Hardcore Zen_ Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality - Brad Warner [59]
Noboru Tsuburaya’s death from cancer in 1995 brought home to me in no uncertain terms the fact that I still believed in Authority. I was truly stunned. I had erected an imaginary barrier between Him and me that prevented me from even asking if I could make a visit to His bedside. How could a lowlife like me presume to be in the hospital room of such a great man? I made up all kinds of excuses—until time finally ran out and he was gone. Not having said goodbye to him is one of the greatest regrets I have.
But my belief in Authority went even deeper than I’d suspected. Even after throwing away what I’d thought was the final vestige of my belief in Authority, I still had one category of Authority Figures left: Zen masters. Zen masters had always been above the stuff I hated in other Authority Figures. Tim and Nishijima certainly had shown themselves worthy of real respect. The ancient Zen masters I read about in books were mythical figures, towering above the rest of mankind. In short, they were Authority.
My belief in the Nishijima’s authority prevented me from being able to speak honestly with him for many years. I used to wonder why he often fell silent during our conversations. I’d always break out in a cold sweat whenever that happened and try desperately to come up with something clever or insightful that might impress him. But when I did come up with some little nugget, he’d just cock his head and give me a quizzical look. So I’d end up saying a nervous goodbye and racing out of the room feeling like a real schmoe. It took far longer than it should have for me to learn that all he was waiting for was for me to speak sincerely, person to person. When I did that, conversation with him was totally natural.
NOW HERE HE WAS offering to make me a “Zen master.” Not even offering, really, here he was saying I was already a “Zen master” and he just wanted to do a formal ceremony acknowledging that fact. To make matters even worse, not only did Nishijima want to give me Dharma Transmission, he wanted me to go through a ceremony called “receiving” the Buddhist precepts first.
The ceremony of receiving the Buddhist precepts is the closest thing you’ll find in Japanese Zen Buddhism to what’s called “being ordained” in most religions. Nishijima wanted me—me!?—to become an ordained priest in a major world religion?
Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it!
NO SEX WITH CANTALOUPES
Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what’s right.
ISAAC AS IMOV
ALTHOUGH RECEIVING THE PRECEPTS basically amounts to ordination in Japanese Zen, the precepts themselves are common to all sects of Buddhism, and receiving them essentially amounts to committing to live an ethical life. But whatever the style and whatever the dress requirements, the basics of the ceremony remain the same: the student agrees to abide by what are known as the ten fundamental precepts. These are:
1. not to kill,
2. not to steal,
3. not to misuse sexuality (or “not to desire too much” as Nishijima likes to phrase it),
4. not to lie,
5. not to cloud the mind with intoxicants,
6. not to criticize others,
7. not to be proud of yourself and slander others,
8. not to covet,
9. not to give way to anger,
10. not to slander the Three Treasures.
Number 10 is not quite as obvious as the others. Don’t sweat it. Bear with me here.
THERE ARE NO MATTERS OF “SIN” in Buddhism, so unlike breaking one of the Ten Commandments, breaking one of these ten precepts is not considered sinful. In fact, there may be situations in which breaking one of the precepts is the appropriate thing to do and maintaining it literally would be “wrong.”
Rather than being a set of rules that must be followed in order to avoid the Wrath of God,