Blue Cliff Record Case 50: Yun Men’s Every Atom Samadhi
January 4, 1984 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Transcript
This transcript is in draft stage.
0:00
Case Number Fifty: “Yun Men’s Every Atom Samadhi.”
Pointer:
Passing beyond stages, absolutely transcending expedient means, mind to mind in mutual accord, each phrase harmonizing with the other. If you haven’t entered the gate of great liberation and attained great liberty of action, how can you measure the Buddhas and Patriarchs, or be a mirror and guide for the Essential Vehicle?
But say, when taking charge of a situation directly, whether going with or going against, whether vertically or horizontally, how will you be able to speak a phrase to express yourself? To test, I’m citing this old case: look!
The case:
A monk asked Yun Men, “What is every atom samadhi?” Men said, “Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.”
Verse:
Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.
The talkative teacher can hardly open his mouth.
Northern Dipper, Southern Star – their positions are not different:
White foamy waves flooding the skies arise on level ground.
Trying or not trying,
stopping or not stopping,
Each and every one is a rich man’s son with no britches.( From The Blue Cliff Record, translated by Thomas Cleary & J.C. Cleary.)
2:27
Passing beyond stages, absolutely transcending expedient means, …
In the human world, whatever you study or research, you will have to work hard to get a certain stage, and also to teach somebody with various expedient means. Very naturally in the human world there are many kinds of stages people can reach by their effort. And also, you cannot exist alone, so very naturally you have to live with the people. For this, you have to teach; you have to transmit how important human life is to your friends, to your children, to the people in the next generation. This is very natural human effort.
But here it says, “Passing beyond stages, absolutely transcending expedient means.”
Of course, even in Buddhism, if you practice the Buddha Way in order to have nirvana, according to the philosophical system of Buddhist teaching there are many kind of stages you have to reach. And in order to reach one stage, Buddhism says it takes three thousand eons. So in order to get the one stage, so-called called enlightenment or freedom, it takes lots of time.
So the Buddhistic practice, is in a sense, very slow. If you study Buddhism, it makes you disappointed, because it really takes many, many years. Three thousand eons, you know?
But that is when you see the human world in terms of human speculation. [Then,] very naturally there are stages, and also expedient means, to teach somebody and to guide, et cetera. So for this, Buddhism established its own teachings, so-called philosophy, psychology, in order to teach people, in order to guide people to nirvana. That is Buddhistic philosophy. It’s huge.
But on the other hand, Buddha Shakyamuni said, “We are Buddha.”
“We are Buddha” means that our full presence is completely beyond the stages and how to guide people with the expedient methods. Regardless of whether you reach a certain stage or not, you are already Buddha! That is [a] teaching that Buddha Shakyamuni said.
So we have to keep our eyes to this teaching, as well as paying attention to the Buddhist systematical teaching, so-called philosophy, psychology. […] We have to keep our eyes [on this] teaching, “We are Buddha.”
So that teaching, “We are Buddha,” is to point out the human reality, [the full presence] of our life, beyond stages, and transcending expedient means.
8:23
… mind to mind in mutual accord, …
So what does it mean? It is “mind to mind in mutual accord.” So Buddha means [you being] fully present is a being which you are [communicating] with mind to mind in mutual accord, before your consciousness arrives, before your consciousness works. (Transcriber’s Note: This paragraph is difficult to transcribe.)
What can I say? Just like the trees and winter. Even in this very cold winter, [there are] trees in winter, and winter itself. Between the trees and the winter, they have great communication with each other, based on mind to mind in mutual accord.
Mind to mind does not mean the mind-to-mind which we usually think. Our mind is already discriminating mind, so-called six consciousnesses. So we always see [the tape recorder], and reflect the tape recorder into your brain, and then your consciousness understands the reflection of the tape recorder in your head, and then says, “It is tape recorder.” So you don’t see the tape recorder as it is exactly. We cannot tune into, we cannot communicate with the tape recorder as it is through mind-to-mind in mutual accord, before you think. That’s why Zen or Buddhism always says that we have to communicate as it is. Because we don’t do [that], usually. We always understand everything through our usual consciousness, discriminating everything.
