Calligraphy collectionVolume One

A sTAFF

for theMIND

kokoro no Tsue

by Shodo Harada

Sogenji, Japan

2001

A single flower bloomsand throughout the

world it's spring

Hana wa hiraku,bankoku no haru

The connection between flowers andpeople is not something that can be cutand separated. Having flowers nearbybrings peace to our hearts. Flowers alwaysbring to us a feeling of abundant spacious-ness. We cannot imagine living in a placethat is so dreary it lacks even one flower. Asingle bloom can bring peace to our hearts;with just one flower, our life feels abundant,and we feel relieved.

The botanists tell us that the firstflowers to bloom in spring are the whiteones. The yellow flowers come next, andas the weather gets warmer, the colors ofthe flowers in bloom become more andmore vivid. In the blazing heat of summer,the flowers bloom in bright strong colorsto go with the sun’s bright light. Then, inthe autumn all the flowers fall until onlyone is left, the wild mountain camellia. Inthe midst of so many dark green leaves,the deep red bloom of that one flower istruly impressive.

Of course, our sense of the progres-sion of colors in the blooming of the flow-ers will differ according to our location andthe time of the year. But over the course ofa full year, the botanists tell us, the flowersshow these types of changes. During a yearmany different flowers decorate and affectour lives with their colors and their beauty.Yet in Japan, if one mentions the wordflower, it always evokes the image of thecherry blossom.

A Single Flower BloomsAnd Throughout the World It’sSpring

Flower here means any flower thatblooms in the spring, but more specificallythe reference is to the cherry blossom. InZen, such uses of the word flower alwaysrefer to Buddha. When the Buddha was onVulture Peak, for eight years he continuallytaught the Lotus Sutra, the greatest sutrasamong all sutras. Given when the Buddhawas most mature, this sutra teaches thetruth of the Buddha Dharma.

Once, while the Buddha was teach-ing this sutra, DaiBon Ten reverently offereda komparage flower and requested a teach-ing of the Dharma. What kind of flower isthis, the komparage? It is not clear exactlywhat kind of flower it was, but the literalmeaning of the name is “golden wave.” Itwas probably a pumpkin flower or someother kind of yellow flower. We can imag-ine that the bloom was a brilliant yellow ora shining gold color. When the Buddhawent up on the high platform that day,everyone assumed he would begin theteaching as usual. But the Buddha did notspeak a single word. Silently, he held theflower up in front of everyone. Because noone had a clue about what he was doing,everyone was silent. Only the elderly KashoSonja smiled slightly. At this time the Bud-dha said, “I have the True Dharma Eye, theMarvelous Mind of Nirvana, the True Formof the Formless and the Subtle DharmaGate, independent of words and transmit-ted beyond doctrine. This I have entrustedto Mahakashyapa.”

The Buddha’s deep understandingof the truth was reflected by MakakashoSonja at that time, and Kasho Sonja’s deepawakening was confirmed. It is taught thathere the transmission of the Dharma be-gan. That which has no form is the trueessence of our Mind; in accordance withour awakening to that true mind, we canbring peace to all people. This is an awak-ening to the huge all-embracing mind, awarm huge mind; to awaken to this mindis to awaken to the Dharma. In this waythe Buddha’s Enlightenment is likened to aflower.

The Buddha is said to have beenborn on the eighth of April. At the time ofthe year when the flowers of spring are justbursting forth, in Lumbini under the treeas it was blossoming he is said to have been

born. At that time he spoke and said, “Inall the heavens and on earth, only One isholy.” In this way he spoke of humans’highest dignity as a treasure.

The Buddha was enlightened onthe eighth of December under the bodhitree near the Nirinzengawa, near Gaya. TheBuddha saw the morning star and wasdeeply awakened; it is said that at this timehe said, “How wondrous! How wondrous!All beings are endowed with this samegreat, all-embracing mind to which I havejust been awakened.” For forty-nine yearsthe Buddha taught this truth, the truth hehad directly realized, of humans’ magnifi-cent, deep, clear mind. All over the coun-try he spread this teaching that each andevery person has the possibility of awaken-ing in the same way and that to do so iswhat this life is for—that this opportunityto awaken is the deepest value of this life.A flower blooms and the truth is awakenedto: this is what he taught.

All of the Buddha’s 5,048 teachingswere of this essence. When he held out thatflower and Makakasho smiled, the trans-mission of his teaching to so many peoplebegan. In accordance with the Buddha’struth, people’s great joy was shown to beof the greatest value.

Finally, at the age of eighty, on thefifteenth of February, under the sala tree’sshade, he said, “I taught everyone I couldand am finished now, and for those thatwe can understand the true meaning of ourlife. To realize this awakening is to give lifeto the flowering of our existence.

Born under flowers, enlightenedunder flowers, and passing away underflowers, until the very final peaceful breath,the Great Buddha made Great Nature hismind, and his all-embracing life energy wasat one with Great Nature. Breathing as onewith this Great Nature, the Buddha was theroot source of Great Nature as well.

Each person’s awakening givesbirth to all people’s joy. Each person mak-ing the vow to experience this is what givesbirth to numberless people’s great goodfortune and joy. May this be truly realizedby every person.

When the flowersbloom the butterfly

naturally comes

Hana hiraitecho onozukara kitaru

In a poem Ryokan wrote:

The flower invites the butterflywith no-mind;The butterfly visits the flower withno-mind.The flower opens, the butterflycomes;The butterfly comes, the floweropens.I don't know others,Others don't know me.By not-knowing we follownature's course.

The flowers that bloom in thewarmth of spring are not blooming for thebutterflies. Yet when the time is right, theflowers, without any thought about it, blos-som. Nor was the butterfly born becauseof the flower. But naturally, around the timethe flower is blooming, according to ne-cessity, the butterfly moves from flower toflower, taking the pollen from one to an-other.

The flower opens, the butterflycomes;The butterfly comes, the floweropens.

The flower blooms just as the butterflyis seeking the nourishment it needs. Thebutterfly arrives to sucks the nectar just asthe flower is ready to pollinate. Because ofthe butterfly, the flowers are able to con-tinue and to spread.

In the same way,I don't know others,Others don't know me.

We wonder why we have an encoun-ter with this person, or why we have be-come friends with that person. There areso many people and places in the world,why do we live right here and know thesespecific people? We wonder about people'srelationships and see how mysterious thesethings are. It is not some mission of God,nor have we invented our life according tosome calculation. Yet we take each other'shands and help each other out, and in thatharmony is born. We wonder: is this somemessage from that god who creates every-thing?

Of course the Buddha Dharmadoes not teach of destiny. What is naturalis not a small destiny but a huge, all-em-bracing spontaneous encountering. Ryokanuses the phrase "nature's course" here. Bud-dhism does not hold to the law of a Godwho creates all, a god who makes the heav-ens and the earth. This is Ryokan's excel-lent way of saying it roundaboutly and sub-tly. In Buddhism we also say: "In accordanceto the laws of cause and effect."

Our encounters as humans are thesame as those of the butterfly and theflower and of everything in nature. Theyare not ruled by God. Yet we encounterpeople for a reason. There is a thread ofinvisible karmic affiliation that ties us to-gether, and we can know the effect of thiskarmic affiliation when for the first time "Bynot-knowing we follow nature's course."These are the words of Ryokan, his way ofsaying it. There is a mystery in this meet-ing and encountering, but we cannot stopwith just realizing the mystery in these con-nections. We must hold that karmic affilia-tion precious--cultivating it, giving life toit, and bringing it to its fruition. This is themeaning of this poem.

Okakura Tenshin said that the stateof mind of tea ceremony is "to find a simplefragrance in something twisted, in some-thing broken, to find the beauty of com-pleteness." This does not mean to search

purposely for something twisted and bro-ken, but to give life and bring fulfillmentto all of the things with which we havekarmic affiliation, without wasting anythingor needlessly throwing it away. There isnothing that can no longer be used or thatis so poor it cannot be given life in someway. In all things there is a truth and a life.The wisdom to know how to use each thingis the Buddha Dharma.

In the lineage of tea ceremonymasters there is one master named Sotan.Sotan had a good friend who was a priest,and this priest sent Sotan a very unusualwhite camellia. The priest gave this particu-lar flower, which was so perfectly bloom-ing, to a young monk and told him to takeit to Sotan. Of course that young monk wasstill so young that he had no heart of flow-ers or heart of tea, and as he went abouthis errand he played, causing the flower tofell off its branch. Since he was an honestyoung monk, he took the fallen flower andits branch to Sotan and apologized.

When Sotan was given that flower,how did he receive it? He said there is nouse for a flower without a branch, and thereis no meaning in a fallen flower. If you throwit away it is useless, and you can't reattachit either. He sent an invitation to the priestto come for tea. As the priest entered thetea room, he saw in the main alcove abranch with no flower, and just below itwas a white flower, fallen, yet placed beau-tifully and naturally.

Camellias fall easily from theirbranches, and the flowers on the narrowmountain path have a profound feeling.Making use of that branch with no flower,of that fallen flower, of that young monk'smission to bring the flower, and of the greathonor of that priest's sending of the flower,Sotan gave life to all of these. In the wayhe did that, he expressed the true way of aMaster of the Path. He knew the Mind ofBuddhism and gave it life.

The meeting of the butterfly andthe flower, the meeting of one person withanother: in these is our karmic affiliation.We must give it life, and the doing of thisneeds our wisdom.

In the spring colorsthere's neither high nor

low

Shun shoku koge naku

In the springtime, as March begins, theice melts and the severe winter chill loos-ens its grip. In the warm sunlight, plumblossoms bloom, peach blossoms bloom,and apricot blossoms bloom. In all direc-tions signs of spring become evident, oneafter another. The insects start to fly, seek-ing the sweetness of the flowers, and thebirds sing. Everything that has endured thehard winter all at once expresses the greatjoy of this time.

In the poem of a person of old it is writ-ten,

Without soundWithout fragranceThe rain, the earth,Without stopping,Continuing today, as always …

Flowering branches,some long, some short

Kashi onozukara tancho

… This is the way of Great Nature, thesutra that embraces all. In this sutra of GreatNature we find the truth, and there we canreceive it directly. As the flowers of springand the songs of the birds and the warmwind embrace us, we experience that thistruly is heaven.

Yet each of us has experiences andmemories, dualistic perceptions andstrivings. All of these become a part of our

outward perception, so that our view ofNature is always limited by our narrowawareness. We can describe and attemptto explain this Great Nature, but receivingit directly and without hindrances is verydifficult for us.

The Buddha Dharma is the lettinggo of those experiences and knowledge.That mind with no stain of mental under-standing and dualism, that which sees thething simply, just as it is: that mind is pre-cious. When we let go of that stain of men-tal understanding, when we let go of thoseextraneous thoughts and see the thing ex-actly as is, then everything we see is trueand new and beautiful. This is a matter ofcourse.

When someone has deeply under-stood the Buddha Dharma, whatever theyencounter is the Buddha, just as it is. Nomatter what is encountered, there is noth-ing that is not the Truth.

When we see something and donot recognize it as the truth, that is not thefault of the thing we are looking at. It isbecause the eyes of the one looking are nottrue, with too many explanations and dis-cursive thoughts obscuring our vision.

Doing zazen, we open our mindand let go of all preconceived thoughts andextra thinking, and then we can see with asimple, direct awareness. When we see inthis way, there is no longer any separationbetween what is seeing and what is beingseen. No explanation or ideas about whatis being seen can be added there. Exactlywhat we are seeing is our own life energy.Not holding on to any subjective precon-ceived idea, we match perfectly with whatwe see, and there the truth and world arebrought forth spontaneously. If we have nosubjective opinions and preconceived no-tions, then we have no stance of a personalview, no small-minded "I." The objectiveand the external world are perceived andreceived exactly as they are, at one and withno separation. This mind of nothing at alland no extra mental associations meetswith the objective world, and there is onlythat oneness. What we see and what wehear is all truth. One blade of grass or asingle flower, whatever we see, is the truth.There is nothing that is not the Buddha.

From the origin we have a mindlike a clear mirror. To know this directly andcompletely is satori. That empty mirrorgives rise to many associations as it encoun-ters the outside world. When we becomethat emptiness completely, the world isborn forth, clear and empty. Then, what-ever we encounter, we become it com-pletely and directly. This is important forus. It is the subtle flavor of zazen and is themind of Buddha and of God. When we seethings from this mind, we see that thesouthern branch of the tree is long and thenorthern branch is shorter, although thesame warmth of spring touches both.

In the Spring color’s there’sneither high nor lowFlowering branches, some long,some short

This is the truth. Long is not absolute,and short is not missing something. Weneed to see everything in society that wayas well. When we are with an elderly per-son we become that elderly person and cansay, "Yes, it must be so lonely, so hard."When a child comes, we are able naturallyto sing and play with the child in the child'sway. When we are with a sick person wecan say, "How painful it must be! This is sodifficult! Can I rub your back? How aboutthis medicine?" If there is a poor personwe ask: "It is so cold. Can I give you someclothes or food or a little bit of money?"We become that state of mind naturallywhen we know that mind of the mirror,the mind of Buddha or God.

We see a pine and become a pine;we see a flower and become a flower. It isthe same with a mountain or a river--webecome them when we see them. This isour simple, plain, natural mind. What wesee and that which is seeing it are one andthe same. We have to express that truly,and from there poems are born as well asvarious crafts and arts. From there we havethe energy of making things. From therewe have the purest way of seeing, and thisis where the Buddha Dharma lives.

A fragrant breeze comesfrom the South

Kunpu minami yori kitaru

The wind that blows from the greenwoods is fresh and cool. In the heat of sum-mertime, the wind that comes to us acrossa shaded glade is called a fragrant wind. Afragrant wind could also be a soft driftingwind from the south—a wind that is fra-grant of the south. The wind from the northis a strong robust wind, and the wind fromthe west is also powerful. The breeze fromthe south is soft and gentle and lilting.

