Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life

by Dainin Katagiri

A renowned Zen teacher and contemporary of Shunryu Suzuki explores the many pillars of Zen spirituality, explaining how we can bring these practices into our daily lives

For twenty-five hundred years Buddhism has taught that everyone is Buddha—already enlightened, lacking nothing. But still there is the question of how we can experience that truth in our lives. In this book, Dainin Katagiri points to the manifestation of enlightenment right here, right now, in our everyday routine. Genuineness of practice lies in “just living” our lives wholeheartedly. The Zen practice of sitting meditation (zazen) is not a means to an end but the activity of enlightenment itself. That is why Katagiri Roshi says, “Don't expect enlightenment—just sit down!”

Based on the author's talks to his American students, Returning to Silence contains the basic teachings of the Buddha, with special emphasis on the meaning of faith and on meditation. It also offers a commentary on “The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance” from Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo, which speaks in depth about the appropriate actions of those who guide others in the practice of the Buddha Way. Throughout these pages, Katagiri Roshi energetically brings to life the message that “Buddha is your daily life.”

Genres: Buddhism, Zen, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Philosophy, Meditation, Religion

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dainin Katagiri's book is refreshingly open and honest.

No instant enlightenment here - only beautifully poetic meditations on what it means to be a real, caring human being.

Throughout the book there lingers a slightly regrettable tinge of sadness, though. Katagiri hasn't found, nor will he give you, any final answers.

In the early years of our marriage, my wife and I used to invite a 90-year-old man, a scientific colleague of my father's who STILL worked part-time - a Russian who fought for the Czar during the Revolution - over to our place for Sunday dinner.

Bless him, he often got lost and had to ask for directions as he drove through our endless new suburbs with almost identical houses!

When he arrived, he’d get his cane and slowly and painfully attempt to get out of his car, his equally ancient dog sleeping half-aware on the back seat, and we’d both smile and say, ‘Mike! We were WORRIED! How ARE you?’

And with a big grin he’d give his invariable answer...

‘Oh, well - still ALIVE! Still ALIVE...’

One evening while waiting for the Sunday roast to be finished I passed old Mike this book.

He read a bit...

He read some more.

Then he turned to me and said, "You know, Fergus, THIS is the book I've always wanted to read!!"

So I loaned it to him.

I'm on at least my third copy now. It's THAT good.

And it's great even at the beginning, when Katagiri tells a long story...

During WWII, when Japan was being strafed and bombed by American planes, a sensitive Japanese doctor was called to operate on a downed Yankee airman, who had crashed.

The operation was interrupted by more bombing.

Everyone in the OR scrambled for the shelter - even the guards.

But not the kindly surgeon.

He continued to operate.

And you know what? The airman survived.

But the doctor was condemned to death as a traitor.

The night before his execution, however, he was STILL thinking positive.

He wrote this poem:

Thanks to lamenting the pain in the world,
I am able to laugh when I am happy.

When I am struck and trampled,
Biting my lips to control my anger,
I realize how precious it is to be born human.

Even if I am fed up with this ugly world, Look!

What a blue sky!

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I always look for when I pick up a Zen book is a book that will give me not only some Buddhist philosophy to read and digest, but also a book that will help me integrate the teachings into my daily life, into the most mundane aspects of my existence. Sitting zazen is a very good practice, but the things learnt on a meditation cushion, or from a book of sutras or from lectures from a teacher, must also translate into one’s daily activities. Zen, as Brad Warner puts it, is a philosophy of action, so a practitioner’s actions must reflect the teachings. I know that’s kind of a tall order, because the precepts are not hard lines, and life is an incredibly fluid and complicated thing. But every once in a while, I strike gold and find a book that seamlessly brings practice and living together, and inspires me in ways that I find directly applicable to my day-to-day.

“Returning to Silence” is such a book. It is deceptively thin, compared to some other books on my Buddhism shelf, but as my grandmother used to say, some of the best medicines come in small jars (sorry if that sounds clunky, I’m translating her weird saying from memory). It is a collection of transcribed lectures by Dainin Katagiri, who was abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Reading these texts, I feel that Katagiri was a humble, down-to-earth sort of Zen teacher, who nevertheless challenged and motivated his students tremendously. His tone is firm, but gentle, and joyful (he has the most wonderful smile on almost every picture of him I’ve seen)! The short sections the book is divided into can sometimes be pretty dense, and definitely deserve to be re-read and reflected on, but they are also remarkably clear and profound.

