who is the teacher at Buddha Eye in Eugene, Oregon. And he's been a friend of ours in the local circles for many years. It's really good to have him here. Please place your hands in gassho again. Namu daion kyoshu honshi shakamu ni zutsu. Namu koso jyoyo daishi ehe kaishan daiyo shodo genzen.

[01:54]

Samutaiso, Josai, Daishi, Soji, Kaisan, Daiyosho, Keizan, Zenji, Jin, Jippo, Hokkai, Issaido, Sanbo, Ima, Kono, Setpo, No, Dojo, Ni, Go, Rin, Shima, Shima, Shite, Ai, Min, No, Jushi, Tamawaran, Kotobo, Please relax. Good evening. Excuse me. As I was so kindly introduced, my name is Watanabe Sensho, and I come here from Niigata Prefecture, from a temple called Toryu-ji.

[03:09]

I arrived on the 13th, and so it's been just exactly a week. But there's quite a time difference between here and Japan, and so even though a week has gone by, I still feel like I'm a little spaced out. But there's something which is an important memory that I have today. I've been the abbot of this temple in my town since 1984, and it's Tagamimachi is the name of the town, and it's right in the center of Niigata Prefecture.

[04:20]

Niigata's famous for growing the best rice in Japan. There is a city very close to ours, the next city over is called Kamoshi. And there's a temple there named Kotaiji. And so there was one staff member there or one of the monks that was at that temple when I was in grade school and middle school whose name was Kogun Chinoroshi. At that time, we were related as cousins by marriage. And while he was at a Heiji training, he had the chance to come here to North America to help spread the Dharma.

[05:40]

The person who received this teaching, the one who is in charge of this place, Master Sojun, and the one who is in charge of this place, Master Fushiki, and the one who is related to Master Shino, I was so pleased to hear of the connection between Sojun Roshi and Kushiki Roshi with Kopun Chino Roshi and it makes me feel that there is a kind of mysterious karmic connection between us. So like I said before, Kogun Roshi was at that temple when I was in grade school and middle school.

[06:44]

We were 18 years apart in age. So I always remember how he was when he was there at Kotaiji when I would visit. He was always in the room that was stocked full of books and he was reading and studying diligently. So as a child, when I saw him, I could really feel that he was quite a wonderful priest, and that really remained within my heart. So I am so happy and grateful to be able to speak about him here with people who had a direct connection with him as he was teaching in the United States and those of you who have learned through the Dharma that spread through others.

[08:15]

So the Buddha Shakyamuni reached a great enlightenment 2,500 years ago. So just as you were sitting Zazen before the lecture began, this was how the Buddha was sitting when he had his great awakening. And at that time, he gave the great exclamation, I, the great earth, and all beings awaken together at this time. One way we can understand this statement or understand his enlightenment is that he woke up to the fact that all things, the trees, the river, all of the environment and all of the beings are together, the Buddha.

[09:37]

And if you would, another way that we could talk about that has to do with the theme for my talk tonight. And if you looked at the paper, if you open it to the inside, you see that there's the title for the talk. And so you can see the title there, How to Live Here and Now, Engagement from the One and a Half Person Perspective. I think this statement, One and a Half Person Perspective, might sound a little strange. And so I came up with this phrase and I believe that it has a connection with Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening.

[10:54]

And so I am so honored to sit here today in this teaching seat and to think about how even though our two countries are 16 hour time difference apart, that although we are very separate, actually there is this deep connection. And so in Dogen Zenji's writings in the Shobo Genzo and the Genjo Koan, he spoke about this and this. To study the Buddha way is to study the self. And so we can understand here the studying of the Buddha way as being the practice of Zazen.

[12:49]

And in the practice of Zazen, we learn to study the self, to look deeply within the self. And so he goes on to say, to study the self is to forget the self. What kind of self do we see? We see a selfish, selfish self-centered self. This is how it is shown. To forget this self-centered self means to overcome it. It means to overcome selfishness. And so this studying the self, if we do it diligently, we will see that we are deeply clinging to our own self-view and our own self-interests. And so deeply clinging to our own self-view, we wake up to this in zazen.

[13:52]

And to forget that is to go beyond a clinging to our self. That's what's meant by forgetting the self. And to forget the self Dogen Zenji goes on to say, to forget the self is to be realized by the myriad dharmas. And so this line is teaching us about how, when we go beyond the self, that we realize that we are supporting all things and being supported by all things. That we are both living and being lived, receiving our own life through all things. そして、万法に生せられるというは、 自己の信心および過去の信心をして、 And so in the last line, he says, to be realized by the myriad dharmas is to let the body and mind of oneself and others drop away.