A fragrant breeze comes from thesouthIn the palace pavilion a refreshingcoolness stirs

The breeze that blows through theshade is expansive and wide-open. It has aclean and refreshing fragrance that is trulyreviving and settling and liberating for ourbody and mind. These words, written by apoet of the Tang Dynasty, Ryu Ko Ken, areabout nature and its way of being. Theyare about the true nature and the season,but the Zen mind can be found in them aswell.

Kumpu minami yori kitaruDenkaku biryo o shozu

A fragrant breeze comes from thesouth.In the palace pavilion a refreshingcoolness stirs.

The Emperor Buso Koteiwrote a poem in which he said:

Everyone suffers in the severeheat,I love the long sunlit days.

In summer it can be intensely hot, andalthough today we have air-conditioners,those have not been available for so verylong. The heat doesn't become a problemin the northern countries where summertemperatures remain pleasant, but in thesouthern countries there is only nonstopheat along with unbearable humidity. Manycultures have developed ways not only ofsurviving the severe winter cold but also ofdealing with the intense summer heat. Inthe olden times houses were built withenormous windows through which the suncould shine for warmth in the winter, butthat warmth was not wanted in the sum-mer. For the summer, houses were builtwith a wall to the south and positioned sothat they would not gather heat from theground. But Buso Kotei said that while ev-eryone dislikes summer, he loves it, that itis a wonderful time. The days are long be-cause the sun comes up early and goesdown late. Isn't it wonderful how muchwork you can get done during one longday? In response to all of the people who

disliked the summer so much, Buso Koteisaid that in fact he truly loved the summer.This is how he put it in his poem. It was inresponse to this poem of Buso Kotei thatRyu Ko Ken wrote:

A fragrant breeze comes from thesouth.In the palace pavilion a refreshingcoolness stirs.

The luxurious big castle and its gardensare surrounded by green woods. In theshining summer sun, that green comes tolife and from its shade a cool breeze blowsthrough the palace, reaching from cornerto corner. How refreshing! It is an excellentseason for reading a book, without anysense of being hot at all! In this way RyuKo ken wrote in response to the poem ofBuso Kotei. But in fact there is an additionalpiece. Sotoba, a person of Zen who wasdeeply awakened, read these lines of BusoKotei and Ryu Ko Ken and added to themanother poem, addressing the words of theemperor's poem:

Reflecting once again on the trialsthat made this day possible,Please don't just say how wonder-ful and long these hot days are,Rather, make this offering ofcoolness possible for all thepeople.

Our essence of mind is constantlychanging in response to the environment.For Buso Kotei and Ryu Ko Ken and forthose who live in a palace with big roomsand space for a refreshing cool wind toblow through, the summers may be cooland the days may allow time for lots of workto be done and for one to become ab-sorbed in one's reading. The summer's ex-cellence that is sung of here can truly be areality. But the possibility of living in a hugeand expansive palace is not available formost people. How many people can actu-ally taste this state of mind? In this worldmost of us are sweating and working, andwe rarely have time to spend enjoying thebreeze. For those who work in severe con-ditions and live in narrow rabbit hutchesof homes, poor and small, without a greenforest surrounding them, for those who areworking outside and sweating or are un-able to sleep because of the deep heat that

hides in the houses at night, in that ter-rible heat of summer everyone begs forautumn's coolness to come even one daysooner.

The world does not provide every-one with an environment that can be en-joyed. Sotoba in his poem asks the emperornot to be satisfied with his own pleasurebut suggests that it is more appropriate forthe emperor to vow to bring that pleasureand comfort to all of the people. To vow toprovide comfort for all the people--isn't thatthe work of the emperor? Will the emperorwho loves the long days of summer fromthe cool of his own palace, in that windthat blows from the forest through his largerooms, please share that pleasure with allof his people as well? In this way Sotobapoetizes.

Hearing Sotoba's words, we cansee what a high-class luxurious world ofelitism the emperor's lines can represent!Sotoba was a people's poet and always inhis writings expressed the commonperson's state of mind. The emperor, fromthe emperor's own point of view, was writ-ing of his own joy and experience. Theirpoems reflect a difference of position. Inthis way we are always viewing the worldin terms of differences in class and positionand dividing people into those with moneyand those without, those who live in luxuryand those who don't, those who are intel-ligent and those who aren't, those who arerich and those who are poor, those whoare old and those who are young. In thisworld people are always living within dif-ference and prejudice. It is the problem ofthe politicians to resolve the challenges ofprejudice in our day-to-day lives, but howdoes this work in terms of the BuddhaDharma? To see this is very important.

It is the aim of politics to take careof the external problems that arise fromthese prejudices. But when did these preju-dices come forth? In Buddhism we are al-ways looking directly at this very moment.Right here, how is it? This is the centralpoint. The world of prejudice and differen-tiation cannot be ignored. The Buddha waschallenged by how to end the suffering ofpeople within the pain of that world.

The heat of summer is not the only

heat. Even in the autumn when the weatheris cool, if we have a pain in our heart weare hot and uncomfortable. We then needto let go of any attachment to good andbad and let the cool breeze blow in ourmind. This is not something that can bedone all at once; it is not so easy to be-come the state of mind of Buso Kotei all ofa sudden. Yet even in a small apartmentwe can become empty minded, and thenright near the open window we sit andenjoy the breeze that comes by, letting itinto our heart. When in the coolness ofevening we can enjoy that breeze free fromany painful state of mind, our mind will bethe same as that of Buso Kotei in his hugepalatial cool rooms. In fact, our mind willbe even more easy and comfortable if wecan keep from being caught by the grassesof good and bad, but sit right down onthem and enjoy the cool of evening. Let-ting go of being caught by thoughts ofgood or bad, pretty or ugly, sad or glad--letting go of those thoughts that we fightwith and become so hot about--doesn'tchange the reality of the heat, but we willno longer be pulled and pushed around bythese thoughts, or become confused andsuffer pain because of them. No matter howfar we take it, if we cannot let go of thosethoughts we will be miserable and hot in-side and suffer.

Ryo to tomo ni zadan shiteHachimen seifu o okosu

When you have cut off bothheads,From every direction the purewind rises.

Within our minds there is a place be-yond dualistic perception. Even if we haveproblems in our daily life, if we can cut awayall thoughts of good and bad--putting themright under us as if we are arresting them--and enjoy the evening cool, then no mat-ter where we are is a spacious palatial room.And this is the state of mind of the Bud-dha. To put it another way, this situation,this position we hold on to and pull alongbehind us, is what creates a world in whichwe cannot stand to be. But if we have thespaciousness to swallow it all down and takeit all in, then any time, any place, the fra-grant breeze is blowing.

BambooFor you the clear wind

rises

Take kimi ga tame niyoyo seifu o okosu

Bamboo has from olden times been asymbol of purity and simplicity, and it iseven said that it has the atmosphere of thesage. In bamboo there is a joint that sepa-rates the lower and the higher. Because ofthese joints, bamboo is flexible enough tobend over and then stand up again. Andbecause it is empty inside, bamboo is pureand can contain no dishonesty. In the an-cient Chinese teaching bamboo was heldin high esteem as an example of these many

qualities, and its presence taught us to beflexible yet strong.

As we watch the wind that blowsacross the bamboo grove, causing thebamboo to sway, we feel cooled. Thewords of this calligraphy, "For you the clearwind rises," are those of Priest Kido ChiguZenji, who lived in China in the thirteenthcentury and was teacher of the JapaneseMaster Daio Kokushi, Nampo Jomyo Zenji.Kido Chigu Zenji left behind the Kidorecords of the Patriarchs with his poemsexpressing his wisdom on the case. Therewe find this poem:

Who can know it?On the way to visit the desolatedruins,The Temple of Kanzan, Jitoku,After visiting our good friend,He accompanies us warmly tothe gate.The nearby clump of bambooswaysSending us off with the clearwind.

This poem by Priest Kido is full of thedeep profundity of the sage and expressesour deepest human feeling.

From far away good friends havecome to visit. Since they are stopping onthe way to another destination, the visitcannot be for long, but as the visitors andtheir host talk for the first time in a longwhile, they stay up all night, without evennoticing it. As the dawn breaks it is neces-sary for the visitors to depart. As they saygood-bye at the main gate, the wind isblowing and the bamboo in the grove isswaying, and it is so hard to part. It is sucha profound moment, not knowing if theywill meet again in this lifetime. Our en-counters are always moments of "onetime, one opportunity."

In the Buddhism we also have thewords:

All things that are born will dieAll things that meet will separate

Where there is birth there will bedeathWhere there is meeting there willbe separation

To meet is the beginning of parting;meeting must always be accompanied byseparation. Even if we meet again, our en-counter of this moment will never be du-plicated. Even when we have only a smallamount of time, to be together is some-thing to be deeply thankful for, a very mys-terious karmic connecting. Meeting withpeople is always a matter of karmic con-nection. Thinking about it like this, the part-ing becomes so poignant. It is the truth ofour life, and each time we meet with some-one, every moment must be held precious.

In Rodenburg, Germany, on a mainentrance gate it is written in Latin:

to give people traveling a place torestto give people who pass a smileto those who leave, to wish goodfortune

Our parting and meeting should alwaysbe just like this. From our deepest mind weoffer our best wishes that as we travel wewill find safe water and healthy food andthat the journey will go well. In life we arealways and continuously traveling. Withinthat journey, we are thankful for all of themany people we encounter, and we wishthem all the freshness of that clear wind.

In his definition of zazen, the Sixth Pa-triarch says that "Za" is to not add anythoughts or concepts such as good or badto that which arises externally. The exter-nal world is divided into objective and sub-jective, and everything in it is relative. Allthings are transient in this world; everythingchanges constantly, and we see people asgood and bad, stupid and smart, sick andhealthy, old and young, male and female.…

Walking, I reach thewater's source

Yuite wa itarumizu no kiwamaru tokoro

… These are all emotional expressionsfull of insults and praise. "Za" is the placewhere each thing is only reflected. Not dis-liking what we encounter or pushing itaway, but being completely open, we canreceive everything, just like a mirror. Whenwe receive this world exactly as it is, withno associations being given birth to, wereflect each thing exactly as it comes to us.When we are not attached to any experi-ence or opinion of our own, we can reflecteverything exactly as it actually is.

When we receive each thing justas it is, just as it comes, we are not caughtin any way by a small self. Zen is to knowour mind's essence from within, with noth-ing lingering there at all. We need to es-tablish that essence firmly and not bemoved around by external things, receiv-ing everything as it is and not leaving any-thing behind to be held on to, not even aspeck. To see within and not be movedaround by anything that comes along: thisis zen. The Sixth Patriarch defined "za" and"zen" in this way.

Za means to not move our mind.We do this not by struggling, but by drink-ing down everything that comes alongwithout imposing any judgments on it,going beyond all dualistic and relative ideasand simply reflecting whatever comes tous. Swallowing it all down, we don't feelsmall or narrow. This endless expandingmind, this huge limitless essence of mind,is Za.

Takuan Zenji wrote to Yagyu noTajima no Kami, the kendo master, a letterthat is found in The Unfettered Mind, acollection of the kendo master's records.When we have a serious challenge, thekendo master said, it is important not tomove our ideas and thoughts around, notto move our mind around. What does itmean to not have our mind be movedaround? It is usually interpreted as mean-ing that we should be like a tree or a rock,just standing there. But if we stood like thatwhen being attacked by a swordsman, wewould be slashed through immediately. Theunmoved mind is not one that stands still.Rather, Takuan teaches us that it is one thatis not caught by any thing or any thought.If our mind gets caught, right there a gapappears. The instant we are caught on theopponent's condition or stance or poweror the sword's position, our movementsbecome unskillful. Nor should we becomecaught on the position of our own swordor our own stance or position; the instantwe do, there are gaps and cracks in ourattention. For our mind to not be movedaround doesn't mean to be dull and un-feeling but rather that we are full and tautin all the ten directions. This is where wefind the subtle flavor of zazen.

The unfettered mind is one that isstopped nowhere; it moves in all ten direc-tions and does not become stagnant. If theopponent has a gap, we naturally can pushif the opponent pulls and pull if the oppo-nent pushes. We naturally match perfectlywith the movements of the opponent, andif there is a weak moment we can thenstrike. So often we think in terms ofanother's weaknesses and strengths, goodor bad qualities. We look at others withjudgment and criticism and in doing thatfeel our own existence more deeply, itseems. Looking at a person's good pointsand weak points and not judging themdoes not mean that we negate those quali-ties but rather that we are not pulledaround by them.

We become like a mirror that sim-ply reflects what it sees. If a man comes infront of it, the mirror reflects a man; if awoman comes in front of it, it reflects awoman. It reflects an old person as an oldperson, a young person as a young per-son, a sick person as a sick person. It re-flects each thing exactly as it is. If it doesn'treflect everything it is not a mirror. Still, asa mirror is reflecting, it does not judge--this is unmoved mind. This is Takuan's un-fettered mind. Our mind is capable of see-ing everyone's good and bad places, andseeing them clearly. But if we judge anotherwe are raising ourselves up and praisingourselves as we do that. To raise ourselvesup and praise ourselves means we haveattachment to our position, and if we holdon to our position of course we becomecaught and moved around. We cannot holdtwo points at the same time, so of courseour mind moves around.

