Kodo Sawaki
Kodo Sawaki
1880 – 1965
Kodo Sawaki, known as "Homeless Kodo," was one of the most influential Soto Zen masters of the twentieth century. He never held a permanent temple position, instead traveling throughout Japan to teach zazen in whatever venue was available—prisons, factories, universities, and public halls. His radical commitment to the practice of shikantaza, stripped of all institutional trappings, inspired a generation of practitioners and teachers.
Sawaki's teaching was characterized by a fierce directness that cut through the institutional complacency he saw in established Soto Zen. He said, "Zazen is good for nothing"—meaning that zazen practiced for some gain or benefit has missed the point entirely. True zazen, for Sawaki, was the complete abandonment of all purpose, the simple act of sitting with no goal and no expectation. His students included Kosho Uchiyama, who carried his approach forward, and his influence extended to virtually every renewal movement within modern Soto Zen.
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Teachings
- proverbLost in Thought
You are all lost in thought, twenty-four hours a day. Zazen means waking up from that dream.
- proverbSatori Is Not a Commodity
Satori is not a commodity you can acquire. Zazen that doesn't aim at satori—that is the real thing.
- proverbSit Down and Shut Up
Sit down and shut up. That is zazen. Everything else is just your imagination running wild.
- proverbZazen Is the Self
Zazen is the self making the self into the self.
- sayingZazen Is Good for Nothing
Zazen is good for nothing. Until you understand this, zazen won't work for you. As long as you sit with some purpose, some goal, some expectation, you are not doing zazen. True zazen is sitting with no gaining idea whatsoever.
- sayingYou Can't Trade a Fart
You can't even trade a single fart with the next guy. Each and every one of us has to live out our own life. Don't waste time trying to be someone else.
- sayingGaining Is Delusion
Gaining is delusion. Losing is enlightenment.
- sayingHell Is in Your Own Chest
Hell is not somewhere else. The scenery of hell exists right in the middle of our own chest.
- sayingGroup Sickness
What is the world? It is group sickness. Everyone is crazy, so nobody notices the craziness. When everyone is deluded together, the delusion seems normal. Zazen means waking up from this group sickness and walking on your own two feet.
- sayingReligion Is Living Your Own Life
What is religion? It is living your own life, completely fresh and new, without being taken in by anyone.
- sayingDon't Put Your Heads Together
People always put their heads together and try to figure things out. But no matter how many deluded people put their heads together, all they'll come up with is delusion. One person sitting zazen is worth more than a million people discussing Zen.
- sayingThere Is No One to Be
You're all running around trying to become something, trying to be somebody. But there's no one to become. You're already who you are. The problem is that who you are doesn't match up with who you think you should be. Sit zazen and give up trying to be somebody.
- sayingThoughts Are a Secretion
Thinking is just a secretion of the brain, the same way the stomach secretes digestive juices. You don't have to take it so seriously. Let your thoughts come and go during zazen. Don't chase them, don't fight them. They're just brain secretions.
- sayingThe Self That Lives Your Life
The self that lives your whole life is not the self that society has created. Society made you a name, a position, a reputation. But the self that sits zazen, that breathes, that dies—this self was never born and can never die. This is your original face before your parents were born.
- sayingJust Sit
When you sit zazen, just sit. Don't sit in order to become a Buddha. Don't sit in order to get enlightened. Don't sit in order to feel good. Don't sit for any reason at all. Just sit. That's it. That's the whole thing.
- sayingEveryone Wants Happiness
Everyone is running around trying to find happiness. But the happiness they find is only suffering in disguise. True happiness has nothing to do with pleasure. True happiness is when you stop running.
- sayingZen Is Everyday Life
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. Sweeping the garden, wiping the floor, cooking the food—this is Zen practice. Don't look for it somewhere special.
Master Record Sources
1880-1965
Kodo Sawaki
Soto
Sawada Zenko