My name is Shomyo Aihara. I've come from Japan, and it's my great pleasure to be able to speak to you this morning. First of all, there are children who are here, We have some small children with us today so I would first like to speak to them. I have to leave the mic behind. Imagine a day when it's very hot And you were walking in the desert with a friend.

[01:10]

You're very very hot. Sweating. You want to drink water. You think you want to drink water. Not only you, but your friend also wants to drink water. It's very hot, remember? And there was water. Imagine it was in this vase. And it happened that there was one container of water that looked just like this there in the desert. And not only that container, there was another container as well that would contain half or more than half of the water in the other container.

[02:30]

So I have a question for you. I have a question. How would you and your friend be able to drink that water without quarreling, without fighting about it? Do you understand the question? Yeah? What would you do? How would you divide the water? This is a question not only for the children but for the adults. How would you do it? The reason I ask is because this is a very difficult question. There's a very good way to resolve this problem Without fighting. Do you have any idea? How would you divide the water?

[03:31]

Anybody? I don't hear any answers. But unfortunately, this cup here does not have a memory. And not only that, it's difficult, this other container is difficult to divide in half so that each person gets an equal amount. But there's an excellent way of dividing it.

[04:50]

Okay, so first of all... First of all, he is going to put... Do you understand? So he is going to put half of the water, what he thinks is half of the water, into this cup, and then he's going to ask you to take... the container which you think has the most or which is the one you would like to take? So, I'm the one who has divided the water, so if you take the one that you want, then I'm not going to get angry. I've made the choice. I was the one who divided the water. If you took the container which had the most water, there would be no reason for me to get angry because I was the one who divided the water.

[06:13]

So in that case, there would be no... reason to fight. There would be no war over this water. What about that answer? What do you think about that? Do you agree with that? I think this is a very Buddhist way to answer this problem. So I would like the children at any rate to remember this method of dividing. Okay? That's the end of the story for the children. So you're free to go. You're free to leave. Thank you. I would like you to remember this story that I just told the children.

[08:23]

This is an interesting way of dividing things between you and a friend. I've heard that many of you have come here today to practice Zazen. I was imagining to myself what kind of reasons would people... I think some of you have come to do meditation in a way to ease your mind.

[09:28]

Or I think some of you are doing Zazen with the idea of becoming no mind of really realizing that mindlessness or that condition of no mind which through which you could find a new self or perhaps reclaim your original self時には Zazenをすると There may be some people who think that by doing Zazen that you will achieve some sort of supernatural power that would make you more stronger or somehow different than other people.

[10:31]

Toいろいろでありましょうが At any rate, there would be different reasons why people are doing Zazen, but what I would like to do today is to give a Dharma talk, speaking on the basis or through the basis of Zazen from this vantage point. In Japan, there is a school of Zazen called the Soto Shu. The Japanese priest, who we consider to be the founder of the Soto Shu in Japan, Dogen Zenji, the one who went to China and brought this teaching back to Japan, wrote a book called The Shobo Genzo, and I would like to relate a story from The Shobo Genzo.

[11:52]

In the next one, there is a story about the next story. The Shobo Genzo Now, this is a story from the Shobo Genza. And one day, a priest named Hotetsu, Hotetsu Zenji, was fanning himself with a fan. And a monk came up to him and asked him a question. He said, The wind is everywhere. There is nowhere that the wind does not reach. Why are you using this fan? 法徹禅師曰く 何時ただ風生上重を知れりとも 未だ所として至らずということなき道理を知らずと 法徹禅師 said to the monk

[13:01]

you only know that the wind is everywhere. You don't know that it reaches everywhere. And yes, it does. Then the monk asked again, what does it mean that the wind reaches everywhere? And at that point, Borges Zenji simply continued to fan himself with his fan. So, Laihais. And the monk made prostrations and left. This book was written, the Shobo Genza was written about 800 years ago. So if Japanese people hear the story in the original Japanese, it's extremely difficult for them to understand the words.

[14:10]

Now, if I relate this in English, I think it is easier to understand. But in any case, he's going to contend. Now, there are two main points about the story. Right now, in this room, we cannot feel the wind blowing. But if I go like this with this fan, I think for those of you sitting in the front row, you might be able to feel that wind, right? There is also no fire in this room. However, if we were to light this candle here, then there would be fire in the room. There is also no water in this room.

