Homeless Kodo's "TO YOU" - Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2

[Onkai]

My favorite quote from the first chapter:

The world shouldn't put on such a show about winning and losing.

I am what I am. No comparison is possible.

That brings the relief of self-acceptance and puts an end to zero-sum thinking.

My favorite quote from the second chapter:

"A monk in layman's clothes" refers to a layman who has left group stupidity behind.

That sums up a lot of what the chapter was about. To me, it is about facing reality without the stories spun by people around me, and that I have contributed to. It encourages living by one's individual perceptions and understanding.

I'm enjoying this book, and it is worth reflecting on.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat Lah

[Tokan]

Ohhhh, okay that makes sense!

Thank you and gassho

Anna
st

Only in zazen can you be yourself and only yourself. Outside of zazen, you constantly try to be better than the others or to have more fun than the others.

Hi Anna

As Bion pointed out, this paradox just goes on and on, and mental gymnastics can never fully resolve it, because thinking requires dualistic separation. Yet we live in a world of both separation and no-separation. In my practice I aim for striving without thought of gain or attainment, but, in my work as a crisis mental health nurse, you bet I want to get better at what I do! But I don't see the 'gain' (in knowledge or experience) as mine, I see the 'gain' as being dedicated to the ongoing work of fulfilling the Bodhisattva vows. On the flip side, I know when I feel pride at something I did, and I can feel the separation it causes between me and others in my mind. It is true that the saying reflects generally present traits in society though I wonder if he was addressing someone specific or a specific audience. Imagine being there when this was said, what is it he is getting at???

Gassho, Tokan (satlah)

[Nengei]

Don't be happy about the grades others give you. Take responsibility for yourself. You're happy or you're upset when others praise or criticize you, but you don't even understand yourself.

This quotation rings true for me because it is something I tell my art students. One difference between a student or an amateur and a professional is that a professional does not cut corners, and does not look to someone else to critique their work, or tell them what to do next, or to tell them when their work is finished. A professional individual responsibility for doing their work correctly and completely. I find this relevant to Zen because my practice is entirely my own responsibility. Whether I sit or not, recite the Heart Sutra or not, say the meal gatha or not is entirely on me; the motivation, the action, and the outcome. It is up to me to know that I have done it as well as it can (by me) be done. Everyone else will have an opinion. But I only seek others' opinions (PRAISE! or criticism) because I forget that

[y]ou've got to live your own life, naked and sincere.

That which I seek is within myself.

Similarly,

Don't let yourself be taken in by any philosophy or any group. Don't bother with anything as dimwitted as people.

This is an interesting play on words, I think, if the translators were as sharp as they seem. A person is smart, as Tommy Lee Jones told us in Men in Black, "... people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it." But aside from the joke, chapter 2 is mostly about seeing what is, beyond the delusions of following along with what others around you are doing. Find out for yourself. See reality. Think independently.

Gassho,
遜道念芸 Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

[Amelia]

I both agree and disagree with this one, with great respect to Sawaki Roshi! I think the unquiet mind can bring too many thoughts of attainment to zazen, and I also think that people can bring a pure and clear mind to the rest of life.

I'm a writer by trade. Do I want to be good at my craft? Absolutely. Do I want to be a better writer than my peers and friends? No. I want to be the best I can be for myself, both because I love what I do and because I want to do the best job I can, but I don't want to be better than everyone else, not only because I don't want that sort of pressure to perform, but because 'better' is entirely subjective. In whose eyes/mind am I better? Who measures that? And if we're all one anyway, then their skill is my skill, which is theirs.

Do I want to have 'more fun' than others? No. I want to have fun, certainly. I want to lead an enjoyable and fulfilled life when I can, while knowing that my whole life won't be like that (it certainly isn't at the moment!). But I want everyone, all sentient beings, to lead an enjoyable and fulfilled life, too.

But it may well be that I have misunderstood the second part of his teaching.

