Podcasts about shobogenzo

This is part 8 of the “Zen Buddhism” series on Buddhist Books Podcast. In this episode, we'll be reading Eihei Dōgen's “Shobogenzo” the chapter entitled “Soku-Shin-Ze-Butsu” meaning "Mind Here and Now Is Buddha" which he wrote in 1239.

In this talk from the second full day of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kodo explores the nature of non-conceptual presence through Case 249 of the Shobogenzo, “The Dharma That Has Never […]

In this zazenkai day talk during the Winter Practice Period, Senseis Kozan and Kodo explore and clarify the meaning of “not knowing” through Case 171 of Dogen's Shobogenzo, also known […]

In this opening session of the Winter Practice Period, Roshi Joan Halifax and Senseis Wendy, Kodo, and Kozan welcome practitioners to the month-long immersion in Zen practice. The session focuses […]

In this Winter Practice Period talk, Roshi Joan, and Senseis Wendy, Kodo, and Kozan explore Dogen's life and the Shobogenzo through a lens of commitment to authentic practice. Roshi Joan […]

10/02/2024, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. Our narratives and our histories shape our conditioned being. Acknowledging this conditioning, we take Refuge in Buddha, the innate capacity to awaken. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Ryushin investigates how our stories and narratives influence our experience of the world. By examining the truth of our lives, we can recognize that our experience is just one, subjective version of reality. After briefly getting the community into small groups to discuss their own experiences, Ryushin points out the clarifying and encouraging power of acknowledging, and speaking our experiences out loud to another human being, non-judgmentally - each of us enacting "Only a Buddha Together with a Buddha” — the title of a fascicle (Yuibutsu Yobutsu 唯佛與佛) of the Shobogenzo by Eihei Dogen, founder of Soto Zen in Japan.

This is part 4 of the “Zen Buddhism” series on Buddhist Books Podcast. In this episode, we'll be reading the first lecture recorded in Eihei Dōgen's “Shobogenzo” entitled “Bendowa,” which he wrote in 1231.

00:00:41 - Dharma Talk 00:24:46 - Sandra invites Questions/Reflections

Rev. Oswin Hollenbeck continues with his 'Attitude of Gratitude' series. He encourages us that, “living the life of a Bodhisattva is a noble thing to do”, and illuminates how we can achieve this way in our daily lives. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday May 5, 2024.YouTube: N/ATwitter/X: @shastaabbey

Norman gives his second dharma talk at the Santa Sabins Sesshin 2024 on "Radiant Light" from Dogen's Shobogenzo #37. Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you! https://everydayzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Radiant-Light-Dogens-Shobogenzo-37-Santa-Sabina-Sesshin-2024-Talk-2.mp3

Rev. Hubert Nearman was a monk at Shasta Abbey who died in 2016 when in his eighties. He was a disciple of Rev. Master Jiyu and a translator for the O.B.C. (Order of Buddhist Contemplatives). His translations are vast, including the complete translation of Great Master Dogen's Shobogenzo. This talk on impermanence took place at Shasta Abbey back sometime in the year 2000, and is a wonderful opportunity for you to get to know a monk who was very dear to all who knew him. Twitter: @shastaabbeyYouTube: N/A

Rev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on Dogen's essay "Only a Buddha and a Buddha" from the Shobogenzo.

Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett talks about chapter 53 from Great Master Dogen's Shobogenzo entitled Hossho (On the True Nature of All Things). You can access a PDF of the Shobogenzo here: https://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/shoboAll.pdf. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey sometime in the year 1981. YouTube: N/ATwitter: @shastaabbey 

Rev. Oswin Hollenbeck continues his theme with gratitude as he talks about a chapter from Great Master Dogen's Shobogenzo on bowing. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on August 6, 2023.Twitter: @shastaabbeyYouTube: https://youtu.be/HHWEhOWCBes ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE PART 1:aired on June 7, 2023Episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2046795/episodes/12996663YouTube: https://youtu.be/sB52W18Hfvs

09/13/2023, Roger Hillyard, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk from Beginner's Mind Temple, Roger Hillyard explores the Boddhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance - a fascicle from Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo on how to help all beings move toward awakening. Roger brings this practice into our modern world and everyday experience, using concrete examples of practice.

https://youtu.be/34xQxJYoR1k

Zen is the transmission outside of words. But there sure are a lot of books about Zen. We look at some of the best books on Zen. Soto Zen, that is. Treeleaf (https://www.treeleaf.org/) Jundo Cohen: The Zen Master's Dance (https://amzn.to/3H2vNKp) Kosho Uchiyama Roshi: Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice (https://amzn.to/44uGlwT) Kosho Uchiyama Roshi: How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment (https://amzn.to/3NI5jls) Shunryu Suzuki: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (https://amzn.to/43jNwXv) Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings (https://amzn.to/3PMDviM) Philip Kapleau Roshi: The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment (https://amzn.to/3pJNM4m) Shohaku Okumura: Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo (https://amzn.to/3Q2lDk7) Dogen's Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries (https://amzn.to/44eqS4n) Shohaku Okumura: The Mountains and Waters Sutra: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's "Sansuikyo" (https://amzn.to/44jEITa) Steven Heine: Readings of Dōgen's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye" (https://amzn.to/44ecjh3) Steven Heine: Dogen: Japan's Original Zen Teacher (https://amzn.to/3rgCe9o) Taigen Dan Leighton: Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dōgen and the Lotus Sutra (https://amzn.to/44czKHH) Kosho Uchiyama Roshi: Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom: Three Fascicles from Shobogenzo with Commentary (https://amzn.to/3XJ4U6X) Kazuaki Tanahashi: Enlightenment Unfolds: the essential teachings of Dogen (https://amzn.to/3PLsazk) Kazuaki Tanahashi: Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen (https://amzn.to/3pzHXXe) Will Johnson: The Posture of Meditation (https://amzn.to/3D2nT2X) Barbara Hoetsu O'Brien: The Circle of the Way - A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World (https://amzn.to/3PIHgWg) Jonathan Landaw & Stephan Bodian: Buddhism For Dummies (https://amzn.to/44wpWYH) Diana St. Ruth: Simple Guide to Zen Buddhism (https://amzn.to/3pFrdhe) Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi (https://amzn.to/44vv0N8) Kazuaki Tanahashi: The Complete Cold Mountain: Poems of the Legendary Hermit Hanshan (https://amzn.to/46O2DvA) Red Pine: The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (https://amzn.to/3rgElKm) Norman Fischer & Susan Moon: What Is Zen?: Plain Talk for a Beginner's Mind (https://amzn.to/3JMMn3R) Stephen Batchelor: The Art of Solitude (https://amzn.to/3D2Nx7S) Brian Daizen Victoria: Zen at War (https://amzn.to/3NE5QF1) Suggested BOOKS & MEDIA on Zen Practice (Treeleaf) (https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?5711-Suggested-BOOKS-MEDIA-on-Zen-Practice) If you want to get in touch, send an email to podcast@zen-of-everything.com (mailto:podcast@zen-of-everything.com). If you like the podcast, please follow in Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

