Sit

by Taisen Deshimaru

  DESHIMARU (Taisen, 1914-82). Disciple of Kodo Sawaki and great Japanese soto master who spent the last fifteen years of his life teaching in Europe. Received the monastic ordination, along with the robe, bowl and spiritual transmission from Kodo Sawaki in the year 1965. In 1975, while teaching at his dojo in Paris, Deshimaru received the official shiho from Yamada Zenji, Head Abbot of Eiheiji. And in 1985 was given the posthumous title of "Zenji" by Niwa Zenji, Abbot of Eiheiji. Established over one hundred affiliated dojos throughout western Europe, North Africa and Canada, and founded the Gendronniere temple in the Loire Valley. According to the temple register, he ordained over five hundred monks; and the number of people who practiced with him, at one time or another, ran to over twenty thousand. There was nothing special in Deshimaru's teaching, no programmed study of koans, no breathcounting, no sutra reciting, no dokusan, no sanzen, no particular quest for satori. What he taught was straight zazen, that which was practiced by Bodhidharma, Eno and Dogen, neither adding to it nor subtracting; he simply taught the seated posture without any personal modifications, the long deep breathing, and the mind of samadhi, the self beyond category, or what he called hishiryo consciousness.

  DHARMA. Basically three different meanings:

  1. the universal truth proclaimed by Shakyamuni Buddha; the teaching of the Buddha, the Buddhist doctrine.

  2. simply, the truth. Ultimate reality. The cosmic order. The universal law. The word Dharma is, in this sense, ontologically anterior to Shakyamuni Buddha and, for that matter, to all the Buddhas of the past. (Buddhas come and go in the course of history, but the Dharma goes on forever).

  3. dharma-with a small "d"-means a phenomenon. i.e., as in the phrase: "However numerous are the dharmas, I vow to acquire them all."

  DO (Tao in Chinese). The way. Practice in harmony with the cosmic order. Do can mean the way of the warrior, like in bushido (see budo), and it can also mean the way of Buddha.

  DOGEN (1200-53). Great Soto master of Japan, disciple of the Chinese master Nyojo, and himself master of Ejo. Founder of Soto Zen in Japan, and founder of Eiheiji, a small temple in the northern mountains of Japan (and today a kind of Vatican of Soto Zen). Dogen was born of noble birth; he lost his parents while a child, and left home at an early age, in search of Buddhism. He met the masters Eisai and Myozen, under whom he studied Rinzai Zen and the koan method for some years; then he left his country and crossed the sea to China, where he met Soto master Nyojo, on Mount Tendo in southern China; Dogen practiced under Nyojo for three years, then returned home to Japan. Dogen's teaching rests, fundamentally, on:

  1. the practice without goal or object (mushotoku)

  2. the dropping off of body-and-mind (shin jin datsu raku)

  3. the excellent practice itself is true satori (shusho ichinyo).

  Dogen was also a great writer and most of his teachings are included in his voluminous work entitled Shobogenzo. His poetry, also of extraordinary depth and beauty, is included in the work entitled San Sho Doei.

  DOJO (sometimes referred to in English as zendo). The place where one practices zazen, the place of the way. (Do means the way, and jo the place.) Originally the place where the Buddha had his satori (under the Bodhi tree) and thus a holy place. Dojos, as we know them today, first appeared with the patriarchs Konin and Eno, in seventh century China.

  DOKAN. Ring of the way. The continual repetition of the acts of one's daily life. Repetition of posture, of body and mind attitude, as a continuous practice. (See gyoji.)

  DOKUSAN. Private though formal interview with the master, in his quarters, at a given time. Usually structured around koan study, and as such is particularly used in the Rinzai school.

  DOSHU. How one expresses the way. Expression of the way by body, mouth and consciousness. Expression of oneself, of one's satori. Utterance of the Dharma.

  EIHEIM. Principle temple of the Soto school in Japan. Founded by master Dogen in the thirteenth century and situated in the Fukui prefecture in the northwestern part of the country. Dogen, who greatly respected the sutras, named his temple "Eihe" (i.e., "67 A.D." according to the Chinese calender) because "Eihe" was the year that the Indian monk Matto arrived in China, riding a white horse and carrying with him forty-two sutras of the Buddha.

  Today, Eiheiji is the headquarters of fifteen thousand Soto temples in Japan and elsewhere.

