Keizan Study Material

for the 2010 National Conference

of The Soto Zen Buddhist Association

 Table of Contents

Biography and Basic Information on Keizan 3

William Bodiford - Gale Encyclopedia Entry on Keizan 4
William Bodiford - Keizan (Ch 8) & Sojiji (Ch 9 excerpt) 5
Sotozen-net - Keizan Zenji 12
Heinrich Dumoulin - Keizan 13
Thomas Cleary - Keizan and Gazan Soseki Biographies 15
Bernard Faure –from Visions of Power 17
Overview of Keizan’s Major Writings 27

Keizan and Women 28

Salli Tisdale - Family 29
Bernard Faure - Women in Keizan's Life 32

Keizan and Dogen 37

Keizan and Dogen 38
William Bodiford – excerpt on Keizan and Dogen 39
Keido Chisan - The True Spirit of the Two Ancestors 40
Eto Sokuo - Founding Patriarch & Successor Patriarch 44
William Bodiford - Remembering Dōgen: Eiheiji and Dōgen Hagiography 53

Keizan and Dreaming 65

William Bodiford - Keizan’s Dream History 66
Bernard Faure – excerpts from Dreaming (in Visions of Power) 77

Denkoroku and Koan Commentary 85

Approaches to Denkoroku 86
Shohaku Okumura – from Realizing Genjo Koan 88
William Bodiford - The Denkoroku as Keizan's Recorded Sayings 91
Denkoroku Verses Translation Study 100
On the Himitsu-Shobogenzo 108
Thomas Cleary - Esoteric Shobogenzo 109

Zazen 113
On Keizan and Zazen 114
Sankon-zazen-setsu Study 116
Zazen Yojinki Study 120

Ritual 160
Griff Foulk - excerpts on ritual and the Keizan Shingi 161
Griff Foulk – The Origins of the Gyoji Kihan and
the Question of Ritual in the Zen Tradition 163

Bibliography 173

Keizan memorial dedication from the Gyoji Kihan 176

 Statue of Keizan

Biography and Basic Information on Keizan

William Bodiford - Gale Encyclopedia Entry on Keizan 4

William Bodiford - Keizan (Ch 8) & Sojiji (Ch 9 excerpt) 5
Sotozen-net - Keizan Zenji 12
Heinrich Dumoulin - Keizan 13
Thomas Cleary - Keizan and Gazan Soseki Biographies 15
Bernard Faure –from Visions of Power 17
Overview of Keizan’s Major Writings 27

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 William Bodiford - Gale Encyclopedia Entry on Keizan

KEIZAN (1264–1325), more fully Keizan Jōkin, was latter’s teachings being portrayed as more pure, more
the founding abbot of the Sōjiji Zen monastery. Since the elitest, and more monastic in orientation, in contrast to
late nineteenth century, he has officially been designated, which Keizan’s teachings are seen as more eclectic, more
along with Dōgen (1200–1253), as one of the two common, and more accessible to laypeople. This narrative
founding patriarchs of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school. of Keizan as the purported popularizer of Dōgen’s so-
called strict Zen rests not on the historical evidence but on
Born in 1264 (not 1268 as previously assumed), Keizan simplistic apologetics that attempt to justify Sōjiji’s
entered Eiheiji, the Zen monastery founded by Dōgen in modern preeminence over and above Dōgen’s Eiheiji.
Echizen province, in 1276. Keizan studied Zen directly Keizan, as much as Dōgen, focused his life’s efforts on
under four of Dōgen’s leading disciples: Ejō (1198– providing strict monastic training for monks and nuns.
1280), Jakuen (1207–1299), Gien (d. 1313), and Gikai Likewise, Dōgen, as much as Keizan, worked to build an
(1219– 1309). In 1298 Keizan succeeded Gikai as second institutional foundation for Japanese Zen. Keizan was
abbot of Daijōji monastery in Kaga province. Eventually long departed before subsequent generations of monks at
Keizan entrusted Daijōji to his disciple, Meihō Sotetsu Sōjiji and its affiliates began effecting the rapid growth
(1277–1350), and began constructing a new monastery in and transformation of Sōtō Zen into an institution
Noto province named Tōkoku-san Yōkōji, which he consisting primarily of local temples that service the
envisioned as the future headquarters of the Sōtō Zen religious needs of laypeople who themselves do not
lineage in Japan. With Yōkōji as his base, Keizan founded practice Zen. It is also true, however, that Keizan was a
six more monasteries nearby, including Hōōji, the first man of his times. In addition to Zen history, Zen training,
Sōtō nunnery, and Sōjiji, which he entrusted to his and Zen monasticism, his writings reveal many religious
disciple Gasan Jōseki (1276– 1366). themes common to other fourteenth-century Japanese
religious writings. Keizan openly described, for example,
Keizan worked hard to establish a firm religious and his reliance on inspired dreams as a source of religious
institutional basis for the nascent Sōtō Zen school. authority, his use of astrology, his devotion to his mother
Toward these ends, he authored a history of the Sōtō Zen and grandmother, his invocation of the local gods who
lineage (the Denkōroku), founded a memorial hall at protect Buddhism, and his devout faith in the bodhisattva
Yōkōji to enshrine relics of five generations of Sōtō Zen Avalokitesvara (Japanese, Kannon). These kinds of trans-
patriarchs, wrote beginner’s guides to Zen training, and sectarian religious values exerted, no doubt, a greater
compiled detailed instructions for every aspect of Zen influence on the lives of ordinary people than did
monastic life. His most influential contribution was his Keizan’s difficult Zen practices or abstruse Zen doctrines.
detailed instructions on how the abbotship of his For this reason, Keizan’s surviving writings constitute
monasteries should be rotated among several lines of prime sources for the study of medieval Japanese
succession so as to ensure united support and avoid religiosity and the ways that it interacted with sectarian
schisms. This method of rotating abbotship became doctrinal traditions (such as Zen) and their institutions.
widely adopted among subsequent Sōtō monasteries. It
was implemented most successfully not at Yōkōji, but at Keizan’s numerous writings were not collected, edited, or
Sōjiji, which eventually grew to have more affiliated published during his lifetime. Extant manuscript versions,
branch temples than any other Sōtō institution. By the as well as published editions, are marred by numerous
beginning of the twenty-first century, Sōjiji, relocated in textual defects, copyist errors, and arbitrary editorial
1910 to Yokohama (next to Tokyo), had become one of deletions, additions, and rearrangements. Scholars have
the two headquarter temples (along with Eiheiji) of the not begun to resolve all the difficulties these texts present.
Sōtō Zen school. In 1909 the Meiji emperor (Mutsuhito, Nonetheless, Keizan’s authorship of the major works
1852–1912) awarded Keizan with the posthumous name traditionally attributed to him is no longer considered
Jōsai Daishi. doubtful. These major works include the following:
Denkōroku (History of the transmission of the light);
Keizan’s life and its significance have been the subject of Zazen yōjinki (How to practice sitting Zen); Tōkoku gyōji
much unsubstantiated speculation. Many modern jijo (Procedures at Tōkoku monastery), also known as
Japanese interpretations of Keizan reflect an artificial Keizan shingi (Keizan’s monastic regulations); and
structural antagonism between him and Dōgen, with the Tōkokuki (Chronicle of Tōkoku monastery).

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 Soto Zen in Medieval Japan CHAPTER 8
Keizan: The Founder of Yokoji
William Bodiford
As explained in the previous chapter, all early Sōtō Keizan” (shuso Dōgen no kakun to senshi Keizan no sokai). Six
communities emphasized Dōgen‟s Chinese lineage as the source years later, in 1878, the Sōtō school published the first modern
of their religious authority. This emphasis on the symbolic role of biography of Keizan. Written by Takiya Takushu (1836-1897),
Dōgen remained consistent throughout the history of the who was at that time Sōjiji‟s chief Tokyo representative, the new
Japanese Sōtō school, except for one brief incident during the biography had the clear intention of glorifying Keizan by
modern period. That rejection of Dōgen raised the issue of who emphasizing his and Sōjiji‟s importance in early Sōtō history.
should be revered as the founder of the Japanese Sōtō school. Three more biographies of Keizan were published in the prewar
The social circumstances of the resulting controversy have period, each written by successive abbots of Sōjiji and each
greatly influenced scholarship on the topics addressed in this intended to emphasize the importance of Keizan and Sōjiji. In
chapter. Therefore, perhaps the best introduction to Keizan and spite of their sectarian orientation, these biographies have been
his community at Yōkōji is to review briefly the modern events widely used by non-Sōjiji (and even non-Sōtō) affiliated
that led to the controversial assertion that Keizan Jōkin, not scholars.
Dōgen, is the true founder of Japanese Sōtō.
Following their formal truce, Sōjiji and Eiheiji continued to
work together to modernize the structure of the Sōtō school. A
series of reforms followed in quick succession. Rules for the
Keizan as Patriarch
operation of temples were promulgated in 1876. That same year
In 1877 the Sōtō hierarchy announced new dates based on a formal Sōtō church (kyōkai) was organized in an attempt to
the solar calendar for yearly rituals. The true significance of that bypass the rigid hierarchy of temple factions. The terms of the
announcement, however, went beyond the abandonment of the truce were strengthened in 1879. A constitution defining the
lunar calendar. For the first time memorial services for Keizan relations between head and branch temples was established in
were included among the annual events observed at all Sōtō 1882. The governing organization and administrative rules
temples. Today that proclamation is said to mark the date when (shōsei) of the Sōtō school, including the terms of the 1872 truce,
Keizan gained official recognition as the patriarch of the entire were registered with the government in 1885. Finally, in 1888
Japanese Sōtō school. Previously, the only Japanese patriarch the first handbook of Sōtō ritual and liturgy was distributed.
common to all Sōtō factions had been Dōgen. Keizan, by Considering the history of bitter disputes between Sōjiji and
contrast, was known not as a source of religious authority but as Eiheiji over the details of proper monastic practices during the
the founder of Sōjiji, the head temple of the largest Sōtō faction. Tokugawa period, the codification of standard rituals represented
The adoption of Keizan as a patriarch equal to Dōgen, therefore, a major achievement.
was meant to symbolize that all Soto lineages also accepted
Sōjiji‟s position as a head temple equal to Dōgen‟s Eiheiji.
Sōjiji’s Secession during the Meiji Period
Sōjiji‟s status as a rival to Eiheiji was not a new development.
Sōjiji led the largest network of affiliated temples in the Sōtō The modernization of the Sōtō school gave new power to
school. In the sixteenth century Sōjiji repeatedly had proclaimed lay organizations and private committees. The early drafts of
itself the head temple of all Sōtō institutions. In 1560 Takeda many of the above agreements had been proposed within private
Shingen (1521-1573) stipulated that only Eiheiji and Sōjiji were committees funded by the Sōtō leadership. By operating outside
authorized to confer ecclesiastical honors on Zen monks in his of established temple hierarchies, the committees were freed of
domains. In 1589 the imperial court officially recognized Sojiji as rigid precedents. As the pace of modernization increased,
the head temple of the Sōtō school, a title that the court previously however, unofficial committees formed in order to oppose the
had bestowed on Eiheiji. The Tokugawa shogunate also ac- positions advocated by the official committees. Divisions along
knowledged both Eiheiji and Sōjiji as head temples when in 1615 sectarian lines became impossible to smooth over. The election
it issued separate sets of regulatory codes (hatto) to each of officers to Eiheiji from the ranks of Sōjiji-affiliated temples, in
monastery. Throughout this period Sōjiji and Eiheiji were rivals in particular, attracted severe criticism. In 1895 Takiya Takushu
the true sense of the word. In each of the major Sōtō controversies was elected to Eiheiji‟s abbotship even though at the time he had
of the Tokugawa period—on questions ranging from dharma been serving as abbot of Saijōji (Kanagawa Prefecture), a branch
succession to the proper manner of wearing the Buddhist robe— temple affiliated with Sōjiji. Takiya worked hard to smooth over
Eiheiji and Sōjiji staked out opposing positions on the issues. differences between Sōjiji and Eiheiji. Conflict between the two
head temples became unavoidable, however, when his successor
With the emergence of the new Meiji government,
was also elected from a post at Sōjiji in 1891. Dissidents felt that
however, Eiheiji and Sojiji concluded a formal truce. Their
these elections deprived Sōjiji of the best personnel while giving
compact, signed in 1872, stated that past differences and disputes
Eiheiji too much authority over Sōjiji‟s branch temples. In 1891
were to be resolved in accordance with “the maxims of the
one group of these dissidents formed the Alliance to Reform the
founding patriarch, Dōgen, and the aspirations of the late teacher,
5
Sōtō School (Sōtōshō kakushin domeikai) to advocate the revival must be seen as a failure. Yōkōji, not Sōjiji, was the temple that
of Sōjiji‟s autonomy. Keizan had attempted to establish as the new center of Japanese
Sōtō. Yet by the Meiji period when Sōjiji was asserting itself
Sōjiji withdrew all recognition of Eiheiji and of its branch
over Eiheiji, Yōkōji had been reduced to such poverty that the
temples four months later, in the beginning of 1892. All
few monks still living there were forced to sell temple buildings
agreements between the two monasteries from 1872 on were
in order to buy food. Sōjiji was one of Yōkōji‟s branch temples in
declared null and void. If it had been successful, this move would
Keizan‟s day. It did not become powerful enough to eclipse
have sundered Eiheiji from the support of more than ninety
Yōkōji until the early fifteenth century, nearly ninety years after
percent of the Sōtō temples in Japan. To justify their actions,
Keizan‟s death. To explain the growth of Sōjiji one must
supporters of this autonomy movement published a series of
examine the policies adopted by Gasan Jōseki, Sōjiji‟s first
tracts in which they made three key claims. First, Dōgen had not
resident abbot, and by his disciples—not by Keizan.
founded the Japanese Sōtō school. Dōgen had merely introduced
Chinese practices without ever attempting to organize a new In terms of religious practice, however, Keizan has had an
Buddhist sect. Second, Keizan was the school‟s true founder. enormous influence on Japanese Sōtō Zen. Keizan‟s true
Keizan had established the new school‟s institutional base and importance was his ability to combine the monastic religion of
had determined its fundamental religious practices. Third, the Zen meditation with the simple religious sentiments of rural
name “Sōtō school” originated at Sōjiji. Because Dōgen had Japanese. The fate of Yōkōji and Sōjiji‟s path to dominance are
rejected the designation “Sōtō,” Sōjiji had become the first addressed in part 2 below (chapters 9-11). The remainder of this
monastery in Japan to be referred to as “Sōtō” when Emperor chapter focuses on Keizan‟s relations with his patrons and the
Godaigo used that name in his edict of 1322 issued to Keizan. religious world in which he founded Yōkōji.
Eiheiji rejected Sōjiji‟s autonomy and the assertions of its
supporters on all counts. Supporters of Eiheiji‟s authority wrote
The Yōkōji Community
their own studies of early Sōtō history in order to refute Sōjiji‟s
claims. On each point, they reached opposite conclusions. First, The events leading up to Keizan‟s decision to leave Daijōji
Dōgen was the sole founder of the Japanese Sōtō school as are unknown. Keizan had been an avid historian. He carefully
demonstrated by his criticism of many aspects of Chinese Ch‟an chronicled the daily events in his own career, described in detail
and by his having established his own training center at Kōshōji the religious devotion of his mother and his patrons, and lectured
in Kyoto. Second, Keizan had merely inherited Dōgen‟s religion. on the history of the Sōtō lineage. The extant records of his
Although Keizan had been instrumental in popularizing the Sotō activities, unfortunately, cover only his years at Yōkōji. These
school, his contribution had been organizational, not religious. writings contain many references to his past teachers and
Third, the name “Sōtō school,” being of Chinese origin, could accomplishments but are silent on past temple affairs or patron
not have been established by the Japanese court. Moreover, the relationships. We know that Keizan had appointed Meihō
1322 edict cited by Sojiji was rejected as being an obvious Sotetsu abbot of Daijōji in the tenth month of 1311. The
forgery. following year, Shigeno Nobunao and his wife (later known as
Sonin) of Noto Province invited Keizan to their residence to
The split between Sōjiji and Eiheiji barely lasted two years,
found Yōkōji. Yet Keizan did not formally leave Daijōji to begin
but the historical issues have never truly faded away. Ultimately,
residence at Yōkōji until five years later, during the tenth month
Sōjiji found itself in an untenable position, not because of the
of 1317.
inadequacy of its precedents or for lack of support but because it
had failed to gain the approval of the Japanese government. The reasons for this delay are not clear. One cause must
According to the government, the truce between Sōjiji and have been the fact that Sonin herself did not receive writs of
Eiheiji (having been duly registered in 1885) had the force of confirmation (andojō) for the land given to Yōkōji until the third
law. By the end of 1893 the government had forced the leaders of month of 1317. But lack of proper deeds should not have
Sōjiji to resign their offices and issue a formal apology to Eiheiji. presented major problems, since Sonin had already received bills
In response the leaders of Eiheiji also resigned their offices and of sale for the land in 1310. More fundamental financial
gave a formal apology to Sōjiji. At this time, Sōtō leaders difficulties must have played a role in delaying the founding of
proclaimed the compromise doctrines of “two head temples, one Yōkōji. The Shigeno family held no powerful local positions. In
essence” and “two patriarchs, one essence.” Officially, any marked contrast to the other early Sōtō patrons (such as the
independent veneration of Sōjiji or Eiheiji was to serve as Hatano, Kawajiri, Ijira, and Togashi), Shigeno Nobunao and
veneration of both. Likewise, any differences between the Sonin could not draw on surplus wealth. Although they donated
doctrines contained in the writings of Dōgen and Keizan were to the land for Yōkōji, initially there were no temple buildings to
be viewed as alternate expressions of the same religious teaching. place on that land. Only the death of Sonin‟s brother, Sakō
Yorimoto, solved that problem. Sonin thereupon dismantled the
These controversies have distorted both the degree of
Sakō family residence and had it rebuilt as the new Yōkōji. It
importance modern scholars have afforded Keizan and the
was in this building that Keizan formally became Yōkōji‟s
manner in which his contributions to early Sōtō history have
founding abbot in 1317. Keizan described the abject poverty of
been interpreted. In contradiction to the formal Sōtō position, as
the organizer of Japanese Sōtō or its great popularizer, Keizan
6
his new temple by noting that pine needles had to be used instead the psychology of Zen meditation and repeated emphasis on the
of tea leaves for the Zen tea ceremony. need to train under a true Zen master. Whether or not Nobunao
and Sonin actually took up Zen training, they would have learned
To understand fully Keizan‟s timing we must also consider
of the importance attached to the lineage of patriarchs Keizan
other events of this period. Perhaps Keizan was waiting for a
represented. Keizan also appealed to traditional expressions of
position at Eiheiji. By 1311, when Keizan appointed Meihō to
faith in the Buddhas. In 1322 he dedicated at Yōkōji a special hall
succeed him as abbot of Daijōji, Gien (i.e., Eiheiji‟s fourth abbot)
for the bodhisattva Kannon, the Enzuin, which he allowed Sonin
would already have been old and ready to retire. Extant records
to use as her own prayer chapel. Keizan administered the
do not state whether or not Keizan considered himself a
precepts to Sonin‟s mother when she made donations to Yōkōji,
candidate for Gien‟s seat, but he would have made a very likely
giving her the Buddhist name Shōzen. Likewise Keizan allowed
choice. Keizan had studied under three of Eiheiji‟s four abbots:
the mother use of her own hermitage, the Zōkeian, at Yōkōji.
Ejō, Gikai, and Gien. He had held positions of responsibility at
Keizan further ordered that following the mother‟s death in 1325
Hōkyōji and Daijōji. When the Hatano requested Giun of
the monks at Yōkōji must conduct both monthly and annual
Hōkyōji to become Eiheiji‟s next abbot in 1314, Keizan must
memorial services in her honor.
have been disappointed. He later described Eiheiji as a place of
obstructions, caused by its abbot‟s building being situated in an Keizan regarded these memorial services as fitting
inauspicious location. Or perhaps Keizan moved to Yōkōji only repayment for the patronage he received. His attitude toward his
after his position at Daijōji had become untenable. As mentioned patrons is revealed in his 1319 agreement with Sonin, in which
earlier, Keizan did not approve but could not prevent the Rinzai he explicitly acknowledged his indebtedness: “The Buddha once
Zen monk Kyōo Unryo from taking over Daijōji‟s abbotship. said, „When [Buddhism] obtains a contributor of enthusiastic
This incident suggests that Keizan did not enjoy the confidence faith, Buddhism will never die out. . . .‟ And he also said, „You
of the Togashi family. Events at both Eiheiji and Daijōji illustrate should revere patrons as you would the Buddha. Precepts,
the precarious nature of sectarian affiliation at small temples meditation, wisdom, and liberation all depend on the power of
dependent on the patronage of a single warrior family. patrons to attain completion. . . .‟ Accordingly, Keizan‟s
Successful succession to the abbotship hinged on the patron‟s Buddhist training during this rebirth depends on this patron to
personal whims. attain completion.”
Keizan was determined not to encounter similar problems at Keizan obtained contributions from other patrons to
his new temple, Yōkōji. He wanted guarantees in writing. He supplement the support provided by Sonin and her family. The
documented the fact that he had accepted the Offer of Nobunao Buddha hall, bath house, and latrine at Yōkōji were all donated
and Sonin to reside at Yōkōji only after they both had pledged by individual local patrons. Each of the three main images for the
never to interfere with temple affairs, and he carefully recorded Buddha hall was donated by a separate contributor. Keizan
the extent of their carte blanche: “We [i.e., Nobunao and Sonin] recorded each of these contributions, carefully noting the prayers
will take absolutely no notice whether the temple thrives or that had accompanied each donation. These prayers reveal the
decays. We are not concerned whether the master [i.e., Keizan] traditional religious concerns of Yōkōji‟s patrons, namely, to
keeps the precepts or breaks the precepts. Likewise we will not eliminate the ill karmic effects of past actions (metsuzai), to
interfere if [he] gives the land to a wife, child, or relative, or even promote the future enlightenment of deceased relatives (tsuizen),
to outcasts (hinin) and beggars.” One year after moving to and to ensure worldly success (ganbō manzoku). When Keizan
Yōkōji, Keizan wrote formal instructions that the abbotship of received each donation, he probably led the monks at Yōkōji in
Yōkōji was to be held only by his dharma descendants, each of scripture-chanting ceremonies to pray for the fulfillment of the
whom should serve successive terms in the order of their dharma hopes of these patrons. This can be inferred from the regulations
seniority. An expanded version of Keizan‟s instructions for special meals that appear in the monastic codes used at
containing this same passage and dated one year later (1319), Yōkōji. According to these rules, whenever a patron sponsored a
was signed by both Keizan and Sonin. By obtaining Sonin‟s meal for the monastery community the monks performed either
signature, Keizan obligated Sonin and her descendants to support a group chanting ceremony or provided a special lecture in
only his line at Yōkōji. Both versions of the instructions also accordance with the requests of the patron. These regulations
admonished future generations to settle any disputes between describe other rituals that routinely concluded with prayers for
patron and temple in a spirit of compromise. the prosperity of temple patrons.
Keizan‟s direct proselytizing further enhanced the prospects Keizan‟s willingness to perform ritual prayers for his patrons
for maintaining the future cooperation of Yōkōji‟s patrons. In has often been identified with the introduction of esoteric
1319 Keizan administered the precepts to Shigeno Nobunao‟s Buddhism into Sōtō Zen monasticism. The use of the term
wife, giving her the Buddhist name Sonin. Two years later, in esoteric, however, can be misleading if not clearly defined. There
1321, Keizan also administered the precepts to Nobunao, giving is no doubt that Keizan had believed in the purity of his own Zen
him the Buddhist name Myōjō. These ordinations were not just practice. He had criticized Eisai for mixing esoteric Buddhism
ceremonial. Keizan‟s writings indicate that he instructed Sonin with Zen practice. Most of the esoteric elements found in
and Nobunao in the mysteries of Zen. A surviving copy of one of Yōkōji‟s monastic codes are practices that previously had been a
Keizan‟s lectures to Nobunao contains an abstruse exposition of part of Zen monasticism, such as the chanting of mystical

7
formulae (dharani). Chinese Ch‟an monastic codes composed under a sanctioned Zen teacher, even if the student is already
during Keizan‟s lifetime included similar references to popular self-enlightened.
Chinese religious practices (i.e., the worship of folk deities, local
Extant records reveal only the outlines of Keizan‟s Zen
spirits, and influential stars). The influence of esoteric Buddhism
practice. Novice monks at Yōkōji studied seven texts, consisting
in Keizan‟s monastic policies, therefore, was found more in his
of three Buddhist scriptures and four Zen manuals. The three
attitude toward patrons than in any overt syncretism. The Yōkōji
scriptures were: the Lotus Sutra, which is a fundamental scripture
monastic codes resembled esoteric traditions to the extent that
of Mahayana Buddhism; the Bonmōkyō, which explains the
many rites included prayers for the worldly prosperity of
Mahayana precepts; and the Yuikyōgyō, which purports to
monastic patrons. Yet even this feature has been exaggerated by
convey the Buddha‟s final exhortations. The Yuikyōgyō had been
many authors. In fact, the vast majority of the ritual prayers in
especially popular in Chinese Ch‟an and had formed the basis for
Yōkōji‟s monastic codes concerned general thanksgiving or the
the last Shōbō genzō chapter (“Hachi dainingaku”) written by
sanctity of monastic life. Instead of disparaging such prayers, as if
Dōgen. The four Zen manuals had all been composed by Dōgen.
unworthy of Zen monks, it is more useful to understand their role
They were: Bendōhō (rules for daily life in the monks‟ hall);
in the religious life and worldview of medieval Japan.
Fushukuhanhō (etiquette for monastic meals); Shuryo shingi
(rules for use of the library); and Taitaikoho (etiquette for
behavior in the presence of senior monks). In addition, the
Keizan’s Religious World
monastic code at Yōkōji states that monks also should consult
Keizan exhibited in abundance many of the religious “Senmen” and “Senjō” (two chapters in Dōgen‟s Shōbō genzō
qualities that typified other Buddhist monks in medieval Japan. that describe the proper method of washing one‟s face and using
His writings, like the traditional biographies and legends the toilet), as well as Shishihō (a list of rules for respectful
concerning other medieval monks, reveal an extremely rich, behavior before Buddhist teachers that was cited in Dōgen‟s
religious worldview in which the abstract truths of Buddhist Taitaikohō). On the first day of each month, Yōkōji monks
doctrine are realized and verified through concrete physical performed a group recitation of the Kikyōmon, a brief exhortation
manifestations that can be experienced directly in daily life. For that describes how monastic officers should revere the Buddha
Keizan, Zen experience entailed living in a physical landscape dharma. Keizan also composed two meditation manuals (the
made sacred by the presence of supernatural Buddhist divinities Zazen yojinki and Sankon zazensetsu) to guide his disciples
and native Japanese spirits. Keizan‟s records illustrate the through the practical details of seated meditation.
paradigm shift by which Buddhist meditation subsumed earlier
The fact that two of Keizan‟s students, Kohō Kakumyo
shamanistic views of the spirit world. In spite of Keizan‟s stature
(1271-1361) and Daichi, came to Yōkōji only after years of
in the modern Sōtō school, his practices have rarely been
training under the leading Ch‟an masters of China attests to the
evaluated within the larger context of medieval Zen. Keizan‟s
vigor of the Zen practice Keizan established at Yōkōji. A later
importance lies in his fusion of vigorous Zen practice with
incident between Kohō and his disciple Bassui Tokushō (1327-
articulated faith in the efficacy of unseen Japanese spirits and
1387) well illustrates the concern with monastic decorum that
Buddhist divinities. This fusion, its origins and effects, are
Kohō learned from Keizan. Kohō inherited Keizan‟s lineage, but
explored below in terms of Keizan‟s Zen practice, his close
after leaving Yōkōji he assumed the Rinzai lineage of Shinchi
relationships with women, his magico-religious faith, and his
Kakushin and taught only Rinzai monks. Yet many Rinzai
shamanistic dreams.
monks chafed under the strict monastic routines established by
In writing about a medieval Zen monk it should hardly be Kohō. His most illustrious disciple, Bassui, refused to reside
necessary to stress the importance of his Zen practice. Modern inside Kohō‟s monastery, complaining that he had come to attain
descriptions of Keizan, however, typically dwell only on the Zen enlightenment—not to learn etiquette. Through Bassui‟s
shamanistic and seemingly eccentric aspects of his personality. complaint we know that Keizan probably taught the same
The importance of these qualities lies in their support of Zen emphasis on monastic decorum now usually associated only with
practice. Keizan was first and foremost a Zen master. He Dōgen.
believed that the Zen tradition represented the only true
Keizan‟s religious development seems to have been guided
transmission of Buddhism. He emphasized the legitimacy of his
as much by women as by men. Women played powerful roles in
Zen transmission by lecturing on the patriarchs of the Sōtō line.
many early Zen communities, including those of Dōgen and
Only his lectures at Daijōji were recorded (as the Denkōroku),
Giin, but mainly as patrons. Keizan learned from women,
but he also repeated his lectures at Yōkōji. At both monasteries
especially from his mother and grandmother. His father is never
he also interred sacred relics of the Sōtō patriarchs. At Yōkōji
mentioned in his writings. He spent his first eight years being
these relics formed the shrine of patriarchs at Gorōhō, which
raised by his grandmother, Myōchi. She had been one of
Keizan dedicated by composing biographies of each patriarch
Dōgen‟s first patrons on his return from China. Probably she had
beginning with Ju-ching. The monastic codes used at Yōkōji
been a lay disciple of Myōzen, Dōgen‟s first teacher. Keizan‟s
repeatedly cite Eisai, Ju-ching, and Dōgen as the authoritative
links to the Sōtō school began, therefore, literally before his
sources of the monastic routines. Keizan signed his writings by
worldly existence. Keizan had left home to become a novice at
identifying himself as a Zen master in the fifty-fourth generation
Eiheiji while still a child, when he was only seven years old. His
of the Buddha‟s dharma. He stressed the necessity of studying
8
decision to become a monk might have been prompted either by hall. The repeated references to the above practices (i.e.,
his grandmother‟s urging or possibly by her death. In later life, astrology, geomancy, and the power of worship) in Keizan‟s
Keizan praised Sonin (Yōkōji‟s main patron) as the reincarnation writings testify to his own deep faith in their validity.
of his grandmother. He stated that as teacher and disciple, he and
Keizan‟s faith in the mystical powers of spirits and of
Sonin were inseparable. At Yōkōji, Keizan symbolized his bonds
divination was rooted in his own powers of shamanistic
to his grandmother and to Sonin by dedicating the Enzuin
communication. Keizan repeatedly conjured visions and spoke to
Kannon chapel to the memory of Myōchi while providing use of
spirits in his mystical dreams. Shamanistic elements are not
the building to Sonin.
unusual in meditative traditions such as Zen. Dōgen, for instance,
Keizan‟s mother, Ekan (d. ca. 1314), also appears repeatedly had met Chinese Ch‟an masters who relied on dreams to see the
in his writings. She had become the abbess of a Sōtō convent future. Yet Keizan relied on his visions to guide every step of his
(Jōjuji) while Gikai was still alive. Her temple responsibilities did career. According to Keizan‟s own accounts, he selected the
not prevent Ekan from intervening in her son‟s career. Keizan location for the abbot‟s building at Yōkōji based on the approval
wrote that her stern admonitions had checked his growing of a visiting rakan. He enshrined an image of Bishamon after
arrogance when he first rose to prominence under Jakuen at perceiving a promise of protection in a dream. He decided to
Hōkyōji. The statue of Kannon that Keizan placed in the Enzuin convert Sōjiji to a Zen temple only after Kannon appeared to
had originally belonged to her. Ekan attributed many miracles to request him to do so. When someone questioned the proper
the mysterious power of Kannon, and Keizan believed her. He geomancy of the mausoleum at Gorōhō, Keizan wrote that he
wrote that all the major events in his life, from his own birth, thought to himself, “At this monastery, from the very beginning,
through his becoming a monk and his dharma succession, to his in all matters I have relied on the interpretation of my dreams”
becoming abbot of Yōkōji, had been due to his mother‟s faith in and then decided that his next vision would determine the loca-
and constant prayers to Kannon. Accounts of Kannon calling tion of the mausoleum.
forth the birth of illustrious monks is a standard hagiographical
Keizan‟s dream sequences illustrate how in medieval Japan,
element. Yet for Keizan, this assertion was no mere pious legend
the religious activity of a person reflected the sacredness of his or
but an autobiographical fact. Perhaps Keizan would have
her surroundings even as this same sanctified environment
promoted worship of Kannon even without his mother‟s
authenticated one‟s religious quest. For Keizan, Zen
influence. Yet we cannot doubt that her faith gave added impetus
enlightenment entailed not just an ineffable insight into religious
to his emphasis on the power of Kannon.
truth but also involved repeated astral communion with the
Ekan‟s influence remained strong throughout Keizan‟s life. spiritual guides who established the Buddhist path and guard
Shortly before his death, Keizan composed two Buddhist vows over it. In one remarkable dream sequence, for example, Keizan
inspired by Jakuen‟s memory and to his mother‟s dying described how he journeyed into other realms where the three
admonitions. In this document Keizan also praised Ekan‟s Buddhas of the past (Vipasyin), present (Sakyamuni), and future
dedication to teaching Buddhism to women. Keizan followed in (Maitreya) one by one confirmed his enlightenment. In other
her footsteps. His disciple Ekyu is the first Japanese nun known dream episodes the native Japanese spirits of this world (kami
to have received a Soto dharma transmission. To help her such as Hachiman, Inari, etc.) all praised his Zen teachings and
overcome the difficulties of reading Chinese, Keizan gave her a promised the future prosperity of Yōkōji. Visions of this type
copy of Dōgen‟s precept manual transcribed in the Japanese were especially important in medieval Japan, not just to confirm
phonetic syllabary. the veracity of religious experience but also as sources of political
and sectarian authority.
Keizan inherited the diverse magico-religious beliefs of
medieval Japan just as readily as he had accepted his mother‟s Keizan‟s ability to contact the spirits in order to learn their
faith in Kannon. His writings exalt the minor protective gods hidden will represents one pulse in a long Japanese tradition of
associated with Buddhism (such as Bishamon and Karaten), the cultic worship based on shamanistic rites of possession and
special beings revered in Zen tradition (such as Shōhō and the oracular activities. In ancient Japan women seem to have
rakan), as well as native Japanese kami (such as Inari, Hachiman, monopolized the role of shamanistic diviner to a great extent,
and the kami of the province). Keizan believed that all of these evidently because their femininity or procreative abilities gave
divinities protected Buddhism and rewarded the faithful. To them special access to the powers of the unseen world. As Bud-
ensure the success of his temples, Keizan calculated the power of dhism gained popularity, religious functions previously
directional influences and the geomancy of the surrounding hills. associated with female shamans also came to be performed by
He timed special events to take advantage of the astrological male Buddhist ascetics who sojourned in secluded mountains for
influences of favorable stars. For example, in his record of the ritual meditation. Mountain priests (i.e., zenji and yamabushi) in
construction of Yōkōji‟s Buddha hall, Keizan wrote that the particular were seen as being imbued with charismatic powers,
excavating, the laying of the foundation stones, the erecting of the because the Japanese regarded the lofty peaks where they trained
pillars, the fixing of the roof, and the final dedication all had been as meeting grounds between humans and non-human
performed on particularly auspicious days. Likewise, Keizan had supernatural powers. Keizan‟s talent for dreaming suggests a dif-
consulted a Buddhist astrology manual, the Shukuyōgyō, in order ferent approach to charismatic religious power. Keizan was a Zen
to select the day for the ceremonial opening of Yōkōji‟s lecture monk, trained to sit for hours in silent meditation. He had no need