Copyricht On Being photo www.flickr.com/photos/speakingoffaith/ FR. La pratique est quelque chose de commun. Dans le sutra du Lotus, Bouddha lui-même le dit: “Seul Bouddha avec Bouddha peut comprendre les phénomènes tels qu'ils sont.” Il n'existe pas de pratique individuelle et isolée. Maître Dogen reprend l'expression "Bouddha avec Bouddha" dans le chapitre “Yuibutsu, Yobutsu” du Shobogenzo; texte didactique et très poétique. Dans ce teisho j'éclaire quelques thèmes du texte en guise d'introduction. =================================================== NL. De beoefening is iets gemeenschappelijks. In de Lotus Soetra zegt Boeddha zelf: "Alleen Boeddha met Boeddha kan verschijnselen begrijpen zoals ze zijn." Er bestaat niet zoiets als een individuele, geïsoleerde beoefening. Meester Dogen gebruikt de uitdrukking "Boeddha met Boeddha" in het hoofdstuk "Yuibutsu, Yobutsu" van de Shobogenzo; een didactische en zeer poëtische tekst. In deze teisho verduidelijk ik bij wijze van inleiding enkele thema's van de tekst. Live Nederlandse vertaling: Annemie Van Attenhoven Copyricht On Being photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/speakingoffaith/

Rev. Shinshu Roberts continues her lecture series in this fifth part on “Inmo” (Suchness) from Eihei Dogen's ShoboGenzo. https://www.oceangatezen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Shinshu-Dec-3-Inmo-Suchness-Part-5-MP3.mp3 https://www.oceangatezen.org/2022/12/inmo-suchness-part-5-2/feed/ 0

Rev. Shinshu Roberts continues her lecture series in this fourth part on “Inmo” (Suchness) from Eihei Dogen's ShoboGenzo (there is almost 30 seconds of silence before talk begins). https://www.oceangatezen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Shinshu-Nov-5-Inmo-Suchness-Part-4-MP3Audio.mp3 https://www.oceangatezen.org/2022/11/inmo-suchness-part-4-2/feed/ 0

Rev. Shinshu Roberts continues her lecture series in this third part on “Inmo” (Suchness) from Eihei Dogen's ShoboGenzo. https://www.oceangatezen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Shinshu-Oct-22-Immo-Part-3-Audio-MP3.mp3 https://www.oceangatezen.org/2022/10/inmo-suchness-part-3/feed/ 0

Impuls zu offenen Meditation am 24. April 2022

https://www.oceangatezen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Inmo-talk-2-audio.mp3 Shinshu is continuing her discussion of Inmo (Suchness). This talk discusses the paragraph beginning, “My body is not I: my life is carried along by the years and months, hard to stop even for a moment. Where have those rosy cheeks gone?” https://www.oceangatezen.org/2022/10/dogens-shobogenzo-inmo-tal

On a recent YouTube video I talked about misogyny in Buddhism and the pro-female ideas Dogen expressed in Shobogenzo. In this talk from March 16, 2016, I go into greater depth about both subjects in front of an audience at a retreat at Mount Baldy Zen Center. 

Dogen Zenji is a dual patriarch of both Rinzai and Soto Zen  and his writing a Dharma activity changed Japan and the world forever .  To celebrate his life a work I'll be doing a reading of chapters of his Shobogenzo intermitently.  I do a a brief bio of his life and enlightenment story, and then read a chapter entitled Space or Koku in Japanese, and I finish with the Prayer in Praise of the 16 Arhats for the well fare of all Dharma teachers and the flourishing of the Dharma. buddhaversepodcast.comFor my updates follow me  here: instgram.com/harddrive

Dharma talk by Eran Junryu Vardi Roshi of Eiryu-ji Zen Center in Wyckoff, NJ, USA on 6/12/22

 Geoff started to study Zen at the Zen Center of Denver in March of 1991. In November of 1996, he received the rakusu during Jukai--his ordained name is Strongvow. He studied with Danan Henry Roshi until Danan retired in 2009, when he continued he study with one of his heirs, Kenneth Morgareidge, Roshi. Geoff finished formal koan training in 2014 in the Diamond Sangha tradition of the Harada-Yasutani-Aitken-Henry lineage--The Sanbo Kyodan. Geoff continues to work with Ken Roshi on various Dogen fascicles from the Shobogenzo as well as the 300-koans of The True Dharma Eye, and these continue to work on him. in January 2022, Geoff started to give dharma talks and conduct daisan. On May 22, 2022, he will be formally recognized as an assistant teacher at the Zen Center of Denver. For more information about the Simplicity Zen Podcast: https://simplicityzen.com/ 

Norman gives his fourth and last talk of the Dogen on Karma 2022 series on "Identifying With Cause and Effect" - Shobogenzo Case 90 as found in Kazuaki Tanahashi's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/24152704/Dogen-on-Karma-2022-Talk-4-Identifying-With-Cause-and-Effect-Shobogenzo-Case-90-as-found-in-Kazuaki-Tanahashis-_Treasury-of-the-True-Dharma-Eye_-Zen-Master-Dogens-Shobo-Genzo._.mp3

Norman gives his third talk of the Dogen on Karma 2022 series on "Refrain From Unwholesome Action" - Part 2 - Shobogenzo Case 11 as found in Kazuaki Tanahashi's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/17111346/Dogen-on-Karma-2022-Talk-3-Refrain-From-Unwholesome-Action-Part-2-Shobogenzo-Case-11.mp3

Norman gives his second talk of the Dogen on Karma 2022 series on "Refrain From Unwholesome Action" - Shobogenzo Case 11 as found in Kabuki Tanahashi's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/11091732/Dogen-on-Karma-2022-Talk-2-_Refrain-From-Unwholesome-Action_-Shobogenzo-Case-11.mp3

Norman leads a memorial service for Thich Nhat Hanh followed by Chris Fortin speaking on Dogen's Mana Shobogenzo Case 213 "The Bodhisattva of Miraculous Powers." This koan can be found in John Daido Loori's: The True Dharma Eye - Zen Master Dogen's three Hundred Koans https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/28102108/Thich-Nhat-Hanh-Memorial-and-Dogens-Mana-Shobogenze-case-213-_The-Bodhisattva-of-No-Miraculous-Power_.mp3

Chris Fortin an Norman Fischer both speak to the Dharma Seminar on "Baizhang's Fox" Mana Shobogenzo case 102; also Book of Serenity case 8, and Gateless Barrier (Mumonkan) 2. In this series Norman is referencing  John Daido Loori's book "the Tue Dharma Eye - Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20115813/Mana-Shobogenzo-Case-102-_Baizhang_s-Fox_.mp3  

