Gabyō: Painting of a Rice Cake – Talk 1
December 1, 1986 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Katagiri Roshi: … the ancestor’s saying. His name is Kyōgen Chikan Zen Master (Xiangyan Zhixian, c. 820–898). He attained enlightenment when he heard the sound of a rock hitting the bamboo while he was cleaning the temple yard. When he became a monk, one day he was asked by a teacher to say something about the self before the parents’ birth. Kyōgen Zen Master couldn’t answer to this question. So after that he was contemplating day by day about this koan: what is the self before the parents’ birth? It is said that he practiced under his teacher for many years, concentrating on this koan. Finally he found the answer. That answer was “a painting of rice cake doesn’t satisfy hunger.” This was his answer.
Usually his saying has been misunderstood, or understood in a narrow sense. So Dōgen Zenji tried to [talk] about this message in the deep sense and tell us what it means in the deep sense. So this is a chapter, “Painting of Rice Cake.”
The most important point in this chapter is to concentrate on “[does] not satisfy hunger”. This is a point: what this means.
And “painting of a rice cake” is also important. “Painting of a rice cake” is, if you want to make a rice cake, you have to use rice, fire, firewood, many things, but simply speaking you have to use rice for making a rice cake.
The same applies to human life. Human beings are produced by five skandhas: form, feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness. Simply speaking, nature, if you want to know nature, nature also is produced by trees, birds, skies, the sun, the moon, etc. If you want to paint nature you have to use watercolors, brush, canvas.
The same applies to Buddha. Buddha is also nothing but the painting of a rice cake, because Buddha is produced by arousing bodhi mind, practice, enlightenment, nirvana. And also if he started to paint his life by means of arousing bodhi mind, practice, enlightenment, nirvana, there are many kinds of buddhas. According to tradition, there are 52 stages of buddhas’ life. Simply speaking, there is arhat, bodhisattvas, and shravaka, pratikabuddhas. So very naturally there are many buddhas. But simply speaking, Buddha painted his life by using the arousing bodhi mind, and practice, enlightenment, nirvana.
We also paint our lives using the five skandhas. All sentient beings, all human beings paint their life using the same things, five skandhas. But when they start to paint their life, naturally there are many kinds of pictures produced by human beings. Using his past life, his heredity, his memories; generally speaking we say karmic life. So very naturally there are many kinds of human beings. But generally speaking, human beings always paint their life by using the five skandhas. But concretely, there are many different kinds of human beings.
So we as a painter, I think the question is within the painter himself or herself, […] what kind of things we as a human being, as a painter use to paint our life. If we use watercolor, so-called present, I think by this color you can paint nature, you can paint your life, but still it’s very narrow; just present life. If you use the color of the present, the past and the future, of course you can paint your life in a broad sense; a little better than the painting of human life in the present only. But still it is pretty egotistic; if you use the past, present, future in terms of individual views, very naturally they are used as individual life, not associated with others, nature, et cetera.
And also past, present, future can be seen in terms of universal perspective, but if they are separated, it’s pretty difficult to paint human life in peace and harmony on your canvas. In other words, past, present, future cannot be settled down on the canvas, connected to each other and settled down in peace, because they are separated on the canvas. So very naturally if you paint your life on the canvas, your life is there, which seems to be real life, but it’s separate, because we don’t feel warmness, compassion; [we don’t feel] associated with other beings. So very naturally, painting your life painted on the canvas never settles down on the canvas in peace and harmony. Which is not alive. It’s dead. It’s cold. It’s realistic only. No hope, no idealistic image of human life [that] bodhisattvas always mention.
So very naturally how should we use the colors? Five skandhas in terms of past, present, future, but they must be connected; they must be used totally, connected with each other.
That is [what a buddha] tries to do. Buddha uses past, present, future in a circle; never separated. So [a buddha] paints his life by using the color of bodhi mind, practice, enlightenment, nirvana, which seems to be time process. Past, present, future, in terms of time process, we should see the development of our practice, the progress of our practice. So very naturally we should reach one by one: bodhi mind, practice, enlightenment, nirvana. But if you paint the buddha’s life like this, just only in terms of the time process, bodhi mind, practice, enlightenment, nirvana, all are separate. Very naturally we have to use those colors totally in harmony, not separated. So within the bodhi mind there is nirvana, within the nirvana the bodhi mind must be found. In practice bodhi mind must be found, and enlightenment must be discovered, nirvana must be alive there. So if you see bodhi mind, it must include practice, enlightenment, nirvana. That is a buddha’s way to paint his life. Understanding of past, present, future, but past is never separate from present, and future is never separate from present. Past, present, future are all connected.
