Beginner's consciousness. About the book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki

27
May
2018

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)

Format: audiobook, MP3, 96kbps
Shunryu Suzuki
Year of manufacture: 2013
Genre: Philosophy
Publisher: DIY Audiobook
Performer: Andrey
Duration: 15:48:22
Description: The book "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" is addressed to those who are seriously interested in Japanese Buddhism and the practice of zazen meditation. The book is based on conversations between the famous Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki and a group of his American students.
This is a book about what is the correct practice of Zen, what is the correct attitude towards it and the correct understanding of it. And about how you should understand your life and live in this world.
S. Suzuki's book “Zen Consciousness, Beginner's Consciousness” is one of the most significant modern works on the practice of Zen meditation available to Western and domestic readers.

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Artist: Nikosho
Duration: 06:11:08
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Series: Classic educational book
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Author: Leontyev A.N.
Year of manufacture: 2004
Genre: collection, psychology
Publisher: Smysl, Academia
Russian language
Number of pages: 352
Description: The publication is dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the outstanding Russian scientist A.N. Leontyev (1903–1979). "Activity. Consciousness. Personality" is one of his main books, from which psychology students still study in our country. The book also includes a number of works from the legacy of A.N. Leontyev, thematically close to this and...

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Artist: BIGBAG
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Format: audiobook, MP3, 128kbps
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Year of manufacture: 2016
Genre: esoteric, philosophy
Publisher: DIY Audiobook
Artist: Ironclad
Duration: 02:43:58
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ISBN: 5-9763-0014-6, 0-9636001-2-5
Format: FB2, EPUB, eBook (originally computer)
Author: Richard Brody
Year of manufacture: 2007
Genre: Psychology, philosophy
Publisher: Generation
Russian language
Number of pages: 310
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Russian language
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Zen consciousness, beginner's consciousness Shunryu Suzuki

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Title: Zen Consciousness, Beginner's Consciousness
Author: Shunryu Suzuki
Year: 1971
Genre: Foreign esoteric and religious literature, Religious texts

About the book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki

“Zen Consciousness, Beginner's Consciousness” has already gone through 40 editions and rightfully belongs to the classic modern works on the practice of Zen meditation. You will learn not so much how to properly engage in Zen practice, but how to correctly understand your life and live in this world. Even for those who do not intend to engage in Zen practice, the views of Shunryu Suzuki will help them look at the world and themselves in a new way. After all, the consciousness of a beginner has many possibilities; in the consciousness of a connoisseur - only a few.

On our website about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book “Zen Consciousness, Beginner’s Consciousness” by Shunryu Suzuki in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

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(Fragment)

Translation of English Grigory Bogdanov, Elena Kirko

Project manager A. Vasilenko

Corrector E. Chudinova

Computer layout K. Svishchev

Designer M. Lobov

© Shunryu Suzuki, 1971

© Publication in Russian, translation, design. ALPINA PUBLISHER LLC, 2013

© Preface to the Russian edition. Ligatma, 1995.

© Translation (preface, introduction, text by S. Suzuki). Ligatma, 1995, 2000. www.ligatma.org

Published under agreement with SHAMBALA PUBLICATIONS, INC. (P.O. Box 308, Boston, MA 02 115, USA) with the assistance of the Alexander Korzhenevsky Agency (Russia).

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for private or public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.

© The electronic version of the book was prepared by liters company (www.litres.ru)

TO MY TEACHER GYOKUJUN SO-ON-DAYOSHO

The book “Zen Consciousness, Beginner's Consciousness,” published entirely in Russian for the first time, is addressed to those who are seriously interested in Japanese Buddhism and the practice of zazen meditation. The book is based on conversations between the famous Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki and a group of his American students.

Two Suzukis. Half a century ago, an event comparable in historical significance to the translation of Aristotle into Latin in the thirteenth century and the translation of Plato in the fifteenth occurred when Daisetsu Suzuki single-handedly introduced Zen to the West. Fifty years later, Shunryu Suzuki did something equally important. In this only book of his, he struck exactly the note of coherent presentation that Americans interested in Zen needed to hear.

If the Zen of Daisetsu Suzuki is excitingly bright, then the Zen of Shunryu Suzuki is ordinary. Satori was the main thing for Daisetsu, and it is the charm of this unusual state that largely makes his work so irresistible. In Shunryu Suzuki's book the words satori And kensho, its closest equivalent, does not appear even once.

When, four months before his death, I had the opportunity to ask him why the word did not appear in the book satori, his wife leaned towards me and sarcastically whispered: “That’s because he never had one,” and then Roshi, playing along with her, feigned fake fear on his face and, putting a finger to his lips, whispered: “Shhhh ! He shouldn't hear this! When our laughter died down, he said simply: “It’s not that satori no matter, but this is not the side of Zen that should be emphasized.”

Suzuki Roshi stayed with us in America for only twelve years - only one cycle according to the East Asian calendar, but that was enough. Thanks to the activities of this small, quiet man, today there is a thriving Soto Zen organization on our mainland. His life represents the Way of Soto as perfectly as the fusion of man and the Way is possible. “There was such an absence of “I” in his attitude towards everything that we are deprived of the opportunity to talk about any unusual or original manifestations of his character. Although he did not attract general attention and left no trace as a person in the worldly sense, the traces of his steps in the invisible world of history lead straight ahead. His monuments are the first Soto Zen monastery in the West, the Tassajara Mountain Zen Center; its urban addition, the San Francisco Zen Center; and, for most people, this book.

Without losing sight of anything, he prepared his students for the most difficult, for the moment when his tangible presence turns into emptiness:

“When I begin to die, at the very moment of my death, if I suffer, know that everything is in order; it is Buddha who suffers. There is no need to be embarrassed by this. We may all have to struggle with excruciating physical or mental pain. It's okay though, it's not a problem. We should be very grateful that our life in a body... like mine or yours is limited. If our lives were unlimited, then we would be faced with a real problem.”

And he ensured continuity. In the High Seat ceremony on November 21, 1971, he created Richard Baker as Dharma Successor. His cancer was already at such a stage that during this ceremony he could only move with the help of his son. And even then, with every step he took, the stick he was leaning on hit the floor with the steely will of Zen that showed through his soft exterior...

Two weeks later the Master left us, and at his funeral on December 4, R. Baker, addressing the many people who had gathered to pay tribute to the Master, said:

“It is not an easy path to be a teacher or a student, although this must be the greatest joy in this life. It is not an easy path to come to a country where there is no Buddhism and leave it, having advanced students, monks and lay people on the Path and changed the lives of many thousands of people throughout the country; it is not an easy journey to establish and cultivate a monastery, a city community, and centers of practice in California and in many other places in the United States. But this “hard path,” this extraordinary achievement, was not a heavy burden for him, for he endowed us with his true nature—our true nature. He left us as much as a person can leave, all the essentials - the consciousness and heart of the Buddha, the practice of the Buddha, the teaching and life of the Buddha. He is here, in each of us, if we want it.”

Houston Smith

professor of philosophy

MIT

In this respect our practice differs somewhat from ordinary religious practices. Joshu, the great Chinese Zen teacher, said: "A clay Buddha cannot pass through water; a bronze Buddha cannot pass through a kiln; a wooden Buddha cannot pass through fire." Whatever it is, if your practice is aimed at a specific object, such as a clay, bronze or wooden Buddha, it will not always be effective. And while you set yourself a specific goal in your practice, this practice will not help you fully. It may help you while you are moving towards this goal, but when you return to everyday life, it loses its effectiveness.

