Hi all - just a quick note to say that the Northampton group won't be meeting on Monday 7th April or Monday 4th April. I'll be away on sesshin and then on leave.
We'll be back on Monday 21st April (Easter Monday) at the usual time & place. And just for clarification, we are meeting this coming Monday 31st March.
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Over the past five weeks, after our Monday evening meditation we've been looking at one of Master Dogen's earliest writings, known as the Fukanzazengi, or Universal Recommendation for Zazen. The text we followed is the one on the Sotoshu's website, though there are other translations kicking around. It's an important text, one of the classics of Japanese Zen literature and one of the founding texts of the Soto school of Zen.
The Fukanzazengi was originally written shortly after Dogen returned from a four-year trip to China where he met his teacher Tendo Nyojo and "dropped off body and mind", as he described his awakening experience. For various reasons he didn't immediately settle down, and spent some time "wandering about like a cloud or a water-weed, studying the wind of the ancient sages" (Dogen in the Bendowa). The Fukanzazengi was probably the first thing he wrote after his return, though it's known that he came back to it a few times over the course of the rest of his life.
On the face of it, this is a text aimed at novices, and it's long been used this way. Dogen repeatedly exhorts the novice to practice their zazen diligently: "If you want to realize suchness, get to work on suchness right now," he says, and "Please, honoured followers of Zen... Devote your energies to the way of direct pointing at the real." Of course, Zen teachers (and local group leaders!) have echoed these encouragements to beginners in the 800 years since Dogen's time... but in addition, it's still important inspiration for all Zennies, and I still find myself stirred by these challenges. And I invite you to confront them too!
One of the important functions of the Fukanzazengi is to provide detailed guidance on what to do with body and mind in zazen. I was fascinated to discover while preparing for these talks that much of this was borrowed nearly word-for-word from an earlier Chinese text called the Zuochan Yi (Principles of Zazen). He stresses preparing both oneself and a sitting space ("a quiet room is suitable... have no designs on becoming a Buddha"), and then focuses on the physical posture in some detail. I find that over the years, I spend more time, not less, talking to people about their meditation posture. My first teacher, Taiho Kyogen Roshi, instilled a great respect in me for the dignity of the zazen posture, and it's clearly true that our physical posture and mental set are related. And in fact, "related" doesn't even begin catch it - our mental and our physical are not two, not in zazen and not in our life. So again, even for experienced meditators, checking in with Dogen's instructions on the sheer physicality of zazen practice is never wasted time.
In addition to the physical practice of meditation and encouraging diligence, Dogen also touches on something of the spirit or attitude of Zen practice, too, and it's these elements where Dogen's voice seems to come through most clearly. The opening sentences set this up: "The way is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and realization? The true vehicle is self-sufficient." This is classic Dogen, and while addressed to novices is once again something for experienced practitioners to come back to repeatedly. Another translation of the last section of that is, "The vehicle of Reality is in the Self." What do we read into this? Dogen comes back to this in several places, it's related to his idea of jijuyu zanmai, the samadhi of complete self-fulfilment or self-sufficiency: there's nothing we need that we don't already have... if only we could just see it in its vast immediacy.
Dogen even gently mocks his own travels to China - "Why leave behind the seat in your own home to wander in vain through the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep, you stumble past what is directly in front of you." Again and again, Dogen insists that there's nothing external for us to find, nothing for us to acheive other than clarity in this moment, in this place. And while Dogen felt he had to seek the truth in China, his message to us is that this was worthless... he had always already possessed all he needed as there is nothing to seek outside of our own true natures from which we can never be separated. And when we do put in the effort and we do learn to see clearly into Reality? "The treasure store will open of itself, and you may enjoy it freely." He ends here... what more needs to be said?
So if you're not already familiar with this short text, I encourage you to engage with it... I could spend another 10,000 words raving about it, but it's far more important that you get into it yourself, and really hear Dogen's words echoing all the way from medieval Japan to modern Britain. Pay attention! Really pay attention - his message is as clear and fresh today as it ever was.