[15:03]

And so in the last line, he says, to be realized by the myriad dharmas is to let the body and mind of oneself and others drop away. [...] And so in the last line, he says, to be realized by the myriad dharmas There is no more separation, no more walls and barriers. You can't become one, you can't overlap at all, but you can have a 1.5 person relationship that is not two with the other person. And so when we can really truly feel that we are receiving our life from all things and from all beings that surround us, then we are transformed. And this kind of opposition that we feel between ourself and others starts to disappear.

[16:07]

It might not be the case that we completely become one. But as we realize this truth, we no longer put the difference in the center or the separation in the center. And so the most direct way to come to an understanding of this and to live this out is through the practice of Zazen. And so commenting on this same principle, the great founder of Sojiji, Keizan Zenji said, remain always compassionate and dedicate the limitless virtue of Zazen to all living beings. If we can truly realize that we are living in a world where people, things, and the environment around us are connected, then we should be able to support each other even a little bit in our daily lives.

[17:21]

And so if we practice Zazen diligently, and we realize how much we are receiving our life and giving life to other things, then we should be able to live this out in our daily life, to be able to express this connection. But it is actually very difficult for us to wake up to this ourselves. So I'd like to explore this a little bit and to try to experience it ourselves through playing a simple game. It is quite strange to do this while sitting zazen, but I'd like for all of you to play the jankenpon with me, like a rock, paper, scissors. Does everyone know the rules for this?

[18:34]

The rock beats the scissors. And so he'll say, saisho wa gu, jankenpon. And when he says jankenpon, For someone, no matter where I put it, paper, scissors, or rocks. OK? OK? OK. Rock, paper, scissors. Depending on this side. OK. All three times.

[19:36]

Yeah, beat him all three times. Yeah. No one won against Watanabe Roshi all three times? I'm actually quite relieved because if someone had won I would need to give them a prize and I wasn't able to bring any. My bags were too full. And so this time, we're gonna play the same game, but with a slightly different way.

[20:47]

And so he'll say, jankenpoi, and look at his hand, and then put out your hand in such a way that you win. So if he puts out the rock, you would put out, If he puts out the scissors, you'll put out rock. If he puts out scissors, you put out... Oh, is that what I just said? Anyway, you get the idea. So a little bit, you can wait. The little bit behind him. Okay? Saisho wa guu, san ken pon! Okay, okay. Okay. Roshi, roshi, okay. Yeah. Roshi. Yeah. Saisho wa guu, san ken pon! He says, you have to change to beat him. There you go, yeah. Very good. Very good. I think you probably know what I'm up to by now. This time, we'll play in much the same way, but I would like you to put out the hand that loses.

[22:08]

Oh, you're very good. So there was quite a few people who started with the paper and then went rock and then went scissors. You have to lose, yeah. So I'm wondering, was it harder to put out the winning hand or losing hand?

[23:22]

Was there anybody who it was easier to put out the losing hand? A few people? I think generally speaking that it's easier for people to put out the winning hand. I think most of the time, if one puts out the rock, it's very natural for a hand to go to paper very quickly, but it takes a little more time to put out the scissors. At least for myself, I'm very quick at putting out the winning hand.

[24:41]

I think this is because from a very young age, if we win at the janken, especially in Japanese culture, that we will get some advantage or some kind of a prize. And so I think this has entered into our mind quite deeply from a young age. So here's a story. There was a family with four people. So in this four-person family, there's a mother, and a father, and a ten-year-old sister, and a three-year-old sister. And so one day, the mother received as a gift five loquats. Do people know this fruit, the loquat?

[26:07]

It has a very large pit that's very hard and it makes it quite difficult to split them apart. And so when the mother came home, first she took two of the loquats and she gave them to the older sister. And then she took two more loquats and she gave them to the three-year-old sister. How many are left? So it seems that she took the last loquat and she placed it just between herself and her husband. I thought that my kind husband would tell me to eat. What kind of laughter is this? I won't choose. Then, a three-year-old lady

[27:07]

and at that time the three-year-old daughter said oh I hate it when things are like this I like things to be I'm a kind child I like things to be different and she took one loquat and she put it in between the mother and the father Yeah, so she really is a kind child. She wanted her father and mother to both be able to eat their own loquat. But whose loquat do you think she put between her father and her mother? It was actually her older sister's loquat that she placed between the father and the mother. I think this makes us want to laugh, but actually if we reflect on our own situation, we find that I think we really understand this younger sister's feeling.

