Yoka Daishi, a disciple and Dharma heir of the Sixth Patriarch, wrote his song, Realising the Way, at the beginning of the 8th century, during the T’ang dynasty, which saw a flowering of poetry as well as of Zen Buddhism.

Venerable Myokyo-ni describes Yoka Daishi’s beautiful poem as “a very carefully considered and expounded summary that has the whole of the teaching in it”. As a poem it is full of allusions which she unpicks for us verse by verse. As she explains, the Chinese have a knack for using concrete, earthy analogies for things which otherwise are extremely difficult to encompass. Venerable Myokyo-ni also of course had that knack, that quality of concrete down-to-earthness. She was deeply learned in the Buddhist teachings and with that deep understanding she talked about the teachings always in the context of putting them into practice for ourselves, and for the sake of others. In fact, of ‘realising the way’, just where and how we are.

Venerable Myokyo-ni’s commentary was originally given over some years in the form of talks. It is a joy to have Yoka Daishi’s complete song and Venerable Myokyo-ni’s commentary together in one volume. Her speaking style comes through clear and fresh in these pages – direct, measured and warm. She would address an audience, large or small, quietly and clearly, as if speaking to each listener alone. Yoka Daishi from the 8th century and Venerable Myokyo-ni from the 20th both speak directly to each of us here and now, face to face.

Poetry is a response to experience. As a way of expressing the inexpressible, how better to do it than in a song? Yoka Daishi’s poem is joyful. But the implications for us and our practice are so profound that at times, reading this book gives me goose pimples.

If we undertake to walk the Buddha’s Way, this book is a companion and a guide. The poem itself is not so much an instruction manual – rather it’s a distillation of what and how it is to be a man of the Way. Line by line, it is examined and commented on by Venerable Myokyo-ni, always showing us that putting the Buddha’s teaching into practice is what ‘realisation’, means, right from the word go. “Rather than trying to understand, the task is to take part in that wondrous miracle that life actually is.….and we learn to live by partaking in it.”

There is also comfort and encouragement for practice. We’re told that the Buddha’s teachings give us exact information on how to behave and what to do. “His teaching of the inborn wisdom and strength of the Tathagata already guarantees that it is possible to come into that human state if only we apply ourselves. We are meant to attain it karmically because we are born into it.”

And yet, there it is: “if only we apply ourselves”. If not, Yoka Daishi says, “the good fortune of the Dharma is lost, accumulated merit is wasted.  And all that because of the picking and choosing of the heart. This is why the Zen school insists on the thorough insight into the heart”. Venerable Myokyo-ni adds: “For that, the training must be heedful, careful and meticulous.” No quick fix here. Yoka Daishi tells us: “Our teacher [the Buddha] trained under Dipankara Buddha and for many Kalpas patiently underwent austerities as a hermit. I too went through many births and deaths –” 

We’re left in no doubt as to the nature of the training. “The Zen school is often thought to be severe and strict. Not so: it is only very thorough”. This thoroughness is all-encompassing. From being careful when entering the Zendo, lining up the cushions, observing the form, to taking care in our daily life with what we handle and how we function: “by means of this training, we begin to feel a real relationship and a real satisfaction with all our doings and a fulfilment in doing them, even with the smallest thing.”

Yoka Daishi gives the image of the Vajra-diamond which can cut everything, and flames with the light of clear seeing. Just as a diamond is composed of carbon, Venerable Myokyo-ni reminds us that the passions are the Buddha-nature and the Buddha-nature is the passions, going on to explain the almost alchemical process by which, both formally in the zendo and informally in our daily life, the training makes body and heart strong, so that even though the whole energy may erupt, if contained and the form holds, then the transformation into “diamond” can take place.

This diamond, says Yoka Daishi, “vanquishes even the greatest demons”. And what are those demons? They are not from outside, but inside ourselves: selfishness, anger, greed, fear. “Once they have got us, they hold us and are very difficult to vanquish. They all have to do with ‘self’, and this is why it is said that to fight oneself is the hardest fight, to conquer oneself is the greatest victory.”

The greatest demon can be vanquished, she says, by means of the Daily Life Practice, of always staying ‘at home’, which entails being really given into what at this moment, now, is being done, coming back to it again and again. Venerable Myokyo-ni gives us a detailed, second-by-second account of exactly what happens, in the moment and in the body: “I may sit here quite comfortably, but seeing you doing what I dislike will annoy me, and before I have even become conscious of annoyance, my hands have already tensed and stiffened up”. We all have experience of this, both of containing and of failing to contain that energy. Either way, when the ‘passions’ arise, it’s painful. The advice, as always, is to fold the hands and invite the precious energy to burn me away. “This energy is the only force that is stronger than ‘I’, and so is capable of transforming the very root of ‘I’.”

Venerable Myokyo-ni explains Yoka Daishi’s images and allusions for us in straightforward terms. Both of them are speaking from experience, from a life lived fully in that Way and in that realisation. The warmth and directness of their words shows they know and understand just how it is for us in our walking. We take the teachings to heart, but learning without practice, without making those teachings part of daily life, has no effect. As Venerable Myokyo-ni says, “When on my death-bed, what use would they all be?”

Indeed, this book contains much practical advice. Yoka Daishi: “Just cast off the dirty old clothes you treasure”; Venerable Myokyo-ni: “If we do the Daily Life Practice with a continuous inner bow, then we cannot go wrong.” How simple! Yet how truly mind-boggling. Venerable Myokyo-ni tells us not to be afraid of losing a bit of ‘I’, as it rather eases the burden. As we become less weighed down “we might feel lighter, released from our burden until finally we can, with reverence, lay ourselves, that final burden, at the feet of the Buddha. At that moment we will know who we really are.”

Lucy Spear

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