Nishijima Roshi's Philosophy
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- Опубліковано 12 січ 2020
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I should disclaim: 'lefty type' commenter here...
But I must also proclaim appreciation for Nishijima Roshi's assessment that industrial modernity has provided (at least greater opportunity) for living a inwardly-focused contemplative life. Thanks for referencing this, Brad.
It's true I didn't have to 'chop wood and carry water' this morning; sadly, I used this extra time to enjoy coffee and watch the news and commercials for crap I didn't know I needed. But here I am, also.
As a social scientist who studies inequality, though, I feel compelled to chime in that its pernicious effects result from its operation as a relative, not absolute, phenomenon. Much research to support this, but it's basically the 'keeping up with the Joneses' effect that weighs on the psyche and body over time.
Which brings me back to the Noble Truths concerning desire. Perhaps more than ever, these ancient axioms have proven enduring and prescient, given the modern (post)-indistrial age and the material and social inequalities it has wrought.
Overcoming desire--and corporate machinations to conjure them--is as daunting a task as one can imagine. I would have been better served by turning off the TV this morn and practicing zazen, no doubt.
But grateful to you, Brad, for this talk (and contemplative time).
Are you familiar with Angel Kyodo Williams?
Thanks, Brad. I really appreciated this video, and the Handbook of Authentic Buddhism. You and Mike Luetchford have both done a lot to promulgate a wise man's teaching.
In the beginning of his book "The heart of the Buddha's teachings" Thich Nhat Hanh also rejected the idea, that everything is suffering.
This is my favorite video of yours so far. More of these!! 🙌🏽👍🏾🔥
Great video, Brad. Thanks! Don't worry so much about the comments. Just give us your truth.
This Video is full of great quotes. I had to get a notepad and pause several times. Excellent video. Thank you. Also you should do a video tour of your library, looks pretty cool
Commenting for the algorithm.
Great video, Brad!
I learned a different version of the 4 Noble Truths 😉 Truth of suffering, truth of the cause of suffering, truth of cessation of suffering, truth of the path.
Thank you very much Sensei Brad! I met Nishijima Roshi through his writings, my teacher and some of his disciples, but unfortunately, I did not get a chance to meet him in person. But I am very grateful for what he left us, I dont think I would have learned the wonderful practice and teachings of Zen if it had not been through his particular way of teaching and his lineage. Your generous video is another way in which I can get to know him a little bit better and I appreciate it very much! All the best.
I liked it a lot. I also wanted to get to bed earlier tonight, but this was good too (a joke, I wouldn't have got to bed earlier anyway). Glad you're back (hope you enjoyed your trip). :)
I think I'm really going to enjoy that playlist. :)
He really does talk about the autonomic nervous system a lot!
Wow, you're channel is really growing.
Very interesting! Thank you!!
"Dukkha" isnt " suffering" , it literally meant an " uneven axis", i.e. a " bumpy ride", or " oval orbit" as the planets course
= suffering
@@tteravai ' out of harmony ' or ' out of order" would preserve the original sense
Brad: "The four philosophies" that you're talking about is called the four complete purities in Tibetan Buddhism.
1 Subjective - Enjoyments - Tasting Nectar
2 Objective - Body - Deity Yoga
3 Action - Deeds - Light Rays
4 Reality - Environment - The Mandala
You prolly dont care but does someone know a tool to get back into an instagram account?
I stupidly lost the password. I love any tips you can give me!
@Ty Darwin instablaster ;)
@Johnathan Nicholas Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm trying it out atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Johnathan Nicholas it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D
Thanks so much, you saved my account!
@Ty Darwin happy to help xD
Good video, thank you!
Thanks for the video. I will consider this a bit more, but Nishijima Roshi's description of the Four Noble Truths does make more sense.
Excellent! Thank you.
The history stuff made me wonder if Nishijma was a fan of Hegel. I know in the past you said he liked reading Western philosophy too. Anyways, thanks for the in-depth video!!
He loved Hagel. One of his favorite words was "dialectic."
