Baika: Plum Blossoms – Talk 2
December 3, 1988 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Katagiri Roshi: Good morning.
“Plum Blossoms,” page 114.
My late master Tiantong was the thirtieth abbot of Tiantong Jingde Monastery, renowned Mt. Taibo, Gingyuan Prefecture, Great Song. He ascended the seat and taught the assembly:
Tiantong’s first phrase of mid-winter:
Old plum tree bent and gnarled
all at once opens one blossom, two blossoms,
three, four, five blossoms, uncountable blossoms,
not proud of purity,
not proud of fragrance;
spreading, becoming spring,
blowing over grass and trees,
balding the head of a patch-robed monk.
Whirling, changing into wind, wild rain,
falling, snow, all over the earth.
The old plum tree is boundless.
A hard cold rubs the nostrils.(From Moon in a Dewdrop, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi.)
First, Dōgen quotes one of his teachers, Nyojō [Rújìng]’s preaching. He did [this] in the mid-winter, which means winter solstice, [around] December 21st or 22nd.
I think yesterday I mentioned the plum blossom, plum tree, here is not the usual meaning of the plum tree, because the Zen master Dōgen Zenji met in China had a dream to get the plum tree from one of the outstanding Zen teachers, Daibai Hōjō Zen Master, saying, “Do not withhold this plum tree if you see a man coming from a boat” – [that is,] coming from a foreign country, which means Dōgen. And also Dōgen had the same dream on the way to return to his monastery, getting the same plum trees from the Zen teacher in his dream. That’s why in the dharma transmission, I think the paper has a design of plum tree. So that plum blossom means the symbol of dharma-nature or buddha-nature.
So then let’s read this poem.
And also broadly speaking, I think if you see the usual flower, if you see usual trees growing in nature, I think you have to feel the spirit and heart of the flowers and trees. Otherwise, you cannot be one with nature, you cannot receive nature as it is and take care of it as it is. Very naturally we hurt nature, flowers, trees, if we don’t understand the spirit and heart of the trees and flowers. So at any cost, the question is, what is the heart of the tree? What is the heart of the flowers?
I think in Japan, one of the Japanese [cultural forms], flower arrangement, teaches always dealing with the spirit and heart of the flowers, otherwise you cannot arrange the flowers as they are. So I think from this chapter you will understand the heart of the flowers – what is the heart of the flowers – or trees, or nature.
But anyway, the main point in this chapter is the symbol, talking about, speaking of the symbol of dharma-nature or Buddha nature.
06:41
So here (again) is the poem composed by [Rujing], Dōgen’s teacher:
Tiantong’s first phrase of mid-winter:
Old plum tree bent and gnarled
all at once opens one blossom, two blossoms,
three, four, five blossoms, uncountable blossoms,
not proud of purity,
not proud of fragrance;
spreading, becoming spring,
blowing over grass and trees,
balding the head of a patch-robed monk.
Whirling, changing into wind, wild rain,
falling, snow, all over the earth.
The old plum tree is boundless.
A hard cold rubs the nostrils.
I think Dōgen will comment on this later, but today I would like to explain simply.
Tiantong’s first phrase of mid-winter:
I think in China in the monastery they had a custom of giving a Dharma talk on the day of winter solstice, because it is a very important time and occasion when, in the Chinese calendar, “Yin” is completely over, and turned into [Yang]… What would you call it in Chinese?
People: Yin and Yang.
Katagiri Roshi: Yin and Yang. (Transcriber’s Note: Katagiri Roshi pronounces yin like “in”.) So the winter solstice is a time when Yin turns into Yang. That means Yin has become complete, and then when something is complete it turns into something else. Because the white becomes complete, white, I think white passes through the white to freedom, called bluish, something like that. That is called Yang. So Yang and Yin are never separate. The beginning of the Yang is completion of Yin. So that’s why this day is very important in the monastery in China.
So he says “Tiantong’s first phrase”: “first phrase” doesn’t means “the first time”; his talk is not the first time in this case. “First phrase” means strength which emerges from the person’s whole lifetime. Dōgen Zenji says “one phrase” – a single phrase or term is the strength of one’s whole lifetime. This is “one phrase”. So within the one phrase or one word, the strength of a person’s whole lifetime can be found, can be seen. That’s why one phrase, one word is important for us.
