This is how it was. Pure formalism. This is why Dogen criticized the Rinzai method. He said that it was not complete, that it was only formalism.
Anyway, in the middle of the kendo fight in the dojo, I escaped and went right off to see master Asahina-he was not doing zazen with us, he was in bed sleeping-and I told him what had happened. I told him that Zen was pure violence. That it had nothing at all to do with religion. And I said that I was finished with it.
Asahina laughed loudly: "In the history of Zen, only you have attacked the kyosakuman!"
My attack on the kyosakuman was not good manners. It was an act of violence and I regret it. It is an incident which has since become well known in Japan, and I am not proud of it.
Master Asahina is now in his eighties. He is a great Rinzai master and he is presently the representative of all Buddhist sects in Japan. Sometimes he writes to me, and sometimes when I am in Japan I go to Kamakura to visit him. Asahina has done much to help me in my mission and he admires me. But he is Rinzai. He is exactly like Rinzai masters. Still, now that he is old, he has become men mitsu, much more delicate.
AUG. 4 / 9 P.M.
KILLING THE BUDDHA
Kyosaku!
(The kyosaku is now being given and the sound of it-swack-swackl swack-swack!-is heard throughout the dojo.)
The kyosaku must be given strongly. The woman doctor gives it strongly, but the other one, the monsieur kyosakuman, gives it very weakly.
In the West, the women are strong, the men are weak.
(Addressing the latter:) Kyosakuman! You must hit accurately. Not on the bones, not on the head.
Sounds are important in Soto. This bell ending kinhin (which has just been struck) has a good sound, and it resounds for a long time. But when B... hit it just now, it went piffl
A master can tell if a disciple has satori from the sound he makes on the bell. In Rinzai sounds are not so important... Kwat!-this is more important.... Yesterday, M. and C. were on the drums and they were weak. Today the drummers are too strong. Zusan.
Some of you are always making bad sounds. When you cough. But make a good coughing sound, and I will do gassho to it. Even when you make a Bros pet (big fart) you must take care. Gros pets are not forbidden in zazen. But you must not be zusan.
The sound of the kyosaku is most important. It is not just a question of hitting strongly. For everyone it is different-for men, for women, for the young, the old, in each case the sound is different.
Sometimes, if the sound of the stick is correct, then you will not even need to receive it yourself, as the sound itself will be sufficient.
For the proper sound, the kyosakuman must hold the kyosaku at ten or fifteen centimeters from one extremity, and hit with the top fifteen centimeters of the other extremity. Some women are afraid to give it and they hit almost at the handle. So the sound is poor.
During zazen, I do not look, I listen. To the sound of the kyosaku. So I understand unconsciously.
"Followers of the Way," (the Master reads from the Rinzai Roku) "if you wish to get satori, do not receive the influence of others, the doubts of others. If you meet facing behind, or outside.... " (The Master stops to address the French translator beside him who has stopped translating:) You do not understand? Again, I repeat: "If you meet facing, behind, or outside, at this moment you must kill everyone. If you meet Buddha, kill Buddha. If you meet the patriarchs, kill the patriarchs. If you meet Rakan (a Hinayana master), kill him.
Even if you meet your father and mother, you must kill them. Meet your family, kill your family. You can obtain true satori at that moment. Be not attached to anything and you can obtain true satori, true freedom.18
This statement of Rinzai's does not mean to kill literally. But to be beyond it.
The Rinzai disciples who carried on the teaching of Rinzai made this statement famous by always repeating it. And this is why Dogen criticizes it. This teaching is not mistaken, but it is zusan. With statements and sayings such as these, people can make mistakes.
Never in the sutras do you find statements such as these. When people read such statements, they will come to believe that this is the essence of Zen. This is a mistake.
If a master teaches in this manner, then he must show that this question of killing is metaphorical. You must not kill. Commentaries are necessary.
Chukai!
AUG. 5 / 7.30 A.M.
