Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

You often say that practicing zazen is getting into one's coffin. What is death, really, in Zen?

Answer

Good question. Zazen and death are not the same. Death means not breathing anymore, while in zazen you concentrate on breathing. No relationship. Have you read the Genjokoan? It explains the relationship between zazen and death very precisely. You must read it. You will understand. Firewood becomes ashes; the ashes cannot become firewood again and the firewood cannot see its own ashes. It's the same relationship as that between life and death. And yet I say: zazen is the same as getting into one's coffin, living Nirvana, like death. Nirvana is the finish of everything - ku, non-shiki. Activity stops. The complete stop means death. The total cessation of the three actions defines death. But Hinayana Buddhism is wrong when it says that in order to get to nirvana one must stop eating, stop breathing. Illusions disappear in those conditions, no doubt, but one is almost dead. Buddha tried those methods and discarded them. Professor Akishige says that "when consciousness ceases the body is close to the state of death." Tranquil. But that is not the normal condition of consciousness either. You grow weak, and a little peculiar. Being close to death is not hishiryo consciousness. For one day, two days, a few days, it is possible to stop eating; during his period of austerity Buddha ate a single grain of rice each day. But I never said that one had to practice the condition of death. Nobody would want to follow that. Do not be anxious. You must eat, but be able to reduce the amount of food you need. Dogen wrote, "An empty stomach is not the normal condition," because then both body and consciousness become weak. The brain grows tired and a special form of consciousness develops that can lead to hallucinations. I have had the experience myself. The mind takes complete control over the body. In Zen, trying to achieve some special conditions is not the way. True, nirvana is also a balance of mind and body. But eating is necessary. When I am teaching I say that you should become as though you were getting into your coffin. The words can jar people. It's not necessary to get into a real coffin. You can imagine it: ``nothing"