Practice question(s)

[Don Niederfrank]

Counting exhales up to 10. OK? Anything better at the beginning?

[Jundo]

Hi Don,

Counting is wonderful at the beginning in allowing quiet and focus. It is especially good for new students who have never spent 20 minutes without pondering this and that. However, I would never continue the practice for more than a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. Also, I would transition out to open, objectless "just sitting" ... trying to do that more and more, but returning to counting the breaths when things just won't find their balanced center.

After awhile, however, we take off the training wheels and come to know that there are no "bad" rides ... both the balanced and centered ones and those that seem ( I say "seem" ... cause, gosh darn it, what does the universe know of "balance" and "center" ... which is really a "balance" and "center" all its own) to be not.

I do not favor true "mantras" because of their hocuc-pocus feeling, although some people might do well repeating a phrase such as "who am i?" That kind of thing. I just don't tell students to do that, because it seems it can lead to thinking more than the truly abstract counting to 10.

Anyone have other suggestions that they have used?

Gassho, Jundo

[Jun]

For beginners, our practice consists of clenching the teeth and fists and focusing all of our attention on the images of the fierce Niõ (仁王) and the delusion-subduing “Immovable One” - Fudõ Myõ-õ (不動明王).

“Rouse your vital energy, fix your gaze, and acquire the energy
of the delusion-conquering forms of the Niõ and Fudõ Myõ-õ.
Guarding this Niõshin (Niõ-mind) and Fudõshin (immovable mind),
you will overcome delusions.” - Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

This style of Fudõ zazen (不動坐禅) and Niõ zazen (仁王坐禅) is practised at the beginning for those new to zazen. It is unique to the tradition I follow as started by Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi.

[Jundo]

Hi Jun,

Very interesting! So, the practice of that group must have a great Shingon/Esoteric Buddhist influence (one more hybrid to mention). Please correct any of this if it is wrong, Jun. For those who do not know about Myo-o:

The Myo-o are ... emanations who represent the luminescent wisdom of the Buddha, and guard the four cardinal directions and the center. Introduced to Japan in the 9th century by the Shingon and Tendai sects, the Myo-o were originally Hindu deities adopted into the pantheon of Esoteric Buddhism to vanquish blind craving.

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/myo-o.shtml

I would love to visit that Sangha sometime and sit with them. Where are they based in Japan? What is the main practice of meditation? I remember you writing once awhile ago that they are an off-shoot (aren't we all an offshoot of something?) of the Rinzai sect? So, I suppose that we have 3 Suzuki's to keep in mind now: Shunryu, Taisetsu and Shõsan.

I have not researched this subject directly, and I do not agree with everything in the following paragraphs, but the discussion sounds about right in explaining the different approaches [contrasting Dogen with the founder of Shingon, Master Kukai]. Please correct me if I misunderstand, Jun:

Whereas Dogen lived in the thirteenth century, Kukai belongs to the ninth century. Both of these men studied in China, which had a great civilization at that time, Kukai introducing the teachings of esoteric Buddhism to Japan, and Dogen bringing back the teachings of Soto Zen. They were both figures of genius in the history of Japanese Buddhism...

In contrast to Dogen, who recommended zazen, a method of “no-thought, no-form” meditation where all images are extinguished, Kukai advocated the extensive use of iconographic imagery in meditation, for example a-ji-kan : meditation on the Sanskrit letter “a”, or gatsurin-kan: meditation on the moon-wheel. Their teachings and practices with regard to meditation, the use of imagery and visualization, were poles apart.

They advocate two quite different sitting techniques; in one, all mental images are to be extinguished, while the other makes abundant use of imagery. ... Kukai, on the other hand, has much in common with yogic and Hindu meditation techniques. Tibetan Buddhism is basically esoteric too, and its sitting and meditative disciplines are of a similar type to those taught by Kukai.

Kukai’s strategy was to transform the self through the use of imagery. Dogen, on the other hand, sought to re-set the self by erasing all imagery. Or else to re-format it, so as to reach back towards one’s original face. By using visualizations to the full, Kukai sought to identify this very body with that of, for example Fudo Myo-o, (the fierce spirit Acalanatha), or his true form, Dainichi Nyorai (Mahavairocana). Central to the body and meditative disciplines taught by Kukai was the esoteric meditation technique whereby the “three kinds of acts” (sango) - bodily, verbal and mental - of all living beings are assimilated into the “three mystic practices” (sanmitsu) - bodily, verbal and mental - of the tathagata, the Buddha. In his major work Sokushin-jobutsuron Kukai wrote that “if you chant the three mystic practices (the Buddha?) will speedily appear”.

