Shobogenzo Bendowa: Dogen's Questions & Answers – Talk 2
March 12, 1987 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Transcript
This transcript is in draft stage.
0:00
Yesterday I talked about the right entrance of zazen. Zazen is exactly right entrance. Right entrance is not to learn something step by step, but to emulate, to imitate the ancestors’ and buddhas’ doings, exactly.
Dogen Zenji’s whole life was exactly to imitate, to emulate buddhas’ and ancestors’ doings. That is his teaching.
It’s not the parrot’s imitation, but human imitation is to emulate the ancestors’ doings and then you should have your own creative life. Otherwise, the imitation is merely just imitation.
That is human life. So Dogen Zenji, his whole life he just emulated buddhas’ and ancestors’ life, and created his own thought and religious spirit. This is Dogen’s very deep understanding and very stable, immovable practice. [This practice is] open to everyone – beyond sect, beyond religious denominations, beyond races – whoever you are. So his religious life is really creative, based on very deep understanding.
So that’s why he says right entrance.
2:40
Today, I think half of Answer 3 is left, so I will read it. […] Question 3 is:
It may be that zazen as the right entrance derives from the right transmission of the Tathagata’s wonderful means or from following in the path of the patriarchs – it is truly beyond the minds of ordinary men. Though it may be so, ordinary men believe reciting sutras and nembutsu should naturally be causes affecting satori. But to sit idly, doing nothing, how can that be of help in gaining satori?
I think this question implies that we usually think there are differences between ordinary people and genuine persons, or saints.
[…] One of the Zen students, during sesshin in Japan, asked the Zen master, “Is it possible for me as an ordinary man to attain enlightenment?” The teacher immediately said, “How cowardly you are!” “How cowardly you are” means, comparing his life with a saint or superior and [starting to practice], he is already cowardly, because [he is] always judging himself and putting himself down. And that is really cowardly: you cannot go straightly. So that’s why [the Zen master] immediately said, “How cowardly you are!”
All are buddhas, all are enlightened beings, so we can do anything.
And the second [point] in this question is, that we always believe that just sitting is wasting time.
That is the question. So Dogen Zenji says – yesterday we read the beginning…
By picturing as you did a moment ago the unsurpassed great dharma and the samadhi of the buddhas as sitting idly and doing nothing, you malign the Great Vehicle. Your illusion is indeed profound. It is like being in the middle of a great ocean and saying there is no water. Thankfully, buddhas are already sitting serenely in jijuyu samadhi. Does this not constitute extensive merit? It is to be pitied that your eye is not yet opened, that your mind is still drunk.
The spiritual realm of buddhas is totally incomprehensible. It is not to be reached by the workings of the mind, still less can it be known by a man of disbelief or inferior intelligence. Only a person of great capacity based on right faith is able to enter here. Even were a person of disbelief given teachings of it, he would find it difficult to receive them. Even on Vulture Peak there were some the Buddha allowed to leave. If right faith arises in your mind, you should practice religious discipline and study under a master. If it doesn’t arise, you should cease for a while and regret the fact of not receiving the benefits of the dharma from the past.
Besides, what do you know of the merits gained by such practices as sutra recitation and nembutsu? To think merely moving your tongue or raising your voice has the merit of buddha-work is a truly futile notion. To attempt to compare them to the buddha-dharma makes you all the more remote from it. Moreover, the opening of sutra books should be to make clear to you the teachings set forth by the Buddha concerning the principles of the practices for sudden and gradual enlightenment, and to assure realization if you practice according to that teaching. It shouldn’t be uselessly to waste yourself in speculations and discriminations, and then to liken them to merits that will gain you enlightenment. Intending to attain the Buddha way by foolishly working your lips in incessant thousand or ten thousand-fold recitations is just like pointing the thills of your cart north when you want to go south, or like trying to fit a square piece of wood into a round hole. To read the words unaware of the way of practice is just like reading a medical prescription and overlooking to mix the compounds for it. It will be altogether worthless. Lifting your voice in endless recitations is like the frogs in the spring fields croaking from morning to nightfall – no less than before, without benefit. How much more difficult is it to relinquish such things for those deeply deluded by profit and fame – this because of the extreme profundity of their covetousness. Such people were to be found in ancient times, there is no reason they shouldn’t be around today. They are especially pitiful.
