Nyorai-Zenshin
The Whole Body of the Tathagata
At that time, Sakyamuni Buddha was living Oshajo; city of Royal Palaces, the Vulture
Peak; Rajagrha. He addressed the Bhaisajyaraja Bodhisattva Mahāsattva,
saying, “Bhaishajyaraja! Everywhere, in every place where
this sutra is, as if preached, as if read, as if recited, as if written, as if
volumes of these sutra are kept, you should erect a stupa of the Seven
Treasures, and make it most high, wide, and decorate solemnly. But you must not
place the Sarira; Buddha’s bones. Why so?
Because there is already the whole body of the Tathagata within this stupa. This
stupa should be served, revered, respected, and praised with all kinds of
flowers, incense, strings of pearls, silken canopies, banners, flags, music, and
songs of praise. If any people are able to see this stupa and worship and make
offerings to it, know that they are totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
What is so called volumes of the sutra is “as if preached,” this is it, “as if
read,” this is it, “as if recited,” this is it, and “as if written,” this is
it. Volumes of the sutra are the real form, this is it. “To erect the stupa of
the Seven Treasures” is the real state of things, is called a stupa. “Being
most high, wide,” the quantity is inevitably the quantity of the real form. “In
this there is already the whole body of the Tathagata” is that volumes of the
sutra are the whole body itself. Accordingly, “as if it is preached, and as if
read, as if recited and as if to written” and so on, these are the whole body
of the Tathagata. With “all kinds of flowers, incense, strings of pearls, silk
canopies, banners, flags, music, and songs of praise,” we should “serve, revere,
respect, and praise” Or they are heavenly flowers, heavenly fragrances,
heavenly canopies, and so on, all of them are real form. Or they are the best
flowers, the best fragrances, fine robes, fine clothes in the human world,
which are all real form. Holding a service and reverent offering are real form.
We should erect the stupa.
“You must not place the Sarira; Buddha’s bones” is, you should know, volumes of
the sutra are the Sarira of the Tathagata, the whole body of the Tathagata.
These are exactly the golden words of the Buddha’s own mouth, there can be no
greater virtue than seeing and hearing them. Quickly accumulate merit and build
up virtue. “If any people,” to “this stupa” “worship and make offerings to it,”
you should know, it is “they are totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
When we see this stupa, we should wholeheartedly worship and serve offerings
this stupa. That is to say, to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, it is “close totally.”
“Being close” is neither close having left, nor close having come. Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi
is called “being totally close.” Now we receive, keep, read, and recite, and
see the interpreting and copying, which are “being able to see this stupa.”
Rejoice, it is “being totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
Being so, the volumes of the sutra are the whole body of the Tathagata. To
revere the volumes of the sutra is to revere the Tathagata. To meet the volumes
of the sutra is to meet the Tathagata. The volumes of the sutra are the Sarira
of the Tathagata. Thus, it is that, Sarira must have been this sutra. Even if
we know that the volumes of the sutra are the Sarira, if we don’t know Sarira
are themselves the volumes of the sutra, it is not yet the Way of the Buddha.
The real form of myriad dharmas of here and now is the volumes of the sutra.
The human world, heaven, the sea, the sky, this land, and the other realms, are
all the real form. They are the volumes of the sutra, and they are Sarira. We
should receive, hold, read, recite, interpret, and copy Sarira and we should
get enlightened. This is “following the volume of the sutra.” There are Sarira
of old buddhas, Sarira of buddhas of now, Sarira of pratyekabuddhas, Sarira of
wheel-rolling kings, Sarira of lion. Or there are Sarira of wooden buddha, Sarira
of painted buddha, and Sarira of human beings. In the great Sung Dynasty today,
in generations, there are buddhas who brings Sarira into existence while they
are living, and there are many who have left Sarira after cremation. These are
all the volumes of the sutra.
Shakyamuni Buddha addressed the great assembly, saying, “The lifetime which has
been done by my original practicing of the the bodhisattva-way is not yet even
exhausted but will still be twice the previous number.
The eighty-four gallons of Sarira of now are just the Buddha’s lifetime itself.
The lifetime of original practice of the bodhisattva-way is not confined to the
three-thousand-great -thousand hold world, it may be numerous. Such is the
whole body of the Tathagata. Such are the volumes of Sutra.
“The Wisdom Accumulated Bodhisattva said,” “I have seen Sakyamuni Tathagata,
who has performed arduous and painful practice, over an incalculable number of
kalpas, has accumulated merits and piled up virtues, has sought the bodhisattva-way,
and yet has not yet come to cease. When I have observed the three thousand and
one thousand worlds, there is no place even the size of a mustard seed where he
has not abandoned his body and life as a bodhisattva. Then after thus, for the
sake of all sentient beings, he was able to attain the Bodhi Way.”
"You should know, this three thousand-great- one thousand world is one
piece of red heart, is one shaku; approx. 30cm of the sky.” “It cannot be
concerned with discarding or not discarding.” "The Sarira is neither
before the Buddha nor after the Buddha," “They cannot be arranged side by
side with the Buddha.”
The “arduous and painful actions" in " an incalculable number of
kalpas," are the vivid activities of the Buddha's womb and belly.” “They
are the Buddha’s skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.” “It says already “he yet has
not yet come to cease,” having got enlightenment, he practices all the more in
his devotion. Even though he has become to the great thousand worlds, he is
still progressing.” The vigorous activity of the whole body is like this.”
Advocation by Kando Inoue Roshi
I will read a little.
At that time, Sakyamuni Buddha was living Oshajo; city of Royal Palaces, the Vulture
Peak; Rajagrha. He addressed the Bhaisajyaraja Bodhisattva
-Mahasattva, saying, “Bhaisajyarajacine ! Everywhere, in every place where this sutra is, as if preached, as if read, as if recited, as if written, as if
volumes of these sutra are kept, you should erect a stupa of the Seven
Treasures, and make it most high, wide, and decorate solemnly. But you must not place the Sarira;
Buddha’s bones. Why so? Because there
is already the whole body of the Tathagata within this stupa. This stupa
should be served, revered, respected, and praised with
all kinds of flowers, incense, strings of pearls, silken canopies, banners,
flags, music, and songs of praise. If any people are able to see this stupa
and worship and make
offerings to it, know that they are totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
What is so called volumes of the sutra
is “as if preached,” this is it, “as if read,” this is it, “as if recited,”
this is it, and “as if written,” this is it. Volumes of the sutra are the real
form, this is it. “To erect the stupa of the
Seven Treasures” is the real state of things, is called a stupa. “Being most
high, wide,” the quantity is inevitably the quantity of the real form. “In this
there is already the whole body of the Tathagata” is that volumes of the sutra are
the whole body itself. Accordingly, “as if it is preached, and as if read, as
if recited and as if to written” and so on, these are the whole body of the Tathagata.
With “all kinds of flowers, incense, strings of pearls, silk canopies, banners,
flags, music, and songs of praise,” we should “serve, revere, respect, and praise”
Or they are heavenly flowers, heavenly fragrances, heavenly canopies, and so
on, all of them are real form. Or they are the best flowers, the best
fragrances, fine robes, fine clothes in the human world, which are all real form.
Holding a service and reverent offering are real form. We
should erect the stupa.
