Omori Sogen

by Hosokowa Dogen

  What causes this flowing and changing? In Buddhist terminology, it is said this world is hokai (the realm of reality). In this case ho means the law of cause and conditions. Cause becomes effect; effect becomes cause. [Depending on conditions, different effects emerge. For example a seed kept in a drawer will not bloom, but when planted and given water and fertilizer, it will bloom. In the final analysis, cause, conditions, and effects are one.] Reality changing according to the law of cause and conditions is hokkai.

  This is what Shakyamuni Buddha referred to when he said, “He who sees engi (cause and conditions) clearly sees the Dharma.” The law of cause and conditions means that beings are created and destroyed in accordance with cause and conditions. Nothing in this world exists by itself. Everything is interdependent. If you view this world from the perspective of time, everything changes continuously depending on cause and conditions. People commonly mistake the theory of Buddhism as cause and effect, but the theory of Buddhism is based on cause and conditions.

  Let us imagine that we have a radish seed. In this seed is the cause for a big, two foot long radish root. The theory of cause and effect ties cause and effect directly together and concludes that this seed will inevitably become a two foot long radish. In Buddhism this is not so. We recognize that the seed has the potential to become a radish, but the seed must be planted in the field, given fertilizer, water, and sunlight. In addition the field must be weeded. Under these conditions, the radish, which is the effect, will grow. Depending on the conditions, however, a big, long radish or an inedible radish may result. The effect is something uncertain and depends on conditions.

  Everything is cause, conditions, and effect; limitless differentiations are born from the movement of cause and conditions. In the Agama Sutra it is said, “All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything exists in relation to everything else.” This sutra illustrates the mutual interdependence of everything.

  In the theory of cause and conditions, there are four phases: gokan-engi, arayashiki-engi, shinnyo-engi, and hokkai-engi.3

  Hokkai-engi is the final theory. This is also called mujin-engi (unlimited cause and conditions). This theory unifies appearance and cause and conditions. The important aspects are: All things are the appearance of truth and there is nothing which is separate from the essence of the Tathagata (the Truth, Suchness).

  Therefore everything is absolute. Even a speck of dust is the appearance of Truth. If everything is absolute, there is nothing else except it. In other words, each and every thing simultaneously includes all other things, like the knots in a net.

  All the knots are connected with each other. If you pick up a single knot, you pick up the whole net. This relation is called “Tai mo ju ju” (referring to the jewels fastened to the net hanging in Sakra’s place which reflect one another endlessly) and “shu ban mu jin” (subject-object are inexhaustible).

  In other words, the universe is likened to a net of glittering gems, wherein each jewel and its reflection exists in all other gems. There is an interplay of reflections into infinity. In this way a single entity, in contrast to others, becomes the subject, and others become the object. Then when the object becomes the subject; the subject becomes the object. This interplay between subject and object proceeds endlessly. This is called hokkai-engi.

  Therefore, the temporal relation of cause and conditions leads to the mutual interdependence of differentiated things, which is the spatial relation of cause and effect. In this sense even a particle which cannot be seen with the eye is absolute. This particle contains the entire universe. The entire universe is an object to the particle and is contained within it. This manner of identification (the waves are the water and the water is the waves) and mutual interpenetration (rays of light enter into one another without hindrance) between things are called jijimuge. Jijimuge means all things and events in the Universe interpenetrate freely without obstruction.

  In the final analysis each thing contains everything, and each thing is absolute. Simultaneously each thing is brought into existence by every other thing. This kind of cause and conditions relationship is hokkai-engi. This is the highest principle in the theory of cause and conditions.

  If we pursue the principle that all things are impermanent and all things flow and change, the temporal principle becomes a spatial principle. At this point, naturally we have come to the question, “What is the spatial principle?” We must pursue the reality of things in a spatial sense and analyze the second truth, Shoho muga, the principle that phenomenal things are in existence only by conditions; they have no substance in themselves.

  Shoho Muga - Having no Substance in Themselves, all Things Exist only by Conditions

  Zen stands on the concrete reality before your eyes. Even so, most people feel that Zen is empty theory separate from concrete reality. This is proof that most people look at life upside down. In reality everything flows, but people think nothing moves. Everything changes, but people think things are permanent. The primary reason for delusions and illusions is the ego [which sees things as existing in themselves]. We want to believe that behind the phenomena we see with our eyes, lies an eternal substance. We are looking for some actual being, original substance, a god, or Buddha which controls the Universe.

  As this inquiry progesses, what we looked for outside ourselves, we begin to look for inside ourselves. The result is to think that our original substance is the ego. Because of this, we believe there is an eternal, unchanging, actual being behind the natural universe, and similarly we believe that inside ourselves, there is a solidified, unchanging form which is our center. This we can call the ego.

  According to the Upanishad philosophy, the ego is Jo Itsu Shussai. Jo means always present and never changing. Itsu means absolutely one. Shussai means mastery of all things. The phrase refers to the actual being or existence which masters all things and is always present and unchanging. This being we call the ego.