So “mind to mind” – this mind is not the mind of this kind, to discriminate. Mind to mind means very pure sense of the mind functioning. Trees’ minds, and birds’ minds, pebbles’ minds. Birds’ minds, trees’ minds exactly fit to the winter, whatever happens. Exactly. Tree’s mind is exactly in accord with the mind of the wind, mind of the sunset, exactly.
Maybe this is what is called “absolutely inevitable situation of trees’ mind.” Both trees and winter are in the absolutely inevitable situation. There is no space to bring your human speculation into it.
Technically, the Buddhist terminology is dharmakaya, dharma-nature. […] Or sometimes, we say buddha-body. […] Or sometimes dharmakaya, dharma-body.
Or, plainly speaking, maybe this is universal rhythm. Or, more plainly speaking, this is nothing but the rhythm of energy.
So everyone has a rhythm of energy, and that rhythm of energy is just one level ground. Just one level ground. So trees’ energies, human minds’ energies… all sentient beings’ energy are exactly interconnected, interpenetrated. Exactly fitting. Exactly. Passing beyond human speculation. This is our nature.
How can you do it? This is our practice. Anyway, we have to find out this one in our lifetime. And we have to live like this, as best as we can. That is the teaching Buddha mentions: “We are Buddha.”
So we can be just like the trees in this winter, we can be just like a bird: fitting into a rhythm of seasons, exactly. Without speculating, without discriminating. Exactly.
We can do it. But a difficult point is that we already have very complicated human consciousness, constantly discriminating. That’s why we cannot believe that we can act just like a bird, or the life of wilderness. We cannot do it because [we are] always discriminating or separating, always.
But our nature is exactly same as nature of the bird, nature of the trees, nature of winter. That’s why, wherever you may be – in the cold winter, like Minnesota or Alaska – people can live. That’s why we can try to find out the way how to live in the cold weather. This is the culture – our culture. So Minnesota people have a real nice culture, to learn the best way how to live in cold weather.
So wherever you may be, human beings try to fit to all circumstances. But human consciousness is complicated; that’s why it’s not so simple. That’s why in order to fit into the rhythm of winter and seasons and the rhythm of nature, we try to create a culture. Through the culture, we can fit into [it]. That’s why culture is important for us. Human culture means any kind of sciences and human histories; and the mode of life, lifestyle, et cetera.
So, “passing beyond stages, absolutely transcending expedient means, mind-to-mind in mutual accord,…”
… each phrase harmonizing with the others.
Each phrase – trees, birds – exactly, mutually harmonizing. Exactly.
17:33
If you haven’t entered the gate of great liberation…
This is a liberation. Winter fits into the trees’ life exactly. When the spring comes, the tulip blooms. Even though the external world is cold, even though snow falls – when the spring comes, tulip starts to bloom. Because [there is] not only the surface. Even [though] the surface is cold, anyway the whole world becomes spring. That means under the ground, it’s getting warm. Look at the lake. In the spring, the ice is melting, not from the top, from the bottom. [That the] ice is melting from the bottom means the bottom of the lake and […] the ground is getting warm. So very naturally, ice is melting, even though the surface is cold. Even though we have snow in April and May, et cetera. Anyway, spring comes, and the tulip knows pretty well, and starts to shoot.
So very naturally, a tulip knows, has a mind. But its mind is working, operating very sharply, beyond human speculation, beyond stages and expedient methods. [It] just fits, directly.
So “if you haven’t entered the gate of the great liberation”: this is a liberation.
… and attained great liberty of action, …
Even though you understand this situation through the study of Buddhism, through study of human life, it’s not good enough. You have to live. You have to live in the action of the liberty.