NO NEED OF SECTS
Here in Val d'Isere, the sound of the valley is very beautiful. Particularly during zazen. It is the sound of eternity. It is written in San Sho Doei that:
The color of the mountain
The sound of the valley
Everything together
Is of our Shakyamuni Buddha
His holy posture and his voice.
Kannon, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara in Japanese, means observing sound. Kan is to observe, on is sound.
Observe the sound of eternity; not the sound of a car.
At first Dogen considered Rinzai to be the greatest master. Later, however, he came to feel that Rinzai did not penetrate the ground of satori. Understand, please, that Rinzai is not a super human.
What is the difference between Soto and Rinzai? Why have they remained separate until today? Most people do not know, and if they come across Dogen's words, all they think is that Dogen is just doing propaganda for Soto. This is not important. What is important are the reasons for Dogen's criticism.
Which, finally, is the exact teaching? I want to know. I want to know what is accurate in Rinzai.
In Rinzai there have been some great masters. In Soto there have been many crazy masters. Soto masters are always fighting, and there are very few great ones. And so they have often been criticized. Even in the newspapers. Soto-shu. Shu means noisy. It means fighting.
In the forty-ninth chapter called Butsudo (The Way of Buddha), Dogen speaks of sectarianism and says that it is wrong. In Zen there are no sects, and Dogen himself had no need of sects. He did not like the words "Rinzai" and "Soto," he did not like divisions. Zen is Buddhism, Buddhism is Zen. There is only one truth. So, to know where and to know what is the truth, this was most important to Dogen. He first studied Rinzai Zen, then he studied Soto under Nyojo. Which teaching was true?
In the fifty-second chapter called Bukkyo (The Sutra of Buddha), Dogen writes that one must not criticize without first giving care and attention to the sutra of Buddha. "Negligent fellows, negligent heros, those who carelessly criticize the sutras of the Buddha-do not listen to their words. Truthful people, true followers of Buddha, please transmit the Buddha's sutras. And become, I hope, the sons of Buddha." Dogen concludes with the practice of zazen, with shikantaza. Do not follow the adepts of negligence. Zusan. But seek the way of the Buddha. Approach yourself as much as possible to the Buddha's practice, to the Buddha's mind.
I do not want to be different than Shakyamuni Buddha, says Dogen, yet even in 100 million years I could not arrive at my goal and be like him. Rinzai simply says: I am like Shakyamuni Buddha.
Both statements are true, both are necessary. But from an educational viewpoint Dogen's method is soft, it is men mitsu. Rinzai's method is hard, it is zusan.
UNKNOWN MONDO ON THE SUTRAS
On July 2nd of the year 1225, writes Kenjeki (in his biography of Dogen), Dogen was permitted into Master Nyojo's room where they had the following exchange. This exchange captures the most important difference existing between Rinzai and Soto. They had a secret mondo, a mondo which has never been studied, a mondo which has remained almost completely unknown. And until today no one has touched upon it. No one understands this. It is a very deep point and I have studied it profoundly....
(In Japan, it is very difficult to criticize; it is considered very undiplomatic to criticize, especially Rinzai. But I am not very diplomatic. I like Dogen and so I explain him.)
Dogen addressed Nyojo: In Rinzai Zen their masters say that there exists a special transmission outside of the sutras. Do not use the word, this is
what they say. Do not depend upon it. For the transmission is to be found outside the sutras. This is why, for them, Bodhidharma came from the West....
Time is up. I will continue this kusen during the sesshin which starts in two days." After the ceremony I will give four new kesas, to those who have made them. Then we will have a procession outside, and also a group photo. Everyone, please, come for the photo. If I cannot find you in the photo, I will think that you were not here for this sesshin.
AUG.7/7A.M.
SATORI
What is satori? To return to the normal, the original condition. Do not run after, do not escape. Do not escape zazen, do not run after dancing. Not only the body, but the mind too. Neither must escape, neither must run after.
Why does suffering arise? When the body wants somethingwhen it wants to do zazen, to dance, to have sex-and this something cannot be realized, then suffering arises. Conversely, when the mind wishes to escape, and the body cannot escape, then too suffering arises.
