Right and Wrong in Action

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[recitation, 00:00:01–00:01:19]

Right and wrong. In Master Dogen's writings, he wrote an essay called Not Doing Wrong. But actually, the chapter is about the meaning of right and wrong in Buddhism. In our normal lives, we know the meaning of right and wrong. We hold in our minds a concept of what is right, and a concept of what is wrong. And we spend a lot of time trying to decide whether we're doing right or wrong. We're always thinking, should I do this, or should I not do this? If I do this, is it good or is it bad?

Although we don't think of this so consciously, we're always trying to decide what is the best thing or right thing to do. But in Western society, we have concepts of right and wrong. And in Eastern societies, they have concepts of right and wrong. But sometimes they're different. So we can say that right and wrong sometimes depends on the society we live in. But there are also some things which we can agree on, even though we come from different societies. In Western societies, most of our moral code is based on Christian ideals.

Christianity teaches us that there is right and wrong in the world. Right is good, and wrong is bad. God is right, and the devil is bad. Wrong. So the Christian religion splits good and bad, or right and wrong, completely. We can see this in the belief in heaven and hell. Completely separate. And poor human beings in the middle. So if we do right, okay. If we do wrong, completely wrong. This belief is very deep in us. For that reason, we think a lot about right and wrong. But in Buddhism, the meaning of right and wrong is rather different. Of course, there is right and wrong in Buddhism. But according to Dogen's teaching, there is nothing called right which exists somewhere, waiting for us to find it. Or in other words, he says, the concept of right is just an idea.

And he says that wrong is not waiting somewhere, waiting to come into us. This is very different from, for instance, Christian belief. Right or good is waiting there for us to find it. The devil, or bad, or wrong, is waiting to come and get us. In Dogen's teaching of Buddhism, those ideas don't exist at all.

He says that we can agree in our minds on something that is right. For instance, we can all agree that we shouldn't kill. But unfortunately, agreeing or believing that we shouldn't kill is completely different from not doing it. For instance, in Christian societies there have been many wars. And in other spiritual religions, for instance Islam, there have been many wars. So spiritual religions like to fight for what is good. And even to kill people for what is good seems to be okay.

However, in Buddhism, what we do is important, not what we believe. Whether we believe this is right or whether we believe this is wrong, what we do is the only important thing. In other words, right or wrong exists in our action. Not just as ideas in our mind. Very often we can have an idea of something that's good, or something that's bad. And then when we act, we do the opposite. So Buddhism recognises the very large human problem, that even though we know in our mind what is right or what is wrong, often we can't do what is in our mind. And there's another of the Chinese stories about this subject.

In ancient China, there was a man called Haku Kyoi. He was a kind of government official, so he was rather important. But he studied Buddhism with Master Nyoman. And this very important man wanted to know about Buddhism. So he said to his master, ‘What is the essential point of Buddhism?’ And his master said, ‘Not doing wrong, doing right.’ The important official replied, ‘Can that be true? Even a three-year-old child can give me an answer like that.’

Then the master replied, ‘Yes, even a child of three can give an answer like that. But even an old man of eighty like me cannot do what the child says.’ And the official prostrated himself to the master, and then he left. It seems that the official was rather upset, because he wanted some kind of very detailed answer about Buddhism. But he got a very simple answer. But the problem in that story is my problem. And maybe your problem. How do we do right?

We can decide what is right. But we can't do it. We can decide what is wrong. But we can't stop doing it. Master Dogen says that the basis of doing right in Buddhism is not a moral, intellectual decision, but a decision we make intuitively with our body and mind.

So what we do depends not only on our mind, but also on our body. This is quite clear if we think, for instance, of feeling ill or having a headache. We find it difficult to act. Or if we're very angry, we may act in a very unbalanced way. Or if we're very much in love, we may act in an unbalanced way. And Master Dogen says, not only our mind, but our body as well. So if we want to do right, we need to look after our physical state. Not only our mental state.

