Sit

by Taisen Deshimaru

  Now we will chant the Hannya Shingyo.

  Dai kazjo!49

  editor, Philippe Coupey

  Today begins the preparation for the third sesshin. The permanents here must do zazen with the others. If they do not, then the new people here will not want to do zazen either. The permanents pay much less than the others and so they must not become lazy. This is not the Club Mediterannee. So those permanents who have not come for this zazen must receive the rensaku.

  C. and N., you are the shussos and you are responsible for those who have not come. Who has not come?.... They do not know.

  Kyosakumen, stand up! You must go and see who have not come for zazen.

  The last sesshin was not so bad. But by the third and fourth sesshins the permanents are always tired. Not from doing zazen, but from exterior activities. Too much drinking, too much dancing at the Santa Lucia. This is why the atmosphere of the sesshin is bad. For those permanents who went to the Santa Lucia last night they must receive the rensaku.

  During sesshin that which is most important is samu. Between sesshins the permanents had one day of rest and one day of preparation for the new sesshin. But their samu yesterday was not good. The cleaning was done poorly. On the balcony in front of my room there is dust, dirt, plastic bottles and cups. And the wind made it all stink. A garbage heap. It is only zazen one must practice during sesshin. From the moment one rises to the moment one goes to bed, one must be attentive to all one's actions. This is sesshin.

  Those who are here now, why have you come?

  For new people zazen posture is most important. Stretch the waist, the backbone, the neck. Chin in. Place your mind in your hands. Don't let the thumbs fall. Don't push them up either. Shoulders should be down. The internal organs must fall naturally. Concentrate on the exhalation, not on the inhalation.

  (The kyosakumen return with five permanents.) Give them the rensaku. Five times on each shoulder. Also, the rensaku for those who have arrived late in the dojo.

  (Everyone is now in kinhin. A woman falls unconscious and the kyosakumen carry her out.) Zazen and kinhin postures are very strong, and those who have weak hearts and weak nervous systems show a strong reaction. But it is not necessary to become anxious. Soon you will become quiet, soon you will return to the normal condition and you will be more healthy.

  Stretch your knees, stretch your neck.

  (Zazen:) During sesshins we must concentrate not only on zazen but on all the actions of our daily lives. Right from the moment we rise in the morning.

  Don't move, don't move.

  Everyone during sesshin must do samu. Do samu every day and it will become a great merit, a great fuse. If you wish to eat a good beefsteak and you do not eat it, this means that you have given a fuse to all humanity, you have given a beefsteak to all humanity. And its merit will completely return to you in the future. If on a particular day you wish to dress up in beautiful clothes, but instead you dress in a black kolomo, this merit will return in the future. It means that you have given these beautiful clothes to all humanity. If during sesshin you want to sleep with someone..., this is not easy to do. During a proper sesshin people sleep on a tan (raised platform) in the dojo, and it is not so comfortable as here. Here it is even better than the Club Mediterannee, for each room has its own bathroom with bathtubs and toilets, and this is not like in a real sesshin. In a real sesshin we all eat together in the dojo, without alcohol, without wine, without meat or fish. But here sometimes we have wine, meat and fish. I have prepared this sesshin so that it will be soft.

  Chin in. Don't move.

  Lunch is at 12:30. Take care of the sound of the han (the wood) and don't be late.

  In modern times people have become individualistic and egotistic, and so we have the crisis of this civilization.... But follow exactly the others and harmonize yourselves with them and certainly later on, when this sesshin is over and you return to the social world, your actions, without words, will influence others and you will become great educators, unconsciously, naturally and automatically.

  Patience is important. When the pain in your knees becomes unbearable, and you continue to be patient, the effect of this patience will be great. The virtue of patience is far greater, far more effective, than the practice of any mortification.

  Kaijo!

  AUG. 12 / 8.30 P.M.

  Someone was singing today in the toilet in a loud voice, in a very loud voice. I have said before that when here one must be silent. This is not the Santa Lucia. Those who wish to sing must do it outside.... For his honor I will not mention his name. But he must receive the rensaku. It is necessary. Kyosakuman!

