7/1 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Ejo (CLOSE)

[Jundo]

Hey Guys,

And so we reach the end of the Soto Lineage ... at least, up until Master Dogen's successor, Master Ejo (a fellow best know as the scribe and editor for most of Master Dogen's writings). Ejo was a fellow who, in the description by Master Keizan, understood many things and was deeply awakened yet ... upon meeting Master Dogen ... "realized that there was something beyond his own truth and quite different". What might that be? I do not mean to 'split hairs'.

In any event, now that we have come to the end of the line (up to Master Ejo, for in Truth, the line goes on and on and never ends!), I would be interested in hearing folks' overall impression of these stories, the importance of Lineage and the like.

We will begin our next book, "Zen Seeds", by Shundo Aoyama Roshi, the female Abbot of the Aichi Womens' Monastery. That will start Friday July 15th. Fugen will soon post the schedule of who is responsible for which chapters, and I believe I am first up.

Cook at 266
Hixon at 249

Gassho, Jundo

[Jundo]

I will just repost here Fugen's message about the next book ...

We're nearing the end of the current bookclubbooks (although there is no end... ) and in the next bookclubbook we will have members of the sangha posting on 2 chapters each.
This will commence about an week (or two ) after the current bookclubbooks are ended and will continue with a new posting each friday, all of this will be explained, at length, in the bookclubsection as we get closer.
Here are the postcontributors so far, and the order they will post.

If you feel that you want to contribute, and not on the list, please, don't hesitate to contact Fugen, and he'll add you to the list.

Bookclubwriters and sections so far...

Jundo introduction and p.11 & 13
KellyRok p. 14 &15
AlanLa p.16, 17
Chessie
Dosho
Fugen
Hans
Jen
JodiH
JRBrisson
Matto
Mike
Nigel99
PeterLin
Rimon
Saijun
Seiryu
Shards
Shohei
Shujin
Taigu
Zen_Fire
Corvinus

The pages suggested is pointing to the start of the story, if you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask.
We will fill up the list as we move along, but if you want to know which sections you are most likely to do, count each person as posting about three chapters each, and do the math...

[AlanLa]

Ejo seems like a cross between Mahakasyapa and Ananda, both attendant and heir. He's a good role model in how he gladly serves another even though he's pretty advanced on his own, and also in that no matter how advanced you think you are there is always someone that you can learn from.

I've loved these books, learned a lot from them, A LOT. I learned about the lineage and how to view the lineage. I learned about my practice and ways of viewing and deepening my practice. I found a bunch of role models. All of this despite the fact that they were rarely easy reads, they often took some effort to understand, but I think that made them more worthwhile because I like that sort of thing. Having the two books to compare made a major difference. Sometimes Keizan made more sense and sometimes Hixon did, but between the two (and some occasional commentary from Jundo and Taigu), it all ended up working for me. It has been a very deep and valuable experience. Zen Seeds looks like lighter fare, which seems an appropriate change of pace.

[Heisoku]

I concur with Al in that this hasn't been easy and I only was using the Cook book. I think the fact that there have been people listening out for Buddha dharma for so long and making sure that it is transmitted correctly is quite overwhelming. We may all have Buddha dharma but we have to realise this and that is the point.
We have got so far and the rest is within the bounds of Jundo and Taigu's lineage. We can touch on that for inspiration in our practice.
Many thanks to all, your wisdom and insights have been much appreciated these past months.

[Shogen]

An awful lot of fluff and many tools used to search for the mother lode and each transmission uncovered it. I found this study to be very uh, er, well, enlightening. Gassho, Shogen

[BrianW]

It has taken me a while, but I have finally caught up! I got behind, not due to lack of interest or the material, but just too much going on in life. Nevertheless, I did want to finish this and state that I did find both books to be challenging, but certainly worth the effort. It does give one a new perspective of our lineage.

One comment I want to make about the last transmission discussed is that Hixon brings up the topic of perception. He states on the nature of “the moon of Total Awakeness” it is “not subject to perspective”, but it “shines panoramically.” This reminded me of a special edition of Tricycle I read many years ago on the beat generation. In one of the articles “Big Sky Mind” is discussed…in fact there is a book by that name on the beats. Anyway, I recall, the description given was something like “Big Sky Mind” is an experience of oneness where the perceiver and the perception blend and there is no distinction between the two as they are one.

Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW