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Thread: site about the abbots of Eiheiji

  1. #1

    site about the abbots of Eiheiji

    Just to share an insteresting discovery, a site about all the abbots of Eiheiji since Dogen in Japanese but with plenty of interesting documents. With a special page on Niwa Zenji, Nishijima's teacher and our ancestor in the lineage:

    http://eiheizen.jimdo.com/永平寺77世-丹羽廉芳禅師/

    and a magnificent portrait of the guy.



    gassho丹羽廉芳禅師.jpg


    Taigu

  2. #2
    Thanks Taigu,
    Wish I could read Japanese. Great portrait ...

    ... that reminds me. I asked Isabelle for an eyebrow trimmer for Christmas. I have no hair on my head, but plenty sprouting above my eyes and in my ears!

    Gassho
    Myozan

  3. #3
    Mp
    Guest
    Wonderful, thank you Taigu.

    Gassho
    Shingen/Michael

  4. #4
    One more motivation to continue my Japanese learning.

    Thank you Taigu.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  5. #5
    Wonderful!!

    I will set about to translate it over the coming weeks, and we can publish it here (it seems all public information). I see Nishijima Wafu is mentioned in there once. I also order a book by Niwa Zenji, mentioned in the article, that I did not know.

    Gassho, J
    Last edited by Jundo; 01-15-2013 at 04:43 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  6. #6
    Treeleaf Engineer Seimyo's Avatar
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    Thank you Taigu.

    A translation would be amazing Jundo.

    Gassho.
    Seimyo

    明 Seimyō (Christhatischris)

  7. #7
    That would be interesting to read, especially since the Google translation to English was even more confusing than not being able to read the Japanese. As an aside, it would actually be very interesting to know more about many of the individuals in the lineage.
    Neika / Ian Adams

    寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
    火 Ka - Fire

    Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

  8. #8
    Hi,
    Are there any books about our forebear in English, by any chance?
    Gassho
    Myozan

  9. #9
    Thank you Jundo, it would be wonderful if you could at least translate the biographical bits.
    And no, unfortunately, nothing in English about Niwa's Dharma.

    gassho


    Taigu
    Last edited by Taigu; 01-15-2013 at 08:21 PM.

  10. #10
    I always felt a deep connection with Niwa, very humble and soft, and I vividly remember when he came to the West. Little did i know at the time that I would be one of his great grand sons one day. Here is some stuff I wrote a few years ago.

    Like a laughing and beaming cat
    Eternal rambling of the brook
    the cow enters the stream
    your eyebrows like brushes
    and teeth and tongue
    gulping deep blue sky
    dolls you playing with
    at five or six years of age
    dressing them endlessly
    your shaved head under the sharp blade
    the incense cloud and fragrant pine
    the loud voice of the valley
    shaking the rocks
    rocking the silent moon
    not making sense of anything
    loosing track, wiping footprints
    how can one walk the rain
    what is the faith of trees, bees, birds?
    Not answering
    bleeding laughters
    merely gazing
    with gentleness
    you ascend the Eiheiji seat
    and bow at dogs in secret
    Niwa
    my blood in yours
    and yours in mine
    soiled
    as this all world
    seal in space
    not even a ripple
    or stir
    or chatter
    or whisper
    the seal where two moons
    collide
    and turn into
    each other
    Niwa
    like a rambling and beaming cat
    eternal laughing of the brook

  11. #11
    Taigu, can you tell us anything about him?
    Neika / Ian Adams

    寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
    火 Ka - Fire

    Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Neika View Post
    Taigu, can you tell us anything about him?
    I can tell you this little bit ...

    Although he was as mainstream, orthodox and traditional as could be, Abbot of Eiheiji (Dogen's temple, the monastery of all training monasteries in Japanese Soto Zen ... he was the "Pope" of the Zen Vatican) ...

    ... he was also very dynamic in his belief that one must support the coming of Zen to the West, and in Ordaining and making his Dharma Heirs some folks who were reformers, not completely orthodox and traditional, out in the worlders, who were strong critics of how dusty and musty Soto Shu (the Soto Zen Church) in Japan often had become. That is why he made his Dharma Heirs some unique types and reformers like Taisen Deshimaru and our Nishijima Roshi. Niwa actually did so, expressing their hope that the spread of Zen overseas would result in something more dynamic and alive than what Zen had sometimes become in Japan, and that it would actually bounce back to give Japanese Zen a much needed kick in the shins.

