Winter 2024 Newsletter: Letter From the Abbot
The Lineage of Chozen-ji
by Sayama Daian Roshi
Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS over the bell tower during sesshin.
At this year’s winter sesshin, my teisho was on the lineage of Chozen-ji as chanted in the Teidai Denpo Busso No Myogo. The lineage begins with six mythical Buddhas followed by Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha of our world system. In Indian cosmology, world systems emerge and dissolve continuously in the universe. After Shakyamuni Buddha, there are 27 Indian patriarchs, 27 Chinese patriarchs, and 27 Japanese patriarchs before Omori Roshi and Tanouye Roshi brought Zen to Chozen-ji. Perhaps someday the Chozen-ji line will also have 27 lineage holders.
No Mind, Mind Only, Immovable Mind, and Body Only
If the philosophy of Indian Buddhism is Mind Only, then No-Mind might be said to express the philosophy of Chinese Zen. Our Japanese Rinzai Inzan line emphasizes the working aspect of the Mind or the Immovable Mind. The fundamental doctrine of the philosophy of Chozen-ji might be said to be Body Only. In our Canon Omori Roshi wrote:
Zen is to transcend life and death (all dualism) to truly realize that the entire Universe is the “True Human Body,” through the discipline of “mind and body in oneness.”
The discipline of mind and body in oneness is the lifetime refinement of breath, posture, and concentration to develop samadhi, first in zazen, then in the arts, and finally in daily life. If the samadhi is deep, clear, and sustained enough, one will realize the True Self. But this realization cannot be said to be the same as the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha unless one has the kiai to calm a raging bull elephant or to put everyone in samadhi within a radius of two miles.
This discipline of mind and body in oneness is the deepest spiritual training and is called shugyo. Chozen-ji was established as a place where people could do shugyo without paying fees. We believe that by realizing the True Self, we will have Great Compassion and work for the benefit of society. To achieve this, Tanouye Roshi established Kiai First as the fundamental principle and zazen, sesshin, and Hojo as the core elements of shugyo at Chozen-ji.
Zazen, Sesshin, and Hojo
Omori Roshi articulated the basic instructions for sitting zazen with grandfatherly kindness in his book An Introduction to Zen Training, but zazen has no fixed form. Zazen is the clear mind “seeing 180 degrees” and open on all sides but not attaching to and therefore not disturbed by any object it encounters. Tanouye Roshi used the metaphor of seeing through the spinning blades of a fan to describe this.
Sesshin is the seven-day intensive training when participants live-in and endeavor to practice as if seven days was one long sitting or one continuous Kendo match. The purpose of sesshin is to collect the mind, and its objective is to help one transcend their self-imposed limits. It sounds great, but (by definition) people feel they can’t do it and want to give up.
The Hojo is the five-hundred-year-old sword form of the Jikishinkage Ryu school of swordsmanship. Its purpose is to remove all your habits from the day you were born. It focuses on basic habits of breathing, walking, and striking. The Hojo develops the ability to remain in samadhi in activity through the coordination of breath and movement. When Omori Roshi demonstrated the Hojo for him, Tanouye Roshi said he saw all the secrets of the martial arts. At this winter sesshin, about sixteen students knew the form well enough to practice the Hojo repeatedly and continuously.
"Almost"
On the first night of this winter sesshin, I was surprised by the vigorous kiai of the okyo, or chanting, that preceded my teisho. I was looking at the memorial tablets of Omori Roshi and Tanouye Roshi on the butsudan and remarked that they would be happy to hear this okyo. They would also be happy that 23 people did the sesshin, and that there is a core group of senior students who committed themselves to the execution of sesshin with all its forms and timing to the degree that Kangen Roshi and I joked it was “good enough, almost.”
As our model for the hitsuzendo, or calligraphy, we did each morning, we used the calligraphy of Seki Bokuo, our 82nd Patriarch. This was by far the most complex calligraphy we have ever attempted in a sesshin. It reads, “When opportunity emerges, strike like lightning.” The strokes are sharp and bold; each character is whole in itself, like Hakuin’s beads of a rosary; yet they are connected, and the bone of the entire piece is so straight. As a Zen master, Bokuo Roshi’s severity was unsurpassed, and he was scolded by Seisetsu Roshi, the 81st Patriarch, “You must have a fatherly attitude that an elderly shepherd feels for his cows or horses.”
As I pass 70, this fatherly attitude is growing on me, especially as I see the development of a new generation of teachers. We have a great opportunity before us in 2025. The year of the Snake heralds the beginning of a new cosmic cycle, the residences will be finished in the spring, and multiple Zen & programs (in boxing, Japanese woodworking, tea, leadership, etc) are in the works.
We have an opportunity to blossom, and we should strike like lightning so our lineage will flourish into the future.
Gassho,
Sayama Daian