Novice to Master by Soko Morinaga

Author:Soko Morinaga
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 0861713931
Publisher: Wisdom Publications
Published: 2012-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

routine in the monastery

THE USUAL DAY begins at 3:00 A.M. with the sound of a ringing handbell and a voice shouting, “Kaijo!” (“Get up!”). The monks jump out of bed and pour from a small bamboo dipper into their palms the three scoops of water that they are allotted to rinse their mouths and wash their faces. They go to the toilet, put on their robes, and present themselves in the main Buddha hall.

Each action of every person is orchestrated so that the group works together as a whole. When the gong sounds in the main hall signaling the monks to appear, the leader of the zendo—the hall where the monks eat, sleep and meditate—rings his small bell and everyone files out in silence. The morning sutra chanting in the main hall lasts about one hour.

At four in the afternoon on the last day of the year, priests make a chanting round throughout the entire temple, beginning in the main Buddha hall and finishing in the kitchen, where the deva Idaten is enshrined; it is said that Idaten can circle the earth in a flash, and thus he is the god in charge of finding food for those in practice. Years ago, when I was just beginning to learn the sutras, I was first set to making this end-of-year round of chanting through the temple. Soon after I had finished, Zuigan Roshi, without warning, inquired, “With what mind did you chant those sutras?”

I lost my bearings completely; I was at a loss for what to say that would please the roshi. Then, when I hastened to respond with a good Zen answer, “I chanted with nomind,” I got a sharp reprimand.

“You fool. Why don’t you chant in gratitude: ‘Thank you for giving me this year to practice in peace’?”

There was still another time when Roshi bellowed at me, “Your voice trembles because you are trying to be good at reading the sutras. Just chant the sutras with all your might.”

Sutra-chanting is one activity that afforded me countless opportunities to meet my own mistaken notions head-on.

After the morning chanting, the monks return to the zendo and the zazen period begins. At the clang of a special bell, they set out for sanzen, a private meeting with the teacher. One by one, they go in to encounter the roshi face to face. What takes place now is not a convivial meeting between equals but a very pointed question-and-answer session. Each monk has received from his teacher a koan, which he must answer at this private meeting. (A koan is a brief teaching taken from the words and actions of Shakyamuni Buddha and his successors in the Dharma and meant to stimulate awakening.) The monk must master the true meaning of the koan through earnest zazen, not mere cogitation.

When the sanzen period is finished, it is breakfast time. For the first four years I lived in the monastery, the food we ate did not appear to be food at all; gradually the diet moved toward what we could call traditional.

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