  Usually we make the ego the center and manage all our affairs from this perspective. Buddha, however, said there is no such thing. He said that the truth is that every phenomenon exists only because of conditions; thus, they have no substance.

  Shoho means every phenomenon. We use the term ho which means Dharma because every phenomenon exists according to the principle of cause and conditions [in contrast to cause and effect. Dharma is the principle of cause and conditions]. After all shoho muga means all things are interdependent, and there is no thing which exists in itself.

  Ji-sho (self-nature) is a Buddhist term; generally the term jitai (actual being, substance, or entity) is used instead. This actual being contains the causes of occurrence, continuance, and death or destruction in itself. Because of these causes it occurs, continues, and dies or is destroyed without being influenced from outside itself. If an entity has this kind of force in itself, we call it an actual being. Muji-sho (no-self-nature) means that there is no actual being as described above.

  Everything we ordinarily experience in this world is interdependent. Reciprocally being cause and conditions of each other, all things create and destroy each other. If cause and conditions match, phenomenon are created. If cause and conditions vanish, phenomenon vanish. This is the fundamental structure of the reality we live in. Namely shoho jisso (every phenomenon is itself the ultimate reality) is the true aspect of reality.

  There are, however, simple-minded opinions that no-self means that the physical body or the psychological self does not exist. These opinions then contend that if there is no self, how can the world exist? From what I have said, I hope you can see that these opinions are misunderstandings.

  According to cause and conditions, the physical elements and mental functioning come together to create what we generally think of as ourselves. In ancient Buddhist terms, the physical body consists of the four material elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. Mental functioning consists of goun (Skt. panca skandha) (the five ag
gregates): shiki-un (Skt. rupa-skandha) (matter or form), ju-un (Skt. vedana-skandha) (perception), so-un (Skt. samjna-skandha) (conception), gyo-un (Skt. samskara-skandha) (volition), and shiki-un (Skt. vijnana-skandha) (consciousness). Simply put, the physical being cannot be conceived apart from the relationship to the parents which gave it birth or as existing apart from the food and other elements necessary to maintain the body. A self which exists apart from social relationships can be conceived only in the mind and not in reality.

  In the mind the self comes into existence at the deepest level which perhaps can be described as wholeness [the level of the storehouse unconscious]. From the connections of the body with the parents and the elements, and the sense of self with historical and societal factors, the self emerges. We can therefore see that there is no actual being; this mutual dependence is what no-self nature means.

  In any case the real state of all things or, in other words, the true form of all beings is no-self nature (mujisho) and no-self (muga). Depending on cause. and conditions the true form of all beings changes and flows without stopping. This is certainly true. The real state of all things is formless. This is the meaning of the Tendai philosophy of kukan—the meditation on the essential voidness of all existence. The Tendai system of scholarship is based on the contemplation of the void.

  In this manner, if you view the world from the perspective of space, it is no-self nature (no fixed nature, nonsubstantiality). If we explain mujisho negatively, the true form of all beings is formless, and there is no fixed form. Because all things are formless, rather than saying all things are connected, it is better to say that gods, Buddhas, human beings, animals, and plants, everything is of the same nature and equal. The entire universe is one. However, if we turn this around and explain it positively, because of what I said before, each thing is the true form. That is to say, all things, as they are, are the real state of all things (shoho jisho). Everything as they are is the truth. Each one is an absolute being. Nothing has a fixed self. Because there is no fixed self, perhaps we can say each individual entity is the whole. The truth of shoho muga reveals the real state of all things.

  In this manner, everything in the world we live in has no fixed self. All is formless-form. Because of this real state, each moment or each movement reveals the absolute. Each thing has meaning in existence. [There is nothing which is not needed.] Each thing alone is the absolute being and the World-honored One. Even a maggot in feces is Buddha.

  In this manner the real state of all things is formless (jisso-muso); this is no-self and non-differentiation. [From the spatial perspective, reality is undifferentiated.] From formlessness and no-self, differentiation appears. The leaves are green, and the flowers are red. This is the perspective of cause and conditions in time.

  Initially we began with the temporal principle which in the end changed to the spatial principle. Then we discussed the spatial principle which in the end turned into the temporal principle. [Space and time are one.]

  Nehan Jyaku-jo - Nirvana is Tranquility

  As I have explained until now, in time cause and conditions perpetually change. I have emphasized differentiation and impermanence. From the spatial perspective the real state of all things is undifferentiated. Both views are right, but this is like separating one drop of water into each element and intellectually understanding the characteristics of hydrogen and oxygen. This abstract knowledge is not a living drop of water.

  Because all things are impermanent, everything is uncertain. Because all things depend on conditions, this world is beyond our control. It is feared that these points of view can lead to fatalism. By dividing the single reality into time and space, cause and conditions versus the real state of all things as impermanence and selflessness, you can understand the principles of reality. But these principles are not reality itself. Time is space; space is time. Cause and conditions are the real state; the real state is cause and conditions. Just as hydrogen and oxygen combine to form a living drop of water, these separate principles must be brought together to form a living world.