That means “one phrase” based on coming from one’s whole lifetime is a total manifestation of personality – total personality – which one has taken care of for a long time. So that is related with the past; his past life, present life, future life, and connected with the myriad, myriad conditions and cause and effect. That is “one phrase” and “one word”.
So that’s why language is important. Language is very important; you have to be careful to use [it], and also it must be coming from the quality of a person’s whole lifetime. That is one word.
So “Tiantong’s first phrase of mid-winter”: I think he shows a total manifestation of his presence based on his past life, present life, and future life. On the important occasion called Winter Solstice, when the Yin becomes complete and turns into Yang.
So that is the first [line].
13:37
Old plum tree bent and gnarled
First he says, “Old plum tree bent and gnarled.” I think the shape of this old plum tree is very thorny, and winding, and also intricate.
Have you ever seen a plum tree? A plum tree in Japan is quite different from here. Did you? Did you see the plum tree? Very old, very thorny, and bending, and winding; pretty interesting trees. You can see plum trees in Japan in many places. Anyway, that is the “gnarled” shape of the tree, the branches, very gnarled, thorny, winding, and very intricate.
“Old” means in this case, in Buddhism, particularly in Zen, old means not only old, but also it means Buddha, and also, how can I say, this is the state of existence prior to the parent’s birth, or the self prior to the parent’s birth. That is old.
Roshi means old teacher, literally. But this means not merely old but also it is mature; a mature state of existence, and also the person prior to parent’s birth, or Buddha. This is “old”. That’s why Roshi is a very respectful… not title… what would you call it?
In Rinzai [Zen], I think this “Roshi” is completely an official title. If you attain enlightenment, you are given, Roshi’s title, “Roshi” is given by teacher. A very official title. But in Sōtō Zen, I think “Roshi” is not a title, but it’s something coming from all sentient beings, nature. I mean that people around naturally respect somebody else; even though you don’t know who he is or she is, if you see him or her, very naturally you respect, feeling, a spirit of respectfulness coming out. At that time, you can naturally bow to him or her. That is the name “Roshi” naturally coming up. It’s kind of a title people give naturally, people call you naturally “Roshi”, and “sensei”, and “teacher”, and something like that. So in Sōtō Zen, “Roshi” is given by nature. Given by nature, given by all sentient beings – not only human beings, human beings and also all sentient beings. Then this is real “Roshi”.
So first he says, “Old palm tree bent and gnarled.” He showed this old plum tree, and here it is: that means each one of [you], all of your presence. Here is a cushion, here is a vase, […] or here is a gong, here is a tape recorder, here is a Katagiri, here is a you. Or trees, birds, all sentient beings; everything. If you sit zazen, this is “here it is, old plum tree” – exactly the same as [that].
Bodhidharma says, “One flower blooms with five petals, and effect is ripening of its own accord.” [This is] in the chapter of Kuge, “Flowers in the Sky,” “Flowers in the Emptiness.” So one “flower blooms with five petals.” When the one flower blooms, very naturally five petals should open simultaneously. Without five petals blooming, there is no one flower blooming.
So “one flower blooming” is the individual presence [opening]. Not only human beings; your life, and also table’s and floor’s life opens. This is “one flower”. And the cushions and everything, your clothes, your toilet paper; all things bloom as one flower. At that time, the presence of one flower should be connected very closely with the five petals. “Five petals” means all things which the world holds; it means phenomenal things. Conditions; many, myriad, myriad conditions; past, present, future; visibly and invisibly. So in order to let the one flower exist right now, around the one flower there are many, many beings that exist. Without these beings, conditions, other beings, one flower couldn’t exist, cannot exist. So your one flower is your existence, my existence, table’s existence.
Whatever you do, in business or in the organization, we try to do something. For instance I always say this example, we try to set up the fire escape. [Some laughter.] We have discussed this for many, many years. Finally we got the fire escape that is ready-made, simple, metal fire escape. You can see it over there. Before that, we tried to talk about the fire escape: what kind of fire escape, what is the budget, you know? And then we made the blueprint. But nothing happened. Finally we got this ready-made, simple […] fire escape.
