Help Others

In the Shobogenzo, Dogen Zenji says that whether one is clever or dull doesn't matter. If we practice zazen, we will get the same attainment. This is Buddhist understanding, or a Buddhist idea, of human character. This point should always be remembered, especially by the intelligent ones. When the clever ones do not help others, the Sangha will be destroyed. Only when clever and talented people help others will the Sangha last long. This is our teaching. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Clever

In a sutra it says, "If a clever heretic studies, he will lose his life, but a clever Buddhist will gain from his cleverness." This kind of story is found all over. [DC note: You don't have to think of the words "heretic" and "Buddhist" here in a limited away. You could say foolish and wise or whatever works for you. ] -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Commenting on the Lotus Sutra

Here appears Dipankara. Usually, as you know, Dipankara Bodhisattva is the oldest of all the Bodhisattvas. But according to this sutra, even before Dipankara there were so many Bodhisattvas, like Srigarba, whose enlightened name is Vimalanetra, or like Varaprabha, or Kandrasuryapradipa. And what does this mean? Actually, there is no first bodhisattva. Actually, everyone is a bodhisattva. This sutra suggests this kind of teaching.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Great Sadness

RIP Micah Sawyer Jr.

Kalpa

Did I explain another way of understanding one kalpa? There is a big rock, like Tassajara. And every five hundred years, maybe, or more, an angel comes to the rock, and she makes her sleeve rub off some stone. When that stone has vanished from the angel's sleeve rubbing it, it is one kalpa. So there are many ways of explaining what one kalpa is.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Commenting on the Lotus Stura

The last kalpa will be when everything will go, including human life. Juko is the name for the kalpas when everything existed pretty firmly, without losing its form, and eko [samvarta kalpa] means the time at the end of juko when everything will disintegrate. Integrated age and disintegrated age. An integrated age is twenty kalpas long, and one kalpa is our lifespan going up and down, from ten to eighty thousand years. [That means beings evolving from lifespans of ten to eighty thousand years and back so it's just an inconceivable number.

Student 1: Will there still be Buddha after the disintegration?

S.R.: There is a koan which is exactly the same as your question.

Student 1: What is the answer to the koan?

S.R.: That is also a koan, so this is your homework. Interesting question.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Suzuki reading and commenting on the Lotus Sutra

"He (some Buddha) spoke during fully sixty intermediate kalpas, always sitting on the same seat with the immovable body and tranquil mind. And the whole assembly continued sitting on the same seats, listening to the preaching of the Lord for sixty intermediate kalpas, there being not a single creature in that assembly who felt fatigue of body or mind."

A great difference from my lecture! What does it mean, by the way? Do you understand what it means?  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Same name?

This teaching wasn't new. Even before Buddha started to tell the Lotus Sutra, Kandrasuryapradipa appeared and told the same teaching. And one after another, Kandrasuryapradipa Buddhas appeared in the same name and left the same teaching. That is what Manjusri saw, actually, in his previous life. This is your homework. What does it mean? You may wonder if this is just a fairy tale or if it means something. This is, I think, good homework for you. And if you want to ask this on the final day of the training period, during question and answer, you can ask me. Be careful not to get a big slap, okay? What does it mean? One after another, Buddhas appeared in the same name, Kandrasuryapradipa, and told the same Saddharma Pundarika Sutra.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Concluding this lecture on the Lotus Sutra

"...and to the Bodhisattvas he preached the law connected with the six Perfections, and terminating in the knowledge of the omniscient, after the attainment of supreme, perfect enlightenment." So far the teaching was for sravakas and pratyekas, and now the teaching is for the bodhisattvas. For the bodhisattva, Buddha gave the teaching of the six paramitas. I think I explained them already. Dana Paramita, bestowing of material and teaching; Sila Paramita, keeping the precepts; Ksanti Paramita, the practice of patience; Virya Paramita, zeal and progress; Dhyana Paramita, the practice of meditation; and Prajna Paramita, wisdom paramita, the power to discern truth or reality. 

