Omori Sogen

by Hosokowa Dogen

  In the beginning of Zen in China the teacher did not give the student a specific question to work on. Each student tackled a problem himself and looked to his teacher to guide him in solving it. For example, take the incident between Bodhidharma and Eka12 who later carried on Bodhidharma’s line in China:

  [Eka said,] “Your disciple’s mind is not yet pacified. I beg you, my teacher, please pacify my mind.”

  Bodhidharma said, “Bring the mind to me, and I will pacify it.”

  Eka said, “I have searched for the mind these many years and am still unable to get hold of it.”

  Bodhidharma said, “There! It is pacified once and for all.”13

  During the period after Eka and before the systematization of Koan Zen in the 9th century, the following story illustrates the nature of the interactions between master and student.14

  When Nangaku Ejo (Nan-yueh Hai-jang)15 went to see the 6th patriarch Eno, Eno faced him and said, “Where did you come from?”

  Nangaku answered, “I came from Mt. Tung-shan.”

  Eno responded, “What walked here?”

  Nangaku Ejo could not say that his feet did the walking, nor could he say that his body had walked there. All he could do was to try to enlighten himself by concentrating on “what had walked there.” This is the form that the koan took in the beginning. As Zen masters repeatedly gave such cases to students to work on, the cases gradually became systematized.

  Usually, you kufu (to strive or wrestle with, to try to find the way out) a koan through zazen, but you can also concentrate on the koan while you are involved in some activity: What is this that is now working? Who is this that is drinking tea? Who is this that is talking? If you are always searching in this way, you have achieved a way of training.

  Over time questions, such as “What is Buddha? What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from India?” which spontaneously arose were systematized into a fixed format from the latter part of the Tang dynasty in the last half of the 9th century till the Sung dynasty in the 13th century. But it was not until works such as the Hekigan Roku were published that the system that we know today became established. This work is divided into one hundred cases, and about one hundred forty personnages appear in them. Master Engo Kokugon (Yuan-wu Ko-ch’in)16 commented on the main point of each case.

  During the Sung Dynasty Master Daie Soko (Ta-hui Tsungkao)17 encountered the following problem. He thought, “These days the students doing sanzen (private interview with the master in which the student presents his answer to the koan) say things that are too good. For beginners, they do too well. Perhaps they have a text.” He discovered that students had memorized the Hekigan Roku word for word and were using it in their answers. Master Daie said that this would not help them, and it is said that he collected all the copies of Hekigan Roku and burned them.

  In the present day koan system, a first koan we almost always give to the beginner is, “Does a dog have Buddha nature?” This is the koan of Master Joshu (Chao-chou)18 who lived during the Tang dynasty in China. He explained Zen in everyday terms. In the history of Zen I think he was one of the greatest masters. A priest asked Joshu, “Does a dog have Buddha nature?” Joshu said, “Mu.” That became a koan. What exactly is this Mu?

  This is the first koan in the Mumonkan.19 The editor of this book, Mumon Ekai (Wu-men Hui-k’ai),20 gave some advice on how to kufu this koan:

  Don’t you want to pass the barrier? Then throw yourself into this “Mu,” with your 360 bones and 84,000 pores, making your whole body one great inquiry. Day and night work intently at it. Do not attempt nihilistic or dualistic interpretations. The search for an answer is like having swallowed a red hot iron ball. You try to vomit it but cannot.

  Cast away your illusory discriminating knowledge and consciousness accumulated up to now, and keep working harder. After a while, when your efforts come to fruition, all the oppositions (such as in and out) will naturally be identified. You will then be like a dumb person who has had a wonderful dream: he only knows it personally, within himself. Suddenly you break through the barrier; you will astonish heaven and shake the earth.21

  In short, Master Mumon is teaching us to question where our mind works and to look for the source by ourselves. Where does this Mu come from? We must concentrate completely on Mu. Not only must we become one with Mu, we must transcend it. How do we achieve this?

  Mumon uses the expression, “360 bones and 84,000 pores,” which, during his time, meant the entire human body. In other words, he explains that we must become Mu by using our whole body and all our energy. We must concentrate everything on Mu.

  If you do that, you will be able to experience the same samadhi as the Buddha did after he abandoned his severe physical training and did zazen. Shakyamuni thought that inflicting severe pain on the body would free the spirit. In the end he realized that the mind and body were one. He realized that he could not be liberated by punishing his body. He abandoned harsh physical training, went to the foot of the Himalayas, and did zazen. He was constantly in the state of “Absolute Mu.” At sunrise he saw the morning star and realized, “It is not that there is nothing. There is this form here that I call myself looking at the morning star. Moreover, this form is not only a simple ‘self;’ it is a point that is the center of an infinite circle; it is the center of the entire Universe.” When you are in absolute samadhi and a stimulus breaks this state, suddenly such a realization will occur. That is enlightenment.

  Though this koan Mu had been used since ancient times, about 250 years ago Hakuin Zenji felt that it should not become over used and began to use the koan, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This koan became very popular because it creates doubt easily.