    Here is a little film of him, produced years ago, which shows him in formal Dokusan with a young priest. (That's him from the 1:15 to about 4:45 mark) ...



    Gassho, J
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  13. #13
    Fascinating thread - will look forward to the translation.

    Gassho

    Willow

  14. #14
    The guy was pretty unusual, as a very young child he loved to play endlessly with dolls and had quite feminine taste. Not at all what you would expect from a Zen priest, after Sawaki Kodo s death he took the newly ordained Deshimaru under his protection and wing and slways invited him in his temple with his European students. Desjardin did shoot Niwa giving Dokusan and his sitting is absolutely majestic and natural. When Deshimaru died and as he was about to become Eiheiji s abbot, he agreed to give transmission to three students of the late teacher. He came to France to do so and visited sanghas and other teachers in Spain, Italy and Germany. Totally open to the West, he was a leading exemple of the transmission to the westeners. The stories about him are many, his love for bowing even in front of a dog if a dog would go by, he also was the first abbot not to miss a single early morning sit in Eiheiji zendo ( the tradition is for the abbot to sit in his room on his own) Niwa had a heart as broad as the sea.

    Last year a rakusu with Niwa s calligraphy ended up in my hands, a pure miracle, unheard to me, which I also see as a confirmation of a bond between the great grand father and his miserable great grand son beyond life and death.

    Gassho


    Taigu
    Last edited by Taigu; 01-16-2013 at 10:12 AM.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Taigu View Post
    The guy was pretty unusual, as a very young child he loved to play endlessly with dolls and had quite feminine taste. Not at all what you would expect from a Zen priest, after Sawaki Kodo s death he took the newly ordained Deshimaru under his protection and wing and slways invited him in his temple with his European students. Desjardin did shoot Niwa giving Dokusan and his sitting is absolutely majestic and natural. When Deshimaru died and as he was about to become Eiheiji s abbot, he agreed to give transmission to three students of the late teacher. He came to France to do so and visited sanghas and other teachers in Spain, Italy and Germany. Totally open to the West, he was a leading exemple of the transmission to the westeners. The stories about him are many, his love for bowing even in front of a dog if a dog would go by, he also was the first abbot not to miss a single early morning sit in Eiheiji zendo ( the tradition is for the abbot to sit in his room on his own) Niwa had a heart as broad as the sea.

    Last year a rakusu with Niwa s calligraphy ended up in my hands, a pure miracle, unheard to me, which I also see as a confirmation of a bond between the great grand father and his miserable great grand son beyond life and death.

    Gassho


    Taigu
    Wonderful story Taigu, thanks you. I'm always amazed by the interconnectiveness of everything.
    Gassho, Shawn Jukudo Hinton.
    Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
    It all begins when we say, “I”. Everything that follows is illusion.
    "Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
    寂道

  16. #16
    Thank you Taigu. A very deep bow for the story.
    Neika / Ian Adams

    寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
    火 Ka - Fire

    Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

  17. #17
    Looking foward to the translation!


    Gassho, Kaishin / Matt
    Thanks,
    Kaishin (開心, Open Heart)
    Please take this layman's words with a grain of salt.

  18. #18
    This is an old post, however it does not appear that it was ever resolved, that is the translation.

    Please go here: https://translate.google.com/transla...waZenmaster%2F

    Scroll down to Eiheiji Temple, 77 Renji Niwa Zen Master

    With Kind Regards,

    -Tame

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Tame View Post
    This is an old post, however it does not appear that it was ever resolved, that is the translation.

