It all begins when we say “I.” Everything that follows is illusion. You’re simply seeing things from different points of view. To you who are totally exhausted from fighting with your spouse
The nose can’t replace the eyes, and the mouth can’t replace the ears.Įverything has its own identity, which is unsurpassable in the whole universe.ģ. The eyes don’t say, “Sure we’re lower, but we see more.” The eyebrows don’t reply, “Sure we don’t see anything, but we are higher up.” Don’t waste time thinking about who’s most talented. Each and every one of us has to live out his own life. You can’t trade even a single fart with the next guy. To you who can’t stop worrying about how others see you If you aren’t careful, you’ll spend your whole life doing nothing besides waiting for your ordinary-person hopes to someday be fulfilled.Ģ. The question is: why are you straining your forehead so much? Nobody can see farther than the end of their nose. Once the salary is paid, they gulp it down, and they’re already off: running after the next payday. Until the end of the month they run after the salary hanging in front of their noses. It’s exactly the same with people and their paychecks. Then in a single gulp, he swallows it down. He’s only thrown his meat after the cart has finally reached its destination.
Zen time piece driver#
The driver hangs a piece of meat in front of the dog’s nose, and the dog runs like crazy to try to get at it. In a part of Manchuria, the carts are pulled by huge dogs.
To you who have just begun brooding over life We just can’t guarantee it’s the advice you’ll want to hear.ġ. Are you worried about your career? Fighting with your spouse? Complaining about how busy you are? Homeless Kodo has a piece of advice for you.
If his words here are any indication, however, he must also be remembered for his charismatic and direct style of communication, which can sometimes border on the irreverent. Sawaki is especially known for his nomadic lifestyle and for emphasizing the importance of meditation over the study of texts or working with koans. It has been translated from the Japanese original by Muho Noelke, the current abbot of Antaiji, and Reiho Haasch, a teacher in the lineage. Unpublished in full, a selection can be found on Antaiji’s website, from which this text was taken. What follows is an abridged version of a collection of his sayings, called “To You,” which were compiled by Sawaki’s successor, Uchiyama Roshi. Sawaki was by no means a conventional abbot, however, and instead of attending to administrative duties at the temple, he roamed around the country of Japan in order to teach zazen to laypeople, an endeavor he dubbed the “Moving Monastery.” His efforts both earned him the appellation “Homeless” and established him as a pioneer of the repopularization of sitting practice within Japan. When the war concluded, he returned to his study of Zen, eventually taking responsibility of Antaiji Shichikurin Sanzen Dojo in 1949.
Not long after he was ordained, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army and served during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. Born in 1880 and orphaned in early childhood, Sawaki ran away from his caretaker at the age of 16 to become a monk. Kodo Sawaki Roshi, or “ Homeless Kodo,” as he came to be known, was one of the most influential Soto Zen teachers of the 20th century.
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