If our mind does not move to criti-cize and judge, then our mind is not beingmoved around and we reflect things ex-actly as they are. This is zazen. We can thenwork freely, and our mind's essence isstable. This is the subtle flavor of zazen, andas we ripen we are able to realize the con-tinuous clear mind moments. In each andevery moment's encounter we know thetruth; we reflect what is before us and leavebehind no remnants or stains, and the es-sence of these continuing clear mind mo-ments is zazen. This is our daily state ofmind when we know a correct way of be-

Sitting, I watch theclouds arise

Zashite wa mirukumo no okoru toki

ing in mind. In the world of the butohdance this way of being is to just put ourmind in front of us, not concerned in theslightest way with how we look or how theaudience is receiving us. It is the same withour work. Zen is to see everything aroundus broadly, but the point is also to be do-ing the work. With continuing clear mindmoments, not being pulled and confusedby small-minded emotions, our zazen isalive in our daily living.

In our daily life, by living freely andnot being moved around we give life tothis state of mind. In this way of function-ing we are zero in mind, like a mirror whichis zero to begin with. Yet it is not aboutbeing void. We are full and taut in very part.To be full and taut within and without, com-pletely: this is our truth. Continuous clearmind moments bring us to where in andout are one, and without losing our essencewe know deep samadhi.

In his writings Yoka Gengaku alsoteaches of how all beings are equal. In theSong of Enlightenment it is written:

Have you not seen the idle manof Tao who has nothing to learnand nothing to do,Who neither discards wanderingthoughts nor seeks the truth?The real nature of ignorance isBuddha-nature;The illusory empty body is theDharma body.

After realizing the Dharma body,there is not a thing;Original self nature is the innateBuddha.The five skandas--the emptycomings and goings of floatingclouds;The three poisons--the vacantappearing and disappearing ofwater bubbles.

When the real is experienced,there is neither person nordharma.In an instant the avici karma isdestroyed.If I lie to deceive sentient beings,May my tongue be ripped out for

kalpas uncountable as dust andsand.

With sudden enlightenment toTathagata Ch'an,The six paramitas and myriadmeans are complete within thatessence.In dreams there are clearly sixpaths of sentient beings;Upon awakening the greatchiliocosm is completely empty.

There is no sin or merit, no loss orgain.Don't look for anything in thisNirvanic nature.

The Sixth Patriarch says, "Cut off allideas of good and bad concerning the out-side world. Then without giving rise to anyideas of what rises and falls, we sit." This isthe world of "Sitting, I watch the cloudsarise. Walking, I reach the water's source."

Scoop up the water andthe moon is in your

hands

Mizu kikusurebatsuki te ni ari

This is also one of a pair of lines from apoem:

Scoop up water and the moon isin your hands,Toy with flowers and their fra-grance scents your garments.

These two lines are found in the recordsof Master Kido. Of course, these lines weretaken by Master Kido from a longer poemelsewhere.

To not do bad, to do good; toclarify our original mind: this is the basis ofall Buddhism. To do no harm, to give lifeto all good, to clarify our mind--there isnothing more essential than this in theteaching of the Buddha.

Human's true mind is from the ori-gin like a mirror. All things can be acceptedby this mirror; its abundance, its width, isthe most basic quality of human beings. Amirrorlike mind is a mind where there is noseparation between a self and an other. Itis a warm, receptive mind. Like a mirror, ithas no sense of a small self. When our mindis like a mirror, we can express ourselveswith clarity and simplicity. Then, when wescoop some water into our hands as if wewere washing our own face, the brightlyshining moon up in the sky is reflected backto us, just as it shines in the sky. This is avery mysterious state of mind. And not justthe moon, but also a child, an elderly per-son, a sick person, a bird, a flower, a man,a woman--everything that is reflected--cansettle there. It all settles right into our ownhands.

This pure clear mind is theBuddha's wisdom. This is the warm mindthat can receive another's joy as our ownjoy, and another's suffering as our own suf-fering. We are not only our physical bod-ies. We have feelings as well, and we canbecome perfectly matched with another'sstate of mind. With this mind and deepwisdom we can know another's deepest joyand wisdom as our very own. This func-tion of the mind is called the compassionof the Buddha.

While we have this original naturefrom the beginning, we are not able to livein this way because we mix many impurethings into our mind. For this reason theteaching of the Buddha says that first wemust purify our mind. To purify our mind,quiet is of the utmost importance. If ourmind is quiet it becomes pure of its own,and the extraneous noise naturally settlesdown.

Scoop up water and the moon isin your hands

That moon shining in the sky andthe moon in our hands become one and

the same moon, matched perfectly. This isthe meaning of this poem and the veryimportant teaching of the Buddha. Mindand Body are one being. This is the func-tioning of the mysterious not-two.

Manifest completely theGolden Wind

Tairo kinpu

These words are found in the 27th caseof the Blue Cliff Record. They are the wordsof Unmon Bunne, the master who was sowell known in the Tang Dynasty. The windof the house of the Unmon line was knownto be golden like this. Unmon used wordslike “kan,” or gate; “ro,” or revealed; and“Iiii,” or nonsense. Short yet fully manifest-ing the truth, those brief words offered asuccinct and deep expression of the truth.

They had an immeasurably deep pro-fundity, a mysterious truth, while at thesame time expressing a very high qualitystate of mind. It was probably in the laterpart of Unmon Bunne Zenji's life that amonk came to him and asked, "How is itwhen the tree withers and the leaves fall?"The monk was asking: When all of the smallstorms and large storms are over and all ofthe leaves have fallen and the branches arebare, what is this like?

The question is not only about na-ture but also about humans' state of mindwhen we have finished suffering from thedesires and attachments of life, when theignorant and greedy and angry mind hasbecome quiet and we are no longer think-ing about this and that, when the prob-lems of life and death and nirvana are nolonger a consideration. When no explana-tion is necessary, when there is no longerany distinction between an ignorant per-son and a Buddha, when every differencehas been swept away, that state of mind afinger can't touch--how is that? This is thequestion the monk was asking. With thisstatement alone he showed that he had theessence to be able to ask such a question.He was saying, "I have no more need fordesires and attachments, for becoming aBuddha or being concerned with birth ordeath." He was asking how a person likehimself with no more desires or confusionor delusion--how someone with a state ofmind where all of that has been extin-guished--could become liberated.

Thus he asked, "How is it when thetree withers and the leaves fall?" The monkhad experienced that place where all theleaves and flowers have fallen, like the Bud-dha in Nirvana, and was asking how todeepen further. Of course we have to ex-perience and pass through this state ofmind as well, or we will stay deluded andbe thrown around by every little thing thatcomes along. When every thought blowsus around, no human trust is possible. Ifwe cannot experience thoroughly this stateof mind of the monk, we cannot call it theBuddha Dharma or say we have realizedZen.

But there is a dangerous trap here.This monk who has come forth with thisstate of mind is carrying it around with him,

pointing it out and sitting firmly right ontop of it. This is his joy and his satisfaction,but if he stays there, satisfied, how will hework with those people who are sufferingin society? How will he resolve that respon-sibility? He could remain stuck in this greattrap. This serene and clear state of mind isthe source point for liberating those in so-ciety who are burning up and sufferingdeeply, but if we sit down and remain onthat source point, how will we be able tobring liberation to those people?

"How is it when the tree withers andthe leaves fall?"

This state of mind is the ultimatepoint of zazen. Doing zazen we think aboutthis and we think about that; we have allkinds of problems. But as we continue withour zazen we forget our body and alignour breathing, and little by little as thethoughts rise and fall, rise and fall, and wecontinue aligning, finally our body and ourbreathing become settled. Within our mindthe waves and winds settle. This serenitywith nothing to think about--without anyextraneous thoughts--is the ultimate pointof zazen.

Yet while this is the ultimate pointof zazen, if we think this is absolute that isa great big trap, and there is no freedomthere. Only interested in our own goodfortune, we become narrow and rigid. Ourzazen is not for our own personal happi-ness; there can be no such narrow condi-tions on it or we are turning our back onsociety and only searching for our ownpersonal pleasure. We fall into idealismthen. Even when we know this ultimatepoint of zazen, its essence is still insufficient.

As Takuan Zenji taught, when ourmind is unmoved, not stopped on any-thing, this is the state of mind of truth.While reflecting everything that comesalong, the unmoved mind does not lingeranywhere. In just this way Takuan Zenjidescribes also the essence of zazen. For ourzazen to become ripened does not meanthat we hold on to an idea of nothing atall. Rather, we become truly full and taut,like a balloon that is ready to explode atthe slightest touch. With this state of mindof being full and taut, stretched completelyfull, we can face all of the problems and

challenges and heavy sufferings of societywithout being pushed and pulled. We cantraverse the heavens and traverse the earth.With this state of mind, while being in themiddle of all of those challenges, we drinkthem all down. To be in this state of mindis living zazen.

Unmon Daishi answered this monkwithout hesitation, "Manifest completelythe golden wind!" With every part of ourbody and being--in every pore--let our-selves be poured through by that goldenwind. The golden wind is the autumn wind,the wind that crosses the skies during therich, full harvest. As all of the crops--therice and the wheat--ripen and bear fruit,those full and abundant ripened plantsform a golden sea under the great blue sky,vividly alive and stretching as far as the eyecan reach. That refreshing wind that blowsacross that golden sea under the blue sky,that autumn wind, the harvest wind, blowseverywhere. This ripened, abundant stateof mind is what Unmon responded with.The monk came to Unmon Daishi with awithered winter state of mind, where allliving things have passed away, where noth-ing remains alive, and to this monk UnmonDaishi replied, going beyond that, "Mani-fest completely the golden wind." Expandthroughout the heavens and throughoutthe whole earth!

From this state of mind UnmonDaishi in a few words went beyond all hu-man delusions and problems and suffer-ings, even the question of life and death.As the priest Ryokan also said,

When we are to meet a calamityThe best way to avoid calamity isjust to confront it.When the time to die has come,The best way is to meet death.

Instead of becoming overwhelmed bywhat comes along, this state of mind ofRyokan drinks all of it down, and then seeshow to live through it, how to give it life.This state of mind is not chilly and reserved,but drinks all of that down as well. Whenthe challenges we face are so overwhelm-ing they take our breath away, at that verytime, how can we give life to our deepestwisdom? Instead of being crushed by a dif-ficulty, how can we make use of it, how

can we give it life? All of humanity's wis-dom for resolving these questions is in-cluded in this fullness of the golden wind.

Ryokan's words are not about run-ning away or escaping life's reality. Whenour zazen has ripened and ripened and rip-ened, we forget our body and forget ourthinking, and with our interior essence weextend throughout the heavens and theearth. Without this full tautness, when wefind ourselves in severe and challengingcircumstances we will not be able to seeclearly how to resolve them. Our zazen isnot about depending on a world where"the tree withers and the leaves fall." Theultimate point of zazen is to do it from thevery top of our head to the very bottomsof our feet, with every cell and pore com-pletely and totally. When our state of mindis so full and taut it reaches every corner ofour being, with this body we know the full-ness of the universe. Fresh and new, weagain and again create a new world andgive life to all things. This state of mind isour truth. If there is any delusion or confu-sion mixed in there, or if thoughts aboutsomething else arise, then this essence be-comes diluted and fades. If we have anyself-conscious awareness or awareness ofbeing like the tree that withers and theleaves that fall, our zazen does not expandin this way.

For our zazen to ripen and ourmind to open, we have to realize that ab-solute possibility and freedom and love ofall people, to become a true master in thisway. We must awaken to this state of mind.Where is there happiness or good fortuneother than this in life? Unmon Daishi isspeaking from the state of mind of a mas-ter of the world of zen as he answers thismonk's question. This place which hadn'tbeen reached yet was completed with hisanswer.

This is one of a pair of lines:

Listening to the rain, I end thecold night.Opening the door, the autumnleaves are piled high.

A footnote in Toyo Eicho Zenji's ZenrinKushu tells us that these lines are by thepoet Buko Shonin. They describe listeningall night long to the lonely sound of therain falling and then finding, upon open-ing the front door in the morning, that theground is covered with newly fallen leaves.

This is the meaning of the poem. Thatsound I heard last night and thought wasrain was in fact the leaves falling and hit-ting the edge of the eaves.

The priest Ryokan, born in Japan,wrote,

The wind has brought enoughfallen leaves to make a fire

This was the state of mind of Ryokanwhen he lived in the hermitage namedGogo-an, in Echigo, in Niigata prefecture.Today, in these modern times, we find our-selves far from the path of Ryokan. WhenRyokan was living in Gogo-an, he wouldput the falling leaves to use in his daily life,using them to oil his rice or as a fuel. Atthat time he truly lived in oneness withnature.

Around us now we have every pos-sible tool. We are overflowing and floodedwith possibilities. In contrast to that, thisvery simple and plain way of life of Ryokanis no longer common: being alive each day,receiving that living state of mind that wehave been blessed with by the heavens,knowing this quiet and peace.

As we welcome the twenty-firstcentury, the most basic rule, to know whatis sufficient, has once more to be looked atcarefully. Humankind's great insecuritycomes from having forgotten what is suffi-cient. We live without any satisfaction, al-ways wanting more and more and biggerand bigger. We are drowning in dissatis-faction. Only by knowing what is sufficientwill we be able to rescue ourselves fromthis plight of overconsumption, of absorp-tion with amount rather than quality. Thisdoes not mean to get rid of all of our de-sires, but rather to awaken to somethingof a greater essence. We must rebalancethis planet's limited natural resources andrecharge it with our mind, or this world willdecay beyond any hope of recovery.

In the world of things as well,rather than wanting so much, we need thewisdom to use what we have and to makethings of essence. Rather than always ac-quiring new things, we need to be able tomake do with what we already have. Wemust have the wisdom to know how canwe use what we already have. Today thegarbage we produce is making us suffer andbringing destruction. This is true in termsof our mind as well: we think so manythings, holding on to so much in our mind,that our mind has no space left in it. In-stead of thinking so many things and want-ing so many things, we need to cultivatethe mind's quiet spaciousness. I must makethis commitment or I myself will be de-stroyed. When we see it in this way, we

Opening the door,the Autumn leaves are

piled high

Mon o hirakebarakuyo oushi

know that state of mind of Ryokan.