[15:11]

However, there has been some water put in this cup. If I drink it like this, then there is water. There is also no water in this room. Also, in this room right now, we cannot see any soil. There's no earth, but if we were to go outside the room, we would see plenty of it all around us. In Buddhism, we say that everything is comprised of these four basic elements. First, we have wind, something that moves. Fire, something that burns, something that's hot. Thirdly, water, something that flows, something that is cool.

[16:18]

And then we have the earth, the place where plants and food grow from. Now these are four elements that we cannot always see, but these things do comprise all things that we do see. These are all included within what we call emptiness. I think many of you are familiar with the Heart Sutra which is a for those of you who are not familiar this is a sutra that we often read here at Green Gulch and so on.

[17:30]

In this sutra there is the expression form is emptiness emptiness is form. First of all, the first one is the first one. So this one thing that I have just said is included within these words. So this one thing that I have just said is included within these words. The condition for wind is completely full in this room, but it's only when there's some other condition that happens, like this fan, that we actually feel it. It can be seen, it can be seen, it can be seen, it can be seen.

[18:37]

So there are conditions we can see. There are conditions we cannot see. There are things we feel. There are things that we do not feel. But in any case, whether we see it or not, for that something to happen, there has to be a certain condition, like in the case of this fan with the wind. Shakyamuni Buddha awakened to the nature of reality or truth, and when he did that, he called this causality. So anything that we can see in front of us, anything that we can feel certainly must have a cause.

[20:02]

With regard to this idea of causality, then, so there is a cause, there is a result, and we say, in between the cause and the result are the various conditions that brought about that condition, that result. So, for example, in this room, the nature of wind, the condition of wind is possible. We say that is the cause. In the case of the story of Hotatsu Zenji, the one who's using the fan, this fan becomes the condition for feeling that wind. And he obviously felt cool and at ease when he was using that fan. That is the result, feeling that wind. So some of you, many of you in this room were doing Zazen before we began this talk.

[21:14]

I think you feel well when you do Zazen. You feel at ease. However, when you stop doing Zazen, then you return to yourself, your usual self. But if you continue Zazen, then you will always feel at ease. Just like Hotez Zenji, who was using this fan, he felt cool when he was using that fan. So what I'd like to do today is to talk about those conditions in your everyday life that could bring about this sense of ease. So first of all, just as something to begin with, let's look at our fingernails.

[22:23]

Please have a look at your fingernails. Yourself. Yourself, your own fingernails. How about it? Do your fingernails grow? Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. For any of you who have injured your fingernails and so on and they're not growing, I'm sorry, I apologize for that. But I think everybody's nails do grow. Now, your fingernails are something that belong to you. They're on the tips of your fingers. Now, I would like you to try another experiment. Try to tell your fingernails to stop drawing.

[23:25]

Give them an order to stop drawing. I'd like to see the hands of anybody, all of those of you who are sure that you can stop them from growing. I don't see any hands. Nothing. Nothing. No one. Okay, one thing we have determined is that everybody's fingernails are growing. Secondly, nobody can stop them from growing according or with your own willpower. Thirdly, what do you do when they become a certain length? Cut. You cut them. Thirdly, when they become long, we cut them. Thirdly, when they become long, we cut them.

[24:34]

That we cannot stop our fingernails from growing, this is a fact, this is a reality for us. To cut them and keep them trim, this is wisdom, human wisdom. It only stands to reason, right? This is only natural. もちろんこれは例えをしました。 Of course this is just a metaphor I'd like to use here. In Buddhism we have this expression. All things are impermanent. That the fingernails are constantly growing means that They are also impermanent. They are also constantly changing. The Buddha saw all things as part of life, as the existence of life.

[25:59]

He saw all things as an expression of life. So that would include us, human beings, animals, dogs, and cats, trees, mountains, grass, and even water, all things that move. To say that all things are impermanent is to say that everything is constantly changing. Secondly, you said you are not able to control the way that your nails grow. That corresponds to the second teaching of the Buddha, that all things are without self. This is to say that in correlation with this other idea that everything is impermanent, that things will not change according to our own wishes.

[27:30]

Isn't that something you find sometimes frustrating? The last part of this metaphor is that when the fingernails become long at a certain length we decide to cut them and so on. This corresponds to the third teaching of the Buddha that When it comes to the body, this is something that we can see, we can feel, our fingernails, our hair, and so on. We can But what do you think about the mind?

[28:37]

For example, if you and you other than you, Imagine you're in a situation with another person. It could be your mother, your father, it could be your child, friend, someone at work, and so on. How is it? Now, do these people who are facing you, do they act in a way that you want them to act? I imagine that these people more often than not act in a way that is different than the way you would like them to act.