“You must not place the Sarira;
Buddha’s bones” is, you should know, volumes of the sutra
are the Sarira of the Tathagata, the whole body of the Tathagata. These are
exactly the golden words of the
Buddha’s own mouth, there can be no greater virtue than seeing and hearing them.
Quickly accumulate merit and build up virtue. “If any people,” “worship and
make offerings to “this stupa,” you should know, it is “they
are totally close
to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
When we see this stupa, we should wholeheartedly worship and serve
offerings this stupa. That is to say, to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, it is “close
totally.” “Being close” is neither close having left, nor close having come. Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi
is called “being totally close.” Now we receive, keep, read, and recite, and
see the interpreting and copying, which are “being able to see this stupa.”
Rejoice, it is “being totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
Being so, the volumes of the sutra are the whole body of the Tathagata. To
revere the volumes of the sutra is to revere the Tathagata. To meet the volumes
of the sutra is to meet the Tathagata. The volumes of the sutra are the Sarira
of the Tathagata. Thus, it is that, Sarira must have been this sutra. Even if
we know that the volumes of the sutra are the Sarira, if we don’t know Sarira
are themselves the volumes of the sutra, it is not yet the Way of the Buddha. The
real form of myriad dharmas of here and now is the volumes of the sutra. The human world, heaven, the sea, the sky, this land, and
the other realms, are all the real form. They are the volumes of the sutra, and
they are Sarira. We should receive, hold, read, recite, interpret, and copy Sarira
and we should get enlightened. This is “following the volume of the sutra.”
There are Sarira of old buddhas, Sarira of buddhas of now, Sarira of pratyekabuddhas,
Sarira of wheel-rolling kings, Sarira of lion. Or there are Sarira of wooden
buddha, Sarira of painted buddha, and Sarira of human beings. In the great Sung
Dynasty today, in generations, there are buddhas who brings Sarira into
existence while they are living, and there are many who have left Sarira after
cremation. These are all the volumes of the sutra.
I think
that's about one paragraph. There is a notation, "Nyorai ; the Tathagata,",
which means "to come thus", so it is said "Nyorai-Nyoko; coming
thus-going thus. That is the real
state you are living in, isn't it? It's as if Tathagata is coming and going. It's as if people are coming from the other side like this,
and leaving from this side like this, and things like that are actually going
on. If we look at our daily life, we are all doing that kind of activity. When we hear a sound, we are able to hear it. We say that we are capable of seeing things, and that's
what we all are. I'd like to explain
a little bit more about that. First of all, common sense has it that you see
things by separating yourself and others, although you probably don't know when
you become like that. We see things
separating ourselves and things outside of ourselves. It's strange. We don't know how long it's been like this, but when you
all touch the thing that Shouyu-san is carrying the tea like this, you really
see it as he is walking. It is strange. And if
he goes to the other side, then it looks like he has gone to the other side. Like
coming thus-like going thus. It's the whole body. All the functions of
everyone's body become like that. When it sounds, PAN! ( hitting the table) you come to hear,
when it stopped, you come not to hear. You don't know where it's gone or where
it's coming from, but you can feel it's come and you can feel it's gone. That's
how it is, isn't it? Coming thus and going away thus. The whole body.
So, in general, the Tathagata is a synonym for the Buddha.
There are about ten pronouns for the Buddha, such as the Tathagata, arhat, Samyaksambuddha, vidyācaraṇasaṃpanna, Sugata,
lokavid, anuttra, puruṣadamyasārathi, śāstā devamanuṣyānāṃ, buddho bhagavān. The
first of these is ‘Nyorai’; the Tathagata. It is a pronoun for the Buddha. What I think I should mention a bit more about the synonym
for Buddha is that he is a person who has made himself aware of the real form
of us. There is nothing else. This is an important study, isn't it? First of
all.
But somehow, the event of Shakyamuni
Buddha was in India in the history, and when the culture came to Japan after
passing through many countries, the Buddha is not understood to be what is of yourself.
There is a world of Buddha separate from yourself, and we study it, it has been
changed like that before we know it. It's the same with the current
situation, even if we've been to many places. That's what we are taught. That's
how it is said, what it sounds like. That's why we are supposed to worship the
things that are enshrined, worship the Buddha that is over there.
The volumes of the sutra appeared here, and what is written in the
content of the volumes of the sutra is the truth about yourself. The sutra
scrolls are written by people who are aware of what they are really like, what
kind of activities they are doing, and what a human being is himself, and wrote
down what he realized is the volumes of the sutra. Being so, when you read the
sutra scrolls, they are written in a way that you can clearly know yourself. It's
not studying by reading the volumes of sutra. When you read the volumes of
sutra, you are formed to come to know what you are. That's what the volumes of
sutra are.
In the footnotes, it says, "The whole body of the Buddha is the true self,
the truth of all Dharma, and it is to be explained as the sutra scroll, the Sarira,
and the reality of all Dharma.” There is this thing called "Sarira, the
bones of the Buddha." “Sarira.” In general, the word "Sarira"
refers to bones like the remains of a deceased person. The original word is not
like that, you know. That is the thing itself, what it is. The original meaning
of "Sarira" is. Please look it up
somewhere. There are good tools for searching now. The word that you can find
in a dictionary as common sense is that the rice is called "Sarira; bones"
when you go to a sushi restaurant. After
the Buddha and the Zen adepts had passed away, they were cremated and their
bones were left behind. The bones are not only enshrined, but there are also
traces of jewel-like objects enshrined in the stupa as Sarira. I have also seen
such round jewels, or balls, enshrined in such a stupa. That's probably why
rice and sushi rice is called "Sarira " when it's crystal clear.
Well, that's a little bit like that, isn't it? It means the body. it indicates that
kind of body. Sarira means the body. I don't know why, but it's become a bone. The
original word is called Sarira. Well, that's how it
is. And I have just read a sentence of the Lotus Sutra drawn there, and Dogen
Zenji is talking about it, on page 347. So, I'll go to that.
“as if recited,” this is it, and “as if written,” this
is it. Volumes of the sutra are the real form, this is it.
It says; “What is so called the volumes of the sutras is” First of all, “as if preached,” this is it," like preaching,
like reading, “as if recited,” this is it,” like
reciting, like writing, we will read like that. The so called the volumes of
the sutra are. As I mentioned earlier, they told the truth about what they had
become aware of. It is not that there were letters at the beginning, at the
time when they realized. There is no way that the content of what they realized
is in the written word at the time. It's what they felt by their bodies as the
content of what they realized was in themselves, and that's what they talked
about. It's “as if preached,” this is it."
And sometimes people who come into contact with something that has been written
and transcribed will read it. That is "“as if read,” this is it.” Then similarly
“as if recited,” this is it,” is reading out loud. Then, copying what is
written, it is called "transcription," the process of copying. There
is also sutra copying. That's how we're going to do it. What is at the center
of this is that if you look at the superficial movements, it's just talking,
preaching, reading, writing, etc., but the content, you know, it's all dealing
with content that is aware of one' s own truth. That's all I want to say, isn't
it? If you don't know that, you'll only be dealing with the surface. If you
look at the content instead of the surface, you will realize that you are really
like that. When you not only know it, but also realize it, you don't need to do
anything else. No worries. You don't suffer. It becomes easy. It will
definitely happen. If you don't know what things are, you will do crazy things.
