Sit

by Taisen Deshimaru

  So, how educate mankind? In this sesshin we hope to resolve this problem.

  Now I wish to compare the Rinzai and Soto methods of education.

  Bodhidharma visited China in the 500s. He passed the transmission to Eka, and from Eka it went on through Sosan, Doshin, Konin, and to Eno the 6th Patriarch. At this point two disciples, Seigen and Nangaku, separated the line into what came to be known as the Soto and the Rinzai lines.

  From Nangaku came Baso and this soon came to be the Rinzai line. Baso had a large forehead-he was always doing sampai (prostration with forehead touching the ground) on a stone. Doing sampai on a stone, Baso's mind completely woke up. The ideogram Baso means horse's ancestor. He had a face like a horse. He was a very strong master.

  Baso's disciple Hyakujo is famous in zen history for implimenting samu. He organized the Zen dojo and he wrote his Hyakujo Shingi (The Rules of Hyakujo). And so Chinese Zen became active. Hyakujo wrote that if a disciple does not work for one day, he does not eat for one day.

  9 P. M.

  A HERO OF CHINESE ZEN:

  Rinzai, disciple of Obaku

  Zazen is to become intimate with oneself, with one's ego. In daily life we forget our true ego. We are always being influenced by our surroundings. But in zazen we are completely alone, and in solitude. So we can look at ourselves, at our minds, objectively.

  It is not necessary to seek the truth, to seek satori. We must obtain enlightenment but enlightenment is a mistake. It is not necessary to cut our bonnos (illusions).

  We must not run after something, nor must we escape it. With the habit of zazen you will not run after, nor escape from anything. Most of us run after something, and not after just one thing, but after many things. It is the same too with running away from things. Zazen means to stop running after and to stop running away.

  Kyosaku!

  (This said, four monks take up the kyosaku-a flat stick-and begin administering it to those who ask.)

  Kyosakumen must examine the postures. They must correct. They must not just stand still like trees.

  Concentrate on your exhalation. The exhalation must be long, long, with expansion under the navel. This is followed by the inhalation which is short. Under the navel we have what is called the ki kai tanden. Kikai means the ocean of energy and activity, tanden means the field of essence.

  Now I continue the kusen (oral teaching) from this morning.

  Obaku, the founder of the Obaku sect, was the successor of Hyakujo; and Rinzai was the disciple of Obaku. Since the time of Seigen and Nangaku, Zen began to spread. From Nangaku came the Rinzai and the Igyo sects. And from Seigen and his disciple Sekito came the Soto sect. The third generation of Zen began with Nyojo and went on to Dogen. With Dogen began Japanese Zen.

  When Dogen returned from China, he admired Rinzai and wrote that Rinzai is a great hero of Chinese Zen, a great master and a true disciple of Obaku.

  Rinzai followed Obaku's teaching for three years, with total purity and practice. But he never asked his master any questions-he never held even one mondo with him. He just followed Obaku consistently for three years.

  So one day Chin Son Shuku, the chief of the dojo, said to Rinzai: "You must go visit the master. Have you no question to ask him?"

  "No," Rinzai replied. "What should I ask him?"

  Three years with the Master and not one question to ask! Maybe Rinzai already had satori.

  "If you have no question," said the other, "then ask him what is the essence of Buddhism."

  So Rinzai went to Obaku's room. "What is the essence of Buddhism?" he asked.

  Obaku did not reply. Instead he gave Rinzai the rensaku (a series of blows given with the kyosaku). Obaku was big and strong, like his own master Baso, and when he hit Rinzai, Rinzai quickly escaped.

  "You back so soon?" the chief asked.

  "Yes," answered the disciple, "because I only got the stick from him."

  "You must be patient. Return and ask the question again."

  Rinzai returned. He did sampai, and Obaku again gave him the rensaku: the kyosaku twenty times. Rinzai escaped once more.

  The chief was waiting for him: "What? You back again?"

  "I have had enough!"

  "Ah, you must return, go back."

  "I am not a football!" replied Rinzai, but he went back anyway.

  This time Rinzai got the stick even before he finished his question....