So from this point, what is a human life? What is a human life as a buddha? Human life is nothing but a painting of a rice cake.
What is Buddhism? Buddhism is nothing but a painting of rice cake.
What is the truth of human life? Truth of human life is nothing but painting of human life.
What is a buddha’s teaching? Teaching is nothing but the painting of human life, the universe. That is a teaching.
If so, a painting of rice doesn’t satisfy hunger. Human life is always hungry. We are hungry, always hungry. But this hunger is pretty deep; hunger is not the concept of hunger which your six senses experience. This hunger is something very profound, before you are conscious of it.
So that is the point Buddhism tries to explain, tries to paint the human world, human life. As a philosophy, as a psychology, as a morality, as an ethics, as a precept, as a dhyana, zazen [et cetera].
As a philosophy, that hunger is called emptiness. And sometimes it is [called] interdependent co-origination.
Because hunger is not something you have created. Beyond you want to create or you don’t want to create, we are already hungry. It’s not a bad word in the common sense. It’s not a good word. But we are always hungry.
So beyond a good sense or bad sense, anyway we are hungry, always hungry. And then according to Buddha Shakyamuni’s teaching, it is called suffering; we say suffering.
So suffering comes from the depth of human life, human world, before you are conscious of it. Beyond you like or dislike, anyway suffering is already coming up.
So that is “never satisfy hunger”. This hunger [will] never be satisfied by anything; by your desire, by your success or failure, whatever it is, this hunger will never be satisfied. Always hungry.
But this hunger is very quiet, silent; but it’s pretty dynamic. And also it’s supporting our life deeply, very much.
If you become a painter, you try to produce a masterpiece, but within the masterpiece, the painter is never satisfied. So beyond his accomplishments, there is a hunger, very deep hunger, which encourages him to continue to paint. He never stops; beyond he likes or he doesn’t like. People really appreciate his accomplishments, which should help human life, the human world, in terms of human culture. It’s very helpful for us. But he himself never satisfied. So constantly he tries to produce another masterpiece. So in his life, just the flow of his effort can be discovered.
What makes it possible to carry out the flow of his effort as a painter? It is hunger, his hunger, very deep hunger. It’s suffering. It’s suffering for him, but it’s really great encouragement. That encouragement is actualized as flow of effort, under all circumstances; nurturing his sensibility toward colors, nature’s rhythm of total reality in nature. He is sensible of the nature, sensible of colors, sensible of the activity of nature, activity of colors, activity of his body and mind.
So in a sense it is suffering, but it’s not the usual suffering, because it is very deep, which always encourages us deeply to live, to understand, to hear, to see, under all circumstances. That’s why we cannot escape hunger. We cannot escape from suffering. That’s why if you understand this hunger, how hungry we are, how deep suffering is, then we can discover total freedom.
Total freedom is nothing to satisfy, forever. “Nothing to satisfy” means just flow of energy, flow of life. Activity of life, flow of activity, that’s it. So flow of activity doesn’t have any purpose for its own activities, because activity itself has its own purpose within activity. So there is nothing of the objective purpose, why we have to do this or not; just flow of activity there.
So that is “never satisfy hunger.” But in the common sense, we say “painting of rice cake never satisfy hunger,” that means human life is nothing but the painting. Because by using the words, or experience, culture, material, and body or mind, by using the many things and try to explain our life, but it is nothing but a painting. A painting never satisfies your hunger. So from this point, the human world, what you can see, what you can experience, is nothing but the painting, which is called provisional being. Existence, we say.
If you say “human life which you can see is considered as provisional existence,” it immediately is something separate from a total reality. The total reality is provisional being and also nature, the original nature of existence, all come together and working together. Past, present, future, all come together and work together right now, right here. This is a total reality, or true reality, we can say.
So according to the teaching, we always analyze a picture of human life, the truth, dharma-nature, and also the provisional existence and middle way, according to Tendai teaching. But if you learn this teaching, very naturally human life is put in a lower level than dharma nature, or dharma body, dharmakaya. So [we say] our human body, human life is not important, or we say the human world is dirty. So we naturally put [it], consciously or unconsciously, in a lower level than buddha’s life, bodhisattva life.