Only you must know without fail that the wondrous dharma of the seven buddhas can be received and maintained, with its genuine essence manifested, if a practicer whose mind is in accord with enlightenment closely follows and receives the right transmission from a clear-minded master who has attained the way. There is no way for this to be known by a priest who studies only words. Therefore, you should have done with these uncertainties and illusions, negotiate the way in zazen under the guidance of a true teacher, and gain complete realization of jijuyu samadhi of the Buddhas.
Here, Dogen Zenji [seems to criticize] sutra recitations or nembutsu very sharply, strongly, saying, “To think merely moving your tongue or raising your voice has the merit of buddha work is a truly futile notion.” Or he says, “lifting your voice in endless recitation is like the frogs in the spring fields croaking from morning to nightfall – no less than before, without benefit.” It seems to criticize nembutsu, the Pure Land school, and other Buddhists. But truly, strictly speaking, it is not criticizing the existing Pure Land school or the founder of the Pure Land school, but the people who practice nembutsu chanting or sutra recitation without devoting themselves fully to recite the name of Amitabha. And then those people criticize the people who sit in zazen with shikantaza, just sitting, saying that is wasting time. […] Dogen Zenji criticizes those people who are criticizing zazen [as] a waste of time, because they don’t understand their own practice, reciting nembutsu.
So I think Dogen Zenji tries to wake them up [as to] how they should practice sutra recitation or chanting the name of Amitabha. He tries to wake them up [as to] what [they] are doing – how it depends on the degree, the intention they have in order to chant the name of Amitabha. They truly have to devote themselves to chanting exactly – just like shikantaza.
But they don’t do it, because they don’t understand just sitting. Just sitting is not just sitting. Usually people believe just sitting is total manifestation of the Buddha’s world, without leaving any trace of self-consciousness, beyond time… this is zazen, shikantaza. But people don’t understand this. That’s why those people who chant the name of Amitabha criticize the Zen student who sits with wholeheartedness like this. That’s why Dogen Zenji tries to wake them up.
Chanting the name of Amitabha is not different from shikantaza. It’s exactly the same. If you criticize shikantaza, you don’t understand your [own] practice.
In other words: if I criticize somebody, [saying,] “You are stupid” – who is stupid? I am stupid – because I see [that person] in terms of my views. That’s why first I must be stupid, and then I can see them as stupid. But if I am generous and magnanimous, compassionate, well, I can accept them – so I cannot say “stupid.”
So if they always criticize, [saying,] “Zazen is [just] wasting time,” it is exactly the same as their own practice: their own practice is exactly wasting time. That’s why Dogen Zenji says here, “just croaking in the spring field.” Nothing else.
But usually people understand this paragraph [as] criticizing nembutsu and the Shin school. I don’t think Dogen Zenji criticized the practice of nembutsu or the Shin school founded by Shinran in Japan. Shinran himself devoted himself to chant exactly.
So Dogen’s criticism is quite different: always trying to wake up people who criticize Zen Buddhism, or Shakyamuni, or whoever they are [criticizing].
19:10
And next, finally he says,
How much more difficult is it to relinquish such things for those deeply deluded by profit and fame.
Always we are doing something together with the desire for getting fame and profit, and then you are excited to do something. If there is no sense of desire with profit and fame, you don’t want to do [it].
If you really try to do something in order to get profit and fame, I think you don’t understand this kind of Buddhist practice, just sitting. That’s why Dogen Zenji says, “How much more difficult is it to relinquish such things for those deeply deluded by profit and fame.” Profit and fame means human beings always do something [together with the desire] to get fame, profit, or satisfying self-consciousness, to please the self, constantly.
… this because of extreme profundity of their covetousness.
