If you read the Shobo Genzo, you will find one of the chapters which is called Bendo wa, Bendo wa. This chapter is called Bendo wa. It's about 32 years old or so.

[01:25]

In order to teach, in order to propagate, not propagate, in order to teach the Zen, the true meaning of Zen Buddhism to Japanese. Right after coming back from China, he stayed in Kyoto for a couple of years. With silence, he concentrated on writing about Zen, about Buddhism. This Bendo wa was written by Dogen first, right after coming back from China.

[02:35]

So I think this Bendo wa is a very important chapter. In order to understand Zen practice, Buddhist practice, particularly Zazen. I think the book is translated into English, Soto Approach to Zen. Translated by Professor Matsunaga. You will find it in this book. So if you have a book, try to read it. In this chapter, he tried to describe why Zazen is the most important point for Buddhism. He says in Buddhism, with the feature of single direct transmission,

[03:49]

the Zazen is the right gate. In Japanese, Shomon. Right gate to enter Buddhism. Shomon means right. Mon is gate. Right gate. But as you know so well about Japanese Buddhism, there are many schools of Buddhism in Japan. As if the world is like an exhibition of religions. New religions, Soka Gakkai, and any other kind of new religions.

[04:54]

And the old school of Buddhism, Tendai, Keikon, Hokkei, Shin school, Zen, Rinzai, Obaku, many schools. And each school puts stress on its own principle. Hokkei, Nichiren, Nichiren puts stress on chanting of the name of the titles. Sadama, Pundarika, Sutras. Shin school puts stress on the name of Amitabha. Chanting of Amitabha's name. Nami, Amida Butsu. In Tendai, they are founded by a priest named Chigi. He established the principle, main principle of Tendai school.

[06:05]

On the basis of the principle of the central Buddhism. Central philosophical Buddhism. Which is called the Majamika. We call it Chuwang in Japanese. I think in Sanskrit it may be called Majamika. Based on the principle of Sunyata, nothingness, emptiness. Wrote by the Nagyarjuna. Hoso school puts stress on the analysis of the human mind from the viewpoint of Buddhist psychology.

[07:21]

It is really confused, complicated. Very complicated. But for, in order to, for Buddhist priest. For Buddhist priest, this, we call it... Yuishiki, yu, yu means holy, solely. Yuishiki means mind, mind. So I think it means the only mind. The mind only, the mind only. It means mind only. Yuishiki, it describes the human life. Human life from the viewpoint of psychology.

[08:26]

Psychological, psychological source. This is Hoso school. But those, although there are many schools in Japan. Many schools of Buddhism in Japan. But nothing, nothing puts stress on Zazen. Practicing Zazen. Now only Zen Buddhism puts stress on Zazen. Then I think you will, you will have some doubt. Why is it, why is it Zen school must put stress on practicing Zazen? And also because Dogen Zen says in Buddhism,

[09:31]

in Buddhism with the feature of a single and direct transmission. The right Zazen is right gate of Buddhism. In this case. According to Dogen's, Dogen's thought.

[10:36]

Zazen is tanden shoujiki. Tanden. Tan means a single. Den means transmission, transmission. Transfer. Shou means right. Jiki means direct. Jiki means direct. So Zazen is the practice, the practice transmitted directly and single, and single. Directly, really directly, directly. The important point is, Zazen is tanden. Tanden, important point, Dogen used this word tan, tan. This is tan is a single.

[11:37]

Single means not plural, not plural. If you become, if you become a student of whatever it is. If you become a student of Buddhism, Zen Buddhism or Shin school, or a student at the college. At that time there are two persons, teacher and students. Then to transfer something, transmit, transmit something to you. Now we need two persons, teacher and students. Then it is exactly natural for students to expect something given by teacher. At that time you can satisfy, you can satisfy with your teacher. You can satisfy yourself as a student.

[12:41]

This is real natural. But why is it Dogen used this word? Single, single transmission, single transmission. I think this is very important, the single transmission. Buddhism is, Zazen is not transmitted by the teacher, by the Buddha, by the patriarchs. Zazen, Buddhism should be, Buddhism is transmitted by yourself, for yourself. That's why there is only just one person, single person, single person. There is no teacher, no regular and technical teaching given by teacher. This is tongue, this is tongue.

