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Greetings from Shohaku Okumura
Dear Friends,
The construction of the first of the three buildings planned for the Bloomington
practice center is almost complete with just a few more small jobs to do. Once the
parking lot is paved and the sidewalk is poured, probably in April, the first phase
of establishing the home of Sanshin Zen Community will be complete.
During the last community retreat in March, 2004, the participants painted doors,
assembled the book shelves for my office and installed them on the wall. Some people
worked outside, collecting the trash from the temple property. So many things were
done by so many practitioners.
I really appreciate Bob Meadows' extremely devoted, generous and continuous work
to build the home of Sanshin Zen Community. He has served as general contractor and
architect. I also would like to say, “Thank you,” to Michael Shoaf, Russ
Levitt and many other people from the Bloomington area and from out-of-town for their
work, help and support during construction.
I also would like to express my gratitude to the members of Sanshin Zen Community's
Board of Directors for their continuous support, particularly Zuiho Steve Fox. He
has been working as a treasurer and making arrangements with the bank and Bob Meadows
for construction to proceed. I also would like to express my gratitude to many of
my Dharma friends in Japan who made generous donations to the building funds, especially
Ryutaro Suzuki, who volunteered to pool donations to be sent to the U.S. Without
their friendship and generosity, the building could not be constructed.
Practice
Since last September, we have held five-day practice events, such as sesshin, modified
sesshin, genzo-e, or a community retreat each month in Bloomington. We have had
very nice gatherings. Two priests, Chiko-san and Zenshin-san, have moved to Bloomington
to share practice. We sit 6 mornings a week from Monday to Saturday. We have
several people who come to sit with us.
Chiko-san led a series of study groups on aging and making preparations for dying.
We celebrated Buddha's Nirvana Day on Feb. 15th and had about 20 participants. On
March 13th, we had a lecture on Okesa (Buddhist robe) for the people who are interested
in receiving the precepts and many others joined the group for my lecture. We will
have Buddha's Birthday in April, and Enlightenment Day celebration in December. We
will have a 3-month practice period from April to the end of the Precept retreat
in the beginning of July. During the practice period, we will have weekend practice
activities with early morning zazen, breakfast, cleaning, another period of zazen
at 9AM and a dharma talk at 10AM. We started a Dogen study group on Monday evening.
We will begin by studying Dogen Zenji's Chiji-shingi (Pure Standards for the Temple
Administrators). Thus, practice activities are happening and going well.
Continuous practice
I am extremely happy about these developments, both in construction of the practice
center and our practice. But we still have many things to consider and organize
and much work. We need volunteers to help us to build and develop a vital practice
community.
One thing we would like to organize is the transcribing work. Many people have been
working individually on transcriptions of my lectures. Each time a person expressed
their intention to transcribe my lectures, often after attending a retreat or sesshin,
I asked them to please do so. As a result, there is much transcribed material, but
it is not organized. Also, there are taped lectures available to be transcribed.
As a goal, we would like to create an archive of the tapes and transcriptions of
lectures. As the first step, we would like to create an inventory of the already
transcribed material. If you have taped lectures or transcriptions of my lectures
and you have the material with you, please let me know. If you are interested in
transcribing, please join a group of practitioners interested in this work.
I am interested in walking as a meditation. Last fall, I had a 3-day retreat at Sunnybank
Retreat Association in Hot Springs, NC. It was very nice. We had an orientation on
Friday evening, then walked on the Appalachian Trail for 8 hours on Saturday. I gave
a dharma talk on Sunday morning and we had a short walk after the talk. We had lunch
on the trail to conclude the retreat. Each morning, we sat 2 periods of zazen. We
enjoyed organic vegetarian meals prepared by the staff of the Sunnybank Inn. I named
this “Mountain and Waters Sutra” retreat. I will have another walking
retreat at Sunnybank Retreat Association on October 8 through 10 this year. If you
are interested in, please join me. I would like to develop this walking practice
in Bloomington, also.
Gassho,
Shohaku Okumura
Dharma Inquiry
Zazenshin: Acupuncture Needle of Zazen, Part 2
In the first installment of this lecture, Rev. Okumura explained that “zazen
is an acupuncture needle to heal the sickness caused by the three poisonous states
of mind. Because the sickness is very inveterate and obstinate, it is very difficult
to heal. Even though our practice of zazen, being based in Buddha's teaching, is
a treatment of this sickness, our zazen itself can be a poison and cause sickness.