A video tour of your library would be a very good idea
I did that! ua-cam.com/video/8o15aGYixcQ/v-deo.html
Thank you
Some of what Nishijama wrote, including trying to combine Western philosophy and some vaguely scientific ideas, with Zen practice and teaching didn't perhaps mean that much in practical terms. However, Nishijima himself was one hell of a teacher. He was one of the few that took me seriously when I communicated with him about an abusive Western Zen teacher, who was later outed for the abuse that I'd been trying to tell others about for years. That I will always remember, that he understood, took what I was saying seriously and why it was not defensible behaviour for a Zen teacher, while some of those who later went on to loudly make lofty pronouncements about the teacher in question, ignored what I and others were saying at the time, until it all went public and they scrambled to try and make themselves look good. Nishijima just didn't play those sort of games.
That's an interesting story. Yeah, he always took time with everyone who communicated with him. He took people seriously.
brad - question. there seems to be two annoying messages in buddhism that i often can't get my head around. one is what alan watts said: "get the message then hang up". i.e. do the zazen in the morning and then go about your day without any buddhist mental gymnastics. the other is, i quote someone i read, "practice mindfullness in EVER SINGLE activity you do" which to me just sounds like a massive exhausting pain the arse. do you "just sit" and then foget? or are you bringing buddhist thought into all of your activities?
This is simple. Convoluted by most to avoid giving you the tools for yourself; as designed? It is the truth of disappointment in all ego based desires(anicca, anatta, and dukkha), understand this of the truths that our dissatisfaction is rooted in ego based desire: so end ego based ignorant desire not all desire. Thus get the message and hang up(also the heart sutra to leave the Dharma when you reach the other shore, also do not attach to the Dharma too much). The idea to sit, get the message: as in focus with this intent, rooted in the truths, and the three marks of existence. With this you use the eight fold path to guide your actions. If you use focus(mindfulness) it is easier to get through the day. As when I was getting a piece of plastic wrap. Nothing else, and the oven liners fell from the rafters: I caught them and can only consider it mindfulness. No ideas of volition to confuse my instincts or reactions. I was able to react without a thought. We sit to focus so we can bring the good deeds to existence. As the Buddha discussed with the Vedic scholar: it is good deeds in these traditions that matter most. Sit and forget is also a common refrain but remember it is also the conditioned reality we wish to sit and forget. We sit barely on the periphery of this reality to allow one to see into our true nature: Buddha nature, tathagatagarbha, the un-born mind.
I sit in the morning and then just go about my day without really trying very hard to "practice mindfulness." Yet in some sense, everything I do, I try to do as what Nishijima Roshi might call "Buddhist action."
@@HardcoreZen thanks both. i can't tell you how many times i have read "be present and mindful and watching in EVERY SINGLE moment of your life." i have tried this. it's actually life-sapping and disorientating. but it's pumped out all over the place. a fast track to losing yourself, if you ask me - constant present minded attention. I do like Zen, there is a sense of exploration, of contemplation, and of course action.
@@LONDONFIELDS2001 I think it's not bad to make an effort to pay more attention to what one is doing. But I don't think the advice "be mindful at every moment" is terribly useful. When I find myself getting distracted by thoughts, I do try to pay attention to something real like, for example, the feeling of the ground under my feet or whatever. That seems to be a nice thing to do. But I don't make any great effort to BE MINDFUL all the time. That seems silly.
@@HardcoreZen Thanks for your responses Brad, much appreciated.
Now I have your attention, could I ask you another question? This nags away at me too. It’s about desire and it’s manifestation in our life. Let me put a scenario:
A young man (or woman) is single. They are going to a party in the evening. There will be drink there. There will be people they are attracted to there. It could be a wild night. Drink, friendship, sex, music. Exhilarating. The experience of desire in our life can be incredibly powerful and WITHOUT suffering. It’s just the churn of experience.
What is a zen response to that young person - say, as they are getting ready for that potentially wild evening - go there but don’t follow your desire? Don’t get excited, don’t crave? Stop your grasping and sit in the corner and be blissfully one?
Hey Brad looking forward to reading pdf. I’m highly curious, what do you think Nishijima thought of Dogen’s chapters Shukke and Shukke-kudoku where he is emphatic that one must “leave the family life” in order to attain the truth?
He used to interpret that metaphorically. He'd say you don't have to physically leave family life, you just have to change your priorities. He also felt that what Dogen said was true for his time, but not necessarily for ours. He loved Dogen but sometimes he would point out what he thought were mistakes Dogen made. For example, he thought Dogen was mistaken to have tried to create Chinese-style temples in Japan. The weather in the 2 countries is very different, which caused the temple Dogen built to be very damp and unhealthy, which Nishijima Roshi believed contributed to Dogen's poor health and early death. After Dogen's time, Japanese temples were modified to suit the climate.
Highly interesting and makes complete sense to me given his flow of history philosophy. Which would certainly make room for recontextualizations and metaphors. I just remembered Dogen did the same thing in his chapter on The Arhat. I suppose we could further Nishijima’s own metaphor with his flow of history view, highlighting how most people today in developed nations “leave the family life” by moving out of their parents homes sometime in their 20s. Most don’t even stay as long as the Buddha when he left at 29. So it essentially points back to how much zazen is being done, regardless of what kind of cloth is being worn or if there’s hair on a head. I do get the sense, however, that Nishijima would revere and honor the literal act of becoming a monk.
@@HardcoreZen Heinrich Dumoulin holds, that the popularization of Sôtô-Zen really startet two. three generations later with a Chinese master, who made the "system" more accessible (made me notes but can`t find them).
Good video.
Thanks!
Hi, Brad! Do you know if NIshijima Roshi had anything to say about the connection between Zen and Budo? There's a book out there by Taisen Deshimaru on the subject (as well as many others). Do you have any experience with this intersection yourself? It would be nice to hear your thoughts on the matter sometime.
I never heard Nishijima Roshi comment about this. And I don't have any experience of it myself. Sorry!
@@HardcoreZen Alright! No matter, then. Thanks for your content and your reply!
I think the four philosophies interpretation sounds right... but honestly I feel mr. Gotama was so smart that the 4 noble truths were framed in a very deep and broad way. I love that you can take the 5 precepts literally and they still work. I think it's the same with the 4 noble truths, you can take the surface meaning and the deeper meaning and they both will work for you.
Nice shirt...
Thank you. No big words. Just sit, no counting no abdominals, no koans. Just sit. I needed the reminder.
There's also The Chan Handbook by Venerable Hsuan Hua that's really worth reading.
Is it possible that dukka has been mistranslated/misunderstood? I've heard others suggest that it can mean unsatisfactoriness; which makes much more sense to me.
Yeah. It means something a bit more comprehensive than what the English word "suffering" suggests.
good to hear about baseball. i told you that like it.
All things come as the karma of one’s previous thoughts: All the physical conditions of life, such as health or disease, wealth or poverty, race and social position; one’s psychic nature, such as the nature and kind of his desires, his tendency to mediumship, or the development of the inner senses and faculties; the mental faculties also, such as the capacity to learn and assimilate teachings from the schools and books and the inclination to persistently investigate. Many of the possessions, afflictions, psychic tendencies and mental faculties or defects which he now has, may be traced back by him or one acquainted with his career as the results of his own persistent thoughts and efforts. In such case the justice is apparent. On the other hand, there are many physical things, psychic tendencies and mental endowments, which cannot be traced to anything which he may have done in the present life. In this case he and others may say that he does not deserve that which he now has, and that he is unjustly favored or abused. Such judgment is incorrect and due to inability to connect present effects with their past causes.
Nishijima in the thumbnail looks EXACTLY like the young Dalai Lama
You don't believe that desire can be extinguished? A practitioner may seek the absolute through practice, by attempting to cultivating a mind that is not seeking(while never succeeding, until).....isn't there a state of not seeking? Would that not a state of extinguishing desire? Wouldn't that lead to understanding of in the relative sense? (I don't think that is a case of arguing semantics.)
