TREELEAF PODCAST: ZAZEN - YOJINKI SERIES
Hello, all
A new episode of our Treeleaf Podcast is available for streaming on all platforms. We begin a new series of talks, focusing on master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yojinki'. Find the Treeleaf Podcast wherever you usually stream podcasts, or listen to it directly
A new episode of our Treeleaf Podcast is available for streaming on all platforms. We begin a new series of talks, focusing on master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yojinki'. Find the Treeleaf Podcast wherever you usually stream podcasts, or listen to it directly
HERE
We begin this month a new series of Talks on Keizan Jokin Zenji's 13th Century ...
... 'Zazen-Yōjinki'
(坐禅用心記; 'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen')
Master Keizan, considered with Master Dogen one of the two "Founders" of Soto Zen in Japan, lived from 1264 to 1325. His essay “Zazen-Yōjinki” might be considered an expansion and further exploration of Dogen's explanation of Zazen, the 'Fukanzazengi.' The advice is often very practical, covering such topics as how to sit, breathe, what to wear, eat beforehand and what to do on those days when the mind just won't settle down, while other parts of the essay (such as today's portion) are wild, willy and mind wowing as only Zen writings can be!
I will be drawing from a few different translations, including by Anzan Hoshin-Yasuda and by Okumura Roshi, as modified at Antaiji. Also, translations by Masunaga and Cleary.
It begins ...
~ ~ ~
Zazen means to clarify the mind-ground and dwell comfortably in your actual nature. This is called "the display of the Original Face" and "manifesting the original-ground."
In zazen both body and mind drop off, and you will be far beyond such forms as sitting or lying down. Free from considerations of good and bad, zazen transcends distinctions between ordinary people and sages, it goes far beyond judgements of deluded or enlightened. Zazen includes no boundary between sentient beings and buddha. Therefore put aside all affairs, and let go of all associations [attachments]. Do nothing at all. The six senses produce nothing [Don't fabricate any things with the six senses.].
What is this? Its name is unknown. It cannot be called “body”, it cannot be called “mind”. Trying to think of it, the thought vanishes. Trying to speak of it, words die. It is like a fool, an idiot [but also like the sage]. It is as high as a mountain, deep as the ocean. Without peak or depths, its brilliance is unthinkable, it shows itself silently. Between sky and earth, only this whole body is seen.
This one is without comparison – he has completely died. Eyes clear, he stands nowhere. Where is there any dust? What can obstruct such a one?
Clear water has no back or front, space has no inside or outside. Completely clear, its own luminosity shines before form and emptiness were fabricated. Objects of mind and mind itself have no place to exist.
This has always already been so but it is still without a name. The third patriarch Sengcan, great teacher, temporarily called it “mind”, and the venerable Nagarjuna once called it “body.” Enlightened essence and form, giving rise to the bodies of all the Buddhas, it has no “more” or “less” about it [has neither lack nor excess].
This is symbolized by the full moon but it is this mind which is enlightenment itself. The luminosity of this mind shines throughout the past and brightens as the present. Nagarjuna used this subtle symbol for the samadhi of all the Buddhas but this mind is signless, non-dual, and differences between forms are only apparent.
Just mind, just body. Difference and sameness miss the point. Body arises in mind and, when the body arises, they appear to be distinguished. [Only mind, only body - their difference and sameness are not the issue; mind changes into body, and when the body
appears they are distinguished.] When one wave arises, a thousand waves follow; the moment a single mental fabrication arises, numberless things appear. So the four elements and five aggregates mesh, four limbs and five senses appear and on and on until the thirty-six body parts and the twelve-fold chain of interdependant emergence. Once fabrication arises, it develops continuity but it still only exists through the piling up of myriad dharmas.
The mind is like the ocean waters, the body like the waves. There are no waves without water and no water without waves; water and waves are not separate, motion and stillness are not different. So it is said, "A person comes and goes, lives and dies, as the imperishable body of the four elements and five aggregates."
Zazen is going right into the Ocean of Awareness, manifesting the body of all Buddhas. The natural luminosity of mind suddenly reveals itself and the original light is everywhere. There is no increase or decrease in the ocean and the waves never turn back.
sat and lah
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