Chris Fortin and Norman Fischer both speak to the Dharma Seminar on "The Bodhisattva of Compassion's Hands and Eyes'" Mana Shobogenzo case 105; also Book of Serenity case 54 and Blue Cliff Record case 89. In this series Norman is referencing  the book from John Daido Loori: "The True Dharma Eye - Zen Master Dogen's three Hundred Koans." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/16110559/Dogens-Mana-Shobogenzo-Case-105-_The-Bodhisattva-of-Compassions-Hands-and-Eyes_.mp3

Norman and Chris Fortin both speak to the Dharma Seminar on “The Bodhisattva of Compassion's Hands and Eyes,” Mana Shobogenzo, case 105; also Book of Serenity 54 and Blue Cliff Record 89 https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/15075127/Mana-Shobogenzo-Case-34-The-World-Honord-Ones-_Intimate-Speech_-1.mp3  

Norman and Chris Fortin both speak on Dogen's Mana Shobogenzo Case 34 - The World-Honored One's "Intimate Speech."  This case can be found in John Daido Loori's  book "The True Dharma Eye - Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans." https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/06134331/Mana-Shobogenzo-Case-34-The-World-Honord-Ones-_Intimate-Speech_.mp3

Dharma Talk By Dosho given in 2016 regarding The first fascicle in Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo entitled Genjokoan

En rêve, dire le rêve. En librairie le 22 octobre 2021 et sur https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/4588-shobogenzo-muchu-setsumu. En rêve, dire le rêve fait partie des textes fondamentaux de Dōgen (1200-1253) nécessaires à la compréhension du « Shōbōgenzō » et du bouddhisme qu'il représente, le Zen.

Extensive recordof Master Dogen's Zen mindand still not enough* * *In the introduction to Dogen's Extensive Record, Eihei Koroku, my copy a gift from Shohaku Okurmura, who collaborated in translating with the American Zen Priest Taigen Dan Leighton, Leighton reminds us that “…Dogen's intent is not to present doctrines of philosophical positions, but to encourage deepening religious practice.” By which, of course Master Dogen means primarily zazen, but also to study these teachings from Buddhism thoroughly in practice, reflecting upon the more obscure or arcane lessons from Buddha on down through the Chinese masters in light of our own experience on the cushion. With the caveat that we are not to assume that a cursory or superficial examination of that experience is dependable. We have to sit still enough, for long enough, for any insight to transpire. How still is still enough? And how long is long enough? Only you can know for sure. If there is any doubt about this in your mind, it is not enough. Doubt itself has to sharpen into Great Doubt, it is said.Shortly afterwards, in the same section, “Using Eihei Koroku as a Practice Tool,” after pointing out that practically 100% of Dogen's teachings are oriented to the practice of zazen, he quotes Bob Dylan as reflecting the same spirit of inquiry in song: “A question in your nerves is lit, yet you know that there is no answer fit to satisfy, ensure you not to quit, to keep it in your mind and not forget, that it is not he or she or them or it that you belong to.” Quintessentially American, the creativity in Dylan is more than matched by that of Dogen, in inspiring this essentially scientific, and yet poetic, approach to Zen.Owing to the exhaustive and extensive, encyclopedic nature of this collection of Dogen's teachings, 645 pages not including appendices, with most of the recorded live teachings being brief enough to fit more than one to a page, it is not possible to deal with in any comprehensive fashion here. Instead, I will offer the tiniest tip of the iceberg, quoting Dharma Hall Discourse number 431. This is not exactly an arbitrary choice on my part, as it is about where I am in the full re-reading of the text, cover-to-cover. This one is fairly typical in its length, as well as Master Dogen's spontaneous approach to expounding upon well-known (at that time) historical events and classical teachings from Chinese Buddhism. It also touches on what I feel is one of the most compelling events in the history of Zen Buddhism, the first meeting and exchange of the Sixth Ancestor in China, commonly referred to as Huineng, with his teacher, the Fifth Ancestor Daman Hongren. It also resonates, in my opinion, with a contemporary issue of considerable concern, friction and frustration, that of immigration. [Brackets are by the translators.] Southern Buddha Nature431. Dharma Hall DiscourseI can remember, lay practitioner Lu [later the sixth ancestor, Dajian Huineng] visited the fifth ancestor [Daman Hongren].The [fifth] ancestor asked, “Where are you from?”Lu replied, “I am from Lingnan in the south.”The ancestor asked, “What is it you are seeking?”Lu said, “I seek to become a buddha.”The ancestor said, “People from the south have no Buddha nature.”Lu said, “People have south or north; the Buddha nature does not have south or north.”The ancestor realized that this person was a vessel [of Dharma], and allowed him to enter the hall for lay postulants.Although the fifth ancestor and sixth ancestor spoke like this, I, their descendant Eiheiji, have a bit more to say. Great assembly, would you like to understand this clearly? Although [Lu] picked up a single blade of grass, he had not yet offered five flowers.The footnotes, which are another asset of this volume, are quite extensive in themselves, filling in the blanks for those readers who are not especially scholarly, such as myself. Here they explain that “Lingnan is a large section of Canton, in south China. People from Lingnan were considered provincial and ignorant.” This is where I find the resonance with the contemporary contempt, expressed in certain circles, for our neighbors to the south, in Mexico and beyond. But buddha-nature, much like human nature, cannot be consigned to only those who are like us. It's either all or nothing, no exceptions.Note that he starts by saying “I can remember,” which he does frequently. I think this may be equivalent to the traditional “Thus have I heard” introducing teachings attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha, as a way of authenticating them. Here, Dogen's memory must be of an anecdote he has studied in writing, or one that his teachers had quoted. Nowadays of course we have the more labor-intensive requirement to thoroughly and accurately attribute any quote to its proximate source, usually in print format, but more and more from online search engines and live or recorded audio-video sources, such as this podcast. The Internet has at one and the same time made this infinitely more doable, and infinitely more complex. We literally have whole libraries at our fingertips, as opposed to scrolls of rice paper.Also in Fukanzazengi, Master Dogen urges us to “…give up even the idea of becoming a buddha” when we begin zazen, after “stopping the function of your mind” to engage in judgmental discourse. Huineng's declaration that this is indeed his purpose would thus normally be taken as the unenlightened view of the novice, but he had had some definitively profound experience leading up to this meeting, when overhearing a monk reciting the Diamond Cutter Sutra, a line defining the true nature of Mind had hit him like a ton of bricks. He had made his way to Hongren's monastery to clarify the Great Matter, without having had any training in, or study of, buddha-dharma. He was said to be illiterate, at least in the context of his times, and was a relatively young man, somewhere in his mid-twenties. This also happens to be the age that our founder, Matsuoka Roshi, came to America, and my age when I met him in the 1960s in Chicago.Hongren's teasing statement that southerners have no buddha-nature is similar to what my fellow Zen students in Chicago said, when I announced that I was moving to Atlanta, in part to bring Zen to the South. They retorted, “Southerners do not do Zen!” I responded, “That's the point!” So now we are the Southern School of Sudden enlightenment, as Huineng's sect was later known. Actually, of course, the binary of sudden and gradual cannot be separated anymore than hot and cold, light and dark. We are suddenly awakened in the moment, or moment-after-moment, but it took the whole of history of the universe to get here. Lung-ya's “Those who in the past were not enlightened will now be enlightened.”Note that Hongren allowed Huineng to “enter the hall for lay postulants.” This tells us that by that time, lay practice was recognized, and perhaps “separate but equal” to that for monastics. Just as Master Dogen had respected the hierarchy in the Chinese monastery of his teacher Rujing, with himself as an outlander at the bottom of the totem pole, apparently the distinction between bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, versus lay men and women, had survived from Buddha's India down to the 600s of the common era.The “five flowers,” as another footnote informs us, “…may refer to the five houses of Ch'an that derived from Huineng's influence. But Dogen's statement implies the need to see multiplicity as well as the oneness of Buddha nature.” Again, contemporary perspectives on ideology reflected in ancient wisdom. The current term of art would be “diversity” rather than multiplicity, perhaps, but the implication is the same. The oneness is seen in the “single blade of grass,” an image that is frequently used in Zen literature to indicate the wholeness in the particular, the many reflected in the one. As Dogen says in Fukanzazengi, “The buddha-way is leaping clear of the many and the one…” The reality is that both things are true at the same time. Simultaneity takes precedence over linearity.Dogen closes with his boilerplate signoff, including a claim to be descended from the old guys whom he remembers having this run-in, and follows with a clarification that is only clarifying if you already have a clue as to what he is talking about. This amounts to the tip of the tip of the iceberg — that part that may be brushed off by the wing of an eagle flying by once a year — to steal from an old metaphor for immeasurability. I hope it has been enough to dig deeper into this early genius of Zen, the founder of our Soto practice, in Japan's medieval time. You could do worse than to at least read the Shobogenzo if you want more than cursory glimpse of Japan's greatest thinker — one who taught the art of nonthinking.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

