What I want to talk about today is where do we look for Buddhism? How do we study Buddhism? Where do we look for the truth? past Buddhas don't are no longer here and the future Buddhas are not yet here.

[01:09]

And I'd like to see us be here as unencumbered from ideas about religion and reality and Buddhism as possible. Somehow it's the experience or experience of our being here together practicing Buddhism, that I most want to clarify or emphasize. and that this is our company, company of the truth. Suzuki Roshi, I mentioned last night, came here in 1959, about, and I want to do more research into why he came here, but

[03:10]

pretty much as I know, understand and have heard, he came here largely out of his own idea. No historical circumstances or minimal historical circumstances led to his being here and led to your being here. what are we doing? We're practicing Buddhism in America. Pretty strange. I think, as I said, you take it for granted, but that's very recent that anyone took it for granted. Maybe less than ten years has anybody taken it for granted that one could study Buddhism in the United States. No one knew ten years ago, or certainly fifteen years ago, that all these Tibetan teachers were going to come. China and Japan have been in active congress with the West for many years now.

[04:42]

many decades. And very, very, very few Buddhists have come here to teach. And when they've come, they've come always, almost always, to teach native population or immigrant population. There have been Buddhist teachers who've come to Chinatown. and a Buddhist priest for Chinese people in Chinatown. And on the whole, China has not so much interest, I would say, or respect for the West, at least compared to Japan. And India, Quite a bit of Indian Buddhism has come to the West, to Europe and to England, but mostly, almost entirely, through the colonialism of the colonial empire of Britain. And the Tibetan Buddhists came here. I don't think many Tibetan Buddhists would have come here. You know, you can say the predictions of the

[06:07]

going to the West and the Red something or other, you know, from 500 years ago, but, you know, maybe that's true, but... At least we know it's true that Chinese, China, Communist China expanded into Tibet and drove Tibetans into India, from India to the richest country in the world. So there are many economic reasons and political reasons as well as spiritual reasons involved. We can see clear economic and political reasons. And China has not sent anybody practically. But Japan, for some reason, and if you've lived in Japan, you know Japan, like China, has an ingrown sense of the importance of their own culture, a realistic sense, I think, and a realistic sense of not needing to go anywhere. But at the same time, they're very...

[07:35]

culturally eclectic and been able to absorb other cultures, probably because of living so close to China. And Japan has been divided in the past hundred years or so between those who were deeply pro-the West and those who were deeply anti-West. Now, Dr. Konsei, he feels that The West has smashed the Orient so often with opium battleships and atomic bombs that the only response that the Orient had, finally, because we one-upped them every time they built something, the biggest battleship, then we'd come back with an atomic bomb. But finally, the only response the Orient could make was, a spirit should change their heads, my God! quick before they do something worse, you know. Whether that's true or not, I don't know either. But certainly, in Japan, studying the cultural history of Japan, there's been a deep interest in the West. Young children in Japan study the piano, you know, arduously you hear them practicing, walking by houses,

[09:03]

they have compared their philosophy to our philosophy, and etc. For a long time, western things had more prestige and value to at least educated Japanese people. And then there's been a renewed interest in recent decades in Japanese culture as having its own value and its own unique differences. Somewhere in this milieu, A few people began to, of course, as you may know, Buddhism has always, although Buddhism is integrally part of Japan, Japanese culture, because Chinese, mostly, probably, because Chinese monks and Japanese monks going to China were the main bearers of the culture. At the same time, Japanese

[10:37]

Buddhism, like in China, has always been considered a foreign, non-native element in Japan. It's Indian or something like that. Anyway, one of the few ways you can enter Japanese culture as a Westerner, and Japanese culture is very closed, very closed, one of the few ways you can enter is to study Buddhism. I mean, you can't go and study Shintoism. I guess there's one or two Westerners who've done it, but actually, it's not something a Westerner can study. You know, if you live in Japan, Japanese people are sometimes surprised you can use chopsticks or speak Japanese, because even chopsticks are considered inherently Japanese or Oriental, and you can't learn them if you're a Westerner. How many years have you been here? Oh, five years, and my, you use chopsticks. Very well, I'm impressed. But you can go and study Buddhism and you can enter Buddhist temples there. And at some point, because of the historical circumstance of Buddhism,

[12:06]

historical circumstance of Japan and because of the nature of Buddhism as a foreign element in Japan and a universal teaching. People in the Zen school began to think about going to the West. Suzuki Daisetsu's teacher was one person who conceived of this idea of going to the West, and from him there's a whole lineage of teachers who have either come to the West or been open to foreigners. And Yasutani Roshi's line got interested in the West, and for some reason Suzuki Roshi became interested, except by some influence of, you know, cultural or osmotic influence of those people who are hearing about the West. Suzuki Roshi mostly on his own thought of coming to the West, as far as I can tell. He lived in the country, didn't have much connection with Tokyo or Kyoto, or the kind of life which would have led him to think about coming here. But early on he thought, I want to go somewhere where

