Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘In this sesshin, as I said this morning, our practice will be concentrated on putting power in your hara or tanden. This is not just a technique of practice, but the underlying idea is very deep. Our practice– zazen practice should not be compared with any other practice or training. It does not mean, even [if] I say so, Zen is something special or Zen is superior to any other teaching. But there is a reason why we should not compare our practice to other– many kinds of practice.

As Dogen Zenji said, in his Fukanzazengi– Recommending Zen Practice to Every One of Us– Fukanzazengi– he recommends this practice [to] every one of us. And he said, first of all, whatever you do, that is zazen. There is not something– some special training or some special way of practice.

Whatever you do, it is Zen, actually. At least when you are doing, that is Zen. But your understanding of your everyday activity is not right because of misunderstanding your practice or misunderstanding or discrimination of the practice or attachment to your activity. Your activity is not Zen any more to you [laughs]– only to you [laughs]. But actually it is Zen. Whatever you do, that is Zen.

But for you, only for you who do something for others or for yourself, is not Zen because of your– because you spoil your practice with your attachment, with your dualistic idea, with your discrimination, by comparing your practice to some other practice which you do or which someone else will do.

But when you practice, when you do something, at least at that time that is Zen practice. So actually, as he [Dogen] said, there is no particular enlightenment you will attain by means of some practice, because whatever you do, that is zazen. If so, you know, the mean[s] to attain enlightenment is also true practice.

So we should know why we spoil our practice, and we should know how we– how we are able to practice our way without spoiling it. So, as he says, verbal interpretation of zazen or any kind of teaching– written teaching by means of those literature or talk or instruction– only by means of those instructions you cannot attain enlightenment. Only way is to practice your way without spoiling it.’ (from the Suzuki Roshi Archive)

To follow on from yesterday’s post, one of the very few times that Suzuki Roshi talked about this kind of practice, in sesshin at the end of the second practice period at Tassajara.