9
for journeys into the mountains. Instead of going to the naturally came to Yōkōji. The promises of Keizan‟s best visions,
mountains to meet spirits and divinities, Keizan conjured visions however, were not fulfilled. The future of Japanese Sōtō lay at
and recorded his dreams to demonstrate that these special beings Sōjiji.

Soto Zen in Medieval Japan CHAPTER 9

Sōjiji: T h e N e w I n s t i t u t i o n a l C e n t e r ( e x c e r p t )

Keizan founded Sōjiji. His desire to establish a secure each disciple with the potential for building a local base of
institutional base for his disciples bore fruit in Sōjiji‟s success. In support from which future abbots could be promoted to Yōkōji.
one of the great ironies of Sōtō history, however, Sōjiji‟s success In 1323 Keizan had drawn up a list of eight temples—including
robbed support from Keizan‟s main temple, Yōkōji. In fact, the Daijōji—to be allotted among his disciples. The origins of four of
leaders of Sōjiji consciously emulated the same policies that these eight temples are obscure. If Yōkōji was a typical example,
Keizan had established to ensure the prosperity of Yōkōji and then the other temples also probably had been small, one-
used them to eliminate Yōkōji as a potential rival. Instead of building chapels erected by minor landowners, originally without
becoming the institutional base intended by Keizan, Yōkōji any resident clergy. Two of them had been founded by Keizan‟s
became the model for Sōjiji‟s ultimate rise to power. The story of mother, Ekan. One of her temples (Jōjuji) was left to Mugai
Sōjiji, therefore, begins with the policies that Keizan established Chikō, while the other one (Hōōji) remained a convent for Sōtō
at Yōkōji. The story ends with Sōjiji at the center of Japanese nuns. Keizan appointed Ekan‟s niece (his own cousin), Myōshō,
Sōtō, the institutional head of four or five separate regional to be its abbess. Three of the eight temples were not allocated,
networks, each consisting of several thousand temples located namely, Daijōji, Yōkōji, and Sōjiji. Daijōji, as mentioned earlier,
throughout the three main islands of Japan. The ways in which was no longer within Keizan‟s control. Yōkōji was not turned
Sōjiji‟s institutional might has influenced the modern image of over to Meihō until the eighth month of 1325, only one week
Keizan is discussed at the beginning of chapter 8. The methods before Keizan‟s death. Regarding Sōjiji, Keizan merely noted
by which the temples in these regional networks were founded, that it should be converted to a Zen temple even though its patron
their role in local religious life, and the regulations that bound still lacked proper faith. Keizan was not able to effect that
them together are explored in subsequent chapters in part 2. In conversion, however, until the fifth month of 1324. Two months
this chapter I examine Sōjiji‟s transformation from a branch later he bequeathed its abbotship to Gasan.
temple to an institutional center.
To enhance Yōkōji‟s sacred aura Keizan attempted to
endow its site with special cultic status. In 1323 he founded a
shrine on a hill known as Gorōhō (Five Masters‟ Peak) at Yōkōji
Yōkōji as Institutional Model
to serve as a mausoleum for his own remains and for the sacred
Keizan planned carefully for Yōkōji‟s success. He cultivated relics of the Sōtō patriarchs. Therein he interred the text of Ju-
his patron‟s goodwill and received in writing a pledge that only ching‟s recorded sayings, a fragment of one of Dōgen‟s bones, a
his lineage would ever assume leadership at Yōkōji. This written sutra that Ejō had copied using his own blood as ink, and pieces
pledge obligated Keizan‟s disciples as well. Keizan stated that of Gikai‟s bones, Gikai‟s Darumashu succession certificate, and
each must serve successive terms in the order of their seniority. In Chinese relic beads (shari). These relics animated Gorōhō with
other words, Keizan founded Yōkōji from the first with the same the physical and spiritual presence of ancestral lineage that linked
system of alternating abbot succession as had been developed Japanese Sōtō to China. According to Keizan, this mausoleum
gradually at Giin‟s Daijiji. This system—which offered each was to be revered by monks at all Sōtō temples. In other words,
disciple and each of his dharma descendants a turn as abbot— every year when memorial services were performed at Yōkōji for
later would become a distinctive feature of most major Sōtō the patriarchs enshrined within Gorōhō, representatives from
monasteries. Keizan gave further instructions regarding the each of the other Sōtō temples were expected to participate in and
succession to Yōkōji‟s abbotship to six of his leading disciples in contribute to the ceremonies. If enacted according to plan, these
1323, only one month before his death. He reminded them that annual ceremonies would have ensured that Yōkōji would
Yōkōji‟s abbotship must first be filled by his own dharma heirs. receive financial donations from all of the monasteries associated
Keizan admonished all six disciples to work together to elect with Keizan‟s lineage.
proper abbots to Yōkōji. These six disciples were: Meihō Sotetsu,
Mugai Chikō (d. 1351), Gasan Jōseki, Koan Shikan (d. 1341),
Kohō Kakumyo (1271-1361), and Genshō Chinzan (n.d., the Early Sōjiji
posthumous heir of Keizan‟s deceased disciple Genka Tekkyō [d.
Sōjiji began as Morookadera. It was a small chapel within
1321]). Of these six, the first four later served as abbots at Yōkōji.
the precincts of the Morooka Hiko Jinja—the local shrine of the
Keizan elected his disciples not just to Yōkōji‟s abbotship Fugeshi District in the northern half of the Noto Peninsula.
but to the abbotships of branch temples as well. This provided Typically, small local shrines (and shrine chapels) of this type did

10
not require any full-time priests. In 1296, however, a local first community. At that point—with a monks‟ hall in which to
military official donated enough land income to Morookadera to practice meditation, a full-time Zen master, and a community of
support a resident priest. This anonymous warrior arranged for disciples in place—Sōjiji first acquired the characteristics of a
Jōken, a master (i.e., ajari) of esoteric Buddhism with the Zen monastery. Jōken, however, did not relinquish full control of
impressive title of assistant disciplinarian of monks (gon risshi), Sōjiji to Gasan until 1329, more than three years after Keizan‟s
to perform ritual prayers, including the fire invocations (goma), death. Moreover, contributions to the new Zen monastery
on the seventeenth day of each month for the fulfillment of his continued to be addressed to “Morookadera” until as late as
(the official‟s) worldly desires and religious salvation. Jōken 1341.
remained at Morookadera for the next twenty-five years, training
Sōjiji continued to be known as Morookadera because in the
disciples in the use of mandala and other esoteric rituals. Then in
eyes of its main patrons it remained the same temple as before.
1321, when the Morooka Hiko Jinja was relocated from its
The documents in which patrons recorded their contributions to
original site to a neighboring estate, Jōken moved with the shrine
Morookadera reveal a remarkable consistency throughout Sōjiji‟s
to found a new temple (which eventually became known as
early history. In 1296 Jōken had been installed at Morooka to
Hōsenji). At the time of this move, Jōken placed Morookadera
perform esoteric prayers on the seventeenth day of each month
under Keizan‟s guardianship (ushiromi). The nature of the
for the local ryoke (i.e., the person holding the main proprietorial
relationship between Jōken and Keizan is not known. Keizan left
rights to the estate income). In 1327, three years after Gasan had
no record of the responsibilities he promised to assume as part of
become abbot of Sōjiji, additional lands were donated to the
his guardianship.
temple for the chanting of scripture on the seventeenth day of
Instead, Keizan immediately proclaimed the conversion of each month as prayers for the security of the ryoke in this life and
the Morooka chapel to the Zen school. He wrote a short tract, for his salvation in the next. In 1333 another contribution made in
Sojiji chuko engi (The History of the Revival of Sōjiji), to argue the name of the ryoke requested readings of one particular
three points: that Morooka was an old, venerable temple worthy scripture, the Dai hannyakyō, as prayers for the security of the
of continued patronage; that Keizan should take control of the imperial court, for the long life of the emperor, and for the
temple, giving it the new name “Sōjiji”; and that the local people worldly success of the ryoke. One year later, in 1334, the local
would thereby obtain increased benefit from worshiping at the military steward (jito) donated land for the building of a shrine to
new Sōjiji. In support of his first point, Keizan stated that the Shōden (an esoteric Buddhist divinity having the head of an
image of Kannon enshrined in the temple was extremely elephant and the body of a man) in order to pray for the
powerful—radiating Buddhist energy in all directions—because fulfillment of the emperor‟s ambitions and for military victories.
the temple originally had been founded by Gyōgi, the eighth- In the following year (1335) the lands that provided offerings for
century Buddhist hero. To justify his own role, Keizan attempted Shoden were specified. In 1337 an unsigned directive was issued
to demonstrate that he was not acting out of selfish motivation. to Morookadera demanding regular ritual prayers “in accordance
He claimed that Kannon and Kannon‟s mystical messengers, as with past precedents.” Finally, in 1341 another directive
well as the other protective spirits of the temple, all had appeared reminded Morookadera that it must faithfully perform the prayers
in his dreams to invite him to convert Morooka to a Zen center. It requested at the time the ryoke gave his original donation forty-
was a request he could not ignore. To argue his final point, five years earlier, in 1296.
Keizan enshrined a new image of Hōkō bodhisattva. Keizan
The above records demonstrate the influence temple patrons
asserted that this bodhisattva was worshiped by the empresses of
exerted over the religious life of rural Zen monasteries. The
Japan and China to ensure the easy delivery of male children. He
religious expectations of patrons played a larger role in the
promised that local women would receive similar benefits.
adaption of esoteric or popular rituals into Zen monasticism than
The summer of 1321, when Jōken placed the Morooka did any conscious efforts at popularization. Throughout the forty-
chapel under Keizan‟s guardianship and Keizan composed the five year period covered by these documents, both before and
Sōjiji chukō engi, is usually regarded as the date of the founding after Keizan had introduced Zen, the basic religious demands of
of Sōjiji. However, it is doubtful that Sōjiji came into being Sōjiji‟s patrons remained unchanged. When Jōken was first
immediately. Following the Sōjiji chuko engi, the next reference installed as abbot the patrons had requested the performance of
to Sōjiji in Keizan‟s writings does not appear until two years the types of esoteric rituals that Jōken was trained to perform.
later, during the tenth month of 1323, when Keizan noted that Once Gasan became abbot the patrons‟ requests changed to
Jōken had desired that Sōjiji not be abandoned even though its scripture recitations, while directing the merit of that service
patron lacked proper faith. As I explain below, this statement toward the same goals. Later orders repeatedly reminded the
probably referred to continual demands by the patron for the per- Sōjiji monks that deviations from previous precedents would not
formance of traditional esoteric rituals. One year after having be tolerated. It is significant that Keizan acknowledged that the
noted the above comments, during the fifth month of 1324 supporters of Morookadera lacked proper faith in Zen at the time
Keizan journeyed to Sōjiji to open its monks‟ hall formally. Two he converted the chapel into a Zen monastery. This
months later he installed Gasan as Sōjiji‟s first full-time Zen acknowledgment suggests that Keizan had assented to the earlier
abbot. On that evening and on the following day Keizan ordained rituals in order to realize Sōjiji‟s conversion.
twenty-eight new Zen monks, who thereupon constituted Sōjiji

11
 Sotozen-net: Keizan Zenji
(from: http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/keizan_zenji.html)

Following Dogen Zenji, the Dharma lamp was unjustly marginalized, this was truly groundbreaking. This
transmitted to Ejo Zenji, then to Gikai Zenji, and then to is thought to be the origin of the organization of Soto Zen
Keizan Zenji, who was the fourth ancestor in the Japanese School nuns and it was for this reason many women took
Soto Zen lineage. refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
Keizan ZenjiKeizan Zenji was born in 1264 in Keizan Zenji finally moved back to Daijoji, in
Echizen Province, which is present-day Fukui Prefecture. present-day Kanazawa City, where he became the second
His mother, Ekan Daishi, was a devoted believer in abbot, following Gikai Zenji. It was here that he gave
Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokiteshvara), the bodhisattva of teisho on Transmission of Light (Denkoroku). This book
compassion. It is said that she was on her way to worship explains the circumstances by which the Dharma was
at a building dedicated to Kannon when she gave birth. transmitted from Shakyamuni Buddha through the twenty
For that reason, the name that Keizan Zenji was given at eight ancestors in India, the twenty three patriarchs in
birth was Gyosho. China, through Dogen Zenji and Keizan Zenji in Japan
At the age of eight, he shaved his head and entered until Keizan’s teacher, Tettsu Gikai.
Eiheiji where he began his practice under the third abbot, In 1321 at the age of fifty-eight, a temple called
Gikai Zenji. At the age of thirteen, he again went to live at Morookaji in Noto, which is present-day Ishikawa
Eiheiji and was officially ordained as a monk under Ejo Prefecture, was donated to Keizan Zenji and he renamed it
Zenji. Following the death of Ejo Zenji, he practiced Sojiji. This was the origin of Sojiji in Yokohama, which
under Jakuen Zenji at Hokyoji, located in present-day is, along with Eiheiji, the other Head Temple (Daihonzan)
Fukui. Spotting Keizan Zenji’s potential ability to lead the of the Soto Zen School.
monks, Jakuen Zenji selected him to be ino, the monk in Keizan Zenji did not, by any means, make light of the
charge of the other monks’ practice. worldly interests of ordinary people and along with the
In contrast to Dogen Zenji, who deeply explored the practice of zazen used prayer, ritual, and memorial
internal self, Keizan Zenji stood out with his ability to services to teach. This was attractive to many people and
look outwards and boldly spread the teaching. For the gave them a sense of peace. For this reason, the Soto Zen
Soto Zen School, the teachings of these two founders are School quickly expanded.
closely connected with each other. In spreading the Way Even in the Soto Zen School today, while all temples
of Buddha widely, one of them was internal in his have zazen groups to serve the earnest requests of
approach while the other was external. believers, they also do their best to fulfill the requests that
After more years of practice in Kyoto and Yura, many people have for benefiting in the everyday world,
Keizan Zenji became resident priest of Jomanji in Awa, which include memorial services and funerals.
which is present-day Tokushima Prefecture. He was Keizan Zenji died in 1325 at the age of sixty-five. In
twenty-seven years old. During the next four years, he succeeding years, his disciples did a good job in taking
gave the Buddhist precepts to more than seventy lay over for him at Sojiji on the Noto Peninsula. However,
people. From this we can understand Keizan Zenji’s vow that temple was lost to fire in 1898. This provided the
to free all sentient beings through teaching and opportunity in 1907 to move Sojiji to its present location.
transmitting the Way. The former temple was rebuilt as Sojiji Soin and continues
He also came forth emphasizing the equality of men today with many supporters and believers.
and women. He actively promoted his women disciples to
become resident priests. At a time when women were

12
 Heinrich Dumoulin – Keizan
(translated from German by James W. Heisig & Paul Knitter)

Born in the province of Echizen, Keizan Jokin is Kakushin were strongly bound to Shingon, while Tozan
remembered in the Soto school alongside the ― high Tansho was devoted to Amida. The broad range of
patriarch‖ (koso), Dogen, as the ― great patriarch‖ (taiso). Buddhist religiosity that he learned from this journey
The story of his life and work is woven with legend, an would later bear fruit in the variety of activities he would
indication of the popular esteem he enjoyed as a soon be undertaking.
religious leader. Like Hakuin, his spirituality was In 1294, after returning to Daijo-ji, Keizan
strongly influenced by his mother, who—the story experienced his great enlightenment. Gikai had presented
goes—before he was born vowed to the bodhisattva his pupil with the nineteenth case of the Mumonkan when
Kannon, to whom she was fervently devoted, to Keizan felt his mind’s eye open. In the dialogue that
consecrate her son to the Buddha. The pious woman constitutes the koan, the disciple Chao-chou asks his
filled her young son’s fertile imagination, as he stood master Nan-chu’an about the Way and receives this
before an image of the bodhisattva, with stories of how answer: ― The ordinary mind is the Way.’’ As Keizan
those who reverenced Kannon would be richly rewarded. tried to show the ordinary mind to Gikai, a koan-like
Early on his mother brought him to be educated by the scene unfolded, with the master giving his pupil a slap on
Zen monks of Eihei’ji. He was only twelve when he the face. Soon afterward, convinced that his disciple has
received his first monastic ordination from Ejo shortly attained a high degree of enlightenment, Gikai made
before the master died (1280). When Ejo looked upon Keizan his Dharma heir and appointed him the founding
this young boy so fervently committing himself to the abbot of Joman-ji in the province of Awa. The following
precepts of Buddha, he is said to have prophetically year Keizan visited the esteemed Eihei-ji monastery,
foreseen a source of hope for the then beleaguered Soto where he received the bodhisattva precepts from Gien.
school. Thereafter he traveled southward and visited Daiji-ji in
Keizan remained in Eihei-ji under Gikai’s direction Kyushu. On his return he stopped in Kyoto and there met
until he was seventeen, at which time he set out on a for the first time Gasan Joseki, who was to become his
pilgrimage to visit monasteries and well-known masters disciple and successor. When Keizan was about thirty
across the country. Legend tells us that he was once so years old and intensely busy instructing disciples and
angered by an immoral monk he encountered that he laity at Joman-ji monastery, he was summoned by the
raised his staff in the air to pummel the unworthy aging Gikai to return to Daijo-ji. There, in the year 1300,
creature when he suddenly remembered his mother’s he began work on his major literary achievement, the
admonition to temper his impetuosity and to imitate the Denkoroku. In 1303 Gikai retired as abbot of Daijo-ji and
gentle Kannon. He was of a mystical temperament and Keizan assumed the post.
had frequent visions from which he drew the strength to Under Keizan’s direction, the monastery of Daijo-ji
carry on. developed into one of the most important centers of
Keizan’s pilgrimage, which spanned the years from Buddhism in the northeastern provinces. As the number
1285 to 1288, prepared him for his life’s work. With a of disciples increased, the monastery’s renown spread
free spirit that found good everywhere, he was able to throughout the land. Keizan presented the books of his
acquire a broad knowledge of Buddhist teaching and Denkoroku to his disciples. Like the early Zen chronicles,
practice. Though he sought out people of different views the books begin with the transmission of Sakyamuni’s
he was especially interested in Zen meditation, to which mind to Kasyapa and then list first the Indian and then
he had committed himself under the stem direction of the Chinese patriarchs up to Ju-ching, with Dogen listed
Jakuen. In Kyoto he visited the two Rinzai masters as the fifty-first patriarch. The work closes with the book
Tozan Tansho (1231-1291) and Hakuun Egyo (1228- on Ejo…[the next section of Dumoulin is incorporated
1297), disciples and successors of Enni Ben’en (1202- into the Zazen Yojinki study.]
1280) as abbots of Tofuku-ji in the second and fourth …
generations. Like Gikai, these two masters freely mixed In his Notebook for Zen Practice, as in the
their Zen practice with elements of Shingon. Keizan took Denkoroku, Keizan shows himself to be a learned and
advantage of a visit to Mount Hiei to study the teachings trustworthy Zen master belonging to the tradition of
of Tendai. He also spent time with and was deeply authentic Zen. We need to keep this in mind as we turn
impressed by the originality of Master Shinchi Kakushin to consider Keizan’s typical but syncretistic way of
(also known as Muhon Kakushin, 1207—1298), the most adapting to other forms of Buddhism.
illustrious expert on the Mumonkan koan collection. Keizan administered Daijo-ji for nearly a decade
Before concluding his journey, he returned once again to (1303—1311), first during the lifetime of Gikai and then
Jakuen. It is impossible to know fully the effects of this by himself. During these years he added to his literary
pilgrimage on Keizan. Hakuun Egyo and Shinchi works the Shinjinmei-nentei and the Sankon-Zazen-setsu

13
in the spirit of authentic Zen tradition. Energetic by originated from Soji-ji. Eventually the two monasteries
nature, he tried take a active part in the life of the people, ironed out apparent rivalries and formed one centralized
which in turn brought him to the conviction that it was Soto school. We are left with the question of how to
necessary to adapt Zen to the spirit of the times and evaluate this development of Soto Zen that Gikai began
integrate it with other forms of Buddhist life, especially and Keizan brought to fruition. For the most part, con-
those of esoteric Buddhism. Gikai had already prompted temporary Soto scholars consider the evident changes in
him in this direction, and the experiences gained during the style of Dogen’s school to be the ineluctable result of
pilgrimage prepared him for it. He saw nothing institutionalization.
preventing the realization of his ideas and considered the When an institution takes shape, the school of
northeastern provinces especially receptive to what he in the patriarchs undergoes change. This is its
mind. Turning over the direction of Daijoji to his disciple unavoidable fate and part of the process of adapting
Meiho Sotetstu (1277—1350), he went on to found to the needs of the times and of society. One must
Jojuji, where he soon appointed his disciple Mugai ask, however, whether such change actually served
Chikyo (d. 1351) abbot. as a form of ― skillful means‖ (J hoben) to further the
Keizan maintained good relations with many spread of doctrine and the advancement of the
different abbots and with their help was able promote the community, or whether under the pressure of
rapid growth of Soto Zen. The monasteries of Yokoji and democratization it led to another school that was
Sojiji both in the region of Noto, became centers for his totally different from the style of Zen Master Dogen.
activity. He enlarged the Shingon temple of Yoko-ji, No doubt experts will answer this question
turning it into a Zen monastery, and worked there for a differently; what is clear is that Zen Master Keizan
number of years. His most important institutional himself firmly believed that he was preserving the
achievement came toward the end of his life. Thanks to style of Dogen’s school.[-Kagamishima]
his friendly relations with the Vinaya master (Jpn., What prevailed in fact was a widespread mixture of
risshi) Joken, he inherited the Shingon temple of Zen with elements of esoteric Buddhism. In leading Soto
Shogaku-ji in 1322, renamed it, Soji-ji, and turned it into monasteries one could find next to the hall of Zen
the main temple of the Soto school. Emperor Go-Daigo mediation a cultic hall where mainly Shingon rituals
elevated it to the rank of a ―great head temple‖ were carried out. Burial services were prominent, though
(daihonzan), on the same level as Eihei-ji. Soon afterward, incantations and petitionary prayers (kaji-kito) for one’s
Keizan appointed his able disciple Gasan Joseki (1275- earthly well-being were also part of the daily cult.
1365) to take his place as abbot of Soji-ji so that he could Relatively few of the monks practiced regular mediation,
spend his final days in his beloved Yoko-ji. Shortly and still the communities had a strong sense of belonging
before he died, he wrote the book of rules for monastic to Zen Buddhism. Just as throughout their lives Keizan
living known as the Keizan shingi. His remains were and Gikai considered themselves to be disciples of
divided among the temples of Daijo-ji, Yoko-ji, and Soji- Dogen, so too Soto monks up to the present feel
ji and reverently laid to rest. themselves bound to the practice of meditation. At no
At the end of Kamakura period, the Soto school had time has there been a dearth of individuals having
crystallized around three centers: the original foundation extraordinary enlightenment Experiences through
of Eihei-ji, the Daijo-ji monastery with Master Meiho as meditation. The line that took shape during the third and
abbot, and the two temples of Yoko-ji and Soji-ji both fourth generations after Dogen endured through the
under the direction of Gasan. The real axis of the history of Soto Zen. The historically significant
movement was clearly with Gasan, in that the influence developments in the Soto school have their roots in
of Soji-ji not only equaled but came to surpass that of Dogen and Keizan, and, as we shall see in the next
Eihei-ji. During the second half of the middle ages, the section of the book, in Gasan as well.
movement of Soto Zen among the common people

