Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

Does the concept of sin exist for someone who practices Zen?

Answer

The problem of sin is not the same in Christianity as it is in Buddhism. In Christianity there is Original Sin. Adam, Eve, the apple and the serpent. In Buddhism every existence possesses the nature of God or Buddha; this is a very different concept and one that is extremely difficult to explain. All existence, even a stone, everything material, animal, vegetable, everything in its origins possesses the nature of Buddha. In Oriental philosophy there are two schools of thought. One believes that wickedness is in man's original nature. But the one larger in number believes that what exists at the origin of consciousness, for everything and everyone, is good. That is particularly true of Buddhism. Everybody has Buddha nature, but it is altered by environment and karma. One might say that karma is something like sin; it is transmitted to us by our parents and ancestors and changes our originally pure mind. That is what makes evil exist. When there is no more karma you can return to your normal, original state. If you practice zazen, your karma comes to an end and sin disappears. It would be very complicated to explain more. The infant in its mother's womb, for example, is sinless, but it already bears the karma of all its ancestors in its blood. The night before last there was a boy here who was practicing zazen for the first time; he said, "I have just understood what real silence is. Until tonight I have never spent one whole hour in silence in my life. The only time I'm quiet is when I'm in bed and sometimes I even talk in my sleep! `` But zazen, that is real silence.'' I said to him, ``You were quiet in your mother's womb; that was silence, too.'' But he said, ``My mother talks all the time, I have a bad karma. I always want to be talking and it's hard for me to keep quiet even in zazen.'' But everybody's true origin is silence; you must understand that. Only silence is your true origin. Silence first, then incessant talking. For twenty, thirty, fifty or sixty years you have been talking nonstop. So then you get completely exhausted and return to complete silence again in your coffin. So silence is what goes on eternally. What you have that is eternal is your consciousness of silence, the normal condition of your mind. That is ku, nirvana. The true origin. In Zen we say that we must go back to the original silence, as in Christianity they say we must go back to the state before sin. If you practice zazen you return to the state before sin.