Many philosophers, many religious persons, spiritual persons, talk about how transient the human world is. Philosophically, psychologically, we know, more or less, for century after century. But we don’t know how to live there! When we start to live right in the middle of transiency, we don’t know how to live, how to take care of human life. Because our body and mind is already transient, but we always see our body and mind as not transient. Always there is a fixed, solid being, so-called “I,” [coming] first. And then we see the transient world – but it is [some] external being. So we forget how transient we ourselves are. Always we are looking at the transient world externally, objectively. That’s why we lose the way, how to live right in the middle of transiency.
So many people, many philosophers, many religious persons talk about this truth, but we don’t know how to live there. That’s why we have to practice.
So, “If you haven’t entered the gate of great liberation and attained great liberty of action, …”
… how can you measure the Buddhas and Patriarchs?
You cannot understand how great the Buddhas and Patriarchs are, how sublime human life is. You cannot transmit [the teaching of] how sublime human life is to future generations. So at any cost, we have to know, we have to learn this. And live there.
… or be a mirror and guide for the Essential Vehicle?
If we always talk about the dualistic world, the human world, in order to find the solution of human suffering, we never find perfect solutions. The more you try, the more you are confused. So at any cost, we have to constantly stand up straight in this absolutely inevitable situation of being.
“Inevitability” means beyond human speculation. You cannot think of it. That’s why it is “inevitable.” Not [objective]; it is absolutely no gap, no space between to bring your head into it.
So trees, winter, they are in the absolutely inevitable situation. So very naturally trees, winter fit together, come together. But our consciousness doesn’t do it in that way – rhythmically. We cannot do it. Very naturally our mind brings us to the dualistic world and tries to find something objectively.
So if you do [that], you cannot become a mirror or guide for the essential vehicle. “Essential vehicle” means how important, how sublime human life is, our life is. This human body and mind is very important for us. Without this human body and mind, you cannot see the truth, you cannot see anything.
So, anyway, the very essential nature of this human body and mind – we can become a mirror and guide.
25:18
But say, when taking charge of a situation directly, whether going with or going against, whether vertically or horizontally, …
When taking charge of a situation directly, any kind of situation directly… if you see this microphone, how can you take charge of this situation of the microphone? Whether going with, whether going against – if you discriminate with your mind, you are against this microphone. Because you separate; so the microphone is always far from you. You say “microphone,” but that idea of microphone comes from the shadow of the microphone reflected in your brain.
From this point, even though the microphone is outside from you, [still the] microphone is not exactly outside from you, because microphone is in you. How? The microphone is reflected in your brain. From this point, you are “going with” the microphone. You are going with the microphone, but it’s not exactly fitting into the microphone – so you are “against.” So you understand the reflection of the microphone.
“Whether vertically and horizontally”: that means in time and space.
Well, time and space means the time process, and everything is changing constantly. From this point, the microphone is nothing but a moment of being. Your eyes, your consciousness, is also nothing but the moment of being.
In the time stream, moment is always moment, and separate, exactly separate – no before, no after. But in a sense, this moment is connected before and after, because time exists in space, connected with all sentient beings. Very naturally, [the] moment is an independent being, exactly [separate] from any other moment, but in terms of the spatial dimension, all moments which are separated are connected to each other.
That’s why [even though we feel alone or separate, we cannot act egoistically], because we are connected to each other in terms of the spatial dimension. So we should take charge of ourselves with our best, but simultaneously we have to live with all sentient beings: [other people], and tape recorders, et cetera.
If you always emphasize very strongly the human life only in terms of the time process, at that time you feel always lonely, separated, and isolated. Psychologically you become very realistic, very realistic; no depth of personality in your life.
But on the other hand, if you always emphasize human life just in terms of the spatial dimension – at that time, in a sense you are a kind of fascinating being, but sometimes [being a fascinating] being takes you to [being] “spaced out.” Your life isn’t rooted on the ground. So life becomes very uneasy.
You cannot emphasize either one of them, so you should accept human life in terms of both: “vertically and horizontally.”
… how will you be able to speak a phrase to express yourself? To test, I am citing this old case: look!
So how can we do it? How can we live right in the middle of [full presence], passing beyond human speculation, passing beyond the functioning of human faculties, mental faculties?
