ZAZEN:
The content of Buddha under the Bodhi tree
Satori in Sanskrit is bodhi. The original source of bodhi is Buddha. Buddha is the Sanskrit word for satori. So Buddha means he who has gotten satori.
Buddha abandoned mortification after doing it for six years. He stopped this step-by-step training, which is mortification, and sat under the Bodhi tree. Last night I explained this. Zazen is perfected nirvana. It is genjo, the realization of perfect nirvana. It is the content of the satori of Shakyamuni Buddha while sitting under the Bodhi tree.
If we stay on samadhi, as in Yoga-most meditations wish to stay on samadhi-then prajna (Hannya) will not be created and wisdom will not arise.
Hishiryo does not only mean to stop thinking. Shikan: shi means to stop, kan to observe.
In western philosophy it is only a question of kan. Of observation. Without nirvana, without samadhi, without zazen, without hishirye. To seek the truth: only observation, only thinking. To seek the truth assembled through intellectual knowledge, through categories, through concepts, created by ourselves.
So it is, too, with existentialism and with psychology: observation only. These people do not experience true meditation and so they cannot truly understand their own selves. They cannot experience the subjective, so they run after, they search, they seek. They look only from the outside, objectively.
Genjo is the truth which comes. It is not necessary to run after it. The truth is automatic, unconscious, natural. And it appears unexpectedly, of itself. This is genjo.
Genjo koan means the realization, the actualization of the koan. A koan by itself is not at all effective. A koan only complicates the brain. If truth is not effective in our daily lives then it is only knowledge, know-how.
Genjo is the actualization of satori in our daily lives. By the wisdom of prajna, of Hannya Haramita. And by observation of ku.
It is from this point that is realized, produced, created the true deep method for the living. It is the ideal living method. This is the genjo koan. The actualization of satori. It is satori, genjo.
Chukai!
AUG. 14 / 7.30 A.M.
Don't move, don't move.
Kyosaku!
If you want to move you must do gassho first. If you move without first doing gassho, the kyosakuman must give you the kyosaku.
The kyosakumen must hit with the end of the kyosaku. Hit the shoulder within the last ten centimeters of the stick. Some here hit within thirty centimeters of the end, while others hit with the handle. The sound is not good. Its sound influences others.
Kinhin!
Two bells: kinhin. Three bells: zazen.
After the two bells, after zazen, and before kinhin, the columns8 must open the doors and the curtains.
(Kinhin has ended and everyone is returning to his place.)
Those who sit by the window are always last.
They are still walking! Who is responsible there? Who is the column?
No, leave the curtains open.
If you wish to look out at the landscape, you can. The color of the Alps is wonderful.
AUG. 14 / 9 P.M.
DOSHU: TO EXPRESS
At night the curtains are always to be closed! The columns are responsible.
Please, listen to the sound of the valley, to the voice of the valley....
Satori visits from outside. But it does not come from one direction. Satori enters into us when we are concentrated, when we abandon the ego, when we are in samadhi. At this moment when we are completely in samadhi, satori enters us. This is genjo.
In Rinzai Zen satori is to observe the nature of the ego: kensho. In modern times Rinzai satori is the observation of the nature of Buddha, of one's own self.... To understand the nature of the ego, or of Buddha, the method of the koan and of the mondo are used.
In Dogen satori, the method is passive recognition.
This is not kensho. This is genjo. Satori visits from the cosmos, from the cosmic order, it visits automatically, naturally, unconsciously.
In western philosophy as in European epistomology, understanding comes through conception by cognition; it is intellectual knowledge from the frontal brain.
By always seeking and running after the truth, cosmic truth escapes.
In Dogen Zen, in Soto Zen, satori is an unexpected realization. So sometimes it is the same as intuition, sometimes it is kan sho (of the heart, enjoyment-kan means to observe and sho means to shine), and so at one moment I say "concentration" and at another I say "observation."
The German word for kan she is genuus betrachtung. (Laughter.) I know German. My pronunciation is not so good, but I remember the words.
