Author: dorakuan

Zen is very generous: it does not require us to know or believe much. Just how to sit on our pillow in a proper and healthy posture, breath deeply and be not disturbed by thoughts and ideas coming and going, is enough. The rest is daily practice, cooking, eating, working, a social life …

A friend of mine, who became a Buddhist Monk in Thailand, recently wrote to me that I don’t understand anything about Buddhism … that Zen people anyway don’t understand enough, and how important it is to study and strictly follow all the rules defined by the historic Buddha, established over two millennia ago for monastic life in ancient India.

There are always so many people around us, who willingly share their specific view of the world: re-birth, God’s all-mighty power, Buddhas of the past, present and future, scientific and non-scientific systems of ideas and understanding, UFOs and angles, why it is important to join the fire-fighters … so much, so detailed information, down to the temperature of the hell fire and the exact amount of years until the world’s end! Catalogues of rules for conducting each detail of our daily life, telling right from wrong in any thought or action we might have or do.

Zen is also: not being disturbed too much by all these ideas (and their advocates). They are like the birds singing, my neighbour’s dog barking, the sound of wind in the trees outside my house: part of our world. Enchanting at times, annoying at others, but no need to spend too much thoughts on it!

I get up each morning, practice Zazen, Hitsuzendo, Iaido … prepare breakfast, go to office … doing all this, day by day, until the end of my life, is likely the horizon of my understanding.

As a teenager, like so many of my generation, I was much impressed by the first of George Lucas’ movie of the Star Wars Series (Episode 4: A New Hope). Besides all the metaphysical super-duper power stuff and beautiful Princess Leia I loved, the possibility of drifting to the Dark Side of The Force made me think a lot.

Could it really be, that after years of studying hard all the techniques of (laser)sword fencing with the good ones, due to a bad character and unlucky circumstances, you eventually change sides and become evil? What consequences does that have for me, as a teacher of martial arts (I once was)? Is there a danger, I show a student how to use the katana (life blade Japanese sword), and he or she will use his skills learned at my Dojo to harm others?

I brought these questions to my former Iaido teacher, and his answer was quite simple:

“We welcome everyone to our Dojo who is willing learn. And especially the bad guys should be given a chance to improve their character!”

So, I understood, no need to fear that after years of working hard with a good teacher, you suddenly will turn evil and use what you have learned against others. A good teacher, and be it a fencing teacher, always offers the chance to get rid of even the worst habits acquired earlier in your life!

Said that, a certain problem (especially in martial arts) might well come through those teachers, who are focussing on technique alone, neglecting all moral and spiritual aspects of their art. They can indeed bring their students to a medium skilled, yet potentially dangerous, technical level.

This is, why I especially welcome the bold and strong want-to-be Samurai from the martial arts clubs to study Zen at my Dojo! There is always a chance to learn something new …

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P.S.: My interest in Star Was (and Princess Leia) vanished, after I discovered the blueprint for George Lucas’ movies, namely The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) by Akira Kurosawa (featuring the considerably less cute Princess Yuki Akizuki).

Aside from teaching Zazen and Hitsuzendo, I am working in the field of research and education. Being a scientist is much more than just a bread and butter job, allowing me to eat and drink and have a roof over the head.

In science, we never believe anything. Whatever some authority in the field tells us, however famous the old master might be whose message the young student is supposed to hear: the first and most important thing for a scientist is not to believe!

Instead of learning a canon of old sermons by heart, take them as ultimate truth and repeat them over and over again, we must gain our own experience and re-derive and understand the contents and meaning of the words handed down from previous generations ourselves. And while doing so, we scientists by and by meet the old masters, be it Newton, Einstein, Hilbert, Curie or Crick, on eye-level.

During a scientific discussion (which can become a wild and almost violent thing, as I just witnessed on a conference last week) the ultimate call is: “Show it!” Give the proof yourself, in all detail, until I can understand it! If you fail to do so, regardless of your academic status or rank, your message is nothing worth, and be it the original and authentic words of some godfather of science himself!

No student of Physics, for example, is supposed to learn by heart, or even read, the original texts written by Newton or Einstein. He or she can get an up-to-date edition of the polished essence of Newton’s and Einstein’s work in a modern fashion, written by a splendid and possibly still active scientist, in contemporary language in any university book-store. The young scientist is expected to become able to derive, and re-formulate in his or her own words and understanding, the core of his science, in the light of the current state of the art, by himself.

By this practice, I believe, we also do a good service for our ancestors. Besides remembering their cherished names, making generation after generation truly understand, we keep the wisdom alive and ever changing!

Even more, this way of living up to the understanding of the old masters, making their experience and wisdom ours by our own hard work, and not by learning by heart and believing, is truly similar to the Way of Zen! There is nothing we are supposed to believe in, unless it is acquired through our own experience.