This is really human beings. That’s why the more an organization is famous and [well-known], very naturally there are lots of temptations of desire to get the fame and profit, et cetera. So very naturally they don’t understand the real spirit of Buddha’s teaching. They believe that they understand Buddhism, that they teach Buddhism, but [it’s] completely off. But they don’t see it.
Such people were to be found in ancient times, there is no reason they shouldn’t be around today. They are especially pitiful.
That’s why, be careful to practice Buddha’s teaching.
So finally, what should we do? So next, he [says],
Only you must know without fail that the wondrous dharma of the seven buddhas can be received and maintained, with its genuine essence manifested, if a practicer whose mind is in accord with enlightenment closely follows and receives the right transmission from a clear-minded master who has attained the way.
Very naturally, it is necessary for us to practice under the guidance of a great teacher. Because Dogen Zenji experienced very strongly, profoundly when he met his teacher in China. So how important it was for him, for everyone. That’s why he [says] here,
There is no way for this to be known by a priest who studies only words. Therefore, you should have done with these uncertainties and illusions, negotiate the way in zazen under the guidance of a true teacher, and gain complete realization of the jijuyu samadhi of the buddhas.
23:27
And next, Question 4:
The teachings of both the Hokke and Kegong schools …
Hokke means the schools of the Lotus Sutra. Kegong [school] means the Avatamsaka Sutra.
… that have been transmitted in Japan to the present time are the ultimate of the Mahayana teachings. Need I mention teachings like that of the Shingon sect…
Shingon sacred tantric school.
… which was transmitted personally by Vairochana Buddha to Vajrasattva, and thus handed down from master to disciple without alteration, centering its exposition upon the sayings “the mind in itself is Buddha” and “this very mind attains Buddhahood.” It teaches that the genuine enlightenment of the Five Buddhas is attained in a single sitting, without going through many kalpas of practice. It could perhaps be termed the Buddha Dharma’s utmost sublimity. In light of this, what are the advantages of the practice you now speak of, that you advance it alone, ignoring all others?
This is also a pretty common question most people have, even now. If you emphasize shikantaza always, without learning anything, how can we save all sentient beings? There are many beings who are starving to death – so all we have to do is to sit down here? So, many people have questions: “It’s ridiculous. We should go somewhere to save somebody.” Or, “we should participate in peace work,” et cetera.
It is true, it is fine. But […] Dogen Zenji [says] in his answer, it is not a matter of [discussing] which of two is important. The point is, wherever you may be, how you should do it. How much your intention is there, in your practice.
[…] “Need I mention teachings like that of the Shingon sect”: Here it says Hokke, Lotus Sutra, which means the Tendai or Tientai sect, based on the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which emphasizes that all three vehicles are one: shravaka, pratika, and bodhisattva, all are one, no discrimination between. That is the Hokke […] teaching, and then on the basis of the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, the Tendai school establishes its own teaching. […]
And the Kegon school is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, which [talks] about Vairochana Buddha, who is the center of the universe, and all sentient beings emerge from illumination of Vairochana Buddha. Just like sometimes you can see Lake Calhoun in the morning covered with mist or fog, you cannot see the other shores. But when the [sun comes out and the fog is decreasing], then the trees on the other shore gradually emerge from the mist. Vairochana Buddha is not a certain creator who creates all sentient beings. No. That’s why all sentient beings emerges from the light of Vairochana Buddha. When Vairochana Buddha illuminates, shines its own daylight, in other words, Vairochana’s light gives forth, then within the illumination of his power or influence, all sentient beings emerge from that. In other words, already all sentient beings exist, the moment when Vairochana Buddha exists. So around Vairochana Buddha, [the] huge universe exists, and within the universe, [many] beings exist. And then when Vairochana Buddha gives forth his light, all sentient beings emerge from this illumination. That’s just like, you can see the trees and houses on the other shore [when the fog decreases] in the morning. So that is Vairochana Buddha, in the center of the universe.
