We can say that shikantaza is doing zazen as the manifestation of your life as the Buddha Way, as the Buddha dharma itself. When you truly do zazen in this way, your life functions as the triple gem—as the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—as the unity of these Three Treasures. You do not look for anything else because everything is here with you. Who is you? It is not what you think you are, but you as the Three Treasures. How you do shikantaza is very important. If you do not sit as the Buddha Way, you are not doing shikantaza.
What is koan practice? Koan practice is to embody this life as the koan. What is koan? Ko means “public,” such as a governmental or authoritative position. One definition of ko is a document issued by the government that has authoritative value. The Chinese character ko has two parts. The top part, which looks like the figure 8 in two strokes with space in between, has the implication of being separate, or apart from the other. The bottom part means I, myself. In other words, when there is separation, the I is there.
Ko is a universal, or absolute, position as opposed to shi or shian, which is the position based on our own ideas. Shi means “I, me, my ideas, my understanding.” Shian is something private, personal. The more we base our life on shian, the more problems we have. If we base our life on ko, then we are just as we are, without our personal thoughts. Isn’t it interesting? When we really come to the point, a koan is very ordinary. Just as we are is the koan, it cannot be shian, based on our personal ideas. How can we ourselves be as koan?
In the Soto tradition, another definition of ko is “equal and unequal existing together.” It is not that some things are right and other things are wrong, but rather that evenness and unevenness, equal and not equal, are all together ko. Even regarding ourselves—male and female, young and old, tall and short, heavy and light, having a beard and not having a beard, having hair and not having hair—we are different and yet one, the same. This is also ko.
According to Senne, who studied with Dogen Zenji, an means “to maintain one’s own intrinsic position.” Each of us as we are, as male or female, tall or short, however we are, has our own relative position. That relative position and its intrinsic nature are not separate. In other words, regardless of the differences in appearance or conditioning, we are in a way the same. This is true not only for human beings, but literally for anything, everything.
We are all of equal intrinsic value. This is the value of no-value, in the sense of emptiness. We are conditioned as male or female, tall or short, or however we are. That is called the Dharma Treasure. Yet we are also the Buddha Treasure, which is not at all conditioned. The unity of the Dharma Treasure and the Buddha Treasure is the Sangha Treasure, and that is true for each of us. That means that each of us, as different as we are, as conditioned as we are, is the Buddha Treasure. We are the Buddha Treasure! As we are, we are the Dharma Treasure! We have our intrinsic nature and our relative position. That is the koan. Dogen Zenji talks about this manifestation as the genjo koan, the embodiment of koan as your life. How do you appreciate this manifestation of koan as your life?
The Record of the Transmission of the Lamp numbers seventeen hundred Zen masters, each with his own koans. So koans are literally numberless. Anything could be a koan. How to really appreciate it? We can look at koan practice as a kind of scheme or expediency, where we expect a result. But the point is not the number of koans you solve or practicing koans as something apart from yourself. If you are not realizing your life as the manifestation of koan, then you are reinforcing another kind of ego, which is not good. The important point is how do you realize the absolute and the relative in your life?
The same can be said of shikantaza. I know there are people who believe that shikantaza is superior to koan practice. They even speak badly about the practice of koan Zen. The point is how are we practicing shikantaza? How much are we manifesting or realizing the real value, the richness and boundless merit contained in the practice of shikantaza? Dogen Zenji calls this self-fulfilled samadhi. Self-fulfilled samadhi literally contains everything, not restricted to my way or our way of practice, not better than something or someone else. It is not something that human beings create, rather it is the subtle dharma that is handed down without discrepancy from ancestor to ancestor to now.
This self-fulfilled samadhi is the key to checking whether your practice is right zazen, whether you appreciate yourself as the treasure transmitted from buddha to buddha, from ancestor to ancestor. Self-fulfilled samadhi is all-inclusiveness. Each of us is equally living this all-inclusive life. And when you really do zazen in this way, it naturally becomes shikantaza. When you work on koan, the koan naturally becomes your life. Furthermore, your life all together becomes nothing but the genjo koan, the manifestation of that.
Please do not forget that your life itself is the practice. Practice is no other than your life. Live each moment as the manifestation of koan regardless of how it goes one moment after another, not judging according to your ideas. In the very beginning of the Genjo Koan, Dogen Zenji says, “All dharmas are Buddha dharma.” Everything exists. And “All dharmas are without self.” Nothing exists. Dogen Zenji continues, “Buddha dharma goes beyond, with, and without self.” Once again, everything exists.
What does “without self” mean? This is very important. “Without self” is expounded in the Heart Sutra as emptiness. What is emptiness? This body and mind. This body and mind is empty. If you do not see this emptiness, you are seeing something else. In another part of the Genjo Koan, Dogen Zenji says, “To study the Buddha Way is to study oneself. To study oneself is to forget the self.” Be without self. What happens when you are without self? Dogen Zenji says, “To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas.” When you are without self, you are enlightened, confirmed by literally anything, everything.
