平和・平安：非戦・非核 Peace/Safety: No War/No Nuke

涅槃：Nirvana

涅槃

涅槃の原語（nib-bāṇa/nir-vāṇa）はnir-√vā (外-風吹く)から「吹き出す、(火を)吹き消す」と解釈されているが、「吹き止む」が一般用法であり仏教では特に聖典常套句「無風の灯火」 (ni-vāte padīpa）の様に業風静止状態になる事である。

涅槃は坐禅の表裏止観（静止観察）の前者の究極であり正覚と表裏一体である。それは無為（asaṅkhata/asaṁskṛta）、静止（upasama/upaśama）、寂静（santa/śanta）、無展開（nibbuta/nirvṛta）と言われ自然収束を意味する。

これは進化過程で動物が発達させた脳・神経系などにより生存し、競争に勝つ為に身につけた業（行為・習慣・遺伝）を人間が象徴（言語・文化等）、組織（国家・文明等）を生み四苦八苦十二苦の解決の道である。

涅槃・覚醒は動物の動く習性により静坐して業を静止し貪瞋痴三毒の暴走（業風）を静める事をしない為神秘的なものと受け取られているが、誰でも何も必要とせず静坐すれば判り、修養続行すれば得られるものである。

ブッダは二師より三昧（samādhi：定：synthesis:統合）を習ったが、それは正覚に資しないとして禅（jhāna/dhyāna）を正定とし、これにより戒定慧三学を普遍法縁起に従って本来の涅槃・正覚に戻る三学として示した。

木は生物中最長の寿命を持ち真理・法と「永続する」という（語根も近く）共通の意味を持つ。ブッダは法（現象）を如実に知見しその法則を発見しその通りに生きたので如来と呼ばれるが、実は如在者(Thathā-gata)。

ブッダとは「目覚めた者」の意味であり、ゴータマ・ブッダの他に多くのブッダが居るが、「縁起を見る者は法を見る。法を見る者は仏を見る。」と言われ、普遍法縁起を見る者は仏を見、法に生きるものは覚者である。

静坐・坐禅は誰もが三毒業風に動揺する事なく、欲が苦の因、無明（縁起：相依・相対：無常・苦・無我：涅槃の無覚証）が生死（輪廻）の因である事が判り不動・不畏・不死を得る事ができるので皆が試される様に！

法遍天地満
華開世界起
帰家安坐処
共友蓮華界

。

Nirvāṇa

The original Pāli and Sanskrit word for nirvāṇa (nibbāna/nirvāṇa) is commonly derived from nir- + √vā (“to blow”), and is therefore often interpreted as “blowing out” or “extinguishing” (as of a flame). However, in ordinary usage the more fundamental sense is “the blowing has ceased” or “the wind has stopped.” In Buddhism this is well illustrated by the canonical stock phrase “a lamp in a windless place” (nivāte padīpo), which symbolizes the state in which the karmic winds have become completely ceased.

Nirvāṇa is the culmination of the stilling aspect of śamatha-vipaśyanā (calming and visioning), inseparable from Right Awakening. The scriptures describe it as the Unconditioned (asaṅkhata / asaṁskṛta: unmade), stilling (upasama / upaśama), peace (santa / śānta), and quiescence (nibbuta / nirvṛta), all pointing to the natural settling and cessation of conditioned activity.

Throughout evolution, animals developed brains and nervous systems that enabled survival through movement, competition, and adaptation. Human beings inherited these karmic patterns—actions, habits, and heredity—and further expanded them through symbols such as language, culture, society, states, and civilization. The Awakened Way is the way of resolving the many forms of suffering arising from this karmic development, including the Four Sufferings, the Eight Sufferings, and the Twelve Sufferings (Eight Suffering + Four Collective Sufferings: dictatorship, war, nuke, catastrophe).

Nirvāṇa and awakening often appear mysterious because living beings naturally continue moving according to their animal instincts and seldom practice still sitting long enough to calm the runaway karmic winds generated by greed, hatred, and delusion. Yet nirvāṇa is neither mysterious nor supernatural. Anyone who sits still, needing nothing, can begin to understand it directly, and through continued cultivation can realize it.

Before his awakening, the Buddha studied various forms of samādhi (synthesis) under two renowned teachers. Realizing that these states did not lead to right awakening, he established jhāna (dhyāna; Zen) as Right Samādhi (Right Synthesis). On this foundation he taught the Triple Learnings—sīla, samādhi, and paññā—as the practical path of returning to our original nirvāṇa and awakening in accordance with the universal Dharma of Dependent Co-origination.

Among living beings, trees possess the longest lifespans. Interestingly, the words for tree, truth, and that which endures share closely related roots and evoke the common idea of permanence and steadfastness. The Buddha directly realized phenomena (dharmas) as they truly are, discovered the universal law governing them, and lived completely in accord with it. For this reason he is called the Tathā-gata—not merely “the Thus-Gone” or “Thus-Come One,” but more profoundly, the One Who Abides in Suchness (cf. hasta-gata āmla: mango being at/in the hand).

The word Buddha simply means “the Awakened One.” Although Gautama Buddha is the historical Buddha of our age, Buddhism recognizes many Buddhas. As the Buddha declared:

“Whoever sees Dependent Co-origination sees the Dharma; whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha.”

To see the universal Dharma of Dependent Co-origination is to see the Buddha, and one who lives in accordance with the Dharma is, in that sense, an awakened one.

May everyone test this for themselves through still sitting and zazen. Without being disturbed by the karmic winds of the Triple Poisons, one directly realizes that craving is the cause of suffering, and that nescience (no witness) of Dependent Co-origination—of interdependence, impermanence, suffering, and non-self—is the cause of birth-and-death (saṃsāra)! Through such realization one attains the Immovable, the Fearless, and the Deathless.

May all together accomplish the Buddha Way!

The Dharma fills heaven and earth.
The Lotus blossoms; the world arises.
Returning home, we sit in peace.
Together as friends in the Lotus World.

生き甲斐：Ikigai

生きがい

橋本慧光老師の『普勧坐禅儀』提唱は、次のような言葉で始まります。

私たちは生きて呼吸している間、何かをしています。何もしないではいられません。「何もしない」と考えることも、「何もしない」こと自体も、心の働きによって行われているのです。

