Originally Posted by
Yuki
Hi everybody !
How about the reading of those two texts from Kodo Sawaki this week ?
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« Impermanence is this very instant as it is.
You win or lose this moment and . . . finished.
Every day you breathe out and breathe in and that’s it. And that should be the end of it.
However, we attach to things and delude ourselves.
If we have children, we think of ourselves as parents.
If we have grandchildren, we think of ourselves as grandparents . . .
The grandchild is the grandchild, period.
The grandparent is the grandparent, period.
The child is the child, period.
Here we see for the first time the flavorless, colorless reality of the sole universe.
These days, people feel dissatisfied.
It’s because the modern man feels he is unexciting and that he must do something about it.
And he thinks he can do something about it.
That is what we call delusion.
There is no other self than the one who lives with these thoughts right now.
It is the self that can’t be replaced.
There is no place where another me is.
So the thoughts and activities of our selves today are irreplaceable.
[Hence this self] must be the true Self. »
Kodo Sawaki
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« When I give myself completely to zazen, nothing any longer exists—there is no Sawaki. When there is no Sawaki, there is no deluded thinking mind. When this mind is rejected, nothing remains other than zazen. During zazen, one is in harmony with the Buddha, the Dharma, the founders, and the patriarchs. One becomes the entire universe. Through the power of the Knowing-Buddha, we enter into the unborn. This power resides in zazen. Through this knowing, illusions disappear and one immediately enters the unborn.
That’s why Zen Master Keizan says at the beginning of his Zazen Yojinki [A Record of Points to Watch in Zazen]:
“Zazen allows people to directly illumine the mind and reside comfortably in their fundamental nature. This is called revealing one’s original face and manifesting the scenery of one’s true foundation.” Again, “if you wish to illumine this mind, you must let go of all learning, throw away the Dharma of both the world and the Buddha, and set yourself apart from all delusion. When you actualize this unique true mind, the clouds of delusion will disappear and the true mind will be as clear as the bright moon.
Zazen will then wipe out ignorance, and you will attain Buddhahood as you are. So you do not realize the unborn through the power of reasoning, but rather through the power of zazen. »
Discovering the True Self
Kodo Sawaki
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See you all soon !
Yuki 雪
(Sat today)