So close the gap between Yourself and yourself. Carry this wisdom into your daily life and let your life continue in this way. When you close the gap, that is the best way to take care of your family, of your community, of your life. Then your life becomes delightful, not only for yourself but for the people around you as well.
You do not need to lock yourself in a closet to think about this. With beginner’s mind, the mind that sees no separation, you can take care of this gap. This awareness can take place at any moment, under any circumstances. We should also appreciate that our practice is not just for this lifetime only. Shakyamuni Buddha talks about his past lives in the Mahayana sutras. He is not the only one who has had past lives, all of us have had past lives. The more I realize that this practice is not just for this lifetime, the more I appreciate the opportunity to practice together with all of you.
I want you to appreciate your own life, too. Every moment, right now, is nothing other than us, our practice, our life, our realization, our manifestation! Refresh it each moment! Having such a practice not only benefits you and gives you joy, it also inspires others. And vice versa, too. When you live this way, your life will become very different and you will not complain about things. You will become more tolerant and generous. If anything does not go well, you will see this I as the responsible person. You will see the other shore as your life this very moment. So regardless of the situation, when you close the gap you can take any situation as the Buddha’s life and manage it well.
THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE
DOGEN ZENJI SAID,
When staying at Tendo monastery in China while old master Nyojo was abbot there, we sat zazen until about eleven o’clock at night and got up at about half past two to sit zazen. The abbot sat with the assembly in the sodo [the monks’ living and practice area] never taking even one night off. While sitting, many monks fell asleep. The abbot walked around hitting them with his fist or his slipper, shaming and encouraging them to wake up. If they continued to sleep, he went to the sodo, rang the bell, and called his attendants to light the candles. On the spur of the moment, he would say such things as: “What is the use of sleeping? Why do you gather in the sodo? Why did you become a monk and enter this monastery? Consider the emperor and officials of the government; who among them leads an easy life? The emperor governs with justice; the ministers serve with loyalty and down to the commoners. Who leads an easy life without laboring? You have avoided these labors, entered the monastery, but now spend your time wastefully. What on earth for?”
Life and death is the grave matter. Everything is impermanent and changes swiftly. The teaching schools and the Zen schools both emphasize this. This evening or tomorrow morning you may become sick or die. Still you have no idea how your death may come or what kind of sickness you may contract. It is utterly foolish to pass the time meaninglessly sleeping or lying down while you are alive and not practice the Buddha dharma. Since you are like this, the Buddha dharma is dying. When people devotedly practiced zazen, the Buddha dharma flourished throughout the country. As of late, the Buddha dharma is falling into decay because no one promotes zazen.
—Eihei Doyen
SHOBOGENZO ZUIMONKI
This passage was written over seven hundred years ago in very different circumstances, and yet it is so vital, so alive! It is a very vivid admonition to us. Although we do not have the lifestyle of a monk or nun living in a monastery, practicing together twenty-four hours a day, basically all of us practice zazen.
Dogen Zenji emphasizes the importance of zazen. Zazen must be done correctly, not loosely, not daydreaming or sleeping, not drowsy zazen. What is the purpose of doing zazen? In order to clarify your aspiration, think on the impermanence of life. We never know when we will die. Reflect upon this seriously: how much do I clarify this grave matter of life and death as a personal fact? What is the best way for me to live?
Dogen Zenji lost his parents when he was a young child, so the urgency of his questioning arose from his own experience of impermanence. Shakyamuni Buddha first became aware of impermanence when he saw people suffering from old age, sickness, and death. When he saw a person who manifested peace in the midst of this world of suffering, he left the comforts of his life to solve this question of the grave matter of life and death. Dogen Zenji says that the power of aspiration is such that when we really want to resolve something, we find a way to do it.
We might feel a little awkward reading the words of master Nyojo or about the quest of Shakyamuni. Having a family, living a secular life, having all kinds of problems—which are the most urgent for us to solve? Do we think about the impermanence of life or how to live more comfortably? We have all kinds of distractions that blind us to this simple matter of impermanence.
Dogen Zenji emphasizes that life and death contain the fact of constant, swift change. In fact, he uses the phrase “Life and death is the grave matter.” We chant this verse every evening after zazen:
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life.
This is exactly the purpose of doing zazen.
The point is very simple: awakening is Buddha’s teaching. This is the key. Awakening is for anybody, everybody! Why do these old masters talk about zazen in such a strict way? Physical strictness does not guarantee awakening. I do not know how many monks were practicing under all these strict masters, but I am one hundred percent sure that not all of them awakened. In fact, awakening has nothing to do with strict or easy practice.
In one of his early writings entitled Endeavor to Practice the Way (Shobogenzo Bendowa), Dogen Zenji asks eighteen commonly asked questions and answers them himself. The first question is, “Why do you talk so much about the importance of zazen?” His answer is very simple: Because the Buddha did zazen and awakened. What did the Buddha realize? He realized this matter of life and death.