[13:42]

And directory, and directory, right directory. Directory means without distortion, without distortion, without distortion. If you accept, if you accept some suggestion from your master, you should accept, you should accept it straightforwardly, without any doubt, without any distortion. This is shojiki, the right direct, direct. Because, because, Dogen says, because it is,

[14:47]

ah, Myōjutsu, Myōjutsu means the inscrutable, the inscrutable. Zazen is, Buddhism is the very, the inscrutable. Ah, usually speaking, Zazen is, or Buddhism is, ah, very strange religion, very strange. But, ah, Dogen says, Buddhism is very scrutable, very scrutable. Ah, The scrutable is not a particular thing, it's not a particular thing.

[15:51]

So, if you read the Zen stories, Brooklyn Freckle, according to the book of Brooklyn Freckle, you will find very interesting stories. But, in a sense, in a sense, this story seems to appearance, appearance craziness, you know. This story tells us, tells us the method, the method of learning Zen Buddhism, according to the strange appearance craziness. For instance, one of, one of monks ask, ask a, ask a priest, ah, who, who came across just over the river, just the, just the village, just not village, bridge over the river.

[16:57]

He wanted, he wanted to test him to see whether he understand, understood so well about Buddhism. So, just on the middle of the bridge, he ask him, what, how, do you, can you understand, can you understand how deep this river is? That time, this monk, this monk lost no time in answering. He took him and throw him into the river, over the bridge. This is real excessive, you know, example. But, it is not the Myojutsu, this inscrutable way of learning Zen Buddhism. So, don't, don't imitate, don't imitate such a way of learning Zen Buddhism.

[17:59]

The inscrutable is the Myojutsu. This inscrutable is not particular thing in order to learn Buddhism. Yesterday, in one day's Shiyin book, I said, ah, the, there is nothing, there is nothing, ah, nothing to exist in this world. The, ah, as a general person, as a general person alone, alone, we call it Bumbu.

[19:03]

The general person, the idea of general person is the opposite, the opposite to Buddha, the idea of Buddha. So, Buddha and general person, we call it Bumbu. Ah, because general person has a lot of the diligence, a lot of karma, very strong karma and ignorance. So, we call it Bumbu. This is technical term in Buddhism. Ah, ah, it is impossible to live, ah, to keep living in this world as Bumbu, as Bumbu. As a general person who has 108 divisions alone. Now, ah, the Zazen is, ah, Zazen is the practice. Zazen is practice what, what Bumbu is not Bumbu.

[20:10]

Is not, ah, what the general person is not general person. This is practice Zazen. Now, practice Zazen, the Zazen is the practice, is to practice what the Buddha is not Buddha. Because the Buddhist, the contents of Buddha is a general person, general person. Contents of a general person is Buddha itself. Ah, the, it looks like, it looks like the relative, relatives, you know. The, it looks like the, that the Bumbu, ah, general person and Buddha are completely are relatives, relatives. They have a close relationship with the friend, ah, kindness as a relative, relative.

[21:16]

Ah, in other words, not, not only a relative, the relation, relationship of relative. The general person and Buddha is, ah, seems to me, it seems to me that they, ah, they are, they are like, ah, you know, the existence of your body, you know, stomach and back, stomach and back. So when you say this is stomach, you know, this is, this is stomach, it's not the real answer, you know. Because the stomach itself doesn't live, it cannot, cannot live alone. When you say this is stomach, this is stomach, you know, at that time this stomach include, you know, whole existence of my life force, you know, eleven categories or other positions of priest or all things, or universal, universal facts, you know.

[22:25]

The sun and moons and the earth and the humid or everything, you know. Ah, then when you say, if you pick up some, one of, one of, one of my body, this is, this is my hand, you know. But the hand itself cannot live alone. Ah, what, what I use this hand, you know, the, it is what I live, I exist in this world, the, keeping the whole existence of my life force, you know, including all sentient beings, names and positions, fames or delusions and Buddhas, many things. Ah, from this point, you know, the, the Buddha and, the Buddha and general person are completely like the back and, the back and stomach, back and stomach.