  EISAI (or Yosai, 1141-1215). Japanese Rinzai master, and founder of Rinzai Zen in Japan. Established monasteries at Kyoto and Kamakura with the aid of the emperor, and became abbot of Kenninji, the first Zen monastery in Japan. Though Eisai was the first Japanese ever certified by a Chinese Zen master, and also the founder of Rinzai in his own country, he continued his functions, not only as a Rinzai monk, but also as a Tendai monk, a Shingon monk and a kito monk.

  Eisai was no Rinzai, no Dogen; nevertheless, the eulogies delivered for Eisai in Zuimonki show Dogen's respect and indebtedness to him.

  EJO (1198-1280). First disciple and secretary to master Dogen. Noted for faithfulness to his master, for helping Dogen to create his sangha and to build the first real Zen monastery in Japan, and also for his historical work as the transcriber and compiler of Dogen's Shobogenzo.

  Born of a noble family in Kyoto, he met Dogen at Koshoji temple in 1234, and becoming his disciple, Ejo remained by his side until the latter's death twenth years later, in 1253. Ejo was thereupon installed as the second abbot of Eiheiji. Abbot that he now was, Ejo remained Dogen's disciple until the end-for the remaining twenty-seven years of his life, Ejo lived near his master's grave; and every morning after zazen he would visit his late master's room, to offer incense; finally, Ejo left instructions to have his ashes buried beside Dogen's, in the spot reserved for the secretary. (See Shobogenzo.)

  EKA (Hui-ke in Chinese, 487-593). Disciple of Bodhidharma and 2nd Zen Patriarch. Reportedly cut off his arm and placed it before Bodhidharma as an expression of his desire to be accepted as a disciple.

  Stayed with his master for nine years, practicing only shikantaza. After receiving the transmission, Eka went to live in town where he sometimes worked as a street-sweeper, and where he also began to spread the Dharma. Died at the age of 107, the victim of an assassination plot conducted by the local police chief.

  ENO (Hui-neng, the 6th Patriarch, 688-713). Disciple of the 5th Patriarch Konin, and the master of such outstanding monks as Seigen, Nangaku, and Genkaku. It is said that Eno taught thirtytwo enlightened successors who appeared in the world, and ten great hidden ones; and also innumerable others of all kinds.

  Eno was a major catalyst in the spreading of Zen in China, and in the course of time his disciples established the Five Schools (including Rinzai and Soto) during the Tang and Sung Dynasties, extending from the eighth to the twelfth centuries.

  Eno sold firewood; he was illiterate; he was awakened when hearing a monk recite the Diamond Sutra, he pounded rice at Konin's dojo on Mount Hobai; he received the shiho, barely escaped alive with it, spent fifteen years in seclusion with the fishermen, was recognized as the long-lost 6th Patriarch while passing through the marketplace in a local town, installed himself on Mount Sokai and instructed his many disciples in the practice of the way.

  FIVE GO-I OF SOTO ZEN (five degrees, stages or steps). Formulated by masters Tozan and Sozan, the two founders of Soto in China, and considered as the basis of the Soto teaching. The five degrees are: hen chu sho, sho chu hen, sho chu rai, hen chu rai, and ken chu toh. Ken chu toh, the fifth degree has been added to Four Principles of Rinzai, and here form and emptiness (shiki and ku) mutually penetrate to such a degree that there is no longer any consciousness of either, and whereby ideas of satori and delusion vanish. The stage of perfect inner wisdom.

  When the Soto master gives the shiho to his disciple, he gives him the five go-i. (Go means five, and i means principle.)

  FIVE SKANDHAS (see skandhas).

  FOUR PRINCIPLES OF RINZAI ZEN (Rinzai Shi-Ryoken or Four Measures). Used by Rinzai masters to measure the degree of attainment of th
eir disciples. Put together the physical and the metaphysical, says Master Deshimaru, and you come up with four possible categories: life-non-death, death-non-life, non-deathnon-life, life-death. The first Rinzai Ryoken, Deshimaru goes on to say, states that there is no one and that only the object exists; this is thinking with our will, shiki. The second: that in this world there is only ego and nothing else exists; this is non-thinking without our will, ku. The third: that in this world there is nothing; this is thinking of non-thinking, shiki and ku. The fourth: that the person and the object both exist; this is thinking beyond thinking and non-thinking-shiki soku ze ku, ku soku ze shiki, which is hishiryo thinking.

  FUKANZAZENGI. Short text by master Dogen and not included in his Shobogenzo.. Fukan means to popularize, to spread; gi means the practical rules. Spreading the practical rules. Or in other words, to render popular for everyone. Zazengi: the ABC of zazen.

  Its importance, beauty, brevity and easy accessibility make the Fukanzazengi the most widely used text in Dogen Zen.

