I am about to taste the truth of the Dukkhanda's words. This morning we had memorial service for Soen Nakagawa Roshi, and I want to talk a little bit about who he was and give us some feeling for him. Soen Roshi, as he was always called, was the teacher of many of our teachers who first came to America to establish Zen, mostly on the Rinzai side.

[01:21]

And he was born in 1907, so he died this year, that makes him about 77. And he became a monk after he graduated from college. And he was considered one of the most eminent Zen masters in Japan. And he was also a very good poet, especially a haiku poet. And he was considered one of the, maybe the most famous haiku poet in this generation. He was kind of a recluse in many ways, and a kind of zen character. I remember hearing stories about him

[02:29]

People didn't know whether he was dead or alive or what had become of him most of the time. But in 1950, he became the abbot of Ryotakuchi, a famous Rinzai temple in Japan, a monastery. And you'd hear stories about him going into his room or in his small establishment for a month at a time and no one ever seeing him and someone pushed food into the door and no one knew exactly what he did there but the stories were that he was doing some very profound practice and one time he either fell off a cliff or I think he was sitting on the edge of a cliff and the cliff gave way or something and he fell down and injured his back and that was kind of the beginning of his physical decline.

[03:45]

That was some time ago. But anyway, Nyogen Sensaki give you a little background. Nyogen Sensaki and D.T. Suzuki were Dharma brothers and Nyogen Sensaki came to America as a monk about the same time that D.T. Suzuki came to America and D.T. Suzuki became the great scholar who introduced Zen to the world, And Nyogen Sensaki kind of introduced Zen through his practice, Zen practice, Sazen, and establishing some kind of very loose Sangha in America and in San Francisco and Los Angeles and also in New York.

[04:54]

around the late thirties, in the thirties, Soenroshi had written, had published some poetry in a Japanese newspaper and Nyogen Sensaki had read the poetry in the newspaper in America, in San Francisco. And so he was very much impressed by this monk, by his poetry. And he really wanted to meet him and establish a relationship with him. But just about the time that Soenroshi was going to come to America, the war started in 1941. And so they couldn't meet. But they decided that on the 21st of every month, they would bow to each other across the ocean.

[06:04]

So they established their relationship in that way. And then later, when the war was over, Nyogen was in a concentration camp in America. And after the war, Soenroshi did come to America and helped Nyogen Sensaki. And after Nyogen Sensaki died, Soenroshi came to America to kind of help his students. But he became the abbot of Ryutakuji, so he went back to Japan. And he couldn't really come to America so much. But he was always interested in American students. And Ryutakuji became a place where American students could come even though they didn't know Japanese, and even though they didn't have a letter of introduction, they could just... he would accept them if they were really interested in practice. So that became the place where a lot of people came to. Philip Kaplow went there, and... names are eluding me...

[07:24]

I'll think of it. But anyway, Edo Roshi became, who was a Japanese monk, became Soen Roshi's disciple. He came first to Hawaii and then to America to establish the Zen Studies Society in New York. was also one of Soenroshi's students. Soenroshi was always looked on as a great grandfather or father of these particular teachers. And his influence is very strong, actually, especially on the East Coast. And his attitude is quite wonderful.

[08:31]

So I thought that I would read you something of Soen Roshi's so you can get a little flavor of what he was like. I met Soen Roshi once. He came to Zen Center five or six years ago and gave a talk, which was quite wonderful. Maybe some of you were there, I don't know. This talk, 1974, at Daibasatsu Zen Dojo in New York. I think it must have been before it was dedicated, before it was finished. He's talking about, there is no Buddha.

[09:48]

And he's talking about birth and death, birthday and death day. This is March 19th and 20th, 1974. He says, birthday is important, but death day is also important and wonderful. We think very vaguely, oh, this life I am living, this is the real world. Someday, we know we must die, but we are so forgetful, we even forget this. Here is a senryu on this subject. When I look around at everyone's face, there is no face that shows, someday I will die. Do you understand? Looking at everyone's face, I cannot find any face that shows the feeling, someday I must die. Each of your faces shows, I will live forever.

