Many introductions before the introduction. We're very happy to have Reverend Juko Nakano from Sotoshu here as a specially dispatched lecturer. And accompanying him and translating for him, some of you may know Daigaku Urume, who is, for many years, he spent many years studying in Japan. In more recent years, he's been working at the Soto Zen Buddhism International office in San Francisco. Most recently, he's been appointed as the Sokan, which is the Soto Zen representative. It roughly translates as bishop, but I don't know how comfortable he is with that term. have our friend Daigok moves on here as well. And the two of them together will work very harmoniously.

[01:04]

So Mr. Daigok, for introductions. Good evening. It's great to be back at Berkley Zen Center. Reverend Nakano is a specially dispatched teacher. He's well known in Japan as a speaker. And this is the fourth night that we are on a little tour. the middle day of our little tour. Well, I think I'll let him do the speaking anyway. There is a biography in the material that we gave you. So if you want to know a little bit more about him, he is fond of traveling in China and India. I will tell you that's not written on there. So without further ado, I'd like to pass the ball to Reverend McConnell. This is my first trip to America. and I am dispatched by the Soto Shu to come and speak here in this country.

[02:31]

Well, I have had a chance to travel to Hawaii two times, but it really seems like a long time since I've had The opportunity has arisen for me to come to this country. I do not speak English, so allow me to speak in Japanese. I came to San Francisco yesterday. Today, in the morning, I visited the Green Garchi Farm and had lunch with the people of the village. In the afternoon, I visited a temple called Kojin-an and came here at night.

[03:39]

We arrived in the Bay Area yesterday, last night, and today, this morning, we went to Green Gulch Farm, and we were able to have lunch with the people who are doing Ango there. And then this afternoon, we visited Koji Nan, which is in Oku. Then at my recommendation, we also had time to go to Muir Woods. And this was very, very refreshing for me, both in body and mind. I like to travel. In Japan, we have a kind of travel that we would say... I could use the word pilgrimage.

[04:57]

Yes. The most famous pilgrimage in Japan is called Kannon Junrei. This would be a pilgrimage in connection with Aokigahara or Kannon Bosatsu. In Christianity as well, there is this custom of making pilgrimages. I very much would like to make a pilgrimage which is done in Spain called Santiago de... something. And it seems to be in the western part of Spain. It's my hope and prayer that I'll be able to do this one month long pilgrimage in Spain.

[06:13]

This one that we do in Japan called Kannon Jundu has been done for more than a thousand years. The temple where I am now the head priest in Japan, Chorakuji, was also the temple where my father and grandfather were the head priests for 37 years. At this particular temple there is a monument, made from stone, that was, it seems, from the Edo period of Japan, and it is commemorated

[07:16]

This monument is the, what would you call it, the marker or the way that it was the commemoration of a certain pilgrimage that the sixth head priest previous to me of this temple did. So, it is a monument and it is dedicated to, there would be, let's see, one million of these bodhisattvas. Then I also had a chance as well to do this Avalokiteshvara pilgrimage.

[08:45]

This consists of 100, I suppose, different temples in the middle part of Japan where Avalokiteshvara is honored. A certain area of Japan called Saigoku is the oldest area of Japan where this pilgrimage has been done. After this pilgrimage was finished, I was really unsure, let's say confused, about where to make 10,000 prostrations of gratitude for being able to do this. At that point, a Dharma friend of mine said, to me.

[09:59]

Really, you ought to go to... I think it's called... Putou Island. Something like that. It's an island off the coast of China. 800 years ago, Dogen Zenji visited this place. Dogen Zenji, as well, went there about 800 years ago. He came to visit this Buddha statue. There are three big temples on this island and about 100 smaller temples that are associated with these temples on the island. The abbot of one of these temples was a man named Yozo and he was 93 years old but I was not able to meet him. Nevertheless, I was able to meet the kanin, the director of the temple.

[11:03]

a man named Doshu. This was a man who lived through the Cultural Revolution in China. As you know, the Cultural Revolution was a movement in the 1970s. Part of it was involved with destroying Buddhism in China. On this island as well, many of the temples were destroyed. And unfortunately, very, very unfortunately, those priests who did not return to the lay people were killed.

