Dear Leafers,
Nearly 800 years ago, Master Dogen called all to Zazen, as he had learned from his teacher in China, Master Tendo Nyojo, a way of practice-realization which Dogen set out for the first time in his "Fukanzazengi" and his 'Talk on Pursuing the Truth,' the "Bendowa." This Bendowa, in a few pages, celebrates the power of sitting Zazen, relays some of Master Dogen's travels in China to encounter his teacher, followed by a series of questions and answers further clarifying the meaning and specialness of upright sitting in the way of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Before his death in 2014, my Teacher, the Soto Zen priest Gudo Wafu Nishijima, offered this English translation with his student Chodo Cross, together with Nishijima Roshi's own words calling all to Zazen, adding some answers to questions asked by modern Zen students whom Nishijima Roshi encountered during his many years teaching Japanese and foreigners in Japan. Now, my Dharma Brother, Peter Rocca, has done us all a great service by collecting and publishing this series of talks in book form.
The book presents Zazen as the sitting of the Buddhas and Ancestors embodied in our sitting. There is something important about stopping, straightening the back, releasing the thoughts and finding the balance which Nishijima Roshi knew deeply from his more than seven decades of sitting Zazen. Nishijima, like Dogen in Bendowa, urged everyone to undertake this marvelous practice which is open to all out in the world, not only priests, whether man, woman, all of us without distinction. Dogen reminds us here that this can be known in daily life, with our other duties and responsibilities, any time.
I felt and heard my teacher's voice coming through these pages loud and clear, as if I was again seated at one of his Zazen sittings and Talks in Chiba, Hongo or the Tokei-in temple. His simple message is clear: Sit Zazen and the heart becomes clear and simple. Nine Bows, Roshi. Thank you too to Peter Rocca, as well as to our Sekishi being first to read it.
I would like to offer a couple of small comments on some aspects of Nishijima Roshi's teachings which are to be found in these pages, and which often bring some questions from readers. Nishijima Roshi sat Zazen for decades encountering great peace, calm and balance of body and mind. Way ahead of his time, Nishijima Roshi believed that these effects must be understandable by science, and so he was greatly influenced in the 1970s by the then groundbreaking work on meditation, the so-called "relaxation response" and the autonomic nervous system by Harvard Professor Dr. Herbert Benson and, earlier, by Karl Menninger (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/...ss-20101110780). Nishijima Roshi himself was not a medical doctor or scientist, and his explanation of the physiological response and the workings of the human nervous system and spine may be a bit simple, but Nishijima turned to Benson and Menninger's ideas as a way to explain the effects that Zazen has on body and brain.
As well, throughout the book, Nishijima Roshi regularly refers to his vision that Buddhism is "Realism," with Zazen its embodiment in action, which unites and transcends "Idealism" and "Materialism." Nishijima Roshi sought throughout his life to explain Zen Buddhism in modern terms and in harmony with western culture, and to do so he reached for notions common in Western philosophy. Some commentators have noted that sometimes Nishijima Roshi may have mixed some very different philosophical notions of "Idealism" with each other, and likewise regarding "Materialism" and "Realism." That may be true, but if I may summarize Nishijima's basic insights here, they would be this, quite helpful in understanding the meaning of Zazen:
Some religions and philosophies dream of an "ideal" world or heaven that is apart from now and this ordinary world, which ordinary world is somehow corrupt and polluted. Also, some philosophies are caught up in subjective intellectual "ideas" alone, and get tangled in thinking. On the other hand, "material" philosophies say that this world is just "matter," made of cold and ultimately meaningless objects, and there is no "ideal." Materialism also implies, says Nishijima, that only what we can materially sense and experience has truth. Zen Buddhism, on the other hand, leaps through both "subject" and "object," and finds that this ordinary world here is both meaningful and special, imperfect yet ideal too, and allows us to experience ideas and sense experiences without being a captive of either. By experiencing so in Zazen, we come to know this reality, and thereupon put this fact into action in our Zazen and all our life. Although Nishijima Roshi has his own way of expressing these notions, his basic point on Buddhism and Zen is most insightful: In Zen practice, centered on Zazen, one finds that this ordinary world, however imperfect, is also a jewel where we must live and act with Wisdom. We must not ignore Buddhist ideas and thinking, but neither be its prisoner. Most of all, Master Dogen's Zen is a philosophy of action, and it is our duty to bring it to life through Zazen and off the cushion too.
I recommend this book to all who would like to get a sense of Master Dogen, as well as my teacher, Nishijima Roshi, whose voice jumps off these pages. It is available exclusively as an Amazon publication at the link above.
As a companion book, to better understand Gudo Roshi's thinking in general, I would recommend my translation of Master Nishijima's book, "A Heart To Heart Chat On Buddhism With Old Master Gudo" (New Edition released 2015 featuring a profile of Nishijima Roshi's Teacher, Rempo Niwa Zenji of Eiheiji.)
Both books can be found on our Treeleaf "Suggested BOOKS & MEDIA" List [LINK].
I miss you, Roshi.
Jundo
stlah
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