Madame: It is not a question of seeking outside, of ideas. It is a question of grace, given by the outside.
Master: For it to be given, you must first imagine it.
If you do not seek something, will you experience it? (No reply.)
In the end they are both identical. This is better than seeking. For then surely it will come.
Even if we do not seek grace, today it comes. You feel God. Automatically and spontaneously. Which is the better of the two? It is better, I always say, when it comes from the outside, when God is realized spontaneously. It is possible; but this is your subconscious thinking. Grace which comes from the outside is a subjective matter. Psychologically speaking it is an objective matter. Yet they can be the same.
When the subconscious realizes, then you can see. The same as a dream. It is realized by the brain, by the subconscious. And so too with enlightenment. Even if you do not want to see, you see. Buddha is realized. I have experienced this.
In religion this is a very high stage: to communicate with Buddha or with God. But this is a special condition of the brain, and you must be beyond this. Such a state is not true wisdom.
I always say that we should return to the true normal condition of the brain, then true wisdom can manifest itself. See Buddha or Christ and our brain is not in its true normal condition, but in a special one. But people like this state. "I see Buddha! I have attained enlightenment!" This is a special state which is never permanent-it is not the normal condition. We cannot perpetuate special mental conditions; from such conditions true wisdom cannot arise.
Here is one of the differences existing between Christianity and Zen. Western philosophers and theologians are always transcending a special consciousness. They always seek to go up, up, up.
But in the end they fall down. They become crazy. If you understand this then you will be able to understand Dogen's Zen.
Most people wish to arrive at a special condition. During my three months sesshin my mind became completely pure and even the merest smell, of a toilet, of the blood of someone entering the room, became strong. The mind is so pure (when in this condition) that you can understand the minds of others. You can even see behind yourself. Everything is then possible.
This is not transcendental consciousness; yet this is the level people seek. And when they are there (Sensei taps his forehead), they are fit only for the mental hospital.... Most people cannot understand that one must be beyond this state, and so they search for it, search for it, and finally, because they cannot always continue in this state, they become completely sick in the head.
Buddha experienced this too. For six years. But in the end, when he was completely exhausted and half-dead, he realized that this was wrong. It is from this experience that Buddhism came about. Do you understand?
Madame (assuming a stance of defiance): Of course I understand. But this is not what I am seeking.
Master: What do you seek? (No reply.) You must clear your head of prejudices. Prejudices are not good in religion, in Christianity, in Zen.
Madame: I read your book and I came here without prejudice.
Master: But you have plenty. It is not necessary to compare, but (rather) to grasp the essence. What is the essence of religion?
Buddha, too, sought complete purity. For six years he practiced without eating, without sleeping, right up to the point of death. But he could not find what he was looking for and he completely fell down, almost dead. Sudiata, a farmer's daughter, arrived at this time carrying a jug of milk on her head. She looked at his face and saw that it was noble, and she took him in her arms and carried him under the Bodhi tree. She massaged him and gave him milk and he awoke and sat up.
It was from this moment that Buddha's mind changed. Due to the milk. Milk is utterly forbidden in Hinduism, and by drinking it, Buddha had completely wiped away six years of mortification. And his stomach and intestines were happy. His body too. And his mind as well. His mind had completely changed.... He continued zazen every day, and every day Sudiata came to see him. And he looked at her. (During his mortification Buddha was not allowed to look at a woman's face.) But now he looked, and he thought: "She is very beautiful." He had returned to the normal condition. He smelled her: "A fine smell, a nice perfume." He touched her skin: "Not so bad, either." Buddha understood that he had returned to his normal condition, and in this condition a deep joy arose. At this moment he had satori, and it was then that he saw his practice of mortification was a mistake. "I was expecting something, something special, an enlightenment. It was a mistake." And this is why Buddha separated himself from Hinduism. Do you understand, Madame?
Not yet? Continue to do zazen, this is better. Then you will come back to the normal condition and you will understand. Your question, Madame, was good. This is a point that many Christians have not been able to resolve. Satori and enlightenment. If you resolve this matter (not with your head) then you will be able to compare, and you will be able to understand true enlightenment.
The normal condition
QUESTION: What does it mean "to come back to the normal condition?"
Master: It means the normal condition. When the brain physiologically, psychologically becomes truly quiet.
But when you are a little crazy you are not in the normal condition. In the last sesshins some people in the mondos here were in a completely abnormal condition. And in this sesshin it is the same. There are some who are not normal here, like the American champion. It is their karma arising.
Everyone has karma, in the brain too, in the subconscious. Thoughts, anxiety, fear, become implanted more and more deeply in the neurons of the brain. These thoughts come to the surface during the day, in dreams, and particularly during zazen. Once these seeds have arisen, then there is nothing: finished. But to come by this is very difficult, because these dreams of today go back for instance to seeds implanted ten and twenty years ago. So it is not easy to have a completely pure brain.
But with the frontal brain at rest (not thinking) the subconscious surfaces and its contents (seeds) escape, the neurons become quiet, the brain is at rest, and the normal condition appears.