    Please go here: https://translate.google.com/transla...waZenmaster%2F

    Scroll down to Eiheiji Temple, 77 Renji Niwa Zen Master

    With Kind Regards,

    -Tame
    Hello Tame,

    I translated the portions about my Dharma Grandfather, Renpo Niwa Zenji, in the most recent edition of the book by Nishijima Roshi we published (it is not included in earlier editions).

    https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Chat-Bu...0453389&sr=1-3

    I will include some of those pages here:





    ==============

    By all accounts, Nishijima Roshi’s Teacher, Zuigaku Rempo Niwa Zenji, was a sweet, tender and caring man. Niwa Zenji was the Seventy-Seventh Abbot of Eiheiji Monastery, the temple of Dogen Zenji. (In fact, the honorific “Zenji” is granted in the Soto School to those few who have been the Abbots of Eiheiji or Sojiji, the two senior monasteries of Soto Zen in Japan). Niwa Zenji subsequently served as the Chief Abbot of the Soto School (Kancho), the official head of the sect, and was granted by the Japanese Emperor the honorific title “Jikô Enkai Zenji” (“Great Zen Master of Compassionate Light, Ocean of Plenitude”; 慈光圓海禅師). A Grand Master of “Baika” Buddhist hymn singing and a recognized master of calligraphy, many of his brushed works appear under pen names such as “Old Plum” (老梅), “Snow Plum” (雪梅) and others.

    Niwa Zenji was born on February 23rd, 1905, the sixth of ten children of Kataro (father) and Mura (mother) Shionoya in Uryuno Village, Kimizawa County, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In 1916, by his own request at only the tender age of 12, a “Homeleaving” Priest Ordination was performed by his uncle, Niwa Butsuan Roshi (丹羽佛庵老師) of the Tokei-in Temple (洞慶院) in Shizuoka. Niwa Zenji would remain a priest for the next 77 years, until his death. He recounted the story in his memoirs:

    At the age of twelve, my grandfather’s 7th Annual Memorial Service was conducted by Rev. Kagashima Sojun of the Jotokuin and the priest who would eventually become my master, Rev. Niwa Butsuan. My Master, Butsuan, was the second son of my grandfather Kishiro, and so my father Kataro’s first younger brother. Butsuan had received Homeleaving Ordination under Rev. Niwa Bukkan of the Ryuunin, the Dragon Cloud Temple, in what is now Shimizu City in Shizuoka, and Butsuan was then the Head Priest of the Tokei-in Temple in Shizuoka.

    I recall that the purple color of the Kesa robe my Master wore at the Memorial Service was wonderful, and enchanted me and made me truly want to wear such a Kesa. I thought, “I want to become a Buddhist Priest too!” That evening, when all my relatives were gathered around the cooking hearth, I came right out and said so. My father agreed, saying, "I see. Because there are so many children, Ren, shall we ask Uncle’s temple to do this for us?" But my mother, Mura, spoke against it, pleading, “Even before this boy had entered primary school, he already was helping me in gathering mulberries for the silkworms, making Udon noodles, carrying rice to the miller. We have ten children, but I just can’t be apart from this one.”

    But in the end, after being persuaded by my relatives, my mother reluctantly agreed.

    My Master, Butsuan, welcomed it and declared, “This is to be celebrated, even our Founder Dogen Zenji was only 14 years old when he was Ordained!” In my childish heart, I thought, “Wow, I am going to become a monk at about the same age as Dogen!”, and I still remember how excited I was as if it were just yesterday.

    Following that day, I got my wicker bags together, and I set out the next afternoon for Shizuoka. It was 1916, April 8th, and I was in the 6th grade of elementary school.

    ~ From Niwa Rempo’s Book, 「The Plum Flower Opens – My Life Until Now梅華開-わが半生」~


    Upon Ordination, he received the monk’s name Zuigaku Rempô, meaning “Auspicious Mountain-Peak, Pure Fragrance” and in 1926, at age 22, received Dharma Transmission from Niwa Butsuan Roshi. Soon after, he began study at Tokyo Imperial University (now The University of Tokyo) majoring in Indian Philosophy, and following graduation, returned to Toukei-in Temple to serve as the Kansu (監寺) temple supervisor. In October 1933, at age 29, he completed his time in the Monk’s Hall at Eiheiji, and returned to the Tokei-in.