私たちは何かをしていますが、そのしている仕事に生きがいがあるかどうかが、生きる価値があるかどうかの分かれ目になります。

私は、この「している仕事に生きがいがあるかどうか」という一節について、ずいぶん長い間考え込みました。

この文章を読むと、私にはどこか評価・判断の響きが感じられたからです。

「自分のしていることは、本当にやる価値があるのだろうか。」

そんな問いかけのように聞こえたのです。

そこで調べてみると、ここで使われている日本語は「生きがい」、つまり「生きがいがあるかどうか」という表現でした。

オンライン辞書『Jisho』では、「生きがい」は

生きる理由

生きる目的

人生の目的

存在理由（raison d’être）

などと説明されています。

つまり、ここで言われているのは、人生を内側から動かす生命の原動力のようなものなのです。

近年では、「生きがい」という言葉は英語圏でもかなり知られるようになってきました。

例えば私は、ジョンズ・ホプキンス大学のウェブサイトで、この概念を自分にとって意味ある仕事を見つけるために紹介している記事を見つけました。

そこでは四つの要素からなるベン図が示されています。

自分が好きなこと
自分が得意なこと
世界が必要としていること
報酬を得られること

そして、その四つが重なる中心に**Ikigai（生きがい）**が置かれています。

私は、この考え方は悪くないと思います。

この世界で意味のある仕事、いわば**正しい生き方（Right Living）**を見つけることは容易ではありません。

ですから、このような考え方は、自分が本当に何をしたいのかを考える助けになるでしょう。

しかし一方で、この理解には少し限界も感じます。

私自身の「生きがい」の理解――もちろん私は日本語母語話者ではありませんが――では、生きがいは必ずしも楽しいこととは限りません。

確かに楽しい場合もあります。

しかし時には、

困難で、

挑戦に満ち、

失敗する可能性さえある。

それでも、

心の奥底から自分をそこへ向かわせる何か

――それこそが生きがいなのではないかと思うのです。

橋本老師は、生きがいについて少し述べたあと、

自受用三昧（じじゅゆうざんまい）

という言葉へ話を進めます。

これは文字どおりには、

「自己を受け、自己を用いる三昧」

すなわち、

自己を余すところなく受け入れ、その自己を存分に働かせる三昧

を意味しています。

さらに老師は、

清規（しんぎ）

すなわち修行生活の規範・行儀作法について語ります。

橋本老師は、

まず「生きがい」という身近な概念から説き起こし、

それを仏教の

自受用三昧

や

清規

という教えへ結びつけながら、

道元禅師が坐禅をすべての人に勧めた理由を解き明かすための土台を築いているのです。

恵林

。

Ikigai

Eko Hashimoto Roshi’s commentary on the Fukanzazengi begins:

We do something while we are breathing. We cannot but do something. Thinking of not doing and not doing are done by our mental function.

Even though we do something, whether the work we do is worth doing or not makes the dividing point of worth living or not.

I spent a lot of time worrying about that phrase “whether the work we do is worth doing or not.” When I read it, to me, there’s a feeling of judgment. Is what I’m doing worth doing? I found that the Japanese word used here is ikigai, whether or not there is ikigai. The online dictionary Jisho defines ikigai as a “reason for living; something one lives for; purpose in life; raison d’être.” So this is more like an animating force in one’s life.

I think more English speakers have come to be familiar with this word. I came across a site at Johns Hopkins that uses it to help one find meaningful work, for example. It shows a Venn diagram with four elements: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for, and it puts ikigai at the center of it, where those things overlap. I think this is okay. It can be a challenge to find meaningful work in the world, one’s “right living” as it were, and maybe this concept can help one to think through what one wants to do. It seems somewhat limiting, though. My understanding of ikigai — and of course I’m not a Japanese speaker — is that one’s ikigai might not be particularly enjoyable. It might be, but it might also be something difficult or challenging, with the possibility of failure, but something deep down propels you toward it.

After speaking a little more about one’s life work, Hashimoto Roshi turns to the term ji-juyuu-zanmai, which literally translates to “self-receiving-using samadhi,” the samadhi of fully receiving and using the self, of putting the self into action. And then he speaks of the Shingi, or Purity Codes, codes of conduct. Starting with ikigai and connecting it to these Buddhist terms, Hashimoto Roshi lays the groundwork for commenting on Dogen’s recommendation of zazen for everyone.

Erin (恵林)

Announcing a new eBook on the Fukanzazengi

The Missouri Zen Center is pleased to announce the publication of a new eBook, a translation of Eko Hashimoto Roshi’s commentary on Dogen Zenji’s Fukanzazengi. Eko Hashimoto (1890-1965), an influential abbot, scholar, and godo (director of training) at Eiheiji, made the study of the Fukanzazengi his life’s work. In this commentary, he describes the structure of the work, provides line-by-line explanations of words and concepts, and elucidates the teaching stories referenced in the text. At times he offers alternative readings to the Sotoshu standard version of the Fukanzazengi, citing other works by Dogen.

When he passed away, Hashimoto Roshi left a collection of manuscripts that were arranged and edited by his disciple, the nun Eshun Yoshida Roshi, and privately printed by his student, Senryu Kamatani, in 1977. This is the text that Dr. Rosan Osamu Yoshida, with the assistance of Erin Davis, has translated into English and masw available now.

Dogen’s A Universal Recommendation of Right Zazen, with the Commentary of Eko Hashimoto Roshi.

Translation by Rosan Osamu Yoshida and Erin K. Davis.

$20.00. 265 pages. 4.37 MB PDF

For more information and to purchase the eBook, visit: wordsonzazen.podia.com. Join the mailing list for updates on summaries, indexes, and additional study materials.

聖なる蓮：　The Sacred Lotus

聖なる蓮

聖なる蓮を見よ。その育ち方を。

蓮は労苦することもなく、糸を紡ぐこともない。

しかし私は言おう。

栄華を極めた後鳥羽上皇でさえ、その帝王としてのあらゆる威光をもってしても、蓮の葉に宿る朝露の美しさには及ばない。

Nelumbo nucifera（インドハス・聖なる蓮）は、世界でもっとも生態学的・文化的・科学的に重要な水生植物の一つです。

アジアの広い地域からオーストラリア北部にかけて自生し、数千年にわたり、食用・薬用・観賞用・宗教儀礼のために栽培されてきました。

蓮池は浅い淡水湿地の中でも最も生産性の高い生息地の一つであり、実に多様な生物に食物・住みか・繁殖場所を提供しています。

密生した蓮群落は、カモ類、サギ類、クイナ類、バン類など数多くの水鳥に営巣場所や外敵から身を守る隠れ場、豊富な種子を供給します。

水中では、地下茎や茎が複雑な立体構造をつくり、稚魚の育成場所、多くの魚類の産卵場、水生無脊椎動物の避難場所となります。

また、トンボ、イトトンボ、水生甲虫、巻貝、淡水エビ、さらに開花期を通して訪れる多くの送粉昆虫など、多様な生物群集を支えています。

大きく広がる葉は、カエルをはじめとする両生類の休息・産卵・日陰を提供し、湿地全体の生物多様性をさらに豊かにしています。

野生生物を支えるだけでなく、健全な蓮湿地は自然にも人間にも多くの恩恵をもたらします。

広範囲に広がる根や地下茎は土砂を安定させ、水辺の浸食を防ぎ、波の力を和らげます。

蓮は水中の余分な栄養塩を吸収し、水質を改善し、水を澄ませ、水域生態系の健全性を高めます。

蓮が生み出す有機物は湿地土壌へ取り込まれ、炭素を長期間蓄積する役割も果たしています。

夏の暑い時期には、密生した蓮群落が水中を涼しく保ち、魚やその他の水生生物の避難場所となります。

さらに人類は古来より蓮を生活に利用してきました。

地下茎は野菜として食され、栄養豊かな種子は生・乾燥・菓子材料として利用され、若葉は食物を包み、花は宗教儀礼や装飾に用いられ、雄しべは茶の香りづけとなり、植物各部は何世紀にもわたって伝統医学に利用されてきました。