Even if we happen to meet the Buddha himself, if he can not show it, if we do not give our best to catch up with his level of understanding, Buddha’s words have no value for us!

After 15 years or so of exercise with the bokken, shinai and katana (wooden, bamboo and life blade Japanese swords) I met a new, my final Iaido-teacher.  Though, not on eye-level, from expert to expert I met him. I joined his class as a beginner, put away my prior knowledge, my pride and my katana and started practising the basics with the wooden sword, the way he taught us.

“We say, you can’t teach an old dog news tricks”, he told us, “but you must become like old dogs learning new tricks!” After some years of working with him, and later using my katana in class again, before he left us, I got some old books from him and the allowance to teach his style in my Dojo to my students. (Alas, I must admit, I did not understand enough of his way of the sword, so I am still practising alone …)

When I do Zazen, I always try to improve my posture, my breathing. Every time on my pillow, I tell myself that me old dog must work hard on that new trick, called Zazen. This morning, at Gyoten Zazenkai (Zazen at dusk) at my Dojo, for the first time in my life I could sit in a full lotus posture (both feet upon the legs).  So far, I was convinced, this is impossible for me, due to the geometry of my legs. What a surprise! I am glad that I never gave up trying…

Though, it was painful, as always, when something new is about to happen, and beloved old habits must be given up.

Once I read the story of an old master who asked his students to break his legs, when he was about to die, so that at least once in his life he can sit Zazen in the correct posture. It seems, it is never too late for an old dog willing to learn, though it might be more painful and require more efforts later in your life.

Whether a person talks and writes a lot, or not, is likely a question of his or her character. Regardless of the quantity of our communication, in Zen, we try to be as clear as possible.

This clearness is of course not restricted to our words, it reflects as well in our actions, in all we do. Becoming more clear is going the Way of Zen.

Alas, for us social beings, in our daily life usually not so much is clear. Our circumstances might be a mess at times, our relationships unhealthy and abusive, and people we are in contact with might misunderstand our friendliness as an invitation to throw their own destructive behaviour upon us.
That is just how life is. It does not help much to complain about it.

Doing Zazen, practising a Martial- or Zen-Art, helps us to find our own way in this life. By becoming more clear ourselves who we are, and what our purpose in life is, our Zen-practice gives us the motivation and strength also to cut off ties; both, with unhealthy habits and unhealthy relations.

By and by, we become less dependent from others’ and from our own judgements, and enjoy a free and happy life.

The room is prepared: newspaper, neatly unfolded and secured by two stones, an ink-stone filled with ink and water, two big Japanese brushes … the scent of incense and black ink in the air. I still vividly remember my first encounter with Hitsuzendo, the Zen-practice with brush and ink!

After two rounds of Zazen we all gathered in a room above the Zendo. The teacher bowed, kneeled down in front of the newspaper, took the brush, loaded it with ink and took a deep breath while lifting the brush. A moment of absolute silence and concentration, and then, like the thunder following a flash, he wrote a big Japanese character in one single stroke. He stood up, looked at his drawing, bowed again, and now it was our turn to write…

Like this, I have been exercising for more than 13 years. Zazen – Hitsuzendo – Zazen – Hitsuzendo … the same rhythm, each Sesshin, each morning, year by year.

As a beginner, you learn how to take and hold the brush, draw a simple line or symbol, and put back the brush where it was without spilling black ink everywhere. Then, you practice to write with your whole body, to co-ordinate and unify mind and body with your breath.

By and by, you start to discover Your Self in the traces of ink you leave behind on the paper. Your strength, your weakness, your ego and desire to write beautiful (or more beautiful than your fellow students or your teacher). You see your concentration and your fluttering mind. Your ugliness and your beauty!

With years and years of writing, you slowly become your calligraphy. No difference between the stroke on the paper and the person you are. After writing, you stand up, look and bow: ah, that’s me today!

You can’t hide anything in a line
(Kazuaki Tanahashi, whom I unfortunately never met …)

Real Zen should be hidden, I thought for many years. The True Master is supposed to live in his cave high up in the mountains, or in his thatched roof hermitage deep in the forest. Not affected by worldly matters and hard to access even for the dedicated seeker of The Way. He won’t share his wisdom unless The One Student gives a blood and flesh proof of his unequivocal commitment. And even then, The Master will only teach him how to cook rice and wash his bowl …

I feel much ashamed today for not considering earlier why those generous people who willingly shared all their art and wisdom with me, were exactly not living hidden away, and not particularly hard to access. My teachers all preferred to live in the cities, teaching here and there all over the place, maybe had a web-page on-line and flyers distributed. You could just call them on the phone and come … and by no means they were not True Masters of their art!

