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Truth is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we do not deceive ourselves. 眞是法明門、不誑自身故. Last week we investigated telling the truth and not deceiving gods. This week we investigate what truth is and not deceiving ourselves. We aspire to tell the truth, but we have to know what that is. In a way, we have to be clear ourselves about reality before we can represent that to others, although, as we saw last week, in another way whatever we’re doing expresses the truth of this moment, even if we’re deluded and telling lies. In his text called Comments on teaching and conferring the precepts (Kyojukaimon), Dogen says, “When a drop of sweet dew moistens things, Reality and Truth become revealed.” This “drop of sweet dew” is Buddha’s teaching. In other words, when we see with the eyes of Buddha, or when we see things through the lens of Buddha’s teaching, we see truth. That truth is the three marks of existence: 1) Everything is part of the network of interdependent origination, and nothing arises on its own but because of causes and conditions. 2) Everything is impermanent because those causes and conditions are constantly changing, so what arises from them has to be changing too. 3) There is no fixed self-nature because we’re subject to the same interdependence and impermanence as everything else. These three things are true no matter what we think about them and no matter what we want to be true. We’d like to talk ourselves into believing that the things we like will never go away or that there is something called “me” that is separate from everything else. If we do that, we’re setting ourselves up for suffering because these things aren’t true or sustainable. We’re going to keep tripping and stumbling and stubbing our toes because we’re not seeing the whole picture, and we can’t escape these three marks of existence. If we really see truth, we can’t deceive ourselves in this way. One of the most important teachings in our dharma family is “zazen is good for nothing.” It comes from Kodo Sawaki, my dharma great grandfather. The reason we do dharma study in this family is to deeply understand this point. It’s the center of everything. When a drop of sweet dew moistens things, when we study what Buddha and our ancestors taught, we see the truth of the three marks of existence and we understand that zazen is good for nothing. Kodo Sawaki had lot to say about how we deceive ourselves, particularly how we deceive ourselves about zazen. In our modern times, we see mindfulness and zazen being used for various personal outcomes: stress management, productivity, better relationships, improved daily functioning. Sawaki Roshi saw this happening too—people trying to use zazen to cultivate various personal qualities—and said that if you think that’s going to work, you’re fooling yourself, because you won’t get any results from zazen. Why? Because zazen is not about you. As soon as you inject your own stuff into it, it misses the mark. Sawaki Roshi says: If it’s even the slightest bit personalized, it isn’t pure, unadulterated zazen. We’ve got to practice genuine, pure zazen, without mixing it with gymnastics or satori or anything. When we bring in our personal ideas – even only a little bit – it’s no longer the buddha-dharma. Shikantaza is about nothing extra, and piling your own expectations and attachments on top of the three marks is something extra. We deceive ourselves and lose sight of the truth in our shikantaza. Instead, we just take the posture, keep the eyes open, breathe deeply and let go of thought. Anything else is extra. We can spend a lot of time on the cushion, but unless we’re doing only these four things and nothing else, we’re not really doing shikantaza, though we can deceive ourselves that we are. If we’re thinking, we’re not doing shikantaza. If we’re sleeping, we’re not doing shikantaza. This is why there’s no way to measure our shikantaza and decide whether we’re getting better at it. Either we’re doing true shikantaza, or we’re not. As soon as there’s anything extra, we’ve stopped doing it. As Dogen says in the Fukanzazengi, “As soon as the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion.” Sawaki Roshi goes on: If we don’t watch out, we’ll start believing that the buddha-dharma is like climbing up a staircase. But it isn’t like this at all. This very step right now is the one practice which includes all practices, and it is all practices, contained in this one practice. There’s nowhere to get to with zazen; we don’t get better at it. Either we enter into that same space with everyone else, or we don’t. “Zazen is good for nothing” is a simple phrase, but in order to understand it, we have to understand the reality of how the universe works. That’s why we do dharma study in this family. Sanshin’s main practice is to do a lot of zazen, by sitting sesshin as well as every weekday morning plus a couple of evenings and Sundays. Doing that much zazen can lead to trouble if we don’t put equal emphasis on understanding that there’s no personal gain from it. If we don’t understand reality, we don’t understand “zazen is good for nothing,” and then we fall prey to the “Zen sickness” that Dogen describes in Shobogenzo Zazenshin. Okumura Roshi says: Even though our practice of zazen based on Buddha’s teachings is a treatment of this sickness, zazen itself can be a poison and cause sickness. If our motivation to practice is influenced by the three poisons, that is, if we practice for the sake of making this person more important, more powerful, more enlightened or for anything else, then it is motivated by greed, ‘I want to get this or that.’ It may not be for wealth or power that we practice, but for something spiritual. If we practice in order to get something desirable, however, our zazen is generated by greed. When we practice for certain lengths of time we find that our motivation itself is influenced by poison. Then we often have doubts about our practice and whether or not it works to lessen the suffering caused by the three poisons. Sometimes we might even quit because we feel it doesn’t work. Dharma study keeps our shikantaza from becoming a poison and keeps us from deceiving ourselves about what we’re doing. For Uchiyama Roshi, this question about what truth is was a real driving force in his life. He tried studying Western philosophy, but it felt abstract and disconnected from his actual life. In Buddhism he found the teaching that we’re living both an individual life and a universal life. It’s true that we have individual bodies and minds and we’re not interchangeable. We have agency and take our own actions and make decisions. It’s also true that because of the three marks of existence, we’re not separate from our lives. As Uchiyama Roshi said, Everything I encounter is my life. For him, truth was completely living out both individual and universal self. Living one or the other is not complete truth. This teaching goes back to Nagarjuna’s two truths: relative and absolute. Chinese Tiantai said there was a third truth in which we see everything from both sides at the same time. In the Genjokoan, Dogen describes the moon and the whole sky being reflected in a single drop of dew on a blade of grass. The moon is emptiness, the drop of dew is form, and these two are interpenetrated and arise together. Thus there is the truth of the individual, the truth of the universal, and the truth that goes beyond individual and universal. One of the most important aspects of this teaching is its relation to the self. To understand truth and not deceive ourselves, we need to understand the nature of self. Sawaki Roshi had a lot of interesting images for this.
