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Okumura Roshi is a regular contributor to Dharma Eye, the journal of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center, providing translation of and commentary on fascicles of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Numerous articles are available free online. For a full listing, and the latest latest article on Ikka Myoju: One Bright Jewel, please see our DI page dedicated to these articles.
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Copyright 2018 Sanshin Zen Community
— • —
Okumura Roshi is a regular contributor to Dharma Eye, the journal of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center, providing translation of and commentary on fascicles of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Numerous articles are available free online. For a full listing, and the latest latest two articles on Ikka Myoju: One Bright Jewel, please see our DI page dedicated to these articles.
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Copyright 2018 Sanshin Zen Community
Free audio extract from: Bendowa 3: nine lectures on Shobogenzo Bendowa
“As I talked about this morning [in the previous lecture], whether we attain the way or not does not depend on the condition of the world, or the [present] age. We only use our treasure. And as Dōgen said, whether we attain it or not can only be known by the person who practices. Like when we drink water, we know whether it’s cold or warm. It only depends on the self, not the condition of this world. Then, what is this self? That is the next natural question.
This is a very subtle point. Dogen says our practice and verification has nothing to do with the world, it’s only up to our determination or aspiration, whether or not we practice. It’s totally up to us, up to the self. When we practice, we ourselves know whether enlightenment/verification is there or not. So it totally depends upon us, not the outside situation. Then [we have] this teaching of the self, and another understanding of the same word ‘self’. It’s almost the same, but very subtly different. And this small difference makes a big difference. I think that’s the point of this question.”
Dōgen himself asked his own teacher, Tiantong Rujing (Tendo Nyojo) about awakening, the role of the self, and what the self knows.
Listen to the talk:
Please follow this link to Sanshin’s bandcamp page for the entire digital album.
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Translation and commentary by Shōhaku Okumura Rōshi
> Other albums by Shōhaku Okumura
Copyright 2018 Sanshin Zen Community
Flower of Emptiness: 9 talks on Shobogenzo Kuge
Dōgen says,
The place where the principle of one flower penetrates is, “I originally came to this land to transmit the Dharma and save deluded living beings.”
As five fingers are a part of one hand, if we see we can exist only as a part of one hand, we see other beings are within this system called one hand.
When we see everything is connected, that awakening of interconnectedness is the foundation of the Buddhist bodhisattva vow to save all beings.
If we think we are separate and if we think, “I am a great person, I am such an enlightened person, and all other beings are deluded, so I have to go to China to teach all those deluded people” — that is arrogance.
So what is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the west? The Dharma was already there in China. If that was so, Bodhidharma coming from China was something extra, and Bodhidharma was a deluded and arrogant person. Why did Bodhidharma have to come to China to teach that Dharma which is already in China? Why did he have to transmit something which is already there?
Dōgen’s sentence is his answer to this question. What does this Dharma transmission of saving human beings mean?
It means when we see the interconnectedness, our way of life should be the way we can offer something in order for these five skandhas to benefit. One hand as a collection of five fingers, these are called all living beings. So our practice of bodhisattva vow is not, “I have wealth, and there are many poor people, so I give what I own to those in need.” But the bodhisattva vow is to share everything because I am part of it. To share things with all beings is the motivation not only for Bodhidharma but for the bodhisattva vow. To offer something we can, whatever we have, no matter how small. This vow of offering things to share with all beings came from the awakening of this reality that one hand is five fingers, five fingers is one hand, one flower opens as five petals. We awaken to the basic reality of independent origination.
Listen to the talk:
Please follow this link to Sanshin’s bandcamp page for the entire digital album.
— • —
Translation and commentary by Shōhaku Okumura Rōshi
> Other albums by Shōhaku Okumura
Copyright 2018 Sanshin Zen Community
Devoted to the Way
| にほの海や | Nio no umi ya | On the lake of Nio, | ||
| 矢橋のおきの | Yabase no oki no | A ferry boat is sailing | ||
| 渡し舟 | watashi bune | offshore of Yabase. | ||
| おしても人に | oshitemo hito ni | [I would like to] push it | ||
| あふみならばや | afumi naraba ya | to meet the person. |
This waka is Addendum 13 and the last waka in the Shunjusha text of Dogen Zenji Wakashu (Collection of Dogen Zenji’s Waka). Nio is the old name of the waterfowl called kaitsuburi (grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis). Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan located in Shiga Prefecture, was called Nio no umi (Lake of Nio) because many grebes and other water fowl live there. Today the grebe is the prefectural bird of Shiga Prefecture. Lake Biwa can be seen from Mt. Hiei where Dogen practiced for several years as a novice.
