Is that we are on the dark paths of ignorance.
Dark path upon dark path treading,
When shall we escape from birth-and-death?
Hakuin, The Song of Meditation
R. H. Blyth, Twenty-Five Zen Essays--Christianity, Sex, Society, etc. (The Hokuseido Press, 1962, 2002) (originally entitled Zen and Zen Classics, Vol. 5) ("'The moral (and even the legal) law exists because Buddhism exists.' What is chiefly wrong with society is the hiatus between the two laws. How can an ego-less judge condemn an ego-less criminal who as 'stolen' what no one can really possess?" Id. at 36. "'Should you seek / The way of the Buddha / All night long, / Searching, you will enter / Into your own mind.' We feel that the truth must be somewhere outside us, since inside ourselves we find nothing but confusion, camouflage, and concupiscence. But in books, in others, in the whole wide universe no God is to be found. God is that very intellectual chaos, hypocrisy and physical passion which we deplore." Id. at 167. "[T]he mistake we all make is to confuse what we know with what we don't know. We know, for example, that the sun rose today, but we don't know it will rise tomorrow. [] This kind of mistake, which everyone makes, is also made by Zen-enlightened people. They do not distinguish what they know by enlightenment, and what they (think they) know by education, custom, personal prejudice and so on. Enlightenment does not reveal to us anything which has happened in the past or which will happen in the future. Enlightenment is being caught up in this moment which is both in time and beyond time. In being beyond time it partakes of the past and the future, and with regard to events of the past and future we can, or should be able to, make better guesses, think more clearly about them, but that is all. Zen speaks only of this moment. Indeed, Zen is this moment speaking, Thus, if we are asked what will happen to us after death, Zen does not answer,--let us be more courageous, and say that Zen cannot answer, just as God cannot tell a lie." Id. at 217.)
R. H. Blyth, What Is Zen? --General Introduction from the Upanishads to Huineng (The Hokuseido Press, 1960, 2002) (originally entitled Zen and Zen Classics, Vol. 1) ("'THE WISE MAN DOES NOTHING, THE FOOL SHACKLES HIMSELF.' [] We bind ourselves with our likes and dislikes, we are bound with fancied bonds. There is nothing so strong in the world as a delusion, nothing so indestructible as this imaginary, non-existent self and its temporary profit and loss, loving and loathing." Id. at 83. "'One who walks the Way / Sees not any faults in the world. / Seeing others' faults / Means that one's own faults are strengthened.' This applies not so much to our petty cavillings and criticisms of others, but to our low opinion of the universe, which comes form our own lowness and poverty." Id. at 117.).
David Chadwick, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki (New York: Broadway Books, 1999) ("'Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?' [] He looked at me and said, 'Everything changes.' The he asked for another question." Id. at xii. "When you can laugh at yourself, there is enlightenment." Id. at 45. "Most problems we create because we don't know ourselves." Id. at 137. "If you want to study, it is necessary to have a strong, constant, way-seeking mind." Id. at 205.).
Trevor Leggett, ed. & trans., A First Zen Reader (Rutland, Vermont, & Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1960) (From Takashina Rosen, "A Tongue-tip Taste of Zen: Discourses by Primate": "The real religious quest is never on the plane of fulfilling such empirical desires [i.e., "healing, fortune-telling, and rituals"]. It is to penetrate deeply into daily life, into the world before us, and to seek practical experience of the life of Reality. This we call the heart of religion. When we think over everyday life, we see that it is founded on a great contradiction, and that our self-existence does not rest on any sure and firm foundation, As we realize the vanity of the world and understand the deep sinfulness of our ordinary conduct, for the first time arises the desire for the world of truth, of liberation, of unsullied purity. This is the manifesting of the religious spirit, and now the world of religion opens to us. But even when we do see the impermanence in our daily life, and the uncertainty of our self-existence, are we really awake to the contradiction in it? Of course intellectually we may be aware of it, but not deeply. We may feel the contradiction in a way, but there is after all quite a bit of self-deception in the ordinary man's life. (Which is why from the religious standpoint the world and the life of the world are called 'lies.'). Id. at 25, 41. "[W]e may also remember that a man who bows and prays to get something for himself is only a vulgar beggar, and one who prays thinking himself great is a heretic. True virtue and the mind of faith are no more than the manifestation of the Buddha heart in conduct." Id. at 51. From Amakuki Sessan, "Hakuin's 'Song of Meditation: A Commentary by Amakuki Sessan": "Looking at the world today, one would like to urge at least just the practice of giving. So many people simply want to get from others, to take or even to rob; they hardly think of giving, of being kind, of helping. With this attitude it is very illogical to expect peace and prosperity. If we want to get, let us first give; nay, to give for the sake of getting is already only utilitarianism. The perfection of giving is to give what one has--the wealthy to give money, the wise to give wisdom, the strong to give their strength. Until the day when we become true givers we need not hope for real peace or success in life. But these days the rich man keeps his capital, and the man of education makes education his capital, and the strong man make that strength his capital, and they all use it to try to make a profit out of others. A real giver would not consider his means, but would practise giving at any time and place. The merit in a gift is not necessarily proportionate to the value of the gift or the amount. The old saying is, better the single light of the poor man than the thousand lamps of the rich man. The merit lies only in the sincerity. The principle of giving is to give joyfully from a feeling of sympathy, free from any desire for name or a return of some kind. And if there is nothing to give? If the circumstances do not permit us to give, then let us rejoice in a gift made by others. Such rejoicing at the welfare of the receiver of the gift is declared by the sutras to surpass in merit even giving itself. Surely at least we can be glad at the happiness of another?" Id. at 65, 118-119.)
