Good morning!

 

Last week we talked about the Two Ways of Seeing and Cultivation. The Two Ways of Cultivation in the Zen Tradition are Sitting and Samu (Work, lit. Doing Duties). In Theravada Buddhism, renouncers and lay people exchange Dharma donation and Faith donation to support the Pure/Poor Way (vissuddhi magga/hindo: 貧道) of life. India had a long tradition of supporting strivers (samanas/śramaṇas) and Brahmanas.

 

In China, however, renouncers were persecuted by some Emperors, and so had to flee to the mountains in order to support themselves. Thus their practice included sitting and samu to maintain their life. Hyakujo Ekai created the oldest Purity Codes, the remnants of which and monastic rules  were collected in the Zen Monastery Purity Codes (Zen-en Shingi) of Choro Soseki to regulate production, maintenance, living, etc.

 

Hyakujo said, “A day of no work, a day of no eating.” Due to his old age – he lived to 95 – his disciples had hidden his farming tools make him rest, and he said this while refusing to take food. So samu became an essential practice in Zen monasteries, in addition to sitting, to continue and concentrate to develop and achieve nirvana and prognosis, learning how to live and run things in holy truth, goodness, and beauty.

 

Mahayana Buddhism is the bodhisattva way, “vowing to save others first and oneself last,” going with all always. The Awakened Way must go along with the karma world, with nirvana (unmoved by karma), and with bodhi, awakening, providing prognosis for seeing and solving all problems and sufferings. Sitting and samu are thus the essential way to enable practitioners to provide skillful means and ends.

 

May 11, 2019 C.E.

 

Note 1. Hyakujo Shingi (清規) by Hyakujo Ekai （百丈懐海：749– 814）

Note 2. Zen’en Shingi (禅苑清規) by Choro Soseki (長蘆宗賾: b./d. dates unknown, resided at Kosai Zen’in: 1102～1105)

 

 

お早うございます！

 

先週私達は見道と修道の二道について話しました。禅の伝統では修道の二道は坐禅と作務（作業、字義通りには義務を行う）です。上座仏教では出家者と在家者は法施と生活の清浄道/貧道を支える為の信施を交換します。インドでは修行者（沙門：Pali: samana, Skt.: śramaṇa：努力者の音訳）とバラモンを支える長い伝統がありました。

 

中国ではしかし幾人かの皇帝によって出家者が迫害されましたので、自らを支える為に山に逃げなければなりませんでした。こうして彼らの修行は自分たちを支える為に坐禅と作務を含むようになりました。百丈懐海は最古の清規を創りましたが、その残滓と禅苑の規則が収集されて禅苑清規が生産、維持、生活などを統制するために編まれました。

 

百丈は九十五歳迄生きましたが老齢の為に休ませようと弟子達が農具を隠すと「一日不作、一日不食」と言い食事を摂るのを拒否しました。それで、坐禅に加えて、作務が、涅槃と般若（智慧）を発展させて得るためと、聖（全体健全）なる真善美で生活し物事を運営するのを学ぶ為に禅苑での必須の実践となったのです。

 

大乗仏教は「自未得度先度他（自ら渡る前に他を渡す）と誓い」常に一切と共に行く菩薩道です。仏道（覚道）は涅槃（業に不動）と、一切の問題と苦を見て解決する般若を提供する、菩提（覚醒）で業世界と共に行かなければなりません。坐禅と作務はこうして修行者に巧妙な目的と手段（善巧方便ぜんぎょうほうべん）を提供する必須の道です。

 

2019共通年5月11日　　法話

 

註１．百丈懐海（749– 814）による百丈清規

註２．長蘆宗賾（生死年不明だが1102～1105洪済禅院に住持) による禅苑清規

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Otsuka’s garden facing the street

 

 

 

 

 

 

君子蘭/clivia nobilis

 

 

 

 

kara/cala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ジャーマンアイリス・German iris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

三寸あやめ/iris sanguinea

 

 

 

 

紫蘭/ bletilla striata

 

 

 

 

 

 

リアトリス/liatris

 

 

 

 

リアトリスと三寸あやめ/liatris & iris sanguinea

 

 

 

 

ツツジ/azalea

 

 

 

 

極楽鳥/bird or paradise/strelitzia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

マーガレット/Marguerite/Paris daisy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

薔薇/rose

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Otsuka’s front garden facing the street

leading to downtown and Pacific Ocean

Passers-by enjoy beautiful flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

Pacific Ocean

 

The above pictures were taken and sent from Japan

by Mr. Noriyuki Otsuka in Shimoda, Shizuoka

 

 

 

Prof. Duncan Williams：

AMERICAN SUTRA: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War

On Friday afternoon, May 3^rd, Professor Duncan Ryuken Williams of USC will offer a dharma talk and conversation with Hozan Alan Senauke at Berkeley Zen Center, based on his remarkable new book, American Sutra. This groundbreaking history, just released by Harvard University Press, tells the little-known story of how, in one of our country’s darkest hours, Japanese Americans fought to defend their faith and preserve religious freedom. The mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is not only a tale of injustice; it is a moving story of faith. In this path-breaking account, Prof. Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation’s history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American.