So whatever you want to do, in order to let the one thing exist, right now, perfectly, you need lots and lots of conditions and all sentient beings’ help. Otherwise, you cannot do anything.
Do you understand what I mean?
So your presence is the event – so-called “setting up a fire escape” should [be connected] very closely to many, many conditions. Not only the money; the human effort. And also not only the disorganization; Minnesota, and Minnesotans’ characters, winters, and all things, connected to individual characters. And then the one thing happens; [it] exists.
So I think if you [look at] this situation, the fact that you can attend this sesshin is very important for you. You shouldn’t use this important opportunity carelessly, because in order to make this opportunity perfect, I think you should realize there are many beings to support this, to make it complete. Do you understand what I mean? Otherwise, no matter how long with your head you want to attend to this sesshin or not, you cannot do it. But this is a fact; you have attained this sesshin already.
The same applies to the presence of everything. That is, [Rujing] says first, “Old plum tree bent and gnarled.” Here it is. Or Bodhidharma says, “One flower blooms with five petals.” That means the whole world blooms. The whole world bloomings should be found in the realm of “one flower blooms.” The many beings should be seen in the realm of one flower, so-called attending this sesshin. At that time your sesshin or your presence is very important, very valuable.
That is called Kuge in Japanese, “flowers in the sky”. But generally “flowers in the sky” is not a good term, because generally Buddhism uses this term as a delusion created by your cataracted eye. Or something, if you sit down in zazen facing wall, and the nerve of your eye is getting tired, tired, very naturally you can see the lights and the white and the blue and red lights, you can see. And sometimes the little spots create faces of animals, faces of girlfriends, et cetera. So that is called “flowers in the sky” created by cataracted eye. So that is a delusion.
In other words, consciousness always sees something, but we don’t see the something as it is. Because according to the system of cognition, I think if you see the tape recorder, tape recorder is immediately assimilated with the sense organ. And then consciousness participates in this assimilation with this tape recorder, and consciousness thinks and judges and evaluates it: so-called “tape recorder”. So what does consciousness understand? Consciousness understands the image of the tape recorder, reflected in the mirror of sense organs. This is reality, this is the [truth]. That’s why according to Buddhist psychology we call doku [yi] kyo. Doku (獨) means “alone”, by “itself”. [In] means “shadow”. Kyo means “object”, and “circumstances”. So very naturally consciousness creates shadow. In other words, consciousness projects its own shadow to the tape recorder, and understands it, and creates circumstances. This is our life.
So that’s why we cannot actually, we cannot see anything as it is. This is characteristic of consciousness, according to Buddhist psychology.
But Dōgen Zenji says, “No, no, no. That understanding is not based on the teaching given by Buddha Shakyamuni saying that I and all sentient beings attain enlightenment simultaneously.” In other words, we are Buddha. “We are Buddha” means all sentient beings are Buddha, including the image of the tape recorder reflected in the mirror of sense organs. It is not a delusion, it is not a perverted view, it is one of decorations of the Buddha’s world.
So that is also Buddha. And also when you see anything, and something is reflected in the mirror of your sense organs, it is Buddha. That is what Dōgen emphasizes in the chapter of “Flowers in the Sky”. Because that is what the Buddha mentioned 2500 years ago.
30:13
Old plum tree bent and gnarled
all at once opens one blossom, two blossoms,
three, four, five blossoms, uncountable blossoms,
not proud of purity,
not proud of fragrance;
This is according to Bendōwa, Dōgen says, “make myriad beings exist in realization.” Realization means make all phenomenal existence be in the realm of the big scale of the world, so-called Buddha world.
But usually we don’t do it; we always make this table exist in the realm of individual understanding. But Dōgen Zenji says that we make all phenomenal existence exist in the realm of the Buddha’s world, the biggest scale of the world.
So that is because when the one flower of Katagiri blooms, at that time many beings exist around the one flower of Katagiri. They are exactly same as the one flower of Katagiri blooming. Otherwise one flower cannot exist.
So if I emphasize my existence, I think we should accept others’ existence too. Because it’s impossible to accept my existence without accepting others.
We can explain this… If you try to understand the human world deeply, I think you should see the world and human beings in terms of the time process. And if you constantly chop [up] the time, and you think the time sooner or later disappears. Probably. But while you are chopping the time process, I think it’s impossible to let the time disappear, because you’re still chopping it. Do you understand?
