A W A K E N I NG T O THE TEACHINGS OF R O S H I PHILIP K A P L E A U AUTHOR OF THE THREE PILLARS OF ZEN U.S. $22.00 Can. $30.00 When Roshi Philip Kapleau returned to the United States in 1966, after thirteen years of training in Japan with two of the country’s greatest masters of Zen, he “did not come home empty-handed—he brought us a living word of Zen,” Kenneth Kraft has said. The first Westerner fully and naturally at home with Zen, Roshi Kapleau has made it his life’s work to translate Zen Buddhism into an American idiom, to take Zen’s essence and plant it in American soil. Four decades later, the seeds of Zen that Roshi Kapleau planted have blossomed. Zen flourishes and Roshi Kapleau continues to help people find enlight¬ enment and fulfillment within, not outside, their daily lives. “True awakening,” Roshi Kapleau has said, “is not a ‘high’ that keeps one in the clouds of an abstract oneness, but a realization that brings one solidly down to earth into the world of toil and struggle.” Kapleau has written a number of books in his lifetime, The Three Pillars of Zen the most well known among them, but the heart of his work, his teachings to his students, has never before been made available. Awakening to Zen Also by Roshi Philip Kapleau The Three Pillars of Zen To Cherish All Life Zen: Merging East and West The Zen Art of Living and Dying Awakening to Zen P The Teachings of Roshi Philip Kapleau Edited by Polly Young-Eisendrath and Rafe Martin SCRIBNER SCRIBNER 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Copyright © 1997 by Rochester Zen Center All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. scribner and design are trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc. DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING Set in Aldus Manufactured in the United States of America 123456789 10 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kapleau, Roshi Philip. Awakening to Zen : the teachings of Roshi Philip Kapleau. p. cm. 1. Religious life—Zen Buddhism. 2. Zen Buddhism—Doctrines. BQ9286.K36 1997 294.3'927—dc21 96-45216 CIP ISBN 0-684-82973-8 "What Will God Do When I Die" by Rainier Maria Rilke, translated by Babette Deutch, from Poems from the Book of Hours. Copyright © 1941 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Many of these essays originally appeared in Zen Bow, the private publication of the Rochester Zen Center. "What Is Zen?" was originally published in Texas Quarterly. It appears courtesy of the University of Texas. "Waking Up with Zen" has been adapted from Roshi Kapleau's introduction to Zen Keys by Thich Nhat Hahn, Doubleday, 1974. It appears courtesy of Doubleday. "Of the Same Root: Animals and Our Relationship with Them" was originally published in the May 1983 issue of Parabola. It appears courtesy of Parabola. "Diet and Zen Practice" was originally published in the San Francisco Oracle. "Mind-Altering Drugs" originally appeared in The Review, from the McGill Daily Supplement (Montreal), January 16,1970. "An Age of Destruction and Spiritual Resurgence" was originally published in Quality Profiles magazine. Contents Author's Preface 9 Editors' Note H Part I: Living Zen in America What Is Zen? 17 Toward a Meaning of Buddhism for Americans 26 Waking Up with Zen 28 Why Buddhism? 39 Of the Same Root: Animals and Our Relationship with Them 45 Valuing Life 54 Thanksgiving: A Life of Gratitude 59 Common Questions about Zen 62 Part II: Ethics, Responsibility, Practice On an Ethical Way of Life: Commentary on Some of the Buddhist Precepts 72 Commentary on the First Buddhist Precept: To Cherish All Life 91 Responsibility and Social Action 94 Pain, Suffering, and Resistance to Practice 99 The Artful Use of Pain in Zen 107 Diet and Zen Practice 229 Mind-Altering Drugs: Commentary and Reflections 127 Repentance and Problems of Sex: The Third Buddhist Precept 137 Buddhist Ethics and Abuses of Power 149 Contents Part III: Zen Training/Zen Teaching Dokusan: A Private Encounter with the Roshi 155 Pilgrimage as Training and Practice 166 The Enlightened One 173 Discipline and Naturalness 175 Impatience in Practice 179 Devotion , 183 Part IV: On Illness, Dying, and Death Illness, Dying, Caregiving, and Families: A Conversation in West Berlin 189 Dying: A Conversation with Jon Sheldon, M.D. 208 Death and Dying: A Conversation with Penny Townsend, R.N. 215 On Confronting a Chronic Illness 221 Part V: Suffering and Meaning An Age of Destruction and Spiritual Resurgence: A Conversation with Vondell Perry 227 Man's Justice and God's Justice 233 