He says something very surprising. He says, just practise zazen. And we can get a balanced state. In the balanced state, we cannot do wrong. It's very difficult to believe. That's what he says. But in our mind we can always separate right and wrong. So if I say, in the balanced state we can do no wrong, immediately we can think of another example. It doesn't make sense. Or what about so-and-so? What about somebody who practises zazen and then shoots somebody with a gun?

We can think about lots of different examples. But actually, what Master Dogen is saying is about when we're in the balanced state, not some perfect balanced state but a real balanced state, for instance like everybody here. Oh no, not me. Maybe after ten years. Not now. Always we're choosing, always we're deciding. I'm not good, I'm bad, I'm not good enough. But he's saying that people like us here, when we act, our actions are really balanced. Not extreme, in the middle. That is the real meaning of right. If we try to do some ideal meaning of right, we create wrong. If we try to do something ideally good, we create bad. So we can say, for instance, Christianity created the devil. Islam created the devil. But in Master Dogen's thought, the good and bad are something human beings separate. We separate.

Reality in front of us doesn't contain anything called good or bad. If we act in a natural balanced way, this is the best we can do. Of course, we will have problems in our life. But problems are not the result of good and bad. They're just like waves on the sea. Our life itself. Master Dogen's teaching is very optimistic. And he's teaching a kind of freedom. If we practise zazen and get a balanced state of our body and mind, we can do what we want. You can do what you want.

Of course, we can't deny the abstract moral code which society lays down. So we have a precept to follow the rules of society. Whoa. But within the normal rules of society, we can do what we want. We don't need to worry about being selfish or not being selfish. Or making a mistake or not making a mistake. We can just do. But my words sound too easy. And it's true, they are. So I'll stop talking then.

Can I be balanced so I can do what I want? Really? Me?

Jana: Yes. Maybe the only one who's balanced is just you, just you and Jana.

Mike: You too?

Participant: Huh?

Jana: Huh?

Mike: Yes.

Jana: Huh?

Mike: I wonder if it's okay to keep quiet. Maybe I should talk. Which is best? Are there any questions? Comments? Can you believe it?

Question: So, to put it simply: if I have some situation in front of me where I simply won't know how to behave, what is sort of right, more right, good, bad, then I should simply do whatever occurs to me, anything. Is it really that simple?

Mike: To act. Yes. Take one step.

Question: At the moment when a person is deciding, emotions also get involved in the deciding. So if at that moment I can't tell what is intuition and what are emotions, then it can perhaps have negative consequences when I simply put those emotions into the action. The emotions are simply there at the moment when I am deciding.

Mike: Yes.

Jana: What to do with that, or is it...?

Mike: Just to do it. Yes.

Jana: Just to do it, even emotional?

Mike: Can we stop the emotion affecting the decision? This is the point.

Question: I think now I'm assuming that the emotions maybe lead me somewhere. Maybe... perhaps, I don't know, maybe it was my wrong decision and wrong acting. I don't know. Maybe, maybe. I can maybe, I can stop the emotion, but I see that it leads me somewhere and I don't know at the moment how to decide. So—

Jana: He's led by his emotion, and he doesn't know how to decide in the moment.

Mike: Yes, so correct.

Question: Sorry, I can stop my acting under emotional press. I mean, my emotions are pushing me some direction, and I still can decide: keep quiet, or not quiet, just don't do it, or to follow this. So you recommend to follow this emotion, or...?

Mike: No. In your real situation, no recommendation is any good. You just have to solve the problem at that moment. At that moment, whether you act according to your emotion or not depends on your state at that moment. So we can't guess which way you are going to go. We can discuss it, but we don't know, really. After you act, then we can say, Ah, I made a mistake, or you can say, Ah, it's too late. Well, next moment. As Dogen said, we make one mistake after another. Write it. Show that it's not that.

Jana: We make mistake after mistake. What he said.

Mike: Yes. Again.

Question: Of course, the situation can be different, but if there is the possibility, it is probably good to postpone the decision, right?

Mike: Yes, sometimes. Sometimes not. Which is right? Which is wrong?

Question: Of course, sometimes it isn't possible, you know. Sometimes the situation demands a decision now. And it is possible even after the action, I sometimes have the feeling that I perhaps don't know whether I did well or badly, even though simply...

