TRANSLATED BY SHOHAKl AND TOM WRIGHT ARKANA OPENING THE HAND OF THOUGHT Kosho Uchiyama Roshi was born in Tokyo in 1911. He received a master's degree in Western philosophy at Waseda University in 1937 and became a Zen priest three years later under Kodo Sawaki Roshi. Upon Sawaki Roshi's death in 1965, he assumed the abbotship of Antaiji, a temple and monastery then located near Kyoto. Uchiyama Roshi developed the practice at Anataiji, including monthly five-day sesshins, and often traveled throughout Japan, lec- turing and leading sesshins. He retired from Antaiji in 1975 and now lives with his wife at N6ke-in, a small temple outside Kyoto. He has written over twenty texts on Zen, including translations of Dogen Zenji into modern Japanese with commentaries, one of which is available in English (Refining Your Life, Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1983). Uchiyama Roshi is also well known in the world of origami, of which he is a master; he has published several books on origami. Shohaku Okumura was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. He studied Zen Buddhism at Komazawa University in Tokyo and was ordained as a priest by Uchiyama Roshi in 1970, practicing under him at An- taiji. From 1975 to 1982 he practiced at the Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. After he returned to Japan, he began translating Dogen Zenji's and Uchiyama Roshi's writings into English with Tom Wright and other American practitioners. From 1984 to 1992 Rev. Okumura led practice at Shorinji, near Kyoto, as a teacher of the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, working mainly with Westerners. Several translations he has worked on have been published by the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, including Shikantaza—An Introduction to Zazen, Shobo- genzo Zuimonki, Dogen Zen, and The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo. Rev. Okumura has recently returned to the United States with his family to practice and teach; he is currently at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Tom Wright, who was born and raised in Wisconsin, has lived in Japan for over twenty-five years. Most of that time has been spent practicing and studying Zen under Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. He was ordained as a priest in 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and has a master's degree from California State University Dominguez Hills, in English literature. Rev. Wright has worked on the translation and editing of several texts on Zen, including Refining Your Life, Shikantaza, and Shobogenzo Zuimonki—the latter two with Shohaku Okumura—and two on Japanese gardens. Besides working for the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, he is an instructor in the English Language and Culture Program at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. Jisho Cary Warner grew up in New York City and graduated from Harvard University in 1965. She practiced at Pioneer Valley Zendo for several years, and is active at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Cen- ter and the Milwaukee Zen Center. She is a student of Tozen Aki- yama of the Milwaukee Zen Center, by whom she was ordained as a priest; she was a longtime student of Dainin Katagiri Roshi of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, and practiced under him at Ho- kyoji, a developing monastery in southern Minnesota. Jisho Warner has edited numerous books on Zen and other areas of Buddhism, and on Asian art. Opening / £ e 3f a n cf of jf n o u a n / .* Approach to Zen K O S H O U C H I Y A M A Translated by Shohaku OkuMura and Tom Wright Edited by Jisho Cary Warner A R K A N A ARKANA Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published in Arkana 1993 13579 10 8642 Copyright © Kosho Uchiyama, 1993 Translation copyright © Shohaku Okumura and Tom Wright, 1993 All rights reserved Portions of this book first appeared in a different English language translation in the author's Approach to Zen: Tlie Reality of Zazen, Japan Publications, 1973. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Uchiyama, Kosho, 1912— Opening the hand of thought: approach to Zen/ by Kosho Uchiyama; translated by Shohaku Okumura and Tom Wright; edited by Jisho Cary Warner. p. cm. Translation of: Seimei no jitsubutsu, Zen no jissai, Gendai bunmei, Zazen, Gudo. ISBN 14 019.459 2 1. Spiritual life — Sotoshu. 