Hell and nirvana, it is here and now. Master Kosen comments the 10 states of Zen according to Master Deshimaru.
00:00 • Intro
01:44 • Just sit
06:44 • 1 - Naraka
07:51 • 2 - Gaki
09:00 • 3 - Animal
09:45 • 4 - Asura
10:46 • 5 - Ningen
11:40 • 6 -Devas
12:42 • 7 - Shomon
13:37 • 8 - Engaku
14:21 • 9 - Bodhisattva
15:21 • 10 - Buddha
If you can sit in zazen in a dojo, you're not sick. You're not a lunatic. If you're sick, if you're a Lunatic, you can't do zazen in aDojo. It's a gift that's given to us. And it's not automatic.
We make our own efforts to go to practice in the morning. We find our solutions. We give up. Sometimes we endure great pain. But we're accepted in the posture.
It is a great gift in life. The five important points, says Master Deshimaru, are: 1 - The lumbar region. 2 - The tilt of the pelvis at the level of the 5th Lumbar vertebra. Master Deshimaru says: "The Buddhist sutras describe" "10 specific conditions of the mind during zazen" "From the infernal state, Naraka," "to the state of Buddha." Obviously, these ten conditions, even a Buddha can experience them. Anyone can fall into hell.
Anyone could be a Buddha here and now. These ten stages are a changing process," "with no really clear separation," he says. "These ten conditions are not progressive. It's not "I've reached this stage," "and then I'll get to the next one," he adds. "This is not progressive"
Master Deshimaru describes the stages of Zen practice. The first stage is the state of Ningen, where the mind is busy with the circumstances of life. Next are the Devas, who are bright, shining, radiant beings who fall into narcissism. Then comes Shomon, Shravaka, a state where you understand the whole of Zen in a dogmatic way. Finally comes the Buddha state, which is the mind of a Buddha who's understood emptiness.
The final stage, the real ku, is "the real emptiness," says Deshimaru. "Which I have described in this book." One of the names of Buddha in Japanese is: Hotoke. This means: Undo, unravel, untangle. To be naked, to become nothing.