I'm back in Tokyo now after the annual Dogen Sangha Zazen Retreat in Shizuoka, Japan. A good time was had by all. Except for one guy who literally ran away. Well, I'm not certain if he ran or walked. But he left the zendo during one of the kinhin periods and just never came back. This created some problems for us later on because we began finding certain jobs left not done as they'd been assigned to him. So if you're going to leave a retreat, leave. But tell someone you're leaving. Or risk being called an asswipe on this blog. Asswipe.
A little aside while I'm thinking of it, you must RSVP for the day-long micro-retreats in Santa Monica. In case people show up by accident thinking it's a regular Zazen day, we'll start announcing it's a retreat at the beginning. But if you see a lot of food service stuff being brought in, that's a clue. The schedule, once I know it, is always posted on this blog in the links over there to your left. And speaking of that, you're allowed to help us carry stuff inside, people. I guess everyone's too busy chatting to notice us huffing and puffing and lugging a million things into the house.
The Shizuoka retreat went well. What minor problems there were all came from people who spaced out and did not pay attention to what they'd been assigned to do. For example, five minutes before the beginning of Zazen a big wooden thingy is struck to call people to the zendo. This only actually happened at about half of the sittings and never once happened at the mid-morning sitting. I've got too much on my plate at these retreats to go yelling & screaming about stuff like this. I may need to hire a drill sergeant type for next year.
A couple of people were really concerned about what to do mentally during Zazen. Dogen's instructions in Fukanzazengi just say "Think the thought of not thinking. This is different from thinking." Some people really, really wanted me to give them permission to count breaths or to do one of those Tich Nhat Hahn-isms where you're like, "Breathing in I breathe the thought of compassion. Breathing out I breathe the thought of a pizza with mushrooms and anchovies." Or whatever. Actually the dude who left was the one who wanted to do that.
Here's what Dogen says in Eihei Koroku regarding breath counting:
In our zazen, it is of primary importance to sit in the correct posture. Then, regulate the breathing and calm down. In Hinayana, there are two elementary ways (of beginner's practice): one is to count the breaths, and the other is to contemplate the impurity (of the body). In other words, a practitioner of Hinayana regulates his breathing by counting the breaths. The practice of the buddha-ancestors, however, is completely different from the way of Hinayana. An ancestral teacher has said, “It is better to have the mind of a wily fox than to follow the way of Hinayana self-control.” Two of the Hinayna schools (studied) in Japan today are the Shibunritsu (the precept school) and the Kusha (the school based on Abhidharma-kosa).
There is also the Mahayana way of regulating breathing. That is, knowing that a long breath is long and that a short one is short. The breath reaches the tanden and leaves from there. Although the exhalation and inhalation are different, they both pass through the tanden. When you breathe abdominally, it is easy to become aware of the transciency (of life), and to harmonize the mind.
My late teacher Tendo said, “The inhaled breath reaches the tanden; however, it is not that this breath comes from somewhere. For that reason, it is neither short nor long. The exhaled breath leaves from the tanden; however, it is not possible to say where this breath goes. For that reason, it is neither long nor short.” My teacher explained it in that way, and if someone were to ask me how to harmonize one's breathing, I would reply in this way: although it is not Mahayana, it is different from Hinayana; though it is not Hinayana, it is different from Mahayana. And if questioned further regarding what it is ultimately, I would respond that inhaling or exhaling are neither long nor short.
Next, in case you're wondering, the image on this post is the cover of the new Puffy (I refuse to call them Puffyamiyumi) CD, Honeycreeper. It was just released in Japan and it's fuggin' awesome. Plus the photos in the little booklet make me melt.Here's the new video for the song "Oriental Diamond." Dig the glokenspeil.
Also check out "Kuchibiru Motion" (the sexiest promo video ever created) and "Boom Boom Beat" (with the line "You all wanna see, us act happily, not reality") also from the new record.
I'm staying with Ren Kuroda swordsman extraordinaire and his tolerant wife Hiroko and cute baby Ton-chan (little pig). The view out the window looks exactly like a miniature set from a Godzilla movie. I'll see if I can upload a photo.
Finally, some people talked me into adding the Google ads to this site and the very first one that came up is for the dreaded Holosync. The Holosync sucks. Don't buy it! I'm working on elmininating that ad. I don't know if I'll keep up with this ad stuff if it keeps being for bullshit products.