In the famous Ten Ox Herding Pictures, the spiritual development from a first aimless search until full Enlightenment is depicted.

The tenth and last picture of this series, interesting enough, is not showing a Saint living far away from the world on a mountain top or in his forest. It displays a kind and funny person with a big belly, happily sharing with other people on the market-place what he brought along in his bag.

The True Master is only hidden to those who can’t see and search too far away … he or she might just be here, right amongst us, big belly out and laughing!

If you intend to practice Zazen during a visit to Japan, let me recommend a few places to go:

• My first location to suggest is Shunko-in, a Rinzai-Zen temple within the large Myoshin-ji Temple complex in the North-West of Kyoto (my Dojo is affiliated to). The deputy head Priest Rev. Taka Kawakami speaks fluent English, so you can experience Zazen at this beautiful ancient temple without worrying how to communicate in Japanese, or any fear of doing “something wrong” as a beginner. Be sure to expect a warm welcome when you go there!
  Shunko-in also offers accommodation, and in addition to Zazen you can enjoy a guided tour (in English) and learn a lot about the temples history and interesting details concerning hidden Christianity in Japan.
• For the dedicated student planning to spend more than a few days for Zazen, there is Tekishinjuku, an international Zen-Dojo in the countryside out of Kyoto. I have not yet been there, but the place was recommended to me by various people. It is headed by Gensho Hozumi Roshi, a former student of Omori Sogen Roshi, the famous calligrapher, swordsman and Zen-master.
• Whenever I stay in Tokyo, at least once I try to visit the morning Zazen (Gyoten Zazen-kai) at Engakuji-Temple in Kita-kamakura.Engaku-ji offers various opportunities for lay people to practise Zazen (admission free), but all information is exclusively in Japanese, and they are not prepared to receive foreigners (although occasionally I met friendly people there speaking some English). Better be prepared for basic communication in Japanese, and have an open eye on what the other participants are doing, when you go there!

We all know the joyful feeling of doing something with our full heart and full attention: playing music, cooking, sports maybe, or watching a fascinating movie or soccer game. It helps us to relax, gain new energy, and it makes us completely happy!

What if all, or almost all activities of our daily life could give us this kind of joy? We could recover while working, while doing chores, or while driving our car!

For a moment, think about what it is, that lets you enjoy and recover, maybe even in spite of heavy physical or intellectual activity? Regardless what your list may contain, I bet one point is about “forgetting time and space”, “not thinking of anything else”, “100% doing this one thing”, “not wishing to be anywhere else” … 

In other words, it is living in the moment! Not having your mind wander around in the past or future or here or there.

Of course, in our every day life we need some planning. Where I live, shops are closed on Sundays. When I want to eat, I must think of it already on Saturday. For being in office on time, I must consider the traffic jam on Monday morning, and so on …

But most of my time, I do not have to think of past or future. Nothing goes wrong, if I live just in the moment, and think of nothing else but the thing I am actually doing, right here, right now. And be it chores, driving my car long distance or working on the computer, it is joyful and very relaxing!

This will not work on command “Do what you do, and nothing else!”. You need some practise with “living in the moment”, of course, like with everything new breaking up old routines. But then, it will by and by become a perfect method of emotional and physical  energy saving …

With a Zen-friend, who is leading a Dojo in the south of Germany, I recently discussed which qualifications one should have for teaching Zen. Is it just showing how to properly sit on a pillow? Does it require a deep understanding of Buddhist literature and philosophy? Is an impressive personality with a master-like behaviour necessary?

Many years ago, I did not much enjoy teaching Zazen and Hitsuzendo. Most participants of our Sesshin were just going on my nerves. Was it their strange behaviour, their over-expectation, their demanding attitude or their laziness … what so ever, no student who came, was right. Only politeness towards my former teacher and ignorance towards our students made me not correct and criticise them all day long. I am sure, during all these years, I was a pretty bad assistant and teacher…

Fortunately, nowadays, all students coming to my Dojo are just right!

Did they change that much? I don’t think so … still, some appear to me a bit like big rocks or boulders tumbling down and blocking the way; others sit on their pillow like withered flowers in urgent need of water. Some students’ mind flies here and there, busy like the bumblebees breeding at my house; and others’ progress seems like that of a snail, aiming to climb up a high mountain …  very few are just the person they are, possibly close friends of the Buddha in the Zendo or in the garden of my Dojo.

My teaching is not much different from all the years before, just showing how to sit in a good and healthy posture on a pillow and breath deeply. Alas, it took me so many many years until I could learn how to just be there and see, and not criticise.

Today, I believe, the most important qualification required for teaching Zen is compassion. Enlightened or not, saint or samurai, witch or devil, I don’t care! Whoever takes the effort to come to my Dojo and practice Zazen with his or her own body, is heartily welcome!