It’s pretty hard. That’s why if we try to study Buddhism, Buddhism gives you the system of Buddha’s teaching, how to climb the ladder step by step. That is a teaching. But on the other hand, Buddha says we are already Buddha. So we have to practice standing constantly in the Buddha’s world, not in the dualistic world. That is very important. Otherwise, if you stand up always in the dualistic world and try to practice Buddha’s way, or find the solution of human problem[s], well, it’s pretty hard. You have to practice three thousand eons. If you can do it, it is important you practice like this.
But [you might ask,] “What do you mean by practicing for three thousand eons?” That means you have to be Buddha every moment. “Buddha” means you have to perform Buddha’s working. You have to perform Buddha’s working – not perform human work based on human speculation.
So even though you don’t believe, with our best, we have to perform Buddha’s work.
That is, I always tell you, just like a person thrown right in the middle of the ocean. The other shore is completely out of your sight. Nothing there: no boat, nothing. Only your body and the ocean. Your full presence is completely beyond your speculation. Your head spins very quickly, but beyond the speculation, there is a full presence: that is just swim. Just swim. It scares you, because we don’t like it, we don’t like such a situation. But this is original nature. Original nature. We have to learn.
That is to practice the Buddha’s Way for three thousand eons. So everyone must be right in the middle of the ocean and just practice, beyond human speculation. That’s pretty hard, in a sense. But this is a most important practice for us.
35:24
That’s why the case says,
A monk asked Yun Men, “What is every atom samadhi?”
Men said, “Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.”
Samadhi means total acceptance. Total acceptance means you and all sentient beings are exactly in mutual accord. Zazen and you are exactly in mutual accord. There is no space, no gap between [which] you can poke your head into. That is so-called samadhi: “one-pointedness” or “concentration,” we say. Concentration or one-pointedness.
So what is “every atom samadhi”? This comes from the Avatamsaka Sutra. I don’t know how to say it, but the sutra says:
One enters into the right samadhi on the tip of a hair.
It means, even on the tip of a hair, that is the world where everything is accepted.
So that means, “One enters into the right samadhi on the tip of a hair, comes out of samadhi within a single atom. Enters into the right samadhi within a single atom, comes out of the samadhi within every atom.”
That means, within a single atom, there is a whole world in ten directions reflected. Just like a drop of dew: in a drop of dew, the whole world is reflected in it.
[Haikyu?] Zen Master said in his introduction to his book: “A single hair of the Buddha body reaches to all without exception.” “A single hair of the Buddha body” means… [the] buddha-body I mentioned, the ultimate nature of existence. Or dharma-nature, we say. Or energy itself. But we say dharma-body.
“A single hair of the dharma body” means… even the microphone is nothing but a single hair, one hair of buddha-body, the universe. The universe is considered as buddha-body. Universal life is considered as buddha-body.
So within the buddha-body, there are many beings [which] exist – countless number of hairs, pores. So microphone is nothing but one of the buddha bodies.
So “a single hair of the buddha-body reaches to all without exception,” universally. And the microphone exists, spreading out throughout the whole world. That means within the single being, so-called microphone, you have to see the functioning of the whole world there.
“A single hair of the Buddha body reaches to all without exception” includes all. So be the world, so be all sentient beings, so be every atom, so be every dharma. No dharma exists alone, independently, with its own substantiality.
So every atom, the original nature of each being, exists – interconnected, interpenetrated – [with] all sentient beings, without having its own substantiality, [its own] fixed entity.
That is called the “every atom samadhi.” Samadhi is total acceptance of your presence, your whole world, simultaneously. That is called samadhi.
When you accept zazen totally, without creating any gap, within this practice there is a rhythm of the whole universe. That’s why even though people live around you, and there is the sound of the car outside of the building, it doesn’t bother your zazen, your concentration. You exactly fit into zazen rhythm, and also the rhythm of the whole world. That is called samadhi.
So that samadhi must be each existence, each being. Microphone, your gassho, your washing your face, and your zazen, your walking on the street, your studies.