[10:54]

Someday I will die and pass away at that time from this real world to some spiritual world. This is what we feel and think. We think we will go from this real world to a spiritual world. Is this so? Is this the way things are? He laughs heartily. This is all thought and felt vaguely. Endless dimension, universal life. We think this world has three or at most four dimensions, but this one, two, three, four is only an intellectual conception of human beings. I don't know. What is one? What is two? What is three? Therefore I say, endless dimension, universal life. Five, six, seven, eight dimensions. Right here now. The so-called real and the so-called spiritual worlds are not two worlds.

[11:59]

This is the spiritual world right here. After death we say we will go to a spiritual world, but we can just as well say to a real world. The difference is only one of expression. The same is true of life and death. Only a difference of expression. You may say life, all right, You may say death. All right, too. They are the same, only names. Birth and death, death and birth. Let us realize this true fact. Speaking of birthday, someone wrote a poem for my birthday, March 19th. That's his book. The poem is Becoming Warmer. Mu melting, endless dimension spring. Thank you.

[13:01]

When a baby is born, the sound it makes, oh yeah, or something, this is mu. This is namu daibosa. Namu daibosa is something that he was very fond of saying. It's a kind of mantra. merging with the whole universe, bodhisattva mind. Of course, there is no need of mu, no need of namu daibosa. During our morning service we chant kanze on namu butsuyo butsuyu inyo, or shorter, Namu Daibhosa, or still shorter, Mu. This Mu is Zazen, and Zazen is Mu. Without Kanzeon, without Mu, even without Namu Daibhosa chanting, that is Namu Daibhosa.

[14:08]

Namu, you know, means to unite with, and Dai is absoluteness. This dai is not only in the endless dimensions of this universe as a whole, but is also in the smallest electron. Bosa means enlightened one, but not only human beings. One drop of water is an enlightened one, too. There is nothing that is not an enlightened one in this world. This is namu daibosa. Bosa, of course, means bodhisattva. but not just some statue. Bodhisattvas are real spiritual beings. We are all such spiritual beings. Everything in this world is a spiritual being. Speaking of die, I found in an English dictionary a very interesting definition of death or die. To join the majority. Very good.

[15:15]

But someone told me that majority is not a very good word here. Yet, if you compare the number of people who are living on this earth right now with the number of people who have passed away, which is more? Only a little, little part of this world is living like this, as we are right now. So to die is to join the majority. Some of us will go to a dark, dismal world, some to a beautiful, transparent world, some to a noisy, pilgrimaging world. But we will all join the majority. Congratulations. For this reason, we celebrate death day together with birthday. So today, from the Rinzai Roku, he's going to read a little passage from the Rinzai Roku, Rinzai's book of Rinzai. And Rinzai says this, I say to you, there is no Buddha, no Dharma, nothing to practice, nothing to prove.

[16:27]

Just what are you seeking thus in the highways and byways? Blind men or blind people. You're putting a head on top of the one you already have. What do you yourself lack? Followers of the way, your own present activities do not differ from those of the patriarch Buddhas. You just don't believe this and keep on seeking outside. Make no mistake, outside there is no dharma. Inside there is none to be obtained. Better than grasping at these words from my mouth, take it easy and do nothing. Don't continue thoughts that have already arisen, and don't let those that have not yet arisen be aroused. Just this will be worth far more to you than a ten years pilgrimage." And then he says, back to our commentator, there is no Buddha, no Daibosatsu.

[17:37]

Yesterday we heard from the Rinzai Roku, meeting the Buddha, I kill the Buddha. Meeting Daibosatsu, I killed Daibosatsu. But today we hear, quote, I say to you, there is no Buddha. There is no Daibosatsu. There is no Daibosatsu in the Catskill Mountains. Wonderful. Wonderful? There is no Buddha to be killed. I am reminded of a story. Several years ago, on April the 8th, I visited Christmas Humphreys in London. You all know who Christmas Humphreys is. Kirsten Sumpry is an English author who has written lots of books on Buddhism. He created the English Buddhist Society. It was a full moon night and because it was the Buddha's birthday, I expected some celebration at his Buddhist Society.