Mike: Yes, that's true. We don't need to know. Because it's past and we did it, so now we're here. But we can't forget, we can't have a clear mind. We have something called a mistake, and we have something which we think is wrong and something which is right. But actually, our life is always decided by our action, now, no? No? And we don't know if it's the right one or wrong one. So Dogen says, act. But it's very difficult for us. It's easier, for instance, for Japanese people. They don't have a Christian background. They don't think about right and wrong—

Participant: So much as we do.

Participant: But they have another problem.

Mike: They think about whether they're doing the same thing as their group or not. If the group is doing something, they do it even if it's terrible. If the group is not doing something, they don't do it, even if it's good. So they have a different problem. Our problem is, was it best? Was it good? Did I do right? We want to do it, and afterwards we want to know whether it was good or bad. We want to see ourselves doing good and bad. Or doing good, not doing bad. But this is only a kind of habit.

Our life is more simple, actually. But it's very difficult for us to see it simply. So we practise something called zazen, which is very stupid. Just sitting. And we face our stupid selves. Many, many thoughts about the stupid things we did. Or the things we're going to do. But doing this simple, stupid practice. That is the best way we can do right. Not best in our head. But best, really. Zazen is not the only way, because we can balance our body and mind with many activities.

For instance, playing music, playing sport. But those pursuits have extra things, for instance in sport, whether we win or lose. Zazen doesn't have anything extra. So it's just the pure practice of making our body-mind balanced. So we can do right and not do wrong. I think we always have emotion coming and going in our life.

Sometimes it moves us this way. Or that one. It's like a kind of current in the sea. But we can just go with the current. Happy, sad, angry, sad, brave, frightened. All these things, but not extreme. So zazen doesn't mean we are never moving with emotions or never becoming angry or so. We're just wobbling. But if I didn't practise zazen.

I would go like this. Very excited, very depressed. Very happy, very sad. In England, many young people go out to drink on Friday and Saturday evening. And they get very, very drunk. Very happy. Then—

Participant: Let's go to the pub.

Mike: Yes, let's go. I don't drink.

Participant: I'm pretty much a freak.

Mike: On Monday morning, these happy people were very, very depressed. Then for one week they're working. Thursday. Then again on Friday. Whoa! So they're living life like this. Many Japanese businessmen live the same life, only they do it every day. Morning depressed, evening happy. Really? So if we practise zazen, we can go like this. So boring. Any questions?

Question: How to cope about that concept of mistakes, like the previous mistakes and those which one made in the past?

Mike: We can forgive ourselves.

Question: Which are shocking, so then you can say that I should forgive.

Mike: You stupid person, you did it again. But we can be kind to ourselves because if we're angry about our mistakes, we can't change anything. And our anger is only against ourselves. I think everybody makes many, many mistakes in their life. I made some mistakes again and again and again and again and again for thirty, forty years. Then I realised, ah.

Question: Can I ask one about zazen? Is my view fixed, that I don't move it the whole time?

Mike: If your head is fixed, your view... you mean you're moving your eyes?

Participant: Yes.

Mike: Yes, you can move your eyes.

Participant: Okay. I'm not fixed on one point.

Mike: No, I think. Again, there are always two opposite situations in zazen, because zazen is balance. It's a balance between two things. One is to fix on looking at one point. The opposite extreme is to intentionally look in different places. Between those two is the natural way. There's noise, so maybe our eyes go this way, or somebody moves here, so maybe we go like this. So natural is best. If we try to fix ourselves, we lose any freedom. If we try to fix our life according to a plan, we lose our freedom. An opportunity. So in zazen, if we try to keep still exactly, we'll become stiff. But we don't need to intentionally move.

Participant: Okay, so if you become stiff, you can't do right.

Mike: Yes. And if we have a very strong belief, and we want to act on that belief, we become stiff. And we have very strong principles. Our views. And we don't want to move. We don't want to compromise. But it's difficult to live in society like that. It's difficult to live with another person like that. Master Dogen's writings about zazen make zazen sound like a kind of magic practice, if we think about it. But if we practise zazen, we can realise what he means in reality. But if we just read some of the writings— we practise zazen, and we can't do any wrong. We become one with the universe.

