Year after year, reeds grew green beneath his knees.
Pitiful indeed is the one who has never come alive within death.
As the stars wheeled and the Dipper turned, his eyes opened—
Do not cry out like a ghost in the empty mountains.
COMMENTARY BY KŌDŌ SAWAKI
Daily Life Itself Is the Buddha Way
This poem describes the Buddha’s six years of solitary sitting in meditation.
Year after year, reeds grew green beneath his knees. If you practice zazen all year round, buds appear and turn green, then they become a tree, which eventually withers. But again come spring, and it turns green again. It happens again and again. Then in autumn, the tree turns white and withers away, and after that, new green buds appear again. That’s why “year upon year reeds grow green beneath the knees” depicts the Buddha’s six years of solitary sitting in meditation.
Pitiful indeed is the one who has never come alive within death. This is about sitting in meditation in complete silence and stillness. Even if a magpie starts building a nest on top of you, you wouldn’t even notice. Your posture, with your legs crossed and looking almost like a mummy or a dead tree, is how the Buddha used to meditate. That’s why it is said “pitiful indeed is the one who has never come alive within death.” If you’re sitting there in complete silence and stillness, it’s like being a lifeless object.
Religion has to be part of your daily life. Buddhism must be integrated into your life as well. If Buddhism doesn’t have this aspect of daily living, then it’s like a lifeless object. Just sitting in meditation without that integration—it’s like being lifeless. If you don’t come back to life from being a lifeless object, you’re pitiful.
For a religion to be alive, it has to be part of your daily life. It should be in how you sleep, how you wake up, how you eat—your whole life should be a reflection of the Buddhist path. If you think that just sitting in zazen is all there is to the Buddhist path, you’re very mistaken. It’s a huge misunderstanding. If you just sit there and don’t engage with life, what exactly are you even doing?
When I was younger, I spent three years secluded in an empty temple. After being shut away for that long, I felt like I’d become so out of touch that when I finally went back into the world, it felt dangerous, like I might get trampled by a horse or something.
When I went to Osaka, a friend offered to take me to a place called New World in Tennoji, a downtown hub. I said, “That sounds great,” and we went along. It turned out to be quite a bizarre place with all sorts of things like steam baths, banzai celebrations, and dancing. When he showed me the banzai, I thought it was so crude that I couldn’t handle it. I thought, “Oh no, I can’t stand this” but my friend kept saying, “Just look at it.” I kept feeling like I couldn’t handle it. Then he showed me the dance, where the girls we dancing half-naked. I was overwhelmed and felt dizzy. After three years of strict seclusion, I was so shocked. But now, even if I see such things, I don’t get dizzy anymore. I’ve become used to it.
However, sitting in meditation for a long time changes you quite a bit. Looking back now, it was good that I did it, but if I had stayed that way, I would have become so withdrawn that I’d end up like a withered bamboo shoot, just stuck in place – in death, he remains lifeless, casting a sorrowful visage. So this is like the Buddha’s six years of extreme ascetic practice. But if anyone just isolates themselves in a mountain or shuts themselves off from the world, that’s just what is meant by this line.
Today Is Complete as It Is
As the stars wheeled and the Dipper turned, his eyes opened—Do not cry out like a ghost in the empty mountains. Life is always moving forward. Every day is like meeting someone for the first time; it’s always right now, in the moment. It’s forever right here, in this very moment. When you look at the North Star, you see the fixed stars circling around it all night long. If you point a camera at it, you’ll see the stars moving in circles along that path all night. In the same way, everything is constantly in motion; nothing stands still even for a moment. The whole universe is always influx. When you look at the Cassiopeia constellation, you’ll notice that the position of the Sun changes depending on the month. You might say, “Oh, it’s over there,” but by dawn, it will have moved to a different place. It’s quite fascinating. Therefore, here it says, “as the stars wheeled and the Dipper turned, his eyes opened—Do not cry out like a ghost in the empty mountains.” Yesterday had its own kind of enlightenment, and today has its own. You have your own enlightenment, and I have mine. Your wife has her own Royal Samadhi, and your father has his own Royal Samadhi. Everyone’s is different, and this Royal Samadhi changes moment by moment.
That’s why it says, “as the stars wheeled and the Dipper turned, his eyes opened.” No matter what, you need to open your eyes right here and now. Enlightenment is about this moment, right now. It doesn’t help to borrow someone else’s enlightenment; it has to be your own. Everything is always changing and moving, and everything is different from one another. If you really open your eyes to that, you won’t need to worry about copying others or making the mistake of just counting last year’s experiences. You shouldn’t even try to imitate the Buddha himself.
I often say that practicing the Buddhist path means creating your own way of living. You use the teachings to shape your own life. However, some people don’t create their own path; instead, they try to imitate their teacher. For example, if the teacher drank alcohol, they might think they should too. They imitate the teacher’s mannerisms or try to mimic the Buddha’s actions. If you think you can just abandon one Yashodara and escape from the royal palace, that’s a real crazy idea.“What are you, a descendant of a coolie?” There’s no such thing as a royal palace you can just throw away, and there’s no such thing as just leaving behind Yashodara. Trying to imitate that, dreaming of the palace, Yashodara, or Dantalokagiri is a huge mistake. It’s like the cry of spirits on the desolate mountain peaks.
So, you have your own things to do. You have your own thing to do today and the thing you have to do right now. That’s why our attaining the Way is: “pitiful indeed is the one who has never come alive within death. As the stars wheeled and the Dipper turned, his eyes opened.” So, we attain the way simultaneously with myself, the earth, and all living and non-living things. Each is complete in its own way—this is complete as it is, that is complete as it is, yesterday was complete as yesterday, and today is complete as today.
“Do not cry out like a ghost in the empty mountains.” Then, you’ll avoid making big mistakes. This is attaining the way.