You may decide that if there are no goals or objectives in our practice, then we do not know what to do. However, this is not true, we have a method. The method of practice without a goal is to limit your action, or focus on what you are doing at the moment. Instead of holding a specific object in your mind, you must limit your action. When your mind wanders somewhere, you cannot express yourself. But if you limit your action to what you can do right now, at this moment, then you can fully manifest your true nature, which is the universal Buddha nature. This is our method.

When we practice zazen, we reduce our action to the bare minimum. We maintain the correct posture and concentrate on sitting - this is how we manifest the total nature. Then we become Buddha and manifest Buddha nature. Therefore, instead of an object of worship, we just focus on the action that we are performing at this moment. When you bow, you just need to bow; when you sit, you just need to sit; when you eat, you just have to eat. When you act like this, that is the universal nature. In Japanese we call this ichigyo-sammai, or "single action samadhi." Sammai (samadhi) is “deep concentration”. The result is “one action”.

It seems to me that some of the people who practice zazen here may be of some other religion, but I have nothing against that. Our practice does not belong to any one particular religion. And there is no need to be tormented by doubts whether you should practice the way we do or not, because our practice has nothing to do with Christianity, Shintoism, or Hinduism. It's for everyone. Usually, when a person is committed to a certain religion, his position begins to more and more resemble an acute angle, facing away from himself. But our approach is not like that. For us, the edge of the angle is always turned towards ourselves, and not away from us. So there is no need to worry about Buddhism being different from the religion you may be following.

Joshu's statement about different Buddhas refers to those who associate their practice with one specific Buddha. Only one kind of Buddha will not serve your purpose fully. Someday you will have to get rid of it, or at least stop noticing it. But if you have discovered the secret of our practice, then wherever you find yourself, you are your own master, you are the “boss”. Whatever the situation, you cannot neglect the Buddha, for you yourself are the Buddha. Only this Buddha will fully help you.

Study yourself
The point is not to have any deep feelings towards Buddhism; we just do what we're supposed to do, like eat dinner and go to bed. This is Buddhism.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves. It is impossible to study yourself without some training. If you want to know what water is, you need science, and scientists need a laboratory. There are many ways to study what water is in the laboratory. So, you can find out what elements it consists of, in what states it exists, and what its nature is. But in this way it is impossible to know water as such. The same thing happens to us. We also need training, but simply by studying some teaching, we cannot know what the “I” is as such. Through teaching we can understand our human nature. But the teaching is not ourselves; it is just some explanation of what we are. So if you are attached to a teaching or a teacher, it is a big mistake. When you meet a teacher, you must leave him and you must be independent. You need a teacher to make you independent. If you are not attached to him, he will show you the way to yourself. You find a teacher for yourself, not for him.

Rinzai, the ancient Chinese Zen teacher, used four methods to teach his students. Sometimes he spoke about the student himself; sometimes he spoke about the teaching itself; sometimes provided clarification about a particular student or teaching; and finally, he gave no instructions at all. He knew that even without any instructions, a student is a student. Strictly speaking, there is no need to teach a disciple, for the disciple himself is a Buddha, although he may not be aware of it. And even if he is aware of his true nature, if he is attached to this awareness, it is already wrong. When he is not aware of it, he has everything, but having realized it, he believes that what he is aware of is himself, and this is a big mistake.

When you don't hear a word from the teacher, but just sit, this is called teaching without teaching. But sometimes this is not enough, and then we listen to lectures and hold discussions. But we must remember that the purpose of the practice that we do in a certain place is to study ourselves. We study to become independent. Like a scientist, we must have certain ways of studying. We need a teacher because it is impossible to study the 'I' through the 'I'. But make no mistake. You should not take credit for what you have learned from your teacher. Classes with a teacher are part of your daily life, part of your regular activity. In this sense, there is no difference between practice and the activity that you do day after day. So finding meaning in life in the zendo means finding meaning in your daily activities. You practice zazen to discover the meaning of your life.

When I lived at Eiheiji Monastery in Japan, everyone there simply did what they had to do. That's all. It's the same as waking up in the morning: you have to get up. At Eiheiji Monastery, when we had to sit, we sat; when it was necessary to bow to Buddha, we bowed to Buddha. That's all. And when we practiced, we didn't feel anything special. We didn't even feel like we were leading a monastic life. For us it was ordinary, but the people who came from the city seemed unusual to us. When we saw them, we wanted to say: “Oh, some unusual people have come!”

But when I once left Eiheiji for a while, when I returned, everything was different. I heard the various sounds that accompany the practice - the ringing of bells and the voices of monks chanting sutra - and a deep feeling came over me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I felt them rolling down my cheeks! It is people living outside the walls of the monastery who are able to feel its atmosphere. Those who practice do not really feel anything like that. Apparently this is true of everything. When we hear the noise of pine trees on a windy day, then maybe the wind is just blowing, and the pine trees are just standing in the wind. That's all. But people listening to the wind in the pines may write poetry or feel something unusual. This is how it seems to me that everything is happening.

Therefore, the main thing is not to have any feelings towards Buddhism. It doesn't matter how you feel about him, good or bad. It doesn't matter to us. Buddhism is neither good nor bad. We're just doing what we have to do. This is Buddhism. Of course, some inspiration is necessary, but inspiration is only inspiration. This is not the real purpose of practice. It's only medicine. When we are in a depressed mood, we need some kind of medicine. When we are in a good mood, we have no need for medicine. You should not take the medicine with food. At times medicine is necessary, but it should not replace food.

Therefore, of the four methods practiced by Rinzai, the most perfect is not to give the student any explanations about himself and not to encourage him in any way. If we imagine ourselves as the body, then the teaching can become our clothing. Sometimes we talk about our clothes; sometimes we talk about our body. But the body or clothes are, in essence, not ourselves. We ourselves are a big action. We are only manifesting the smallest particle of this great action, that’s all. So it's okay to talk about yourself, but it's not really required. Before we even open our mouths, we are already manifesting a great being that includes ourselves. Therefore, the purpose of talking about ourselves is to correct the misunderstanding that arises in us when we are attached to some particular temporary form or color of a large action. We need to talk about what our body is and what our action is in order to avoid mistakes associated with misunderstanding them. Therefore, talking about yourself means, in essence, forgetting about yourself.

Dogen Zenji said: “To study Buddhism is to study oneself. To study oneself is to forget oneself.” When you are attached to a temporary manifestation of your true nature, it is necessary to talk about Buddhism, otherwise you may think that this temporary manifestation is your true nature. But this separate temporary manifestation and the true nature are not the same thing. And at the same time - it is one and the same! For a while this is true; for an insignificant fraction of time this is true. But this is not always so: in the immediate next moment it is not so, and thus this temporary manifestation is not the real nature. To realize this, one must study Buddhism. However, the purpose of studying Buddhism is to study ourselves and forget ourselves. When we forget ourselves, we are actually manifesting the true action of the greater being, or reality itself. When we realize this, there are no problems in the world and we can enjoy life without experiencing any difficulties. The purpose of our practice is to be aware of this.

Polish the tiles
And when you become yourself, Zen becomes Zen. When you are you, you see things as they are and you become one with what is around you.

