Good morning. We're very happy to welcome back to Berkeley Zen Center, Shohoku Okamura Orochi, on what over the last decade has become almost an annual event. It's really a rare opportunity today, not only because he's one of the very few Japanese teachers currently teaching in America, but also because Berkeley Zen Center is one of the few communities that he's able to continue to visit. In his over 40 years as a priest, he spent most of that time after training at Ankoichi in Kyoto with his teacher, Uchiyama Roshi, teaching in America, following his teacher's instructions to bring Dogen Zenji's writings to America. Ten years ago, he founded the Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana. And there he has continued his translation work Most of us are familiar, whether we know it or not, with some of his writings, which include translations of the Vendola and his teacher's commentary, the Tenzo, Kiyoken, Tsui Monkey, among others.

[01:12]

We're fortunate to begin to receive his own commentaries in the Realizing Genjokulon, which was published about three years ago, Living by Vow, and coming this year, a republication of the sayings of Homeless Kodo, which I believe he'll be speaking about today. Please welcome Shakyamuni Buddha. Good morning, everyone. I'm very happy to be here again and share the Dharma teaching. In the past, I talked mainly... Do you hear? Okay. I talked on Ryokan poems, but this time But this time I'd like to talk on my teacher's teacher, Sawaki Kodoroshi. Because, as Andrea mentioned, last one year, one and a half year actually, I have been working on new translation of Zen teaching, the Zen teaching of Homeless Kodo.

[02:39]

That means the book used to be published. I made, you know, this is the old version of the Zen teaching of Homeless Kodo. I made this book about 20 years ago, and it was published from Japanese Sōtō-shū Shūmu-chō. That is the administrative headquarter of Japan. But this has been out of print for several years. And in 2015 will be Sawaki Rōshi's 50th anniversary of his death. So I'd like to republish this book. before his 50th anniversary. So, I started to work on new translation, making new translation of this book, and with my comments and explanation about what they mean, Sawaki Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi.

[03:51]

Originally, this is a series of newspaper articles written by Uchiyama Roshi. He selected some of Sawaki Roshi's short sayings, and he wrote his own comments on Sawaki Roshi's sayings. And that collection of newspaper articles became this book. And they are popular in Japan. They mean Sawakiroshi and Uchiyamoroshi are popular in Japan because of their unique expression of Dharma. Both Sawakiroshi and Uchiyamoroshi try not to use Buddhist technical terms, but they express the Dharma using very unique and colloquial expressions. so people could understand without much explanation in Japan.

[04:57]

But when this is translated into English, because they are colloquial expressions, when we use American or English colloquial expressions, it changes. So sometimes, some parts of this book are difficult to understand for American people what they are talking about. So that's why I decided to write my own comments on their writings and some explanations. And hopefully the new translation will be published next year. So I'd like to talk about Sawaki Roshi this morning. I'd like to talk about some of his teachings about Zazen.

[05:59]

Sawakiro was one of the most influential and well-known Soto Zen masters in modern Japan. But his life was very interesting. Actually, interesting is not a good word. His life was very full of hardships. but he really seeked the way and practiced. So, I'd like to share what was his life like. And he was called homeless because he never had his own monastery or temple, and he was always traveling. This nickname, homeless, or yado-nashi in Japanese, yado means home, where people stay, and nothing is without, so without form. This nickname was made by an editor of the publisher of his books.

[07:07]

Actually, Sawakiroshi never wrote books at all by himself, but his tesshō, or lectures, were transcribed and published, and The collection of his teisho has, I think, 19 volumes. So, a lot. And many books were written about him. But this person, the editor of the Buddhist publisher, he needs to contact with Sawaki Roshi and try to find him. It was very difficult for him, because he was always moving around. And at that time, not many people had telephones. So, when they tried to contact him, he had a really difficult time. That's why this person, this editor, he was also a Sotozen priest, called Sawakiroshi, homeless, or yadonashi.

[08:15]

became a very popular nickname, so commonly Sakuroshi was called Yadonashi Kodo or Homeless Kodo. Actually, as a part of this new version of Homeless Kodo, I wrote a short biography of Sawaki Roshi. So, this morning I used what I wrote about his life. He was born in 1880, so about 130 years ago. His father was Jinriki-sha, Jinriki-sha or Rakusho parts maker.

[09:20]

But his mother died when he was four years old. And three years later, when he was seven, his father died. So, his parents gone. So, his siblings were adopted separately. And Sawaki Roshi, his Saikichi. When he was seven, he was adopted by his aunt. His aunt and her husband were not so happy to adopt another child because they were also poor. So, Sawakiroshi said, one time, you know, they had a son younger than Sawakiroshi. And to their son, they gave a kind of good food. But to him, they gave only rice and pickled eggplant.

[10:24]

And it was not so fresh. It was almost dark. So, he was seven. He said, I didn't like this old, black eggplant. Then his uncle said, then you don't need to eat and take his food away. That was his first experience of hardships as a child without parents. So, he said, after that experience, he never complained about food. He received anything served. without complaining. Anyway, that was the beginning of his hard life. But about six months later, that uncle died in front of him.