“The volumes of the sutra are the real form
itself.” That's what he' s saying. It is the
true state of everyone. There is not a single person who lives from morning to
night, from night to morning, who live separated from their own true state. And
yet, we've rarely paid attention to the truth about ourselves. I wonder why.
It's because the way we study is different. This is how you should study. And then,
people who don't know things will say, "What?" I guess. This is not
what they are studying. They are dealing with the things that are the problem
in their minds. They' re not dealing with the facts. "What?" Do you
understand?
(In Zen , 勉強、学ぶ;To study
is always to touch the reality, the fact. To be with reality is studying. 実参、実究、is said. 実 Jitsu means reality. So the word 参;san participation is key word, to participate to realize
being oneness. There is the difficulty in English term to express 参、実参。)
Like this (opening the fan,) when you are shown a fan like this, when I do like
this, you will always become like this as the Tathagata; come thus, being unaware
of it. This is how it is done. The whole body is formed to respond in this way.
Being done like this and you become like this, and you will become the fine body
such as you don’t know how much you have changed. You can live your life
without any problems. But the dumb head wonders what it's doing, what it's
trying to do. That's exactly what is the talk on the way of thinking. This is
the basic principle, when you study. If the human way of thinking is attached
to things from the very beginning, it is very troublesome. The first time you
touch anything, it is settled that you touch things without the way of
thinking.
PAN! (hitting the desk) Nothing is attached at all like what is heard or
anything like that. It's just a click. There's no judgment about whether it's
too big or too small. PAN! It's just the way it is. There's nothing that gets
in the way or that you like. In any way, it is all very different what people
think. PAN! Whether you have pains in your heart with this, nothing at all. If
it disrupts your life or anything, nothing at all. It can be heard and it's all
over. You are done living with it. You are not going to do anything from now. PAN!
It's all over at once. This is why it is called Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi. It is
the best, the most perfect way of the Dharma. There is nothing to be dealt with.
PAN! It's not necessary to say how to hear. PAN! There's nothing how we should
hear. There's nothing like how we should see. It's good that you can suddenly
see properly. This kind of thing is called the real form. There is a difference
between what is real and what is perceived by the way of human thinking. Please
be careful about it and study.
“To erect the stupa of the Seven Treasures, means” is written. There is to
erect the Seven Treasures Stupa. The seven treasures are gold, silver, lapis
lazuli, pearls, giant clams, red ball; rohita-muktā, and agate, which come out. These are the seven treasures mentioned in the Lotus Sutra.
It is not necessary to be too concerned with the number seven. “the real state
of things is said a stupa.” This is what Dogen Zenji has shown us. There may be
a word called Stupa as the original word of stupa. But the word 'stupa' means
the real state of the things, which Dogen Zenji showed us in such a polite way.
In this connection, regardless of how you see things, they say that there are
things, but in reality, nothing exists. Do you understand? Things, things don't
really exist. When your eyes touch something, you see a pillar or something
there, so you recognize that things are there. That's the only time you can see
it. But because we remember, we think that there exist things at other time.
It's the same with sound. You only hear a sound when it sounds, and there is no
such thing as sound anywhere, neither before nor after. It's the same with
taste and everything. It's all the same. It just happens at the time, and there
is no trace of it anywhere, neither before nor after. That's the way it is.
By chance, yesterday, my homeroom teacher of junior high school, called on me.
He had something to talk with me. He is already ninety years old. After the
conversation was over, the teacher said, "I still have something left to
do," so I said, "What is it?" He has been studying science, so
he said, "What do you think about existence, Inoue?” He said that what it
means to exist, what it means for a thing to exist, then he tried to draw me
out, so I told him the same story I just told you. Then he said, "Oh, that’s
what I'm studying now. That's what I mean. That's what the scientists are
studying these days,” or like. We have studied such things from an early age.
Buddhism is at the forefront of science, so most of the top scientists are now
coming into Buddhism. He told us about the research and where it will lead.
That the real form is without form, or the true form is formless is also
preached in Buddhism. It's strange. What is perception? Well, I have said many
things. Where is the cognition in the body? At the end, when we were parting,
the teacher said, "I seem to be trying to find out what the truth
is," and I said, "The truth is not something you try to search. What
we are doing now is the truth. And there is no other truth, is there? The truth
is.” You know, this is the truth, this is the reality. What you are doing is
definitely the truth. On the top pf that, you're studying, listening to talks, and
practicing yourself. If the truth can be found somewhere after your searching,
then the truth is useless. We all live in the middle of the truth. That's the
way the truth is, it doesn't leave a trace anywhere. The stupa of such a big
building, such a big stupa as it is said to be formless. The reality is the stupa.
“Most high, wide” is said. It is said to
makes it extremely high and wide. The word "high" is that it is
difficult to know how high it is, and the word "wide" also means that
you don't know how wide you can go, which is the content. This stupa is. The
reality is. If I give you a familiar example, you can understand it well. You
often use the word "now, now, now", you use it as a word. How big is
the content? Is it big? Is it high? To what extent is it now? To what extent,
to what extent is it now? “the quantity is inevitably a real quantity.” It's
not the size of the thing that human beings can measure. It is the content of
the real thing itself. When you are sitting there, you see things as they are.
The depth, the height, everything looks just like the real thing. It is a real
quantity. It's never bigger or smaller than that. We didn't measure it, we
don't measure it here, but it's always there as it is. It's strange, isn't it? I
don't even measure the distance from here, but the person in front of me and
the person on the other side look exactly as he is without slipping out of the
place. Such interesting things are happening in this body, and you are all
doing it now. It's all your own state. There's nothing about other people. I'm
telling you. So being a Buddha is not about studying something about other
people. Because the state of yourself really exists like that. And yet, as I
mentioned a little bit at the beginning, somehow you believe in that this is
about yourself and that's not about yourself. It's weird.
“In this there is already the whole body
of Tathagata” is written like this. We now see this state as reality, in which
there is the whole of the Buddha's body, in each one of you. All the states
that the Buddha realized are within each person's present state. It is not in
other people, the Buddha's realization. Everything that the Buddhas were aware
of is in your present state. It is not in other people, the content which the
Buddha realized is. “The volumes of sutra are the whole body.” So, it's the
whole activity of this body. When we become aware of it, we all become the
content of the volumes of the sutra.
Let’s say for example, even your eyes, I 've been talking about it a lot, but
the activity of the eyes is much different than what we think it is. We've been
in contact with each other for so long that I think you've learned enough. There
is no other thing for eyes. There's only what you are facing at. They’ve never
seen anything else. There is nothing else that comes out for the eyes. It's
just the way they are now touching. Wherever they face, there is only what they
touch. What does it mean? That's not enough to convince you, is it? Not really.
You think it's no big deal. But, to say that what you touch like this now is
only the state of eyes, then you have nothing to compare at all. There is no
other way to see. What does it mean that there is no other way of seeing? It
means that there happens no such thing as "this is better" or
"that is worse". Even if you want do likes and dislikes, you cannot,
because of that. All in all, there is nothing to throw away. Whenever you touch
it at the present time, what you see as it is, is the activity of your whole
body and mind, so if you throw something away, it will become strange. With
your own thoughts, if you will do so, it will become weird. People who don't
know things will treat like that. But even for eyes, if we pick up just one thing
of your whole body and mind, and study in this way, you will know exactly how
the way you are. You were scolded in the morning. There might be some people
who think, "I don't like him," but there is no such thing now. In
fact, as you sit here like this, do you see that thing here? Can you see it? No,
you can’t do that. Then why do you make mistakes like that? You have a thought
on the way of thinking and put it here. (He points his head.) (It's only here, in
your mind, so no one else can see it.) You are dealing with what you have thought
up in your head. You live your lives as if they were there. Even such a thing
is going on in your own body. When you get in touch with it as activity, you
think, “Oh my God, this is how people get lost, they get deceived”. Everything
to be taught and things to be noticed are all in this. That's how you learn,
isn't it?
