Real Life with Ryuei

More Thoughts on One Pointed Practice

I had some further thoughts about one-pointed practice.

I think that one aspect of one-pointed practice is that it is not just doing one thing only and obsessively like chanting a phrase in Sino-Japanese or sitting in front of a blank wall or "Mu"ing until the cows come home (that was a little Zen joke - sorry). It is really about calling our mind back again and again to the fundamental point throughout the day and in everything that we do. In the case of Nichiren Buddhism, the fundamental point is devotion to the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching. And what is that exactly? I would say that it is devotion to the divine nature within all of us, a divine nature which we are always embraced by and which we embrace within ourselves though ignorance keeps us from being aware of it. I say "divine nature" here for the sake of thus who may be put off by Buddhist jargon. It is the nature of compassion, and wisdom, the nature of reality, and the source of reality in that because of this nature things are the way they are and unfold as they do. It can be called the Unborn, the Deathless, Buddha-nature, and many other names but essentially it is that still point within us which is at the same time a voice of compassion and grace.

Nichiren felt that he was most in touch with this when he chanted Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, because it was through that chant that he could call to mind the Lotus Sutra whose teachings opened his eyes to this reality. But Nichiren also advocated other practices which would support calling to mind this fundamental point - chanting chapters or even just passages of the sutra, copying the sutra, lecturing on the sutra, meditating on the sutra, upholding the sutra in the face of persecution, or simply sharing its message of hope and respect for all beings with all he met. All of this was a way of expressing "Devotion to the Wondeful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching" which is what Namu Myoho Renge Kyo means.

It was very instructive for me to read Dogen's Shobogenzo. Dogen (1200-1253) was a contemporary of Nichiren who established the Soto Zen school in Japan. His Shobogenzo is a monumental collection of his essays, many of which are quite subtle and complex. Again and again he seems to stress simply sitting (shikan taza) as if that were the only thing in the whole world which mattered. But then if one reads more, one discovers that he writes about sowing robes, preparing and cooking dinner, or cleaning a toilet with the same intensity. Whatever you are doing is the one thing that matters and is THE way to actualize the fundamental point in that moment. That is what I get from reading the Shobogenzo anyway. So when my sensei, the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda, tells me that we should do all things in the spirit of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, this is what I think of.

Now there is another important aspect to this. Having a one-pointed practice does not mean that you will not get discouraged or distracted. In fact, it is to be expected. And in fact, that is part of the reason for having a one-pointed practice. If we have a practice that is too entertaining, too multi-faceted then we have no chance to really get bored. Then we have no chance to settle the mind into one point from which we can view what the ego likes to throw at us in order to keep us entertained, nervous, distracted, anxious, hopeful, fearful, or whatever. And it is seeing the mind, the ego, as it operates without buying into it that is an important lesson. As we do a one-pointed practice, like chanting Odaimoku, we should expect this - expect the boredom, the resistance, the distraction, the entertainment, the fidgetiness, the daydreams, the daymares. And more than just expect it, we should see all of this inner phantasmagoria as an opportunity to really see it from the stablility of the practice. We take note of what comes up and simply return again and again to the practice. And in noting these things and returning to the practice we become more and more mindful of how our mind operates, what its tracks and ruts are like, and the fact that they do not have to hold us or entangle us because there is the one point that we can come back to which gives us an inner distance from all that.

So if you are chanting or doing anything really, and find the mind is throwing all it's usual crap at you, or that you are getting anxious, fidgety, or perhaps tired or foggy, or whatever - don't lose heart. This is what the practice is all about. It is to take one-point like the Odaimoku and make that your inner anchor or inner eye of the storm and with that view all of this without judgement and without giving in and just watch it and learn from it. That is how insight breaks through.

And in any case, if one keeps noting and returning to that one point enough, eventually the ego, the mind, the chattering monkey, will get tired of you not jumping up to do its bidding (or letting it lull you to sleep) and it will settle down and be replaced by a lightness and stillness and an inner space and peace that is a very pleasant abiding indeed.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Posted by at June 23, 2004 04:26 PM