  Rinzai told the chief he was tired and that he wanted to go traveling. The chief, who was very considerate, told him that he could go. "But you must pay a visit to the great master Taigu." (Taigu in Chinese means Great Fool.) "Taigu is truly a great master. His dojo is far from here but you must go visit him."

  Rinzai left and a week later he arrived at Taigu's dojo.

  The master addressed him: "Why do you come to me?"

  "I have been with master Obaku for three years now," said Rinzai, and he told Taigu all that had happened between him and Obaku. "And when I asked Obaku what was the essence of Buddhism, he gave me a total of sixty blows. So please tell me, what is the essence of Buddhism?"

  "Obaku gave you the exact answer to your question," answered Taigu. "You're foolish and your head is thick."

  Rinzai's mouth fell completely open. He got satori at that moment.

  "But now you must return to Obaku," said Taigu. "He is a great master, and anyhow your karma is to be his football."

  So Rinzai returned and went straight to Obaku's room.

  "How are you?" said Obaku to him. "Do you understand the essence of Buddhism now?"

  "Oh yes, I understand completely." Rinzai got to his feet and punched Obaku and said: "This is the essence of Buddhism."

  Rinzai punched him hard and Obaku was not so happy. "You must return to the dojo," he said, "and next time you be careful not to touch the tiger's whiskers."

  But Rinzai had understood. He had satori.2

  Master Tokusan was considered stronger than Obaku, He was always giving the kyosaku to everyone's questions and so he was known as Kyosaku-Tokusan.

  But he could not outdo Rinzai. Rinzai became the most eminent of the distinguished masters. And soon he became a hero of Chinese Zen. Like Tokusan who had become famous for his strong kyosaku, Rinzai became famous for his loud cry, kwat!

  The story of Rinzai is interesting. It is exciting reading, exciting study. And Dogen admired this account, at first. He admired Rinzai.

  But Dogen did not much care for the kyosaku technique of Tokusan. Nor did he for the Rinzai kwat-cry. In the latter part of Shobogenzo Master Dogen gently, softly criticizes Rinzai.3

  JULY23/7.30A.M.

  SHIKAN SAMU

  Planting pines and drying mushrooms

  When Rinzai was living at Obaku's dojo, he dug the earth and planted pine trees with some of the other disciples. So one day while Rinzai was busy planting trees, a mondo took place between Obaku and Rinzai.

  "Why do you plant these pines in the deep mountain?" asked Obaku.

  "First to make the mountain temple more beautiful," replied Rinzai, "and secondly as a symbol of vocation for future generations, and for successors of the transmission."

  Dogen later questioned this reply of Rinzai's. Samu is only samu. There is no need to have an object in what you do. It should be shikan-samu. (i.e., Only concentration on the work itself.)

  So Obaku, pointing with his stick, said: "Right. You are not so foolish. But you know, you received sixty blows of the stick from me. You ate my sixty blows earlier in my room."

  Rinzai replied by exhaling deeply three times. This has a deep meaning. Then Rinzai knocked on the ground with his hoe, three times. That is all. A koan.

  Obaku admired Rinzai. He said to him: "Surely you will spread our Zen in the future and develop our seat."

  Samu is very important and Dogen understood this. Dogen was very intelligent, a philosopher. And very delicate. But he understood the importance of samu.

  During his stay in China, Dogen was about to leave for Japan on h
is boat when an old monk came to buy some mushrooms on board. Dogen watched him dry the mushrooms in the hot sun, and he said to the old monk: "Why do you do such hard work, and in the hot sun too? You are very old. Instead you could be doing zazen. Or reading books and sutras in your temple. You are certainly a great roshi, I can see that."

  "You don't know true zen," replied the monk. "To study true zen, to study the true way, is not only found in books or in zazen. To concentrate on the true way is to find it in daily life. I am the tenzo (chief cook), and so this is what I must do: be tenzo. This is my responsibility. Others cannot do my work; they are not me and so they cannot do my work."

  Through samu we can equilibrate the brain; the hypothalamus and the frontal brain find their proper balance.

  Dogen wrote in 1243 in Shobogenzo Katto that Rinzai Zen is too severe, too barbarian, and not delicate enough for educational purposes. Joshu, though (who was a Rinzai master around the time of Rinzai-he became a monk at the age of 80 and he died at 120) was greatly admired by Dogen. Joshu's teaching was much more delicate than was Rinzai's or Tokusan's, and Dogen admired him.