Kukai, as his name (written with the characters for sky and sea) suggests, sought to expand the self until it filled the sky, the sea, the whole universe. Dogen, meanwhile, was also true to his name (written with the characters for “way” and “source”) in returning to the source of the Buddhist teachings, devoting himself to discarding all illusions of self, and following the path that returned the self to nothingness. The body techniques and theories of the body of these two Buddhist monks serve as an important reference point in considering “the body of the monk”.

Thank you for introducing us to this. Very fascinating. Please correct me if I read too much into your comment.

Gassho, Jundo

[Jun]

Hello Jundõ,

So, the practice of that group must have a great Shingon/Esoteric Buddhist influence (one more hybrid to mention).

As did most schools of Zen during the Tokugawa jidai.

That info on the Myõ-õ was correct.

I would love to visit that Sangha sometime and sit with them. Where are they based in Japan?

At this point in time there is no fixed address, only the home of my teacher and several others in and around Ebina and also in Okayama and Fukuoka.

What is the main practice of meditation?

Shikantaza.

I remember you writing once awhile ago that they are an off-shoot (aren't we all an offshoot of something?) of the Rinzai sect?

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi had stronger connections with Sõtõ-shu.
Shõsan Rõshi taught a personal blend of practices derived from Pure Land Buddhism (Jõdo-shu 浄土宗), esoteric Buddhism (Shingon-shu 真言宗) and both Rinzai-shu (臨済宗) and Sõtõ-shu (曹洞宗). As did a great many Zen teachers in the Edo period.

The use of iconographic imagery and the esoteric elements usually found within Mikkyõ are to be found in all main lines of Zen, yes even Sõtõ-shu. Takuan Sõhõ Rõshi was a big fan of Fudõ Myõ-õ. Gesshu Sõko Rõshi was big on koans and mantras in his Sõtõ-shu temple. Tõsui Rõshi was fond of the aji-kan. Zen in the Tokugawa period especially had very many esoteric influences and many interpretations of practice existed.

The following is from a Sõtõ-shu text:

"Within a red circle is a black manji. This is called the right-sided manji diagram. It is the state existing even before the empty kalpa. The black manji represents the state of non-discrimination, the state before East and West were distinguished. Focus upon it and draw from it's energies."

At one time this teaching together with it's accompanying diagram was to be found in both Rinzai-shu and Sõtõ-shu temples.

[Jundo]

Hi Jun,

If you haven't guessed by now (I think it is pretty obvious), my lineage through Nishijima represents a "back to basics / back to Dogen" reform movement in the Soto sect (and there are many in Soto who empathize with such things). We are purely "just sitting' purists, and don't teach many bells and whistles beyond that purely-just-what-it-is practice.

You are exactly right, starting from Master Gikai and Keizan in the second and third generations after Dogen, syncretism began in the Soto school. Folks (looking to spice up their practice with some flashier stuff then staring, facing a wall) began to intentionally introduce elements of esoteric Buddhism into Soto doctrines (in fact, Master Dogen's teachings were almost forgotten until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when they underwent a revival). Here is a short but good Wiki description (showing too, that intra-Sangha tensions are, unfortunately, nothing new to Zen history! :-) ):

After Dōgen's death, his chief disciple Koun Ejō (1198-1280) succeeded him as abbot of the Eihei Temple. Ejō himself picked a younger monk named Tettsū Gikai (1219-1309), a man who had already been marked for leadership by Dōgen himself, to nurture as his own successor. However, Ejō's tenure as abbot was marked by a routine and unbending adherence to Dōgen's teachings and practices, but without Dōgen's vision and leadership, and the temple fell into decline. Differences between Ejō and Gikai appeared from the beginning, but Ejō, out of deference to Dōgen's wishes, did his best to train his younger colleague to take responsibility for the community.