But even for Ryokan this world ofknowing what is sufficient was not readilyapparent. Ryokan himself was unable tocure his own heart's deep problems, andso going against his father's wishes, he be-came ordained. But the world of ordina-tion could not satisfy his artistic mind. Acraving for fame and other desires were stillfollowing him around, and he knew thatas a human he had to clear out that murki-ness of mind. He left training and returnedto Echigo, where he made his home in thehermitage in the mountains. He went onalms rounds begging food for his lunch andat night did zazen in the hermitage. Some-times he would teach the children of thesmall village, and wherever he went he wasan example of spaciousness of mind. Justthrough his presence he offered a lesson inthat way of being.

The state of mind of that priestRyokan was one that had let go of desiresand attachments, let go of ideas of a worldof enlightenment or of essence. These ideasand explanations of things had all beendropped, and he was deeply absorbed in astate of mind free of these. Of course, hehad not let go of the vow to liberate thosewho suffered. While keeping this vowstrongly, he knew human spaciousness andheld that precious.

Hearing the rain,quiet,and then the moon again.

As we listen to the rain's quiet sound,the quiet of our mind deepens.

Ryokan had thrown away every bitof human's self-indulgence. We are alwaysdepending on something, always wantingto rely on someone or something. Everybit of this indulgence was given up byRyokan. One who has thrown away all ofthat can immediately smile and be in thatplace of abundance and quiet, no matterwhat might come along. This is the mean-ing of "Opening the door, the autumnleaves are piled high." It is that place wherea person has thrown away every single lastbit of indulgence and reliance on some-thing external. These are words that comeforth from abundance.

In spring we have the flowers, insummer the nightingale,in autumn the moon, and inwinter the cool snow.

Dogen Zenji sings of our original facein this way. In the green mountains of theJapanese springtime we find blooming dog-woods and wild magnolias. Many whitepatches appear in the mountains while theair is still chill on our cheeks. Eventually all

the mountains are blessed with purple aza-leas, and within them, here and there, wefind pale pink mountain cherry blossoms.This is the Japanese spring.

As the flowers begin to fall, theyoung green leaves are starting to deepenin color. As the leaves darken, the wisteriaflowers can be seen marvelously drapingdown from the highest branches. As theplums and the peaches and the cherries areblooming, the voice of the meadowlark canbe heard telling the mountains to be"mine." As the middle of May arrives, themeadowlarks are singing loudly. Then, inthe strong sunlight of summer, the cica-das, holding precious their very brieflifespan of only a few days, can be heardeverywhere, in the shade of the green trees,living their dream.

In the very hot summer the westwind blows, and then the colors begin tochange. In the morning as the mist is ris-ing from the lake, the frogs continue theirsong, and the leaves begin to tint into agorgeous brocade. The yearlong variety ofever-changing mountain scenery brings thebright mountains of the moonlit night, thefresh mountains of dawn, the severe moun-tains of the wind-blown rain, and so manymore, but the deepest essence that can befelt, I think, is that of the winter woods.The colored leaves have fallen to theground, leaving the woods pure with na-ked branches. The pale light that crossesthe forest bathes the far mountains in itsdimness.

At this time, the scenery is mostpeaceful. The tea master of the master Rikyuwas Take no Jo. For expressing the essenceof the mind of tea ceremony he borroweda poem by Fujiwara Teika.

Wherever one looks there are nomore colored maple leaves orflowers,Only the small hut in the autumntwilight

This is the serene state of mind of nir-vana. Here desires and extraneous think-ing have all been cut away completely. Theway of nirvana is quiet and clear. When weactually taste this state of mind, for the firsttime we know from our own experience

that "this very place is the land of lotusesand this very body is the body of the Bud-dha."

Afternoon sunembraces

the winter woods

Kanrin sekiyo o obiru

Every snowflake falls inits place

Yuki bessho ni ochizu

This poem can be found in the 42ndcase of the Blue Cliff Record and also in therecords of Layman Pang. Like the words ofthe householder Vimilakirti, which becamefamous all over China, these words fromthe records of Layman Pang became wellknown as well. Layman Pang and his wifeand son and daughter all understood Zendeeply and lived an enviable family life ofadvanced dharma exchanges. The veryhigh quality of Layman Pang’s deep under-standing was what enabled him to lead hisfamily in this way.

Layman Pang did sanzen first withSekito Kisen Zenji (700-790) and then withBaso Doitsu Zenji (709-788), and he re-ceived transmission in the line of BasoDoitsu Zenji. Yakusan Gigen Zenji (745-828) was the successor to the line of SekitoKisen Zenji, and Pang lived at the templeof Yakusan for seventeen or eighteen years,practicing there as a layperson. When Pangleft that way of training, Master Yakusansent ten monks, including the most seniormonk, to see him off. Their temple wasprobably deep in the mountains, far fromthe mountain gate, and it was most likelysnowing that day. But after training withPang for seventeen or eighteen years, themonks were not going to let him leave with-out any gestures of farewell.

Layman Pang also had to make afarewell offering of some kind. He pointedhis finger and said, “Every snowflake fallsin its place.” He was saying, “This snowyscenery is marvelous! If that snowflake wasthe only one, it still wouldn’t fall in a differ-ent place.” This is what he offered to themonks.

Then a monk named Zensan asked,on behalf of all the monks, “You say itwouldn’t fall in a different place, so wherewould it fall?” Before this sentence was outof the monk’s mouth, Layman Pang said ina loud voice: “Can’t you see that it is fall-ing right here?” And he slapped the monkZensan across the face.

Zensan hurriedly responded, “Lay-man! What are you doing? Don’t be sorough!”

To this Layman Pang said, “If youthink that is the behavior of a well-devel-oped monk, when your life ends and youare standing in front of King Enma, the Kingof Death, and having your life judged, amonk like you will receive a bill for all themeals you have eaten during your train-ing!” In this way Layman Pang tested themonk Zen Zenkaku.

Zensan then said, “Layman, if youput it like that, then what would you say?”He challenged Pang, as if to say, if you canput me down for that, what would youyourself say?

And Layman Pang slapped him onthe face again, and said, “What are youtalking in your sleep about—you’re notworth wasting any actions on!”

Layman Pang had offered them agreat feast, and no one could partake of it.Then Layman Pang left briskly.

All of those countless snowflakesthat fall from the sky—where do they fall?We watch them, without knowing wherethey will fall. That snow falls without stop-ping, and its pure whiteness stretches inevery direction.

Hakuin Zenji wrote a poem at theage of twenty-nine when he lived at InryojiTemple in the town of Shinoda. He hadbeen doing yaza for an entire night, andnow the dawn was awakening and thesnow and the morning sky were one singlecolor. It was completely and deeply silent;there was not a single sound anywhere. ForHakuin, who had been doing yaza all nightlong, there was not a single thought left inhis mind. Not a single speck of a thought.Everything that he saw and the emptinessinside were one and the same as the snowthat fluttered down. “This sound—who canhear it?”

But even if it can be heard it stilldoes not surpass the functioning of Lay-man Pang. From this state of mind the bodyand the mind both fall away completely.We lose any sense of a small self; the shellfalls away and we are free and liberated.We are only coming into being in accor-dance with what is necessary. Without bor-ders or limits we then know the function-ing of Layman Pang for the first time. Welive in that world always. But if we still hangon to existing in the world of the third per-son, we will not be close to even dreamingabout this world of samadhi written aboutby Layman Pang and Hakuin.

The pine tree is greenfor a thousand years

Shoju sennen no midori

This poem, whose origin is unknown,is often used to convey congratulations orto celebrate the arrival of the new year. It isput up on the wall as a wish that goodthings might continue for a long time.

Originally, in Zen, temples meantpine trees, and pine trees meant a Zentemple. One doesn't usually plant manyflowering trees in Zen temples. To makethe temple grounds green, it is much morecommon to plant pines.

One day when Rinzai Zenji was stillat the temple of his teacher, Obaku, he wasplanting pine trees all by himself. ObakuZenji appeared and asked Rinzai why hewas planting pines when the temple wasalready deep in the forest. "Why do youneed to do that?" he asked. This was ofcourse Obaku's kindness, and he was test-ing Rinzai's state of mind.

Rinzai answered by saying, "First,to improve the appearance of the templegrounds. Second, to mark the road forpeople who come after." Then he tappedthe ground twice with the head of his hoe.This is referred to as Rinzai's first deepkarmic affiliation, and it is a very famousepisode.

"First, to improve the appearanceof the temple grounds. Second, to markthe road for people who come after." Rinzaiwas saying: I am planting these pine treesto preserve the deep greenness of thesemountains, to protect their freshness andtheir quiet, and for it to become a place oftraining--for this to be continually cultivatedI am planting these trees. I am also plant-ing them because a widely awakened monknamed Rinzai practiced here, so that thosewho come later will see these pines andburn in their training and complete it fully.With this vow I plant them.

From that time on the planting ofpines has been a symbol of the Dharmabecoming deeply established and abun-dant. When we look up at the sky and seethose pines we think about Rinzai. He saidit all like this and hit the ground with hishoe, Bang Bang. What was he saying? "Ispoke unnecessarily--I can't be foundthere!"

Rinzai's deep state of mind is ex-pressed here. Maybe he needed to answersomething, but there is no need to leave amental explanation behind. This was hisstate of mind. The Buddha Dharma doesnot belong to a single person. From theolden times we have the words "great ef-forts with no results." While making greatefforts, while applying ourselves completelyand diligently, we must not expect any re-sults whatsoever. We must not be caughton any possible outcome, calculating what

might happen; we need to let go of all ofthat.

Whether it is a gain or a loss, it hasto be done. We practice wholeheartedlywith this state of mind. Zazen is not justsitting down on our cushion. For our en-tire life, all day long, every day, we get ridof extraneous actions and keep that stateof mind clearly. This is the way of life in thedojo. Every day we clean the floors. Everyday we sweep the gardens.

We wash the floor even though weknow it will get dirty again soon. It getsdirty, and it gets dirty again, and yet as eachday comes we clean again, and again werake smooth the garden. This is the placeof truth of the dojo. It may appear as if wewaste so much effort and energy, yetpeople always moving their bodies andactually working and manifesting activityis the way of zazen. Within that we mustalways be imaginative and creative, but thatdoes not mean being trivial, calculated, ormanipulative. Within our mind we have adeep vow. We cultivate the garden, we evenmay walk a path that seems impossible, butwe do it without being in a hurry and withfirm certainty, and within that there is thedeep cultivation of the Dharma.

Every day is a good day

Nichi nichi kore kojitsu

These words were spoken by thefounder of the Unmon line, Unmon BunneZenji, who lived from 864 to 949. UnmonDaishi once said to an assemblage of hisstudents, “I won’t ask you about the daysbefore the fifteenth of the month, but giveme a phrase about the days after.”

In the Zen dojo on the fifteenth dayof August there is a ceremony called the“urabon.” According to the Buddhist teach-

ings this is about Mokuren Sonja’s motherhaving fallen into the hell of hungry ghostsand suffering terribly. Seeing her there,Mokuren was astonished, and with his su-pernatural powers he went to save her,bearing all kinds of food.

“Mother! You are so skinny andstarving and suffering—please eat thesethings I have brought for you! I broughtthis food for you, so that you will be ableto eat.” Saying this, he laid the food in frontof his mother.

His starving, skinny mother, whowas so thankful and happy, said, “Mokuren,thank you so much! I haven’t been able toeat for days and days and I am ravenouslyhungry. Thank you so much!” Having saidthis, his mother turned to eat the food. Butas she began to put the food into hermouth, it immediately turned into flames,and she couldn’t eat it. Even with his pow-ers, there was nothing Mokuren could doto change this.

Next he said to his mother, “Wellthen, how about something to drink?” Ibrought drinks too. Please drink these!” Ashe said this, he handed a drink to hismother. But at the very instant that shestarted to put it into her mouth, it toochanged into flames. She couldn’t eat andshe couldn’t drink. Even when the food anddrink were right in front of her mouth, nomatter how hungry and thirsty she was, shecouldn’t eat or drink. He saw the sufferingof his mother and was so disappointed atthe inability of his own powers to cure thesituation that he went to the Buddha toask him for help.

The Buddha said that even themost advanced person may think that hisor her own child is more adorable thananother person’s child, may think that hisor her own family is more lovable than any-one else’s family. This kind of belief mayeasily find a home in any person’s mind.Yet this belief is what brings pain and suf-fering in the world. The Buddha toldMokuren that most people in society livewith this very belief, and his mother hadfallen into that hell as their representative.The Buddha also told him that this offereda way to liberate society.

Then the Buddha told him to do

training for ninety days with this deep vow.The dojo, or place of training, had one con-tinuous training period from April 15 to July15, during which time the people in train-ing there could not go anywhere. The Bud-dha said that, if an offering was given onthe last day of that training period for ev-eryone who had repented and spent thoseninety days purifying their minds and be-coming clear, then for the first time withthat pure mind his mother could be liber-ated. This is what the Buddha toldMokuren.

On the fifteenth of July, when thethree-month training period is formally fin-ished, there is a traditional reviewing ofone’s behavior during that time. Even to-day this practice is continued just as it wasstarted during the time of the Buddha. Itwas on this very day of the fifteenth of Julythat Master Unmon said to the gatheredassembly, “Without asking you to say any-thing about yesterday, what do you sayabout the days after the fifteenth?” He wassaying, I am not asking you about the past.How is it right now, right this very minute?Each of you—answer this now.

This kind of challenge is the wayof Zen. Without any concern with what wasof yesterday, how is it in this moment, righthere, right now? The living energy of thismoment at hand—this present instant—this is the alive place of Zen.

