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TEACHING FROM YUKO SAN

Taking responsibility for your Practice

One of the most difficult and subtle aspects of our lives is the responsibility we take for our actions, for our life in general. In the practice of the Buddha Way, everything you do is your practice, 24 hours a day. So what kind of responsibility do we take for our own spiritual growth and at an even more mature level, for the spiritual growth of all beings? When you are walking down the street and notice the trash on the sidewalk, do you think how thoughtless people can be in just tossing things away wherever they are, and then just keep on walking or do you pick up some of the trash? Do you feel like the sidewalk, the neighborhood is an extension of your home? It is like an uncontrollable urge to take care of that trash on the sidewalk; you feel that responsibility. To leave it there feels, in a sense painful. Like we neglected something very important.

When you are driving and are late for some appointment or event, do you consider others in your rush to get there? Do you let the person trying to get out of the gas station in line or do you think, well, I have to go; I do not have time for this now. But now is all there is, and it is when we are pressed or things are difficult that our practice of considering others is put to the test. Even if we are late, we let that person in line; we consider others always. They may also be late, but that act, even though it may appear to be a small one, has an effect on that being and all the drivers around you. It wakes up everyone who sees our responsibility of the practice of selflessness or egolessness, of considering others in all our actions. Today everyone is in a rush and doing three things at once, so these acts of considering others are becoming rarer.

It is our practice to settle the mind, to be aware of our actions and how they affect everything (the Law of Cause and Effect), and to live according to the Eightfold Noble Path i.e. to live it, manifest it in our daily lives - this IS our practice and it involves doing it, manifesting it, making it real in our lives and therefore the lives of others. So responsibility for our actions involves DOING IT, and this doing it is usually a lot of ordinary activities, small things like thanking someone for letting you in line; letting the person with 1-2 items at the checkout in the grocery store go ahead of us; picking up trash on the side walk; using less toilet paper or paper towels, walking slower across the crosswalk so we make sure the elderly person beside us can make it there safely. It also involves of course the big things like taking responsibility for dealing with global warming, for carefully watching the candidates for the presidency, for taking care of our children and our parents, for being aware of the hunger and the atrocities in the world, and for doing zazen, daily whether our teacher is here or not. Ultimately, you are the teacher, the parent, the being who assumes this responsibility. All true Zen teachers always throw this responsibility back on the student. They want them to grow up, in the deeper sense of assuming this universal responsibility, of initiating it themselves without having to be told. It comes from the depth of your life, your practice. So please become this being. Assume this responsibility.

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From Kozen
(Kozen had a wonderful time in Denmark and is currently in Japan)

All is well. It is difficult not speaking better Japanese, I get lost and it takes hours to refind where I am going - Laughing just like in the US. People here have been very kind and I still find Japan to be a warm,wonderful and beautiful place.

I was turned down by one monastery due to my knee and not being able to sit seiza. (knees folded under my self). So for right now I am helping out at a small village temple and we did a memorial service today. I hope to assist with more but need to have my recertification ceremony prior to doing much more here as a priest.

Laughing, monasteries may not want a slightly crippled old priest who doesn`t speak Japanese well and is not able to quite do the work of a 20 year old. Laughing, but I will continue to check out a few other training facilities (monasteries) or may just train some more at a rural temple. I hope to visit Harrada Seiki Roshi in about 3 weeks. I will call him for an appointment.

As you know Matsuoka Roshi, my late teacher, did not register his students with Soto Shu (Soto Zen Headquarters). So while he ordained and transmitted priests, they were recognized only in the US and not by Soto Zen Headquarters.

I was one of the few who was ordained and registered by Soto Shu, but under new rules I had to complete Shu So (a management role) within 20 years, prior to it becoming permanent. I did Sho So with Matsuoka Roshi in the US but he never registered it so I lost my registration. So while I did have a great teacher I was limited in Japan.

Rev. Saito Seiwa and I have renewed our 31 year old friendship. We studied together at Tenyuji over 30 years ago. He has offered to renew my certification with Soto Shu as a priest so that I can get re-registered as a Zen Priest with the main organization. I will also come back to Japan and do Shu So so that my ordination becomes complete and will not expire.

He will also act as the Bishop for our temples until I can complete more certifications. He has a small beautiful temple in the mountains. It is a 2 hour drive from Tokyo. As of right now I will study here for a while,then return to the US. I will then come back to Japan and hopefully be able to do a full term or 2 or 3 at HoshinJi where Yuko San trained. Saito San will come to visit us in Arizona as soon as we get the land purchased and start building or at the latest by next year.

The plan for now; I will be reordained on June 2 and then be registered again with Soto Shu. And will do some training here.

My warmest wishes,

Gassho

Kozen