[30:01]

If I think about myself, I know that when things do not go as I want them to, when someone doesn't act the way I want them to, sometimes I feel greedy. I would like to have their ease of mind, their sense of peace, or sometimes I get angry. In Japan, we make this signal like this, like feeling like a devil. I get angry when they do not do something that I would like them to. Or, I may simply just complain about them. How about you? Do you ever have those sort of feelings? How do you think you can fix it? When it comes to our fingernails, this is something, these are something that we can control, we can cut them.

[31:05]

But how about these feelings of, shall we say, greed, anger and ignorance? Now, what are we going to do about them? What do you do about them? As Buddhists, our prime This is really a rather difficult thing to do, but you people have already encountered the way to do that. That is Zazen.

[32:13]

Looking at the teaching of Buddha from a slightly different angle, we could say that it is the teaching of compassion and of realization, self-realization. With regard to our reality, just thinking in terms of this matter of self-realization, whether it's things that we know, I think it would really be almost impossible for us to study all of the various conditions that make up reality.

[33:25]

But at the very least, I think it is possible to understand the self, the conditions that comprise the self. and I think that includes all of you from you here over here to over here for myself I have to say I didn't really understand why I was here or where I came from, or how it happened.

[34:27]

I have to be honest, yes. It happened, however, about 18 years ago that I did get a glimpse of this matter of the self. 1965年生まれの私よりずっと若い和尚さんと出会いました ある勉強会で This happened at a certain workshop, a study meeting we had, and he gave a 20 minute talk.

[35:39]

I don't remember everything he said, but what I'm going to relate to you is what really impressed me about his talk. This young monk was born in Kokura, which is in Kyushu. Which as many of you know I'm sure is in the south west part of Japan. It is on the northern part of that island. He was 25 or 26 when he related this story. And this is what he said. The date of this story is August 9th, 1945.

[36:59]

And this is a story, obviously, that he was relating to this young monk. He had heard about a certain bomber, an airplane, that was crossing the Kyushu from the south to the north, he was going towards Kokura, his hometown. However, on that certain day, it was cloudy in Kokura. Since it was cloudy, that meant they could not see the target down below. The pilot turned west and headed west. After some time, they came to the second priority target, which was another port city in western Japan.

[38:06]

The second city was Nagasaki. I think you can understand this was the second atomic bomb ever dropped on people and Even though it was partly cloudy in Nagasaki, they decided to drop this bomb there because they were running out of fuel. They had to return to their base. This was Nagasaki. Nagasaki was actually the first target, but the second target. As you can understand, Nagasaki was not the first target. That was Kokura. They were not able to drop the bomb on Kokura, so they had chosen Nagasaki.

[39:10]

The young monk relating the story said the following. He said at that point when he was relating the story, I know when I... When we speak about history, we don't say, well, if this had happened, or if that had happened, but I thought to myself when I heard this. But I thought to myself, when I heard this. If that day, the moon was晴れて, that爆撃機 was in長崎, not in長崎, but on the moon.

[40:24]

So he thought to himself, he realized that if the sky had been clear on that day in August, that bomb would have been dropped on Kokura. So he thought to himself, he realized that if the sky had been clear on that day in August, that bomb would have been dropped on Kokura. At that time, my mother would have been going to grammar school in Kokura. She surely would have been on her way either to school or so on. She would have died, certainly would have died in that bombing. There's no doubt In my mind, the young monk said that knowing what had happened in Nagasaki, that my mother would have died in that bombing. And obviously that meant, if my mother had died, I would not be alive right now.

[41:30]

And obviously that meant, if my mother had died, I would not be alive right now. I realized then how this bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki away from my hometown 20 years before my birth that this was not something that was simply related to somebody else. She realized that even this bomb, which had been dropped 20 years before his birth, was connected to him.

[42:35]

In other words, that there's nothing that is not connected to him in some way. Please understand that I relate this story, but without trying to make the point, is this a good thing or a bad thing, this matter of dropping the atomic bomb? So I wanted to emphasize this matter of how things are connected. That we can't really say that things are not connected to us in any way. So I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way. I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way. So [...] I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way.

[43:36]

So I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way. So I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way. So I want to say that things are not connected to us in any way. So I want ... [...] and that doesn't obviously apply only to me that applies to all of you here as well we have this valuable wonderful life we have been given this gift of life how are we going to use it?