    The Tôkei-in is considered the root temple of our Lineage through Niwa Zenji, Butsuan Roshi and earlier Ancestors. It has been a Zen temple of the Soto school since the 15th Century, and is located in the beautiful green hills near to the town of Shizuoka (180 km to the west of Tokyo) on Mt. Kuzumi. In fact, Niwa Zenji’s connection to Tokei-in continued throughout his life, right until his eventual death in one of its pavillions. In April 1936, at age 32, Niwa Zenji was officially appointed as Lecturing Instructor for Soto Zen Doctrine (宗乗担当講師) accompanying the opening of the Monk’s Training Hall at Tokei-in. The opening of the Training Hall was an important event for the temple. Although officially ranked as a “Daijuu Zenrin,” one of the “ten great monasteries” of Soto Zen in Japan, and a “Senmon Sodo,” a temple specifically designated for the training of novice priests, the number of Priests in residence has never been great and the size of the temple always modest. Its fortunes have waxed and waned through history as well, and Niwa Zenji worked very hard during his life for its revival and present health. The opening of the Monk’s Training Hall was an important step in that revival.


    Niwa Zenji’s name only became “Niwa” some years after he first became a priest. In December 1939, at age 35, Zenji was registered in his uncle and Master’s Niwa family registry, as an adopted child, changing his family surname from “Shionoya” to “Niwa.” He explained:

    Following in the footsteps of my Master, my surname was changed from Shionoyo to Niwa in December, 1939. Eshu (慧宗), my younger brother apprentice, left for the war, saying “If I die in the war, I would like to come home bearing the Niwa name”. Our Master said, “Since you [Eshu] are my latest apprentice, it does not make sense for me to include you alone as a Niwa. First, I will register Ren, and then include Eshu under Ren’s registry”. In this way, the Master registered us. Eshu was made the grandson.

    Looking at it from the standpoint of our Master, he was getting on in years, and even if Eshu returned from the war unhurt, the Master thought that he himself might already no longer be living. So, I think at that time he felt grandmotherly concern that I be there in the future to look after things.

    However, Eshu did not return alive.

    He ended up being sacrificed in a meaningless war.


    In his memoirs, Niwa Zenji recounts other hardships encountered during the war, including Tokei-in’s housing great numbers of school children as refugees during the worst days of the American bombing.

    In 1960, at age 56, Niwa Zenji was appointed the Director (Kan-In) of the Eiheiji Betsuin Training Temple, Eiheiji Monastery’s branch in Tokyo, where he would remain for many years. It was there that he would eventually Ordain Gudo Nishijima. Nishijima Roshi, who was a family and working man, recalled how Niwa Zenji was willing to encourage and nurture Soto Zen Priests who would combine priesthood with lives primarily out in the world.

    By the time I was 16 years old, I had already begun to have much interest in Master Dogen's Buddhist thought, especially in Shobogenzo, which I would then go on to study for many decades. Eventually, I began to translate Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo from the old Japanese language into modern Japanese. This was finally published as "Gendaigoyaku Shobogenzo” or “Shobogenzo in Modern Japanese," and at that same time, I began a series of lectures on Shobogenzo at several places including the Young Men’s Buddhist Association of Tokyo Imperial University [now Tokyo University] and elsewhere.

    At that time I made up my mind to become a Buddhist monk in the Soto Sect but, unfortunately, as a working man supporting a wife and child, I did not feel I could abandon them to undertake monk’s training for long years. I hoped to find a way to combine priesthood with my other responsibilities. Furthermore, I felt very keenly that Master Dogen’s Teaching should be available to people out in the world, and not only to those leading a monastic life. Therefore, it was necessary for me to find a Buddhist Master who would permit me to become a Buddhist monk under such circumstances. Fortunately, I recalled the name of Abbot Rempo Niwa, who happened to have graduated years earlier from the same school as me, the Shizuoka Governmental High School, and I asked to visit.

    I visited the Master at the Tokyo Branch of Eiheiji, and I asked to become a Buddhist monk by him. I explained my situation and my hope to unify priesthood with family, work and a beneficial life in the world. Upon hearing my story, I was joyously permitted to become a monk by him. When he listened to my proposal and wish for becoming a Buddhist monk, I noticed that he shed a little bit of tears in his eyes, and he had to wipe them. So I felt that it might also be a joyful fact for him to have me as his monk, and that he understood very well. I received Shukke Tokudo Ordination in December, 1973, next Hossen Shiki and then Dharma Transmission in 1977. From that time, Master Niwa was very kind and always careful for me not to meet any kind of difficulty in my secular job and responsibilities while continuing my Buddhist activities.