It’s not really a book for beginners: I would recommend it for people who already practice zazen and who have studied Zen for a while. Less experienced students might find it confusing, but longer term, serious students will find it motivating, inspiring and deeply moving. An excellent book, I can’t recommend it enough.

[Brian Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the subsequent works of Katagiri, all based on oral talks, or Dharma talks, as this one, I found this, his first, to be best read first.

Katagiri can be obtuse, at times, including liberal with how he defines or explains concepts. I find it best in reading him to accept what he says as his way of saying it, without expecting a consistency or logic imposed by the reader.

Everything I have read from Katagiri is captivating, enlightening, and inspirational. Katagiri seems to have a twist on matters that is all his own, utilizing Zen creatively, a Katagiri-spin on the teachings of Zen, while retaining the Zen essence.

I found all his works recommendable for Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Katagiri speaks to us of universal wisdom, the Buddha-Dharma, and in such a way we do not see it in conflict with the essential wisdom teachings of other wisdom paths. Katagiri speaks to us and with us from the universal to the particular, honoring both, and not letting even the Buddhist think Buddha-Dharma can be captured in or claimed as belonging to Buddhism generally or Zen Buddhism.

In this work, as others, we see the late Katagiri was Buddhist for thoroughly, also, a human among humans, a sentient being among sentient beings.

[Ovidiu Lechintan · Rating 4 out of 5]

lot of good advices

[Bernd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein schweres Buch, aber mit seltsamer Wirkung, denn nach dem Lesen scheinbar sich wiederholender und im mahnenden Ton manchmal unerquicklichen Abschnitten, bleibt eine tiefere Einsicht in das Verständnis des Lebens – und das kann man wahrlich nicht jedem Buch nachsagen. Fazit: Mehrmals lesen (vom Erkenntniswert höher liegt noch Benoits Buch "Zen and the Psychology of Transformation")

[John Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learn so much in reading his books and working each day to applying these teachings to life, which is an incredible experience.
Living your life just focused on planting good seeds day by day without expecting anything in return.

[Jim Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this book just didn't do anything for me at all. I made it through a good chunk, but didn't quite finish it. I noticed that I kept finding excuses to do something-- anything-- other than reading whenever I had the time to read, realized that I was really, really avoiding this. Every time I picked it up, I was internally groaning through every paragraph.

I don't know why. I feel horrible saying that. I have read many, many similar books that I have loved. I have heard nothing but good things about Katagiri and I was very much looking forward to this book. I've read some of the other reviews posted and would love to have posted something positive.

But I just couldn't connect with this at all. Even "dry" Zen is usually on some level exciting for me. And yet this just bored the hell out of me.

Which isn't to say it's bad. It just didn't land for me. Sometimes I enjoy books that are truly not good. Sometimes amazing books lose my interest in the first few pages and it's only years later that I'm able to really dive in and get it. I don't know. I'll trust all the readers who said this was beautiful and I'll say this just wasn't the time for me.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found much to enjoy and digest about Katagiri Roshi's teachings in this book. His simple, earnest focus on zazen is at the heart of the essays included here, as well as the idea that adherents of Zen will, with much practice, see the teachings reflected in themselves and their daily life.

As a beginner, I can see a lot of depth here. This is a title that I can return to again and again to absorb something different each time. A worthy addition to my Buddhism shelf.

[Ridgewalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading Zen Buddhist literature for some time now. I quite enjoyed this book, but it deserves to be studied and not given the casual reading I gave it. It was therefore a bit beyond me. I plan on rereading it when I can devote more time to it.

[C Settles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for those interested in Buddhism that already have some background.

[Lori Shinkō Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katagiri Roshi is brilliant in pointing us over and over again to Zazen. This is a treasured read for advanced practitioners with expanded points of practice and life.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays on various aspects of Zen Buddhism. I find books like this relaxing and peaceful. I always find some reminder to come back to my life exactly in this moment.

[Sơn Văn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silence 🍀. Đọc thôi chưa đủ, bản thân phải hành thì việc được mới trở nên có giá trị.