14
 Thomas Cleary - Keizan and Gazan Soseki Biographies (from Timeless Spring)

Jokin of Eiko As a youth he gave up lay life and climbed right up to

The zen master's initiatory name was Jokin; he was Mount Hiei, where he set up an altar and received the pre-
styled Keizan. He was entitled Zen Master with cepts. He often went to lectures and studied thoroughly the
Enlightened Compassion; this was a posthumous title essentials of the school of Tendai. When he happened to
granted by the emperor of the southern court. He was from meet zen master Keizan at Daijo monastery, Keizan saw at
Etchu, and his lay surname was Kubara. once that he was a vessel of truth, so he said to him, "A
fine vessel of dharma; why don't you change your vest-
When he was a child he took master Ejo as his teacher ments and investigate zen?" The master Gazan said, "I
and shaved his head and put on monk's clothing. When have a mother and I fear she would lack support (if I did
zen master Gikai succeeded to the seat to lead the commu- so).” Keizan said, "In ancient times Sanavasa gave up a
nity at Eihei, the master Jokin served as Gikai's personal whole continent to enter our school; how can you neglect
attendant, taking care of his robes and bowl. One time the way of the greatest teaching for a petty mundane
when he entered Gikai's room, Gikai asked him, "Can you duty?" Then he took off his outer robe and gave it to Ga-
bring forth the ordinary mind?" As Jokin tried to say zan, who joyfully accepted it with a bow.
something, Gikai hit him right on the mouth; Jokin was at
a loss, and at this point his feeling of doubt blazed. One Then he went along with Keizan when he moved to
night as he was in the hall sitting in concentration, he Soji monastery. He was wholehearted and sincere at all
suddenly heard the wind at the window and had a power- times, never once straying. One day when Keizan got up
ful insight. Gikai deeply approved of him. After a long in the hall to speak, the master Gazan came forward from
time Gikai entrusted the teaching to Jokin, who finally the assembly and asked, "Why is it hard to speak of the
succeeded to the seat at Daijo, having had for years the place where not a breath enters?" Keizan said, "Even
complete ability, transcending the teacher. speaking of it does not say it.” The master had a flash of
insight; as he was about to open his mouth, Keizan said,
When he reopened the Eiko monastery of eternal light "Wrong." Scolded, Gazan withdrew; after this his spirit of
and lived there, lords and officials came to him when they determination soared far beyond that of ordinary people.
heard of him; his influence was greatest in his time. One One night as Keizan was enjoying the moon along with
day he said to his student Meiho, “On the spiritual moun- Gazan, he said, "Do you know that there are two moons?"
tain there was a leader of the assembly (Mahakasyapa) Gazan said, "No." Keizan said, "If you don't know there
who shared the teaching seat (with Shakyamuni Buddha); are two moons you are not a seedling of the To
at Caoqi there were leaders of the assembly who shared succession." [Note: The moon is the symbol of reality.
the teaching. Here at Eiko today I too am making an Traditionally 'middle path’ buddhism provisionally
assembly leader to take part in the teaching.” Then with a distinguishes two levels of reality, conventional (social)
verse he bestowed the robe — “The flaming man under and ultimate ('emptiness').]
the lamp of eternal light - shining through the aeon's sky,
the atmosphere is new. The putting Peak of Brilliance [this At this the master increased his determination and sat
refers to Meiho] is hard to conceal; his whole capability crosslegged like an iron pole for years. One day as Keizan
turns over, revealing the whole body.” passed through the hall he said, "'Sometimes it is right to
have Him raise his eyebrows and blink his eyes; some-
Thereafter the master Jokin never drummed his lips times it is right not to have Him raise his eyebrows and
(spoke much) to the assembly; late in life he changed the blink his eyes." [Note: This is a saying of Shitou] At these
disciplinary monastery Soji into a zen place and stayed words the master Gazan was greatly enlightened. Then
there. After a long time at it, he had had enough of temple with full ceremony he expressed his understanding.
business, so he gave the abbacy to Gazan, extending a col- Keizan agreed with him and said, "After the ancients had
lateral branch of the teaching. The master Jokin always gotten the message, they went north and south, polishing
liked to travel, so when he had retired from his duties he and chipping day and night, never complacent or self-
wandered around with a broken rainhat and a skinny cane, conceited. From today you should go call on (the teachers)
meeting people wherever he went, and crowds of people in other places."
submitted to him.
Gazan bowed and took his leave that very day. At all
the monasteries he visited he distinguished the dragons
Soseki of Soji from the snakes. [Note: Dragons are great meditation
The zen master's initiatory name was Soseki; he was adepts; snakes are those that resemble 'dragons' but aren't
styled Gazan. He was from Noto prefecture, and his lay really; that is, Gazan saw who were the genuine knowers
surname was Minamoto; he was a descendant of the great and who were the imitations.] After a long time of this he
councilor Reizei. His mind Was exceptionally keen, and eventually returned to look in on Keizan. Keizan
his clear countenance was extraordinary. welcomed him joyfully and said, “Today you finally can

15
be a seedling of the To succession." The master Gazan ing in one region, and the influence of the school spread
covered his ears. all over the country. At the end of his life he had Taigen
Keizan said, "I am getting feeble and am depending inherit his seat, and also entrusted Tsugen with the scepter
on a hand from you to hold up a broken sand bowl;” then of authority of the school. After he had imparted his last
he transmitted the teaching to him. After the master had instruction to his various disciples Mutan, Daitetsu, Hobo,
received it, he led the community at Soji. The monastery and the rest, he rang the bell, chanted a verse, and died.
regulations were fully developed, modeled on the strict His verse said,
rules of Tiantong. Before long people from all walks of Skin and flesh together
life came like clouds. Always surrounded by thousands of Ninety one years.
people, Gazan greatly expounded Soto Zen. Since night, as of old,
Gazan Soseki had twenty-five enlightened disciples to I lie in the yellow springs of death.
whom he transmitted the Dharma; each spread the teach-

[Note: The account of Keizan’s awakening in Eto Sokuo’s piece (in the section of Keizan & Dogen) is a bit different:
One morning, the master listened to Tettsu Gikai’s lecture at his ascent to the Dharma hall. When Tettsu cited
Chao-chou’s topic, “One’s original mind as it really is, is the Way,” [in that moment,] the master accomplished a
great awaken-ing. He at once declared: “I have it.” Tettsu Gikai questioned him, saying: “What have you
realized?” The master replied: “Black balls run through the dark night.” Tettsu questioned him again: “Not clear.
Explain again.” The master said: “At the time of tea, I drink tea; at the time of the rice meal, I eat rice meal.”
Here is the same story from the sotozen-net Keizan comic:]

16
 Bernard Faure from: Visions of Power
[p. 4:] This contradiction is only one surface sign, one
manifestation of a deep tension that we shall meet again
In spite of his status as “second founder” and “fourth
and again. Keizan‟s Zen is, as we might expect, aporetic
patriarch” of the Japanese Soto “sect,” Keizan, far from
and therefore paradoxical: it is at the same time elitist and
being a narrowly sectarian figure, stands at the crossroads
popular idealistic and realistic, sudden and gradual (or, if
of various traditions. Of course he is first and foremost a
you like, immediate and mediate), unlocalized and
Zen monk, and his references in this regard are
localized, obsessed with the idea of unity and besotted
impeccable, and consequently relatively trite. He quotes
with multiplicity. Keizan‟s thought develops around these
and comments on the eponymous masters of the Soto
polarities and doubtless owes its vitality to this tension.
(Chinese Caodong) tradition: Dongshan Liangjie (807-
As he says in one of his dialogues, “In the doctrine of
869) and Caoshan Benji (840-901). But he also likes to be
emptiness we can finally detect neither heights nor
seen as an ujiko, a “clan child” of Hakusan, a name
depths, neither for nor against.” We thus have a fusion
designating both the mountain range that dominates and
within supreme awakening of the two orders of reality
separates the three prefectures of Fukui, Ishikawa, and
which give rise to dreams and to waking life. But this
Gifu, and its protective deity, Hakusan Myori Dai-gongen.
absolute standpoint (a contradiction in terms) results in
Unlike Dogen, Keizan was completely immersed in local
only a theoretical disavowal of multiplicity. In practice
cults and legends from the time of his childhood. His
things are very different, as we can see, for example, in
entire work reflects and maintains this tension between
the importance that Keizan attached to visions of all
two fundamentally opposed realms of thought. This
sorts, or his interest in the concrete details of monastic
ambiguity is usually glossed over by Japanese historians
life. Thus, in a dialogue with his benefactress-turned-
or else attributed to efforts at proselytizing on the part of a
disciple, Sonin, Keizan alludes to the cosmic order, the
reformer consciously adapting his teachings to local
conventional truth according to which the seasons
conditions. But it actually expresses what the Buddhists
succeed each other on the branches of trees, only to hear
have called the “two truths”: ultimate truth and
her reply that a tree “without shade” (the tree in its
conventional truth. This hermeneutic strategy of the
absolute reality) does not have “seasonal knots.”
“twofold truth” is critical in Chan/Zen Buddhism, but its
[Footnote: JDZ, 401. The term jisetsu, translated here literally, is
role is problematic in that it seeks to diminish tensions an allusion to an expression often used by Dogen, jisetsu innen,
rather than let them play against each other; and the “temporal causes and conditions” of awakening. [Also
eventually covers up rather than reveals the reality of the note: JDZ refers to Josai daishi zenshu. Koho Chisan, ed. 1937.
practices. If this pattern of discourse cannot be discarded, Rpt. Yokohoma: Daihonzan Sojiji, 1976.]] This realization of
one must at least avoid replicating it. To do this, an the eternal present does not prevent the two interlocutors,
anthropologico-historical approach seems useful. We are apparently concerned for the future, from leaving detailed
working in a domain that is still little studied, one largely instructions for their descendants.
dominated by the teleological concepts of an entire
tradition that sees Zen as the final outcome of the history Let us continue with this line of thought. Chan/Zen
of Buddhism and, at the same time, the zenith of Japanese theory, in its orthodox immediacy, presents itself as
culture. Thus any attempt of the kind made in this book is completely rejecting all mediation: rejecting the
fraught with difficulties, and our conclusions will remain imaginaire as an intermediary or “imaginal” world,
tentative.) dismissive of cosmologies, symbols, images—in other
words, traditional beliefs - and belief in general. It goes
[P. 8:] without saying that practice looks somewhat different:
KEIZAN‟S TWO TRUTHS when we look at them closely, the fine theoretical
certainties of Chan start unraveling, replaced by a game
The path that we are going to follow begins from a in which practically all kinds of mediation are allowed.
simple but surprising observation: the doctrine that Reminiscent of the writer described by Roland Barthes,
Keizan followed was, as is all monasticism if we are to the Chan master is a divided subject because he
believe Max Weber, fundamentally rationalist and de- participates “at the same time and in a contradictory way
mythologizing. Furthermore, the religious experience that in the deep pleasure of all Culture ... and the destruction
inspires Chan/Zen is, paradoxically, not very “religious” of that culture. He enjoys the strength of his own self .. .
(in the Western sense of the word), since it relies on an (in this lies his pleasure) and tries to lose it (in this lies
immediate perception of reality, in its initial “thusness,” his enjoyment).”
prior to all thinking processes and imagination. Thus
Chan/Zen takes as its position the rejection of all Keizan is consistent in his contradictions; they make
imagination. But the universe in which Keizan lived was up a system. His theoretical statements almost always
no less impregnated with the marvelous, structured by the stand in opposition to his actual practice—at least
imaginary than that of his contemporary Dante Alighieri. insofar as this latter can be reconstructed. This di-

17
 vergence is not accidental, and we may speak without Sumeru. At that time I was the deity of a Kuvala tree.
too much fear of exaggeration, of a systematic effect With the head of a dog, the body of a kite, and the
characterizing Chan/Zen discourse. Instances of denials belly and tail of a serpent, I was a four-footed animal.
in principle may even serve as indicators; they reveal the Although I was only a humble tree deity, I nonetheless
dual nature of this discourse. Practice is “contained” by received the fruit [of Arhatship]. From that time on, I
them (in every meaning of the word: included, enclosed, lived on the Himalayas, in the northern continent of
protected, prevented from spreading). The divergence Uttarakuru, with Suvinda, the fourth Arhat. This is
between representations and actual practices is thus why I am now reincarnated here [in the north of
constitutive—it defines the very domain of the Japan]. Owing to my karmic affinities with the
imaginaire. [northern] regions, I managed to be reborn as an ujiko
of Hakusan. . . Since achieving the fruit of Arhatship, I
Is practice then a kind of “controlled catastrophe,”
have been reincarnated through five hundred
and the awakening that crowns it a self-possessed
existences in order to spread the Dharma and bring
madness—a foundry in which all false notions are
profit to all beings. [JDZ, 395]
melted away—an emptiness of spirit suggesting a move
beyond all mental functions, and thus beyond all However, unlike the protagonist of a famous Chan
meanings, words, and images? This attitude would dialogue—a monk who had to be reborn five hundred
explain iconoclasm and the “senseless” attitudes of the times as a fox in order to pay off a karmic debt and was
“Chan madmen” and other eccentric mystics. No more finally delivered by the words of the master Baizhang
images, and thus no more imaginaire? Perhaps. But as far Huaihai—the future Keizan had achieved awakening
as we can tell, in almost all Chan texts we are in the before his long series of reincarnations. The number five
presence of a normative vision of awakening rather than hundred is highly symbolic. It is associated most often
a simple description, a program that passes itself off as a with the five hundred Arhats, and it is precisely with one
simple inventory (etat des lieux)—or rather an account of these great disciples of the Buddha, the Arhat Suvinda,
of the non-place (non-lieu) called the arena of that Keizan tells us that he spent his time. After this brief
awakening (Skt. bodhimanda). This kind of awakening mention of his previous existences, which reminds us of
is still part of the Chan imaginaire, an imagination that the style of the Jataka, tales of the former lives of the
has certainly been purified but one that cannot pride Buddha Sakyamuni, Keizan gives a brief chronological
itself on any ontological or epistemological superiority account of his monastic career and spiritual journey:
over the image-rich imagination of local religion which
At eight years old I received the tonsure and went
it disavows. The desire to surpass and go beyond the
to live in the community of the master Gikai, who was
ideological and the imaginary is also part of the
then the abbot of Eiheiji. At thirteen I became a monk
ideological and the imaginary.
under the Reverend Ejo, the former abbot [of Eiheiji]
… and the successor to Eihei [Dogen]. At eighteen I
made a firm resolve to seek awakening. At nineteen I
[p. 31]
went to consult Jakuen, the guardian of [Dogen‟s]
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATION stupa. Having already produced the thought of
ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTIC features of the awakening, I reached the level of non- backsliding. At
Record of Tokoku is its autobiographical element. twenty-two I obtained awakening as I heard a sound.
Unfortunately this autobiographical fragment deals only At twenty-five, emulating Kannon, I produced the
with the later part of Keizan‟s life, the years he spent at universal wish of the great Icchantika. At twenty-eight
Yokoji and not the earlier period when he lived at Daijoji. I became the superior of Jomanji in Umibe, in Awa
Nevertheless it is still important in the way it documents province. At twenty-nine, I received the ritual of
the emergence of an individual from the matrix of ordination from Master Gien of Eiheiji, and during the
Japanese feudal society—at least as important as the winter of the same year I began to administer the
private diaries that have survived from the period. The Precepts. I ordained at first five people. At thirty-one I
way that Keizan saw himself is, however, quite unusual had already ordained more than seventy people. At
and reveals certain interesting—and less well-known— thirty-two I went to consult the Reverend Gikai,
features of the medieval imagination. For example, he founder of Daijoji in Kaga province, and I inherited
could casually announce to his disciples that he was the his Dharma. I became his main disciple, and I was the
reincarnation of a tree spirit, a chimera-like being who first vice-abbot (hanza) of Daijoji. I had the right to
lived in the Himalayas and who had been converted to private meals, and I received a propitious name for my
Buddhism, achieving the exalted status of an Arhat: quarters. I was assured that I had the stuff to be an
eminent master. At thirty-three I was named risso
As for me, it was in the past, at the time of the nisshitsu. At thirty-five I ascended alone the preaching
Buddha Vipasyin, that I realized the fruit of Arhatship. chair of Daijo[ji] and I was named second-generation
I was living on the Himalayas, to the north of Mount
18
 abbot. At the end of fifteen years of preaching, I came separate dreams, coming some years apart. The auto-
to settle on this mountain [Tokokuzan] in order to biography in the strict sense of the term ends there.
found a monastery here. [JDZ, 395-96] Autobiographical details show up elsewhere in the work,
however, and when he is giving various details about
As we can see, taking the tonsure at the age of eight,
Yokoji, Keizan supplies some of the most meaningful
Keizan first served Gikai (1219-1309) at Eiheiji. He was
information about himself, his way of thinking, and his
then ordained as a novice when he was thirteen, receiving
dreams.
complete ordination at eighteen. Once he was a monk, he
left the service of Ejo (1198-1280) and went to Jakuen Keizan‟s “autobiography” fits the standard pattern of
(Ch. Jiyuan, 1207-1299), one of Dogen‟s Chinese the genre and we should not be too quick to accept the
disciples, from whom he received a first inkling of the biographical data supplied in it. In spite of their apparent
truth, followed three years later by a more profound sincerity, Buddhist autobiographies often constitute no
awakening. At twenty-eight he became the superior at more than subjective projections of the life of the Buddha
Jomanji in Kaifu and the following year he received from himself. Behind the apparently objective framework of
Gien (d. 1314), then the superior at Eiheiji, his own facts, the imagination plays a great part. The “imitation”
authorization to ordain. He immediately made use of this of the paradigm provided by the life of the crown prince
power, ordaining more than seventy monks over the next Sakyamuni is a fundamental element of monastic life. It
two years. At thirty-two he went back to Gikai, who had may take various forms, depending on whether the
left Eiheiji to found a new community farther north, practitioner holds to an intransigent subitist position or
Daijoji in Kaga. He became Gikai‟s main disciple, the one of various forms of gradualism. From the subitist
inheritor of his Dharma, and three years later succeeded point of view, the only “biographical” motifs that stand
him as abbot of Daijoji. After staying fifteen years in this out are the Buddha‟s awakening and final entry into
monastery, he left to take possession of a parcel of land at Nirvana. So the “lives” of the Chan masters, at least as
Tokoku and founded his own monastery, Yokoji. they show up in hagiographic literature, are essentially
reduced to these two important occasions. The meager
Keizan goes on by telling the initiatory dream during
biographical information provided is there only insofar as
which he achieved awakening.
it is needed to back up this imperative of spiritual
Bodhidharma appeared in my dream and bathed transcendence. From traditional Buddhism‟s gradualist
me in pure water that sprang from the stones under his point of view, to which Keizan remains clearly indebted
seat, in a pure, cold lake. As I was naked, he gave me a despite his theoretical subitism, the life of the Buddha
monk‟s robe and I then produced the thought [of forms a whole, in which each significant event, even if
awakening]. still building toward the pinnacle of awakening, is in itself
Maitreya appeared in my dream and gave me a a sign of transcendence— following the logic of pars pro
blue lotus seat. I was reborn three times, and then I was toto. The main actions of Sakyamuni become paradigms
carried through space. The deva, playing music, from a mythico-ritual repertoire. Thus the flight of the
escorted me before Maitreya. He led me into the Inner young prince from his father‟s palace, a dramatic
Court of Tu$ita. Then I achieved the status of non- rejection of the bonds of blood, is replayed mentally by
backsliding. each postulant on the occasion of his own “leaving the
family” (J. shukke), a term that designates monastic
Sakyamuni appeared in my dream, revealing ordination. This ordination then comes to be considered
himself in his body from the time of the preaching of as a real initiation, an entry by adoption into the “lineage
the Ratnak&ta-sutra. He expounded the doctrine of the of the Buddha,” a saving affiliation into the Chan
Three Deliverances—deliverance from time, mind, and patriarchal lineage. Equally important is the practice of
phenomena— during a period of fifty-eight years asceticism: we know that the Buddha practiced the most
[JDZ, 396]. extreme mortifications of the flesh for a period of six
The three mythic characters who initiated him— years before achieving the “Middle Path,” midway
Bodhidharma, Maitreya, and Sakyamuni—helped him, between rigorous asceticism and hedonism. Despite this
respectively, to produce the thought of awakening, to rejection of extreme asceticism, the image of an
reach the state of nonreturn, and finally to fulfill the emaciated Sakyamuni, reduced almost to the condition of
doctrine of the triple deliverance, the crowning of the a living corpse, would continue to haunt the Buddhist
career of a Bodhisattva, These three stages had already imagination and would come to justify monastic poverty,
been mentioned in more or less the same terms in the and even more extreme forms of “rejecting the self.” Here
chronological section preceding the account of the dream. is Keizan‟s description of this ascesis in his Denkoroku:
Keizan apparently went through them during his “One night when he was nineteen years old, Sakyamuni
eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenty-second years. Thus it left his palace and shaved off his hair. After this he spent
is possible that what is presented here as a single dream in six years practicing ascesis. He sat on an indestructible
three phases actually constitutes the memory of three seat, so still that he had spider webs on his eyelashes, a
19
bird‟s nest on his head, and grass grew through his HITORIANS SEE KEIZAN above all as the reformer of
meditation mat. He remained seated like this for six the Soto tradition, and thus we should examine his
years.” position within that context. The Soto tradition was
brought to Japan by Dogen (1200-1253), who in 1243
Another critical moment in the life of the Buddha,
went on to found Eiheiji (Monastery of Eternal Peace) in
this time after the Awakening, was that of the
Echizen province (today‟s Fukui prefecture). Unlike his
transmission of the Dharma from master to disciple, an
contemporary and rival, the Rinzai master Enni Ben‟en
essential concept for a school like Chan which, by
(1202-1280), Dogen rejected the doctrinal syncretism that
rejecting Canonical tradition, had deprived itself of
then reigned in Zen (and in Chinese Chan) and preached
traditional criteria for orthodoxy. This transmission was
“pure” Zen. This was also the position of his successor
achieved by Sakyamuni‟s holding up of a flower in front
Koun Ejo (1198-1280). But after the latter‟s death, the
of his disciples, a gesture understood only by Kasyapa
Eiheiji community is said to have split over Dogen‟s
(better known as Mahakasyapa, “Kasyapa the Great”).
succession, during what came to be called the third-
Keizan had this model in mind each time he designated a
generation controversy, a conflict that seems to have
successor.
involved conservative elements, partisans of a strict
As a result of the growing ritualization of monastic adherence to Dogen‟s “purism,” and those who, with
life after Dogen, however, it was the entire life of the Ejo‟s successor, Gikai (1219-1309), advocated an
Buddha that became the ritual paradigm and engaged the openness to esoteric Buddhism and local cults. Gikai was
imagination of the monks. Speaking of the donation of the evicted from Eiheiji and took refuge in a monastery in
land for the future Yokoji, Keizan writes, “King Kaga province, Daijoji (in Ishikawa prefecture). Keizan,
Bimbisara once offered the Bamboo Grove park to the the disciple and successor of Gikai, thus belonged to this
Buddha. In the same way, when one enters this place with dissident branch of the Soto sect which, thanks to him and
a pure faith, one sees one‟s desires lessen and one‟s good his disciples, would become the majority party and by the
karma increase” [JDZ, 394]. The pious lay donor is thus same token, for a long time, the party of orthodoxy.
promoted to the dignity of a king, and Keizan to that of
The syncretism of Gikai and Keizan, however, also
the Buddha.
reflects their adherence to another Zen tendency little
We can also see in the description Keizan gives of his understood until recently, referred to as the Dharma
first years at Tokoku all the tropes of monastic poverty: school (Darumashu). This school, named after the legen-
“To welcome visitors I used pine needles in water instead dary founder of Chan/Zen, the Indian monk
of tea, and I used cedar leaves to put in the recipients” Bodhidharma, was apparently founded by a monk named
[JDZ, 398]. But how far was this ideal of poverty and Dainichi (var. Dainichibo) Nonin even before the official
renunciation actually put into practice? From reading the introduction of Zen into Japan by Yosai (var. Eisai, 1141-
Record of Tokoku alone, it is difficult to make any clearcut 1215) and Dogen. Unlike these figures, Nonin had never
decisions. Although we cannot doubt Keizan‟s reforming visited China; he achieved awakening by himself, with no
zeal and sincerity, the close relations that he maintained spiritual guide. It was only much later; in response to
with his benefactors lead us to think that he must have criticisms, that he obtained, through two disciples, the
had to make some compromises. transmission of the Chan master Fozhao, alias Zhuoan
Whatever the case, this imaginary projection into a Deguang. This detail, as we shall see, is not without
mythical time was not purely individual. It did not significance. The success of the Darumashu provoked
involve simply the reproduction for oneself of the strong reactions, sometimes motivated by doctrinal
awakening and life of the Buddha, identifying oneself disagreements and sometimes by envy. Among Nonin‟s
with him individually; within the communal Utopia the detractors were several prominent monks of the time,
primordial Buddhist community also had to be recreated. such as the Kegon master Myoe (1173-1232), but also
The Buddha had to be brought back to life not just by Yosai and Dogen themselves. Dogen had private reasons
himself but in close symbiosis with the community of his to oppose Nonin and his doctrine, even if, unlike Yosai,
disciples, the Buddhist samgha. As a result the career of he did this only indirectly. His main disciples, beginning
the Buddha was followed as if it consisted of two stages: with Ejo and Gikai, were essentially breakaway members
first a time of individuation, and then that of of this school. While Ejo‟s conversion to Dogen‟s
collectivization. This communal ideal is present from the teaching was wholehearted, that of his co-disciples was
very first pages of the Record of Tokoku. more ambivalent. In spite of his diatribes against the
school of Linji (Rinzai), Dogen could never succeed
…[also see the section on Keizan and Women for more on completely in persuading his disciples to renounce their
Keizan from Visions of Power.] former affiliation. In the very heart of the new Japanese
[p. 47] Soto school, the Rinzai ideas and lineage of the
Darumashu continued, finding a synthesis and outcome in
IMAGINED LINEAGES the thought of Keizan.
20
 On this point as on others, Keizan‟s attitude is by Keizan. We know that the latter, in his youth, studied
ambiguous. Sometimes, like Dogen in his hardly veiled in various Tendai and Rinzai monasteries. But the
criticism of the Darumashu, he insists on the importance affinities between Kakushin and Keizan did not prevent a
of a face-to-face transmission between master and disci- rivalry between the two branches in certain situations.
ple, authenticated by a certificate of succession. At other Thus, when Keizan succeeded his master Gikai at Daijoji,
times he seems to admit the possibility of “awakening he was soon replaced, on the insistence of the lay patrons
alone, without a master” (mushi dokugo), as Nonin was of the monastery, by a monk from the Hotto branch,
said to have done. In his Denkoroku he treats Dogen as the Kyoo Unryo (1267- 341). In a document dated 1323,
heir to the Rinzai master Myozen (1184-1225), a disciple Keizan writes:
of Yosai whom Dogen had accompanied to China and
Daijoji is the monastery where my late master
whose relics he brought back to Japan. According to
[Gikai] first preached the Dharma. Among his
Keizan, Dogen had inherited Myozen‟s robe and bowl
disciples there were some worthy of becoming
along with his esoteric teachings and rituals. Thus he was
abbots, but the person who holds administrative
Myozen‟s sole legitimate heir, from whom he received
power there at the moment is a monk who does not
the true lines of the three schools: exoteric, esoteric, and
follow my way of thinking. Yet what motivated the
Zen. If we are to believe Keizan‟s account, Dogen too
founder [Gikai] was the hope of revitalizing our
was an eclectic teacher.
sect. This is why, when the patrons [of Daijoji]
Keizan may be projecting his own situation onto come back to the right principle, the worthies of our
Dogen. He combined in his own person two very sect should once again reside there. Furthermore,
different lines, one that would represent Zen orthodoxy since the relics of three generations of Eiheiji
and the other, heterodoxy. This tension between lineages [abbots] have been deposited there, this is a
reflects another deeper tension—at the level of ideas or monastery that we must work to restore. Disciples,
even of world- views. We return to this second tension see that you observe my wishes.
later in this chapter. For now, we linger a moment on the
Of course we must not exaggerate Keizan‟s feelings
idea of the patriarchal tradition. As is well known, the
of rivalry. After all, the new abbot of Daijoji, Kyoo
transmission of the Dharma is essential in Chan/Zen.
Unryo, had studied for some time under his supervision,
From at least the time of the sixth patriarch Huineng (died
and Keizan himself sent his two main disciples, Meiho
713), if not before, this transmission, considered to take
Sotetsu and Gasan Joseki, to study in turn at Daijoji.
place “outside scriptural teaching,” “from mind to mind,”
was verified by the transmission of the patriarchal robe. THE PATRIARCHAL TRADITION
The Dharma robe of Huineng, the emblem of the What, then, was this patriarchal tradition that Keizan
patriarchate “invented” by his alleged disciple Shenhui claimed to belong to? It was not a matter of a simple
(684-758), was coveted by many parties. During the Tang transmission from master to disciple, already so well
the Chinese emperors even considered it as a sort of known in China and Japan, but the transmission par
dynastic treasure (bao) whose presence in the imperial excellence, that of the ultimate truth or shobogenzo, the
palace, even if only temporary, helped to legitimize a new “Treasure of the True Dharma Eye” transmitted by the
reign. Later other relics played a similar role. At the time Buddha to his disciple Mahakasyapa, and, through the
of Dogen, and at his insistence, the certificates of intervening Chinese and Japanese patriarchs, to Dogen
succession (shisho) became more important. Just as and Keizan. The hieratic nature of this transmission is
Shenhui resorted to the symbol of the patriarchal robe in underscored by the fact that, in certain Chan manuscripts
order to prove the legitimacy of his master Huineng (and uncovered at Dunhuang, it is considered to operate on a
his own at the same time), Dogen came to insist on the suprahistorical level, in the Vajradhatu, or Adamantine
requirement of the certificate of succession, doubtless to Realm, between two patriarchs who are no longer simply
invalidate the claims of freelancers like Nonin. On this flesh-and-blood people but metaphysical beings. Its histo-
point Keizan is more easygoing than Dogen, considering ricity is thus of a special kind reminiscent of the Christian
that both types of transmission are authentic even if they Church, unrolling in a time of a higher order; the aevum.
are not completely equal in weight. Questions of transmission that seem strictly sectarian to
There is one more lineage to which Keizan seems us expressed, to Dogen, Keizan, and their
very close, even if he cannot truly be called its heir. This contemporaries, the highest truth, the very essence of
is the Hotto branch, named after Hotto kokushi (National their world. Their sectarianism carried them, so to speak,
Master Hotto, posthumous title of Shinchi Kakushin, to the heart of things.
1207-1298). This lineage was heavily influenced by THE FIVE ELDERS
Shingon esotericism, which Kakushin had studied at
Koyasan before he went to China to study the Chan of the Keizan constructed the main buildings of Yokoji
Linji (Rinzai) school. Kakushin‟s eclecticism was shared according to an architectural tradition that was well
established, at least in China. But then he became
21
innovative, building, on a hill overlooking the monastery, contains a messianic promise.” Thus at Goroho we may
a funerary mound that he called Goroho [Peak of the Five have the “pentarchy” of Yokoji: five patriarchs forming a
Elders] and a memorial called Dentoin [Pavilion of the collective ancestor and not simply five successive
Transmission of the Lamp]. Like some imperial tombs in generations.
Korea and Japan, the mound over the course of centuries
As we have seen above, Dentoin contains statues of
blended into the landscape and today it is covered with
the Five Elders along with the funerary tablets of
vegetation. It is about five meters high and ten meters
Keizan and the four later “patriarchs” (Meiho Sotetsu,
across. Its name, the Peak of the Five Elders, was perhaps
Mugai Chiko, Gasan Joseki, and Koan Shikan), along
borrowed from a famous peak of Mount Lu, in Jiangxi.
with those of Keizan‟s mother (Ekan) and paternal
What concerns us particularly is that Keizan buried in it
grandmother (Myochi), and those of the main patrons
various relics of these Five Elders, among whom he
of Yokoji: the nun Sonin and her husband, Unno
counted himself: the Recorded Sayings of Rujing (Dogen‟s
Saburo (ordained under the religious name of Myojo).
Chinese master), the “sacred bones” of Dogen, a sutra that
Above the tablets there are icons of the masters and
Ejo had copied in his own blood, Gikai‟s documents of
disciples, with the exception of Myojo. Sonin is shown
succession, and Mahayana scriptures copied by Keizan
twice: once as a benefactress of the monastery and once
himself. The Record of Tokoku itself, like Yokoji, contains
as the abbess of Dentoin. The importance of the
a memorial—in this case a literary one—entitled “Short
patriarchal line is further underscored by a horizontal
Notices of the Deeds and Koans of Awakening of the
plaque, carved by Soan Shien, sixth abbot of Yokoji,
Five Elders of Dentoin at Tokoku.” Concluding the fourth
on the basis of a calligraphy by Keizan dated 1323,
notice (and actually last, despite the title), that of his
listing the fifty-four generations from Mahakasyapa to
master Gikai, Keizan writes: “Now I respectfully deposit
Keizan. The spatial arrangement of the tablets is
on this mountain the relics of Samantabhadra preserved
suggestive. Beginning from Rujing, in the central
by the Six patriarchs and transmitted in the school of
position, one proceeds from side to side, in ever larger
Nanyue [Huairang], the frontal bone of my late master;
sweeps, toward the right (Dogen), to the left (Ejo),
and the Scriptures of the Five Sections of Mahayana
back to the right (Gikai), and once again to the left
copied in my own hand.” And he signs: “Jokin of
(Keizan). We are apparently in a mausoleum organized
Tokoku, heir of the Dharma at the fifty-fourth generation
on the model of the Chinese ancestor cult, with the five
from Sakyamuni.”
“ancestors” of Yokoji constituting a collective entity.
In this way Keizan built up, parallel to the continuing,
Before he died, Keizan named six successors:
open lineage of the Indian, Chinese, and Japanese
Meiho Sotetsu (1277- 1350), who succeeded him as
patriarchs that had preceded him, a new series that
head of Yokoji; Gasan Joseki (i276- 1366), to whom he
formed a closed whole and that recapitulated, even
entrusted Sojiji; Mugai Chiko (died in 1351), Koan
eclipsed, the former in the collective memory of the Soto
Shikan (died in 1341), Koho Kakumyo (1271-1361),
sect. Short-circuiting the classical list, this new
and Gensho Chinsan (dates unknown). Only Meiho and
patriarchal tradition also subtly adulterated the “pure
Gasan played an important part in the later
Zen” of Dogen by including among the new cult objects
development of the Soto school and their schools
certain relics inherited, through Gikai, from the Rinzai
quickly became rivals, as shown in a late passage in the
lineage of the Darumashu school. Dogen, the “founder”
Record of Tokoku. Although the funerary tablets of the
of the Japanese Soto sect, occupies only the second place
four first-named among the successors are arranged in
in this condensed patriarchal line. Keizan chose to go
pairs on each side of those of the Five Elders, the other
back, beyond his Japanese predecessors, to the Chinese
two are missing.
master Rujing. At the same stroke, Yokoji now became
more important than Eiheiji because the latter held only Koho Kakumyo deserves special mention among
the mausoleum of the “second patriarch,” Dogen. We these successors. His inheritance was jointly from the
discuss farther on in this chapter the central place of the Zen of Shinchi Kakushin, and so he was strongly
cult of relics in the Soto tradition as reformed by Keizan. influenced by Shingon esoterism. He shares with
Keizan (and many other monks of that period) another
It is also possible that the relics of the Five Elders
trait: the importance he assigns to dreams. In Chapter 5
were arranged, as were their funerary tablets in Dentoin,
we look in some detail at the role of dreams in
in accordance with a spatial schema involving the five
medieval Zen. Let us note here that dreams are closely
points (center and cardinal directions). Referring to the
associated with spiritual transmission. As already
custom of depositing relics in Buddhist stupas in India,
noted, it was during an oneiric experience that Keizan
Paul Mus argues that “their regular arrangement in an
received the transmission from the Buddhist triad of
oriented space reveals . . . the circulation of their power;
Bodhidharma, Sakyamuni, and Maitreya. Sakyamuni
passing from one to the next according to a spatial
and Bodhidharma appear at two of the most significant
schema of time, and because of this fact their grouping
times in the Chan/Zen transmission, in India and in