43:00
So,
Men said, “Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.”
So, food in the bowl, water in the bucket.
“Water in the bucket” is full presence of the water as it is, before you think. If you start to think what it is, you don’t understand it. But a full presence of the water in the bucket is completely beyond your speculations.
That’s why scientists don’t know what the water itself is. But when you start to think of what the water is, you start to research the water from outside. So objectively, […] you can study how many atoms and molecules there are, and how each molecule is interconnected, interpenetrated. We understand it. But still there are lots of puzzles you don’t know [the answer to]. Why does full presence of the water exist right now, right here? We don’t know.
But Buddhism always tries to know and teach you to know that. Because that is important. Because without your full presence, there is nothing to discuss, nothing to think, or nothing to appreciate.
So, water in the bucket, or food in the bowl, is exactly the total freedom there, total rhythm there.
That’s why you have to see the whole universe in a cup. But if you poke your head into the cup, you cannot see the whole world in a cup. Because you try to know, you try to see the whole world in the cup, it’s impossible to see that. But before your speculation, cup is cup. Full presence of the cup is exactly the whole universe.
So, no one knows. You don’t know either. But you know pretty well your own full presence, because you are already right in the middle of full presence. So we say, “only Buddha knows.” Buddha knows what the Buddha is.
That’s why the monk asks Yun Men, “What is every atom samadhi?”
[You may ask,] “What do you mean that the whole world is accepted in each atom, so-called microphone, gassho, and washing your face? What do you mean?” That means food in the bowl, water in the bucket.
So from this point, you have to take care of the food in the bowl as it is. How? Human mind is complicated, that’s why we have to take charge of the food with, we say, true heart. True heart, or wholeheartedness. Or sincerity. Or attentiveness; [great] attentiveness. […] True heart is great, because you can communicate with the food [in the bowl] and water in a bucket directly.
So, whatever you do, wherever you may be, the most important thing is to do something with true heart. Regardless of whether you understand the original nature of existence, or buddha-bodies, or dharma-body, whatever it is – anyway, do something with true heart or attentiveness.
Attentiveness is… first of all, you have to really devote yourself to take care of something at a moment. In other words, you should throw your whole energy into a moment.
At that time, moment is kind of an entity to separate from others. But if you do [it], if you take care of something at the moment with your wholeheartedness – within your doings like that, a sign of a forthcoming behavior will be found, right in the middle of the moment. In other words, if you live today with full presence, wholeheartedness, very naturally within today forthcoming being is found, within the full presence of today. So, very naturally, tomorrow comes.
So, from this point, how can you do it?
If you read the Genjokoan, Dogen Zenji says,
There is no before, no after. All sentient beings at the dharma stage.
That means from moment to moment, all beings exist, and appear, disappear, appear, disappear, momentarily. So, nothing to get in your hand.
So, from this point, no before, no after. If you dance on the stage, just dance, in the time process. The previous form of dance disappears. No one catches it, no one chases after. So all you have to do is to devote yourself to take care of that moment. But simultaneously, within that performance of the dance, people can see something more than the moment, [the] disappearing form of dance. […] Still there is a beauty of dance. That means something will continue there. Within the dance, a forthcoming form of dance will be found.
So, if you do gassho fully, with wholeheartedness, right in the moment, then people are really impressed by your doing. […] Gassho makes you impressed because it is not a single being which appears and disappears in a moment, but it continues doing. [There is] something continuous there.
So, this is very important practice for us.
52:00
In the practice of chanting, we say [kiri kirazu?], [which] means “stop without stopping.” (Stopping but unable to stop 休也休不得 ?) […] That you should do something with wholeheartedness means you should stop; stay there. But you cannot stay there. Very naturally your life is moving, and even though you want to stay there, the forthcoming life can appear in a moment. Very naturally, forthcoming of life takes you to the next moment.
This [“stop without stopping”] is called attentiveness. Attentiveness, kindness. If you deal with the table with kindness or attentiveness, with wholeheartedness, very naturally there is a wonderful feeling, a wonderful mood, a wonderful human “fragrance” there. A spiritual fragrance there, by which people are very impressed.
