Monday Morning, March
10, 1969
—it was very, very cold. It was November? I don't remember exactly. I told him,
“Don't wear so much clothing. Even if you wear many clothes, you will not be so
warm. And if your practice is sincere enough, even though you do not wear so
much, you will not be so cold. If you are involved in intense practice,
actually you don't feel so cold.”
And so he appeared in the zendo with only one thin shirt [laughs, laughter].
And he practiced. I said to him, “It may be too thin. You have to wear a little
bit more.” [laughs, laughter]
But he said, “It's all right.” And he sat with just one shirt on his body. I talked
about his experience because I want to talk about one koan: the famous koan of
Nansen1—between Nansen and Joshu,2 Nansen's disciple. “Everyday
Mind Is Dao.”3 I think you may know that koan.
A koan is not something to explain. Why we talk about it is to give some
suggestion about how you practice zazen. It is a suggestion. We don't talk
about what a koan means directly. We give you just a suggestion, and, according
to the introduction or suggestion, you work on the koan. That is how we explain
a koan and how you listen to a koan.
So you must not think about if you remember what I said, or if you understand
what I said. There is no need for you to solve the koan. I am not trying to
explain what is everyday mind or what is dao, but through this koan I
want to give you some suggestion about how you practice shikantaza.
Actually, shikantaza and koan practice are not exactly the same, but
there is not much difference. Shikantaza is a more condensed practice,
more essential practice, or fundamental practice than koan practice. The
purpose of koan practice is the same as shikantaza. Anyway, I want you
to understand how you practice our way by explaining this koan of “Everyday
Mind Is Dao.”
You may think that if you practice well enough then you have power which could
be extended in your everyday life. Actually it is so, but how you acquire this
kind of power is a different matter. When you have power, then you can extend
that power to everyday life. But, how you can obtain that power will be the
next question. You may wonder what kind of experience you will have when you
have acquired the power [laughs]. This kind of question will continue
endlessly. How you will acquire that kind of power, or how to extend the power
to everyday life.
So anyway I will explain, first of all, this koan:
Joshu
asked his teacher Nansen, “What is dao?” What is dao?
And his teacher Nansen answered, “Everyday mind is dao.”
And Joshu4 asked his teacher again, “How to accord with the dao?”
or “How to follow the dao? Tell me how to accord with the dao.”
That was Joshu's question.
And Nansen said, “The more you try to follow the dao, the more you will
lose the dao.” [Laughs.] That was his answer. And he continued, “The
true power does not belong to the matter of attaining it,” or “the matter of being
aware of it or not aware of it, or attaining it or not attaining it. If your
practice goes beyond the matter of attaining it or not attaining it, your mind
will be like a boundless blue sky. And, you will have no problem in your
everyday life.” That was his answer.
Now I want to come
back to the discussion between one of you students and me. He said he wanted to
have a vacation or to go to see someone, and he wanted to leave Tassajara for
one week. I wanted to know why he felt that way. And at last I found out. Before,
he rigidly, strictly attached to or strictly observed the Tassajara way. But,
now he feels that to observe his way strictly with the idea to observe
Tassajara way is right, and not to practice even for one day is not good.
So, his practice in other words, involved right or wrong—right practice or
wrong practice. And, he found out that our practice should go beyond right or
wrong. “If so, what is wrong in my idea of leaving Tassajara for one week?
[Laughs.] Before I saw things in that way, but now I don't understand our way
in that way. I don't understand our way so rigidly. So, sometimes we can leave
Tassajara. What is wrong if I leave Tassajara when I want to leave?” That was why
he now wanted to leave Tassajara.
Before, as you see in the question and answer between Nansen and Joshu, Joshu
asked him, “How can I follow the way if I don't try to observe it?” Or, in
other words, “Is it possible for me to observe our way without trying to
observe our way?” But Nansen said, “If you try to observe our way, that way is
not the true way.” [Laughs.] How will you understand this point? It means that,
until you have some power or some experience of real practice, you will not
understand what is the true way.
Even if I explain what is the true way, and even if you understand what I say,
that is not the true way. Only when actually you have that power to extend your
experience to everyday life, then, and without trying to observe our way,
naturally, intuitively, you are able to observe our way. That is true. You
understand?
To follow our way rigidly, to attain some power or some enlightenment experience
may not be the true way. But while you are doing so, unexpectedly [laughs] your
enlightenment will come to you. And, that enlightenment is not the
enlightenment you expected [laughs, laughter]. That will be how you will
experience our true way.
Dogen Zenji always says, “Don't try to attain enlightenment. Just [laughs,
laughter] practice it, as though you have some idea of enlightenment—like a
beautiful picture.” To attain, to realize, to actualize that idea, you practice
zazen. What you get is a quite different thing. It will not be the painting of
a rice cake. What you will get is something quite different. That is true.
So in koan practice, you try hard to attain enlightenment. In shikantaza we do not try to attain enlightenment. Or, in shikantaza we have no time
[laughs] to expect something. We have pain in our legs, and sometimes it may be
very cold [laughs]. To remain in the right posture is difficult. And if you are
involved in our practice with right posture, with good breathing, you have no
time even to try to have a beautiful picture of enlightenment [laughs]. It is
already hard enough to sit, and you have no other idea of some imagination.
So actually, what we do is the same, and what we attain is the same. But what
you attain is something completely different than you expected.