  In this living world, the third truth of the Dharma, “Nirvana is tranquility,” is found at the point where space and time cross. The truth that Nirvana is tranquility is not on the same level as the first two truths of the Dharma. Rather, when the first two coalesce, Nirvana is realized at a higher level.

  The Japanese word nehan is a translation of the sound of the Sanskrit word Nirvana. Nirvana means the condition of extinction. It means freedom from the shackles of delusion, the extinction of the delusion of life and death [of all dualism]. Nirvana is the state of satori (enlightenment). Because of Nirvana, the agitation of the mind and emotional suffering disappear. Jakujo, therefore, is a condition of stillness in which no waves emerge. Nehan jakujo is a world free of the suffering of birth, age, sickness, and death. These four symbolize all suffering in the relative world. In Nirvana a person is free from life and death [all dualism], so he lives fully and dies fully in a creative dynamic samadhi (katsu zanmai).

  Because everything is impermanent, we cannot expect anything. Because everything is no-self, nothing goes the way we want. Eventually we may come to believe that this world is fruitless and vain. This mistaken belief arises from an analytic, abstract point of view. It comes about because we are attached to the ego. Then we expect things we cannot expect and want to make things, which do not go our way, to go our way.

  If, however, you do not expect things and do not try to make things go your way, even when things do not go your own way, you can find freedom. Even when things you expect to happen do not, you can attain calmness. This is true, isn’t it? The world of Nirvana is like this: from the perspective of the world of the absolute present, everything is perceived in its suchness without the imposition of the ego. Then the person benefits from and enjoys everything and experiences every day as a fine day.

  After all to adhere solely to the view that all things are equal is wrong. To believe only in differentiation as truth is also a fallacy. Equality is differentiation, and differentiation is equality. Emptiness is the wonder of being, and the wonder of being is emptiness. Not one, but not two, this is the [transcendent principle of the] Dharma gate. This kind of world is the world of Nirvana. In daily life whether moving your hands, raising your feet, coughing, whatever you’re doing at that moment, here and now, is Nirvana. In the world of Nirvana, the whole world can be put in a grain of dust; one movement can easily encompass the whole universe.

  Master Rinzai said, “Here in front of my eyes! You, the person listening to my discourse.” This person, who can live here and now fully, can live the ultimate and limitless life. This life cannot be grasped as a principle. It must be grasped as an actuality and realized with the body. This is Zen.

  The three truths of the Dharma are: 1) All things are impermanent. 2) Every phenomenon exists only by conditions. 3) Nirvana is tranquility. In the last analysis these three truths of the Dharma are actually a single truth of the real state of all things. Provisionally for the purpose of explanation the single truth was divided into three.

  Past, present, future—any time must be grasped now in the immediate moment. Spatially any place must be grasped here where you stand. Anyone, old, young, men, or women must be grasped as oneself. This is the principle of the universality of human being. In other words, at the center of the crossing of time and space, this “self” moves. The world of this free activity is the world of Nirvana.

  This world of Nirvana is not separate and far away from the reality here and now in which you live and move. Nirvana is not a faraway dream world. It is this very world in which you suffer. Only in the world of Nirvana can you experience the end and the means as one, and every day is a fine day. Whatever you do is fulfilling in itself.

  Master Hakuin in his “Poisonous Commentary to the Heart Sutra” grieves about many people’s misunderstanding of ultimate Nirvana. They take it to be a calm condition without activity and fall into the pit [of passivity]. This empty, qu
iet state of no activity is death-like and resembles the life of a ghost. It has less value than rotten socks. Rather than this, Hakuin says, “The birth and destruction of all living things as they are is the Nirvana of all Buddhas.” Our continuously changing daily lives just as they are in which we laugh, cry, suffer, enjoy, live, and die, are the Nirvana of all Buddhas.

  Each single movement in our lives is the activity of Tathagata (a name for Buddha which means “one who has come from thusness”). At each moment whatever you are doing or experiencing is genuinely Nirvana. This is the world of the absolute present.

  The real state of all things, cause and conditions, and equality and differentiation, are like two sides of one reality. They are certainly not separate. If we examine them conceptually, there are two principles, but in reality they are originally one. There is nothing outside of this one reality. The differentiations of each thing are transcended, and differentiation is realized as Oneness. The world of phenomenon as it is is the real state of all things. This kind of world cannot be described, conceived, or explained. This is the world of the absolute present.

  Because Nirvana cannot be described, conceived, or explained, you must make principle and practice one and shugyo (training in the deepest sense) with your body and mind. This is the way of ultimate Nirvana. This is Zen. Discarding discriminating knowledge and realizing and expressing the world of the absolute present with the body is Zen.

  Chapter 7

  Zen and the Fine Arts

  Along with the Martial Arts and Zen, the fine arts are the third pillar of Omori Roshi’s way of training. The martial arts develop power and vitality; Zen develops spiritual insight and depth; and the fine arts develop refinement and aesthetic appreciation. Together they effectively develop a human being who is natural and rounded—two excerpts from Omori Roshi regarding Zen and art follow: