Hakuin’s Song of Zazen
All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water;
How sad that people ignore the near, and search for truth afar, Like someone in the midst of water crying out in thirst,
Like a child of a wealthy home wandering among the poor.
Apart from water there is no ice, apart from beings, no Buddha.
Lost on dark paths of ignorance,
We wander through the six worlds, from dark path to dark path. When shall we be freed from birth and death?
Oh, the zazen of the Mahayana! To this the highest praise! Devotion, repentance, training, the many paramitas,
All have their source in zazen.
Those who try zazen even once wipe away beginningless crimes; Where are all the dark paths then? The Pure Land itself is near.
Those who hear this truth even once, and listen with a grateful heart, Treasuring it, revering it, gain blessings without end.
Much more, those who turn about, and bear witness to self-nature— Self-nature that is no nature—go far beyond mere doctrine.
Here effect and cause are the same;
The Way is neither two nor three;
With form that is no form, going and coming, we are never astray; With thought that is no thought,
Singing and dancing are the voice of the Law.
How boundless and free is the sky of samadhi! How bright the full moon of wisdom!
Truly is anything missing now?
Nirvana is right here, before our eyes.
This very place is the Lotus Land; This very body, the Buddha.
(translated by Norman Waddell)
The Reverend Jiun Josh Bartok, a long time student of Zen, my dharma successor, and guiding teacher of the Greater Boston Zen Center, is seen by many as one of the rising stars of the younger generation of Western Zen teachers recently gave a wonderful talk on the practice of Zen meditation. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Zen life, meditation, or, just for a pointer or two on how to meet this life we’re given. The talk itself runs twenty-five or twenty-six minutes. It is followed by another twenty or so minutes of dharma dialogue, which is also worth listening to.
Interesting?
Well, I think so. The path of Endarkenment. The great way of our lives plainly presented for our consideration. Nothing less.
At no extra charge, for further reading on the Zen way here’s a pretty comprehensive bibliography compiled out of my forthcoming book on Zen meditation and the Zen life.
And, finally a lovely little video on the mechanics of Zen meditation. It misses some posture possibilities and makes some categorical statements I’d present differently, but, nonetheless worth watching.
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