22
China. The presence of Maitreya, the Buddha of the [There is much more of interest on Keizan in Visions of Power.
future, is a little more surprising because he is not very Because of space considerations, aside from the excerpts included
important in Chan/Zen and Keizan could have been in the section on Keizan and Women and the section on Dreams,
influenced by a Maitreyic trend. the remainder of excerpts included here will consist only of
translated passages from the Record of Tokoku (Tokokuki, var.
This triad, which gave Keizan his supernatural
Tokokki) and related texts found in Visions of Power (with brief
legitimization, helps him to pass through in a single leap
explanatory text from Faure in brackets). Selections of this text
(a single dream?) the three main stages in the career of a
are also translated by William Bodiford (see his article in the
Bodhisattva: production of the first thought of awakening,
section on Dreams).]
stage of nonretreat, achievement of the triple deliverance.
These three stages reflect on the oneiric level those that [p. 57: The Record of Tokoku describes a meeting,
Keizan had actually gone through, according to the toward the middle of 1323, during which Keizan
autobiographical section of the Record of Tokoku, at the transmitted to Meiho Sotetsu the Dharma robe of Dogen
ages of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty-two. We may note and the shippei:] The twenty-fifth of the same month, the
in passing that it was with Jakuen (Ch. Jiyuan), Dogen‟s shuso [So]tetsu was promoted to the status of risso nisshitsu,
Chinese disciple, that he reached the second stage. In and the Dharma robe and shippei were transmitted in the
another dream connected with Keizan‟s spiritual lineage, same interview. As he received the Robe of the Law he
Gien appeared to him. Gien was the leader of the [Sotetsu] said, “The Robe of the Law of Eihei [Dogen]
conservative faction at Eiheiji, opposed to the reforms has been transmitted as [a token of] faith from one
introduced by Gikai. He had been instrumental in Gikai‟s generation to the next during a private encounter between
eviction from the monastery. master and disciple. The shuso Sotetsu, receiving it
respectfully in his turn, declares, „This mountain range,
On the twenty-second of the same month, during
who said that one could not move it? I have succeeded in
the night, I dreamed that I held the post of acolyte of
doing it. I have now come to the door, and it opened.‟“
the second rank to Master Gien of Eiheiji and that I
The same day, after a sermon, I had him come to my
wanted to ascend the hall in his place. But Gien moved
room. It was not like promoting an ordinary risso. When
forward and ascended the hall, saying, “If one lights
he ascended the hall, gave a sermon, or entered into my
only one lamp, it can illuminate [as far as] the shutters,
cell, it was as a complete preacher. On Vulture Peak and
but the darkness will not leave the mountain even in
at Caoxi there were the shuso Kasyapa and Qingyuan. At
twenty years.” After he came down from his seat, I
Daijoji and at lokoku we have the shuso [Keizan] Jokin
said, “Has the Reverend vowed not to leave the
and [Meiho] Sotetsu” [JDZ, 410].
mountain?” Gien said, “That is so. I am delighted that
you, alone among thousands of men, have understood [p. 57: Toward the middle of the year 1324, Keizan
the depths of my heart.” I made a note of this as a transmits his Dharma robe to Gasan Joseki, whom he
model for future generations. It was also a sign that the promotes by the same token to the position of abbot of his
benevolent spirit [of Gien] would accompany me newly founded monastery, Sojiji:] On the seventh of the
throughout my life. This happy omen showed that I seventh month I handed over to the shuso Gasan Joseki the
should live in retirement on this mountain until the end position of abbot of Sojiji, and I transmitted to him the
[of my days] [JDZ, 401]. Dharma robe. During the opening ceremony, I also
transmitted to him the staff [shujo], the fly-whisk [hossu],
By reporting Gien‟s favorable comments about him,
and the certificate of ordination. That very day the new
Keizan reconciled to his own benefit the two antagonistic
abbot and the old one met for the first time and
tendencies within the Soto school. Let us also note the
transmitted from one to the other the three-inch shippei of
eponymous ancestors of Tokoku and Yokoji:
Kosho[ji], the first that ever existed in Japan. It is the
As the sixteenth-generation heir to the founding shippei [that gives] access to the [master‟s] cell. For the
patriarch Tozan [Dongshan Liangjie], I revere his next three days auspicious events kept happening. [JDZ,
style. This is why I named this mountain “Tokoku,” 430]
simply replacing [the character] “Mount” [san] with
[Pg 78:] Both the fundamental spirit and everyday
[that of] “Valley” [koku], just as Sozan [Caoshan, i.e.,
acts contribute to the work of the Buddha. Drawing water,
Caoshan Benji] was derived from a change in Sokei
carting wood—everything derives from the marvelous
[Caoxi, i.e., Huineng]. And as I am the eleventh-
efficacy of spiritual powers; harvesting vegetables,
generation heir to the founding patriarch Dayang
gathering fruit—all this contributes to the turning of the
[Jingxuan], I inspired myself from his [post-humous]
wheel of the profound Dharma” [JDZ, 401].
title [“Great Sun”] and named this monastery Yokoji,
“Monastery of Eternal Light.” [JDZ, 395]. [Pg 83:] During the winter retreat of the same year,
the prior [Shi]kan, the chief seat [Gen]ka, and the
…
attendant in charge of cleaning, Kakujitsu, dreamed that
Inari, the god of the mountain, told them in a kindly voice,
23
“I am the ancient lord of this mountain. Order the entire [P. 89:] The eighth month of the second Showa year
province to make offerings of salt and soy paste to me.” [1313], mizunoto ushi, I began to build a thatch hut that
With a “demon arrow,” he subdued the western slope of would serve temporarily as a refectory. That night I
the mountain. With another, he pacified the front of the dreamed that the eighth Arhat [Vajraputra] came to tell
mountain and the peaks behind it. me, “I have come here and have seen this mountain.
I had a dream in which the protective god of the Although from a distance it does not look like much, it is
province came to tell me, “Proclaim throughout the in fact an extremely propitious site, even more so than
province that I am to be offered yet another vegetarian that of Eiheiji. At Eiheiji the abbot‟s hall was built in an
dish. Such is the mysterious oracle of the great tutelary enclosed space haunted by troublemaking spirits. This is
deity Ichinomiya. In addition, under my direction you why there have always been troubles there, since ancient
must construct from camphor [wood] a seated figure of times. The same will not be true of this mountain, where
Bishamon holding in his left hand the pearl that grants all you can spread your teaching as much as you wish.”
wishes and making with his right hand the seal of the gift. [Indeed,] from the time I built my hermitage there, I never
Make this the honzon of the store-house.” The protection encountered the least difficulty. Since there was nothing
of the Dharma was thus received in a dream. In addition, there to interfere with [religious] practice, this prospered
during the same winter Karaten [Mahakala] appeared to throughout the years. [JDZ, 392-93]
announce that he wished to serve [as protector].
[P. 89: The appearance of the Arhat Vajraputra and his
In the springtime of the second Bunpo year [1318],
predictions about the future of Yokoji testify that the past
tsuchinoe uma, someone named Koei dreamed that Shoho
is not dead and that these beings, unimpeachable
Shichiro entered into the mountain and announced to him,
witnesses to a glorious past, are still present in today‟s
“I have received from your superior the order to reward
world. They may still appear in this time of the decline of
and punish the monks and to guard the doors of this
the Dharma, to predict a glorious future. It is also notable
monastery.” Thus the god of the mountain [Inari],
that the appearance of Vajraputra sealed the alliance
Ichinomiya [the protector of the province], and Shoho
between Keizan and Sonin, who would henceforth
Shichiro were appointed as gods of the monastery, and
dedicate herself to the worship of the Arhats:] Then she
they were made assistants [to the Buddha].
transformed her home, making it into a “place of
Since Kannon was formerly the honzon of this
awakening” (bodhimanda), and invited the sixteen Arhats
mountain, [this Bodhisattva] was made the principal
to accept her offerings. Here is the proof that this is a
acolyte [of the Buddha]. As for Kokuzo, since he dis-
propitious place, where the protection [of the Arhats] is
pensed the precious manna to the community, he was the
secretly received. On the fifteenth day of the ninth month
one who was asked for favors. This is why we entrust
of the same year, the ceremony of offerings to the Arhats
ourselves to the three Jewels (the Buddha, the Dharma,
was inaugurated, and it was repeated on the fifteenth of
and the sangha), to the two sages (Kanzeon and Kokuzo),
each month since this is what they wanted. [JDZ, 395]
and to the two devas (Bishamon and Karaten), as
benefactors of the monastic community. []DZ, 393-94] [p. 144: A passage inserted in the Record of Tokoku reports
Keizan‟s death as follows:] On the fifteenth of the eighth month
[p. 84: The “Main Worthy” (honzon) of Yokoji is, as
of the second year of Shochu, at midnight, he gathered his
he should be, the Buddha Sakyamuni, the “historical”
disciples and told them: The arising of thought is a sickness; not
Buddha to whom the Zen sect was trying to return, as a
to pursue it is the remedy. Avoid thinking of anything good or
reaction to the way that the Pure Land sects worship the
evil. As soon as one has done with thinking, white clouds extend
Buddha Amida (Amitabha). He is flanked by two statues,
over ten thousand li.” He then composed the following verse:
of Kannon and Kokuzo. These three make up the primary
“This peaceful rice-field that one has cultivated by oneself,
objects of worship. Keizan indicates first the origins of
however often one has gone to sell or buy [rice], is as a virgin
their icons:] The honzon, the Buddha Sakyamuni, was
land. Young sprouts and spiritual seeds, infinitely, ripen and shed
carved in wood thanks to the thirty strings [of silver]
[their leaves]. Ascending the Dharma Hall, I see men holding a
donated by the second lieutenant of the cavalry of the
hoe in their hands.” Then, throwing away his brush, he passed
right, Umanojo Nakada, from Inoie village, for the
away. After the cremation, sarira were collected, and a stupa was
thirteenth funeral service of his mother I gave fifty strings
built in the northwest corner of the monastery. The site of this
for the decoration [of this statue]. The lefthand acolyte,
stupa was named Dentoin. [Our master] had inspected the world
the Bodhisattva Kanzeon, was carved in wood thanks to
during fifty-eight years, and had been through forty-six summer
Hogen Joshin from Suruga, in Omiya, at the main
retreats. He received the posthumous title of Butsuji Zenji
crossroads of the capital, for the thirteenth funeral service
[“Dhyana Master Compassion of the Buddha”]. [JDZ, 435]
of his father Hogen Joshu. The righthand acolyte, the
Bodhisattva Kokuzo, was carved in wood thanks to [p. 158: Undoubtedly one of the high points in
Minamoto Jiro from Noichi, from the Tomigashi domain Keizan‟s career, a kind of echo of his awakening, was the
in Kaga province, to ensure the granting of his wishes. moment when he deposited in the funerary mound that he
[JDZ 395] had just erected on a hill behind Yokoji the relics of the

24
“Five Elders” (among whom, as we have seen, he counted same year [1318] a great rock was unearthed. When it was
himself, creating in this way “preposthumous” relics). The broken, a little snake emerged. In addition, there was at the foot
importance of this event emerges from various of the mountain an ox customarily used for work around the
documents, especially one text entitled “Okibumi of Mount monastery. It was used to transport food and vegetables for the
Tokoku for Centuries to Come,” in which Keizan says:] monks, as well as wood and other burdens. A villager saw this ox
This place is that of the stupa where, in the future, my change into a man who came and sat down in the Buddha hall.
relics will be kept. This is why I have deposited my own Finally, an old wild fox came to die at the monastery, under the
documents of succession, those of my late master, the awning on the reading room. All these events show that this site
sutra [copied by Ejo in his own blood], the sacred bones is a sacred place where one can be delivered from [the body,] this
of Dogen, and the Recorded Sayings of Rujing on this receptacle of suffering. [JDZ, 394]
mountain, [in a place] that I have called the Peak of the
[p. 186: This sacred nature reveals itself through clues
Five Elders. Thus, the abbot of this monastery will be the
that cannot elude an attentive observer like Keizan—the
guardian of the stupa of the Five Elders. My disciples
little white snake or the ox that changed into a man. These
should observe the order of succession of the Dharma and
were infallible signs of an invisible presence, a divine
revive the abbatial function. This is why the remains of
protection of all moments. Wonders recur at the time of
this mountain monk [Keizan] will be venerated in all the
the erection of the Peak of the Five Elders:] The twenty-
monasteries.... Even if the transmission of the Dharma is
third of the sixth month [of the year 1323], a divine spring
interrupted, the disciples and secondary masters should
burst out in a corner [west/northwest] of the Peak of the
reconcile their criticisms and decisions, and foster the
Five Elders. Kakumyo, a Zen practitioner said, “This
abbatial function. For, whatever happens, the other sects
mountain is truly a sacred place. The tea plant [which
must respect the Five Elders. This is why all those who
grows here] is a sacred bush. This water which appears
have inherited from my Dharma, whether they be tonsured
naturally, on a plateau, is certainly sacred water.” In all,
disciples, disciples who have come to study or who have
this site has shown five times over the effects of its power
received complete ordination, monks, or lay people, all
[ling]. First when I was looking for a site for the stupa, I
must, united by a single spirit, revere none but the Peak of
found this platform. Second, I saw that the tea plant grew
the Five Elders and promote the style of our school. Such
naturally here. Third, sacred water gushed forth
is the wish I make for future generations. [JDZ, 487-88]
spontaneously. Fourth, I deposited here the Mahayana
[p. 183:] At the Tokoku hermitage, it‟s as though one Scriptures recopied by my efforts. Fifth, I deposited here
disliked the Bodhidharma style. In this remote retreat one the posthumous writings of the Five Elders. [JDZ, 409]
is even far from the sun of wisdom that indicates the
[p. 189 (a poem):] The god of the tree, entering into my
south. Like an idiot, like an imbecile, one tames badgers
dream, protects the monastery gate.
and foxes, finds companionship in hares and pheasants,
The monastery at Tokoku is truly venerable.
and stays away from crows and dogs. The barrier of
Wandering monks, as soon as they arrive here,
clouds is thick and solidly locked, the river and the reeds
Take off their straw sandals and strengthen their spiritual
escort each other. On the pathways on the mountain the
root. [JDZ, 403]
wind‟s drums sound loud, and when the armies of the rain
begin to move, they turn into snow and hail. The eyes of [p. 190: At the end of his life, Keizan, an ecologist
the dragon throw down precious pearls, which fill the before the term had been coined, worried about the pine
courtyard [of the monastery]; the teeth of the elk winnows trees of Tokoku:] On the first day of the fifth month of the
the wild-growing rice, which fills the [monks‟] bowls. same year [1325], [I issued] a prohibition concerning pine
The repeated teaching of the Buddha is especially trees, saying, “Ever since I came to live on this mountain
received in this place, the correct practice of hermitage [ . . . ] I have particularly enjoyed the presence of the
[living] is renewed on this mountain. Monks and cooks all pine trees. [. . . ] This is why, except on festival days
observe restraint. The intrinsic mind and adventitious [...], not a single branch [of these trees] must be broken
passions contribute equally to the work of the Buddha. off. Whether they are high on the mountain or in the
Drawing water, carting wood—everything expresses the bottom of the valley, whether they are large or small, they
marvelous efficacy of spiritual powers; harvesting must be stricdy protected. Let all administrative officers,
vegetables, gathering fruit—all this sets in motion the all monks, and all those who work in this monastery hold
wheel of the profound Dharma. This place differs this as said, and let none transgress this prohibition. [JDZ,
fundamentally from the world of men, and there are many 432]
things here that reveal indications of holiness. [JDZ, 401] [p. 192: In a document on the future organization of the
[p. 185: The sacred nature of the place is revealed by all sorts monastery, he writes:] The Buddha has said, “when one wins [to
of auspicious signs. The Arhat‟s prediction has already been one‟s cause] ardent benefactors, the Buddha Dharma will not
mentioned. Other prodigies noted by Keizan when he settled disappear.” ... [Our] reverence towards our benefactors should be
down at Tokoku are as follows:] At the end of the summer of the like that towards the Buddha because it is thanks to them that
morality, concentration, and wisdom are achieved. So my
25
practice of the Buddha Dharma in this life came about thanks to came from afar to seek my instruction. He brought with
the spirit of faith of these benefactors. As a result, in generations him [texts such as] The Five Steps of the Absolute and the
to come, we must consider the heirs of the author of the Relative, the Lord and the Vassal, by Caoshan [in two
fundamental vow [Sonin] as great protectors, as the source of the fascicles], The Recorded Sayings of Touzi [Datong] (in one
benefits enjoyed by this monastery. Thus, master and benefactors fascicle), and The Final Words of Zhenxie (in one fascicle).
will live in harmony, becoming as close as water and fish. He gave me these and said, “The [Five Steps of] the
[Tokokuzan Yokoji jinmiraisai okibumi JDZ 487-488] Absolute and the Relative have not yet been spread
through the great Song state. All the more reason why this
[p. 192: The question of the status of the pratyeka- buddha,
is the first time they have been seen in Japan. They should
that is, the one who awakens “due to conditions,” had assumed a
therefore be kept secret. If someone is not worthy of them,
new importance during the Kamakura period: Dainichi Nonin,
they should not be shown to him. They constitute a
the founder of the Darumashu, a rival of Yosai and Dogen but a
precious treasure of our school. [On the other hand,] there
master acknowledged by Keizan, claimed indeed to have
is not reason why the Sayings of Touzi and Zhenxie should
awakened “without a master.” Dogen himself, who denied any
not be printed and put into circulation.” [JDZ, 432]
value to this kind of awakening, was ironically labeled a
pratyekabuddha by some of his detractors. It is within this [p. 240:] Long ago my merciful mother at the age of
context that we must place the theme of the “preaching of the eighteen, was separated from her mother. Not knowing
non-sentient” (mujo seppo), which appears in a dialogue between what had happened to her, she grieved over her for seven
Keizan and his disciple Koan Shikan—and which is actually a or eight years. Then she went to Kiyomizu Temple to pray
prologue to one of Keizan‟s dreams, already quoted:] On the that she might be told where her mother was. For seven
twentieth of the twelfth month [of the year 1321], towards days she went daily to the temple. On the sixth day she
midnight, I was explaining to the shuso [Shi]kan the words of found on her way there a [carved] head of Eleven-Faced
Jiashan to Luofu, “When there is no one in the whole empire [Kannon]. She then made the following vow: “In the
whose tongue has not been cut out, how can one make men course of looking for my mother, I came daily to
without tongues understand what words are?” Shikan then said, Kiyomizu and I have found a carved head of the Vene-
“Even pillars can speak to people. Even if one can hear the lan- rated One. Given these circumstances, if I have any
guage of him who does not speak, if one does not know how to karmic affinities with you, take pity on me. Help me to
speak the unspoken, what then? Pillars and lanterns are find my mother again, and I will have the rest of your
constantly talking, but only he who is familiar with their voices body carved and I will venerate [this image] throughout
can hear them. Ordinary beings cannot do it: their abilities are my life.” [JDZ, 405]
inadequate, and thus their comprehension of what is said proves
[p. 241:] This is why, when she died at the age of eighty-
deficient.” I said, “It isn‟t that pillars and lanterns are unable to
seven, she left me this honzon. I received it and kept it carefully
speak to men: today as in the past there are many people who,
when I withdrew to this mountain. Having chosen one of the
having heard their discourse, obtain awakening. When it is said
peaks of this mountain, which I called Peak of the Magnificent
that Lingyun achieved awakening by seeing peach blossoms, it
Lotuses, I built on it a temple that I named the Temple of [the
means that he had heard the speech of the speechless. If one
Kannon of] Perfect Penetration [Enzuin]. I gave to the proprietor
person can hear it, a thousand or ten thousand people can also
of this mountain [Sonin] the places called Whirling Water Peak
hear it.”
and Grain Growing Plain. It was at this time that my birth hair and
Shikan then said, “Whether one relies on a master or
umbilical cord, which my mother had always kept with her, were
achieves awakening by looking at peach blossoms, this is all a
respectfully put into this statue. As for Sonin, through her non-
matter of awakening thanks to the intervention of external aid. Is
dual spirit of faith, she produced the pure thought [of awakening].
there nothing that one can produce oneself, all alone?” I said, “It
This is why, after having passed this honzon on to her, I placed
is not impossible to awaken all by oneself, without a master.
my birth hair and my umbilical cord inside the base of the
Those who achieve awakening in this way do not cast any doubt
Kannon, on the righthand side. I placed them in a tin tube to
on the awakening of those who have awakened with the help of
ensure the eternal protection of this mountain. [Thus, Enzuin] was
others. Similarly, those who have achieved awakening thanks to
to become a temple of prayers for the well-being of women,
outside agencies in the same way should not cast doubt on the
according to the universal wish of my merciful mother and I,
awakening of those who have achieved awakening by
Keizan would be enabled to spread the law and come to the aid of
themselves, without a master. [JDZ, 400]
beings. [JDZ, 406]
[p. 220:] On the twentieth of the fifth month [of the
year 1325], the acolyte [Dai]chi of Chinzei [Kyushu]

26
 Overview of Keizan‘s Major Writings

The following texts by Keizan are found in the Taisho canon, volume 82:
T2585 傳光錄 Denkoroku - Record of Transmitting the Light – see section: Denkoroku and Koans
T2586 坐禪用心記 Zazen yojinki - Advice on the Practice of Zazen – see section: Zazen
T2587 信心銘拈提 Shinjinmei nentei – Reflections on Faith in Mind – see below
T2588 十種敕問奏對集 Zhushu-chokubun-sotaishu (?) – Collection of 10 Memorials (?)
T2589 瑩山淸規 Keizan Shingi – Keizan‘s Pure Standards – see section: Ritual
On the Shinjinmei nentei:
Bernard Faure: ―atypical Zen commentary on the Xinxin ming (a ‗classic‘ attributed to the third patriarch Sengcan).‖
From: The Eye That Never Sleeps: ―
In 1303, Keizan Zenji, the cofounder of the Japanese Soto School, wrote
the most famous Japanese commentaries on the verse, known as the Hsin hsin ming nentei (‗Teisho on the Hsin
hsin ming‘).‖
Other significant texts by Keizan include:
洞谷記 Tokokuki: The Record of Tokoku – translated excerpts can be found in William Bodiford‘s ― Keizan‘s
Dream History‖ and Bernard Faure‘s Visions of Power (see the Biography, the Keizan and Women and Keizan
and Dreaming sections of this study).
三根坐禅説 Sankon-zazen-setsu – Zazen for Three Kinds of Practitioners – see the Zazen section of this study.
瑩山語錄 Keizangoroku – Keizan‘s Recorded Sayings

Bernard Faure from Visions of Power (p. 29)

Japanese researchers have paid attention almost exclusively to the Denkoroku, which is not surprising since it belongs to
the pure tradition of Zen ‗histories of the lamp‘ and establishes itself precisely because of its orthodoxy (just as the
Tokoku shingi does because of its orthopraxy). The Denkoroku was first presented during a summer retreat, for a small
group of practitioners. This is not true of the Record of Tokoku, which gives a very different view of Keizan‘s thought,
even though at certain points it recalls and is connected with the other two texts. Nevertheless, the Record of Tokoku is
also bound by the restraints of a genre, those of the engi, or ―narration of origins,‖ and cannot be considered in this respect
as ―m ore authentic‖ than the others.
What conclusions can we draw? On the one hand, there is a discontinuity between the various genres that Keizan
uses, but there is no pure genre because every one is subverted by intertextuality. The Record of Tokoku is thus ― tainted‖
by the monastic rules and ―di alogues‖ that make up most of the Tokoku shingi and the Denkoroku. There are probable
interpolations that have been left out in the translation, even though their presence indicates, from a textual point of view,
the impossibility of treating one genre to the exclusion of others. We must never lose sight of the constant dialectic
between the different points of view they express, between the imaginaire and ideology, syncretism (local) and the
sectarian spirit (paradoxically ―universalist‖).
The various points of view adopted by Keizan thus result in part from the literary genres that influenced his discourse
and even, within a single discursive genre, from the different enunciatory stances he finds himself obliged to adopt. All at
once we see that there is no ―l ast instance‖ position: all pronouncements are equally sincere—or equally insincere. It is
precisely in the differential discrepancy among these texts that the discursive system of Keizan can be perceived and his
truth or truths be located.

