Sit

by Taisen Deshimaru

  But too much severity is no good either.

  Another question? Philippe? What is it?

  Companions Everywhere

  Philippe: You said that after Buddha got his big satori, he had a need for doshu (he wanted to express his satori), and for this he needed companions....

  Master: Yes, yes, companions.

  Philippe: When you first arrived in this foreign country you were alone and without any satori-companions. Well, were you lonely, was it hard?

  Master: I had many, and now even more. Madame Monnot arrived. She sat for my first conference. And the next day she visited me and I gave her a massage. Madame Monnot was impressed, and not just by the massage. And then many others came to me right after her. The famous singer, the actress, then Etienne, Malika, Liliane. Everywhere companions are possible.

  Though I couldn't understand the language, I thought that the French were better than the Japanese. There is no karma.... It is more difficult to educate your own family, because with your own family you are too intimate, and karma is complicated.

  Everyone in Japan understands Zen. They do not understand it, but... Europeans are fresh, they connect with zazen quickly and directly.... It is the same with love. With your own family it is not

  Here it is fresher. Only the essence. (Sensei opens his fist in a gesture of a bud bursting into bloom:) Paf! I shin den shin."

  Earth becomes old and planting becomes very difficult. But when the earth changes, it is fresher. In India, in China, in Japan, the earth became old. So the planting is not fresh. I brought the true fresh seed to Europe. After (Buddhism grew weak in) India, Bodhidharma brought the seed to China. At this time India was completely down. While China, its culture, was very high. The Chinese civilization was the highest of all civilizations, and much higher than now. Its intellecual level was the highest in the world.

  Buddhism is high dimension and it needs high-class people. So after the Indian, Chinese and Japanese civilizations, comes the European one (Sensei makes the gesture of climbing a ladder, then he makes the gesture of planting a seed, and then of the speed sprouting:) and now pop!

  This was my plan.

  But American people are a bit, a bit.... (Sensei taps his forehead and looks at Philippe) What do you think?

  Philippe: Well, I think the American earth is the freshest of all!

  Master: Yes, yes, America is fresher. America accepts.

  I am very interested: which one accepts, America or Europe? Japanese people are very interested in this. It is an interesting problem.... But you came here! You came from America. Why?

  Philippe: Because you're here.

  Master: You write books. Your work is very important, it is historical. Your position is completely historical.

  AUG. 18 / 8.30 P.M.

  FUKE'S KOLOMO WAS HIS COFFIN

  Tonight's kusen is on the last chapter of Rinzai Roku. This chapter deals with Fuke and Rinzai.

  Fuke is famous today in Japan for his use of the shakuachi (flute), but originally Fuke was famous for his use of a little handbell which he rang in the streets.

  Fuke wanted to become a monk, so he went about the streets asking people for a black kolomo (monk's robe). Many people gave him kolomos, as a fuse (gift). But he was not pleased with these kolomos, they were no good. So he went to Rinzai's temple and Rinzai, who was waiting for him, said to Fuke: "I have made a special kolomo for you. It is for your ordination. It is a very beautiful kolomo and certainly you will be able to wear it."

  Fuke: "Where is this kolomo?"

  Rinzai: "Come into my room and I will show it to you." And Rinzai showed Fuke the special kolomo he had made for him it was a coffin of superior quality. "Here," Rinzai said, "this is a good kolomo for you."

  When Fuke saw the coffin he was very happy. "Yes, this is a very good kolomo." (Fuke was completely abnormal.)

  So Fuke carried off this kolomo, this coffin, on his shoulders. He returned to the marketplace calling out loudly: "Rinzai made this kolomo for me. So now I am going off to the East Gate to enter transformation (to die)."

  Many people came to watch. But once at the East Gate, Fuke said: "Today's not so good. Tomorrow. This East Gate is not so good either, so tomorrow I will go to the South Gate."

  The next day everybody was at the South Gate waiting for Fuke. They were certain that today Fuke would die, so they waited. Fuke arrived with his coffin and sat inside it. Then he said: "The direction of this gate is no good either," and he got out of the coffin.