[12:29]

This man, Dosho, that I met, sensing the danger, was able to hide from these people. This priest had a very peaceful face. His eyes looked like caramels to me. In Buddhism we say, and this is true of the Buddha as well, that the deeper that we feel sadness, the more peaceful a certain person can be. This man taught me one thing. This teaching has to do with N. Well, we could say causality.

[13:47]

In my own mind, I had come to this certain island in China in connection with a pilgrimage that the sixth head priest previous to me had done Dosho-doshi was introduced to me by the men and women who had come with me to this island. The reason I came to this island He said to us, you may think that you have come on your own through your own power to this island because of your own reasons, but there's actually a much deeper in or connection that has brought you here.

[14:52]

He told me that this connection that had brought me to this island was something that had arisen from something that had happened 200 years before, 300, 500 years ago. At the time When he said that, it really felt like someone had hit me with a kyo-saku. I was deeply moved by his words. He was saying, in other words, that the condition that had brought me or the circumstances that had brought me to this island had been something formed from long, long ago. Following that logic or that reasoning, that would apply to me being here tonight speaking to you.

[16:15]

This was something that was decided long ago. For that reason, I put my hands together in gratitude. Dogen Zenji went to China at the age of 24, about 800 years ago. He practiced for four years in China and then he returned to Japan. While he was in China, he had a chance to visit many temples. And then he wrote about some of the experiences that he had in China that were particularly important for him there.

[17:21]

For me, there's one story in particular that stands out in my memory. I'm quite sure that you are familiar with the story that appears in the Tenzo Kyokun, the Instructions to the Cook. This story has to do with the Tenzo. The Tenzo, of course, is a person who is cooking in the monastery. Cooking in the monastery is Buddhist practice, practice of the way. This is a story that happened while Dogen Zenji was at Tendozan. Tendozan, as you know, is the monastery where his master, Tendo Myojo, was neither.

[18:46]

This was a story that took place on a hot summer day. This happened while Dogen Zenji was coming down the corridor. The scene was an old monk in the courtyard drying mushrooms. When Dogen Zenji stopped and asked him, the man explained that he was the Tenzo. Young Dogen asked him, Roshi, why don't you have a younger person, why don't you have one of the younger monks out here doing this work for you?

[20:07]

The old monk said, this is a job that I have to do. There's nobody who can do it for me. The other is not me. It's the way that that's... I think it's translated. The other person is not... it's not a job that another person could do, in other words. The next question was, why don't you do it when it's cooler, like in the evening? The old monk said, I've got to do it now. This has to be done right now. His answer was something to the effect, I can't wait for another time to do it.

[21:09]

These two answers of the old monk, the other person is not me, and I can't wait for another time to do it, were very very important. Dogen was deeply impressed by these two answers. This story is written down in the Tenzo Kyoku. As expressed in this old monk's answer, Zen is a practice that you do.

[22:31]

It's not something that somebody else can do for you. Secondly, it has to be done now. This is to live right now, to do the practice right now. You cannot wait and do it later. My master passed away 10 years ago. He was extremely strict. The way he taught me was, even before I said something, he would hit me. This was really difficult. I often saw the stars.

[23:33]

I had it. 本当に怖かったんです。 He was really frightening or fearful. その師匠が私にいつも言っていた言葉があります。 These are some words that I often remember that he said. 今何が大事だという言葉であります。 What's important now? This is still a theme in my life. Now I ask you, what's important now? If you made a list of priorities, what would be the priority? If you took all those things away that were not necessary to do, would there be anything remaining?

[24:37]

For me, I think of it in terms of these two answers that the old monk said. The other person is not me. In other words, I have got to do this job. Secondly, I can't wait and do it later. On the 13th of next month, I will perform the 50th anniversary memorial service for my grandfather. He passed away before I was born. My only know him through anecdotes I've heard around the temple as well as photographs.