Genjo in the heart. Aesthetic ideality, aesthetic solitude, aesthetic objectivity, aesthetic reality. In German it is called aesthetische tiefe. (More laughter.) It is not necessary for the translator to repeat my German!
Anyway, it doesn't matter-German people do not know this German word, they have forgotten it. Nor do they know of Moritz Geiger who wrote Tiefen Wirkung. His dates are 1880 to 1937.
So even in art, aesthetic enjoyment and natural appreciation are not the same. Aesthetic enjoyment is intellectual, objective and active; but natural appreciation is subjective and passive. Unexpected realization is a passive recognition. Erkenntnis is the German for passive.
European philosophy is active; they are always running after something, always seeking.
But if you do not run after the truth, true truth will arise. True satori arises from mushotoku (without purpose). It comes from the outside, from the cosmos. The cosmos gives. It is like God-giving. It is automatic, natural and unconscious.
Dogen used the word genjo many times. In Shobogenzo he used it 261 times. (In Rinzai Roku it is the word katsu. Katsu is used hundreds of times.) But more than genjo, Dogen uses the word doshu He used doshu 299 times. Do means the way, and it means to say; shu means take. Dogen's doshu means to express.
The words genjo and doshu were created by Dogen. (Genjo existed in China before Dogen's time, but Dogen used the word more deeply, and he gave it many meanings.)
The relationship between these two words is very important; genjo without doshu is not complete.
Sometimes the kanji do means the way, and sometimes it means to say, to speak. Do can also mean: the word, the language. The Greek word logo is very similar to the kanji do.
As you know, the New Testament begins with the phrase: "In the beginning there was the word." This signifies logos.... I read the Bible in Chinese. The Chinese ideograms are very interesting. This phrase in Chinese is written: Gen shiyo do. Gen shi originally meant: in the beginning. Yu means: exist. And do: the word.... So this is the second meaning to the word do. The word logos has only one meaning and so it is not as practical a word as do, which means both "of the word" and "of the way."
So this double significance (of logos) is expressed in the one ideogram do. This is interesting. Kodo (as in Kodo Sawaki) means to develop the way. The do in Shodoka means satori.
So the relationship between doshu and genjo is deep.
After the sound of the wooden clappers at night you must be quiet. You must not box. The American girl knocked out the little French monk last night. This American girl is very strong. And she has a good posture. She always sits in the lotus, and she has followed me for a long time. She's a good girl, but sometimes she's a little... a little.... Well, anyway, she should take care. She's the American female champion here. She k'o'd the French monk. She also smashed his glasses, and now he can no longer see.9
Marco Polo is the American male champion here. He was always writing me postcards from America, "I am very glad to be able to do zazen with you, and I will come again and do it even longer," he wrote. But now he says he wants to return to America. He had been waiting since last year for this Val d'Isere sesshin, but now he wants to leave, before the end. Because his knees hurt. Now he has doubts.... Patience is necessary, but he says that he can no longer be patient.
; I hope this modem Marco Polo will surpass the ancient Marco Polo. The ancient one visited Asia and was very famous, as you know. He wrote interesting books about China and the Orient. But he knew nothing of zazen (even though zazen had spread through Asia during his time). His books are interesting but they do not touch on Zen, nor on oriental religions and oriental culture. Marco Polo was only a tourist.... Had he studied zazen or Buddhism in Asia, then surely European civilization would have changed, even in those times.
Anyway, I hope the American boy and the American girl will continue zazen. America is very fresh and young. Zen is spreading there but it is zusan. This is why Rinzai Zen is successful in America. But you Americans who have come here for Zen, I hope that when you return you will educate Americans in Dogen's Soto Zen.
AUG. 15 / 7.30 A.M.
THE NECESSITY OF EXPRESSION
Transport the ego to the cosmic order, to the order of all existences, and this is maya, illusion, and not satori. But when all existences of the cosmic order visit the ego and certify the ego, then this is satori.
