Then, because you can't do it if you have something bothering you, "Put aside all involvements” When you “put aside all involvements,” what comes out is that you are living like this now, this present situation, in which you are living, and that you only have use for this situation. This is indicated here. and suspend all affairs.

This is how you try to make it simple. There is nothing to do. As I said at the beginning, Dogen Zenji taught that the way things are is perfect, and you are told, "You understand," "You will understand," and then you understand, but when you look at yourself, you see that even though you understand, you are not completely convinced. “If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion.” If only there were a few things, it was mentioned. These two things are the way everyone is now, aren't they? I think it would be good if you take this as a way of practicing and learning Zen, and in this way, regarding "correctly seeing the birth and death of the Dharma," you can take it this way. You yourself are the truth of the activity of your body and mind, “you put aside all involvements and suspend all affairs,” then there is only what is really unfolding right here and now. Therefore, to be able to stay with the unfolding process in this way, without inserting one's own thinking, perspective, feelings, or thoughts, is what Zen is all about. That is how Zen has been practiced.

My teacher said something like this. "Whatever the action of the six roots is, just let it be, each and every time, each and every function, each and every action. That activity itself, arising and perishing, is your untouched truth, the thing you are seeking, wanting to touch, wanting to know," and "There is no other way.” When I list these sentences here again, what my teachers are conveying is clearer than the translation of the very first sentence, "静慮:dhyana ."

After that, each of us must make it clear to ourselves that we are fully equipped with activities that have neither arisen nor perished, without really saying what we have done. This is why it is called "只管打坐:Shikantaza" Just sitting, doing nothing. The reason why it is explained like that is because we are not going to do anything from now on.
We would all know better if you specifically listed the six organs. Any of them will do. Even the thing called gripping, if you do it like this, (gripping an object), you instantly experienced that appearance. There is nothing to do from now on. You held this. You must have let go. That's how it is with everyone. Kon! (Hitting the desk) You heard it. You saw it. (Showing the object.) Everyone is working without any of their own perspectives, the way of thinking, feelings, or thoughts, without setting to work on anything. That is the way you are now. To spend time in this way is called Zen. Zen.

Because of the state of being now, it has been taught for a long time that we should not ask questions or look into things. It has been handed down throughout the orthodox teachings that when you do zazen, you must leave this 尋覗(jinshi), questioning and peeking. First, asking is a coarse thought. Peeping, peeping is a detailed thought, a fine thought. It is this peeping that tries to look at things in great detail, saying, "That's the way it is, and what does that mean?” Asking is like mentioning what the thing is about and then instantly and roughly touching it in this way. To practice Zen is not walking around asking and seeking. It is not about changing anything. Before you think or contemplate, there is already this truth about yourself.If you do not understand this as the major premise, you will probably do something far from it when you sit from now on.

Persons with limbs so bad they can barely walk come to Tokyo to practice Zazen. They ask if someone like me can do Zazen. Zazen, which is required to have a form, is a failure first. They cannot do it. You can't cross your legs. You cannot sit in the full lotus position. You can't sit in the half-lotus either. If you can't do that, you think you can't do Zazen. That's how much you are obsessed with the zazen form. So you sit, and you adjust your sitting posture all the time, and you are concerned about it. They ask, "Is this the right place for this, please look at it.” That's all they ask me when I go there. In short, what is really called Zen is not questioned. This happened to be a meeting of incumbent monks, so I picked it up and talked about it. As long as the monks don't get it correct, we won't be able to correct the situation. There was also something like that.

We stopped by a nearby temple called Rinsenji, which has a magnificent seated statue of Uesugi Kenshin, as it is the temple of the person who drove us there. Then, in the car, as we were driving to the temple, his said, " My wife is so excited to see you today.” I wondered what was going on. There is a plaque written by Kenshin Uesugi, who wrote "第一義,(dai-itigi), the supreme truth, the ultimate truth" on it, and I think there are many people who pay homage to it. When the chief priest is not at home, his wife is always there to help visitors. When you enter the temple, at the temple gate, there are various plaques saying "第一義,(dai-itigi), the supreme truth " written by various people, many of whom are very respectable. It would be nice to compare them and enjoy the calligraphy, but they are there.

The issue is that, first of all, it is possible to read. So, when you go to that area, the historical teaching that Kenshin Uesugi respected the first principle is very prevalent. Kenshin Uesugi respected righteousness, and he did not ask about the 第一義,(dai-itigi), the supreme truth," when the Great Master Bodhidharma talked with the Emperor Wu of Liang , saying, "What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?” In Buddhism, 第一義, (dai-itigi), is Zen. Zen is this, as I have been saying all along, how each one of us in our current state of being, without really using our own way of thinking, is just how we are in our current activity itself.

I talked with his wife for about 30 minutes over a cup of tea, saying that we didn't have much time. The point is, she said that it was very regrettable that she could not give a truthful talk to visitors when they came to visit the temple. She said that when she asked the head priest and other people nearby, not a single person had yet been able to give her a satisfying answer to this question of "第一義,(dai-itigi). If you look in the dictionary, you will find that the word "第一義,(dai-itigi)" means the most important thing, right? All of them.

Then, everyone, what is the most important thing in this place? What is the most important thing here and now? It's not about the four days and three nights. The most important thing, as I have just mentioned, is none other than oneself, who is living here now. This is the point where you look at things. The most important thing is just how you are here and now. The most important thing. Because that's what we are living on. There is no activity apart from that. And as I have been telling you all along, in this moment, in this place where each of us lives our lives, there is a difference between being without a way of thinking and being with a way of thinking. It is a totally different world when you stay with the actual thing itself and handle it in your own way of thinking.
There was water falling into the hanging gutter in the back, and I said, "Mrs., that water is running all the time, isn't it?" and I asked, " Have you really heard the sound?" and she said, "What ‘s that?"

 What does it mean to really hear the sound? When you hear a sound like this, Tap! (hitting the table), like I just mentioned, if you insert your own views, way of thinking, feelings, thoughts, etc., into the sound and handle it, you will not be able to hear the sound, even though the sound is there happening. Tap! You know that. It's that simple.

You do things differently than it sounds. You know that. We've never done that because we're hardly aware of it. Zen is just this, isn't it? Kon! Like this. Without inserting our own way of thinking, our own feelings, our own thoughts, we just stay like this, is what Zen is all about. It's just about whether or not you have ever really touched the sound in this way.

"Dragonflies are flying, aren't they?" Have you ever really seen it? How do you look at it? How you look at them is that first, from your own way of thinking, views, feelings, you say, "Oh, autumn has come," "It's so nice," and so on, you are in a totally different world from watching the dragonflies fly. To practice Zen, Zen, Zen. So it is not essentially about how to sit.