Zen stories, or koans, are very difficult to understand unless you know what we are doing minute by moment, moment by moment. But if you know exactly what we are doing every moment, koans will not seem so difficult. There are quite a few koans. I often told you about the frog, and every time everyone laughed. However, the frog is quite an interesting creature. Besides, you know, she sits just like us. But she doesn't think she's doing anything special. When you come to the zendo and sit down, you may think that you are doing something special. Your husband or wife is sleeping, and you are practicing zazen! You are doing something special, and your spouse is just lazy! So perhaps you understand zazen. But look at the frog. She sits just like us, but she has no idea about zazen. Watch her. If something irritates her, she will make a grimace. If something edible appears, she will catch it and eat it, and eat it while sitting. Essentially, this is our zazen, not something special.

Here's something like a koan about a frog. Baso was a famous Zen teacher, nicknamed "The Horse Teacher." He was a disciple of Nangaku, who in turn was one of the disciples of the Sixth Patriarch (Hui-neng (638-713)). One day Baso, while he was studying with Nangaku, was sitting practicing zazen. He was a man of large build; when he spoke, his tongue reached his nose; his voice was loud; and his zazen must have been very good. Nangaku saw him sitting like a huge mountain - or a frog. Nangaku asked, "What are you doing?" “I’m practicing zazen,” Baso replied. "Why do you practice zazen?" “I want to achieve enlightenment, I want to become a Buddha,” the student answered. Do you know what the teacher did? He picked up the tiles from the ground and began to polish them. In Japan, after we take the tiles out of the kiln, we polish them to make them beautiful. So Nangaku took the tiles and began to polish them. Baso, his student, asked: “What are you doing?” “I want to turn this tile into a jewel,” said Nangaku. “How can you make a gem from a tile?” - Baso asked him. “How can you become a Buddha by practicing zazen?” Nangaku objected. “Do you want to achieve Buddhahood? Buddhahood is not outside your ordinary consciousness. When the cart does not go, do you whip the cart or the horse?” asked the teacher.

Nangaku meant this: whatever you do is zazen. True zazen exists beyond lying in bed or sitting in a zendo. If your husband or wife is lying in bed, it is zazen. If you think, “I am sitting here and my spouse is in bed,” then even though you are sitting here cross-legged, this is not true zazen. You should always be like a frog. This is true zazen.

Dogen-zenji commented on this koan. He said, “When the Horse Teacher became the Horse Teacher, Zen became Zen.” When Baso becomes Baso, his zazen becomes true zazen, and zen becomes zen. What is true zazen? When you become yourself!

When you are you, then whatever you do is zazen. Even if you are lying in bed, you may not be yourself most of the time. Even if you are sitting in the zendo, I would like to know if you are really you in the true sense.

Here is another famous koan. Zuikan, one of the Zen teachers, used to constantly refer to himself. “Zuikan?” he used to call out to himself. And he invariably answered: “Yes!” "Zuikan?" - "Yes!" Of course, he lived all alone in his little zendo, and of course he knew who he was, but at times he lost himself. And every time he lost himself, he turned to himself: “Zuikan?” - “Yes!”

If we become like a frog, we will always be ourselves. But even the frog sometimes loses himself and makes a sour grimace. And if some edible insect appears, she catches it and eats it. So I guess the frog always comes back to itself. It seems to me that you should behave the same way. Even in zazen you can lose yourself. When you feel sleepy or when your mind starts to wander, you lose yourself. When your legs start to hurt - “Why do my legs hurt so much?” - you ask yourself - and you lose yourself. Your problem becomes a problem for you because you have lost yourself. If you don't lose yourself, then even if there are difficulties, you will actually have no problems. You are just sitting in the middle of the problem; when you are part of the problem, or when the problem is part of you, then there is no problem because you are the problem. The problem is you. If so, there is no problem.

When your life is always part of what surrounds you - in other words, when you turn to yourself, this very moment - then the problem does not exist. When you start wandering around in some illusions that seem to be something separate from yourself, then your environment is no longer real and your consciousness is no longer real. If you yourself are deluded, then everything around you becomes a foggy, vague illusion. Once you plunge into illusions, there will be no end to them. Illusory ideas will take over you one after another. Most people live in delusion, busy with their problems and trying to solve them. But simply living means, in reality, living within problems. And solving a problem means becoming part of it, merging with it.

So, are you whipping a cart or a horse? What are you lashing - yourself or your problems? If you're wondering what you should quilt, you've already started to wander. But when you actually whip the horse, the cart will move. Actually, a cart and a horse are not completely different things. When you are you, there is no problem whether you whip the horse or the cart. When you are you, zazen becomes true zazen. So when you practice zazen, your problem is also practicing zazen. Even if your spouse is in bed, he or she is also practicing zazen - when you practice it! But when you don’t practice true zazen, then - here he is your spouse, and here you are, two quite different, quite disconnected people. Therefore, if we follow true practice, then at the same time everything else will practice along with us.

That's why we should always turn to ourselves, check ourselves, who we are, like a doctor tapping himself. It is very important. This practice must be continued continuously, moment by moment. We say: “When it’s still night outside, dawn is already breaking.” This means that there is no gap between dawn and night. Autumn comes when summer is not over yet. This is how we need to understand our life. We should practice with this understanding and solve our problems in this way.

In fact, it is enough to simply work persistently and single-pointedly on your problem. You just have to polish the shingles; this is our practice. The goal of the practice is not to turn a tile into a gemstone. Just keep sitting; this is practice in its true sense. It doesn't matter whether one can achieve Buddhahood or not, whether one can turn a tile into a jewel or not. The most important thing is to simply work and live in this world with such understanding. This is our practice. This is true zazen. That's why we say: "When you eat, eat!" You have to, you know, eat what you eat. Sometimes this doesn't happen. Although you are eating, your mind is somewhere else. You can't taste what's in your mouth. As long as you are able to eat while eating, you are fine. You have nothing to worry about. This means that you are yourself.

When you are you, you see things as they are and you become one with what is around you. This is your true self. Then you will have true practice; you will have frog practice. She is a good example for our practice: when a frog becomes a frog, Zen becomes Zen. When you understand the frog completely, you become enlightened; you are Buddha. This will be a blessing for others: for husband or wife, son or daughter. This is zazen!

by Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki

ZEN CONSCIOUSNESS, BEGINNER CONSCIOUSNESS

PART 1: GOOD PRACTICE

The practice of zazen is a direct manifestation of our true nature.

Strictly speaking, man has no other practice than this; there is no other way of life other than this.

BODY POSITION

CONTROL

WAVES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

WEEDS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

THE ESSENCE OF ZEN

NONDUALITY

NOTHING SPECIAL

BODY POSITION

Physical posture is not a means of achieving the correct state of consciousness.

Accepting such a body position in itself means having the correct state of consciousness.

There is no need to achieve any special state of consciousness.

Now I would like to talk to you about our zazen pose. When you sit in the full lotus position, your left foot rests on your right thigh and your right foot rests on your left. When we cross our legs in this way, even though we have both a left and a right leg, they become one. This pose expresses the unity of duality: not two and not one. This is the most important thing in our teaching: not two and not one. Our body and consciousness are not two and not one. If you think that your body and your mind are two different things, you are mistaken; if you think they are one, you are also wrong. Our body and our consciousness are simultaneously two and one. We usually think that if something is not one, then it is more than one; that if it is not singular, then it is multiple. But in reality, our life is not only multiple, but also unique. Each of us is simultaneously dependent and independent.