[25:41]

He was the head priest of the temple where I live now in Choraku-ji for fourteen years. Of those fourteen years, eight of them, he And I'm sorry, I don't... it has something to... maybe like a brain hemorrhage or something like that. In any case, he was not well, and so he was not able to perform the function of the head priest well. My father was my grandfather's attendant. My grandfather was one of only two people who had been to college or let's say university at that time in the particular area where we lived.

[27:08]

Oh, let's say about the beginning of, let's say 1900 or 1910, he graduated from Waseda University in the philosophy department. After he graduated from university, he went to Eiheiji to practice. He said to my father who was the first son, the oldest son in the family. He told my father, not the grandfather who was speaking, right? I did go to university, but when I went to Eheiji, I really put my learning behind me.

[28:29]

My father deeply believed that his whole life, and that's how he practiced. And so my father never went to college, never went to university. These are some words that he said to me, someone... so he was a person who had just devoted his life to practice. I as well, when I went to HEI, my intention was to leave my learning at the gate, like my father had. But, I still haven't. I'm still trying to get rid of it.

[29:38]

In the Soto Shu, we have an expression, practice and learning are one. The meaning of this teaching is that like two wheels on a cart, both are necessary. My intention has been also to leave behind this study, but I have to say I'm really wondering if I'm really doing my practice well enough or not. The life of Zen, or the practice of Zen, is practice. The basis of practice is Zazen.

[30:46]

As the Dogen Zenji said, or taught, Futsudo nanau to iu wa, jiko nanau nanai. Jiko nanau to iu wa, jiko o wasuru nanai. Jiko o wasuru nanai to iu wa, banpo ni shosezaru nanai, to shimesarete orimasu. Dogen Zenji taught, to study the way of Buddha is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be verified or confirmed by all things. Zazen is the study of the self. Zazen in Soto-shu is to sit single-mindedly.

[31:49]

Single-minded or just, simply, and so on. This is something that's really rather difficult to understand. Isn't it the case that when we really completely set and become one with Zazen that we understand this teaching. That's why I'm still a little bit bothered by that teaching. The question for me is, am I really doing Shikantaza? The posture of Zazen is the posture of Shakyamuni Buddha. Practice is to ask yourself, is my Zazen really in accord with the teaching of the Buddha? We are told that Zazen was the means by which the Buddha awakened.

[33:13]

Well, I simply think, or let me put it this way, Satori I think of as waking up, or yeah, waking up. If you have realized it, then you should continue to practice it. Zazen is... in the morning... sitting in the temple... If we begin sitting in the morning and finish sitting in the evening, let's say, to sit all day, is that Zazen? We have the practice of Sesshin. sitting from morning to evening.

[34:34]

This is a way of realizing the mind of Shakyamuni Buddha. Am I really practicing the sesshin with the mind of Buddha? Zazen is really rather difficult. I think the basis is Saho. Saho is the form. Zazen is also a form. There are the following words which describe Zazen. Katachi wa kokoro wo tsukuri.

[35:38]

Kokoro wa katachi to naru. The form makes the mind. The mind then informs the form. Saisho no katachi wa zazen no shisei de arimasu. The first part of the form of zazen is the posture. By continuing to do this certain posture, it affects the mind. In shaping the mind, if I could use that expression, in other words, becoming a form, that means finally to let go of the form. Isn't that the way that we intend to practice every day?

[36:43]

The basis of Zazen is the posture. I believe that by continuing this matter of doing the posture, being the posture, and forming the mind of that, this is Zen practice, to put it into practice, to do it every day. For this reason, the posture is important. First, we fold our legs. Well, some people sit full lotus, some people sit half lotus. Next we put our hands in the Cosmic Mudra, as he's doing now.

[38:07]

This is the form that you're doing every day. Then, all the other things that we have been taught to sit up straight. Yes, the mouth is closed, the tongue is on the upper palate there. Eyes looking forward and then down along the bridge of the nose about about a meter in front of us, and so on. This form is just as it is written in Heihei Dogen Zenji's Fukan Zazen, as well as Keizan Jokin's Zenji's Zazen Yojinki. So, the first basis of Dazenden is the posture, to do it just as they tell you to do.

