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The middle way
- Your expression, "Zen is beyond religion, "could be taken to mean that Zen is supposed to take the place of all religions, to supplant them. What do you really mean?
- At what point in the history of Buddhism did Zen begin?
- It is often said that Buddhism is the Middle Way, the way of balance, but in the West the middle way means middle-class morality. Can you say something about the "middle way" in Zen?
- Faith is important in Buddhism, and in Zen there are various objects of faith - zazen, or the kesa, or the master. But what is faith?
- Does one have to give up one's own religion to follow Zen?
- Does the concept of sin exist for someone who practices Zen?
- Why are you always talking about going back to the origin instead of waking up to what lies ahead?
- Can you say that tigers or cats, animals in general, live true Zen?
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Ego
- What is the ego?
- You have said that we had to have an ego and also be beyond the ego. What does that mean?
- Being different from others means being alone too. Is it possible, through zazen, to learn how to be alone, to accept loneliness?
- What is individuality?
- You say that when we practice zazen we are Buddha or God, and you also say that we must abandon the ego. How can the two be reconciled?
- You wrote that when we practice zazen we are in our coffin. But even though we know we don't exist we still have the feeling of existing
- During zazen when you are afraid to abandon your ego, what is the right attitude to adopt?
- I don't understand the mirror symbol in the Hokyo Zanmai: ``The reflection, the image, is me, but I am not the reflection.''
- Master Dogen said, "I am not other people."
- But we exist whether we think or not. Both are important. Which comes first?
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Karma
- What is karma?
- Do karma and fate mean the same things
- Where does one's personal karma begin?
- If someone has a bad karma, how can he or she be interested in zazen?
- What does it mean to "confess one's bad karma"?
- When you know that you have faults, bad features, is it better to combat them deliberately or forget about them in silence and let them change automatically?
- What are good deeds?
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Illusions, Attachement
- What is suffering, and why is suffering?
- How can we escape from the complications of life?
- Do you have to go through sickness, death, and suffering in order to get to ku?
- Is it possible, sitting in zazen, to sever attachment and desires through control of the mind and posture?
- Isn't the desire for the eternal life of the soul a form of attachment?
- Buddha became Buddha by severing all his illusions?
- Is freedom something real or is it an illusion?
- You often say that the greatest freedom comes through zazen, but you also say that it is impossible to do away with all one illusions. Isn't that a contradiction? How can you reconcile illusions and freedom?
- What does it mean when you say that satori and illusion are the same?
- When attachments and illusions disappear, what is left?
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Helping Other
- What is compassion?
- You say that Zen wants to reach the highest wisdom and the deepest love, but some people think zazen produces indifference to others, they say it is the opposite of the active charity taught by Christianity. How would you say that zazen develops an attitude of love?
- Isn't a personal quest for inner freedom selfish in comparison with the quest for freedom for all?
- You often say that practicing zazen solves the problem of life and death. But how can it solve the suffering of other people?
- How can one help others concretely?
- What does the sentence, "Give to the rich and take from the poor," mean?
- What is the difference between Buddha and bodhisattvas?
- Dogen criticized. Masters are always criticizing each other. What do you think about criticism?
- In general, if people are wrong about something, should we let them alone or try to show them their mistakes?
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Good and Evil
- What is the Buddhist concept of good and evil
- Since it is so hard to distinguish between good and evil should we avoid taking any positive action in everyday life?
- If we can neither choose nor refuse, how can we live a moral life?
- What do demons represent in Buddhism?
- What is meant by Heaven and Hell?
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Death
- You often say that practicing zazen is getting into one's coffin. What is death, really, in Zen?
- This morning you said that the spirit of Master Yamada, who has just died, was in this dojo. What do you think about life after death?
- But do you think the soul lives on after death?
- The principle of reincarnation provides an answer to many of our questions. But Buddhism and Hinduism do not agree on this subject.
- If there's no such thing as reincarnation, why is one's last moment of consciousness so important?
- So you don't believe in reincarnation?