Our influence spreads through the whole world. If we read phrases like that in his writing, it sounds like something spiritual. But if we practise zazen regularly, we can realise that he doesn't mean it in the spiritual way, but in a very simple, practical way.

Question: What is “regularly”?

Mike: He says four times a day for monks living in the temple. But it's impossible for most people. So, once or twice a day. If you practise for thirty minutes every morning, and thirty minutes every evening, it's very nice. But if you practise ten minutes in the morning, and you forget to practise in the evening, it's nice too.

So if we say, I'm going to practise after this retreat is over, I go back to Brno, I practise every day, thirty minutes. Monday. Okay. Tuesday. Good. Wednesday, twenty minutes. Thursday. Ah, I don't have time. Friday. It's gone. So it's better maybe ten minutes, five minutes, every day, every day, every day.

Question: I would like to ask the master whether he perhaps has some secret trick to make it more fun for people.

Mike: Yes, I think so.

Participant: More fun.

Mike: No, no. No. Thank you. Some Buddhist groups have a dojo. I think in Pilsen you have a dojo where you sit regularly. Then people can visit regularly. But you can do it at home. Just on your own. Sitting with other people is very nice. It's a kind of discipline. But sitting alone is also a kind of discipline. It may make it enjoyable.

Participant: Maybe, yeah.

Mike: You can have different cushion colours. For variety. Then you can say, today—

Jana: Just your body.

Question: Can I ask, you sometimes hear some teachers say that there is a difference after five minutes, a difference after thirty minutes, a difference after one hour. Sometimes people attach to this idea: after one hour of zazen I will feel much better. So could you say something about this? It's not necessary to attach to the idea of how we change after one hour. Do you feel any difference between five minutes and one hour? Do you have any experience when you compare five minutes and one hour?

Mike: Yes, same as walking. If you go for a walk in the country for twenty minutes, after twenty minutes, maybe stop worrying about tomorrow. And you can enjoy the scenery. But when you return home, you didn't have the complete exercise. But if you go for a hike for two or three hours, you can get rid of all of your tension. And return home feeling satisfied.

So if we practise zazen for five minutes, we can get a nice five-minute state. If we practise for thirty minutes, we can settle more. If we practise for one hour, we can get very painful legs. With very painful legs, we might feel something peaceful. So we can choose which is best. I think thirty minutes is quite good. But sometimes in the evening, before bed, I practise just five minutes.

Participant: And this, I had this prejudice that one, or because many teachers...

Mike: You can get rid of it now.

Participant: Yeah, I know. It helped me that I thought that one zazen should be one hour, otherwise it's not complete as a zazen. For years I practised only in the evening, because I told myself an hour in the evening, and I did not practise in the morning. And your teacher, Nishijima, mentioned somewhere that in the morning half an hour is good. And I started to work as a teacher at high school, and I have to get up at seven, or I have to start teaching at eight, so I knew that I would simply be in a bad mood for the whole morning. And because I found out about this possibility to practise zazen for only thirty minutes every morning, I started to practise every morning for thirty minutes, and it really helps me to work. And I can't imagine how I could have this job without this morning zazen. And because I learned that it is enough to practise zazen for a while in the morning, five minutes or half an hour, it helped me enormously that I am able to work in the morning and be in a good mood. So it really helped me that I can practise in the morning and it does not have to be exactly an hour.

Mike: Yes, thirty minutes is nice. But we should notice that zazen is not a practice to get something. It's a practice to lose something. So usually we want to get something, to get things, get knowledge, and get skills, and we pile them on top of ourselves. In zazen, we take them all off. And underneath is our natural self. Which is quite satisfying. Maybe happy. So it's just throwing away, or taking away, or taking off. So if we take off the five minutes. Or if we take off for thirty minutes.

Or thirty minutes, we can take more off. Maybe time to stop. Any other comment? Okay, so shall we chant

[recitation, 00:59:14–01:00:37]