[39:27]

While we're sitting, we should not be leaning forward, backward, to the left or to the right. This is called, in Japanese, shoushin tanza. In other words, sitting straight up and doing zazen. So this matter of sitting single-mindedly, it must be this upright sitting. This, we can't do it.

[40:29]

We can't do it. How about you people? Can you really do this? If you say Zazen, you become sleepy. Well, have you ever had that experience of being just a little bit sleepy when you're sitting, of perhaps falling forward? There is a time when, yes, you jerk backwards when you realize that you're sleeping. I have a feeling that those of you who are laughing have had that experience. Then when you feel some irritation, then you start twiddling your thumb. Then if your legs start hurting and so on, then there's a fur right here in the bra. If that ever happens, then you should ask for the kyo-sakura.

[41:52]

When you are in connection with the kyo-sakura, then suddenly all of those things will disappear. Your sleepiness, your irritation, and so on. Boredom, and so on. When you're in the zendo, you can ask someone to hit you with a kyozaka. That's no problem. But what about when you're not in the zendo? It's for that reason that we should be grateful to do zazen in the zendo. This may seem like a Zen mondo, but this is an important thing, important thing to say. Even if you are hit with a kyosaku in the Zen do, is there anybody who gets angry when they are hit.

[43:12]

The form, at least the way we do it in Japan, is that the person who is hit says thank you, bows in gassho. The same with the person who is hit with a stick. They also both express their gratitude to each other. This is the form of people bowing to each other. This is the practice of becoming Buddha, practicing Buddha. Zazen is Zazen is the practice of studying the self.

[44:20]

Nevertheless, when we stop doing Zazen, when we live our everyday life, that is also practiced as well. When we use this word in Japanese, butsudo, which literally means the way of Buddha, we are talking about practice. This is not something special. It's to live peacefully. to live in a way that is atarimai means proper or suitable, appropriate to the situation.

[45:22]

Isn't this something that we will come to understand on our own if we do this practice? This is the situation then where the mind naturally expresses itself according to the form that you become. To put the mind in order this way is sitting. The Zen way to live, then, is to make this effort to practice the way that you've been told to do. To really carry it out in your everyday life. So the very best way to put your mind in order, then, is morning Zazen and evening Zazen.

[46:28]

Two nights ago, I spoke at ZCLA down in Los Angeles. A human being is a being that has Stopped doing practice. Broadened into practice. Broadened into practice. Nevertheless, for myself, I'm always being used by various delusions and desires. Nevertheless, when we do Zazen, this is to be a Buddha. In other words, when we're sitting, our legs are crossed, our hands are held like this and so on, so we're just sitting very quietly.

[47:54]

So this means that when we're sitting like this, we are a Buddha, but no longer sitting like this, start moving around, walking around and so on, we don't know quite what to do. How about you people? Do you understand the self? I think there's nothing to understand. Let us be peaceful, calm. Let us sit quietly in zazen. If we do this, the Buddha will be happy. Dogen Zenji will be happy.

[49:08]

Keizan Zenji will be happy. At least for me, this is my hope and prayer. My hope is that myself as well as you people that you will make Zazen really the pillar of your practice. And then we will continue. This is not something that someone else can do for you. The other person is not you. This is something that cannot wait. Let's do it now. Let's practice now. Let's have that intention to practice this way.

[50:10]

This is the negai, means the hope and the wish of Dogen Zenji. I have come to America, I've been able to come to America as a messenger from the Kancho, that's the head priest of Soto-shu. This is also the hope and wish of the head priest. Please continue living in such a way that Zazen is really the basis of your practice and life. We have passed out some materials in English, including a message from the head priest,

[51:15]

The time that was allotted to me has just flown by. It's over, and so I'd like to conclude my talk. Zen wa watakushi wa deaera to omotte oremasu. I think of Zen as encounter. From morning to evening, we are encountering all sorts of things. All of those encounters are the beginning and the end. Is that the way that you're living? If we live in this manner, then each and every day is irreplaceable.

