TREELEAF PODCAST: ZAZEN - YOJINKI SERIES

[Bion]

Hello, all
A new episode of our Treeleaf Podcast is available for streaming on all platforms. We begin a new series of talks, focusing on master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yojinki'. Find the Treeleaf Podcast wherever you usually stream podcasts, or listen to it directly

HERE

We begin this month a new series of Talks on Keizan Jokin Zenji's 13th Century ...

... 'Zazen-Yōjinki'

(坐禅用心記; 'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen')

Master Keizan, considered with Master Dogen one of the two "Founders" of Soto Zen in Japan, lived from 1264 to 1325. His essay “Zazen-Yōjinki” might be considered an expansion and further exploration of Dogen's explanation of Zazen, the 'Fukanzazengi.' The advice is often very practical, covering such topics as how to sit, breathe, what to wear, eat beforehand and what to do on those days when the mind just won't settle down, while other parts of the essay (such as today's portion) are wild, willy and mind wowing as only Zen writings can be!

I will be drawing from a few different translations, including by Anzan Hoshin-Yasuda and by Okumura Roshi, as modified at Antaiji. Also, translations by Masunaga and Cleary.

It begins ...

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Zazen means to clarify the mind-ground and dwell comfortably in your actual nature. This is called "the display of the Original Face" and "manifesting the original-ground."

In zazen both body and mind drop off, and you will be far beyond such forms as sitting or lying down. Free from considerations of good and bad, zazen transcends distinctions between ordinary people and sages, it goes far beyond judgements of deluded or enlightened. Zazen includes no boundary between sentient beings and buddha. Therefore put aside all affairs, and let go of all associations [attachments]. Do nothing at all. The six senses produce nothing [Don't fabricate any things with the six senses.].

What is this? Its name is unknown. It cannot be called “body”, it cannot be called “mind”. Trying to think of it, the thought vanishes. Trying to speak of it, words die. It is like a fool, an idiot [but also like the sage]. It is as high as a mountain, deep as the ocean. Without peak or depths, its brilliance is unthinkable, it shows itself silently. Between sky and earth, only this whole body is seen.

This one is without comparison – he has completely died. Eyes clear, he stands nowhere. Where is there any dust? What can obstruct such a one?

Clear water has no back or front, space has no inside or outside. Completely clear, its own luminosity shines before form and emptiness were fabricated. Objects of mind and mind itself have no place to exist.

This has always already been so but it is still without a name. The third patriarch Sengcan, great teacher, temporarily called it “mind”, and the venerable Nagarjuna once called it “body.” Enlightened essence and form, giving rise to the bodies of all the Buddhas, it has no “more” or “less” about it [has neither lack nor excess].

This is symbolized by the full moon but it is this mind which is enlightenment itself. The luminosity of this mind shines throughout the past and brightens as the present. Nagarjuna used this subtle symbol for the samadhi of all the Buddhas but this mind is signless, non-dual, and differences between forms are only apparent.

Just mind, just body. Difference and sameness miss the point. Body arises in mind and, when the body arises, they appear to be distinguished. [Only mind, only body - their difference and sameness are not the issue; mind changes into body, and when the body
appears they are distinguished.] When one wave arises, a thousand waves follow; the moment a single mental fabrication arises, numberless things appear. So the four elements and five aggregates mesh, four limbs and five senses appear and on and on until the thirty-six body parts and the twelve-fold chain of interdependant emergence. Once fabrication arises, it develops continuity but it still only exists through the piling up of myriad dharmas.

The mind is like the ocean waters, the body like the waves. There are no waves without water and no water without waves; water and waves are not separate, motion and stillness are not different. So it is said, "A person comes and goes, lives and dies, as the imperishable body of the four elements and five aggregates."

Zazen is going right into the Ocean of Awareness, manifesting the body of all Buddhas. The natural luminosity of mind suddenly reveals itself and the original light is everywhere. There is no increase or decrease in the ocean and the waves never turn back.

GASSHO
sat and lah

[Bion]

Hello, everyone

A new episode of our Treeleaf Zendo Podcast is now available, continuing our Zazen-Yojinki series. Please find the podcast on your favorite streaming platform, or you can stream directly here:

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST>>

The is Part II of our series on Keizan Jokin Zenji's 13th Century ...