  In a dojo, in a temple, singing is not permitted: Only the chanting of the sutras, not songs.

  (Kinhin:) The shusso and the columns (those seated in the corners of the dojo, facing out) must put order in the lines.'

  Don't stand still. Some here are like trees, waiting for the dog to come pee-pee on them.

  (Zazen:) Don't move. During sesshin someone moves, even a little, and it influences the atmosphere. People who are different and who do not harmonize, break the atmosphere.

  During the first and second sesshins we had some crazy girls here. I don't think we have any crazy people here in this third sesshin. But if there are, then certainly they will soon manifest themselves... like the one last week who knocked on my door at two in the morning. When I opened my door this girl hugged and kissed me and I was completely surprised.... Mad people on the streets do not cause much influence, but when they come into the dojo their influence is so great that no one can continue zazen.

  During zazen we must understand true ego. We must put off all bad karma, we must become completely pure. Shin jin datsu raku. Shin jin is body and mind, datsu raku is bad karma metamorphosed. This is sesshin: to decrease the bad karma. You have not much time to do this, just nine or ten days. But it is possible. You can decrease your bad karma during sesshin.... Some increase it. There are some here who have experienced many of these summer sessions. When they arrive they are with one madame, and when they leave they are with two madames.

  GENJO:

  The highest realization

  Last night the American Zen center in California sent me their English translation of Genjo Koan by Dogen. I read it. A completely childish translation. Superficial. It is translated into good English but the sense is not at all deep. They do not understand what is genjo koan.

  I have already experienced kwat koans and katsu mondos. What is mu?

  Master Rinzai created the koan. Master Dogen created the kanji (ideogram) genjo.

  The word genjokoan is very interesting. Dogen created this expression. Genjo is not a modern Japanese word; the Japanese themselves do not understand this word.

  Dogen used this expression 271 times in the ninety-five volumes of Shobogenzo. I counted them. Dogen never used any other expression so much. Dogen was fond of it. Rinzai used "koan" and "katsu."

  The word genjo has many meanings. In Chapter Two, Maka Hannya Haramitsu,2 here genjo means to realize. It is actualization, realization. Maka Hannya Haramita is the realization of Buddha himself. So here in this second chapter genjo means to realize. In chapter seven, Senjo (which means toilet), Dogen writes on how one washes his behind after he has gone to the toilet. It is to realize, it is the realization of infinite merit. When the dignity, the manner, of the Buddha or of the patriarchs is realized in this place, the devil, and heresy (of a mistaken religion) escapes. (Recites.) Now the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha is spreading in all directions throughout the world. Genjo is the actualization of the body and mind of Buddha. Genjo must be realized here and now; and the study of old koans is formalism, theater and antiquity.

  In the chapter called Kajo (which means "in daily life"), Dogen explains the method for eating. Table manners.... I once did such a demonstration for Professor Levi-Strauss, who has himself written on table manners, and he was very impressed.'

  Dogen writes that such manners have been transmitted
since the Buddha and the patriarchs and that these manners are realized here and now.

  Before we eat we sing Bussho Kapila. Then there is absolute silence.... But when I'm not with you at the table, you all talk. The talking starts with the shusso (i.e., the head monk). But this is not possible; there must be absolute silence during sesshin.

  In the chapter Kesa Kudoku, Dogen uses the expression genjo. The kesa made from old rags, becomes the highest cloth. (Recites.) Here the true kesa is realized.

  THE GREAT SAGES AND THE TRUE MOUNTAIN

  Genjo, genjo. In the San Sui Kyo chapter (the Sutra of Mountain and Water; san is the mountain, sui is water, kyo is sutra), Dogen says that everywhere where there are the big mountains, Buddha and patriarchs have appeared, water is realized. Genjo. (Recites.) Where water arises, all Buddhas, patriarchs and great masters everywhere are realized. This is interesting. You are all great masters. Everyone. You are doing zazen. You become Buddha, God. For exactly water comes. So with the sound of water. The sound of water comes. (Recites.)