[18:39]

Before the celebration was to take place, I had to go to the bathroom. Toilet is also a good word, a place where we make up. But in Japan, we just call it the shitting place, not the bathroom. Bathroom is a separate place. We take it back. Here, a shitting place becomes a bathroom. Anyway, I was just about to open the door of the toilet when Christmas Humphrey came by and said, there's someone in there. Don't open it. So I stood waiting and waiting, and no one came out. At last, when I opened the door, there was no one there. From the beginning, it had been empty. Wonderful. For the celebration of the Buddha's birthday, I told the audience this story. They were very glad to hear it. From the beginning, the bathroom had been filled with Buddha, and so there was no room left for Buddha.

[19:43]

No Buddha, no vacancy. Rinzai says, there is nothing to practice, but because there is nothing to practice, we must practice more and more. Because there is nothing to prove, it is important that we prove more and more. The last words of Nyogen Sensaki were, friends in dharma, be satisfied with your own head. Do not put any false heads above your own. Then minute after minute, Watch your steps closely. Always keep your head cool and your mind warm. Many times Rinzai said, what do you yourself lack? When he says, better than grasping at those words from my mouth, he is killing his own taisho. But when he says, take it easy and do nothing, this do nothing, you probably do not understand.

[20:49]

Because it is very interesting, I will explain. The original Chinese characters for do nothing are very difficult to translate. And for this reason, Dr. Suzuki, D.T. Suzuki, left them untranslated in his version. Buji, take it easy and do nothing, is all right as far as the words themselves are concerned. But the rhythm and the emphasis are wrong. to the audience, he says, how would you read this? And anybody? He's asking someone to read it. And then someone says, and then he says, the words are all right, but the rhythm is no good. So someone responds, and they say, take it easy and do nothing. No, take it easy and do nothing. People are trying to figure it out.

[21:51]

This is the way it should be read. If we read it without this rhythm, then we might think it means to stop work or strike. Or to sit in one's room eating and sleeping and doing nothing in the conventional sense. In the Jewish tradition, people are supposed to do nothing on the Sabbath. So they eat but do not wash the dishes. thinking that this is doing nothing. A little criticism, but good criticism. But this is not doing nothing. After all, even lying down is doing lying down. And so is doing something. This bhuji is a very subtle matter. Since today is the Sabbath, some of you may be thinking, maybe we should not do the dishes after our meals. But this is not the true meaning of Sabbath. This is a very important matter.

[22:54]

Do nothing, not do nothing. Do not do nothing. This is your koan for today, and so I should not explain anymore. Yesterday, I admired very much your performance of American no drama. It was very well done. Recently, one of the most accomplished noh actors came to Ryutaka-ji. It was New Year's Day. He said the hardest part of the noh dance is not the dancing itself. No matter how hard that may be, the dancing, but the standing still, the noh dancing, this standing still, he said, is very, very difficult. Just standing. Noh dancing dance. Very difficult. This no-dancers, standing-still dance is exactly doing nothing.

[23:59]

In the midst of our busy, busy life, we must learn to do nothing. In the midst of all of our doing, there is this doing nothing. Because zazen is this doing nothing, it is probably the hardest thing to do. But on the other hand, remember, take it easy, OK? Do you understand? Zazen is very difficult, but on the other hand, very easy. Not difficult, not easy. No one, I am sure, took this morning's meal thinking, oh, this is easy, or this is difficult. But if taking this morning's meal is neither easy nor difficult, what is it? Let us think about this. So that's Soen Roshi's. I would like to have known him, actually.

[25:18]

Unfortunately, I didn't have that opportunity. But he was a very broad-minded man. Let me do something else that's very short. His first talk in This is very characteristic of Soen Roshi's way of thinking.

[26:33]

Buddha nature pervades the whole universe revealing right here now with this meeting let us unite with endless dimension universal life. When I went to his talk in Zen Center he had everybody stand up which no one was used to doing, you know, in a taisho. And then he had us all start from that floor and do this big gesture of kind of opening up and accepting the whole universe. And I think this is what we recited. something like right here now, Buddha nature pervades the whole universe revealing right here now. That's what he had us recite. And it's quite a wonderful feeling. sometimes we feel that there's a kind of gap between those teachers who were behind the teachers who came to America and the teachers who exist in America today.