See the book and project’s website for more information: https://www.duncanryukenwilliams.com/american-sutra

Time: 5:40pm

Berkeley Zen Center—1933 Russell Street, Berkeley, CA 94703

 

Good morning!

 

After series of rainy days, we are now surrounded by abundant green. We have our regular sesshin, embracing and touching the heart (coeur, 摂心/接心), core of our existence. I had back pain before sitting, but now it’s gone. Choshin (調身ordering posture), chosoku (調息ordering breath), and choshin (調心ordering heart) make the whole system holy (wholly wholesome), coordinating organs, circulation, secretion, etc.

 

The Four Holy (Pali/Skt.: ariya/ārya: hagia: Greek) Truths are wholly wholesome truths/beings (sat). The first truth is suffering (duk-kha: wrong going, going against desire). The four sufferings are birth, sickness, aging, and death, inevitable for all living beings. The eight sufferings are these plus not getting the desired, parting with the loved, meeting with the hated – in short, the five aggregates rampant.

 

The second truth is the cause of suffering, identified with craving (taṅhā, lit. thirst, like drinking sea water at a shipwreck, which makes one thirstier). The karma (action/habit/heredity) through some forty billion years of evolution has made living beings follow survival instincts, as scientists even see selfish genes, especially in humans with advanced brains and bodies, languages and tools, sciences and technologies.

 

The third truth is cessation of the cause of suffering, identified with nirvana, cessation of karma. Practically, it is shown in the Four Stages of Meditation (Zen, Chan, Jhāna, Dhyāna: Japanese, Chinese, Pali, Skt.), stilling karma (physical, verbal, and mental: conceptions, emotions, volitions), witnessing nirvana and the new existential truth (ultimate truth) beyond conventional truth in karma in still sitting.

 

The fourth truth is usually identified with the Eightfold Holy Ways/Paths of right view, thinking, speech, action, livelihood, mindfulness, striving, and concentration (samādhi). This is meant for lay practitioners with livelihoods, adapting the Seven Awakening Limbs for renouncers of household life.  “The Thirty-seven Ways/Paths,” except for the Eightfold Holy Ways, are of meditation (Zen samādhi) in nirvana/bodhi (awakening).

April 28, 2019 C.E.

 

お早うございます‼

 

雨の日が続いた後私達は今や潤沢な緑に包まれています。私達は恒例の、存在の中心（core）である心（coeur）を抱擁し心に接触する摂心・接心をしています。坐る前には腰痛があったのですが、今では消えてしまいました。調身・調息・調心は器官・循環・分泌などを統合して全体系を聖的（全体健全）にします。

 

四聖（パーリ語/梵語: アリヤ/アーリヤariya/ārya: hagiaハギア：ギリシャ語：holyホーリー：英語)諦は全体健全な真理/存在です。第一の真実は苦（duk-kha: 悪くなる:願望に反する）です。四苦は一切の生物にとっては避けられない生老病死です。八苦はこれらに求不得苦・愛別離苦・怨憎会苦・略して五蘊盛苦を加えたものです。

 

第二の真実は苦の原因で、渇愛（taṅhā、難破船で海水を飲み、もっと喉が渇くような欲望）と同一視されています。約四十億年に亘る進化の業（行動・習慣・遺伝）は生存欲に従うようになり、科学者達は「利己的遺伝子」と呼ぶような根の深いものになりましたが、特に手と脳・言葉と道具・科学と技術を持つ人間の場合はそうです。

 

第三の真実は苦の原因の消滅で、業の消滅である涅槃と同一視されています。実際には禅の四段階（四禅：日本語禅ゼンは中国語チャン：パーリ語・梵語：Jhāna, Dhyānaの音訳）で示されますが、業（身口意三業：意の観念・感情・意欲）を静めることで、静坐により涅槃に達して、業による俗諦を超えた新しい実存真理（究極真理：真諦：第一義諦：勝義諦）を実証すること。

 

第四の真実は正見・正思・正語・正行・正命・正念・正精進・正定（三昧：samādhi）の八聖道と同一視されています。これは在家生活を放棄した出家者の為の七覚支を適用して正命（正しい生業：なりわい）を加ええ在家修行者に向けたものです。八聖道を除いた所謂「三十七道品（七覚支など）」は涅槃・菩提（覚醒）にある禅定（Zen samādhi)についてのものです。

 

2019共通年4月28日　法話

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grieving for Sri Lanka

 

Hatred never ceases through hatred 
It ceases only through love.
This is an eternal law.