[44:40]

Well, are we going to entrust ourselves to greed, anger, and ignorance? Or are we going to live a life in which in the same way as our fingernails, we can cut them and that we live in a way where our emotions and our feelings are under control. In my own case, I realize that I would like to live in a way that is pointed towards the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. I'm confident that the central part of that teaching is the practice of Zazen.

[45:56]

But Zazen isn't simply a matter of crossing our legs and sitting in a certain posture. What I would like you to think about is How are we going to use all of those conditions which have formed this life? I would like to relate a certain message to you about this matter And I get to read that. So I earlier passed out this piece of paper, and I don't know if there's enough for all of you to see this or not. In any case, for those of you who do not have it, I will read this. This is a letter from the head priest of the Sotoshu, something that he has been asked to bring to the United States.

[47:05]

Please follow along if you wish. Words from Fukuyama Taiho Zenji. the head priest of the Soto Zen School. Remember, kind speech arises from a loving mind, and the seed of a loving mind is compassion. Kind speech is words to give life to people, guiding them on the way of Buddha. Kind speech begins with love for people. Loving mind is the basis for the heart of compassion we have for each other, and comes through the realization that we are supported by and support each other within limitless conditions. Has there ever been a time such as the present one where language has become so corrupt? Rough and sloppy use of language causes disturbance in the world and drives society to become a place where there is not loving mind or compassion.

[48:10]

and where there is disdain for life. Language is an expression of thought. It isn't simply words or means to communicate. It is pregnant with each person's personality, and it creates our individual character. We must be careful with each and every word we say. In fact, family life as well as international society moves with language. Favorable relations are connected with agreeable words. Let's speak to each other with the same mind that can be gentle and kind in front of an infant child. While praising virtuous actions without hesitation, we mustn't forget to be compassionate precisely at those times when people are unable to be virtuous. The fulfillment of the slogan set up by the Soto Shu, of human rights, peace, and the environment, isn't something that is separate from everyday life.

[49:19]

The practice of kind speech is to cultivate people who are flexible, who foster the self which cares for others, who consequently respect human rights, who vow to make peace, and who are concerned about the environment. By inheriting the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha and practicing kind speech based on genuine faith, we take the first step in building a society that overflows with compassion. Let us remember to use kind speech every day. Namu Shakyamuni Buddha. I want to explain the time of the words of the short words. I don't have time to go into detail about these words, but I would just like to use the example of Zazen, the instructions for Zazen about how we can actually carry these words out.

[50:38]

So with regard to our life, the conditions that arise in our life, these include of course things that are all around us. These words are asking us to use words in a way that we can change the values of other people. So as I said earlier, the basis of this practice of realizing how we can do this for other people is Zazen.

[51:51]

But as I mentioned at the beginning, it's cool while we are sitting. It feels good while we're sitting, but we have to be able to carry this out into our everyday life when we are not sitting. So, and that is to stop doing that. In any case, we cannot sit 24-7. We cannot be sitting all the time, right? But we can live a life of Zazen. 道元禅師様の言葉の中に 次のような座禅に対する言葉があります。 正心探座して 左にそば立ち 右に傾き 前にくぐまり

[53:02]

When he gives us instructions for Zazen, he says, sit upright. Don't lean to the left or the right. Don't lean forward or backward. If you have a bad thing, or a bad thing, or a bad thing, or a bad thing, How is it in your everyday life when someone comes along that you don't really want to meet for whatever reason or other? Do you ever find that you're avoiding that person or leaning away from that person? Just姿のいい人や好きな人やいいことちょっと上手い話などがあると Or how about the other way?

[54:04]

If there's someone who comes along who's very charming in the way they speak, maybe the way they look and so on, do you find that you sort of have a tendency to lean towards that person? How about if you're sad or depressed, if you're suffering, do you find that you're leaning forward? Justいいことがあったり how about if something is if you're feeling well if someone has given you praise for doing something well do you find that you're leaning back a little bit perhaps your nose is a little bit in the air how is itですねそれをしないということです That is the life of Zazen.

[55:17]

If we can live in this way where we are not pushed and pulled around by these various conditions, that is to live the life of Zazen, not only when you're sitting, but whenever you're doing anything. This is something very difficult to do however. But my hope for you is that in your life this precious life that you can live your life in this way with this attitude or this In that case, then Zazen will be related to this slogan, this saying from the Zotoshu, human rights, peace, and the environment.

[56:24]

This is a way we can act this out in the world. My hope for you, my wish for you is that your life will be one that is just like your fingernails that are always cut and neatly filed. My hope is that you can really live a life that is in order. That's the end of my talk. Thanks so much for listening.

[57:07]

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