After some time we will die. If we think that this is the end of our life, then this understanding is wrong. But, on the other hand, if we think that we will not die, then this is also wrong. We will die and we will not die - that is the correct understanding. They may say that our consciousness, or soul, exists forever and that only our physical body dies. But this is not entirely true, because both consciousness and body have their end. But it is also true that they exist forever. And although we say consciousness and body, and seem to separate them, in essence these are only two sides of the same coin. This is the correct understanding. And when we take the lotus position, it symbolizes this truth. When my left foot is on my right thigh and my right foot is on my left, I no longer know which is which. Everything can be both the right and left side at the same time.

The most important thing in taking zazen pose is to keep your spine straight. Ears and shoulders should be in line. Relax your shoulders and pull them up along with the back of your head. Tuck your chin in. When the chin is protruded, there is no strength in the posture; Sitting like this, you will most likely just daydream. Also, to add strength to the pose, press the diaphragm down toward the hara, the lower abdomen. This will help you maintain physical and mental balance. At first, when you try to maintain the desired position, you may have difficulty breathing naturally, but as you get used to this position, you will be able to breathe naturally and deeply.

Your hands should form a “cosmic mudra”. If you place your left palm on top of your right, with the middle knuckles of your middle fingers touching, and lightly touch your thumbs (as if you were holding a piece of paper between them), your hands will form a nice oval. You must preserve this universal mudra with the greatest care, as if you were holding the greatest jewel in your hands. The arms should be kept near the body and the thumbs should be at approximately waist level. Keep your hands light and free, moving them slightly away from your body, as if you have an egg under each hand that cannot be broken.

You should not tilt your torso to the side, back or forward. You need to sit straight, as if supporting the sky with your head. It is not just the position of the body or the way of breathing. This expresses the essence of Buddhism. This is the perfect form of expressing our Buddha nature. If you seek a true understanding of Buddhism, this is how you should practice. Physical posture is not a means of achieving the correct state of consciousness. Accepting this position of the body in itself is the goal of our practice. When you are in this pose, you are in the right state of consciousness, and therefore there is no need to try to achieve any special state of consciousness. When you are trying to achieve something, your mind begins to wander somewhere else. When you are not trying to achieve anything, your own body and consciousness are right here. A Zen teacher would say, “Kill Buddha!” Kill Buddha if he is not here, but somewhere there. Kill the Buddha, for you must reclaim your own Buddha nature.

To do something is to express your nature. We don't exist for anything else. We exist for ourselves. This is a fundamental doctrine that is manifested in the postures that we practice. When we stand in the zendo, we follow certain rules, just like when we sit. However, the purpose of these rules is not to make everyone the same, but to allow everyone to express their “I” as freely as possible. For example, each of us stands differently, so our standing posture is determined by our figure. When you stand, your heels should be fist-width apart and your big toes should be in line with the middle of your chest. As in zazen, press the diaphragm down toward the abdomen. In this position, your hands should also express your self. Keep your left hand at chest level with your fingers encircling your thumb, your right hand resting on top of your left, the thumb of that hand pointing down, and your forearms parallel to the floor. In this position you feel as if you are tightly grasping a round pillar - a large round pillar of a temple - so that you cannot be knocked down or swayed.

The most important thing is to own your own physical body. When you fall, you lose your self. Your consciousness finds itself wandering somewhere to the side; you find yourself not in your body. This is no good. We must exist right here and right now! That's the whole point. We must own our own body and mind. Everything must exist in its proper place and in its proper manner. Then there will be no problems. If the microphone I'm speaking into is somewhere off to the side, it won't serve its purpose. When we have proper control of our body and consciousness, then everything else will happen in the right place and in the right way.

But usually, without knowing this, we try to change something else, but not ourselves; we strive to streamline the external world instead of the internal one. But it is impossible to order what exists without ordering yourself. When you do everything properly and at the proper time, everything else will take care of itself. You are the “boss”, “master”. When the owner sleeps, everyone sleeps. If the owner acts as needed, then everyone else will do everything as needed and in due time. This is the secret of Buddhism.

Therefore, try to always maintain the correct position of the body - not only when you practice zazen, but also in all your other activities. Take the correct position when you are driving and when reading a book. If you read while slumped on your bed, you won't be able to remain lucid for long. Try it and you will discover how important it is to maintain the correct posture. This will be the true teaching. Teaching written down on paper is not true teaching. Written teaching is just a type of food for your brain. Of course, it is necessary to give some food to your brain, but it is much more important to be yourself by practicing the right lifestyle.

This is why Buddha was unable to accept any of the religious teachings of his time. He studied many religions, but was not satisfied with their practices. He could not find the answer to his questions either in asceticism or in philosophy. He was not interested in some kind of metaphysical existence, but in his own body and consciousness, here and now. And when he found his self, he discovered that everything that exists has Buddha nature. This was his enlightenment. Enlightenment is not some pleasant feeling or a certain state of consciousness. Your state of consciousness when you are sitting in the right position is itself enlightenment. If you are not satisfied with the state of your mind in zazen, then your mind is still wandering somewhere. Our body and our consciousness should not be unstable, should not wander. In this pose there is no need to talk about the correct state of consciousness. You already have it. This is the conclusion of Buddhism.

BREATH

What we call our self is just a revolving door

which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

When we practice zazen, our consciousness always follows the breath. When we inhale, air enters the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out into the outside world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world also has no limit. We say "inner world" or "outer world", but in reality there is only one single world. In this limitless world, our throat is like a revolving door. The air comes in and out as if someone is passing through this revolving door. If you think, “I am breathing,” then “I” is superfluous. There is no one who says “I”. What we call our self is simply a revolving door that moves when we inhale and when we exhale. She just moves; that's all. When your consciousness is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, then there is nothing else: no self, no world, no consciousness, no body, but only a revolving door.

Therefore, when we practice zazen, there is only one thing - the movement of the breath, and we are aware of this movement. You shouldn't be distracted. But to be aware of this movement is not to be aware of one's small self, but rather of one's all-encompassing nature, or Buddha nature. This consciousness is very important because we are usually very one-sided. Our ordinary understanding of life is dual: you and I, this and that, good and bad. But, in essence, the establishment of such distinctions in itself is already a consciousness of the universality of existence. “You” means to be aware of the universality expressed in the form of “you”, and “I” is to be aware of it in the form of “I”. You and I are just a revolving door. This understanding is necessary. It can't even be called understanding; This is a truly authentic experience of learning about life, acquired through the practice of Zen.

So when you practice zazen, there is no concept of time or space. You might say, “We started sitting in this room at a quarter to six.” So you have some idea of ​​time (a quarter to six) and some idea of ​​space (in this room). However, in essence, your action consists only of sitting and being aware of the universal movement. That's all. One moment the revolving door opens in one direction, and the next moment it opens in the opposite direction. Moment after moment, each of us repeats this movement. There is no concept of time or space in this. Time and space are one. You may say to yourself, “This afternoon I have to do such and such things,” but in reality there is no “this afternoon.” We do things one after another. That's all. There's no time like this afternoon

or "one o'clock in the afternoon" or "two o'clock in the afternoon." At one o'clock in the afternoon you will have lunch. Having lunch is an hour of the day in itself. You will be in some place, but this place cannot be separated from the hour of the day. For someone who truly values ​​his life, space and time are one and the same. But when we start to get tired of life, we may say to ourselves: “We shouldn’t come here. Maybe it would be much better to go somewhere else for lunch. This place is not very nice." In your mind, you generate the thought of a place separate from real time.