  FUKE (P'u-hua, dates unknown). Little is known of Fuke other than that he was a good friend of master Rinzai (d. 867). "Fuke was not a monk," says master Deshimaru, "though not quite a layman either. "

  FUKE SECT. Founded in 18th century Japan, around one thousand years after the time of the "monk" Fuke, who died back during the Tang dynasty. While Fuke was known for walking the streets ringing a little handbell, the monks of this sect played the shakuhachi as they walked, as a kind of walking meditation. Very powerful before the Meiji revolution. Worked for the government, often in the capacity of spies. Today this sect is outlawed.

  FUSE (dana in Sanskrit). A gift made without aim, without objective. Not based on profit. Mushotoku. The giving of spiritual guidance or material goods.

  FUYO DOKAI (1043-1118). Great chan master of the Soto lineage. Stern though not zusan (rough in the Rinzai style). In fact Fuyo Dokai was a strong critic of this rough way of teaching very much in vogue in the Rinzai temples of the times. "Why do you sound the wooden clappers," says he of the Rinzai monks, "and wave about the hossu (stick and insignia) of the master? Why do you shout towards the East in such a loud voice? And why do you hit towards the West with the kyosaku? Why do you frown and your eyes glare with anger? Have you become a paralytic? Why do you shout and hit the joza (fellow monk)? Not only do you shout and hit the joza, but also you make fun of the patriarchs and mock them."

  Fuyo Dokai holds a special place in the Soto transmission; master Dogen said of him:

  GAITAN. Entrance area to the dojo. Reserved for those who work in the kitchen and must leave during zazen. Also, for those who have problems, either with their health or with their postures, who cough and sneeze and move about crossing and uncrossing legs, etc.

  GASSHO. A gesture of reverence in which the hands are joined, palm to palm, about ten centimeters in front of the face; the tips of the fingers almost at the level of the nose, with the forearms horizontal.

  The left hand symbolizes the spiritual or holy world, the right the material or phenomenal world. The hands thus joined symbolize the unity of spiritual and material, of sacred and profane, of man and the cosmos. The hands thus joined make up the one mind.

  GENJO. Immediate manifestation of things as they are. Accomplished in the present. The materialization of phenomena. The actualization of satori in our daily lives. Phenomena, reality, the truth which comes.

  GENJO KOAN. Title of first chapter of Dogen's Shobogenzo., composed in 1233. All chapters of the Shobogenzo. are a further development of Genjo Koan. This text, which was written originally as a letter to one of Dogen's disciples, is considered to be the skin, flesh, bones and marrow of his teaching.

  Genjo means immediate manifestation of things as they are, and Koan, in this context, means real phenomena is-itself-truth. The truth of our daily lives, that which is active and which exists here and now.

  GENKAKU (Yoka Daishi, 665-713). Disciple of Eno the 6th Patriarch. Called the-monk-who-spent-one-night because he spent one night with the 6th Patriarch, and in one night he was awakened. Known today primarily for his Shodoka, or Song of the Immediate Satori, one of the four oldest Zen texts in existence.

  GEN NO BI CHOKU. Eyes horizontal, nose vertical. Gen means eyes; no-horizontal; bi-nose; choku-straight, vertical.

  On Dogen's return to Japan, he was asked what he brought back with him from his master Nyojo in China. He replied, to everyone's surprise: "Gen no bi choku "-my eyes are set horizontally and my nose vertically, this is all." So, after three years study of Buddhism in China, what had Dogen brought back with him? Just the normal condition.

  GENSHA (835-908). Great Soto master of the late Tang. Disciple of Seppo and master of Rakan. Gensha, whose childhood name was Sharo, had a desire to become a Buddhist monk and follow the way. But the professional transmission from father to son was an inviable rule, anchored deep in the mores, and Sharo, being the son of a fisherman, had to resign himself to his fate. So, every evening Sharo would accompany his father to their boat. One evening, while the father and son were out fishing on the river Nandai, his father fell overboard. Sharo extended his hand to help, and his father grabbed hold. But just then Sharo's overriding desire to follow the way and become a monk came back to him, and he pulled back his hand and his father drowned.

  Sharo was no ordinary youth and in one second he cut his ties with society. He cut his karma. Anyway, he was ordained by Seppo at the age of thirty and eventually became his Dharma heir. So, though he may not have saved his own father from drowning, he nevertheless saved the lives of countless others.

