Song of the grass-roof hermitage

by Sekito, with commentary by Alain Liebmann

Ive built a grass hut where theres nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. When it was completed, fresh weed appeared. Now its been lived in covered by weeds. The person in the hut lives here calmly, Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between. Places worldly people live, he doesnt live. Realms wordly people love, he doesnt love. Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature. A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt. The middling or lowly cant help wondering ; Will this hut perish or not ? Perishable or not, the original master is present, Not dwelling south or north, east or west, Firmly based on steadiness, it cant be surpassed. A shining window below the green pines, Jades palaces or vermilion towers cant compare with it. Just sitting with head covered all things are at rest. Thus, this mountain monk doesnt understand at all. Living here he no longer works to get free. Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests ? Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. The vast inconceivable source cant be faced or turned away from. Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction. Bind grasses to built a hut, and dont give up. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk, innocent. Thousands of words, myriad interpretations, Are only to free you from obstructions. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, Dont separate from this skin bag here and now.

Ive built a grass hut where theres nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. In order to follow the Way, there is not need to complicated your spirit. A simple and ordinary way of life is good enough. A little ermitage lost in a isolate place is a perfect image, completely in harmony with environment. Early on the morning the monk wakes up, washs up, does zazen. Then he eats his guen ma soup, goes to samu. At midtimes he goes for a meal and then, takes a rest for a while There is no need for a luxurious house, television with beautiful cars, no need for numerous and fashionable clothes or delicate meals, there is no needs to complicate our karma with useless attachments a simple kimono, may be patched, but clean, is perfectly good. Neither, it is necessary to obstruct your mind with beautiful, superficial and complicated thoughts or to fill yourself with obscurs bonnos, nor activate your mental with impossible intellectuals questions. The Way is under your feet, into the most ordinary actions of your daily life. After samu and a vegetarian meal, a good rest is natural. A small nap with give me later on energy for the rest of the day, to keep in good mood and available for others. Simple things of our ordinary life are the genuine Buddha teaching, do not search somewhere alse for the way.

When it was completed, fresh weed appeared. Now its been lived in covered by weeds. The little ermitage and the grass mixe each others, they are making one, no separation. When we do zazen and abandon our ego, it melt with the emptyness of the sky, just like a cloud desintegrate and diseappear, absorb by ku.When we lose our ego, it becomes unlimited and the whole cosmos becomes our eternel body. This is the unique spirit, universal, the spirit of the univers. There is no duality anymore between me and the cosmos.

The person in the hut lives here calmly, Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between. Completely fareway from everything and everybody into his hiden ermitage, miwed up with the wild grasses, the old wise man can practice meditation witout any disturbance, deeply and intensively. Then, he can check his karma, understand the roots of his ignorance, then, transcend it, go behond. The interior world and the exterior one are not separated. It is just like life and death, they are like the two faces of a same page. Life couldnt exist without death which is just the continuity of life in another world, into the invisibe world. Life and death are not two, they are not distincts or separated. There is no duality, just like there is no difference between material, and spiritual, body and mind. The origin of the pollution of the Earth comes from the pollution of our mind, if we clean our mind, the Earth will be cleaned. Places worldly people live, he doesnt live. Realms wordly people love, he doesnt love.

