Sit

by Taisen Deshimaru

  He is now walking across the bridge.

  Stephane, it is not necessary to look! You too are a cancerous cell. Do not look at others during zazen.

  (Everyone is now standing in kinhin and the master says:) If the form is straight, the shadow is straight; and so the mind becomes straight.

  (Zazen:) In the future civilization, in that of the twenty-first century, the revolution will not be materialistic, like the Communist one, but it will be an interior spiritual revolution. A revolution of the mind.

  People mistake consciousness. People don't think at all, except on the material. Materialism has developed and man has forgotten the mind. Only you, who are looking at yourselves, know (the mind).

  In the process of humanity I count five steps, five revolutions. The first one was in prehistoric times when man came to a standing position. Then there was the agricultural revolution: the development of food. Next was when people went to the cities. First they lived on boats, now they live in Paris. In the fourth through the sixth centuries B.C., a spiritual revolution appeared. A spiritual renaissance. (In England the renaissance was industrial, in France it was cultural. In India Buddhism arose.) The present revolution has been a scientific, an industrial one. Modern times are completely material. The material controls man's mind.

  This is a big problem for the twentieth century. How do we be here and now? How, in our own mind? People have forgotten about mind.

  In the fourth stage appeared the spiritual revolution. It occurred four to six centuries before Christ, and it touched all of humanity: India, China, Greece." Humanity produced this great spiritual revolution.

  And now mankind must return to this. Man must find the value of consciousness; he must find the value of the mind of humanity itself.

  The first three revolutions of humanity were all of them visible. Nobody forgets the cities, nobody forgets the standing position. Agriculture too is visible. But the spiritual revolution is invisible. And so people have forgotten it. I have done zazen for forty years; I have concentrated only on zazen, and so I understand: humanity has forgotten. Humanity is not interested in mind, but only interested in looking outside.

  Even here there are some who only look outside. Like that man walking on the bridge in his black kolomo.

  During the sesshin, please, follow the order, follow the rules. Go against them and you are like a cancerous cell. The cell must be operated on, expulsed, removed. Contrarily, a person who concentrates for just one hour, for just half-an-hour, he will have an influence in the four directions. Concentrate in shikantaza and he will influence all the cosmos, all existence. If you do zazen, if you have a good posture, if you have hishiryo consciousness-this will influence the cosmos for all eternity.

  AUG. 24 / 8.30 P.M.

  THE CONTRADICTION:

  Halberd or shield?

  What is true happiness? Is it to satisfy sexual desires?

  Yesterday, during zazen, a man and a woman were together in a room. The kyosakuman found them. They were on the bed-doing.... They had thought that surely during zazen they could find a free room and not be disturbed. So they waited until it was time for zazen. They should receive the rensaku. But I will wait until it happens again. One time I permit. I know their names. They live in room number....

  I have said from the beginning that this is not the Club Mediterranee. Surely a bad karma will now appear.

  To satisfy sex and appetite-these are important for the happiness of man. But in modern times there is free sex and so it has become an important social problem.

  Sex is difficult to satisfy. Two partners, a man and a woman are necessary.... Masturbation is easier. Kodo Sawaki used to say jokingly that masturbation is more convenient, because only one sex organ is needed. And this way it is not expensive, and it saves time. And afterwards it is not complicated.

  This problem of sexual satisfaction afterwards becomes a problem of love.... Love has a spiritual value; without love it becomes complicated. Desire, love, and then no love. Some people want to change partners. They change and change and the bad karma piles up, and then the bad karma is realized.

  Sexual morals are very important. Run after sex and bad karma will appear.

  Perverted sex is no good. It influences the body and one's health. There is a loss of social trust, respect, honor. People will no longer respect you and this will be an influence on the family, on the children and so karma arises.

  To pursue a long love a healthy family is necessary. But in modern times families are not healthy and they do not last long. Most people are not satisfied. They want to desire and to love but they don't realize it. So contradictions arise and this becomes suffering. From the satisfaction of sexual desire comes suffering. Happiness becomes unhappiness.

  So, to satisfy desires is not the object of true happiness. What should be done?

  It is very important to control, to dominate. In traditional religions, sex was forbidden, it was denied. This way it became asceticism, which is not an authentic practice and therefore contradictions arose.

  How do we resolve contradictions? This is the problem of modern civilization. Everything is in contradiction: happiness, desire, politics (the left and the right are in complete contradiction); spirituality with materialism, science with technology. So how can we resolve them? Religion cannot do it, nor can morality, and obviously politics cannot resolve it; nor can the universities, nor the parents.

  This is a big problem, it is a problem of human consciousness, of man's mentality. And for the psychoanalysts too, this is a big problem. Modern psychoanalysts only complicate the matter even more. "What did you dream of last night?" They ask these sorts of questions. This kind of thing makes people even sicker. It makes them mad. It drives them to suicide.

  In the ancient religions God managed everything. But then human beings developed the ability to look directly at nature, and so the natural sciences developed and this produced rationalism, materialism, technology and so on, and religion became what is called the opium of the people. In modern times religion and morality have fallen down to earth, while contrarily, rationalism, materialism and science have become the opium of the people. (The human brain itself is not rational. It has a big contradiction which includes the frontal intellectual brain, and the primitive animal brain.) So true religion without opium, and peaceful science without opium must become harmonized in this future civilization.