This is very common, so-called dualistic. But according to non-dualism, I think there is no particular separation. Non-dualism is complete beyond satisfy or not satisfy, satisfaction or not satisfaction. There is something; that something is true reality. You can see, you can hear, you can deal with it; but if you explain it in a word, it is analyzed: so-called emptiness, and provisional existence, and middle way, temporarily. But this is the explanation. Explanation is nothing but the painting of a rice cake, which never satisfies. But this is not something wrong. The teaching itself is what? Something we should put it in lower level, in comparison with something else. “The painting of rice cake never satisfies” is, unfortunately, it is very sad, very sorry for human beings, because constantly we want to know. So we have to continually explain it, but we cannot escape from this explanation, this way of understanding human life by explaining, by using five skandhas, and teachings, et cetera; past, present, future. But without painting of rice cake, there is no way to realize what truth is.
So where is the truth? Is truth is something separate from painting of rice cake? Or is truth is somewhere beyond the everyday painting of rice cake? Or somewhere, separate from everyday life, painting of rice cake.
This is [where] Dōgen Zenji tries to explain his message little by little, step by step, in a deep sense. It’s a very interesting chapter. Because usually people believe human life we see, we hear, are very contaminated. Unconsciously we take such a view on human life, the human world.
But what does it mean? That’s [what] Kyōgen Zen master mentioned about that. But his answer to the question is pretty deep, because the question was saying something about the self before parents’ birth. Not the self through the six senses or not six senses. Because unconsciously we don’t understand what is the self before your parents’ birth; we don’t understand it. By your consciousness we don’t understand about the self before your parents’ birth. How can we know? So beyond the consciousness or unconsciousness, it is something; we don’t know what it is. Something beyond. “Beyond” means we cannot poke our head into it, but it exactly exists, every day. That’s the point which his teacher asked him. And then his answer to this question is like this. If so, his answer shouldn’t be understood in a narrow sense, in terms of our common sense. There must be something profound. Because this answer comes from the passage of eight years, the space of eight years or ten years.
There are two important points in our experience. There is a thickness of years; years of your practice, [years of your life]. In other words, the time process. That is the one point. Secondly, “thickness of years of your practice” is actualized right now. This is called true reality. In the true reality of your life you have to see the thickness of years of your life; simultaneously it is actualized and alive.
So between actualization of the thickness and the thickness of years, [they are never] separated. But usually we always see seperation; separately we try to judge or understand human life or your life. So if you practice for many, many years, we respect [that], because we always say we practice for many many years, and then that is a measurement, a yardstick of how valuable your practice, your life is. But we don’t pay attention to the actualization of the thickness of years which is alive, day by day.
So very naturally, in terms of just the thickness of years of practice, you can explain it. You can explain it how deep our life is. Sure! But there is something missing. That [thing] missing is to ignore the total actualization of the thickness of the years, day by day, from moment to moment.
Buddha did it; Buddha’s life is exactly like that. Between the two, never [any] separation.
But on the other hand, if you always pay attention to just the actualization of the thickness, we don’t pay attention to the thickness of the years; that means how deep your life is. You just look at the present life, you know? Teacher’s present life, because people respect, so very naturally you put him in a certain high stage. We don’t see the background. Background is philosophy, psychology, physics, ages, circumstances, heredities; many things there.
So it’s very dangerous. If you see human life excessively just in terms of one side, so-called the actualization of your life, or just the thickness of years, you naturally create something dangerous. So very naturally we have to understand the Buddha’s message and ancestors’ sayings.
[Tape change.]
… tell us how we should understand ancestors’ [and] Buddha’s message. Because usually we misunderstand, or usually we understand them in a narrow sense.
So this is a chapter, “Painting of a Rice Cake.” A very interesting chapter.