What has already passed will neverreturn. This does not mean that we shouldnot look at our past actions and review ourbehavior. There is nothing so important asthat. But the best way to purify our pastunskillful behavior is to be totally attentiveto our footsteps of this present moment.And if we worry too much about things thathave not yet come, fretting about the fu-ture and how it will be, we will only nar-row our mind of this present moment. Wecannot let go of the actuality we are en-countering in this very moment; we can-not let this very precious opportunity es-cape. To live in this very moment with allof our innate wisdom and full, taut energyis the Buddha Dharma.

As has been said from ancienttimes, “If you want to see the past karmicaffiliation, look at the face of the presentmoment. If you don’t know what the face

of the future will be, look at the karmic af-filiations of the present moment.” This ishow it is seen. All of the results of the pastare manifested in this very moment. Andthe future? If we look at the present thor-oughly and clearly we can see how the fu-ture will be as well.

If we can see the present clearlyand correctly we will not make mistakes inthe future. Yet this one moment of thepresent is gone in a flash, so it cannot beheld on to in our consciousness. In everysingle moment, our life energy is bornanew; in every instant it is freshly born.When we are not attached to the past orthe present or the future, we flow along ineach instant—not attached to anythingthat we experience, just flowing along likea gurgling river. To experience this is satori.

On the fifteenth of July, Unmonsaid, “I won’t ask you about the days be-fore the fifteenth of the month, but giveme a phrase about the days after.” Sincenobody could respond to his excellent stateof mind, Unmon answered for them, “Ev-ery day is a good day.” Not one single per-son could come up with an answer, so hehad to answer for them.

These words of Unmon are trulyexcellent words of peace. We use them of-ten, but what is important is whether ornot we can truly and consistently be in thisstate of mind. In what way was UnmonDaishi saying these words, “Every day is agood day”? Was he just saying today is fine,today is fine, like some yes-man? If so, thereis no need for Unmon Daishi to appear hereto say this to us. For Unmon to come forththere must be some actual quality and es-sence manifested.

Yet people of training, even dur-ing the ninety days of a prescribed train-ing period, don’t have such a great effecton their environment. This world is full ofcontradictions. Things don’t go as we wantthem to—this is the way the world is. Amountain crumbles because of a typhoon.While sound asleep each person in a wholefamily is pushed to death by a train. In oneinstant of a great earthquake people aretrapped under collapsed houses. Wholefamilies are destroyed. Or, from an unex-pected accident, a person is suddenly un-able to work for the rest of his or her life.

Even though it is said that theworld is about how we carry our mind, withjust the decisions of our mind we cannotstop our pain or our death. When UnmonZenji said, “I won’t ask you about the daysbefore the fifteenth of the month, but giveme a phrase about the days after,” this es-sence was about cutting away all traces ofany previous conditioning or previous ex-perience, about not holding on to any his-tory or any past happiness, about cuttingall of those away and actualizing true wis-dom and then living single-mindedly inaccordance with it. The actualized essenceof this is very necessary.

The priest Setcho Juken, who livedfrom 980 to 1052, wrote poems on the onehundred cases of the Blue Cliff Record. Onthis case of Unmon he wrote,

OMOMURO NI YUITETODAN SU RUSUI NO KOEHOSHIMAMA NI MITEUTSUSHIDASU HIKIN NO ATO

Walking along I step to thesounds of the running water,My gaze, wandering at will, lightson the wake of birds on wing. ... Walking along I step to

the sounds of therunning water

Omomuro ni yuitetodan su ryusui no koe

My gaze, wandering atwill

Lights on the wake ofbirds on the wing

Hoshimama ni miteUtsushidasu hikin no ato

Unmon’s “Every day is a good day” ismanifested in Setcho Juken’s poem. As Ibegin walking along the roaring river, I canhear the loud sound of the water, but as Iwalk along, without knowing it, I no longerhear the sound nor am I even aware of it.The sound and I have become one; thereis no longer a someone listening to it.

This poem illustrating the words ofUnmon is not only about a strongly flow-ing river but also about our daily lives. Aswe take the rake in our hands and sweepthe garden, we forget the great width ofthe garden and we forget our own physi-cal body. We even forget that we are clean-ing, and that is when we are actually clean-

ing the most efficiently.

Walking along I step to thesounds of the running water,My gaze, wandering at will, lightson the wake of birds on wing.

People of old also gave us the poem,

When playing the shamisenDon’t play it with your fingers,Play it with your Mind.Play it without playing,With a quiet mind.

We forget ourselves, we forget theshamisen we are playing, and our mindbecomes transparent and clear, like the finenotes that are played.

When we are at one with the workwe are doing, this is the state of mind withno division between inner and outer. Thisis the ultimate point of full tautness. This isalso called the unmoved mind, but it is notan isolated mental understanding of anunmoved mind. This is an actual experi-ence that gives birth to a direct perceptionof “every day is a good day” and is also theactuality of that unmoved mind.

Walking along I step to thesounds of the running water,My gaze, wandering at will, lightson the wake of birds on wing.

Going beyond our self-consciousawareness and dualistic perception we re-alize this full, taut state of mind which isalways flowing in perfect accord with cir-cumstances. It is not a mind that stays inone place and becomes stagnant. Holdingon to nothing at all, it manifests in all theten directions, in accordance with circum-stances, always functioning freely. This iscalled the true master and this is called wis-dom.

No matter what is encountered weare not moved around by it in any waywhatsoever. When we are full and taut inour inner essence, then,

Walking along I step to thesounds of the running water,My gaze, wandering at will, lightson the wake of birds on wing.

This full, taut state of mind, function-ing freely, manifests as wisdom, and that isthe meaning of this poem. When this stateof mind is viewed from the inner side, it isdeep samadhi; when it is viewed from theouter side as functioning, it becomes deepwisdom. It becomes the mountains, the riv-ers, the stars; it becomes the moon; it be-comes the birds flying by with no trace—each and every one of the ten thousandthings is perceived completely and then,when finished with, is let go of completely.

In every life we have days that aresunny and days that are rainy. We have dayswhen we gain and days when we lose. Wehave struggles and we have good fortune.Having all varieties of states of mind is whatour life is. That mind which experiences allof these yet clings to none of them is ourhealthy state of mind.

Unmon said, “Every day is a goodday” to express this healthy state of mind.To this Setcho Zenji then naturally added,

Walking along I step to thesounds of the running water,My gaze, wandering at will, lightson the wake of birds on wing.

This state of mind of deep samadhiwhere nothing can obstruct or disrupt us,no matter what may come along, and thisessence are expressed by these words ofSetcho.

The freshness of each day’s en-counters is realized when in each momentand in each situation we become one withit completely, leaving nothing behind. Thisis the functioning of true wisdom. This ac-tuality is “Every day is a good day.” In ourdaily life we are able to realize this truth,and if we see this clearly we can see that“Every day is a good day” is the way ofmind of the Buddha Mind, of our clearestmind, and to this we are moved to deeplyprostrate.

A mountain ofhappiness

ten thousandleagues high

Jusan banjo takashi

These are words of celebration. Theyare usually put on display for New Year’s orsent for someone’s birthday. For all people,to be able to live a long life is a greatly de-sired ideal. Maybe there are some who saythey want to live a short life, but that is aneccentric view. To live a long life if at allpossible is our great hope. Especially inChina, where the elderly are shown greatrespect for their years of experience, to livea long time and manifest that merit is a

natural preference.

For expressing this we have thewords “A mountain of happiness ten thou-sand leagues high.” To live a long time isto be like a soaring mountain. To realizethe wish of a long life is to be respected bymany, like a soaring mountain is looked upto. We all want to live that kind of a re-spectable and fulfilling long life.

Money can buy most things, butour lifespan cannot be increased by pay-ing money. Today with the progress ofmedical research it has become possible toaffect the ending of our life, but there isstill not a way to extend the lifespan of aperson. Each person has a particular lengthof life, and seeing it like this we see howliving a long life is preferable. As in China,many people everywhere respect and ap-preciate a person who has lived a long life,and that way of seeing is an expression ofa healthy mind and also creates a secureand stable society.

Yet while wanting to live a long life,we have to look carefully at the nature ofthat life. We attempt to live in an alignedand balanced way, although sometimes wepush too hard or overdo, trying somethingbeyond our ability and potential. But if welook at our life carefully, we won’t do thingsthat are not in keeping with its best way.This does not mean to become hard andfixed with ideas about how we should live.When we hold today’s life precious, weknow from a place of essence how to livetoday in the best possible way, not push-ing and forcing or going against the Way.If we live in alignment, our everyday lifewill remain balanced. We won’t be work-ing too many hours or getting too littlesleep. We will live carefully and not try topush things in a way that makes otherssuffer and that makes us suffer as well.When we live in the way that is most ap-propriate for our own capabilities, we canbring comfort and security to others’ mindsas well. We become a person who has afeeling of abundance rather than a trivialand bothered feeling of smallness. Thosewho live from a feeling of abundance donot push and force themselves, nor do theypush and force others. They don’t abruptlystart running around or suddenly expressthemselves in a confused and meaninglessway. They see things thoroughly and clearly

and carefully and move in a way that bringsharmony and peace to everyone aroundthem.

When we can be like this, we aretrusted by others, and when we are trustedby others, we can fulfill our truest poten-tial, and then we live in accordance withthe words that those who are trusted byothers live a long life. Without our evenknowing it, little by little, our life’s lengthincreases. This doesn’t happen just fromsome idea or wish to have a long life. Ourabundant mind is expressed in every as-pect of our daily life, and it is expressed aswell in every aspect of the lives of every-one around us, and of all the living thingsaround us.

It is said that at the time of theBuddha people usually lived for thirty orforty years, and that he lived to the age ofeighty. In his own life, the Buddha exem-plified this way of living. As he walked hewould carry a staff that made noise so thatany insects along the path would know hewas coming and be able to avoid beingstepped on. Even the larger animals wereprotected by and would protect the Bud-dha. To avoid any risk of falling into theriver and drowning, he was very carefulwith every footstep, and when he drankwater he always filtered it with a piece ofcloth so he would not carelessly drink downa small insect. In this way he lived his ev-eryday life giving great care to all livingbeings. In every direction he took care thathe wouldn’t unnecessarily kill any livingbeing, meticulously seeing through it all.He was not just teaching a doctrine to beunderstood by intellectuals. He actualizedwhat he taught in the way he lived.

This is clearly the way of “A moun-tain of happiness ten thousand leagueshigh.” It is a very balanced teaching, offer-ing not just intellectual content but also away of living what is being taught. In thisway the Buddha kept his sight on so many,many lives. This is a very important thingto do.

Good fortune and longlife,

Beyond measure fromthe vast sea

Fukuju kai mu

The Buddha was also referred to by thename of Chifuku Ryosokuson. These wordsas well, “Good fortune and long life, be-yond measure from the vast sea,” are usedin China and in the Orient for celebrativeoccasions. Within the blessings, ju and fukuare both included. Ju, as written here, is“long life,” and Bodhidharma fuku is “goodfortune.” These are humans’ most simpleand common wishes—to live for a longtime and to have a life that is sufficiently

supplied. This is not about being hardenedwith greed for something.

It is written here that these bless-ings come without measure from the seabecause in the olden days so many giftswere abundantly brought from the sea. Inaddition to the many fish used for food,other products from the oceans, such asseaweed, coral, and pearls, were especiallytreasured. Today we have the problems ofpollution, with the dirtying of the water ofthe oceans, yet we still continue to receivecountless bounties from those waters.

Just as in the story of Rip VanWinkle, it is said that only a year passes inthe ocean for each one hundred yearspassed on land. Thus, from the oceancomes long life. This is how people used tobelieve and what these words are express-ing.

As the Buddha’s other name indi-cates, he taught the correct way to live inaccordance with the truth of the Dharma.To awaken to that truth was to realize satori.To give rise to our Bodhisattva vow and tolive for the sake of all in society, to vow thisfor our entire life, is to realize the eternaltruth. This is humans’ correct way of liv-ing, the true path. We become the guid-ing light for people in society and onewhom people can trust and can believe in.This is to be blessed for one’s entire life andto be lacking in nothing.

To apply this sense of the fortunesin the sea, and the long life of the world ofthe sea, to all of society is to give our lifefor everyone in society. One who vows todo that can let go of small-minded attach-ments and give everything for society. Tolet go of our attachments and offer every-thing to society: this is the truth of the Bud-dha Dharma. Then, the truth becomes thecorrect way for a society to live, and wecan become a guide for many people andbring them joy. As a matter of course, thisway of living is respected by people in so-ciety, and that is why those who follow itwon’t ever be lacking in food, clothing, ora place to live. We only see society withour two eyes, but as we give everything to

society its members see us with many, manyeyes. This does not mean that we are de-pending on their thankfulness; rather, whenwe become the way of society and give ev-erything for society, people will not ignoreour needs in return.

Please, see these words in this wayand see how it is that when we offer every-thing to people in society, then society be-comes the source of limitless blessings.

Dokuza daiyuho

Sitting alone onDaiyuho Peak

This phrase was given to us by Ekai Zenji(720-814), who lived on Hyakujo Moun-tain. Hyakujo Ekai Zenji left the workHyakujo Shingi, which contains all the rulesand instructions for our way of life in thezendo and the monastery today.

Chinese Zen had finally fully arrivedin China at this time, in accordance withthe records of the Sixth Patriarch. Insteadof engaging in a solitary practice, most

people practiced together at temples. Un-der the guidance of those who followedthe Sixth Patriarch, Nangaku Ejo Zenji andSeigen Gyoshi Zenji, and those who fol-lowed them, Baso Doitsu Zenji and SekitoKisen Zenji, Zen flourished from North toSouth.