- If somebody can remember his previous lives, doesn't that imply that something is permanent?
- Where did Bodhidharma go when he died?
- Through zazen you can sever the karma of body, speech, and mind. Through death too. Is death the same as satori?
- So the most important thing is to keep concentrating here and now?
- This morning you said one can have the experience of death in zazen. What is it?
- And why do you call that awakening?
- How can you live here and now when you are always thinking about death?
- Who understands?
- Why do you talk about eternity after death and not before birth?
- Why are we born?
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Modern Civilization
- Isn't Zen becoming a fad?
- Why did you come to Europe?
- Zen does not seem to be made for a mass public; why do you use television and the press?
- Zen has been influenced by the cultures of India, China, and Japan. Are there elements in our culture that can influence it; in other words, will Zen take anything from the West?
- How can a busy career be reconciled with the practice of Zen?
- What would the world be like if everybody were a Zen monk?
- How do you see the world situation in terms of human evolution?
- Why are we imperfect? Were we perfect once and are we supposed to become that way again?
- We are living in an age of total decadence. Do you believe that civilization will be able to put itself right?
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Everyday Life
- What should people do in their everyday lives?
- How do you reconcile the idea of "no-gain" with zazen in everyday life?
- Yes, but sometimes the very fact that you don't have a goal can be a problem.
- But sometimes one has to think about commitments one has made or plans for the future?
- But if you practice mushotoku, how can you make plans and have desires?
- You said that the true attitude of mind consists in not choosing, but in everyday life you have to make choices all the time. How can you reconcile the two?
- What should we do to live zazen in everyday life?
- You say that paying attention to posture and breathing is satori. Can't a person concentrate the same way in everyday life?
- How can a conscious effort in everyday life provide a natural, spontaneous result?
- We live in a world of fear. How can one deal with that?
- I'd like to know what you think of the macrobiotic diet?
- Is there fasting in Zen?
- What do you think about the education of children?
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Zen and Christianity
- Are other religions compatible with Zen?
- What are the main differences between Christianity and Buddhism?
- Do you believe that if Christians practice Zen they can come one day to express something about it in a form that can be "philosophically" different?
- How should one talk about God?
- What is the difference between the Passion of Christ and the Compassion of Buddha?
- Saint Paul said the whole of creation is suffering and awaiting redemption. What does that mean from the viewpoint of compassion?
- A Zen monk said to me, "In Zen, when you have satori, you can say, `I am God!' "Can that be interpreted as being like Saint Paul when he said, "It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me"?
- I believe that Zen meditation leads to a deeper knowledge of the self, but I don't believe the cosmos itself has a specific consciousness.
- I also believe that the consciousness is emptied of its habitual impressions, of all the events that strike and touch us, and reaches a deeper level of consciousness, which is the sense of belonging to something larger than oneself, to the cosmic order.
- Perhaps what is behind my hesitation is the expression "cosmic consciousness." Teilhard de Chardin talked about a God "cosmic sense"; when we go down into ourselves we feel that we belong to the cosmos. Isn't that the same as attributing a consciousness to the cosmos itself?
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Consciousness
- What is the difference between subconscious and unconscious?
- I don't understand what you mean by going down to the bottom.
- When I wake up I always remember my dreams. Should I attach importance to that or not?
- Does it change anything to analyze dreams?
- Do you mean that dreams have no value?
- What do you think about premonitory dreams?
- What about magic powers?
- One often has involuntary thoughts during zazen one wants not to think about something but it keeps coming back.
- What is natural consciousness, body consciousness?
- You talk a lot about samu in Zen. Does intellectual work count?
- What is mushin?
- Sometimes you want to act in a certain way, but unconsciously some thought comes and you make a mistake!
- When you talk about the normal condition do you mean something that used to belong to all mankind and then got lost or do you mean something else?
- What does Zen contribute to the mind?
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Impermanence
- Here and now Can you explain here and now?
- How long does now last - an hour, a minute?
- There is a passage in the Shobogenzo called Uji. Can you talk about that?