I don't think I can extinguish desire. Maybe momentarily I can be in a state of non-seeking. But I don't think I can achieve a state of permanent extinguishing of desire.
@@HardcoreZen True, but does that experience not change the individual, in terms of seeking? At the same rate, extinguishing desire can be done. Like, the individual may realize that a large amount of issues that that individual suffers, is due to desire.....If you look at the whole catholic church pedophile problem, I don't know of that as a "thing" in Buddhism, like it is in Catholicism. Yet, traditional monastics seem to liberated of that. The molestation issue may occur with celibate catholic monastics because they have never experienced a state of "extinguishment of desire." ....My point being, it sort of irk's me when modern Soto Zen lay monastics laugh and scoff at the precepts as being pointless. I don't think so. I think that experience of "not seeking to fulfill desire" has a profound effect, and change on the person, that normally wouldn't have occurred. Like deciding to be vegetarian or something. And too, the issue as to why the state of "not seeking" occurs, my be very specific, in terms of impact, on the individual, in relation to how it changes the person. (Sometimes I feel like, what is the point of that experience, if it occurs just because they sat in zazen long enough. If it has no reason of suffering behind it's occurrence, it seems to have little impact on the individual.)
Here's a question that has always puzzled me about Karma: How does an animal become reborn as a human, or as a 'lesser' life form? Do they have to consciously perform "good" or "bad" deeds? If so, how do animals know the difference?
In Indian/Tibetan Buddhism it's said there's 4 things that factor in to the "kinetic energy" that a karma (literally an action) has down the line: knowledge, intent, performance and satisfaction. In other words: knowing what you're gonna do, wanting to do it, doing it, and being happy you did it. In the case of most beings (and also most humans at most times too) actions are mostly performed habitually. Consequently they don't have much "force", mostly just further entrenching the habits (vasana in Sanskrit) that hatched them. Effectively this means that most animals for example don't have much wiggle room to change their habits. That wiggle room is actually usually said to be most prominent in humans, although our actions are also mostly instinctual most of the time. That wiggle room does mean however that humans, uniquely among beings, have the opportunity to consciously foster better habits, that are helpful for others and ourselves down the line. In the case of non-humans (which in traditional teachings includes everything from "gods" down to animals, ghosts and naraka beings), as they don't have much control over their actions, they also can't really fuck up that badly. Their experiences as gods, seagulls, hamsters and so on simply lasts until the previous karmas that causes those experiences are exhausted, after which other karmas will ripen as other experiences. It's really just cause and effect: when the battery is empty, the light shuts off. It's the same for karma.
@@franksijbenga3724 Thanks Frank! I didn't know how to reply to that question. I figured there was a traditional answer, but I didn't know it. I think lots of Zen folks accept that karma and rebirth are real things but don't concern themselves very much with trying to understand how they operate. Then there are Zen folks like me who tend to be agnostic about karma and rebirth (Shohaku Okumura also expresses this in his books). Dogen definitely believed in karma and seems to have believed in something people might define as "rebirth" (although his take on it is very different from how most Americans who say they believe in it define rebirth), but he never discusses it in any great detail. Dogen's essay Doshin (Will to the Truth, or Mind of the Way) has a short paragraph about rebirth, but that's all he ever says.
@@HardcoreZen There are many references to rebirth in Dogen's Shobogenzo and also the Eihei Koroku. Anyone can check for themselves simply by downloading a PDF file of both works and using the search function to find them. I counted 80 references to the word 'reborn' in the Shasta Abbey translation and ten references to the word 'rebirth'. Removing the principle of rebirth from Buddhism is like removing the keystone from a stone bridge. One is left with nothing more profound than a pop-psychology article in a supermarket magazine.
@@Teller3448 I've addressed this many times already. See the chapter titled "Did Dogen Believe in Reincarnation and Does It Matter If He Did" in my book Don't Be a Jerk for example.