[23:40]

It is impossible to buy only, only my stomach. For instance, if you, if you want to buy the piece of paper at the stationer's, would you give me just the front of piece of paper? It's impossible, you know. Nobody give it. Nobody give it, give it to you, you know. If you want a piece of paper, you have to buy front and back. Otherwise, the piece of paper doesn't work. So, I am sorry, I am sorry, unfortunately you are very difficult to keep your front and back as a piece of paper, you know, it means, you know, the back and forth is, back and front means, you know, delusion and Buddha mind. Very difficult for you, but, unfortunately very difficult for you, but it, it can be helped.

[24:42]

Anyway, if you want to, if you want to, the Buddha, if you want to, the real nature of yourself, anyway, you have to buy both, you know, the back and front, delusion and Buddha mind, Buddha mind. When I was trained, during the training, during the, in the midst of the training, at A.H. Monastery, at that time I wanted, I wanted to have really the enlightenment, you know, want to have the experience of enlightenment. So, I practiced, practiced Zazen very hard, you know, day after day. That time I asked the Zen Masters, I want to, I want to experience, I want to experience enlightenment, how should I do?

[25:52]

And this Zen Master says, oh. He said, it seems to me that, you know, the, my name is Daini. Daini, if you think so, it seems to me that you put evolutionary, you know, evacuation, evacuation, you know, doodle, doodle, you know. It looks like, it seems to me that you put, you try to put evacuation, evacuation right on the, right on your nose, and look for where is enlightenment, where is doodle, where is evacuation. But the evacuation, the smell of evacuation is coming from the, just the top of your nose, my nose.

[27:00]

But if you think of what enlightenment is, you know, this Zen Master says, oh, I'm sorry, it seems to me that you put evacuation on the top of the nose, and look for it, look for it, where is, where is, where is enlightenment is, where is evacuation is. At that time I didn't, I didn't say anything at all. Just I hanged, I hanged my hand, my head, you know, and stupefied, that's all. At that time I understood a little bit what enlightenment was. Enlightenment is not to get something. It's not, even, even whatever it is, you know. Not to catch the, even, even the catfish, even the eels.

[28:06]

And sometimes the Zen Master, in his lecture, he said, the Zazen is, the enlightenment is not the measuring wall, measuring wall, who is climbing up the tree. Do you know the measuring wall? You don't know that? Huh? Inchworm. Inchworm. Oh, I see. Inchworm, that's good. You know, inchworm, like this. Zazen is, Zazen is not inchworm. That's why Dogen then says, from the beginning of the practice of Zazen, don't use chanting sutra, don't use nenbutsu, oh, I'm sorry, nenbutsu, but don't use the practice of chanting the name of Buddha. You should, all you have to do is just practice Zazen.

[29:19]

You know, when I was in the A.H. monastery, you know, I was very impressed by chanting sutra. Because there were many people, many monks, about 100, about 200 monks. When it was first time to enter the A.H. monastery as a novice monk, one of the old monks fortunately was taken in, no, I was taken in, fortunately, as a novice monk by an old monk. Then next morning I went to, I attended to, I participated in the morning service. That time I was very impressed by the chanting sutra, chanting sutra by the 200 monks.

[30:36]

Very impressed. That time I was infatuated with how happy I was. But something crazy, you know. But this is not religion, this is not religion. When you go to Japan, I think you will find very big, huge temples. Huge temples built, built, designed for the good sound effects, effect. Good sound effect. So, if you chant Amitabha's name over there, you know, the Amitabha's name is just six letters, words, Nami Amitabha. They call it Namandabu, Namandabu, this is technical pronunciation. Namandabu, Namandabu.

[31:38]

The 200 person, 200, 300 person, effect. What do you think? Very wonderful chorus, you know. Chorus appears in this hall, you know. And then you are, you are completely infatuated with how wonderful it is. I experienced at the A.H. monastery in this way, in that way. When I went to New York, I visited a very wonderful Christian church. Peter said it was the oldest church, Catholic church. Very wonderful. This building was, I think, built for, designed for the very good sound effects. Too much good sound effects, so I couldn't understand what he said.

[32:46]

Anyway, during at least while you are infatuated with, infatuated with listening, listening to, listening to the chanting sutra given by 200 and 300, 1,000 students, 1,000 monks. And you think, oh, how happy you are. That's, it is not, it is not, you know, it is not real zazen. It is not religious experience. So, the... The zazen is completely no reaction. No reaction, no reward. No reward, no regular and technical teachings.

