Kodo Sawaki - Discovering the True Self

Table of Contents

PRAISE FOR DISCOVERING THE TRUE SELF

I love this book! Kodo Sawaki was one of the greatest and most influential Zen teachers of the twentieth century. He was a huge influence on my teacher Gudo Nishijima, as well as Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginners Mind; Taisen Deshimaru, founder of AZI; and many others who became important in Zen Buddhist lineages in the United States and Europe. This book is a treasure. Its the first complete biography of Sawaki in English, as well as a compendium of some of his deepest and most profound teachings. Sawaki wasnt some airborne guru floating through the clouds. He began life as a tough street urchin, then faced some of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century and emerged as one of the deepest and most relevant philosophers of our time. Its great to finally have this material in English. Arthur Braverman deserves tremendous praise for making it available to us. I will read it again and again.

BRAD WARNER, author of Hardcore Zen

A fascinating portrait of an unforgettable Zen master. From unpromising beginnings in Japans lower depths, Sawaki rose to become among the best-loved and respected Soto Zen teachers of modern times. Engrossing and illuminating... Sawakis unmistakable and authentic voice can be savored in this fine translation, which will offer many Westerners their first glimpse of this compelling Zen personality.

PETER HASKEL, author of Bankei Zen

Discovering the True Self is the best new book in English about Kodo Sawaki Roshis life and teachings and his influence on his disciples. Arthur Braverman is a skillful master of the English language, and he translates both the power and the sense of humor of Sawaki Roshi. Arthur Braverman is the best person to translate Sawakis unique and colloquial Dharma expressions, because of his long practice and study. I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude for his continuous efforts.

SHOHAKU OKUMURA, translator of Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo

Philippe ReiRyu Coupey, in his new commentary on the Shinjinmei (In the Belly of the Dragon, 2020) states the importance of Kodo Sawaki and his disciples not just for the perpetuation but also for the reinvigoration of Zen in Japan and the West: Times change, circumstances change, languages change. Master Kodo Sawaki took the expression of the Way out of the antiquated context it had fallen into and brought it into modernity. Master Deshimaru and others of his generation [including Kosho Uchiyama and Gudo Nishijima] transplanted it into a Western context. And now its up to us to make it understandable for todays generation.

Arthur Braverman does just this in his new work on Kodo Sawaki, Discovering the True Self.

Traditionally, Zen masters have been immortalized in hagiographies and mythologies that have sometimes done as much disservice as service to the preservation and perpetuation of Zen. In his new book on the teachings of Kodo Sawaki, as in his other portraits in Living and Dying in Zazen and The Grass Flute Zen Master, Braverman gives us the undistorted humanity of his subject. We might say he mortalizes the masters.

The charismatic Kodo, with all of his contradictions, is displayed through a sharp if narrow lens: his devotion to zazen. As a result, the hyperactive, competitive, and scholarly Zen student becomes over time the tireless teacher of stillness (shikantaza), the advocate of no-gain Zen (mushotoku), and the professor for whom all of the Buddhist scriptures are but a footnote to zazen.

RICHARD REISHIN COLLINS, abbot

Kodo Sawaki in the garden at Sengakuji Temple (Photograph courtesy of Daihorin Publishers)

ALSO BY ARTHUR BRAVERMAN

Mud and Water: A Collection of Talks by the Zen Master Bassui

Warrior of Zen: The Diamond-Hard Wisdom Mind of Suzuki Shosan

A Quiet Room: The Poetry of Zen Master Jakushitsu

Living and Dying in Zazen: Five Zen Masters of Modern Japan

Dharma Brothers Kodo and Tokujoo: A Historical Novel Based on the Lives of Two Japanese Zen Masters

The Grass Flute Zen Master: Sodo Yokoyama

Bronx Park: A Pelham Parkway Tale

Discovering the True Self

Copyright 2020 by Arthur Braverman

First paperback edition: 2020

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Braverman, Arthur, translator, editor. | Sawaki, Kd, 18801965. Works. Selections. English.

Title: Discovering the true self : Kodo Sawakis art of Zen meditation / translated and edited by Arthur Braverman.

Description: First paperback edition. | Berkeley, California : Counterpoint Press, 2020.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020000997 | ISBN 9781640093775 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781640093782 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Sawaki, Kd, 1880-1965Teachings. | Spiritual lifeZen Buddhism.

Classification: LCC BQ9288 .D57 2020 | DDC 294.33/927092dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000997

Cover design by Alex Camlin

Book design by Jordan Koluch

COUNTERPOINT

2560 Ninth Street, Suite 318

Berkeley, CA 94710

www.counterpointpress.com

Printed in the United States of America

10987654321

To the memory of Kojo Watanabe

All of Buddhism is a footnote to zazen.

KODO SAWAKI

CONTENTS

Kosho Uchiyama, the late abbot of Antaiji Temple, often quoted from the talks of his teacher Kodo Sawaki. Sawaki was renowned for translating obscure Buddhist terms into everyday language. Its not surprising that Uchiyama, after studying with Sawaki for over twenty-five years, would have acquired his teachers talent for clarity and simplicity.

Uchiyama remarked on more than one occasion that Kodo Sawaki had charisma, and added that sometimes his charisma could become an obstacle to people understanding what Uchiyama referred to as the Buddhist Sawaki. I believe what Uchiyama was referring to as the Buddhist Sawaki was the wisdom his teacher imparted that was not something based on a particular time and placea teaching that transcended the culture and customs of Japan at the time.

So what was this charisma to which Uchiyama referred?

In 1973, I married the daughter of a Jodo Shin (True Pure Land) Buddhist priest. Jodo Shin Buddhism is a faith only sect of Buddhism where priests have had families since back in the days of its founder, Shinran, in the thirteenth century. After the shock of giving up his heir, my father-in-law decided to take me to hear a sermon of a famous Jodo Shin priest by the name of Kikuchi. Reverend Kikuchi was ninety years old and still quite healthy. Since his daughter wasnt going to marry a Jodo Shin Buddhist priest, I guess my father-in-law thought he would at least indoctrinate me to their family religion. There were two priests giving sermons that night, Reverend Kikuchi and a Jodo priest whose name I dont remember.

The Jodo priest spoke first. His talk was not very stimulating. When it was Rev. Kikuchis turn, from the beginning he created an atmosphere of friendly openness. He talked about why he was able to live so long (eat no more than 80 percent of what you would like to eat) and then told a few anecdotes having little to do with religion. Once his audience was relaxed, he added bits of Jodo Shin philosophy into his talk. He had everyones attention.