蓮の最も驚くべき特徴の一つは、開花中に自ら熱を生み出すことです。

これは熱形成（thermogenesis）と呼ばれる現象で、花托は周囲の気温が低くても約30〜35℃を保ちます。

この熱は送粉昆虫を引き寄せ、花の香りを強め、花粉の活力を高めることによって繁殖成功率を高めます。

この能力をもつ植物はごくわずかしか存在しません。

また蓮は種子の寿命でも驚異的です。

千年以上前の種子が発芽したことが実験で確認され、中には約1300年前の種子が発芽した例もあります。

その驚異的な寿命は、水分・酸素・微生物から胚を守る非常に硬く不透水性の種皮によるものであり、蓮は植物界でも最も長寿命の種子をもつ植物の一つです。

仏教では、蓮は日常生活のただ中で覚醒する可能性を象徴しています。

泥に満ちた淀んだ水の中から育ちながら、水面上に清らかな花を咲かせる姿は、

智慧と慈悲は苦しみから逃れることによってではなく、それを転換することによって現れる

ことを示しています。

泥は人間の迷い・欲望・苦悩を表し、

水は絶えず変化する世界を象徴し、

花は悟り・慈悲・智慧を表しています。

泥がなければ蓮は咲きません。

これは、苦そのものが智慧をもって向き合えば覚醒の土壌となるというブッダの教えを示しています。

さらに、蓮の葉が水を弾き、水滴が汚れを巻き込みながら転がり落ちる性質は、

貪・瞋・痴に染まることなく、この世に生きる

という仏教実践の譬えでもあります。

そのため蓮は坐禅と深く結びつき、ブッダはしばしば蓮華座や結跏趺坐の姿で表現されます。

十三世紀、日本曹洞宗の開祖である道元禅師は、蓮の伝統的象徴性を尊重しながら、それをさらに直接的で不二的なものとして理解しました。

道元にとって蓮は、

苦から悟りへ至る象徴というより、

そのまま仏性そのものの現れでした。

泥、水、太陽、昆虫、花は互いに別々の存在ではなく、

法（ダルマ）をそれぞれが完全に表現する縁起の姿です。

同様に悟りとは、

人生の困難を克服した後に到達する目的地ではなく、

今この瞬間に全身全霊で生きること

によって現成するものです。

これは、

修証一等

という道元の教えに表れています。

坐禅は悟りの準備ではなく、

坐禅そのものが悟りなのです。

季節が来れば自然に花開く蓮のように、

悟りもまた日常生活のあらゆる縁と深く交わることによって自然に現れます。

そこには、

道の外にあるものは何一つなく、

一瞬一瞬がそのまま覚りの世界を完全に表現している

のです。

花の色は仏の身をあらわし、

鳥の声は法を説く。

――道元

禅において蓮が尊ばれるのは、

泥から汚れずに咲くからだけではありません。

蓮は、

泥、水、昆虫、魚、鳥、花が共に生きる一つの湿地全体を注意深く観察するよう私たちを招き、

そのすべてが法を語っていることを教えてくれます。

禅において蓮とは、

この世界から逃れる象徴ではなく、

世界そのものをより完全に見るための入口

なのです。

古池や

蛙飛びこむ

水の音

――松尾芭蕉

慧寛

。

The Sacred Lotus

Consider the sacred lotus, how it grows; it neither toils nor spins, yet I tell you, even emperor Go-Toba, with all his imperial splendor, cannot surpass the morning dew upon a lotus leaf.

Nelumbo nucifera (the sacred lotus) is one of the world’s most ecologically, culturally, and scientifically important aquatic plants. Native across much of Asia and extending into northern Australia, it has been cultivated for thousands of years for food, medicine, ornament, and religious practice.

Lotus beds are among the most productive habitats in shallow freshwater wetlands, providing food, shelter, and breeding sites for a remarkable diversity of organisms. Their dense stands offer nesting habitat, protective cover from predators, and abundant seeds for numerous waterbirds, including ducks, herons, rails, and moorhens. Beneath the water’s surface, the extensive network of rhizomes and stems creates complex underwater structure that serves as nursery habitat for juvenile fish, spawning grounds for many species, and refuge for a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates. Lotus wetlands also support rich communities of dragonflies, damselflies, aquatic beetles, snails, freshwater shrimp, and numerous pollinating insects that visit the flowers throughout the growing season. The broad floating and emergent leaves provide resting places, shade, and breeding habitat for frogs and other amphibians, further enhancing the biodiversity of these ecosystems.

Beyond supporting wildlife, healthy lotus wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services that benefit both nature and people. Their extensive root and rhizome systems stabilize sediments, reduce shoreline erosion, and help buffer wave action. Lotus plants absorb excess nutrients from the water, improving water quality and clarity while contributing to healthier aquatic ecosystems. Organic matter produced by lotus becomes incorporated into wetland soils, where it stores carbon and contributes to long-term carbon sequestration. During the heat of summer, dense lotus stands also create cooler underwater microhabitats that can provide refuge for fish and other aquatic organisms. In addition to their ecological importance, lotus has long been valued by humans. Nearly every part of the plant is utilized: the rhizomes are eaten as a vegetable throughout Asia, the nutritious seeds are consumed fresh, dried, or processed into desserts, young leaves are used to wrap foods, flowers are prized for religious ceremonies and ornamentation, stamens are used to flavor teas, and various plant parts have been employed in traditional medicine for centuries.

One of the most remarkable features of the sacred lotus is its ability to produce heat during flowering, a phenomenon known as thermogenesis. The floral receptacle can maintain temperatures of approximately 30–35°C (86–95°F), even when the surrounding air is considerably cooler. This metabolic heat attracts pollinating insects, enhances the release of the flower’s fragrance, and improves pollen viability, thereby increasing reproductive success. Only a small number of flowering plants possess this extraordinary adaptation. The lotus is equally remarkable for the longevity of its seeds. Experiments have demonstrated successful germination from seeds more than 1,000 years old, including one famous specimen estimated to be approximately 1,300 years old. Their exceptional longevity is attributed to an extraordinarily hard, impermeable seed coat that protects the embryo from moisture, oxygen, and microbial decay, making lotus seeds among the longest-lived known in the plant kingdom.

In Buddhism, the lotus symbolizes the possibility of awakening amid the ordinary conditions of life. Although it grows in muddy, stagnant water, it rises above the surface to produce a pristine blossom, illustrating that wisdom and compassion emerge not by escaping suffering but by transforming it. The mud represents the confusion, desires, and hardships of human existence, the water symbolizes the ever-changing world in which we live, and the flower embodies enlightenment, compassion, and wisdom. Without the mud, there would be no lotus, reflecting the Buddha’s teaching that suffering itself can become the ground of awakening when approached with insight. The lotus’s remarkable water-repellent leaves, from which water beads up and rolls away carrying away dirt, provide a further metaphor for Buddhist practice: one lives fully in the world without becoming attached to greed, hatred, or delusion. For this reason, the lotus is closely associated with meditation, and the Buddha is often depicted seated upon a lotus throne or in the lotus posture.

Dōgen, the thirteenth-century founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, appreciated the traditional symbolism of the lotus but understood it in a more immediate and non-dual way. Rather than viewing the flower primarily as a symbol of enlightenment arising from suffering, he saw the lotus itself as a direct expression of Buddha Nature. Mud, water, sunlight, insects, and blossom are not separate realities but interconnected manifestations of the Dharma, each completely expressing the whole. In the same way, enlightenment is not a destination reached after overcoming the difficulties of life but is realized through wholehearted participation in the present moment. This understanding is reflected in Dōgen’s teaching that practice and enlightenment are inseparable: zazen is not preparation for awakening but awakening itself. Like the lotus blooming in its proper season, realization unfolds naturally through intimate engagement with the conditions of everyday life, where nothing is outside the path and every moment offers a complete expression of the awakened world.

The colors of the flowers
reveal the Buddha’s body;
the voices of birds
proclaim the Dharma.

-Dogen

The lotus in Zen is not simply admired because it rises unstained from muddy water. It is cultivated because it invites careful observation of life as it is—a living wetland where mud, water, insects, fish, birds, and flowers together reveal the Dharma. In Zen, the lotus is less an escape from the world than a gateway into seeing the world more completely.

Old pond—
a frog jumps in,
the sound of water.