Sorry to run long.

Gassho
Anna
sattoday

I don't think he is suggesting that zazen is always a pure stillness, and daily life is always a rat-race. Just as anyone else who ever practiced shikantaza, I'm sure he knew well how violent the mind can rumble or how peacefully still the daily activities of life can be.

Many of the sayings collected in this book are directed at a particular context, and in these chapters it is thus: To you who can’t stop worrying about how others see you, and, To you who think there’s something to being“in”. So, not so much about these bits of wisdom being aimed universally at all beings at all times, but more pointing to these feelings when they arise in our lives.

I think when I first read this book some years ago, I flipped through it based more on how I was feeling at that particular time, rather than read it front to back. So yeah, if I had been feeling some "grass is greener on the other side" vibes, I might have gone to these chapters and thought yeah... sometimes I do want to be the best... but it passes.

Gassho
Sat, lah

[Uran]

Good evening all,

There are many pieces that stand out to me but this is one that resonates deeply and vibrantly...

"Each one of us is born together with the world and dies together with the world for everyone carries within him his own entirely personal world."

There are those who say that everyone dies alone and that nothing else is possible. It seems to me that they are paradoxically saying the same thing as this quote which I interpret to say that we cannot be born alone and it is not possible to die alone.

I just love a beautiful paradox.

Gassho,

Aimee
satlah

[Kaishin]

Ah, just noticed this started!

I discovered Kodo Sawaki pretty early in my Zen journey, and he's been one of my favorites ever since. Largely because his bluntness and sardonic wit feel like an antidote to so much of the (what I see as) wishy-washy sentiments encountered in the wider Buddhist landscape. And also because I feel directly challenged--perhaps even insulted--by some of what he says, which I find to be more helpful sometimes than reading things that simply reinforce what I already do/say/believe.

I guess I will focus on some passages that I find personally confrontational or that seem antithetical to wider Buddhist/Zen/religious practice.

You can't even trade a single fart with the next guy. Each and every one of us has to live out his own life.

- One of the lines that has always stuck with me, that I often repeat to myself or to my kids when life-to-life comparisons inevitably arise.

We don't eat in order to shit.

- You've got to admire Sawaki's scatological eloquence. He makes his point so often in a direct, shocking way (can you imagine the Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh saying something like this??), but one that quickly makes a deep impression. And he's right, the activity of the moment is complete in and of itself. A gentler teacher might say, "we don't climb the mountain just to get to the top."

This is what it means to be wise. Don't let yourself be taken in by any philosophy or any group. Don't bother with anything as dimwitted as people.

- Does this not also apply to Zen, to Buddhism, to Treeleaf? I think it does. We must tread carefully in any group activity. For me this sense has always been strong. I've never been much of a joiner, always strongly skeptical of everything. Over the years I've tried many times to force myself against this, taking that to the extreme not too long ago as part of me was convinced that I just had to crack that exterior armor of the ego and I could fall fully and deeply into something I've practiced on the fringes for so many years. But, no, resistance was too strong. Ultimately I must accept that this is just my nature, and that's OK. Some monks are devoted to temple life among many others, some spend their lives as hermits or wandering like Sawaki. Same for the spiritual layman, I think.

"A monk in layman's clothes" refers to a layman who has left group stupidity behind.

- this one is interesting to me because it assumes that a monk is naturally above group stupidity. I think it's pretty clear this is not the case when looking at the wider religious landscape. Perhaps a better phrase would be "A Sawaki in layman's clothes"

Buddhism is a religion that reduces the congestion of blood in the head

- Again he's speaking of group stupidity and mindless pursuits, but also again from the perspective of his own unique and pared down version of Buddhism/Zen practice. There's certainly as much head-clogging nonsense in Zen/Buddhism and wider religions as there is in the lay world imho. But still, for me this points to the uniqueness of shikantaza specifically.

