{"id":17206,"date":"2019-02-23T01:15:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-23T01:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/?p=17206"},"modified":"2019-02-23T05:33:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T05:33:58","slug":"20190223","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/20190223\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward&#8217;s talk on Sawaki Kodo&#8217;s &#8220;To you&#8230;&#8221;, February 23rd 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZrNtiu-eGM8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>26. To you who like hearing something inspirational about Buddhism<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Many say, \u201cNo matter how much Sawaki talks, his lectures don\u2019t inspire me in the least!\u201d<br \/>\nObviously. Because I myself am not \u201cinspirational\u201d.<br \/>\nThe buddha-dharma leads you to the place where nothing is special.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThey say, \u201cWhen I hear Sawaki talk, my faith cools down.\u201d Now I\u2019m going to really put their faith on ice: This sort of faith is nothing but superstition.<br \/>\nThey say, \u201cSawaki\u2019s talks don\u2019t awaken any faith in me.\u201d They don\u2019t awaken any superstition, that\u2019s all.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThere\u2019s nothing more funny than old women looking for \u201cinspiration\u201d. Everything for them is \u201cinspirational\u201d even if it\u2019s only worth as much as pigeon shit. Anyway, this idea of inspiration is mistaken: isn\u2019t it just personal inspiration they\u2019re talking about? They\u2019re only taking refuge in Buddha because they hope to get something out of it.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhatever sutra you read, it\u2019s always about devoting your body and life to the Way. Why is it that the whole world believes religion means praying to Buddha for good health and good business?<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nHowever much good they do, everything that humans do is bad. If you give, all day long you think, \u201cI gave!\u201d If you do religious practice, you think \u201cI practiced, I practiced!\u201d If you do something good, you never forget, \u201cI did good, I did good!\u201d<br \/>\nDoes this mean that we should do something bad instead? No, even when we do good, it\u2019s bad. When we do something bad, it\u2019s even worse.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\n\u201cBeware of doing good!\u201d<br \/>\nA person who does good thinks they\u2019ve done good. That\u2019s why they\u2019re worse than someone who has done something bad. Believe me, it\u2019s easier for those who do bad because they\u2019re humbled by it.<br \/>\n \u201cDoes that mean I should do something bad?\u201d<br \/>\n \u201cYou should even leave what is good alone. That is even more true for what is bad.\u201d<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIf you do good, you start to work yourself up about everything bad you suddenly see in others. When you have done something bad, you\u2019re quiet, because your own ass itches.<br \/>\nPeople don\u2019t only calculate when it\u2019s a matter of money. In everything they do they try to bargain up or down. That\u2019s because their body and mind haven\u2019t dropped off. Only when body and mind have dropped off does this business not count any more.<br \/>\nDropping off body and mind means immeasurability, limitlessness.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhen someone\u2019s made another clever comment, I say, \u201cYour rice soup is letting off hot air!\u201d This means that with a full stomach it\u2019s easy to talk big.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nFighting, sex, greed and lies \u2013 in other words: a human being.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nEverything thought by human beings of flesh and blood is mistaken.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\n\u201cThe willow is green, the blossoms are red.\u201d Buddhist teaching is self-evident. But people cover it up with unnecessary categories: good, bad, useful, useless and so on.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nRather than simply sitting zazen, people try to put a melody on top of it. That\u2019s why they are able to sing their Buddhist hymns and somehow feel pious doing it.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIt\u2019s so easy to slip back into human happiness and unhappiness, love and hate, good and evil.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\n\u201cDo good, leave the bad.\u201d There\u2019s no doubt about that, but is it so clear what\u2019s good and what\u2019s bad? Good and bad go hand-in-hand.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nZazen is beyond good and evil. It\u2019s not moral education.<br \/>\nZazen takes place where communism and capitalism finish.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIf something like emptiness or nothingness \u201cexisted\u201d then it wouldn\u2019t be emptiness or nothingness. The expression \u201cseeing emptiness\u201d means that there isn\u2019t even an emptiness to see.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nAs long as you don\u2019t get sick, you forget your body. Even I forgot my legs when they were still strong enough to walk and run. My legs only seem so important to me because they\u2019re so weak. Whoever is healthy, functions without being conscious of their own health.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s the flaws that bother us. When no mental phenomena appear, there\u2019s nothing to worry about.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nBuddhism must teach the liberation that has nothing to do with contracts and words. It is that which only a buddha and a buddha can confide to each other. If both sides don\u2019t  understand everything from the beginning, it will never be understood at all. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uDDympVTc5M\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>27. To you who naively starts wondering about your true self<\/b><\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t hold on to your self. The very moment you give your self up, you realize the self which is one with the universe.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nPrecisely that self which I haven\u2019t thought up is who I really am.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe two passages, \u201call things are the form of truth\u201d (Lotus Sutra) and \u201call existence is Buddha nature\u201d (Nirvana Sutra) refer to that which lies beyond the personal.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe entire universe radiates the light of the self.<br \/>\nSo I fill the entire universe. I\u2019m not that fool playing with his pocket change.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThis body is the whole universe. If you don\u2019t have that kind of faith in yourself, you\u2019ll have a weak point you won\u2019t be able to hide. As soon as you get jealous or moody, you\u2019ll show it.