On Tuesday, the subject of my talk was the... ...Morning, which is the fifth content of enlightened persons. Morning. The question is... The question is... Oh, excuse me. The name is... The name is... JO SHI

[01:10]

JO means constant, constant. SHI means to think, to think, to think. So NE means to think constantly, to think constantly. This is the meaning of NEN. Then the question is... What should we think in the domain of this world based on transiency? This is our problem, our question. What should we think in the domain of this world based on transiency? In Buddhism, the...

[02:17]

We say always everything is emptiness, emptiness. So there is nothing to catch it. There is nothing to catch. There is nothing to catch our fixed ideas, fixed ideas. This is the Buddhist idea, Buddhist principles. This is the state of the truth. This is the status quo of human beings. There is nothing to catch a fixed idea. Even though Rev. Katagiri, there is nothing to catch a fixed idea, which is called Rev. Katagiri. You say Rev. Katagiri, you can imagine something. I know Rev. Katagiri. At that time you can imagine many things about Rev. Katagiri.

[03:26]

His head is always bald. His nose is a little bit, not so high. Something like that. But as long as it is concerned with myself, Rev. Katagiri, there is nothing to catch fixed ideas, which is called Rev. Katagiri. Rev. Katagiri is just a name, just a name. Otherwise, if you don't have a name, Rev. Katagiri, you are completely upset. Who is Katagiri? So I need, I need the name, I need the name Rev. Katagiri. But this Rev. Katagiri, even this name, even this name doesn't have anything fixed ideas, fixed ideas. The name which is called Rev. Katagiri. The name, my existence, the existence of my name, or the existence of myself, is always based on a series of changes, series of changes.

[04:43]

This is the very true status quo of human beings. This is important. Then, from this point, so many minds, so many minds, so many objects, so many objects. The important thing is our mind should be working, should be working constantly. Adapt to everything which exists based on a series of changes. You know, the, it is, joshi means constant, to think constantly.

[05:46]

To think constantly means in a sense, in a sense, you know, something like a stick. A stick, to stick something, to stick something. But this stick is the, the, stickiness. But the word stickiness, what you think is problem, troubles for us. So this stickiness, you always have troubles, trouble. Would you, would you, would you listen to my trouble? And would you give some suggestion to me? You know, at that time, the problem, problem, what you think, problem, troubles.

[06:54]

What you think of troubles, what you have, is coming from, comes from stickiness, stickiness. So in a sense, the name is, name means stickiness, stickiness. Uh, I think the, you know, the, one of Japanese play, Japanese game, which is called go, go play, go play.

[07:55]

It is said the go players, go player, go player doesn't, doesn't have, have a last look at his mother's or his father's life. Because the go player, it is said that a go player is always crazy about playing go. With forgetting, forgetting everything. Even though he doesn't care whatever happens around him. So it is said go player doesn't have the last, last look at his mother's and parents' in life. Uh, but this stickiness is not so good anyway. This stickiness is not so good.

[08:57]

But such stickiness is not the name, the name, which is called fumo name. Fumo is, means forgetting, forgetting. Then Dogen Zenji says, uh, Dogen Zenji explains this in detail, uh, shu shon. Uh, shu means to obey, to observe. Shu is right, right. Uh, name is, uh, the same meaning. Uh, the Buddha express, uh, Buddha, uh, taught the five, uh, disciples, five, uh, uh, priests, five monks.

[10:09]

Uh, who, uh, who was, uh, who were, uh, practicing, uh, with Shakyamuni Buddha under, uh, asceticist, asceticist master. The master, a master of asceticism in India. The, after the Buddha, uh, get enlightenment, he taught, uh, he taught the five, uh, monks. Uh, five monks, the subject of the eight four truths, eight paths, eight right paths. Eight, uh, shodo. Shodo, the eight right paths, eight right paths.

[11:11]

This is path. Um, eight, uh, the English, uh, we say, uh, the among these, among, among these, you will find shonen, shonen. Uh, the, generally, uh, we translated this shonen, uh, into English, the right thought, right thought, right thought. Um, right thought. Uh, eight paths. Uh, what is the, you know that, eight paths? Uh, right understanding, uh, right understanding. Right view.

[12:20]

Right view. Right view. Uh, secondly, shonen, shonen. Uh, right, uh, purpose. Right purpose. Uh, right words. Uh, right conduct. Uh, right, lively, lively foot. Lively foot. I think. Uh, right effort. Right effort.

[13:33]

Uh, wisdom. Right wisdom. Right wisdom. Seventh is the shonen. Uh, correspond, correspond to the fifth, uh, fifth content of enlightenment, which occurs this, the last words of Dogen Zen. Of, or, the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. This is right thought. Uh, I think this thought is very different from the knowledge. You know, to study something is not to possess, to possess knowledge as a human, as a man, as a man possesses the coin in his purse.