Gikai travelled in China from 1259 to 1262, and when he returned with sophisticated architectural drawings and plans, Ejō put him in charge of temple construction. Five years later, Ejō stepped down as abbot and handed the leadership over to Gikai. Almost immediately the monks broke into pro- and anti-Gikai factions. Those who opposed him thought he was abandoning the simplicity and focus of Dōgen's ideal monastic life, squandering time and resources on new buildings and external decor. Gikai even went so far as to introduce Shingon liturgies into the life of Eiheiji, contaminating the ‘pure’ Zen of Dōgen. Finally, in 1272, the monks petitioned Ejō to resume the abbacy, which he did, and during his final years he successfully held dissension to a minimum. This set the stage for the division of Sōtō into two competing factions. After Ejō died in 1280, Gikai felt he should resume the abbacy, based on his previous experience and upon Dōgen's Dharma-transmission to him. Others within the community, uncomfortable with his progressiveness and (to their mind) over-accommodation with worldly concerns, wanted another of Ejō's prominent disciples, Gien (d. 1314) to succeed as abbot. The faction supporting Gikai prevailed, and he took up a second term as abbot of the Eihei Temple. However, the second wave of Mongol invasions (see Mongolia) in 1281 increased public demand for esoteric rituals for the protection of the nation, and Gikai was willing to make room in Eiheiji's regimen to meet this demand. His actions brought the simmering conflict to a head: open fighting broke out within the compound, and Gikai was forced to flee, leaving the office of abbot open to Gien. The Sōtō school was split. The Eihei temple, factionalized and concerned with maintaining the purity of its tradition, languished for a time, while the faction that went with Gikai out of the temple flourished. Gikai's careful cultivation of contacts with wealthy patrons and of good relations with other Buddhist groups, and his concern that his religious practice meet the needs of the times, paid off in terms of support, and he was able to found several monastic communities. Thus, for a time, the branch of Sōtō that dominated was precisely the one that did not follow Dōgen's single-minded Zen practice, but a mixture of meditation, esoteric ritual (see Esoteric Buddhism), and public service.

[EMPHASIS ADDED]


Pure Land elements were mixed in to Soto practices too (as happened in China and Vietnam), and the trend just continued into later centuries, especially during the Tokugawa period.

In fact, the whole history of Buddhism is a constant mixing. As I have pointed out on the blog, the main "Soto" lineage in North America (Maezumi Roshi's lineage) is actually a mix of Rinzai and Soto traditions, and other elements (from all over the Buddhist world) are all getting mixed together.

Now, don't get me wrong: Some of these developments are great. In fact, Zen/Ch'an would not exist except for the fact that Indian philosophy got all mixed together with Taoist ideas and, ultimately, the Japanese personality (in making "Ch'an" into "Zen"). Even now, I think it is fine that Zen Buddhists can sit the "Burmese" way, label thoughts (just, please, not -during- Zazen) in a Vipassana mode, and we can all learn from each other.

However, for Master Dogen, "just sitting" meant just that: "just sitting". Simply crossing the legs, stetching the back and you are done! Nothing more to seek or attain, no special states (that way of being with "nothing to seek and attain", however, is a VERY special way to be. How often in life do we live just to live, moving through our day without thought of achieving?). We do not focus on any deity, we do not need any magic power or hocus-pocus spell or helpful spirit ... we drop thoughts and resistance to the world ... and that's it! That's it it it!

Please don't get me wrong: I do not criticize anybody else's practice if they find it right for themselves (there are some purests in my own lineage who would scold me even for saying that, but I do believe that there are different strokes for different folks). But, I need to explain why I teach the philosophy of Practice that I teach.

Gassho, Jundo

[Don Niederfrank]

Jundo,
Thank you (again) for your teaching.
In the Christian denomination in which I serve there is much divisiveness (even though it is named "The United Church of Christ") which I see as unfortunately unnecessary. fwiw, http://www.uccunity.org.

I am glad for the simplicity I find in your teaching and the emphasis here. I've spent(wasted) much time idolizing my (and others) intellect.

[Jun]

Hi Jundo,

I was indeed aware of all that you posted.

Please don't get me wrong: I do not criticize anybody else's practice if they find it right for themselves (there are some purests in my own lineage who would scold me even for saying that, but I do believe that there are different strokes for different folks). But, I need to explain why I teach the philosophy of Practice that I teach.

That is heartening to hear and I think it is all good.

Just the mention of the practice of Fudõ zazen to "zen" groups usually brings derision, yes even from some Japanese.

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi was highly respected in his day and age and his teachings were in his time considered a revival of what the Buddha had originally taught. Being from the Samurai caste, his highly unique and eclectic teaching style was imbued with the warrior spirit. He often emphasised dynamic physical activity over quiet contemplation.

[paige]

Hi Jundo,

I wonder if the mixing of schools is only half the story? I'm no historian, but I wonder if it may also be true that Japanese Buddhism created divisions that never existed before. There are a number of historians who question whether Pureland (Ch'ing-t'u) or esoteric (Chen Yen) Buddhism ever really existed as separate schools in China. Obviously, the Mahavairocana and Pureland Sutras had a great effect on the evolution of Chinese Buddhism, but I don't think that the monks who popularised these sutras abandoned the practice of dhyana. Despite the uneven diffusion of scriptures from India to China, and regional variations, I doubt that the Amitabha Sutra was ever adopted by monks unfamiliar with the paramita teachings.