  GENSHI. Root, source. The fundamental source which fills the cosmos, like the moon on the lake, in a puddle, in every town, every village everywhere. Gen means deep or bottom, and shi means principle. So you have "deep principle," "true way. "

  GODO. In the Zen hierarchy, he's number one after the master. Master-godo-shusso. While the shusso functions in conjunction with the master, a function limited to the dojo proper, the godo gives the teaching in the master's absence, both inside the dojo and out. (See shusso.)

  GENMAI. Traditional rice soup eaten after the morning zazen. This soup as we know it today began with master Fuyo Dokai who died in 1118 (see Fuyo Dokai).

  Consists of one portion of brown rice to one sixth leeks, celery, branch, carrots, turnips and onions. A simple nourishment for people who practice zazen and lead simple lives.

  GYOJI. The continuous practice. Continual repetition of the acts of one's daily life, with emphasis on samu (holy work in the sangha). Gyo means to practice; ji means to continue, to perpetuate, and to protect. Gyoji is work without beginning or end, without profit or goal.

  HAKUIN (1686-1769). Japanese Rinzai master, stayed at temple of Shorinji, in Suruga (today's Shizuoka prefecture) near Mount Fuji. "There are two things in Suruga which excel," went a saying during his time, "the one is Mount Fuji and the other is Hakuin of Hara." Also, one of the most important figures in the history of Zen painting, calligraphy and writing. Hakuin-unlike Dogen-was a staunch upholder of the koan method for obtaining satori.

  Also, a staunch upholder of rigorous, marathon-like zazen sessions. He recounts how once, during his youth, he and his friend Jukaku went into the countryside and sat upright like telephone poles-for seven days straight. "We agreed that if either one saw the other's eyelids drop, even for a split second, he would grab the slat and crack him with it between the eyes. We sat ramrod straight, teeth clenched tightly. We continued that way in total silence for seven days. Between us, not so much as an eyelash quivered." (Hakuin, Wild Ivy, translation by Norman Waddell, quoted in "The Eastern Buddhist," vol. xvi, no. 1, Spring 1983, p. 110.)

  A strong critic of false teachers and their teachings, and very outspoken when it came to his contemporary, master Bankei and his "Unborn Zen sect" for their easy, informal zazen practice. And again, quite impertinently of the Soto school for their "sittingdoing-nothing" method. "These counterfeit teachers get their hooks into peoples' fine, stalwa
rt youngsters, and they turn them into a pack of blind and hairless dunces." (Hakuin, Wild Ivy, translation by Norman Waddell, quoted in "The Eastern Buddhist," vol. xv, no. 1, Spring 1983, p. 77.)

  HANNYA SHINGYO. Short for Makahannya Haramita Shingyo. (Maka Prajna Paramita in Sanskrit.) Also called the Heart Sutra. Literally, it means the Great Sutra of the Profound Essential Absolute Wisdom and Beyond. Hannya means the highest wisdom (prajna in Sanskrit); shin means essential faith, the essence; and gyo (or kyo) means sutra. Represents the essence of an ensemble of six hundred books and sutras, and sets forth the "essence" or "heart" of the entire Prajna Paramita teachings. Prajna Paramita is the name given to a body of work (including for instance the Diamond Sutra) grouped together around the doctrine of Ku or Sunyata. The Hannya Shingyo is the "essence" of this teaching, and it is condensed into a very short sutra, running to less than a page long. It is chanted in all Zen temples after zazen.

  HARA (see ki kai tanden).

  HEKIGAN ROKU, or BLUE ROCK RECORD. Collection of one hundred koans compiled in 1125. Many of these koans were taken from the Shin Jin Mei, a long poem composed by master Sosan (d. 606). The Blue Rock Record derived its name from a scroll containing the Chinese characters for "blue" and "rock" which happened to be hanging in the temple hall where the collection was being compiled.

  Interestingly enough, this collection of koans (Hekigan Roku) is widely used in Soto Zen; in Rinzai Zen they use the Mumonkan, another koan collection.

  HINAYANA, or Theravada. The so-called Lesser Vehicle of Buddhism, as opposed to Mahayana, or the so-called Greater Vehicle. The way of the arhat. The way of sravada and pratyeka Buddhas. Largely based on the ideal of purity, on a code of morality, on the extinction of passions. This form of Buddhism is practiced primarily in the southernmost countries such as Ceylon, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia. The word Hinayana, when used to describe a limited practice lacking both in wisdom and in compassion, refers merely to an attitude of mind, and not to Theravada Buddhism per se. "The highest merit," master Deshimaru once said, "is not different in Hinayana and in Mahayana."