Abbot's Teaching
Song of Zazen (Zazen Wasan)
by Master Hakuin
Read by Michael Zenkai Taiun Elliston Sensei
July 2004
One of the Abbot's favorite verses, which he frequently reads in the oral tradition of call-response, is the famous Zazen Wasan by medieval Rinzai Zen Master Hakuin.
The call-response method is a practiced while sitting in zazen, typically facing the abbot. The meditators repeat the words of the reading without reflection as soon as they are heard.
Zazen Wasan
From the very beginning all beings are Buddha
like water and ice — without water-no-ice — outside us no buddhas
How near the truth — yet how far we seek
like one in water crying “I thirst”
like a child of rich birth wandering poor on this earth
we endlessly circle the Six Worlds
The cause of our sorrow is ego delusion
from dark path to dark path we’ve wandered in darkness
how can we be free from birth and death?
The gateway to freedom is zazen Samadhi
beyond exaltation beyond all our praises — the pure Mahayana
Upholding the precepts, repentance and giving,
the thousand good deeds, and the way of right living
all come from zazen
Thus one true samadhi extinguishes evils
it purifies karma, dissolving obstructions
then where are the dark paths to lead us astray?
the pure Lotus Land is not far away
Hearing this truth, heart humble and grateful
to praise and embrace it, to practice its wisdom
brings unending blessings, brings mountains of merit
And when we turn inward, and prove our True Nature
that true self is no self, our own self is no self
we go beyond ego and past clever words
Then the gate to the oneness of cause and effect is thrown open
not two and not three, straight ahead runs the Way
Our form being no-form, in going and coming we never leave home
our thought being no-thought,
our dancing and songs are the voice of the dharma
How vast is the heaven of boundless Samadhi
how bright and transparent the moonlight of wisdom
what is there outside us; what is there we lack?
Nirvana is openly shown to our eyes
this earth where we stand is the pure Lotus Land
and this very body the body of Buddha!