[28:40]

I think especially when it comes to people who are in the same kind of position as us or within the situation that we really don't want to lose out to them or we're always kind of thinking about how it is that we can be a bit ahead. And so the mother was so happy to have a daughter with such a kind heart. But she also wanted her to be able to understand the feelings of her older sister. you And so I think in the case of both this game of janken that we played and the story about the loquats, that there's always something moving in our heart where we want to stand in a more favorable position.

[30:14]

And so I think this is what creates a kind of separation and difficulty between people. And as this becomes more of the basis of the way that we see the world, I think it becomes obvious or natural that we will harm other people and also that we will suffer from a kind of anxiousness and difficulty ourselves. And so I think that Our kind of own self-centered way of moving and thinking in the world is this teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, of Keizan Zenji, of Dogen Zenji, and the current head of our order, Egawa Shinzan Zenji, who is the abbot of Soji-ji Temple.

[31:28]

In the second half of the talk, I had a very pleasant experience with what you have just said. and so in this latter part of my talk I'd like to talk about an experience I had in which I was able to study this principle deeply. So this is about the time when I was able to train at Eiheiji Monastery. And so I trained at Daihonzan Eiheiji from the years 1981 to 1984. And so the stories I'd like to tell were during the second year of my time at Eiheiji, would have been 1982, from the spring and into the summer. And so, in this second year of my training, I was assigned to the kannin-ryo.

[32:56]

The kannin-ryo would be like a group of monks who are serving underneath the kannin, which is like the director or vice, kind of like a vice abbot of the temple. So I was one of six trainees who was part of that team or that office. And so at that time the kannin was Miyazaki Ekiho Roshi. And so later on, this Miyazaki Roshi became the 78th abbot of Eiheiji Temple. And so at the time that I was serving under him, he was already 80. In the summertime, the wake-up bell is at 3.30 at Eiheiji.

[34:21]

And so there were six of us, and we would trade off the various jobs within the office of the Kannin. And so each of those jobs would come to you once in six days. and so the one position was the most difficult but also where you learn the most was when you were taking care of the Roshi throughout the day for all of his personal needs as his Anja And so for most of the temple, people would wake up at 3.30 and then sit Zazen from 3.50 to 4.30. But in the case of the Roshi, he would usually leave his room sometime between 2.50 and 3.00. I can't ask the doctor what time it is tomorrow, so I have to be in front of the patient's room at 8.50.

[35:36]

At 8.50, In order to go to the front of the room, you have to get up at 2.30am, wash your face, put on a raincoat, and go to the front of the room. If you wait in front of the room for a long time, the old man will come out. He would open the door and then come out of his room slowly. He would take a deep and very deep and tight breath into the box.

[36:51]

In that case, the corridor is still dark because it is still before the time of the season. The stairs are about 100 steps high and lead to the corridor, so I will walk slowly while illuminating my feet with light. The Zazen-do is divided into the inner hall and the outer hall. In the inner hall, there is one tatami mat. Everyone is sleeping with their futons out.

[38:04]

It's supposed to be 9 o'clock, but if you reflect on that day, it's usually around 10 o'clock. Part of the zendo. The exterior is exactly the same width as this one.

[39:21]

It's a tatami floor. I'm sitting at the very edge. And then sitting from 3.50 to 4.30. From 3.30 to 4.30, we sit. From 3.30 to 4.30, how many minutes?

[40:25]

80 minutes. It's just double. I was sitting there with my results in my hands. At 4.30, the bell rang. At that time, I answered, So, my legs were completely asleep. So, even I put out my slippers.

[41:26]

Feet and legs. So at the moment, that's my job. So, this is [...] And he started walking back towards me.

[42:30]

And so I finally got my own legs broken up and I started walking back. Everyone, it's around 4.30. It's 4.30 in the summer, so it's just time for the sun to rise. The Heiji is in the valley of Yamaai, so it's just time for the sun to rise. You can hear the chirping of birds in a very fresh and pleasant atmosphere. There is a feeling that you are really alive and alive with nature. It was hard at first, but when it was over, I was able to do it.

[43:35]

On the way back to the old man's room, there's one place, there's a step, there's one step that you might pass. It was a very pleasant butt. When you do that, you can feel that the sound of the groin is a little easier. This is the training with the master in the morning.

