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I will continue my English translation of MMK and its comments again.
posted by GUDO NISHIJIMA | 12:05 PM
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Master Gudo Nishijima has been practicing Buddhism for more than sixty years.
He was a student of Master Kodo Sawaki, an itinerant priest famous
for his efforts to restore Zazen to its rightful place at the center
of Buddhism. Master Nishijima was ordained as a priest by the
late Master Rempo Niwa, formerly head of the Soto Sect,
and has written many books on Buddhism
in both Japanese and in English.
For over twenty years, he has been
giving instructions on Zazen and lectures in English.
See here for details. |
- ◊ ANNOUNCEMENT to Dogen Sangha members: From now on only master Nishijima will be able to post blog entries, but you may still leave comments. Registration with this blog is no longer necessary, but you must have a Blogger, Google, or OpenID account to post comments. Anonymous comments are not allowed. Thank you, Dogen Sangha Blog Administration (info.nishijima@mac.com).
- Realism (4)
- The Philosophy of Action (3)
- I never have any kind of racial discrimination
- The Rule of Cause and Effect (2)
- The Theory of Four Philosophies (1)
- Shobogenzo and Realism
- Master Dogen's thoughts on desire
- Practice of Zazen should be done everyday.
- Buddhism has evolved from a religion into a philos...
- Reality, Materialism, and the Autonomic Nervous Sy...
- Buy Master Nishijima's books from Windbell:
Link to contributors:
- Dogen Sangha
- Dogen Sangha Bristol
- Hardcore Zen
- Reality, anyone?
- Treeleaf Zendo:including Master Nishijima's video
- Slow Zen
- Flapping Mouths
- Ritsudo's Blog
- One foot in front of the other
- inter view with Brad Warner
- Anzenkai[NEW]
- Copyright © 2005 Gudo NISHIJIMA
12 Comments:
Sensei, Thank you for the continued translation.
I also have a question....
Often, I say that zazen is boring. When I tell my friends or family about zazen, I tell them it is very boring. But now I wonder about my experience of zazen as boring.
I think "boring" is dissatisfaction. It is dukha. If I am exactly experiencing zazen as real action actually, there is no "boring" and there is no "not boring".
Because I am experiencing zazen as "boring", this teaches me my zazen is not exactly real action actually. I am probably considering ideas a lot while I do zazen. There is some gap in my effort.
I wonder about this.
Dear Lauren San,
Thank you very much for your interesting and important questions.
It is true actually that when we are practicing Zazen, we usually feel it is boring.
Because in Euro-American Civilization we usually think that it is just losing time to spent time without thinking or feeling.
But in Buddhist philosophy we usually think that the most important matter for us in our daily life is never consideration or perception, but our Real Action at the present moment.
And for studying Action actually we practice Zazen everyday, and we study what is Action at the present moment.
Therefore we can think that to practice Zazen is learning what Action is, what the present momen is, or what our human life is.
Dear Roshi,
I wrote an article for my blog, it is about Dogen Zenji's Tenzo Kyokun and our everyday conduct outside of formal zazen. I wanted to ask your opinion on this section:
When we act we have already 'dropped body and mind' naturally because our action is not confined or restricted by what we think nor by any static physical state. When we act in accordance with this fact (as might be expressed by words like 'just doing') then we are in accordance with the nature of acting. So we can go about our necessary, 'mundane', daily tasks (our life) while being quite free in the boundless potential of acting, "This is the way to turn things while being turned by things" as Dogen says it in the text."
Roshi, how do you see your everyday conduct (outside of formal zazen) as connected to formal zazen practice?
Do you 'just act'?... and how do you react to discursive thought when you are acting outside of formal zazen?
Thanks & Regards,
Hanrei.
Dear Harry Hanrei San,
Thank you very much for your important question.
Fundamentally speaking whether our ANS is balanced, just at the present moment, or not, is important.
Therefore even though we are practicing Zazen, there is possibility that our ANS hasn't been banlanced, and at the same time there is possibility to be balanced even though we do not practice Zazen at the present moment..
Thank-you, Roshi.
In terms of our actual experience, what sort of conduct besides zazen promotes balance of the ANS?
Regards,
Hanrei.
Dear Hanrei Harry San,
Thank you very much for your important question.
During Zazen if we want to get the balanced situation of ANS, we need to regulate our posture of Zazen exactly.
Therefore we strech our lower spine vertically, the spine should be streched vertically too, the back of the neck should be streched as far as possible, pull the chin downward and backward a little, to be similar between right and left, and so on.
Thank-you very much, Roshi.
And when we are not formally engaged in zazen what sort of conduct promotes balance of the ANS?
Regards,
Harry.
Dear Harry San,
When we are not formally engaged in Zazen, for example if we are doing a kind of Action sincerely, you can have a chance to keep your balance of ANS actually. Therefore when you are making your efforts to play some kind of sports, you can have a chance to keep the balanced state of ANS.
Thank-you, Roshi.
I agree that an action such as playing sports, or even performing dance or music, can result in varying degrees of a balanced, effortless and natural state of conduct. In the West such performers casually refer to a vivid state of performance ease as being 'in the zone'. I think there is an interesting relationship between this state of balanced, natural effort and Master Dogen's 'dropping off of body and mind'.
Do you advise that we should try to perform all our actions throughout the day with sincerity?
Regards,
Hanrei.
Dear Harry Hanrei San,
I agree with your idea.
Therefore Master Dogen's "dropping off body and mind" suggests the equality between SNS and PNS. That is similar to
plus/mainus = 0. It does not suggests nothing.
And so the balanced ANS is human duty. We, human beings, should be always keeping the ANS balanced. The balanced ANS is our normal condition of human beings.
Dear Roshi,
Thank-you for your answers.
In terms of Buddhist philosophy can we say that the actual state of balance of SNS/PNS or +/- equals 'zero' or the direct practice/experience of sunyata?
It seems in the West that sometimes we reduce sunyata to an idealistic object of philosophy, where possibly it would be more appropriate to consider sunyata as having a real basis in a form of conduct.
Thanks & Regards,
Harry.
Dear Harry San,
The expression of SNS/PNS or +/- = 0, and so forth, are methods, which I have produced for expressing the situations of the balanced ANS.
And I think that the facts that we, human beings, have found the existence of ANS, SNS, PNS, in the 20th Century, is a very great historical fact, and relying upon the finding them, the explanation of Buddhist philosophies have become so acceptable and reliable.
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