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| Eihei Dogen - 1200-1253 |
A short poem written unexpectedly when replying to a post on the FB Soto Zen group
Eyebrows entangled with the ancients
Daruma's fetid breath in my face
Dogen's sweaty forehead on mine
We all stare at the wall
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| Bodhidharma (Daruma) Painted by Hakuin (1686 to 1769) |
For many people, getting to a physical zendo is difficult or impossible on a regular basis. Nearly a decade ago, I posted on this site on the topic of "What to do when there's no group close to you" and it's still one of the most visited pages even after all this time. (Note to self: perhaps it's time to re-work this and post afresh!)
When I wrote that, though, there was no online practice available within StoneWater, something that has changed since the pandemic.
Nowadays, we have loads of online zazen periods each week, and I'd encourage you to join in to support your practice. The 'main' session is probably the Thursday evening session, which involves two periods of zazen followed by a talk from one of the teachers (or sometimes it's me!). Each Thursday, the teacher will also offer interviews (for koan practice or just to discuss your practice or whatever's on your mind), again, something that is near impossible for many people to ever have access to.
The Saturday morning sessions are similar but without the interviews. There are sessions on Monday to Friday mornings, too (just zazen), and recently we've been joining a 'broadcast' from the mother ship - the Hope Street zendo in Liverpool.
If you want to join our online zazen, please check out the "Online Zendo" page on the main SWZ website. Note that you'll need to join the SWZ mailing list to receive the weekly code for the Zoom meeting space we use - see the bottom of any page on the site for the sign-up form. We also ask that you join an introductory session, usually on a Tuesday evening. If you're interested, please email Sarah Kokai (kokaistonewaterzen@gmail.com) to arrange to join one of the intros.
You might ask: Why sit with others at all? Surely that doesn't matter as long as we're engaging in our zazen practice? I could go on at length about this, but I'll limit myself to a few points here...
If you've never joined an online sit before, why not give it a try? Whether for discipline, guidance, or community, sitting together can enrich your practice in ways that solo practice alone cannot.
And of course - join us in Northampton on Monday evenings for the real deal: sitting with others in a shared space, followed by tea and a talk. What more could you want on a Monday?!
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| Laptop at the ready! |
Although the ceremonies at Zen temples might look like the ones you see at houses of worship in other faiths, the approach we take is a little different. No one ever insists you must believe in any of the rituals and chants and suchlike in Zen. You’re not worshipping anyone. You’re not pledging your allegiance to the temple or to Buddha. You’re not heaping praise upon unseen entities.
The chanting is just chanting. The bowing is just bowing. The bells are just bells.The statues are just statues. The priests are just people. The combined activities engaged in at these ceremonies have a genuine effect that you can feel. But there is nothing supernatural about any of it. (Brad Warner - link)
We had a couple of new people for our ceremony last night. I'm always curious about what people's experiences are as they start attending a Zen group (perhaps because my own beginnings were so long ago that I hardly remember them!). What do people make of the ceremony? The bowing, the chanting, and so on. My first teacher, the late Taiho Kyogen Roshi (we just called her Onesan, or 'big sister') was at pains to not explain the ritual to us when we started. "Just do what I do," she said to me once, or words to that effect. I found it bewildering - but at the same time quite compelling.
I know that some people come to Zen, or to Buddhism more generally, as a refuge from the religion in which they grew up and perhaps have rejected or taken against. Some of the ritual elements - the 'form' as we say - can really rub them up the wrong way, and they can react quite strongly against being asked to bow, to walk in the zendo in a certain way, to chant, even to sit in straight lines in a pre-given posture. And while I understand this response, I can get frustrated that people mistake the form of our Zen practice for something other than it is.
I quote Brad Warner above, from an old post of his, because I think he puts it very well. Zen ritual is not about the supernatural, like it often is in other traditions, even Buddhist traditions. We're not invoking Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not engaging in an act of worship or abasing ourselves before anything. And yet: we bow. We chant. We do offer "flowers, candlelight and incense." So the question naturally arises: to whom do we make this offering?