Renunciationis not simply leaving home —it is homelessness!* * *Master Dogen was quite prolific as a writer, even by today's standards. But we should remember that writing in those days, as well as publishing, was accomplished with rice paper, brushes and ink. Imagine what he might have done with a word processor. He apparently intended his master work, Shobogenzo, which tends to overshadow his other writings, to consist of 100 fascicles, or chapters, but he completed only 95 in his brief lifetime of 53 years.At a conference on Eihei Dogen around 2000 in Palo Alto, after his signature lecture on Dogen's collection of 300 koans, called the Mana Shobogenzo, I asked John Daido Loori, What could the other five have possibly been about? The old modern master huffed, “Good point!” and walked away.This collection, subtitled as “Sayings of Eihei Dogen Zenji recorded by Koun Ejo” in a small volume published by the Soto sect in Japan, was translated by one of my teachers, Shohaku Okumura Roshi. I have selected a couple of examples from the six “books” of live teachings, and will number them for your future reference. I hope you delve into these wonderful postcards from the past in greater detail.1-2 Dogen also said,[You] should maintain the precepts and eating regulations (one meal a day before noon, etc.). Still, it is wrong to insist upon them as essential, establish them as a practice, and expect to be able to gain the Way by observing them. We follow them just because they are the activities of Zen monks and the lifestyle of the Buddha's children. Although keeping them is good, we should not take them as the primary practice. I don't mean to say, however, that you should break the precepts and become self-indulgent. Clinging to such an attitude is an evil view and not that of a Buddhist practitioner. We follow the precepts of regulations simply because they form the standard for a Buddhist and are the tradition of Zen monasteries. While I was staying at Chinese monasteries, I met no one who took them as the primary concern.So the great master, while lecturing to monks living at a monastery, insists that the strict protocols of monastic life are not the primary practice of a monk. That central position is reserved for zazen itself. This tells us, as lay practitioners, that the lifestyle of the monastic, which we may hold in high esteem, and even long to emulate, is not crucial. We remember from Jijuyu Zammai — Self-fulfilling Samadhi — “Without engaging in incense offering, bowing, chanting Buddha's name, repentance and reading scripture, you should just wholeheartedly sit, and thus drop away body and mind.” The various rituals are the peripherals, plug-and-play supportive activities surrounding the true teaching found in meditation. The lifestyle of the householder is likewise not central to living a Zen life. Zazen alone is:For true attainment of the Way, devoting all effort to zazen alone has been transmitted among the buddhas and patriarchs. For this reason, I taught a fellow student of mine… a disciple of Zen Master Eisai, to abandon his strict adherence of keeping the precepts and reciting the Precept Sutra day and night.It looks like Dogen, while a student, played a somewhat subversive role in respect to his Dharma brothers. It reminds me of the tale of the young visiting junior monks, unsui, whom the abbot admonished not to go “imitating the senior monks around here.” When they saw him following the same protocols, they confronted him with the contradiction, to which he said, “I just have my devotion this way.” He was not imitating anyone. Dogen is attributed with asking, “In zazen, what precept is not fulfilled?” Wholehearted practice is not dependent upon the circumstances of our daily life. The real monastery has no walls. But regarding monastic life, Dogen's wheelhouse, the master had a lot to say:1-21 Dogen instructed, Students of the Way, you must be very careful on several levels in giving up worldly sentiment. Give up the world, give up your family, and give up your body and mind. Consider this well. Even among those who retreat from the world and live secluded in the mountains or forests, there are some who fear that their family, which has continued for many generations, will cease to exist, and who become anxious for their family members or their relatives.This deals with renunciation. Members of many spiritual sects are known as renunciants, turning their back on the normal family and social lives of the times, becoming hermits or mendicants. In any time this would represent a radical departure from the societal norms, including its mores and memes. The fundamental purpose of one's life would be re-examined, giving and extremely new meaning to the notion of the “unexamined life” not being worth living. Master Dogen would often focus our attention in zazen like a laser, exhorting us to examine his teachings thoroughly in practice, i.e. mainly in meditation.Although some people depart from home and give up family or property, they have not yet given up their bodies if they think that they should not do anything physically painful and avoid practicing anything which may cause sickness, even through they know it to be the Buddha-Way.Here I have experienced a trick of the memory, which modern studies have apparently proven is a dependable attribute of long-term memory — that it is not dependable. That is, we unconsciously modify and embellish our memories over time, e.g. to polish our self-image, or to make them more meaningful. In this case, I remembered this section as Master Dogen outlining several levels of monks, and how he evaluated them in terms of their ability to do true renunciation. Here I find no specifics of that construct as I recall, and have been freely paraphrasing. Continuing with the last bit as published in this edition:Further, even if they carry out hard and painful practices without clinging to their bodily lives, if their minds have not yet entered the Buddha-Way and if they resolve not to act against their own will even if such actions are the Buddha-Way, they have not yet given up their minds.In my revisionist memory, Dogen expresses ranking monastics in a holarchy of renunciation. The first-level renunciant does what I interpret as outward renunciation: turning their back on the social world, physically leaving home, and donning the clothing and appearance of a monastic. But s/he is unable to actually let go of attachment to family, and/or may harbor secret yearnings for fame and fortune, or status.The second level can actually reject the blandishments of society and the security and comfort of the family tree, which I refer to as physical renunciation. But this person cannot forsake clinging to the comforts of a healthy body, and put their own life on the line for the sake of Zen.The third level adept is able to lay down their life and limb for the sake of the mendicant lifestyle. But they are unable to give up their own willful opinion of all the above. For example, they may be able to perform the abandonment of home and hearth, health and longevity, but they may nourish a certain self-image, taking pride in their accomplishments. This is monkey-mind.If, however, unlike