                                                              —Dhammapada, verse 5

 

Our deepest compassion and sympathy goes out to the victims of Easter Sunday bombings across Sri Lanka, to their families, and to an entire nation in grief. The world is grieving with you. More than 350 people have been killed, with 500 more injured. We wonder what it will take for people to learn that differences and conflicts are never resolved by cascading violence?

              Regardless of who is held responsible for these atrocities, our concern is based on compassion for all whose lives have been torn apart by these acts of extreme violence and by our unshakeable opposition to all forms of hatred, murder and terror. Our nonviolent stand does not arise from any one religious tradition, but from a universal awareness that life is precious to all.

              As western Buddhist practitioners, teachers, and clergy, we depend on the Buddha’s ancient teachings on non-violence and love even in time of fear and uncertainty. Of course, we wish to see those responsible for these bombings held accountable in courts of law. At the same time, we urge the leaders of all faith communities in Sri Lanka and around the world to guide their congregations with wisdom and compassion in breaking the chains of violence here and now.

 

—Rev. Hozan Alan Senauke

for Clear View Project

and Buddhist Humanitarian Project

23 April 2019

 

ーーーーー

Comment:　No Harming/Killing is the first principle of all religion’s ethics, and the Global Ethic declared by the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1993, with more than seven thousands participants from all religions of the world. 

Muhammad said, “Killing one human is killing all humanity.” Muslims should observe this and let all Muslims observe this. Those who kill are not Muslims, in whatever names or beliefs they may claim or hold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!

 

In the morning sunlight we are now surrounded by many flowers – redbuds, lilacs, crabapples, wisteria, azaleas, dogwood, cherries, etc. The Buddha held up a flower, and Mahakashyapa smiled. We appreciate holy truth, goodness, and beauty there. Plants (still lives) live in holiness, wholly wholesome.　Animals (moving lives) are separated from the earth, needing food from others.

 

Humans developed brains and hands, science and technology, becoming further separated from nature, and now we have created crises such as global warming, mass extinction, and maybe even nuclear winter. Sin, a separated sickness from nature, must be avoided to reunify with holiness, which is the task of religion (from religare: reunion).

 

All Buddhists treasure and take refuge in the Triple Treasures, the Refuges of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, for holy truth, goodness, and beauty. All Buddhists learn the Triple Learning of morality, concentration, and prognosis (sīla, samādhi, and prajňā) to reunify our volitions, emotions, and intelligence in holiness.

 

All Buddhist observe the Five Precepts, the first four of which became the Global Ethic. No killing is the most important morality, as nothing can be done without life. No stealing is to assure material order for life. No lying is to assure social order. No sexual misconduct is to assure gender and generation order.

 

Zen-jō (jhāna-samādhi) is the essential and encompassing practice to still karma (in nirvana, no wind of karma) with its Triple Poisons (desire, divisiveness, delusion) and to reunify with holiness, inclusive of morality and prognosis. Without this, karma is neither realized nor transcended.

 

Awakening is possible by witnessing nirvana. Prognosis is to prognosticate all problems for solutions, reunifying in holiness in nirvana. The Awakened Way goes on with the constant and concentrated practice of zen-jō in nirvana and awakening, assuring and advancing morality and prognosis in holiness.

 

April 20, 2019 C.E. Dharma talk

 

 

三学

 

お早うございます！

 

朝の陽光の中に私達は今や沢山の花々に囲まれています－レッドバッズ（ハナズオウ）、リラ、クラブアップル（姫林檎）、藤、ツツジ、ダッグウッド（ハナミズキ）、桜など。仏陀が華を持ち上げると、魔訶迦葉は微笑んだ（拈華微笑）。私達はそこに聖なる真善美を賞美します。植物（静物）は聖、全体健全、の中に生きています。動物は地を離れて、他から食を得る必要があります。

 

人間は脳と手、科学と技術を発展させて、更に自然から離れて、今や地球温暖化、大量絶滅、更には核の冬さえ有り得る危機を創り出しました。罪、自然からの分離病患、は聖性に帰一（再合一）して避けなければなりませんが、それが宗教（ラテン語religare:　帰一：再合一）の課題です。

 

仏教徒は全て聖なる真善美の為に仏法僧の三宝を宝物とし、仏法僧の三帰に帰依します。仏教徒は全て知情意を聖性に帰一する為に戒定慧(sīla, samādhi, and prajňā)の三学を学習します。

 

仏教徒は全て五戒を遵守しますが、その最初の四つは地球倫理と成っています。不殺生は、生命が無ければ何も成し得ないので、最も重要な戒です。不偸盗は生命の為の物質的秩序を保証します。不妄語は社会的秩序を保証します。不邪淫は異性・世代を保証します。

 

禅定(jhāna-samādhi)は業とその貪瞋痴の三毒を静める為の本質的で包括的な実践であり、戒と慧を含む聖性に帰一する実践です。これなしには業は理解されず超越もされません。

 

2019共通年4月20日　法話

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!