Dogen Zenji says to practice diligently so that you can see the impermanence of your life. The more you feel this impermanence, the more you have to know what this life is, what this death is. When we really see this impermanence, we pay much more attention to the principles of attachment and detachment. In a wav, detachment is as bad as attachment. And attachment, in a way, is as good as detachment. After all, what is wrong with being attached? Without attachment, we cannot live. If we all are physically detached, if we are detached from our life, then how can we survive?
So where does the trouble come in? This is very simple. The trouble is caused by our self-centered, egocentric ideas. The obstacle to awakening is always me, always I, my, me. My feeling, my thought, my pain, my idea, all must be eliminated from the beginning because it is a partial or relative view. When we meditate on how we feel or what we think, we remain in a dualistic condition. In the Zen tradition, we avoid this kind of meditation because it is an endless process. When you pursue your thoughts, you can create all kinds of fantastic things. But then what? It doesn’t clarify the grave matter of life and death.
What should we do in order to take care of this trouble? Again the answer is simple: Be yourself! Become zazen yourself. Be your true life and death. Be the Buddha! Yet this simple matter is somehow the most difficult to do. How do you awaken to this simple, clear, straightforward fact of who you are? Until you clarify this matter, you will not be at case. Maybe you can be comfortable for a while, but sooner or later you will come back to this point, for the grave matter will not be settled for you.
Dogen Zenji says, “Life and death is the grave, important matter. There is no life and death, since there is the Buddha in life and death.” Consider that life and death itself is no other than peace, no other than nirvana. Nirvana is not some life that will happen one day in the future. It is our life and death right now, right here.
One definition for nirvana is that it is the state of extinction of all sorts of desires that trouble us. In a way,
the desire for nirvana itself is attachment. And yet desire is very, very important. For instance, as bodhisattvas we should have the desire to do something with our life. Bodhisattvas are those who take boundless vows, and because of these vows, the world gets better. Who is the bodhisattva? A bodhisattva cannot be any person other than yourself. Do you see this? How are you really a bodhisattva?
Each of us has this strong bodhi mind, the mind of awakening. Each of us must awaken. No one can do it for us. Shakyamuni Buddha had to awaken by himself. He struggled for years, and finally he gave up everything and just faced himself. For one week, he did zazen completely. He did not have a teacher, but something supported him, something led him to realization. What was it? Is it supporting you, too? Shakyamuni had a fierce determination. If you really want to awaken, how can you do it?
Zazen may be the most direct way. Do it wholeheartedly. Just sitting on the cushion and taking a nap or daydreaming is not zazen. When you sit, don’t get involved in any side-business. Be determined to resolve the great matter. Put all your energy into it. When you do this, you will find tremendous strength.
How do you take care of this for yourself? Where do you miss the point? This is what you must clarify. I really encourage you. It isn’t even a matter or encouraging or discouraging. If you realize this grave matter, that is the very best I can do. This grave matter of life and death is so obvious, so simple, and yet so hard to realize. Even though you are in the midst of the awakened life, you do not realize it.
How do you handle this dilemma?
YOUR ZAZEN IS THE ZAZEN OF THE BUDDHAS
MY TEACHER YASUTANI ROSHI would say, when you do shikantaza you should have faith. This faith has a particular connotation. This faith is the sense that you can actually do shikantaza. When working on koans, have faith in the fact that you can take care of the koan. Have faith in the fact that your zazen is the zazen of the buddhas and ancestors. You don’t need to worry about anything. Just sit and appreciate that your zazen is buddha’s zazen. Which buddha? Shakyamuni Buddha is okay. The buddhas and ancestors are okay. In other words, it is not “you” that is sitting, but buddha.
In Soto Zen there is the expression honsho myoshu. Honsho means “intrinsic enlightenment,” and myoshu is “subtle practice.” We say that practice and enlightenment are one. How are this practice and your realization one thing? Your zazen is sitting Buddha, or Buddha’s zazen, which is realization itself. It is enlightenment itself. It becomes the unsurpassable wisdom (anuttara samyak sambodhi) itself. Have this kind of faith.
Our practice often becomes a cause of some kind of effect, like enlightenment. Doing zazen in order to create a certain effect or give rise to certain conditions is the wrong way to do zazen. There are many arguments in the history of Zen on this point. When we say that practice and enlightenment are one, we mean that practice is not a means through which we attain something. Rather, practice is itself a fulfillment of the originally enlightened life. What you are expecting or striving to attain is already here! From the very beginning, the Way is perfectly manifesting right here. Always here, as your life! Realization, or attaining enlightenment, is nothing but becoming aware of this fact.
This direct and clear tact of our life as the intrinsically enlightened life is difficult to see. How can you practice most effectively in order to realize this? It is not a matter of whether you should practice shikantaza or koans but rather how to practice effectively. When you work on koan, is there an awareness of “I am doing koan”? When you sit shikantaza, is there an awareness of “I am doing shikantaza”? If this is so, you need to take care of this. When you work on koan, be koan. When you sit shikantaza, be shikantaza. Let your practice of koan or shikantaza be the zazen of the Buddha. Simply don’t let yourself and Buddha be separate. Don’t separate yourself from koan or yourself from shikantaza. Don’t discriminate between yourself and Buddha, between your life and the intrinsically enlightened life. Sit in this way.
