The Awakening of Faith – Talk 35
March 28, 1986 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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In order to get use of the Buddhist terminology, I always give this kind of chart, according to this The Awakening of Faith. So it’s very complicated, but I think you should get use of this Buddhist terminology. And also, it’s very complicated, but you should understand why The Awakening of Faith is explained like this, because there is some reason why it has to say like this. Even though it’s complicated, you should understand one by one.
For instance, the last time I explained, I gave this chart, the characteristics of being in samsara. Do you remember, you have this chart? I explained briefly, but I think the main point of this chart is how the human mind is moving constantly, in various ways. So finally, in order to become buddha, what kind of vibration of the mind exists. And then, we will understand what shikantaza means, why we have to do shikantaza. For instance, this is particularly according to the nature of the finer of the fine vibration of the human mind. What does Buddha do in that situation, of the finer of the fine vibration of the human mind. What can Buddha do? Do you understand? The very minute vibration of the human mind – at that time, what can we do there? Can we see that minute vibration of the mind objectively?
So, that’s why here it says the defilement disunited from the basic activity mind. So this defilement is very subtle, very subtle. Because it is connected with karmic life. It is very close to the ignorance. Constantly, this minute vibration of the mind strengthens the development of the ignorance. So, what can we do [with] this? In other words, what can we do in the terminal station, where we cannot go any place? This is the end the trip in the human world, and then what you can do [from] this, what you can do over there. That’s the kind of things we can understand from this kind of chart.
So, it’s very complicated here, but one by one, you have to understand it. Then we understand, this teaching is really connected with the reason why we have to practice shikantaza, just sitting. What does it mean, shikantaza?
For instance, shikantaza is completely you have to throw away yourself into zazen, and simultaneously you can live, you can live what you are, exactly. So throw away, and then you can make your life alive there. But without throwing away completely, right now, right here, so-called zazen, you cannot get anything, you cannot take care of it. So, that’s why in Zen it always says, letting go of and then you can hold on, holding on. So without the full devotion – full devotion means you have to throw away yourself and then you can get it. Get means you cannot see what you can get, because you have to throw away. So nothing, it seems apparently nothing to get. But that way of practice … lets you live to the full, instead of just exist. Do you understand what I mean?
Usually we just exist. If I say just shikantaza, let’s exist. But it doesn’t make sense actually, because everything just exists. So as long as we are human being, we have to live to the full, not just exist. So for this we have to practice shikantaza, shikan exist, shikantaza.
And today, according to this chart, I think there is a Buddhist terminology: kunju means vasana in Sanskrit, which is translated as sometimes “permeation,” or “perfuming.” This is a very interesting point in Buddhism. So from this, the idea of vasana, I think you can see image of the merging of truth and samsara – what kind of relationship between samsara and the truth. They are not separated, but they are not mixed up. They are not one. So there seems to be two worlds, but two worlds make one, one world makes two worlds. That is according to The Awakening of Faith, the tathāgatagarbha and the ālayavijñāna.
Tathāgatagarbha is still the truth explained in a word. You should understand this one: in the beginning of this book, this book mentions the truth, but two kinds of truth. One is beyond the word, so nothing to say about the truth. That is completely independent from the word, so that is truth to manifest itself, constantly. Second, truth is dependent on the word, so that truth can be explained in a word. Do you understand? Two things. In the Tendai school, Tendai or the Avatamsaka Sutra, or the Madhyamaka, the central philosophy of the emptiness by Nāgārjuna, they explain two kinds of the truth: one is real truth, second is wordly truth. Wordly truth is the truth which you can explain, you can experience, you can touch, the spirit of the truth. This is wordly truth. Mostly, […] most people emphasize strongly that wordly truth. Being misconstrued as a truth. But it is not real truth, that is the truth explained or experienced by you. So two kinds of truth.
So tathāgatagarbha is still the truth, but it is already truth explained. But that tathāgatagarbha as a truth is exactly same as the truth itself, real truth. So it is a little bit, we mixed up here. Is that clear?