Or you might say to yourself, “This is bad, so I shouldn’t do it.” In fact, when you say, “I should not do this,” at that moment you are committing a non-action. So you have no choice. When you differentiate between the concepts of time and space, you seem to have some choice, but in fact you are forced to perform an action or non-action. Not-doing is doing. Good and bad exist only in your mind. Therefore, you should not say: “This is good” or “This is bad.” Instead of saying that it is bad, you should tell yourself: “Don't do it!” If you think, “This is bad,” you are confusing yourself. Therefore, in the realm of pure religion there is no confusion of time and space, good and bad. All we have to do is do it when it comes. Do it! Whatever it is, we must do it, even if it is not doing something. We must live in this moment. So when we focus on our breathing, we become a revolving door and we do what we should do, what we should do. This is Zen practice. There is no confusion or confusion in this practice. If you establish this way of life, there will be no confusion in you at all.

Tozan, the famous Zen teacher, said: “The Blue Mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other without being dependent. A white cloud is always a white cloud. Blue Mountain is always Blue Mountain." This is a clear, understandable explanation of life. There are, perhaps, many things like the white cloud and the blue mountain: a man and a woman, a teacher and a student. They depend on each other. But the white cloud should not be disturbed by the blue mountain. Blue Mountain should not be disturbed by the white cloud. They are quite independent, but also dependent. This is how we live and this is how we practice zazen.

When we find our true self, we simply become a revolving door, and we are completely independent of everything and at the same time dependent on everything. Without air we cannot breathe. Each of us is surrounded by myriads of worlds. We are constantly at the center of the world, moment by moment. Therefore we are completely dependent and independent. If you have this experience, if you know how to live like this, you have complete independence; nothing will bother you. So when you practice zazen, your consciousness should be focused on the breath. Such action lies at the basis of universal existence. With this experience, this practice, it is impossible to achieve complete freedom.

CONTROL

Putting your sheep or cow out into a large, spacious meadow is the way to control it.

To live in the world of Buddha nature is to die as a small being, moment by moment. When we lose our balance, we die, but at the same time we develop, we grow. Everything we see is subject to change and loss of balance. The reason why things appear beautiful to us is because they are out of balance, but their basis is always in perfect harmony. In the world of Buddha’s nature, everything exists exactly like this - losing its own balance against the background of the perfect balance of the universal basis. Therefore, if you judge things without realizing the basis of Buddha nature, it will seem to you that everything is in the form of suffering. But if you understand the basis of existence, you will realize that the way we live, the way we go through this life, is suffering itself. So in Zen we sometimes focus on the lack of balance or order in life.

Nowadays, traditional Japanese painting has become rather formal and lifeless. It was as a result of this that modern art began to develop. Ancient artists often engaged in placing dots on paper in artistic disorder. It's quite difficult. Even if you try to do this, as a rule, what comes out turns out to be in some kind of order. You think you can control the placement of the dots, but you will not succeed: arranging the dots out of any order is an almost impossible task. This is very similar to the worries of everyday life. Even if you try to manage people, it is not feasible. You can't do that. The best way to lead people is to inspire them to dare. Then they will be guided in a broader sense. Putting your sheep or cow out into a large, spacious meadow is the way to control it. It's the same with people: first of all, let them do what they want, and then watch them. This is the best approach. Ignoring them is not good; this is the worst approach. It's a little less bad to try to control them. The best thing is to watch them, just observe, without trying to control.

This approach can be equally successfully applied to yourself. If you want to achieve perfect peace in zazen, then you should not be disturbed by various thoughts and images that arise in your mind. Let them in and let them out. Then you will keep them under control. However, this is not so easy to implement. It sounds simple, but in reality it requires special effort. How to do this - this is the secret of practice. Suppose you are sitting under some unusual circumstances. If you are trying to calm your mind, you will not be able to sit, and if you are trying not to give in to anxiety, it will not be the right effort. The only effort that will help you is counting your inhalations and exhalations, or concentrating on inhalation and exhalation. We say concentration, but focusing your consciousness on something is not the true goal of Zen. The real goal is to see things as they are, observe them as they are, and let things take their course. This means keeping everything under control in the broadest sense. To practice Zen means to open your small consciousness. Therefore, concentration is simply an aid to help you become aware of the “big consciousness,” or the consciousness that is everything. If you want to discover the true meaning of Zen in everyday life, you must understand what it means to keep your mind on the breath and maintain the correct posture of the body in zazen. You must adhere to the rules of practice, and then you will gain greater subtlety and attentiveness in your training. Only in this way can you experience the life-giving freedom of Zen.

Dogen-zenji said: “Time moves from the present to the past.” This is absurd, but in our practice it is sometimes true. Time, instead of moving forward from the past to the present, moves backward from the present to the past. Yoshitsune, a famous warrior, lived in medieval Japan. Circumstances in the country were such that he was sent to the northern provinces, where he was killed. Before leaving, he said goodbye to his wife, and soon she wrote in a poem: “As you unwind a thread from a spool, so I want the past to become the present.” When she said those lines, she truly made the past present. In her mind, the past came to life and became the present. So, as Dogen said: “Time moves from the present to the past.” This is not true in logical understanding, but it is true in real life experience that transforms the past into the present. This is poetry, and this is human life.

If we have experienced such a truth, then the true meaning of time has been revealed to us. Time constantly moves from the past to the present and from the present to the future. This is true, but it is also true that time moves from the future to the present and from the present to the past. A Zen teacher once said, “To walk one mile east is to walk one mile west.” This is life-giving freedom. This is the kind of perfect freedom we should achieve.

However, perfect freedom cannot be found without certain rules. People, especially young people, believe that freedom consists of doing only what you want and that in Zen there are no rules. But it is absolutely necessary for us to have certain rules. This does not mean, however, always being in control. As long as you have rules, you have the possibility of freedom. Trying to gain freedom without knowing these rules is a futile endeavor. It is to achieve this perfect freedom that we practice zazen.

WAVES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

As we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfolding of greater consciousness,

we are not looking for any excessive pleasures. This is how we achieve equanimity.

When you practice zazen, don't try to stop your thinking. Let it stop on its own. If something comes into your consciousness, let it come in and let it come out. It won't stay long. If you are trying to stop your thinking, it means that it is bothering you. Let nothing bother you. It seems as if something is coming from outside your consciousness, but in fact it is just waves of your consciousness, and if they do not affect you, they will gradually subside. In five, at most ten minutes, your consciousness will be completely serene and calm. By that time, breathing will become quite rare, and the pulse will increase slightly.

It will take a long time before you achieve a calm, serene state of consciousness in your practice. Many sensations will appear, many thoughts or images will arise, but all these are just waves of your consciousness. Nothing comes from outside consciousness. Usually we believe that our consciousness receives impressions or sensations from the outside, but this is a misunderstanding of our consciousness. The correct understanding is that consciousness contains everything; when it seems to you that something is coming from outside, it only means that something is appearing in your consciousness. Nothing external can disturb you. You yourself generate waves in your consciousness. If you leave your consciousness to itself, it will calm down. Such consciousness is called greater consciousness.