Do not run after, do not escape from; this is the condition of satori. One must not seek the truth-so it is written in Shodoka. Do not escape your illusions.
Be not in sanran, be not in kontin-this is hishiryo.
The highest way is not difficult; satori is not difficult. Satori simply means not to select.
Through selection we are running after something, or else we are escaping something. So suffering arises. A contradition has developed. The frontal brain and the thalamus are now in opposition. This continues and you become sick, and finally you go mad.
If the body is strong and the mind is weak, the body kills mind. And you become insane. If the mind is strong and the body weak, then mind kills body. And you commit suicide.
Modern civilization is in crisis. Humans are close to madness, close to suicide. Only those who practice zazen are happy.
NO INSIDE, NO OUTSIDE TO THE TEACHING
In China, Rinzai monks are called kyoge betsu-den. Kyo means teaching, ge means outside, and betsu means another transmission, a special transmission. So kyo ge betsu-den means the special teaching outside of the scriptures. Bodhidharma, say the Rinzai followers, transmitted kyoge betsu-den.
So, on July 2nd 1225 Dogen visited Nyojo in his room and he asked the master about this, about this special teaching outside the scriptures. "In the Great Way, replied Nyojo, in the way of the patriarchs, in the teaching of the Buddha, there is no inside and there is no outside."
In the tenth year of Eihe (by the Chinese calendar) master Matto (Kyasapa-matanga in Sanskrit) arrived in China riding on a white horse, and carrying with him the sutras of the Buddha. It was in the tenth year of Eihe, that is sixty-seven years after the birth of Christ, when Matto arrived in China, with fortytwo sutras. And from this moment true Buddhism spread throughout China. Some four hundred years later Bodhidharma arrived in China, and according to the Rinzai teaching, Bodhidharma did not bring any sutras with him, but rather he brought with him a secret Zen. Kyo ge betsu-den. This is what Rinzai followers claim, and most people believe it to be true.
But what master Nyojo says, which remains unpopular and unknown, is that Bodhidharma brought with him... transmitted the true sutras, only this. He transmitted the true teaching of the twenty-eight generations from Buddha and Mahakasyapa. This has been certified. Matto (on the other hand) had not received the transmission from the patriarchs. Matto has no certification, no transmission.
Bodhidharma did not deny the sutras, and his transmission spread. Yet it is said in Rinzai Roku that Bodhidharma denied the sutras. That they were toilet paper.20
So in the year 67, the tenth year of Eihe, Matto brought the sutras to China. And Dogen, who respected the sutras, (subsequently) named his temple Eiheiji-after the arrival of the sutras in the tenth year of Eihe. Dogen also had great respect for Bodhidharma; he felt him to be the embodiment of the true essence of the transmission coming from the Buddha and the patriarchs.
There do not exist two separate sorts of Buddhism in this world, Nyojo had replied to Dogen's question. This is very clear. Bodhidharma alone transmitted the true teaching. And so Nyojo's teaching and not Rinzai's was the true one. The only one. This is what Dogen came to feel. The true truth is unique.
What is the true truth? What is true religion? True Catholicism? True Buddhism? Its essence is one. Its true truth is unique. In religion there is no sect.
But there are many separations, there are many sects.
This transmission outside of Zen, this kyoge betsu-den, is very interesting. It is a koan.
I am always giving conferences; for those who do not understand, I explain.
The Buddha turned the flower in his fingers and smiled, and no one undertood. Except Mahakasyapa. "You alone understand," Buddha said to him, "so I transmit to you the shobogenzo. "21
So this became a special transmission.
True, true, this is a koan.
But Nyojo's reply to Dogen was not mistaken. In the great way of the Buddhas and the patriarchs there is no inside and no outside to the teachings. There are not two types of Buddhism.
Don't move, don't move. Don't wait for the sound of the bell. Don't run after the end of zazen.
Last night Madame Monnot came running to me: "Sensei! Sensei! The Pope is dying, the Pope is dying!"
