Question
I have practiced zazen for two years at the Paris dojo, and my problem is that I cannot help sleeping during the first part, before kinhin, while I manage to concentrate well on the posture during the second part of zazen. I mainly practice on weekdays after work.
How can I overcome this drowsiness?
Philippe V.
Philippe V.
Answer from Master Kosen
Precisely: how to dive into the unconscious without falling asleep is a very important aspect of zazen. The consciousness that observes during zazen is very important. Each day, each practice, each week, each month, each year, we understand more deeply what zazen is.
But from the beginning, from the very first time we practice, zazen is already zazen. Attitudes within you, awakenings within you, have already been there for a long time, even if you are not really aware of them. By continuing to practice, we rediscover things intimate to our being as if for the first time. In fact, we already know everything, but we have forgotten. That is why we say “return to our original nature,” because God or Buddha is us. We have never lost it. We have known it for a long time. It is our eternal nature, but we forget.
So one night, in the dojo at Master Nyojo’s temple in China, the disciples were doing zazen. It must have been two in the morning—zazen with a great master is always intense, and Master Nyojo is a great master. Among all the disciples was Master Dogen, the future Master Dogen who would transmit Zen from China to Japan. He always practiced fervently, always the first in the dojo, sitting in zazen before everyone else.
During this long nighttime meditation, Master Nyojo suddenly became angry: “You must not sleep during zazen!” He got up from his seat—he was a good master; he got up, unlike me, who does not like to move once I am in zazen. He got up and struck the disciple immediately to Master Dogen’s left with his shoe, shouting: “Shinjin datsu raku!” You must cast off body and mind!
At these words, through fright and surprise, Master Dogen felt his body vibrate and tremble, his heart pound, sweat seep from his forehead, and whoosh! He left his body. When zazen ended, he hurried to his master’s room.
His master let him in. He did sampai, prostrated himself at the master’s feet, and said, “Master, I have experienced shinjin datsu, casting off body and mind.”
Master Nyojo answered, “Datsu raku shinjin.” This means: if you have cast off body and mind, cast off the casting off of body and mind. Cast off, continue, cast off, shinjin datsu raku without ceasing. At the end of his life, Master Kodo Sawaki, Deshimaru’s master, also said, “All my life, moment after moment, I have always cast off body and mind, at every moment.” Later, Master Dogen said this is the essence, the most important point of zazen: shinjin datsu raku, datsu raku shinjin. It is very important. It is not just leaving the body spectacularly; that is why the master answered, “Datsu raku shinjin!” Shinjin datsu raku is the spectacular aspect, leaving your body during zazen. Datsu raku shinjin is much subtler. It is something we must discover and master within ourselves at every moment, not only during zazen.
Kosen