    After having the ceremony to become a Buddhist monk formally, I began to teach people Zazen and Shobogenzo, even in the Tokyo Eiheiji Branch too. And because it was held every Thursday afternoon, I finished my job a little earlier than usual, and went to the temple wearing a common business suit as an ordinary salaried man. Therefore, taking off my coat, and wearing the Kashaya [Buddhist Kesa robe] over a white dress shirt, I gave my Buddhist lecture in the temple. However, some Buddhist monks in the temple thought that it was very inadequate for a Buddhist monk to hold a Buddhist lecture wearing a Kashaya over a western white dress shirt, and so they asked Master Niwa to stop such an informal style in the temple. To this Master Rempo Niwa said, "It is not so bad, because he seems to be like an Indian monk," and so I could continue my Buddhist lecture in the temple without changing my style.

    Eventually I began to lead Sesshin in the temple at the end of Summer, and at that time, of course, I wore the formal black clothes of the Buddhist monk. Also, at The Buddhist Association of Tokyo University, and so forth, I used the formal Buddhist clothes as a monk without fail. Then I began to lead Sesshin in Master Rempo Niwa's temple called Tokei-in. I led Sesshin at Tokei-in six times a year, for Japanese participants sometimes and for foreign participants in English sometimes. Our relationship continued even after Master Niwa became the 77th Abbot of Eihei-ji from April 1985 to September 1993, right until his death.

    I was taught so much by the Abbot Rempo Niwa about how I shall live as a human being. The Abbot Rempo Niwa was a very sensitive and generous person. … When I visited him in his private room, he sometimes served me a cup of green tea that he himself prepared. At that time, even when he did not teach me especially with words, I was able to gain so much knowledge simply by watching his behavior. He showed me at that time so many teachings.

    On June 25, 1976, at age 72, Niwa Zenji was elected Assistant Abbot of Eiheiji Head Monastery, and in January 1985, at the age of 81, he became the 77th Abbot of Eiheiji. In that role, and concerned for the internationalization of Soto Zen abroad, Niwa Zenji made overseas trips to China, Europe, America and elsewhere, and oversaw the founding of an International Division at Eiheiji. Niwa Zenji gave Dharma Transmission to Master Nishijima with knowledge and encouragement of his work in Japan with both Japanese and foreigners and, among his other Dharma Heirs, bestowed Dharma Transmission on students of Taizen Deshimaru, the Teacher so influential in the propagation of Soto Teachings in Europe. On February 22, 1992, Niwa Zenji was elected the Chief Abbot of the Soto Sect, and thus formal head of the Sect.

    On September 7, 1993, Niwa Zenji passed away in the Abbot’s Residence known as the Plum Viewing Pavillion at the Tokei-in Temple in Shizuoka. He was 89 years old.



    NIWA ZENJI ON ZEN PRACTICE

    (Adapted from a 1977 interview on the NHK TV series “The Religion Hour”)



    The Buddha Way is to probe and see through this self, and the basis for doing so is to Practice through this human body which our self possesses. Thus, it is most vital to make effort oneself in the manner of Shakyamuni Buddha. … In the Genjo Koan, Master Dogen speaks of “To learn the self”:

    To learn Buddhism is to learn ourself. To learn ourself is to forget ourself. To forget ourself is to be experienced by millions of things and phenomena. To be experienced by millions of things and phenomena is to let our own body and mind, and the body and mind of the external world, fall away. Then we can forget the mental trace of realization, and show the real signs of forgotten realization continually, moment by moment.

    What is this word “self” of that phrase “to learn Buddhism is to learn ourself?” This “self” means our ordinary way of seeing things, our small self in our usual thinking. However, if we probe a little deeper beyond the “self” of our ordinary thinking, there is to be found a higher degree of self that presents a limitless interpenetration of wisdom and benevolence. If we are speaking of the ordinary self, we may come to think of just our small, deluded self as our self. But in reality, the self is noble, and if we polish it, limitless light will shine forth therefrom. Master Dogen looked at each individual in such way.

