Dear friends, The essay below was written by one of our Zen students “behind the fence.” He has been a long time student and friend of mine. I hope you will be enlightened by Jakuho’s writing, passion, and understanding of the teachings of Zen Buddhism. I hope, as well, that you will take his sage advice in the last paragraph it could change your life forever.
In gassho, Shokai
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I am reading from the book you sent me, titled, “What is Zen?.” My simple answer is that Zen is Zen Buddhism, an Asian religion now practiced all over the world. Broadly, there are three forms of Buddhism: Theravada, which emphasizes the earliest scriptures that seems be mostly about individual liberation; Mahayana Buddhism, which emphasizes compassion and social concern as much or more than individual liberation; and Vajrayana Buddhism (the Buddhism of Tibet), which adds detailed, esoteric, ritualistic practices.
Zazen is very much a physical practice: the body is never an insignificant detail, as if meditation were a matter of mind and spirit apart from body. Why do we walk so slowly during kinhin? So slow that I often feel I will lose my balance? The point is to pay close attention to body, breath, and mind when you are walking just as when you are sitting.
Can you tell when a person is “more spiritually developed”? Does it show? I guess I have just defined an enlightened person as someone with wisdom and a good heart. Wisdom in Zen means the capacity to see that “form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” as the Heart Sutra teaches. What would this “wisdom ad good heart” look like? Probably like the spiritual qualities that all our great traditions have always prized: humility, kindness love, patience, forgiveness, understanding.
The important thing about the teaching of rebirth, the part that seems true and that matters a great deal is that life continues. That is, there is more to our lives than the little span of time between birth and death. The teaching of rebirth tells us that our life and death are significant beyond their appearances, more significant than we know.
To most Zen students, at first the teachings might seem odd or nonsensical though also at the same time intriguing, because you sense that there is something to them, but after you have practiced and studied a while, they do make sense, and you can discuss and think about them reasonably. Our lives include many paradoxical and contradictory elements. Things are usually not just one way, they are many ways at once.
How will Zen practice affect my family relationship? My work relationships? The effectiveness of your practice will show up at home. I believe and have seen much corroborating evidence, that Zen practice makes you a better husband or wife, father, or mother. It makes you more attuned emotionally, kinder, more patient, more caring and loving, more able to be present, even when the going gets tough, even when you have an impulse not to be.
Why does Zen have such a close connection to various art forms, like haiku and flower arranging, for example? As Zen developed in China, it co-evolved with Taoism and the Chinese arts, most notably calligraphy, painting, and poetry. Zen priests always wrote poetry and did calligraphy. Some experts claim that in the West, art depicts the external, while in Asia, art evokes the inner sense of things, their spirit or soul.
Doshin, I am finishing this book. There is much work to do about the tremendous suffering in this world: poverty, social injustice, war, environmental destruction. Isn’t it selfish to spend a lot of time just sitting and staring at the wall without helping anybody else? Thank you for sending me this book and for your compassion, kindness, and love.
In gassho, Jakuho
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life!: Part 7 The Power of Contemplation
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You can, of course, change the pronoun from we to I if you are studying alone. There is a veritable encyclopedia of great works of Buddhism to read and digest and contemplate. The more we study and learn and embrace the words of the great teachers from Shakyamuni Buddha to our current writers and translators the more we will be able to embody the teachings until they become a part of who we are.
Then and only then can we begin to automatically, without thinking, act in a kind, loving, helpful, and nonjudgmental way. No longer will the questions of “What would the Buddha do” enter our minds. Our brain will automatically know and go to that action or find those kind and loving words so quickly you will wonder where they could have come from.
Being a Buddhist is not simply putting on a robe and expecting everyone will look up to you and think you are grand or special or knowledgeable. It is with or without a robe acting like a person with merit gained from your studies having penetrated into your words, deeds, thoughts, and actions. That lets people know you are a student of the Buddha. It is not easy to be a “real” Buddhist. In fact, it is very challenging in the beginning. Why? Because goodness must swell up from within you in all situations and with all people regardless of the circumstances of the moment.
I am not always the best Buddhist and I know when I have slipped away from my vows and have to begin anew. How do I know that? –through knowledge of the teachings, through my time spent on the cushion contemplating and studying the sutras and the teachings of Buddhism through the ancients to the modern authors–that’s how.
It’s quite like the world class chefs. They do not learn how to be a great chef by eating, they learn by studying with other great chefs, and cooking, and cooking some more. Creating recipes takes a lot more time, thought, and effort then eating! What recipe are you using? Jell-O Instant pudding or one made from scratch with great ingredients, time, effort, studying, concentration, and love of the teachings?
[1] Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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