-Bassho

Ekan

四行：The Four Practices

四つの実践

達磨（菩提達磨）は、禅仏教史において半ば伝説的人物でありながら中心的な存在です。一般には西暦5～6世紀頃の人と考えられ、中国に禅（禅宗・Chan）を伝えた祖師、すなわち中国禅宗の初祖とされています。釈迦牟尼仏と同様に、達磨も裕福な家柄の出身でしたが、人生のある時点で、富では苦しみから解放されないことを悟ったと伝えられています。

当時の伝記資料はほとんど残っておらず、後世の伝承の多くは史実というよりも伝説と考えられています。達磨は、鋭い風貌、大きく見開いた目、太い眉、濃い髭をたくわえた姿で描かれることが多く、その物語が日本文化に深く根付いていることは、卵形の木製の達磨人形にも見ることができます。

数ある伝説の中でも特に有名なのが、梁の武帝（梁武帝）との対面です。

武帝は仏教への篤い帰依から「仏心天子」とも称され、経典の翻訳を援助し、多くの大寺院を建立し、たびたび莫大な寄進を僧団に行いました。当時の中国仏教は学問的研究を重んじる傾向がありましたが、達磨の「真理を直接指し示す」教えは武帝には理解し難いものでした。

この会見で武帝は、自ら多くの寺院を建立し、経典を書写し、数え切れないほどの僧を支援したことを誇らしく語り、「私はどれほどの功徳を積んだでしょうか」と尋ねました。

達磨はきっぱりと、

「まったく功徳なし。」

と答えました。そして、そのような善行は善い世間的な業を生むだけであり、真の解脱には至らないと説明しました。

さらに武帝が、

「第一義の聖なる真理とは何か。」

と尋ねると、達磨は、

「廓然無聖（広々として聖などという物はない）。」

と答えました。

武帝は困惑し、

「朕の前に立っているのは誰か。」

と問いました。

達磨は、

「不識（知らない）。」

と答えました。

武帝とは心が通じないことを悟った達磨は宮廷を去り、その後、洞窟の壁に向かって九年間坐禅したという有名な伝説へと続きます。

達磨は、「教外別伝」を説きました。

彼は、人々が古い経典そのものを崇拝することを望みませんでした。重い知的研究を経ることなく、人の本来の性、すなわち真の心を直接指し示したのです。

夜空を見るためには自分の頭を上げなければならないように、達磨は弟子たちに概念への執着を捨て、自ら直接真実を見るよう勧めました。

今日に伝わる達磨の教えは、「二入四行（ににゅうしぎょう）」として知られています。

これは『二入四行論』の中で次のように説かれています。

「道に入る道は多いが、大きく分ければ二つしかない。理による入門と、行による入門である。

理によって入るとは、教えによって真理を悟り、すべての衆生が同じ真の仏性を具えていることを信じることである。しかしその仏性は、感覚や迷いによって覆い隠されているために現れない。」

迷いから真実へ立ち返り、「壁を観ずる（壁観）」こと、自他のないこと、在家と出家の一如を体得し、経典に対してさえ動じない人は、言葉を超えて理と完全に一致しています。

動くことなく、努力することなく、その人は理によって道に入るのである、と説かれています。

第二の入門は、「行による入門」です。

達磨はこれを**四つの実践（四行）**として説きました。

（一）報怨行（ほうおんぎょう）

あらゆる苦しみや困難を、怒りや不平を抱くことなく受け入れること。

それは他人の不当な仕打ちではなく、自らの過去の悪業の結果であると理解するからです。

憎しみは決して憎しみによって止むことはなく、愛と怨みなき心によってのみ止みます。

（二）随縁行（ずいえんぎょう）

成功、称賛、幸運などによっても心を動かされることなく、常に平静を保つこと。

世間のあらゆる利益は、一時的であり、変化する因縁によって生じるにすぎないことを知るからです。

（三）無所求行（むしょぐぎょう）

すべての自己中心的欲望と執着を捨てること。

渇愛こそが、あらゆる苦しみと心の束縛の根本原因であると理解するからです。

（四）称法行（しょうぼうぎょう）

法にかなって生き、誤った思いを断ち、六波羅蜜を実践すること。

すなわち、

布施
持戒
忍辱
精進
禅定
智慧

を、実践しているという意識にさえ執着することなく修行することです。

何よりも達磨の教えの本質は、私には「月を指す指」の譬えにあるように思われます。

現代英語による最初の聖書翻訳が出版された頃のことを思い出します。それらは、古い欽定訳聖書（キング・ジェームズ版）と同じ原典から、より現代的な英語で訳し直しただけのものでした。しかし、多くの人々は、より理解しやすくなったその翻訳を異端であると非難しました。

しかし、経典とは道具にすぎません。

経典は真理を指し示しますが、それ自体が真理ではありません。

職人は生活のために道具を用いて製品を作り、それを売って家族を養います。しかし、道具そのものを食べることはできません。

本質的な実践とは、「壁観」と訳される沈黙の坐禅であり、今日私たちが「只管打坐」と呼ぶものです。

伝説が語るように、達磨が本当に脚が朽ちるまで坐り続けたかどうかは分かりません。しかし、この修行に生涯を捧げたことは確かでしょう。

その約七、八百年後、道元禅師は祖師方の実践を示し、

「今の人にも理解できない理由はない。」

と説かれました。

ここで道元が「今の人」と言ったのは、十三世紀の人々のことです。

そして、さらにその約八百年後に生きる私たちも、同じことを言うことができます。

六世紀の一人の僧の教えを、現代英語で読むことができるという事実は、言葉の力だけでなく、その言葉の背後にある意味を、私たちの人生の中で現実のものとする実践が、見事に伝えられてきたことを物語っています。

最後に、シャスタ・アビーの達磨忌で読誦される経文の一節を紹介して終わりにしたいと思います。

四つの実践を見事に要約しています。

苦を受け容れること

揺るがずに坐ること

何ものも求めないこと

その証としての悟り

どうか皆さまが、経典を真理を指し示すための道具として用い、その「指」の先にある真実を見、自らの人生の中でその真理を現実のものとされますように。

玄透（Gentō）

2026年8月5日

The Four Practices

Bodhidharma is a semi-fabled but central figure in the history of Zen Buddhism. He is generally thought to have lived during the 5th or 6th century CE and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and therefore regarded as the first Chinese Patriarch. Like Shakyamuni Buddha, Bodhidharma came from wealth, but sometime in life realized that wealth could not liberate one from suffering. There is little biographical information from that era, and later accounts are likely legendary rather than factual. He is often depicted as having a fierce appearance, large, bulging eyes, heavy eyebrows, and a thick beard. The degree to which his story is interwoven into Japanese culture can be seen in those egg-shaped wooden Daruma figures.

Among the legendary tales one which stands out is his meeting with Emperor Wu or Butei of the Liang Dynasty (梁武帝). Wu was Known as the “Emperor of Buddha-mind” for his extreme devotion to Buddhism, sponsoring the translation of sutras, building vast temples, and repeatedly donating to monasteries. Buddhist practice in China at the time was a scholarly pursuit and Bodhidharma’s direct method of pointing directly to the Truth baffled Wu. During this meeting Emperor Wu proudly told Bodhidharma how he had built many temples, copied sacred texts, and supported countless monks, asking how much merit he had gained. Bodhidharma bluntly replied, “No merit whatsoever,” explaining that good deeds only create good worldly karma, not true liberation. When asked what the highest holy truth was, Bodhidharma answered, “Vast emptiness, nothing holy”. Confused, the emperor asked, “Who is standing before me?” Bodhidharma answered, “I don’t know,” and failing to connect with the emperor, Bodhidharma left and what followed was told in the story of nine years sitting facing the wall of a cave.

