Correction

MASANI SHIRUBESHI, SHOBO ONOZUKARA GENZEN SHITE, KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O.

“We should know, exactly, that the true law is naturally manifesting itself; and darkness and dissipation, from the beginning, are struck down to the ground.”

Originally Master Dogen wrote the above using only 12 Chinese characters.

The 12 Chinese characters are read in Japanese with the addition of Japanese grammatical constructions (inflections and particles) so that the sentence makes sense in Japanese.

If I put the inflections and particles in brackets, the sentence is:

MASA [NI] SHI [RU BESHI] SHO BO ONO [ZUKARA] GEN ZEN [SHI TE], KON SAN MA [ZU] BOKU RAKU [SURU KOTO O].

The 12 Chinese characters, one by one, mean:

MASA exactly
SHI know
SHO true
BO (=HO) law
ONO self --> by itself, naturally, spontaneously.
GEN manifest, appear
ZEN before, in front
KON darkness
SAN dissipate, scatter
MA first of all, in the first place, to begin with, originally
BOKU strike,
RAKU fall, drop down

Thus, the original 12 Chinese characters tend to translate themselves quite straightforwardly into English:

“Exactly know: the true law is naturally manifesting itself before us; darkness and dissipation from the beginning, at a stroke, drop down.”

In my attempt to interepret this sentence in a previous post (BOOM BANG tumble tumble tumble THUMP), I strayed pathetically into error.

In particular, what I wrote about KOTO O was sheer nonsense. O is simply the object particle. It has no special function to mark the end of a sentence, as I wrongly described.

I had remembered that the elements of the motto of my old karate dojo all ended in KOTO O, but that also was wrong. Actually they ended just in KOTO, without the final O. For example, MAKOTO NO SEISHIN O YASHINAU KOTO “to cultivate a spirit of sincerity.”

On reading what I wrote, Gudo corrected me as follows:

In the sentence of KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O, it is
completely impossible for us to think the meaning of the last word O as
you interpreted. Because in Japanese grammar the word O does never have
a function of ending a sentence. O is a particle, which indicate that
the former noun of O is the object of a transitive verb. Therefore the
O in the sentence is related with the top words MASA NI SHIRU BESHI.
Master Dogen wanted to emphasize MASA NI SHIRU BESHI, and so he moved
the words to the top of the sentence. So we should understand the
meaning of the sentence that KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O MASA NI
SHIRU BESHI, as "we should know the fact that the strong tension and
the strong dullness will drop off
from the body and mind first."

What I wrote was totally wrong, and Gudo’s correction is totally right -- except Gudo got the order of KON and SAN the wrong way round.

Gudo’s total rightness has been to recognize in the words KON and SAN the expression of two antagonistic tendencies, free of which we can sit upright in Zazen with the appropriate degree of muscle tone, not too flaccid, and not too tense. Gudo has also been totally right to look for an exact scientific explanation of these two opposing tendencies.

He has proposed that KON represents the function of the sympathetic nervous system, and SAN the opposite function of the parasympathetic nervous system.

KON appears in the compound KONSUI, “dark sleep” i.e. coma. I think that Master Dogen chose the word KON being aware of the function of the fear paralysis response (FPR), whose early function in embryonic development is related with training of the parasympathetic nervous system, and which causes loss of postural muscle tone.

SAN, dissipation, is an exact description of the energy-dissipating function of the Moro reflex, whose early function is related with training of the sympathetic nervous system, and which tends to raises the level of postural muscle tone.

In human development, the FPR precedes the Moro reflex. FPR paralysis is a more primitive fear response than Moro panic. I think that Master Dogen understood that order, and so he wrote KON SAN. Not SAN KON. KON SAN.

MASANI SHIRUBESHI, SHOBO ONOZUKARA GENZEN SHITE, KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O.

Master Dogen exhorted us to know what he was saying, exactly, with scientific precision. We should know EXACTLY.

For example:

We should know, exactly, that before us the 2nd law of thermodynamics is naturally manifesting itself; and within us the FPR tendency towards paralytic conservation of energy and the Moro reflex tendency towards hyper-active dissipation of energy, in the very moment of true action, are already struck down to the ground.

Does this interpretation hit the target exactly? If it does, Gudo will decide it.

Expansion on the upward tendency

Without water grass cannot grow. Under water grass does not grow. Our physical body is like a blade of grass holding up a dew-drop, for a little while.

Fukan-zazen-gi says SORO no GOTOKU. SO means grass. RO means dew. GOTOKU means like.

The Buddha’s teaching is SHOYOKU CHISOKU, having small wants, know satisfaction.

A person might be mistaken who was so hungry for the truth of Zazen that he neglected his own thirst. Without a moderate amount of water, nothing grows.