So, from this point, in your everyday life – when you take off your shoes in the basement and put them there recklessly, this is nothing but human doings, just constantly one moment. Take off your shoes, and put them there, that’s all. But it’s not a good way. Take off your shoes with wholeheartedness and put them there, but in a moment, you have to put them there with attentiveness. At that time, how can you see something, some deep feeling of your doings? More than simple doings – taking off your shoes and putting them there recklessly. For this, take off your shoes and put your shoes in a certain place with kindness, with attentiveness. This is very important practice for us.
In Eiheiji monastery, when you [go] into the room, the [front] of the slippers is [placed] far from you. Here is the entrance of the room, and this is the top of the slippers, like this. Because [then] when you come out, it’s pretty easy to put on the slippers. But if you [take off] the shoes like this when you come in, when you come out it’s very difficult.
So we are thinking something [about] the next moment. We have to do something now, with thinking [about] something more than now. Do you understand that? That is called attentiveness.
Or for instance, the other day I went shopping, and a young lady opened the door of the store, and right behind her an old lady followed her, but the young lady didn’t know that. The young lady opened the door and she didn’t care who came behind. So the old lady was really mad at her! [He laughs.]
But usually [when] people open the door, most people look back to see whether people are coming or not. That is so-called attentiveness or kindness. You do something now, but you should do something now thinking of something more than now. That is called attentiveness. That’s why when you take off your shoes, you put them there like this, instead of like this or like that, you know?
So that is everyday life’s practice.
That is “food in the bowl, water in the bucket.” Even though you don’t know the full presence of the water, the full presence of the food in the bowl, anyway, take care of the food and water just like this, so-called attentiveness. That is a very important point for us.
58:28
The verse:
Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.
The talkative teacher can hardly open his mouth.
[The talkative teacher or] anybody cannot understand, cannot talk about that one… about the full presence of water in a bucket, as-it-is-ness, just right now. We don’t know.
Northern Dipper, Southern Star—their positions are not different:
Just like a Northern Dipper, southern star. We say the northern or southern, but before whatever you think or not, Northern Dipper is the Northern Dipper, beyond your speculations. […] Temporarily we say “Northern Dipper.” But Northern Dipper is something more than north or south. It means Northern Dipper is nothing but the single being which exists right there, as it is, beyond human speculation. That is nothing but the full presence.
So “food in the bowl, water in the bucket” is just like the Northern Dipper, southern star, or trees in the winter of Minnesota.
White foamy waves flooding the skies arise on level ground.
Trying or not trying,
stopping or not stopping, …
In the peaceful ground – so-called truth, or just full presence – there is a big wave, small waves, that is called dualism. Our human conscious discriminations.
So how can you live there? At that time, how can you live in the dualistic world?
That’s why “trying or not trying.” “Trying or not trying, stopping or not stopping” means you should do something with wholeheartedness in a moment. Thinking or being attentive to something more than something which exists next moment. Or something more than now.
So that is “trying or not trying.” Trying, not trying.
If you want to serve breakfast tomorrow, you have to prepare today, with wholeheartedness, thinking [of] tomorrow. Thinking [of] tomorrow, thinking [of] the people’s situation in the stomach and physical situation, anyway. We have to think, and then we have to take care of the food tonight for the preparation for tomorrow. That is “trying not trying.”
So very naturally, you can do [it] with attentiveness or kindness. That is called shikan. It’s really shikan.
And “stopping or not stopping.” Very naturally there is a kind of very deep, unexplainable, deep feeling, deep personality. It is working. So that’s why people are very impressed by this.
But if you always do [something] very simply – “moment is moment, today is today, I don’t care [about] tomorrow” – that is very simple, realistic, but it doesn’t have a nice flavor.
So your personality must have pretty deep flavor. You cannot say salt, you cannot say sweet, but [there is a] wonderful flavor there, which you cannot explain. For this, we always have to do something with attentiveness. That is called shikan, wholeheartedness.