Bodhidharma taught a “special transmission outside the scriptures”. He did not want people to worship old texts. He pointed straight to a person’s inner nature or true mind, bypassing heavy intellectual study.

Just as you must turn your head to look at the night sky, Bodhidharma urged students to drop concepts and see reality directly for themselves.

What has come down to use today of Bodhidharma’s teaching is known as the Two Entrances and Four Practices. These were set down in his scripture known as Outline of Practice which states:

“Many roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: reason and practice.

To enter by reason means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that

all living things share the same true nature, which isn’t apparent because it’s shrouded by sensation and delusion.”

Those who turn from delusion back to reality, who “meditate on walls,” the absence of self and other, the oneness of laymen and monks, and who remain unmoved even by scriptures, are in complete and unspoken agreement with principle. Without moving, without effort, they enter, we say, by principle.

The second way of entering is to enter by practice. Bodhidharma outlined this by describing the Four Practices:

(1) Practice of the retribution of enmity: Accept all suffering and hardship without anger or complaint, knowing it is the result of past negative karma rather than unfair treatment by others. Hatred is never conquered by hatred; it can only stop through love and non-enmity.

(2) Practice of the acceptance of circumstances. Remain completely equanimous and unmoved by success, praise, or good fortune, recognizing that all worldly gains are temporary and driven by changing conditions

(3) Practice of the absence of grasping or craving. Abandon all selfish desires and mental grasping, understanding that craving is the root cause of all suffering and mental entrapment.

(4) Practice in accordance with the Dharma, to eradicate wrong thoughts, and practice the six paramitas ofgenerosity, ethical conduct, and patience, along with diligence, meditation, and wisdom, without attachment to the act of practicing itself.

Above all, the essence of Bodhidharma’s teaching is what I think of as the pointing to the moon metaphor. I remember when the first modern English translations of the Bible began to be released. They simply provided a more contemporary language from the same sources as the aging King James version. Yet many denounced these more clearly understandable renderings as heretical. Scriptures are just tools. They point to the truth, but they are not the truth itself. A craftsman may use tools to make a product that he sells for his livelihood and feed his family, but he cannot eat his tools.The essential practice is “wall gazing” as it has been translated; silent meditation we now call shikantaza. Bodhidharma may not have literally sat in meditation until his legs withered as suggested by legend. But it us clear that he devoted himself to this practice. Some 700 or 800 years later, Dogen would point to the example of the Ancestors and state that there is no reason that people of the present day cannot understand. By people of the present day he meant what we now call the 13^th century. Now, some 800 years after Dogen’s era, we can say the same is true. The fact that we today can access the teachings of a 6^th century monk translated into modern English, speaks, I think, not only to the power of words, but to the skillful transmission of the practice which makes the meaning behind those words real in our lives.

I will end today with a brief excerpt from a scripture recited during the Bodhidharma ceremony at Shasta Abbey which sums up the expression of the Four Practices:

Acceptance of suffering
Sitting unmoved
The seeking of nothing
Enlightenment proved

May all use the teachings of the Scriptures as a tool to see beyond the pointing finger and make the Truth real in our lives.

Gentō

August 5, 2026

三学：The Triple Learnings

三学

お早うございます！

ブッダは三毒が苦と輪廻の原因であると説いたが、その解決法を三学で示した。三学（tisso sikkhā/śikṣā）は戒(sīla/śīla)、心(citta)、慧paññā/prajñā）の学習で心学は定学（正定は禅）で、戒定慧の三学とされています。

Sīlaは一般に物の本性（普遍法縁起による在り方）を意味し人間は人と人との間柄（親愛：友愛）に基づく行動規範である戒で、誰でも守るべき五戒（不殺生、不偸盗、不妄語、不邪淫、不飲酒）を修養すること。

Citta は過去以来の業と縁によって形成・集積された心的全体であり、受・想・思・識などの諸作用を包含する。坐禅による心学は業集積心（臓・脳：情意）を静め、浄め、調え、縁起法界に適合する修学である。

Paññāは般若と音訳される翻訳不可の術語ですが梵語prajñāの英語pro-gnosisが示すように先-見（正見：真智）で涅槃での覚醒：法現観による予見・予後（診断解決）を含む世間知を超えた出世間智の修行である。

ブッダが「歩いて世界の果てには達しない」と言ったのは物質界のことではなく精神界のことで娑婆世界（sahaを忍耐とし忍土とされるが、atma-loka 我界に対するsaha-loka共世界）を超える涅槃の事でしょう。

集団業四苦で戒が守られない現今では五戒を守る地球倫理は大切で、これにより自己中心から共同社会が可能だが、禅は正定（総合）で戒を守り、法界を現観・実践する慧を可能にする。学び行う実践が大切です。

ブッダの教法は普遍法縁起に基づいており、世間の三毒に対する療法として三学が考えられ、業から法（縁起）、身から心（意情知）、古から新（脳層）などと四禅の内容・深化や進化とも合わせ新化されたい。

縁起世界も業世界も変化・動揺が激しく暴流：滝流と呼ばれるが業三毒の暴風に晒される生命・人生は辛苦に満ちている。盲亀浮木の稀有の一生を極楽へ導くのは法三学です。共に友の平等平和世界を得ましょう！

有難うございます。

The Triple Learnings

The Buddha taught that the Triple Poisons—greed, hatred, and delusion—are the causes of suffering and samsara. As the remedy, he taught the Triple Learnings (tisso sikkhā; Skt. tri-śikṣā): the cultivation of sīla (śīla), citta, and paññā (prajñā). Traditionally these are known as the trainings in morality, meditation, and prognosis, as he defined meditation (jhāna/dhyāna: chan: zen) as the right samadhi (synthesis: (sammā-samādhi)) of citta.

Sīla originally means the intrinsic nature or characteristic of a thing—its proper way of existing according to the universal law (Dharma) of Dependent Co-origination. For human beings, sīla is the ethical principle governing relationships among people, founded upon friendship and freedom (priya-dhāman: beloved domain). Its practical cultivation begins with the Five Precepts: refraining from killing, stealing, falsity, sexual misconduct, and intoxicants. These are now “global ethic” that everyone should observe.

Citta is the totality of the heart-mind formed through karma and conditions from the long past. It encompasses the various mental functions, including feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), volition (cetanā), and consciousness (viññāṇa). Through sitting meditation (zazen), the training of citta calms, purifies, and harmonizes this karmically accumulated heart-mind—embracing “heart-brain-body system”—so that it accords with the Dharma of Dependent Co-origination.

Paññā (prajñā) is traditionally transliterated into Chinese as 般若 (hannya) because it is a technical term that cannot be fully translated. As suggested by the Sanskrit prajñā—comparable in its structure to the idea of pro-gnosis, “fore-knowing”—it signifies true insight into suffering, cause, solution, practice (four holy truths): the awakened realization of nirvāṇa through synthesis of the Dharma of all dharmas (forms/phenomena). It is therefore a supramundane wisdom (cf. witness/existential) that transcends ordinary worldly knowledge.

When the Buddha declared that “one cannot reach the end of the world by walking,” he was not referring to the physical universe but to the mental world, i.e., nirvāṇa, transcending karma. The Sahā-world (Sahā-loka) has traditionally been interpreted as the “Patient World,” deriving saha from “patience.” However, it may also be understood as the shared world (saha-loka), in contrast to the self-world (ātma-loka as claimed in the Upanishads). Liberation is the transcendence of the self-world into a shared-world of the Dharma.