He has no particular attractions for communs places such as big meetings and big crowds were ordinary people feel attracted. Usually people like to be packed, it makes them more secure and they can escape silence and thinking about the emptyness of their life. While in pubs, they can speak about stupids things and avoid the real questions. Thoses fashionables places, were people like to see and to be seen, are full of superficialities, were you can meet a lot of vulgars peoples and speak all night long about stupidities, such a places are not for someone interested on the essence. Of course, occasionally, be can go on such a place, and even enjoy the fun of artifices, alkohol and karmic complications, but, at the end, we must avoid to go in such places. It is better to spend our energy by going in a retreat, doing a sesshin, for exemple, with spiritual friends, with the sangha. There, you can improve your practice, share and exchange, develop your positive side, improve your self in a more interesting way. Usually people do not take initiatives, they just follow what they ear from the media such as TV, radio, newspapers, publicities, etc. They are like that famous painting from Bruegel who show a blind man leading a group of blinders and bringing them to a sinking cliff. They are not able to take initiatives, they just stupidly follow. Unfortunately, it is the same in religions, they just follow the conventional paths, unable to create, to come back to the source, to the essence. They are able to create their own religion, they do not understand that, a true religion is simply to discover the self, and to transcend the self, to go behond the behond. Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world. In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature. Deshimaru used to say that : a single point of your kesa contains in itself all zen teaching. Silence also, is certainly the biggest teaching, deeper than any beautiful theological sentence. Its say everything without even open the mouth. This is speaking without speaking My limited body, full of weakenesses, nevertheless, contains all the sutras, all the religions of humanity, and that, the whole univers is inside myself and myself is the entire univers. Form and essence, body and mind, mix each others, melt, interpenetrate, there is no duality anymore, 2 makes 1 and 1 transcended, one makes 0 and 0 diseappear itself, zero is not zero. This no-zero. This is not even mu, it is no-mu. Do not be attach on mu, do not be attach on detachment either. Always moving, like the planets in the univers, we cannot stagnate on anything. Always put yourself in question, challenging ourself, do not rest with your values, its change all the time. Everything is impermanent, mujo. The nfinitely small contains the infinitely big and vice versa. If we speak with an universal regard small or big doesnt means anything. Lets take the model of a seed tree. Despite that the seed in itself is infinitely small, it already contains in itself all the potential of a big tree with its branches, leaves, roots, etc. In itself, that tre contains a univers of animals who will be dependant on it : different kinds of birds, squirrels, and others species. Birds will build a nest and will fill it with a family, squirrels will make a storage of foods for the winters, etc. In a single leaf, exist a wholl univers, for exemple, there is rivers of chlorophyles, dew lakes, a multitude of insects, ladybirds,.. which in itself represent also another planet, another univers.

4 More we penetrate into the infinitely small and more we discover the universal immensity. Recently scientific searchers discovered atoms, then, they found inside neutrons, then protons which produce electrons. Into the infinity small electronspreutons are still smallers the quarks and gluons, which themselves produces leptons, etc. More and more the scientifics penetrate into the infinity small world, more and more they discover there is no limits and this is so small its become huge, just like the huge empty sky above our head. Often when Im looking the beautiful Milky Way at night, at La Gendronnire for exemple, I say to myself that, the Mylky Way is my spine, the Sun my faith, my flame, the warm light which gives energy to all living beings, the Moon is the intuitive and invisible part of my interior world, the stars are my brillant ideas which I can gives to others, etc. A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt. The middling or lowly cant help wondering ; Will this hut perish or not ? Perishable or not, the original master is present, Not dwelling south or north, east or west, The genuine bodhisattva walks on the Way without any doubt. He has an absolute faith, completely immovable. Any obstacle can disturb is practice, anything, even his family, wife, or his business. If your determination is flawless (sans faille), you can deal with all obstacles without problem, more the obstacles are strong, more you have too be stronger. Obstacles makes you stronger. Simple than that. People always doubt : is that hut will perish or not ? - whats happening after death ? is there is still life ? will I diseappear for ever ? Whatever we diseappear or not is not that important, only those with a big ego have fear, only the essence of yourself keeps alive, which is no-self, only the no-self of yourself continues. Whatever you diseappear or not, the essence of yourself keep going. It is on you and behond you, it doesnt rest in the North, nor in the South, nor in the West, neither in the East but is also liying in the North, in the South, in the West and in then East. Do you understand that ? No, thats perfect. You do not need to understand everything, which is already something. Notions such as North, South, West and East, big or small, have to be transcend, it doesnt mean anything in a cosmic dimension. Thoses things are just human categories. It is the same for understanding or no understanding. People want to understand everything, but, the important point is not to understand but to practice what you understand. Practicing is already understanding, even if you do not understand. Do you understand ? In a cosmic level nothing is pure or impure, even stealling means nothing. To steal is just to remove something to somebody and to put in another place, but, of course, to steal is not the thing to do. Thins are just what they are. When a mountain rejects fire and lave is going down and destroy the village below, it doesnt thinck, that bad, the chaos of the univers is not bad in itself, it is even necessary, and some naturals calamities which appear from time to time on our planet are just consequences of biologicq and chimicals reajustments. Even wars and epidemies, if we do not ad emotional or moralist judgment, can be seen just like naturals consequences of our civilisation karma.