Dogen Zenji continues, “To be confirmed by ten thousand dharmas is to free one’s own body and mind as well as that of others.” In this passage we also realize Shakyamuni Buddha’s remarks upon his enlightenment. Upon seeing the morning star, Shakyamuni said, “I and the great earth, all beings, simultaneously attain the Way.” In other words, the liberation is not just of oneself, but of anything, everything, everybody. All are liberated. And Dogen Zenji concludes that paragraph, “That traceless enlightenment continues forever.” Allow that traceless enlightenment to manifest as is. This is your life at this very moment, now.
When I was studying with Yasutani Roshi, he emphasized over and over the importance of checking our practice from the intrinsic and the experiential perspectives. The principles that Dogen Zenji talks about are the intrinsic perspective: what is the Buddha dharma? The experiential side is you. You must experience the Buddha dharma by yourself. Otherwise, you cannot appreciate it as the treasure. Of course, regardless of whether you experientially appreciate the dharma or not, it is what it is. That is the intrinsic side of it. Regardless of what you think, even your crazy thinking itself is nothing but that, do you see? It is no other than the dharma. The dharma manifests as your crazy thinking; it manifests in every way under every circumstance. But in order to truly appreciate it, we must experience it. Dogen Zenji says that traceless realization is already manifesting as your life in each moment. Let it be so.
This practice is truly wonderful. Our Buddha ancestors have shown us how to appreciate our life in this way. We should be most grateful for their benevolences. However much we do will never be too much. The best way to repay our debt to our buddha ancestors is to do true shikantaza and manifest our life as the realization of koan, or manifest koan as the realization of our life. Whatever your practice, the important point is this life that you are living and how to take care of it. Under certain conditions and involvements, a good thing is good, a poor thing is poor, an inadequate thing is inadequate. When you truly appreciate that all the dharmas are Buddha dharma and all dharmas are without self, your life will unfold naturally and you will know what to do.
1. An intensive Zen retreat—Eds.
2
. The “six worlds” refer to the six realms of existence: hell, hungry ghost, animal, human, titan, and god.—Eds.
RAISE THE BODHI MIND
IN HIS PRECAUTIONS ON PRACTICING THE WAY (Gakudo Yojin-shu), Dogen Zenji emphasizes the importance of raising the bodhi mind. Dogen Zenji expresses it beautifully: We raise the bodhi mind not just one time but a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times. Raise that bodhi mind!
All of you are raising the bodhi mind. What is bodhi mind? It literally means enlightened mind, awakened mind. The very first time that you decide to seek the very best way to live is beginner’s mind, very fresh, first mind. Brand-new mind! And each time that you seek the very best way to live, you raise the bodhi mind. When you raise the bodhi mind, at that time you are awakening yourself. When you raise that mind the first time, at that very moment the Way is perceived. The mind with which you seek enlightenment is also the bodhi mind, the mind of enlightenment.
Seeing the impermanence of life is also raising the bodhi mind. What is this impermanence? Everything is constantly changing. If we say that anything is permanent, it is not quite right. But is this true? I believe in something that is permanent. I truly believe that the life of this it—this Buddha nature—is permanent in the sense that it is always here with me, as my life!
Shakyamuni Buddha expounds this in the Lotus Sutra:
Even though as an expediency I enter into nirvana, my life is not going to be extinguished. Constantly, I am residing here [at Mount Gridhrakuta]1 and unceasingly expound the dharma.
What is constantly residing here? What is the life of coming and going and yet never leaving? How is Mount Gridhrakuta realized in your life right now? Wherever you are is the place where Buddha expounds the dharma. So raise the bodhi mind, that mind of the enlightened heart, and see this impermanence of life that is constantly residing here!
In his Precautions on Practicing the Way, Dogen Zenji emphasizes the importance of faith. He says that when you practice the Buddha Way, you must have faith in the fact that you are already in the midst of the Way! There is no confusion, no wavering; it is very straightforward. Keep away from all upside-down views. In our life and the life of the buddhas and ancestors, is there any part that must be increased or decreased, added or subtracted? No such change is necessary. There is no mistake or error. Your life in the midst of the Way means that your life is the Way itself! Have faith in this! This life is the life of all the buddhas and ancestors. They have all experienced their lives in this way.
Dogen Zenji is so kind. He does not tell us just to blindly believe in the Buddha Way. First, he says, raise strong faith in the fact that your life is one with the Buddha Way. Then, clarify this! Experience the Way as your life and experience your life as the Way. Transmute that faith into wisdom and according to that wisdom, practice! You do not need to worry about when you are going to be enlightened as the result of your practice. Trust yourself! You are no other than the Buddha Way itself to begin with!
In Zen practice we speak of three prerequisites for practice: great faith, great doubt, and great determination. In a way, these are contradictory. If you have great faith, where does great doubt come from? When you really have great faith, that is enough. But a person who has such great faith is hard to find, for it must be faith that you and the Buddha Way are one, not faith in something that comes out of your own thoughts. This is an important distinction, do you see?
Great questioning, or great doubt, is to investigate this very point. You say, “The Buddha says such and such; Dogen Zenji says such and such; I believe in such and such. And yet, somehow I can’t really accept how my life is. Where do I get stuck? Why can’t I have such majestic faith that takes care of everything?” The more you seriously penetrate into faith, such questions will simultaneously occur.
