[Classic Book] Zen and Japanese Culture | Suzuki Daisetsu: "People who succeed don't try hard." - Learning from Japan's greatest Buddhist philosopher, the essence of Zen and Eastern thought -
//SUMMARY//
The article provides a detailed exploration of D.T. Suzuki's book Zen and Japanese Culture, focusing on the essence of Zen and Eastern thought as Suzuki interprets it.
It begins with an introduction to Suzuki, a prominent Buddhist philosopher who played a crucial role in bringing Zen to the Western world. Suzuki's life story is outlined, highlighting his early struggles, dedication to Zen practice, and eventual success as a translator and promoter of Zen.
The article delves into three main themes from Suzuki's work:
How to Live Without Compromise:
The contrast between Western dualism (dividing the world into categories) and Eastern holistic perception.
The concept of "non-discriminating wisdom (wisdom beyond discrimination)(Mufun-Betsu)" emphasises perceiving the world as a unified whole without the filters of language and thought.
Why Not Make an Effort:
The difference between Eastern and Western notions of freedom.
Eastern freedom is about living according to one's essence and natural will rather than escaping oppression.
Zen rejects intentional effort and conscious planning in favour of natural, spontaneous living.
The Aesthetics of Imperfection:
The influence of Zen on Japanese samurai culture fosters moral strength and simplicity.
The concept of wabi-sabi appreciates the beauty of imperfection and the transient nature of life.
Examples of how Zen's aesthetic principles manifest in Japanese culture, arts, and lifestyle.
The article concludes with reflections on Suzuki's impact on Japanese and global cultural thought, emphasising his unique blend of intellectual rigour and deep spiritual insight.
* His real name was "Teitaro", but Daisetsu was invented from Laozi's reference to the Tao Te Ching: "A great skill is like a clumsy one."
This means that "an exceptional master does not rely on technique, so at first glance, he may appear to be a poor performer."
* Humans cannot live without distinguishing between good and evil, right and wrong, but that discrimination causes them suffering. When the true nature of discrimination becomes apparent, a world of wisdom opens up. Discrimination is left as discrimination and is not clung to, which is called "non-discriminating wisdom (wisdom beyond discrimination)." It is not a world without discrimination but a world in which the true nature of discrimination is known, and discrimination is no longer an obstacle.
Eye Opening Advice - DT Suzuki, The Best Quote Ever #shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mApw2qH2fTQ
1)
A Buddhist philosopher, D.T. Suzuki(1870-1966) brought Zen to the world.
This time, we will examine his famous book Zen and Japanese Culture, in which he unravels the spirit that underlies Japanese culture.
This book is especially recommended for those who are interested in Eastern thought, those who are tired of trying too hard or worrying too much, those who are easily influenced by the opinions of others and the circumstances around them, and those who want to sharpen their rich sensitivity to find joy in small things.
D.T. Suzuki is one of Japan's greatest thinkers. His outstanding English skills and intellect have spread this cloud-like state of mind to the world.
2)
First, we will briefly introduce the author as background information.
Then, we will proceed with the contents of this book, which include three themes: how to live without compromise, why not make an effort, and the aesthetics of imperfection.
D.T. Suzuki (real name Teitaro Suzuki) was born in 1870 in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture.
The Suzuki family was a prominent family of the Honda family of the Kaga domain, but when Sadatarō was six years old, his father died, and he was forced to live a life of extreme poverty.
In 1887, he entered the Fourth Higher School, now Kanazawa University, where he met Kitaro Nishida(1870-1945), who would become his lifelong friend.
However, he soon dropped out of school, unable to pay the fees, and worked as an English teacher at a primary school to support his family.
3)
In 1891, at 21, Sadatarō fulfilled his long-held dream of studying in Tokyo.
He enrolled at Tokyo Senmon School and was the forerunner at Waseda University.
However, he could not find fulfilment in student life, so in July of that year, he knocked on the door of Engakuji Zen Temple in Kamakura.
There, he began Yamaoka Tesshu and met the thinker Imakita Kosen Roshi (1816-1892), who is said to have been the Zen practitioner of many famous people in the Meiji period. He then began to walk the path of Zen in earnest.
4)
Meanwhile, his friend Nishida Kitaro, from the same hometown, also came to Tokyo from Ishikawa Prefecture.
Concerned about his friend, who was devoted to Zen training and not interested in academics, he encouraged him to enter the same university as him.
In 1892, Teitaro entered the Department of Philosophy at the Imperial University of Tokyo.
However, although he was enrolled, his life remained entirely devoted to Zen.
In 1894, Shaku Soen Roshi(1860-1919), the successor to Imakita Kosen Roshi, gave him the name Daisetsu.
Shaku Soen Roshi is the first Japanese monk to introduce Zen to the world.
5)
The catalyst for this was the World's Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893.
This meeting was held to discuss the future of religion, as America felt a sense of crisis about the weakening of the Christian faith due to the development of modern science.