John Daido Loori, ed., The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza, 2d, ed., with an introduction by Taigen Dan Leighton (Boston: Wisdom Publication, 2002, 2004) (From the "Editor's Preface": "Sjikantaza, or 'Just sitting,' is meditation without a goal. It is boundless--a precess that is continually unfolding." Id. at vii-viii. From Keizan Jokin, "Zazen Yojinki: Notes on What to Be Aware of in Zazen," translated by Yasuda Joshu and Anzan Hoshin: "If you want to clarify the mind-ground, give up your jumble of limited knowledge and interpretations, cut off thoughts of usualness and holiness, abandon all delusive feelings. When the true mind of reality manifests, the clouds of delusion dissipate and the moon of the mind shines bright." Id. at 41, 42-43.).
John Daido Loori, ed., Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Practice of Zen Koan Introspection, with an introduction by Thomas Yuho Kirchner (Boston: Wisdom Publication, 2002, 2006) (From John Daido Loori, "Introduction: The Anatomy of Zen Koan": "We all have the potential to live a fully deluded or fully awakened life. It is up to us to choose. This boundless dharma is always present, whether we realize it or not. We should strive with all our might to keep it alive and vibrant. It is the most important thing we will ever do with our lives." Id. at 7. From Nyogen Senzaki, "Prajnatara Recites His Sutra": "Notes: The rhinoceros walks under he moon; no one knows what he wants; he is neither hungry nor thirsty. The Chinese call him a desireless walker. The wooden horse enjoys his freedom, no one can tie him up. The Patriarch lives the same unconcerned life as these two. To reach this stage, however, requires very hard work, a constant battle against the inertia of delusion." Id. at 237, 240. From Dennis Genpo Merzel, "A Buffalo Passes Through a Window": "There's a big difference between the way Buddhism looks at out predicament and the way that Western religion and philosophy so. Buddhism starts with realization, with enlightenment. It's sort of like this: imagine you have a jigsaw puzzle. Western thinking starts with the piece thrown all over and then tries to put the pieces together. But since there's no picture, you don't have a clue where to begin or where you're going. Now imagine seeing the puzzle as a whole and then cutting it up into pieces. Buddhism starts with the whole and the looks at the differences. Once you see the reality it's easier to see all the parts and how they come together. If we don't see the wholeness, it's really difficult." Id. at 313, 315-316.).
Abbot Zenkei Shibayama, A Flower Does Not Talk: Zen Essays, translated from the Japanese by Sumiko Kudo (Rutland, Vermont, & Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1970) ("The whole world today, both East and West, seems to be going though a period of convulsion, a time of travail, as it seeks to give birth to a new culture. There cannot be one simple cause for the tensions in so many parts o the world, but one of the major factors may be that while remarkable progress has been made in the use of new scientific knowledge, we human beings have not developed sufficiently spiritually and ethically to meet the new conditions." Id. at 5. "The proposition that we are primarily Buddhas means that we are all born with the seed, or the potentiality, of being enlightened ones. Although we were born with such potentiality, for the moment it has not yet been awakened or develop. In any event, the final aim of Zen is to make an ideal Zen personality. It teaches us to find the way to it in our own selves as we actually live here and now, and not in something outside ourselves. This should be the great message for human beings, that we have this potentiality in ourselves." Id. at 89-90. "A Zen personality, as creative subjectivity, always expresses itself through the samadhi of becoming the 'object itself.' 'To cast oneself away' is 'to become the object itself', with the whole of one's being one gives life to the object." Id. at 229-230. "Empty Oneself": "One has to face the 'ugliness and helplessness' of oneself, or of human life itself, ad must confront deep contradictions and sufferings, which are called the 'inevitable karma.'" Id. at 172. "Recently, flower arrangements in Japan are predominantly of a new style, indiscriminately using painted wire and coloured roots. Of course, this too, can be an expression of beauty in its own way. If, however, beauty is formalized as a norm, there is the danger of its life becoming frozen. The life of true beauty is seen in the creativity of a free, natural man, and this creativity shines out from the depth of his wholehearted activity in which he keeps on demolishing everything idolized." Id. at 241.).