Our way-seeking mind can be very deeply influenced by the three poisonous states
of mind. This is a strange contradiction, isn't it? In order to practice to be free
from the three poisonous states of mind, we need the three poisonous states of mind.
This is the most important koan for us: How can we continue to practice going through
this contradiction? How can we go through this contradiction and continue to practice?
How can we be free from this samsara within our Buddhist practice, within our zazen
practice? I think that this is the sickness Dogen Zenji discusses in Shobogenzo:
Zazenshin. How can we cure this sickness? This is the main point of Dogen's poem
Zazenshin.” In this installment of his commentary on Shobogenzo: Zazenshin,
Rev. Okumura speaks about his experience in relation to this teaching.
My experience
I first read a book written by my teacher Kosho Uchiyama Roshi when I was 17 years
old. Somehow I wanted to be his student. I knew nothing about Buddhism or Zen,
but somehow I wanted to live like him. I started to practice zazen when I was
19. Because I knew nothing about Buddhism, Zen or Dogen's teachings, I went to
Komazawa University to study Buddhism and Dogen. When I was 20, I sat my first
5-day sesshin at Antaiji, where Uchiyama Roshi lived. Eventually, when I was
22, I was ordained.
The sesshins at Antaiji were very unique. One period of zazen was 50 minutes. We
also had 10-minute kinhin. We woke up at 4:00 in the morning. We sat two periods
before breakfast, then we had breakfast and a short break afterwards. We then sat
5 periods in a row, from 7:00 a.m. until noon. We had lunch at noon and another short
break. We then sat five periods in a row from 1:00 to 6:00p.m. We had supper and
a short break, and then wesat again for two more periods from 7:00 to 9:00p.m. We
sat 14 periods a day. We had no services, no lectures, no work periods, nothing.
January in Kyoto is very cold. I was a 20 year-old university student at my very
first sesshin and I was cold and in pain. For the first few years, to sit in this
zazen posture was nothing other than to have pain. It was very painful. Not only
that, I was extremely sleepy. While I was in Tokyo going to school, I read books
until midnight or even early morning and often slept until almost noon. When I went
to Antaiji and experienced the sesshin schedule, I felt like I was suffering from
jet lag. Day and night became nearly opposite of what I had been used to in my daily
routine. It was cold in the zendo. It was painful to sit and I was very sleepy. It
was a rather discouraging experience for me.
When the sesshin was over, I thought it was the first and the last sesshin for me.
But after I returned to Tokyo, I felt like the sesshin and the temple were where
I was supposed to be — not in the cold zendo, but sitting on the cushion. I
didn't understand why I felt this way.
After that sesshin, even though I still didn't have much knowledge about Buddhism
or Zen, I felt that was the place I should return. After this experience, I felt
like I must have been in a dream since my birth until that point. During that sesshin,
even though it was not an easy practice, I felt like I woke up from my dream for
the first time. I didn't know why I felt this way. I didn't understand what the experience
was at the time, but somehow, this sitting practice became the most important thing
in my life. Since then, I have been practicing zazen for more than thirty years.
I was ordained by Uchiyama Roshi in 1970 when I was twenty-two years old. I was still
a university student. I wanted to quit school, but my teacher asked me to finish
school before starting to practice at Antaiji as a training monk. At Antaiji, we
had sesshin as I described above ten times a year. I practiced there until Uchiyama
Roshi retired in 1975. I was among three of his disciples that he sent to this country.
I lived in Massachusetts with two of my dharma brothers for five years and we practiced
as we did at Antaiji. We had a five-day sesshin every month there, twelve times a
year.
To have a five-day sesshin each month means that every three weeks I had a sesshin.
We sat from 4:00 in the morning until 9:00 in the evening every day for five days.
Eventually, I had to go back to Japan in 1981 because my body was half broken from
too much work clearing the land and digging a well. But I continued to practice in
this way until 1992 in Kyoto, Japan. I really did practice just sitting for more
than twenty years. I sat more than 200 sesshins. Zazen became the center of my life.
I lived within zazen or I lived between sesshins.
Zazen is, still now, the most important thing in my life. To understand what zazen
really is became the most important thing to me. Understanding zazen would mean understanding
what my life is. Since I was twenty years old, I have been studying Buddha's and
Dogen's teachings in order to study what I am doing. Honestly speaking, Dogen's teaching
is very difficult. Many of his writings didn't make sense at all to me for a long
time.