So that is the tathāgatagarbha. But that tathāgatagarbha, when this tathāgatagarbha appears in the samsaric world, it is called ālayavijñāna. In other words, if we want to see the truth in terms of human life, samsara, then tathāgatagarbha appears in the samsaric world as ālayavijñāna, so ālayavijñāna is almost the same as tathāgatagarbha, but it is little different characteristics, because ālayavijñāna is the bottom of the human life, when you see very deeply into samsara. And then you can see something in the bottom of the human world. That is really the bottom, connected with the truth, tathāgatagarbha, simultaneously.
In other words, I mentioned always the terminal station. The terminal station is the end of the human life, but it is the beginning of the human life too. So you have to go somewhere. So ālayavijñāna is the end of the human life – if you take a journey, with deep, profound understanding, or with wisdom, then you can touch this bottom of human life; this is ālayavijñāna. It means storehouse consciousness in English.
15:40
So, very naturally, there are two kinds of truth, and also, simultaneously, if you look at the human world, there is another thing, [opposed] to truth, tathāgatagarbha, or ālayavijñāna. Ālayavijñāna is very pure nature of consciousness. But on the other hand, there is something opposed to ālayavijñāna or tathāgatagarbha, that is called ignorance.
However, ignorance is not that which exists with its own substance, because of no possibility of freedom from ignorance. Accordingly, ignorance seems to be something opposed to the truth, but it not separate from the truth, it is not separate from ālayavijñāna or tathāgatagarbha, so-called truth. So it is constantly dependent on the truth. It is not separated from the truth, but it is always depending on the truth. So there seems to be two things, but not two, always one. That relation is very difficult to understand, but actually it is very true, when you see human life practically. Otherwise, you cannot be free from ignorance. Because if ignorance exists with its own substance, you will never be free from ignorance, there is no possibility of freedom from the ignorance. But this teaching says ignorance depends on tathāgatagarbha, truth, [which] means ignorance has no substance of its own, because it depends on the truth. Truth is vastness, nothing to be left, to leave anything as its own trace. So always, if you see something in the truth, it becomes neutral.
So I think according to the Yogachara, I think when you do something, those human doings, your doings are based on the seed of ālayavijñāna. In other words, your your doings come from the seed of ālayavijñāna. In other words, ālayavijñāna encourages you to do something. The seed means the function of the ālayavijñāna, because ālayavijñāna is a huge storage to maintain your karmic life, from past to the future. And then, when you do something, there is something to be left behind your doings. That is called perfuming, or permeation. And then when you do something, your doings leave something behind. This is perfuming. And then you can store something in the ālayavijñāna, after your doing. That is what is called seed. But those seeds must be neutral. A seed doesn’t remain their own seed, the form of the seed, when your doings return to the ālayavijñāna. It becomes neutral. But neutral doesn’t mean no characteristics. The seeds of your doings have still its own characteristics. Characteristics means when it appears in the future again, according to when time is ripe, conditions arranged, some energy coming up. So it is not neutral, but it is kind of a potential; potential characteristics there. Potentiality, kind of potential characteristics, there is always potential characteristics of the seeds. So only when the time is ripe, conditions arranged, the seeds of the doings you have accumulated, in ālayavijñāna, they are coming up. And then, you create samsaric world again. Something like this.
So, there is ignorance. So the ignorance depends on the truth, means it doesn’t have any substance. If you believe ignorance exists separate from the truth, it means that ignorance has its own place to exist. If it has its own place, in other words time and space, I think it’s kind of fixed idea of existence, like an avocado seed, you know? So very naturally it is something existent separately from the truth. But this ignorance depends on the truth is [that] ignorance doesn’t have its own place or time, always the truth. Its own place is the truth. Is that clear? You have to contemplate this one: when ignorance depends on the truth, what does it mean? You should contemplate this, you should consider again and again about this one. This is very important.
But usually, intellectually, if you set up certain ideas so called ignorance, we always think that is a kind of “original sin.” If you believe ignorance is original sin, it is already something fixed ideas, which exists, somewhere, occupying a particular portion of space and time. So its own time and space is created. So it doesn’t mean this. That’s why according to usual sense we try to know what the beginning of ignorance, from where it comes. And then, if you see the beginning of the ignorance, we put a certain name on it, then we say that is the original sin. From that original sin, devils, evils come out. But this is an idea. It’s not practical. So you never be free from that kind of original sin. Even though you seem to be free from, but you never actually [are].