2. Sotoshu — Doctrines. I. Warner, Jisho Cary. II. Title. BQ9438.U26 1993 <OnenJapan> 294.3'4—dc20 93-10993 Printed in the United States of America Set in Bembo Designed by Brian Mulligan Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Uo all cu n o are practicing the 6 u cfcfn a — on a r m a Sitting itself is the practice of the buddha. Sitting itself is nondoing. It is nothing but the true form of the self Apart from sitting, there is nothing to seek as the buddha- dharma. Eihei Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo-Zuimonki ("Sayings of Eihei Dogen Zenji'') . C o n / e n / , TRANSLATORS PREFACE XI EDITOR'S PREFACE XV FOREWORD xvii "Pari One UNDENIABLE REALITY 1 1 Foundations of a Refined Life • 3 The Theme of My Life 3 The Self That Lives the Whole Truth 8 2. Practice and Persimmons ^^B2* 14 How Does a Persimmon Become Sweet? £^% 14 The Significance of Buddhist Practice ^J\ 16 The Four Seals ^f\ 20 Practice Is for Life ^^ 30 ?> J a r / Uw o THE REALITY OF ZAZEN Tt\ 35 3. The Meaning of Zazen i£i^ 37 Ants in a Sugar Bowl WJ0I 37 Depending on Others Is Unstable ff^^ 41 4 Everything Is Just as It Is 45 Living Out the Reality of Life 50 4. The Reality of Zazen 55 How to Do Zazen 55 Letting Go of Thoughts 64 Waking Up to Life 68 5. The Reality of Sesshin 78 Sesshins Without Toys 78 Before Time and "I" Effort 82 The Scenery of Life 86 6. The True Self of the Zazen Practitioner 93 The Self Is the Universe 93 The Activity of the Reality of Life 99 CPa r / ZJ/i r e e THE LIFE OF THE TRUE SELF 107 7. The Structure of Life 109 Aimless Modernity 109 Self Settling on Itself 1 1 Interdependence and the Middle Way 119 Delusion and Zazen 123 8. The Daily Life of the Zazen Practitioner 130 Zazen as Religion 130 Vow and Repentance 132 Living Wide Awake 136 The Direction of the Universal 141 J^a r / C? o a r PRACTICING BUDDHISM, PRACTICING LIFE 149 9. The Wayseeker 151 Seven Points of Practice 151 Opening the Hand of Thought 1 52 Zazen Is Our True Teacher 163 Gain Is Delusion, Loss Is Enlightenment 164 Living by Vow 175 Development and Backsliding 178 Sit Silently 179 Cooperate to Practice 182 Leaving Antaiji 183 10. Questions 188 On Zazen 188 The Bodhisattva Vow 195 Living Practice 207 Going Home 213 APPENDIX 1. KINHIN 219 APPENDIX 2. HOW TO MAKE A ZAFU, OR SITTING CUSHION 223 GLOSSARY 227 U r ansla/ors CP r e f a c e If Buddhism in general, and Zen in particular, is ever to lay deep roots in the mainstream of Western culture and civiliza- tion and not be relegated to being simply one of those quaint or odd Oriental traditions in the religious supermarket of our day, then Zen, or the so-called practitioners of it, while study- ing the examples of past teachers, will have to be able to see the problems modern people are faced with, as well. Indeed, if Zen is to play any role, much less a leading role, in the future direction of humankind, then those who profess to be Zen followers will have to be able to articulate clearly the problems we are facing in the world today. Moreover, a Zen that clings to the traditional garments of Zen without grasping the essence will surely end up being regarded as one of the religions of antiquity—and only that. What is that essence? To be sure, it is much easier to talk and write about what it isn't than about what it is. Yet, if no attempt is made and Zen is left only to be understood by silence, under the guise of profundity, then surely Zen will be silently left behind. So, then, what can be said? One expression that accurately points to that essence is, ironically, an expression predating the Buddhist tradition. This is Araniyake's statement: "All that can " be said is, 'not this, not that.' But unless such statements are put into the overall context of Buddhism and Buddhist prac- tice, we're afraid they will be poorly understood or ignored. Perhaps the best statement that we can make about Zen comes in the form of a question we have to ask ourselves continually no matter how long we study Buddhism or sit zazen. That is, with zazen as the center of our lives, how can we go about living fully and freely in our day-to-day lives? Opening the Hand of Thought aims precisely at this crucial question.