Quotes from Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru
The following was taken from the book Questions to a Zen Master: Practical and Spiritual Answers from the Great Japanese Master." In the book, master Taisen Deshimaru answers questions.The words in italics separate from his words are the words of the person in the book asking the question. When you see [. . .] in red, that is a break that I put there, which is not in the text. A break like this - ... - is in the text. I'm not sure I agree with all Deshimaru says, and I know I don't understand it all.
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14 - What is individuality?
Individuality and a strong ego are different. Coming back to one's own originality is very important; you and I are not the same. You
15 - are only you. You must find your own you. [ . . .] Through zazen you can realize that individuality and make it strong. The duty of a religious person is to teach that to other people.
36 - It is not possible to say, "You're bad so I don't love you," or, "You're good so I love you." That is not the true Buddha's attitude.
54 - Why are we imperfect? Were we perfect once and are we supposed to become that way again? That is the whole problem of civilization. Which is better, the old civilization or modern civilization. It's a false problem, because we cannot know the answer.
68 - I say that our consciousness is swifter than the cosmos. That means that God is greater than the cosmos. In Buddhism, ku, the void, is greater than the cosmos.
74 - Neurotic people are always anxious. They're like somebody who doesn't know how to swim and falls into the water. They start to sink, become frightened and say, "I must not sink, I must not sink," they swallow more and more water ... and in the end they drown. But if they let go of their thoughts and let themselves go down to the bottom, their body will come back to the surface naturally ... That's Zen. If you are in pain during zazen you must continue, keep straight, to the end. If you are in pain you can abandon your ego and experience satori unconsciously, naturally, automatically ...
I don't understand what you mean by going down to the bottom.
When you're in the water and sinking, when you let go of any thought of life and death, let go of your ego completely, then your being contrentrates solely on breathing out and you come to the surface. It's the same state of mind as in zazen.
76 - In some religions people are always trying to acquire magic powers but those are not true religions. [. . .] To want to acquire magic powers is an egotistical desire, trivial, and ultimately of no importance. It's no different from wanting to become a prestidigitator or a circus artist. Religion is not a circus.
133 - [. . .] I find harder to understand [. . .] the possibility [. . .] of radically transcending every aspect of the ego.
It is very hard to abandon the ego, and I did not say that it disappeared completely. You can believe in your consciousness or mind that you have abandoned your ego but the body doesn't always agree. By training the body, Zen trains us to let go of the ego. You can suffer during zazen but if you are patient and let go of the pain at the conscious level, and if you repeat that practice regularly, you are unconsciously training yourself to abandon the ego. In thought nothing could be simpler than to abandon the ego, but to let go of it "here and now" is very difficult. Through the repetition of zazen one trains one's body and abandons one's ego unconsciously. That is Zen education.
Can one abandon the ego completely? Isn't that an ideal?
It is very difficult, true. But after all, what is the ego? We have no noumenon, no permanent substance. Our ego has no distinct, permanent existence.
135 - Who understands?
The true ego understands. The true ego is the one that makes the decision. [. . .]
But in reality the true ego is not ego; perhaps it is what in Christianity is known as God. But in Zen it is called true ego, absolute ego. This ego also has no noumenon. It is what understands. Something has to understand and that's the only thing that can, God or the cosmos. It's the self that has let go of everything [. . .]
---------------------------
14 - What is individuality?
Individuality and a strong ego are different. Coming back to one's own originality is very important; you and I are not the same. You
15 - are only you. You must find your own you. [ . . .] Through zazen you can realize that individuality and make it strong. The duty of a religious person is to teach that to other people.
36 - It is not possible to say, "You're bad so I don't love you," or, "You're good so I love you." That is not the true Buddha's attitude.
54 - Why are we imperfect? Were we perfect once and are we supposed to become that way again? That is the whole problem of civilization. Which is better, the old civilization or modern civilization. It's a false problem, because we cannot know the answer.
68 - I say that our consciousness is swifter than the cosmos. That means that God is greater than the cosmos. In Buddhism, ku, the void, is greater than the cosmos.
74 - Neurotic people are always anxious. They're like somebody who doesn't know how to swim and falls into the water. They start to sink, become frightened and say, "I must not sink, I must not sink," they swallow more and more water ... and in the end they drown. But if they let go of their thoughts and let themselves go down to the bottom, their body will come back to the surface naturally ... That's Zen. If you are in pain during zazen you must continue, keep straight, to the end. If you are in pain you can abandon your ego and experience satori unconsciously, naturally, automatically ...
I don't understand what you mean by going down to the bottom.
When you're in the water and sinking, when you let go of any thought of life and death, let go of your ego completely, then your being contrentrates solely on breathing out and you come to the surface. It's the same state of mind as in zazen.
76 - In some religions people are always trying to acquire magic powers but those are not true religions. [. . .] To want to acquire magic powers is an egotistical desire, trivial, and ultimately of no importance. It's no different from wanting to become a prestidigitator or a circus artist. Religion is not a circus.
133 - [. . .] I find harder to understand [. . .] the possibility [. . .] of radically transcending every aspect of the ego.
It is very hard to abandon the ego, and I did not say that it disappeared completely. You can believe in your consciousness or mind that you have abandoned your ego but the body doesn't always agree. By training the body, Zen trains us to let go of the ego. You can suffer during zazen but if you are patient and let go of the pain at the conscious level, and if you repeat that practice regularly, you are unconsciously training yourself to abandon the ego. In thought nothing could be simpler than to abandon the ego, but to let go of it "here and now" is very difficult. Through the repetition of zazen one trains one's body and abandons one's ego unconsciously. That is Zen education.
Can one abandon the ego completely? Isn't that an ideal?
It is very difficult, true. But after all, what is the ego? We have no noumenon, no permanent substance. Our ego has no distinct, permanent existence.
135 - Who understands?
The true ego understands. The true ego is the one that makes the decision. [. . .]
But in reality the true ego is not ego; perhaps it is what in Christianity is known as God. But in Zen it is called true ego, absolute ego. This ego also has no noumenon. It is what understands. Something has to understand and that's the only thing that can, God or the cosmos. It's the self that has let go of everything [. . .]
posted by jlhart7 at 4:06 PM
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