One more, I think, I hope people will become honest and more direct, you know. That will be the, you know, root of the problem. Can you say, it's so simple to be honest and direct, why is it so hard to be honest and direct? Why did it take so many years? Yeah, why it is so hard is because we are trying to escape from it. We should suffer more, maybe. We will not lose in suffering. But if we try to escape from it, you will be caught by it.

[01:07]

Isn't that right? And how did it get started that we try to escape suffering? Because I have the courage to face it, but it works out fine. But seldom can I do that, you know. How did it get so popular to run away from pain? You know, we have many, many, you know, ways of escaping it. Very advanced. We can now escape from this earth to the moon, even. You know, we have many, you know, ways of escaping from it. And we are, you know, we have not much courage, you know, to face or to satisfy with a cup of water, you know. We are trying to put sugar in it and, you know, and to sell something, you know, putting something, you know.

[02:16]

And it is not just exactly what I want, you know. Maybe I want a cup of plain water more, but I have to drink it, you know. Because we, you know, we try to escape from something, you know, or we rely on something. We want to make ourselves happy, you know, without, you know, making ourselves really happy. But we, because we want to, you know, we want to satisfy or not satisfy. We want to, maybe we want to be fooled by something, you know, to escape actual suffering. If we are honest enough, you may say, I like plain water.

[03:24]

But if beautiful girl serves some, you know, sweet like this, you don't say, you know, I like water. Many things, many words is going with things to sell something, to force something on us. So in our everyday life we find this kind of dishonesty. So we are, if we become very frank and honest, you know, if we try to be honest as much as we can. And if I want to have something, something for ourselves, you know, then various problems will be solved.

[04:43]

So it is not possible to, you know, to change our way of life, you know, all at once. Because our, you know, this kind of effort has been going for many hundreds of years after counter-reformation, maybe, or industrial reformation. This is current of our thought, I think. And we are deeply involved in it. And we like to enjoy it still, you know. Hi.

[05:54]

Practicing Zazen, where? Alone. If you, you know, really want to practice Zazen, naturally you may need some advice. You know. Practice should be for your own, you know. Must be your own practice. So it is necessary to, some advice or instruction is necessary. So after you start, you know, after you know pretty well about your practice, you can do it alone.

[07:07]

Maybe. If we start to talk about this kind of thing, it is, you know, endless, actually. You can do it alone. But always you should be, you should have close contact with, you know, more matured practice. Because there is no definite, you know, concrete way of practice. No more questions. No more questions? Is that okay?

[08:12]

So Dogen Zen says, you know, two important things is to practice Zazen and to ask advice from your teacher. These two points are very important for practice. Thank you. I have something that, a question that has come up in talking about Western religious quests versus Eastern religious quests. And one thing that I've heard people say is that Zen is more interested in the individual alone and not so much in the society as a whole.

[09:40]

You know, on the other hand, I hear, you know, the bodhisattvas say, you know, not rest until all sentient beings are finished. What really, what is Zen's concern with society as a whole? You know, or all of the people in the country, or all of the people in the world. Is it only, you know, a thing that's so difficult that maybe just the people, it's such, you know, an individual thing? Or is there some hope of, you know, all of the world being... All over the world, including stones and trees and everything. That is, you know, our way. Not only human beings. That is, you know, so we are not interested in individual practice, so-called individual practice.

[10:53]

We do not acknowledge any self, you know. He may disagree with me. Please come here. Come here. Real self, you know, will be found in your surroundings, you know. You will be always completely, you know, absorbed in what you see. If you are not fooling yourself. You know. If you exist here, you know.

[11:54]

That is very true. We know that. So, we have no individual practice in its usual sense. Our individual practice includes our, you know... No one can practice alone. No. No individual. No, you know, no practice just for yourself. You know. To take care of zendo is practice. To take care of your own kitchen is practice. We understand practice in that way. How you know how to take care of your kitchen is how, you know, you sit.

[13:06]

You know. Even though you sit, you have many problems, you know. Drowsiness, pain in your legs, and posture, and you have to take care of your breathing. And your posture should not be like this. You should be always straight. There are many things to take care of in your practice. We are not just sitting on cushion, you know, sleeping. We are taking care of everything. Just you take care of your family, your children. That is real practice, you know. So, if you know how to take care of your practice, you will know how to take care of your business, you know, in its true sense.