Yabase is the name of a town on the east coast of Lake Biwa in Kusatsu City in Shiga Prefecture. In the ancient times, Yabase was well known as the port of a ferry boat that connected Kusatsu and Otsu, creating a short cut to travel to the capital Kyoto that was much shorter than walking around the lake. Afumi in the last line is a paronomasia that combines oumi, the old name of Shiga Prefecture) and “the person to meet.” Afu can mean to meet (au, 会う), and mi (身) means a body or a person.
The first three lines of this waka describe the scenery of Lake Biwa. A ferry boat is sailing on the lake offshore from Yabase. Then, Dogen (if this waka was written by him) says, even though it is a short cut, he still wishes to push his boat out to meet with the person on the ferry as soon as possible.
This waka was found by Dr. Doshu Okubo in Toyo-wakashu (藤葉和歌集) a collection of waka compiled in the Nanbokucho period (1336 – 1392) by Ogura Sanenori. Dr. Okubo included this waka in Dogen Zenji Wakashu as a part of Dogen Zenji Zenshu published by Chikuma Shobo in 1970. Okubo wrote in his Dogen Zenji Den no Kenkyu (Study of the Biographies of Dogen Zenji, Chikuma Shobo, 1966) that this waka might be evidence that Dogen Zenji attended gatherings of aristocrats for writing waka while he lived in Fukakusa.
In Toyo-wakashu, this waka is included in the section of love poems. People considered this to be a poem by a person who wishes to meet his or her lover as soon as possible so he/she wishes to push out the boat. Because of this, some people hesitated to consider this written by Dogen. Another interpreter thinks this is not necessarily a love poem. Only the compiler of the waka collection thought this waka is about the sentiment of a lover.
I have no basis to decide whether this waka was written by Dogen Zenji or not. The only thing I can suggest is that in Shobogenzo Gyoji (Continuous Practice), Dogen wrote about his encounter with his late master Rujing (Nyojo):
まのあたり先師をみる、これ人にあふなり.
Manoatari senshi wo miru kore hito ni afunari.
I saw my late master with my own eyes; this is [truly] meeting with a person.
If this waka was written by Dogen, I think this expression “hito ni afu (to meet a person)” could mean to meet with a true person of the Way. In Shobogenzo Zuimonki, Dogen talked about his meeting with many such people who completely dedicated their lives to the Buddha Way.
Dogen also wrote in Shobogenzo Uji (Being time):
我逢人なり、人逢人なり、我逢我なり、出逢出なり。
Ware hito ni au nari; hito ware ni au nari; ware ware ni au nari; shutu shutu ni aunari.
I encounter a person; a person encounters a person; I encounter myself; going forth encounters going forth.
This quote from Uji has something to do with the koan included in Shinji Shobogenzo (Dogen’s collection of 300 koans) case 92:
三聖院慧然禅師〈嗣臨済〉道、「我逢人即出、出即不為人。」
Zen master Sansheng (Dharma heir of Linji) said, “When I meet a person, I go out. When I go out, I don’t guide the person.”
興化道、「我逢人即不出、出即便為人。」
Cunjiang of Xinghua Monastery said, “When I meet a person, I don’t go out. When I go out, I guide the person.”
Zen master Yuanwu, the commentator of the Blue Cliff Record; Hongzhi, the Soto Zen master who composed verses on the hundred koan included in the Book of Serenity; and Dogen’s teacher Rujing all mentioned this koan in their Dhama Hall discourses.
I think that if this waka was composed by Dogen, meeting “with a person” means meeting with anyone devoted to the Way.
Translation and commentary by Shōhaku Okumura Roshi
Copyright 2017 Sanshin Zen Community
In the mountains, and in samsara
山居 二首
Two poems on Mountain Dwelling
| 立よりて | Tachiyorite | I won’t stop by | ||
| かげもうつさじ | kage mo utsu sa ji | at the bank of the valley stream, | ||
| 溪川の | tanigawa no | so that my appearance is not reflected on it. | ||
| ながれて世にし | nagarete yo ni shi | Because I think, | ||
| 出でんとおもへば | iden to omoeba | the water will flow | ||
| into the world [of samsara]. |
Addenda 11 and 12 of the Shunjusha text of Dogen Zenji Wakashu (Collection of Dogen Zenji’s Waka) are titled “mountain dwelling (sankyo, 山居)” taken from a collection named Ryakugebon made by a monk named Kakugan (覚巖), who was the abbot of Entsuji in Okayama in the 19th century. We don’t know where Kakugan found these poems. Entsuji is the temple where the famous monk poet Ryokan practiced with his master Dainin Kokusen.
This waka is very similar to Addendum 1.