Even considering records like case 28 of the Mumonkan (the one where a monk who expounded the Diamond Sutra got a bug up his butt over this "special transmission outside the sutras" business), I can't see how a school heavily emphasising the Diamond Sutra wouldn't include the practice of contemplation.

In China (and, I think Korea?) teasing apart Ch'an and Pureland is rather an exercise in futility. But in Japanese Buddhism, Dogen and Hakuin both spent a lot of ink detailing how Shin Buddhism was destroying the Mahayana. And Shinran's Tannisho warned against combining the nembutsu with any other practice, that this would only lead people astray. So combining nembutsu with any other school is nearly unthinkable.

Funny how these things go...

[Don Niederfrank]

Another question

OK, left hand resting on right or right on left? And does it matter that 1) I'm left-handed or 2) that left on right feels more comfortable?

[Jundo]

Re: Another question

Hi Don,

OK, left hand resting on right or right on left? And does it matter that 1) I'm left-handed or 2) that left on right feels more comfortable?

In Fukanzazengi, Master Dogen wrote:

Then place the right hand over the left foot, and place the left hand on the right palm.

That being said, I do not think it really matters if you do it the other way (I regularly switch the order of my legs, but always keep my hands with the right hand on the bottom, left hand on top of the right). Dogen often abbreviated descriptions, and did not mean it must only be done in one direction (Of course, for monks lined up in the monks hall, you might have wanted everyone the same way for aesthetic reasons. But, I don't think it really matters for daily practice purposes) In fact, I am not sure what they did with left handed people back in 13th century Japan.

Perhaps they burned them at the stake!?

Speaking of history ... I do want to return to Paige's interesting historical perspective. I need some time, and do not have much today (with moving house and all). But I will pick up the thread again. Although our way is beyond time, there is much to learn from historical study, of course.

Gassho, Jundo

[Mensch]

Some sources teach that your stronger dominating hand should support the other. That would seam natural to me, especially if you don't sit full lotus and thus cannot rest your hands anywhere.

I am right handed and I place my hands the proper way. I tried to google up a photo of any of the great masters sitting "left handed" but I failed.

[Jundo]

Hi,

My internet search on Zazen for Lefties turned up ... not very much. I found some teachers (like this from Zen Mountain Monastery) saying this:

The dominant hand is held palm up holding the other hand, also palm up, so that the knuckles of both hands overlap. If you're right-handed, your right hand is holding the left hand; if you're left-handed, your left hand is holding the right hand. The thumbs are lightly touching, thus the hands form an oval, which can rest on the upturned soles of your feet if you're sitting full lotus. If you're sitting Burmese, the mudra can rest on your thighs.

But then, another American teacher (I do not know)< Jinmyo Renge Oshso, wrote this:

[Osho]: Yes. Sometimes people will say, “Well, I am left-handed, so I should be able to sit with the left hand on the bottom and the right hand on top.”



Well no, because when you are sitting you don't need one hand to lead. Being left handed or right handed is about which hand leads when you are doing things. But when you are sitting you are not actually doing anything. You are just sitting with one hand on top of the other. So we all sit with the right hand on the bottom and the left on top. If someone is left handed and we are doing oryoki then they do all of the forms of oryoki in reverse. It's all backwards (from the perspective of someone who is right handed) and that's fine. It all works out.

I did find this fact from someone who seems quite conversant with Calligraphy, an art somewhat related to Zen Practice:

Kids in Japan and China, even the left-handed ones, are made to use their right hand when doing calligraphy (which is shodou, shuji is pensmanship). Most calligraphy teachers wouldn't even know how to teach calligraphy to a left-handed person, strokes must be written in a certain way in a certain direction, doing it differently such as with the left hand, even if done eloquently is probably going to make the characters look unnatural and it's easy for people to tell when a character is not written how it's usually written, especially if that person is a shodou teacher. I'd say the teacher is just doing what he thinks is best and teaching the only way he knows how to. You can view it as stubborn and as compliance, but that's just how things are done and deviations are looked down upon.

But anyways yes you can do calligraphy left handed, though it's not going to be accepted as 'proper'..but if it's just something meant for fun and an extra curricular activity I don't think it really matters, but the teacher might think differently

Yes, the Japanese (the Chinese to a lesser extent) are fixated on doing things the "right" way [pun intended]. I also found this discouraging fact:

The use of the left hand was also frowned upon in Asia. Allegedly, a Japanese man could divorce his wife if he discovered that she was left-handed, though there were few examples of this happening[citation needed] Although this custom may have existed in the past, as with most other cultures, modern Japanese customs have become much more lenient.