Today, collective karma has produced the four collective sufferings—dictatorship, war, nuclear weapons, and ecological catastrophe—because the ethical precepts are widely violated. A global ethic based on the Five Precepts is therefore indispensable. By observing them, humanity can move from self-centeredness toward a cooperative harmonious society. Zen, Right Synthesis, integrates and fulfills sīla, while making possible the paññā that directly realizes and embodies the Dharma-realm. Only practice makes perfect genuine learning.

The Buddha’s teaching is entirely founded upon the universal law of Dependent Origination. The Triple Leanings were devised as a practical path for overcoming the Triple Poisons that dominate the world. Today they deserve to be reinterpreted in light of contemporary knowledge: from karma to Dharma (Dependent Co-origination), from body to mind (volition, emotion, and cognition), from ancient understanding to modern science, and in relation to the progressive development represented by the Four Jhānas (Zen).

Both the world of karma and the world of Dependent Co-origination are worlds of constant change and turbulence, described in the scriptures as a violent flood or raging torrent. Human life, exposed to the storms generated by karmic greed, hatred, and delusion, is therefore filled with hardship. Yet this exceedingly rare human life—likened by the Buddha to the chance of a blind turtle coming up from the bottom once in a hundred years, sticking its head into a hole of a floating log in a vast ocean—can be guided toward Nirvāṇa (Paradise, Sukha-vati: lit. Comfort-filled) through the Triple Learnings founded upon the Dharma.

May we cultivate them together and realize a world of friendship, equality, and peace for all!

Thank you.

三毒：The Triple Poisons

三毒

通常三毒と言われる原語は三悪根で、貪瞋痴（lobha, dosa, moha）である。十二支縁起で苦の因：渇愛と輪廻の因：無明は二根と呼ばれ貪と痴に対応し、これに瞋恚を加えたものが三毒：三悪根としてよかろう。

十二支縁起は個人内部の苦・輪廻の直接縁起を説くもので瞋恚は含まれていないが、取（身の取得：我所有）が我他、差別、瞋恚の始まりとしてよい。故に瞋恚（怒）の原語dosaは根源にdo (two)を含むと思われる。

Dosaの梵語はdveṣa語根はdviṣとされるがパーリ語圏内ではmāna-sa (心の)teja-sa（光の）の様にdo-sa（二の：差別の）と感じられた可能性がある。動物・人間は動くと身体を感じ、自己同定・我見・我執・我慢・我利等の始まりである。

取の原語（upa-adana）は「近寄り取る」で燃料が火に近寄り取ると火になる（同定）であり、漢字の取は耳を掴む手で「牛耳る」（主権）の意味になり、我の同定と主権を表し普遍法縁起（相依・相対）に反する。

これは自我の始まりであり、集団としての自国の始まりであり、分別・差別・敵対・戦争等の始まりであり、特に集団業三毒による集団四苦（独裁・戦争・核・破局）は「国家と戦争の世紀」「地球問題群と破局」の終末危機を生み出している。

苦の根本である無明（a-vijja/a-vidya: video: 直証）は縁起（悟法）縁滅（涅槃）を体験・確信を持たないことを意味し、動物は行動を優先するので涅槃（止業）を体験するのは稀であり、自己保存本能（欲望）から生存・生成（生死）の輪廻に嵌る。

ブッダは恒常・主権の我（アートマン）の存在を普遍法・縁起により否定して、無常・苦（思い通りにならない）事から究極的真理として諸法（一切現象）無我を唱えた。世間的役割・責任を果たす自己と普遍法を二洲（依拠）として認めている。

ゴータマは苦・輪廻の解決の道を求め（求道者：菩薩）て出家し努力の結果縁起の普遍法に目覚めブッダ（覚者）となり、更に一切救済の為の菩薩として四諦・八聖道等の教法を共有する為に乞食しながら一所不住の遊行教化活動に一生を捧げた。

人類は生類の長い生存本能を受け継ぎ生存競争に共同生活・脳・手による象徴・道具：言語・科学・文化・技術・製造・文明等を発展させて覇権を握ったが、社会的役割・記憶・予測などで自我を強め自我・自国の利益追求が破局の危機を招いた。

自我・自国で我見・我利の三毒業を続ければ苦・輪廻は解決されないので個人・集団の苦・輪廻の解決が必須である。それには各人が業・三毒の由来・現実・解決の為に覚醒・活動をして自己・社会・環境を改善・解決に努力する必要がある。

The Triple Poisons

Good morning!

The original Buddhist term commonly translated as the Triple Poisons is more precisely the Triple Unwholesome Roots (akusala-mūla): lobha (desire or greed), dosa (aversion or discrimination), and moha (delusion or nescience).

In the Twelvefold Dependent Co-origination, the cause of suffering is identified as craving (taṇhā) and the cause of saṃsāra as nescience (avijjā). These two are the Two Roots, corresponding respectively to lobha and moha. Adding dosa yields the Triple Poisons, or Triple Unwholesome Roots.

The Twelvefold Dependent Co-origination primarily explains the individual suffering and saṃsāra, thus dosa is not listed in it. However, upādāna (appropriation) of the body as “I” and “mine,” naturally gives rise to the distinction between self and other, thereby becoming the origin of discrimination and hatred. In this sense, dosa may be understood as arising from duality.

The Sanskrit form of dosa is dveṣa, derived from the verbal root dviṣ according to traditional philology. Yet within the Pāli-speaking tradition, it is conceivable that the word was perceived as do-sa, like mānasa (“of the mind”) or tejasa (“of light”). Thus, dosa may have suggested the state of two-ness—the discrimination between self and other. Whenever animals move, they become aware of the body, giving rise to self-identification, self-view, and self-interest.

The Pāli word upa-ādāna literally means “coming near to take.” Fuel that coming near to take fire becomes fire, just as we identify with the body as “I” and “mine.” The Chinese character 取 (“to take”) originally depicts a hand grasping an ear, signifying “control of it” or “exercising sovereignty.” Thus, upādāna represents the selfhood and sovereignty, in contrast to the universal Dharma of Dependent Co-origination, relatedness and relativity.

This marks the beginning of the ego-self, the beginning of attachment to one’s own state, and ultimately the beginning of discrimination, hostility, and war. Today, the collective karma of the Triple Poisons manifests itself in the Four Collective Sufferings—dictatorship, war, nuclear weapons, and global catastrophe—producing the Century of Nation-States and War and the Age of Global Problems and Catastrophe.

The fundamental root of suffering is nescience (a-vijjā; Sanskrit: a-vidyā, cf. a-video: witness)—the absence of direct realization of Dependent Co-origination (Dharma-awakening: bodhi), and Dependent Cessation (nirvāṇa). Because animals naturally prioritize action for survival, the direct experience of nirvāṇa—the cessation of karma—is exceedingly rare. Governed by the instinct for self-preservation, beings remain caught in the constant becoming, birth, and death.

The Buddha denied the existence of a permanent, sovereign self (ātman) on the basis of the universal Dharma of Dependent Co-origination. Because all conditioned things are impermanent and dis-satisfaction (duk-kha: wrong going), he taught the ultimate truth of non-self (an-attā). He, however, acknowledged both the conventional self that fulfills social roles and responsibilities and the universal Dharma as the Two Refuges (Two Islands) upon which we should rely.

Prince Gautama left home as a seeker of awakening (bodhisattva) in search of a solution to suffering and saṃsāra. Through striving he awakened to the Dharma of Dependent Co-origination and became the Buddha, the Awakened One. Thereafter, as a bodhisattva now for the liberation of all beings, he spent the rest of his life wandering without fixed abode, living on alms while sharing the Dharma—including the Four Holy Truths and the Holy Eightfold Path—with everyone.