Master Shaku Soen attended as one of the representatives of Japanese Buddhism and gave a talk entitled The Essentials of Buddhism and the Law of Causality, which was received with great enthusiasm.
6)
Afterwards, he developed a close friendship with Paul Carus(1852-1919), an American religious scholar in the audience.
One day, Carus asked for an assistant fluent in classical Chinese and English to help translate the Chinese classic Laozi into English.
So Master Shaku Soen recommended Daisetsu, a former English teacher, to help him.
Daisetsu saw this as a golden opportunity and decided to go to America.
However, he was concerned that going to America would prevent him from practising Zen.
7)
So, with unwavering determination, he undertook the rigorous training of "Rohachi Sessin", which involves sitting in zazen for about a week without sleep, day or night.
So, he finally achieved his first enlightenment.
*Enlightenment means getting rid of worldly desires and delusions and grasping eternal truth. You will feel free from distracting thoughts and attachments, feel fulfilled with everything, and naturally know the truth about things.
By practising zazen without sleep, you will enter a kind of trance state, overwork your body and tire your brain, and there will come a moment when a certain amount of distracting thoughts will disappear.
The following year, in 1897, he went to America and was employed by a publishing house by Paul Carus.
For 11 years, he worked on translating and editing Chinese classics and books on Buddhism.
In this way, Daisetsu acquired an excellent command of English and an international sensibility.
8)
Returning to Japan in 1909, he taught at Tokyo Imperial University and Gakushuin University and became a professor at Otani University in 1921.
At the forefront of Buddhist studies, he lectured in America and Europe, spreading Japanese culture and the spirit of Zen throughout the world.
The contents of his lectures were later compiled in English and published as a book entitled "Zen and Japanese Culture".
9)
In 1944, he also published "Japanese Spirituality", considered the pinnacle of modern Buddhist philosophy.
In this book, he discusses the true religious consciousness of the Japanese people.
Furthermore, his thoughts became more profound as he approached his later years.
10)
In 1963, at 93, he wrote "An Oriental Viewpoint".
In it, he discusses the state he finally reached after a turbulent century and the true meaning of the East.
11)
From here, we will shed light on the character of Daisetsu.
Until his death at 96, he was loved and supported by many of Japan's leaders in the economy and culture.
By unravelling the records of his friendships, his personality naturally emerges.
12)
The first person is the businessman Sazo Idemitsu(1885-1981).
He was the founder of Idemitsu Kosan and the model for the novel "The Man Called Pirate".
For him, Daisetsu was one of the few spiritual pillars to whom he could confide his loneliness and worries as a businessman.
At Daisetsu's funeral, Sazo Idemitsu was the chief mourner and lamented his teacher's death, saying it was like losing a light at night.
13)
The second person was Akata Yakichi(1873-1949), who founded the general trading company Ataka Industries.
He was from Ishikawa Prefecture, the same prefecture as Daisetsu, where they met in a student dormitory when they were both 19 years old.
One day, while practising Zen at Enrakuji Temple in Kamakura, Yakichi suddenly said the following.
14)
"I want to go into business to make this country stronger.
If you study, you will undoubtedly become poor.
If I make money, I will help you."
Yakichi went on to become a successful businessman. As promised, he has generously supported Daisetsu financially, including covering living expenses, publishing, and funding.
15)
The third person was Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan's leading philosophers.
The two were allies and profoundly trusted and respected each other.
Daisetsu left the following words about his greatest supporter.
If Nishida doesn't talk to me, I feel no one understands my feelings, and we can't converse.
16)
Many days, he nods without criticism, accepting or defending.
But I feel satisfied just by having spoken.
This doesn't necessarily happen with other people.
17)
It's strange.
In June 1945, three months before the end of the war, when Nishida died, Daisetsu could not bear the grief and collapsed at the entrance, weeping bitterly.
Some may have thought that, as the first Zen master, he had already attained enlightenment and could withstand any pain or grief.
18)
But Daisetsu was a man who lived in harmony with nature, laughing without meaning when things were funny and grieving from the bottom of his heart when things were sad, just as flowers bloom in spring and leaves fall in winter.
19)
How did his best friend Nishida see Daisetsu?
He said this when he was alive:
Daisetsu has been one of my close friends since junior high school.
Even then, you were different.
Even when young, you had a worldly attitude and thought deeply about life's problems.
20)
And you, to this day, are translating Buddhist scriptures into English and discussing Zen, and even at 70, you still don't know where it's going. You are as escapist as an arhat.
But on the other hand, you are very meticulous, and although you seem indifferent, you are faithful and thorough.
21)
I have many friends and have interacted with many people, but men like you are rare.
Suzuki Daisetsu may not be the most arrogant person, but he is perhaps the greatest.
You are like a high mountain with your head above the clouds.
You look at the world. No, you look at yourself.
22)
You are like someone who sees things from an empty place.
