Going to war, I think, I hope people will become honest and more direct, you know. That will be the root of the problem. Can you say, it's so simple to be honest and direct, why is it so hard? Why do you think it's so hard here? 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? How did it get started that we try to escape suffering? I have the courage to face it, but it works out fine. But seldom can I do that. How did it get so popular to run away from pain? You know, we have many, many ways of escaping it. Very advanced ones. We can now escape from this earth to the moon, even. We have many ways of escaping from it. And we have not much courage to face or to satisfy with a cup of water. We are trying to put sugar in it and to sell something, putting something.

[02:12]

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

[03:20]

But if a beautiful girl serves some sweets like this, you don't say, I like water. Many things, many words are going with things. To sell something, to force something on us. So in our everyday life we find this kind of dishonesty. So 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,

[04:21]

something for ourselves, you know, then various problems will be solved. 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.

[05:31]

And we like to enjoy it still, you know. Hi. Hi. Practicing Zazen, where? Alone. Alone. If you, you know, really want to practice Zazen, naturally you may need some advice. Practice should be for your own, you know. Must be your own practice. So it is necessary to, some advice or instruction is necessary.

[06:41]

So after you start, you know, after you know pretty well about your practice, you can do it alone. 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. Okay.

[07:56]

No more questions? Is that okay? So Dogen Zenji says, you know, two important things are to practice Zazen and to ask advice from your teacher. These two points are very important for practice. Thank you.

[09:02]

I have something that, a question that has come up in talking about Western religious quest versus Eastern religious quest. 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. You know, on the other hand, I hear, you know, Bodhisattva say, you know, not rest until all sentient beings are finished. What, really, what is Zen's concern with society as a whole? Society as a whole. Or all of the people in the country. All of the people in the world. Is it only, you know, a thing that's so difficult that maybe just the people,

[10:03]

is it, 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. We do not acknowledge any self, you know. He may disagree with me. Please come here. Real self, you know, will be found in your surroundings, you know.

[11:12]

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. 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. No individual. No individual.

[12:14]

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. 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.

[13:17]

There are many things to take care of in your practice. We are not just sitting on cushions, 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 in its true sense. Sometimes a businessman doesn't take care of his own business. He takes care of something quite different. You know, beautiful girls. Or bank books.

[14:19]

That is the problem, you know. You said that during practice, a student must be careful not to do too little or too much. An example of too little is in my poem. 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. Before other students in bed. To get up early and to sit. That is not good practice. You know, our rules are not so loose. Our rules are just right. If you try to do more, you will be exhausted.

[15:24]

You cannot keep your practice for seven days. Eventually you will give up. That is the result. So, you know, this much care is necessary on the part of the teacher or leader. The great teachers are doing just enough and not much.

[16:34]

Sometimes they wear, you know, gorgeous okesa and beautiful hat. And, you know, long stuff, you know. Beautiful sandals. And beautiful fists, you know. You may think that is too much. But actually, maybe too much. Maybe too much, but the reason why they do so is people like it. So even though I wear gorgeous clothes, this is just right for the people. For, you know, people. Contemporary people, you may say. Ah, maybe before I finish my lecture,

[17:50]

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 the edge in the snow. And we are, you know, very serious, practice.

[18:54]

Of course, we are so young. One morning, late Kumazawa Zenji, at that time he was Kannon, he was the director of Eheichi Monastery, came to Zendo and gave us Zen story. And he said, do you understand this story? He said, a sparrow, a sparrow broke, you know, a big stone gate. Tori, Ishinotori means, you know, big gate built by, built of stone.

[19:59]

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? And we thought that is some core, you know, we must serve during seven days Sesshin. And he started to talk about it in very serious mood. I didn't like, you know, that kind of 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,

[21:06]

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 remember what he said. I still remember this. But the other day, you know, when I think about what he said, when I repeated what he said, コスズメが石の鳥を踏み折った。 コスズメが石の鳥を踏み折った。 Of course, in Japanese, I'm sorry, it is Japanese. 石の鳥を踏み折った。 踏み折った means, you know, to step on it and break it, to fumio.

[22:07]

But another meaning may be, 踏んでいた。 A sparrow was stepping on the, you know, stone, 踏んでいた。 Was stepping on the stone, back and forth, you know. 踏み折る, 折る, one meaning is break. And the other meaning is, on it, stepping on it, is the other meaning. What he said, he was, you know, seriously talking about it, as if a sparrow was breaking, you know, has broken the big stone again. But when he, before he start to talk about, to say something, to explain that koan,

[23:12]

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, sexy time. Because no one could understand what he made. Or no one could understand that was just a joke. You know, that is another side of the serious, you know, practice.

[24:21]

That is, you know, if we could, if someone could, you know, know that was just joke. 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, true practice. He was really great Zen master. That is, you know, how you solve the problem.

[25:36]

If you, if every, you know, governor of the United States is like, 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, 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.

[26:45]

Thank you very much.

[26:49]

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