When people of training, thosewho are “like clouds, like water,” began togather together in larger groups, it becamenecessary to establish a more formal sys-tem. Some of those who came to the mon-asteries were not suited for training, sothere needed to be appropriate rules forbeing able to do training.

It was at this time that the best ar-rangement for the temple buildings—thegeomantically correct outline of the mon-astery—was prescribed. The ceremonies foreach day and each year were decided,along with the rules of daily behavior, theforms for the various ceremonies, the divi-sions of the sutras, and also the way ofdoing zazen. Our way of guiding innerpractice, the sangha’s way of being to-gether and moving together, drinking teatogether, taking offerings from people, andthe very way we move in the zendo todaywere all decided by Hyakujo Zenji and canbe found in the Hyakujo Shingi.

There are many aspects to the waywe practice Buddhism that were not foundin the way it was practiced in India. Oneexample is the custom of everyone work-ing together on one particular job, today’ssamu. In India labor and working were nota part of practice in order to avoid anychance of accidentally killing insects whilehoeing a field or making a garden. Becausesuch work goes against the precept of nottaking life, the monks in India would dotakuhatsu—go on begging rounds—eachday, and they depended on what they re-ceived for their livelihood. In this way theypracticed. But in China, when two hundredor five hundred or a thousand people wouldgather to practice together, it was not pos-sible to feed everyone through begging. Itbecome necessary for those living in atemple to raise food and become self-suffi-cient. From the time of Hyakujo Zenji, do-ing samu became a necessity and an im-portant part of practice.

Hyakujo Zenji carefully planned

and decided all of these rules. We considerDaruma Daishi, also known to us asBodhidharma, and the Sixth Patriarch tobe the Patriarchs of Zen, but for the Zensect itself one would have to say that it isHyakujo Zenji who is the founder. HyakujoZenji not only decided the basic rules, butat the age of ninety-five he was still livingthem. We often hear the words “A day with-out work is a day without food.” Thesewords came forth from the true way of liv-ing of Hyakujo Zenji’s humble and practi-cal mind and from his deep integrity.

In his later years, when he was wellripened, a monk asked him, “What is themost fortunate thing in this whole world?What is the thing in this world for whichwe should be most thankful?”

People often think that in a reli-gious context there is some greater powerto be thankful for, that there is some mys-terious power in religion that goes beyondscientific understanding. We each have tolook very carefully and meticulously, forourselves, at what it is in our own life forwhich we should be the most thankful.

“What is the most fortunate thingin the whole world?” Usually in a religiouscontext one would say God or Buddha. Yetif the way that God or Buddha is perceivedis dependent on one’s belief, one’s culture,one’s education, and one’s experience, howcan God or Buddha be that which is equalfor each person? As Shotoku Daishi wrotein his “Constitution,” it must be “that whichis the same center for all people and allcountries and is equal in all beings.” Therehas to be a place all beings come to, a placewhere we are established and settled thatis the same for each and every person. Ifwe are not realizing this place, then wecannot liberate all beings. If we get to thispoint, then there is no longer any way toadd there a name of God or Buddha. Thenthere is not even a word fortunate that canbe used to describe that which all beingsexperience in great wonder and feel withamazement. If we don’t dig to this point,then we don’t realize the thing that is mosttrue, the thing that is most important, thething to be most thankful for.

This monk was not simply usingthis question to enter the gate. This was atruly unusual question for that time. This

monk already had a glimpse of experience,something he had seen, a view that he livedby, something that he had sufficiently real-ized. Yet while having realized that, he alsowas looking at how he was answered, andif he had been answered in a formal, auto-matic way he would have completely sweptthe response out from under him. He hada very sharp essence, and he dug intoHyakujo with that sharpness. If he had beenanswered with Buddha or Dharma, hewould not have been satisfied at all.

To this question Hyakujo answered,“Sitting alone on Great Hero Peak.”

This was beyond the monk’s expec-tation of an answer. If we taste thoroughlythe meaning of “Sitting alone on GreatHero Peak,” we can see how not a singleword or even half a word can get near itwith mental understanding or rational ex-planation. These words have that much ofan actuality to them.

Probably the monk who had comeforth with this question could not respondwith a single word. There was no way toget near this answer by Hyakujo.

Hyakujo Zenji said, “Sitting aloneon Great Hero Peak.” Great Hero Peak wasthe name of the mountain where histeacher lived, and as a place of practice itwas known for the strictness of bothHyakujo and his teacher. Hyakujo moun-tain had so many peaks and depths it wasimpossible to know them all intimately.Probably Master Hyakujo had places in him-self that were also like this.

Religions originate with a true deepexperience. We wouldn’t call something areligion that lacked this great deep experi-ence. To know this experience we have towalk alone, to know that we are alone, tobe alone. Religious experience is a ques-tion of each individual’s true being and eachindividual’s own deep clarity. We don’t re-ceive this from others. We cannot becometruly clear and secure from something wereceive or share with someone else.

“Sitting alone on Great Hero Peak.”Here we have the Great Peak and Hyakujo—or is it Hyakujo, the Great Peak? The actualtrue essence of Hyakujo is pouring throughthese words, and we can see his state of

mind here. This great state of mind is notchasing after anything; in his footsteps heis not holding on to his body even theslightest bit. There are no desires to hateand no enlightenment to seek after, no hellsto be afraid of and no heavens to make re-quests to, no deluded people to look downon and no Buddhas to look up to. That joyand pain of the world are all right underHyakujo’s sitting cushion. This is the mostfortunate place.

What is the ultimate place? My sit-ting right here. The words are simple anddirect. We walk the ground with our owntwo feet. Not depending on Gods and Bud-dhas, with our own experience we knowthis place. There is nothing truer or morereal than this. Here is eternal time andspace—now, on this very one point. With-out knowing its deep actuality, what isthere? This life’s energy—for it the sunshines and the air embraces us and thewater soothes our thirst, the birds sing andthe flowers bloom, all the people of soci-ety communicate and work and hope thatwe will all continue without difficult inci-dents in our daily lives. Among all people,there is not one who is without this splen-dor, or why would they have been born?

“Sitting alone on Great Hero Peak.”This is truly obvious, and with this we cansee the amazing central point of all religionand culture.

Sogen’s one drop ofwater

Sogen no ittekisui

When the monk who would becomethe National Teacher Fukusho joined themonastery of the founder of the HogenLine, Hogen Buneki Zenji (885-958), he hadalready been with Master Sozan for manyyears. Because he thought he had alreadyrealized enlightenment, Fukusho just livedat the monastery, without even doingsanzen.

One day a monk asked Master

Hogen, “What is the one drop of water ofSogen?” The monk was asking: the greatDharma, the truth, the Zen that was trans-mitted from the Sixth Patriarch, what is it?He was asking about the essence of theteaching of the Dharma that flowed fromthe temple, Sogen, of the Sixth Patriarch.“The one drop of water of Sogen” was howhe was referring to this great truth.

When he asked, “What is the onedrop of water of Sogen,” Hogen answeredwithout a pause, “THIS is the one drop ofwater of Sogen.” This is how Hogen an-swered, saying, “That which is asking is thatone drop of water of Sogen!” But the monkwho had begun this koan exchange did notunderstand the meaning of the answer hereceived. He prostrated and left.

When Fukusho, who was standingbehind the monk, heard that exchange hewas suddenly deeply enlightened. Al-though he had thought he was alreadyenlightened at the monastery of SozanRoshi, he now knew that there had beenstill further for him to realize. He had notyet fully understood. But now his state ofmind was thoroughly ripened, and at thatone expression by Hogen he was com-pletely and totally awakened.

The words “Sogen’s one drop ofwater” are about the flow of one drop ofwater—of the essence of the dharma—fromthe mountain of Sokeizan, the mountainwhere the Sixth Patriarch’s temple stood.This is the ultimate point of Zen wherewords and phrases cannot reach. It is thetruest place of Zen, the Sixth Patriarch’spulse of truth.

In Okayama there was a masternamed Gisan Zenrai Zenji who made ex-cellent use of these words. A monk train-ing with him at Sogenji was deeply enlight-ened upon hearing these same words andeven took the name of Tekisui Zenji, or OneDrop of Water Zenji. This episode is passedalong at Sogenji.

In the year 1837, when his teacherTaigen Shigen Zenji died, Gisan Zenrai Zenjibecame the abbot of Sogenji and raised dis-ciples there. Many monks gathered atSogenji to train, often more than one hun-dred at a time. Among them was onenamed Giboku Zenji. One day Giboku

Zenji’s job was to prepare the bath forMaster Gisan; he was nineteen, old enoughto believe he understood how to do thingswell. Giboku Zenji had first gone to Kyototo train, but he could not find a goodteacher there and had come to Okayamawhen he heard that Master Gisan was anexcellent teacher. In those days there wasno spending money for a poor monk, andwhile he had a great huge vow, he cameto Okayama impoverished and walking inbroken sandals. He did sanzen with theRoshi, but instead of being able to offer agift of incense to the Roshi for the incenseused in sanzen, he made do with a brushholder that someone had bought for him.

Giboku had been at Sogenji foronly a short time when it became his turnto make the bath for the Roshi. Thebathwater was a little too hot, so hebrought buckets of water from the well andcooled the bath down. When it was suffi-ciently cool he set down the last bucket, inwhich a few drops of unused water re-mained. Then, before going to bring morewater, he dumped those last few drops outonto the ground. Since he was going toget more water, he probably thought thoselast few drops weren’t necessary.

Gisan Zenrai Zenji saw that andsaid to him, “What did you just do?”

“I went to draw some water.”“Before you drew the water,

what did you do?”“I threw away some old

water,” Giboku answered simply.

“If you do training with a mind likethat, no matter how much training you door how long you train, you will not awaken.That bit of remaining water, if you dump itout there—how can it be used? If you takeit outside and put it on some plants, thenthe plants will be given life, and the waterwill also be given life. If you give it to thecucumbers in the garden, the cucumberswill be helped and the water will be satis-fied too!”

It is the work of one who is or-dained to give life to everything, but thatcannot be done with such a lack of mind-fulness. Giboku was reprimanded in thatway. Since he was nineteen he had thoughthe understood already. When he was rep-rimanded he realized how little he actually

understood and that something as simpleas one drop of water, a single drop of wa-ter, had taught him that he had to startover again in his training. This he did, laterbecoming a great Zen Master.

Of course, today water is generallyavailable, although there are still times andplaces where it is scarce. We often carelesslyand thoughtlessly use water unnecessarily.As the raindrops fall from the sky, one afterthe next, they land on the leaves of the tree,or the trunk of the tree, or the stone wall,and only when all these drops come to-gether can a small stream be born on theearth. These small streams meet and join,and with this gathering a river is born.When the waters of many rivers all join to-gether, an ocean becomes possible. To putit another way, the source of the ocean isthe drop of rain that falls from the sky. Onedrop of water. Each and every one of thesedrops has its own functioning. A smallamount of water has its functioning, and alarge amount of water has its functioning.To be able to use the potential of anyamount of water, be it large or small—thisis our deep wisdom. To be able to makethe best use of the potential of the amountof water we have is humans’ wisdom. Zenis the cultivation of the clear and deeplyseeing eye that can know and appropriatelyact in each and every situation that comesalong.

This is not a wisdom having to dowith trivial and minute bits of informationbut instead one that can see all the waythrough to the essence of things. It allowsus to make use of each thing, no matterwhat it might be, and give it life. This depthof Mind is Zen. In this way Gisan ZenraiZenji was constantly enlightening his dis-ciples. Tekisui Giboku Zenji, who receivedhis teaching, used that wisdom and gave itfurther life.

Just before his death, Tekisui Zenjisaid,

The one drop of water of Sogen,For seventy-four yearsIt was used, never exhausted,Throughout the heavens and theearth.

Saying these words he died. For sev-enty-four years Tekisui used the splendidteaching he had received at Sogenji aboutthe preciousness of water. He used it andthoroughly gave it life, but it was impos-sible to use it up.

If we use money, it gets used up. Ifwe use things for a long time, they get wornout, but when teaching is used it becomesmore and more radiant. For his entire lifeTekisui gave this teaching the functioningthat extended through the heavens and theearth. Thanks to this teaching that func-tioning was possible. Using water as a meta-phor, he taught about Buddha Nature. Thistruth, this awakening of the true eye, iswhat he was teaching about.

In fact, from the line of GisanZenrai Zenji also came the head abbot ofEngakuji in Kamakura, Imakita Kosen.Imakita Kosen’s Dharma line was carried onby Shaku Soen, who, at the World Con-gress of Religions more than one hundredyears ago, gave the first Buddhist teachingin America. Shaku Soen’s disciple was D. T.Suzuki, who is one of today’s foremosttranslators of Buddhist teachings into En-glish. That one drop of water, one drop ofteaching, that Dharma, is being given lifeall over the world today.

In Kyoto, Myoshinji monastery wasopened by Gisan Zenrai’s disciple EkkeiShuken, and the monastery of Tenryuji wasopened under Tekisui Zenji. In Osaka, inSakae, Nanshuji monastery was opened.Gisan Zenrai also raised Shokokuji’s DaisetsuJoen and Ogino Dokuen. When we lookclosely at this, we can see that more thanone hundred years ago, that main streamof Zen came forth from the overflowingwisdom of that drop from Sogenji, andfrom Japan it has flowed into countries allover the world.

The Sixth Patriarch’s teaching, withwater as the metaphor for Buddha Nature,was given great respect by Gisan Zenji. Heactualized it in his teaching of disciples.From that time and continuing throughtoday as well, that teaching is being givengreat life.