the monkey, they are able to release their grip on all the cookies in the jar, thus liberating themselves from their own clinging mind, they may accede to the highest level in Dogen's hierarchy. At this point, they have done true renunciation, seeing through all the various dimensions of their life, and especially the delusional aspect of their own construct of what it means. Thus, the highest becomes the lowest, and the householder becomes identical with the monastic. If, in the midst of everyday life, with all its complexity, we can still manage to see through to the underlying emptiness, we need not abandon it in favor of the monastic model.Another comment on this came in response to a question raised by a nun in the congregation of Dogen:3-2 Once, a certain nun asked, “Even lay women practice and study the buddha-dharma. As for nuns, even though we have some faults, I feel there is no reason to say that we go against the buddha-dharma. What do you think?”Dogen admonished, “This is not a correct view. Lay women might attain the Way as a result of practicing the buddha-dharma as they are. However, no monk or nun attains it unless he or she has the mind of one who has left home. This is not because the buddha-dharma discriminates between one person and another, but rather because the person doesn't enter the dharma. There must be a difference in the attitude of lay people and those who have left home. A layman who has the mind of a monk or nun who has left home will be released from samsara. A monk or nun who has the mind of a lay person has double faults. Their attitudes should be quite different. It is not that it is difficult to do, but to do it completely is difficult. The practice of being released from samsara and attaining the Way seems to be sought by everyone, but those who accomplish it are few. Life-and-death is the Great Matter, impermanence is swift. Do not let your mind slacken. If you abandon the world, you should abandon it completely. I don't think that the names provisionally used to distinguish monks and nuns from lay people are at all important.”I quote Dogen without omission because I frankly cannot see that any part of his response is not germane and important to our understanding of lay versus monastic practice. He profiles this as a choice, but insists that we are either all-in, or we are not. However he does not indicate that just because one chooses one way or the other, one is not superior or inferior to the other. It depends. Wholehearted practice does not depend on the choice so much as the commitment. Half-baked practice in either case would seem to be the point of what the translators refer to as an admonition. Because Dogen is sometimes characterized as the “father” of Soto Zen in Japan, and mistakenly characterized as overly stern, severe and authoritarian, I would respectfully submit that these instructions are like those given to a child, in the sense of compassionate guidance, or tough love, and not at all condescending, or admonishing. He is not taking sides or advising this nun, and by extension ourselves, as to which way is right for us. He is only encouraging us to recognize the path we walk, and not to confuse the one with the other. Followed to where they are leading, either way works. All roads on the Original Frontier lead to nirvana. Eventually.Master Dogen touches on this point again in later references in Zuimonki, but we do not have time to comment on all of them. In 4-3, for example he reiterates, “The primary point you should attend to is detaching yourself from personal views. To detach yourself from personal views means to not cling to your body.” And later in the same section, “…if you have not detached from the mind which clings to your body, it is like vainly counting up another's wealth without possessing even a half-penny of your own. I implore you to sit quietly and seek the beginning and the end of this body on the ground of reality.” Here we find another aphorism we might have assumed to be Western or biblical in origin. But the great master could as easily have been addressing these comments to a lay audience, rather than to his coterie of monks and nuns. And again, the way, the method for both, is, as always, zazen.In another instance, in 5-20, he quotes an ancient master who said, “At the top of a hundred foot pole, advance one step further.” He goes on to reinforce his point with this familiar Zen trope:This means you should have the attitude of someone who, at the top of a hundred-foot pole, lets go of both hands and feet; in other words, you must cast aside body and mind. There are various stages involved here. Nowadays, some people seem to have abandoned the world and left their homes. Nevertheless, when examining their actions, they still haven't truly left home, or renounced the world. As a monk who has left home, first you must depart from your ego as well as from [desire for] fame and profit. Unless you become free from these things, despite practicing the Way urgently as though extinguishing a fire enveloping your head… it will amount to nothing but meaningless trouble, having nothing to do with emancipation.Here we find the famous “hair on fire” trope we think originated with Dogen but now ubiquitous as the image of extreme urgency and intensity. This is followed by a rather long critique of the ignorance and misguided attitudes of recalcitrant and phony monks of the time, which we sometimes imagine to be a modern anomaly. But people are people, and were no different in Dogen's day. Note the restatement, found elsewhere, of the idea that unless your commitment is total, Zen practice may be a waste of time.As a final note, it should be mentioned that in many parts of his oeuvre, Dogen promotes the monastic alternative. In his times, as it is today, it was probably more difficult for a lay person, man or woman, to maintain a practice of meditation and Dharma study than for a cloistered monk or nun. In 6-9 he likens entering a monastery to passing through the “Dragon-Gate… where vast waves rise incessantly. Without fail, all fish once having passed through this place become dragons.” But he goes on to say,The vast waves there are not different from those in any other place, and the water is also ordinary salt water. Despite that, mysteriously enough, when fish cross that place, they all become dragons. Their scales do not change and their bodies stay the same; however, they suddenly become dragons.I take his meaning to be that all of us, wherever we find ourselves, are surfing the vast waves of samsara that are rising incessantly all around us. And we are all capable of undergoing this mysterious change, passing through the gateless gate, that is nothing more or less than returning to our original nature, while nothing else changes. He goes on to point out that the monastery — sorin in Japanese, which connotes a place pf practice in the forest — is “not a special place.” In transforming samsara to nirvana, our practice converts the mundane to the sacred, and vice-versa. My world and welcome to it (shout out to James Thurber), the monastery without walls.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