Gary Snyder, Earth House Hold: Technical Notes and Queries to Fellow Dharma Revolutionaries (New York: New Directions Books, 1069) ("... some Americans here [that is, Kyoto] make reference to short hours of sleep and simple food--good Xrist you'd think Zen was just a roundabout way for the rich to live like the workingman--there are friends in America who are humble about their interest in the Dharma and ashamed of their profligacy while living on salvaged vegetable and broken rice--sleep six hours a night so as to study books and think, and so to work, to keep the wife and kids: what foppery is this--and it turns out you got to spend $30 for a special meditation cushion. The center in this world is quietly moving to San Francisco where it's most alive--these Japanese folks may be left behind and they won't (in the words of Feng Kuan) recognize it when they see it." Id. at 33. "Institutional Buddhism has been conspicuously ready to accept or ignore the inequalities and tyrannies of whatever political system it found itself under. This can be death to Buddhism, because it is death to any meaningful function of compassion. Wisdom without compassion feels not pain." Id. at. at 90. "No one today can afford to be innocent, or indulge himself in ignorance of the nature of contemporary government, politics and social orders. The national polities of the modern world maintain their existence by deliberately fostered craving and fear: monstrous protection rackets. The 'free world' has become economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of greed which cannot be fulfilled, sexual desire which cannot be satiated and hatred which has no outlet except against oneself, the persons one is supposed to love, or the revolutionary aspirations of pitiful, poverty-stricken marginal societies.... The soil, the forests and all animal life are being consumed by these cancerous collectivities; the air and water of the planet is being fouled by them." Id. at 90-91.).
Abbot Zenkei Shibayama, A Flower Does Not Talk: Zen Essays, translated from the Japanese by Sumiko Kudo (Rutland, Vermont, & Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1970) ("The whole world today, both East and West, seems to be going though a period of convulsion, a time of travail, as it seeks to give birth to a new culture. There cannot be one simple cause for the tensions in so many parts o the world, but one of the major factors may be that while remarkable progress has been made in the use of new scientific knowledge, we human beings have not developed sufficiently spiritually and ethically to meet the new conditions." Id. at 5. "The proposition that we are primarily Buddhas means that we are all born with the seed, or the potentiality, of being enlightened ones. Although we were born with such potentiality, for the moment it has not yet been awakened or develop. In any event, the final aim of Zen is to make an ideal Zen personality. It teaches us to find the way to it in our own selves as we actually live here and now, and not in something outside ourselves. This should be the great message for human beings, that we have this potentiality in ourselves." Id. at 89-90. "A Zen personality, as creative subjectivity, always expresses itself through the samadhi of becoming the 'object itself.' 'To cast oneself away' is 'to become the object itself', with the whole of one's being one gives life to the object." Id. at 229-230. "Empty Oneself": "One has to face the 'ugliness and helplessness' of oneself, or of human life itself, ad must confront deep contradictions and sufferings, which are called the 'inevitable karma.'" Id. at 172. "Recently, flower arrangements in Japan are predominantly of a new style, indiscriminately using painted wire and coloured roots. Of course, this too, can be an expression of beauty in its own way. If, however, beauty is formalized as a norm, there is the danger of its life becoming frozen. The life of true beauty is seen in the creativity of a free, natural man, and this creativity shines out from the depth of his wholehearted activity in which he keeps on demolishing everything idolized." Id. at 241.).
Gary Snyder, Earth House Hold: Technical Notes and Queries to Fellow Dharma Revolutionaries (New York: New Directions Books, 1069) ("... some Americans here [that is, Kyoto] make reference to short hours of sleep and simple food--good Xrist you'd think Zen was just a roundabout way for the rich to live like the workingman--there are friends in America who are humble about their interest in the Dharma and ashamed of their profligacy while living on salvaged vegetable and broken rice--sleep six hours a night so as to study books and think, and so to work, to keep the wife and kids: what foppery is this--and it turns out you got to spend $30 for a special meditation cushion. The center in this world is quietly moving to San Francisco where it's most alive--these Japanese folks may be left behind and they won't (in the words of Feng Kuan) recognize it when they see it." Id. at 33. "Institutional Buddhism has been conspicuously ready to accept or ignore the inequalities and tyrannies of whatever political system it found itself under. This can be death to Buddhism, because it is death to any meaningful function of compassion. Wisdom without compassion feels not pain." Id. at. at 90. "No one today can afford to be innocent, or indulge himself in ignorance of the nature of contemporary government, politics and social orders. The national polities of the modern world maintain their existence by deliberately fostered craving and fear: monstrous protection rackets. The 'free world' has become economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of greed which cannot be fulfilled, sexual desire which cannot be satiated and hatred which has no outlet except against oneself, the persons one is supposed to love, or the revolutionary aspirations of pitiful, poverty-stricken marginal societies.... The soil, the forests and all animal life are being consumed by these cancerous collectivities; the air and water of the planet is being fouled by them." Id. at 90-91.).