So this is a very interesting teaching in Buddhism. So this Awakening of Faith doesn’t try to trace back to the beginning of ignorance, from where it comes. It doesn’t matter. That’s why finally this teaching says we cannot trace back to the beginning of ignorance, so we don’t know from where it comes. But, it exists.
The reason why the ignorance exists means that it depends on the truth. That reason.
For instance, even though you don’t understand who I am, from where I come – what is the character of Katagiri is, from where the Katagiri’s character comes? We don’t know sometimes. Probably we can know, but actually we don’t know from where it comes finally. But if we don’t know, can we ignore? But we cannot ignore, because Katagiri’s character exists, day to day, practically speaking. Why? Why does it exist? Because it depends on vastness of existence. Vastness of existence anyway accepts anything, all things, which are entitled to exist, beyond your understanding or you don’t understand it. No understanding, completely beyond, all exist. This is the characteristic of the universe, or vastness of existence, which is called truth. Tathāgatagarbha.
So tathāgatagarbha means the embryo in the mother’s womb, that meaning literally. So the Buddha in the womb of human beings, human world. This is buddha-nature, this is the truth. So your existence has already some reason why you exist. What is the reason? Do you believe that the reason should come from your intellectual understanding, or psychological, philosophical understanding? Yes or no. But finally you don’t know the reason why you exist. But, it must have some reason to exist, because you exist! So that’s why The Awakening of Faith says the reason why we exist is to depend on the vastness of existence. This is a buddha’s world, we say.
Okay? Is that clear? That is a very important point.
And so, intellectually if you see this ignorance and the truth as a one or as a two, you will see some contradictory situation there. It’s very difficult to understand, to find the perfect solution of this contradictory situation between the truth and ignorance. How the ignorance and the truth are related to each other, we don’t understand exactly. But this teaching doesn’t matter so much, you know? The contradictory situations. Because this teaching, or Buddhism, always tries to see very deeply the reality of the human world. Very deeply. Instead of understanding reality of human life intellectually, or philosophically, or psychologically, we try to see the reality as it is, exactly. And then we try to set up the theory or ideas, something like that. So, it is not important point, even though we don’t understand exactly, even though we see some contradictions there.
For instance, it is not important for us to analyze bodhisattva practice, analyze what kind of practice human beings should do according to explanation of the bodhisattva practice. Buddhism explains bodhisattva practice very in detail, but this is not the main purpose, okay? I mean, it is not the main purpose for us to understand what kind of bodhisattva practice we should do in detail. It is not. The main point is that we should see even the dim image of the real truth as it is, through explanation of what kind of bodhisattva practice we should do. And then if you do bodhisattva practice, then naturally image of the Buddha’s world appears, even though you don’t know. This is the main purpose, alright? So always you do something apparently, but real things is always behind. Buddha’s world [is] there.
But usually we don’t do in that way, we always try to do something, because we want to know, we want to see. If you cannot see or if you cannot understand, it’s nonsense. Do you understand? So that’s why if somebody shows you the technique how to reach there, so you really become honest to follow each technique to reach the destination. Yes it is. But, it is not the main purpose in Buddhism. Technique is important, but within the technique, main purpose of the Buddha’s teaching is to see the dim image of the human existence, so-called Buddha. That means you have to see the vastness, the broad, more vast expanse of the human world, so-called universe, through each technique. When you do gassho, you always pay attention to the gassho and the form of gassho and the meaning of the gassho, significance of gassho always. Then, if you are very honest to follow this technique and then people put a certain name on you, so called you are good spirit of Zen students, something like that. But Buddhism is not saying always in that way. Buddhism is, you should do gassho according to the suggestion, but there is something more than you can see, so-called gassho. This is vastness of existence, so called Buddha’s world. So Buddha’s world is always supporting your life, behind.
That is explanation of bodhisattva. That’s why the Abhidharmakosha, and Tendai school, and the Avatamsaka Sutra, explains what kind of Bodhisattva practice we should do, very in detail explains. Like the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice, they can reach. I gave you the chart of fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice. This is a very interesting point, but it is not the main purpose. So the main purpose is always we try to show, we try to realize Buddha’s world, through this detailed explanation of the Bodhisattva practice.