Because, if you do that, you can do today, right now, but that right now is extending to next moment or more than next moment – so tomorrow. It’s connected. So that is “not stopping.” Your life is going, if you live in that way.
1:04:10
So,
Each and every one is a rich man’s son with no britches.
That comes from [the Lotus Sutra]. You know the story of the rich man’s son, wandering for fifty years, in the Lotus Sutra? We are always wandering for many, many years like this. So that’s why each and every one is “a rich man’s son with no britches.”
But, the comment says, “The onlooker laughs at them.” Anyway, [how pitiful] we are. Why is it that we have to be wandering for fifty years, or a hundred years, for many, many years, just like a rich man’s son? We are already Buddhas. We shouldn’t forget this.
So all we can do is, anyway, let’s perform Buddha’s work. Whatever you think about yourself, anyway, day by day, from moment to moment, let’s perform Buddha’s work. If you perform Buddhas work, you become Buddha.
[You might ask,] “What do you mean, Buddha’s work?” Do something with attentiveness, with true heart. That is to perform Buddha’s work! [However] you judge [or] evaluate yourself, anyway, from day to day we should live like this. [There is] no other way.
So that’s why [we say], “What a pity it is.” That’s why here in the verse it says, “Each and every one is a rich man’s son with no britches.” How pitiful we are. So, let’s practice like this. Day by day.
Do you have a question?
1:06:50
Question: You said, when you do something, you have to think of tomorrow, or some moment ahead. But isn’t it possible you use your human speculation and are doing things the wrong way?
Katagiri Roshi: Yes. That’s why… you should read Genjokoan. In Genjokoan, Dogen Zenji talks about the full presence of individuals, taking the example of firewood and ashes. That’s an interesting example. And in that chapter, Dogen Zenji mentions all beings, each dharma is at the dharma stage. “Dharma stage” means completely mind to mind in mutual accord. Everything exists according to mind to mind in mutual accord, before you think. This is our human nature, and the nature of all sentient beings. That’s why we can live like this, in peace and harmony.
But the moment when you see the human world or trees through human speculation, there is a complication there.
So, Dogen Zenji says, “Each dharma is at the dharma stage.” Even though there is a before and after, the before and after is cut off exactly. In other words, no before and after. Because in terms of the time process, no before and after. Because moment appears and disappears, right there, simultaneously. And then when one moment disappears, next moment appears. But this moment already has disappeared.
So from this point, in the time process, everything is completely independent. So from this point, no before and no after. So all you have to do is do your best right now. Devote yourself to do something right now. That is shikan. Okay? One-pointedness.
But! But we cannot see the human world only in the light of the time process, because there is space. In the spatial dimensions, all sentient beings exist simultaneously, interconnected, interpenetrated. So from this point, in the light of the spatial dimensions, we devote ourselves right now, but we have to do something at the thought of the many beings existing around. That is tomorrow, and yesterday, and all sentient beings. Alright?
So how can we connect with all sentient beings, yesterday and tomorrow? The only thing we can do is devote ourselves to take care of today. But there is still before and after in the light of the spatial dimensions; that’s why we have to think about this. So how can we do this? Not only the “just do it,” okay? Just do with your best. “Best” means attentiveness. A little bit your mind should be spread out, reaching to yesterday and tomorrow and the future and past. And then do right now, with wholeheartedness.
In a more concrete way, for instance: taking a trip. When you want to go to New York, you have to know the destination, and also how to get [there]. If you drive, you have to know the right route.
So New York, that is a destination. So thinking of the before and after, anyway. And then if you know something, whole or big world, and then all you can do is, take one step. That’s all we can do.
Take one step how? At random? No. You should take one step according to thinking [of] many beings with kind mind. So very naturally, destination is there, and your car, and your body, and many beings are there.
So you cannot take one step without destination, without thinking of the many beings – you cannot do it. If you do it, that is called egoism or individualism. Or [it’s called] realistic, very realistic. But it’s not deep.