The straight mind is thepath

Jikishin kore dojo

These phrases all come from the wordsof Vimalakirti. The Buddha, knowing thatthe layman Vimalakirti was resting due toillness, asked his disciples to go and visithim. But since all of his main disciples andthe Bodhisattvas had had difficult experi-ences with Vimalakirti in the past, they eachin turn refused, saying they couldn’t go.

Koun Doji was one of those who wasasked to go and visit and who said that hecould not. ...

Every footstep is theplace of practise

Ho ho kore dojo

... He explained that one day, after hehad been walking around in Vaisali, as hewas about to leave the city he metVimalakirti, who was just returning. Hespontaneously asked Vimalakirti where hehad been, and Vimalakirti replied that hewas coming back from the dojo. Since ofcourse there was no dojo outside of theBuddha’s dojo in the castle of Vaisali, Kounthought this was very mysterious. So heasked Vimalakirti to explain.

Vimalakirti then answered, ...

Clear wind arises withevery footstep

Ho ho seifu o okosu

... “The straight mind is the dojo! Ifyou think that a dojo is a place or a build-ing, that is a problem! If you think of it assome building that you can come into andgo out of, or separate from, then the es-sence of your mind will be always chang-ing. The Buddha said, `If you continuallyactualize this Dharma wherever you are,then the Dharma Body will be ever real-ized, and that is without death.’ When theBuddha was saying this, was he talking

about a dojo of form and location? Thestraight mind is the place of practice, thedojo. Dojo is the mind which is straight,simple, and clear. It is an honest mind thatdoes not deceive one’s true self—this iswhat a dojo is. A dojo, as it is, is ShakyamuniBuddha. And this is why the Buddha saidto Ananda, `Go to your Self for the guidinglight, take refuge in your Self. Go to theDharma for your guiding light, go to theDharma for your refuge. Do not go to oth-ers for your refuge.’”

In another place Buddha also said,“Those who see the Dharma, see me. Thosewho see me, see the Dharma.” The timesmay change, there may be no temples orbuildings for worship nearby, yet whetherwe are working in the forest or walking inthe city, wherever we are, that is the dojo.

In India today there are many sa-cred sites, but where is the living Buddha?Because our body is born we have death:this is the delusion of birth and death. Tobe freed from that delusion is called “lib-eration.” The Buddha also said that if deathseems sad, then we have to quickly freeourselves from that delusion of birth anddeath. To do that we do not hold on toany thoughts of anything in our minds.There is the pain of living and dying, orthere is that world of no pain. And whereis that world of no pain? It is right in ourown mind, the Buddha taught. If we knowthat Mind, then the panic in our heart isresolved immediately. “This very place isthe land of lotuses and this very body isthe body of the Buddha.”

If our mind is liberated, then ev-erywhere we go, each and every place, theclear wind rises. If we can understand theDharma taught by the Buddha in our deep-est mind, then every day we can live to-gether with him. This is true if we live aspart of the forest sangha, but it is also trueno matter where we are. In any of the far-thest corners of the earth, we are neverseparated from it. Every footstep is the placeof practice.

Only one bar of iron forten thousand miles

Banri ichijo no tetsu

The great and well-known Master Joshu(778-897) lived a truly long life, dying atthe age of 120. When his state of mind wasdeeply cultivated and he was at a ripe oldage, a monk asked him, “I am yet unableto awaken to the Truth. I have knocked onthis door and tried at the next, reading thisbook and that, like a roaming wild dog,full of desires and attachments. In some-one so ignorant as I am, where could therebe anything like a Buddha Nature?”

The monk was humble, straightfor-ward, and sincere, with that actual ques-tion and confusion that monks must face.Elderly Master Joshu replied, “MU.”

Since the time of Joshu, people of train-ing have used his words for shaving ourflesh and crying tears of blood. Putting ourlife on the line and scraping away our lifeenergy we become tools of attack. Now,even one thousand years later, he is a mon-ster we can’t touch. With this word “Mu,”Joshu was not negating the Buddha’s teach-ing of the truth of our quality of BuddhaNature.

One sharp layperson who saw throughthis clearly has said that delusion or confu-sion is a division in awareness. Shortly afterwe are born we begin gathering all kindsof information, experiences, and ideas. Wecannot live without being in dualism, yetthis is a source of delusion, the actual sub-stance of our suffering. With this Mu, Joshucut through all of that awareness com-pletely.

Joshu’s Mu was made widely popularby the person who compiled the collectionknown as the Mumonkan, Mumon Ekai(1183-1260). He himself worked on thiskoan of Mu in sanzen, struggling with itfor six years. When he heard the drum inthe hondo, he broke through completely.

Master Mumon Ekai had abundant ex-perience and struggling, and he wrote ofthis Mu koan subtly and profoundly. Thosewho are putting their lives on the line withthis koan can see how kindly and from whatactual experience he was writing. MumonEkai Zenji wrote that to experience this stateof mind of Mu one must become com-pletely one with this Mu. With our wholebody and with our whole mind, we con-centrate everything into this one word of“Mu” and melt completely into that Mu.We become that Mu completely, all daylong, from morning until night and fromnight until morning, becoming totally thatbreath which is Mu, making our awarenessinto a sword of Mu and with it cutting ev-erything that we encounter. We cut every-thing that comes into our awarenessthrough our eyes, our ears, our nose, ourmouth. If for one week, one month, oneyear we cut away everything that sways ourawareness, continually deepening, we will

naturally enter into the samadhi of Mu. Heteaches kindly in this way. He knows ex-actly what he is talking about because hehas experienced it directly.

We then become at one with the heav-ens and the earth. Any space between thesubjective that sees and the objective thatis seen disappears completely. We aresettled smack into the full tautness of Mu.Only right here can we know that truthprior to our separation. We return to this,and for the first time we know the verysource of our pain.

The people of old called this the stateof mind of no division between outside andinside the place of only one bar of iron forten thousand miles. This is also called thegreat death. Without this experience wecannot talk about the Buddha Dharma.

This transparent, full, and taut state ofmind of Mu is very serene, but it does notyet have any creative functioning. After sixyears of mediation and training the Bud-dha entered right into this deep samadhi,and at the sight of the morning star on themorning of the eighth of December, hesuddenly was deeply awakened and expe-rienced a whole new life energy.

All of the Buddha Dharma is based onthis deep awakening of the Buddha. Thebase of the ego, all of life energy, all of ex-istence, the true master of all was realizedhere, and with this experience everythingwas transformed and the true awakeningoccurred. To awaken, to realize satori, is tounderstand the deepest meaning and valueof all living things. It is not just to praisethe God in the heavens, or to think of thingsconceptually and as a matter of destiny, orto naturally throw everything away. It is torealize that the bright source of all thingsis our awareness. We must see this clearly.

Is this very mind moment a momentof purity or a moment of attachment? Onthis depends the meaning and value of allexistence in the world. This is truly that onesolid bar of iron that reaches for ten thou-sand miles. With this state of mind the en-tire world is purified, and from here comesall of world peace as well.

Originally not a singlething exists

Honrai muichimotsu

These words, like Unmon’s “Every dayis a good day,” are frequently heard. Theyare the words of the Sixth Patriarch, RokusoEno Zenji. The Sixth Patriarch was the sixthperson in the line of transmission from theFirst Patriarch, Daruma Daishi. DarumaDaishi’s Zen was still imbued with the fla-vor of his homeland of India when itreached the Sixth Patriarch, and it was withthe Sixth Patriarch that Zen could for thefirst time come to life in a Chinese atmo-sphere. The state of mind of China was

brought to life and into action with theBuddha Dharma as expressed by the SixthPatriarch, a source still flowing in today’sZen.

From the Sixth Patriarch, Zen was latergiven life through the five petals of the Zenlines in China, with seven different sects.With these lines Zen spread all throughChina and then came flowing over to Ja-pan. But the source of that flow was theSixth Patriarch. Our zazen state of mind wasespecially influenced by this very same SixthPatriarch. He taught the basics of what westill teach today and is a very importantperson for all of us.

When he wrote these words the SixthPatriarch was on Yellow Plum Mountaintraining under Goso Gunin Zenji, the FifthPatriarch. The representative of the Fifth Pa-triarch had been Jinshu Joza, who had of-fered this poem:

Our body is a bodhi tree,Our mind a mirror bright.Carefully wipe them all the timeAnd let no dust alight.

It would take many words to explainthis episode thoroughly, but to put it briefly,Jinshu Joza was the top monk of the YellowPlum Monastery and was to be the next inline, the first successor of the Fifth Patri-arch, Goso Gunin Zenji. This most seniormonk, Jinshu Joza, in the poem he offeredsaid that the body is a tree for enlighten-ment, an important resource for enlight-enment. The mind is like a bright mirrorthat gets dust on it, and because of thatcluttering dust we get deluded. This is whywe have to diligently wipe away this dustand wipe off the stains. Then we won’t be-come confused and deluded and will al-ways be able to stay in the enlightenedmind of the Buddha. This is how Jinshu Jozawrote.

When the Sixth Patriarch to be, EnoZenji, heard this poem he said that it hadbeen written by a person still outside thegate trying to speak about being inside thegate. This was his observation of JinshuJoza’s poem. He himself then wrote anotherpoem, in response to the poem of JinshuJoza:

There is no bodhi tree,Nor stand of a mirror bright.Originally not a single thingexists,Where can dust alight?

In this way the Sixth Patriarch expressedit.

There is no such thing as an enlighten-ment tree. This physical body is the sourceof our delusion. We become free from thatdelusion by not giving it all of our atten-tion. Our mind may be likened to a mirror,but that metaphor itself is already a con-cept. If there is any idea that there is sucha thing as a mirror, that is already a mis-take. From the origin there is not a singlething; our mind is from the origin empty.To not have a single mind moment is ouroriginal state of mind. To become enlight-ened to that is satori. Even if there wereclutter, there is no place for it to land.

In another place the Sixth Patriarch hasalso stated, “Good students, in this, our sectof the Dharma, from the origin there hasnever been a single mind moment. This isour sect. Our substance is that there is noform. Our source is that there is no placeto abide.”

From the time of the Buddha and withthe Patriarchs as well, the central teachinghas been that of not holding on to anythought whatsoever. To not hold on to evenone mind moment is our fundamentalstance. When we say that, however, it isvery easy to fall into nihilism. For this rea-son the Sixth Patriarch continues by say-ing that the absence of any mind momentsmeans to have no moments in which ourmind is attached. Humans need to thinkabout certain things—that is what it is tobe human. But when we are thinking aboutthings that it is not necessary to thinkabout, we become attached to thosethoughts. When the things we are think-ing about are necessary, we won’t becomeattached to them. To forget immediately—that is what it means to say that while hav-ing mind moments we should let go ofthem immediately. While speaking we haveno idea of ourselves speaking. While work-ing we have no sense that we are working.When going we have no idea of ourselvesgoing, and when sitting we have no idea

of ourselves sitting. This is the truly healthystate of human beings. While having mindmoments, to let them go as they arise isthe meaning of “Originally not a singlething exists.” This is not nihilism.

Further, the Sixth Patriarch continues,the absence of form means to not be at-tached to form, to separate from form. Thisemptiness of form is the body of our truemind. Of course our mind is without form.But that which is manifesting that mind isa body with form and substance. With thisbody which exists we manifest mind, butthat which is manifested is without formor substance. Each person has individualcharacteristics; we each live a different lifewith a different face. Yet we are all withoutform as well, and this is where we all areequal. This is the essence of being emptyof form. Doing cleaning, doing laundry,from morning until night we continue ourwork without sitting down, and yet we doso without any self-conscious awareness ofhaving moved or cleaned. We don’t leavebehind any dregs of self-conscious aware-ness at all. We become the flower, we be-come the bird, we become the mountain,we become the ocean, we become any-thing and everything that we see or hear.“Originally not a single thing exists” is inno way a statement of nihilism.

“Our source is that there is no place toabide.” To abide nowhere means that ourmind is not stopped anywhere. Whateverwe do or encounter we let go of it immedi-ately, like flowing water or flowing electric-ity. Water that does not flow becomes solidice; electricity that does not flow cannotprovide light and energy.

As long as we are humans we need tosee clearly what is good and what is bad.To see the difference between these is thefunction of our Buddha Nature, but if webecome caught on the good our mind alsobecomes rotten and stagnant. We lose ourflexibility. And all the more so, when webecome caught on bad things we commitcrimes, one after the other. Our true mindlets even the good things go flowing onby.

If we are caught on evil we becomestuck, hardened, and fixed; we becomestagnant. To see beautiful things as beauti-ful and ugly things as ugly is one of the

functions of our clear mind. This is com-mon sense. Yet while we see the differencebetween them, we don’t get caught, wedon’t get stuck on them. That mind whichdoes not get stuck and attached is our trueoriginal Buddha Nature. To get stuck andstopped is only ego. When we are resent-ful about something we refuse to let go ofthat, and if we like something we do any-thing we can to get it. This is our mind’ssickness. In each and every mind moment,if we do not have a new and fresh aware-ness we will lose track of the truth. For thatfresh awareness to not be caught on any-thing whatsoever is living zazen.

This is what the Sixth Patriarch is ex-pressing when he says, “Originally not asingle thing exists.”

There is no bodhi tree,Nor stand of a mirror bright.Originally not a single thingexists,Where can dust alight?

As he has said it here, this is our true,living state of mind.

Clear Mind is the truemaster

Kyoshin kore waga shi

The Sixth Patriarch said in his defini-tion of zazen, “To give no rise to any atten-tion to external ideas of good or bad, thisis called za. To look within and not bemoved around by anything at all, this iscalled zen.” In this way he defined zazen.

“To give no rise to any attentionto external ideas of good or bad, this iscalled za.” The external world is a world ofdualism and relativity, and so it is all aboutgood and bad: there are good people andbad people, clever people and foolishpeople, healthy people and wise people,people being born and people dying, menand women. Za is to not engage in thisstate of mind that has any sense of dualitybut rather, like a mirror, to merely reflect.While facing the external world and receiv-ing it wholly, we add on no association,we attach no thought to it or about it. Themind that does not get caught on what itsees or hears: this is za.