27
 Keizan and Women

Salli Tisdale - Family 29

Bernard Faure - Women in Keizan's Life 32

28
 Sallie Tisdale - family
Ekan Daishi, Myōshō Enkan, Kontō Ekyū, and Mokufu Sonin
(late 1200s to mid-1300s)
Ekan Daishi was separated from her mother, Myōchi, at successors. His mother eventually founded a Sōtō convent
the age of eighteen. Several years later Daishi went to the named Jōjūji, becoming its abbot around 1309. Men left,
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto to pray for help in finding her. women stayed behind—this was the way of Buddhism. In
The temple’s waters are magically healing; they course Keizan’s case, his mother left him first. But in some way,
out of the steep hillside into pools, and faithful people they never really left each other at all. They visited often;
come to drink every day. For a week she went to the he relied on her advice, and she prayed for him, from
temple each morning and prayed and drank the water. On before his birth until the day of her own death.
the sixth day she saw the carved head of a Kannon on the Keizan founded the temple of Daijoji in the city of
ground, lying in the mud. It was small and finely done. Kanazawa and began to write the great collection of
Finding it there seemed auspicious and strange to Daishi, ancestral stories called the Denkoroku. While still living at
and she put her palms together and made a vow. Daijoji, Keizan met Mokufu Sonin. Her name was subtle
“If you have pity for me,” she said to the bodhisattva’s and intricate; it meant “ordered silence” and “enduring
head, “help me. Help me find my mother. If you do, I will ancestor” and many other things. Sonin had married
have a body carved for you and honor you the rest of my Shigen Nobunao when she was thirteen. In 1312 she
life.” Then she carefully picked up the head, took it home, donated a large amount of land in a place called Tōkoku
and washed it clean. and asked Keizan to build a temple there. There was no
The next day, the last day of her prayers, she met a woman money for building until Sonin’s brother died. After that,
on the road who put out her hand to stop Daishi. The she had the family home dismantled and rebuilt it on the
woman smiled, and then told her where to find her mother. land.
Daishi took the wooden Kannon head to a craftsman and In 1317 Keizan entered this building formally as the abbot
commissioned a body made to fit. Only then did she go to of Yōkōji. It was a long way in more than miles from
a nearby town to be reunited with her mother, who had Kyoto to Yōkōji. One traveled north, and a little west, up
been Dōgen’s lay disciple when she was young. toward a peninsula jutting out into the cold, rough sea,
Many years later, when Ekan Daishi was thirty-seven with range after range of mountains covered in evergreen
years old, she had a dream. She swallowed the morning and broken by emerald rice paddies in the lowlands, where
light, warm and as soft as silk, and it filled her entire white egrets bobbed their heads among the silvery shoots.
body. A few days later she realized she was pregnant. At this time it was still wild land, with pigs, bears, and
Then she prayed, as she had often prayed, to the beloved snakes loose on the hills and only a few farmers for
statue of Kannon: “May this child be a spiritual leader, a neighbors in most places. The weather was difficult—
benefit to all, and please, may the delivery be easy.” typhoons in the summer, blizzards in the winter, rain the
rest of the time.
For the next seven months, she bowed 1,333 times each
day and recited the Kannon Sutra. Nevertheless, the land was beautiful, azure and rich, thick
with bamboo and cypress, grasses and ferns and wild
The baby was born on the property of the Kannon Temple flowers, cedars and misty fogs and always a gray sea,
in the province of Echizen, without pain. A short while sharp rocks jutting out of breaking waves like the old ink
later Daishi took vows as a nun, and the baby’s washes of the Chinese painters. The clouds were thick and
grandmother, Myōchi, helped raise him. low and close at times, knocking into the hills and trees,
When Daishi could, she took the baby to her favorite the sky constantly shattering and being remade, dark, blue,
temple in Kyoto, the Sanjusangendo, temple of thirty- implacable, alive.
three thousand Kannons— a thousand and one Kannons Yōkōji quarters were very rough. The snow was deep in
with multiple heads and arms. It was a place of gold and the winter, and the stream below ran hard. The residents
shadow. The sculptures filled her eyes, her mind— were so poor they had to make tea from pine needles, but
endless, sparkling, and strange. She wanted the images all the geomancy was correct. Like his mother, Keizan had
and spirit of Kannon to fill the baby’s mind, the baby many prophetic dreams that divided his life into clear
destined to be a great leader. segments and led him toward his future. His dreams about
Since Dōgen’s death many decades before, the second sect Yōkōji were strong and good, filled with spirits and
of Zen— Caodong in Chinese, and known in Japanese as buddhas. Even the stars overhead, streaming slowly
Sōtō—had become firmly established, with Eiheiji as its between the black branches of the pines, were correctly
headquarters. When he was eight years old, Ekan Daishi aligned. The hills were no more beautiful than other
sent her son to Eiheiji, where he was called Keizan. He nearby hills, but he could see through these particular hills
trained for many years under Gikai, one of Dōgen’s to the hidden hills beneath. He believed that he could see

29
the true monastery already there, the one belonging to the The main purpose of the temple, as Keizan conceived it,
other world—the world of protectors and guides. In this was to perform ceremonies to save the souls of lay donors
place, where the boundary between worlds was very thin, and patrons and their parents. This purpose was cyclical:
he would build the Monastery of the Eternal Light. many of the buildings, altars, bells, and statues were
A year later Daishi died. Almost at the moment of her donated by laypeople with specific requests for such
death she reached for her son’s hand. saving rites, and in return more saving rites were done.
The men and women conducted these ceremonies
“I made a vow to Kannon,” she said. “You must continue together, and the seniors sat together in the public rites
it. You must help all beings come to the Dharma. without regard to sex.
Especially, most especially, because you can, you must
help all women of the three worlds and the ten directions. In 1319 a woman named En’i, a member of a powerful
local family, donated a large amount of rice paddy land to
“Take the little statue,” she added, nodding toward the Yōkōji. It was enough to ease the temple’s poverty and
Kannon she had found all those years ago in the mud. make it secure. That same year Keizan ordained Sonin on
“Take care of it forever.” the sixth day of the eighth month. Because of the original
In her memory, Keizan ordered that a Sōtō women’s donation of land, Keizan fondly called Sonin the
temple, Hōō-ji, be built in the province of Kaga. Fundamental Overlord of the Mountain after that.
One night Keizan dreamed that his grandmother had come In 1322 Keizan and the nuns founded Enzūin, the Temple
to him and asked to be ordained. The next day Sonin, who of Perfect Penetration, across the stream from the
was still very young, invited Keizan to engage in “Dharma mountain gate, hidden in the trees. Enzūin was dedicated
combat” with her, the spirited, metaphor-laden interview to the well-being of women forever, and it was most
testing a student’s understanding. especially meant as an honor to his grandmother. It was a
Keizan asked Sonin, “This year is almost gone, and tiny place up a narrow, winding path, held closely by big
another new year will come. So how about your religious cedars on every side. The trees were old, with peeling,
life?” fragrant bark, and the floor of the forest was as soft as a
futon made of their needles. It smelled green all the time
Sonin answered, “In the branches of the tree without in there, and the trees covered the little building in black
shadow, is there any kind of time?” shadow. At night the path was tricky because not even a
“Excellent!” Keizan was pleased. Here was a person with single star could be seen through their canopy. In winter,
a deep and earnest mind, with the flavor of the Dharma in when the temple was under snow, Enzūin was a cozy,
her words. Already he trusted her; already they were like shadowy, mysterious place.
master and disciple as well as friends. When she asked At the dedication, the statue of Kanzeon, with its eleven
him to ordain her, he could not have been happier. serene faces, was installed as the main image. It had come
Because of his dream, he believed from then on that Sonin to seem like an animate thing, hearing and acting on the
was his grandmother reborn. Her wish wasn’t fulfilled prayers of its bearers. In its base Keizan placed a lock of
then, however; she remained in lay life, a married woman his own baby hair and his umbilical cord, which his
of property and a patron, as well as his friend. mother had preserved. In this way, he gave his own life to
In 1321 the Buddha Hall was built. That season a nun this women’s hermitage in the trees.
named Kontō Ekyū arrived and immediately made herself Sonin was the first abbot there. Enzūin was forbidden to
at home, as though she had always lived there. Since she men, as parts of the main building were forbidden to
couldn’t read Chinese well, Keizan rewrote Dōgen’s women. But Keizan remembered the vow he’d inherited,
discussion of the Precepts in Japanese for her. She began and he lectured to the women, sometimes meeting
to organize the nuns and manage their work. Month by privately with them to guide their studies. For years they
month, season by season, more buildings and more altars lived there in quiet intimacy.
were built and more people came, until dozens of monks
and almost thirty nuns lived in the community. Sonin’s mother was married to a leader in the Nakagawa
area of Sakai, near Yōkōji. After her daughter had married
The men and women sat together for morning services, and then been ordained, and after her son died, and later
then separated to do their work and study. The residents her husband, Sonin’s mother began studying under
studied seven particular texts, especially the Lotus Sutra, Keizan. Soon she made a large donation of many rice
the Bonmōkyo, and the Yuikyōgyō. Keizan gave them paddies, and this was enough to make the temple
Dōgen’s rules for the daily life of a monastery—rules for prosperous. Keizan gave her the Precepts in 1323 and the
how to behave in the zendo, with each other, and during name Shōzen, which means “meditation on nature.” He
meals, how to use the library, how to wash and use the wrote a poem for her and offered her a small hut hidden in
toilet with proper rites, and how juniors and seniors should a fold of the hills above the temple, called Zōkeian, to use
behave toward each other. as a hermitage. After that, he called her a priest and said
sutras and offertories should be read forever in her honor.
30
On a day in early spring, a perfect day, the one day each to his room for tea. A crow called as she walked—“caw,
spring that promises so many more such days to come— caw, caw”—fell off into silence, and began calling her
on that day Keizan bowed to Kontō Ekyū after the again—“caw, caw.” The air hung heavy under the leaden
morning service and asked her to come to his reception sky, close and warm.
room for tea. Ekyū folded her formal robes and put them As he had with Ekyū, he gave Sonin a portrait and a little
away, spoke briefly with the other nuns about the work calligraphy, and then something else. He had written in
projects for the day, and then walked slowly along the careful lines a document pairing their descendants in a
wooden cloister. The dark floors, shiny with polishing, kind of marriage agreement—Keizan’s descendants and
were cold beneath her feet. The early light came in Sonin’s descendants, bound in the future. Then he gave
strongly under the eaves, and little wrens chattered in the her back some of the land she had donated, land he had
tall pines outside the walls. very carefully insisted be his alone forever. Now Whirling
Keizan’s rooms were behind sliding rice-paper doors. She Water Peak and Grain Growing Plain were hers again, and
knocked once, and he called her in, as always. He knelt on all of it was theirs together, because she was his heir.
one side of a low wide table. She entered, bowed, and Later Keizan wrote that he and Sonin were inseparable in
knelt on the other side. They were such good friends by this and many lives, as closely bound as a magnet and
then, and she was so comfortably his student and he so iron.
comfortably her confidant, that nothing needed to be said Keizan’s cousin was ordained not long after that; she was
while he whisked and poured the tea. called Myōshō Enkan. Her name meant “bright whole
She looked beyond him into the tiny courtyard between vision.” She and Sonin became close friends, and Myōshō
this room and the next, where a small green tree stood in a proved to be quite adept at Zen. It wasn’t long before
gravel and moss garden. A plant was beginning to spread Sonin recognized her capacity and gave her the authority
its wide green leaves beneath the tree. One of the nuns had to ordain others.
carefully raked the gravel into a curving line to resemble a Keizan decided to test Myōshō’s understanding. “Do you
stream. She could see past it to the rooms beyond, over the understand the story about Linji and how he raised up his
roof to the leaning top of a maple glinting red in the whisk?” Keizan asked.
morning light, and beyond it to the dark wall of evergreen
trees and the corner of a dark, tiled roof. Myōshō looked at him and remained silent.
Keizan poured the tea and watched her while she tasted it. He was pleased with this. As she turned to leave, he said,
On the side wall a scroll hung above a shelf with a tiny “Your words are difficult to contain in ink.”
incense burner and a single willow stem in a vase. Now When Shōzen died in 1325, Keizan declared that monks
and then it knocked a bit in the breeze, unevenly, like a and nuns at the monastery must do monthly memorials
small hollow drum being struck. In the breeze was a and one annual service in her honor. He began to prepare
whisper of the moist ground, the stream, the new plants, for his own death, parceling out temples to his disciples.
the earth. Hōō-ji remained a convent, with Sonin the appointed
He said, “I’m giving you this. Here.” He handed her a abbot, and she lived there until she died at the age of
scroll, a document of succession that declared her his eighty.
Dharma heir. She received it gravely, but he could see the Even now in Yōkōji there is a scroll of Ekan Daishi and
smile in her dark eyes. Then he gave her a self-portrait Mokufu Sonin as abbots of Enzūin, sitting side by side.
with a little calligraphy, a line or two of scripture, for her On a steep hill at the end of a long staircase, its stone steps
personal keeping. They finished their tea, and she rose, softened by the endless damp of deep trees and the tramp
bowed, and went to work, the first Japanese woman to of many, many feet, are the memorials— Keizan’s grave,
receive full Sōtō transmission. a repository of Dharma treasures, and funerary tablets,
Another day, a fall day of gray light and misty rain that including ones for Ekan Daishi, Sonin, and Myōchi.
wet the turning leaves in fine spray, Keizan invited Sonin

31
 Bernard Faure – from Visions of Power (pp.34-46)
Women in Keizan’s Life problems, leave my family and study letters, cultivate
Keizan’s biography is not entirely spiritual. His life is the Way and produce wisdom, and finally inherit the
portrayed within a very real framework of relationships Dharma and become an abbot, and come to the aid of
and power structures. If the imagination of the Chan men and deva—all this due to the prayers [that my
tradition and of the cult of relics connects Keizan with a mother addressed] to Kannon. Furthermore, during my
masculine universe, the iconic and mythological youth I was especially irritable and bitten and
imagination of Buddhism (dominated by the Bodhisattva everything seemed useless. This is why my merciful
Kannon) seems to connect him to a feminine universe. Is mother addressed the Venerated [Kannon] again and
Keizan not at the same time the spiritual son of Gikai, the said, ―I f his anger continues to grow like this, this
birth son of Ekan (and, symbolically, of Kannon), and the monk will not be of any use to men or deva, no matter
child (ujiko) of the tutelary god of the Hakusan (itself a how great his abilities, intelligence, and wisdom. I beg
manifestation of Kannon)? you, in accord with your vow of great compassion, to
give him the power to calm his anger. ―At that very
When we read the Record of Tokoku, we are struck by moment, the winter of my eighteenth year; I produced
the large part played by women in the life of Keizan. Yet the thought of awakening. During the autumn of my
this ―wom an’s man‖ had nothing but sublimated nineteenth year; I became determined to seek the way.
relationships with the opposite sex. Although he ― left the Once I was named as superintendent, I excelled at
family‖ at an early age, in one sense he never left it at all. monastery administration. Everyone was pleased with
He saw in his disciple Sonin, a lay benefactor turned nun, me. But it was at that time that someone maligned me.
a reincarnation of his grandmother Myochi, one of the My anger started to grow, and I was on the verge of
first female disciples of Dogen: ―Nowthis lady Taira no uji committing a great sin. Then, in a sudden spurt of
is none other than the reincarnation of Myochi, a lay repentance, I reflected as follows: ―Si nce my earliest
disciple of the Master Dogen during the time when he years I have been set apart from the common herd.
lived at Kenninji.‖ [footnote: JDZ, 394. According to the Now, having produced the thought [of awakening], I
Nihon Tojo rentoroku, Keizan had this realization when Sonin
have achieved this position. My greatest desire is to
came to ask for ordination. The night before, he had dreamed
that Dogen, when he was at Kenninji, had ordained his become the roofbeam of Buddhist Law in order to
grandmother the upasika Myochi. He then told Sonin that she convert and guide men and deva. This is my great wish.
must be Myochi’s reincarnation and ordained hen See DNBZ If I commit a sin, this body will surely become good
110: 234a.] for nothing. Thus, I shall never again become angry.
Keizan’s mother Ekan lavished advice on him, along Once I have become naturally mellowed and
with her prayers, during most of his monastic career. harmonized by compassion, I shall become a great
Although the father is generally absent, the mother spiritual guide.‖ All this I owe to the fervor of my
occupies a central place in the biographies of many Bud- merciful mother’s prayers. [JDZ, 405-406]
dhist monks, and Keizan’s autobiography proves to be no [footnote regarding Ekan’s miraculous conception: This is a
exception. He tells us how he managed to overcome many topos of Buddhist hagiography, beginning with the legend of the
karmic obstacles by means of prayers addressed by his Buddha. In the Soto tradition, the mother of Gasan Joseki,
Keizan’s disciple, prayed to the Boshisattva Monju (Manjusri) to
mother to Kannon (another female figure, at least in China
obtain a ―child of wisdom‖ and became pregnant after dreaming
and Japan), and how he received through her his faith in that she had swallowed a ―sh arp sword.‖ The mother of his
this Bodhisattva. disciple Genno Shinsho was also granted a handsome boy in
Moreover, when she was thirty-seven, my merciful response to her prayers to Kannon. See Nihon Tojo shosoden, in
mother dreamed that she was swallowing the warmth DNBZ 110:13b, 17b.]
of the morning light, and when she woke up she found [footnote regaring 1,333 prostrations: Other sources give the
she was pregnant. She then addressed the following variants ―nine months,‖ ― 3,333 times‖ and ― 333 times.‖ The
prayer to the Venerated [Kannon]: ―L et the child I am latter seem symbolically more appropriate (thirty-three, or a
carrying become a holy man, or a spiritual guide. If he multiple of it, is the traditional number of Kannon’s
is to become a benefit to men and deva, give me an easy manifestations). See DNBZ 110: 11a.]
delivery. If not, O Kannon, use your great divine power In memory of his mother, Keizan founded Enzuin, a
to make the insides of my womb rot and wither away.‖ convent dedicated to Kannon and the salvation of all
With this prayer on her lips, for seven months she women. Ekan preceded Keizan on the Buddhist path, and
prostrated herself 1333 times each day, and recited the she had even, during the lifetime of Gikai, become the
Kannon Sutra. At the end of this time, she had a natural, abbess of a convent of Soto nuns. Although she was very
painless childbirth. Thus I was born in a property much absorbed in her son’s destiny, he had been taken
belonging to the Kannon Temple of Tane, in Echizen from her very early on and was raised by his grandmother
Province. Later; all the events that marked my life were until he was eight years old. This experience may have
determined by maternal prayers to the Venerated given rise to his ambivalent attitude toward his mother.
[Kannon]. I was able to reach adulthood without any There is a clear cleavage between the ideal of autonomy
32
regarding to the mother; which Keizan derived from role rather than a radical change, because the Chan ―a
ncestor
models like Dongshan Liangjie and Huangbo Xiyun, and cult‖ remains patriarchal.
the psychological or emotional reality. In one sense, Salvation of one’s mother remained just a pious wish
although he was early on severed from maternal care, in many cases. Often maternal love was actually
Keizan long remained mentally dependent on his mother. sacrificed by the son on the altar of awakening. In a
Ekan always monitored very closely the spiritual and society as centered on the family as is the Chinese society,
monastic career of her son, whose destiny she believed that did not happen without some intense feelings of
exceptional. As we just noted, according to Keizan’s own sorrow and guilt. The hesitations of a young monk are
testimony, it was his mother’s prayers and the admonitions well expressed in a tearful song, ―Far ewell, Mother‖ the
she lavished on him until the very hour of her death that text of which was found at Dunhuang. In Chan/Zen
helped him, from the time of his first achievements, to literature in particular the tragic fate of the mother seems
overcome his tendencies toward arrogance and to turn above all to strengthen the steadfast virtue of the son.
away the jealousy of others. When he in turn reached the Linji Yixuan’s call for spiritual murder— ― If you meet
twilight of his life, Keizan testified to the eternal gratitude your parents, kill them!‖—had a strong impact, at least in
he bore for her transforming influence. In one of two Chan/Zen hagiography. Monks rarely seem to be
―adamantine vows‖ made at the end of his life, he said: concerned about their fathers, but they have a hard time
The second vow is to respect the final words of my ― killing their mothers.‖ This ―m urder‖ is often
merciful mother, the elder sister Ekan. She was a represented in Chan stories. Thus the blind mother of
Boddhisattva who worked for the well-being of Huangbo Xiyun drowns herself in a river as she tries to
women, and I would not dare disappoint her. I must follow her son, whom she recognized when he was
dedicate myself to her last wishes and respect them. making a begging tour through his native village. Huineng
May all the Buddhas of the three periods, the patriarch- (d. 713) also abandoned his aged mother whose sole
masters of all generations, as well as [the Buddhas of] support he was, to go and study with the fifth patriarch,
the Shuryogon-kyo and all the other sutras, help me to Hongren. Outside Chan/Zen hagiography, a particularly
preserve the spirit of my two adamantine vows. [JDZ eloquent example of maternal grief is found in the poetic
432-33] journal left by the mother of Jojin when her son left in
1072 for China, where he died nine years later. An
Although Keizan’s relations with his mother are full interesting detail is that she compares this abandonment to
of filial piety, we can see how they are affected by the that of the father of Sakyamuni when his son ―l eft the
―doubl e bind‖ of familial ideology versus the monastic family‖; after all, the mother of the future Buddha had
ideal. The theme of the abandoned mother haunts died shortly after his birth and never had time to become
Buddhist literature. Accusations of a lack of filial piety attached to him.
have been leveled against Chinese Buddhists for
centuries. Not only did the monks abandon their parents In the Denkoroku Keizan tells in great detail the searing
but, by refusing to provide grandchildren for them, they tale of Dongshan Liangjie’s mother. Separated from her
cut the chain of ancestral rites. Already in Indian Vinaya son, the mother was reduced to begging. When she finally
we have the case of a mother begging her son to return traced him, she went to visit him but he refused to see her.
home or at least to produce one child with the wife he so She died of grief on his doorstep. Dongshan picked up the
shamelessly abandoned in order to take Buddhist orders. rice she had with her and mixed it into the breakfast gruel
The Buddhists thought they could counter Confucianist of the community as a funerary offering. Shortly
criticisms by claiming that ― leaving the family,‖ or afterward, his mother appeared to him in a dream,
ordination, was more efficacious and ecumenical than thanking him for having given such proof of his
their detractors’ filial piety since it ensured the salvation steadfastness because thanks to that she had been able to
of nine generations of ancestors. Besides, didn’t the put an end to her illusory attachment and be reborn in
Buddha himself watch over the salvation of his parents, heaven. Keizan comments: ―Al though all masters and
especially when he went up into the Trayastrimsa Heaven patriarchs excel in virtue, Dongshan, the founder of our
(Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods) in order to preach the school, contributed especially to promote its style. This is
Dharma to his mother Maya? Another famous case of due to the power he achieved by forsaking his parents and
Buddhist filial piety is that of his disciple Maudgalyayana keeping his purpose.‖ Likewise, in the Shobogenzo
(Ch. Mulian, J. Mokuren), who did not hesitate to go Zuimonki, Dogen advises one disciple, in a rather
down into hell to save his mother. We know that the hypocritical fashion, to abandon his old mother: ―T he
legend of Mulian lies behind the festival of ― universal point is: How can you waste an opportunity for eternal
deliverance‖ (Ch. pudu) of the souls of the dead, which bliss by clinging to this temporary, fleeting body?
contributed to the successful transplanting of Buddhism Consider this thoroughly on your own.‖ In the Denkoroku
into Chinese and Japanese society. Unlike the Keizan also tells a significant story concerning Ejo and
Confucianist ancestor cult, centered on the paternal line, Dogen. When Ejo’s mother was dying, she asked her son
Buddhism seems to pay most attention to female to stay at her side. Since Ejo had already taken all the
ancestors. But this seems to have been an afterthought leaves of absence he was entitled to, he had no other
alternative than to break the rule to fulfill his filial duties.
33
Although he had made up his mind, he decided to ask the symbolic reenactment of Keizan’s virgin birth from his
advice of his fellow monks. They unanimously told him to mother Ekan/ Kannon.
leave immediately. However, after consulting Ddgen, he The Ideal Woman
decided not to listen to them. True filial piety in this case
meant not leaving: obeying the rule of the Buddha is more Another woman plays a prominent role in Keizan’s
important than yielding to human feelings. Keizan, who career. Even a very superficial reading of the Record of
obviously agrees, continues with a revealing description of Tokoku reveals the omnipresence of the nun Mokufu Sonin.
[footnote: The Yokoji library still possesses a scroll showing the
the care with which Ejo attended Dogen during the latter’s
two nuns Ekan and Sonin, as abbesses of Enzuin, seated side by
illness—a typical case of transference from the mother to
side under an icon of Kannon.] Of course a text dedicated to
the master.
the origins of Yokoji may be expected to include many
We known that Keizan tried to emulate Dongshan references to one of the two donors who made possible the
Liangjie in every way, and it appears that he made use of building of the monastery. But obviously Sonin held a
Dongshan’s dream to justify his own ambivalent attitude very special place in Keizan’s mind, one not justified
toward his mother: In fact he never actually managed to entirely by her role as a generous benefactor Keizan even
achieve an ideal detachment: even though he had ―l eft the went so far as to consider her a reincarnation of his
family,‖ the monk Keizan remained closely attached to his grandmother who was apparently a disciple of Dogen.
mother and grandmother. After all, he dedicated Enzuin to Talking of his relations with Sonin, Keizan, perhaps
his grandmother Myochi, and the main image worshiped in without realizing how daring the metaphor was, states,
this temple was the statue of Kannon that his mother had ―W e are as close as the magnet and iron—as master and
commissioned and that she worshiped all her life. We shall benefactor, and as master and disciple‖ [JDZ: 395].
come back to the influence of Kannon on Keizan. Here let
Who was this Sonin? Keizan reveals almost nothing
us simply note that we may see in this Bodhisattva, who
about her except that she was the wife of Shigeno
had become a compassionate female figure in China, the
Nobunao, lord of Shinshu, and the daughter of Yorichika,
sublimated double of all women and mothers, just as the
steward (jito) of the domain of Nakagawa. Yorichika’s
Arhat is in a sense the double of all monks (and
wife, Sonin’s mother, also became a nun under Keizan,
Sakyamuni, paradigm of the Chan master, the double of all
taking the religious name of Shozen. Following the marital
fathers).
politics of the time, Sonin was married by her family to
Unlike the other mothers mentioned above, Keizan’s Nobunao when she had just entered puberty. She became a
mother was also his spiritual guide. The relations between woman at the age of thirteen—just the age when Keizan
Keizan and Ekan remind us of those between Augustine became a novice. Their two fates were very different, but
and his mother Monica: it was thanks to her and her they shared the experience of an early break from their
devotion to Kannon that he left the family and managed to family circle. In 1312 it was at the suggestion of his wife
correct his youthful faults. Like Dogen (and many others), that Shigeno Nobunao issued an invitation to Keizan and
Keizan had the feeling that he was destined for greatness, gave him part of his landholdings. Here is how Keizan, at
but especially as the moshigo of Kannon, a child whose the beginning of the Record of Tokoku, reports this event—
destiny was fixed by the dreams and other karmic ties to which he will refer several times:
established by his mother. The analogy of the auspicious
―Duri ng the springtime of the first Showa year
dream of the pregnant mother; a hagiographic topos, recalls
[1312], mizunoe ne, they both produced the thought of
the birth of the Buddha, but while the infant Sakyamuni
awakening and made me a gift of this mountain. In
was deprived of motherly love by the premature death of
their statement they said: ―By giving this mountain, our
Maya, Keizan’s mother; although assuming clerical
only hope is that the Reverend will settle there for the
functions, still behaves like a true Japanese mother preoc-
rest of his life. He may do with it as he sees fit; it
cupied with the proper education for her son, a future great
matters not whether he observes or transgresses the
man. Born thanks to the compassion of Kannon, and in a
Precepts, or even if he gives it over to outcasts or
domain belonging to a Kannon temple, Keizan had
beggars. Once we have given this mountain to the
probably been dedicated to this Bodhisattva by his
Reverend, we do not wish to retain any rights over it.
grateful mother. When Ekan died at age eighty-seven, she
We make this gift in perpetuity, in a spirit of
left him the statue of Kannon that was her most prized
renunciation, and not with any hope of profit.‖ [JDZ,
possession: another spiritual transmission—a matrilineal
392]
one at that. Keizan’s identity as the ― imaginary‖ child of
Kannon is shown during the inauguration of Enzuin when But Keizan did not come to live at Tokoku until 1317,
he enclosed in the base of the statue of Kannon the hair perhaps because of financial difficulties that prevented
taken from his head when he was born and his umbilical Sonin and her husband from making the donations needed
cord, carefully preserved by his mother. We have here a for his upkeep. Perhaps Shigeno Nobunao did not hold a
case of preposthumous relics, giving life to the statue of sufficiently important position. It is apparently the death
Kannon and strengthened by the power of the latter. But of his benefactress’s elder brother that allowed her to keep
we may also see in this act a kind of sublimated (but her promise:
somewhat incestuous) impregnation of Keizan’s mother a
34
 In the first Bunpo year [1317], hinoto no mi, at the seasonal knots?' These were her first extraordinary words.
death of the jito of Nakagawa Sakawa [Sako] no I noted them down for future generations.‖ [footnote: Here
Heihachi Yorimoto, older brother of the lady Taira no the Nihon Tojo rentoroku is a little more detailed. We learn that
uji, he left her the home of their father Yorichika to be Sonin, having been asked by Keizan about her understanding of
converted into a hermitage in memory of both "temporal conditions" (jisetsu innen), was at first unable to
Yorichika and himself. In the eighth month, in the answer: Afterward she eventually had an insight and went to see
Keizan in his cell. This is when the above exchange supposedly
autumn of the same year, I took up residence there in
took place. After Sonin's reply, Keizan asked, "At such time,
order to build a cell. On the second day of the tenth what about it?" upon which Sonin bowed. Keizan then
month disciples moved in and we carried out a formal transmitted his Dharma-robe to her. See DNBZ 110: 234a-b.]
inauguration ceremony [JDZ, 393]
In 1322, when Keizan built a nunnery on Yokoji land,
In passages referring to events prior to Sonin’s it was Sonin who was charged with running it. This
ordination in 1319, Keizan does not give the personal, lay convent fulfilled several functions: it was a place of prayer
name of his benefactress, designating her simply as ― Taira for the soul of Keizan's grandmother and, in accordance
no uji‖ or ―Sh igeno no uji.‖ This should not Surprise us, with the wishes of Ekan, a place of prayer for the salvation
since women at that period were simply identified by the of women at the same time as for the success of Keizan's
name of their clan and not by personal names; it was only conversion work. In 1325, just before his death, Keizan
at the time of ordination—either while they were still alive named Sonin the mother superior of Hooji, in Kaga
or at their funeral Services—that they obtained a personal province. She survived him by some years and died when
religious name. We may note in passing the large number she was over eighty. Her tombstone was recently found,
of widows who at that period became nuns and so along with several others, near Yokoji.
succeeded in achieving a certain degree of power. On the
death of her husband, a wife could actually inherit a part Given the documentation now at our disposal, it would
of his property of which she had the usufruct during her be premature to talk of a sublimated love between Keizan
lifetime but which she was obliged to leave to a son and Sonin, but it is certain that this woman played a
designated by her husband. She might also inherit another crucial role in his thinking and his career. It was no doubt
part that she could dispose of as she wished. She could due in part to her presence that Keizan put into practice
also hold the status of executor of her husband’s will. In the theory of equality between men and women about
addition to the spiritual motivations that pushed Sonin into which various Chan/Zen masters like Dahui Zonggao
holy orders, certain strictly material factors may also have (1089-1163) and Dogen had already preached, but without
played a part. If a widow remarried, she had to hand over any great effort at practicing it. The importance for Keizan
all she had inherited to the children of her new husband. of the themes of the mother the soul sister and the
Expecting the early death of an aging husband, Sonin was intercession of Kannon cannot but recall other cases like
perhaps better off putting herself under the care of a those of Myoe and Shinran. We may also think of Ikkyu
Buddhist institution, represented in this case by a young Sojun, whose story of love late in life for a blind singer is
and charismatic priest, Keizan. At the end of the widely talked of in Buddhist chronicles. We may draw
Kamakura period, women are not usually mentioned in some conclusions about Keizan on the basis of the indica-
wills. Although more and more of them left their worldly tions in the biographies of these monks.
goods to temples, these gifts were not always officially The Rhetoric of Equality
registered as in the present case. Such transfers were made Chan/Zen texts offer many passages insisting on
by means of a special type of document, the okibumi, which equality between men and women, especially in matters
Keizan also used a great deal. concerned with the ultimate goal, awakening. This was at
As we may expect, Keizan leaves out any information a time when the position of women in society was, as we
about Sonin that is not strictly connected to his monastery. have just seen, completely subordinate. Such protestations
We can only conjecture about Sonin's life. But Keizan of equality should not be taken too literally, however, and
does insist on the spiritual progress made by Sonin, they rarely translated into practice. In this matter reference
"whose pure acts every day increase in number, while her is often made to the statements of principle by Dahui and
thought of awakening is steadily refining itself and Dogen. Speaking of one of his female lay students, Dahui
ripening. Having received the Buddhist Precepts and stated: "Can one say that she is a woman and that women
become aware of the spiritual essence, she has cut through have no share in the awakening? Know that [awakening]
and rejected all passions and thoughts of desire, and she is has nothing to do with being male or female, old or young.
intent on the pure practice of those who have 'left the Ours is an egalitarian Dharma-gate that has only one
family.'‖ Toward the end of the year 1321, Keizan makes flavor.‖
reference to a "dialogue" in the course of which Sonin Buddhism seems to have attracted women who were
pronounced her "first extraordinary words," preliminary trying to avoid their otherwise inevitable fate as mothers
signs of awakening: "The same day I asked Sonin, 'The and wives. Although Chan/ Zen, unlike other religious
year is coming to an end, the springtime is arriving. There movements such as Daoism, did not assert the value of
is an order in this. What is it?’ [Sonin replied,] 'On the femininity, it seems from its beginnings to have attracted a
branches of a shadeless tree, how could there be any fairly large number of noble women. Chan egalitarianism
35
may therefore derive more from its need for aristocratic appointed to Hooji of Kaga (temple founded by Keizan for the
support than from theoretical premises. The sudden bodhi of his mother Ekan), and that on this occasion she was
increase in references to women in Dahui's sermons may authorized to copy the ordination manual for Bodhisattvas
be explained in part by the fact that these were addressed (Busso shoden bosatsukai saho). Like Sonin, she seems to have
been autonomous as practitioner. Hooji was apparently the first
to nuns or influential laywomen. Dahui named five nuns
independent nunnery in Soto, and Myosho its first abbess. She
and one laywoman among his fifty-four successors, but was succeeded by Ekyu at the head of Enzuin. In 1323,
none of them appears in the official lineage of his school. according to the Record of Tokoku, Ekyu received succession
At the beginning of his preaching career, Dogen also documents from Keizan. He wrote specially the ordination
stressed sexual equality. In the Shobogenzo he states: "What manual in kana for her. This means that she could confer
demerit is there in the fact of being a woman? What merit ordination herself. She receives special treatment also when
in being a man? There are bad men and good women. If Keizan decides what funeral services will be offered to nuns. A
large part of the financial support of Yokoji was reserved for
you want to hear the Dharma and put an end to suffering
nuns.] We cannot but be surprised at the complete absence
and confusion, abandon ideas like male and female. As
of any biographical information about this woman who,
long as illusions have not been eliminated, neither men nor
rather than care for her own family line, chose to give
women are free from them. When they are eliminated and
birth rather to spiritual sons and daughters by associating
reality is perceived, there is no longer any distinction
herself, even before the death of her husband, with the
between male and female.‖ [Raihai-tokuzui]
priest Keizan. In spite of the status she would later enjoy
We may suspect that this equality discourse reflects a as abbess of Enzuin, by doing this she was actually simply
typically masculine point of view. However that may be, as passing from one form of masculine tutelage to another
initial proselytism was succeeded by administrative from a physical lineage to a spiritual one. It should be
preoccupations regarding his monastery, equality of the noted that most of the women who gathered around
sexes, along with equality of monks and laymen, disap- Keizan and Sonin were already fairly advanced in years
peared from Dogen's discourse. He apparently had some and had -reproduced; and we may wonder whether, as in
female disciples, and it may have been that he put together Western medieval society, we might have here evidence of
some of his sermons for them. But like his ideal Sakya- women rejected by their lineage once they were deemed
muni—as it is presented to us in the Vinaya tradition— useless. In the absence of more precise documentation,
Dogen remained, if not fundamentally misogynist, at least this can be no more than a hypothesis.
very aware of the dangers that a feminine presence could
But the fact does remain that most of the legends in
bring to his community.
the Soto tradition concern male monks. In a masculine
Keizan inherits the Mahayana discourse about tradition, Keizan's example, a man devoted to his
nonduality. However, he seems to have been more ready matrilineal lineage, may appear to be an exception. Kei-
to take a few risks in order to bring to pass this equality of zan got from his mother his devotion to the cause of
the sexes, in particular when he founded the nunnery at women; for example, he transcribed into Japanese the
Tokoku. Women were not excluded from his "mountain," Chinese commentary by Dogen on the Buddhist Precepts
as was the case in many other mountain temples. But the so that they would be accessible to one of his disciples,
nuns remained on the margins of the masculine monastic the nun Ekyu. The inspiration on this point was perhaps
community of Yokoji. Despite her importance in his life, not so much the Buddha as Ananda, the third Indian
and her awakening, to which he duly testified, Sonin does patriarch. We know that even if the Buddha ended up, in
not figure among the successors named by Keizan. Only spite of himself, accepting women into his community,
one late source, the Nihon Tojo rentoroku, attests that Sonin beginning with his own aunt Gautami, his motive was not
really had received the robe of the Dharma (thus the so much recognition of the woman who had been his
succession) from Keizan. We see a significant gap stepmother but rather the insistence of his cousin Ananda,
between the hagiography of the Soto tradition and certain son of Gautami, in order to avoid upsetting this much-
of Keizan's okibumi, whose purpose is to establish a beloved disciple. However, for Keizan, as a representative
pairing, to make official the marriage of two "lineages," to of the clerical culture, the blood bonds attaching him to
organize the coordination of two social units, two his matrilineal line always was less important than the
"houses," even if it is not intended, as in the Western spiritual line, which remains purely male.
medieval society, to set up a unit of comparable form.
The Record of Tokoku can also be read as a kind of
Soto hagiography has not given much attention to oneirical autobiography, which suggests that the rise of
Sonin, despite the special status that Keizan tried to give the autobiographical genre in Japan was permitted not
her by making her the "author of the fundamental vow," only by the discovery of interiority, the affirmation of a
and thereby the spiritual mother of the Yokoji community. self that was denied at the doctrinal level, but also by the
[footnote: The Nihon Tojo rentoroku, however, counts Sonin and gradual shift of the dream from the public to the private
Ekyu among Keizan's seven dharma-heirs and gives Sonin's sphere. The dream world of Keizan, as we will see, was
biography. See DNBZ 111: 60a and 66a-67a. Another Woman
nurtured by the feminine, maternal realm, a realm
who played an important role was Enkan Myosho, who became
abbess (unshu) of Enzuin after the death of Sonin. In the Record of symbolized above all by the Bodhisattva Kannon.
Tokoku, at the date of 4/10/1325, we are told that she was
36
 Keizan and Dogen

Keizan and Dogen 38

William Bodiford – excerpt on Keizan and Dogen 39
Keido Chisan - The True Spirit of the Two Ancestors 40
Eto Sokuo - Founding Patriarch & Successor Patriarch 44
William Bodiford - Remembering Dōgen: Eiheiji and Dōgen Hagiography 53

37
 Keizan and Dōgen

Keizan Jōkin Eihei Dōgen

螢山紹瑾 永平道元

Title: Taisō 太祖 Kōso 高祖

(“two patriarchs, one
essence”) Greatest/Great Ancestor Highest/High Ancestor
Progenitor/Successor Patriarch Founder/Eminent Patriarch
Highest Forefather Lofty/Elevated Forefather
Compact signed in “…and the aspirations of the late “The maxims of the founding patriarch,
1872: teacher, Keizan.” Dogen…”
Eto Sokuo: successive consolidating patriarch: the primary founding patriarch:
“…while Taiso designates another “Koso designates a dynastic ancestor or
but a grand successor who success- originator who built the basis of an
fully consolidated the actual empire.” empire,…
the grand organizer successor the forefather or initial patriarch
Sotozen-net: “The Soto Zen School recognizes two eminent Ancestors
as our founders, Dogen and Keizan Zenji.”
“The fourth Japanese ancestor of the “The essence of the Soto Zen School was
school was Taiso Keizan Zenji who transmitted from China, eight hundred years
was instrumental in enhancing the ago, during the Kama-kura period by Koso
teachings and expanding the school.” Dogen Zenji.”
EXTERNAL: looks outward & boldly INTERNAL: deeply explored the internal self
spreads the teaching
Keido Chisan: Compassionate mother of Soto Zen Dignified father of Soto Zen
clear explanations deep philosophy
magnanimous stern
Caused the school to flourish Established the school
Reiho Masunaga: mild and gentle - compassionate rigorous and stern - profound
Like two wheels of a cart for, if one is lacking, the other cannot fulfill its purpose.
Steven Heine: Highly integrative and popularizing Founded a small conservative monastic
approach, assimilating & eclectic institution
Founded: Sōjiji 總持寺 Eiheiji 永平寺
(“two head temples,
one essence”)

Crest: Pauloenia Gentian

(the two crests together flower
are the symbol of the
Soto school)

38
 William Bodiford on Dogen and Keizan
In the eyes of many devout Sōtō adherents the story of early Sōtō communities begins with Dōgen and ends with Dōgen. It is a simple
story of how Dogen's vision of pure Buddhism was established in rural Japan and then lost. Later the story starts over again with Keizan
Jokin, who is credited with establishing a new institutional form for Sōtō more compatible with the simple religious sentiments of rural
Japanese. In the standard version of events presented by these Sōtō devotees, Dogen was someone fundamentally superior to his time
and his followers. While alive the power of his personality commanded the complete loyalty of his disciples, who followed him into a
remote mountain temple. Dogen's death, however, allowed the divergent agendas of his disciples to reappear. A dispute among his
successors, the so-called third-generation schism (sandai sōron), dispersed his community and left his isolated temple in ruins. Divided
and without financial support, the small groups of Sōtō monks might well have disappeared. Instead, Keizan Jōkin charted a new
direction that exploited popular folk beliefs and thereby ensured the financial prosperity of Soto temples. Summarized in crude terms,
Dōgen provided high religious ideals while Keizan ensured their survival by implementing practical means of propagation—means
which according to some Sōtō commentators often were at odds with Dōgen's ideals.
What follows [in Soto Zen in Mediveal Japan] is a different interpretation of early Sōtō. Many of the above elements appear, but the
significance attributed to them is not the same. The standard story of the early Sōtō communities cited above was conceived under the
lingering influence of a series of religious reforms that were imposed on Sōtō institutions beginning in the eighteenth century. The monks
in the vanguard of the reform efforts advocated a restoration (fukko) of the pristine practices supposedly taught by Dōgen—a position that
implicitly rejected the validity of the traditions that they had inherited from the medieval period. Successive Sōtō reformers and
counterreformers cited selected passages from Dōgen's writings to support or refute each other over a wide variety of doctrinal
controversies, each side defending their version of Dōgen against the supposed distortions of the othe. When modern Sōtō historians first
looked beyond Dōgen to chart the development of early Sōtō communities they accepted this earlier vision of a sharp division between
Dōgen and his successors. In their eyes the third-generation schism and the activities of Keizan Jokin stood out as turning points that
separated the subsequent Sōtō tradition from Dōgen. Yet it is doubtful if the so-called schism ever occurred. Keizan is an equally unlikely
turning point. He had studied under four of Dōgen's leading disciples: Ejō, Jakuen, Gien, and Gikai. If anyone could have provided a
strong link to the beginnings of Japanese Sōtō, it should have been Keizan.

Chart of influences:

39
 The True Spirit of the Two Ancestors
from Soto Zen by Keido Chisan
The Japanese Sōtō School was firmly established with Great Master Dōgen says: “If one has a real desire to enter
the Highest Ancestor Great Master Dōgen as its dignified Buddhism, then one must not hesitate to go to a master for
father and the Greatest Ancestor Great Master Keizan as training even if it means such difficulties as crossing the
its compassionate mother. The Transmission of the seas and climbing mountains. However, even if we should
Dharma from master to disciple in the Sōtō School is a go and urge those who have no desire to enter Buddhism,
matter of extreme importance. It has two aspects: the it cannot be certain whether or not they will accept it.”
horizontal and the vertical. The former emphasizes the Dōgen, who was free from egotism and vain desires for
sameness between master and disciple, and the latter fame and gain, rejected the Buddhism of his period as
recognizes their respective individualities. something imperfect. It goes without saying that in
Dōgen received the Dharma Transmission from his selecting which of the teachings of Buddhism are to be
master, Ju-ching (J. Tendō Nyojō), yet he revealed his spread throughout the land, the time, the place and the
own individuality and opened up a new field of thought in persons to receive the teachings must be taken into
Buddhism. Dōgen selected what was best in Buddhism consideration.
regardless of school and tried to return to the basic spirit The division of the teachings of Buddhism into three
of the Buddha. He cast aside worldly honors and wealth, periods (the period of the True Law, the period of the
avoided the powerful, prosperous people of his day and imitation of the True Law and the period of decline of the
never wore any elegant robes, but only ones made of True Law) is nothing but a skillful means (Skt. upāya, J.
coarse material. He worked diligently to train the few hōben) to explain the changes in Buddhist teachings to
monks around him. He denied the theory that Buddhism, those who have not yet directly experienced the Truth.
Confucianism and Taoism are in essence the same and Precisely because we are now in the period of decline, we
rejected the idea which holds that there are five schools of must make unrelenting efforts to live in the spirit of the
Zen, advocating a unified Buddhism to the point that he Buddha and to grasp the essence of Buddhism directly.
disliked even using the name Zen School. Insofar as he Therefore Dōgen said: “If you do not enter Buddhism in
was enlightened under Ju-ching, we can say that his this life on the pretext that we are in a period of decline
spiritual understanding and that of Ju-ching were the and unable to know Truth, then in which life will you
same. realize Truth?” Dōgen emphasized the efforts of people to
Dōgen developed his own individuality with this discover the Eternal within themselves. We can observe
tradition as a background: here Dōgen’s intense resistance to religious fatalism and
the idea that it was not possible to find the Truth during a
1. The essence of the teachings of Dōgen lies, first of period of decline in the Buddhist teaching. If one has a
all, in the correct Transmission of a unified Buddhism. If sincere desire to seek Truth, then the limitations of time
the Zen School forms its own system in contrast to those and place can be transcended, and one can see the Buddha
of other schools, it is apt to become one-sided and biased. and Ancestors directly. This is because the three periods
Dōgen, in rejecting the name Zen School as indicating referred to above are not periods in time, but are really
something distinct from other schools, said, “Those who stages in the development of men. Great Master Keizan
use the name Zen School to describe the great Way of the stated in his Denkōroku: “There is no time boundary
Buddha and the Ancestors have not yet seen the Way of between the three periods. This is true in India, China, and
the Buddha. The establishment of the five schools of Zen Japan alike. Therefore do not bewail the coming of the
is nothing other than the destruction of the unity of period of decline. Do not be prejudiced against those from
Buddhism. It is the product of shallow thinking.” Dōgen distant places and remote areas.” He respects the heroic
sought to restore sectarian Sung Dynasty Zen to the main spirit which casts off the spell of “the period of decline”
road of Buddhism from which it had strayed and to enable and boldly goes forth in the search for true Buddhism.
Chinese Buddhism which had deviated from the main
course to find itself again. 2. The standpoint taken by Great Master Dōgen is new
in that it does not handle the problems of the Buddhist
Great Master Keizan also rejected the sectarian Scriptures in an academic, objective way, but delves into
concept of five schools of Zen by declaring in his each one as if it were a problem presented to Dōgen
Denkōroku: “People need not debate about the five or personally. Although the Buddhism which bases itself
seven schools of Zen, but rather should merely brighten upon Scripture as final authority has great depth, it often
their own hearts. This is the correct teaching of all the falls into a mere intellectual Buddhism unable to
Buddhas. Why do people always engage in controversy? It transform itself into a living religion. Dōgen’s Buddhism
is a waste of time to discuss the idea of victory or defeat.” is based upon wholehearted Zazen which rejects the
In order to find true Buddhism there must be an urgent dualism of mind and matter and holds that the training
desire to find the Truth. In the Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki process involved in formal seated meditation is
40
enlightenment. But as long as one plays with mental training itself.” [Zen is Eternal Life, 1999 edition, p. 187.]
discriminations of good and bad, right and wrong, as Since these practices correspond to Original
intellectual ideas, it will be impossible to find the True Enlightenment, they are unending. As a result of realizing
Way of the Buddha. Dōgen said, “Attainment of the Way enlightenment, we continue to meditate; as a result of
can only be achieved with one’s body.” The formal seated realizing Buddhahood, we continue to train. Serene
meditation is the attainment of Buddhahood through our reflection meditation, which is the complete liberation of
body. It is life and vitality itself. It is commonly said that body and mind, means that the whole of oneself becomes
enlightenment is the ideal of serene reflection meditation, the Dharma and living embodiment of the Buddhas and
and that serene reflection meditation is the means for the Ancestors.
attainment of that ideal. But, as explained before, Great Master Keizan wrote in his “Zazen Yojinki,”
meditation can never be considered merely a means to an “The true mind of meditation is not one which waits for
end. enlightenment,” and in his Denkōroku, “The performance
Dōgen rejects the duality of enlightenment and the of meritorious deeds not free from the laws of karma
religious training of meditation, writing in “Bendōwa” (a (cause and effect, J. ui kugō), will not lead to untainted
chapter of the Shōbōgenzō): “It is heretical to believe that Buddhahood. If we seek Buddhahood we must return to
training and enlightenment are separable for, in the source of life. Religious practice which waits for
Buddhism, the two are one and the same. Since training enlightenment does not lead to Buddhahood.” Thus, Great
embraces enlightenment, the very beginning of training Master Keizan, like Great Master Dōgen, rejected the
contains the whole of original enlightenment; as this is so, Sung idea of a meditation practice which strives for
the teacher tells his disciples never to search for enlightenment, maintaining that serene reflection
enlightenment outside of training since the latter mirrors meditation is an absolutely pure religious exercise which
enlightenment.” [Quoted from Zen is Eternal Life, 1999 in and of itself expresses Buddhahood.
edition, p. 186.] Just-sitting meditation based on faith is 3. It is natural that the Buddhist religion which rejects
the fullest form of true enlightenment. The world of the idea of an absolute God should declare that the essence
religion is absolute in that it rejects the categories of of the Buddha, i.e., the Buddha Nature, is found in all
means and end, for it is its own end. Today is not men. Because Buddha Nature exists in all beings, It allows
something for tomorrow, but remains absolute as today. those who train to realize enlightenment. The practice of
Therefore, Great Master Dōgen declared that serene reflection meditation is a manifestation of faith in
wholehearted meditation is neither a practice in which one the Buddha Nature. Zazen, which teaches the identity
waits for enlightenment such as was found in the Sung between enlightenment and training, becomes the
Dynasty in China, nor is it a means to become Buddha. preliminary step for the realization of enlightenment.
Enlightenment is an inherent part of meditation practice Buddhism in general teaches that there is a gradual
from the outset. Just-sitting meditation is free from all development toward enlightenment which is made
obstacles and is synonymous with enlightenment. We call possible because of the Buddha Nature. However, serene
this meditation in enlightenment and enlightenment in reflection meditation is in perfect harmony with Original
meditation. Kekka-fuza (sitting cross-legged with the soles Enlightenment itself which is the Buddha Nature. Yet
of both feet turned upward) is the samādhi (meditation) simultaneously it transforms itself into this enlightenment
practiced by all the Buddhas in which they alone fully and causes it to materialize fully. Enlightenment and
enjoy the bliss derived therefrom. serene reflection meditation are identical. The teaching
Formal seated meditation is not considered an that Original Enlightenment is found in all beings is the
unpleasant, compulsory religious exercise, but an act of essence of Zen.
the Buddhas which is in perfect harmony with nature and This view of the Buddha Nature is unique to Great
in accord with the spirit of the Buddha. Zazen, always Master Dōgen and reveals a new approach unobservable
surrounded by the twin ideas of training and in other schools of Buddhism. There is a famous passage
enlightenment, is in itself complete enlightenment and the in the Nehan Gyō (Nirvāna Sūtra) which reads: “All
bodily posture which reveals the fullest manifestation of beings have the Buddha Nature.” However, Dōgen
this Original Enlightenment. It is a religious exercise, and interprets this as “All beings are the Buddha Nature!”
yet at the same time it is the state of Great Enlightenment. emphasizing that the Buddha Nature is the basis of all
Serene reflection meditation, from which nothing is existence and the source of all that is of value. In “Busshō-
sought and nothing is gained (J. mushotoku mushogo no no-Maki,” a chapter of the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen explains:
Zazen), must never be construed to mean a denial of “The Buddha Nature is everything, one part of which we
practice itself, because to deny religious practice would call humanity. Within humanity and outside of it
result in being unable to unite it with theory. Dōgen says everything is the Buddha Nature.” All things which exist
in the “Bendōwa,” “Both the Buddhas and Ancestors are part of the sea of the Buddha Nature. We are apt to
insisted upon the necessity of intense training in order that think of the Buddha Nature as something deep and
enlightenment may be kept pure, being identical with
41
unfamiliar, but it is nothing more than “the chin of a scholars in Liang-che (J. Ryōsetsu) and studied under
donkey or mouth of a horse,” to quote Dōgen. All existing masters of the five schools of Zen, but to no avail. They
things are themselves manifestations of the Buddha could not satisfy his longings for religious Truth and
Nature and must be the self-expression of the Buddha dispel the doubts that assailed him. At last he became a
Nature. From this basic problem Dōgen then proceeded to disciple of Ju-ching under whose guidance he arrived at
a thorough discussion of the existent Buddha Nature, the the liberation of body and mind, thereby freeing himself
non-existent Buddha Nature, the explanatory Buddha from all doubts. This deep experience became a source
Nature and the impermanent Buddha Nature. Although all from which a new Buddhism emerged which had been
existence comes under the heading of the Buddha Nature, Transmitted from teacher to disciple. Of this Dōgen said:
the definition of Buddha Nature cannot be limited merely “In liberating my mind and body, I preserved the
to existence alone. It transcends this and moves on to traditions of ancestral succession even after I returned to
another new world. This is an unending denial of denial, Japan.”
an expansion into the infinite. Therefore, absolute non- Correctly transmitted Buddhism means that the spirit
existence which includes both relative existence and non- of Gautama Buddha, the historic founder of Buddhism, is
existence is in itself the Buddha Nature. Non-existence is alive in the personalities of the successive Ancestors and
the source of the form without a form. The Buddha Nature Masters and that this Buddhism is pure and its practice of
itself has no form, and yet it can manifest itself in all the Way of the Buddha perfect. It is not prejudiced in
forms. The explanation of the Buddha Nature according to favor of the recorded word of the Buddha, or biased in
Dōgen means that the Buddha Nature itself explains its favor of his mind, but rather accepts the Buddha as a
True Nature as it is. The formless Buddha Nature reveals complete entity, mind and body. Dōgen fervently wished
its own figure through phenomena which have form. to grasp the essential source of Buddhism, rejecting its
Existence is not something fixed, immovable; non- many branches and schools in order to enable it to
existence is not a vacuum, not empty, but immaculate. flourish. But, in the final analysis, what is it that gives a
Impermanence which transcends existence and firm foundation to Buddhism? To this we must answer
nonexistence is the growth and development of the that it is the uninterrupted direct succession from master to
infinite. It is impermanence which is the true form of the disciple (J. menju shihō). In this direct succession (menju)
Buddha Nature and the self-development of it. The the personalities of master and disciple are fused into one;
impermanent Buddha Nature regenerates itself constantly the spirit being handed on from one person to the next is
and thereby keeps on growing and extending itself without interruption. This Transmission is not based on
throughout time and space. Great Master Keizan declares historical studies, but stands firmly on deep faith.
in his Shinjin-mei Nentei: “There are two kinds of Buddha Buddhism which lives in faith must necessarily have
Nature: the existent one (J. u) and the non-existent one (J. its basis in strength derived from personality. The life of
mu). The non-existent one is indivisible; the existent one the Tathagata (Buddha) is preserved in fact only when
has not a fixed, unchanging existence.” Also he observes, there is an uninterrupted union of personalities between
“Buddha comes forth in the world; things appear in the Gautama, the historic Buddha, and the unbroken line of
hearts of men. The Buddhas of the many countries conceal Ancestors. This Transmission resembles the pouring of
their physical bodies revealing only their shadows. The water from one vessel to another in that the true spirit of
countries of the various Buddhas reveal their forms the Buddha is passed on to the next Ancestor without
completely.” Thus does Keizan uphold Dōgen’s idea that increasing nor decreasing. The whole character of the
“the Buddha Nature is everything” as well as Dōgen’s Buddha as it is becomes the character of the Ancestor
four-way analysis of the Buddha Nature. It is further suited to the time and place of that Ancestor. This is the
stated in the “Zazen Yōjinki” that Zazen illuminates the reason, therefore, that the successive Ancestors all live in
mind of man and enables him to live peacefully in his the character of the Buddha. It is therefore said, “Your
True Self. We call this “showing your natural face” or (obvious) face is not your real one. The real one is
“revealing the natural scenery,” thus making clear the transmitted from the Buddha.” When the false self dies
content of enlightenment and the religious practice of the within us, we find our life in that of the Buddha. The
Buddha Heart. Buddha and those who live in his spirit are identical no
4. Dōgen, after being assailed by the doubts described matter how many centuries or generations may separate
above while he was on Mt. Hiei, came to the conclusion them. In this way the life of the Buddha continues
that despite the extent of Buddhist studies in Japan, the throughout history, adapting itself to time and place. To
true Buddhism was still unknown. He therefore resolved return to the source of Buddhism also means to project
to go to China to find it, confident that he would be oneself into the future. Real traditions which live
successful if he sought the true Buddhism from the throughout history are continuously developing.
standpoint that all Buddhism is one. However, what The Denkōroku by Great Master Keizan is a skillfully
Dōgen sought was not a theoretical solution, but religious written work which recounts the enlightenment stories of
peace of mind. In China he visited famous Buddhist
42
the Ancestors. In it is found the famous phrase: “By taking wheels of a cart, for if one is lacking, the other is of little
a flower Shakyamuni showed that TRUTH was, is and use in fulfilling its ultimate purpose. That we of the Sōtō
will be eternal and by smiling He pointed out that it was, School should have two such great men as Founders of
is and will be endless,” explained at the end of Chapter our school is, we feel, most fortunate and significant in
Two. It further states, “Therefore the warm flesh of terms of Buddhist karma.
Shakyamuni is now and always here and the smiling of
Makakasho is now and always new.” [Zen is Eternal Life,
1999, pp. 229-230.] The warmth of Shakyamuni’s body
was correctly transmitted through the individuality of his
disciple Makakasho; the true face of the Highest Ancestor
(Dōgen) was handed down through the Greatest Ancestor
(Keizan).
5. The basic thought and faith of Dōgen and Keizan
are in perfect agreement with each other. However,
differences in individuality, environment and time resulted
in separate approaches to the question of how to propagate
their religion. Dōgen’s personality was very serious, his
theory precise. The Japanese Sōtō School is proud to have
such a truly great man as its founder. It would be difficult
to find another Zen master who is endowed with the same
profundity of thought, seriousness of practice and loftiness
of character as Dōgen.
In religion, on the one hand, we must go forward ever
deepening our religious experiences, while, on the other
hand, recognizing our mission to guide other people to the
depths of our own experience. We must enable them to
know the joy that comes from a knowledge of the Dharma
and the bliss that comes from the practice of meditation. It
is absolutely essential to have a personal character like
that of Great Master Keizan in order to carry out this
mission. To regard all people with warm affection, to
become the friend of the common people, to enter the
realm of the ideal together with them and to share one’s
joy with othersÑthese are the characteristics of the true
man of religion. The Sōtō School believes that it is able to
fulfill its basic mission because of the stern, father-like
character of Dōgen and the compassionate mother-like
character of Keizan. The foundation of the Sōtō School
was laid by Dōgen. Keizan deserves the credit for shaping
the monastic priesthood and broadening the social outlook
of the school. The monastic priesthood developed because
the foundation set by Dōgen was coupled with
maintenance by Keizan.
In summary, we may say that although there was no
difference in the basic spirit of the two Ancestors, they did
possess distinct personalities. This was revealed in many
ways: the deep philosophy of Dōgen contrasted with the
clear explanations of it by Keizan, the select few who
were the disciples of Dōgen compared with the multitude
who benefitted from Keizan. Dōgen’s religious life was
characterized by sternness, whereas that of Keizan showed
a magnanimous attitude which embraced all people. The
former established the school while the latter displayed the
administrative genius necessary for it to flourish. In the
Sōtō School the two Ancestors are compared to the two