[33:56]

No regular. That's why it's pretty difficult, pretty difficult. You can't be, you cannot be patient. You cannot be patient before, before this practice with no reaction, no reaction. Because human being is always chasing for some candies, you know, some candy. Some excitement, religious excitement. But in zazen, Dogen says, as Dogen says, from the beginning of, from the start point of practicing zazen, don't use chanting Buddha's name, chanting of Buddha's name, or chanting sutras, and any other things.

[34:59]

Just do the zazen. But even though you do zazen, there is no reaction, no reaction towards your hard practice. So, that's why the trouble is that zazen is very hard. But you have to, you have to contemplate what the truth is, what the truth is. Not only, not now, but through your life after life, you have to contemplate what the truth is. Zen, Zen Buddhism says in that way always, that's why Zen is, Zen is very poor. Zen Buddhism, the school of Zen Buddhism is very poor, very poor to propagate, to give, to show advertisement.

[36:03]

But the, we are very attractive, attractive by Zen because, you know, there is no action, no reaction, no defer, no reward. Because if you face, if you face the problem of birth and death, you know, there is no reaction, no reward. There is no room to think, to contemplate, I want to something, I want to something, you know. Or like samurai, when you, let's imagine you are samurai, you become samurai, with sword. When you face each other, when you face your opponent with sword, I don't know which, which is, which is killed.

[37:09]

Anyway, you have to, as long as you stand, you stand facing each other, you know, with sword. You are standing, your place, now and here, standing, with sword, is completely on occasion of birth and death. I don't know, nobody knows, nobody knows which is alive, which is killed. There is no room to contemplate what the birth is, what the death is. There is no room, you think, when you, that you think, you think, I don't want, you don't want to die. There is no room even, even that you don't want to die.

[38:13]

You want to live, to be alive, you have to just stand there with sword. This point is very important, no reaction, no reward. Even though you move something, accepting opponent's sword, or protecting from hurts, this movement, this movement is not reaction, is not reaction. This movement is, should be done completely in the world of no reaction, no reward. No room to think what is, what is birth and death. I think that thing is, you have to, if you want, if you want to be true nature of yourself,

[39:28]

you have to, you have to just stand, right in the midst of birth and death, with no reaction, no reward. Otherwise you don't understand what food you are. But there is not so difficult practice, there is not so difficult practice. I think the practice is, it seems to me that you play, you play with, you play with the Buddha. It not, it seems to me that the, you don't, you don't, you don't do something,

[40:33]

you don't do something, you don't work, you don't have anything to work with Buddha. That thing is not to work, to have something to work with Buddha. That thing is to play with Buddha, freely, frankly, whatever you are, whoever you are. On the stage of now, I'm here. On the stage of today, on the stage of tomorrow, on the stage of the day after tomorrow. Completely jump into the water. You have to plunge into the water. Plunge into the world of, world of Zazen itself. I think you don't understand, you may not understand so well the practice of Zazen as no reaction, no reward.

[41:52]

No regular and technical teaching given by a teacher. But this is very important, this is important, even though you don't understand now. You have to, you have to experience, you have to contemplate this point. You have to get taste of this point. Through your whole life, through life after life. Under this situation, with no reaction, no reward, you have to settle yourself on the self. If you find settlement, if you find religious settlement, by something given, by the teacher, by the others, by some principles of religion.

[42:54]

It's impossible to rest, to rest at peace, wherever you go. So under this situation, with no reaction, no reward, you have to completely rest at peace. With a firm, steady proceeding. From now to the next moment, from today to tomorrow, from tomorrow to the day after tomorrow. With peacefulness, with religious security, religious settlement. Which means to settle yourself on the self. This is Zazen, I think this is real religion. The five dogma says Zazen is right gate, right gate of Buddhism.

[44:02]

Right gate to enter Buddhism. Enter Buddhism which is characteristic of the single direct transmission. And through this experience you learn, you learn what Buddhism is for yourself. You have to find yourself, the true nature of yourself. For yourself, by yourself. Through practice Zazen. The five, he used this word, single. Single transmission and direct transmission. Direct transmission and single transmission is always to settle, to find yourself. Now resting at peace, resting at peace. On the stage of moment, now and here, next moment, next moment, next moment.

[45:03]

Whatever it is, whatever happens, whatever happens around you. And this effort is important. This is the effort of practice Zazen.

[45:18]

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