The Eight Truths of a Great Person

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Mike: Shall we chant Kaikyoge?

[recitation, 00:01:49–00:02:30]

Talk about the last chapter in Master Dogen's writings, in the Shobogenzo. He wrote ninety-five essays or chapters, and he used them for his lectures. He died when he was fifty-two, in 1253. And this chapter was written in 1253.

The chapter is called Hachi Dainingaku. Hachi means eight. Dainin means a great person. Gaku means the truth, or intuitive reflection. So the chapter contains eight intuitive reflections of a great person. I'm not going to read it, I'm going to interpret it into easier English. Buddhas are great persons. The truth that great persons realise is the reason that they enter a serene and peaceful state. It was the last talk that Shakyamuni Buddha gave on the night that he died. And it was also the last talk that Master Dogen wrote. But it's not my last talk. Here are eight truths that Master Dogen writes about. When he says a great person is a Buddha, he also says that Buddhas are people who practise zazen. So if you practise zazen in your life, you are a Buddha and a great person.

First one, small desire. Not to have strong desire. Not to chase after things that you can't get. Gautama Buddha said, if you chase after things that you can't get, you have a lot of suffering. If you don't have such a strong desire, you don't have to chase after things that you can't get. And so you don't suffer. You should practise this, and learn how to have small desire. If you have small desire, you can have many virtues, many advantages. For example, people who have small desire never have to try and get favours from people. And they never have to change themselves in order to get what they want. They are not pulled around by their senses. They have a balanced mind. They don't worry and they're not afraid. When they come into a situation, they're not so rigid. Because they don't want to get something, they can be flexible. And they don't feel dissatisfied. So people who have small desire have a serene and peaceful state.

That's the first one.

But we shouldn't think it means having no desire. If we try to stop having desire, we can manage it for some time. But it's like a cork floating on water. If we push it down, it's fine. But if we stop pushing it, it jumps out of the water. So we shouldn't try to make our desire zero. Desire is natural. But if we very much want things that we can't get easily, then it can make us suffer. But obviously, if we don't try to do things, we can never achieve anything. So he's talking about extremes. And we all experience extreme desire. We can see, for instance, a small child. ‘I want an ice cream. Mummy, can I have an ice cream?’

Participant: Yeah.

Participant: You bet.

Mike: ‘I want an ice cream.’ And then when we get larger, we want larger ice creams.

Participant: I bet you still want a little one.

Mike: I have an ice cream.

The number two: to know satisfaction, which means to be satisfied with what we have. The Buddha said, if you get rid of all kinds of things that make you suffer, then you can feel satisfied. And feeling satisfied is where you find joy and peace. People who feel satisfied can feel comfortable even when they're lying on the ground. But those people who don't feel satisfied, even if they're living in a beautiful palace, are still not happy. People who are not satisfied are still poor, even if they have a lot of money. People who are satisfied are rich, even if they have no money. People who are not satisfied are constantly pulled by their desire. So people who feel satisfied can look at them and pity them.

Number three. To enjoy tranquillity.

Jana: Well, we will say klidu, míru.

Mike: Could be, yeah.

That means to move away from all kinds of noise and live alone in an empty space. The Buddha said, if you want to get tranquillity and unintentional peace and joy— that's the big one, to allow peace and joy to come to you— you should move away from noise and live alone in seclusion. People who like quiet places are revered by the gods. The gods love virtue. This is why you should abandon your groups and other groups and live alone in an empty space. And then you can find what is causing your suffering. People who love being in groups have many problems. They're like a big flock of birds who gather together on a big tree. And then they worry that the branches will break. People who attach strongly to society have many kinds of suffering like this. Like an old elephant who is in the mud. It's struggling but can't get out by itself.

So it sounds as if the Buddha says, leave all groups and live on your own, away from everybody. And we can imagine finding a small log house in the mountains, and living there peacefully. Actually, I think it's not like that. So we shouldn't think that he means to physically leave all other people. We can be alone in the group, if we retain our own independence. Of course, we have to cooperate with each other. And we're doing that this weekend. So we have a group. But if in our group we all try to follow each other, or we are trying to do the same as everybody else, then that's the kind of problem. I lived in Japan for twenty or so years. Japan is a group society, so the main factor in everything everybody does is to follow their group. If they are in a small group of friends standing in a train together, they ignore everybody else. They may stand in the circle, talking to each other and looking at each other all the time. And they ignore other people completely. I felt it was very, very rude behaviour.

And if you go to cross the road, waiting for the traffic lights to go from red to green, everybody is waiting to cross. If one person steps out, even if the colour is red, everybody will follow. This is true. So Japanese society suffers from exactly this problem. Maybe we suffer from the opposite problem. We are very individual in Western society. But anyway, this truth about tranquillity suggests that we don't get caught by groups. Our group this weekend is very nice, because we came together unexpectedly. And then we will disappear. So it's very natural. I wonder where so many great people came from.

Number four. To practise diligence.