There is no artificiality in you.
Even if your thoughts seem too calm, you are filled with tears of deep human love deep inside.
23)
Daisetsu Suzuki was loved by Japan's leading cultural and business figures and had a tremendous influence at home and abroad.
In this video, we will look at his last book, "An Oriental Viewpoint", in the first half, and in the second half, we will trace the outline of his great thought, focusing on "Zen and Japanese Culture".
That's all for the background.
With these points in mind, let's finally get to the central part.
24)
The first theme is an uncompromising way of life.
When I lived abroad, there was a phrase I often used.
In the West, people get used to a world where things are divided into two and then think about them, whereas in the East, people start thinking about things when they are not divided into two.
It's difficult to put it this way, but the West has a "dual mindset".
The East, on the other hand, has eyes before the self has even sprouted.
* Additional infomation
"The brain makes a decision 7 seconds before the conscious decision": Brain scanners allow for advance notice of actions. - 2008.04.17
According to a brain study conducted by researchers at the Max Planck Institute using fMRI, brain activity can "advance notice" of a subject's decision 7 seconds before the decision is made. This research makes us think about the meaning of "conscious choice" and "free will."
25)
Additional information:
Dogen has the phrase "my self before it sprouts".
It means "stand at the signs before the self sprouts".
In other words, it means returning to the self before it is complete.
If you can go back there, you can become one with the mountains and rivers, so why try to start from the self that is complete?
26)
This passage shows the fundamental difference between how things are perceived in the West and the East.
First, it says the West is based on a "dual mindset".
This essentially means dividing everything into two categories: subjective and objective, good and evil, life and death, saints and sinners, winners and losers.
27)
Dividing is understanding.
Human beings have understood the world, developed natural science and philosophy, and built civilisation by classifying and distinguishing complex things.
Suzuki Daisetsu recognises much to be learned from this Western dichotomy.
28)
On the other hand, he points out the weakness of this dichotomy by saying that human life cannot and should never be divided into two categories.
For example, modern political and social issues are often discussed along opposing axes, such as right and left, conservative and progressive.
However, reducing issues involving complex human emotions and interests to just two categories is unrealistic.
29)
Furthermore, when dichotomies are applied to people themselves, utilitarian classifications of people, such as A being functional and B being useless, are made throughout society.
Gender issues require a perspective that goes beyond the logic of dichotomy, as evidenced by the many people who are not bound by the framework of male and female.
30)
The ability to divide things into two is essential to human life.
However, many problems arise, such as the mechanical exclusion of ambiguous matters that cannot be judged as black or white, ignoring the existence of people who cannot be categorised, and the endless conflicts between divided groups.
31)
D.T. Suzuki, therefore, proposes an Eastern way of looking at things to supplement the shortcomings of this dichotomy.
Such a way is called "non-discriminating wisdom (wisdom beyond discrimination)(Mufun-Betsu)".
"Non-discriminating wisdom" refers to the mind that perceives the whole world before dividing it by the filters of language and thought.
*Additional information:
In Buddhism, this awareness of "accepting things as they are without discriminating" is called "Mufun-Betsu."
It is slightly different from not having discernment, and it is easier to understand it as a single word, Mufun-Betsu.
This Mufun-Betsu is the wisdom that Buddhism highly values, and it is also its ultimate goal.
32)
We often say that someone is "a sensible person".
However, this term also has positive meanings, such as understanding and knowing how things are.
Buddhism, however, understands that separation is the source of all kinds of suffering.
Separation is the separation of the self from everything outside the self.
In other words, it means strengthening one's awareness of one's existence or things.
* additional information:
What does it mean to be a sensible person?
It means to have the ability to judge right from wrong and to make judgments about things.
33)
For example, if you are too self-conscious, you will suffer from inferiority complexes when you compare yourself to others, and if you have a strong sense of ownership of something, the pain you feel when you lose it will be all the more significant.
What is needed is wisdom beyond reason.
This does not mean not to have reason, but to have reason but not to cling to it, and to see all things as one.
34)
In his book "Zen and Psychoanalysis", Daisetsu Suzuki explains this.
If you want to know a flower, you have to become a flower.
Become a flower and blossom, bathed in light and hit by rain as a flower.
Only then will the flower be able to speak to you.
And you will know the joy and the pain of the flower.
You will know the life that pulsates within the flower.
But that's not all.
With the wisdom of knowing the flower, you will see the mystery of the whole universe.
35)
What was your impression of these words of Daisetsu Suzuki?
Rather than hearing a rational and easy-to-understand explanation, it is perhaps more like savouring a poem.
In other words, he understands how to grasp the world in which all things are one through a poetic and intuitive experience beyond reason and language.
36)
By knowing flowers, one can see the mystery of the whole universe.
Suzuki Daisetsu expressed the mind's ability to see all things in all things in this way as "spirituality".
