Zazen and Karmic Consciousness

By: Shohaku Okumura

…In zazen we let go of our thought.  This letting go is “not-understanding.”  Thought is “understanding.”  By letting go we “do not-understanding.”  This sitting and letting go of thought, this opening the hand of thought, is the true Dharma eye.  That means that we are not grasping things with our karmic consciousness or with the thoughts that arise from it.

“Karmic consciousness” refers to the storage of our past experiences.  According to Yogacara teaching, our consciousness can be categorized into eight layers….[T]he deepest layer of our consciousness is our “storehouse consciousness.” All the experiences from birth or even before are stored in this deepest layer.  When we encounter a new object or situation, we interpret it according to what kind of seeds are stored in our storehouse. The way we view and react to things depends on the seeds we have.  This is karmic consciousness, and it is how we are unique:  each of us has different seeds stored in our storehouse.  That is the teaching of Buddhist psychology.

…Our zazen is a unique thing.  We face the wall without an object.  Still, many things rise in our consciousness.  For example, I might think about an incident that made me angry, maybe yesterday.  That event may be so powerful that no matter how many times I have tried to let go it still comes up.  Actually, when I am sitting and facing the wall the incident is already over.  It’s not reality anymore.  But it continues in my consciousness as if it were real.  During zazen I can see clearly that there’s no object, no person in front of me now.  It’s an illusion, just energy that still remains from those seeds in my storehouse consciousness.  So I can let go.  When we let go without grasping, without taking action based on our thoughts, we are released from our karmic consciousness.  This is the completely unique activity of zazen.

Of course, day-to-day things influence what’s going on in our minds.  If someone recently triggered my anger, thoughts come up about that person while I’m sitting.  I might try to figure out why the person said or did such a thing.  Anger also may arise.  Anger is a kind of energy; it comes back no matter how many times I try to let go. When I am sitting facing the wall, the person and the incident are already gone, yet the person is also still sitting within me.  The instant that brought up my anger is gone yet still seems to be there.  While sitting, I may try to figure out what kind of person this is and why he or she did this or that.

When I continue this way in zazen, moment by moment…, I get tired.  Somehow my mind calms down.  Eventually I realize that the reason this person did the thing that angered me is gone.  The anger, though, is still there as energy.  When I sit with this energy it goes deeper and deeper.  This is no longer the anger caused by the particular action or particular person.  Instead, I find that this anger is my self.  And still I sit and try to let go of whatever comes up, to just keep sitting.  Sometimes, not always, I experience that the anger disappears.

I have found that anger is not really caused by a particular person’s action.  The anger is inside me.  That person’s action or speech simply opens the lid of my consciousness. Feelings and thoughts always come from our own consciousness.  They come up in zazen; when we let go, we can let go, and that’s okay.  Zazen is a unique and precious practice.  In the zendo we can let go of everything.  This is really liberation – not only from our daily lives but also from the karmic consciousness created by our twisted karma.  In zazen we are determined not to take action based on the thoughts coming and going; therefore we don’t create new karma.  This is what it means that in zazen we are liberated from our karma. 

My teacher… taught that zazen itself is the true Dharma eye.  In other words, the true Dharma eye means not seeing things with our karmic consciousness.  This is the meaning of [my teacher’s] phrase ”opening the hand of thought.”  In ordinary life, thought leads to actions.  When we open the hand of thought, we let go and no actions arise.

…Only in zazen can we stop making karma.  When we leave the zendo we have to do something; to do something we have to make choices, and the choices I make depend on my values, which are influenced by my karmic consciousness. 

When we stand up from the cushion and go outside we cannot let go of everything; it would be dangerous.  When we leave the zendo we have to think again. We have to make choices about what we should and shouldn’t do.  In daily life I need to think and take actions using my knowledge, understanding, values, and picture of the world…

Our practice in daily life is about creating wholesome karma.  In this context, wholesome karma means to manifest in daily life what we experience in zazen: no separation between myself and other people and myriad things….That is our life based on zazen and the bodhisattva vows.