So you question, what is this? What is great faith? What is the Buddha Way? What is the dharma? Who am I? What is it? The more serious faith you have, the more serious the questioning that may or may not arise. If this questioning does arise, it is ideal to focus on. Then the third prerequisite, great determination, naturally follows. The more serious you are in resolving this matter, the more desperate you feel, the stronger your determination becomes, and a clearer, quicker answer is realized. What is that answer? The answer is already there as your life. Your life is no other than that!
By such an awakening, you assure yourself that this life has always been the Way. The awakening experience is important, but relatively speaking, it is rather minor. What is more important? This life that we are constantly living minute after minute is most important. Our practice is here! Now! How to do it? In fact, you are doing it. Please, I do not know how to say it: focus or unfocus. Focus in the sense that this life is the life of the buddhas! Live it and clarify it! On the other hand, if we are trying to figure out what to do with our so-called limited or confined conscious mind, then unfocus. Let go of that. Forget about it!
Have good trust in yourself. Have good faith in your practice. Sit well and unconditionally open yourself up. Experience your zazen as the zazen of the buddhas and the awakened ones. This is the most effective, most appropriate life to share together.
1. The location where the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra (referred to earlier as Vulture Peak)—Eds.
REALIZE YOUR LIFE AS KOAN
WE HAVE A COMMON SAYING in the monastery that in order to understand the master’s talks on koans, we must spend three years practicing. In other words, it is not so easy to understand what the master is presenting. How much you appreciate the ancient cases is up to you. The Blue Cliff Record, one of the major Zen koan collections, contains many different prefaces, appreciatory verses, commentaries, and short critical remarks called capping phrases by different masters. Each of these comments is a gem. Those who appreciate it, appreciate it almost endlessly, just one comment, just one case. But koans are not limited to these ancient cases. You can create koans, too. I want to share with you what koans are as the realization of your life.
As I mentioned before, ko in koan is often understood as a government document that has certain authoritative value. But another definition of ko is to “make unevenness even.” This is a very interesting definition. And an means “let it be,” whatever it is. Could be you, could be me, could be anything. Let a person be as he or she is. In other words, just let it be as is.
How can we make the unevenness even? In our life, everything is unique in that no two things are exactly the same. Everything is different, or uneven—amazingly so. For each of us, our gender is different, our length of life is different, the way we study is different, our jobs are different. Even how much we eat is different. What docs it mean to make this unevenness, all these differences, even? How is it possible?
It is possible. Being different, each is totally absolute! Each difference is totally complete in itself. And being absolute and complete, it is equal to other differences that are absolute and complete. So ko means being different and yet equal. We can say that the absolute makes the unevenness even. We can call it emptiness, or we can call it true self, our original face, Mu. Whatever name we use, it is the unshakeable aspect. So regardless of how much you complain about the unevenness of your life, there is an unshakable aspect to it!
To really see this absolute aspect is the major point of koan. When you truly see it, you see the relative side without much problem. Everybody, everything, is just as is in a particular position. Having a certain status, a certain form, one manifests as that absolute aspect. That is nothing but realization itself, isn’t it? We talk as though Ultimate Reality and ordinary reality are two different things. No! Form is emptiness. This body, legs, and hands are empty. All our mental functions such as feelings, sensations, thoughts, are also empty, and therefore, identical.
The absolute values of your life and of everything else are identical. When you truly see this very important point, right there the koan is solved. So without practicing any ancient koans, you can be enlightened an
d live your life in perfect realization. This is the kind of koan practice I want to share with you. How can we work with this effectively in our practice?
There are many traps relating to our practice. One very tricky trap is this idea of emptiness, of your true self. For instance, Dogen Zenji talks about different kinds of diligent effort. One effort is to do good. But what is meant by that? How do you define it? Dogen Zenji defines doing good as to realize your true self. What is that true self? Where is it? We think that there is something that is called true self that exists beyond good or bad, right or wrong, this or that. That is a big trap. Are you looking for something that exists somewhere else, not in your life as is? That is the biggest trap.
In fact, we are already caught in the trap. Why? Because we are human. That means we are conditioned. So be aware that you are already trapped. At the same time, there really is no trap. Why? Because our conditioned self is our true self. Our life as it is is in perfect realization. This is a very sneaky aspect. We think something like a trap exists, waiting for us to fall in. But remarkably, there is no such trap to begin with. To think that there is a trap is itself the worst trap, for what trap can there be when our life as it is, with all its aspects, including so-called pitfalls and traps, is the enlightened Way? This is what is meant by making the unevenness even. If we can see this in a direct way, then we are realizing our life as koan.
Koans are also symbolic of our life. Take the koan of Master Isan’s Buffalo. Master Isan told a monk, “A hundred years later, I’ll be born in front of the temple as a buffalo. Beside the buffalo, the name Monk Isan is written. If you call it a buffalo, it’s Monk Isan. And if you call it Monk Isan, it’s a buffalo. How do you call it?”
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