“Chopping” means… let’s look at one line, let’s imagine this is time. You can chop from the both edges, moving toward the center. And then finally you say [there is] no time, because you are chopping constantly and then time disappears. That is our sense; according to our sense we believe in that way. But while you are chopping, time exists. You cannot stop chopping, anyway [he laughs] – time. Because time is always there.
So constantly chopping, but we could imagine the shortest period of time, the very shortest period of time. I don’t know how can I call it. Maybe scientists, physicists can give you a number, but I don’t know. But if you arrive at the very, very shortest period of time, that time is no longer time. It’s space. “It’s space” means it’s being. Just being. Being means what is just is.
So what’s there? What’s there when you come to arrive at the shortest period of time? Is there time? [Probably,] but that time passes through the time to freedom, so no time. But it’s time there, but you cannot say “time”. Because the completion of time turns into space. So just being.
So if you see this grass, we always see “this is grass, grass, grass,” but this is the idea we create by our consciousness in the time process. But if you see this grass in terms of the very, very shortest period of time, it doesn’t have a form. It doesn’t have a form. It’s transparent. It’s completely transparent. So-called, “what it just is”.
Everything exists like that.
So that moment, that shortest period of time, [can] never be connected to another shortest period of time. It’s completely independent. Because it becomes space. It’s spreading into every inch of space, occupying the whole world. That’s why time [is] never connected to another different time. No. [A] single time is completely independent. That’s it.
So your life is completely independent. Others’ life, table’s life, is completely independent. So all things which are existent, perfectly independent, exist in the whole world. So many beings exist in that way.
At that time we can communicate very smoothly, without interruption. That is function or working of interdependent co-origination, according to Buddhist teaching.
In the time process it’s impossible to think, “Table and Katagiri are communicating very smoothly without interrupting anything.” We cannot believe it, with our senses. But if you come to this shortest period of time, which is nothing but space occupying whole world, everything becomes very smoothly interdependent, interconnected, interpenetrated. That is what the Buddhist teaching always says.
I always say [it’s] just like Casper. In the childrens’ comic, Casper always goes through the walls and [is helping] people’ lives, and [they are] helping each other. Just like that. This is our original nature of existence. That’s why everything exists in peace and harmony.
So finally if you want to be peaceful and harmonious in this world, anyway you come to this. You come to arrive at the shortest period of time, which is called silence. Perfect silence.
Silence is very incipient opportunity. You have to come back to source. Source means, when you do gassho, I think in the beginning, the action called gassho has a beginning to end in terms of time process. So you have to come back to the source, very incipient moment. Then, you become silent. At that time gassho and you are connected, very smoothly. Interdependent, interconnected.
So in order to be peaceful, in order to live peacefully and harmoniously, you must be independent, perfectly. Occupying the whole world; and then you understand people’s life. You can communicate very peacefully.
This is our practice.
So zazen is a very simple practice: [it is] this.
Then you will understand the next line: “all at once opens one blossom, two blossoms, three, four, five blossoms, uncountable blossoms.” Everything is open, blooms. Flower of tape recorder, flower of a cushion, flower of tables, flower of book, open simultaneously when Katagiri’s flower blooms.
So that’s why it says here, “Old plum tree bent and gnarled.” That is old plum tree’s presence, right now. Simultaneously, all at once, everything: one flower, two flowers, myriad, myriad flowers open. That’s what it says here.
41:48
Then next,
not proud of purity,
not proud of fragrance;
So very naturally, because everything – cushions, tape recorders, trees, snow, all things – come together and are interdependent and interconnected, interpenetrated, smoothly. That’s why each of existence doesn’t have its own ego sense – so-called I – arise. So Katagiri’s presence, that’s it.
That’s why “not proud of purity, not proud of fragrance,” old plum tree blooms and is spreading, and wonderful fragrance gives forth all around, but it isn’t proud of itself.
So not proud of fragrance, and,
spreading, becoming spring,
blowing over grass and trees,
So fragrance is spreading all over, and creates a wonderful scenery of spring. And sometimes it becomes spring wind and helps the grasses and trees grow.
That is fragrance, the plum tree isn’t proud of itself. That fragrance penetrates.