If your consciousness is connected by something external, it is a small consciousness, a limited consciousness. If your consciousness is not bound by anything else, then there is no dualistic understanding in the action of your consciousness. You understand action simply as waves of your consciousness. Great consciousness cognizes everything within itself. Do you understand the difference between these two consciousnesses: the consciousness that contains everything, and the consciousness that is connected with something? In fact, they are the same thing, but the understanding is different, and your attitude towards life will be different depending on what kind of understanding you have.

Everything is contained in your consciousness - that is the essence of consciousness. To experience this is to have a religious feeling. Although waves arise, the essence of your consciousness remains pure; it is just like pure water, the surface of which is agitated. Indeed, there are always waves on the water. Waves are the practice of water. It is a fallacy to talk about waves without connection with water or about water without connection with waves. Water and waves are one. Big consciousness and small consciousness are one. When you understand your consciousness in this way, you have a sense of security. Because your consciousness does not expect anything from the outside, it is always full. A consciousness with waves in it is not an agitated consciousness, but, in fact, an intensified consciousness. Whatever you experience is a manifestation of great consciousness.

The action of great consciousness is aimed at self-strengthening through various sensations. On the one hand, our sensations, following one after another, are always distinguished by freshness and novelty, and on the other hand, they are nothing more than a continuous or repeated revelation of a single great consciousness. For example, if you have something delicious for breakfast, you will say, “This is delicious.” You associate “delicious” with some old taste sensation, so old that you may not even remember when it appeared. With the help of great consciousness, we perceive each of our sensations as if, looking in a mirror, we recognize our face in it. We have no fear of losing such consciousness. There is nowhere to come or go; there is no fear of death, no suffering due to old age or illness. Since we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfoldment of greater consciousness, we do not seek any excessive pleasures. Thus we have equanimity, and it is with this equanimity of great consciousness that we practice zazen.

WEEDS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Perhaps you should even be grateful to those weeds

which grow in your consciousness because they ultimately enrich your practice.

When the alarm clock rings early in the morning and you get out of bed, you probably don't feel all that good. It is not so easy to go to the zendo and sit, and even after you have entered the zendo and started zazen, you have to encourage yourself to sit properly. But all these are just waves of your consciousness. In pure zazen there should be no waves in your mind. As you sit, these waves become smaller and smaller, and your effort is transformed into a subtle feeling.

We say: “By pulling out weeds, we provide nutrition to the plant.” We pull out weeds and bury them near the plant to provide food for it. So, even if you have some difficulties in practice, even if some waves appear in your consciousness when you sit, these waves themselves will help you. Therefore you should not be disturbed by your consciousness. Perhaps you should even be grateful for these weeds, for they ultimately enrich your practice. If you have at least some experience of transforming the weeds of your consciousness into spiritual food, then your practice will advance by leaps and bounds. You will feel your progress. You will feel that the weeds have begun to feed your consciousness. Of course, it is not so difficult to give a psychological or philosophical interpretation of our practice, but this is not enough. We need to actually experience how weeds turn into food.

Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not conducive to practice, because it creates waves in our consciousness. However, it is impossible to achieve peace of mind without making efforts.

no effort. We need to make some effort, but in doing this we must forget ourselves. In this area there is neither subjective nor objective. Our consciousness is simply calm, and even devoid of any self-awareness. In such absence of self-awareness, any effort, any idea or thought disappears. Therefore, it is so important to encourage yourself and not stop trying until the very last moment, when all effort disappears. You should maintain your awareness of your breathing until you are no longer aware of your breathing.

We should constantly renew our efforts, but we should not wait until a stage comes at which we completely forget about them. You just need to try to keep your consciousness on your breath. This is our actual practice. As you sit, this effort will become more and more refined. At first the effort you make will be quite crude and impure, but with practice it will become purer and purer. When the effort becomes pure, the body and mind will also become pure. This is how we practice Zen. Once you understand that our natural power purifies us and everything around us, you will be able to act correctly, and you will learn from those around you and become friendlier with others. This is the virtue of Zen practice. However, the practice itself is simply focusing on your breathing, combined with correct body position and great, pure effort. This is how we practice Zen.

THE ESSENCE OF ZEN

About the zazen pose, the mind and body have a remarkable ability to accept things as they are,

how they are, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant.

Our scriptures (Samyuktagama Sutra 33) say that there are four types of horses: excellent, good, mediocre and bad. An excellent horse walks both slowly and quickly, to the right and to the left at the will of the rider even before he sees the shadow of the whip; the good one does the same as the excellent one, even before the whip touches her skin; the mediocre one reacts only when it feels pain; the bad one reacts only when the pain penetrates her to the marrow of her bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for such a horse to learn to do what is required!

When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be a great horse. If it is impossible to be the best, we agree to at least be good.

This seems to be how this story is usually understood, and this is how Zen is usually understood. You may think that sitting in zazen will tell you what kind of horse you are, the best or the worst. This, however, reveals a misunderstanding of Zen. If you think that the purpose of Zen practice is to train you to become one of the best horses, you will have big problems, because the right understanding is not like that. If you practice Zen correctly, it doesn't matter whether you are the best horse or the worst. When you consider the Buddha's mercy, how do you think he would feel towards each of these four horses? He would probably sympathize more with the worst rather than the best.

When you are determined to practice zazen with great Buddha-mind, you find that the worst horse is the most valuable. In your very shortcomings you find support for your unshakable, path-seeking consciousness. For someone who can sit in an ideal physical posture, it usually takes more time to find the true path of Zen, to gain the true sense of Zen, to understand the essence of Zen. But for those who have encountered great difficulties in the practice of Zen, Zen reveals a deeper meaning. So I think sometimes the best horse can be the worst, and the worst horse can be the best.

If you take up calligraphy, you will find that the best calligraphers are usually those who have little ability. The most skillful and capable often face great difficulties after they reach a certain level. This is equally true of art and of Zen. This is true in life as well. Therefore, when we talk about Zen, we cannot say: “It works” or “It doesn’t work” in the ordinary sense of the word. The posture we take in zazen is different for each of us. It is possible that some will not be able to sit cross-legged at all. But even if you cannot get into the right posture, when you awaken your real path-seeking consciousness, you can practice Zen in its true sense. Those who find sitting difficult actually find it easier to awaken their true path-seeking consciousness than those who find sitting easy.

When we think about what we do in our daily lives, we are always ashamed of ourselves. One student wrote to me: “You sent me a calendar, and I tried to follow all the good mottos placed on each page.

But the year has barely begun, and I’ve already failed!” Dogen-zenji said: “ Shosaku jusaku" Saku usually means "mistake" or "wrong". Shosaku jusaku means “to achieve the wrong in the wrong way,” or to make one continuous mistake. According to Dogen, one continuous mistake can also be Zen. The life of a Zen teacher can be said to be so many years Shosaku Jusaku. That is, many years of a single, unidirectional effort.

We say: “A good father is not a good father at all.” You understand? Anyone who thinks he is a good father is not a good father; one who thinks he is a good spouse is not a good spouse. Someone who considers himself one of the worst husbands may not be so bad if he always makes a sincere effort to be a good husband. If you are unable to sit due to pain or other physical discomfort, sit as best you can using a thick cushion or chair. Even if you are the worst horse, you will get to the essence of zen.