Norman gives his second and final talk to the Dharma Seminar of the Dogen's Bendowa 2021 series.  In this Series Norman references the book "The Wholehearted Way" by Shohaku Okamura and Taigen Dan Leighton.  Dogen's Bendowa may also be found in "Treasure of the True Dharma Eye, Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo," edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi, two volumes. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/17095056/Dogens-Bendowa-2021-Talk-2-1.mp3

Norman gives his first talk to the Dharma Seminar of the Dogen's Bendowa 2021 series. In this series Norman references the book "The Wholehearted Way" by Shohaku Okamura and Taigen Dan Leighton. Dogen's Bendowa may also be found in "Treasure of the True Dharma Eye, Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo," edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi, two volumes https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/10114755/Dogens-Bendowa-2021-Talk-1.mp3

All things do exist.On the other hand, they don't.Truth is in-between.* * *This is the fascicle Master Dogen reputedly designated as the first for his master work, Shobogenzo, which I understand is a common term, meaning something like “true eye of the Dharma treasury,” used in China for collections of Dharma teachings. Bendowa, which means something like a “talk concerning the Way,” from which this section recited in liturgy is excerpted, titled Genjokoan, roughly meaning the “actualization of the fundamental point,” i.e. of Zen. Scholars and historians can provide greater clarity on the provenance and historicity of these various teachings. Naturally, there is more dependable documentation, the closer we get to present times. But, owing to Zen's emphasis on direct experience, I think that these scholarly aspects of Zen teachings, while important, are not of primary concern for us. The main issue, as I see it, is whether they mean anything to you, in terms of your own practice of zazen. The whole point of Buddhism is to wake up, ourselves.As all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, and birth and death; and there are buddhas and sentient beings.As the myriad things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death.The Buddha way is basically leaping clear of the many and the one; thus there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas.Yet in attachment, blossoms fall; and in aversion, weeds spread.So there you have it. First, the relative: Yes, of course, all these things really do exist, in their own way. Then secondly, the absolute: On the other hand, and upon closer examination, they do not exactly exist, as there is no there, there; nothing that truly holds together, for long. But no worries, no need to get bogged down in either extreme, Zen's third way: things do exist in the relative sense, specifically by means of their absolute impermanence. Both things can be true at once. Fourthly, however — and this is akin to the fall from grace — the very things to which we foolish human beings attach continue falling; and the very things that drive us crazy flourish like mad, no matter how much we try to prevent either. Flowers, after all, are weeds we do want; while weeds are flowers we do not want.To carry yourself forward and experience [the] myriad things is delusion; that myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings.Further there are those who continue realizing beyond realization; [those] who are in delusion throughout delusionWhen buddhas are truly buddhas they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas. However, they are actualized buddhas, who go on actualizing buddhas.The classic expression, “the myriad things” — meaning all things in existence, from the smallest particle to the largest astronomical cluster — is likely the way we should take Dogen's meaning. Making definitive statements about “myriad things” without the “the” does not necessarily include all things — there could be exceptions. That all the myriad things “come forth and experience themselves” is similar to Buddha's declaration that all things of the universe were enlightened simultaneously, including himself. What Buddhas realize is delusion; that is, they see the delusion built into awareness. Confusion about this is shared by all sentient beings. Anyone who recovers their buddha-nature is no longer a mere sentient being, but nonetheless, still a sentient being. Buddha means “awake,” so it must be possible to be more awake than usual. This seems pretty obvious. Awakeness, or awareness, like intelligence, must exist on a sliding scale, a spectrum, like everything else. We don't necessarily notice what we actually are, whether Buddha or not. We can have weird ideas about it, of course.When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you grasp things directly; unlike things and their reflections in the mirror, and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water, when one side is illumined, the other side is dark.Seeing forms and hearing sounds represent the whole sensorium, feeling feelings, smelling scents, tasting flavors, thinking concepts all included. This direct grasping of things, however, is not the same as grasping buddhadharma. Both sides are illumined, like reflections, both the item and its reflection are equally illuminated; otherwise, we would not see them. When we see things reflected in the Zen mirror, however, the “other side,” the side we do not see, is dark. The tree that we see clearly in the daylight does not know that it is a tree. From inside the tree, all is dark, though it follows the sun.To study the Buddha way is to study the self;To study the self is to forget the self;To forget the self is to be actualized by [the] myriad things;When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind, as well as the bodies and minds of others, drop away.No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.Here is the most-quoted stanza of the piece, which I refer to as Dogen's four transitions. Studying the Buddha way, ironically, begins with studying the self, which seems counter to Buddhism's emphasis on selflessness. Eventually we transition to forgetting the self, which necessarily involves engaging with the myriad things; they actually actualize us, not the other way ‘round. This reflects Master Tozan's follow-up to the precious mirror, in which form and reflection behold each other: “You are not it, but in truth it is you.” Curiouser and curiouser. So far so good. But turns out that this forgetting is total. The self, which most of us identify as body and mind, drops away. And as if that is not enough of a whiplash, the bodies and minds of others do so, as well. Twilight Zone. No trace of this realization is to be found anywhere, and that condition is permanent. So what would be the point, if it all gets lost in the ether?When you first seek Dharma,you imagine you are far away from its environs.But Dharma is already correctly transmitted: you are immediately your original self.We approach studying the Buddha Way much like we do any other subject, imagining that somewhere in the literature, or maybe in the foreign lands of origin, we will find the true source. Certainly not in the self, with which we are way too familiar. But Master Dogen assures us that your happiness lies right under your eyes, back in your own back yard. We are already Dharma-holders; we just do not know it. Dogen's use of the term “immediate” I think is special, meaning intimate in time and space.When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving.But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves.Similarly, if you examine [the] myriad things with a confused body and mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent.[But] When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self.One of the things I most admire about Dogen is his ability to draw on everyday yet revealing experiences that we all have in common, to illustrate his point. I grew up on a farm near a lake, where we would go fishing and boating, so remember this disorienting event clearly, from many times in a moving boat. It is a matter of where we direct our attention. If you pay attention, you can detect this same, seeming contradiction, when moving from sitting to walking meditation. As you move through the room, it flows through you. The totality of movement sums to zero, one meaning of “mokurai.”A quick editorial note: all punctuation and bracketed insertions are mine, meant to enhance understanding of the text, for instance reinforcing the point about differentiating “myriad things” from “the myriad things.” I think this bears repetition. “Confusion” here means the kind of disorientation that may develop from our misinterpretation of sensory phenomena, amongst the most insidious of which is the impression that our mind and nature are permanent. This is the Atman of Hinduism, the “soul” of most theistic belief systems. It is non-threatening to recognize that the universe, with all its infinite beings may be impermanent, but when the pointing finger turns in our direction, we cringe. Again, if our practice becomes truly intimate, we will see that our “self” is included in this all-inclusive embrace.Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again.Yet do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past.You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future, and is independent of past and future.Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes future and past.Just as firewood does not become firewood again, after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death.This being so, it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into death.Accordingly, birth is understood as no-birth.It is an unshakable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birth.Accordingly, death is understood as no-death.Birth is an expression complete this moment.Death is an expression complete this moment.They are like winter and spring: You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.Another poetic analogy derived from the familiar, day-in and day-out reality of living in a time before coal was discovered. When warmth, cooking, metallurgy, et cetera, depended upon the wood-fired hearth. We make a logical, linear connection between the firewood and the ash, with the primal element of fire being the agent of change. In modern times, some would argue that this demonstrates the “arrow of time”: You cannot unburn the firewood. Others would argue that it only demonstrates the irreversibility of natural processes, revealing nothing about the nature of time. Master Dogen points out that in all instances, exemplified by the firewood in one case, the ash in another, the Three Times of Buddhism — past, future and present — are always and only coexistent. Matsuoka Roshi referred to this as the “eternal moment.” Firewood has past, present and future, whether it is burned or not; as does ash.Suddenly, another vintage Dogen whiplash: just as ash does not revert to firewood, you do not revert to an earlier state, birth, after dying. That got real personal, real quick. Dogen's assertion lobbies against popular conceptions of reincarnation. Rebirth, as taught by Buddha, does not make this claim: the one that dies is not the one reborn. Note that both birth and death are “expressions,” but not attributed to anything or anyone. One may say expressions of life itself, I suppose. Death is not opposed to life, but to birth. And both are inflection-points in the continuum of life. Neither somehow magically turns into the other. Thus, and this may be a logical leap, birth is no-birth, or non-birth as another translation has it, and death is non-death. Just as there is thinking, not thinking, and non-thinking, Dogen's coinage. Each is complete in the moment, just like firewood, and ash. Or the seasons. Nowadays, of course, we refer to the annual fire season, hurricane season, or drought, flooding and virus seasons. Pump enough pollution into the atmosphere, and it's “so long” to seasonality. Or “hello” to the end-times.Next time we will continue with Master Dogen's comments upon the nature of enlightenment itself. Stay tuned.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