[13:32]

People are unencumbered by ideas about Buddhism. And so he decided, over many years, to come here. And he finally could do it when he was in his fifties, I believe. He wasn't able to come before then. It took him that long to finally get permission from his teacher to come here. And most of you know the story about Mrs. Brinson, don't you? The Chinese, I mean the Japanese, the English woman. You don't? Even you don't know? Anyway, I suppose I should tell you anyway. It's a kind of Anna and the King of Siam story. Because she had been the tutor, she was English, She'd been the tutor to the Emperor of Manchuria and when Manchuria became too difficult she came to Japan and I believe became the tutor to the now Emperor of Japan. And Tsukiyoshi was studying English from her when he was 18 or so in Tokyo going to university.

[15:00]

Finally, to help her, he moved into her house to help her with the other English, Japanese students who were learning English, to be her assistant, sort of, and to study English more. So he lived with her, and I don't know how long, while he was going to the university. I may have a film. of them. I've never looked at it yet. I should look at it some other day. Someone took a film, I don't know. Maybe I should. I've had it about two years and I haven't looked at it. I don't know if I'm saving it. Now, if I told you, you'd pester me to see it. Anyway, Anyway, he lived in her house, and she had a Buddha given to her by the emperor of Manchuria, and she kept it in a kind of entryway where everybody put their umbrellas and shoes, and Suzuki Roshi didn't like it. So, he put up with it for a while, I don't know, a couple of months, and then he began clearing the shoes out.

[16:45]

and not to offend her, but just moving them. She noticed pretty quickly, you idle worshipper. And then he put an incense bowl after a little while longer and began offering incense. He didn't try to talk her into being a Buddhist or anything. Maybe his life was saying something about Buddhism, but his only activity was to offer incense to the Buddha. So he did it. And two or three months after offering incense to the Buddha, he discovered her one day. He wasn't looking. Offering incense. Anyway, she became a Buddhist. The story, in some ways, had a sad ending. Because she was devoted to Suzuki Roshi all her life. And at the end of her life she wrote many letters pleading with him to write her. And I finally received a telegram and letter seeing if I could help and I intervened several times and finally he was going to write her and I was helping him to do it and she died. But from her effects

[18:17]

how I received the film from those days. Maybe he thought she shouldn't be so concerned about writing letters or something. Also, he never got much chance to do anything like that. He was always seeing people. Sutong Po, Sotoba in Japanese, was a very, very famous poet of China, who was also a painter and calligrapher and a statesman. Maybe he was practically the leading figure of China. And he practiced Zen and Taoism, various forms of actually Buddhism, but with other elements involved, assiduously.

[19:26]

counting his breath, swallowing his saliva, Daoist practice, and many other practices. Sometimes it encourages me to see, I feel encouraged to read about such a talented person practicing Buddhism because usually it's people like us, not so talented, who practice Buddhism. Talented people usually get carried away along by their talent and don't need to succumb to doubt or suffering or such things. It's easier for them to think everything's okay. Tsutomu talks about a friend who discovered the secret of calligraphy. He had a friend who had practiced calligraphy over and over and over and over again for many years, but it never really came together for him, until one day he was walking along in the woods and he saw two snakes fighting. And at that moment, watching them,

[20:58]

he suddenly understood calligraphy. And Stumpo also tells about another man understanding calligraphy when walking in the woods also. He saw a woodcutter meet a woman, a young woman, on the path, and they were, you know, trying to pass each other, being polite, going to the right or left, and finally getting by each other. And watching that movement, he understood co-education, and then from then on could do it. Most of what we hear is like Peirce's pragmatism, scientific method, trying to verify the existence of real events or real things separate from opinion. Of course, if you go back to Parmenides, he says, there's nothing outside of mind. Everything is thought or being, space,

[22:23]

But most philosophers and thinkers in the West have gotten into, like Russell recently, trying to make language a perfect, or should be a perfect, logical tool. And it's very difficult for us not to have that kind of idea about truth or the physical world or our life or how to study Buddhism or where is Buddha. But our study is much more like this mind of initiation or the mind that

[23:44]

notices two snakes moving. Maybe you've practiced a lot, but from two snakes moving, or a woodcutter meeting a woman, you'll find out the truth of Buddhism, or the occasions of Suzuki Roshi's life which led him to come here, and the occasions of your life which led you here, And now we don't know quite what to study, actually. Though it must be clear to you, you can't look for Buddhism, for Buddha, or the truth, outside your own mind, outside of mind. As I said, the past Buddhas aren't here, the future Buddhas aren't here. If we go back to... If you've read about Socrates and Plato and the Greeks of that time, what's always interested me, at least, is not

[25:10]