Go towards all existences of the cosmic order, go with the desire to certify all existences of this order, and this is not satori. Seek truth with the frontal brain: maya, illusion.... But if (during zazen) all existences of the cosmic order visit the ego and certify it, then this is satori unconsciously, naturally and automatically.
Genjo (the realization of satori) is expressed by the body, the mouth and the consciousness. This is not categorical; this is doshu.
How we take the way, how we express the way, this is doshu. Expression is necessary: through body and mouth. Through sentences. Everyone is now expressing doshu: through their coughing in the dojo.
Everyone has different sounds, different expressions. If I hear the voice, I can understand the satori. Everyone has a different degree of satori.... Some here make very strange sounds, of all sorts. Expression is important.
ZAZEN POSTURE:
The expression of satori
The posture of zazen and the posture of kinhin is the expression of satori, of genjo.
It is only in the posture of kinhin that some here realize completely their dignity: satori, genjo. The posture expresses it: doshu.
(The Master chants Bussho Kapila in the manner everyone chants it at mealtime.) By this voice alone I can understand the degree of your satori. The sound of the voice, when chanting Bussho Kapila, is the expression of doshu. When the body does not move in zazen-doshu. The action of our body, of everything, is an expression of doshu; and so it is genjo.
Dogen repeated genjo, doshu, genjo, doshu. With Rinzai it was katsu. Or the raising of the hossu, or the lifting up of the finger..., and then quickly the kyosaku is given.
Rinzai Zen cannot express the true essence of Zen, of Buddhism.... It is true that Rinzai himself created. But his line only imitates him, and so it has become theater. This is why Dogen repeats in his Shobogenzo that this is a mistaken Zen, a big mistake.
It is for this reason that people in the West think that Zen is very funny. But this is a mistake and this is not Dogen's Zen.
SHOBOGENZO:
An elaborate expression
Zen cannot be expressed in words and sentences. It is for this reason that doshu is so important: how we express ourselves, how we express genjo koan, the actualization of satori; how we express ourselves, this is doshu.
Dogen writes of the importance of how we express ourselves through words, through language.'°
In Rinzai Zen words are not so important. Always katsu, the hossu, and blows with the stick. This technique is of more importance in Rinzai mondos than are words. In Rinzai, words are of little importance.
But for Dogen it is possible to express yourself not only by the body, but also by words and by writing. This is doshu.... So Dogen wrote ninety-five volumes of Shebogenzo and many other books. This is an expression of genjo, of satori. In these volumes of Shobogenzo, Dogen writes on existence and time, on life and death of humans, about the good and the bad, on how to catch the true truth.
In the end truth comes. Like this. But how? How does one express this-the method? The expression of it is very delicate. It is very elaborate, very rational, very men-mistu. Dogen's Shobogenzo is a very elaborate expression.
EYES HORIZONTAL, NOSE VERTICAL
Gen-no-bi-choku. Gen is the eyes, no is horizontal, bi is nose and choku is straight, vertical. The eyes horizontal, the nose vertical. So gen-no-bi-choku means the normal condition. (Push the sky with the head, the ground with the knees.) Anyway, Zen is gen-no-bi-choku.
(Recites from Eihei Koroku).... What I have just recited is a famous sentence of Dogen's. (Translates:) "I did not experience much zazen in the dojos of China," says Dogen; he was humble-"But I did have the fortunate chance of meeting with master Nyojo's tenzo. This was a great moment in my life; and I understood that I could do doshu. I could express gen-no-bichoku: the nose is vertical and the eyes horizontal. I understood this, and since that time I have not been abused by others.... I returned empty-handed to Japan. There is nothing concerning Buddhism." So there is nothing. Only following the cosmic order. True freedom. "Every morning the sun rises in the East and every evening it sinks in the West. Clouds pass on and the mountain appears. The rain passes on and the form of the mountain, the color of the mountain, becomes clear. So what is the essence of Buddhism? What is the true truth?"