According to his seminal book, "Japanese Spirituality", "spirituality" awakens only when a nation reaches a particular cultural stage. In Japan, the seeds of this were seen during the Kamakura period.
37)
For example, the Jodo sect of Buddhism interpreted that anyone, good or evil, can attain Buddhahood by chanting the nembutsu "Namu Amida Butsu".
There is no distinction between good and evil, or self and others, and it embodies the state of mind in which you, me, Buddha and the world are all one, that is, "wisdom beyond reason".
38)
The book also explains that this different way of thinking from the West has fostered a unique Eastern aesthetic sense, as follows.
Whatever they think, Eastern people do not separate themselves from their life itself.
But this life does not mean material things, but spiritual improvement.
39)
For example, when they plant a garden, they plan to relax their mind and improve their character.
When they play music, they think it will benefit others spiritually.
The same is true with painting; ancient people said they could not paint an authentic painting without keeping a book of all their emotions in their hearts.
40)
The paintings in Japanese tokonoma are not decorations to fill the space on the wall, nor are they for sensual pleasure.
They respond to the human desire to see something beyond the finite.
Therefore, to appreciate these paintings, one must have a respectful attitude, such as burning incense to calm the mind and body or making a tokonoma at the back of the house a sacred place.
Beauty is not just beauty but must be born from spiritual elements.
41)
One of the elements that underpins Japanese culture is the concept of finiteness.
It refers to the profound beauty and mystical space that cannot be expressed in words or shapes and has dramatically influenced the lifestyle and art of the Japanese people.
In a society that values finiteness and quiet profundity, abstract thinking that tries to give logic to everything is rejected.
That is why the East did not see the development of philosophy like the West.
On the other hand, the infinite imagination opened up a rich world of poetry, a state of mindlessness and enlightenment.
42)
"Enlightenment" means open freedom, but it is an entirely different concept from freedom in the English-speaking world, that is, liberty or freedom.
In the next part, I will examine the difference between freedom in the East and the West and Zen, the training to attain freedom.
43)
Let's move on to the second topic, "Don't make an effort".
I want to discuss the character "freedom" and its original meaning.
Initially, the character "freedom" was a product of Eastern thought and did not exist in Western thought.
When the words "freedom" and "liberty" were introduced from the West, Japanese scholars could not find a corresponding word.
So, after searching through many classics, they finally used the Buddhist word "freedom".
44)
According to Daisetsu Suzuki, "freedom" was originally a Buddhist word and is entirely different from Western freedom, that is, liberty and freedom.
So, what is freedom in the West?
In his book "The Social Contract", Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a philosopher who influenced the French Revolution and can be considered a symbol of the acquisition of freedom, wrote the following.
45)
"Man is born free, but everywhere he is bound with iron chains".
In this way, Western freedom involves the negativity and passivity of having an object that controls you, of escaping from that object and being liberated.
What about Eastern freedom?
The character for "freedom" has a positive meaning because it is written as "to make oneself the reason".
It does not have the context of escaping from oppression or bondage, nor does it have a political meaning.
On this basis, Suzuki Daisetsu talks about the true meaning of freedom as follows:
46)
What is the nature of freedom?
For example, a pine tree does not become a bamboo, and a bamboo does not become a pine tree, but each follows its rank.
This is called the freedom of the pine and the bamboo.
The pine is a pine, the bamboo is a bamboo, and the mountain is a mountain, and working as a master without restraint is called freedom.
47)
The decision that a pine tree does not become a bamboo is a human decision; from the pine tree's point of view, it is none of his business.
The pine tree does not live according to human restrictions or principles.
In this way, Eastern freedom is not liberation from oppression but rather the existence of the thing itself, in other words, living naturally according to one's essence and according to one's own will.
48)
This does not mean living selfishly.
Selfishness refers to a state in which one loses control over oneself and gives in to the desires and emotions of the moment.
For example, eating as much as you like, playing games, and expressing emotions without regard to the eyes of others may seem like freedom.
In reality, one is bound by external stimuli and internal desires.
In other words, freedom without self-control is not true freedom.
49)
So, how does one reach a state of mind without being bound by anything?
This book takes up Zen as one approach.
According to his book Introduction to Zen Studies, Zen is not being attached to anything and freeing from unnatural obstacles.
50)
People judge and evaluate things based on social common sense, traditions and human relationships.
Zen, however, seeks a state of mind that sheds all such attachments and looks at and accepts things as they are.
51)
To do this, we must first grasp the source of our humanity, the true nature of our mind.
According to Daisetsu Suzuki, this lies dormant in each of us, always waiting to be awakened.
And to grasp this awakening, not through words or logic, but through experience and intuition, is called "enlightenment".
It is said that this happens when a person has exhausted all his powers.
52)
Zen also rejects all intentionality, such as human planning and conscious effort.
The reason for this is explained in the book as follows:
Logic has traces of effort and toil and the consciousness of self-awareness.