Thank you very much.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Same

We say the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path are teachings for the sravakas, and the Twelve Links of Causality is a teaching for pratyekas, but according to recent results of scholarship, Buddha actually taught both of those teachings without separating them: sometimes the Four Noble Truths and the holy Eight fold Path, sometimes the Twelve Links of Causality. And if you analyze those two teachings, they are two different versions of the same teaching. What he meant was the same. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Interdependency

 Those teachings starting from birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, woe, grief, uneasiness and Nirvana are the teaching of interdependency. Most scholars used to understand this as a teaching of causality: birth is the cause of old age, and birth is the cause of sickness. Because we were born, we have old age and sickness and death. But this is actually the teaching of interdependency and is another form of the four noble truths. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

On the Other Hand

[following from yesterday] But you should know how complicated our Dharma is. Very complicated, but very clear, you know. But to make it clear, we have to make a good effort. Sometimes it looks like some story, and you may think if you read those scriptures, that there's no truth in them, that they are just fairy tales or stories, but it is not so. The underlying thought is very deep and accurate. So as long as we are studying it, we should make it clear.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Suzuki stops reading from the Lotus Sutra to say:

Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe it is too tedious for you. (lots of laughter in this paragraph) I almost gave up already, so I can imagine how you feel. When I was young, I would go to school by train. As long as the train was going, I was sleeping, but when the train stopped, I woke up. I woke up suddenly because I had to get off. As long as my tedious lecture is going, you may sleep. If I stop my lecture, you should wake up. There will be no need to remember these things, you know.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Reading and Commenting on the Lotus Sutra

2nd title: Vidyacaranasampanna [myogyo soku] is one who can see through things, who knows his former life, and who has perfect enlightenment. This is also an attainment of the Arhat. In the morning we pray to have three wisdoms or powers, the Arhat's power. Nowadays we have science instead of those three powers, so maybe that is why he translated it as "science".  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Reading and Commenting on the Lotus Sutra

First of the ten titles: Tathagata [nyorai] means a man who comes from the truth and who does not stay in any realm of form or form world, who comes from truth and who goes back to the truth, or someone who preaches right Dharma and right law, or someone who observes things as it is. Arhat [arakan] is one who has attained perfect enlightenment, the attainment of the Theravada Buddhist. Samyaksambuddha [shohenchi] is Buddha who knows everything and who knows things as it is, who has no discrepancy or one sided understanding or observation.   -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Merit

Q: Roshi, when we chant the Maka [Hannya Haramita] Shingyo, in what sense is there merit? And can we give this merit to others?

R: Yes, to help. When you become familiar with the shingyo, what you will do will naturally explain your understanding, your attitude. Even though you don't realize it, there is a big difference between the people who can recite sutras and those who cannot. So, of course, that you can recite sutras will help others. From my cabin, when I am resting, I can see out of the window in front of my sink. Before you enter the restroom, you bow. And I think you are just doing it, you know, like this, maybe, because you get accustomed to it. But I thought, if people saw someone bowing to that place, what kind of feelings would they have? The people might not know what it meant, but I think you would give them some feeling. You just do it, you know. And that's a very valuable thing. This is the same thing as reciting the sutra.
Buddha's disciples converted many learned scholars to Buddhism, like Sariputra, who converted when he saw a monk walking on the street with a very steady feeling. So, we say that each one of the 250 characters of the "Prajna Paramita Sutra" is a bodhisattva, is Buddha. This is more than just how we understand it. That is this merit for us and for others. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Scripture

Q: In Hinduism they often wonder about good karma and bad karma and merit. And when the Emperor asked Bodhidharma about the merit in making many temples, Bodhidharma said, "No merit." In what sense is there merit in reading or chanting the sutra?

R: To sit is to read the sutra. We understand in the opposite way. Let me explain this point. This is a very good question. In another school, for instance, they say, "You should read the scripture with your body. You should experience it." When they say this, it means that even if a person is going to be killed, the sword will be broken in two, piece by piece. If that kind of thing happens to him, it means he reads the scripture by his experience, with his body.

Worlds

 Q: Last night you mentioned the world of form, the world of desire, and the world of no form. Would you explain what the world of form is and how that differs from the world of desire?

R: The world of desire is the world of attachment. The world of form is the world as it is, including desires. We have desires; everything has a kind of desire. But if we observe desire as it is, that is also the form world, not the desire world. The world of no form is easily obtained in your deep zazen. When you do not feel your body, you're deep, you know. That is the world of non form. Those are the worlds where every being exists.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Reminder of an event tonight for A Brief History of Tassajara

In San Francisco for A Brief History of Tassajara.

Blade

Q: Roshi, you said not to stop thinking, but to be free from thinking, and I wonder if you could explain what it means to be free from thinking?

R: What I meant was don't be bound by your thinking. When you reach a conclusion by thinking, you will have some definite idea. Actually, that is why you think: to have a definite answer. But that is not possible.