This question, of course, is based on a false premise. It's based on the premise that there's us, here, and something else, out there. That we can in some way influence or be influenced by an Other. But in Zen, this is a mistake. There is no Other. Once we learn to see clearly, once we develop the habit of not imposing a personal lens on our perceptions of the world, we see that it is all connected. So we are not offering incense to anyone or anything. We just offer incense. We offer. The grammar of our language breaks down at this point, verbs which should have objects stand seemingly alone, and yet this act of offering (to nothing, to no-one) is perfect just as it is enacted. Just do it.
Now I'm not saying that there aren't aspects of traditional Zen ritual that aren't problematic. I'm not entirely sure we've cracked the role of our women ancestors in our ceremony (though we've started, and include the names of some of them in our service). And I'm still deeply suspicious of the notion of 'transfer of merit'. But still: I bow, I chant. I call out the eko, the merit transfer, and put myself into it entirely. And this is my practice. Just as my zazen is my practice, this form is not different from that.
Today's inspirational quote comes from Gerry Shishin Wick Roshi of Great Mountain Zen Centre in the US and past president of the White Plum Asangha. It's from his book The Five Ranks of Zen which comes highly recommended though perhaps not aimed at new practitioners. In it, he writes:
Enlightenment is the reality of life, without judgment, without concepts, without projections. Enlightenment does not mean that you understand everything and that you no longer have to practice. Even the Buddha practiced for many lifetimes. Realizing life’s Great Matter, gaining the Way, or attaining satori only means that you have clarified the true meaning of practice, clearly understand in which direction you should proceed, and know where you should place your intention and value in your life. It provides you with a clear direction. There is no more speculation or equivocation. You are comfortable in not-knowing.
I know when I started as a practitioner, I was determined to find the answers, to arrive at some Great Understanding that would answer all the questions I was struggling to formulate. And while of course I've learned all sorts of things along the way, Keizan Roshi's insistence that this is a path of not knowing has forced me to face up to unrealistic expectations that somehow Zen would just fix my life... Spoiler: that's not really happened! But at the same time, in my not knowing I've found a peace that means that the troubles of daily existence have much less hold on me, and ultimately I suffer less.
Came across this, from the wonderful Zen Studies Podcast (get it wherever you usually get your podcasts), by Domyo Burk. You can access the full transcript and podcast episode at zenstudiespodcast.com/205-motivation-for-practice-what-do-you-love-most-deeply - hope you find some inspiration!
In order to find motivation for diligent practice, it can help to identify and connect with what you love more than anything else in the whole world. What love makes your life worth living? Love for your children, grandchildren, animals, nature, music, beauty, justice, knowledge? What or who arouses an unconditional sense of affinity and inspiration in the core of your being? Then practice for the subject of your love, because practice makes you better able to access, express, and manifest your love.
She goes on to say:
It can be challenging to find motivation for any kind of healthy behavior, whether it’s exercise, study, healthy eating, or refraining from harmful stuff – anything that requires effort. Our Dharma practice is no different. We may have lots of motivation at certain times, but then find our interest and willingness flagging. We may find ourselves meditating less and less, and missing more and more Sangha events. We may stop studying, or give up trying to practice mindfulness in our daily lives...
In Soto Zen practice in particular it can be very difficult to motivate ourselves to bring energy and focus to our zazen, which is shikantaza, or just sitting. We’re told this isn’t even meditation practice, and that we’re trying cultivate “no gaining idea.” Teachings like “zazen is returning home and sitting in peace” (from Zen master Keizan), meant to be inspirational, can end up leading us to complacency and dullness...
Ideally, however, our zazen – and the rest of our practice – is extremely lively and full of energy. We pay attention as closely as if we were going to die this very day. We take every opportunity in this precious, short, and rare human life to learn, grow, and clean up our karma.
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| Domyo Burk, Bright Way Zen Center |