We'll come to the next one. “If only “as
if preached, and as if read, as if recited and as if written and so on,” this
is the whole body of the Tathagata.” It means that you are dealing with the
real form of yourself one by one at every moment. All the flowers, halberds,
ornaments, and jeweled necklaces. And “silk canopies, banners,” the one hanging
in the middle of the main hall is called the human canopy, and the one above
the dais is the Buddhist canopy. The banners may not be hanging here, but there
are long ones like this in the four corners. Is that called a banner? You know
Gigaku; performance and music. To do dancing is gi; performance. Then there is gaku,
which is the playing of musical instruments. Song is also all right. A song is just
a song. 頌 gatha
(poetic verse of a scripture)is a kind of poem. Gatha is a
recitation of a poem. With that, we serve, we make offerings, we respect, we
honor. We praise it. So, we praise the content of it. It is a way of displaying
how wonderful the content of one's awareness of the real form of oneself is,
with all kinds of things. If we decorate with such things, people will come to ask
you. That's why we don't often offer withered flowers in front of the Buddha,
just in case. Fresh flowers, we offer flowers that have not withered. In case of
incense, we offer something with a good fragrance. If you are offering rice or
food, we should first offer the freshly made, hot, freshly cooked food to the
gods and Buddha before you eat it. Everyone has such a pious and respectful
heart. We don't offer leftovers, as if we want to eat first. You know. That's
what respect is, isn't it? That's the feeling to cherish, isn't it? Hymns are
probably the most representative of song here. In Christianity it is hymns. In
the West, people make hymns and songs, and write poems to praise Christ. It's
become a lot of books. That's why it's such a big literature. It's also a study
of song. That's what gave birth to painting. Everyone who creates something
like that has it at the bottom. At the bottom of their hearts, they have
something pious and respectful. A feeling of respect that they want to cherish.
If they don't have that, the things they make are boring, aren't they? “Or they
are the best flowers, the best fragrances, fine robes, fine clothes, in the
human world,” Fine flowers, fragrant things and beautiful clothes. In old days,
some people used to prepare gold-brocade robes for the Buddha and others. It
was probably an offering to the Buddha of the best sari ever worn by the royal
family. That must have been the origin of the gold-brocade kesa. They would
offer it to the Buddha, saying, "It's a waste for me to wear it, there's
someone more wonderful than me, it doesn't deserve to be worn by me, it should
be worn by that person.”
“Which are all real form” Isn't that how it is done over the ages? “Holding a service
and revering are real form.” We really feel that way. When you go to school and
learn something from the teacher, if you make a fool of the teacher, you will
not be able to learn. It's all a relationship of trust. It is the same when you
learn all sorts of facts. When you really want to learn, you learn things with
humility, humble attitude, which is very popular nowadays, because you value
the skill of the person. Humility means you don't stand up for yourself. You
know. You have to work putting aside all your self-centered views.
“they are real form. We should erect a stupa.” Being so, to establish such a
splendid way of life and to actually practice it there is the original point of
building a stupa. It is not a visible stupa like that, but the origin of
building a stupa is to really put this one into practice there. To build a stupa
and make it magnificent. This is where it gets tricky to build a stupa, isn't
it? Characters are. (Characters make us move toward understanding in our heads.)
The stupa is the real form of this one. This is what Zen Master Dogen has shown
you. He says that the stupa is different from the stupa that you think of as
common sense. When you go to a grave, you see a stone stupa. He is saying that
it is not like that. The real stupa is the magnificence of this one. We will
live with this one all our life.
“You must not place the Buddha’s Sarira; bones” is said, He says that we should
not keep Sarira; saint’s bones in the stupa. In the Lotus Sutra. But nowadays, when we call it a "Sarira-stupa",
it means that the Sarira is placed inside the stupa. Why don't we put the Sarira
in the stupa? The stupa itself (which is yourself) is a Sarira. There is no
need to put anything in the stupa, is there? You don't need to let another self
be inside of yourself. That's enough. If there are times when you are busy and
short-handed, and there are times when you feel like you are missing something,
you often say that you want to add more to this, like another you and so on. We
don't need such things. We don't want it. If there were any, it's too much
trouble. “You should know, the volumes of sutra are the Sarira of the Tathagata,”
I talked about the origin of Sarira a little earlier, and Sarira is translated
as the body. The origin of Sarira is. That was the original meaning. But I
don't know since when it started, but when we say the word "Sarira",
we have treated to express Sarira as the bones called the Buddha's Sarira,
which are left over after cremation of deceased, that is why they’ve come to
put Sarira into the stupa. Originally, there must be a Sarira in this (each
person's body). It doesn't matter if you are bones. Even bones are in here from
the beginning. They don't come from somewhere else.
“You should know, the volumes of sutra are the Sarira of the Tathagata, the
whole body of the Tathagata.” This is the closest translation to the original
word for "Sarira" that I mentioned earlier, isn't it? It is the Tathagata’s
Sarira and it is the Tathagata’s whole body. The Sarira is the body. It is the
whole body. “the golden words of the Buddha’s own mouth,” These are the splendid
words that come out form the mouth of the Buddha. “there cannot be no greater
virtue than to see and to hear this.” The true power of one who realized, that
he talks about the truth, and to see him and hear it, nothing could be further than
that. “We should achieve results in haste and cultivate virtue.” When you see
and hear such things, you should verify and check what is said through your own
body and mind, and you should be able to realize that it is really true, which
is to achieve results in haste and to cultivate virtue. Otherwise, you're just
listening to other people's stuff and borrowing it from them. That's not going
to help you at all. When you study Buddhism or Zen, you can always borrow your
own body and mind, and each of you can be aware that the content is really
such, definitely so, which is to study Buddhism or Zen. If you are less careful,
you'll hear about that person saying that, or you say this is written here, and
it'll all be other people's stories. No matter how much you know about it and
talk about it, if you are asked, "What about you?", if you say,
"What about you? You would be beaten hollow. It would be insignificant if
you were not realized yourself. You might say you believe in, but if it's to the extent that you believe in it, you'll
wobble easily. The quickest way is that making a fool of it makes them angry, to
people who believe in. If the believers get angry at being ridiculed, it means doubts
arise about what they believe in. You know? If they don't have doubts, they
don't get angry when people make fun of what they believe.
“If any people” “worships and makes offerings” to “this
stupa,” you should know that “they are totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.” This is
what Dogen Zenji said. If you come across something that teaches the real form,
that shows the content of the real form, and if there are people who feel that
it is important, that it is a great thing, then you have been saved. It means
that Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, the most wonderful world of all, will surely be
reached. This is “totally close”. After this, Master
Dogen rambles on a bit about the two letters “totally close”. “When we see this
stupa, we should wholeheartedly worship and serve offerings this stupa.” It
means that we should be sincere and respect such things from the bottom of our
hearts. It's no good treating it with contempt. If there's any sign of mocking
the truth, that's disgusting. If you can't do it, but someone else is doing it,
you should summon up you feeling to place your hands together and worship them.