  Mountains are beyond antiquity, beyond actuality. Mountains have the shape of great sages. Ever since ancient times the great sages have always liked the deep mountains. They have made of their bodies a mountain. So, by the wise, by the great sages, true mountain is realized. Genjo.

  This is the genjo koan of mountain and river. In the mountains great sages are assembled. In the Alps, in its mountains and valleys, the great genjo is realized. It is realized now, during this sesshin.

  It is not realized through dancing at the Santa Lucia.

  Why have you come here? To dance at the Santa Lucia?

  Do not interrupt me with your coughing. (There is much coughing in the dojo.) Always cough, cough, cough. You eat too much, this is why you cough.

  But do not catch cold. Do not sleep nude in bed.

  AUG. 13 / 7.30 A.M.

  SATORI VISITS YOU

  Zazen is not mortification. Zazen is the Dharma gate to penetrate the truth. For beginners it is difficult; they have not the habit and it hurts. So they should sit on a high zafu. Put lots of kapok in your zafus. Those who are in pain can bring a blanket with them. In Japan they use tatamis and it is softer to sit on. My master Kodo Sawaki used a mat which he placed on the tatami. One hour of zazen makes no difference, but it makes a difference if you sit for a long time, for three days or for a week.4

  Last night after zazen a young American girl came into my room. She asked someone to cut her hair for her-a little man, but I won't say his name-but he cut her hair too short (for her taste) and she was angry. I told her that her hair would grow back. "Some people cut off all their hair." But she was angry, angry, in front of me. She has done zazen for many years now. But this morning she is not in zazen. Angry. She thinks hair is a decoration. When Anne-Marie became my secretary I cut her hair short and she was not angry.

  Genjo means cosmic order, cosmic power, realized in front of oneself, without seeking.

  It is not necessary to seek after anything, there is no need to seek satori. If you do zazen, satori visits you. There is no need to think about koans.

  In the Rinzai sect they seek satori. They seek to obtain kensho. In Rinzai they are always searching for something. With their personal wills. This is not correct. In the end they are tired.

  When we are not running after, or away, when we are only doing shikantaza, doing zazen, and we are no longer thinking from the frontal brain, the subconscious arises, the collective consciousness arises, it arises from the central brain.Don't avoid this consciousness. Don't run after personal consciousness. Then we connect with the cosmos. We become natural.

  You can hear the voice of the valley. The voice of the valley is the voice of nature, the voice of the cosmos.

  Abhidharma Sastra: Vasubandu5 wrote Abhidharma Kosabhasya. Abhi means true wisdom, to observe oneself; dharma is the rule, the law, Buddha's teaching; it is all existences, the highest, the cosmic truth. Fundamental cosmic power. The prefix abhi means facing, going toward, approaching, mastering, formation, realization of the true wisdom or true truth. So Abhidharma means to observe the Dharma; it is the realization of the Dharma.

  In Udhana Sutra this is called Pathamabhi-sambuddho, and in English this means: first into satori. This is abhisambuddha, this is genjo. It means to realize. One who has come to the realization of the highest wisdom.

  In the Pali-English dictionary they use the word "enlightenment" to explain this. And so does Professor Suzuki in his English translations. But this is not enlightenment. Satori visits. Satori enters into us. Satori does not come from us.

  So it is one who comes from the realization of the highest realization-realization of the public theme. Realization of Buddha, realization of the kesa here and now. The true kesa is realized. Genjo.

  Kesa genjo, satori genjo, koan genjo. All this means without thinking. It does not mean thinking with our self-conscious, as (does) a public theme, a koan.

  Koan is a public theme. It is an eternal truth, the true truth. So sometimes koan means satori.... In Rinzai a koan has become a difficult problem, a mysterious problem.

  A disciple presents himself to the master and the master gives him a koan-like you give a child chocolate. What is mu? What is your originality? What was your mind before you were born? You cannot answer, so it becomes a koan. And in the end it becomes theater.

  What is the essence of Buddhism? Give the answer with one word, without using your mouth. Not possible. So the disciple stood up and placed his hand over the master's mouth and said: "No, you must answer first!.".... Koan, koan, koan. In China the koan had become a la mode.