    ***

    Master Dogen taught that we beings who are living life, all the many beings and not just human beings, have such nobility beyond what can be spoken. But that fact is hidden because of the many attachments, desires and other blindnesses whereby we are limited to seeing just a small, ugly little “me.” However, just within reach is something great, something just ahead beyond even measure of great or small, which is the self.
    … If we polish the self with such purpose, the original light will shine. This is the Buddhist Way; this is our rescue.

    ***

    Dogen’s words in the Genjo Koan, “to forget ourself”, mean to explore through Practice just what is this self – and that Practice is Zazen. By Zazen, this self just naturally ……… [silence]. And to forget in such a way means to enter the world that leaps beyond good and bad. For example, forgetting even that our “self” has the bottomless nobility that I first mentioned, and also forgetting how we fall into the clouds of greed, desire, anger and like folly, one thus leaps beyond both good and bad, which is the meaning of “to forget ourself.”

    ***

    Dogen’s Teacher, Nyojo Zenji, spoke of the sense of small self as “jinga,” personhood. The small self is known by a view of “personhood” or “individual selfhood,” and with this view something otherwise noble is made small and suffers. When we leave behind and transcend that small selfhood, we find what is real according to Nyojo Zenji.

    The words of the Genjo Koan, “to be experienced by millions of things and phenomena” then means to leave behind this small self, and to find what I first spoke of, namely that there is a polishing which brings out an interpenetrating, bottomless light of wisdom and benevolence. This is just Bodhi (enlightenment, being awakened to the true nature of things), and we find such for ourself right here and thereupon finally let such go. At that moment of letting go there is “being experienced by millions of things and phenomena.” In other words, in so forgetting the self, we and the universe become one. The Universe is Reality, and Reality and our self become one. And so, there is not separation of self and other, this and that. There is you, there is me. Self is and other is. Yet this is no separation between self and other, and to attain such a pure and expansive heart is “to be experienced by millions of things and phenomena.”

    ***

    In Shakyamuni’s Teachings there is found the words “Turning the self, Turning the Dharma.” “Turning the self” means that one’s little self turns the Dharma, and that when one’s sense of self is strong, the Dharma is weak. On the other hand, when the Dharma turns the self, then the Dharma is strong and the little self is weak. By this strength, heaven and earth become full of one or the other. By this weakness, there is not left room for even one hair. So, when the little self turns the Dharma, the self is strong and the Dharma is weak. Heaven and earth become full of small self views such that, in that instant, the world is flooded with [greed, anger, ignorance and such] evil, and even a hair’s worth of good cannot remain. But when the Dharma turns the self, and the Dharma is strong while the self is weak, then the world of “being experienced by millions of things and phenomena” is truly a pure and wonderful world that becomes true for anyone, and manifests the Way. That is how I understand. …

    Through the generations from Shakyamuni Buddha to Master Bodhidharma and onward, the Ancestors have spoken of “the Samadhi of One Practice.” Through Zazen, we balance and settle the body while facing the wall, our form of sitting. When we have taken the posture of Zazen, the Dharma turns the self. Zazen is just such Practice. In actuality, with this body, when with the whole body one sits Zazen, the world instantaneously is Dharma and the self turns, and the world becomes a Great Purity whereby no difficulties remain. Because body and mind are one, when the body is made straight and true, the heart responds accordingly and becomes the straightness of Great Purity. Thus, when one person sits one minute of Zazen, the whole world changes to Great Purity.


    ***

    People in the world cannot Practice unless they have a Karmic affinity to do so. Those who cannot Practice are lost in confusion and suffering. It is then a question of what such people should do. There is cause and effect, the cause and the result, such that in making evil and doing


    bad things one will fall, but making and doing good one will rise. This is the truth of the universe. Each individual’s acts of good and bad certainly bear fruit. But because we keep moving forward [in life], when we invite such lost people together to sit Zazen, we can get them heading instead in a good direction. Doing this is the religious heart. This is what I feel is the heart we should carry.