That is to say, to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, “is close totally.” That “Being
close” is, “not being close having left, not being close having come.” What he
wants to say that if there is a thing here, whether it become nearer by coming close
to it, or it become nearer by going away from here, which he is saying, though,
he says it is not such. He says, “Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi
is called “being totally close.” Are you OK? If you try it, you'll see... CLAP! (Claps hands together). When it sounded like
this, there's no way you're close to the sound. CLAP! Is there any hint of it approaching?
Like this, CLAP! When it sounded over there, do you sense like the sound
approaching? It sounds suddenly a clap. When I do this, it is not like you see
what I did here, you see over there what I did here, it is not like that. You
just become as it was done. There is no sign that you can see this only when
you approach it. It becomes such all of a sudden. How about that? Do you
understand it? When there are various things like this, when they are seen like
this, is there any sign that you are getting closer? There is nothing, nowhere.
It's not like you can finally see it when you get closer. It's been there all
along, it's not like anything is happening. Suddenly, suddenly it's there,
isn't it? That's what is said. “Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi is called “being
totally close.” All of sudden, the thing itself is just there, isn’t it?
"Ouch! ", when you say, it doesn't mean it's going to hurt from now.
When you say it hurts, it's already done as it was. It is not like you're going
to get any closer, are you? CLAP! It's all done. You have instantly become like
that, hasn’t you? “Now receive, keep, read, and recite,
and see explanations, write, and copy, which are “Being able to see this stupa.”
As I said, everything, touching things, touching sound, holding things, and so
on, all can be seen as such one by one. It means that you come into contact
with the real form that you are doing all these activities like to receive,
keep, read, and recite, and see explanations, write, and copy. I think that
everyone can see that they are really doing such activities.
Hey! being called, it's not like it starts from now. It has been all done. Being
called, you answer “what?” It's a bit late, isn't it? Or, to put it another
way, "Hey!” I said, and you all turn to me like this. Everyone faces to me,
but it's strange. Even if the same word is said, if someone say "Mr.
Inoue", if there is a person with the surname Inoue among us, they turn to
me, but if not, they think it is not about them. Well, before you say it's not
about you, what happens is that when you are addressed as "Inoue
san", everyone has become like that. That's why you know it's not me. If you
didn't hear it like that, the thing “it was said Inoue, though,” would not
happen. You know. You didn't do anything about others at that time. When
someone says "Inoue san", there is no sign that he is not calling me.
If you don't live like this, when you're walking down the street and someone in
front of you falls down, you don't give them a hand. You will just go off
without knowing it. You have seen that he’s
fallen. You saw it but you don’t think it is your matter. You say “I am busy, I
am sorry.” To that extent, human beings do such a strange thing. Because you
are more focused on what you are thinking. Most of your life. That's why you
only do small activities. If you want to do something bigger, when you are not
holding the self-centered attitude, this body is all working as the whole body
of the Tathagata like that, so you can work without abandoning anything. You don't
say, "Well, it's the girl next door, so it's okay.”
Rejoice, it is “being totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.” “Rejoice,” he
said. When we are really doing suchlike, we all have got to live the most
wonderful life possible. When you stand up for yourself, (you become
self-centered,) it really changes. When you establish yourself and get in touch
with things, you feel like you are fond of them or not, like them or not, true
or false, and so on, such kind of thing arise immediately. That's why you have to sort out and do various things
before you can move on to the next action. If you are not self-centered, this
body, as same as the Buddha's body, has the power to move together immediately
in the same way. That's the way you are actually experiencing. But because you
are not paying attention, even if you are experiencing it, you will overlook
it. And the people who are overlooking it, what are they doing with their
lives, they're thinking that there's a better way to live somewhere. They don't
look at what's going on in their own life, they think there's something like
that somewhere, and they start looking for it. That’s not called the Buddha
Way. We say Gedou; going out of the way. We say to be out of the way. That's
why he says we shouldn't learn the teachings of Gedou; the people out of the
way. That's obvious, isn't it? What is the use of studying something that
exists elsewhere? Even if you know how much money is in your neighbor's wallet,
you can't spend it easily. You know. It's not going to make you rich, is it?
You just think, "Oh, that's great.” But the content of yourself is delightful.
“The volumes of the sutra are the whole body of the Tathagata. To revere the
volumes of the sutra is to revere the Tathagata”. Well, there is no need to
repeat it, but there is nothing to be called the content of the volumes of the
sutra except the real form of each one of us. Strangely enough, besides our own
body, there are sutra books and sutra -scrolls like this, so when we say
"sutra scrolls", we can't think that they are our own matter. You
know. Because it's right here. Then we read it, so we can't think it's about
the matter of our own. But originally,
people who were aware of the real state of this one left this for the benefit
of future generations. So please know that well. Therefore, when you worship
the volumes of sutra that are left behind, you are cherishing the content of
the Buddha's enlightenment itself. And to cherish means, going further, in
fact, as the Buddhas were aware, each one of us needs to face ourselves in this
way and reach the state where we realize that there really is no difference. “To
meet the volumes of the sutra is to meet the Tathagata”. This is what it means.
I've been talking about for a while, if Sarira is translated as ‘the body’, it
fits perfectly. The whole body of the Tathagata. You see? It is difficult to
translate 'Sarira' as 'bone'. Originally there is no such translation, if you
study the original language. I think that Dogen Zenji is a man of great
erudition. He has made the closest translation to the original word. I don't
know how he studied it.
“Thus, it is that, bones must have been this sutra.” It is on each of us that
we make all the problems while living our lives. We have never had any problems
outside of our own body, ever. So much so that the whole body of the Tathagata
has all the volume of sutra here. It is provided. Even
though it says that there is all kinds of things, the history of the past, the
future, and the whole world, look at it. It is only everyone, each one of us
has taken them up as problems on one’s own. And there is nothing but we take up
here and now. You've never dealt with it anywhere but here and now. You know
it when you see attentively. But before you know it, you think that there are
lots of things outside this one. It's strange, isn't it, human beings.
“Even if
we know that the volumes of sutras are Sarira; the bones, if we don’t know Sarira
are themselves the volumes of the sutra, it is not yet the way of the Buddha.”
Even if you understand it as a theory, if you are not really convinced of it,
you cannot be said to be the person who has attained the way. It's a matter of
course. You've just become a know-it-all, and know-it-alls
can be troublesome, really. It's annoying when you're talking to someone
know-it-alls. They don't know real things, you know. Know-it-all is, in fact. They
don't talk about the real thing at all. You call them critics. Critics don't
know anything about the real thing. They can imagine whatever they want in
their head and say it, so that's all they can do. People who have never run
before, watch videos of people who have run, and say what about that, what
about this, what about there what about here. Then go for it. They don't know
to that extent. They think it can be surpassed. They say, “If you know that
much and you can do it, then if you practice like that, you will grow more and more.”