And also [the] Shingon school. I think Shingon tantric Buddhism was really established in Japan. And so they emphasize that the Shingon school is transmitted from Vairochana Buddha to Vajrasattva, [to] Nagarjuna, and to Kobo Kukai, the founder of the Shingon school in Japan. So they emphasize that their lineage is exactly transmitted from generation to generation. So that’s why it is very nice Buddhism.
It teaches that the genuine enlightenment of the Five Buddhas is attained in a single sitting, without going through many kalpas of practice. It could perhaps be termed the Buddha Dharma’s utmost sublimity.
In Shingon, I think your human body, human mind, [are] simultaneously buddha. No discrimination between.
In light of this, what are the advantages of the practice you now speak of, that you advance it alone, ignoring all others?
32:41
Answer 4:
You should know that for a Buddhist, it is not a matter of debating the superiority or inferiority of one teaching or another, or of choosing the depth or superficiality of the teaching that matters. All we have to know is whether the practice is authentic or not.
Whether the practice is real, sincere, or true, or not. [Whether] your practice is really devoted, really manifested fully, or not. That is the most important.
So if you see the human world, if you sit in zazen in this world, I think most people think it is wasting time, [and] we should go somewhere to save the people who are [in trouble]. That is already we are comparing two things, which is important. That is really debating: superiority or inferiority, which is good, which is bad. But if you think [of the] human world like this, endlessly you have to debate, and no answer.
So what you have to do is, […] to know who you are, what your position is, what you can do, what you cannot do. And then, if you see something even slightly, even just a small deal, I think the important point is, you should do it, while reflecting upon yourself whether your practice is really sincere or devoted fully.
That is [what] Dogen Zenji [says] here. This is really compassion. It’s really compassionate.
But usually, different denominations are always discussing about [whether] Christianity is pretty deep [or] Christianity is not deep, always discussing about [the] teaching. But if you compare – if you have, say, a conference to debate which schools are the best teaching in this world – [then] endlessly you have to [debate], and also you will see no conclusion.
So that’s why I [said], I think finally what we have to do is to practice sincerely with true heart, whoever you are, whatever denomination you belong to. Even if you don’t believe any religion, or you don’t belong to any religion, anyway what you have to do is to take best care of your life with a sincere heart! And then, you will really understand. Then you will understand religion or spiritual life, even [if] you don’t belong to [one].
So [what Dogen Zenji says] is exactly universal to people who seek for the spiritual life, or not.
37:05
Men have flowed into the Buddha way, drawn by grasses and flowers, mountains and running water. Holding earth, rocks, sand, and pebbles, they have grasped completely the Buddha seal. Need it be said, vast great words are imprinted on all things in nature, and are still abundant.
I think we can attain enlightenment through pebbles, grasses, flowers, mountains, running waters – even words. So vast and great words are imprinted on all things in nature and are still abundant. But if you understand, if you deal with the words which [are not superior], well, I think you never know how important words are. So the great opportunity to realize what the truth is, great opportunity to live up to a state of true existence – there are many opportunities in grasses, in flowers, mountains, running waters, everywhere. So that’s why Dogen Zenji [says this] here.
A single mote of dust also is enough to turn the great Dharma Wheel.
I think in the Tendai or Tientai teachings, they emphasize “the three thousand worlds in a single thought in a moment.” So [as in that], Dogen Zenji mentions here, “a single mote of dust also is enough to turn the great Dharma Wheel.” So,
Because of this, the words “the mind in itself is Buddha” are but the moon in the water. “The heart of sitting itself is attaining Buddha” is likewise a reflection in a mirror. Do not get caught up in skillful words.
So words are very skillful. If you don’t pay attention to them carefully, you are completely carried away. But if you pay attention to them, words give you great opportunity to realize the true state of existence.
That’s why Dogen Zenji says, the words “the mind in itself is Buddha” is still a shadow, it is still the moon in the water. It’s not the real moon, it is still a shadow of the moon. “The heart of the sitting itself is attaining Buddha” is likewise a reflection in a mirror.