[14:17]

Sometimes businessman doesn't take care of his own business. He takes care of something quite different, you know, beautiful girls, or bank books. That is a problem, you know. You said that during practice, a student can do, must be careful not to do too little or too much. An example of too little, you said, you might fall asleep. What do you mean by too much? How is it possible to do too much or try too hard? Too hard, you know, too hard. To get up, you know, too early, you know, before other students in bed. To get up early and to sit.

[15:22]

That is not good practice. You know, our rules is not so loose, you know. We, our rules is, you know, just right. If you try to do, you know, more, you will be exhausted. You cannot, you know, keep your practice for seven days. Eventually you will give up. That is the result, you know. So, you know, this much care, you know, is necessary on the part of the teacher or leader. The great teachers are doing, you know, just enough.

[16:53]

And not much. Sometimes they wear, you know, gorgeous, you know, okesa and beautiful hat. And, you know, long stuff, you know. Beautiful sandal and beautiful fisk, you know. You may think that is too much, but actually maybe too much. Maybe too much, but reason why they do so is people like it, you know. So he may say, you know, even though I wear gorgeous robe, this is just right for the people. For, you know, people, contemporary people, he may say.

[17:57]

Maybe before I finish my lecture, I, you know, let me talk more about Kumazawa Zenji. I rather, you know, angry with him, because I was fooled by him for maybe more than 30 years. And I found out that I was fooled by him, you know, some 30 years ago. And, you know, he gave us some Zen story during Sesshin time. We were sitting in cold, cold Zendo for seven days at Eheiji in the snow.

[19:09]

And we are, you know, very serious practice, of course, we are so young. One morning, late Kumazawa Zenji, at that time he was director of Eheiji monastery, came to Zendo and gave us Zen story. He said, do you understand this story? He said, a sparrow, a sparrow broke, you know, a big stone gate. Tori, ishi no tori, means, you know, big gate built by, built of stone.

[20:23]

As thick as this, maybe, I don't know how big. But a sparrow broke it. I don't know how, maybe by stepping on it. And he said, do you understand? We thought that is some koan, you know, we must solve during seven days Sesshin. And he started to talk about it in very serious mood. I didn't like, you know, that kind of, you know, story, Zen story, so-called Zen story. I feel as if wherever I read or hear Zen story, I felt as if I was fooled by someone,

[21:30]

without giving not much reason why it is so, you know. They talk about something funny. So, because I didn't like it, so I remembered it, what he said. I still remember it. But the other day, you know, when I, you know, think about what he said, you know, when I repeated what he said. Ah, kosuzume ga, kosuzume ga ishi no tori wo fumiotta. Kosuzume ga ishi no tori wo fumiotta. What does it mean? Of course, in Japanese, I'm sorry. It is Japanese. Ishi no tori wo fumiotta. Fumiotta means, you know, to step on it and break it is to fumiotta.

[22:33]

But another meaning may be fundeita. A sparrow was stepping on the, you know, stone, fundeita. Was stepping on the stone, back and forth, you know. Fumioru. Oru is, one meaning is break. And the other meaning is on it. Stepping on it is the other meaning. So, what he said was, he was, you know, seriously talking about it. As if a sparrow was breaking, you know, has broken the big stone gate. But, when he, before he start to talk about, to say something, to explain that koan,

[23:38]

he repeated, did you understand? Did you understand? You know. No one could understand that it was joke. Because we were too serious. No one talked about, you know, his joke or his koan after, you know, that, you know, sesshin time. Because no one could understand what he meant. Or no one could understand that was just a joke. You know, that is another side of the serious, you know, practice.

[24:49]

That is, you know, if we could, if someone could, you know, know that was just joke, you know. We are practicing very good practice. Not too much effort. Or not too little. Maybe we are wasting our effort. Doing, making some excessive effort. Too much effort. So we lost our, you know, usual thinking mind. That is how we obtain, you know, our true practice. Yes. He was really great Zen master. That is, you know, how you solve the problem.

[26:05]

If every, you know, governor of the United States is like him, not much problem may not arise. Even though someone is very, you know, mad at him, they treat, you know, treat him just, you know, just right. Not too, you know, not too strong or not too soft. That is not something which we can attain by skill or, you know, by repeating things. But if you know, just know what is real practice, then, you know, you will have just, you can do things just right.

[27:15]

Thank you very much.

[27:18]

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