Again, Fukan-zazen-gi says ONJIKI SETSU ARI. ON means drink. JIKI means food. SETSU means economy. ARI means there is. There is economy in drink and food -- food and drink are taken in moderation.

Knowing Not Knowing

SAIYU YOSHIN means sway the body left and right. SAI means left. YU means right. YO means sway. SHIN means body.

When I am way over to the left, I know I am to the left. On that level my feeling is reliable. Same on the right: the more off centre I become, the more definitely I know it. But if I very slowly approach the middle and ask myself whether I am left or right, I don’t know. The middle is a way of not knowing.

As a Buddhist student one cannot be the one who knows.

Maybe a Buddhist teacher is one who knows that the student cannot be the one who knows.

Pierre Turlur recently wrote me that he refused to lick my arse and kiss my feet. But I never asked him to do those things, of course. I asked him to produce a draft translation of Fukan-zazen-gi into French, which I would like to study and check.

We are in a process, a way, a way of not knowing.

BOOM BANG tumble tumble tumble THUMP

KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O. KON means dark or dull. SAN means scattered, dissipated. MAZU means from the beginning. BOKURAKU SURU means to be struck and to fall, to be knocked down. KOTO means thing but KOTO O is a phrase that marks the end of a sentence.

In the dojo where I practiced karate-do in Japan, after training we would recite the dojo moto, in which each separate precept ended with the words KOTO O. KOTO O is like a bullet point, but at the end of the sentence.

SHOBO ONOZUKARA GENZEN SHI TE, KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O. Literally: “The true Dharma naturally manifests itself, and dullness and dissipation from the beginning are knocked down.”

The interpretation of KON and SAN is vitally important in Gudo’s teaching. Gudo teaches that KON and SAN represents opposite states of the autonomic nervous system. For Gudo, KON or darkness, is a kind of gloom which is characterestic, say, of the spirituality of the dark ages. It corresponds to the function of the sympathetic nervous system. SAN is a kind of sensual gaiety which is characteristic, say, of modern materialistic life. It corresponds to the function of the parasympathetic nervous system.

My response, on one level, to Gudo’s teaching, has been to investigate the importance of primitive reflexes in early training of the autonomic nervous system. The fear paralysis response (FPR) is related especially with the parasympathetic nervous system. Its effect is seen in the animal world when e.g. a frog or a rabbit plays dead. True, the FPR is associated with heightened mental alertness, but also with physical shutting down and conservation of energy, including withdrawal of blood supply from external muscles. So for me KON, dullness, is related with the FPR. The Moro reflex is the baby’s panic mechanism, which breaks and opposes the more primitive FPR. The Moro reflex is associated with the fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system, which mobilizes muscular energy for rapid dissipation. A characteristic of school children in whom the Moro reflex is retained in immature form is hyperactivity, or so-called ADHD, “attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.” The energy of these children tends to rapidly dissipated here and there, and so they cannot concentrate well in the classrooom. So I think SAN, dissipation, is related with the Moro reflex.

Setting aside this problem of interpretation, KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O, when I recite Fukan-zazen-gi out loud, speaks to me on another level. I heard on BBC Radio 4 (which I listen to a lot when I am in France) that TS Elliot said that great poetry communicates something to us before we understand it. So it is with Fukan-zazen-gi.

KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O has a very definite rhythm to it. It sounds like two massive obstacles each receiving a decisive blow, and then shattering and tumbling down after each other in rapid succession, before landing on the ground with great finality...

Boom Bang tumble tumble tumble thump.

KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O marks the end of the first half of Fukan-zazen-gi. After this point, Master Dogen tells of getting up slowly and manifesting the virtue of Zazen in a Zazen life. So in context also, there is a decisive, conclusive sense to the words:

KON SAN MAZU BOKURAKU SURU KOTO O

Yin Yang; struck down, fall down, drop down on the ground.

This that; knocked down, fall down, drop down on the ground.

Do you see what I am getting at? No translation I can come up with can do Fukan-zazen-gi justice. That is why I would like to encourage everybody to study it in the original Japanese, and think about its meaning deeply for themselves. Don’t take Gudo’s word for it. And don’t take mine.

Twenty years ago, when I started looking at Master Dogen’s original words in Japanese, it was like taking off a veil. I realized I couldn’t just rely on Gudo’s English translation--just as people today shouldn’t rely on what I am writing. Contrary to what I had thought previously, Gudo’s word was not infallible. No, even a Buddhist patriarch is a human being like the rest of us, with unreliable feelings and thoughts. That will be the subject of my next post.