Following that we have, “To lookwithin and not be moved around by any-thing at all, this is called zen.” In this waythe definition continues. People of old saidthat “Zen is the flow of the Mind, the Mindis the body of Zen.” This is how they spoke

of it. Our original mind, our essence, is fromthe origin without a single thing. When werealize this pure mind and see it clearly,without moving in Mind, this is zazen.

Our body sits and our mind be-comes empty, without any decided formor any attached thinking. If we are not care-ful, we can mistakenly think this is whatzazen is. This is not what it is. It is not badto sit down in zazen, but our bodies aremade to move and act. If we say that to dozazen is to not move and to not think, thenwe can no longer do our daily work. Thechallenge is the essence of our state ofmind. When we see our true essence di-rectly, there we can discover our eternalunmoved state of mind. This is where thetruth of Zen can be found.

Goso Hoen Zenji, who died in1104, one day addressed his sangha say-ing, “Shaka and Miroku are slaves of another; who is this other?” This great abso-lute one whom the Buddha and MirokuBodhisattva and all beings honor always,even Buddha and Miroku are used as ser-vants by this. Who is this? Of course GosoGunin Zenji said this looking intensely atthe assembled sangha, using this questionto interrogate into the depth of their un-derstanding. “This highest quality of be-ing is right within each and every one ofyou here! Realize this directly—right hereand right now!”

Usually if we speak of an absoluteor an absolute power, one thinks immedi-ately of a God or a Buddha or some thingthat we humans think of as absolute. Butthis is only one kind of concept. What isthe original base that reflects that idea of aGod or a Buddha? No matter how thank-ful we are to some God, what is the mirrorthat reflects that which we think of as aGod? What is that which reflects everythingin existence but is moved around by noneof it? Every single thing that exists is re-flected in the mirror of our true clear mind.In the mirror of our Mind it all settles. Theentire huge universe settles right there inour mind. We awaken to this all-embrac-ing, huge, and all-inclusive Mind. Then nomatter what crisis occurs, even if our bodymeets death, it is only one phenomenonwithin this huge, all-embracing mind. Toknow this mind directly is to know Zen.

We have the words of Eisai Zenji:

Oh Great All Embracing Mind!The height of heavens cannot bemeasuredYet our Mind is above the heav-ens.

The sun and the moon and this huge,enormous, infinite universe are all withinour Mind. Because this Great Mind cannotbe measured we cannot know its physicalextent, and through time it reaches infi-nitely from the endless past to the immea-surable future. All of time and space areincluded and embraced in this Mind. Thismay sound like empty bragging and exag-geration, but our mind’s mental under-standing is not able to grasp everything.The mind with which we are born is notlimited to the narrow views of our dualisticperception of what we have learned andgathered as information and mental con-cepts. This Great Mind cannot be reachedthrough small self-consciousness, and du-alistic perception cannot extend there. Toawaken to that which can drink down allthat is gathered and looked at and per-ceived, that huge state of mind, is Zen. Tonot give rise to extraneous thinking, as theSixth Patriarch says, means to accept andreceive whatever world comes to us, ex-actly as it is. To realize this dimension andknow that it is within us is to discover ourtrue Mind. This is Zen.

Our awareness is infinite. Ourawareness is beyond space and time andcan reflect everything in existence. Every-thing in the external world is transient andin flux always, moving according to karma,yet our mind, while reflecting everythingthat comes to it, remains zero. Zero is be-yond phenomena, beyond time. In all ofus there is a mind which is beyond movingor not moving, and to awaken to that isZen.

Zazen is to know that all-embrac-ing, all-inclusive Mind that is within all ofus. Just as Rinzai Zenji says, “The trueDharma has no form and yet extends in alldirections.” While holding on to nothing itchanges into everything in the whole uni-verse. To realize this state of mind is to knowour truth. Clear mind is the true master. Torealize this clear mind within us is to knowthe truth of zazen.

Serene, unmovable

Jakunen fudo

Daruma Daishi gave this definition ofzazen:

Cutting off all karmic connectionsexternallyLetting go of all concerns within,When the mind is like a firm tallwallThen we are on the Path

This is a famous definition of zazen.

The kendo master Takuan Zenji defined“the unmoved mind” as that mind of nomind moment, no form. This is not to be

mistaken for a mind that does not move. Ifwe think that this means that no matterwhat comes along our mind doesn’t move,that is a great misunderstanding. Whilethere are many people who think of it thisway, if Zen is seen as holding this kind ofmind important, then even if the people inthe world are suffering terribly and endur-ing horrible miseries, their pain will be ir-relevant to us. It is as if we just turn ourback on people in the world and only prayfor our own happiness and satisfaction. Thistype of mind would be especially useless inthe case of kendo. If we tried to preservean idea of some state of mind of no formand no mind moments, we would be cutthrough by our opponent’s sword imme-diately. That is not unmoved mind. Un-moved mind is the mind that is not stoppedby anything, not caught on anything. Assoon as we become caught on something,there is a gap.

Where the gap appears our mind’s de-lusion is born. Takuan Zenji is teaching this.Daruma Daishi says, “Cutting off all karmicconnections externally,” but that does notmean to close our eyes and cover our earsand ignore the actual world around us. Nomatter what comes along, our mind is notstopped there. In all of the four directionsand the eight quarters the unmoved mindis free, full, and taut, but not stopped byanything. This is the actualization of ourzazen in action.

It is just like the functioning of a mir-ror. A mirror reflects each and every thingthat comes before it without making anyjudgments whatsoever about what it re-flects. This is the unmoved mind. In ourmind we are always able to know the goodand bad about society, and that is the func-tion of Buddha Nature. But while it is thatway for all of us, even while we are sittingstill doing zazen with our bodies, we keepour minds busy criticizing others and gos-siping mentally about what other peopleare doing. There are people who get satis-faction from doing just that. Buddha Na-ture is then reborn as ego filter.

It is not about criticizing and judgingsomeone else; rather we merely reflectthem. When we are functioning in thatstate of mind that is completely objectiveand clear to the final degree, that is theunmoved mind. If we judge, we are moved

around by that which we reflect. Becausewe get moved around, ideas of profit andloss are born. According to circumstancespeople may become blue or red-hot, andthat is because of being moved around. Thedifference between a mirror and a humanmind is that a mirror can merely reflect,while a human can perceive the situationof another and with an unmoved, serenemind act in an appropriate way from aplace of deep, natural wisdom. This has tobe a functioning that goes beyond profitand loss, or it is not the unmoved mind.

The next line of the definition is “Let-ting go of all concerns within.” In the Dia-mond Sutra it says that we should not becaught or attached to any idea of a past,present, or future. Neither should we becaught on an idea of not thinking anythingat all or on ideas of no form. The mindmoves naturally, and to say that weshouldn’t think that it moves or should tryto stop it so that it can’t move is unnatural.The mind from the origin is without exist-ence. It is like a computer screen, whichreflects the content given to it and thenbegins to move and work. Our mind issomething that moves, but if we think wewill find Zen in this moving mind we willbe very confused and deluded. Our mindis like a shadow, like a phantom, and hasno fixed substance. Because our mind hasno originally fixed substance, it is pure andclear. But it doesn’t even need to be calledpure, or we will be caught again on an ideaof it being pure. To be letting go of all con-cerns within means that we don’t getcaught on anything or any idea at all. Fromthe origin our mind is serene and pure, andthere is no need to get caught on any ideaof how it is originally pure and serene ei-ther. If we try to make efforts to stay pureand serene, that is no longer being pureand serene. Rather, it makes us more noisyand cluttered.

To make the mind “like a firm tall wall”means to not be caught on anything ex-ternal, to not intentionally make up prob-lems, to be in that state of mind wherethere is no separation between inner andouter, that full and taut state of mind wherewe extend throughout the heavens and theearth. If we enter this state of mind we natu-rally realize that from the origin we are pureand serene already. This is the state of mindof “Serene, unmovable.”

Sitting in themoon-water dojo

Suigetsu dojo ni zasu

Am I the moon, or is the moonme,Sitting until I know,Peacefully becoming the autumnmoon.

In this world there is usually a separa-tion between what is “me” and what is not“me.” We see these as two: the objectiveand the subjective, the person and the sur-roundings. To realize that these are not two,

that in fact there is only one, is zazen. Rinzaisays of this place, “In this five-foot lump ofred flesh there is a true person of no rankalways coming in and going out of the ori-fices. If you have not seen it yet—see it now!See it now!”

How about it? Have you seen thetrue Self? Even hearing this do you not yetunderstand? See it! SEE IT!!!! Rinzai is pur-suing us in this way. That which we per-ceive as the world does not exist apart fromwho we are. It is only the external exist-ence of the true person that is who we are.All of it is the true person that exists withinus. The heavens and earth together are onelayer of this true person. Passing throughour eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body, it goesin and out. When it goes out it becomesthe objective, the surroundings of our en-vironment; when it comes in it becomesthe subjective, the person. From the originthese are not two separate things. Theycannot be anything but this true person ofno rank.

The subjective is nothing but theobjective, and the objective is nothing otherthan the subjective. It is always one andthe same layer, coming and going as one,in and out, our pure life energy and actualexistence. To awaken to this pure self is toknow our true self.

Am I the moon, or is the moonme,Sitting until I know,Peacefully becoming the autumnmoon.

To know this place where the subjec-tive and the objective have become one,have become the same, is to know our trueoriginal self.

For a short while won’t you expe-rience this ultimate point of zazen, whereour pure and true self is tasted in its myste-rious flavor? The heavens and I are one; Iam at one with all of Great Nature. Is therea me because there is a moon to see? Isthere a moon because there is a me to seeit? Is there an objective because there is asubjective? There is no such comparisonexisting anywhere. Know the place wherethe subjective and the objective becometotally one, perfectly matching and radi-

antly shining. There is no form of a me otherthan that which is the shining of the moon’sradiant beams. It is all settled in the mu-tual subjectivity, manifesting as one. Themoon enters as my subjectivity, and I meltinto the moon’s shining. As I enter it, itenters me. The moon and I become one,the heavens and the earth and I becomeone. This truly serene state of mind whereit is all one has to be tasted, or we cannotsay we understand Zen.

If we understand this state of mindwell, we know that we are the heavens andthe earth, that we are all the ten directionsand we are seeing it all from the same eye.I am the sun as it shines; I am the moon asit radiates. With this state of mind I go intosociety, and all people’s suffering is my suf-fering, all people’s great joy is my great joy.To see God and see Buddha is this state ofmind; to know one’s true Mind is also thisstate of mind.

The water has no awareness ofreflectingThe moon has no awareness ofbeing reflectedThe lake of Shirosawa.

To be able to realize this place with noseparation between self and other: this isZen.

No matter how we analyze thecontents of water, we will not be able tolocate the moon there. Yet without anyknowledge of the contents of water, as soonas the water is clear we can see the moonreflected there. This is true whether thewater is a small puddle, a lake, or a greatocean. It can be muddy water or water in abowl, water in a bucket or water in a well,it can be the dew on a wildflower or thepiss of a carp in the pond; there is no needto analyze the contents of that water or toassess its value. If that water is clear andstill, without fail the moon will find its waythere. No matter how dirty the water is, ifit settles and becomes still, the moon willbe reflected there without fail. No matterhow we search throughout our body, evenif we do an autopsy, we won’t be able tofind a mirror anywhere, but if we do zazenand our mind settles and becomes clear,the mirror-like functioning of the mindspontaneously comes forth. ...

Empty flowers, myriadmanifestations

Kuge mangyo o shusu

... In the Lotus Sutra it says,

The Bodhisattva’s shining mooncomes forth in the skyIf the sentient being’s mind isclear, the moon is received within

Our essence is just like this. No matterhow many evil acts a person commits, nomatter how ignorant or stupid someonemight seem, no matter how uneducated,

these measures of this person’s value areirrelevant. In the world those sorts of val-ues are important, but when it comes tothe true body of Mind, these measurementsare irrelevant. If our mind becomes clear, ifwe can enter samadhi, the moon will shinethere without fail. That quiet mind, as it is,is the Buddha Nature received within.

If we are given the experience ofthis place of me being completely one withthe world in serenity, we can know that trueexperience of our original nature and thatthe Buddha Nature is there from the be-ginning.

The meaning of “sitting in themoon-water dojo” is to realize this placewhere the moon and the heavens and theearth are all me, to know that we havenever, not even once, been born or died.We realize this state of mind directly forourselves. This huge world of the Buddha’senlightenment can be realized by anyonewho throws himself away completely; then,when the mind becomes quiet, what isexperienced there is this state of mind. Thisis not a produced state of mind; everyoneis endowed with it. Being overwhelmed byextraneous thoughts and attachments, wemerely lose track of our Buddha Nature.

“Empty flowers, myriad manifesta-tions.” These empty flowers are like thesmall, shiny appearances we see in the chillair of a winter morning. In the countrysideof mountainous areas, we see this often.What is shining is the condensed air; thereis in fact nothing there that is of substance.There is nothing there, there is shining.

A person of old said, “Seeing theBuddha Nature we name it that which iswithout anything cluttering at all.” Our truenature is without any clutter, empty with-out a single thing. If we truly have realizedthat state of Mind of Mu, we know thatthere is no Mu there at all, no ignorantperson to be deluded and no Buddha tobe prostrated to. There is not even a placefor that to remain.

Another person of old has said,“There is nothing above our heads andnothing holding us up under our feet.” Thatplace where there is nothing in the heav-ens and the earth to obstruct us whatso-ever, and nothing below us to support us