  Ever since I arrived in Europe my kusens have dealt with this problem of contradictions, and of how to resolve them.

  We cannot resolve, we cannot change human consciousness, human karma. The doctors cannot do it, nor can the psychoanalysts. And modern education, with its emphasis on the sciences only create dualities and categories.

  Mujun means contradiction. Mu means halberd and jun means shield.... In ancient times in China, weapons merchants presented the emperor with a new halberd. It was a very strong halberd and it could pierce through any kind of shield. So the emperor ordered many of these halberds. Then the weapons merchants arrived with strong iron shields, so strong that no halberd could pierce them. So the emperor, who was intelligent, said to them: "You bring me both sorts. I want to use them both."

  It was at this time that the ideogram mujun came into beingand from then on the contradiction arose. The modern crisis is just like this. Ideologies, always ideologies.

  Professors, doctors, politicians, religious leaders are always teaching on one side or on the other. Either as the halberd or as the shield.

  How do we solve this problem?

  Perfect wisdom in Buddhism is Hannya. I am now writing a book on Maka Hannya Haramitsu. Dogen too: the first conference he made on his return from China was on Maka Hannya Haramitsu. Anyway, now I am writing a commentary of five hundred pages on this book.12

  Wisdom is complicated. But the conclusion is very easy, very simple. We must understand both the shield and the halberd. In the right hand we must hold the halberd, in the left we must seize the shield. We must have
both. We must not use these weapons, but we must have them-so they can solve the contradictions. And so it becomes wisdom. With which we can create even greater wisdom.

  We can resolve all contradictions. Do not be complicated. Be always free. This is hishiryo consciousness. Hishiryo creates infinite wisdom.

  AUG. 25 / 7.30 A.M.

  HAPPINESS

  and the American Declaration of independence

  When you begin zazen it is necessary that you swing seven or eight times to left and the right, in smaller and smaller movements. This way you will be fixed in zazen and you will not need to move. If you forget to do this, zazen will become difficult. Also, before you get up from zazen you must swing back and forth with bigger and bigger movements. This way the nerves coming out of the fifth lombar vertebra become strong. And so too with the nerves in the kikai tanden.

  One of my oldest disciples, Stephane, is sitting in zazen with his mouth wide open, yawning. He must put a hand before his mouth.

  Why is modern civilization the way it is? Why is it that they have developed this great material civilization? Why this great technological development?

  Th'o hundred years ago the United States of America declared their independence, and in the declaration it was written that every human being has the right to seek after his own happiness. Thirteen years later came the French revolution. And human rights, an enlightened philosophy, developed.

  All the world sought after happiness. And for most people this happiness was (to be had through) the satisfaction of desires. If man had good food, a good house and good sex, and if he possessed money and material, then he would surely be happy.

  When we read American history, we see that they sought after the material. At first, right after their separation with Britain, they rapidly expanded in the field of agriculture. At first they had a strong faith in Puritanism. They were strong for work. They were not lazy, they made an effort. For one hundred years after their independence-up until the Civil War-their currency did not change, and what's more the price of goods dropped by half. This was not inflation. America was very rich, it had great resources in food, and its pioneer spirit was strong. They succeeded in building the strongest economic power in the world. At first Americans worked with effort to create the material base of human life. And so they became the richest country on earth-leaving all the world to follow behind them in the economic field. Today, on the other side are the Communists, the Socialists; they have become the opposite and so they too have grown very strong.

  But meanwhile the world's resources have become limited, and this is a problem. Like petrol. This is how it is with progress: the world's resources are limited, and so we have more and more crises. Led by their desires, people seek for material satisfaction: their desires are realized and in so doing they have lost the root of happiness.

  Material riches, practical conveniences, nourishment and so on are important, but they are not the end of happiness. The rise of the hippie in America is an example.

  NEW PHENOMENON

  The seeking for psychological happiness

  Throughout the world in modern times people are seeking for another happiness, a psychological happiness. For people cannot become truly happy without satisfying their own minds and the bottoms of their own hearts.

  Man has succeeded economically and materially to the furthest limit. And so the traditional morals, the morals of living, have changed. Free sex, pornographic movies.

  Since my arrival in Europe the number of people who come here to these summer camps has increased, and without much publicity (on the part of the Association Zen to bring them). If we had a big dojo hall and if we did propaganda five thousand people would come. People are seeking psychological happiness; it is another phenomenon.

  If you seek material happiness, you go to Club Mediterranee. Mr. Blitz, the head of the Club Mediterranee, says that every year the number of people who seek for the material, for food and for sex, decreases. Now they want to do Yoga, the martial arts, zazen. It is changing. So this is why Mr. Blitz is now organizing spiritual vacations."

  This is not easy to do; because each person is different. To organize food and sex is easier. But the spiritual problem is more difficult to organize because each person's karma is different. So each one must resolve his own problem himself, through the practice of meditation.

  We must look at ourselves, at our own minds.