So that is a Mahayana teaching. But according to Yogachara… the teaching of Yogachara is a little different from Avatamsaka Sutra, Avatamsaka the teaching, and Tendai teaching, a little bit, because they try to emphasize so much the human world, samsaric world, and then analyze the samsaric world in detail, and then we try to reach Buddha’s world. So very naturally, when you reach the terminal station of the samsara, there is no chance to go. So finally, it requires you kind of, what would you say, opportunity… you can turn your mind into nirvana, into Buddha’s world. Opportunity, that is we call tenshiki tokuchi, means turning your life into Buddha’s world. That means you are always paying attention to the samsara, but when you come to dead end, so-called terminal station of the samsaric world, there is no way to go, because it is the end, so very naturally beyond your effort there is some opportunities to let you turn your samsaric world into nirvana. So that is the teaching of Yogachara. So, turning your delusion into enlightenment, something like that. By your effort, and also beyond your effort, there is an opportunity there.
[Tape change.]
… of development of human life. That is psychology, Buddhist psychology. But in the Mahayana, it doesn’t say so much the analysis of human samsara in detail. But we, Mahayana suggests to you to see the vastness of existence around each analysis of samsaric world. In other words, gassho, and walking, getting up in the morning, everyday, each day of your life. And then, the main point is, to see how vast human existence is. So behind your life there is always something more than you believe, you think, you understand.
So that’s why here is in the Prajñāpāramitā Sutra, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva starts to work, practices prajñāpāramitā deeply. Something like that. But Buddha never appears in the Prajñāpāramitā Sutra. So what is Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva? It is a human being? No, it is a bodhisattva. So bodhisattva practices prajñāpāramitā is main point which Prajñāpāramitā mentions? No. Bodhisattva works everyday on his life with all sentient beings, based on the emptiness. Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara works everyday, like this. But a main point is, we have to see the buddha behind Avalokiteshvara there. Behind the teaching of emptiness there. Very quiet, but it’s vastness of existence there. So always in the sutra, bodhisattva appears, but Buddha is always kind of a, not a counselor, the always important person behind the bodhisattva, behind the stories, behind the teachings, always behind. But it’s there, he is there. So Buddha and the bodhisattva seems to be separated, but they are one. They are one. So if you become bodhisattva and practice and take care of your life as a bodhisattva, Buddha is there, exactly.
So that’s why continuous sitting zazen is very important for us. And listening to Buddha’s teaching, and following the teacher’s suggestions is very important, throwing your egoistic sense, and then you can create opportunity to see how you can get into Buddha’s world, how you can see the image of the Buddha’s world. Without doing this, you never see, you never understand the Buddha’s world. You never understand the truth as it is, real truth. No. Mostly people understand the idea of the truth. [He chuckles.] Experience of the truth. Always people are stuck in the ideas. If they seem to understand exactly the truth as it is – no, actually no. They are always seeing the truth idealistically.
So that’s why Mahayana is very compassionate, very compassionate. Always embracing human life with the very tolerant, compassionate heart. But human beings always scream, “I don’t see any progress in my practice,” et cetera. “I practiced ten years but I don’t have any progress. Still I have suffering from my life,” et cetera. Always screaming. But always there is a Buddha, who always opens his hand and embraces you with compassionate heart.
But still we try to get out. That’s why Buddha mentions, Dōgen Zenji mentions, there is always gate of the Buddha’s compassion is open, to all sentient beings.
Just like a mother and a child. Child always screaming and fighting with the mother. Why? Child doesn’t have his or her own place, he or she can feel relief. So just like ignorance. Child doesn’t have any portion of the time and space as his own, but he exists. What’s the reason, why does he exists? Because he depends on the mother. So, whatever mother does, children always there, child is always there. And then he screams, because he doesn’t like so much mother’s life, he cannot see the compassion of the mother, no. He really wants to do something as he likes. But everything doesn’t go in that way. So he screams, cries, getting out of the mother’s life and he wants to do something by himself. But finally, he finds nowhere to go. So finally he comes back to the mother’s world. Because the main reason why he exists is, he depends on the mother’s world. That is the relation between the mother and child. That’s why mother’s compassion is always open to him, and embrace his life with really mother’s compassion. That’s why child grows, naturally. Whoever they are, anyway, he grows.