The same is true of ethics, which is its application.
An ethical person will always act in a praiseworthy way, but they will always do so consciously.
There may be times when they expect some reward in the future.
53)
Indeed, his trained actions may be good from an objective and social point of view.
But goodness is not pure.
Zen rejects impurity.
Life is art, so perfect art requires "self-forgetfulness".
54)
There should not be even a trace of effort or a feeling of hardship.
Just as birds fly in the sky and fish swim in the water, Zen life must always be natural.
If a trace of effort appears, a person immediately loses his freedom.
Because he is not living his natural life.
55)
Conscious effort, calculating schemes, and other intentionalities separate a person from nature.
Furthermore, intentionality means that there is a clear distinction between the subject doing something and the object being done to, which means that one is stuck in a world of two-part opposition.
56)
True freedom is not possible as long as one is trapped in the discrimination that gives rise to earthly desires.
Goodness recommends overcoming these opposites and living life as one feels without planning or effort.
Live naturally, as birds fly in the sky and fish swim in the water.
When all selfish desires and jealousy disappear from human life, life becomes a kind of aesthetic creation.
57)
Next, we will look at how the Zen spirit has influenced Japanese culture, art, lifestyle and values, based on the contents of Suzuki Daisetsu's book "Zen and Japanese Culture".
We will move on to the third theme, "The Aesthetics of Imperfection".
58)
Zen is deeply connected to the lives of the Japanese samurai class.
But rather than helping them in their violent duties, it supported their lives morally and philosophically.
Morally, it teaches that once you have chosen your path, you should never look back.
Philosophically, it shows the idea of not distinguishing between life and death.
59)
Zen's simplicity and self-control are also factors that have made it popular with warriors.
A warrior who is entirely focused on an object in his field of vision must not be distracted by matter, emotion, or the workings of the intellect.
Zen gave them the iron will they needed.
60)
The warlords Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were also profoundly devoted to Zen, and for the samurai, Zen was like a religion that sustained their hearts.
The Zen dialogues, which warn against being trapped in the past, immobile, and distracted by unnecessary things, fostered a moral sense of "Isagi-Yoi(purity, graciousness, high-souled)" familiar to Japanese people.
"Isagi-Yoi" means having no regrets, confusion, or flaws in one's heart.
Even in the face of death, indecision was despised, and the idea was to disperse gracefully like cherry blossoms blown by the wind.
61)
Zen's influence also extends to the cultural and artistic fields. One of its most famous influences is the birth of the ancient Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic.
The word "wabi" comes from the verb "wabu," which means to be depressed, and the adjective "wabishi," which means lonely and dull.
In other words, "wabi" means "a shabby and simple appearance."
In this book, Suzuki Daisetsu explains the true meaning of "wabi" as follows:
Wabi really means "poverty" or, negatively ", not to be in or with the fashionable society of the time.
62)
To be poor, that is, not to depend on things worldly - wealth, power, and reputation- and yet to feel inwardly the presence in oneself of something of the highest value above time and social position - essentially constitutes wabi.
When it is stated in terms of practical everyday life, wabi is to be satisfied with a little hut, with a room of two or three tatami(mats), like the log cabin of Thoreau, and with a dish of vegetables picked in the neighbouring fields, and perhaps to be listening to the patterings of a gentle spring rainfall.
The belief in wabi (reverence) is deeply rooted in Japanese cultural life, and even with the penetration of Western luxury and comfortable living, the longing for wabi has not disappeared.
63)
The same is true of intellectual life.
Rather than the wealth of knowledge and ideas, we seek the mystery of nature and the excitement of feeling this world as our home, surrounded by silence.
Many city dwellers go camping in the woods or set off into the wilderness to return to the heart of nature and feel its pulse directly.
This is the habit of the Zen mind.
64)
In short, the Japanese have the ability and habit of grasping the reality of being alive not from external things but from within themselves.
This is closely related to the aesthetic sense of wabi, which was born under the influence of Zen.
In explaining this concept to Westerners, Suzuki Daisetsu gives the example of the American thinker Henry David Thoreau, who lived a simple life in a cabin in the woods and found fulfilment.
65)
And like "wabi", the aesthetic sense of "sabi" is deeply rooted in Japanese culture.
This noun derived from the verb "sabu" originally meant something that had deteriorated over time.
However, it has since come to mean a quiet state where no one is around, such as when something becomes deserted.
In other words, "Sabi" means beauty naturally appearing in silence.
Suzuki Daisetsu explains the aesthetic sense of sabi as follows:
66)
To embody beauty even in imperfect or ugly forms.
This is one of the most popular techniques used by Japanese artists.
When the beauty of imperfection is accompanied by an old-fashionedness or primitive roughness, a subtle "sabi" is created.
The elements that make up "sabi" include simplicity, old-fashioned imperfection, simple and unforced structure, and even the inexplicable elements that elevate it to the level of art.