Mike: To practise diligence.

Jana: No, you don't need to.

Mike: To keep doing things all the time, on and on and on. It's a weekend.

The Buddha said, if you practise diligence, really, nothing is difficult. So just keep diligent. Like a small stream of water constantly flowing onto a piece of rock, it can make a hole in the rock. But if we get tired and give up, it's like starting a fire, making a fire with a stick. Before the fire comes, we say, ah, tired. So we can never get fire.

Sometimes when we're making efforts, we don't know why we're making an effort. So we think, oh, I stop. Or sometimes we have an aim. And we start to work towards that aim. And then we become tired. Or frightened. Or for many reasons, we stop. If we stop doing something, we can never get to our aim. A very simple example. Practising zazen. If we stop practising zazen, we will never learn to practise zazen regularly. Of course, in my case, I practised for many years. And many times I thought, why am I doing this? Doesn't seem to get anywhere. Maybe I'm wasting my life. But somehow, intuitively, I kept doing it. And our life works like this. Of course, sometimes we keep doing something which is stupid. And then if we keep pursuing it, eventually we realise we have to stop. But in order to achieve something, and to get the results of our efforts, we need to keep going, step by step. This is called diligence.

Number five. Not to lose mindfulness.

This is a very difficult word in English.

The Buddha said, if you have the ability not to lose mindfulness, then problems keep away from you. For this reason, you should constantly control yourself, and not allow yourself to wander in many different directions. If you lose mindfulness, you lose all your good points. If your power of mindfulness is strong, then even if you go into situations where there are very strong desires, they won't harm you. And you have nothing to fear.

So mindfulness in English is a very difficult word, because it has the word mind. But in Japanese, the word doesn't mean mind. It means to concentrate completely on what you're doing. So we could say mind empty, instead of mindful. If we're doing one thing and thinking about another thing, this is not mindful. Many people try to think about what they're doing while they're doing it. But in any physical activity or sport that involves—

Question: Many people, when they do something, try to think about what they are doing?

Mike: Yes, and try to watch ourselves. But in Master Dogen's teaching, mindfulness doesn't mean that. It means throwing away the person who is watching, and completely concentrating on what we're doing. In Chinese Buddhism there is a metaphor. If we are not mindful, it's like having two moons. And when we are mindful, there is only one moon. So in the old koan stories, sometimes the monks say to each other, have you got two moons? No, I have one moon.

In modern society, we are excellent at thinking about things while we're doing other things. Multitasking. For instance, in England, where I live, sometimes if I go to the bank to get some money, while the person in the bank is counting the money, they want to talk to me about something else. ‘One, two. Are you going on holiday tomorrow?’ In the supermarket, at the checkout, the same thing happens. And we can become very skilful. But to have that skill, we pay a price. In some way, modern society wants us to be multitasking. But we don't notice the price that we pay. We become scattered in different directions. So sometimes it's good to be concentrating on one thing. Attentive. And this is the meaning of mindfulness. So I like mind emptiness. In Czech, is the word the same problem?

Jana: I think so, yes. It's like a glass of water. The glass can be full. It's like you say mindful. And if you pour a little out, it's then empty.

Participant: But I think the closest translation of mindfulness is bdělost. And bdělost means to be awake. So in Czech it works really well.

Mike: Really? It's much better.

Participant: Yeah.

Mike: Would you say the word again?

Participant: Bdělost.

Jana: Yes.

Mike: Bdělost. So I'm going to use bdělost in my talks in England. It's much better. In English, it's a big problem. People think mindfulness means I have to think what I'm doing, and we have a teaching in society: think what you're doing.

Participant: Yeah.

Jana: I think it's a different connotation. It means not to be asleep.

Mike: Great. It's the same as the Japanese meaning. I'm so pleased to hear that.

Number six. To practise the balanced state of dhyāna.

If you remember, dhyāna is the same as jhāna in Pali. Dhyāna is Sanskrit, jhāna is Pali. Chan is Chinese. Zen is Japanese.

The Buddha said, if you regulate yourself, then you will exist in the balanced state. Sitting in the balanced state, you will know how the world comes and goes. This is why you should be diligent in practising all kinds of balance.

Participant: Exercise. Exercise.

Mike: Routines of movements to a balanced state.

Jana: The harmony and balance.

Mike: When you get a balanced state, it doesn't disappear. It stays with you. We should practise the balanced state of dhyāna to prevent our balance leaking away. Like water. If we have a leak in a pipe in our house, we need to repair the water pipe to prevent the water leaking away. There is a metaphor that zazen is like ringing a bell. Bong. When we ring a big bell, the sound continues and slowly dies away. So with zazen, we need to practise bong, and then when it dies away, practise again. Bong. There's a term, resonance. We can keep the big bell resonating.

Number seven. To practise wisdom. The Buddha said, if you have wisdom, then you don't become greedy and want many things. If you keep looking at yourself, you can prevent yourself from becoming lost. Then you will be free. Wisdom is a strong ship, and you can sail across the ocean of getting old, becoming ill and dying. For this reason, you should practise wisdom and develop it. If we are wise, we have clear eyes.

