“You should know that the sayings of Daijaku are that Zazen is always becoming buddha, Zazen is, without fail, the figure of becoming buddha. The figure should be before becoming buddha, should be after becoming buddha, and should be at the precise moment of becoming buddha. Furthermore, let us ask, how many becoming Buddhas does this one figure entangle with? This entanglement is further entwining with entanglement.”
Well, that's what it says, and I will proceed. “You should know that the sayings of Daijaku” refers to what is said as Zusabutsu: becoming buddha. “that Zazen is always becoming buddha, Zazen is, without fail, the figure of becoming buddha.” Because it is about you, if you learn how to be when you are doing Zazen through your own body and mind, then you will understand that what is shown here is really true, without denial. It is good to say that when you sit, it is always state as you sit.
And what's more, the way you are when you're doing that Zazen, “The figure should be before becoming buddha, should be after becoming buddha, and should be at the precise moment of becoming buddha.” Well, what is it, if you put it in terms of the past, present and future, you will understand better. People think on presumption of time as past, present and future. The very precise moment is probably the current state of affairs. Before might be the past. The after may be the future. But time is only the way things are now. Time is, in fact. When you spend time in the state of the present, you can understand what happened earlier and what will happen in the future, so it becomes something like the past, present and future. In a word, it would be to say all the time.It is hardly new, it's not you become like doing Zazen when you do Zazen, always, even when you do something other than Zazen, you're never away from the state of being now at any time. Wherever you go, you've never been away from the way things are now. That's how people live their lives, isn't it? As my teacher used to say, we are always together with our environment. We don't live separately from our surroundings. That's exactly how it is.
So, we should ask for a while, “Furthermore, let us ask, how many becoming buddhas does this one figure entangle with?” It means how much of that content there is. I think it would be better to learn a little bit about the idiom ' entangle, ' too. Wisteria and ivy cling to the trees. From now on, the ivy will be beautiful in autumn when the leaves turn red, but let's put that aside. This body-mind that you and I are talking about is called the body-mind that we have received. It is as if everything and anything winds around this body-mind, and it all appears on this body. Perceptions of six organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. There are various functions of the six organs, and all of these surroundings cover around each person's body and mind like wisteria and ivy, we are living together with such things like a shot, which could be expressed what is called entangle. When you open your eyes, what you see in front of you is exactly the way of yourself, and you don't live there separately, without fail. Being visible means that it is there as an appearance on you. That's how it is. So when you open your eyes, you see all kinds of things, so there are people who are misled by what they see, and there are people who get angry because of what they see, to put it in a more extreme way. There is another taste in the expression called entanglement in such a place. It's called “to entangle.” People who are disturbed will have a problem with being entangled. Well, it is entanglement. The Shobogenzo also has a volume on entanglement, but let's leave that aside.
“This entanglement is further entwining with entanglement.” The way we all live while being together like this, there is a way of piling up, but there is also an expression like "one after the other." It's a strange function, because it's one thing after the other, but they don't overlap. The next thing you see is, if we take up the appearance of the eyes, you see what you see now, and if you move your head left and right like this, the appearance of the next place you move to is coming in. It comes into view. Although it is said that the previous and the current things come together, there is not any sign of a clinging bond. This is the interesting part.
“At this time, every item of entanglement as the utmost becoming buddha, is always being straightforward of becoming buddha, altogether the figure of each item.” At any given time, at any given place, there will only be this way of being now. That would already be definitively so. I think that the idiom 'straightforward' is also very resonant. When do you also use the word 'straightforward'? To say straightforward. You never miss the mark. You a dead shot, you've already hit the target. If I change the angle more, there's never been the slightest misalignment. Or it's out of touch. Or it's working in such a way that even if you wanted to change it, you wouldn't be able to change it, that's what they all are the way of being straightforwardly like this. “We cannot flee from a single figure.” It is said. The state of being now, you can't neglect it. The way we are now like this, to stay away from it, it is expressed ‘flee’, we cannot ignore it. However, it is easy for people to feel like they want to escape from something they don't like, because they are disturbed by it. That's why they go the wrong way. Here's how they make that mistake, “When we flee from a single figure,” it is written that you will lose your life. Here is the way we are now. It is your own way of life, but you treat it poorly by thinking it is trivial, an obstacle, or better off without it. It must be a waste if you do so. But one more thing to say, “we will lose body and life. When we lose body and life, it is the entanglement of a single figure.” Such movements must all be a way of being, one by one, at each moment. He has shown us this in such a careful way.
“Nangaku then picks up a tile and start to polish it on a stone.” When Kosei Daijaku Zenji talked about becoming buddha, when hearing the word becoming buddha, Nangaku Ejo Zenji , his teacher took a piece of tile, a piece of pottery, a brick or tile, and placed it on a stone nearby, and then rubbed it together as it is written “ to Polish.” “Daijyaku eventually askes, ‘Mater, what are you doing?’” Is it good to say "作什麼" what are you doing? It is better to say 'what are you doing. When one brings a brick, when he brings the brick and he is doing this on the stone like this, (gestures with a fan to polish it) when you come across such a situation, you say, "What are you doing?” What makes you ask the question in that way? What is it that you don't understand? What makes you wonder what is doing what? When you do it like this (the gesture of polishing a brick) it must be clear that it's exactly as you do so, but there must be this kind of matter to what is so clear. “Mater, what are you doing?”