You can experience this. When you sit down in zazen, with proper posture and taking care of breathing perfectly, people who don’t know what zazen is are very moved by it. The fragrance of zazen is spreading all over, and creates a scenery of spring. And sometimes it becomes wind and lets the grasses and trees and many beings grow. So that’s why zazen practice is exactly to experience this one.
So “spreading, becoming spring, blowing over grass and trees.”
[Tape change.]
… to ego sense, so-called I, arise. The essential factors arise and perish constantly, but they don’t say “I arise.” The essential factor arises and perishes without leaving any concept, any frame behind arising. Just arising, and just perishing. That’s it.
Just like a bird dies, and it just dies. But human beings die, and lots of words and screams there. But the original nature, original state of your existence is constant arising, perishing without leaving any sense, any concept behind arising, perishing. So that’s it.
That’s why Ryokan says, “When you die, please die peacefully.” When you meet the earthquake, you see just earthquake. When you have to die in the earthquake, please die. In other words, please accept the earthquake and take care of the earthquake, with compassion and kindness.
So that is, here is says,
balding the head of a patch-robed monk.
So nothing to hold, nothing to grasp, nothing to pin down what it is.
Just like Bodhidharma was asked by the Emperor Wu, “What is the merit of building Buddhist temples and educating Buddhist nuns and Buddhist monks?” And then Bodhidharma said, “No merit.”
And then Emperor Wu asks him, “What is the essence of Buddhism?” Because if there is no merit, if you practice Buddhism and study Buddhism it’s nonsense for him, for us. So he asks, “What is the essence of Buddhism?” What does Buddhism try to teach us? So Bodhidharma says, “Vastness and nothing holy.” That is exactly “balding head”; “balding the head of a patch-robed monk.”
Zen Buddhist monks shave their head; that has some meaning. That’s why Dōgen Zenji mentions constantly shave the head. Constantly shave the head, lifetime after lifetime, in order to be free from karmic life.
48:40
Whirling, changing into wind, wild rain,
falling, snow, all over the earth.
So “changing into wind, wild rain” – I think all of a sudden the world changes. In many ways; sometimes snowstorm, sometimes sunny days, sometimes rainy days; sometimes melancholy, sometimes pensive, sometimes sickness.
Some person gets sickness all of a sudden. You can see the picture in the Buddha Hall. The person is [Yutaka Ishii], Japanese. He’s still young, a gentleman who used to live here and practice with us. He’s afflicted with throat cancer. So he cannot eat food with his mouth, [so they] put a tube in his stomach and food comes through the tube. So, all of a sudden.
Even though you are young, there is no guarantee you will live longer than I. I am older, older than you, but there is no guarantee you will live longer than I. Maybe next day; we don’t know.
That is “falling and changing into wind.” I think this means not only the disaster, the earthquake, and spring, and winter, [but] also changing into the table, changing into the gassho, changing into the zazen; many things changing.
And,
falling, snow, all over the earth.
So whatever, gassho and kinhin, practice of walking meditation, is just like snow all over. That means it’s very pure, simple practice. Simple practice. When you do gassho, just gassho is there. Like snow, like snow.
But usually we do gassho and immediately there are lots of delusions, thoughts, many beings around there. But essentially your gassho must be just like snow. That is oneness, returning to the source, and then you become silence. When you do gassho, just gassho is independent. Next, walking meditation, it is independent perfectly, and then it becomes just standing and walking in the snow. This is our practice.
52:45
So “falling snow all over the earth,” and then,
The old plum tree is boundless.
A hard cold rubs the nostrils.
“The old plum tree is boundless.” This is [that] boundlessly and endlessly, I think there is a pure sense of energy there. Buddha’s world means kind of momentum of time, momentum of energy, beyond your senses. That is sometimes called “the state of existence prior to [your] parent’s birth.” Because you are there, but you cannot touch it with your experiences, with your consciousness. But you are always supported and helped by it, within it.
So boundlessly and endlessly it goes, a very pure sense of energy and time is going, and creating and dying, originating and perishing, always. That is Buddha’s world.
Even though you don’t like death, well, when death comes, you have to die. And tomorrow, even though you don’t like tomorrow, I think when tomorrow comes, you have to be.
Tomorrow comes, moment comes, always there is momentum, a pure sense of momentum of time and energy there. So even though you think with your head about dying, it is not real dying. When you are dying, I think dying is perfectly silent, nothing to say. You must be one with the dying, so nothing to say.
But when you see it, when you think of it with your head, it’s really hard for us. Because consciousness immediately picks up that situation and sees it objectively, objectifies it, that’s why it is very hard to accept that situation. But actually, strictly speaking, all we have to do is just to be right in the midst of dying, which is perfectly silent.
That is the momentum of the pure sense of time and energy we have, all sentient beings possess. So that is “boundless” - boundless and endless.
A hard cold rubs the nostrils.
If that momentum of pure time and pure energy is helping us and exists actually it is something abstract, but I don’t think it is. It is something real. So the last line says, “A hard cold rubs the nostrils.” That means in the winter time, just like a cold winter like Minnesota, walking on the street, you say, “Oh, how cold today!” Then you rub the nose, you know, and then you can see the nasal secretions [he laughs] on your hands, if you rub your nose like this. And then, even the nasal secretions becomes old plum tree’s fragrance. [He laughs.] It’s tasting sour; the palm fruit is very sour.
And that means the old plum trees penetrate everywhere. That means momentum of time and energy, pure energy, penetrates every inch of the world. Every inch of your pores. So that’s why wherever you rub it, you taste it. A sour taste there.
This is our life. That’s why when you let the flower of your life bloom today, right now, as the sesshin or zazen, there are many beings that exist simultaneously. One flower, two flowers, myriad, myriad flowers bloom simultaneously. And then, that is connected with your life. So you can taste it. Even though you rub the nostrils, you can taste this fragrance and also sour taste.
That is what [Rujing] said here.
58:54
So in the Shoyoroku (Book of Serenity) number 99, I think there is a simple question and answer.
A monk asked Yun Men, “What is every atom samadhi?”
Every atom samadhi – jin jin samadhi, we call it. Jin jin means a single dust [particle], every single [particle of] dust samadhi. That means when you yawn, there is every single dust exists. Gassho, this is every single dust, and walking and talking; every aspect of human life is nothing but every single [particle of] dust, appearing from moment to moment. At that time, [that] you must dwell in samadhi means you have to receive this every single [particle of] dust and take care of it, becoming with wholeheartedness. That is called jin jin samadhi, “every single dust samadhi”.
So [it] says,
A monk asked Yun Men, “What is every atom samadhi?”
Yun Men said, “Rice in the bowl, water in the bucket.”
[He laughs.] That answer is really not “fun”, not exciting. Because rice in the bowl, water in the pitcher – not an exciting answer. So this is gassho; that is manifestation of every single dust samadhi. And zazen, and walking, and studying like this. And then finally you can realize the old plum tree is boundless, you can realize the presence of momentum of pure time, pure energies.
How do you get it? That is Bodhidharma’s nine years sitting at Shaolin Temple.
So nine years sitting at Shaolin temple is nothing but boundless old plum tree, [the] boundless working of momentum of pure time, pure energy, [that] you have. So this is the zazen you do.
I just use the term “momentum of time and energy”. We call in in Japanese “ki”. I think we chant the sutra at noon, the Jijuyu Zanmai, we call “ki”. The “ki” is “opportunity” – literally – or “device”, a piece of a device, like a machine. Or opportunity; opportunity is… well, time, you can create… not create, you can… how can I say. Ki is [that] you can create not only by you, you can create a ki by you and your object. Only both becomes one, and then you can create that ki. That is called “momentum”.
So momentum takes you to another momentum; you can’t stop it. That is human effort; we it call effort. Human effort is very pure, very pure – momentum. Even though you sleep, there is human effort there. Is that clear? That is called ki.
Or zenki, we call zenki “the whole works”. In the chapter of Shobogenzo, the title is “Zenki”; zen is “totality”. And Thomas Cleart says, “The Whole Works”. Ki means the same thing, [as I said]; ki means “opportunity”, “device”, or “momentum”… working. Momentum [of] time, momentum of energy.
Someone: It says, “Imparting universally the ki transcending Buddha.”
Katagiri Roshi: Mm-hmm. [That’s it.]