It's all well and good to say it, but really. Knowing, erudition, knowing is so
different from the content. The way of the Buddha is not about knowing, and if the
matter is not proved by doing it yourself, it can't be really said that you
have truly clarified things. There is no need to talk about what you don't
know. Right? You don't have to talk about what you don't know and be proud of
it. No one wants to hear the truth from a person who don’t know things. It's okay,
really. If you know one thing that's true yourself, it just makes the world a
better place. So. if one has mastered one art, he is a national treasure.
“The real form of myriad dharmas of here and now is the volumes of the sutra.” The current state of all truths must be the volumes of the
sutra. It must be telling the truth. They say that if you tell a lie, you will
always end up like telling a lie. That must be a sutra scroll. If you tell a
lie and it turns out to be true, that's grave. If you tell a lie, it will
always become you told a lie. There is no mistake. He is saying that it is
certain. If you fall, it will be as you fall. If you are injured, it will be as
you are injured. And it helps, doesn't it?
“The human world, heaven, the sea, the sky, this land, and the other realms,
are all the real form.” With the things that you are exposed to around you, you
all learn from them, one by one. There is no shortage as teaching materials. “They
are the volumes of sutra and Sarira.” As it says, what you think is around you
is what is unfolding on your own. As I said before. It's the same with what you
think, isn't it? You would never borrow someone else's body to think something.
When you read and understand, you never borrow someone else's body to read and
understand. You listen to people and you understand them, but you never borrow
someone else's body. You do everything with this body. With this one body. Even
if you have a feeling that someone has told you that it is this way or that
way, it is not for them to do it, but for you to do it with this your body. That's
what it means to learn from others. It is not being taught, but you have to do
it with this body.
“We should receive, hold, read, recite, interpret, and copy Sarira and we
should get enlightened.” It is the way of clarifying the truth of things by
touching them one by one. Which is what it means to follow the volumes of sutra.
“following the volume of the sutra.” You know what facts are when you are
exposed to them. It's impossible to think about what the facts are without the
facts. How can we know? “There are Sarira of old buddhas, Sarira of buddhas of
now, Sarira of pratyekabuddhas, Sarira of wheel-rolling kings, Sarira of lion.”
Well, everything that has a form shows the thing itself by the body. It's not
only human beings. The thing itself tells you all about the very thing most
correctly. Disregarding the thing itself, the content of the thing cannot be
understood. Even if a strand of hair, a grain of sand. You can't tell by other
sand what the sand is like. It's the same with hairs. With other hairs, you
don't know what's like with this hair. The
academic view is that because the hairs are all on the same person's body, you
pull out a single hair and can find DNA or something like that, because it's
there now, but you can't know what it is like without recourse to the very
thing itself.
If you try it concretely, you will understand. You put three teacups in a row,
pour the tea from the teapot like this, divide it into three, and drink it like
this, because it comes from the same teapot, it doesn't matter which one you
drink, it's the way of human thinking. There's no way I can taste what's in the
other two cups when I drink this one. Absolutely not. And yet, human beings think
we know what's in this one when we drink what is in the others. It sounds
clever. It sounds very clever, but you don't need to do such a thing. You don't
need to borrow these two to know, with only this, it is good that you can know
what this is all about. Any of them. With this. It's all clear, isn't it? “Being totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.” That's
how clear it is, isn't it? What is the word “pratyekabuddhas”?
It's translated as "a
buddha on their own", or "a
lone buddha" with so difficult words, but that's about it. “pratyekabuddhas”.
There is an old Buddha and there is a present Buddha. In the end, it is a human
being’s, a human being's bones. That is what is mentioned. This is the state of
each person's body. Furthermore, “In the great Sung Dynasty today, buddhas in
generations,” It would be the story of the time when Dogen Zenji went to China.
Today. “There are buddhas who brings them into existence while they are
living,” When we see a sentence like this, I wonder if there is a hint in the
background that as for bones will come out when people die. That's why it is said that the Sarira appears when we are
alive. This (referring to the body and mind) is because the whole body is the Sarira.
Well. “And there are many who have left Sarira after
cremation.” After the cremation, the Sarira, in this case, the bones,
definitely the Sarira, I guess that's what it means. “and there are many”
“These are all the volumes of the sutra.” I suppose that's true, too. If it is burnt
well and if burnt well taking a time, the bones will come out. If you burn it
with too much heat, there will be no bones when you open the incinerator. It turns
completely into ashes. That would be very lonely, so I guess they burn it so
that the bones remain intact. Then, around here
(pointing to the neck), the first joint of the spine at the back of the neck is
located just behind the throat, and when it comes out, it looks like that shape.
The first joint is called Adam’s apple;喉仏: Throat-Buddha, because it comes out of the throat. It is
the form like the Buddha is sitting. Well, it comes out whoever it is. If it is
burnt slowly and properly. If it is rushed, it will be torn to pieces. That's
why someone taught them to take care of it. There is such a thing.
Shakyamuni Buddha addressed the great assembly, saying,
“The lifetime which has been done by my original practicing of the the
bodhisattva-way is not yet even exhausted but will still be twice the previous
number.
The eighty-four gallons of Sarira of now are just the Buddha’s lifetime itself. The lifetime
of original practice of the bodhisattva-way is not confined to the
three-thousand-great -thousand hold world, it may be numerous. Such is the
whole body of the Tathagata. Such are the volumes of Sutra.
I will go to the next part. After the Buddha's death, stupas were
built in eight locations. In seven of them, Buddhist bones; Sarira were placed.
In the third century B.C., King Ashoka came out, took refuge in Buddhism, and
built a stupa in the place noted in connection with Buddha. In recent years
(early twentieth century), there have been excavations of stone pillars of King
Ashoka. According to the inscriptions on them, they seem to contain important
information for studying the Buddha. According to one theory, the bones; Sarira
that came out of there were divided into 84,000 pieces. There is also a theory
that this is why 84,000 stupas were built. That's how much the Buddha's bones; Sarira
were cherished. “The eighty-four gallons of bones of now are” It is said that
if you collect all the bones; Sarira in the world today, the bones would be
dozens of times the size of Buddha's body. Incidentally, in Japan, there is a
temple called Kakuozan in Nagoya, where the Buddha's bones; Sarira are stored. In this place, it would be disrespectful to the Buddha if I
said that the bones have a pedigree, but what have been proven to be the
correct separation of Buddhist sarira; bones are offered. There is also a stupa
in Yomiuri Land in Tokyo. Recently, from Sri Lanka the Sarira; bones of the
Buddha was divided and stored in a temple called Nihonji on the Boso Peninsula
in Chiba Prefecture. Well, that's the only Buddha Sarira in Japan that have a
seal of approval. It is a small piece of a single tooth, and it looks like a
broken piece of it. Human beings, I don't know how to say, when it comes to
preciousness, they bring something with a form, and they respect it. It's hard
to respect something without a form.
“just the Buddha’s life span itself. The life span of original practice of the
bodhisattva-way is not confined to the three-thousand-great -thousand hold
world, it may be numerous. Such is the whole body of the Tathagata. Such are
the volumes of Sutra.” We may think that death is the end, but there is no such
thing as the end if you die. It is said it is over when you die. You know. If
you look at activity from a larger perspective, it never stops. Something that
is temporarily in human form will break up and fall apart when Dependent
origination comes undone. Then it loses its human form, right? On the Earth,
the mass of the Earth remains the same, doesn't it? Even if a lot of things
change. There is nothing going out of the universe, so that's one thing. The
same is true for the amount of heat. It's just changing into different things,
but the amount of heat doesn't increase or decrease. That's what lifespan is
all about, isn't it?