    ***

    We encounter a world of Great Purity free of dust and impurities, and we can encounter all the 10,000 things [all the phenomena of the universe] in this way. … It is a world free of measure and judgments. … For example, if we sit Zazen for one minute, thus there is one minute of Buddha, which is Satori. Satori leads to Satori leads to Satori. It is not just a one time Satori, but the entirety is Satori. What we call “Satori” is the realization spoken of in Master Dogen’s teaching “Practice and Realization are One.” It is much like saying that if we take a single bowl of rice, that one bowl of rice alone can fill our stomach and is everything. This is the Satori of rice. ... When we offer Gassho, that is making a Buddha with Gassho, the Satori of Gassho. When we prostrate we make a Buddha, the bow is all, all becomes one. … This is realization, for Satori is not some special sudden moment when light pours forth brightly, something one seeks and acquires suddenly after years of sitting. Not at all. …

    ***

    In Master Dogen’s Gakudo Yojinshu, he states, “In the buddha way, one should always enter and experience enlightenment through Practice. … one should know that arousing Practice in the midst of delusion, one attains enlightenment even before recognizing so.” This “Practice in the midst of delusion” means while right amid confusion. As Practice advances, this confusion is the place for a Bodhisattva’s merciful and compassionate heart, the kind heart of Buddha, the loving heart of a mother in caring for a child. This is confusion and to be bathed in confusion. A mother may feel that she must do this thing for her beautiful child, or that to help her child, but we might say that each others’ mutual bodies are also in a kind of separation and confusion. This skin, flesh, bones and marrow, the whole body, may be called by the name of confusion.
    But that confusion, when one is sitting Zazen with the entire body, is Practice amid confusion. Then, this “attains realization before even recognizing so” is as Master Dogen said in another writing, Gyobutsu YuIgi, “Keep in mind that Buddhas, being within the Buddha’s Way, do not wait for enlightenment.” Because the many Buddhas do not wait for enlightenment, enlightenment is not something in need of waiting for. Already, right now, each intimate act from morning until night whether walking, standing, sitting or reclining, doing just this to help all the people of this world, wishing to do that other thing, just each individual act is already Satori. One is already in Satori even before experiencing Satori. … Continuing action by action, there is no gap, no missing space.

    ***

    To give rise to good mind, to arouse beginner’s mind, thereupon to arouse resolve, and then to really take action, are all coming about by Practice. The Buddha Way is actually realized by our making effort, putting all to work with this human body, whereby the Buddha Way first comes to be truly lived.

    [Even though we are Originally Enlightened], without actual conduct and cultivation such does not manifest. But to the extent we actually practice this with the limbs and whole body, the skin, flesh, bones and marrow actually embody this and such becomes ours. Otherwise, it is not truly ours and we cannot truly live it. Thus we must Practice.

    ***

    Practice and Realization are One. During the fifty-four years of Master Dogen’s life, in writing, washing his face morning and night, all the various actions, sitting, standing, walking, and reclining, drinking tea and eating meals, every such action one-by-one without exception was Practice-Realization. To Practice is Enlightenment, this was Dogen’s signature Teaching. He dedicated himself so all through his life as a gift to us. It is just like the compassion felt toward a small grandchild by the loving heart of grandmotherly mind. Master Koun Ejo, the successor to Master Dogen who assisted his Teacher for some twenty years, after his death built a small hut next to his master’s grave and continued for some fifty years until his own death … with a sincere and earnest heart, a gentle, loyal mind … to honor and serve his master without once stepping away. However, another student, Master Tettsû Gikai, would supplicate Dogen during his life like a cajoling child pleading to receive Transmission of the Dharma, asking to please be given that noble essence. However, despite this request, because there was yet a lack of a loving, grandmotherly mind in Gikai, in the end he did not receive Dogen’s permission before Dogen died [and had to wait for many years]. Truly, when we engage in Practice, unless we lose our small self, we will not be vessels of the truth.

    ***

    Zazen and all our daily actions [study, working, eating and cleaning] naturally come together as whole. If we make sincere effort, it will necessarily be experienced by anyone. What one sows in Practice is what one reaps. This is Karma. The good and bad Karmic actions we do are also what we necessarily come to receive. There is a saying, “What I sow, another does not reap; what another sows, I do not reap. But what I sow, I reap.” Truly, the way this works is very precise, and it is not difficult to grasp.

