Q: What is Zen?
A: My Zen teacher, Prof. Masunaga Reiho answered: "Zen is the practice that helps every human being to penetrate to his true self through cross leg sitting (Zazen), and to vitalize this self in daily life. This definition, of course, does not cover all of Zen. But, it does include the important elements. The three basic points in the definition are: 1) The practice of Zazen, 2) Penetrating to the true self, and 3) Vitalizing the true self in daily life". This is the direct way to find your self. In Zen we retreat from the outside to the inside, towards our true self. After penetrating to the true self through sitting in Zazen, we reach the happiness from within, understand what is real time, and our destination in this life. Then, when we are near Satori, when we are in the zone of enlightenment, we return to serve society.
Q: Describe some important characteristics of Zen.
A: Zen teaches us that practice and enlightenment are merged together and can not be separated from each other. Zen teacher Dogen said: "Training enfolds enlightenment. Enlightenment dwells within training, and training takes place within enlightenment." Everybody can reach Satori in his everyday life, here and now, in spite of all the tasks and difficulties that we face in our life. It is very difficult to change the world. Zen suggests that you will first change your self. Zen is not missionary, and does not try to sweep the masses and make propaganda for his views. Zen advises you to work on changing yourself and to practice to reach your true self. Zen is not the way of force, war, or enforcement. In every human being there is something special.
Every human being without distinction of religion, race, gender or age can reach enlightenment, and everyone can have an original enlightenment of his own. Zen strives for the development of all people to be free, independent, courageous, creative and humanistic. Zen stays away from fame and profit and actualizes creative humanism in everyday life activities.
Q: Who is a true teacher?
A: Only a man or a woman who understands time can truly be a teacher. When you understand time, you give the essence, you don't waste the time of other people, and you don't play around. In the presence of a true teacher you feel yourself, you come closer to yourself. The true teacher never tires of teaching. This kind of teacher has endless patience. Teaching should be without fatigue. Anyone who reaches this stage is a true teacher. The teacher is present but does not blame, does not force, nor take. None of his actions stem from the desire for respect or from having honor. He is universal, he teaches everyone. If he discriminates or does not love people, how can he be a teacher?
Q: What is Joyfulness From Within (Giu-Zamhai)
A: This is happiness from within that warms you, and makes you happy. This is the real essence of our life. Buddha thought that Giu-Zamhai was very important. He taught Giu-Zamhai after he reached Satori; thus Giu-Zamhai is within his Satori. Joyfulness from within is in the core of training and the essence of the relations between people. This warmth means that you feel that you are alive. It enables you to act and move in great strength. You can win when needed, create, and most importantly, help others. All the things that come from the outside bring little happiness. The true happiness, the great Joy is from within, it comes from inside of us. This is the meaning of Giu-Zamhai.
Q: Why it is so important to Let-go in Zazen, Judo training, and in life?
A: Let-go is the entrance to Satori. Real Let-go is created at the moment that you completely leave aside every millimeter of your body and mind, and you don't hold on to anything. In Let-go, you don't surrender or give up the things that you have. When letting go, you act without force at all, no resistance arises, there are no obstacles and no oppositions. When you transcend to this spiritual level, your way is open. You are free like a bird in the sky; you don't do unnecessary actions that lengthen your way.
There are positive movements and actions, and there are those which are not. When you actually Let-go in your daily life, your way becomes shorter and you focus on the right way to reach your goal. That is why the freedom that is created by Let-go is so important. It is your direct way to your true self.
Q: What is the relationship between Zen and Judo?
A: Zen and Judo are together the direct and shortest way to find the true self. Judo contains special beneficial movements that seldom appear in everyday life activities. They help you to penetrate at all times, to your self. To reach yourself you need to fight within the Dojo, within the school of Judo or of the martial arts. The Dojo is the place where a human being can find himself. One of the most important elements of training in the Dojo is Render. Randori is combat training in standing, between two Judo trainees. You must develop a fighting spirit and the energy for real combat. Throughout Zazen and the light Randori of Judo, we wash ourselves every day and clean ourselves from within. In that way we give place to the entrance and accumulation of light-beams that shin within us and illuminate our mind-body existence. Everyday the enlightened side in us grows when we practice Zazen and Let-go Judo. When we do Randori in Judo, exactly as in Zazen, we do not think about anything. We do not think about gain, nor victory, not about losing, nor about technique. Neither do we think about correct acts nor the incorrect acts. Then, one day, the right technique at the best time, comes like lightening from the Kokoro (the heart). It is the same as when you play Chess or as in any situation in life and as in any time and place. Through Let-go-Judo training we can learn, like in Zen, to think with the body, to unify the duality between body and mind. The thinking starts from the true self. This we learn while training in Zen and Judo.
Q: Who is a hero?
A: A hero is someone that finds his true self, now, here, in every day life. Anyone that wants to be a winner must conquer himself. There is nobody to conquer, but oneself. There are occasions when a human-being needs to defend him-self, his family or his country, but the most deep and important meaning of the verb 'to win' is to win one's ego.
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