Is the first Noble Truth literally presented as "All life is suffering" in the Sino-Japanese tradition? It never is in the Tibetan/Sanskrit tradition as far as I know, where it is rather merely presented as "There is suffering." Which, you know... pretty undeniable.
A bit closer is maybe the formulation (as here in Pali): *sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā.* All conditioned things (or "formations") are dukkhā, are unsatisfactory. But that is also not quite saying that life is pain.
In any case, I often think that the precise meaning of *duḥkha* is anyway maybe not quite "suffering" in all its lexicographic bluntness. If it was, the First Noble Truth would be a bit of an open door to kick in. There's maybe something more subtle being said here, that requires reflection. I sometimes feel "meh" would be an okay contemporary gloss for duḥkha 😅
Regarding the Second Noble Truth Sanskrit differentiates *tṛ́ṣṇā* (thirsting, craving, the cause of duḥkha) and *chanda* ("wanting", "being inclined to"). The second one is natural and indeed unavoidable in living beings. It also doesn't cause duḥkha.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
I agree. The definitions of Dukkha, anicca, anatta are more like what you discuss. It is a dis-satisfaction of all desires rooted in ego. This definition(as with yours) allows us to understand how the four truths, the three marks, and the 8 fold path relate. Kinda missed by most.
The Japanese have been very influenced by the west since the Meiji Restoration. Nishijima Roshi used to lament that this western interpretation of the Four Noble Truths had come to dominate even in Japanese academic studies of Buddhism. There is a lot of nuance to the word duhkha that gets lost when it is translated as "suffering."
This made me laugh. :)
Noble truth #1: "Life is meh."
I should go edit that on wikipedia. :)
Gassho 🙏🙏🙏
Still hard to believe in karma , for that I don't believe in it , but treat my feelings with open eye
💗💗💗
Karma isn't something to believe in. Nor are any Buddhist teachings come to that. That's not what the Dharma is about. Believing won't do a damn thing for you. Karma refers often to volitional action and that such action has consequences. That you can see clearly for yourself at any time. Belief is irrelevant. The Buddha spoke of the Dharma as being a matter of 'Ehipassiko,' which means something to see, not something to believe.
What is your view of Nichiren Buddhism? That school of Buddhism doesn't subscribe to the 4 noble truths or the eightfold path, doesn't teach all life is suffering, teaches that it impossible to rid yourself of all desire, and teaches that "enlightenment " can be obtained right were you are. Interesting enough however ( widely) not being considered "true" Buddhist teaching. Thoughts?
SGI? They are a sect, degenerate sects as warned by the Buddha? They are about donations alone. If you do not chant their one mantra right: that is why you do not manifest your wealth, as example. The tenets of Buddhism, or Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism are the essentially the four truths, the three marks of existence, and the 8 truths. Ignore them and try to claim a Buddhist lineage? I would avoid them like the plague.
I haven't studied Nichiren Buddhism enough to be able to comment on it.
@@alohm I am a SGI member. Lol I practice Nichiren Buddhism. Lmbo!
Your Budhist friends are right that our perceivable matter is not everything that constituents the reality of the world. There is not question about that. But contemporary philosophers who deny your mystic views like to talk about physicalism instead, which means reality, whatever it is, is physical.
This view has large room for strange counter-intuitive 'things' that we mere mortals never dreamed of but no room for self-proclaimed idle ramblers who like to be identified as 'enlightened'.
Re reading Zen wrapped in karma and it look's like your boys Gummo or Zeppo have been nice enough to leave comments and bestow their wisdom upon us ;) Great vid btw.
So reality is Tao?
Really glad I watched this as I am now definitely going to read Nishijima Roshi. However I have to take exception to the a statement that Buddhism is zazen . The baseball analogy is not a good one. Everyone who plays baseball agrees with the rules of the game. In fact it’s necessary in order to play the game. But to say that Buddhism is, must be zazen is to negate other forms of Buddhism. For example pure land… Or any form that emphasizes the eightfold path of which meditation is but one…Or more to the point I’ll tell Bankei he wasn’t really a Buddhist or a Zen teacher! It seems to be more accurate to say that what he is saying is that Buddhism isn’t intellectual, it has to be active, practiced…And that in his form or flavor of Buddhism the practice is zazen. (Yes that still leaves Bankei as not a Buddhist but that’s another discussion)
Serious and respectful question: So, the thousands and thousands of Buddhists in many different traditions who have a practice that does not include sitting zazen do not understand Buddhism, only Zen sitters???