    Each individual, if in each moment he regulates his walking, standing, sitting or reclining, can open the world of the Dharma.

    ***

    To “arouse Bodhi mind” is something that manifests naturally in ourselves. Master Dogen rearranged a bit the words “arousing Bodhi mind” so that it became “Bodhi mind arises.” For a long time, if you just do one thing wholeheartedly and effusively, such will necessarily come pouring out. It is mutual and it is natural. When a child we have put to bed sleeps enough, by himself his eyes will naturally open and he will awake all smiles. But if we suddenly wake him up for some reason, he will cry and complain. So, Master Dogen said “arousing Bodhi mind” becomes “Bodhi mind arises.” Master Dogen said in Shobogenzo Zazenshin, “the first zazen is the first sitting Buddha.” Even if the legs hurt or the body hurts, the first time we sit Zazen, the very first time we sit, is also the very first making of a sitting Buddha. This is what is taught in Shobogenzo Zazenshin. It shows how much our arousing Bodhi mind is noble. If we have the will and put it into Practice, we undertake actual practice and implementation. In other words, if we so engage in Practice-Enlightenment, we naturally make such our own. We must keep endeavoring for the long haul. In our Buddhist words, “Life after life and world after world, we are born again, we die again.” What is thus transmitted forever is, as Master Dogen states in Genjo Koan, “Then we can forget the mental trace of realization, and show the real signs of forgotten realization continually, moment by moment.” To keep going so for the very very long term is to have such a heart.

    ***

    What is this forgetting “traces of enlightenment” that Master Dogen speaks of?

    Everyone seems to be aiming for this thing called “Satori,” wondering what kind of incredible, fantastic happening it is, everyone appears to be running after what they consider this rare and wonderful thing. But Satori is just the enlightenment of Practice-Enlightenment, an enlightenment whereby, if one eats just a single bowl of rice, then the belly fills up with one bowl’s worth, and then that circulates and fills up one’s whole body. To go further and forget even that fact is “forgetting traces of enlightenment.” If we receive one bowl, we just smile and that is enough. That is “traces of enlightenment.” Then we forget and no thing remains even to name. If we sit for one minute, such is one minute of Buddha, and there is just nothing more. … So, “Then we can forget the mental trace of realization, and show the real signs of forgotten realization continually, moment by moment.”

    ***

    I left home to be Ordained at the age of 12 years old. … In those days, Kishizawa Ian Roshi delivered some lectures on the Shobogenzo, and so came for a Shobogenzo Study Group to Shizuoka Prefecture. At that time, my senior brother trainee priest said, because it happened to be just the very next day right after my Ordination, “Rempo, please come bring some tea and sweets to Roshi’s place.” When I asked him, “How should I offer sweets to the Roshi, what should I say?” my brother monk said, “Please do take one.” At that point I don’t remember if I kneeled down or bent down or stood up while serving, but I remember saying to the Roshi, “Please do take one.” And I put out a Japanese sweet beancurd pastry. Smiling and looking at my face, the Roshi said, “Eh, you will only give me one?” He laughed. I was really surprised, so I sprang up and ran away. After that, the Roshi was very kind to me for the next fifty years, but after he died what I still remember is, “Eh, you will only give me one?” You see, “One thing is all phenomena,” all is one. This means that one is all. This is a noble teaching in fact, and for us our every action, each move of the hand or move of the foot, is truly the noble path of the Buddha way. It is taught that our entire self is there.

    ***

    When it is said "Body-Mind are One," this means that the human body in its entirety is the mind. And the mind in its entirety is the human body as well. This is the very fundamental point of the Teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. We sum it up with the single phrase "Body-Mind are One," and do not divide them into two things. It is a non-Buddhist teaching to divide them into two. It becomes a different teaching. Thus, when the body is straight and true, the mind becomes straight and true. The doorway to the teachings is founded on this "Body-Mind are One," a teaching continuing right to us for 2500 years until today. Body is mind. It is something quite deeper than the ordinary view of world and society.
    Last edited by Jundo; 02-18-2019 at 01:59 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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