But they all arise from the aesthetic sense of Zen.
67)
The literal meaning of "sabi" is solitude or solitude, but the Kamakura poet Fujiwara Teika poetically defined the artistic element that permeates it as follows:
"As I come out
In this fishing village,
Late in the autumn day,
No flowers in bloom, I see,
Nor any tinted maple leaves."
In this passage, Suzuki Daisetsu reveals the artistic qualities of "sabi" through a representative poem by Fujiwara Teika(1162-1241), included in the Shin Kokin Wakashu.
68)
Let's translate it into modern Japanese.
Looking around, there are no flowers, no autumn leaves.
There is only a hut standing silently on the shore.
It is in the dim light of an autumn evening.
If you interpret it from the words alone, all you get is misery and pathos.
But if you listen to it aloud several times, you can sense a mysterious silence that inspires deep contemplation and imagination.
Sen no Rikyū(1522-1591), a tea master who valued 'wabi' and 'sabi', is said to have used this poem by Fujiwara Teika as inspiration for the spatial design of the tea ceremony.
69)
The Zen spirit of not belittling small things or natural objects but instead actively communicating with the heart and trying to reach out to the whole universe and all things also influenced haiku, a form of Japanese poetry.
Haiku expresses the psychology one has intuitively grasped, not through logic, but through the things and phenomena in front of one's eyes.
70)
For this reason, it is said that to know haiku is to know Zen.
Among them, Suzuki Daisetsu was particularly interested in the haiku of Matsuo Basho, Japan's greatest poet.
One of the summer haiku he read was the following:
71)
"Soon to die
It can't see the landscape
The sound of the cicadas."
This haiku is often interpreted morally as saying that people who forget the transience of life and live hedonistically are no different from cicadas who cry loudly.
However, I don't think Matsuo Basho would have read the haiku regarding the opposing forces between the foolish, loudly crying cicadas and the supposedly respectable human beings.
72)
D.T. Suzuki criticised the unawareness of their approaching fate as an interpretation that was only convenient for humans and ignored Matsuo Basho's intuition.
He argued that as long as the cicadas are crying, they are alive and have eternal life.
72)
In other words, the line "Soon it will die. It cannot see the landscape. The sound of the cicadas." can be interpreted as the moment when a life that has forgotten death and continues to cry with all its heart transcends the distinction between life and death and becomes one with nature.
In this way, appreciating poetry's subtle sensibilities means overcoming the so-called world of opposites in which we distinguish and compare ourselves.
Similarly, trying to understand death is an act of approaching Zen enlightenment.
These two views can be said to be inextricably linked.
73)
However, modern society is already rife with conflict, and competition is everywhere, far from the world of poetry.
The late philosopher Simone Adolphine Weil(1909-1943) once said: "What the worker needs is neither bread nor butter, but beauty and death".
74)
D. T. Suzuki also said that if one can find inexpressible poetry in mundane, repetitive tasks and monotonous days, one's life will be transformed.
The world of Zen is near and yet far away.
It is a source of rich emotion and imagination that the Japanese have cherished since ancient times.
I hope this article will help you to deepen your interest in Zen and your understanding of its works.
[Classic Book] Zen and Japanese Culture | Suzuki Daisetsu: "People who succeed don't try hard." - Learning from Japan's greatest Buddhist philosopher, the essence of Zen and Eastern thought -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ONCeEbhl8
Suzuki Daisetsu, NHK Women's Time, Interviewer Inukai Michiko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AKxPpfQs54
Suzuki Daisetsu: Appearance Inukai Michiko: Interviewer "Women's Time: This Person, This Path"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKtHvE5YoVU
Suzuki Daisetsu (1870-1966) (real name: Teitaro Suzuki, English: D. T. Suzuki, 11 November 1870 (18 October, Meiji 3) - 12 July 1966 (Showa 41)) was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and doctor of literature.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imakita_Kosen_Roshi
Imakita Kosen Roshi (1816-1892)
Imakita Kosen (3 August 1816—16 January 1892) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen master and neo-Confucian scholar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imakita_Kosen
Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945)
Kitaro Nishida (19 May 1870 - 7 June 1945) was a Japanese moral philosopher, philosopher of mathematics and science, and scholar of religion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitaro_Nishida
Shaku Soen Roshi (1860-1919)
Shaku Soen Roshi (10 January 1860 - 29 October 1919, written as Shaku Soen or Kogaku Shaku Soen in modern Japanese) was the first Zen monk to preach in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyen_Shaku
Paul Carus (1852-1919), 18 July 1852 - 11 February 1919) was a German-American author, editor, scholar of comparative religion, and philosopher.