たちよりて かげもうつさじ かも川に みやこにいづる 水とおもへば
(Tachiyorite / kage mo utsusaji / kamogawa ni / miyako ni izuru / mizu to omoeba)
I won’t stop by / at [the bank] of Kamo river, / so that my appearance is not reflected on it. / Because I think, / the water will flow / into the capital.
The wording is a little different after the third line, but the meaning is the same. I don’t think I need to write a comment on this waka.
Addendum 12
| 山ずみの | Yama zumi no | The moon on the mountain brow | ||
| 友とはならじ | tomo towa naraji | does not become a friend | ||
| 峯の月 | mine no tsuki | of this mountain dweller, | ||
| かれも浮世を | karemo ukiyo wo | Because it is also moving around | ||
| めぐる身なれば | meguru mi nareba | the floating world [of samsara]. |
The meaning of this poem seems the same as Addenda 1 and 12. It seems Dogen is saying that he does not want to interact with the valley stream and the moon because they have connection with the mundane world. It is difficult for me to think Dogen has such a negative attitude toward the people in the mundane world. It is true that as a Zen Buddhist monk, Dogen put strong emphasis on renunciation of the fame and profit in the mundane world so that he does not rely on political and economic power. However his practice in the mountain is not an escape from the world. Also, he always loves the sounds of valley stream as Buddha’s voice and the moon as the boundless radiant light of the entirety of interdependent origination.
If Dogen really composed this waka, I hope we can read it as follows:
The moon on the mountain brow
cannot [always] accompany
this mountain dweller [alone],
because it needs to move around
and [illuminate the people in] the world [of samsara also].
The moon and the valley streams illuminate and expound the Dharma, not only for monks practicing in the secluded mountain but also for the people in the mundane world.
Translation and commentary by Shōhaku Okumura Roshi
Copyright 2017 Sanshin Zen Community
Eternity within impermanence
| 朝日待つ | asahi matsu | The dewdrops on a blade of grass, | ||
| 草葉の露の | kusaba no tsuyu no | waiting for the morning sunrise, | ||
| ほどなきに | hodo naki ni | [are existing] only for a short while. | ||
| 急ぎな立ちそ | isogina tachi so | Autumn wind in the field! | ||
| 野辺の秋風 | nobe no akikaze | “Don’t begin to blow in a hurry.” |
A dewdrop is beautiful and yet stays only for a short time. There are expressions such as 露珠 (roshu), a dewdrop that is as beautiful as a jewel and 露華 (roka), dewdrops shining in the sunlight like flowers. Our life, that is precious but impermanent without perpetual self-nature, is also compared to a dewdrop (露命, romei), dewdrop-like life. Dogen Zenji used this expression several times, for example, in Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendation of Zazen):
Furthermore, your body is like a drop of dew on a blade of grass; your life is like a flash of lightening. Your body will disappear soon; your life will be lost in an instant.1
While I stayed at Valley Zendo in western Massachusetts, I worked harvesting blueberries at a blueberry farm for a few weeks in the summer for several years. In the early mornings, the blueberry field was so beautiful. Each and every blueberry and the leaves on the plants were covered with dewdrops. In the morning sun, the many acres of the blueberry field looked like a carpet of bright jewels. However soon after sun rose a little higher and the air got warm, all of the dewdrops completely disappeared.
In this waka, Dogen describes dewdrops on a blade of grass on an early autumn morning. The dewdrops stay only for a short while on a blade of grass until the sun rises. When the cold autumn wind blows, even the grass on which the dewdrops stay will wither. Seeing this scenery of the change of season, we human beings feel loneliness and sadness, and have some sympathy or even compassion toward the dewdrops and the grasses. We see our lives are the same as theirs. Soon or later we will all disappear, and we don’t know when.
This is the same reality as Kamo no Chomei wrote about in the Hojoki, which I introduced previously. However in the case of Dogen, this is not a pessimistic view of life. He sees beauty and dignity of life in impermanence. As Dogen wrote in Shobogenzo Genjokoan, every dewdrop reflects the boundless moon light. He sees eternity within impermanence. He also writes in Tenzo Kyokun (Instruction for the Cook):
“Although drawn by the voices of spring, do not wander over spring meadows; viewing the fall colors, do not allow your heart to fall. The four seasons cooperate in a single scene; regard light and heavy with a single eye.”2
We see that spring will come again and plants, flowers, insects, birds and all living beings will become active again. We don’t need to be overwhelmed by the cold autumn wind.
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1 Okumura’s unpublished translation.
2 Dogen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A translation of Eihei Shingi (Taigen Leighton & Shohaku Okumura, SUNY), p.49
Translation and commentary by Shōhaku Okumura Roshi
Copyright 2017 Sanshin Zen Community
