And second time I've participated in sesshin in my life.
Starting the first day with Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi's Dharma talk on August 21, 1971 -- podcast or transcript.
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Note: in sesshin, there are plenty many "don't do's" including "don't journal" like I'm doing now. As an inveterate rule breaker, I feel little guilt at not following the rule here, in part due to the liberation I was granted from monkish observance way back in the day. A whole list of "don't do's", page after page of them, was read off as part of the introduction to sesshin last night, and I'm sure it startled, even put off, some of the potential global participants.
They can't do that at home; if we were in a monastery, maybe.
I'll just quote something that Suzuki Roshi said in explanation of a quote from Dogen in that Dharma talk so long ago -- a few months before he died:
“When all things are Buddhism—all things are Buddhism, there are defilement, practice—defilement, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings.” The point is they are—they are. All things are Buddhism. Whatever you do, that is Buddhism. But there is some danger in your understanding of this kind of words—statement. “Whatever you do, that is Buddhism.” You know, whatever you do in Tassajara, or in city zendō, or in city life, that is Buddhism. It looks like—it sound like this: “Whatever we do, it doesn’t matter. Anyway [laughs], that is a practice of Buddhism.” If it is so, there is—it is not necessary for you to study Buddhism, whatever—if whatever you do, that is Buddhism.
But actually, what Dōgen-zenji meant is not—is not like that. So there—there is, maybe, in—in—when you understand this statement, “Whatever you do, that is,” you know, “Buddhism.” There may be two ways of understanding it. One is, whatever you do [laughs], you know, if you understand—you take this statement literally, from your non-Buddhist—non-Buddhistic understanding. That is one, you know.
1971, it was a different world, very different I think, and he's getting into the whole notion of Buddhist "liberation" and what it means in the modern world having seen how the idea was misinterpreted by some of his followers who took it to mean license. If everything is Buddhism and there is no judgement then "liberation" means you can do whatever you want, right? Whatever urge you may have at any given moment is OK because everything in every moment is Buddhism, right?
Well, yes it is, but it doesn't mean what you might think it means.
No, you have precepts: right thinking, right understanding, right behavior. And there are rules, many rules, that constrain the thoughts and actions of priests and monks and laypeople alike, though not all the rules apply equally to all practitioners.
But in 1971, the precepts were not fully understood, nor were they fully observed by many (most?) Western devotees of Suzuki-Roshi. So he tries to make clear, and not for the first time, that "liberation" in a Buddhist concept is not license.
In my own case as a teenager in 1965 or even 1964 -- memory falters -- I wasn't and couldn't be in a monastic setting in San Francisco or later at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, so I was granted a kind of dispensation, you might say, to practice at home and adapt the Rules as was able to. I believe this dispensation was granted by Richard Baker, Suzuki Roshi's right hand and successor at San Francisco Zen Center, as a skillful means of introducing me to and keeping me following Zen practice no matter my situation. Over the years, I've found few Buddhist leaders who require strict observance of all Rules by all practitioners. But the Precepts form the basis of assessment of individuals. How closely do you follow them? What failures have you had? What lessons have you learned? So.
In addition to starting the day with Dharma talks by Suzuki Roshi, I also review the reminiscences of David Chadwick, an early adopter and current practitioner of Zen in America as brought and taught by Suzuki Roshi so very long ago. They are potent reminders of my early practice and of some of the people I never knew.
Then to round things out, there is the study and review of Vimalakirti's Teaching Sutra which I expect to return to many times.
Sitting zazen when I can and am moved to.
And it's about time to start the Morning Sit.
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