[11:28]

He had a stroke or something. So he was adopted again. and the new step-parents. His step-father's name was Bunkichi Sawaki, so his family name became Sawaki. Officially, or publicly, this person was a lantern-maker, but actually he was a gambler. And his wife, Sawakirose's stepmother, was an ex-prostitute. And prostitutes live in a red-light district. It's not an ideal place for kids to grow up. But his step-parents sent him to school, elementary school.

[12:33]

until Sankirosha's 12th, for four years. And after he graduated from the elementary school, they let him work as a lantern maker. So instead of his parents, his parents didn't work. His parents rely on, you know, their sons' work. And they are doing gambling. That kind of life. Before he graduated from elementary school, he had another experience of impermanence. There were many prostitutes in that area. One evening, a middle-aged person died in a prostitute's room. And the policemen and doctors and other people came to that room.

[13:42]

For Sawaki Roshi, anywhere in that area was his playground. So somehow he went to that room. And he saw that the dead person's wife was crying, of course. And he said, why did you die in this kind of place? It's a very shameful way of dying. When Sawaki was 8 years old, when he saw that scenery, he finally, and very deeply, felt impermanence. That means, after his parents' death, and his uncle's death, and this person's sudden, very sudden, unexpected death, in an unexpected place. When he was eight, Sawakiroshi really awakened to impermanence.

[14:45]

And he also learned that there is no secret. That was the beginning of his search of the way. So, his starting point of searching the way, or studying, or arousing bodhicitta is not philosophical at all. His bodhicitta was caused by actual real problems or difficulties of human life. Then he graduated from elementary school. and he had a friend. His family lived in the same area, but this family was very different from other kind of very questionable people.

[15:52]

His father was, what do you call, in English dictionary. I found a word a paper hanger. Does it make sense? That is, the person who makes a shoji door, a paper door, and also among the calligraphy or paint, that scroll. the person was a kind of craftsman. But he was very well-educated, somehow. So, the person taught Chinese classics to his son and his friend, Saotiroshi. So, that was first he knew there was some different world from the world he was living. So, he didn't like to live his step-parents' way.

[16:54]

So, he found, discovered, there's another kind of world. And that makes him suffer. Because, even though he knew there's a very much positive way of life, but he had to, you know, live with his stepfather. And in fact, besides making lanterns, what his parents forced him to do is, you know, selling snacks at the gambling place. And he was forced to leave the watch at the gambling place because that was illegal for the police. So that was what he had to do. But he didn't like that kind of life. So he started to suffer. And when he was 15 years old, he tried to escape from his parents' home and went to Osaka.

[18:08]

He wanted to become a Buddhist monk. He had some experience of visiting Pure Land Buddhist temples and listening to Pure Land Buddhist teachings. So he knew what Buddhist monks mean. But he also thought he was obliged to support his parents. He didn't want to just escape. Osaka is a big city and he wanted to make money and to give that money to his parents and he wanted to become a monk. But unfortunately he was found by his parents so he had to go back to the original world. But next year he couldn't continue to live in that way.

[19:09]

when he was sixteen. So he talked with a Pure Land Buddhist priest. And that priest said, you should become a Zen monk. Pure Land Buddhist priest is not good. Because Pure Land Buddhists need to have family. If they become a Zen monk, you don't need to have family, so you can be really focused on practice. So, Sakiro decided to escape from his parents' home again and went to Eheiji. From where he lived to Eheiji, today it doesn't take much time, but at that time there was no railroad, so he walked four days. He only had some raw rice. So, when he arrived at Eheiji after four days of walking, just walking, he was really tired.

[20:19]

And he asked Eheiji monks at the gate. He wanted to become a monk. But, you know, Eheiji was a monastery. In order to practice at the age, they had to find a teacher first and be ordained and become a monk. Then they are allowed to practice at the age. So, he was rejected. But he was too hungry and too tired, and so he said, I cannot walk anymore. So, what he said was, let me die here. But the monk said, I give some food, so eat and go. But he said, then I don't need food. And he sat in front of the gate for two days, keep asking. But somehow, one of the teachers at the heiji who was a shisui, or a work leader,

[21:29]

made some arrangement and allowed this person, future Master Akiyoshi, to stay at Eheiji as a lay worker, not as a priest, of course. So he could start to stay at Eheiji, and he was taught how to sit zazen. He was still 16 years old. and from the very beginning he was very kind of moved, deeply moved by Zazen itself. He knew nothing about Buddhism, Buddhist teaching or Zen teaching, but once he was running around for some errand, I think for the kitchen, went through a room where several monks were sitting, zazen.

[22:34]

And when he saw, he only saw the shadow of those monks sitting. And he was kind of shocked. He said, it's like an electric shock. And he felt something very sacred about those monks sitting. And, after that, whenever he walked, when somebody was sitting, he tried to walk without making noise. And, around that time, he was sent to one of the temples near from Eheiji for helping some big ceremonies. And, after the ceremony was over, All the monks sent from Eheiji went to the town to have fun. But Sawakiroshi was not invited because he was not a monk yet.

