Right Attitude
Single-Minded Way
To cook, or to fix some food is not preparation, according to Dogen
it is to express your sincerity
it is practice
We should appreciate what we are doing
There is no preparation for something else
The Bodhisatta's way is called the "single-minded" way
or "one railway track thousands of miles long"
Wherever you go the railway track is always the same
That is the Bodhisattva's way
So even if the sun were to rise from the west
Their way is in each moment to express their nature and their sincerity
It is impossible to give a verbal interpretation of our way
When my talk is over your listening is over
there is no need to remember what I say
There is no need to understand what I say
You have full understanding within yourself
There is no problem
Repetition
If you loose the spirit of repetition your practice will become quite difficult
The practice Buddha found in India emphasized asceticism
This kind of war with your body can only end when we die
It is in competition with your everyday life
How flour becomes bread when put in the oven
was for Buddha the most important thing
In order to find out how dough became perfect bread
he made it over and over again until he became quite successful
That was his practice
So if you do something
you should be very observant and careful and alert
How this physical body becomes a sage is our main interest
Our spiritual way is not so idealistic
Actual practice is repeating over and over again
until you find out how to become bread
Zen and Excitement
Zen is not some kind of excitement
but concentration on our usual everyday routine
If we become completely involved in our busy life we will be lost
If your mind is calm and constant
you can keep yourself away from the noisy world
even though you are in the midst of it
While it may seem as if I am speaking about gradual attainment
In fact, this is the sudden way
because when your practice is calm and ordinary
everyday life is enlightenment
Right Effort
We say, "To hear the sound of one hand clapping"
Usually the sound of clapping is made with 2 hands
and we think that clapping with one hand makes no sense at all
Before you make it there is the sound
Because there is sound you can make it and you can hear it
But if sound did not already exist
before you clapped you could not make the sound
One hand is sound
Even though you do not know it, there is sound
Sound is everywhere
If you just practice it there is sound
Do not try to listen to it
If you do not listen to it
the sound is all over
We are always here
You think before you were born you were not here
But how is it possible for you to appear in this world
when there is no you?
Because you are already here you can appear in the world
We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world
The world is its own magic
If we are looking at something
it can vanish from our sight
but if we do not try to see it
that something cannot vanish
If no one is watching
how is it possible for anything to disappear?
If someone is watching you
you can escape from them
but if no one is watching
you cannot escape from yourself
No Trace
When you do something you should burn yourself completely
like a good bonfire
leaving no trace of yourself
In order not to leave any traces when you do something
you should do it with your whole body and mind
you should be concentrated on what you do
The truth is always near at hand
within your reach
God Giving
Just not to attach to anything is to give
Moment after moment we are creating something
and this is the joy of our life
But this "I" which is creating and always giving out
it is not the small "I"
it is the "Big I"
Mistakes in Practice
When you are tired of sitting
or when you are disgusted with your practice
you should recognize this as a warning signal
You should be grateful that you have a sign or warning signal
to show you the weak point in your practice
At that time, forgetting all about your mistake, and renewing your way
you can resume your original practice
In Hinayana Buddhism, practice is classified in four ways
The best way is just to do it without having any joy in it
not even spiritual joy
The next highest stage is to have just physical joy in your practice
In the second stage we you have both mental and physical joy or good feeling
The first stage is when you have no thinking and no curiosity in your practice
The cause of conflict is some fixed idea or one-sided idea
Limiting your Activity
"A clay Buddha cannot cross water
a bronze Buddha cannot get through a furnace
a wooden Buddha cannot get through fire"
If your practice is directed toward some particular object
it will not always work
When you bow you should just bow
when you sit you should just sit
when you eat you should just eat
This is ishigyo-zammai, or "one-act samadhi"
Our practice has nothing to do with some particular religious belief
Our practice is for everyone
Study Yourself
The purpose of studying Buddhism is to study ourselves
Strictly speaking, there is no need to teach the student
because the student themself is Buddha even though
they may not be aware of it
To Polish a Tile
Whatever you do, that is zazen
When you become you, Zen becomes Zen
When you are you, you see things as they are
and you become one with your surroundings
A frog also sits like us, but he has no idea of Zazen
Watch him
If something annoys him he will make a face
If something comes along to eat he will snap it up and eat
and he eats sitting
Actually that is our zazen -- not any special thing
Nanganku picked up a tile and started to polish it
Baso, his disciple asked,
"What are you doing?"
"I want to make this tile into a jewel," Nangenku said
"How is it possible to make a tile into a jewel?" Baso asked
"How is it possible to become a Buddha by practicing zazen?" Nanganku replied
Constancy
People who know the state of emptiness
will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy
"Cultivate your own spirit"
Do not go seeking for something outside of yourself
If you are ready to accept things as they are
you will receive them as old friends
even though you appreciate them with new feeling
Communication
When we say something our subjective intention or situation is always involved
There is no perfect word
some distortion is always present in a statement
To understand reality as a direct experience
is the true reason we practice Zazen
and the reason we study Buddhism
In a strict sense it is not possible to speak about reality
Nevertheless if you are a Zen student
you have to understand it directly through your master's words
True communication depends on our being straightforward with one another
The best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything
Then you will have the full meaning of Zen
Negative and Positive
Big mind is something to express
not something to figure out
Big mind is something you have
not something to seek for
The more you understand our thinking
the more you find it difficult to talk about it
The best way is to practice without saying anything
We have Hinayana practice with Mahayana spirit
rigid formal practice with informal mind
Dogen-zenji said,
"When you say something to someone they may not accept it
but do not try to make them understand it intellectually
Do not argue with them
Just listen to their objections until they themself finds
something wrong with them"
Nirvana, the Waterfall
Before we were born we had no feeling
we were one with the universe
This is called "mind-only" or "essence of mind" or "big mind"
After we are separated by birth from this oneness
as the water falling from the waterfall
is separated by the wind and rocks
then we have feeling
You have difficulty because you have feeling
You attach to the feeling you have
without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created
When you do not realize that you are one with the river
or one with the universe
you have fear
"Everything comes out of emptiness"
One whole river or one whole mind
is emptiness