Our true nature expresses itself

HONRAI NO MENMOKU GENZEN SEN. Our original face manifests itself. Naturally, spontaneously. The secret is to allow it.

What does it mean to allow it?

For our purposes, as devotees of Fukan-zazen-gi, it means to find some space and time to be set aside for the physical/temporal act of sitting in lotus.

Then it means to make an effort to kick-start the natural, spontaneous process, without the grasping which will sabotage that very process.

To understand what kind of effort this is, the work of FM Alexander has been, in the Zazen practice and experience of me for one, absolutely invaluable.

FM Alexander, while well aware of how misleading words can be, called it “thinking.” In Fukan-zazen-gi also, Master Dogen exhorts us to think. But it is not thinking as we generally understand thinking. It is certainly not speculative, intellectual thinking. It is a kind of clarity of intention. It is the intention to allow something that happens spontaneously.

How can a spontaneous process be intended?

How can the state of not thinking be thought?

Non-intentionality. Non-thinking. Non-allowing.

Non-allowing means allowing that gets rid of itself.

In other words, allowing the neck to be free, to allow the head to release out from the body (“forward and up”), to allow the spine to release in a lengthening direction and the back to release in a widening direction -- altogether, as one integral act of allowing.

One integral act of allowing that spontaneously turns into one integral act.

Just sitting.

Sitting with body and mind

This morning I am not like a dragon that found water, and not like a tiger before its mountain stronghold -- one with itself and its surroundings, liberated from body and mind. I am a miserable wretch making effort to sit in the full lotus posture with the body and with the mind.

For one thing I sprained my right ankle a couple of days ago, stepping over a plank at a wood yard, onto a wet rock. I can still sit in full lotus with my right foot uppermost, but not the other way round. Anyway, though the condition is even further from ideal than usual, I can still make my effort to sit in the lotus posture with my body, putting my left foot on my right thigh, and my swollen right ankle on my left thigh.

The effort I make with my mind is firstly to remember that there is “a vigorous path of getting the body out” to which Master Dogen pointed. I am easily prone to lose this path, in the presence of the slightest gap. For example, I am easily prone to do wrong, and then to worry about it. I have long been someone who disregards social rules -- the kind of person who can’t be bothered to wait at a red light if there is obviously no traffic about -- and this attitude from time to time seems to lead me into trouble. Having strayed yesterday, I feel ashamed of a mistake I made in a supermarket carpark, and of the way I reacted to that mistake. Nevertheless, I have not disappeared into a hole. Instead, I found myself at 5 am this morning bodily sitting in lotus, and, eventually, asking myself: what mental effort can I make to recover the vigorous path of freedom in sitting?

First, I remember that this path exists, as I have been taught and as I have experienced. Naturally following from this act of remembrance is the act of wishing to direct myself back onto that path, and to direct myself further along it, further back into the unknown, further out into the unknown. “Back” means, for example, before the existence of the fear paralysis response or Moro reflex. “Out” means, for example, beyond the influence of the fear paralysis response or Moro reflex.

The Japanese say BAKA NIMO ICHI GE; “Even a fool has one virtue.” I am afraid that my contribution to human society is all too often negative. If I have anything valuable to offer, it must be related with Fukan-zazen-gi.

By nature, I am not a dove but a gambling hawk, all of whose eggs are in one basket. All my other baskets have long been neglected and have fallen into disrepair.

Master Dogen died in his early 50s. Soon I will be 47.

Why doesn’t anyone ask me about Fukan-zazen-gi? For God’s sake, somebody please give me the opportunity, before this dew-drop life falls, to write something that might be useful to others.

The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond

The matter of buddha ascending beyond, in my limited opinion, as I understand it now, is a tendency.

Yesterday on Dogen Sangha blog I revealed my stupidity again. I let out an outpouring of criticism of James Cohen -- who I have never met. As soon as I had pressed the publish button, I realized that the tendency I criticized in James Cohen is a tendency which it is all to easy for me to follow myself.

As Gudo’s self-styled protector and legal enforcer against a world of bad guys, James Cohen sees himself as an archetypal good guy, on the side of right. He sees me as one of the bad guys.

Thus, faced with Cohen’s hostile words and actions, it is all too easy for me to think: No, it is the other way round. I served Gudo for years and years before Cohen even arrived on the scene. The truth is that I am the good guy, the true long-time servant of Buddhism; Cohen is the bad guy, the Jonny-come-lately fame and profit seeker. To follow that self-justifying tendency is all too easy for me to do: like staying in a warm bath -- “easy to slip into, difficult to get out of.”

I think that Gautama Buddha established and encouraged us to investigate for ourselves another, extremely difficult tendency, which is to rise above right and wrong, good and bad, self and others. He laid down the great challenge of Zazen, which is to ascend beyond all our easy habitual tendencies of thought and action. In other words, to use Master Dogen’s imagery, the challenge is to follow the vigorous road of getting the body out.