  8.30 P. M.

  THE GENTLE JOSHU

  Those who ate too much spaghetti at dinner are sleeping during zazen. You must not eat too much. Those who are sleepy, please put your mind inside, behind the eyelids. And concentrate on posture. Concentrate on the position of your fingers... Sleepiness is called kontin: the mind drops down, down and becomes dark and drowsy. Sanran is the opposite state of mind; here the mind is agitated, dispersed and unconcentrated. Hishiryo-consciousness means no kontin, no sanran; it is between kontin and sanran. It is beyond consciousness.

  Master Dogen wrote in Fukanzazengi that zazen is not a mortification. True Zen has no steps. It is not like Yoga. In true Zen, the door to the Dharma, there are no steps. Understand this and you understand the essence of hishiryo. Through hishiryomind find true liberty. This is like the dragon entering the water, like the tiger entering the mountain.

  If you become hishiryo-conscious, kontin and sanran will vanish.

  Kyosakuman! Those who ate too much spaghetti, give them the kyosaku. This way they will digest it quickly.

  (The bell for kinhin has been struck and everyone doing zazen stands up. Kinhin, which is zazen in motion, is practiced in a line, one behind the other.)

  I always say that kinhin is the basic posture at the root of all the martial arts. It is the posture of a king. It is the royal posture.

  One must learn dignity in one's walk.

  Concentrate on exhalation, below the navel.

  (The bell ending kinhin has been struck and everyone returns to his place.)

  Some women sit on their zafus (cushions) as they would on a toilet-lifting up their skirts from behind and completely showing themselves. The zafu must not be covered by a kimono or by a skirt. Only the large kesa (monk' s robe) can cover the zafu. But nothing else.

  Behavior and manner are very important. In our time people do not much care for formalism. But good behavior and comportment is not formalism. If we continue to repeat good comportment and good behavior, it becomes habit. And so it influences the brain and the consciousness. When we do sampai, when we perform the ceremony, this too influences the brain and the unconsciousness and it becomes good karma.

  Dogen regarded Joshu as a great Rinzai master. Joshu is the moon while Rinzai and Tokusan are the stars. So when Joshu's moon shines, the light is so strong, like that of the full moon, that one cannot see the stars because of the brightness of the moon.

  In Shobogenzo Katto there is an account of Joshu's famous koan mu. This is the finest koan in the Mumonkan(a collection of koans compiled by Master Mumon in the thirteenth century).

  A monk asked Joshu: "Does a dog have Buddha nature?"

  "Mu," replied Joshu. This mu is not a negation. In the Rinzai sect this koan presents a very important problem.

  The gentle and kind Joshu received the monk's ordination while in his eighties and he died at the age of 120, and so he had much experience in many things.

  But why did Dogen admire Joshu so much?

  A disciple entered Joshu's room for a mondo, and he asked the master: "What is the essence of Zen?" (This is the same as Rinzai' s question: "What is the essence of Buddhism?")

  Monk: "What is the essence of Zen? Please, master, teach me."

  Joshu: "Did you finish your breakfast?"

  Monk: "Of course, I finished it."

  Joshu: "And did you clean your bowl correctly?"

  This mondo has become historical. Joshu is teaching that which is most important. Ici-et-maintenant (Here and now). Action, work. One's behavior, one's manner after eating. This is not idealism. The way exists under our feet. On entering the dojo, how you arrange your shoes is most important. Do it correctly and mind becomes clean. Mind becomes clean unconsciously and automatically.

  Zen is a physical education. It is not a gymnastic, nor is it a martial art. Action of the body influences mind and consciousness.

  So Joshu answered the monk directly, accurately and simply. This mondo has become historic in all Zen schools.

  Though in the end Dogen criticized Rinzai's katsu method, he admired Joshu's soft education and all his methods completely. His method is very soft, but it is shouting exactly.

  JULY 24 / 7.30 A. M.

  ANSWERING BY THE STICK AND THE KATSU

  To practice zazen automatically, unconsciously and naturally is to look at oneself.