 

We are now surrounded by flowers. We have fresh flowers at the altar. I was reluctant to sweep the garden when asked to do so as a child. But I was delighted to clean, if it was initiated by my own accord. Aspiration is the initiative to do and become holy.

 

We aspired to practice and so have cultivation, awakening, and nirvana now. The Way Cycle of Sustained Practice – aspiration, cultivation, awakening, and nirvana – goes on each moment, every day, ever on in time and space.

 

The single redbud tree at the southeast corner of our garden spread its seeds, some transplanted, and we see many now. Holy truth, goodness, and beauty spread with the Triple Treasure of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha all over the world.

 

“Year after year flowers remain the same, but humans do not remain the same.” Flower trees may survive hundreds of years, while humans seldom survive one hundred. Actually, flowers with their sizes, spheres, and surroundings, change too.

 

“The Blue Mountain constantly takes steps.” Mountains change in seasons, years, with their flora, fauna, forms, and formations, even flattening. The Way Cycle goes on with all all over the world for the more holy truth, goodness, and beauty.

 

April 13. 2019 C.E.　Dharma Talk

 

お早うございます❕

 

私達は今花々に取り巻かれています。祭壇には新鮮な花が供えてあります。子供の頃庭を掃くように言われると嫌でした。しかし自分の心からしたいと思うと、清掃するのは喜びでした。発心とは自ら聖 (全体健全)に為したい成りたいと願うことです。

 

私達は実践したいと発心したから、今修行し、目覚め、涅槃を得るのです。発心・修行・菩提・涅槃の行持道環は刻々に、毎日、そして時空に継続して行くのです。

 

私達の庭の南東の隅にあった一本のレッドバッド（紅芽:アメリカハナズオウ）がその種子を散布し、何本かは移植されて、今や何本も見れるようになりました。聖なる真善美は仏法僧の三宝と共に世界中に広まっています。

 

「年年歳歳花同じ、しかし人同じからず。」花木は何百年も生存しますが、しかし人間は稀にしか百年生きません。実際には花々も又その大きさ、範囲、周囲と共に変わります。

 

「青山常運歩。」山々は季節、歳年、植物、動物、形態、形成で変わり、平坦にさえなります。行持道環は更に聖なる真善美の為に一切と共に世界中に継続して行きます。

 

2019共通年4月13日　法話

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!

 

We can now enjoy a lot of flowers – daffodils, magnolias (木蓮: tree lotus), forsythia, cherries, quince, etc. April 8 is celebrated as the Flower Festival, the Buddha’s birthday. Without the Buddha (Awakened), we can’t have his Dharma (norm/form, law/phenomena) and Sangha (Community), the Triple Treasure.

 

Because of his Dharma, we know the Dharma (norm/law) of all dharmas (forms/phenomena), Interdependent Co-origination, i.e., that all phenomena are co-originated on causes and conditions. Anyone can apply it in all problems and solve all sufferings in principle and practice, living the awakened way in nirvana.

 

Without Sangha, no one could transmit his Dharma, much less treasure it and take refuge in it, far less actually appreciate it. Because of the Sangha, we can know that all living beings are karma-machines, etc., and can transcend karma by cultivating and attaining awakening in nirvana by the Fourfold Applications.

 

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are also called the Triple Refuge. All beings can take refuges in them to solve individual, social, and environmental problems and sufferings in truth/ethic. Anyone can realize limitless light, liberation, love, and life in holiness, wholesome whole, in time and space. They are the true treasures.

 

4/6/19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garyo’s mail and photos shared below:

Yesterday, I was at Bartlett lake near Phoenix hearing that the desert is in exceptional bloom – and it was spectacular! I never have seen the desert so green and colorful! The air was filled with a sweet smell, bees were humming, birds chirping – so beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera, but made many photos with my iPhone. I would like to share the beauty with you (maybe, you also want to post it on your blog).

It reminded me of your saying “when flowers bloom, butterflies come”. The desert is full of seeds and when the conditions are right and there is enough water and warmth, the desert turns into pure beauty. It is said that it did not happen since 100 years.

Most of the flowers I did not know. However, there were some I could name – I wrote it underneath the photo.