-stlah

[Soka]

Sorry I'm late to this. I took the book to the mountains, so I have kept up

For me, the one that resonated with me this time was:

You've got to live your own life, naked and sincere.

I think it sums up the chapter neatly and there is something liberating about following this advice.

Regarding

"A monk in layman's clothes" refers to a layman who has left group stupidity behind.

I didn't assume it meant that a monk is naturally above group stupidity, I read it more like: a layman who behaves and practices as a monk, has left the "group stupidity" of people caught up in everyday life but perhaps has also not joined the group stupidity of the monks in a monastery

Gassho,
Sōka
sat

[Mark-us]

Thank you for posting this. It helped me understand the quote better than I initially thought. It reminds me of a quote about having to sit/walk the same in a zendo, and many people believe it is for everyone to be the same, but in reality, it allows people to be unique/individual in their own way.

Gassho,
Markus
SatLaH

[Mark-us]

Hello everyone; I'm glad to join you all in reading this book. It is interesting that this book is built on little notes taken throughout Kodo's lectures. All of the essentials boiled down. It also reminds me of Marcus Aurelius's meditations. Although many quotes popped out at me, I wanted to talk about this one.

Everyone's talking about common sense, but what do they mean? Don't they simply mean thinking like the others? Thinking what group stupidity dictates?

I was always told I lacked common sense or "street smarts." Stuff like that doesn't make sense to me. (I am neurodivergent, so that is probably why) So reading this quote helped ease my anxiety about not "knowing" things like common sense.

Sorry for running long.

Gassho,
Markus
SatLah

[Roso]

I had just been dabbling in the book online here a bit, waiting for my paper copy of the actual book to arrive; but Sawaki Roshi was amazing! I think that there are some of these sayings and aphorisms that will be immediately meaningful to some people, and not others ... and some may become more meaningful in time.

A good friend of mine recently received a significant award from a local organization, of which we both are members. I had fully expected to receive it myself. I was greatly disappointed that the award did not come to me. I had been struggling with trying to feel happy for my friend in the face of my own disappointment. Then, Master Sawaki's rather earthy remark

You can’t even trade a single fart with the next guy.
Each and every one of us has to live out his own life.

just woke me right up. He must have been amazing ...

Gassho

Jack
sat

[Shokai]

The reason it's called "common sense" is because everyone thinks they have it. That almost sounds like a quote by Mark Twain.
I recently saw a list of Seven Logics that can change your life:
1. Stop thinking too much, it's OK to not know the answers.
2. Make peace with your past so it doesn't spoil your present.
3. What others think of you is none of your business.
4. Time heals almost everything, give the time some time
5. No one is the reason of your happiness, except yourself.
6. Don't compare your life with others, you have no idea what their journey is all about.
7. Smile, you don't own the problems in the world

IMHO, these were composed by a Modern Day Sawaki

gassho, Shokai

[rj]

"We don’t eat in order to shit. We don’t shit in order to make manure." - This speaks to me about not being so focused on what is to come next. Focus on that moment, that action, without fretting about what is going to happen after. Too many times we are so focused on "when xxxxx happens" that we miss the moments and experiences that happen in the meantime.


rj/sat/lah

[Buyo]

Along with my late Ango start, I just realized I missed the guide to read this book as well as part of the the Ango. My sincere apologies

Some quotes are certainly more noticeable than others, and therefore made me sit and think why that was.

"Don’t be happy about the grades others give you. Take responsibility for yourself. You’re happy or you’re upset when others praise or criticize you, but you don’t even understand yourself" and a few others of very similar essence in comparing ones-self to others stood out at the moment. After a change in jobs a couple of years ago (I'm a biomedical scientist), I find myself looking at my professional network and wondering 'what could have been'. I moved into a senior high school setting as a scientist and I enjoy helping the students and teachers, but look back and think I could be getting paid more by now, or being apart of something 'more important'.

Gassho

Steve
Sat