Epilogue: Practical Zen—a Conversation with Kenneth Kraft 245 6 There are no mundane things outside of Buddhism, and there is no Buddhism outside of mundane things. —Yuan-Wu Ummon, a great Zen master of the T'ang period in China, said to his assembly of monks, "The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your seven-piece robe at the sound of the bell?" Ummon is urging us: Experience for yourself this limitless universe—touch it, taste it, feel it, be it. Thoroughly savor it. Don't spec¬ ulate about life and the world. Live it! That is true free¬ dom—religious freedom, spiritual freedom. Yes, even political freedom. Ummon is saying, if you are a monk, put on your robes when the bell rings announcing the morning service. If you are an office worker, go to the office at eight-thirty. If you are a husband, kiss your wife and children and drive to work. If you are a student, go to school. If you are a school teacher, open the door and ring the bell. Don't drag your feet and complain, "Why should I?" Awakening brings the experiential aware¬ ness that the world is illimitable, an unfathomable void. Yet every single thing embraces this immense cosmos. At breakfast. Mother says, "Here's your oat¬ meal, Johnny." It's on the table before you. Now what do you do? Why, yum, eat it up! —Philip Kapleau, 1985 7 ' Author's Preface As I look over this book, I am struck by the fact that it covers thirty years of my Zen teaching—the first thirty years of Zen in America. There's much I had thought to say in my author's preface, but looking over the editors' note, I find that most of what I intended is already succinctly covered there. So, let me here simply acknowledge the real debt I owe my three friends who put this book together—Jim Robicsek, Polly Young-Eisendrath, and Rafe Martin. Following Jim's initial impetus to create a meaningful volume from a vast body of unpublished work, Polly and Rafe dove in and did the necessary organizing, editing, and rewriting that allowed these disparate pieces to stand together as a book. How grateful I am to have had such help from such friends. Scott Moyers, my editor at Scribner, has also done a careful, intelligent job of keeping this manuscript on track. His support and enthusiasm have been a great encouragement. I also want to acknowledge the debt I owe all the many stu¬ dents I've worked with over these thirty years. A teacher really learns from students. It was my students, some of them teachers in their own right now, who taught me the meaning of Sangha s wisdom and warmth. They helped me, too, in countless ways to further mature my understanding of Zen Buddhism in the intricacies of daily living. As the great English visionary, artist, and poet William Blake said, "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship." Zen is a path of discovering one's true, innate friendship with the universe. But it is also a Path walked hand in hand with many Dharma friends. To each I am grateful. Lastly, I am especially grateful to the three outstanding Zen masters who trained me in Zen and long ago guided my own fal¬ tering steps toward Truth—Nakagawa Soen Roshi, Harada Sog- aru Roshi, and Yasutani Hakuun Roshi. Nakagawa Roshi took me 9 Roshi Philip Kapleau under his wing. Together we traveled to visit his many Zen friends from all walks of life. This grounding in Zen's reality in ordinary people's lives made it possible for me to stay in Japan and commit myself to the practice and training. Without such first¬ hand knowledge of Zen's warm, living heart, I might have turned tail and run. Later, through Nakagawa Roshi's guidance, I came to Harada Roshi, who accepted me for training at Hosshin-ji Monastery, famed for its bleak climatic conditions and powerhouse sesshins. From him I learned something of the strength, courage, and determination—the rigorous dedication—that Truth-seeking requires. I learned, too, to have a deep respect for the ancient, monastic heritage of Zen. Finally, Yasutani Roshi shared with me his open manner of accomplished lay practice and the alert wis¬ dom of one who walks the Path in the midst of life. With a tender heart he opened to me the inner door of Zen. To all of these revered teachers I owe the deepest possible debt of gratitude. I place my hands palm to palm and bow before them now in thanks. Today Zen in the West is becoming psychologically astute. Much of this has been needed. And, indeed, Zen's innately cre¬ ative religious genius complements our Western interest in the workings of the psyche and the life of the individual.