Priest Danjo: There was absolutely no lingering attachment. It was just about sitting in zazen.

Even when I expressed, “I want to do this,” the Master never once said, “You shouldn't do that.” Instead, he'd say things like, “If you want to do it, go ahead and try it once. If you fail, well, that's fine too. Even if you know you'll probably fail, why not go ahead and do it anyway?”

On the other hand, he was strict in certain ways. For example, when I left the Hiroshima Zen temple, he said, “You have to make your own way from now on by yourself. Let me tell you this: a temple must repay a thousandfold what it receives in offerings. What you're doing isn't some business where you buy and sell things, taking a percentage as profit. You must repay a thousandfold what you've received.”

Jakusui: Huh? You, Priest often talks about giving back a thousandfold. What does that mean?

Priest Danjo: Do you know about brown rice seeds? If you drop that tiny seed into a rice paddy in early spring, it divides and sprouts into rice plants. How many grains do you think come from just one brown rice seed? Actually, it produces between one thousand and one thousand five hundred grains. Within just one grain of brown rice lies the potential to multiply into a thousand grains. If I were that single grain of brown rice, then the power to repay a thousandfold exists within each and every one of us.

My master said, “Yes, you are that single grain of brown rice. Do you understand what it means to repay a thousandfold the offerings received from your parishioners? It must be repaid in invisible ways—through prayers, through a heart that thinks of others.”

Now, let me share an episode about returning a thousandfold.

Dr. Svante Pääbo, who analyzed Neanderthal genes and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for that research in 2022, came to SAIKOUZENJI every year for 25 years. He would stay for one to two weeks and practice zazen with us.

When he left, he would leave an offering. The first time I received his offering, I said,

“Dr. Pääbo, if I accept your offering, I must repay you a thousandfold. I don't have that kind of power. Why don't you use this money for souvenirs for your children on your way home? While you're in Japan, leave all meals and such to me. You don't need to worry about that at all.” But still, every time he came, he left an offering.

Dr. Pääbo won the Nobel Prize on October 4th. When I checked online, his award was announced first. I'd had a feeling he might win, and I was truly delighted.

I immediately called him at his home and said, “Congratulations! That's wonderful!” I expected to hear joy in his voice, but instead, he changed his tone and said, “Danjo, I need to talk to you about something.” I thought it might be something serious, but he said, “Well, Danjo, you always talked about getting back a thousandfold, right? With this Nobel Prize, I think what came back was more than a thousandfold of what you were talking about.”

Jakusui: Wow, what a wonderful story. The friendship and spirit of a thousandfold return resonate between Priest Danjo and Dr. Peebles.