[23:39]

He was just a lay worker. So he stayed at the temple, but after the big event, they had no work for him. So, what he did was sitting by himself in a room. So, he was sitting by himself. He knew nothing about Zazen. But, at that time, one old woman came into the room to do some work. But, when the old woman, who was always using Sawakirose as a worker, as a young boy, doing this and that. But when this old woman saw this boy was sitting in the Zen, this woman, without thinking, I think, she made a prostration to Sawakirose in the Zen.

[24:46]

you know, teaching about Zen or Zazen, but he deeply felt Zazen is something he needed to do his entire life. That was his starting point. He continued to stay at Eheiji for a while as a lay worker, but he couldn't find, tried to find a priest who could ordain him, but he couldn't find any. So, he left Eheiji and walked to Kyushu. Kyushu is a southwest, one of the He had no money. And he was ordained at a temple in Kumamoto Prefecture by a priest whose name was Koho Sawada.

[26:04]

So, finally, when he was 18, he could become a monk. And he stayed there with his original teacher for one and a half year or so. And he went to a monastery near from Kobe. But he didn't like the monastery. It seems the training monks there were only interested in doing ceremonies. not Zazen. You know, doing ceremonies is important to be a temple priest, but they are not really serious about Zazen practice, so he didn't like that monastery. But soon after he started to practice at that monastery, he met one kind of a unique priest.

[27:05]

His name was Ryōun Fueoka. He practiced with a famous and great Zen Master, Soto Zen Master, Nishiyari Bokusan, for many years, for more than 20 years. And Nishiyari Zenji trusted this person very much. So, Sawakiroshi left that monastery and went to this Fueoka Ryoun's temple. And he practiced with this teacher. And he taught about Dogenzen's teaching and his zazen. And Sawakiroshi practiced with this teacher for about one year. When he became twenty, he was drafted. So, he became a soldier for six years.

[28:11]

So, he could stop studying Dharma and practicing for six years. During these six years, you know, the Russo-Japanese War happened. The bullet went through his throat and went out. He said, it was good, go out. If the bullet stayed, then he would die. Anyway, he was almost killed. To have treatment, he went back home. to his stepfather's parents' home. He found that his mother became crazy and his father borrowed a lot of money because he expected his son was killed in the battlefield.

[29:17]

And he received money from the government. That kind of person, that kind of parents. So, when Sawakiroshi came back alive, he became angry. But, that kind of parents. But, Sawakiroshi returned his stepfather Anyway, after six years, he returned to Japan, I mean, the Buddhist world. And, you know, this teacher, Fuyaoka Ryon, when he taught Sawakiroshi, about Dogen's teaching, he gave one-on-one lectures on some of

[30:20]

Dogen Zenji's writings, texts, such as Gakudo Yōjinshū or Zuimonki. But Sawakiroshi asked him to teach Shobo Genzo. But Fuyuka Ryō said, before you study Shobo Genzo, you have to study Buddhism. So, he didn't teach him Shobo Genzo. So, after he returned from the war, But he didn't have money, because all the money he received from the government went to return his father's debt. So, he didn't have money, so he went to a kind of a school, a Buddhist school, founded by pure-land Buddhist branch of pure-land Buddhist school.

[31:26]

And he was exempt from tuition so he could study free. But he was very poor. And he studied Buddhism at that school for pure-land Buddhist for two years. And after that he We went to one of the oldest temples or monasteries in Japan, named Horyu-ji in Nara. Horyu-ji was originally founded by Shotoku Taishi, or Prince Shotoku, and Horyu-ji has the oldest wooden structure in the world. So, it's a very famous temple. And that temple was also a monastery, a study monastery for... the name of the school was Hossoshu. Hossoshu was a school.

[32:30]

Their main teaching was Yogachara teaching. So, Sawakiroshi went to that temple, Horyu-ji, when he was, I think, 28. And the abbot of Horyu-ji was a very well-known Hoso-shu or Yogacara teacher. So, he studied Yogacara teaching for, I think, six years at that monastery. But he was a really extreme person. When he studied, he just wanted to study. He did nothing else. He didn't care about food, breast milk, or any income. He really just studied day and night. And, during he was teaching Yogachana at Horyo-ji,

[33:33]

met two Buddhist nuns who belonged to Shingon school, but those nuns' okesa was kind of unusual okesa. And those nuns asked Sawakiroshi to give lectures about okesa, and he thought he could. but he couldn't because he never studied about Okesa. Okesa is one of the kind of fields of Buddhist study, traditional Buddhist study. And, Sawakiroshi found that Nan's Okesa was called Yoho-e. And, that came from one of the very well-known Shingon masters whose name was Jiyun Sonja. He was a great scholar and Shingon master. So he became interested in Nyoho-e.

[34:40]

So he went to this master's temple, Kosuga master.

[34:47]

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