[52:39]

It's something that, well, it's beyond value. It cannot be valued. I think that's really the way it is for me and I think that's the way it is for you, isn't it? But when I think of my body and mind, is it really in balance? In our present day and age, this matter of balance, this is really something that seems to be getting lost. Zen is the teaching that body and mind are one. My hope is that really, that both myself as well as you as well, that we can live in a way that body and mind are in harmony, in balance.

[54:07]

Thank you very much for listening and for being here tonight. Any questions or comments? Feel free to. We have time for questions and so on. Please. I was reading in your biography that you just built a Zendo at your own temple. I was wondering, do you have a lot of your lay people coming there on a daily basis practicing? I just read the profile of Nakahara-shi. He recently created a new Zen school in Chorakuji. Do people from Chorakuji or nearby come to sit every day? I come to sit every day, but it is not open yet. The opening day is on the 13th of next month. No, I sit by myself because November 13th will be the official opening of the center.

[55:22]

Thank you very much. Thank you. I just want to thank you very much for coming. It's been a great honor. Thank you. Thank you for coming today and giving us your words of advice. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The first zendo, the Dogen Zenji-kyo, was in Kyoto. In present day Japan, Kosho-ji is in Uji. Yes, in Uji. This was not the original location of Dogen Zenji's temple, which was in Fukakusa, which is in the southern part of Kyoto. Dogen Zenji had practiced in China and then he came back to Japan and then built this zendo.

[56:39]

When he built the zendo in this place in Kyoto, the tan, these platforms were 48 centimeters high. That's quite high, actually. As you know, this is where we eat here in the zendo. Also, we should not put our feet on this piece of wood called the joen. Please excuse us for having this light and tape recorder and so on on the joen. However, at my new dental, I've made the tongue 42 centimeters long. It was my feeling that 42 centimeters was really the ideal height for Japanese people to easily get up on this platform.

[58:30]

私は当初、岡山様の教えの通りに禅道を建てることを願ったのであります。 Nevertheless, all along I had the intention of doing it just like he had built the original one there in Kyoto. 転がりました。 Yes, and I even wanted to have them 48 centimeters high. Then, however, one person said the following to me. Nakano-san, is it your intention to to raise and train monks there, in your little gentle there? I said, no, no. My intention is to sit with the lay people in the community. Then he said to me, well, it's best not to get hung up on the details.

[59:32]

48 centimeters or so. To get hung up on those details is not Zazen, he said. I had a deep insight at that time. I see, I see. Yes, I understand. At the height of 42 centimeters, this is really a height that anybody can do Zazen. They can get up on the tomb easily. My intention is to go with the flow. Well, in Japan, many, many people think that Zen is something very, very strict. The thing that they seem to be the most afraid of is the kyo-saku.

[60:48]

In real fact, in real life, in fact, the kyo-saku is unnecessary. If people can really sit zazen, it's unnecessary. At the time of Dogen Zenji, there was no kyo-saku. For that reason, because people said the way they did, it wasn't necessary. As for myself, I really aspire to do Zazen where Kyosaku is not necessary. Wouldn't that be the best? This little zendo in Fukushima, where I live, well, I really hope and pray that many

[62:15]

outstanding people will come and practice there. My aspiration is to encourage this quiet mind, peaceful way of living, where people come and sit together. I think that's the same here at Berkeley Center. Japan and America are far apart in distance, but the mind is the same. So, rather than really doing it single-mindedly, the way I'm thinking to practice is that every day is a good day.

[63:33]

So, I've been speaking so long. Are there any more questions? In the story that we told about the Tenzo that Dogen encountered, it reminds me of the Tenzo Kiyoken, when Dogen talks about parental mind. A parent who loves their children would have the same kind of attitude. What do you think about that? I don't remember. Anyway, about the previous story, the story of Tenzou Kyo-kun, after hearing that, at the end of Tenzou Kyo-kun, there is something called San-shin.