Nansen says if you try to follow the way, you will be far away from it. That is
what he said. But what you will attain is something quite different. It is not
something to describe. Maybe like—so we call it emptiness. Or, sometimes toilet
paper. [Laughs, laughter.] Sometimes cats. Sometimes fox. Whatever it is, it is
another name of something which cannot be described. That is true
enlightenment. Only when you have it, then you may say, “Everyday life is the true
way.” Even toilet paper is the true way [laughs]. Whatever you do, that is
another name of the true way you have.
This morning I didn't explain so much, but even though I agreed with the
student’s idea to leave for one week or two, it does not mean that is the true
way [laughs]. The true way is not something like that. To sometimes observe our
way, sometimes we don't. That is not the true way. But, even so, I don't mean
that you should stay here. If someday he will realize the true way, then he may
understand why I agreed with his idea of leaving Tassajara for a while. Or, sometimes
don't wear so much clothing. Or you should practice rigidly and strictly
enough.
To be completely involved in our practice, someday he may understand what I
meant. Right now I don't think he understood what I said. I didn't agree with
his idea. Or, I didn't agree that his rigid practice is the true practice. True
practice is not in the realm of “This is true practice, and this is not true
practice.” True practice is beyond the idea of right and wrong, and beyond
experience, beyond human suggestion.
I think old students may have a very difficult time with me because I do not
say anything definitely [laughter]. “Yeah, that is all right. That may be all
right. Do whatever you like.” And, sometimes I don't feel so good, so old
students will wonder if I didn’t feel so good when I said, “Oh, whatever you
like. Do whatever you like.” Or without saying, “Do this. Do that.” [Sentence
finished. Tape turned over.]
…“I don't feel so good.” So, he may understand, he doesn't feel so good. The
true way is not something you can achieve in terms of right or wrong, or
successful or not successful. The important point is to always have composure
within ourselves whether we are successful or not. To have a deep mind, to
include everything within ourselves—that is the true way or dao.
So every day when you accept even toilet-paper buddha, you have the true way. The
point is that you can accept things as it is, as you accept Buddha as your
teacher. That is the true way. And, as our patriarchs and buddhas did it, it is
possible for us to attain that kind of true way.
There is no difference between everyday problems and koans. There is no
difference between a bird's or fish's way and Buddha's way. And, there are many
ways and various ways to attain that kind of true way experience which is your
own, which could be your own, and which will be different from each other's
way, and which is quite an independent way from each other's way—at the same
time which is the universal way to everyone. That is the true way. If so, how
can I explain [laughs] what is the true way?
Although the great teacher Nansen and his disciple Joshu have this kind of
discussion, it does not mean anything to those who do not understand the true
way. But it will give us some suggestion, and it will give us some
encouragement to practice our way even though here may be some Rinzai students
or Soto students.
You may think that it is nonsense for a Rinzai student [laughs] to come to
Tassajara and practice shikantaza, but it isn't so. Koan practice could
be shikantaza. Shikantaza could be koan practice. Actually, if
you really practice koan practice with right understanding, under right
instruction, that is shikantaza. If you practice shikantaza under
the right teacher, it will be koan practice. If you understand our practice,
there are not two practices. Your practices are pointing one way. It looks like
various ways because you understand it in terms of “Rinzai or Soto,” “shikantaza or koan practice.” That is your fault [laughs], not the teacher's fault. Or, you
may say I am a Soto priest, Soto teacher, but actually, my lineage is Soto
lineage, but actually our way came directly from Buddha. They are set off in
two ways.
[Brief whispered exchange with Suzuki off-mike.]
Did you understand? [Laughs, laughter.] Actually, what I meant is—you should
practice zazen [laughs, laughter]. That is what I wanted to say. But you should
practice it [1 word?]. You should be completely involved in your practice. That
is what I meant in short. Then, everyone will attain enlightenment. That is
what I said in short. You cannot waste your time. It is not possible to waste
your time. You think, I am wasting time, that's all [laughs]. But you are not
wasting your time.
Anyway, if you trust in words, it's better to practice zazen [laughs, laughter]
without any doubt. And it's better to be completely involved in your practice, putting
everything aside. That is what I mean.
And, we shouldn't be fooled by Nansen and Joshu, even though he said, “Everyday
life is [laughs] the true way.” If you are fooled by them, you will say,
“Whatever we do, that is the true way.” [Laughs.] “There will be no need to
practice zazen. What is wrong to not practice zazen? Even though we do not sit
in a cross-legged position, that is the true way.” [Laughs.] When you
understand in this way, you are trying to understand the koan literally without
knowing what they really meant by that discussion.
I am so glad to see what you have experienced here in the last time period. So
after you did it, you understand what you have done [laughs]. Before you do it,
or when he is coming back to Tassajara, or it doesn't mean anything to sit with
a teacher, but after you did it, you must have experienced what you have done.
Thank you very much.
_______________
1 Nanquan Puyuan (Nansen Fugan): 748–835. Disciple of Baso Dōitsu.
2 Zhaozhou Congshen (Jōshū Jūshin): 778–897.
3 Case 19 of the Wu-Men Kuan (Jap. Mumonkan, Eng. Gateless Gate)
kōan collection.
4Suzuki said "Nansen" but must have meant "Joshu."
Source: Original City Center tape transcribed by Dana Velden (6/26/00). Checked
by Bill Redican (11/1/00). Lightly edited for readability by Wendy Pirsig and
Peter Ford (12/2020).
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