Then next in the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen Zenji talks about total dynamic working, “The Whole Works” (Zenki). And then next he talks about the Moon (Tsuki). I think this is very interesting here; this chapter, “Painting of a Rice Cake,” focuses on what human life is generally; what the human world is, what the universe is. Universe, buddhas, bodhisattvas; whatever you can see, you can talk [about] – all are nothing but the painting of rice cake, exactly. So it is kind of an abstract explanation of the world. Not “abstract,” you know… a general explanation of the world. And then next, what kind of attitude should we take towards this painting of a rice cake; what kind of attitude is right, appropriate for us? That is Zenki, “The Whole Works.” And next, “The Moon”; then he explains in a concrete way. Painting of rice cake is not abstract explanation of the human world. When you see the Moon, within the Moon there is exactly the vastness of the universe there. When you see the human world in terms of the Moon, everything becomes Moon. So Moon should be seen from many angles; not only the naturalistic point of view, not only the point of view of physics; we have to see the Moon from many angles, and then the Moon is alive in our life. But usually we see the Moon just in terms of one side, or two sides; that’s it. So the Moon is separate from us.
So the Moon is nothing but the painting of a rice cake. But the painting of a rice cake never satisfy hunger. That means the Moon is constantly existing in the universe as flow of activity; that’s it. Beyond satisfaction of human desire or unsatisfaction of desire, completely beyond, Moon is Moon. Then in terms of the Moon, you can see, you can taste what the human world is. The human world is nothing but the painting of a rice cake, which means nothing but flow of activities.
43:27
Let me read the first paragraph (or part). The “Painting of a Rice Cake” will be found in this book, Moon in the Dewdrop.
All buddhas are realization, thus all things are realization, yet it is neither one nature nor one mind. Although it is neither one nature nor one mind, at the moment of realization each single realization actualizes without hindrance. At the moment of actualization, each single actualization comes forth without opposing one another. This is the straightforward teaching of the ancestors.
Do not use the measure of oneness or difference as the criterion of your study. Thus it is said, “To penetrate one dharma is to penetrate myriad dharmas.”
To penetrate one dharma does not take away the orginal nature that one dharma comes from, nor sets one dharma relative nor not-relative. To set it not-relative is a hindrance. When you allow penetration to be unhindered by penetration, one penetration is myriad penetrations. One penetration is one dharma. Penetrating one dharma is penetrating myriad dharmas.
(This is partly from Moon in a Dewdrop, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi, but seemingly modified by Katagiri Roshi.)
“All Buddhas are realization”: “realization” originally is called shō in Japanese, which means literally “verification” or “proof.” Sometimes that is translated as “realization” or “enlightenment.”
So there are three kinds of “enlightenment.” One is “awareness.” Second is the usual sense of enlightenment, satori, we say. The third is shō, “realization” according to the usual translation. So awareness, enlightenment, and shō – verification or realization, we say.
If you analyze, there is a little difference in nuance there. Awareness is still activity, deep activity, deep action, deep activity of consciousness, as a first experience. When you get into the depth of the human world, then you can be aware. Second, enlightenment is the awareness gradually penetrating your body and mind, [your] everyday life, and then its awareness appears; at that time it is called satori or enlightenment, we say. But shō, verification or realization, is a little bit different from of first one, awareness, or [the second,] enlightenment, because it is activity of freedom.
Freedom is completely no restraint; not restrained, in a broad sense. In a narrow sense freedom is to allow individual rights or individual desires. Not individual desire; “individual right” means individual subjectivity, to [grow], to be. That is freedom. No restraint, but in a narrow sense there is an individual right, individual subjectivity to be or to grow. So freedom is kind of in the freedom there is nothing to say; there is nothing to touch it. But on the other hand, within the nothing to touch, there is something to be allowed; so-called individual subjectivity as it is, beyond your desire, et cetera. This is a right. So freedom allows you to have [an] individual right, that is true subjectivity there.
According to Dōgen, this is total manifestation, we say. True subjectivity is just manifestation. Trees [are] just manifestation of the trees, beyond human judgment; that is true subjectivity of the tree. Individual, you: your true subjectivity is complete beyond human judgment, evaluations.
But within that true subjectivity, there is nothing to touch it, nothing to evaluate, nothing to poke into it. But it’s there.
So within the freedom, you have to see both, the two things. Beyond your evaluation, judgment, but there is something important: that is total manifestation. We say gen-jō. Dōgen Zenji uses genjō, which means “actualization” or “manifestation” in immediate present. That is so-called subjectivity.
Within the subjectivity, there is egolessness. Because [there is] nothing to say. Within the egolessness there is a total subjectivity [that] exists. We have to both. That is wisdom, freedom.
So, shō as the realization or verification or proof: I think it means activity of freedom. Activity of freedom.