[14:48]

Uh, but the, uh, make his knowledge, make knowledge, uh, make knowledge a part of ourselves, ourselves. Uh, that is, uh, turn knowledge, turn knowledge into thought, into thought. Turn knowledge into thought. Knowledge is something like, uh, something, uh, it seems, it is, uh, knowledge seems as if, uh, a man, a man possesses the coins in his purse. But thought is not knowledge, something like that. Thought, the, you should, you should turn the knowledge into thought. Means the thought should be, should be a part of yourself, part of yourself.

[15:51]

Uh, in this, the, because the, the, every motion, every, uh, motivation, every, every movement, every movement comes from this thought, this thought. Uh, so the, the, in your life, lifetime, in your life, as long as your life endures, the, you have to confront, you have to confront once. The, you, yourself, you, yourself, right before, right in, in the presence of the, the existence of the absolute, or something like God or Buddha, this is religion.

[16:56]

Uh, beyond the existence of human beings, existence of, uh, beyond the existence of all sentient beings. And then you have to contemplate yourself, who you are, who I am. Otherwise you cannot create, you cannot produce, you cannot promote the, your own thought, your own thought. Thought is, thought is, uh, uh, thought, uh, should be, uh, should be promoted through the confront, uh, confronting the yourself, the, just in the presence of the, the absolute, the truth. That time you can, you can create your own thought, you can create your own thought.

[17:59]

Uh, from this point, this thought, this translation, translation is right, the right thought, right thought. Um, uh, anyway, uh, the, as mentioned before, the, everything, everything is based on a series of changes, changes. Uh, so from this point, we have to, uh, the, our mind should function, should function the, the object, the object, uh, uh, should, should function the, adapt to, adapt to everything. Everything which happens, which appears around you, around you, around, uh, everyday life. When you bow, when you bow, your mind should function, should function just in the domain of the bow.

[19:10]

When you eat, your mind should work, should work in the world of the eating. Uh, this is the right, uh, situation of the function of the mind. Uh, this is right thought, right thought. When you understand, uh, when you understand your life, your every, uh, motion, every motion, you understand how, uh, how you should behave in everyday life. At that time, uh, this is right view. By experience of right view, uh, you can understand your daily life, how you should behave, uh, in the domain of the world based on a series of changes.

[20:12]

This is right view. Uh, and then this right view, when you, when you find yourself to settle yourself in this, in this, uh, world, in, in the domain of this world, right view, right view. Uh, you can, you can find right, uh, objective, what should you eat, what should you eat. This is right purpose, right purpose. This is settlement. This is tranquil. This is peaceful. And then the, this, uh, the function of the mind, uh, should be continued for good, forever. Uh, the important thing is how we should continue to this status quo of mind, status quo of the function of the mind, based on right view, right purpose.

[21:22]

This is right thought, right thought, shonen, shonen. The, we strive for, we strive for our life, our life, how we should behave, how we should continue, continue to keep this right thought. This is, this is right thought, shonen. Uh, in the, there was a famous Japanese, uh, there was a famous, uh, general, uh, general, one of generals, which is called samurai in Japan, and names, uh, people, human. Uh, one of, one of generals, uh, who was, who was friends with him, uh, advised him,

[22:49]

him to participate in the tea ceremonies, to participate in the practicing, practicing tea ceremonies. But this Kiyomasa, the general Kiyomasa, thought if he was, if he were crazy about the practicing of tea ceremony in the domain of, in the domain of the rough status quo of the world, you know, our country's ruin, our country's will ruin, would ruin. So he thought we have, we had to, we had to practice, practice, you know, the way of, way of battle, way of

[23:56]

fight, more than, more than the tea ceremony, practice of tea ceremony. So he didn't, he didn't accept his friend's advices. Then the master of tea ceremony at that time is a famous master of tea ceremony named Rikyu. But he, this advices was, this advices disturbed, disturbed Kiyomasa, general Kiyomasa so much. One day he had the idea to slay him, slay him, Rikyu. Then

[25:01]

the general Kiyomasa carrying, visited to the Rikyu's, Rikyu's house to, to, to have a cup of, cup of tea, carrying a sword, carrying a sword. Then they went, they, right before, when, when he, when Kiyomasa get into the tea ceremony's room, tea room, Rikyu says, in tea ceremony, we don't, it is not necessary to carry the sword. So please put your, put your sword aside here. Put your sword here. He said, oh, maybe, maybe in the tea ceremony, the, the, the ace, the ace regulations, what you

[26:10]

said, but the sword is the spirit of samurai, sword is, spirit is samurai, so I haven't, I haven't, no, I must, I must, I must be, I must be never, I must be never with it, without it. So at that time, Rikyu, Rikyu was never, never against his, his claim, his, his claim. So he said, if that's so, then Kiyomasa get into, got into the tea room, carrying with sword. And he sat, he sat in his place, and he slipped, slipped the sword from the, from the hip, like this, and put it aside, put it aside by him. And

