ZA-DATSU RYU-BO: Upright Expiration
This post is inspired by Michael Thaler who writes the blog One Foot In Front of the Other, and in particular by his recent post titled Dropping Away of Body (7th September).
ZA sitting
DATSU drop, expire
RYU standing
BO lose one’s life, die
MO [subject particle]
KONO this
CHIKARA power
NI [particle] on
ICHI, one, a hundred percent, totally
NIN rely on, be left to, be up to
ICHININ SURU be totally reliant
“[Those who] died sitting or died standing were totally reliant on this power.”
When I went to in Japan in January 1982 I was totally enthusiastic about Okinawan Goju [“Hard-Soft”] Ryu Karate-do, which I saw as the path on which I was determined (grimly) to plod, one foot in front of the other. That was very much my philosophy at that time. I expressed this sentiment to two English mates in Tokyo, who responded by giving me the piss-taking nickname “Plodder.”
Maybe this was one reason I was struck, when I read it later in that year, by the exhortation in Fukan-zazengi to “learn the backward step of turning light around” (EKO HENSHO NO TAIHO O GAKU SU BESHI).
Reading Michael’s post in which he describes his gradual loss of freedom in his body, it struck me that one step at a time is an excellent philosophy whatever direction a person is going in -- not necessarily plodding forward and onward but also retreating in backward steps.
Master Dogen indicates that the backward step, i.e. letting go, is a step that we can learn. This strikes me as very hopeful.
I wonder to what extent it is possible really to be there at the moment of one’s final letting go, so that it can be not just the losing of a fight, not just the inability to take another step forward, but rather a final conscious act, an act of letting go, a final backward step.
I heard the Dalai Lama describing on TV how, when he thinks of dying, he feels not fear but rather a bit of excitement. He seems to be looking forward to that final moment as a kind of adventure, the ultimate challenge.
There is no point worrying how we will be at that final moment. But that future possibility that Master Dogen points to can inform our practice here and now.
In a sense, to learn the backward step of turning our light around may be a kind of preparation for that final opportunity to decide to let go. The secret, as always, is in the preparation. The readiness is all.
KATSUTE MIRU, CHOBON OSHO, ZADATSU RYUBO MO KONO CHIKARA NI ICHININ SURU KOTO.
KATSUTE in the past
MIRU to look into, to see
CHO transcend, surpass
BON ordinary, profane
OTSU transcend
SHO saint, sacred
ZA sit
DATSU drop, die
RYU stand
BO die
MO also [subject particle]
KONO this
CHIKARA power, ability
ICHININ SURU be totally reliant on
KOTO thing, fact [used grammatically]
“We see in the past that those who transcended the profane and transcended the sacred, and who died sitting or died standing, were totally reliant on this power.”
ZA sitting
DATSU drop, expire
RYU standing
BO lose one’s life, die
MO [subject particle]
KONO this
CHIKARA power
NI [particle] on
ICHI, one, a hundred percent, totally
NIN rely on, be left to, be up to
ICHININ SURU be totally reliant
“[Those who] died sitting or died standing were totally reliant on this power.”
When I went to in Japan in January 1982 I was totally enthusiastic about Okinawan Goju [“Hard-Soft”] Ryu Karate-do, which I saw as the path on which I was determined (grimly) to plod, one foot in front of the other. That was very much my philosophy at that time. I expressed this sentiment to two English mates in Tokyo, who responded by giving me the piss-taking nickname “Plodder.”
Maybe this was one reason I was struck, when I read it later in that year, by the exhortation in Fukan-zazengi to “learn the backward step of turning light around” (EKO HENSHO NO TAIHO O GAKU SU BESHI).
Reading Michael’s post in which he describes his gradual loss of freedom in his body, it struck me that one step at a time is an excellent philosophy whatever direction a person is going in -- not necessarily plodding forward and onward but also retreating in backward steps.
Master Dogen indicates that the backward step, i.e. letting go, is a step that we can learn. This strikes me as very hopeful.
I wonder to what extent it is possible really to be there at the moment of one’s final letting go, so that it can be not just the losing of a fight, not just the inability to take another step forward, but rather a final conscious act, an act of letting go, a final backward step.
I heard the Dalai Lama describing on TV how, when he thinks of dying, he feels not fear but rather a bit of excitement. He seems to be looking forward to that final moment as a kind of adventure, the ultimate challenge.
There is no point worrying how we will be at that final moment. But that future possibility that Master Dogen points to can inform our practice here and now.
In a sense, to learn the backward step of turning our light around may be a kind of preparation for that final opportunity to decide to let go. The secret, as always, is in the preparation. The readiness is all.
KATSUTE MIRU, CHOBON OSHO, ZADATSU RYUBO MO KONO CHIKARA NI ICHININ SURU KOTO.
KATSUTE in the past
MIRU to look into, to see
CHO transcend, surpass
BON ordinary, profane
OTSU transcend
SHO saint, sacred
ZA sit
DATSU drop, die
RYU stand
BO die
MO also [subject particle]
KONO this
CHIKARA power, ability
ICHININ SURU be totally reliant on
KOTO thing, fact [used grammatically]
“We see in the past that those who transcended the profane and transcended the sacred, and who died sitting or died standing, were totally reliant on this power.”
posted by Mike Cross at 9:40 PM
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