... Chapter 16 ....... Contents ...
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| 15. To you who is showing off your satori. |
Why don't you simply have 'I have satori!' tattooed all over your body?
If you're not conscious of your stomach, that's proof your stomach is healthy. If you can't forget your satori, that's proof that you haven't got any.
You think that you're something special because you've got satori, but you're simply showing off your sack of flesh. [footnote: sack of flesh is a common expression both in Sawaki and Dogen (who sometimes adds "stinking ...")]
When an ordinary person has got satori he's called a Zen-devil [footnote: tengu: long-nosed goblin, braggart]. This is because he thinks he's something special.
When people talk about satori, it often just means that a devil has acquired magical powers.
When you know you're doing something bad, then it isn't so serious. But people who chat about their satori don't even realize that it's something bad. That's why they're such helpless cases.
Some people are detested by their entire family and still believe that only they are in the right. If you think you're the only one who's right, you're wrong. And that goes even more for certain Zen laymen who think their satori makes them so important - even if they're hated at home.
No illusion is as hard to cure as satori.
Gon'yô Sonja asks Jôshû, "How is it when not a single thing appears any more?"
Jôshû answers, "Let it go!"
Gon'yô asks, "For me not a single thing appears any more, what should I let go?"
Jôshû answers, "If it's like that, carry it away on your shoulders!"
Don't take pride in your practice. It's clear that any satori you take pride in is a lie.
Superficial people don't notice that they are doing something wrong as long as they're not caught by the police. Not to notice that you live in an illusion goes with being an ordinary person.
You need to see clearly. Real satori means manifesting your sobriety. It means coming to your senses. The more you look, the more clearly you recognize your faults as well.
'Sudden great satori' means all old conceptions dropping off, including 'satori' and 'illusion'.
Just how separate are illusion and satori anyway?
In reality, what we create illusions about and what we awaken to is one and the same thing.
Satori means that the buddha-dharma becomes reality.
The buddha-dharma is an interesting teaching because it says all buddhas and all suffering beings are of the same nature. That's why it isn't buddha-dharma to suppose the buddhas are something 'on the other side'.
Until we reach the place where there's no gap between us and buddha, the place where nothing special exists at all, we will suffer from hesitancy, fatigue and stagnation.
Where are you truly at home?
You have no traveling companions. Wherever you look, there's no one else! You've got to find the place you and you alone can reach.
"The great matter of life-long practice comes to an end" means that the way of buddha becomes reality, that it penetrates your flesh and bones."
Satori doesn't mean the end of illusion.
The buddha-dharma is ungraspable. To say that we have satori is going too far. To say that we don't have satori isn't going far enough.
Great satori means reality.
You've got it backwards if you talk about of stages of practice. Practice is satori.
Only zazen. Only nembutsu. To ordinary people, this 'only'doesn't seem like enough. They want to get something in return for their practice.
The 'only' [shikan] is important. Just do it. For what? For nothing! There isn't any tip - only doing.
A monk asks Ryûge, "What did the old masters obtain that gave them their peaceful mind?"
Ryûge said, "It's like a thief who breaks into an empty house." [Keitokudentôroku 17]
When a thief breaks into an empty house he doesn't need to steal anything. He also doesn't need to run away. No one is there to chase him. Absolutely nothing. We've got to be very clear about this 'absolutely nothing'.
Satori is like a thief who breaks into an empty house. He breaks in but there's nothing to steal. No reason to flee. No one who chases him. So there's nothing which could satisfy him either.
"Satori", you really shouldn't show off with such a worn-out word.
You talk about satori, but what you call satori is terribly small. The problem lies in your consciousness: widen your consciousness a little and you'll realize that it's nothing.
You can find satori everywhere in the world, like the air we breathe every day. We don't get satori in the future.
Shakyamuni Buddha didn't say anywhere that only he had satori. He said that all living beings together realize the way.
But a collective satori like this isn't enough for humans. Everybody wants their own individual satori, their individual reward. That shows that everyone is only concerned with themselves.
Sometimes people beg me to certify their understanding of the dharma. As long as you have to ask others for their approval, you're not authentic. Still there are some who believe they've got satori because someone else gave them a certificate for it.
If you're already there, why ask others for directions?
You've heard that wine makes people drunk, and now you're pretending your drunk and believe that you've really drunk wine. That's also one of these forms of 'satori'.
Satori is becoming a technique. The buddha-dharma and mind of faith aren't techniques.
Practicing without idiosyncrasies is like playing like a child. It is wrong to want to make satori into an idiosyncrasy.
Satori isn't a chore, it means becoming natural.
Just be natural - there's nothing left to do besides practicing zazen.
... Chapter 16 ....... Contents ...