Mushotoku mind means an attitude of no profit, no gain. It is the
core of Taisen Deshimaru's Zen. This respected master, the head of
Japanese Soto Zen for all of Europe, moved from Japan in 1967 and
brought this work to Paris, from where it was disseminated
throughout the West. This book presents his brilliant commentary on
the most renowned of Buddhist texts, the Heart Sutra, known in
Japanese as Hannya Shingyo-a philosophical investigation on the
futility of philosophical investigation. Deshimaru's work fills a
great gap in the interpretations of this seminal text in that he
emphasizes "mind-emptiness" (ku) as the foundation of Zen practice,
in contrast to the usual "mindfulness" focus of other Zen
approaches. This "emptiness" and "purpose of no purpose" is one of
the most difficult ideas for Westerners to understand. Yet we know
that our most cherished values are based on mushotoku mind when it
comes to love. We value the unselfish love of family or country
that is based not on what we can get from the relationship but on
what we can give. We know, too, that these virtues are not
accomplished directly through our will but indirectly through
dropping our expectations. In his lectures on this subject,
gathered here into one volume by translator and Zen teacher Richard
Collins, Deshimaru returns to a chorus: Mushotoku mind is the key
attitude characterizing the way of the Buddha, the way of the
bodhisattva, the way of Zen and zazen, and the way of all sutras
(teachings). The written word has a checkered past in the history
of Zen, which offers mind-to-mind transmission of wisdom without
scripture and without words. Still, it is difficult to imagine Zen
without its literature. Poems, koans, anecdotes, autobiographies,
commentaries, sutras, all play a role in the transmission of Zen
from the fifth century to the present. Ultimately, these written
records can always be only fingers pointing at the moon of zazen.
Interpretations of the Heart Sutra abound, from as early as the
T'ang dynasty. Deshimaru's contribution to this wealth is colored
by his Japanese heritage, his knowledge of Western philosophy, the
cross-fertilization received from Parisian students of the
1960-70s, and above all by the central place he gives to mushotoku,
which Richard Collins translator calls "the heart of the Heart
Sutra."
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