  This pattern went on for three days. No one believed him anymore (he was just a liar) and on the fourth day, when Fuke arrived at the North Gate, there were no spectators waiting for him. (Nevertheless) he went out beyond the city walls, put down the coffin and climbed in. A traveler happened by and Fuke asked him to nail down the top of the coffin over him. "I want to die in this coffin, so when I am laying down inside you must nail it closed."

  "D'accord (okay)," said the traveler.

  "And tell them in the streets that Fuke died today at the North Gate."

  The news spread quickly and soon a crowd of people arrived. They opened the coffin and found that the body had vanished. But from high up in the sky they heard the ringing of his handbell.

  This is the last sentence of Rinzai Roku. Very interesting. Only the ringing of the bell.... Where is Fuke now? A mystery. Magic.

  No, this is not a mystery, this is not magic. This is literature. Poetry.... Rinzai Roku is not so bad sometimes. This last sentence is very interesting.

  Rinzai always criticizes Fuke: "He is too zusan, too zusan." And Dogen always criticizes Rinzai the same way: "Too zusan, too zusan."

  Where is the true Zen? You must decide.

  AUG. 19 / 7 A.M.

  THE ESSENCE OF BUDDHISM:

  Inside or outside the sutras?

  (Kinhin:) Stretch the knees, stretch the neck. When you exhale, press down on the intestines, on the kikai tanden. During the exhalation, press the foot down on the ground, stretch the waist and press the hands together.

  (Zazen:) Master Rinzai has said that the Buddha's sutras are but toilet paper, and that one must not become attached to them. This is somewhat true. But the sutras are not toilet paper. Sutras should be read and they should be believed and respected. (Herein) lies the difference between Dogen and Rinzai.

  Kyoge betsuden: the true essence of Buddhism exists outside the sutras. This kyoge betsuden was the slogen of Rinzai Zen.

  Do not depend on the word, on the letter, on the phrase: true. One must not become attached to the word, to the sutra. Dogen recognized this. I shin den shin is the essence of Zen. Yet both are necessary. Sometimes one must follow the sutras, sometimes one must follow the master. This is a method for obtaining satori.

  THE GREAT ZEN CLASSICS

  and the Shin Jin Mei

  Sosan, the 3rd Patriarch after Bodhidharma, wrote Shin Jin Mei and Yoka Daishi wrote Shodoka. They wrote these texts to show the true Zen of Bodhidharma. These two texts are the same in Soto as in Rinzai; they are both important. But after the 6th Patriarch the line separated, and the Nangaku line became that of Rinzai.

  Sandokai by Sekito and Hokyo Zan Mai by Tosan (both of which were written after the split in the line had occurred) are the true bibles of Soto Zen. These two works are chanted every morning after zazen. Then they are followed by Hannya Shingyo or some other sutra. This is so throughout the ten thousand Soto temples in Japan.

  In the Rinzai temples they read Shin Jin Mei and Hannya Shingyo.

  Shin jin means faith. (Shin is to believe; jin is mind, heart; and the mei of Shin Jin Mei means inscription). So shin jin is to believe in the essence of Buddha's nature in our minds, to believe in the essence of mind, of true mind.32

  From this comes many things. In the mondo a woman asked which was better: to believe in Buddha's mind or to believe in God's mind? To compare is impossible. Buddha's and God's mind are very close. But people want to make categories and so mind narrows, narrows.

&
nbsp; Shin Jin Mei consists of 584 kanjis (ideograms), of 146 phrases (one phrase consisting in 4 kanjis), and in it is included the essence of five thousand or six thousand sutras. The source of the koans of the Chinese patriarchs-of seventeen hundred koans-is Shin Jin Mei.

  In Rinzai Hekigan Roku is a more useful and a more important collection of koans than in Rinzai Roku. And many koans in Hekigan Roku come from Shin Jin Mei. For example the second koan, the Joshu koan; and also the fifty-seventh koan, the fifty-eighth, the fifty-ninth-all these koans are just phrases taken from Shin Jin Mei.

  Shin Jin Mei is the oldest and most sacred work in Zen.... Bodhidharma did not write a book. Nor did Eka. But Sosan wrote Shin Jin Mei.