[64:45]

Daishi, Kishi, Roshin. Roshin. That Roshin mind, does that also have a connection to Roshin? It seems to have something to do with it. With what? With what? It's the story from before. Ah, the old woman's heart? Yes, the old woman's heart. The parent's heart. If you translate it, it's like a parent's heart. The old woman's heart. The old woman's heart, yes. Somehow, the old woman's heart came to mind. What does that mean? The Tenzo Kyokun, the instructions for the cook, Dogen Zenji is talking about the mind of the cook. And he says there are three aspects of the mind of the The cook's mind.

[65:59]

These three minds, I'm sure many of you know this, are joyful minds, The second one, Roshin, sometimes translated as parental mind, literally it means old mind. Sometimes old woman's mind. Like a grandmother. Grandmother's mind. And the last one is great mind, or big mind. Magnanimous mind. その中で老心、これを老婆親切、日本の言葉でいうと老婆親切という熟語がございますけれども、そういうものでしょうかというお尋ねでありました。 So, regarding the second one, this old woman's mind.

[67:07]

Well, the kindness of an old woman. This gentleman here is asking about this. The way I think about this grandmotherly mind is a mind that Well, we have an expression in Japanese to exhaust something. So, to do something thoroughly. Completely. To be completely sincere. This word, shinsetsu, means to be sincere. So, that sincerity is what I just said, magokoro. In Japanese, magokoro means to believe before you lie. In the expression, the kindness of an old woman, yes, this is one aspect of it, but magokoro, this other aspect, is this matter of being sincere, of not telling untruths, or not telling lies, right?

[68:17]

To explain this in words is difficult. Nevertheless, we could say that the basis of this grandmother mind is sympathy. Do you understand? Yes. Is that similar or different to the Tenzo? To the Tenzo who is out... Old Tenzo out in the sun with the mushrooms. Yes. When we were talking, we were talking about the old man who dried shiitake under the hot sun. That old man's heart was, as I thought, Is it the old man's heart? Is it the old woman's heart?

[69:19]

Is it the heart of an elderly person? Is it the love for the shiitake mushroom? Rather than love, it's the feeling. The [...] Yes, certainly from the point of view of Dogen Zenji and his three minds, yes, this would be grandmotherly mind. Thank you. So I think this might be a good time to leave this room full of grandmothers. I'm getting a little bit sleepy. All of us. Yeah.

[70:20]

But Nakabosama, thank you so much for coming. What occurs to me is that we hear very much, we hear from the teachers that we know. And we don't often have guests coming from Japan, from Soto Zen. But really, the teaching is exactly the same. those three minds are manifest and the very things that you talk about are the same things that we talk about here. And so it's very, it's both refreshing and reaffirming. There are very few people who live in such a way, so thank you for coming all the way here. But if you listen to the story, it is the same story as the story of the three gods of Tenzo Kyokun, for example.

[71:22]

Well, that's... I can't translate that, except I think it's hard to translate. In that case we bow. Yes, yes. Thank you. Shall we chant the four raps? Yes, the four raps. In carnivorous I vow to awaken with them. Illusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them.

[72:28]

Dharma is far from this. I vow to nurture them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to be kind. I bow to Him with them. Delusions are impossible. I bow to Him with them. Dharma is harmonious. I bow to Him with them. Love's way is unsurpassable. I vow to treat them right. Beings are marvelous. I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible.

[73:29]

I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. He would like to do the universal dedication of merit in Japanese. Yes, first let me offer a prayer that the true Dharma flourish. here at Berkeley Vincent, that you all be healthy and peaceful, and that you are diligent in your practice.

[74:46]

May the merit of this extend to every being and place. so that all beings may realize the Buddha way. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

[77:32]

Today, I have prepared something in memory of all of you. This is what you asked for earlier. Next month, I will be opening the front door, so I am preparing for that. Thank you very much. So, yeah, he's prepared a gift for all of you. I think you have an envelope, a white envelope, and this is inside. This is inside Zazen.

[78:43]

Two characters. So, well, I hope you can use it as a way of reminding yourself to go Zazen and to study the self. A little moment. This book is from my teacher, Sakai Tokugen. Thank you very much. Excuse me.

[79:03]

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