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nFaith means having faith that you are the entire universe, regardless of whether your intellect happens to find that convincing or not. Only this faith can support the religious effort that never weakens.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe Buddha Way means having faith in your own buddha nature.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nEach one of us, whether we know it or not, has buddha nature. That means you are included in all things, manifesting the true form of reality.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe form of reality lies open before you. Doubting this is wasted effort.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nTo study the Buddha Way means to study the self which isn\u2019t twisted and can\u2019t be misled.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nJust forget everything you\u2019ve picked up since you were born.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhat\u2019s called \u201cdropping off body and mind\u201d doesn\u2019t mean anything more than simply to stop insisting on \u201cI\u201d, \u201cme\u201d and \u201cmine\u201d.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIn Gakud\u00f4y\u00f4jinsh\u00fb it is written, \u201cHaving awakened mind [bodaishin] means seeing impermanence.\u201d And the Vairocana Sutra says, \u201cAwakening [bodai] means directly seeing how your own mind really is.\u201d That means above all that seeing impermanence is truly seeing your self.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe expression \u201cnon-self\u201d doesn\u2019t mean losing your mind. It means being one with the universe.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe other side of non-self is \u201cAll things are the form of reality\u201d.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nNon-self, non-mind doesn\u2019t mean drifting away aimlessly in unconsciousness.<br \/>\nNon-self means not going against what is necessary. It means obeying the cosmic order by functioning along with the universe.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIs life inside of time? No, it\u2019s the other way around: time is inside of life.<br \/>\nAnd there\u2019s no life outside of your practice.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nYou are yourself and at the same time you are the entire universe. You are the entire universe and at the same time you are yourself. That\u2019s exactly what the passage in the Lotus Sutra expresses: \u201cThere is only the dharma of one vehicle, not two, not three.\u201d<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhen a drop of water enters the sea, and when a speck of dust settles on the ground, then that drop is already the sea, and that speck of dust is already the earth.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhen the flood of religious ideas reaches its culmination, they arrive at the point which Buddhism calls \u201cthe self that fills the entire universe.\u201d<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nAll things are contained in my self. That\u2019s why, in my actions, I also have to pay attention to what other\u2019s expect.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe Buddha Way shouldn\u2019t be unaware of society. \u201cThe two-fold truth of reality and the world\u201d forces the buddha-dharma and human points of view to look each other directly in the eyes.<br \/>\nDeluded living beings are the Buddha\u2019s best clients. That\u2019s why the buddha-dharma has to be very careful on this point.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIt is because we are grateful towards society that whenever we use something, we think of those who will need it after us.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nIf you have \u201cmind\u201d, you always have something to complain about. If you have \u201cno mind\u201d, you have no mind of compassion either.<br \/>\nDon\u2019t have either mind nor non-mind. That\u2019s difficult. That means thinking from the depths of non-thinking. What\u2019s called \u201cbeyond thinking\u201d [hishiry\u00f4] is something so vast that it can entirely contain mind as well as non-mind. (footnote Fukanzazengi?)<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nBeyond-thinking isn\u2019t something you can calculate in your mind.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe expression \u201cbefore the empty kalpa\u201d (Footnote) refers to the time when things didn\u2019t have names yet. So how could anyone expect there to be a final word on it?<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWe can\u2019t measure a true buddha.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nBuddha doesn\u2019t have a fixed form. That\u2019s why we can\u2019t measure him.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhen you call out, \u201cAmithaba,\u201d you sound like you\u2019re calling a pet. But it isn\u2019t like that at all. \u201cAmithaba\u201d means immeasurable life, immeasurable light &#8211; in other words, limitlessness.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nWhen you ask what Buddhism is, the answers are \u201cstudying the Buddha Way means studying the self\u201d [Sh\u00f4b\u00f4genz\u00f4 Genj\u00f4k\u00f4an] and \u201ctruly recognizing your own mind\u201d [Vairocana Sutra].<br \/>\nSo when you ask why we begin religious practice, the answer has to be that we are finally setting off on the journey in search of our self.<br \/>\nBut if you\u2019re not careful, it might be that you\u2019ll spend your whole life running around like a ghost, without knowing what you\u2019re searching for or why.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nStep forth in your practice, walking in your straw sandals and getting blisters in search of the one thing without personal nature, without profit. This practice isn\u2019t something outside. It\u2019s turning the light inwards, towards the interior of the self.<br \/>\nYou hear about the dharma-gate of peace and happiness, but this peace and happiness isn\u2019t how the world understands it. Finishing once and for all with that worldly peace and happiness is true peace and happiness.<br \/>\n**<br \/>\nThe buddha-dharma doesn\u2019t lie in the distance, but we can\u2019t expect to get it for free either. It means becoming clear about yourself.<br \/>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>26. To you who like hearing something inspirational about Buddhism Many say, \u201cNo matter how much Sawaki talks, his lectures don\u2019t inspire me in the least!\u201d Obviously. Because I myself am not \u201cinspirational\u201d. The buddha-dharma leads you to the place where nothing is special. ** They say, \u201cWhen I hear Sawaki talk, my faith cools &#8230; <a title=\"Edward&#8217;s talk on Sawaki Kodo&#8217;s &#8220;To you&#8230;&#8221;, February 23rd 2019\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/20190223\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Edward&#8217;s talk on Sawaki Kodo&#8217;s &#8220;To you&#8230;&#8221;, February 23rd 2019\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17206"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17214,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions\/17214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antaiji.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}