Shikantaza is where we get to really experiences the truth of no-self. Sawaki Roshi says: Non-self means that “I” am not a separate subject. When “I” am not a separate subject, then I fill the entire universe. That I fill the entire universe is what’s meant by “all things manifest the truth.” When I don’t make a distinction between myself and the rest of reality, then there’s no part of reality that isn’t me. All things are manifesting the reality of nonseparation without the covering of my thoughts about what they are, whether I like them or not, and whether they’re useful to me. Usually, we think our thoughts are the truth. I like this thing, therefore it’s good and has value. I agree with this person, and therefore he’s right. I want things to be like this, and therefore that’s the way things should be. Uchiyama Roshi says: Once we think of something we want or like, we assume that the simple fact of thinking we want it or like it is the truth. Then, since we think this idea is the truth and is worth seeking, we proceed to chase after it everywhere and our whole world becomes a world of greed. On the other hand, once we think of something we hate or dislike, we assume again that the simple fact of thinking we hate it is the truth. Thinking that this idea is the truth so we ought to follow it, we chase after it until our whole world turns into anger. Sometimes we just lose touch with the truth. Then we have ignorance, one of the three poisons (greed, anger, ignorance). Staying in touch with truth is wisdom, seeing through Buddha’s eyes and seeing the reality of our lives. We might not like the truth we see. We have to watch what’s happening when those preferences come up and start coloring what we’re seeing. We can’t take skillful action unless we have a clear picture of what’s going on and we don’t look away. Last week’s gate was about deceiving others, and this week it’s about deceiving ourselves. Setting aside any actual intention to fool other people or ourselves, sometimes we just get caught up in what Sawaki Roshi called group stupidity. We live in group stupidity and confuse this insanity with true experience. It is essential that you become transparent to yourself and wake up from this madness. Zazen means taking leave of the group and walking on your own two feet. There are a lot of things we assume are true and never question. We may never question the values we inherit from our culture or family, even though they cause us suffering. We may never question things that are common knowledge or shared beliefs. Nobody means to fool anybody with this stuff, but sometimes it turns out not to be true, even though everyone accepts it as truth. Time was when everyone accepted that the earth was flat, or that the sun revolved around the earth. That’s what it looked like, and common sense said it was so. At one time, everyone accepted that certain kinds of people should be marginalized in society. In Uchiyama Roshi’s time, he saw a lot of people who valued wealth and luxury over everything else and seemed to believe that development and progress were always good. Our psychological makeup says there is a self that is born with us and dies with us and remains constant in some way. You can come up with other examples yourself. Sometimes our framework comes from culture and society, and sometimes from just doing what humans do. We come in contact with something, we decide immediately whether we like it or not, and that’s the basis of a whole complicated story. We feel like we have a consistent existence over time. We do what’s being done and adopt the beliefs of society or the habits of humans until something happens that causes a major shift in our thinking. Wait—I did what society or my values told me to do, but this bad thing happened! I did everything I could to get ahead at the office and my health failed. I met someone from a cultural group I was uncomfortable with and it turned out that we got along well. I took for granted that this or that would always be part of my life and it went away and now I’m suffering. Now we’re asking ourselves: What is true, really? Who am I? How can I know? Awakening from self-deception can be disorienting. Somehow, the self is deceiving and being deceived at the same time. How can that be? There are things about ourselves and our lives that we don’t want to acknowledge. We can decide that our fantasy is easier to live with. It’s easier to go along with the crowd than to be considered different or challenge the norm. The reality is that our self-deception happens all the time. We deny that we and our loved ones are going to die. We don’t like to think or talk about death, yet we know it will happen. We don’t like to think that buying the things we want won’t bring us lasting happiness. We’d rather assume that our worldview is true. We don’t even want to acknowledge our suffering. Maybe you’ve told someone about your practice and the Four Noble Truths, and that person’s immediate response was, Well I’m not suffering! Shikantaza is checking all our assumptions at the door, sitting down, only doing the four things, and seeing what happens. Now we’re walking on our own two feet in zazen rather than relying on opinions and suppositions. We might find that some of our conclusions about ourselves and our lives are dead on, but some might not be, and those might be deeply held beliefs. That’s hard, and practice takes courage. The search for truth in this practice means accepting both individual and universal truth and everything they contain. We can only describe universal truth in terms of individual truth. We can’t read a book and memorize it and say, There--now I know what truth is about and it’s an abstract thing out there. Truth is in unfolding of our own lives moment by moment. Truth contains our delusions, mistakes, and limitations. The truth is that we don’t see completely or clearly. We get caught up in our stuff and in the imitations of language. The truth is that we deceive ourselves every day in our practice and in our daily lives outside of the zendo. And even so: truth is right here. It’s not an abstract something “out there” that requires mental gymnastics. We can’t help but express truth completely in every moment. Our practice of vow and repentance is a practice of understanding that we are limited and also truth is right here. If we didn’t believe that truth was right here, it would be difficult to keep making the vow and keep practicing. Our practice is to continually aim for truth so that we don’t deceive ourselves and therefore don’t deceive others. Questions for reflection and discussion:
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About the text The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko has been talking about the gates one by one since 2016. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
October 2024
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