[44:57]

Not only in the morning, but also in the afternoon, when the master leaves the room, the patient follows him like a shadow. If you do that, your body will be paralyzed and you need to fix something. What do you think you need to fix? Oh, yes. In Enhej, everyone wears slippers with their names written on them. For example, if there are five people in the room, the five-legged slippers should be facing the wall and neatly sewn.

[46:04]

I was walking down the corridor, and there was a slipper that was getting in the way. Then, suddenly, my body was bent, and I breathed deeply, fixed the slipper, and slowly stood up. And I loved that smile, but it was like a child's smile, and it made me smile. And then one word. Ah, this is how slippers are said to have come to life. I've been using it for 7 months, and I've had that experience many times.

[47:35]

When people other than me were using it, they all had that experience. I couldn't ask him directly why, so when we all got together, he told me to take good care of my slippers. One day, a visitor came and we met at a place called Shoken-no-ma. There is a Toko-no-ma and a Senko-tate there. So, I was supposed to put it in a straight line.

[48:53]

I was supposed to put it in a straight line. Then, the priest opened the door and came in. He said, Hey, hey, you can't stand up straight. Stand up straight. Yes, he said, with all his heart, he stood up straight. Then, with a big smile on his face, he smiled and said, Ah, now the flash has come to life.

[49:57]

And in that occasion he said, Doors should be shut gently. Shut it again. And so I carefully shut the door again quietly. and so again with a beautiful smile on his face laughing slightly he said ah... the door has become a buta so the uh...

[51:21]

slippers, the incense, and the door. I think there were many other things that also became a buta. And so after, I returned to Niigata. And so after that, the Miyazaki Roshi became the 78th abbot of Eheiji. He lived to be a... This documentary was made when he was 104 years old.

[52:44]

So this documentary was from 2004. So in this documentary, there were many things about Miyazaki Roshi's life. For example, when he left his parents at the age of 10 or 11 to join the monastery. I also learned something about why it was that he was always breathing so deeply. It turns out that in his 60s he had contracted a type of tuberculosis and only one of his lungs was still functioning.

[53:50]

And so he, that's why he had to breathe so deeply. And so here written in your printout are some words from that documentary that really surprised me. I'd like to read them. I'm Ekiho Miyazaki. It was this next line that really hit me. I'm A. Heiji. I was so surprised at this line. And I was so surprised because A. Heiji had been founded in 1244. And there had been a successive line of abbots. And there are people from all over the world that are training there at Eiheiji.

[55:14]

I felt like it was just saying too much considering all of that for Miyazaki Zenji to say that he was Eiheiji. But then he went on to say, I am one with Eiheiji. He went on to say, I'm one with Eheji. There is nothing like myself that is so important. Or another way that could be translated is he said, there's nothing that is so precious as myself. I was a little relieved to hear the Zenji-sama say that. That he also felt like his self was what's most precious. I was told that it is important to take care of oneself because we are all living in the same environment.

[56:32]

But then he went on to say, but this important, precious self is living together with many training plastics, with the building complexes of the monastery, with trees, with mountains, with rivers, with birds, animals, and everything in the natural surroundings. Because people and the environment that support them are all this self. To treasure this self is to treasure the Eheji Temple. When I heard those words, during my training, And so I remembered this occasion when the Roshi had said that these slippers became the Buddha. And so when he bent down to put these slippers straight, his own slippers or the slippers of the trainees were the same. I think he also had the feeling that the slippers should be taken care of well.

[57:37]

And so I think it was the same with the incense and with the door because we are connected together and receiving our life from each other that we should treat them in this way. and so I together with all beings in the great earth awaken at this time the connection between all things and so I believe this is what Miyazaki Zenji was trying to teach us And so in ending, I'd like to just read this poem that's also here in your packet. I'll first read it in Japanese. If anyone here can read Japanese, please read it along with me. And then we'll do it in English. Now we'll read together in English.

[59:27]

I'll read the title and then we can read the rest together. Straightening shoes. When you straighten your shoes, you also straighten your heart. When you straighten your heart, you will also naturally straighten your shoes. If you straighten your shoes when taking them off, when putting them back on, your heart will not be confused. If someone leaves their shoes in disarray, straighten them without a word. If like this, certainly the hearts and minds of all the people of the world will naturally align. So I end here now with a prayer that you'll be able to live this out in your day-to-day life.

[60:20]

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