5 If my spirit is sick, the wholl univers is sick, if I commit a bad action, the all univers receive the energy of that negative action which, in futur will create a bad karma, not only for myself, but also for all the civilisation. Wars are just the result of a collective karma. If I do zazen, it will not be positive only for me, but for all humanity. If Buddha obtains satori, it will be beneficia for all human and celest beings, the flore and the faune, devils and angels, the stars and the whole univers who will take advantahe of it. Firmly based on steadiness, it cant be surpassed. If you want to walk on the Way, it is necessary to have a strong discipline. Zen teaching cannot be realized without transcend yourself, without going behond your limits. The way disturbs the ego, this is it. Abandoning our illusions is something we will do as the last resort. Sometimes, a serious sickness is necessary, or something very disturbing, the death of your husband, child, something terrible, which make a big choc on you. Then, you have to see things differently, you have to reajust your way of life deeper, to abandon your superficials habits. Those kind of hard time will happen to everybody at least once, if not more, during your life. There is some croosroads and decisions to take sometimes, with no chance to come back. Anyway, do not axpect facility. Life is full of traps and thoses you are not strongs will not be able to deal with such situations. Hard time makes you stronger, it reinforce your determination. All big masters, without exceptions, starting with Buddha himself, have deeply suffer during some periods of their life. Deshimaru, at the beginning, got a lot of difficulties before to take off and becoming famous. At the beginning, when he came in 1967, nobody knew him and knew nothing about zen itself. For several years, he did zazen alone, in a macrobiotic storing room, then in his flat in Montparnasse. Then, after several years, few persons starts to come and help him seriously. A sangha was taking birth. Several times he though to come back to Japan or even going to the States. Myself, in Ireland, at the beginning, I organised some zazen days. Two persons came and one left after the meal at midtime, I didnt had any zafu at the beginning and we did zazen with blankets and a chair was the altar with a picture of Deshimaru as a Buddha. I didne had any dojo and my English was quite inefficient. On the morning, often, I did zazen alone. Sometimes I felt lonely spiritualy, but, hopefully, my faith was immovable and nothing nor nobody could change my way. After a certain time, people feel that, there is something in the dojo, the teacher has some strength or some seriousness, peole feel that, they feel secure, they relax and listen, and they come back and bring some friends. At the end, perseverance pays. Just do not discourage yourself at the first obstacle. A shining window below the green pines, Jades palaces or vermilion towers cant compare with it. A hut lost in the middle of a pin trees forest, a window shine into the obscurity of the night. A old monl study a sutra at a candle light, or may be he is doing zazen ? or may be is he cutting vegetable for the guen ma ? He doesnt waste his time with mondanities or superficials relationships. Despite that he is alone and leave poorly and simply, his life is far more pleasant than those who wear silk jackets and sleep in precious palaces. Apparently, it looks like his life is more difficult to deal with, but, for someone who appreciate truth values, it is, in fact, much easier. He doesnt need to go to diplomatic or

6 politic meeting, speaking superficially about fashion or business. He hasnt money problems, nor power or competition to fear, nobody is jealous or his position, nobody want to take his place, he is not disturb by courtesan or mistress. Early at the morning, he wakes up with the rooster song and does zazen, he listen the teaching of the wind walking through the branches, collect some fruits and mushrooms, medicinal roots and herbs. Its needs are quiet few and simple. May be we should come back to this kind of values. Our civilisation is far too much complicated nowadays, we are too sophisticated and too refine, we should come back to basic needs. Then, he goes to cut wood for the winter reserve. His life seems difficult but nevertheless he seems happy and healthy. He is not an ascete. He likes that way of life, it is a choice for him, and he is in a perfect harmony with the cosmic order. Sometimes some monks come to visit him, practice and exchange their experience of life together for some times. Then, at the sunset, they share few bottles of wines and sing songs happily, look at the sky and the stars and listen the teaching of the moonlight around a firewood then go to sleep. The permanents of La Gendronnire have a little bit that kind of life, a simple way of living, genuine and rid off superficialities. Directly going to the essentiel : zazen, samu, resting time, zazen, going to bed and waking up early next morning. Not easy, not difficult. It is just like this. When everybody sleep, the moonlight penetrates through the hut window and illuminate his subconsciousness and the stream sing for him its eternel sutra. Unconsciously, while sleeping, he listen that teaching, just like you and me, here, receive the teaching of the insensitive beings, the teaching of the wind, the birds and the whole nature. This is mujo seppo which recite its sutra, uncessly, even when everybody sleep. The moon, even when its diseappear behind the mountain, continue to preach the dharma into the deep night silence, even if nobody looks at it, its still continues to preach, may be for the invisible beings, may be for the stones or the plants, to thoses worlds, whom us, human beings, cannot even see. Just sitting with head covered all things are at rest. Thus, this mountain monk doesnt understand at all. Living here he no longer works to get free. Sitting in zazen posture, body and mind quiet. All complications cease from themselves because I do not entertain them anymore. All my mental and physical agitation appease. Then, things starts to become clearer, I can go to the heart of my contradictions which are exposed clearly in front of me, without any hiding. The obscurs parts of the subconsciousness since several lifes is enlighted by the like of my practice. Then, I can face it, without emotive interference, without fears, and transcend that blocage and get rid off. I subtilise negative energy and transform it on positively. I change lead on gold, my body becomes spiritual, I spiritualize myself. I have even abandoned all intellectual understanding, all esoteric, mystic, magic approach and I do not do effort anymore to understand the Way simply, I practice it in the dojo and in all the actions of my daily life. I abandoned satori and do not escape illusion either. I even do not have the illusion of satori. I know that an illusion is an illusion if I believe on it, this is like that an illusion arise. If an illusion is really seen as an illusion, it diseappear by itself, because there is no substance anymore. This is the illusion which swallow illusion, emptyness which swallow emptyness.

Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests ? Here, Wanshi criticize the masters who are trying to catch beginners in order to have a lot of disciples. It is no necessary to please beginners in orders to seduce them. This kind of approach is very vulgar and, to be to diplomatic, at the end, is not at all positive. A genuine godo, sometimes must disturb the disciple in order to make him react, change his behaviour or understand his ignorance. In Japan, at the old time, in order to test the determination of the beginners who wanted to enter into the monastery, the master let them outside. All night, they just have to do zazen, with anything to eat or something warm to drink and, at the early morning, he came with a pitcher (cruche) of water, pour abondently each one of them, then go back to the temple. Those who were not determined quickly escape, saying that the mastr is just crazy. Only thoses who were not disturb by such obstacle were allow to enter into the temple, after several days of that kind of test. Then, they could enter into the temple, work in the kitchen, and after, were allow to do zazen with the olders. Of course, it is not necessary to follow that tradition because times and manners have change, but, anyway, a master does not need to seduce his disciples. It is not the quantity of followers who is important, but the intensity of the practice. By arranging seats in order to seduce followers or by giving some to easy teaching, which doesnt disturb the ego, the teacher compromise himself badly and there is nothing he can gain with this kind of behaviour Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. The vast inconceivable source cant be faced or turned away from. Meditate means to dive into ourself, to do a total half turn Abandon whats happening in the dojo, forget about your neighbour, the calligraphies, and even let pass the godo kusen. It is not even necessary to try to understand anything or to analyse whatever. The understanding has to be more subtile, at another level which is behond intellectual approach, behond the appearance of words. This is an intuitive approach, in shin den shin, which doesnt need to be hold on. You must understand without understanding see without seeing thinking without thought. The world religion in japanese kanji means the origine, the source. Coming back to the source. The essence of our consciousness is infinite and unthinkable, this is why it is not necessary even to try to understand what is god, because it is simply behond human being capacity. If you give an image to god, you just limite him to your imagination, to your personal conceptions, due to your education and your karma. The source is infinite and inconceivable and it is very good like this. It is not necessary to try to define everything. There is some things, particularly in the spiritual world, which we will never understand. We will never know the origin of humanity or even, more simply the origin or the sense of our life, because words are not strong enough. This is why, silence and the infinite strength of emptyness is the best way to communicate with the invisible world. Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction.