To seek for something during zazen is not good. If you seek for something, the seeds in the neurons of the brain only increase.... But if you practice my teaching exactly, if you concentrate on the posture, your thinking will stop. (Sensei, who is sitting with the kotsu22 in his hand, puts it down and takes up the zazen posture.) Concentrate on the posture, with the hands exactly like this, and rapidly your thinking will stop. When you are like this the alpha waves appear on the electroencephalogram.23
The subconscious arises. Because you can no longer think. You try to think: "I must communicate with God," but you cannot. It is no longer possible to think like this, because if you do, then without a doubt your thumbs will drop. (Sensei drops his thumbs.) Like this. The moment you begin to imagine things, this happens. (Sensei rolls up his eyes like a caricature of someone thinking of God.) Others think the opposite, that God is not coming to them, and their thumbs are like this. (Thumbs up.) "God is not coming," he thinks and he is not happy.
So it is not possible to keep the posture and think at the same time. The subconscious arises, you become clean, you are back in the normal condition. Automatically and spontaneously.24
This is why after zazen everyone is brilliant. Their brains have rested and their karma has decreased. Their eyes are bright, and their faces too. People who continue zazen change. Those who escape zazen, their faces change too.... Another question?
Originality is individuality
QUESTION: I knew nothing of zazen three months ago. But then one night I had a dream that I was looking at one of your books, and at your name on the book, and this is why I came.
Master: I am very happy. What were you doing in this dream?
Answer: We were talking over matters together and you said to me: "You have had enough with individuality! Now you must learn with others collectively." I replied that I did not ag
ree with you about "finishing with individuality."
Master: This is the karma of westerners. So?
Answer: So, you did not reply.
Master: A good dream, an historical dream. Write it down.
What's your name? Ah, Monique. Monique's are always good. The first person to receive me in Europe was named Monique. At the Gare du Nord. But you are very beautiful. Where are you from? Ah yes, Brussels. How old are you? Thirtyseven? You had a good experience. Have you a question?
Monique: Yes, on this question of individuality, on the question of becoming more yourself....
Master: Individuality and a strong ego are not the same. To return to your originality is individuality. Originality is not karma-it is not bad karma, it is good. But each person is different, and you are only you. You are your own originality. This is what I call true mind. If you cut the bad karma, good karma remains: your originality. You must discover your own originality. This is zazen.
You must not abandon your originality.
In modern education everyone is educated the same, and so his true originality cannot be realized. With mass production, mass education, even the parents themselves cannot find the true originality in their own children. But it is difficult to find. The educators cannot find it.
But I can find it-by looking at you from behind. Everyone has his originality, and I can seize it.... Continue zazen and our true originality will realize itself. Realize this and you will become strong. Anyway, this is the duty of religion, the duty of the true educator (i.e., to help people find their originality).
Most people make mistakes concerning "I," "me." These people have too strong an ego, a bad ego, and they are too attached to it, and this is why they cannot find their true originality.
Find your true originality and you will become truly distinguished.
Modern education has forgotten this, that each person is different. In the universities they teach only the sciences....
You had a good dream, Monique. Another question?
By looking in the mirror
QUESTION: When, during zazen, we become afraid of abandoning this ego, what is the correct attitude of mind to take?
Master: "I must abandon the ego"-it is not necessary to think this. Just do zazen and you will abandon it.
But if you think: "This is my bad karma," and you realize this, then this is good karma. Then little by little you will come to understand. You will understand: through my kusens (oral teachings); by looking in the mirror. You see the form of your face appear.
4 P.M.
THE WRITINGS OF DOGEN, THE MONDOS OF RINZAI
Today is fine weather. Like on the Mediterranean coast, in Cannes or Nice. Which is better, to sit by the sea or to continue zazen in this dojo? Those who seek their pleasure by the sea or at the Club Mediterranee will not know, right up until they enter their coffin, what is the true life, the true cosmic order. But you know.
Here is a mondo with Mayoku (or Hotetsu, a disciple fo Baso). One day Mayoku was using a fan when a monk said to him: "Wind is everywhere; it is not necessary to use a fan, so why are you using one?" Master Mayoku replied: "Although you know that the nature of the wind never changes, you do not know the meaning of blowing everywhere."
"Well, then," said the monk, "what does it mean?"
Mayoku continued to fan himself and did not reply.
This is how Dogen writes.... (Now here is a mondo from Rinzai Roku:) Master Mayoku came to Rinzai for an interview, and spreading out his zagu (prostration cloth), he asked Rinzai: "Of the twelve heads of Kannon which is the true one?"
Rinzai, who liked theater, came down from his seat, picked up the zagu with one hand, grabbed Mayoku with the other, and said: "The twelve-headed Kannon, where is she now?"
Mayoku twisted his body and made as if to climb up on Rinzai's seat. Rinzai then lifted his hossu and hit him. Mayoku grabbed the hossu and both went up together to Rinzai's room.