  When I first arrived in Europe everyone who knew a little about Zen was always asking me about koans. "Please, master, give me a koan." They did not know what koans were. During Dogen's time too the situation was the same. This is why Dogen wrote Genjo Koan.

  AUG. 13 / 9 P.M.

  WITH NO-MIND COMES EVERYTHING

  What is satori? The return of body and mind to its original condition. The body and mind of most people are not in their normal condition. They have been over-influenced by others, by their surroundings, and through their daily lives. But through zazen one can come back to the normal condition.

  For master Dogen satori is genjo.6

  Satori realized through zazen. So zazen itself is genjo.

  In Rinzai they seek the solution to a koan. But seek something and it will escape. Like a cat or a pigeon-seek them and they will escape. If a boy runs after mademoiselle, mademoiselle will escape. (In modem times it is mademoiselle who runs after the boy and it is the boy who is scared and escapes.)

  When we are unexpecting, when we are mushin (no-mind), when we are mushotoku (beyond object), then at this time everything suddenly comes. This is genjo. True fortune comes unexpectedly, in a visit.' But if we desire it, then it will not come. It will escape you.

  In most religions, theologies, and European philosophies, they seek to understand the truth. And sometimes (in doing so) intuition arises. But then they begin thinking, with the frontal brain, and matters become complicated. They wish to study further, to write philosophical books, to make categories, and in the end they become complicated. Like Kant's philosophy. And like Nietzsche. In the end Nietzsche went mad.

  Hishiryo is not thinking, but thinking. (Recites Fukanzazengi.)

  Think from the bottom of non-thinking. How?

  This is hishiiyo. It is beyond thinking, it is absolute thinking. It is passive knowledge, as unexpected realization, an experience.

  Satori is a passive, intuitive recognition. It is not active. It is not thinking with the frontal brain, it is not epistomology. Satori is zazen plus intuitive wisdom. Genjo. The actualization of satori.

  STAYING ON SAMADHI

  I always say that naturally, automatically, unconsciously through the samadhi of zazen, intuitive wisdom appears. This is genjo. Gen means actualization; jo means to become, jo means perfect, complete.... But stay on samadhi and wisdom will not arise. (Ma
rco Polo said during the last sesshin that he wants to stay calmly in samadhi. He does not want to accept. He wants to stop, to close.)

  During zazen it is better to stop the frontal brain. (But this does not mean sleep, the stopping of everything.) Then the thalamus will become completely active, and it will receive the vital thrust.

  THE PHILOSOPHER'S METHOD

  Bergson speaks of intuition as the only means of understanding duration in terms of the life experience-he calls this the vital thrust.

  Kant talks of things which can be fitted into categories of our understanding, and of those which cannot.

  So intellectual thought became the absolute method for philosophical research, and Kant's, Schilling's, Fichte's and Hegel's philosophies are very complicated.

  Hegel created with theories and with concepts a very complicated system.

  Bergson understood the value of intuitive recognition. He understood intuition (chokan), but intuition and intellectual thinking (logic) are opposed, in contradiction, and so finally Bergson was thinking and seeking always through his frontal brain.

  European philosophers who have not experienced bodythinking, practice finally nothing but active knowledge. These philosophers did not know zazen.

  Surely in Europe, through my disciples, a true philosophy will appear. Surely people who practice zazen in the West will become great. They are realizing a new renaissance. An historical revolution in western history and philosophy. I think so.

  In Rinzai Zen, satori means mental action. Intuition beyond common sense. They play with koans. They are concerned only with koans. They, too, seek with the frontal brain; through mondos with the master: "What is the essence of Buddhism?" "Kwat!" This is repeated and repeated, and always in the same way and finally the disciple becomes tired. He has not enough food and not enough sleep and so he becomes like a crazy person. He suffers, suffers, even in his dreams he suffers, like someone in Naraka. Then the master gives him a hint, and he wakes up from his dream and his suffering is nothing, and he becomes very happy. Happy like after a bad dream.