Dogen Zenji says, “Really who could fail to see that he is polishing a tile? Who can see this polishing a tile?” If anyone comes into contact with this, it will be made to be seen in the way that what is being done is as it is. I think no one can never see it the way Nangaku Zenji does.
“For all that,” although, “the polishing of a tile has been questioned like this, ‘What are you doing?’” Despite the fact that it's so obvious, you still ask, "What are you doing? Similarly, when you are with young children, they will say, "What's that?" It does not mean that the child does not know what it is when you say, "What is it? They can see it. That is why they ask. If they don't see it, they can't say it. Then, human beings try their best to answer the question with the knowledge they have learned. When children are constantly asking why and why and why, the knowledge and education that they have accumulated since their birth will run out, and they will not be able to answer. It is interesting. The real thing is there, but you can't answer the question. I am sure you have experienced this kind of thing as a similar phenomenon here. “For all that, the polishing of a tile has been questioned like this, ‘What are you doing?’ Being of ‘what you are doing?’ is inevitably the polishing a tile.” What are you doing with that, as it is said here. “What is that?"” What are you doing?" It's just what it is. It must be that, as you hit a tile against a stone.
“Although they are different in this world and in the other worlds, there should be purport to polishing a tile that has never ceased.” No matter where you go, in this world and in the other worlds no matter where you go, even if the place is different, even if the customs and culture are different, it is strange, no matter whether the culture is different, whether the language is different, whether the way of thinking is different, it can only be seen as it is. That is probably why it's good. “there should be purport to polishing a tile that has never ceased.” This means that it is not a matter of since when such things have been done and when they will cease to be done. I think that everyone is like that as the way of human beings.
“It is not simply a matter that one does not decide one’s view as one’s view, it is perfectly assured that there is the purport to be practiced thoroughly in the myriad kinds of work.” Well, as we've pretty much proved, one thing is that you can't be clear with the state of yourself even though it's your own thing. Why can't it be clear? The state of ourselves is properly being done on ourselves. Why is it not clear? As you can see, you can't allow yourself with the way of thinking. Because thinking is something that you think that is not or this is not. But in reality, on yourself, when you polish a tile, it is absolutely only as you are polishing the brick. Every single thing is “the myriad kinds of work” in that way. The way we live our lives, every single thing we do is exactly as what we do right now is as it is. This is what we need to see and be aware of the real aspect of ourselves. However, if a way of thinking suddenly emerges at this point and you start to see things through the way you think, this will become unclear. “You should know just as even when you see buddha you don’t know buddha and understand buddha, you don’t know water when seeing it, and you don’t know mountains when seeing them.” He has pointed out our deficiencies in such a polite way.
“The Dharma in front of your eyes, if you form a hast conclusion that there no passageway to it, that is not the study of Buddhism." It is the Dharma before your eyes. This is what is taking place right now, right in front of your eyes. There, in it, such wonderful content is firmly taking place. But you're saying that it's natural that you see things. You already have seen things before you know it, you know. We live in a world where we can see things, before we even try to look at them, so we don't deal with such things. It means that we treat them so carelessly that we don't think they are of much value, what is called “a hast conclusion.” That is why, even if we want to be aware of what the Buddha is aware of, even if we want to clarify the real state of ourselves, it is impossible to do so with such a way of life. Why do we become angry with what we see when we see things, or why do we have to be sulky when we are having a conversation and we can hear what the other person is saying? It's all the law in front of our eyes. This is what happens when you are living here now, living here every day. Just as it is said, “you don’t know water when seeing it, and you don’t know mountains when seeing them.” You are exposed to the truth about yourself, but you don't think that it is about you. We almost only see things in that way, that the person over there said that, or that the person over there is doing that. In an instant, you change it into something like that person over there, there are things over there, I can see things over there, and so on. To really see things, it means that you definitely lose all the things on your side, doesn't it? When you're really seeing things, your own appearance disappears completely. When you listen to the other person, when you really listen, you probably don't have any of your own stuff at all. Well, that is what is required of us. And even though that is actually being done, even though it is being done, if you don't know things, you treat things wrongly like on your own, and when that happens, there is no longer anything called a passage. Even if the content of the Buddha's awareness is preached, it would mean that you lose the power to understand it.
At the end of August, in a social situation where it is not very pleasing to go out and about, and I didn't have anywhere to go, I said I had some time, I was invited to go to Yamanashi Prefecture, which is next to Shizuoka Prefecture, and then to Nagano. During the five days, one man told me a story. When he woke up in the morning, he found his wife's mobile phone strap there and thought it was there. He said that he thought it was there, but when he realized, the thought he had had was nowhere to be found. That's all he said, but it changes people. He must have experienced for himself that thoughts are really only there when he thinks of them, and that they are not left anywhere, and that he is engaged in such activities. Until now, he listened to other people's stories and understood them. Understanding that it's the way it's supposed to be. However, when he touches it on his own body like this, he touches the way as it is being said, he feels that it is just as it says, that it is really true, and it clears his mind completely. So after that, even if many things come to mind, there is no need to deal with. Because he knows that there is nothing to worry about, he stays as he is, so his appearance is completely different from what he used to be. Well, there was a little talk like this, and I said that it would be good if you practice seriously.