In 1993, I came to America again and I practiced and taught at Minnesota Zen Meditation
Center, which was established by Dainin Katagiri Roshi. I followed Katagiri Roshi's
style of practice instead of Uchiyama Roshi's style. That means I gave lectures during
sesshin. It was very difficult. Just sitting, in a sense, was much easier. Somehow “just
sitting” (shikantaza) and giving lectures are kind of contradictory. In order
to give a lecture, unfortunately, I had to think. Zazen should not be thinking. In
our zazen we have to let go of any kind of thinking, even thinking about dharma.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to prepare lectures before sesshin started. I had
to prepare the lecture during sesshin. To be a teacher in that kind of practice was
very difficult to me. Please have compassion for teachers.
Although this practice was really difficult for me, it was also very helpful for
me. I had to explain everything in English. During sesshin, because I didn't want
to think about something else, I decided to give lectures about Dogen's writings
on zazen. That way I could think about zazen. This is really thinking of not-thinking
and beyondthinking! Anyway, since 1993, for almost ten years, I have been practicing
in this way in this country. Giving lectures became part of my practice.
Though hard, preparing and giving lectures and practicing in this way was also very
helpful in coming to a clear understanding of the material. When I read Dogen in
Japanese and think about his teachings in Japanese, somehow I almost automatically
felt that I understood it. However, when I have to explain in English, I have to
really clearly understand what Dogen meant. Otherwise, I can not speak at all. Because
English is not my native language and I don't have a broad a vocabulary, I am often
forced to make black or white distinctions. When I speak in Japanese, I can make
any kind of gray zone. Even though I don't really understand, somehow I can say something.
But in English, I can not do such a thing. I have been trying to make my understanding
of the writings clear.
Also, my translation work requires me to be specific about the meaning in each word.
It is very difficult because Dogen and Zen writings, in general, use one word to
give more than one meaning at the same time within one sentence or within one writing.
Now, I think having to address this dilemma during my translation work is my karma.
I don't know if this is good karma or bad karma. But somehow I try to enjoy it and
I hope you enjoy this too.
About the text
In this writing, Shobogenzo Zazenshin, Dogen Zenji quoted and discussed three
koan stories. In the first part, Dogen Zenji discusses Yakusan's koan: “Think
of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Beyond thinking.” In the
second part, Dogen comments on Nangaku's story about polishing a tile. In the third
part, Dogen praises and comments on a poem written by Zen Master Wanshi Shogaku (Ch.
Hongzhi Zhengjue) entitled Zazenshin. This poem was the source of Dogen's
title for this part of Shobogenzo. Following these three main sections of
his writing, Dogen composes his own poem entitled Zazenshin.
The three parts of this text are very interesting and they are important to understanding
the nature of Dogen's zazen. In 1996, I spoke at length on the first part of this
text. During this sesshin I will focus on the second: Nagaku's story about polishing
a tile. As background, I will reiterate points about the first section concerning
Yakusan's dialog with his student.
Two types of sickness in zazen
In the beginning of this writing, Dogen quotes Yakusan's dialogue with his student.
The monk asked, “What is thinking in steadfast immobile sitting?” By
this, the monk means, “What is thinking in zazen?”
Yakusan said, “I think of not thinking.”
The monk asked again, “How do you think of not thinking?”
Yakusan said, “Beyond thinking.” (J. Hi-shiryo)
This koan is quoted in Fukanzazengi, too. Although this verse is also very
important to understanding Dogen's zazen, I will not take the time now to discuss
it. Instead, I will talk about a question Dogen posed following his commentary on
this koan. He asked, “What is the sickness of zazen?” The most important
point for us to understand from the first section of Zazenshin is the problem
Dogen raises: sickness in the practice of zazen. In a translation of Shobogenzo:
Zazenshin that I completed and Taitaku Pat Phelan edited, Dogen writes:
“Nevertheless, these days some careless stupid people say, [This is very Dogen. He's not a gentle
person.] “Practice zazen and do not be concerned with anything else in your mind. This is the tranquil
state of enlightenment.” This view is beneath even the views of Hinayana scholars. It is inferior
to the teachings of human and heavenly beings. Those who hold this view cannot be called the students
of the buddha dharma. In recent Great Song China, there are many practitioners like this. How sad that
the Way of the ancestors has fallen into ruin.”