Socrates thought. That's very intriguing, you know, very intriguing. But when I read it, it becomes my thought. And it may help me, but it's elusive as my thought. What's interested me much more about Alciabade and Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, is the facts of their life, the occasions of their meeting together and the acts of their life. Socrates, a decision to drink hemlock is much more interesting to me than his thought. Or his thought makes sense to me, knowing something about his life. And Suzuki Roshi's offering incense to the Buddha in Miss Remson's entryway is more interesting to me even than his lectures in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

[26:35]

For it's in this way we study Buddhism. We can't get the truth down in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. You read it and it may give you some good feeling, and even the certainty of truth or understanding, but it's your own, you know, it's now your own thought. But when you study your baby or your parents or your friends, your own mind, not, you know, looking at your own mind reflecting Suzuki Roshi's words, but just your own mind right now,

[27:40]

Too much tradition in the West is to affirm what Aristotle said or what some great person said. And not enough is emphases on renewal, on starting from zero. We can read Plato, say, with great reverence. For the part, enormous effect his thinking has had on our society. But we should also be able to read him just as a person, like we take off Plato's name and it's your roommate's dialogue. Then you'll find Myers' roommate, he would say that. You can get a much more realistic feeling. And we should study Buddhism that way. The past Buddhas are dead. If they are here, it's you who will make them come alive by your effort. And it's not inevitable that Buddhism is here. It's not inevitable even that all these

[29:09]

Tibetan Buddhists have come, this is the time, the age of Aquarius, and many great things are happening, and the mountains are going to upheave, and the Buddhists will come here, etc. I don't know the version of that. I've heard many. Now maybe it's all true, but it will only work by you. by Suzuki Yoshi deciding to come here, by his own choice to come here. He wasn't driven here by some historical circumstance. And if you are to find out what it means to not look for Buddha or the truth outside your own mind, you have to do it. What is mine? What is not outside your own mind? What is not outside your own mind? So we are physically and historically here in an undetermined situation, very fragile situation, in which there is, we have created,

[30:36]

to place a Buddha in this room, to offer incense to Miss Remsen's Buddha or to this Buddha? Why devote yourself to Buddhism, to some carved stone or wooden statue? What is the meaning to devote yourself to something larger than yourself? whether it's the scientific method, or Buddhism, or the way of truth, or don't seek for Buddhism outside yourself or your own mind. Let me put it another way. Again, going back to the trajectory of the arrow. It's not there, you know. I can aim in various ways. If I just shoot at random, maybe that trajectory is not there. At least you can say, deeply, it's not there. But if you

[32:08]

Aim, and you visualize that trajectory first, and shoot the arrow in that hole. Wasn't it there before you shot? Can you say it was not there? It's not there, but then when you shoot the arrow, it was there, and you knew it was there before you shot the arrow. We sense the past or the way of truth this way. There are many things we can do, many things, but suddenly you feel a trajectory is there. the way of Buddha or the way of truth, and you can do it. And you know if you do it, it will be there for you. It's already there, although you haven't fully released yourself from the boat. Tsukiroshi knew for thirty years that his trajectory to America was here, and he knew he would land and his ashes would

[33:41]

and many of us would bring up. What is that trajectory? How do we find out the way of truth or the way of this trajectory? Where does it come from? Is it outside your mind or inside your mind? What is mind? How do we join with others in this way of truth? Truth is not something, you know, up in a tree somewhere, or in the scientific method, if we're practicing Buddhism. The truth is joining ourselves with way-seeking minds of ourselves and others, and studying existence on every occasion.

[35:08]

starting from zero. This is Suzuki Roshi's spirit and how he came to come here to America and how he came to understand Buddhism, too. He didn't just read some book or have great teachers. For himself, he said, what's the point of being a Buddhist? What's the point of practicing? till he knew from himself, from his own horizon. This is real historical circumstance. There's no history without this. There's no economic or political movements without this. In one person, And it may overwhelm other people, and many people go along with you, but the effort of the Buddhist is not to have people join you, but you to join others. You may find many people join you joining others, but your effort is to just join others, not to get people to join you. And your effort is to make

[36:44]

is every one of us from zero finds our nature, our Buddha nature. everyone of you becomes your own Buddha, is your own language, everything. Dharmas are liberated and independent, Dogen or Nagarjuna says. Water, the ordinary person sees water as flowing, Dogen says. doesn't see the stillness of water. Water goes up, water flows through the sky, doesn't it? Each dharma is its own language. Can you hear

[38:12]

Can each of you, the independent Buddhists, not followers, decide for yourself why, how you are practicing Buddhism, where you find Buddhism, where you practice Buddhism, What is the seat of your enlightenment? Then, like Siddharshi, you'll be able to go to any land or stay right here to live quite comfortably in an ordinary way with people. no special place to go. Truth is the implication or nature of everything. You don't have to look someplace for it. You should all

[39:56]

I want you all to become new Buddhists. Have you recovered now?

[40:09]

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