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By Ekai Korematsu

In Zen, when we talk about a journey, the analogy of a boat, the image of a boat floating on the ocean and moving with the wind is often used. Without the wind there's no movement; it is the wind that carries the boat in the direction that it wants to go. My master, Ikko Narasaki Roshi, often used this analogy of a boat, a sailboat. I don't think that he had any actual sailing experience [laughing] but he used the analogy very well to express the nature of our practice.

He often said that the wind doesn't hinder the sailboat, it can go in any direction and he especially emphasised that the boat can even go against the powerful head wind. Of course, in terms of the direction that one has planned, the helpful wind is the tail wind but sailors know that the excitement of sailing is in going against the head wind. The head wind comes and the boat may be almost capsized but it can catch the head wind and be spun around back on course. That was an analogy my teacher often used to illustrate the movement of our practice, especially the practice of a monk.

In other words, we not only have to be able to go against what the world demands, but also, and almost more importantly, we have to be able to go against our own personal intentions, our very own desires. This movement against the current is not to be seen as a fight against something, but rather it is the carry the boat forward and the means to move from our limited personal ideas of reality into the natural flow of reality itself.

For the first couple of years he served in the northern part of China, Manchuria, on the Russian Front and for the other two years he was in New Guinea, the closest point to Australia. And because he was educated and a Zen monk he was given a position of authority, fortunately he wasn't involved in any active duty but he witnessed a lot of suffering.

When he returned to Japan and saw the devastation he didn't want to go back to Zuioji, he just wanted to quit, but his master, Konyo Hojo had passed away and the monastery searched him out because his master, the Abbot, had designated my teacher as his successor.

In the Japanese training system the relationship between master and disciple is such a binding relationship, so intimate, that if your master wishes you to do something you just can't deny it, especially a final wish like that, you have to come, at least to pay your respects, offer incense and so on. So my teacher had to return to his monastery, he really had no choice. The directors of the monastery were waiting for him, as they needed a successor to restore the monastery and its training system. So at the age of 28 my master took on this heavy responsibility and he had to really go against what he was feeling. He made the decision to give himself to service and from then on, he put everything into this, especially training the monks and building educational systems for the next generation. The kindergarten that he started is still there, still running - the earliest in the prefecture.

He also sought to improve his own training so he went to the Rinzai temple in Kamakura and to the head monastery for lectures. He then needed to invite someone to train monks and he invited Eko Hashimoto Roshi, one of the three great Soto teachers of those days. The other two being, Kodo Sawaki Roshi and Ian Kishizawa Roshi. Those three great teachers had three distinct emphasis's on practice and teaching: Kodo Sawaki Roshi emphasized sitting individually, Ian Kishizawa Roshi emphasized prostrations and the teaching aspect of practice and Eko Hashimoto Roshi emphasized monastic training, the group training of monks. We could say that these three aspects, these three focal points are the three pillars of practice.

Of course, because my teacher was the abbot of a training monastery he wanted Eko Hashimoto Roshi to come. And he thought that the little zendo at Zuioji would be appropriate but Hashimoto Roshi wouldn't come because the zendo was not sufficient to practice in Dogen Zenji's way. It didn't have the proper layout and wasn't built to Dogen Zenji's specifications. Hashimoto Roshi told him "I'll only come if you build the correct zendo." So my master worked very hard, raised money and built a zendo to Dogen Zenji's specifications and then Hashimoto Roshi accepted his invitation.