[27:18]

Kiyomasa looked at, looked at firmly, looked at firmly the, every moment, every movement what Rikyu did. And he thought, you know, if he find, if he find the Rikyu's unguarded moment, you know, he tried to attack him, and the sword, you know, but he couldn't. Because the Rikyu's every movement was very complete, very complete, no unguarded moment, guarded moment. Rather, the, the instruments which Rikyu, Rikyu dealt with, were disturbed,

[28:25]

bothered, bothered the Kiyomasa's, the Kiyomasa's will, you know, Kiyomasa's, you know, the thinking, Kiyomasa's thought, which he, he tried to attack, attack him. If there is, there was, if there was, if he found unguarded moment, but he couldn't, because the Rikyu's every moment, every movement was very complete. There is no unguarded moment. Then he thought, he was, the Rikyu was, Rikyu was much of, much of master of tea ceremony. Then after that, he started to learn the tea ceremony. This is very famous story, which happened between

[29:38]

Kiyomasa and Rikyu, master of tea ceremony. So, of course, for whatever happens around, whatever happens in our daily life, the important thing is how we should continue, how we should keep the right, right thought, right thought constantly. Whatever happens, whatever happens, this is very important. But usually, we are always very upset when tiny trouble, little troubles happens around you. We are completely upset. To be upset is natural situation of

[30:44]

human being, but to be upset is not to be at a loss what to do. Of course, to your life, your mind is waving, swaying, swaying, swaying, right and rightward and leftward and forward and backward. As long as life endures, this is real truth. But to sway rightward and leftward, it's not to be upset what to do. In other words, to sway, to be upset, such attitude in life, swaying rightward and leftward and forward and backward, we cannot simply feel the truth of human being,

[31:49]

human life, human life. With such delusions and troubles, so important things that we have to contemplate how we should, how we should continue to keep this right thought. Like Rikyu, even though like Rikyu, I don't know whether Rikyu know, Rikyu knew so well he's killed. But like as the Rikyu did, right in the presence of General Kiyomasa who has the, who has, who has

[32:59]

the thought at killing him. He tried, he tried to every effort to keep the right thought, right thought. Then this is, this attitude is very important, very important. That's why Zazen is pretty good, Zazen is pretty good. So when your mind is very upset during sitting meditation, you completely, you don't have, you don't have a half mind to continue to practice Zazen. But this is the human delusions, whether we should do or not. Zazen is not, Zazen is not

[34:11]

in the domain of the world, whether it is good or bad. Zazen is Zazen. This is right thought, right thought. So through practice Zazen, we have to contemplate what the right thought is. This is important. So on Tuesday I said it is not necessary to decide what kind of you are. You are violet or chrysanthemum, it is not necessary to decide whether you are violet or gradual or tiny wild flowers blooming in the right side road. Or beautiful chrysanthemum, it is not necessary because you have life force. Life force doesn't depend on anything at all. Life force every time, anywhere, should be bloomed, should be revealed as it is.

[35:36]

So from this point, our life is eternal, eternal possibility, eternal possibility. While in Japan, one of my friends said, Katagiri-san, 11 Katagiris, eternal possibility. Eternal possibility, at that time I thought eternal possibility was very bad words for me. Because he looked down upon me. At that time we were in conversation, concerned with English, learning the English language. So my language was very poor, you know. So even though for many years, even though I studied for many years, my English was very poor, up to now.

[36:42]

So he said, the 11 Katagiris in English is eternal possibility. Eternal possibility, at that time eternal possibility, the word eternal possibility was very bad words. But it seems to me that he looked down upon me. Your English is very poor, like this, but eternal possibility is very good words. Eternal possibility, forever, our life force should be eternal possibility. Don't discourage, don't discourage anytime, always, anytime, wherever you are. The eternal possibility is always open for you. It is not necessary to decide, I am 11 Katagiri, or I am something like this. It is not necessary.

[37:54]

We should live, we should live in our life with wholeheartedness, based on life force, life force, without unfixed ideas, unfixed ideas. Violet, idea of violet, or gradual loss, or pre-transmigration, 11 Katagiri, you don't care. And all you have to do is to do your best to carry out the object what you want to do. On the basis of the ultimate manifestation of now and here and the self, this now and this here is not to do something at random. This now, this here has the direction how we should go, which we should go.

[39:03]

So Dogen then says, we have to prepare for tomorrow's gruel, tonight, tonight. Tonight all we have to do is to fix, to prepare for the gruel, tomorrow's gruel, tonight. This is our duty, this is our responsibility. So this now, now and here should have direction which we should go, how we should behave. This is right thought, right thought, shonen. Do you have questions?

[39:50]

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