  Master Dogen used many phrases from Shin Jin Mei in his Shobogenzo. If we cannot understand Shin Jin Mei, then we cannot understand Shobogenzo. So master Keisan, the 4th Patriarch after Dogen, wrote his commentaries on Shin Jin Mei; they are very deep and are now very famous.

  Master Shinran" says in a poem that people who have true faith (shin jin) are the same as Buddha.

  The great shin jin, the believing mind, is the Buddha's Way. This is God. Buddha's nature is God itself. (In Christianity God and man are always separated, always in dualism. In Buddhism all people have Buddha's nature-so people become Buddha.)

  SOSAN'S BIOGRAPHY

  Shin Jin Mei appeared thirteen hundred years ago.... Sosan,34 who was completely covered with leprosy (he had a very bad karma) went to visit Eka's dojo. "My karma is not good," he said to Eka. (Bad karma becomes exactly leprosy.) "I want to confess everything," Sosan said to Eka.

  "You must let out your crimes," Eka replied. "What is a crime? What is good, what is bad? The cause is not karma. There is no crime, there is no karma. Do not be attached to them, to your crimes, your sins..." And Eka gave Sosan the ordination.

  Sosan then did zazen every day. And through zazen his leprosy left him, and his body completely changed. This is Sosan's biography, only this .31

  Later a great and famous Emperor in Chinese history, Emperor Genso, gave Sosan the name "Great Master Kanshi." Kanshi Sosan.

  "Hishiryo" comes from Shin Jin Mei. What is Hishirye?

  10.30 A.M.

  FAITH IS NON-DOUBT

  The shin of Shin Jin Mei has two meanings; one is to believe and the other is faith. The faith of enlightenment, of satori, of Buddha and of God are the same and are not the same. Shin is active faith, active belief; it is also mind, passive mind. For me God and Buddha are the same, while for others, for Christians, they are not at all the same. The names are different.

  People who are attached to God, escape Buddha; people who are attached to Buddha escape God. But be unattached and all can be embraced.

  I have faith in zazen, I have faith in the kesa (monk's robe). Your living postures are better than Buddha statues. On entering the dojo after you are all seated I always do sampai (prostration), not only for the statue of Kodo Sawaki on the altar, but for your postures, for your living postures.... I do not have so much faith in your physical comportment (i.e., outside of zazen), but when we do sampai together after zazen and before breakfast then we have a respectful mind. Then we can feel each essential mind in each mind.36

  In Buddhism God and Buddha are not the same. In Maka Hannya Haramitsu Sutra, ku (emptiness), which is its essence, means existence without numenon, without substance. So Buddha has no substance, only ku. But the Christian God has substance-one fixed soul which lives for eternity.

  Non-doubt, this is faith. I am connected with the earth, with the cosmos, with all existences. This is true faith in Zen.

  It is not necessary to see God, to imagine him, we are already connected with him. God lives always in our mind. This is faith.

  We must believe in this connection. So I say that the zazen posture itself is Buddha. If you steal something from someone, at this time you are immediately a thief. It is not necessary to go to prison to be a thief. For exactly at this moment you are already one.

  So with zazen. When you do zazen, at this time you become Buddha. Believe in God and at this time you are connected with him. This is Buddha's mind, God's mind.

  Right unto the coffin some people doubt. So God escapes.

  If we use philosophical or Buddhist words to express mind then it becomes more complicated. So Rinzai said that sutras are but toilet paper. The essence of mind, finally, cannot be explained at all. Because it is the ku of Hannya Shingyo, which is existence without substance.

  So Rinzai says: Kwat! Kwat!

  And then the disciples imitate Rinzai and it all becomes ceremony, formalism.

  When a disciple intimates Rinzai's kwat! it is a trace. When a horse walks he leaves hoof tracks. A dog leaves paw tracks, a cock or a duck leaves cock or duck tracks. There are many tracks. Kant tracks, Hegel tracks, Spinoza tracks.

  Even if they run after the trace, they will not catch their true substance.

  In Kongo Kyo (The Diamond Sutra), it is written that when we do not stop on a trace, then at this moment true mind arises.

  Rid ourselves of our dirt, of our bad karma, and true purity is realized.