  If you hit both hands together, a sound will be produced. But what is the sound of one hand clapping? It is what we must call the absolute sound. This sound must be uncovered. Then you will realize the Original Nature, the eternal life which is not merely the life before you were born but the perpetual life that exists before the birth of your parents. We call it the True Self.

  The first question that comes to mind in relation to Hakuin’s koan is “Does one hand make a sound?” The next question is “What could it be?” It is said that the method of solving a koan is to become a mass of doubt. This absolute query is, at the same time, the absolute solution. To put it another way, when the doubter and the koan are in opposition, the two do not become a single mass of doubt. Instead of making the koan an object and examining it analytically, we must concentrate on becoming one with it. In other words, the person who is doubting and the object of the doubt unite and become one mass of doubt. Becoming the mass of doubt is the method of solving the koan, and breaking through this mass of doubt is enlightenment.

  The Zen method is to totally negate all accepted facts and dualities and then to re-affirm them.22 Sanzen is indispensible for training with koan. In this method the Zen master who has already passed through the koan and the more experienced senior students lead the less experienced junior students. But rather than giving hints, when presented with an answer, the Zen master must thoroughly negate it, saying that everything is wrong, and must drive the student into the realm of Absolute Mu.

  The student must be trapped like a mouse that has gone into a bamboo cylinder — he cannot advance forward because of the bamboo joint, yet he cannot go back. The Zen master’s job is to push his student into that kind of state. With his dualistic thinking driven into a corner, the student will be transformed and led to the realm of absolute freedom.

  In the monastery, everything is well thought out. During sanzen, the jikijitsu (head monk) pulls out the beginners who are sitting in the zazen hall. He forces them to go to see their teacher in sanzen. The Zen master and the head monk work together to drive the student into a corner. For example, there was a Zen master named Mamiya Eiju. When he was a monk at Tenryu-ji, in sanzen Master Gassan hit him with his shippei (stick carried by the master). When he went back to the meditation hall, the head monk
scolded him, “What are you doing! Go back again!” In the end, unable to tolerate it any longer, Mamiya retreated to the bathroom. It is said that he hid there for one whole night. This kind of earnest person quickly reaches his limit.

  If one is not serious and does not reach one’s limit, the experience will be late and shallow. Whether asleep or awake, we must kufu our koan without pause and become a mass of doubt. Then because of some stimulus, we are able to break through that state and we have a realization. That is what enlightenment is.

  How to Work on the Koan

  Omori Roshi was once asked about a method for solving koan, “Roshi, in the first chapter of the Mumonkan, it is written, ‘Twenty-fours hours a day, you must always kufu Mu and try to find an answer’ But some people say, ‘Put all of your energy into what you are doing at the moment’ Which is the right way?” Roshi replied:

  When you are working on your first koan, just as it is written in the Mumonkan, you should kufu this koan twenty-four hours a day whether you are awake or asleep. As you gradually advance in your koan training, however, you should put all of your energy into what you are doing at the moment. Concentrate on your koan when you are doing zazen. But for a lay person who has a job, even if it is his first koan, it is different from a monk whose sole job is to meditate. When the lay person is working, he should put everything into working. If he has even a moment of spare time, then, he should return to his koan. However, during a sesshin, it would be ideal if one could be in the state of koan samadhi while searching for an answer to the koan.

  When Shido Bunan Zenji received his koan, “From the beginning nothing exists,” from Gudo Toshoku Zenji, he was always seeking the answer. One day when he was making a rope, he became absorbed in his koan. He forgot the hand that was twisting the rope and could not twist anymore. Gudo Zenji was watching on the side and said to those who were near him, “If you can concentrate this much on your koan, there is no doubt that you can have a realization.“ That is how to get an answer to your first koan.

  How to Read the Sutra23

  When I was a youth, I once went to Lake Towada in Akita Prefecture. Close to this lake are the ruins of the place where a priest named Nansobo had trained. According to the guide’s explanation, Nansobo wore iron geta (Japanese sandals) and travelled all over Japan. He decided that the place where the cloth thongs of his geta broke would be where he would train for the rest of his life. When he got to Lake Towada, the thongs suddenly broke and he resolved that this would be his life-long place of training. A huge snake had been living there before him and refused to let him take his home away so they began battling. Suddenly Nansobo began to recite the Lotus Sutra. Each word of the Lotus Sutra became an arrow and pierced the body of the snake. Bleeding and writhing, the snake slithered away.

  Whether true or not, the story relates that when Nansobo recited the sutra, each word became a piercing arrow. I think that this is a wonderful way to read the sutra. If you cannot do it that way, you cannot say that you read the sutra. The meaning of the sutra does not matter. If you want to study the sutra, you should put the sutra on a desk in a quiet place and leisurely read it while savoring it. Then you will interpret the words and be able to understand the meaning. That is the scholarly way of reading it.

  Do not concern yourself with that. If you are going to read the sutra for your training, you must read the sutra like Nansobo and make each word an arrow that pierces. If we were to express this in Zen terminology, we would say, “Tekisui Tekito” (Each drop of water, each drop of ice). If you don’t read the sutra as if you have become each drop (that is, without becoming each word moment by moment), the sutra will not have any effect. Straighten your back, push your energy down to the tanden, and with your eyes fixed, read the sutra. Read as much as you can in one breath. Mind and body becoming one, you enter samadhi. It is possible to be liberated by reading sutra.