- "The world exists but it is not real " what do you think about that?
- But what is real?
- Why are there phenomena in the cosmos?
- The Shin Jin Mei talks about impermanence. Are Buddha and the Way and the cosmic order impermanent too?
- Is there anything that is not illusion, phenomenon?
- I can understand that but even that is a relative idea, and I'm asking, relative to what?
- Is there no way of getting to ku, to emptiness or the void, through thought?
- What is mu?
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Satori
- Can you talk about satori?
- Is satori difficult to experience?
- Buddha spoke of different states of meditation corresponding to different experiences. Is there something like that in Zen?
- But what are the degrees of satori? You said that Buddha had a great satori.
- What is kensho?
- Have you experienced satori, Master Deshimaru?
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Zazen
- You often say that everything is Zen; so why does one have to practice?
- What is shikantaza? What is hishiyo?
- Would you advise a sick person to practice zazen as a form of treatment?
- Sometimes people ask me why I practice zazen and I never know what to say.
- Why is zazen more effective at sunset?
- What do you think of yoga in comparison with zazen?
- How does one practice zazen alone at home?
- Does our zazen have any effect outside ourselves?
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Posture
- Why do my knees hurt?
- Is it possible to eliminate pain during zazen?
- What is the meaning of the position of the hands in zazen?
- Should you press hard with your thumbs or should they be just touching
- Is it possible to close your eyes during zazen?
- Should the kyosakus correct people's postures?
- Can you talk about breathing during zazen?
- Why is there so much emphasis on breathing out?
- What is the right attitude of mind during zazen?
- What kind of concentration is right for zazen?
- In connection with concentration and observation: why is it necessary to observe?
- When your mind is too agitated to practice zazen can you count your breaths or concentrate on a syllable - mu, for example - in order to calm yourself down?
- I suppose I'm wrong, but I find that in the end I don't believe in posture alone. I believe in it as a means.
- But I find that I can't really believe that posture is the only thing that matters, that it is an end in itself.
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Tradition
- What place does tradition have in Zen?
- Why the ritual?
- Why do we have to walk along the walls of the dojo and turn at right angles in the comers?
- Why perform ceremonies every day?
- What is the meaning of the altar with the Buddha?
- What is the meaning of gassho the salutation with hands placed palm to palm?
- How important are the sutras? Were they written by Buddha or by his disciples? Do they have authority or not?
- Can the sutras be recited in another language, or does Japanese have some special important sounds that are a reason for not changing them?
- Does that mean the sound is important?
- The sutras are always talking about previous Buddhas. Who were they?
- In the Shobogenzo it says that a human is only a child of Buddha if he or she has been ordained. What does it mean to be ordained?
- What vows does one make when one becomes a monk?
- Is it possible to change one's karma?
- The worst people can become monks. Why is that?
- Don't you think it is harder to be a Zen monk today in a big city than it was two thousand years ago in a Zen monastery?
- How far does the commitment of a bodhisattva go?
- Can you explain the role of the bodhisattva in modern life?
- Why does one never hear about women Buddhas?
- What is the meaning of the kesa?
- Why do great masters like Dogen or Nagarjuna, masters who practice mushotoku, treat the kesa as an object of veneration when they grow old, and study and write books about it?
- What is the importance of the master in Zen? Can a disciple lead a dojo?
- How important is the dojo? Is it just to come see the master?
- When a person wants to practice zazen, does he or she always need a master?
- Nowadays people seem to be so weak, can a Zen master find strong, true disciples?
- Zen is spreading Many people, some of them fervent Christians, are trying to practice it. How can this demand be met without changing the nature of Zen? You are the only one at your level and you can't be everywhere. Who can be qualified to help?
- How can I know if I understand Zen?
- Obaku, Muso, and other great Zen masters often said that intellectual understanding of Zen was an obstacle to true understanding Do you recommend reading or not? Is it dangerous?
- How do we know when we are making a mistake?
- Are koans used in Soto Zen?
- What is the use of koans?
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