Idemitsu Sazo (1885-1981) (22 August 1885 - 7 March 1981) was a Japanese businessman and founder of Idemitsu Kosan. He was also an art collector, especially fond of Gibon Sengai. He was the father of Japanese experimental video artist Mako Idemitsu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saz%C5%8D_Idemitsu
Yakichi Ataka (1873-1949) (25 April 1873 (Meiji 6)—5 February 1949 (Showa 24)) was a businessman born in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. He founded Ataka Industries and Konan Women's University, was chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and was a patron of the late Daisetsu Suzuki.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_no_Teika
Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241), also known as Fujiwara no Teika (1162 – 26 September 1241), was a Japanese poetry anthology compiler, calligrapher, literary critic, novelist, tanka poet, and scribe from the late Heian and early Kamakura periods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_no_Teika
Sen no Rikyū (1522-1591)
Sen no Rikyū (1522 – 21 April 1591), also known simply as Rikyu, is the historical figure who significantly influenced the Japanese tea ceremony, especially the wabi-cha tradition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sen_no_Riky%C5%AB
Simone Adolphine Weil(1909-1943)
Simone Adolphine Weil (3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Since 1995, over 2,500 scholarly works have been published that contain detailed analyses and interpretations of her work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Weil
Welcoming Rohachi Sessin
https://www.engakuji.or.jp/blog/37025/
"Rohachi Sessin" is "Zen meditation at Zen temples from the 1st to the morning of 8 December to commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment."
[Ryuunji Dhamma Talk: Learning from Suzuki Daisetsu] His Holiness Yokota Nanrei, Head Priest of the Engakuji School of the Rinzai Sect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeZ82bGzpJA&t=707s
This is the Ryuunji Dhamma Talk, which was live-streamed on the Engakuji YouTube channel last year. The lecture, "Learning from Suzuki Daisetsu," was delivered by Yokota Nanrei Roshi, head priest of the Engakuji school of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism. Ryuunji Dhamma Talk (sermon session) is a sermon gathering for the general public, held jointly by Ryuunji and the Tokyo Zen Center, allowing people to feel closer to Zen.
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Suzuki Daisetsu, Lecture "The Most Oriental Thing" Recorded in 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2vynjA3kUo
Daisetsu Suzuki (1870 - 1966 / died at age 96)◆ Born on 18 October 1870 (11 November in the Gregorian calendar) in Shimohonda (currently Hondacho 3-chrome), Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. His real name was Suzuki Teitaro. He was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and doctor of literature. He wrote books about Zen in English and introduced Japanese Zen culture to the world. Of his approximately 100 books, 23 were written in English. He was friends with Kitaro Nishida and Sakutaro Fujioka, who were from the same hometown, since they attended Ishikawa Prefectural College, and Suzuki, Nishida, and Fujioka were known as the "Three Taro of Kaga." He studied Zen under Kosen Imakita at Engakuji Temple. At 24, he received the title "Daisetsu." (He did not become a monk.) In 1897 (Meiji 30), he travelled to the United States at 27. Through his connection with Shaku Soen, the successor of Hongcheon Roshi, he stayed in the United States for about 11 years as an editor at the Open Court Publishing House in LaSalle, Illinois. He continued to work as a translator and interpreter, translating and publishing works related to Buddhism into English. He returned to Japan at the age of 39. He became a lecturer at Gakushuin and Tokyo Imperial University and a professor at Gakushuin the following year. In 1911 (Meiji 44), at 41, he married Beatrice Earlskin Lane. At 51, he became a professor at Shinshu Otani University (now Otani University) and served in that position until 1960 (Showa 35), at 89. He founded the English magazine Eastern Buddhist. He introduced Buddhist thought to the world for 20 years. He lectured on Buddhist philosophy in various parts of the world, including Cambridge University in the UK, Harvard University in the US, the University of Hawaii, and Columbia University. In 1963, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. His major work, Zen and Japanese Culture (in English) has been read by people worldwide since before the war.
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[Classic Book] Zen in the Art of Archery | Eugen Herrigel - If you let go of your enthusiasm, things will go well. What is the secret of "mindlessness" learned from traditional martial arts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_H6rnJG1h0
A)
One day, the Mmastercried out when my shot was loosed: "It is there! Bow down to the goal!" Later, when I glanced towards the target - unfortunately, I couldn't help myself - I saw that the arrow had only grazed the edge. "That was aright shot," said the Mmasterdecisively, "and so it must begin. But enough for today; otherwise, you will experience special pains with the next shot and spoil the good beginning."
B)
Several of these right shots occasionally came off in close succession and hit the target, besides the many more that failed. But if ever the slightest flicker of satisfaction showed in my face, the Mmasterturned on me with unwonted fierceness. "What are you thinking of?" he would cry. "You know already that you should not grieve over bad shots; learn now not to rejoice over the good ones. You must free yourself from the buffetings of pleasure and pain and learn to rise above them in easy equanimity, to rejoice as though not you but another had shot well. This, too, you must practice unceasingly - you cannot conceive how important it is."
