Okumura Roshi on the Basic Principles:
“Ichiza, Nigyou, Sanshin.
One sitting (Ichiza),
two practices (Nigyou: vows and repentance),
three attitudes (Sanshin: generous mind, caring mind, joyful mind).”
“SANSHIN” is the term Uchiyama Roshi used in his last lecture at Antaiji. He retired from Antaiji in 1975, many years ago. I was 26 or 27 years old, so it was more than 40 years ago. He said that as a teacher or abbot of Antaiji, he had realized that these three things were the most important, and he had passed these three points on to his students. After that, I had to come to this country [the United States of America] and practice without my teacher, so these points were my teacher. For me, Sanshin is the essence of his teaching.
Of course, zazen is the most important thing, but sanshin is how our zazen is applied to our daily lives, whether we live in a monastery or in society, with our families, at our workplaces, or in society at large.
When we live together with others, we need these three guiding principles. For Dogen, these three attitudes are practical instructions for the monks in the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi said that this teaching applies not only to the monks in the monastery but to everyone who lives together with others. Whether it is a Buddhist sangha or another type of community, we need these three basic attitudes.
Similarly, the teachings in Dogen’s Eihei Shingi (Pure Standards for the Zen Community), according to Uchiyama Roshi, are an introduction to how our zazen practice can function outside of the zendo in our daily lives. Originally, these were instructions for monks in the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi says they are not only for monks living in the monastery, but are important for everyone who lives in a community with other people. […]