Wisdom in Buddhism is often called prajñā. Prajñā is a Sanskrit word. Pra means before. In English, we have pre. In Latin, pre. And jñā means thinking, to think. If—

Participant: We say ‘pradžňa’.

Participant: It depends on whether it's tied with Sanskrit. Okay, but we could say it the same way.

Jana: It's just a pronunciation of the words.

Mike: Yeah. Jñā is the same as the Greek verb ginosko. So it means thought.

Participant: Cognition.

Jana: No, or thought.

Mike: So prajñā means before thought. In Buddhism, wisdom is something intuitive, before we think. When we practise zazen, we become people with prajñā. We develop some kind of intuition. But sometimes we can't see it. It's not necessary to see our intuition. But we act following our intuition. I don't mean in a very grand way. For instance, ‘Ah, I have intuition. I'm going to go to Iceland.’ But in a very simple way. We're walking down the road, and we cross over. No reason, just we cross over. Or we go to the theatre on Thursday, not Wednesday. All these small intuitions, we don't know what is happening. But those small intuitions create our life. I think I'll buy this book. I think I'll ring up this friend. But I'm using the word think. But actually, it's more straightforward than that. At a very simple level, you go this way, not that way. And this simple intuitive decision at every moment makes the path of our life.

Number eight is the last one. Not to engage in idle chat.

The Buddha said, if you engage in all kinds of idle chatting, then your mind will be disturbed. Although you are away from your family life, still you can't become free. So just immediately throw away disturbing idle chatting. Stop yourself from chatting uselessly. And then you can become serene.

Though I don't think he means we can't talk to each other. But some people talk all the time, and they can't stop talking. And it doesn't worry them what they're talking about. Just they need to talk. So we don't need to do it. But we all have our characters. Some people are very quiet. Some people are very chatty. So that's natural.

Those are the eight truths. Master Dogen said that each of those eight truths might contain another eight truths. So there might be sixty-four of them. And if we look at each one, we can find more. So there are countless truths.

Participant: They're fractal.

Mike: Yes.

Participant: Yes. Fractal.

Mike: Yes.

Participant: Exactly.

Mike: Fractal. Exactly. So he understood that our knowledge is fractal.

And his four views, which I talked about yesterday, looking at something from four views, is also fractal. So we can always look more closely at everything, and find more smaller divisions. Anyway, the rest of the chapter I'm not going to read, but you can read it if you want to. He says that these eight truths are the teaching of the Buddha, just before he died. Master Dogen taught these eight truths a few months before he died. So we can suppose they're the result of his life experience. They're very nice to understand, and they can give us some guidelines.

Mike: That's the end of my talk. Do you have any questions or comments?

Participant: Have you seen Genesis? Genesis, the new film.

Mike: No.

Participant: No, no. Iron Man.

Mike: Who is the star?

Participant: One French monk from some cave.

Mike: Oh?

Participant: Buddhist monk.

Mike: Buddhist monk.

Participant: So the same teaching. Oh yeah.

Question: Is learning to have less desire and practising wisdom something different from practising zazen?

Mike: No, same thing. So Master Dogen is saying that these are truths of a person who practises zazen. So we might say, ‘Oh, I like more desire, so I stop.’ That's what we can do, yeah? Or, for instance, we might practise zazen and have a nice peaceful state. But we feel something too peaceful. So we can go to the pub and drink. And then we feel, ‘Oh, that's better, I feel more normal again.’ Right. More normal. And then after some time we get bored with the normal talking and working and drinking and things like that. So then we think, ‘Oh, I want to practise some zazen again.’ And then we feel peaceful again, and then we feel, ‘Ah, too peaceful.’ We get the peaceful state from zazen, but many times we want to break the peaceful state. And then we come back again. This teaching is not about something perfect. In our mind, we can form some perfect image. A great human being who practises zazen. Not me. That's just the image in our brain. But if we practise zazen on and on and on, slowly, instead of doing this, we do this. I suppose maybe when we become very old, if we practise zazen every day, we might become almost like this. But I don't know yet.

So we get these qualities from practising zazen. We don't need to try to be like that. We just need to stop being something else. So if we stop disturbing ourselves, we can have a peaceful state. And there is a metaphor. A glass which is filled with water and the ash. When we stir the water, we can't see clearly. When we stop stirring, the water settles. But we like stirring. Stirring is our life. But sometimes we need to stop stirring. And then when we look this way, we start stirring again. Oh, we're stirring. So if we have an image of perfectly clear water, it's just a dream.

Shall we stop? Thank you very much for listening to my talks. When I give talks, I'm teaching myself. So thank you for letting me teach myself. Thank you. So we recite.

[recitation, 00:56:50–00:57:45]

I'd like to say a big thank you to Jana for interpreting.

Participant: Thank you very much.