[Antonio Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Il significato principale della vacuità" (Dainin Katagiri)

"La vacuità è ciò che ci permette di aprire gli occhi per vedere direttamente che cos'è l'essere. [...] Dobbiamo assumerci la responsabilità dei risultati di ciò che abbiamo fatto, ma l'obbiettivo finale è quello di non farci ossessionare dal risultato, che sia buono, cattivo o neutro. È questo che chiamiamo vacuità. Questo è il significato principale della vacuità.
[...] La cosa importante è non farci prendere dall'ossessione o dalla fissazione per i risultati che vediamo, sentiamo e sperimentiamo. Tutti i risultati, buoni, cattivi o neutri, vanno accettati fino in fondo. Non dobbiamo fare altro che seminare buoni semi giorno dopo giorno, senza lasciarne traccia, senza creare alcun attaccamento.
[...] Accade sempre qualcosa. Questo è lo zazen. Ecco perché lo zazen è identico alla vita. L'importante è accettare fino in fondo le cose che accadono. Se vedete qualcosa che va corretta, correggetela. Se non c'è nulla da fare, limitatevi a non fare nulla. Qualunque cosa accada, dal principio alla fine, continuate semplicemente a fare del vostro meglio nello zazen. Non dovete fare altro. Nello zazen la mente viene regolata; avere una mente regolata significa non avere alcun presagio di diventare un buddha. Questa è la vacuità.
[...]
Il Buddha è sempre presente in 'ciò che semplicemente è'; buddha semplicemente è. Se crediamo di comprendere noi stessi, già questo non è precisamente 'ciò che semplicemente è', o quiddità, ossia un essere come si è. Questo qualcosa che semplicemente è, o quiddità, non è una condizione che possiamo conoscere attraverso la coscienza. Nel Buddhismo zen si dice che è "quel sé che era prima che i nostri genitori nascessero", o prima del prodursi di un qualunque pensiero. Questo è il sé prima che qualcosa attraversi la coscienza. Il problema è che la nostra coscienza è sempre al lavoro, e va di qua, di là, in tutte le direzioni, attimo per attimo. Perciò, come possiamo conoscere lo stato del 'sé che era prima che i nostri genitori nascessero', ossia la quiddità, ciò che di una cosa semplicemente è? [...] Il modo migliore per compiere questa indagine è mettersi semplicemente seduti a fare zazen, lasciando che il fiore della forza vitale sbocci nella quiddità.
[...] Il principio originario dell'esistenza si può cogliere nella vita di un albero, di un sassolino, della neve, delle stagioni e di ogni altra forma naturale. Prima di entrare nel campo della nostra coscienza, questo principio è ciò che semplicemente è. Il principio originario, in quanto manifestazione del buddha, non è distinto dalla forma degli alberi, dalla forma del sassolino, dalla forma delle stagioni o dalla forma della routine quotidiana. È sempre manifesto, e completo. [...] È là, eloquente. [...] È questo che chiamiamo Dharma, l'insegnamento. Ogni cosa diventa un insegnamento per noi. [...]
Questo buddha, ossia la pura natura dell'esistenza, non è una cosa astratta; si manifesta nella sua completezza in ogni singola forma di esistenza. E dunque, noi possiamo praticarlo, possiamo manifestarlo. Anche se non pratichiamo, siamo tutti buddha. Ma se non pratichiamo la vita del Buddha, non possiamo manifestarlo. [...] Dobbiamo praticare ciò che è semplicemente com'è. Che lo capiamo o no, dimentichiamocene! Dimentichiamolo, perché ciò che è semplicemente com'è si manifesta direttamente nella sua completezza al di là della nostra speculazione o della nostra comprensione. È sempre con noi. È una qualità della nostra esistenza, della nostra presenza. Perciò non dobbiamo fare altro che vivere all'ombra di questa qualità della nostra presenza. Se ci viviamo dentro, possiamo manifestarla" (pp. 55-61).

[John Wenck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good information, but sometimes difficult to understand. The book is based on lectures, not a concerted effort to sit down and write. It's also a book that one should study, not necessarily read from beginning to end to arrive at a conclusion. The content is heavy at times, and if one has little experience or practice in the Zen Buddhist tradition, one can become lost pretty quickly. This is not a beginner's Zen text by any means.

[Sterling HolyWhiteMountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book on Zen, not to mention an essential link between the spiritual and the aesthetic.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, but dense. There's a lot to unpack in this book.

[Sterling S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning book on the essence of Zen; of interest to anyone (with half a brain) interested in aesthetics.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense but deeply humane, humble and challenging book. A whole different beast from the many new age self-help Zen manuals out there.

[David Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminating, highly recommended.