Homeless Kodo's "TO YOU" - Chapters 3, 4 & 5

[Jundo]

Dear All,

We are off to a good start!

As it is a fairly easy read, and chapters are rather short, consisting mostly of small quotes, we will take a few chapters at a time. This week, Chapters 3, 4 and 5.

The rules of the game are pretty easy: Just mention here, in our discussion, any quotes (none, one or many) that ring your bell and resonate with you, and briefly say why.

That's it!

If you need a version to "cut and paste" a quote, there is one here. However, PLEASE PURCHASE THE ACTUAL BOOK! I ask everyone to use the following only for ease in cutting and pasting a quote or two into this discussion, not for purposes of reading the entire book. Thank you!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13v2mybc4y3kiro9cIny5rnkWOVaVAXf_/view?usp=sharing

What trips your trigger, strikes your fancy, inspires and makes your day? Try to say why it does so for you. (You can also feel free to disagree with Ol' Kodo too, but be prepared to say why!)

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Tairin]

Again lots I could quote so I picked just one

The question isn't who's right. You're simply seeing things from different points of view.

I try to keep this in mind. Not easy sometimes when emotions run hot.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Nengei]

It seems like Kōdō Sawaki Roshi lived with negative observations of relationships, and with some of what he said, focused on that. However,

Stop trying to be something special and just be what you are.

and

It all begins when we say "I." Everything that follows is an illusion.

both were meaningful to me. So much emotion is tied to ego, and these quotations spoke of that for me.

I also liked

Satori means creating your own life. It makes waking up from group stupidity.

This quotation nicely supports some from the first couple of chapters that to me suggests Master Kōdō placed emphasis on intellectual and emotional independence as a part of seeing one's Buddha nature. Also:

Reality: getting a handle on this must be our goal. Don't get stuck in categories.

infers the importance of seeing each thing's individual truth. We humans have a strong tendency to want to group things, and to draw conclusions from how we categorize.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

[Tokan]

Again, a good mix of humour and insight, always cutting the point in two with a double-edged sword!

A man who understands nothing marries a woman who understands nothing, and everyone says, “Congratulations!” Now that’s something I cannot understand.

Although this sounds bad, I wonder if he is getting at the importance of a marriage being a place of growth, rather than delusion compounding delusion!

Everybody talks about marrying for love, but isn’t it really just marrying for sex? In the end isn’t it really only about a penis and a vagina? Why doesn’t anybody simply say that he’s fallen in love with a vagina?

Similarly, this seems brutal and demeaning of marriage, but are we truly honest about what needs we are trying to have met in a relationship? Remember, no sex - no Buddhists

This is a good book choice

Gassho, Tokan (satlah)

[Koushi]

I thoroughly enjoy Sawaki Roshi's bluntness, in these chapters.

Isn't it clear from the start that life is good for nothing? It is simply coming and going, that's all. Your problem is that there's something in you that just can't accept that.

I've spent a large portion of my life trying to find a "meaning" to hold onto, to drive ideations and the like away, etc. It wasn't until I shifted focus away from my own self worth being dependent on some grand "meaning" or "reason" that things finally came into focus. Most of all, when I focus on others instead while I'm here for this blip in universe-time, the reality of things being "as they are" isn't horrible at all. Rather freeing, in fact.

Some think that they're important because they have money. Others think they're important because they have "satori." But no matter how much you puff up your personal sack of flesh, you won't end up becoming anything besides a monster.

That which can't be made into an individual possession fills the entire universe. Where personal thoughts come to an end is where the buddha-dharma begins.

Doesn't matter what we humans try to use on each end of the spectrum, material or spiritual, to boost our ego—ego is still ego. I like to be reminded of this.

Gassho,
koushi
STLaH

[Heikyo]

There are lots of great quotes in these chapters. A couple that stand out are:

If you aren’t careful, you’ll spend your whole life doing nothing besides waiting for
your ordinary-person hopes to someday be fulfilled.

I think this says a lot about today's modern society, which can often be one long road of striving towards endless goals, always looking to the future instead of focussing on the present. And when you do achieve a goal, there is something else to go after, and so it goes on...

I have mixed feelings about the quote below (and some of the others) about money.

Don’t be so helpless that you start saying you need money to live. In this world
you can lead a fine life without savings.