This is the doshu of Dogen.
Chukai!
Kaijo!
AUG. 15 / 9 P.M.
THE WISDOM WHICH VISITS
What is doshu? The subjective genjo.... When we express genjo objectively it is doshu, wisdom.
Wisdom is genjo, wisdom makes genjo."
Wisdom and knowledge are not the same. In science knowledge is very important. In Zen Buddhism it is wisdom which is important. Maka hannya haramita. We are always repeating the sutra of Maka Hannya Haramita.'2 The perfect wisdom which visits us. Genjo, realization.
But we must not search for wisdom, for if you do, then it will not appear. You must not search outside for it.... I have said that satori comes from the outside; so some here are surely looking for it outside. Open the door. Where is it?.... This is an error.
When you abandon ego, when you become empty (ku), wisdom comes. But if you have a strong ego wisdom will not come.... In Japanese the word "wisdom" means to float.
Wisdom, satori, hannya haramita: sometimes these words have the same meaning. What is satori? It is perfect wisdom, maka hannya haramita. What is maka hannya haramita? It is Buddha himself.
So if the ego is strong wisdom will not come.
This afternoon the female American champion offered me a necklace. A beautiful necklace, a Buddha statue decoration. She made it herself. But for me this necklace is not so interesting.... Anyway, I visited her in her room. She was not happy. Her face was not Buddha. She was sulking. Why? She has not changed at all since the other day. Even if she stays angry, her hair will not grow back faster. She has no wisdom. Her ego is strong, but if at this moment she were to abandon her ego, that which was unfortunate before would become fortunate now. Unhappiness becomes happiness. Through wisdom you can change your state of mind. But this American girl has a strong ego.
I always say that hair is a decoration. So when I give you the ordination, I always say that at this time: cut the decoration.
If we are too attached to vanity, we sulk.... Two summers ago I cut my secretary's hair short. She smiled. Her inside was not so happy, but she did not sulk. If we abandon the ego and attachments, satori, wisdom, arises-it floats. But if we are egoistic and have desires, and especially desires for the impossible, then this is not wisdom. This is foolishness. Most people in daily life are attached to impossible desires. One's hair cannot be any longer, so we sulk. Wait half a year and it will be longer. Cut your hair during the summer and by September it will again be long.
To express genjo: this is doshu, wisdom. Doshu is wisdom.
To realize genjo: this is intuition. In
tuition from the outside. When intuition arises, understand it, control it, construct it, and at this moment it becomes wisdom.
How can we obtain wisdom? People are always asking me this question.... Kant did not reach wisdom. Western philosophy has not reached it.
Western philosophers always speak of reason and of understanding. The German words for this are vernunft and verstand. German words are very precise.... These two words have different meanings. In English they mean, respectively, reason and understanding, and in French, la raison et 1'entendement. Kant discussed this in his Critic of Pure Reason. Understanding is an intellectual faculty coming from the frontal brain. Reason is rationalism, logic; it is the faculty to know, to judge, to act.
Now in Buddhism we have intuition and wisdom, and to compare them is very interesting, very important. Intuition, wisdom, Hannya Paramita, hishiryo.
Zen and western philosophy are not the same.
Satori and intuition are not the same. Satori is sometimes the same as intuition, but it is not enlightenment. Intuition is spontaneous. Intuition means: to look outside, to look at the visible, to look at the cosmic order. So when you stop the frontal brain, hishiryo-consciousness arises. (At the bottom of nonthinking is thinking, non-thinking. How do we think nonthinking? This is hishiryo.)
But even if we do realize intuition (spontaneity), if we do not control this realization, if we do not put it into order, structure it, then this intuition finishes and only genjo (i.e., realization) remains.
In this way understanding becomes reason. Only genjo: only inside, individual certification.
Starting from intuition, from understanding, one must use control and structure; then it will become intellectual, or active. In order to speak one must use order. It is the same with writing. To express oneself through writing, it is necessary to be intellectual. So we have the expression doshu.
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