sawaki Roshi expressed this using the word yūsui (profound). The profundity of practice, purifying oneself in the limitless reality of life motivated by original life force, is truly immeasurable. It is really yūsui.
You should know that even if all the buddhas in the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, together engage the full power of their buddha wisdom., they could never reach the limit, or measure or comprehend the virtue, of one person 's zazen.
It is said that there are as many buddhas as the grains of sand of the Ganges. When people practice zazen they are all buddhas. Since Shakyamuni Buddha, some twenty centuries have passed. During this period, the number of people who practiced zazen is immeasurable. Even if those immeasurable numbers of buddhas tried to measure the merit of zazen by using computers, it would not be possible.