  Do not look at those sitting beside you during zazen. Some people here cannot fix their eyes, so they look about at the others and sometimes they even wink. This way certainly they understand other peoples' postures. ("Oh, his posture is not so good, not at all straight. Hmmm, she has big hips!") But to look at their own posture is another matter. This is very difficult to do. Please, shoulders down. Press the sky with the head, press the earth with the knees.

  The teaching of Rinzai is written in Rinzai Roku. It is said in this text that the governor of the province where Rinzai taught had one day invited the master to come and sit on the conference seat. The governor also happened to be the chief of police and so Rinzai paid him a visit, while saying to himself: "I do not want to visit him but as it is difficult for me to avoid it, I will go."

  So at the conference given by the governor, Rinzai said: "I could not refuse your demand to come and talk. According to the tradition of the patriarchs, I should not even open my mouth to treat this important subject. But you will not find any foothold anywhere. Being invited today by the governor, how could I conceal the principles of my line and hide from you the important points of the dharma? So, I will tell you everything. Please open your ears and hear me and prepare yourselves for an exchange. I will certify truthfully that which is true and that which is not."4

  So a monk stepped forward and asked Rinzai: "Master, what is the essence of Buddhism?" (This was the same question Rinzai himself had once asked Obaku.)

  "Kwat!" Rinzai quickly shouted.

  The monk did sampai. He understood, and so Rinzai thought that this monk was certainly capable of having an exchange with him.

  At this moment the monk said softly: "From where comes this music that you sing? What style, what school is it?"

  (Clearly the monk knew that Rinzai came from the Obaku line.) So Rinzai replied: "When I was in the Obaku dojo, I asked three times the same question of Obaku, and three times I got the stick from him."

  Just then the monk showed a moment's hesitation and Rinzai cried quickly: "Kwat!" and just as suddenly hit the monk with the kyosaku. "This is like driving a nail into the sky," said Rinzai.

  Rinzai's second koan recorded in Rinzai Roku begins as follows: "The teacher of the scriptures asked if the three vehicles and the twelve divisions ascertain the nature of Buddha." (This text I am reading has many errors.)

  "Rinzai replied: 'Your bad grass has not been torn up.'

  Scripture master: 'How could the Buddha deceive people?'

  Rinzai: 'Whe
re is he, the Buddha?'

  The scripture master was speechless.

  Rinzai: 'Here in front of the governor you would take the old monk for a ride! Get out! Don't disturb others and prevent them from asking questions.' "5

  This mondo represents a big problem. Master Dogen criticized this exchange.

  In Rinzai they always speak of kensho, which means to look for the Buddha inside one's own mind. So in Rinzai this kensho is very important; it means whether one has obtained satori. Find the Buddha-nature inside your own mind and the master will give you the shiho (the transmission).

  What is Buddha-nature?

  Master Dogen writes that Rinzai mondos are always this way. This question is often asked, but never does the Rinzai master give an answer except through a katsu or by the kyosaku. A common question in all Zen schools, but in the Rinzai school the question always remains a koan, and so it is never resolved.

  The result is that Rinzai monks are always thinking: "What is the Buddha-nature? What is the essence of Buddhism? Of religion?" The monks think of these koans while they eat, while they are on the toilet. This is Rinzai Zen.

  But the Rinzai master Joshu was different. I explained the Joshu koan on the true actualization of satori: "Did you finish your breakfast? Then you must wash your bowl."

  This method of teaching is very natural. Dogen liked it. I too ask you sometimes: "How are you? Ca va, madame?"

  Dogen does not deny the nature of Buddha. It is simply that we cannot find it. All existences in the cosmos are the nature of Buddha. In Shobogenzo Bussho Dogen explains in detail what is the nature of Buddha.

  Every chapter in Shobogenzo is a commentary on deep and real koans. All Shobogenzo and even the title itself, is a koan.6 Whereas Rinzai Roku are only the words of Rinzai, and nothing is resolved. Rinzai Roku consists mainly of questions. Only questions. Nothing is resolved.

  In the chapters entitled "Bussho"and "Bukkyo" of Shobogenzo, Dogen gives many commentaries and many explanations of the nature of Buddha. What is the nature of Buddha? Dogen explains gently, delicately and profoundly.