So still, whatever you say – “we are Buddha” – we say so in words, but it is still a shadow of existence. So that’s why [he says], “Do not get caught up in skillful words.”
Not only the words. Through the practice of zazen, through studying Buddhism, then you experience the truth which we are buddha. And then immediately we believe this is, “I realize the truth, we are Buddha.” But it is nothing but a shadow of experience. You have to really penetrate the true state of experience you have had, through and through. In order to do this, I think we have to go beyond the trace of experience we have had.
But usually we are bogged down with experience… feelings. Feeling and experience is important for us, but [the real thing] is going beyond them. Otherwise you are really tricked by words, experience, feelings, et cetera. And finally, you are confused.
[Tape change.]
… Now to advance the practice of direct realization of enlightenment, I indicate to men the wondrous Way buddhas and patriarchs have all transmitted the dharma from one to another, with the intention that they should become real men of the Way.
This is Buddha’s compassion. Buddha always mentions how to get to the other shore directly and straightly, as best as you can. This is a teaching, anyway – in words.
And then we try to understand his teaching. And then if you understand the point of his teaching, then you say, “I attain enlightenment. I am Buddha. I am enlightened.” But this is nothing but a shadow of a teaching.
The real spirit of the teaching is to let you be true men of the way, the universe. Way means the universe or the truth. […] Based on freedom, the spirit of freedom.
So that is Buddha’s compassion. Buddha’s compassion is nothing but the intention that they try to let the human being to be true human body and mind. That is Buddha’s teaching.
44:33
Moreover, in the receiving and transmitting of the buddha-dharma, it is absolutely necessary to take as teacher one who is stamped with realization. A word-counting scholar will not do, for that would be like one blind man leading a troop of blind men.
Well, this is what we always do. That is the usual case. Even though we practice, actually, we are always leading the people like this.
Individually, we believe we teach Buddha’s teaching. But I don’t know if it is true or not.
Not only the scholar, but also the [practitioner] too. There are many practitioners, Buddhists, not only in the United States, but also in Japan, wherever you may go.
Now, all students who follow the right transmission of buddhas and tathagatas are directed to revere the clear-sighted master who has attained the Way and is in accord with realization, and to maintain the buddha-dharma.
The point is, to make every possible effort to maintain buddha-dharma, truth. In other words, profound sublimity: how sublime human life is – under all circumstances, not particular circumstances.
That is called compassion. We have to receive it, and transmit it. That is called buddha-mind, or buddha- dharma, we say. Or generally speaking, we say truth.
Since this is so, the spirits of the realms of light and darkness also come to him and take refuge; enlightened arhats as well come to seek the Dharma.
That means all sentient beings come to practice, if you do it. Beyond sectarianism, beyond races.
None are excluded from being taught the means for illuminating the mind. This is something unheard of in other teachings. Followers of Buddha should simply learn the buddha-dharma.
So, the point is, Dogen Zenji [says] again here how important [it is that] you have to see the true teacher. And under whom, you have to practice. Because this is an important point Dogen Zenji really experienced when he went to China. That’s why he always mentions [this] here and there in his works.
48:12
You should also know that basically we lack nothing of highest enlightenment. Though we are forever endowed with it, since we are unable to be in complete accord with it, we have a way of giving rise to random intellections, and by chasing them as if they were real, we stumble vainly on the great Way. Because of these intellections, flowers in the air of various kinds appear: thoughts of a twelve linked chain of transmigration, or of realms of twenty-five forms of existence, views of three vehicles, five vehicles, Buddha, no-buddha – they are endless. You shouldn’t think that learning such intellectualizations is the right path of practice in the buddha-dharma.
But when you now totally cast aside all things and single-mindedly do zazen in accordance with the buddha-seal, then, beyond the realms of illusion and enlightenment, sentiments and calculations, untouched by the difference of unenlightened and enlightened, you immediately walk at ease beyond established forms and regulations and employ great enlightenment. What have those enmeshed in the traps and snares of words and letters to compare to this?