  There are many type of meditation; but posture and breathing and the way we think during meditation is most important. So we have zazen.

  Do zazen and you can find true happiness. Your karma changes; your bad karma decreases, and you can find the true happiness in the bottom of your heart.

  In the beginning zazen hurts. Those who have not experienced zazen cannot understand. The ultimate happiness, the end of suffering, is through the posture and peace of mind. It is the end of contradictions. Hishiryo consciousness solves all contradictions.

  8.30 P.M.

  MAN'S PRIMITIVE BRAIN

  The hypothalamus

  The clear moon is the posture of zazen. The waves are bonnos, illusions. Bonnos break (upon it) and at this moment (there is) illumination, light. At this moment: the light is bodhi, satori, nirvana.... Even waves, even bonnos, become nirvana.

  Our desires, the illusions of daily life, are like the waves. The waves are only form, only phenomena. Their substance is only water. They disappear quickly, like bubbles. Waves have no substance. They are always changing, like water in a stream, always flowing. Impermanent. Sound, too, has no substance. What is its sound? Stones and rocks hit against each other and sound arises.

  (Everyone is now walking one behind the other in kinhin. The master passes between the lines, looking at the people:) Tension is important; but not too much. After tension on the exhalation, there is relaxation on the inhalation. But a crisp face is not right. A little joyfulness is necessary, a little smile. Some here are completely crisp. The form of the face influences the mind. Some people who continue zazen become completely angry. It is not necessary to take on Bodhidharma's face. Bodhidharma sometimes smiled."

  (Zazen:) Dogen wrote in Shobogenzo that if one person does zazen, even for a short while, it influences all the cosmos and all existences. It influences even the mountains, trees and flowers. During the sesshin, the sangha becomes quiet, and all of Val d'Isere, all of its people, become quiet. Even the animals. Even the very mad. The mad understand. Their hypothalamus' understand. The hypothalamus of man and of animal is very pure.16

  Just now a butterfly entered the dojo and I watched it to see where it would fly. She stopped on top of my head. The but terfly understands: this master is very quiet, he is not dangerous.... This afternoon Doctor Evelyne had come to my room to do acupuncture; she was very surprised because a sparrow entered the window. She was a little sick and she entered my bed. "Sensei, Sensei, a bird, a bird!" It was very funny.... The day before yesterday a black cat visited me while I was at my desk. The cat completely disturbed me. She sat right down on top of my work and would not leave.... I often experience this during sesshins. Cats and dogs and other animals enter the dojo. They want to sleep in the dojo during sesshins. Bilou" always waits in front of the dojo, and in the mornings he leads the procession."' But the moment there is the noise of a car, Bilou barks. The moment there is noise, he makes noise. The hypothalamus understands.

  When a mad person goes mad it is in the frontal brain that it happens. The hypothalamus never gets sick, never gets mad. If it did, the person would die immediately.... Mad people know exactly where calmness is found, where danger does not reside. They know by intuition. Their instincts want to come here, want to do the sesshin.... But mad people make disturbances.

  Zazen is very painful, very difficult to do, yet those who have experienced it for a long time understand. They want to practice zazen, their hypothalamus wants to. It is the final happiness, the final peace, the final tranquil life. This is zazen.

  Chukai!

 
AUG. 26 / 7.30 A.M.

  THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF THE BRAIN:

  Ju so gyo shiki

  Last night I said bonnos, illusions, are like waves. Waves, which are water, have no substance. Bonnos too: no substance. They are only phenomenon, only shiki. So what is water? It is activity, it is ki.19 What is activity?

  In ancient Indian Buddhism, and in Hinduism too, they used the words go un. Go un kai What is go un? It is shiki ju so gyo shiki.22

  Go un, what is this? We think it means body and mind. But in ancient India, and in ancient China, and also in Japanese Buddhism, it does not mean body and mind. It means go un23

  The first shiki of "shikiju so gyo shiki" means the body-that is, its five sense organs. The other four (elements) have to do with consciousness, with mind, with that which is invisible, metaphysical.

  HINDU THOUGHT

  The ancient Hindus thought that the body was only composed of five elements of earth (i.e., bones), water (i.e., blood), fire (i.e., fever), air (i.e., gas), and mind.24

  During meditation Hindus are always thinking: "What is the ego?" They observe themselves during meditation: "How is my body today? Today it's not so good. My body is indisposed. My bones are not so strong."

  Bones are the earth. Blood (and urine, adds and other liquids) is water. "My water-my blood-is not so good." Or: "Today my body has too much fire. I have a fever." Or: "My body is too cold." (When we catch a cold we say, in Chinese and Japanese ideograms: Kaze. Kaze means that the wind enters the body. That cold air has entered through the skin or into the lungs.)

  The Hindus thought that the body was connected to the cosmos, outside. The bones were the earth, the liquids were the water....

  Anyway, in Japanese Buddhism the four elements which represent the mind are ju so gyo shiki. What is ju? Ju is the four elements of the mind. Ju means the accepted feelings or sensations coming from the six sense organs: gen ni bi ze shin i. Gen is eye, ni is ear, bi is nose, ze is tongue, shin is body, and i is consciousness.