To put it another way, we never see the end of our lives. We don't even know
that we were born, and we don't even see where we died. And yet, we look at
other people and say that someone is born, or someone died, predestining the
span of life, and say "He lived this long," or "He died. You
don't see your own life and death for yourself. That's good, isn't it? You
don't know where you were born and you don't know where you're going to die, so
it's fine. There's nothing to worry about. We are doing such a big activity. Just
seeing the part where he says he's dying, if you just look at the part that
says he is dying, you will be bothered. Why you are bothered is that because
you only deal with what is by the way of thinking. It also comes out here the real
form, as the word. Real form. If you look at the real form of yourself, there
is no activity to be dead, you know. It is just a different activity than
yesterday, a different activity than before, and you're surprised at the
change.
I'm going to the next part. “The Wisdom
Accumulated Bodhisattva said,” let’s leave aside the name of the bodhisattva. If
you go to the page on the left, you will find a translation of the text, so I
will read it. “I have seen Sakyamuni Tathagata, who has performed arduous and
painful practice
over an incalculable number of kalpas, has accumulated merits and piled up virtues, has sought the
bodhisattva-way, and yet has not yet come to cease. When I have observed the
three thousand and one thousand worlds, there is no place even the size of a
mustard seed where he has not abandoned his body and life as a bodhisattva. Then
after thus, for the sake of all sentient beings, he was able to attain the Bodhi
Way.” We could
say that we should practice without forgetting even for a moment, in a
nutshell. If you turn it on and off, or do it and don't do it, you will not
achieve anything. The Buddha said to make fire “ hi wo kiru”, so he made fire
in moxa. In the old days, the priest would rub the wood together like this, and
a fire would start here, and then he would take this fire and put it in the
moxa to make a fire for cooking. This is called “hi wo kiru” cutting the fire. There's
a cypress here, a little carving here, a straight piece of cypress here, and a
string attached to it, and when you pull it down, it spins around and around,
and when you let go, it comes back up again. There is such a tool. If I say, it's
like uncorking a bottle of wine, you will know. With the tool like that, they
do such. It's called cutting. It's called rubbing. It's called cone rubbing.
When you push it from above, it goes grindingly, and when you let go, it goes
back to grindingly. If you repeat the process, it gets hot here and catches fire.
The wood used for this is called Hinoki. The Japanese cypress used in general
is the wood used to make the fire. The Buddha said and left, "If you stop
the fire before it is hot enough,” he said that if you stop in the middle, you
will never get the fire. It is the same as what we are talking about now here.
It is difficult to achieve Buddhahood if you are not careful in your life
without resting even for a moment. Even outside of Buddhism, if you really want
to make something good, you have to put a lot of time and labor into it. You
don't cut corners, do you? There is no way you can make something good by
cutting corners. Please read this article with that in mind. I'm sure you'll
understand.
And then, Dogen Zenji said, "You should
know, this three thousand-great- one thousand world is one piece of red heart,”
As I have been talking about for a long time, we are both just one body. Even
if we take it up the vast three thousand- great- one thousand worlds, it is
nothing but the state of our bodies. There is nothing other than what is being
done on the basis of each person's own activities, isn't there? And that's just
what's going on right now. There's nothing to be done somewhere else . It is really “a piece of red heart.” “is one shaku;
approx. 30cm of the sky.” When it is said that the sky is wide, there is no
other way than the way we are right now. That's why we are called "the
whole body of the Tathagata," and the truth of Buddha's enlightenment is
all on this one body. There is nothing else. That's why we both take this as
the object of our practice, and do zazen to get in touch with the real form of
ourselves. There is nothing in Zen about learning something to cultivate
yourself or treating and changing something to your liking, to your ideal. It
is different. No, that's not what it is. That's the world's teaching. Really. This
is how this thing is made. CLAP! (Claps his hard) There's nothing you can do
about it. To listen to this. You can't redo it, to listen. You know. It's all
over before you can change it. Suddenly “being totally close to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.”
Everybody inevitably abides the state of truth itself, from the very beginning.
That's the fundamental way of being, isn't it? “It cannot be concerned with
discarding or not discarding.” He says that it is in disregard for the way of
thinking of human beings, like discarding or not discarding, views, things like
that. It is not the range that even one of such things is within reach. Some
people may think that because they have been living a lazy life, they can't or
won't be able to do it from now. There's no need for that. It's all formed to a
very high standard. "The Sarira is neither before the Buddha nor after the
Buddha," You might say something like, "to realize or not to realize”
but he is saying that you are formed completely prior to saying to realize or
not. “They cannot be arranged side by side with the Buddha.” I'm sure it is
really so. We have been fine all along only with the state of our own.
When you hear my talk like this, you don't really have the need to grope for like
what the person next to you is listening to. You just hear yourself. It would
be weird if you did that, wouldn't it? “How are you listening to what he is
saying?” Saying like that, you don't listen like that, do you? That's not
necessary. It is really only the way you are with what is heard, all is clear. When
I show this to you like this, you don’t need to ask the other, “How do you see
it?” It's all clear just from the way you see with your own eyes. So much so
that there is no need to compare with the Buddha. Strangely enough, we've never
seen comparing them. When I tell you to look at this, you don't look at
anything else. Well, when I ask them to look at this, there is none who look at
anything else. “Listen to this sound,” GONG! (Put the cup down hard.) Even if
there are various kinds of other sounds, no one goes to listen to them. It is the
only thing we always do properly. That's how we all live, you know.
The “arduous and painful actions" in " an incalculable number of
kalpas," are the vivid activities of the Buddha's womb and belly.” That's
because we're all doing that kind of activity without knowing it, even when
we're in mother’s belly before we're born. We don't even know that this body is
to be created. After fertilization, we don't even know that fertilization was
done, how this body came to be. We don't even know when we started to have arms
and legs. We don't even know when we got our eyes and nose. It's amazing that
all of these things (each and every activity now) are being done properly,
without even knowing that these functions are now working. It's strange, isn't
it? The five organs and the six internal organs are neatly divided into
different categories, they are formed like that, and each function of them
respectively performs its own function without being taught by anyone. There are
lungs to breathe in air, blood vessels to pump blood, and a heart to pump it
out. Everything is unimaginable. I wonder who will be teaching the hands to
move? Who's going to order it, I wonder? A mosquito flew in and popped right here! PAN! (he hits the
mosquito) Things like this. Really strange things are done. When we
look at it like that, it is immeasurable. You can't measure how much time it
takes for a person to come out into the world like this and do their work as a
human being. If you factor in the time, it's immeasurable kalpas. Now that
we have the ability to look at things like DNA, when we look at DNA, we can see
how many cells there are in a human being, which is too many to count, the
cells of a single human being are. If you change the combination of any one of them, it will
change immediately. If we can find out the cause of all illnesses in time, or
if we can cure illnesses immediately by recombination, we may not be able to
die. It's good that we can't die, but I wonder what will happen to us. The
Buddha's womb, the Buddha's belly, both are in the belly.
“are the vivid activities of the Buddha's womb and belly.” Then there's the
Buddha's skin, or is it "niku" for flesh? How do you pronounce "flesh"?