Q: So what should you do?

R: You can think, and thinking will help you, of course. But you should know, at the same time, that that answer will not be definite. So you think, but you are free from thinking. That is what I meant: to have what we call a double edged blade. So double-edge think: don't think and think. It works two ways. This is the double nature, the double construction of Buddhist philosophy: thinking construction and non thinking construction.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Reading, commenting on Lotus Sutra

"I see thousands of kotis of stupas, numerous as the sand of the Ganges, which have been raised by these sons of the Jina and now adorn kotis of grounds."

Worshiping

"Further, I see," "I" means Maitreya Bodhisattva "O Manjughosha, many Bodhisattvas who have displayed steadiness under the rule of the departed Sugatas, and now are worshiping the relics of the Jinas."

We have already seen many things. First of all, we saw many Buddhas entering meditation, and we saw this earth was shaking in six ways, and a ray issued from the Buddha's forehead, and we saw people incarnated in the six states of living beings, heavenly, human, animal, asura, hungry ghost, hell. And we also saw buddhas in each world, and heard the Law preached by them. We saw Buddha's four congregations: monks, nuns, male and female devotees, and we saw bodhisattvas who are helping others, and Buddha finally entering Nirvana. And the last vision will be building stupas and mounds for Buddha, and worshiping Buddha's tomb. This is the whole story of this sutra. [DC comment - we worship the relics of the Jinas by practicing sincerely and diligently.]  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Reading n Commenting on Lotus Sutra

"(There are) sons of the Sugata who try to reach enlightenment by wisdom; they understand the law of indifference and avoid acting at the antinomy (of things), unattached like birds in the sky."

Reading and commenting on Lotus Sutra

"Others set forth the law of quietness, by many myriads of illustrations and proofs; they preach it to thousands of kotis of living beings; these are tending to supreme enlightenment by science."

A Brief History of Tassajara event sponsor requests RSVP

The prestigious Book Club of California (BCC) is hosting an event for this book.
Lee Doyle, daughter of author Marilyn McDonald and Tassajara historian David Rogers will make presentation
on Monday, June 10th, 5 to 7pm
Here's a link to the BCC page for upcoming programs

BCC requests that those attending make a reservation online at <programs@bccbooks.org> or by calling 415 781-7532, ext. 3. 

The club is conveniently located near the entrance to Chinatown, in the heart of San Francisco’s chic shopping and museum district, at:
312 Sutter Street, Suite 500 (cross street Grant)
San Francisco, CA 94108

Nearby BART Stations: Powell, Montgomery
Nearby Muni lines: 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 30, 45
Nearest Parking Garage: The Stockton Street Garage

Cuke.com page for A Brief History of Tassajara

Climate crisis seriously damaging human health

Report on report in the Guardian

Reading from, commenting on the Lotus Sutra

"When they have, with joyful feelings, made such various and splendid donations, they rouse their energy in order to obtain enlightenment; these are those who try to reach supreme enlightenment by means of charitableness."

June 10th event in SF for A Brief History of Tassajara

The prestigious Book Club of California (BCC) is hosting an event for this book.
Lee Doyle, daughter of author Marilyn McDonald and Tassajara historian David Rogers will make presentation
on Monday, June 10th, 5 to 7pm
Here's a link to the BCC page for upcoming programs

BCC requests that those attending make a reservation online at <programs@bccbooks.org> or by calling 415 781-7532, ext. 3. 

The club is conveniently located near the entrance to Chinatown, in the heart of San Francisco’s chic shopping and museum district, at:
312 Sutter Street, Suite 500 (cross street Grant)
San Francisco, CA 94108

Nearby BART Stations: Powell, Montgomery
Nearby Muni lines: 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 30, 45
Nearest Parking Garage: The Stockton Street Garage

Cuke.com page for A Brief History of Tassajara

Reading from Lotus Sutra and commenting

"Some present the leaders of men and their disciples with neat and lovely gardens abounding with fruits and beautiful flowers, to serve as places of daily recreation." 

Meditation

Does someone know what "meditation" means? "To meditate" looks like "contemplate on something," but I don't know what "meditate" means. But someone said it can be translated as "to be attentive to something." So if we understand meditation, and if we use the word "meditate" in that sense, I think it is a good translation, but usually by "meditate" we mean to "dwell on something," or to "concentrate on" something. "Contemplation" is also meditation, but the more fundamental attitude or practice, is attentiveness. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC