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DHARMA EYE News of Soto Zen Buddhism: Teachings and Practice

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DHARMA EYE News of Soto Zen Buddhism: Teachings and Practice SOTO ZEN JOURNAL DHARMA EYE News of Soto Zen Buddhism: Teachings and Practice Greetings p1 Issho Fujita At the Disaster-stricken area p3 Kiko Tatedera Prayer p6 Miki Onosaki Social work Soto Zen p9 Shuei Diethelm Chapter of Shobogenzo Zenki Lecture p12 Shohaku Okumura The Mind Cannot Be Got Shin fukatoku p20 Carl Bielefeldt My Footnotes on Zazen p24 Issho Fujita Number 28 November 2011 second year of Ninji, 8th heavenly stem, 2nd My Footnotes on Zazen 1 terrestrial branch [1241] Zazen is not Shuzen (1) at Kannon Dõri Kõshõ Hõrinji, Uji district, ~ Yõshu Rev. Issho Fujita Director, Soto Zen Buddhism International Center NOTES In my Zazen Sankyu Notebook (1)[Dharma Eye Number 2], I wrote, “Zazen as the body of 1. “I’m buying the cake for a refreshment”: The text is always seeking to be freshly re-read with translation “refreshment” for tenjin obscures new footnotes under the renewed light of the the old lady’s subsequent play on the word that present age. Those who practice zazen in this is a key to the story. She takes it, not as the modern society are being requested by zazen common noun for a light snack (known in itself to bring their own unique words to it”. Western Chinese restaurants as dimsum), but as More than ten years have passed since I wrote a verb-object construction meaning something that impression and I still feel so. I would like to like “to spark the heart,” or “to refresh the share with Dharma Eye readers some footnotes mind” — hence, her question, “which mind are I have made during these years. I hope my little you going to refresh?” effort to add new footnotes to zazen will inspire, even a little bit, the readers to creatively make 2. “A painted cake can’t satisfy one’s hunger”: A their own footnotes. famous saying, found frequently in Chan texts but usually attributed to Xiangyan Zhixian (d. Around early 6th century CE a strange 898), rather than to Deshan. Buddhist monk came to China from South India. Unlike other visiting monks, he did not 3. “The paper lantern blown out”: An allusion bring any new Buddhist scriptures or commen- to the story of Deshan’s experience of awaken- taries. He did not translate nor give lectures on ing when his master, Longtan, blew out his Buddhist scriptures, either. He did nothing lantern. that could be called “missionary work.” What he did was just sit all day long facing the wall in a room at Shaolin temple. So people gave him a nickname, “wall-gazing Brahman” (an Indian monk who indulged in meditation facing the wall). This monk was Bodhidharma who is now revered as the “First Ancestor of Zen”. Except for his own disciples (small in number), very few could understand the true meaning of what he was doing by facing the 24 wall. For example, a famous Buddhist scholar- one genre of it, even though these two practices monk, Nanzan Dousen(Tang dynasty, a look similar at a glance. We should avoid con- founder of Nanzan Vinaya School), classified fusing them. That is why Dogen repeatedly Bodhidharma in a shuzen section when he emphasized this point (zazen is not shuzen) in complied The Sequel of Biography of Eminent his writings(Fukanzazengi, Shobogenzo, Eihei Monks. That implies that Dousen thought of Koroku, etc..). It could be said that the bulk of Bodhidharma as a shuzen practitioner, one who his wirings were written to clarify the criteria engaged in meditation to attain a special state for discerning authentic zazen. of mind called “dhyana” (Sa. Jhana, Pa). But Then, what is the difference between zazen Dogen criticized Dousen, saying that such an and shuzen? This is a very important question understanding is completely wrong and irrel- to consider when we practice zazen. Even if we evant because zazen encompasses the whole are sitting with almost the same posture, it does Buddha Dharma, not a part of it. In Shobo- not mean the content is also the same (“If there genzo Gyoji he wrote, “This was the utmost is a hairsbreadth deviation, it is like the gap stupidity, which is lamentable.” According to between heaven and earth” Fukanzazengi). I am Dogen, the sitting zazen facing the wall that wondering how many zazen practitioners are Bodhidharma practiced in silence is totally keenly aware of the importance of this question. different from what had been practiced as zazen to train(shu) a meditative state of dhyana (zen). I stayed at a small zendo in western Massa- What Bodhidharma did was authentic zazen, chusetts from 1987 until 2005 as a resident which had been correctly transmitted through teacher and practiced zazen together with a generations of ancestors from Shakyamuni. group of people. That was a great experience “The ancestral teacher (Bodhidharma) alone for me