8 You must keep contact with a guide and practice meditation with him or her. From all times and in all traditional religions, an older is there to show the way. In your tur, later, you will have to take the torch, and to show the light for the futurs generations and this until eternity. This is the transmission, to protect wisdom of the olders and to give for the futurs generations.

Bind grasses to built a hut, and dont give up. Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Build an strong hut for the winter because it will be tough. Numerous problems will appears in front of you. Sometimes, you even will doubt. Thos difficulties which you have pass through will make you stronger. It is like putting a sword blade into a red coal fire, the blacksmith hammering incessly the blade in order to make it stronger. By going behond the tough obstacles of our karma we will become a genuine bodhisattva. Those who follow the easy way do not progress, they degenerate. Difficulties make us stronger. Let pass all your past karma, the karma of your ancestors watch it, let it pass, let pass your illusions and attachments and relax completely. Recreate a new way of life withour any chain, abandon le weight of your karma on the border of the road and let it there. Abandon that cross which you are carrying since the origin of humanity and walk freely. Open your hands and walk, innocent. Open your hands, open your heart and your mind. Do not fear to get out the beaten track (sentiers battus). Explore life, be spiritual explorators, explorators of your interior world. Do not have any far and walk innocently on the Way. The genuine bodhisattva has, by essence, a pur spirit, mushotoku. He is protected by celest beings and gods who will give him all he will need in order to progress into his journey. Do not fear storms, neither crossing the desert, dont come back and go with determination on the path of the olders. Do not fear to disturb the old religious dogmes, buddhist, muslims or christian. Recreate uncessly your own religion, be fresh and spontaneous, free from all hindrance, put yourself always in question and recreates yourself all the time. Do not stagnate into your olds conservatrices toughts. Thousands of words, myriad interpretations, Are only to free you from obstructions. Thousand of words, myriads interpretations are just thousands of ways and interpretations to see things. There is thousand of worlds and thousands of ways to see the sames thousands things, but all those ways watching everythings come from the same source, and those thousands of hindrances come from our complicate spirit which create all those obstacles between the source and me, but all those obstacles will diseappear if we come back to the original spirit, which is one, unity. There is thousand of individuels with thousands conceptions and visions of the world. There is thousand leaves on the tree, nevertheless, they all have the same root and fill themselves with the same substance. Every form, every existence come from that source. Trees, faun, flora, mountains, the sea, stars, everything, absolutly everything, has the same spirit. This is the universal spirit, th spirit of the universe.

We can say that the spirit of the mountain is the same than the spirit of a human being. There is a calligraphy that Deshimaru very often did : the man looks at the mountain, the mountain looks at the man. The spirit of the man and the spirit of the mountain have the same root, and the spirit of the sea and the universal spirit is my original spirit. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, Dont separate from this skin bag here and now. If you want to meet that universal spirit, if you want to meet that immortal part of you, you must find again the path of that little ermitage which is deeply into yourself If you want to find the immortl, the old wise man who leaves in that hut , if you want to find your original nature, you must deeply dive into yourself, because, may be, there is a shining pearl at the bottom of it. The answer of all yours problems is on yourself. We creates ourselves our own difficulties, our own obstacles and chains. If we return at the origin of that obstacle, we will be able to get rid off it, because, in reality, our difficulties have no substances. The old wise man you are looking for is already there. He is into yourself. He is waiting for you since too long already. One day or another, you will have to meet him, to visit his hut and share his light. The guide brings the ox at the river during a certain time, after the animal knows by himself the way to go at the river. Do not be dependant to anybody and do not follow a teacher blindly. Take your responsabilities, do not stay like childs, immature, take your responsabilities, be yourselves. Get free of all attachs, whatever they are religious, emotionals, affectives or materials and be free. Then, help others to get free of there hindrances as well. This is the genuine religion, there is no others Behond dogmes, behond religions itself.