"I am sorry," I said. "I can do a kito for him."
Don't escape from something, don't run after it either. Especially during sesshin.
THE UNDERSTANDING WHICH COMES LATER
Dogen's mondo with Nyojo took place in 1225. But not until 1241 did he write about it in Bukkyo. Sixteen years later; a long time.
Objective understanding and subjective confirmation: these two understandings are very far apart. Even if one understands with the brain, true subjective confirmation of this understanding does not arise. When one receives a deep education from a master, one thinks: "I understand." (Nonetheless) this understanding does not become subjective confirmation.
So in 1225 Dogen understood Nyojo's answer; he understood it objectively. But when, on November 14, 1241, Dogen wrote it down in Bukkyo, then at that moment he understood it subjectively.
Even if you do zazen, even if you understand it, the merit of it, its effect does not appear immediately. It realizes itself later.22.
Last year in this dojo a German doctor stood up in the middle of zazen. I thought he wanted to go pee-pee, but not at all. On the way out he cried: "Zazen is not at all effective! I cannot get anything from zazen." And he left the camp. He was an intelligent man, but he did not understand. Anyway, afterwards he came to the Paris dojo, and he also came to talk with me.
If you do zazen here and now, and even if you cannot reach, cannot touch, the point of satori, and you continue anyhow to follow the master (and to follow the sutras-sometimes you must follow the master, sometimes you must follow the sutras, for both are necessary) and you continue and continue but you do not touch-like a hundred arrows which miss the targetit is still possible that after fifteen or twenty years you will be given the shiho. It is possible after three years too.
Even though I have continued zazen for forty or fifty years, it is only now that I really understand master Kodo Sawaki's teaching. I understood before, but then it was only an objective understanding. Now I have subjective confirmation. To the bottom of my heart. I thank you very much, my master. Today I am completely impressed with my master, Kodo Sawaki.
Yes, yes, I understood before.... My secretary Anne-Marie is very clear. "Yes, yes, Sensei, I understand."
AUG. 7 /10.30 A.M.
ONE HUNDRED KUSENS AND NOT ONE HIT
We have the spirit of the way, we practice the way of Buddha, and we do so with great and honest effort, sometimes by following the master's teaching (waku ju-toshiki: waku means sometimes, ju to follow, toshiki the great intelligent master) and sometimes by following the sutras of the Buddha, and yet we still miss the target. One hundred zazen practices and not one hit.
At this time it becomes possible to hit th
e target, to touch the essence of Buddhism. The one hundred non-hits can then become one hit.
So, listen to the teaching, listen to the kusen (oral teaching), practice the way. Get satori, get confirmation.
Everything is like this. The past kusens were not at all effective, there was no hit, just sleep-like some are doing here right now. The kusen is no more effective than a dog who hears the words "I love you, I love you." He doesn't understand a thing. Better to give the dog a steak. This way you make a direct hit in one shot.
This works for a dog, but for a human during zazen, he hears one hundred kusens and not one of them hits the mark; because he is thinking of dancing. Or of food: "What's on the menu for lunch? Couscous? Spaghetti? We are always eating spaghetti. That's all right for the Italians, but not for me. Potatoes? Good for the Germans."
Sometimes there is a hit, sometimes not. When the kusens become too complicated then there is no hit at all.
The American boy, Philippe Coupey, is writing, taking notes. Very interesting. Very good English. But of course he is American. Anyway, sometimes he omits an important point. Too complicated. Better to cut it out. The book will sell better without it. Philippe hopes to make a best-seller. If the book is too complicated, too philosophic, people won't buy it. So, nohit, no-touch. One hundred non-hit kusens which suddenly today become one great hit.
Sometimes one understands now, sometimes the understanding comes in the future. This is satori. One's doubts are resolved.
Master Dogen explained the method for obtaining satori. It is not necessary, this method. Continue zazen, unconsciously, naturally and automatically-this is mushotoku, and this is the secret method for the practice and the understanding of the way of the Buddha.
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