C)
During these weeks and months, I went through the most arduous schooling of my life, and though discipline was not always easy for me to accept, I gradually came to see how much I was indebted to it. It destroyed the last traces of any preoccupation with myself and the fluctuations of my mood. "Do you now understand," the master asked me one day after a perfect shot, "what I mean by 'It shots,' ' It hits,'?"
D)
"I'm afraid I don't understand anything more at all," I answered, "even the simplest things have got in a muddle. Is it 'I' who draws the bow, or is it the bow that draws me into the state of highest tension? Do 'I' hit the goal, or does the goal hit me? Is 'It' spiritual when seen by the eyes of the body, and corporal when seen by the eyes of the spirit - or both or neither? Bow, arrow, goal and ego all melt into one another so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate has gone. As soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes clear, straightforward, and ridiculously simple..."
E)
"Now, at last," the Mmasterbroke in, "the bowstring has cut right through you."
F)
More than five years passed, and then the master proposed that we pass a test. "It is not just a question of demonstrating your skill," he explained. An even higher value is set on the archer's spiritual deportment, down to his minutest gesture. Above all, I expect you not to let yourself be confused by the presence of spectators but to go through the ceremony quite unperturbed, as though we were by ourselves."
i)
To be free from the fear of death does not mean pretending to oneself, in one's good hours, that one will not tremble in the face of death and that there is nothing to fear. Instead, he who masters both life and death is free from fear of any kind to the extent that he is no longer capable of experiencing what fear feels like. Those who do not know the power of rigorous and protracted meditation cannot judge the self-conquests it makes possible. At any rate, the perfected Mmasterbetrays his fearlessness at every turn, not in words but in his whole demeanour: one has only to look at him to be profoundly affected by it. Unshakable fearlessness as such already amounts to mastery, which, like things, is realised only by the few. Arealisedof this, I shall quote a passage from the Hagakure, which dates from about the middle of the seventeenth century:
ii)
Yagyu Tajima-no-kami was a great swordsman and teacher of the art of the time's Shogun, Tokugawa Iyemitsu.
One day, one of the Shogun's guards came to Tajima-no-kami, wishing to be trained in fencing.
The master said, "As I observe, you seem to be a master of fencing yourself; pray to tell me what school you belong to before we enter into the relationship of teacher and pupil."
iii)
The guardsman said, "I am ashamed to confess that I have never learned the art."
"Are you going to fool me? I am a teacher to the honourable Shogun himself, and I know my judging eye never fails."
"I am sorry to defy your honour, but I know nothing."
This stubborn denial on the part of the visitor made the sword's master think for a while, and he finally said, "If you say so, that must be so; but still, I am sure of your being master of something, though I know not just of what."
iv)
"Yes, if you insist, I will tell you this. There is one thing I can say about which I am a complete master. When I was still a boy, the thought came upon me that I had grappled with the problem of death for some years, and finally, the problem had entirely ceased to worry me. May this be at what you hint?"
v)
"Exactly!" exclaimed Tajima-no-kami, "That is what I mean. I am glad that I made no mistake in my judgment. The ultimate secrets of swordsmanship also lie in being released from the thought of death. I have trained hundreds of my pupils along this line, but none deserve the final swordsmanship certificate. You need no technical training, and you are already a master."
vi)
Since ancient times, the practice hall where swordsmen learn their art has been called the "Place of Enlightenment."
Every Master who practices an art moulded by Zen is like a flash of lightning from the cloud of all-encompassing truth. This truth is present in the free movement of his spirit, and he meets it again in "It" as his own original and nameless essence. He meets this essence repeatedly as his own being's utmost possibilities so that the truth assumes a thousand shapes and forms for him—and others through him.
vii)
Despite the unprecedented discipline to which he has patiently and humbly subjected himself, he is still far from being so permeated and irradiated by Zen that he is sustained by it in everything he does so that his life knows only good hours. Supreme freedom has still not become a necessity for him.
viii)
If he is irresistibly driven towards this goal, he must set out on his way again and take the road to the artless art. He must dare to leap into the Origin to live by the truth and in the truth, like one who has become one with it. He must become a pupil again, a beginner, conquer the last and steepest stretch of the way, and undergo new transformations. If he survives its perils, then is his destiny fulfilled; face to face, he beholds the unbroken truth, the truth beyond all truths, the formless Origin of origins, the Void which is the All; is absorbed into it and reborn from it.
Learn about the traditional Japanese culture of "Do"! Learn the spirit of harmony through ancient Japanese cultures such as Kendo, Sado, Ikebana, Shodo, and Kyudo.
https://cooljapan-videos.com/jp/articles/d725vk05
Flow - Wikipedia
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC_(%E5%BF%83%E7%90%86%E5%AD%A6)
More than 2,500 years ago, practitioners of Eastern spiritual traditions such as Buddhism and Taoism honed this training as a central part of their spiritual development. Japanese practitioners studied Zen techniques to master their chosen art forms (such as Geido), which included everything from Kendo to Ikebana.
