In Memory of My Teacher, Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi ( & re-issue of his book )

[Ishin]

I really enjoyed reading, To Meet the Real Dragon, this looks like a must read as well. Thanks Jundo, Alan and Kirk. I am really glad to be part of this lineage and this sangha.

Gassho
Ishin
Sat Today

[Byokan]

I cannot say it any better than this. Your thoughts went right to my heart.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

Ditto. Or would that be a thritto. In any case I agree, and look forward to the memorial. Book is ordered.

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Shokai]

What a lovely tribute; Thank you Jundo and all

Gassho,

[Ongen]

Great, Jundo!
One question: Due to lack of creditcard or US bank account I can not buy from amazon.com. Is there another way for me to get this book?

Gassho
Vincent

[Jishin]

Just bought the kindle version.

Gassho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Great, Jundo!
One question: Due to lack of creditcard or US bank account I can not buy from amazon.com. Is there another way for me to get this book?

Gassho
Vincent

Hmmm. It is available through Amazon in Europe.

http://www.amazon.nl/Heart-Buddhism-Master-Expanded-English-ebook/dp/B00SQQUWBC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422545534&sr=1-1&keywords=jundo+cohen

However, I believe that they all require a credit card. Sorry, in Buddhism, we say that all things are empty and you do not actually exist ... especially if you do not have credit. Maybe someone with a credit card can buy it for you, and you could pay them back. I appreciate your interest in it. Thank you.

Gassho, J

[RichardH]

Been so swept up in my own melodrama that I have not paid proper attention to this. The into makes me want to read the book. Among other things what was his unique interpretation of the 4NT ? I saw videos of him... this slight man walking along the busy street wearing a humble suit. The way he seemed to enjoy talking almost like a kid. ordering the book.

Gassho
Daizan
sattoday

[Jundo]

Been so swept up in my own melodrama that I have not paid proper attention to this. The into makes me want to read the book. Among other things what was his unique interpretation of the 4NT ?

Hi Daizan,

I have written from time to time about some of Roshi's beliefs that were a bit unique to him. He was someone who sat Zazen for 70 years, encountered great Balance and Clarity in Body and Mind, and then tried to express that Balance and Clarity in western philosophical terms and medical-physiological terms that might have been, well, a little his own language and way of putting things, and sometimes an awkward fit. Although a great Zenman, I do not think he was particularly an expert in Western philosophy or medicine, but tried to describe Buddhism in such ways. My teacher, like all Zen teachers before him, has tried to express in words the experience of Zazen that is ultimately beyond words ... and to do that, Nishijima Roshi has had two very good ideas about Zazen, and his own unique way to say it.

One is that Zazen has a medical and physiological aspect in the body, which he terms balance of the autonomic nervous system (although I always tried to convince him that there are many many physiological aspects in addition to that. Nishijima was still something of a pioneer to say that much of what we do is a physical effect of the brain and nervous system).

The other is his idea of Zazen as a practice of "Action" or "Pure Doing/Being", and Buddhism as a "realistic" philosophy beyond idealistic religions or materialistic philosophies. Below a description in a nutshell, although it is a bit more than this. It is actually a very sound description, but he tried very hard to fit the Four Noble Truths into that. I am not sure it was a good fit. You will have to read the book to see how he tried to do that. I do not know anyone in the many flavors of Buddhism who would express them as he did. On the other hand, the POINT he was trying to make about the Four Noble Truths is itself quite good. Further, even Nishijima said he was not trying to replace the traditional view of the Four Truths, so much as add another way of viewing them.

Some people (almost all people in some way) dream of an idealized world (or "heaven" or "enlightenment" or a "purified society after the revolution comes" ... whatever) that is always good by our little human standards ... candy cane trees and ice cream mountains. Or, they feel lack between how the world "is" and how they wish it "should be" in their ideals. At least, they dream of some state much better than the present state. In contrast, this world of ours is less than ideal. That is an "idealistic" view. There is also a sense in most religions of some "ideal" world that is the world of the spirit, which is the world we need to get to by escaping this world of the "flesh".