Dogen would have said so, I think. In Bendowa he pretty much does say that in a somewhat more diplomatic way. Here's the quotation below:
Now we have heard how high and great is the merit of this zazen. [But] some stupid person might doubtingly ask, “There are many gates to the Buddha-Dharma. Why do you solely recommend sitting in zazen?”
I say: Because it is the authentic gate to the Buddha-Dharma.
[Someone] asks, “Why do you see it as the only authentic gate?” I say: Great Master Shakyamuni exactly transmitted, as the authentic tradition, this subtle method of grasping the state of truth, and the tathagatas of the three times all attained the truth through zazen. Thus the fact that [zazen] is the authentic gate has been transmitted and received. Furthermore, the patriarchs of the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands all attained the truth through zazen. Therefore I am now preaching [zazen] to human beings and gods as the authentic gate.
@@HardcoreZen I cannot say those who chant. etc. have a less authentic or skillful way than myself, or you or Dogen.
The Buddha taught Dhyana, not zazen, and it was part of a system of practice on the Path, not the entirety of it.
Thank you and bows
@@nedstarkravingmad1799 Good comments...Samadhi is one part of the eightfold path, which is depicted as spokes on a wheel. Many Buddhist teachers would argue that its actually the axle or central hub of the wheel. Also, Samadhi means to 'bring-together'...as in concentration on a single object. Zazen is more like Samatha...which means 'calm abiding'.
I dont agree with the idea that "Nishijima was wrong about history/power". I think he's right in some respects. I also think there's more to the picture, that there's a lot of negative karma generating from western history thats going to pull it down in the long run. Of course - this is cause and effect, nothing lasts forever. I personally think the US specifically and western culture in general are running to the end of their rope. Ia this good? Is this bad? It depends on who you are, where you are, what you're doing. Things are a lot better in some ways, a lot worse in others. Can it be said it's better or worse than other times? This is speculation. No fixed views.
Edit: here's a simpler way of saying all that: first, take everything with a grain of salt, eg as provisional. Second, esp if someone gives you a simple answer, know there's always more to the picture. You can never incapsulate the truth with words or concepts.
Kind of sounds like he had a collection of half-baked thoughts tbh.
Sure. Right.
@@HardcoreZen Why would Master Dôgen write his voluminous "Dharma Eye ...", if it were all that simple? And obviously, he wrote several of his essays to get a clearer grasp of the "Way" himself, struggling with his own (non-)comprehension. Maybe, Master Nishijima was not into "literate Zen", but Master Dôgen clearly advocated it.
are you sure that nishijima is not acting like any christian preacher or priest would, just trying to make sense of nonsense and give some passable spiel ?
you lack experience with buddhism, its nothing like as coherent in doctrine as you pretend
what fits best with nishijima is what any religious priest of any competence does, they take nonsense and try to make something interesting out of it and of course this gives rise to extremely varying content within a minimal scriptural "conformance"
you even have quite a different take on nishijima's "doctrine" and buddhism from his other "dharma heirs"
what is a happening with you ?
how can you offer advice and interpretation with any sincerity when you are so out of touch
are you being a latter day (in a small way) ron hubbard ?
You know, every time you make a comment I wonder what type of meds you are on.
@@Octoberfurst anti-psychotics and they are working !
@@osip7315 It could be argued that they aren't.
@@cmdreltonpoole6303 if i wasn't psychotic you wouldn't expect them to work would you ?
@@Octoberfurst Judgement? Not sure any critique warrants such a harsh reply: unless he touched a nerve or you are a brown-nose as they say?