For this investigation of the question, "what is a Buddha?" we will look into the Sutras and Shastras, or the words of the Buddha and the commentaries from his disciples, to find definitive answers for our own well-fare and the well-fare of others.  We look into the Avatamsaka Sutra with commentary by Master Hsuan Hua, the Vimalakirit Sutra, the Amitabha Sutra, Master Nagarjuna's Prajanaparamita Shastra and Dharmadhatu stava with commentary by Ranjung Dorje, The Uttaratantra Shastra by Maitreya with commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Dignaga's Pramanasamuccaya with commentary by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon, the Platform Sutra with commentary by Master Hsuan Hua, Kobodaishi Kukai's The Meaning of Becoming Buddha in This Very Body, Dogen's Shobogenzo, the 100,000 Songs of Milarepa, and Longchenpa's Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind with his own auto-commentary. Buddhaversepodcast.cominstagram.com/harddrive

Though not far away,you have to enter the gatefound on your cushion.* * *We have touched on some of the seminal teachings of Zen from the transmission of buddhadharma in India, its migration to China via the mission of Bodhidharma, and three of the teaching poems of Ch'an Buddhism selected for chanting in Soto Zen liturgy. No survey of Soto Zen would be complete without including Japan, and its foremost exponent and founder, Eihei Dogen, Zenji. In spite of his dying at the relatively young age of 53, Master Dogen's prodigious output is intimidating. After being ordained in the Rinzai tradition, and traveling to China in his mid-twenties, where he had great insight under his teacher, Tendo Nyojo, or Rujing, he returned to Japan to introduce this zazen-centered practice.His first written tract, Fukanzazengi — Principles of Seated Meditation, or Universal Guide to Zazen, as the translation below would have it, by Yokoi and Victoria — was apparently produced for the benefit of his students, and at their request. This is the version with which I am most familiar, having set it to music as part of my compendium of musical treatments I call SutraSuite™. In these guidelines, the great master seamlessly weaves practical instructions and profound philosophical teachings together. A sampling of this treatise will be the subject of this segment, with mercifully brief comment.But we should remember that, as with the other “monsters of Zen” in this series, the most we can expect is a peek in the tent, brushing the tip of the iceberg, of this great literary legacy. For those who seek more, the international library of sources available on the internet provides an embarrassment of riches, more material than any one person can probably read and absorb in a lifetime. Of particular interest is a downloadable PDF of six comparative translations arranged in a grid by our own Jiryu Frederic Lecut, which you can find online at terebess.hu.But we urge you to examine the true teaching on your cushion, in zazen, as Master Dogen would advise. Meanwhile, we can hope that this monologue will inspire greater effort in your endeavor.Dogen hits the ground running with the first stanza:Now when you trace the source of the Way you find that it is universal and absolute. It is unnecessary to distinguish between “practice” and “enlightenment.”Dogen assumes that whoever is listening is already tracing “the source of the Way.” We once produced a t-shirt with “practicenlightenment” — one word, no hyphen — emblazoned on it. The way is everywhere to be found, and practicing Zen is, itself, enlightened behavior. That is, we are enlightened to the fact of something missing in our lives, and have, in our enlightened self-interest, begun pursuing buddhadharma to find it. That is our prosaic understanding of the “no enlightenment school,” as Okumura Roshi has described it. Not yet Buddha's awakening, but the necessary prerequisite.The supreme teaching is free, so why study the means to attain it?The Way is, needless to say, very far from delusion.Why then be concerned about the means of eliminating the latter?The Way is completely present where you are, so of what use is practice or enlightenment?These three statements, with their accompanying questions, relate Dogen's correctives to prevailing memes regarding the Great Matter: studying to attain the supreme teaching, eliminating delusion, and practice that ignores the “Way before your eyes” are all futile endeavor. The last line is also translated as questioning the utility of pursuing enlightenment elsewhere, as on the traditional pilgrimage.However, if there is the slightest difference in the beginning between you and the Way,the result will be a greater separation than between heaven and earth.If the slightest dualistic thinking arises, you will lose your Buddha-mind.With Dogen, there is always a “but,” or a “however.” In spite of the fact that this is freely available to all, far from delusion, and completely present wherever you are in spacetime, if you see it as a separate, outer thing to be pursued, this is the Buddhist fall-from-grace. The Way is the “road to nonduality.”For example, some people are proud of their understanding, and think that they are richly endowed with the Buddha's wisdom.They think that they have attained the Way, illuminated their minds, and gained the power to touch the heavens.They imagine that they are wandering about in the realm of enlightenment.But in fact they have almost lost the absolute Way, which is beyond enlightenment itself.In what sounds like a criticism of others, but which is meant to be taken by the audience as one of those “if the shoe fits” or “if you see yourself in this picture” cautionary tales, Dogen warns against getting the big head, owing to some small peek-in-the-tent of buddhadharma that you may have encountered. Note that he asserts with Okumura Roshi that the Buddha Way is beyond, not about, enlightenment.You should pay attention to the fact that even the Buddha Shakyamuni had to practice zazen for six years.It is also said that Bodhidharma had to do zazen at Shao-lin temple for nine years in order to transmit the Buddha-mind.Since these ancient sages were so diligent, how can present-day trainees do without the practice of zazen?Even the founders of Zen Buddhism in India and China themselves not only were proponents of zazen, but had to practice it themselves. This “had to” must be understood in the context of “in order to.” No one has to practice zazen, unless they want to penetrate to the depths of buddhadharma, to wake up. Or to transmit the Buddha-mind, which does not imply transmission to others. This transmission is from mind — lower-case “m” — to Mind, upper-case. If this transpires, then one may be enabled to help others effectuate the same transmission. Dogen is encouraging his students to practice, practice, practice.You