We use many different expressions to convey this. We say it’s Buddha or Buddha mind or emptiness or Buddha nature or the supreme Way. All are different expressions for this one life.
I like the koan in which a monk asked Master Gensha, “What is the Buddha mind?” Gensha answered, “All-beings mind.” The monk asks Further, “What is all-beings mind?” Gensha says, “Buddha mind.” We are like this monk, creating distinctions between this thing and that thing. Of course, discriminating is a very important function of the mind, but we need not create problems with it. When you sit, you often don’t know what to do with this discursive mind, which goes on and on and on, endlessly. How do you stop it? You can’t stop it! Stopping the mind is not the solution, either. So what do you do?
When you practice, keep in mind that practice and realization are one. Don’t make them separate. Allow your zazen to be the manifestation of that fact, and just sit. It’s okay if thoughts arise. Just let them go. Try it.
When you practice in this way, then sitting, standing, walking, lying down, all together become zazen. Then a very new vision of life will open up for you. Your zazen is the most precious dharma itself. Let us appreciate the subtle practice of intrinsic enlightenment. Or, let us appreciate the intrinsic realization in our subtle practice. Please do not chase after something else, but appreciate this very life—all the activities of life—as the manifestation of realization.
PRACTICE THE PARAMITAS
THE WEEK OF THE AUTUMN EQUINOX is prajna week in Japan. During this week we contemplate the practice of the six paramitas. These paramitas are dana, or giving; sila, or precepts; kshanti, or patience; virya, or effort; dhyana, or samadhi; and prajna, or wisdom. When we speak of the ten paramitas, we add upaya, or skillful means; pranidhana, or vows; bala, or power; and the last one, jnana, or the wisdom that transcends everything.
In practicing the paramitas, it does not matter whether you are a monk, priest, or layperson. We can equally practice the paramitas. Param means “the other shore” and ita means “to have reached,” so paramita means “to have reached the other shore,” or nirvana. In other words, the other shore is this shore. The division is eliminated. Wherever we stand, here becomes there, this becomes that. The enlightened life is right here in giving, in effort, and so forth. There is another interesting interpretation for paramita that means “the best, the very best,” the so-called unsurpassable. So the paramitas are the very best giving, the very best precepts, the very best or unsurpassable effort, the unsurpassable samadhi, the unsurpassable wisdom.
Dana, the first paramita, is the unsurpassable giving, the very best giving. What is unsurpassable giving? Quite often when we give something, we naturally expect some kind of return. We are not giving unconditionally. There are many aspects to consider regarding giving. On the one hand, we consider the three wheels of giving: the giver, the receiver, and that which is given. We ask how, when, and where giving can best occur. We can appreciate this endlessly, like space expanding in the ten directions. On the other hand, it could all be pinned down to a single point.
We have a saying, “The giver, the recipient, and the things given are none other than emptiness and tranquility.” This is the meaning of dana paramita. The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is no-self. Buddha is selfless—the giver is selfless, the recipient is selfless, and the things given are selfless. Regarding giving, Dogen Zenji said, “Only fools think that other people benefit at their expense. It is not so. Both benefit.” This is so because life is altogether as one. But we are so nearsighted that we see only a very small part of the one life. The more self-centered and selfish we are, the less we see.
There is a story of a young boy named Sessan, who was said to be a previous incarnation of Shakyamuni Buddha. Even as a young boy, Sessan was hungry for the truth of life, so he went to the mountains to find a teacher. One day while deep in the mountains, Sessan heard a voice saying, “Everything is impermanent. This is the dharma of being born and dying.” Hearing this, Sessan was deeply moved. “Where does this voice
come from?” he wondered. He looked around, but saw no one. Then he heard the voice again, “Everything is impermanent. This is the dharma of being born and dying.” Then Sessan saw a fierce-looking demon. But Sessan was so eager to learn the truth of life, he felt no fear. Approaching the demon, the young boy asked, “There must be another part to this poem. Please let me know the rest of it.”
The demon replied, “No, I can’t. I’m so hungry I can’t say another word.” Sessan pleaded, “Please! I ask this favor. What do you eat? I’ll get it for you.” The demon answered, “I eat fresh human flesh.” Sessan said, “If you teach me the rest of this poem, I’ll offer my body to you.” The demon recited the poem: “Realize the state of no-life, no-death, no-change. See the emptiness. Then you will be in nirvana, comfortable and peaceful.” Upon hearing this, Sessan cut his finger and, with his blood wrote the poem on the trees and rocks. Then he jumped into the demon’s mouth and, at that instant, the demon transformed into the god Indra.
This story brings out another interesting aspect of giving. Dana is not limited to giving something to someone. It’s giving yourself away! The Japanese word is kisha, “willing to abandon” or “cast away.” That’s giving.
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