In the modern world, and as a non-monastic, you DO need money to live, for basic needs like food and a place to live. From the introduction to the book, it seems that Sawaki did have jobs, or was studying in monasteries where I assume basic needs like food and accommodation were provided for him. However, I agree with the general idea - that you do not need a lot of money to live a good and happy life.

Gassho
Paul
Sat, LAH

[Tairin]

It seems like Kōdō Sawaki Roshi lived with negative observations of relationships, and with some of what he said, focused on that.

I noticed that too but I take it all with a gain of salt.

1. He was never married so frankly his opinion about marriage is at best circumstantial. Anyone who’s been married (or long term equivalent) knows that marriage is a dance and sometimes we step on each other’s toes

2. From reading his biography it is clear that when it came to relationships he did not have any positive role models.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Margaret]

Again lots I could quote so I picked just one

I try to keep this in mind. Not easy sometimes when emotions run hot.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

Love this.words to live by.
Gassho, Margaret
St

[Shinchi]

From chapter 4: "For ordinary people there is only love or hate, profit or loss, good or bad, victory or loss.

In the end, we have to realize that none of that is good for anything, and in the end we come to the practice of zazen - simply practicing what isn't good for anything."

And also, from chapter 3:

"When you're fighting with your husband or wife, you don't realize that the argument is about an illusion. But in zazen, you recognize illusion as illusion. This is why it is important to look at life with the eyes of zazen."

I appreciate both of these quotes, which feel connected in theme - zazen and the illusory nature of good/bad, victory/loss, etc. (as I think I've understood (?)).

Gassho,
Steve
STLah

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

[sreed]

Everyone believes that satisfaction doesn’t mean anything more than laying on the
couch or dozing in a hot spring.
No, satisfaction means being suffused with joy, stability and happiness. Only when
you’ve fully arrived in the present instant will you experience true joy, stability and
happiness.


Gassho,
Sara
STLah

[Chikyou]

Chapter 3 had me in stitches!

Here are two quotes that are especially meaningful to me today:

"Stop trying to be something special and just be what you are. Hold fire. Just sit!"

"Life isn't so easy. Sometimes there's war and the sky is on fire, sometimes you take an afternoon nap by the stove. Sometimes you work the whole night through, sometimes you get drunk with friends.

In the Buddha-dharma it is a question of how you can give direction to this life according to the Buddha's teaching."

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[Onkai]

In Chapter 3:

Whatever you were thinking just now, it's gone already.

This is a good reason not to live in the head. It also expresses how fleeting each moment is.

In Chapter 4:

Birth, old age, sickness, and death: we can't fool around with these ultimate facts.

This also has to do with the passage of time, as well as the suffering in this life. When these aren't getting me down, there is joy, yet these are facts of life. They are going to happen, and are happening constantly.

In Chapter 5:

In the world, it's always about winning and losing, plus or minus. Yet in zazen, it's about nothing. It's good for nothing. That's why it is the greatest and most all-inclusive thing there is.

Dogen says:

The flowers that bejewel the sky of my heart,
I offer them to the buddhas of the three worlds.

This is what practice is about. To let go of comparisons, gaining or losing. It is also about seeing the beauty in the world and hints at the interconnectedness of all beings and all existence.

I'm glad to be reading this book, and seeing what others respond to and how.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat lah

[JudyE]

“We’ve gotten used to this life. That’s the only reason we find it normal.”

This reminds me of discussions with friends during the COVID lockdowns. At first we couldn’t wait to get back to “normal,” and then we realized that much of “normal” wasn’t that great. It’s so easy to become desensitized to unhealthy situations when we are used to them.
Loving this little book!

Gassho,
Judy
sat/lah

[Nengyoku]

Whatever you were thinking just now, it's gone already.

I read this and then realized I literally couldn't remember what I had been thinking just before reading this chapter.
It took about five minutes to remember what it was.
It was a good reminder of impermanence.

Gassho,
Nengyoku
Sat

[Zenkon]

So many good sayings, ranging from the profound to reminiscent of a Rodney Dangerfield stand-up comedy routine. The saying that struck me was:

For ordinary people there is only love or hate, profit
or loss, good or bad, victory or loss.

In so many things, we seem incapable of finding a middle ground.

Gassho

Zenkon

sat/lah