to deepen my understanding of zazen. embodied the treasury of the true dharma eye Luckily in that area many people were inter- transmitted from buddha to buddha, from heir ested in Buddhism and many Buddhist centers to heir”. Zazen is not a training of dhyana and groups (large and small, Theravada, Ma- (shuzen) which is one genre of Buddhist prac- hayana, Tibetan) were full of activities. More- tice, like the Three Studies (sila, samadhi, over, the colleges nearby all offered introduc- prajna) or Six Paramitas(dana, sila, kshanti, tory courses in Buddhism and seminars on virya, dhyana, prajna) . It is a quite different Buddhist philosophy. Those classes were very practice from zazen. In other word shuzen is a popular and many students attended them. personal training to achieve a human Because I was living in such a “hot place” of ideal(small vehicle, hinayana) and zazen is an Buddhism, I was often visited by people who expression of something transpersonal or had already studied and practiced various tradi- universal(great vehicle, mahayana) tions of Buddhism such as Theravada, Tibetan I believe that it is crucially important for us Buddhism, or Rinzai koan practice before as zazen practitioners to distinguish zazen as coming to my zendo. I was, in a sense, forced the entirety of Buddha Dharma from shuzen as to distinguish shikantaza (just sitting) from 25 those types of sitting meditations. It is not a among about 100 centers worldwide. The matter of showing off the superiority of my center consists of 108 acres of land and many practice to the other but I needed to clarify what buildings, including a bathhouse, two dining shikantaza is all about in comparison with other rooms, meditation hall for 200 people, a 60 cell kinds of practice. Otherwise I could not fulfill pagoda, separate residences for men and my responsibility as a teacher of that practice. women and a center manager's house. Every In English-speaking countries zazen is usu- year around 2,000 people participate in their ally translated as “zen meditation” or “sitting 10-day course of vipassana meditation. (for meditation”. But this translation makes it more information, see their website at almost inevitable that people think of zazen as http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ns/index.shtml). an effort to control the mind and attain a I attended 10-day courses offered by this center certain state of mind by applying a certain twice. method. This is exactly what shuzen means. During the 10-day course, for the first three Therefore I had to explain that zazen was days they practice anapana-sati, focusing the different from meditation. When I talked attention to the physical sensations around the about zazen, I decided to use Japanese word, nostril and the rest of the period they keep zazen, instead of using English translations. “scanning” the whole body by using the culti- Then it was quite natural that people started vated attention to the sensations ( for the asking me, “Ok. Then what is zazen? What details of this technique, see Art of Living by should we do to do zazen?” William Hart). I realized that when people tried to do zazen Later I met Larry Rosenberg, a guiding based on the shuzen-like assumption they first teacher at Cambridge Insight Meditation physically sat down with a certain posture and Center and an author of an excellent book, then applied some mental technique (with Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of emphasis on the mental technique). They Insight Meditation. He kindly invited me as a thought they had to do some psychological guest participant to the 10-day course for work l in addition to physically sitting. But zazen advanced yogis he led at Insight Meditation should be practiced within a totally different Center in Barre, MA. There I experienced framework. So I had to clarify the difference another style of vipassana called “labeling” in between zazen and their deeply-held assumptions. the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw. In this prac- I tried this work of clarification by directly tice practitioners are encouraged to keep experiencing shuzen type of meditation. noting/labeling every activity all day long. Near the zendo where I resided there was a Before I came to America, I had experi- vippassana meditaion center founded by S. N. enced 5-day or a week-long Zen sesshin many Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. times. But I never had a chance to experience This center, formally called Dhamma Dharã 10-day meditation retreat in Japan. Physically (land of Dhamma), was the first meditation it was not so hard for me to sit for many hours center in North America (founded in 1982) for 10 days. But it was the first time I had to 26 apply a certain meditation technique for that this kind of practice, to do zazen means just to long period.
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