So much is implied in the word “takuhatsu.” Traditionally, it’s the practice of monks going door to door with their begging bowls. Spiritually, the attitude of takuhatsu opens a dimension that can change your life forever. The Chinese characters for takuhatsu mean “trust in the bowl.” In takuhatsu, you are grateful for whatever comes, and you remain grateful within yourself regardless what comes or goes. Even if you cannot bring yourself to be grateful for a particular event or condition, gratefulness is the stance you take. In the actual begging practice, the monk bows and says a prayer of thankfulness to everyone who puts something in the bowl – whether one yen, a thousand yen, or a handful of dirt. And another important principle of takuhatsu is to have the same respectful attitude toward all people, all ages, all lifestyles, all personalities, no matter what.
In Uchiyama Kosho Roshi’s book “Laughter through the Tears” he describes his life of daily solitary takuhatsu, totally dependent on the charity of others, and how his understandings changed while he struggled to balance the attitude that he should simply be grateful for what was given, without being attached to the outcome, along with the need to efficiently organize his takuhatsu walks to have enough to live on and still have time for spiritual practice. He describes his emotions and the humiliations and realizations day to day and moment to moment, sometimes despised, sometimes welcomed.
Though we may not be dependent on begging door to door, we can recognize that our lives also depend on support in every way, materially, psychologically and spiritually, and therefore we can work to adopt our own attitude of takuhatsu – unconditional gratefulness, respect, and perseverance in spiritual practice. Uchiyama Kosho Roshi says, “Living a life of true reality…there has to be a settling into one’s life in a much deeper place where you face whatever comes up. …True religious teaching has to be able to show us how we can swim through one wave at a time, that is, those waves of our life of now laughing, now crying, the waves of prosperity or adversity.”*
All of this is said as preliminary background for the following poem, written by Zen monk Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831), widely regarded as one of the greatest of Zen poets. His Takuhatsu goes way beyond anything I could say, to the place where a thousand gates open, where the boiling cauldron settles, and where we can recognize ourselves as heir to a sacred lineage of spiritual practice – whatever your spiritual practice is – and a child of the infinite and eternal. Continuing with takuhatsu, we can have confidence that with perseverance in spiritual practice we will reach that which is beyond bondage. When you read Ryokan’s poem, please make sure to read the notes that follow the poem, and then read the poem again.
On this Thanksgiving Day, now and forever, I wish for you a grateful heart, with compassion toward yourself and others, and toward what comes and goes both within you and around you.
TAKUHATSU
Written by Ryokan
On the first day of the eighth month
I walk into town, begging.
White clouds follow my high-spirited steps.
Autumn winds rattle the jade rings on my stick.
A thousand gates open at dawn.
Bamboo and plantains paint themselves in front
of my eyes.
House to house, east to west, I beg for food;
wine shop, fish market, it’s all the same.
Looking directly at the world,
one crushes hell’s mountain of swords.
Walking slowly evaporates the boiling
cauldron.
Long ago the prince of King Shuddodana
taught
and the Golden Ascetic intimately received
transmission.
It has been more than two thousand seven
hundred years.
I, too, am a child of the Shakya family.
One robe, one bowl — totally clear:
Old man Vimalakirti once said,
“Give and receive food as you would
give and receive dharma.”
I take his point.
Practicing solidly, who will not reach the year of
the donkey?
from The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi
Notes on “Takuhatsu”:
-
“Takuhatsu”: Monks’ practice of going to laypeople’s doors and begging for food in a ritualistic manner.
-
“hell’s mountain of swords”: According to Buddhist folklore, swords are planted on a mountain to torture prisoners.
-
“boiling cauldron”: Also according to Buddhist folklore, there is a cauldron to torture prisoners with boiling water
-
“prince of King Shuddodana”: A son of the king—Prince Siddhartha, later Shakyamuni Buddha.
-
“Golden Ascetic”: Mahakashyapa, regarded as the dharma heir of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Zen tradition.
-
“It has been more than two thousand seven hundred years”: Ryokan believed thus, that Shakyamuni Buddha lived around the ninth century BCE. According to Western scholarship, however, the Buddha’s dates were ca. 566 – ca. 486 BCE.
-
“Shakyu family”: Shakyamuni Budda’s community—Buddhism.
-
“Vimalakirti”: a layperson who is the central figure of the Vimalakirti Sutra.
-
“year of the donkey”: There is no such year in the East Asian calendar—meaning timeless time.
(Copied from The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi)
*For more on the experience of traditional takuhatsu by Uchiyama Kosho Roshi, go to https://www.lastelladelmattino.org/in-english/daitsu-tom-wright/introduction and/or the experience and attitude of takuhatsu . For more viewpoints and personal experiences of takuhatsu, see the Tricycle article “Zen and the Art of Begging” or “Becoming Like the Sky: An Encounter with a Street Monk in Ginza.”