Until very recently, in Chinese societies, left-handed people were strongly encouraged to switch to being right-handed. However, this may be in part because, while Latin characters are equally easy to write with either hand, it is more difficult to write legible Chinese characters with the left hand. The prescribed direction of writing each line of a Chinese character is designed for the movements of the right hand, and some shapes tend to feel awkward to follow with the left hand's fingers. It results in less-soft writing than with the right hand.

On the other hand (ha ha), there was this encouraging article:

A recent survey has revealed, however, that a growing number of Japanese, especially young people, are coming to see left-handedness as a desirable trait. Approximately half of the respondents in their teens and twenties said that, at some point in their lives, they have wished they could become southpaws.

http://web-japan.org/trends00/honbun/tj000202.html

How's that for some useless information!?

JUNDO'S CONCLUSION: DO WHAT FEELS RIGHT AFTER EXPERIMENTING WITH BOTH. OR MAKE YOURSELF DO IT THE WAY THAT DOES NOT FEEL "RIGHT". BOTH MAY HAVE THEIR POINTS TO THEM.

Gassho (an act with two hands in balance), Jundo

[Jun]

Hello,

I was a practitioner of Shingon-shu and put considerable study into the various mudra found within Buddhism.

In the earliest literature we find talk of attaining a balance of calm and wisdom between the mind, body and speech. The body aspect concerned itself with mudra. These are the symbolic, ritualised hand gestures, reflecting the degrees, powers, and aspects of spiritual attainment.

These mudra are in fact static forms of the various hand gestures found within Vajramushti. Vajramushti (Japanese: Kempõ, Chinese: Chuan Fa) is the unarmed combat system of the Indians that was practised in sequences called nata (Japanese: kata) and practised by Buddhist monks as methods of both self-defence and physical exercise.

(As a side note - the position of gasshõ (Sanskrit anjali) was the primary defensive posture shown as greeting between two Vajramushti warriors on the battlefield in ancient India. It was intended to show that knowledge of defensive methods was known, so that a potential aggressor was made aware).

The various mudra represented the eternal quality of the Buddha's enlightenment. In Sanskrit the various terms for hands (pani, sandhai, hasta etc.) used in a Buddhist title indicated that the hands they referred to were intended to be symbols for some particular aspect of enlightened wisdom.

The mudra used by Zen practitioners is called jõ-in 定印 (in = mudra). In the Shõshinjitsukyõ it states: "The five fingers of the left hand are extended in front of the navel, then the five extended fingers of the right hand are placed on those of the left. The thumbs are touching."

"This is the posture of Shakyamuni Buddha. It represents the suppression of all spiritual disquiet."

"The triangle formed by the two thumbs meeting symbolises the tri-ratna (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha)."

As for the symbolism of the right hand especially in Japan -

Until the Meiji jidai children born into the Samurai caste (especially male) were forced to be right handed from the age of three. The right hand has always been considered the pure hand, the hand associated with cleanliness and the Buddha dharma. The right hand represents the Four transcendental Knowledge's, the power of observation, wisdom, reason, compassion, and the ultimate reality. It is with the right hand that swords are to be wielded and justice is to be dealt.

*Those who have ever worn hakama will know that one steps into hakama with the right foot first.
*When putting on kimono/yukata etc you put the right hand through the sleeve first.
*When holding a sensu you use the right hand.
*When stepping down into the genkan one steps with the right foot first and puts on the right tabi/geta/zori first.

At a funeral, the left hand is used to hold the hashi to remove the bones - because the left hand is unclean and represents man.

[Don Niederfrank]

Wow.

:shock:


I am reminded of the seekers that come to my cyberneighborhood inquiring about Christianity. And of a story. My daughter has a 'autistic spectrum disorder' and sometimes answers very direct questions questions with long answers so that we sometimes would say, "Greta, Greta. It's a 'yes' or 'no' question." And then she would give us a yes or no answer. One day riding in the car in the backseat with my son he asked if the field we were passing was corn. It was sorghum so I went into this long thing on sorghum, molasses, grass crops, etc. At which point my son quietly said, "Dad, it was a 'yes or no' question." and we all laughed.

When my children were small they never asked me, the father the clergyperson, religious questions. I would go on too long. They would ask their wiser mother who would say, "God loves you; so do I. Go to sleep."

I am tempted to ask what to do since in terms of gross motor skills I am right-handed but in fine motor skills I am left-handed.

Thanks for the info. It is interesting, honestly.
I suspect the answer to all practice questions is "just sit". 8)