That is the characteristic of ignorance. That is the relationship between tathāgatagarbha and also ignorance.
That’s mentioned in this section. That is characteristic of ignorance.
50:15
And kunju, vasana: “permeation” or “perfuming.” Look at page 56, the second paragraph from the bottom, this paragraph explains the meaning of permeation or perfuming, very simply, here:
The meaning of permeation. Clothes in the world certainly have no scent in themselves…
“No scent in themselves” means it doesn’t have it’s own particular character, it doesn’t have any portion of space and time for its own. That’s what it means.
… but if man permeates them with perfumes, then they come to have a scent. It is just the same with the case we are speaking of. The pure state of Suchness certainly has no defilement, but if it is permeated by ignorance, then the marks of defilement appear on it. The defiled state of ignorance is indeed devoid of any purifying force, but if it is permeated by Suchness, then it will come to have a purifying influence.
So kunju, the meaning of permeation is [that] there is actually no scent in themselves. In other words, human life has no scent in itself, actually. “But if man permeates them with perfumes…” Perfumes is the human consciousness in movement. The human world starts to move: this is permeation. Very naturally you can permeate, you can perfume something or somebody, if your world starts to move. Because movement of your consciousness means to create the world in the samsara. That is dualism. That is consciousness in movement. Movement of the consciousness means to create dualistic world. Subject and object separately. This is the movement. So consciousness is constantly moving, and then that means the world is moving. The world is constantly moving.
So what makes it possible for the world and your mind to move? This is called, we say, ignorance. But ignorance is not something [like an] avocado seed, because it depends on the mother’s world, so-called vastness of existence. So it’s always zero. But, it exists. Because this is the reason why the ignorance exists. So how can ignorance come up? Just like a child. When a child goes to the store, immediately characteristic of the child appears, so-called “I want to buy the candy,” et cetera. “Instead of meat and vegetables, I want to get this one or that one.” So according to the circumstances, causes and conditions, it comes up, that is ignorance. Actually, it has nothing for his own, nothing. Ignorance has nothing, no particular characters. But when ignorance goes to the store, it appears. So […] that means causes and conditions, conditioned elements. It always appears.
And then, if you create your world based on that ignorance. So temporarily, let’s say, ignorance is very evasive idea, evasive idea of creating samsaric world. Because it’s related with truth or vastness of existence, so it’s very evasive, because we don’t know from where it comes. We cannot see the exactly clear image of the ignorance. Nothing to say. It seems to be a “sin,” but it’s not “sin” exactly, because it doesn’t have any characteristic, so it becomes kind of a ghost. But actually it exists, always – influencing human life. This is ignorance.
So if you create samsara based on ignorance, then you can influence so much, just like snow-balling, creating human samsara, constantly, constantly. But on the other hand, ignorance always depends on the mother’s world, so called vastness of existence, that’s why it’s connected with the truth, constantly. So, even though you create your own samsaric world, but there is no way to go. So constantly you come back to vastness of existence. You go away and come back, you go away and come back, always. Just like a mother and a child. So that is where it should come back? That is so-called the truth, tathāgatagarbha.
So very naturally, ignorance is related very closely with the truth. So the more you create your own world, the more you try to escape from. Because you can see the truth. The more you want to get the candy in the store, you scream, because you see the truth, you see the mother’s world, so you hate the mother. “You hate the mother” means you want to do something as you want to. But actually, there is no way to go, so you come back to. So the more you do, the more you see, you become related closely, you can see the situation, how closely you are related with mother’s world. Then, very naturally, you see what you are doing. So very naturally, you try to seek for the nirvana. So very naturally you can get into the spiritual world, you want to practice like this.
So that is here in this chart, two kinds of permeation: the permeation of defilement and permeation of purity.
So permeation of defilement, there are three kinds of permeation. Permeation of defiled external world, permeation of defiled mind, permeation of ignorance.
The permeation of defiled external world means, if you express your own lifestyle based on the ignorance, and then you create your world, so-called objects. And then that object constantly strength … energy or power of creating the world again and again. That is the permeation of the defiled external world.