Let's say your children have an incurable disease. You don't know what to do; you can't lie in bed. Normally, a warm, cozy bed would be the most comfortable place for you, but now you cannot find peace due to excruciating mental pain. You try to walk back and forth, back and forth, but none of this helps. In fact, sitting in zazen, even in such a confused state, and adopting even a bad posture is the best way to relieve your mental anguish. If you don't have the experience of sitting in such difficult situations, you are not a Zen student. No other action will ease your suffering. In all other postures of the body, when you are deprived of peace of mind, you will not have the strength to accept your difficulties, but in the zazen pose, which you have mastered through long and difficult practice, your mind and body have a remarkable ability to accept things as they are, pleasant They are either unpleasant.

When you are in trouble, the best thing to do is sit in zazen. There is no other way to accept your problem and work on it. Whether you are the best horse or the worst, whether your posture is good or bad - none of this matters. Everyone can practice zazen, and in this way work on their problems and accept them.

When you sit completely immersed in your problem, what is more real to you: your problem or yourself? Knowing that you are here, right now, is the highest truth. This is what you will realize through the practice of zazen. By constant practice, when pleasant and unpleasant situations take their course, you will understand the essence of Zen and gain its true power.

NONDUALITY

Stopping the flow of your consciousness does not mean stopping the action of consciousness.

This means that the stream of consciousness permeates your entire body.

With full consciousness, you fold your hands into mudra.

We say that in our practice there should be no ideas of achievement, no expectations, not even expectations of enlightenment. This does not mean, however, that you should just sit aimlessly. This practice, where there are no ideas of achievement, is based on Prajnanaramita Sutra. However, if you are not careful, the sutra itself will offer you the idea of ​​achievement. It says: “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” But if you bind yourself to this statement, you risk falling into a dualistic train of thought: “Here I am the form, and here is the emptiness that I am trying to realize through my form.” So the statement “form is emptiness and emptiness is form” is still dualistic. But, fortunately, our teaching continues this thought further and states: “Form is form and emptiness is emptiness.” There is no duality in this.

If you find it difficult to stop the flow of your consciousness while you are sitting, and if you are still trying to stop it, this is the stage of “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” But as you practice in this dual way, you become more and more one with your goal. And when your practice ceases to require effort from you, you will be able to stop the flow of your consciousness. This is the stage of “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.”

Stopping the flow of your consciousness does not mean stopping the action of consciousness. This means that the stream of consciousness permeates your entire body. Consciousness follows the breath. With full consciousness, you fold your hands into mudra. With your consciousness intact, you sit and the pain in your legs does not bother you. This is what it means to sit without any thought of achievement. At first you experience some feeling of constraint from the posture, but when this constraint does not cause you discomfort, the meaning of “emptiness is emptiness and form is form” is revealed to you. Therefore, finding your own path in conditions of some constraint is what is characteristic of practice.

Practice does not mean that everything you do, even lying down, is zazen. When the existing constraint no longer constrains you, that is what we mean by practice. But when you say to yourself, “Everything I do is an expression of Buddha nature, so it doesn’t matter what I do, and there is no need to practice zazen,” this is already a dualistic understanding of our daily life. If it really doesn't matter, then there's no need to say so. As long as you are preoccupied with what you are doing, you are in a state of duality. If you didn't care about what you were doing, you wouldn't say that. When you sit, you sit. When you eat, you eat. That's all. When you say, “It doesn’t matter,” then you are looking for some justification for what you did in your own way, with your little consciousness. This means that you are attached to some particular thing or to some particular course of action. This is not what we mean when we say, “Just sitting is enough” or “Everything you do is zazen.” Of course, everything we do is zazen, but since this is so, there is no need to talk about it.

When you sit, you should just sit and leg pain or drowsiness should not bother you. This is zazen. But in the beginning it is very difficult to accept things as they are. The feeling of pain that appears during practice will irritate you. When you can do everything, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, without losing your mental balance or getting irritated, this is exactly what we call “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.”

When you are sick with a disease like cancer, and you realize that you have no more than two or three years to live, and you start looking for something to rely on, then you can start practicing. Someone, perhaps, will begin to trust in God. Someone else might start practicing zazen. His practice will be aimed at achieving emptiness of consciousness. This means that he is trying to free himself from the suffering of duality. This is the practice of “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” Based on the truth about emptiness, he wants to actually implement it in his life. And if he practices this way, with faith and effort, it will certainly help him, but such practice will not be perfect.

Knowing the brevity of life, enjoying it day by day, moment by moment - this is life in the spirit of “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.” When Buddha comes, you welcome him; the devil comes - you welcome him. The famous Chinese Zen teacher Ummon said: “The sun-faced Buddha and the moon-faced Budla.” When he got sick, someone asked him, “How are you feeling?” And he answered: “Sun-faced Buddha and moon-faced Buddha.” This is life in the spirit of “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.” No problem. One year of life is good. A hundred years of life is good. If you continue our practice, you will reach this stage.

In the beginning, you will have many different problems, and it will take some effort on your part to continue the practice. Practice that requires no effort from the beginner is not true practice. For a beginner, practice requires enormous effort. Especially from young people - they have to try very, very hard to achieve something. You need to stretch your arms and legs as wide as possible. Form is form. You must be true to your path until you finally really come to the point where you need to forget about yourself altogether. Until you come to this, it is completely wrong to think that everything you do is Zen, or that it does not matter whether you practice or not. But if you make every effort possible to simply continue the practice, giving it your whole soul and body, without any thought of achievement, then whatever you do will be genuine practice. Just keep going should be your goal. When you do something, just doing it should be your goal. Form is form and you are you, and your practice will become the embodiment of true emptiness.

BOW

Bowing is a very serious practice.

You must be prepared to bow even at your last minute.

Even if it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we must get rid of them.

Our true nature demands this.

After zazen we bow to the floor nine times. By bowing, we abandon ourselves. To renounce oneself means to renounce dualistic thoughts. Therefore, there is no difference between zazen practice and bowing. In the usual understanding, to bow means to show our respect to something that is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha, you should not have a thought of Buddha, you simply become one with Buddha, you are already Buddha. When you become one with the Buddha, one with everything that exists, the true meaning of existence is revealed to you. When your duality of thought disappears, everything becomes your teacher and everything can be an object of veneration.

When everything is contained in your big consciousness, all dual ties are broken. There is no difference between heaven and earth, between man and woman, teacher and student. Sometimes a man bows to a woman; sometimes a woman bows to a man. Sometimes the student bows to the teacher, sometimes the teacher bows to the student. A teacher who cannot bow to his disciple cannot bow to Buddha. Sometimes the teacher and student bow to the Buddha together. Sometimes we can bow to cats and dogs.

In our big consciousness, everything has the same value. Everything is Buddha himself. You see something or hear some sound, and in that moment everything becomes simply what it is for you. In your practice you must accept everything as it is, giving everything the same respect as the Buddha. This is the expression of Buddhahood. Then Buddha bows to Buddha and you bow to yourself. This is true bow.

If your practice does not have this firm conviction of great consciousness, your bow will be ambivalent. Only when you are yourself do you bow to yourself in the true sense of the word, and you are one with all that exists. Only when you are yourself can you worship everything in the true sense of the word. Bowing is a very serious practice. You must be prepared to bow even at your last minute; and when you can no longer do anything except bow, you must perform it. Such conviction is necessary. Bow in this state of mind, and all instructions, all teachings will be yours, and in your great consciousness you will master everything.