[28:30]

So I think it It's good for us to remember and to investigate what their intentions were. Soen Roshi and Niyogen Sensaki and Suzuki Roshi, Yasutani Roshi, and to really get some feeling for their attitudes. And I think we can learn a lot from them. And fortunately we have their writings and some good memory of them. passage into it, the statement was made that everything is enlightened, right?

[29:53]

I find this very hard, as if there are shifting definitions then. I thought enlightenment was achieving some kind of awareness that everything is interrelated. I can't quite see how you can say everything is enlightened unless it's an attitude, some kind of realization, maybe not verbalized or definitely not verbalized. But how can you say everything is enlightened? How can you not say everything is enlightened? Well, but that doesn't, it would seem to me if you, there's nothing to experience in terms of sin. Just stop your thinking. Excuse me? Just stop your thinking. Well, but how can you say that of grass or birds, everything is enlightened? Because it's a conscious, doesn't it? Evolved consciousness. Just stop your thinking. And evolved consciousness will appear.

[30:57]

Yes. So in Roshi's exercise, expressing that, of standing up and going, everything is revealed as it is now. Everything is realized as it is now. Everything is enlightened as it is now. Okay. Yeah, thank you. You knew someone, Roshi, didn't you? Yeah. Is there anything else you can say about him? There are endless stories. Maybe you can remember one. There are a lot of little stories, and he would come to Hawaii sometimes, and he would kink him. Sometimes he would take us outside, but rather than walking in a regular circle around the grass, he would go in a quite chaotic line, and he would say later, this was respecting the grass that was growing, not trampling it.

[32:13]

When I was with him once, he had guests, and he was going to have a formal tea ceremony with him. And all the utensils were laid out. And I was just a newcomer to his monastery. And he suddenly announced to them that I would be serving tea. So I went to him. I had seen formal tea ceremony prepared, but I knew it was quite ritualized. I myself didn't know the procedure. But I went up and did my best and just made tea. And then he announced, after I had done the tea, that this was Pacific Ocean tea. I had cut sail to Japan, so this was, I guess, to him, my expression of Pacific Ocean tea. And then he introduced me to the guest, who was a quite famous tea master. Another time, he sat me down. Are there a lot of Japanese teachers?

[33:31]

I think so. I think that at this point, you know, that was before there was really any Zen in America. Now that there's some little Zen in America, a little bit of Zen in America, I think that there'll be another interaction, but it will be a little different. because we have now some tiny Bodhisattvas, little baby Bodhisattvas in America. And the interaction will be different because the level is a little different. And, you know, our contact with Japan kind of died away.

[35:14]

And I think it will be revitalized soon. I have that feeling that pretty soon it will be revitalized and continue. But I don't know exactly how. So, but it'd be a little different. Yeah, he came to Tassajara once with Yasutani Roshi and Some other people and I wasn't there In this book I think there are a few He says, on the street recently I saw advertisements for what must be some Broadway show called Find Your Way Home.

[36:39]

There are many, many posters. Finding your way home, returning to your own home. This is expressed also in one of the haiku poems I will recite at the Daibosatsu evening on April 3rd. In English it reads, snow of all countries melting into Namu Daibosa. Most of these poems are not so personal. Well, it's okay if you can't, if there aren't more ready to hand.

[38:10]

Thank you for reading one. There is one. I wrote a waka, a 31 syllable English, Japanese poem recently, and I will try to translate it into English. A man who looks like our patriarchs Bodhidharma Rinzai or Hakuin, I don't know, passed over the ice of Daibosatsu Lake without leaving even the slightest trace. He says this is complete extinction. This is the real meaning of crucifixion and so tomorrow let us welcome Easter Sunday. The true meaning of Easter Sunday is contained in these words. Let us recite them together. Having spoken these words, sitting erect, the master revealed his nirvana. Revealed his nirvana.

[39:13]

So he says this is the real meaning of Easter. Thank you.

[39:32]

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