So if you do something, very naturally there is energies to accumulate the creation of your own world again and again. That means you are constantly screaming, expressing your desires to get the candy at the store. Keeping away from the mother’s world. But the mother’s world is the place where you cannot get out, because it is a place you depend on. So very naturally, constantly, you can create, this is the permeation of the defiled external world.
Permeation of the defiled mind, that is, your doings, your world created by your doings influences your mind. Your mind means, according to this book, I think, the activating mind, the fine mind, activating mind, and then the next subject comes up. Here is a technical term, “the activating mind.” This is a very basic mind which is moving constantly. That’s why it’s called activating, so-called the karmic mind. Karmic mind is not your mind; it’s coming from the past to the future. Constantly it’s going.
So activating mind. Evolving mind means very naturally the subject coming up. Subject. And then reproducing mind, that means the subjective mind reflects your object in your mirror. So you can see the world, reflected by your mind. So, object is not something which is real. It is nothing but reflection of your mind. This is also a very important point of the teaching.
And analytical mind, this is the discriminating mind in the usual sense. And then continuing mind is kind of ālayavijñāna, constantly going. Ālayavijñāna or manas, constantly going in the bottom of your life. These five are called mind here.
So permeation of the defied mind, if you do, your mind is constantly developing.
And permeation of ignorance. Ignorance is source or origin of all kind of defilements, any kind of defilements. All defilements come from this ignorance. So permeation of ignorance: if you do something you encourage your subject and also your object and also the bottom of your mind to develop. There is something. You always plant some energy into your life. So that is permeation of ignorance. That’s why ignorance is constantly going.
So next, let me say only the permeation of defilements, let me explain. So on the left side, each of three kinds of permeation is divided [into] two: that which strength of subjectivity. Subjectivity means your world and your subject. Subjectivity means including subject and object, because subjectivity means your object is not the object separate from subject. So subjectivity includes subject and also object. So the permeation of the defiled external world, constantly the strength of subjectivity influences always subject and object. And also that which strength attachment, next. If you create your own world, very naturally it encourages you to create attachment. The more you take care of your life, hard, with your enormous effort, then you create your own world, very naturally people attach to their own world. So- called “look at my world,” “your world is very lazy.” Just like a grandmother or parents always say to the children: “When we were young we did such and such; you didn’t do it, so you are lazy boys.” Something like that. [He chuckles.] So they are really attached to their own past life, because they really spent their enormous effort, enormous time to take care of with great effort. That’s why very naturally attached.
So if you create your world, there are two kind of things, energies coming up. The one energy is constantly helping your world to create your mind, your world. Constantly, that energy. On the other hand, the second energy is to let you attach, to object and subject.
And the next, that which strengthens the fundamental activating mind, this is the inception of the consciousness. So the activating mind is karmic mind. The moment when your mind moves, then some consciousness appears. That is called activating mind. So that is the inception of the mind which is acting constantly. That is, temporarily we say, activating mind.
So, if you create your world as an object, then it means very naturally there is a subjective world. And then if you create a subjective world, there are two kind of energies to encourage you to maintain that activating mind.
Second, that which strengthens object and discriminating consciousness. This is intellectual understanding, discriminating mind.
So two kind of energies there. So you have a kind of energy to maintain activating mind.
For instance, if you steal something – ten dollars from the other’s pocket. And then, the next day we see ourselves not to do again. But when you see the same conditions and time and situation, naturally you want to do. So that kind of thing, that is that which strengthens the fundamental activating mind. Very naturally there is.
So one energy is to create energy to do same things again.
And also intellectual understanding, always creating.
The permeation of ignorance is divided into two, again. Permeation of ignorance encourages you to create fundamental permeations. So that is the samsaric world. If you do something, the doings which you have done create another doings. So on and on, just like snowballing, rolling from the top of mountain to the bottom. If it starts to move, that movement has a kind of momentum. So energy of the momentum is going. That is here, fundamental permeation.
And also, permeation of intellect and affections. Very naturally here is another energy, snowballing, rolling down from the top of the mountain. Very naturally permeating, perfuming the fundamental consciousness, and also perfuming the intellect and also affections. So it’s very difficult to stop. Intellectually we know it must be stopped, but it is pretty difficult. Affectionately, we are always creating something.
Next time, maybe I will explain the permeation of purity. This is also very interesting…