Sen no Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony in Japan, performed hara-kiri(ritual suicide with removal of entrails) in 1591 on the orders of his master Hideyoshi. Before Rikyu lost his life, he said: “When I hold this sword, there is neither Buddha nor Patriarchs.” He meant that when we wield the sword of great consciousness, there is no dualistic world. The only thing that exists is this spirit. This unshakable spirit has always been present in Rikyu tea ceremonies. He never did anything in a dual way; he was ready to die at any moment. With each new ceremony he died, and he was reborn. This is the spirit of the tea ceremony. This is how we bow.

My teacher had a callus on his forehead from bowing. He knew that he was a stubborn, stubborn fellow, and so he bowed and bowed and bowed. And he bowed because inside himself he constantly heard the reproachful voice of his teacher. He entered Soto quite late for a Japanese monk, at age thirty. When we are young, we are not so stubborn and it is easier for us to get rid of our selfishness. Therefore, the teacher constantly called him “You-late-joiner” and reproached him for joining so late. In fact, the teacher loved him for his tenacity of character. When my teacher was seventy years old, he said: “When I was young, I was like a tiger, but now I’m like a cat!” He really liked being like a cat.

Bowing helps us eliminate our self-centered thoughts. It's not that easy to do. It is difficult to get rid of such thoughts, so bowing is a very valuable practice. It's not the result that matters; our effort to improve ourselves is valuable. This practice has no end.

Each bow expresses one of the four Buddhist vows. Here they are: “Although living beings are countless, we vow to save them. Although our lower desires are endless, we vow to abandon them. Although the teaching is limitless, we vow to fully comprehend it. Although Buddhahood is unattainable, we vow to achieve it.” If it is unattainable, how can we achieve it? But we have to! This is Buddhism.

Thinking: “Since it is possible, we will do it” is not Buddhism. Even though it is impossible, we must do it, because our true nature demands it. But, in essence, the point is not whether it is possible or impossible. Since our deepest desire is to get rid of self-centered thoughts, we must do it. When we make such an effort, our deepest desire is fulfilled and Nirvana is here. Until you decide to do this, you will have difficulties, but once you start, they will disappear. Your effort responds to your deepest desire. There is no other way to achieve peace. Calmness of mind does not mean that you should give up the action. True peace is found in the action itself. We say, “It is easy to be at peace in inaction, it is hard to be at peace in action, but true peace is peace in action.”

Having started practicing, some time later you realize that it is impossible to achieve quick, extraordinary success. Even though you try your best, your progress always happens little by little. It's not like going out into a downpour and knowing exactly when you're soaked through. In thick fog you are not aware that you are getting wet, but as you walk you will get wet little by little. If you have thoughts of progress in your mind, you may say to yourself, “Oh, this snail's pace is terrible!” But actually it is not. If you get wet in the fog, it is very difficult to dry afterwards. Therefore, there is no need to worry about your success. It's like learning a foreign language: you can't learn it all of a sudden; you will master it only by repeating it over and over again. This is how we practice Zen in Soto. We may say that we are making progress little by little, or that we are not thinking about success at all. It is enough just to be sincere and give your best every moment. Outside of our practice there is no Nirvana.

NOTHING SPECIAL

If you do this simple practice day after day, you will gain an amazing ability.

Until you have found it, it is something amazing, but after you have found it, there is nothing special about it.

I have no desire to speak after zazen. I feel that zazen practice is quite enough for me. But if I have to say something, perhaps I would prefer to talk about how wonderful it is to practice zazen. Our goal is simply to always maintain this practice. This practice begins in the past, which has no beginning, and goes into the future, which has no end. Strictly speaking, a person has no other practice than this. There is no other way of life other than this. Zen practice is a direct manifestation of our true nature.

Of course, everything we do is a manifestation of our true nature, but it is difficult to realize this without Zen practice. The nature of man, like that of all things, is active. While we live, we are constantly doing something. But as long as you think, “I am doing this,” or “I must do this,” or “I must achieve something special,” you are not really doing anything. When you have given up such thoughts, when you no longer desire anything, or when you are not trying to do anything special, then you do something. When there is no thought of achievement in what you do, then you do something. What you do in zazen does not happen for the sake of something else. You may think that you are doing something special, but in fact it is only a manifestation of your true nature; it is an action that fulfills your deepest desire. But as long as you think that you are practicing zazen for the sake of something else, it will not be true practice.

If you do this simple practice day after day, you will gain an amazing ability. Until you have found it, it is something amazing, but after you have found it, there is nothing special about it. It's just you, nothing special. As the Chinese poem says: “I went and I came back. Nothing special. Rodzan is famous for its mountains in the fog, and Sekko for its waves.” People think how wonderful it must be to see the famous mountain range shrouded in clouds and the waves that are said to cover the entire globe. But when you get there, you will only see waves and mountains. Nothing special.

There is something mysterious about the fact that for people who have no experience of enlightenment, enlightenment is something amazing. But if they have found it, it is nothing to them. But still it is not nothing. Do you understand? For a mother, having children is nothing special. This is zazen. So if you do this practice, more and more you will gain something - nothing special, but something nonetheless. You can say “universal nature”, or “Buddha nature”, or “enlightenment”. You can call it by many names, but to the one who has it, it is nothing and it is something.

When we express our true nature, we are human. When we don’t show it, we don’t know who we are. We are not an animal, for we walk on two legs. We are somehow different from an animal, but who are we? Perhaps we are spirit? - we don’t know what to call ourselves. There really is no such creature. It's a delusion. We are no longer human beings, but we still exist. When Zen ceases to be Zen, nothing exists. My words are intellectually meaningless, but if you have experience of true practice, you will understand what I mean. If something exists, it has its own true nature, its own Buddha nature. IN Parinirvana Sutra Buddha says, “Everything has Buddha nature,” but Dogen read it like this: “Everything There is Buddha nature." There is a difference here. If you say, “Everything has Buddha nature,” it means that Buddha nature resides in everything that exists, so Buddha nature and everything that exists are different things. But when you say, "That's it There is Buddha nature,” this means that everything is Buddha nature itself. When there is no Buddha nature, there is nothing at all. Something separate from Buddha nature is simply delusion. It may exist in your mind, but in reality such things do not exist.

Therefore, to be a human being is to be a Buddha. Buddha nature is simply another name for human nature, our true human nature. So even if you're not doing anything, you're essentially doing something. You are proving yourself. You are showing your true nature. Your eyes reveal it; your voice reveals it; your manner of behavior reveals it. The most important thing is to manifest your true nature in the simplest, most proportionate way and appreciate it in the smallest living being.

And as you practice this, week after week, year after year, your experience will deepen more and more, and your experience will begin to extend to everything you do in everyday life. The most important thing is to give up all thoughts of achievement, all dual thoughts. In other words, just practice zazen in a certain posture. Don't think about anything. Just sit on your pillow, not expecting anything. And then, eventually, you will regain your true nature. In other words, your own true nature will become itself again.

Rodzan is the Japanese name for the Lushan mountain range in the northern part of the Chinese province of Jiangxi. - Per.

Sekko - “Zhejiang tide” - a sea tide in the form of a high water shaft in the Chinese province of Zhejiang at the mouth of the river. Qiantanjiang, which flows into the East China Sea. - Per.