< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 1 Mastered By Zen 11 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall DATE-JITOKU, A FINE WAKA POET, WANTED TO MASTER ZEN. WITH THIS IN MIND HE MADE AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE EKKEI, ABBOT OF SHOKOKUJI IN KYOTO. JITOKU WENT TO THE MASTER FULL OF HOPES, BUT AS SOON AS HE ENTERED THE ROOM HE RECEIVED A WHACK. HE WAS ASTONISHED AND MORTIFIED: NO ONE HAD EVER DARED TO STRIKE HIM BEFORE, BUT AS IT IS A STRICT ZEN RULE...

< Previous | Contents ‌CHAPTER 10 Living in nirvana 20 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 DURING ONE OF YOUR LECTURES WE LEARNED THAT IF WE TRY TO LEAVE OUR EGO JUST BY TRYING TO BE HUMBLE FOR EXAMPLE, THEN THE EGO COMES THROUGH HUMILITY. WE ALSO LEARNED THAT THE ONLY WAY TO GET RID OF THE EGO IS MEDITATION. BUT DOESN’T THE EGO COME THROUGH THAT ALSO? I ASK THIS BECAUSE I’VE SEEN LIVE EXAMPLES IN THE ASHRAM....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 2 The Ultimate Nightmare 12 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 YOU TELL US TO BE HERENOW, WITHOUT GOALS AND WITHOUT PURPOSE, BUT THEN YOU ALLURE US ALSO BY TALKING ABOUT ECSTASY, ENLIGHTENMENT, FREEDOM, AND THE POSSIBLE FULFILLMENT. IT LOOKS CONTRADICTORY. PLEASE EXPLAIN. It is not contradictory at all; it is a simple fact. But the mind tends to create problems where they don’t exist....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 3 Players Of A Game 13 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall MUSO, THE NATIONAL TEACHER, AND ONE OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MASTERS OF HIS DAY, LEFT THE CAPITAL IN THE COMPANY OF A DISCIPLE FOR A DISTANT PROVINCE. ON REACHING THE TENRYU RIVER THEY HAD TO WAIT FOR AN HOUR BEFORE THEY COULD BOARD THE FERRY. JUST AS THE FERRY WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE THE SHORE A DRUNKEN SAMURAI RAN UP...

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 4 The Drunken Dancer 14 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 I DON’T UNDERSTAND – WHAT DOES THE WORD GOD MEAN? I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND. GOD, WHAT IS THAT? YOU SAY LIFE IS EVERYTHING. LIFE IS WHAT IS, WHAT COUNTS, HERE AND NOW – NO PLANNING, NO WISHING, NO WANTING, NO HOPING, NO SEARCHING. LIVE NOW, SPONTANEOUSLY. JUST BE. YES. I UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT WHAT IS GOD?...

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 5 Killing the buddha 15 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall SATO-KAISEKI WAS VERY MUCH DISTURBED BY THE IMPLICATIONS OF COPERNICUS’ HELIOCENTRIC THEORY, WHICH, OF COURSE, WAS INCONSISTENT WITH THE OLD BUDDHIST COSMOLOGY IN WHICH MOUNT SUMERU OCCUPIES THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. HE REASONED THAT IF THE BUDDHIST VIEW OF THE COSMOS WERE PROVED FALSE, THE TRIPLE WORLD, AND THE TWENTY-FIVE FORMS OF EXISTENCE WOULD BE REDUCED TO NONSENSE – RESULTING IN THE NEGATION OF BUDDHISM ITSELF....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 6 Taking the risk 16 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 IN THE BEGINNING YOU TOLD ME WHAT I HAD TO DO. IT WAS HARD. NOW YOU TELL ME THAT I CAN DECIDE FOR MYSELF, THAT I CAN DO WHAT I FEEL. THIS IS HARD TOO. I AM AFRAID OF MAKING A WRONG DECISION. PLEASE EXPLAIN. THESE are the only two possibilities: either you surrender – and in that surrender you stop thinking about decisions, consequences; in your surrender you have surrendered the responsibility itself, and you are totally free....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 7 Fingers at the moon 17 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall THE MASTER FOSO HOYEN SAID: ’THEY SAY THAT BUDDHA UTTERED FIVE THOUSAND AND FORTY-EIGHT TRUTHS DURING HIS LIFETIME. THEY INCLUDE THE TRUTH OF EMPTINESS AND THE TRUTH OF BEING. THEY INCLUDE THE TRUTH OF SUDDEN ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE TRUTH OF GRADUAL ENLIGHTENMENT. ARE NOT ALL THESE YEA-SAYINGS? ‘BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, YOKA, IN THE “SONG OF ENLIGHTENMENT” SAYS THERE ARE NO BEINGS AND NO BUDDHAS – SAGES ARE SEA-BUBBLES, AND GREAT MINDS ARE ONLY FLICKERINGS OF LIGHTNING....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 8 Collecting seashells 18 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 HOW CAN I FEEL LIFE FRESH DAY BY DAY? PLEASE EXPLAIN. LIFE is fresh but you are stale, and you become stale because you go on carrying the yesterdays. The past functions as a barrier between you and life. Die every moment to the past and then life can be felt and lived as fresh as it is....

< Previous | Contents | Next > ‌CHAPTER 9 Dead with dignity 19 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall THE MASTER FUGAI WAS A FINE PAINTER, AND HE WAS CONSIDERED TO BE WISE AND GENEROUS. BUT HE WAS ALSO MOST SEVERE – BOTH TO HIMSELF AND TO HIS DISCIPLES. IT IS TOLD THAT FUGAI MET HIS END IN AN EXTRAORDINARY MANNER. FEELING THAT HIS LAST DAY HAD COME, HE QUICKLY HAD A HOLE DUG, THEN CLIMBED IN AND ORDERED THE DIGGER TO COVER HIM WITH EARTH....