On the other hand, some other people think of this universe as just blind processes, dead matter that happened to come alive as us, going no place in particular. (I really abbreviate the description ... but this is generally a materialistic view of the world). Although seemingly dispassionate and "coldly objective" about the world, this view will often cross the line into asserting that the world is "meaningless" or "pointless" or "survival-of-the-fittest cruel" or just "we are born, we work, we die" ... some such bleak thing. He also sometimes uses "material" to mean the "world of the flesh, this sometimes disappointing and hard life" as opposed to the above idealized "world of the spirit" found in most religions.

Both those views tend to judge that there is something lacking in the present state.

However, Buddhism is an existentialist way of being in and as this life-world-just-as-it-is, meaning the world and this life before we impose our judgments and dreams upon it. We neither judge the world lacking in comparison to another ideal world, nor do we judge it cold and pointless and hopeless. We just let the world be as it is, and we go with the flow ... to such a degree that we can no longer see perhaps the divisions between ourselves and the world in the flowing. In that way, as Nishijima describes it, it swallows whole both materialism and idealism by finding this world, just going where it goes, to be ideally just what it is. And that way of seeing beyond "beautiful" or "ugly", "peace" and "war" is .... pretty darn Beautiful and Peaceful! Material and Ideal merge into each other and are transcended. This is Nishijima's view of Buddhist "realism", his third philosophy.

However, theory alone is not enough. More than words describing this "realistic" perspective, we must actually taste it in the practice-experience of Zazen. So, Zazen is the pure action whereby we actually experience this being of reality.

Something like that.

Nishijima Roshi sometimes had his own lingo, and ways of expressing the basic Zen and Mahayana worldviews.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Ongen]

In Memory of My Teacher, Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi ( & re-issue of his book )

Hmmm. It is available through Amazon in Europe.

http://www.amazon.nl/Heart-Buddhism-Master-Expanded-English-ebook/dp/B00SQQUWBC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422545534&sr=1-1&keywords=jundo+cohen

However, I believe that they all require a credit card. Sorry, in Buddhism, we say that all things are empty and you do not actually exist ... especially if you do not have credit. Maybe someone with a credit card can buy it for you, and you could pay them back. I appreciate your interest in it. Thank you.

Gassho, J

Hi Jundo,

Myosha kindly suggested a prepaid creditcard, of which I didn't know it existed. So I should be able to buy it soon

Thank you,

Gassho
Ongen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kyonin]

Beautiful tribute and beautiful book.

Thank you, Jundo and a thanks to all who worked on this project.


Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Tai Shi]

I was able to purchase this for my Kindle.

[KellyRok]

I'm looking forward to reading the book! Thank you so much for pouring your heart into this project Jundo and for helping with the editing process Alan and Kirk.

I will look forward to the memorial service in Feb.

Gassho,
Kelly/Jinmei
sattoday

[Heisoku]

Thanks for this Jundo.
On the way as a birthday present from me to me.
Gassho
Heisoku
Sat today

[Ankai]

A bow to the Buddha.
A bow to the Dharma, with gratitude to my Teacher, and his teacher.
A bow to the Sangha, with and from whom I continue to learn.

[Meishin]

I cannot begin to express the joy in reading this book. So glad i ordered the paperback rather than Kindle (although if I had that would be fine too.) The photographs are quite expressive. The typeface is perfect for my aging eyes. As I read through I understand much better the lineage, understand much better what Jukai is/was about. Feel much more committed to Buddhism, and Treeleaf. Many questions dissolve.

And from now on I will grok much more quickly what Jundo is ranting about :-) How fortunate you are to have had this wonderful man as your teacher.

Thank you again. All who had a hand in this.

Gassho
Meishin
Sat today