... 'Zazen-Yōjinki'

(坐禅用心記; 'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen')

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Thus Buddhas have arisen in this world for the one Great Matter of teaching people the wisdom and insight of Awakening and to give them true entry. For this there is the peaceful, pure practice of sitting. This is nothing but the samadhi, in which all buddhas receive and use themselves as buddhas (jijuyu-zanmai). This is the sovereign of all samadhis. Entering this samadhi, the ground of mind is clarified at once. You should know that this is the true gate to the Way of the Buddhas.

If you want to clarify the mind-ground, give up your jumble of limited knowledge and interpretation, cut off thoughts of usualness and holiness [worldly affairs and buddha-dharma], abandon all delusive feelings. When the true mind of reality manifests, the clouds of delusion dissipate and the moon of the mind shines bright.

The Buddha said, "Listening and thinking about it are like being shut out by a door. Zazen is like coming home and sitting at ease." This is true! When we are listening and thinking about it, views have not ceased and the mind is obstructed; this is why it's like being shut out by a door. Zazen alone brings everything to rest and, flowing freely, reaches everywhere. So zazen is like returning home and sitting at ease.

Being afflicted by the five obstructions [excess desire, ill-will, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness-and-worry, doubt] arises from not understanding your own nature, not clarifying yourself. Zazen is understanding your own nature. Even if you were to eliminate the five obstructions, if you haven't eliminated basic ignorance, you have not yet realized yourself as the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. If you want to release basic ignorance, the essential key is to sit and practice the Way.

An old master said, "When confusion ceases, clarity/tranquility arises; when clarity/tranquility arises, wisdom appears; and when wisdom appears, Reality displays itself."

If you want to cease your confusion/delusive thoughts, you must cease involvement in thoughts of good or bad. Stop getting caught up in unnecessary affairs. A mind "unoccupied" together with a body "free of activity" is the essential point to remember. [Give up all affairs with which you are involved; do not occupy your mind with any concerns nor become physically engaged in any activity. This is the primary point to bear in mind.]

When delusive attachments end, the mind of delusion dies out. When delusion dies out, the Reality that was always the case manifests and you are always clearly aware of it. It is not a matter of extinction or of activity.

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I have been reading some recently published translations of Shenhui, an 8th Century Zen figure who seems to have largely created the focus in later Zen on "sudden enlightenment" (while criticizing the "gradual enlightenment" of more traditional Buddhism). Some of his writings resonate with today's readings and our Shikantaza practice:

... What is subtle falsity? When you hear an explanation of bodhi [wisdom] and activate the intention to grasp bodhi; when you hear an explanation of nirvāṇa and activate the intention to grasp nirvāṇa; when you hear an explanation of emptiness and activate the intention to grasp emptiness; when you hear an explanation of concentration [Samadhi] and activate the intention to grasp concentration ... these are all [examples of] the false mind, of being bound to the Dharma, of having mistaken views of the Dharma. If your mind functions like this, you will not attain emancipation; this is not your inherently serene and pure mind. If you attempt to reside in nirvāṇa, you will be bound by nirvāṇa ... ; if you reside in emptiness, you will be bound by emptiness; If you attempt to reside in concentration, you will be bound by concentration ...

Friends, you should all take care to listen carefully as I explain the pure inherent mind. When you hear an explanation of bodhi, don’t create the intention to grasp bodhi; when you hear an explanation of nirvāṇa, don’t create the intention to grasp nirvāṇa ... ; when you hear an explanation of emptiness, don’t create the intention to grasp emptiness; when you hear an explanation of concentration, don’t create the intention to grasp concentration ...

...

When your mind discriminates dharmas [separate phenomena, the many things in this world], discriminate well all the dharmas. Do not activate [the mind] in consequence of this discrimination, but attain autonomy within dharmas, so that within dharmas you attain completely to the samādhi of emancipated dharmas. When all your sensory faculties discriminate well in this fashion, this is the fundamental wisdom. When you do not activate [the mind] in consequence of this discrimination, this is the fundamental concentration. The sūtra says, “Without discarding the Dharmas of the Path, one still manifests the affairs of an ordinary person ... ” [To perform] the myriad activities and worldly [affairs] without generating thoughts about those affairs: this is the combined cultivation of concentration and wisdom, which cannot be separated.

[From Shenhui's 'Platform Sermon' https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/zen...chan-buddhism/ ]

gassho
sat and lah