So, Dogen Zenji says, behind the words, what does the Buddha or ancestors try to tell us? Not words. Words are very skillful, very tricky. So if you don’t deal with them properly, you are caught by them. But if you really use words deeply, it really helps you so much.
So […] behind the words, or within the words, I think what we have to do is […] to maintain [the] buddha-seal. Buddha-seal means we are already buddha. There is lack of nothing; Dogen Zenji says, we “lack nothing of highest enlightenment.” We are buddha is complete beyond we are perfect or not perfect. This is called buddha.
So, I think we don’t understand who we are totally by our self-consciousness, we don’t understand it. Self-consciousness always evaluates whether we are complete or we are incomplete, or good or bad. But [the point that] we are buddha means that we are complete beyond this – completion or incompletion, self-consciousness. Or time; beyond time.
[…] This is Dogen’s teaching, but I think this teaching is open to anyone. Sportsmen, artists, whoever they are – actually, they experience this, exactly. But it seems to be a little easier [for them] to experience this, because their territory is a little bit limited. So-called mountains: the object is rock mountains, so all they have to do is to face the mountains and climb. So very naturally, they can devote ourselves totally to the mountains. Then, finally they become adept, through the experience of going beyond self and time, and experiencing the fascinating energies back and forth between the mountains and climbers, which no one stops. Naturally, they can become an adept mountaineer.
But spiritual life doesn’t have any particular objects, so-called mountains, or art, et cetera, that’s why you have to have the object of the universe. You have to have the universe, all sentient beings as the object. That’s a really vast and big object! You don’t know how to deal [with it]. That’s why we don’t know how to devote ourselves totally – how to devote ourselves to deal with all sentient beings, and life and death, and experiencing those great energies back and forth between you and universe. We don’t know! It’s pretty hard. That’s why most people say it is wasting time.
But – you can do it.
How? When? Where?
This is zazen. Exactly.
55:32
During sesshin, I think you should be more careful to deal with your behavior. When the zazen is over, I think your action is very rough… moving to the right, to the left, very quick and rough. I think Fukanzazengi mentions that you cannot do that, because you have been calm during the sitting, so you cannot move quickly. So slowly, you should move. And also, you shouldn’t loudly sigh, or cough, or blowing your nose, et cetera. As best as you can, you should make the sound small.
If you sigh always, I think you lose the energy. Because zazen is not the cause of losing your energy; the sighing you have made is the cause of losing energy. And also, [it is] interrupting others. So, even though you think it is hard, I think you shouldn’t sigh loudly. It’s really interrupting.
And also, I think you should forget. Forget means you should throw away all things. “I am qualified to become Buddhist” or “I am qualified to attain enlightenment” or not – it’s completely something else, secondary. You should throw away anything, and then all you can do is just sit down, totally. That’s what Buddha [says], [what] ancestors [say] constantly. That is simultaneously trusting you, accepting you as a buddha.
If I explain philosophically, it is explainable, according to Buddha’s teaching. Particularly according to the theory of cause and effect, it is exactly [explainable]. “If you do [zazen] even a moment, you become buddha” – it is very theoretical. But if I explain theoretically, you are just cheated by the intellectual understanding of Buddha’s teaching. That’s why without explanation, you should taste it – practically. Do something with wholeheartedness. This is nothing but progress, great progress. How much progress? You cannot know – because it is Buddha’s progress. The progress which you can see is not Buddha’s progress. It is not to receive the truth you are Buddha. To receive [that] you are Buddha is great progress.
So, no kyosaku. Actually, no teaching. All you have to do is just sitting, all day. But it’s pretty hard for us. That’s why we have a meal, and you can have an opportunity to go to the bathroom, and to sleep, and also to have lectures. But if you go to [a Rinzai sesshin], there is no sleep. You have to sit all night, for seven days. Of course, they feed you. But no sleep. No lecture.
But this is a little easier practice. [Someone laughs.] Just sitting is comfortable, nothing to do – but it’s pretty hard. It’s really hard. But this is great medicine for us. Okay?