Human beings inherited the long evolutionary history of survival instinct. Through cooperative living, increasingly sophisticated brains and hands, symbolism of language, science, culture, technology, manufacturing, and civilization, humanity became the dominant species on Earth. Yet these same capacities strengthened the sense of self through social identity, past memory, future fear, and self-interest. The pursuit of self and state advantage has now brought humanity to the brink of global catastrophe.

As long as individuals selves and states continue to act from the Triple Poisons through self-views and self-interest, suffering and saṃsāra cannot be overcome. Therefore, both individual and collective liberation are essential. Each of us must awaken to the origin, reality, and stilling of karma and the Triple Poisons, and actively work to transform ourselves, society, and the environment through wisdom and compassionate action.

Thank you.

triple-poisons2.png (1024×1536)

接心：Sesshin

Sesshin (Embracing the Mind)

Although sesshin (接心) is commonly written as “touching the mind,” it may also be written 摂心, meaning “embracing the mind.” Shortly after a group of Zoroastrian fire worshippers converted to Buddhism, the Buddha pointed to a nearby fire telling, “The world is burning.” He taught that the six sense faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are all burning (with the fires of desire, discrimination, and delusion). He therefore advised his disciples to guard the six sense doors, just as a turtle withdraws its head and four limbs into its shell for protection.

The Buddha himself, in addition to observing the annual three-month rainy-season retreat (vassa), occasionally withdrew alone from the noise and distractions of society to devote himself to extended periods of meditation. Following this example, the Zen tradition observes intensive meditation retreats lasting three months, one month, one week, one day, or other periods. During these retreats, practitioners settle and calm their minds through sesshin (intensive zazen), while also engaging in samu (work practice), in which they leave the meditation cushion and devote themselves wholeheartedly to physical work. These represent the complementary practices of stillness and activity.

Traditionally, sesshin has been practiced communally in monasteries and Zen centers, where practicing together naturally strengthens concentration and mutual encouragement. In recent years, however, we have sought to make sesshin accessible to those unable to attend in person by allowing individuals to participate remotely at the same time. Through Zoom and similar technologies, practitioners can remain closely connected despite geographical distance. In the future, it would be beneficial to develop even more accessible ways for anyone, anywhere, to participate in sesshin.

The Japanese expression meikyō shisui (“a clear mirror and still water”) describes a mind that is calm, transparent, and undisturbed, clearly reflecting the world as it is and responding appropriately. Zazen cultivates such a state. Just as water in a bowl naturally becomes calm and clear when the bowl is set down without disturbance, by harmonizing (ordering) the body, the breath, and the mind (chōshin, chōsoku, chōshin), we naturally enter the state of nirvāṇa, where the karmic winds have ceased. In that stillness, we directly realize the universal Dharma—the dependent co-origination and cessation of all phenomena.

A spinning top, when perfectly balanced, appears completely still even while rotating at full speed. In Japanese, such a top is said to be suwaru (“firmly settled”) and sumu (“clear and pure”). Likewise, the full lotus posture provides a stable three-point-support foundation through the crossed legs, allowing the upper body to remain upright, balanced, and properly aligned. Correct posture is essential for regulating the breath, and deep, harmonious breathing in turn unifies and harmonizes body, mind, and the surrounding world, just as the different colors of a rapidly spinning top merge into a single harmonious unity.

Throughout biological evolution, the karma necessary for survival has strengthened the Triple Poisons—desire, discrimination, and delusion. These appear as self-centered views, self-interest, attachment to the ego, discrimination between self and others, and the endless pursuit of desire. As a result, we fail to perceive the true nature of reality: the Dharma of Dependent Co-origination, the universal web of mutual relatedness and relativity extending throughout infinite space and time. Without this vision, genuine justice and harmony cannot prevail in the ordinary world. Zazen is therefore indispensable for directly awakening to the truth of the universe and cultivating wisdom.

As we have seen in the Twelvefold Dependent Co-origination, the root of suffering is craving, while the root of saṃsāra is ignorance—no witness of nirvāṇa. Liberation from suffering and saṃsāra, and the realization of immovability, fearlessness, and the deathless, depend upon eradicating these two roots. Today, humanity also faces collective karmic suffering in the forms of dictatorship, war, nuclear weapons, and global catastrophe. To resolve these, not only craving and nescience but also discrimination and hatred must be overcome. The conquest of the Triple Poisons is therefore essential.

May we all overcome desire, discrimination, and delusion together!

接心

接心は摂心とも書くが、ブッダ（覚者）は最近拝火教徒で集団改宗した人達に近くに起きた火事を指した「世界は燃える」と言い、人間の眼耳鼻舌身意が「熾燃と燃える」事を指摘した。そして徘徊動揺止まない六官を「亀が頭や四肢を甲羅に納め防護する様に戸締りするよう勧めた。

ブッダ自身も雨安居の他にも一人世の喧騒を避けて長期間坐禅を行うことがあった。禅宗ではそれに倣い三ヶ月の安居や一ヶ月、一週間、一日など集中的に瞑想をし自心を納め鎮める摂心・接心の坐禅と、坐布を離れて作業に集中する作務をする。これらは静中と動中の修行である。

普通接心は僧院・禅センターなどで集団で行い、それなりの効果があるが、最近こちらではそのような便の無い人の為に同時に遠方で個人参加できるようにし、ズームなどの手段を使って更に連絡を密にする様にしているが、将来は誰にも参加できる方法を考え普及した方が良い。

明鏡止水とは心が動揺せず透明静寂に物事・世界を反映し、対処できる様子を言うが、坐禅はお椀を静かに置けばその中の水が自然に透明清澄になる様に調身調息調心して業風の止んだ涅槃の状態に入り、そこで普遍的真理である一切現象の縁起・縁滅の法を覚証することが出来る。

独楽が一所に止まり（正）動揺せず完全に調和回転する状態を「据わる（坐る）、清む（澄む）」と言うが、結跏趺坐は両足を組み安定した三点支持を得てその上に上体を直立正斉に調身する事が調息に必須であり、調息（長息）が独楽の各色融合調和の様に心身界の調心に重要である。

動物として生存競争の為の業は貪瞋痴三毒の業を強化して来た事が我見・我利・我執・自他分別・欲望追求となり世界の本来の姿である法：縁起（時空無限因縁による相依・相対）世界が見えず公正が行われないない俗界から大宇宙真実を覚証・知恵にする為に座禅は必須である。

十二支縁起で見たように苦の因は欲、輪廻の因は無明（涅槃む覚証）であり、苦・輪廻の解決、不動・不畏・不死獲得はこの二根の根絶にある。集団業四苦（独裁・戦争・核・破局）の解決は二根に加え差別・瞋恚が重要であり三毒退治が必要である。三毒解決を皆ができますよう！

法：Dharma

法（dharma）

お早うございます！

法（dharma）は１.形態（form： d-harmより: 現象：真理)、２．規則（norm： d-h-armより:現象の規則：倫理)、３．諸法の法：縁起（元来は感覚器官と感覚対象に依る「知覚・意識・対象・世界の発生」に覚醒したが後に一切現象に適用されたもの）。4. 教法（１〜３の教え）：これらとこれらを応用したブッダの教えを意味する。

諸法（形態・現象）の法（規則・法則・真理・倫理）は縁起（因縁生起）、即ち、一切現象は無量の因（直接原因）と縁（間接条件）により相依生起するということである（諸科学で用いられ、一般に広まった因果律（原因と結果の関係）に似ているがさらに広く含み一切に適用され、理解され、生き方、世俗・超俗等に関わる。