Note: This is from Chapter 1 of The Mountains and Waters Sutra

Nonthinking: Shohaku Okumura

By: Shohaku Okumura

When we are sitting, we do not follow our thoughts, nor do we stop them.  We just let them come and go freely.  We cannot call it thinking because the thoughts are not grasped.  If we simply peruse our thoughts, it is just thinking; it is not zazen.  We cannot call zazen not-thinking either, because thoughts are coming and going like clouds floating in the sky. When we are sitting, our brain does not stop functioning, just as our stomach is always digesting.  Sometimes our minds are busy; sometimes our minds are calm.  Just sitting, without being concerned with the conditions of our mind, is the most important point in zazen.  When we sit in this way, we are one with Reality, which is beyond thinking.  To say it another way, Reality manifests itself through our body and mind.’ (notes on Fukanzazengi)

Why Meditation is "Good for Nothing"

By: Shohaku Okumura

We usually think this meditation practice is to attain some kind of enlightenment or awakening, but Dogen said we should just sit without any expectation, even enlightenment, because we practice in order to get enlightenment and that is desire, our egocentric desire is still working there in search of truth.  So from the very very beginning, we, in Dogen’s expression, “throw ourselves into the Way without expecting any reward.” 

[My] teacher, Sawaki Kodo Roshi, said Zazen, this sitting meditation, is “good for nothing.”  That is what I [also] recommend to people.  Zazen without expectation or without a gaining mind or “Zazen is good for nothing” is a kind of a Koan.  Even I, when I started to practice, had some expectation; …without expectation or goal, we cannot start to practice.  Here is a kind of conflict; we usually call this a “way seeking mind.”  Without this way seeking mind (or in Buddhist terms bodhicitta) we cannot start to practice.  But the teaching is you should not even expect the answer.  So here is a conflict; as we continue, this becomes a really serious question.

Sometimes we have to face a dead end.  Deep in my heart I think to practice “good for nothing Zazen” is the most authentic practice in [the] Buddhist tradition. That’s why I’m OK, that’s why my life is meaningful.  One day I found myself sitting alone.  … I sat by myself and I found deep peace.  That means, I don’t need to be a good boy.  I can be just sitting.  And I found that is really “Zazen that is good for nothing.”  Before that I intellectually understood it, that it is good for nothing as a Buddhist philosophy.  But because of what I felt [that day sitting alone] my life is OK and meaningful.  When I couldn’t continue in that way, I felt my life is not valuable. But I [have] found that that is [our] ground: we need to practice without a desire to be a good boy, not only in the secular, mundane way, but even as a Buddhist.  I became free from my desire to be a good Buddhist.  Finally, I think I found [the] real meaning of “zazen is good for nothing” or “practice without expectation or gaining mind.”  So just be there with this body and mind.

When we sit, we don’t really listen to anything, we don’t pay any attention.  Even if the birds are singing, and we are sitting, if I listen to their singing, and think these are the birds, then it’s not Zazen any more.  Even when I do this, there is a separation between a person sitting and the sound.  There is an interesting koan story in Zen, (and Dogen liked this [koan],) a teacher asked a student, showing, pointing to the wind bell, and the teacher asked does the wind make the sound, or does the bell make the sound?  Then the student said my mind makes the sound without wind or bell.  That means when the wind blows, the wind bell makes a vibration.  When that vibration of the air reaches my ear, then it becomes sound. So before the vibrations reaches my ear, there is no sound.  Sound is only inside of our mind.  But Dogen said that is not true.  Even if my mind is working, if the wind doesn’t blow, and the wind bell doesn’t shake, and the air doesn’t vibrate, then there is no sound.  So all of them are making the sound, that means the entire universe is making the sound.  So there is no subject who listens or sound that is heard, that is what Dogen called Total Function.  We are part of it, so there is no such person who is listening, no sound that comes to me, but this entire world is making that sound through this person, and this person is only a tiny part of it.

This is from the dharma talk, “Zen Master Shohaku Okumura Explains Why Meditation is Good for Nothing,” which can be found at: https://www.upworthy.com/zen-master-explains-why-meditation-good-for-nothing?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2

Vowing to Create a Practice Dojo

By: Eihei Dogen

“Even if we don’t have lofty temple buildings, if we practice, the place can be called a dojo of ancient buddhas.” 

“We hear that ancient people practiced on the ground or under a tree.  Such places are sacred forever.  A single person’s continuous practice creates a dojo for many buddhas.”

Commentary by Shohaku Okumura: “We don’t need a formal zazen hall. When we vow to establish a dojo or sangha we should not forget this.”