  If you are merely reading it with the tip of your nose, even if you say, “Makahanya…,” it will be useless. It is easy for us to concentrate our attention while reading aloud. When you are reading with many people, you must read as though your neighbor’s voice is going into your ears and out of your mouth. If you don’t do that, the recitation will be scattered and not unified.

  Keep your breath long and breathe out as long as you can. Then it will be easy to collect your energy. If you cannot get your energy together, even if the sutra is short, do it over and over again.

  If you read the sutra in this way, you can experience mind and body as ichinyo (Oneness: one and separate at the same time). You do not have to read aloud. In fact, it is more difficult to read the sutra silently than aloud. It is easier to unify mind and body by reading aloud. To unify the mind and body by reading silently requires training in daily life. In this way, you can cultivate the ability to enter samadhi. The body will automatically become erect.

  I have this anecdote about the sutra. After the war I became a priest and went to the Toyama home to recite the sutra on the anniversary of Ryusuke Sensei’s death. A person wearing baggy work pants entered the room through the garden. He placed a huge book of sutra on the small table in front of the Buddhist altar. He recited a sutra in a very deep voice that was like billowy clouds arising from the bottom of a very deep cavern. In the middle of the recitation, there were sometimes pauses which were quite long. I think that he was probably in samadhi. In a little while, he would start to recite again in the same voice. Sitting in the back, I was totally astonished. I was too embarassed to read the sutra after such a recitation and went home after I had offered incense without reading the sutra.

  This man was Hamachi Hachiro, a lawyer and the father of Toyama Ryusuke’s wife. He was a believer of the Diamond Sutra and had been enlightened through this sutra. Having done sanzen in the Soto sect, he had received the name, Layman Tensho. (Once when he was critically ill and unconscious, he continued to chant the sutra. It was so ingrained in him.)

  Continuation of Correct and True Consciousness24

  According to Hakuin Zenji, “Shonen Sozoku” (Continuation of correct and true consciousness) is not like the thread that holds the rosary beads together but is like the beads themselves. He is saying that consciousness must become each one of the beads. If moment by moment we are completely concentrated in the present, our consciousness will be discontinuously continuous, and we will be able to go right through. Hakuin’s words are those of a person who has had a personal experience. If a person who has not had such an experience says “Shonen Sozoku,” he will think that it means to continue to possess right thought. That is impossible. Rather it means to become what you are doing at the moment. When we practice Hitsuzendo (attaining the Way through a brush), what is the feeling with which we write a line? The line is a continuum of the discontinuous. We are not merely writing a line; we are putting our entire life into each dot. Many unconnected dots come together to form a line. In other words, we are practicing “Shonen Sozoku” with a brush. Being attentive to everything, we strike each dot completely. We write with the feeling that each dot continues and forms a line. We are not merely drawing a line.

  At the moment when we perfectly experience the Absolute Now in our daily lives, the discontinuous continues. For the first time, all our activities come alive. For example, even entertainers must have this. Even before the curtain rises and he makes his entrance, an actor in a play must already BE his part. He does not suddenly become his part when the curtain rises. Even when he leaves the stage and goes from the wings to his dressing room, he must maintain the same presence as he did on stage. If he does not do this, his presence will not linger on the stage. But if he does not relax and goes to the dressing room with the same feeling that he had while he was on stage, that atmosphere will continue on the stage. The feeling will linger with the audience. That kind of mental phenomenon exists. Zeami (founder of the Noh theater) calls this “the Doing-Nothing-Time” in his book the Flower Mirror. If you are not careful about this “Doing-Nothing- Time,” the befor
e and after of one’s acting will not come alive.

  If you only feel fulfilled when you are doing something, what will happen at other times? It means that during the 24 hours of a day, you are only really alive for two or three hours when you throw yourself into activity. On the other hand, if you feel fulfilled even if you are not doing anything, you will be fulfilled all the time. That is the training that we do during Hitsuzendo. In that way, we draw each dot completely. Those dots continue discontinuously and form a line. That is our training; it is a way of life.25

  How to Train While Engaging in Work

  Studying oneself is one’s great work in life. It is a fundamental necessity. If a person seriously considers it, however, he should quit his job, and, just as Buddha and other well-known priests of old did, train intently. It is also what I should have done, but since I had no intention to do so, I had to train while engaged in work. Presently most of the people who have devoted themselves to Zen training are people who are working in society. In that case, they should make time to sit in the morning and evening. They should go to Zen groups where they will be encouraged to try harder or broaden their spiritual knowledge. I think that these are the normal means available to lay people.

  While I was a lay person, I was told that I should meditate for four hours a day. That was not an easy thing. Because of the nature of my job, I had more free time than most people, but I also had my students to take care of and my wife and children to support. It was almost impossible to devote four hours a day to meditation. Though I tried my best, I could only manage three hours a day. For those who have their own business, even three hours must be difficult.