科学では一般に因果律は因と果は種から果が生ずる様に直接的・線形に解釈され、対象に用いられるが科学者自身に向けられず、その態度・倫理・修養には向けられないが、仏教の縁起はむしろ縁を重視し、種が芽を出し果を結ぶには水・温度など自他・時空のあり方修養全体についてで、観念、対象、世俗を超えた真理として扱われる。

これは私達が他者（他種・要素・世界・宇宙など）と相依・相対関係にあることを意味し、一切が相互に関係し、相対的であり、孤立・独立、絶対・主宰者はなく私達が調和、健康、幸福になる為には共存・共和・共同・共栄して生き、聖（全体健全）に帰一（宗教：真理・倫理）した世界を作る努力する責任があることを意味する。

縁起の原語paṭicca-samuppāda/praṭītya-samutpādaは二葦束が依（縁）り合って立つ様に感覚器官と対象が接触して意識・世界が生起する様子を表した言葉である。この仕組みを起点として生ずる身体・感受・想念・意欲・意識の五蘊（集合体）が自我意識を生み（識縁起）、欲望・行為・苦（不満）の三道（過程）（渇愛縁起）を生む。

十二支縁起（bhava-cakka/bhava-cakra、生成輪、輪廻）は縁起の法の適用例の最もよく知られた例だが、口碑による線形の表出（三世両重の因果と呼ばれる胎生学的解釈）の為とヒンズー教の輪廻説により誤解されているが、上の二縁起と無明（涅槃の無覚証）による身体専有（同定）により生老死の変異に入る（無明縁起）。

動物としての人間は動くと同時に身体を知覚して我・我所（我の所有）とするから、空腹や怒りを感じると餓鬼や修羅の状態になり、生死の流れ（全流：全体刻々変化の意で、ヒンズー教の死後輪廻ではない）に入る。静坐・坐禅はこの無意識の習慣（業）を止め涅槃（無風、業の）に入り渇愛・無明の二根を静める法である。

動物は自己存続の為に動く事を習慣としている為に静坐・坐禅する事は馴染みなく継続は難しいので涅槃に入り縁起・無我・法界の覚証が得られず、求不得苦、生老死・六道輪廻をするが、誰でも坐禅により涅槃・覚醒・般若（先見・知恵・解決）・不動・不畏・不死・無量寿光等得られ自他一切の為になるので是非試みられたい。

有難うございます。

。

Dharma

Good morning!

The Sanskrit word dharma (√dhṛ: endure) has several interrelated meanings:

Form (from the root d-harm)—that which appears as phenomena or reality.
Norm or Principle—the laws, order governing phenomena (from d-h-arm).
The Dharma of all dharmas (phenomena): Dependent Co-origination (pratītya-samutpāda)—originally the Buddha’s awakening to the origination of perception, consciousness depending on sense organs and objects, mind-world, later extended to explain all phenomena.
The Buddha’s Teaching—the teachings based upon the above meanings and their practical application to human life.

The Dharma (law, principle, truth, and ethics) of all phenomena is Dependent Co-origination. It teaches that every phenomenon originates through the interdependence of innumerable causes (hetu: direct causes) and conditions (pratyaya: indirect conditions). Although this resembles the modern scientific concept of causality—the relationship between cause and effect—it is much pervacive and profound in perspective and practice. It applies universally, not only to physical phenomena but also to human existence, ethics, spiritual practice, liberation (from mundane existence).

In modern science, causality is generally understood as a direct, linear relationship between cause and effect, like a seed producing a fruit. It is primarily applied to external objects and processes, but seldom to the scientist’s own attitudes, conduct, ethical cultivation, or way of life. Buddhism, however, places particular emphasis upon conditions. A seed cannot sprout or bear fruit without water, soil, temperature, sunlight, and countless other supporting conditions throughout time and space. Likewise, our own growth depends upon our relationship with others, society, nature, and the universe. Thus, Dependent Co-origination is understood as a truth that transcends conceptual thought, objective analysis, and conventional practice.

Dependent Co-origination means that we exist only through relationships with others—including other people, other species, the natural world, and the universe itself. Everything exists in mutual relation and relativity; nothing is isolated, independent, absolute, or sovereign. Consequently, if humanity wishes to realize harmony, health, happiness, and holiness (wholly wholesomeness), we bear the responsibility of creating a world founded upon coexistence, cooperation, co-prosperity, and concurrence with holiness—that is, with Truth and Ethics.

The original Pāli and Sanskrit terms for Dependent Co-origination—paṭicca-samuppāda and pratītya-samutpāda—evoke the image of two bundles of reeds standing by leaning against one another. Likewise, consciousness and the mind-world arise through the contact between the sense organs and their objects. From this process arise the Five Aggregates (pañca-skandha)—body (form), sensation, ideation, volition, and consciousness—which generate the sense of self (the Dependent Co-origination of Conscious World). From this arise desire, action, and suffering (the Dependent Origination of Craving, called Three Ways: Steps).

The Twelvefold Dependent Co-origination (bhava-cakka or bhava-cakra, the Wheel of Becoming) is the best-known application of the principle of Dependent Co-origination. It has often been misunderstood because it was transmitted orally as a linear sequence and later interpreted, under the influence of Hindu doctrines of reincarnation, as a theory extending over three lifetimes in double causalities. In reality, it should be understood together with the two forms of Dependent Origination described above and this one: through nescience (a-vidyā: a-video)—no-witness of Nirvāṇa—we identify with the body, thereby entering the continual transformations of birth, aging, illness, and death (the Dependent Origination of Nescience).

As animals, human beings perceive the body instantly and instinctively identify it as “I” and “mine.” Consequently, when overcome by hunger, anger, or other impulses, we immediately enter the states symbolized by the Hungry Ghost Realm or the Realm of the Asuras. In this way we are carried along by the ever-changing stream of birth-and-death (Sam-sara means Total Flow), which refers not to postmortem reincarnation in the Hindu sense, but to the ceaseless transformations occurring moment by moment throughout life. Quiet sitting—zazen—brings this unconscious karmic habit to rest. Entering Nirvāṇa, the “windless” state in which karmic activity is stilled, it calms the two fundamental roots of suffering: craving and nescience.

Because animals survive through constant activity, remaining quietly seated in zazen is unfamiliar and difficult to sustain. As a result, few realize Nirvāṇa or directly awaken to Dependent Co-origination, non-self, and the Dharma Realm. They continue to experience the suffering of unfulfilled desire, birth, aging, illness, death, and the continual cycle of the Six Realms. Yet anyone can practice zazen. Through sincere practice one may realize Nirvāṇa, awakening, prajñā (prognosis: foresight to solve suffering), steadfastness, fearlessness, deathlessness, limitless life, light, liberation, love and thereby benefit both oneself and all beings. Therefore, everyone is warmly encouraged to undertake this practice.

Thank you.

法：Dharma

法（dharma）

お早うございます！

有難うございます。

。

Dharma

Good morning!

The Sanskrit word dharma (√dhṛ: endure) has several interrelated meanings:

Form (from the root d-harm)—that which appears as phenomena or reality.
Norm or Principle—the laws, order governing phenomena (from d-h-arm).
The Dharma of all dharmas (phenomena): Dependent Co-origination (pratītya-samutpāda)—originally the Buddha’s awakening to the origination of perception, consciousness depending on sense organs and objects, mind-world, later extended to explain all phenomena.
The Buddha’s Teaching—the teachings based upon the above meanings and their practical application to human life.

Thank you.

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