  What is true happiness? Our mind thinks that happiness is to become rich, to eat fine food, drink old wine, have a second house, a beautiful car, go to Cannes, and travel around the world. Mind is mistaken.... Think during zazen that it is very hot today and that we would like to go to the swimming pool, and our bonno-mind, our desiring mind, makes a mistake.

  Four monks were doing zazen around a candle in a mountain hermitage. The idea was to maintain absolute silence. But then a gust of wind blew out the candle and the youngest monk said: "It's dark in here."

  "Don't speak!" another monk answered.

  "This is no good," cut in the shusso. "Both of you have broken the rule of silence."

  "You three are no good," then said the master. "I am the only one who kept the rule of silence!"

  All four of them spoke. Most people in the social world are like this. Even monks, too, are like this.

  TRUE SATORI IS NOT KNOWING IT

  Mind, what is it? One cannot give it a true name." Language is not always convenient for expressing mind. Gestures are sometimes more effective. The use of the thumb, a finger before the lips. Immo is a word often used in Zen and it means: that.

  How do we look at Buddha, how do we communicate with Buddha?.... If I think, "Now I am sleeping," then this is a dream. When in sleep we cannot know we are in sleep. This is shikantaza. When in zazen we do not know we are in zazen.

  "I have satori." This is not true, not true satori. "I communicate with God"-this too is not true. In true communication we do not know true communication. Many people mistake this. When we have true satori, we do not know this and this is true shikantaza. But think you are in shikantaza and it is not true shikantaza.

  Usually a name is temporary and it is wrong. All existences, form, figure, aspect, all of this is not true, not the true aspect. They are only temporary aspects and so they are false.

  This is why Bodhidharma answered the emperor with the words fu-shiki.38 This means "I don't know," or "don't think." It can also mean "beyond thinking."

  Eka said fu ka to ku which means: impossible to obtain.

  Eno said honrai muichi butsu which means: the original nothing, everything is nothing in its originality.

  I am explaining to you the true essence of Zen, the essence of Soto Zen, of Dogen's Zen. It is only zazen. And its true essence is hishiryo, beyond thinking. The actualization of beyond thinking. This is not a conception, not a category.

  In Hokyo Zan Mai it is written that:

  The snow gathers on the silver plate

  The heron is hidden in the moonlight.

  So everything is white, the same, equal. Yet the plate is silver, the moonlight is the moonlight, the heron is a heron.

  Stephane became the master on stage the other night. Offstage he is Stephane. In my youth I was interested in the theater. On stage a king, off-stage a servant. Off-stage the kin
g serves the servant.

  I did a calligraphy in my room last night. "Open the door and receive the monk.".... A monk comes to visit a temple in the mountains and the chief of the temple opens the gate and welcomes the monk. This is a beautiful scene. But Stephane (in reading the Japanese kanjis) thought the calligraphy meant something else. He thought it meant: Open the door, the manko welcomes you. (Manko in the Japanese ideogram means the female sex organ.) This is a good koan. The ideograms are the same, yet everybody imagines them differently. Japanese and Chinese ideograms are very convenient, they have many meanings.

  ABANDON THE SELECTING MIND

  In San Sho Doei, Dogen wrote that:

  The white heron in the snowfield

  The winter grass is invisible

  The snowfield hides his silhouette.

  This has a very deep meaning. It means the posture of sampai, the posture of zazen.

  We cannot look at our own mind. When we observe, when we limit, then it only becomes an imitation, a trace. We can catch the traces of the mind. But then at this time the traces become a category. A man in the mondo asked me about time. About here and now. The present is important. When we decide now at this moment, this now is past.

  So in the first phrase of Shin Jin Mei it is written that the true way, true mind, is not difficult; one must just not select. Selecting mind produces a mistake. Selection means attachment. In Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki (written by Ejo, the eldest disciple of master Dogen39) it is said that if we abandon the mind which selects, then at this moment we can have true satori. This is true mind.

  Some people here are sleeping. Sensei's kusens, his words, make for good music.

  Chukai!

  Continue with patience and the ego will vanish. This is so with everyone. The bad ego will end and the ego itself will become pure. Nothing is of much importance. You are tired, but you are not tired. You will become strong.

  To move is easy, to not move is difficult.