In Shobogenzo there is a chapter called BUTSU KOJO NO JI. During the second half of the 1980s, Gudo and I discussed together several times how best to translate BUTSU KOJO NO JI. It was one of the phrases in Shobogenzo that I struggled with most. In the end, the translation we agreed upon was “The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha.”

A couple of years ago we discussed it again by email and agreed that a better translation would be “The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond,” or “The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond [Buddha].”

The point I am trying to make, mainly for my own benefit this morning, is that I think that the matter of buddha ascending beyond is best understood not as a state, but as an upward tendency.

Ascending beyond is an upward tendency -- a natural tendency, but not an habitual one. It is like water flowing vertically upwards. It does happen in nature--as in a geyser, or a naked baby boy lying on his back and peeing--but it is a relatively uncommon happening, against the usual stream.

The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond

The matter of buddha ascending beyond, in my limited opinion, as I understand it now, is a tendency.

Yesterday on Dogen Sangha blog I revealed my stupidity again. I let out an outpouring of criticism of James Cohen -- who I have never met. As soon as I had pressed the publish button, I realized that the tendency I criticized in James Cohen is a tendency which it is all to easy for me to follow myself.

As Gudo’s self-styled protector and legal enforcer against a world of bad guys, James Cohen sees himself as an archetypal good guy, on the side of right. He sees me as one of the bad guys.

Thus, faced with Cohen’s hostile words and actions, it is all too easy for me to think: No, it is the other way round. I served Gudo for years and years before Cohen even arrived on the scene. The truth is that I am the good guy, the true long-time servant of Buddhism; Cohen is the bad guy, the Jonny-come-lately fame and profit seeker. To follow that self-justifying tendency is all too easy for me to do: like staying in a warm bath -- “easy to slip into, difficult to get out of.”

I think that Gautama Buddha established and encouraged us to investigate for ourselves another, extremely difficult tendency, which is to rise above right and wrong, good and bad, self and others. He laid down the great challenge of Zazen, which is to ascend beyond all our easy habitual tendencies of thought and action. In other words, to use Master Dogen’s imagery, the challenge is to follow the vigorous road of getting the body out.

In Shobogenzo there is a chapter called BUTSU KOJO NO JI. During the second half of the 1980s, Gudo and I discussed together several times how best to translate BUTSU KOJO NO JI. It was one of the phrases in Shobogenzo that I struggled with most. In the end, the translation we agreed upon was “The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha.”

A couple of years ago we discussed it again by email and agreed that a better translation would be “The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond,” or “The Matter of Buddha Ascending Beyond [Buddha].”

The point I am trying to make, mainly for my own benefit this morning, is that I think that the matter of buddha ascending beyond is best understood not as a state, but as an upward tendency.

Ascending beyond is an upward tendency -- a natural tendency, but not an habitual one. It is like water flowing vertically upwards. It does happen in nature--as in a geyser, or a naked baby boy lying on his back and peeing--but it is a relatively uncommon happening, against the usual stream.

A Koan

In the order of the eternal Buddhist Patriarch, there were four dragons or elephants, whose secular names were Ian David Liszt, Matthew Erial, Steve Portsman, and Sam Mallgap.

Through many springs and autumns the Patriarch had expressed to them the essence of his teaching in just three sentences:

Physically sit in the full lotus posture.
Mentally sit in the full lotus posture.
Dropping off body and mind, sit in the full lotus posture.

After years and years of teaching like this, the Patriarch sensed his death was approaching. He asked the four each to express their conclusion. He said: “My teaching is just to drop off body and mind. Express your own understanding of it.”

Ian said: “I used to see it as perfectly polite and obedient service to others, forgetting myself completely. But you taught me that it is not that.”

The Patriarch said, “Mr. I. D. Liszt; you have got my skin.”

Matt said: “I used to see it as a state of balance of the autonomic nervous system. But you taught me that it is not that.”

The Patriarch said, “Mr. Matt Erial; you have got my flesh.”

Steve said: “I used to see as an action doing itself, spontaneously; for example, effortless upright sitting in the full lotus posture. But you taught me that it is not that.”

The Patriarch said, “Mr. S. Portsman; you have got my bones.”

Then Sam Mallgap walked before the Patriarch, carefully laid out his zagu, prostrated himself three times, returned to his zafu, arranged his 9-stripe kesa, and just sat silently, without saying a word, quietly anticipating the Patriarch’s affirmation.

Then the Patriarch said, “No, Mr. S. Mallgap; it is not that. It is never that.”