How do you read flesh in the Chinese phonetics? We usually read it as hinikukotuzui;
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Is it all right with that? “They are the
Buddha’s skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.” If you take up each of the whole body
like this, there will be skin and flesh from the outside, besides, things like hair.
We are formed with such things. “are the vivid activities” It's
really wonderous how it's come to be formed.
“It says already “he yet has not yet come to cease,” having got enlightenment,
he practices all the more in his devotion. Even though he has become to the
great thousand worlds, he is still progressing.” Kesu; to become is to change, it
is that you have come to the end of this world and move on to the next working.
That's why monks use the word “senge: death” saying "ke wo sensu ; transit
formation, transform", when they die. To transit the formation. We are
going from this world to the next world. It is not the end of the story after
death. To be more specific, if a person dies and nothing is done about it, he
or she will decompose first. So there remains something hard, the skull remains, but the
eyeballs are gone. The teeth stay. Teeth will remain, but these (flesh of the
cheek) will fall out. That's how bones remain. Nowadays, we cremate, so there
is hardly any significant change from there. If you leave the body in the
ground, the bones will naturally crumble again. In the end, they turn into soil
before you know it. They become soil together in the ground. So, the earth is a
graveyard. Look at all the things. Everything. The earth is the graveyard of
all things. You may not like it, but it's a place where many things
come and go, the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. That's
what you're doing.
“The vigorous activity of the whole body is like this.” It's
the same with this body. It means that you don't do boring things like living only
on your own small activity. Be that kind of person. You're only going to do it while
you're alive anyway. You can't do it after you die, so why don't you dare to use
this to your advantage while you're alive? You have a lot of things to do. Even just cleaning your own
body is good for the world. Take a look at a home. See if there is one person who is
dirty. They don't like it. But if you keep your body clean, you will be
appreciated. That's why in the Shobogenzo, there are scrolls called "Senmen
Scrolls" and "Senjho Scrolls". How to brush your teeth, how to
wash your face, how to use the restroom, how to do laundry, etc. There is
nothing to throw away in Buddhism. But people who don't learn things say that it's just
ordinary matter. It's not an ordinary thing. There is the Buddha Dharma in
washing your face. The truth is there. Because when you wash your face, you're not doing anything
else. And when
we eat, there's truth in eating food. When you're taking a bath, it is by taking a bath. You
don't do anything else. That's why it all becomes the practice of the Buddha's Way.
The whole body of the Buddha. But I don't know why it is, there are signs that on some
point, you think that sitting in a zazen hall is practice, and other thing are
not practice, promptly. I wonder why. Something basic is off. I think that's
what they learned at some point in their life. That's why this is such a short
volume called "The Whole Body of the Tathagata," but I think it's
very important. This is something that Dogen Zenji probably felt that he
had to teach properly when he was in contact with his fellow monks practicing
Buddhism. I'm sure
there was a hint that they were taking some part of our lives and using it as
training material. You can't do that. If you look closely, you're really just
doing what you're doing at the time. You can practice only by the thing which you are doing at
that time, no matter what kind of material it is. This is an important point. People
think that they are only practicing when they are exposed to something like reading
a sutra, some special kind of Buddhist event. It's the same with lighting a fire and putting it out. It
cannot be achieved easily. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. It's the
same with your own life. If you live your life in a way that you some time cherish
it and you don't sometime care about it, it's not right for a human being. You
should live your life such as you're always shining with your authenticity. Well,
that's all I have to say, and it's about time. Now let's finish.
Afterword
The volume "The Whole Body of the Buddha" was advocated at a lecture
meeting at Entsuji Temple in 2018. It was a short talk that lasted only two
hours. This is a commentary on the Lotus Sutra by Shakyamuni Buddha, the true
meaning of which was written down by Zen Master Dogen and then lectured on by
Kando Roshi.
When I listened to the lecture, I had a fresh feeling that we are also the
Buddha. The reason why rice
is called "Sarira" and the bone in the throat is called "Adam’s
Apple" left a deep impression on me. As I was transcribing, I realized
that both the Buddha and Zen Master Dogen had preached what Master Kando had
consistently said, that it is not about others, but about one's own condition.
The Buddha said, " in every place where
this sutra is, as if preached, as if read, as if
recited, as if written, as if volumes of these sutra are kept, you should
erect a stupa of the Seven Treasures, and make it most high, wide, and decorate
solemnly. But you must not place the Sarira; Buddha’s bones.” Dogen Zenji said,
“You must not place the Sarira; Buddha’s bones” is, you
should know, volumes of the sutra are the Sarira of the Tathagata, the whole
body of the Tathagata.”
Kando
Roshi said that the real form of oneself is written in sutra scrolls.
"Sutra scrolls are written by people who have become aware of themselves,
how they really are, what they are doing, and what human beings themselves are
like. When you read the sutras, the scrolls, the sutras, you will
know yourself exactly. It is not that we learn the sutras, but that we come to
know ourselves when read them,” he indicates.
In regard to Dogen Zenji's “as if written, as if recited,” it means
we read as if written like writing, and as if recited like reciting. The sutras are the very sutras that you are now reading,
writing, reciting, preaching, of which we treat as a sutra scroll, the content
of which is, after all, the real form. This means that the content of what we
are doing at the time is the real form, and we should learn from it.
In
addition, as for the words, “You must not place the Sarira; Buddha’s bones” is,
you should know, volumes of the sutra are the Sarira of the Tathagata, the
whole body of the Tathagata,”
Kando Rhoshi says “The reason why we don't put the Sarira
inside the stupa is because the stupa itself is the Sarira (yourself) and there
is no need to put anything inside it. Originally, there is no need to put
another self in the stupa because the stupa itself contains the Sarira (each
person's body). Worshipping the
sutra scrolls means that you are cherishing the content of the Buddha's
enlightenment itself, and to cherish it means that you need to go further and
actually you face yourself like this, just as the Buddhas did, and realize that
there is really no difference, you need to get to that point.”
In a recent talk “A needle for Zazen; Zazenshin,” he said, "When you are really
looking at something, you forget all about yourself, and only the appearance of
the thing you are looking at is unfolding. Even
though I have this body named I, I am doing this activity without doing
anything at all.” This is the
original state of us, and he seems to indicate that it is the most important
thing for us to do in our practice. I
believe that both the Buddha and Zen Master Dogen have shown us this in the
scrolls of the whole body of Buddha, and have also shown us the way to practice
in such a way that we can clarify ourselves. We can see this clearly in the
advocacy of Kando Roshi.
Brief History of Venerable Kando Inoue Roshi.
Born in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka
Prefecture in 1944. Fifth
son of Gien and Yoshie Inoue.
Associate master of the Soto Zen School, and the Todo of Shorinji Temple.
The 24th restoration founding of Shorinji Temple.
He was ordained in 1953. After working as a
monk at Hoshinji Temple, and at Daihonzan Soji-ji Temple, for many years, he
served asYakuryo; the head of the Kaphaisai in Fukuroi City. In his teens, he became aware of and
continued his studies and later received Dharma Seal transmission; a
certificate of approval from his father and teacher, Gien Inoue Roshi. He has
been teaching zazen in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Kansai, Okayama, and many other places.
References
https://syobogenzo.blog.fc2.com/
https://syobogenzokando.livedoor.blog/
https://shizukashuppan.blog.jp/archives/8363651.html