“Practice zazen and do not be concerned with anything else in your mind. This is the tranquil state
of enlightenment.” In this passage, I think Dogen is referring to the mistaken idea that we don't
need to care about anything. Just sit in a quiet place and be peaceful. According to Dogen, that is not
zazen based on buddha dharma or Buddha's teaching. Our practice is not simply enjoying peacefulness or
quietness. Dogen is very strongly against this kind of attitude toward zazen. According to Dogen, this
is one sickness. It sounds like “just sitting,” but according to Dogen, this is not “just
sitting.” He said this is a sickness. This is point number one.
The second sickness is expressed in the following passage:
“Others insist that the practice of zazen is important for beginners, but is not necessarily the
practice for buddhas and ancestors. Walking is Zen; sitting is Zen. Therefore, whether speaking or being
silent, whether acting, standing still, the body of the self is always at ease. Do not be concerned with
the present practice of zazen. Many of the descendants of Rinzai hold this sort of view. They say so
because they have not correctly received the true life of buddha dharma. What is beginner's mind? What
is not beginner's mind? What do you mean when you say 'beginners?'”
Dogen here is pointing to the second kind of sickness or mistaken view: In order
to attain a certain kind of enlightenment or enlightened experience, we need the
practice of zazen, but once we attain so-called enlightenment, then zazen is not
important anymore. Dogen said that many Rinzai practitioners during his time used
zazen as a method or means or step or ladder. Believing that having once attained
this enlightenment or some particularly deep experience, you wouldn't need to practice
zazen anymore. Dogen addressed the same attitude in question #7 of Bendowa.
This is the second kind of sickness according to Dogen.
I think these two mistaken attitudes towards zazen were what Dogen found in the process
of his searching the Way. When he practiced and studied at a Tendai monastery on
Mt. Hiei as a teenager, he had a question about one of Mahayana Buddhism's teachings.
In this Buddhist teaching it is said all beings or all people have so-called dharma
nature or buddha nature. Everything is perfectly enlightened as it is. If this was
so, he wondered, then why did buddhas and ancestors have to practice?
That was Dogen's original question. If having buddha nature intrinsically means everything
is OK as it is, then why do we have to go through such a difficult, painful, cold,
sleepy, and boring practice? I think this question is very much ours, too. This practice
of ours is not about a belief that “everything is ok as it is.” If that
were so, then Buddha didn't need to leave his father's palace and become a beggar.
After Dogen left Mt. Hiei, he started to practice Rinzai Zen at Kenninji in Kyoto
with Myozen. Kenninji was the first Zen monastery in Japan founded by Eisai, the
first Japanese priest who went to China and transmitted Zen to Japan. Myozen was
one of Eisai's disciples. I think Dogen found some Rinzai practitioners who insisted
that practicing zazen was necessary only until someone attained an enlightenment
experience; and that after such an achievement, zazen was not needed anymore. In
other words, this viewpoint held that in order to reach the other shore, we need
a raft, but after reaching it the raft should be abandoned. I think this thinking
or belief is what Dogen refers to here as the second sort of sickness. This attitude
is not authentic even in Rinzai Zen. A common mistaken understanding within Rinzai
Zen is that to have a certain deep experience, a so-called kensho, is a goal of practice.
However, in true Rinzai Zen, the experience of kensho is merely a starting point
of practice. According to Dogen, many Rinzai practitioners during his time practiced
in a mistaken way.
The first kind of sickness is sometimes called buji Zen. Buji means “nothing
matters;” an “everything-is-OK” kind of Zen. The second sickness
is the belief or attitude that we need to practice in order to attain enlightenment
as some kind of fancy experience, after which everything becomes OK — that
we have no problems at all after such an enlightened experience. This is the belief
that, at a point, we become so-called enlightened persons.
These are two basic sicknesses in Zen practice, according to Dogen.
Dogen tried to offer an acupuncture needle as a treatment to heal such mistaken attitudes
by writing this chapter of the Shobogenzo. Misled, our motivation or aspiration
or way-seeking mind can be influenced by either “everything is ok, nothing
matters” or “I need to practice in order to attain something.” These
are two symptoms of the three poisonous states of mind in Zen practice.
In the next installment, Shohaku Okumura will talk on the second section of Shobogenzo:
Zazenshin, Nangaku's story of polishing the tile.
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