THE KATSU MONDO
Rinzai asked a monk about the four kinds of katsu. (Rinzai's katsus, i.e., shouts, are very famous and there exist many kinds of sounds.)25 "So Rinzai said to the monk: 'Sometimes a katsu is like the precious sword of the Vajra king; sometimes a katsu is like a golden-maned lion crouching on the ground"-this means that the first katsu is sharp like a sword and can cut everything, and the second katsu is like the roar of a lion. When the lion roars one hundred animal-brains break-this statement is from Shodoka.26
The third kind of katsu is a... is a... (Sensei lifts the Rinzai Roku text closer to his face, then reads the phrase verbatim:) "...is like a probing pole to which a grass bushel is fastened to cast shade." (General laughter.) 27
Oh, I cannot understand this English! English books are no good....
What this means is to test, to measure. Rinzai uses this katsu when he wants to see the other's face; this katsu is the measure by which he tests another. When Rinzai utters a katsu, he studies the partner's face so that he can see, can understand, the other's mind.
(When I, myself, shout, some people are quickly afraid and run away. Some smile. My secretary is used to this now and sometimes when I shout she says: "You want something, Sensei? You want some tea?")
So, Rinzai asked the monk: "How do you understand this?" The monk hesitated and Rinzai gave a kwat!: "Which of those four katsus is this one?" Rinzai asked.
This is a koan. It is the koan known as the Foolish Koan. This is what Rinzai Zen is like. Always kwat! Like ducks. It is a training method.28
Here is a mondo between Rinzai and a great nun. (Nuns in the past were not so weak; they were strong like French women.) "So Rinzai said to the nun: 'Welcome? Not welcome?'"
(Sensei addresses one of his disciples sitting in zazen:) Mireille, if Rinzai spoke to you this way, what would you reply?
"Anyway, this nun replied with a strong katsu: Kwat!
Rinzai held up his stick and said: 'Quickly, speak, speak!'
The nun replied: 'Kwat!' "29
In the end this nun was not so clever. Why hadn't she taken away Rinzai's kotsu, since it was clear that he was going to hit her with it?
A famous book of commentaries on Rinzai Roku written by an historic Rinzai master asks this question. And Dogen, too, writes on this mondo: he says that nuns should not use katsus, but that they should remain more quiet. Quietly, quietly, and so teach from behind. This is the true woman.
Patience. Some people here are in pain. Some are sleeping, sleeping.
Don't move, don't move.
AUG. 18 / 4 P.M.
MONDO
Layman Pang
QUESTION: What is your opinion of Layman P'ang?
Master: Who?
QUESTION: You don't know Layman P'ang? Dogen has written about him.
Master: I know Dogen's work. It must be your pronounciation.
QUESTION: Dogen wrote that Layman P'ang was foolish.
Master: Foolish?
Philippe Coupey (interrupts): Sensei, this woman is referring to a book called A Man of Zen which deals with a Chinese Buddhist layman called Pang who lived around 800 and who is famous for having put all his things-all his money and furniture-in a boat, which he sank in the middle of a lake. Then he went off begging.
Master: Yes, now I understand. No, Dogen admired Pang. This story about P'ang impressed me too. I remember now. Philippe Coupey explained it clearly to me and now I know whom you mean.
Fang never became a monk. He received the bodhisattva ordination. And before that he had been a great governor and very rich. But he continued to practice zazen and he was always making bamboo baskets.
"You have so much money," people were always saying to P'ang, "You should give some of it as a fuse to the temple. You must help the poor." "No, no, no," P'ang would reply. And in the end he took all his money and possessions and threw them into the ocean. Interesting, yes?
People are always wanting to give, give, give. But he was even beyond that.
So later, after he had thrown away his entire for
tune, people said to him: "What you did was not at all useful! Why did you do that?"
"Because I do not want to spoil others. I did not give it to the temple because I did not want to spoil the monks; and I did not give it to the poor because I did not want to spoil them either."
So this is why P'ang threw his fortune down to the bottom of the ocean. This is very deep; it is historical.
When Fang was a child, one of the other children with him fell into a huge glass watertank. The child began to drown and none of the other children knew how to swim, and no one knew what to do. What would you have done? Pang broke the tank with a big rock and the boy was saved. The tank was very expensive and it was huge and it held a lot of water, but what Pang did was wise. It is a deep koan.
A relationship exists between the breaking of this watertank and the sinking of his fortune in water. It is a deep koan.
In any case, gifts sometimes spoil people. "You must help the poor. Help the hippies; they are so pitiful, help them, help them." Yes, P'ang's was a deep education.... Sometimes a slap is better. Another question?
Master: Alors? Mademoiselle, a question?
Mademoiselle: Yes, could you please explain to me the connection between thinking everyday of death, and to be living here and now?
Master: The same. Life and death are the same.
But think, "I must live, live, live," then you are attached to life. But think: "Now I must die," and your life will be deeper. Do you understand? Yes. Very good.
QUESTION: How must we educate our children?
Master: It is like flying a kite. It is difficult to fly a kite. Pull the string too hard and the kite will fall. Let the string go too loose and it will still fall.
In modem times parents spoil their children. Many of you here are spoiled-you were spoiled as children.
Sit Page 17