should stop pursuing words and letters and learn to withdraw and reflect on yourself.When you do so, your body and mind will naturally fall away, and your original Buddha-nature will appear.A bit of a knock on the Rinzai school, which was predominant in Japan in Dogen's time. Koan study was referred to as “kanna Zen,” wrapped up in intellectual word-games. But to study the Buddha Way is to study the self, as famously phrased in Genjokoan, from Master Dogen's first fascicle of his Shobogenzo collection. Body and mind falling away — shinjin datsuraku, from his transformational encounter with his Ch'an teacher, Rujing, is one of the most challenging phrases from Zen history. That your recovery of your original Buddha-nature is dependent upon this existential insight makes it even more necessary that we understand its implications. I like to think that if we simply sit still enough, for long enough, this will occur, as a natural process of profound sensory adaptation. This may be a modern definition of samadhi. The insight into our fundamental nature that accompanies this process may be the meaning of kensho. In any case, Dogen reminds us there is no time to waste:If you wish to realize the Buddha's Wisdom, you should begin training immediately.“Immediately” I take to mean both in time and space, and that training is not only zazen. So we should immediately begin directing our attention to the reality of our surrounding circumstances. As to zazen:Now, in doing zazen it is desirable to have a quiet room.You should be temperate in eating and drinking, forsaking all delusive relationships.Setting everything aside, think of neither good nor evil, right nor wrong.Thus, having stopped the various functions of your mind, give up even the idea of becoming a Buddha.This holds true not only for zazen but for all your daily actions.Sounds like you could do zazen anywhere, but a quiet room is optimal, especially in these noisy times. The Middle Way applies to physical aspects such as diet, but what is meant by delusive relationships? Are there any that are not, at base, delusive? The tendencies of the judgmental, monkey mind are to be set aside, at least while we are on the cushion. The natural tendency to conceive of an outcome, such as “becoming a Buddha,” must also be jettisoned. Even off the cushion, we are to beware such seductions. This is the territory where Buddha's enlightenment becomes “nothing special.”Usually a thick square mat is put on the floor where you sit and a round cushion on top of that… With your eyes kept continuously open, breathe quietly through your nostrils… Finally, having regulated your body and mind in this way, take a deep breath, sway your body to left and right, then sit firmly as a rock. These are the beginning, middle and end lines of a section in which Master Dogen outlines essentially the same instructions for zazen that we continue to use today, approaching a millennium later. The same simple equipment, the zabuton and zafu. Note the specific “continuously open” eyes, which we refer to as fixed gaze, which contemporary mindfulness meditation does not follow, urging meditators to keep their eyes closed. Which begs the question, How mindful can it be, if we exclude vision? Then:Think of nonthinking. How is this done? By thinking beyond thinking and [not] thinking.This is the very basis of zazen.Carl Bielefeldt, in his exemplary study of “Dogen's Manuals of Meditation,” a line-by-line comparison of the original Chinese Fukanzazengi with both of Dogen's extant versions, makes the point that the Master does not give us any mental techniques, but that all his instructions are oriented to the physical. Here, however, we may have the exception to the rule. Non-thinking, assumed to be Dogen's original coinage, points to a state of awareness that is not thinking, as such, but also not necessarily not thinking. Somewhere in-between, the Middle Way of mentality. As the “very basis of zazen,” it would compete with the posture, our usual association. But here, mind and body merge, in nonduality. The stillness of the posture, including the fixed gaze as a detail, manifests a one-to-one correlation with the stillness of the mind. “Mind and body cannot separate,” as Matsuoka Roshi often said.That's a wrap for this segment. Next week we will continue with and complete our exploration of Master Dogen's Fukanzazengi. If memory serves, it was written in ordinary Japanese, which was unusual.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

How had Jundo and Kirk never addressed this, the most basic of questions? And it's not a trick question. "Once you are on the cushion, it is Buddha's butt on the cushion." Treeleaf Zendo (https://www.treeleaf.org) Zen (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen) Zencastr (https://zencastr.com) Shikantaza: The Non-Benefits of Zazen (https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?18965-Shikantaza-The-Non-Benefits-of-Zazen) The Zen Master's Dance (https://amzn.to/3fNBxLW) Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo (https://amzn.to/3AsW0gZ) Theme music by Kiku Day (http://www.kikuday.com). To get in touch, send an email to podcast@zen-of-everything.com (mailto:podcast@zen-of-everything.com). If you like the podcast, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

This is part one of my podcast about Dogen's essay Bussho or "Buddha Nature" from Shobogenzo. I paraphrased the essay in the style of my Dogen paraphrases from my books Don't Be a Jerk and It Came From Beyond Zen, then I commented on it. Enjoy!

We open with Priyal Manjari Reib (BT's wife) describing a recent dream initiation, after which BT and his old friend Joe Zabinski reminisce about 1999-2002 era HOMSI, discuss Cultural Polarization, Black and White Tile, The Parable of the Cave, Alchemy, Idealism, the Nature of Inspiration, Morality, Dogen's Shobogenzo, Iranian Polar Bears, Material vs Spiritual, Materialization of the Spiritual and Spiritualization of the Material, Enlightenment, Unenlightenment, Episcopalianism, Conspiracism, Cult-Survivor Trauma, and a lot of other things.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 06/27/2021 Teachings From Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo: “Continuous...

Le Shôbôgenzô est un recueil de 92 (ou 95 selon les compilations) textes du maître zen japonais Dôgen, composés entre 1231 et 1253 (année de la mort de Dogen). Les huit aspects de l'éveil de l'être noble (ou Hachi dainin gaku) est le dernier opus de cette œuvre magistrale. Traduction: Jacques Brosse Image: http://www.lpgcrea.fr/estampe-japonai... Musique: Scott Lawlor - Union on a higher plane (https://archive.org/details/freefloat... Si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez faire un don pour soutenir mon travail: https://fr.tipeee.com/le-vieux-sage Abonnez vous, likez, commentez, partagez