43
 CHAPTER EIGHT: FOUNDER PATRIARCH AND SUCCESSOR PATRIARCH (高祖と太祖)
from: ZEN MASTER DOGEN AS FOUNDING PATRIARCH
Eto Sokuo (translated by Ichimura Shohei)
[p.551:] opposition to that of Lin-chi, and thus contented
According to current legal code (of the Soto School themselves without further question as to how and why
of Zen) it is stipulated that Dogen Zenji, who founded the their religion was called Zen. This point has, I believe,
monastic temple Eiheiji, is called the original founder of been clarified sufficiently in preceding chapters.
the school, and that Keizan Zenji, who founded the The second major factor in this failure stemmed from
monastic temple Sojiji, is the grand successor of the the peculiar historical circumstance in which the Soto
school. Further, the two monastic temples started School of Zen was formed. Member practitioners were
respectively by these masters are two separate head obliged to dedicate themselves to both Dogen Zenji and
temples. Based on unity of these two monastic Keizan Zenji on equal terms. Yet, since both head
institutions, this religious order has been established to temples advocated their respective styles of Zen for such
provide all rules and regulations for operation as an a long time, they naturally contributed to and perpetuated
independent religious organization. a false assumption in the minds of practitioners that there
Since antithesis between these head temples persisted might have been a difference in the thought and belief of
for the lengthy period of six hundred years, incessant the two patriarchs. Even though leaders of both head
conflicts of interest continued to arise between the temples spoke, at least out of mutual courtesy, of unity in
religious authorities of these two institutions. Naturally, the patriarchs‟ thought and belief, they never imparted
this spoiled any sense of harmonious unity between the this idea of unity through the system of traditional study.
leaders who guarded their respective religious This is perhaps the (fundamental) cause of the Soto
sanctuaries. Thus, this state of affairs was no trivial factor School‟s failure to establish a unitary basis in spiritual
in the obstruction of development of an ideal school quiescence, despite centuries of existence as a singular
tradition. After the proclamation of the Meiji reformation, religious order.
therefore, the conscientious leaders of the religious polity As to the fundamental cause of mutual opposition
established a constitution on the basis of unity of the two between the head temples, and consequent discord among
head temples. The constitutional arrangement, however, member practitioners, I hypothesize that it stems from an
was merely an agreement at the level of institutional inability to establish spiritual quiescence as the unitary
adjustments; in actual operation, there was not a basis for the system of sectarian study. Since a unitary
substantial improvement in direct cooperation. system of religious study is an indispensable condition for
Regrettably, this state of affairs negatively exerted the existence of an independent religious order, I reason
considerable constraints on activities of religious that the absence of such a unitary basis for study should
education and guidance. in turn intensify feelings of antithesis between head
Reflecting upon history, we acknowledge that the temples. There is a worrisome and vicious cycle of cause
sizable religious order known as the Japanese Soto school and effect. Nevertheless, because of the historical reality
was established on the basis of the meritorious powers of of continual evolution of the order, we are compelled to
Dogen Zenji, as founder of its spiritual tradition, and assume that the unitary life of the order must be
Keizan Zenji, as consolidator of its institutional tradition consistent with dual patriarchs, and that this is vital to the
In the six hundred years since, it has continued to fulfill independence of the sectarian order and its fulfillment of
the task of religious education and guidance for the the task of spiritual guidance. Otherwise, the school
Japanese nation. I am struck, however, by the fact that the would have long since lost its existential meaning in
foundation of ultimate spiritual quiescence, which ought history. It follows then that sectarian religious study must
to be the fundamental basis of the religious order as an establish the ultimate spiritual quiescence to ensure
independent institution, has not been established through continual existence of the order as a unitary institution
traditional sectarian study. This is an unthinkable while simultaneously maintaining consistency with dual
phenomenon. Although there may be many reasons for patriarchs. To make this possible, as fountainhead of the
this failure, I identify two major factors. order, Dogen Zenji‟s unique thought and belief must be
clarified. To this end, I have been extensively examining
First, soon after his death, Dogen Zenji‟s collected his position in the context of Buddhist history as well as
Shobo Genzo were stored as treasure in an inaccessible the unique claim and standpoint of his religion within
pavilion, such that general practitioners were not allowed Japanese Buddhism. In this regard, Keizan Zenji‟s role
to study them. As a result, the thought and belief of the was to make Dogen Zenji‟s unique Buddha-dharma the
founding patriarch was gradually forgotten. Members of fundamental spiritual tradition of the order, to promote
the school were misled into believing that their tradition the organization of temples, and to propagate Eihei‟s Zen
was part of the Chinese school of Ts‟ao-tung in practice throughout Japan, thereby to establish the
44
foundation of a great religious school. In this chapter I beings toward salvation. It was as if I was carrying a
will therefore investigate Dogen Zenji‟s basic thought heavy burden on my shoulder. Nevertheless, I set
and belief, that which is indispensable to the existence of aside my wish to spread the Buddha-dharma so as to
a school and which must be consistent between the wait for a better time to discharge my duty in its
founding patriarchs, thereby to clarify his unshakable propagation. I decided thus to spend my sojourn in
characteristic as the original founder of the school. writing about the tradition of the ancient sages, being
for a time a wanderer, like a tarrying cloud or water
weed.
In general, the coming into being of a religious order,
whether on the basis of belief or faith or as a sectarian Returning home with empty hands, Dogen Zenji felt
division occurring within a religion, follows a similar strongly a sense of responsibility to spread the Dharma
process. In Buddhist sectarian division as well, the and help in people‟s salvation, even to the extent that he
thought and belief of a great personality gradually wrote about it “as if he was carrying a heavy burden on
spreads geographically and expands in influence over the his shoulder.” And yet, from his point of view, he felt it
course of history, eventually forming an independent more fundamental and urgent to produce true practitioners
religious order, just as a rock thrown upon still waters of the Way. Thus, setting aside consciously his
spreads rings of ripples. Thus, a sectarian order is a evangelical duty for a time, he chose to take another
religious organization precipitated by such rings of course in life, waiting for a more appropriate time to
ripples created within an actual society through the propagate the Buddha-dharma. The appointed time came
influential thought and belief of a person respected as the finally with a disciple, the fourth descendant patriarch,
founder of the order. Two different types of processes Zen master Keizan, under whom the tradition of Zen
characterize this occurrence, or, perhaps I should say Master Eihei Dogen, eminent founder of the religion, was
rather, are already in factual presence. disseminated throughout Japan. Paralleling the way in
which master Chih-i‟s tradition of Buddhist Studies
One of these processes begins with the conscious became the Tien-t‟ai school in the time of Ching-ch‟i
intent of a founder to initiate a new order based on his Tan-jan, six generations removed from Chih-i, Eihei
insight of realization. In this regard, he must in one way Dogen‟s Zen tradition became the independent school of
or another be reform-oriented in the context of the Japanese Soto Zen distinct from all other schools at the
existing world of religions, and having such a purpose in time of the fourth generation patriarch.
establishing an order, he must actively lead the
movement for religious influence and propagation. His
successful campaign results in establishment of an The new Soto school of Zen started in Japan with the
independent order. Most Japanese Sectarian orders peculiar distinction of having two patriarchs, Dogen Zenji
belong to this category. as originator of the spiritual lineage and Keizan Zenji as
In a second type of sectarian division, a personage consolidator of the temple organization. Yet, in matters of
who did not intend to establish an order is nonetheless religious propagation and education, the school
adored and venerated as founder later in history. From a necessarily needed unity of the two patriarchs as a basis
spontaneous motivation to seek spirituality, he devoted for the spiritual quiescence of all its members. As already
himself to the study of Buddhism and, as a result, clarified, Dogen Zenji‟s thought and belief held a unique
acquired his own thought and belief. Later, his immediate characteristic that defied comparison with that of any
disciples or subsequent followers gradually multiply and other school. The fundamental problem for sectarian study
form an independent order, eventually distinguishing therefore is to determine whether or not his Buddha-
themselves from other sectarian orders… dharma of authentic transmission was succeeded to in full
by the successor-patriarch, thereby establishing a common
spiritual life for the school that was consistent across both
[Pg 565:] patriarchs. In this regard, the successor-patriarch states his
Based on the foregoing, I think Dogen Zenji never position in the Record of Transmission of the Light as
abandoned the task of propagation of the Buddha-dharma. follows:
Yet, I am obliged to justify why Dogen Zenji himself did Seven hundred years after Buddhism began its
not participate as a missionary in this activist approach. I spread in Japan, the master (Dogen) asserted the right
quote here his reasoning as mentioned in his Bendowa: Dharma for the first time. . . .[Besides Dogen Zenji,]
At last, attending the instruction of my teacher, the abbot Eisai, who succeeded the master Hui-pi‟s of
Zen master Ju-ching of Mount Tai-pai, I completed Tung-lin as eighth patriarch of Huang-lung, endeavored
the great matter of Zen practice for my entire life. to promote the Huang-lung tradition of Zen and
Thereafter, in the beginning of the Chao-ting Era of memorialized the imperial court in the presentation of
the Sung dynasty, I returned home. At that time, I was his I treatise entitled: Treatise on the Protection of the
determined to spread the Dharma and help sentient Country by Establishing Zen. His work, however, was

45
 not a genuine text for Zen. Due to obstructive said: “Since you exceed your teacher, you ought to make
influences from the southern center of Buddhism in Eihei‟s spiritual tradition flourish.” Thus, the Buddha-
Nara and the northern center of Buddhism at Mt. Hiei, dharma of authentic transmission was entrusted properly
he found it necessary to propose his Zen as part of three to the grand successor-patriarch in the fourth generation,
Buddhist systems, i.e., Exoteric, Esoteric, and Zen (or and therefrom spread through Japan by propagation and
Mind). Although, as a student of Eisai Zenji, Dogen dissemination as an independent religious order.
Zenji understood the Lin-chi tradition, he nonetheless Dogen Zenji believed that the Buddha‟s right Dharma
followed Ju-ching in completion of his ultimate was transmitted to Japan for the first time when he
realization and returned to his country thereafter to returned to Japan with empty hands. However, in the
spread the Buddha-dharma. This was indeed fortunate above passage, Keizan Zenji expressed only that “the
for the country, and a cause of human happiness. It is master returned to his country and spread the Buddha-
comparable to the initial entry of the 28th patriarch, the dharma.” Prior to this statement, Keizan Zenji expressed
Indian master Bodhidharma, into the land of T‟ang his view of the history of Japanese Buddhism, saying:
(China), where he was made the first patriarch. As the “Seven hundred years after Buddhism began its spread in
fifty-first patriarch in the Chinese genealogy, Dogen Japan, the master (Dogen) asserted the right Dharma for
Zenji was much like Bodhidharma. He was made the the first time.” In addition, in the chapter of
original patriarch in Japan, and hence is regarded as Sanghanandin, he said: “Consider. Although Buddhism
having been the first patriarch of our school (in Japan). has spread gradually eastward during the last degenerate
I quoted the above passage once before and pointed period of history, it has only been fifty or sixty years
out that this record is especially noteworthy as evidence since our country heard the right teaching of the
that the successor-founder, Keizan Zenji, recognized Tathagata. This ought to be regarded as the beginning of
clearly the position of the original founder and indicated the right Dharma (in this country).” This implies that the
his own full succession to the spiritual tradition. As Tathagata‟s right Dharma was heard for the first time
explained in the chapter “Returning Home Empty- through Dogen Zenji. What is expressed here as “right
handed,” Dogen Zenji, who received and maintained in Dharma” must therefore be the Buddha-dharma of
himself the personal authentication and returned home as authentic transmission introduced by Dogen Zenji. This is
he was before, became the first patriarch of the Japanese consonant with Dogen Zenji‟s criticism that “the
school of Zen, just as Bodhidharma became the first Buddhism of the preceding period was but a textual
patriarch in China. The successor-founder (Keizan Zenji) transmission, the Buddha-dharma having been forgotten,”
declared that “Therefore, the master ought to be called the or “the Buddha’s right Dharma was not yet well
founding patriarch of „the members of this school.‟” This disseminated.” The context thus explains clearly why
“school membership,” or literally “those who belong to Dogen Zenji was regarded as the first patriarch of the
this gate” (mon), means, of course, the (spiritual tradition school…
of) “Buddha-dharma of personally authenticated
transmission” (The quote) does not suggest a founder of
some general, so-called, Zen school. This is clear because [Pg 580:]
the earlier part of the quote indicates that the abbot Eisai The grand successor, Keizan Zenji, advocated Eihei‟s
transmitted Zen to Japan for the first time. Hence, Keizan spiritual heritage, praising the founder as one who
Zenji was clearly referring here to Dogen Zenji not as experientially realized the Buddha-dharma of authentic
founder of a general Zen tradition, but as founder of the transmission, a hero who happens to appear only once in
school that took Eihei‟s spiritual tradition as its a hundred generations, and a model personality from a
fountainhead. thousand years in the past. As he advocated the
When the third patriarch, Gikai Zenji, visited Sung spirituality of Dogen Zenji, Keizan Zenji must have
China, he wrote the following official declaration of his shared a conviction identical to and consistent with that
vow: of the original founder, insofar as the life and existence of
their school was concerned. Of course, the original
In order to accomplish my late master‟s sole founder and the successor founder were of two different
wish, I resolve as my singular vow that the spiritual times and were two independent persons. Hence, their
tradition of Eihei shall flourish throughout the historical times and environments were different, as were
country of Japan. their personal matures and circumstances. It follows then
From these records, we learn that by the time of the that their ways of expressing the same spiritual tradition
second and third patriarch, Dogen Zenji‟s spiritual varied, or rather that they should rightly have varied. This
tradition was about engaging an opportunity for is just as two different lenses depend on their respective
propagation of this new message, as a religion, focal points to project an image onto a screen. Insofar as
throughout the country. Moreover, in the third patriarch‟s the two patriarchs stand in spatial opposition, the
certification of Keizan Zenji‟s spiritual realization, he Buddha-dharma should be projected onto the screen

46
through two different focal points. However, when the which the Japanese Soto school has been established with
singular tradition of the Soto school is considered, even unique historical character. In this case, in the course of
though it is based on two patriarchs, there should not be development, it would be natural for descendants of the
two different focal points for the ultimate basis of founding patriarch to emphasize ever more the principle
spiritual quiescence. Although there are two lenses, their of personal authentication. The historical fact was,
focal points should be linked together as one. In order to however, totally unexpected. After the death of the
achieve this situation, the two lenses which exist side by founding patriarch, it (the life) was forgotten completely.
side in space must overlap in time, as prior and posterior. Subsequent generations neglected study of the Shobo
In other words, both patriarchs should be in the same Genzo, which embodies the actual content (literally, skin,
place, but prior and posterior in time, such that even flesh, bone, and marrow) of the Buddha-dharma of
though they are two they are one (over the course of authentic transmission that the original founder
time). inculcated, widely and deeply, centered on the principle
As symbolic objects of the liturgy of veneration, the of personal authentication and Dharma succession. By
patriarchs are two different persons, but they should way of exception, only a small number of practitioners
nonetheless be linked in one focal point through personal were able to continue in the task of copying the Shobo
authentication. Hence, in our spiritual conviction, we Genzo.
should see the original founder through the grand This state of affairs appears rather incomprehensible.
successor and see the grand successor through the Nevertheless, if we consider the matter carefully, the
original founder, although they must not be viewed as a situation seems to bear the special characteristic of the
snake having two heads. Accordingly, the foundation for Buddha-dharma of personal authentication. For, on one
the Soto spiritual quiescence in which the two patriarchs hand, with a school that depends on certain scriptures,
are one should be the authentic transmission and personal since what was written by the founder during his life
authentication in which the root and the branches are non- inculcates and elucidates the basis for his spiritual
dual. The two patriarchs should be linked as one in the quiescence, it is natural for later generations of that
fundamental spirituality of the Buddha-dharma of Dogen school to seek their founder‟s essential meaning in his
Zenji, the only context in which the body and mind of the writings and present it to the public to promote further
Tathagata are authentically transmitted through the development of their school. The Buddha-dharma of
patriarchal gate. The original founder and the grand authentic transmission, on the other hand, transmits the
successor were separated by the second patriarch Ejo and practice-action that perpetuates succession of the
third patriarch Gikai and not directly linked in time. Buddha‟s life, and therefore, insofar as the Buddha-
Regardless of whether one or more generations separated dharma of personal authentication continues to live
the two patriarchs in time, from the point of view of the through history, neither explanation nor understanding is
spirituality of personal authentication, the two are linked necessary.
through singular evolution of the spiritual life of the Paradoxically, whenever it has become necessary to
Buddha. When they are placed in separate spatial explain and understand the Shobo Genzo, the Buddha-
positions, one should see that “even though they are dharma of personal authentication has faced critical
neither standing in a row, nor linked in a line, there is danger. It may be of such a paradoxical situation that
simultaneous personal authentication between the two.” some virtuous predecessor in the school said: “When the
Accordingly, in repudiating both the opposition of Shobo Genzo is called forth (to appear), the Shobo Genzo
the two patriarchs and also the continuity of the two, if faces a critical end.” In considering the true meaning of
repudiation of one means affirmation of the other, then the Buddha-drama of personal authentication centered
this severs evolutionary continuity through historical upon practice- action, this may very well identify the
time with the spiritual life of the Buddha. It destroys the aforementioned state of affairs. After the death of the
personal authentication that is the basis for the Japanese founding patriarch, the complete heritage of Shobo
Soto school of Zen. Therefore, the two patriarchs stand in Genzo, crystallized in his effort of writing and executed
spatially separate positions as objects of the liturgy of with all his might, was stored away as a treasure. Yet, the
veneration, and yet they are in temporal continuity for the descendants of his Dharma lineage continued to spread
mind of faith based on personal authentication. While in widening rings of ripples created by the personal
they are continuous in time, they stand in separate authentication, eventually bringing an independent
positions. It is here that the spiritual quiescence of the school into being. It must be of this aspect of history that
Soto school of Zen is established as the life of the it is said that when the written Genzo was hidden, the
authentic transmission and personal authentication. live Genzo went active. Since the successor-patriarch
Authentic transmission and personal authentication is was one who was produced by the Buddha-dharma of
the life of the Buddha-dharma of Dogen Zenji, through personal authentication, and who lived through the
which the two patriarchs are linked as one, and upon spirituality of personal authentication, even if he did not
expound the principle of personal authentication in idea
47
and thought, his spirituality should be manifest in all response, letting him know that it lives for a long
expositions given during his life time. time. (Chap, of Kasyapa, Denko-roku)
The major written work of the grand successor, As pointed out before, the founding patriarch, Dogen
Keizan Zenji, was the Record of Transmission of the Zenji, expressed this with the words: “One‟s own face is
Light, which he propounded for his student practitioners no longer his own, but he directly (personally) receives
at Daijoji. This text presents and explains the the Tathagata‟s face.” The succeeding patriarch, Keizan
transmission of the light of the original spirituality of Zenji, expressed the same, saying: “Make yourself your
Sakyamuni‟s Buddha-dharma and successive patriarchs master, and make your master yourself.” In this, Keizan
in three countries, starting with the first patriarch, Zenji‟s expression, the original meaning of personal
Mahakasyapa, and ending with the fifty-second patriarch, authentication is revealed, clearly matching Dogen
Koun Ejo. Why, despite the fact that the grand successor Zenji‟s exposition in the fascicle of Menju and that of
was not a historian, did he expound on the subject of the Katto, just as does a vessel and its lid. Regarding the last
history of the succession of the light in his Denkdroku? statement, “plucking a flower stalk to let it be known as
The fifty-two patriarchs, in succession across the three unchanging,” and “smiling to let it be known to be long-
countries, are footprints tracing the history of the lived,” one should recognize that “unchanging” means to
Buddha-dharma of personal authentication that activates return to the tradition, whereas “long-lived” points to
“continual succession of the spiritual light and perpetual advancement and future development.
perpetuation of illumination.” Hence, (his work) is not a Accordingly, what is unchanged is returning to the
philosophical elucidation of the personal authentication, traditional origin, while what is long-lived is perpetual
but a clarification of the footprints of the continual life of development into the future, thus embodying the ultimate
personal authentication. From this point of view, the process of “unchanging changing.” Moreover, in his way
essential motivation of the Denkoroku should be of encouraging student practitioners, Keizan Zenji further
regarded as promulgation of the Buddha- dharma of says:
personal authentication. You should not yearn for ancient times of two
The chapter of the original founder, Dogen Zenji, is thousand years ago. If you strive hard today in the
the longest in the Denkoroku, indeed, several times practice of way-faring, Kasyapa may not have to go to
longer than the other chapters. In this chapter, Keizan Mt. Kukkutapada (to wait for Maitreya‟s coming), but
Zenji includes an excerpt from the fascicle of Succession may instead realize his enlightenment here in Japan.
Document (Shisho) and as much as one fifth of the Therefore, Sakyamuni‟s fleshly body should still be
whole. This must be regarded as concrete evidence that warm now, and Kasyapa‟s smile should still be made
the grand successor weighed the matter of personal anew. (Denkoroku, Chap. Mahakasyapa)
authentication and Dharma-succession as important in Here, Keizan Zenji urgently imparts to his assembly
his thoughts. This is, so far, an external observation. of practitioners that the principle of personal
However, in analysis of the internal content of his authentication is not simply understanding by way of
thoughts, I should introduce his statement on the ultimate intellectual thought, but rather that which ought to be
meaning of Dharma-succession as symbolized by activated by each individual through action or practice.
“Sakyamuni‟s plucking of a flower stalk with smiling This is, perhaps, the original meaning of the Buddha-
eyes,” since this symbolic event has been accepted as the dharma based on personal authentication.
fountainhead of authentic transmission and personal
authentication. Here is his saying:
When Gautama raises his eyebrows and flutters I mentioned previously that the two patriarchs are
his eyes, he has become completely quiescent; but like two different lenses. Unless both exist together in
when Kasyapa smiles, Kasyapa has at once come to time, as prior and posterior, their focal points cannot
realize enlightenment. Is this circumstance not become one. When two lenses are placed one before the
applicable to us as well? The Treasury of the Eye of other, one linked to the focal point of the other, distant
True Dharma (shobogenzo) has been transmitted objects are seen closer and small objects are seen larger.
completely to your own selves. Therefore, it should In order to provide a clear view of an object, however,
not be regarded as transmitted to Mahakasyapa, nor another condition must be fulfilled, namely, the
should it be regeurded as transmitted from respective degrees of curvature for the two lenses must
Sakyamuni. There is neither a Dharma to be match perfectly. Similarly, when the two patriarchs
transmitted to anyone, nor is there any Dharma to overlap in time as prior and posterior in terms of personal
be received by anyone. This is called the right authentication, the resulting picture of the Buddha-
Dharma. For the sake of revealing this to Kasyapa, dharma of authentic transmission is also conditional on
Sakyamuni plucked a flower stalk to show that the their unity of thought and belief. Since the two patriarchs
Dharma is not changing, and Kasyapa smiled in have hitherto been evaluated mainly in the context of the
two head temples, the uniqueness of each patriarch in his
48
separate spatial dimension has been the only focus, Tao-i‟s lecture given to his assembly. The twenty-eighth
whereas their identity through the dimension of temporal fascicle of this text comprises the following passage:
continuity has been rather neglected. The Zen master Ta-chi Tao-i of Chiang-hsi
Although the two patriarchs are said to be unified as province instructed his assembly, saying: “The Way
one, from the standpoint of personal authentication, we does not require practice. You should simply be free
know, of course, that the successor-patriarch was not a from defilement. What is defilement? When you are
duplicate of the original founder. Rather, he was an controlled by the mind of life and death, whatever
embodiment of the principle that “returning to the you do or desire, all is defiled. If you really wish to
original tradition” equals “advancing into the historical realize enlightenment at once, you should know that
future.” In order for a tradition to advance in history, it the original (ordinary) mind is itself the Way. The
needs new creation. Keizan Zenji, as grand successor, so-called original mind (or the ordinary mind)
embodies a new development in his own right, while also means the mind that is free from any form of action,
being a unique creation, as required by the original neither proper nor improper, neither taking nor
meaning of the Buddha-dharma of personal abandoning, neither temporary nor permanent,
authentication. It is necessary to clarify the unique aspect neither secular nor holy. The Sutra says that „this is
of each patriarch based on separation within the spatial not the action of an ordinary person, nor is it the
dimension. However, if the identicalness of the patriarchs action of the wise and holy, but it is the action of a
in the dimension of temporal continuity is neglected due Bodhisattva.‟ Just as you are now, do whatever you
to overemphasis (of the former), this severs the thread of wish, departing, staying, sitting, or reclining.
personal authentication that ensures continual Respond to the moment of any event, meet anything
development of the spiritual life of the Buddha. The result as it happens; all these are the Way.
is then a failure to establish a common basis for spiritual Keizan Zenji‟s saying that “black balls run through
Quiescence based on holistic unity of the two patriarchs the dark night” corresponds here to Ma-tzu‟s statement in
for the sake of the school. It has previously been clarified the earlier half where he defines what the original mind
that the two patriarchs are in continual linkage through is: “The original mind means the mind free from any
the dimension of time, as prior and posterior, based on the form of action, neither proper nor improper, and so on.”
principle of personal authentication. With respect to their In replying to his master‟s command, “Not clear, explain
thoughts and beliefs, there must therefore be an aspect of further,” Keizan Zenji said: “At the time of tea, I drink
identity, just like two lenses with identical degrees of tea; at the time of the rice meal, I eat rice meal.” This
curvature. Since the purpose of this chapter is to clarify corresponds to Ma-tzu‟s second exposition: “Respond to
the unity of spirituality of the two patriarchs, we shall the moment of any event, meet anything as it happens; all
examine the aspect of identity, setting aside for the time these are the Way.” The former is the definition with
being the aspect of uniqueness. respect to the essence of Tao, while the latter explains the
The basis of the successor-patriarch‟s thought and function of Tao. Keizan Zenji‟s meaning matches exactly
belief is, of course, the topic of “the ordinary mind, that is with that of Ma-tzu. In the latter‟s word, the idea of a
the Way,” which has come to signify the moment of Bodhisattva‟s action was introduced with reference to
agreement between master and disciple. This is what some scripture. I think this was very significant in the
every record conveys, but let us consider this reference to historical development of Zen thought. However, my
a familiar source like the Records of Various Patriarchs concern here is not about this, but about the context in
of the Soto School. There it is said: which the original mind is being spoken with reference to
One morning, the master listened to Tettsu an action that is free from defilement.
Gikai‟s lecture at his ascent to the Dharma hall. When As Mentioned before, the Zen dialogue that is most
Tettsu cited Chao-chou‟s topic, “One‟s original mind frequently cited and emphasized in the Shobo Genzo is
as it really is, is the Way,” [in that moment,] the one that was exchanged between the sixth patriarch Hui-
master accomplished a great awakening. He at once neng and his disciple Nan-yueh about the relationship
declared: “I have it.” Tettsu Gikai questioned him, between “practice” and “realization” in terms of non-
saying: “What have you realized?” The master defilement. As noted, this idea of undefiled practice and
replied: “Black balls run through the dark night.” realization became both the undefiled action that is the
Tettsu questioned him again: “Not clear. Explain basis of the Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission,
again.” The master said: “At the time of tea, I drink and the Zazen that does not seek Buddha-hood. It follows
tea; at the time of the rice meal, I eat rice meal.” that the successor-patriarch‟s realization of the great
The phrase, “the original mind” (or the ordinary matter was in direct touch with the fundamental basis of
mind), that appeared for the first time in the Ching-te the Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission. Moreover,
Record of the Succession of the Flame, was from Ma-tsu this topic of original mind, which frequently appeared as

49
a Koan for Zazen in later periods, was again taken up as a Here, a consistent line in development of thought can be
familiar example by Chao-chou and Nan-ch‟uan. traced from the sixth patriarch down through Keizan
On another day, Chao-chou asked Nan-ch‟tian: Zenji. Although this subject matter requires further study
“What is this Way?” Nan-ch‟uan replied: “The and practice in thought on the history of the Zen sectarian
original mind, this is the Way.” The master asked: tradition, I will not pursue this matter further here.
“Should I be tendentious toward it or not?” Nan- It has been clarified that both patriarchs, founder and
ch‟iian replied: “If you become tendentious toward successor, shared something in common at the
it, you will be further away from it.” The master foundation of their thought. For this reason, there must
asked again: “When I am not tendentious toward it, be natural agreement between the two, not only with
how can I know that this is the Way?” Nan-ch‟uan respect to the unique Zen tradition inculcated by the
replied: “The Way does not belong either to rounding patriarch as Buddha-dharma of authentic
knowing or to not-knowing. Knowing entails an transmission, but also with respect to the natural
unreal perception Not-knowing means uncertainty. development of this fundamental thought. Let us
If you truly realize the Way that is beyond doubt, it therefore examine the major aspects of their agreement.
is like the Great Void, clear and vast. How could Dogen Zenji upheld his unique assertion of Buddha-
one possibly determine whether this is not the dharma as Japanese Buddhism, and repudiated the idea
Way?” The master at once realized the way. of Buddha-dharma based on the doctrine of the
It is clearly expressed in this quotation that original degenerate final period. His standpoint was that the
mind means action that is free from defilement. Further, concept of three periods is not concerned with time but
according to Dogen Zenji‟s specification, a passage in the with the quality of human beings. Keizan Zenji also
Manual of Zazen Practice for All, it is said that: “Practice declared a similar thought, saying:
and realization are in themselves free from defilement From India down to our country, the three
Even if you are tendentious, this too is of the original periods have been differentiated as the time of right
mind.” Moreover, in the fascicle of Transnormal Power, Dharma, the time of its shadow image, and the time
he (Dogen) directly defines that “Non-defilement means of its total absence. However, the wise and holy
the original mind.” Again, since not being tendentious who accomplished the result of enlightenment filled
means a state of non-defilement, Keizan Zenji‟s mountains and oceans. Hence, you practitioners are
understanding is precise, particularly as he explains in the no different from those ancient sages, for you are
Denkoroku, as follows: “You can explain it as „Mind,‟ endowed equally with the faculty of seeing and
„Nature,‟ „Zen‟ or „Way.‟ However, all of these, without hearing. Wherever you go, you should assert this
exception, cannot escape from being tendentious. Should point, that you are one of those ancients.
you become tendentious, no sooner then, there shall be (Denkoroku, Chap. Sanavasa)
nothing but white clouds for thousands of miles.” This
passage too explains the original mind as free from Further, he says in the same text (Chap. Liang-shan
defilement. Yuan-kuan):
What should be noted in the quoted dialogue between There is no difference in the primary cause of
Chao-chou and Nan-ch‟uan is the latter‟s reply, namely: Buddha‟s appearance, (because it happens,
“The way does not belong either to knowing or to not- irrespective of) whichever of the three periods it
knowing.” We cannot neglect this particular point, may be in; nor is there any difference
because, from the point of view of Zen thought, this reply [geographically], be it in India, China, or in Japan.
is in exact parallel to Eisai Zenji‟s reply to Dogen Zenji, Therefore, there is no reason to be disheartened
who attended Eisai‟s assembly in his early days. Eisai about the last period or the degenerate era. Nor
Zenji‟s reply was the topic of “cats and oxen,” and was should you dislike yourself for being a resident of a
concerned with Nan-ch‟uan‟s reply of knowing and not- distant peripheral land. (Ibidem, Chap. Liang-shan
knowing. Setting this aside for a moment, Dogen Zenji Yuan-kuan).
and Keizan Zenji not only had something in common that Again, he says:
underlay their thoughts, but were also linked in other You should not throw away uselessly your body
ways. According to the Denkoroku, Tien-tung‟s topic of and mind. Everyone, without exception, is a vessel
“occasion,” which was concerned with “something that of the Way. Every day is a good day. (Ibidem, Chap.
has never been defiled,” happened to relate to the subject Parsva)
matter of the dialogue exchanged between Dogen Zenji
and Eisai Zenji. The topic of the dialogue became his Keizan Zenji agrees again (with Dogen Zenji) in
(Keizan Zenji‟s) driving motivational force for Zen study taking a critical attitude toward the traditions of the five
and practice, and eventually precipitated the fundamental houses and seven sects of Zen from the standpoint of the
thought of the Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission. Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission, saying:

50
 Oh, Practitioners, do not dispute among chanting from memory the words of Buddhas and
sectarian advocates of the five houses and seven those of patriarchs, they become further entangled
traditions. Just see clearly the nature of the mind. in the meanings of these words on the way to
This is the true Dharma of all Buddhas. Why quarrel understanding. Saying that there is neither in India
about yourself and others? You must not distinguish nor in Ts‟ao-chi in China, they still do not
superior or inferior by means of disputation. (Ibidem, understand what they seek. In such a state, even if
Chap. Tou-tzu I-ching). one shaves the head, dyes the color of the robe, and
The so-called plucking of a flower stalk event fashions one‟s look to match the Buddha‟s features,
has been transmitted exclusively through genera- how could one come out quickly from the dungeon
tions of patriarchs, and has not been shown to any of the three-fold worlds? How could one halt
outsiders. Therefore, not only scholars of scriptures transmigration back and forth through the six-fold
and of treatises, but even many Zen practitioners do cycles of existence? A pity, how men like this
not understand it. (Ibidem, Ch. Mahakasyapa) vainly hang their patched robes on blocks of wood.
Keizan Zenji not only criticized prejudices derived Moreover, regarding the Zazen of authentic trans-
from mutual antithesis among the five houses and seven mission, Keizan Zenji defines the characteristic of Zazen
traditions of Zen, but, saying that “even many Zen in the very beginning of his Zazen Yojinki as follows:
practitioners do not know this,” also rejected In general, Zazen dictates directly that men
simultaneously scholars of scriptures and treatises and should clarify the [original] state of their mind, and
Zen practitioners as a whole. This rejection ought, helps them settle in that state in peace. This is called
obviously, to be understood from the standpoint of the “revealing one‟s own [original] facial appearance,”
Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission. and is also referred to as “manifesting the Buddha
Now, there should be no discrepancy between the nature of the original state, where both the body and
two patriarchs with respect to the meaning of Zazen mind are cast away, transcending both sitting and
itself, because Dogen Zenji did not recommend Satori- lying, and so forth.”
oriented Zazen, advocating instead the Zazen that does The above passage does not require explanation. Just
not seek Buddha-hood. In this regard, Keizan Zenji also reading it is sufficient to understand why it is an
clearly expressed the same idea in the beginning of his exposition on the Zazen of authentic transmission. Let us
Zazen Yojinki (Notes of Caution for Zazen Practice ) as now select from the text of Zazen-yojinki those words
follows: “(Emphasis on) so-called „experience‟ (or and phrases that reveal characteristics of the hitherto
realization) entails Satori-orientation as a rule. This studied Buddha-dharma of authentic transmission. The
mental orientation is not for Zazen.” following excerpts invariably tell us what the intended
Further, he described the (Hinayana) principle of practice of Zazen is:
“cutting off delusion and realizing truth” as follows: There is a marvelous way of practice for the
The practice is nothing but purposive and goal- ultimate spiritual quiescence and non-defilement.
oriented, and hence will not after all accomplish This method is called Zazen. Namely, this is the
anything free from defilement like the state of Samadhi that all Buddhas enjoy for their own sake.
Buddhahood. Therefore, whatever results from Also, this is the Samadhi of all Samadhis.
goal-orientation necessarily returns to the (defiled) Simply abiding firmly in the Samadhi that
root or former state. Whatever the form of spiritual Buddhas use and receive for themselves.
pursuit may be, insofar as it is a goal-oriented Zen One should know well that this is the right gate
practice, it invariably belongs to this vain type of the Buddha-dharma.
(Denkoroku, Ch. Micchaka)
Zazen means casting away body and mind,
Keizan Zenji‟s elucidation with respect to non- throwing away delusion as well as enlightenment.
purposive Zazen is in fact closely parallel to Dogen
Zenji‟s idea, as expressed in his Zazenshin (Warning on Do not try to become a Buddha, nor try to judge
Zazen Practice), rejecting the goal-oriented Zazen that good or bad.
backslides into the former state. Moreover, his critical “Neither thinking nor not-thinking” (i.e., other
commentary on the trend of Zen in China is as sharp as than both thinking and not-thinking), this is the
Dogen Zenji‟s criticism, as is evidenced in his essential key to the practice of Zazen.
Denkoroku: Just examining these sayings is sufficient to suggest
In recent times, the practitioners who attend the where overall meaning is likely to be found.
Zen session seem to have lost their way, running Again, Keizan Zenji speaks of the set of criteria we
around in the world of sound and sight, seeking a have used to clarify the essential meaning of the Buddha-
solution [only] through hearing and seeing. Thus, dharma of authentic transmission, namely, „teaching,‟
51
„action‟ and „experience.‟ His following statement points life circumstance could you accomplish the way?” Again,
to the essential meaning of Dogen Zenji‟s spirituality: in the last chapter of the Denkoroku, Keizan Zenji‟s
In general, Zazen is not classified as part of words of encouragement, made in reference to the second
teaching, or practice, or experience, and yet it bears patriarch Ejo, must have struck each of his student
all these virtues within itself. practitioners, penetrating them to the bone and marrow.
The words are as follows:
This definition of Zazen is nothing but an emphasis
of the non-duality between ultimate meaning, exposition, In general, if you adhere to the Dharma with
and practice. grave import, much as master Ejo ruled his actions,
and if you promulgate the virtues, much as the
From the foregoing evidence, we can ascertain that master truthfully effected, there should be no place
the founding patriarch, Dogen Zenji, and the successor- in all Japan where the tradition does not come to
patriarch, Keizan Zenji, were linked through the principle flourish; heaven and earth will come to follow
of personal authentication, prior and posterior in time. without exception the tradition of Eihei Dogen. If
Further, they stood in exact agreement not only in the your application of the method of the mind is like
basis of their thought and belief, but also in their style of that of former predecessors, the future spread of the
Zen, matching as perfectly as a vessel and its lid. tradition will be successful, just as it has been in
Throughout his life, Keizan Zenji advocated the Buddha- great Sung China.
dharma of authentic transmission of Eihei Dogen, and
also instructed his disciples in concentration on this Regarding the topic of the plucking of a flower stalk
singular subject. Thus, he says in the Chapter Fu-jung with a smile, which fundamentally symbolizes the
Tao-k‟ai in the Denkoroku as follows: moment of Dharma succession and personal authentica-
tion, Keizan Zenji expressed his thought, saying:
Oh, practitioners of this assembly, you should
be grateful for being distant descendants of Zen “If you strive hard today in the practice of way-
Master Fu-jung Tao-k‟ai and family members of the faring (or in pursuit of the Way), Kasyapa may not
school of Eihei Dogen. You ought to clearly discern have to go to Mt. Kukkutapada (to wait for
the original state of the mind and attend carefully to Maitreya‟s coming), but may instead realize his
it in detail. Without even the smallest hair of interest enlightenment here in Japan. Therefore,
in fame and gain, without even a minuscule dust Sakyamuni‟s fleshly body should still be warm now,
particle of pride and conceit, you should sustain in and Kasyapa‟s smile should still be made anew”
detail the way of dealing with your mind and (Chap. Mahakasyapa).
governing your physical deportment. Reach what Also, in the final chapter, as just quoted above,
you ought to reach, penetrate what you ought to Keizan Zenji says: “there should be no place in all Japan
penetrate, and thus manage the matter of life-long where the tradition does not come to flourish,” and
practice. Do not forget what you have been “heaven and earth will come to follow without exception
entrusted with by your preceding patriarchs. Follow the tradition of Eihei Dogen.” Accordingly, there is no
in the footsteps of former sages and exchange eye doubt that Keizan Zenji‟s intention, which permeates all
contact with former awakened masters. Even if it be of the Denkoroku, was to emphasize Eihei‟s tradition.
the period of degeneration in the history of Dharma, Thus, under the assembly of the successor-patriarch
you will be able to see a tiger in the market place. Keizan Zenji, there were produced many great leaders
It is apparent that the foregoing statement must have who propagated the Buddha-dharma of authentic
inspired disciples to heighten their self-awareness as transmission across all of Japan. The vow of the second
members of Eihei Dogen‟s spiritual tradition. Further, the patriarch was thus accomplished here, and it was
admonition embodies precisely what the founding predicted by the successor-patriarch that “the future
patriarch advised in the record of the Zuimonki (fasc. 1), spread of the tradition would be successful, just as it has
saying: “Despite the pretext that this is the period of been in great Sung China,” eventually bringing a great
degeneration of the Dharma, if you do not now resolve religious order into the present day.
your mind to seek enlightenment in this life, in what other

From the Glossary (p. 666): Koso (高祖) and Taiso (太祖): Respectively the primary founding patriarch and the
successive consolidating patriarch or the primary founder and the grand successor. These are difficult terms to translate
from the point of religious order. Originally they applied to distinguish the imperial dynastic positions in China. Koso
designates a dynastic ancestor or originator who built the basis of an empire, while Taiso designates another but a grand
successor who successfully consolidated the actual empire. Dogen Zenji was the forefather or initial patriarch in theory as
well as in practice, whereas Keizan Zenji was the grand organizer successor in the network of Soto Zen practitioners and
their temples.

52
 Remembering Dōgen: Eiheiji and Dōgen Hagiography
WILLIAM M. BODIFORD
Journal of Japanese Studies 32:1 (2006)
Abstract: Dōgen (1200 –1253) occupies a prominent place in the history of Japanese religions as the
founder of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism. This essay examines the religious rituals and historical
vicissitudes that helped elevate Dōgen to his present position of prominence. It uses the example of
Dōgen to illustrate how new historical identities are constructed in response to social imperatives and
institutional struggles. It argues that we cannot fully understand Japanese religions in general and Sōtō
Zen in particular unless we become more sensitive to the ways that these historical, social, and
institutional factors shape our received images of the past.
Today Dōgen (1200 –1253) is remembered as the Honganjiha) commands the allegiance of about 10,000
founder of the Sōtō school of Buddhism. As such, he is temples. Sōtō Zen, in contrast, consists of more than
afforded high status as one of the most significant 14,000 temples and monasteries, all of which coexist
Buddhists in Japanese history. His image adorns countless within a single institutional structure.1 Unlike every other
altars in temples and households affiliated with the Sōtō Buddhist denomination in Japan, this single organization
school. He is the subject of numerous biographies and recognizes not just one, but two separate head temples:
studies. His works are available in multiple editions and Eiheiji and Sōjiji.2 Only one of these two temples, Eiheiji,
translations. His ideas are taught in university classrooms, owes its existence to Dōgen. Not only did Dōgen found
in and outside Japan, as being representative of Japanese the temple complex that evolved into Eiheiji, but after his
spirituality. In these respects, he exemplifies many aspects death Dōgen‘s memory or, rather, the exploitation of that
of founder worship, a practice widespread among memory has ensured Eiheiji‘s survival and growth for
sectarian religious organizations in Japan. The more than 700 years. Without special efforts by Eiheiji‘s
remembrance of Dōgen, the ways his memory has been leaders to promote Eiheiji as the sacred locus for worship
used and developed over time, illustrates not just the of Dōgen, it is doubtful if Eiheiji could have survived,
importance of founder worship in Japanese religious much less thrived, as the head temple of the Sōtō school.
history but also the structures that give it life. However To understand the precarious nature of Eiheiji‘s position,
great his personal religious charisma while alive, Dōgen one need merely examine the affiliations of temples within
was never prominent. After his death, he soon faded into the Sōtō Zen denomination (see Table 1).
obscurity. He would have remained forgotten but for
During the Tokugawa period, the Sōtō denomination
several specific ritual techniques that brought his memory
consisted of more than 17,500 temples. These were
back to life, imbued it with mythic qualities, and then
grouped into networks identified with the dharma lineages
exploited its power. The rural monastery Eiheiji in
of prominent monks. Of these temples, the military
particular aggrandized Dōgen to bolster its own authority
government (shogunate) ordered temple factions affiliated
vis-à-vis its institutional rivals within the Sōtō
with the dharma lines of the monks Giin (centered at
denomination. The power of ritual memory enabled
Daijiji and Fusaiji monasteries) and Meihō Sotetsu
Eiheiji to command tremendous respect and authority
(Daijōji monastery) to affiliate with Eiheiji. The addition
without actually possessing great wealth or power
of these two network lines gave Eiheiji a total of about
(analogous, somewhat, to Japan‘s royal house during the
1,300 affiliated temples. The approximately 16,200
medieval period). In this essay I trace the history of the
remaining Sōtō temples were affiliated with Sōjiji.3
remembrance of Dōgen and the special importance it has
Today, of the 14,000 Sōtō Zen temples in modern Japan,
held for Eiheiji, and for Eiheiji‘s status within the Sōtō
only 148 have direct ties to Eiheiji.4 Of these 148,
Zen school, the religious order that looks to Dōgen as its
approximately one-third are minor temples located in
founder.
Hokkaido, where they were founded after the Meiji
Today the Sōtō Zen school constitutes the largest government began colonization of that island at the end of
single religious denomination in Japan. In this statement, the nineteenth century. Of the temples outside Hokkaido,
one must emphasize the word ―s ingle.‖ Pure Land only five or six maintained any formal relationship to
Buddhism boasts a greater number of temples—about Eiheiji prior to the Tokugawa-period reorganization of
30,000—but they are divided among some ten (or more) Sōtō temple relationships that was ordered by the military
separate legal entities, the largest of which (Jōdo Shinshū government.5
Table 1
Number of Japanese Sōtō Temples Affiliated with Each Head Institution
Eiheiji Sōjiji Total Number of Temples
Tokugawa Period (circa 1750) 1,300 16,200 17,500
Today (circa 1980) 148 13,850 14,000
53
 In other words, almost all Sōtō temples, directly or extensive land holdings or wealthy patrons. Nonetheless,
indirectly, are affiliated with Sōjiji, not with Eiheiji. according to entries in the diary of the court noble
Sōjiji is a true head temple (honzan) in the sense that it Nakamikado Nobutane (1442 –1525), in 1507 the abbot
stands at the head of thousands of branch and subbranch of Eiheiji succeeded in having the court award his
temples (matsuji). Eiheiji is a head temple in name only, temple with calligraphy for a gate plaque that
without any institutional ties to the vast majority of Sōtō proclaimed Eiheiji to be the ―Num ber One Training
branch temples. Sōtō clerics sometimes describe this Center of Our Kingdom‘s Sōtō Lineage‖ (honchō Sōtō
situation by saying that Sōjiji is ―head of all Sōtō temple daiichi dōjō).8 Receipt of this plaque constituted not just
lineages‖ (jitō no honzan) while Eiheiji is ― head of all royal proclamation of Eiheiji‘s preeminence, but
Sōtō dharma lineages‖ (hōtō no honzan).6 signified the establishment of new financial
arrangements with the court. In the same way that the
This statement warrants closer examination. The
warrior government (bakufu) received payments for each
assertion that ―S ōjiji is the head of all Sōtō temple
inauguration of an honorary abbot at one of the official
lineages‖ concerns like terms, in that it says that one
Five Mountains (gozan) Zen monasteries, henceforth the
particular religious institution (Sōjiji) enjoys special
court received payment for each honorary abbot at
institutional relationships with other religious
Eiheiji.9 This arrangement enriched Eiheiji as well, since
institutions. The statement that ―E iheiji is the head of all
it also collected fees for each honor. Monks who paid
Sōtō dharma lineages,‖ however, mixes unlike terms, in
sufficient fees could receive not just the honorary title of
that it ties a physical institution to the abstract religious
―f ormer abbot of Eiheiji‖ (Eihei senjū), but also the
concept of dharma lineages. In this equation, Eiheiji
prestigious purple robe (the royal color) as well as
itself acquires abstract symbolic significance by standing
bestowal of a royal Zen master title (zenji gō). Eiheiji
at the beginning of a religious interpretation of Sōtō
used the fees collected for these honors to erect new
history, in which all Sōtō priests inherit spiritual
monastic buildings or to rebuild ones that had been
authority through a diachronic genealogy that can be
damaged by winter snows or fires. Throughout the
traced back to Dōgen. Its symbolic power rests on a
medieval period, Eiheiji repeatedly sought to finance
refusal to admit any distinction between this religious
monastic construction projects by issuing solicitations
image of Dōgen as an ancient originator and Eiheiji‘s
for more Sōtō monks to seek honorary titles.10
synchronic sovereignty over the ways other institutions
can use that image. Eiheiji thus has been able to Today no records survive to tell us how Eiheiji won
maintain its status as head temple of the entire Sōtō court recognition. We cannot know with certainty even
order by portraying itself as the embodiment of that the names of Eiheiji‘s leaders at that time. Our only
order‘s collective memory of Dōgen. clues concerning Eiheiji‘s relations with the court,
therefore, are found in the wording of the royal
For the past 500 years or more, Eiheiji‘s leaders
proclamations by which the court awarded Zen master
have employed a variety of strategies to exploit Dōgen‘s
titles to abbots of Eiheiji.11 These proclamations name
memory. They have sought the endorsement of the royal
the title itself, such as ―Zen Master of Great Merit in the
court, demanded attendance at memorial services for
Legitimate Tradition‖ (Daikō Shōden Zenji, awarded in
Dōgen, asserted that only Eiheiji maintained the
1509), as well as a brief statement praising the recipient
traditional practices advocated by Dōgen, placed their
of the award. These words of praise probably reflect the
imprimatur on publications of Dōgen‘s writings,
terminology suggested by Eiheiji, since the court would
organized celebrations of Dōgen‘s birth, and promoted
not have been familiar with either the honoree or the Zen
scholarship concerning Dōgen. Extant sources do not
vocabulary used to praise him. Significantly, many
document every step in the evolution of these strategies,
proclamations—especially the earliest ones—
but they provide sufficient details to offer us a view of
specifically praised the recipients as being the
how the promotion of Dōgen served the institutional
―l egitimate descendants of Dōgen‖ (Dōgen no tekison).
needs of Eiheiji. Even a brief examination of the
The repeated use of this phrase suggests that Eiheiji‘s
development of these strategies will help us better
status rested on its being recognized as Dōgen‘s
understand how Dōgen and the concept of ―D ōgen Zen‖
monastery.12
acquired such importance for Sōtō Zen teachings and
such prominence in modern accounts of Japanese Eiheiji subsequently cited its royal recognition
religious history. whenever its status as head temple was threatened, both
in its many struggles with Sōjiji and during the
reorganizations of religious institutions that occurred
Royal Endorsements under the Tokugawa and Meiji regimes. Eiheiji‘s
Of these various strategies, none was more important attempts to raise funds by granting honorary titles,
than currying favor with the royal court.7 Eiheiji always however, suffered from one major weakness: payments
has been poor, geographically isolated, and without for these titles had to come from outside Eiheiji. In other

54
words, they required the cooperation of monks from the lands of the Jōyōan. The inventory further reveals
temples that were affiliated with other factions, such as that while the Jōyōan‘s endowment consisted only of
Sōjiji. Naturally Sōjiji‘s leaders worked hard to insure land donated immediately following Dōgen‘s death, the
that cooperation would not be forthcoming. Sōjiji Reibaiin had repeatedly received donations of additional
recruited many times the number of honorary abbots as land over a period of many years.20 Therefore, based on
did Eiheiji, and it issued orders forbidding monks from the lack of records concerning memorials for Dōgen and
its branch temples from seeking honors at Eiheiji. It even on the substantially greater wealth of Reibaiin, one can
sought to prevent temples outside the Sōtō order from conclude that medieval-period leaders at Eiheiji placed
recognizing purple robes awarded at Eiheiji. Among more emphasis on memorial services for Giun (i.e., for
Sōjiji‘s branch temples, only those affiliated with the ancestors of their own Jakuen line) than for Dōgen.
Ryōan faction proved defiant and continued to seek
About the same time that Giun served as abbot at
honorary titles at Eiheiji. In exchange for their financial
Eiheiji, another Sōtō monk named Keizan Jōkin (1264 –
donations, though, the Ryōan leaders demanded that
1324) strove to promote memorial services for Dōgen.
Eiheiji refuse to grant honors to monks from rival
Keizan‘s base of operations, however, was not Dōgen‘s
factions.13
Eiheiji, but Yōkōji, a new temple he had just founded in
Noto Province. In 1323 Keizan erected a memorial hall
(the Dentōin) at Yōkōji, in which he enshrined relics
Memorial Services
from the previous four ancestors of his lineage: Dōgen‘s
The second most prominent strategy used to link teacher, Rujing; Dōgen; Dōgen‘s disciple, Ejō (1198–
Eiheiji to Dōgen‘s memory is memorial services. It is 1280); and Ejō‘s disciple (i.e., Keizan‘s teacher), Gikai
these services more than any other event that eventually (1219–1309). Keizan ordered that all Sōtō monks must
came to emphasize Eiheiji‘s status as head of all Sōtō revere these ancestors and contribute to memorial
dharma lineages. In stark contrast to their subsequent services held in their honor at Yōkōji so that Yōkōji
importance, however, there is no evidence that Dōgen might function as the new head temple of the Sōtō
memorial services assumed a role of any importance order.21 The fact that mandatory attendance at memorial
during Eiheiji‘s early history. In fact, there is no services figured so prominently in Keizan‘s plans for
documentary evidence for any Dōgen memorial service empowering Yōkōji should alert us to the ultimate
at all until after the passage of 350 years. significance of memorial halls. In Keizan‘s eyes they
Surely memorial services must have been observed. sacralized a temple by giving concrete form to the
We know, for example, that the Eiheiji community abstract concept of dharma lineage, and in so doing they
observed memorial services for Dōgen‘s teacher Rujing commanded support from other temples associated with
(Japanese, Nyojō; 1163–1227) during the years 1246 to monks in that same lineage. At this time in medieval
1252 while Dōgen was alive.14 Likewise, the recorded Japan, many new religious orders coalesced around rites
sayings of the Sōtō monk Giun (n. d.), who became of shared worship at their founders‘ mausoleums. For
abbot of Eiheiji in 1314, include reference to the thirty- example, among Pure Land devotees, the grave site of
third memorial service that he observed in 1331 for his Hōnen (1133 –1212) at the Chion‘in temple became the
teacher, Jakuen (1207–99).15 This reference is important center of the new Jōdoshū, and the grave site of Shinran
because it demonstrates observance at Eiheiji of the (1173–1262) at the future Honganji temple became the
standard Chinese sequence of memorial services on the center of the Jōdo Shinshū.22 Keizan‘s ambitions for
third, seventh, thirteenth, and thirty-third years.16 More Yōkōji nonetheless failed. As mentioned above, it was
important, a memorial hall specifically for Dōgen, the not Yōkōji but Sōjiji that rose to power as the head
Jōyōan (since renamed Jōyōden), was erected at Eiheiji temple of the Sōtō order.23
shortly after his death.17 It is reasonable to assume, Keizan‘s activities at Yōkōji did produce one
therefore, that regular memorial services for Dōgen were important result, however. They helped to popularize
a standard part of Eiheiji‘s annual calendar of events observation of memorial services for Dōgen throughout
even before the 350-year memorial.18 Japan. The written liturgical calendar that Keizan
At the same time, we must also note that Dōgen‘s implemented at Yōkōji naturally included instructions
memorial hall, the Jōyōan, was not the only one found at for Dōgen memorials. This calendar, the Tōkoku gyōji
Eiheiji during the medieval period. A memorial hall jijo (later known as the Keizan shingi), eventually was
(called the Reibaiin) for Giun also existed. As mentioned widely imitated by monks at other Sōtō temples, both
above, Giun became abbot of Eiheiji in 1314. In so within and outside Keizan‘s lineage. In this way, by the
doing, he established control over Eiheiji by members of middle of the sixteenth century many, but certainly not
the Jakuen lineage.19 According to a 1495 inventory of all, Sōtō centers for monastic training observed annual
Eiheiji‘s endowment, the Reibaiin derived income from memorial services for Dōgen.24
lands covering about two anda half times asmuch area as

55
 An Eiheiji abbot named Monkaku (d. 1615) Eiheiji rebuilt its retired monks‘ dormitory (furōkaku)
organized the first notable memorial service for Dōgen, and its scripture library. It also cast a large bronze
which occurred in 1602 to mark the three hundred monastic bell (daibonshō). In 1902 for the six hundred
fiftieth memorial. This service was noteworthy because fiftieth memorial Eiheiji rebuilt its buddha hall, its
Monkaku organized a fund-raising campaign to finance san.gha hall, and its infirmary (chōjuin). Major repairs
it and because he used these proceeds to rebuild Eiheiji‘s were made to its kitchen office (kuin) and other
main gate (sanmon). Sometime during the 1570s many buildings. Eiheiji again cast a large bronze monastic bell.
of Eiheiji‘s buildings were destroyed or damaged by The bell that had been cast 50 years earlier for the
fire.25 Since that time, many of them had been rebuilt by previous memorial service had disappeared for some
Monkaku‘s predecessors, who relied primarily on funds undisclosed reason.31 (Perhaps it had been confiscated by
raised through the awarding of honorary titles. Monkaku the government following the Meiji Restoration of
also raised funds with that method: his first known act as 1868.)
abbot of Eiheiji was his 1599 appeal for temples to
The 1902 memorial service was significant as the
nominate more monks for titles so that Eiheiji might be
first major Dōgen memorial of the new Meiji period.
rebuilt.26 Linking the rebuilding of Eiheiji to Dōgen‘s
Only about 300 monks participated in the services, but
memorial, however, created a powerful new fund-raising
over the course of the months leading up to the
tool. It provided a convenient deadline that encouraged
ceremonies and during the ceremonies themselves, about
other temples to donate funds sooner rather than later.
30,000 lay people visited Eiheiji. Therefore, compared to
Monkaku‘s decision to emphasize the importance of previous occasions during the Tokugawa period (such as
Dōgen‘s memorial might very well be related to the fact 1752 when 23,700 monks are said to have participated),
that he was the first abbot at Eiheiji in 300 years who the number of monks in attendance had decreased
was not affiliated with the Jakuen line. Monkaku was an dramatically, but the number of lay people had increased
outsider from the Kanto region of eastern Japan, exponentially.32 The participation of large numbers of
originally affiliated with a temple network known as the lay people in Dōgen memorial services had begun in the
Tenshin lineage faction. As an outsider, his only link to 1830s. Saian Urin (1768–1845), who served as Eiheiji‘s
Eiheiji was through the fact that both the Tenshin abbot from 1827 to 1844, actively encouraged the
lineage and the Jakuen lineage shared Dōgen as a formation of lay fraternities (known as Kichijōkō)
common ancestor. Dōgen‘s memory provided the dedicated specifically to Dōgen‘s memory throughout
necessary link that gave Monkaku the status to assume Japan. These fraternities existed for the purpose of
office at Eiheiji.27 sending representatives to Eiheiji every year to
participate in Dōgen‘s memorial.33 By 1902, therefore,
After Monkaku, Dōgen‘s memorial services became
the practice of lay pilgrimage to Eiheiji had become well
a major source of revenue for Eiheiji. The memorial
established.
services observed at 50-year intervals in particular
provided crucial opportunities for Eiheiji to assert and Dōgen memorials have continued down to the
rebuild itself. For this reason, the history of Eiheiji present. The seven hundredth occurred in 1952 just
during the Tokugawa period can be told largely in terms seven years after the end of the Fifteen-years War
of Eiheiji‘s observances of major memorials for (jūgonen sensō; i.e., 1931– 45). At that time Japan still
Dōgen.28 For example, in 1652, for Dōgen‘s four had not recovered economically from its wartime
hundredth memorial, hundreds of monks gathered at devastation and defeat. For this reason, major new
Eiheiji for ten days of ceremonies. The san.gha hall building projects were out of the question. In place of
(sōdō, where residents sleep, eat, and meditate), bath buildings, Eiheiji decided to sponsor publications about
(furo), and main gate along with its images of arhats Dōgen. Its leaders drew up a list of the types of works
(rakan) were either rebuilt or substantially repaired. they wanted to publish: Dōgen‘s writings; commentaries
Eiheiji also built a new scripture library (kyōzō) and on those writings; academic books about Dōgen; a
received a copy of the recently printed Tō Eizan (i.e., dictionary of Dōgen‘s vocabulary; and biographies of
Tenkai) edition of the Buddhist canon.29 In 1702, for the Dōgen. Ultimately, 16 monographs related to Dōgen
four hundred fiftieth memorial, Eiheiji raised funds to were published.34 The seven hundred fiftieth memorial
rebuild its buddha hall (butsuden), its san.gha hall, its was commemorated by a newly commissioned kabuki
corridors (ryōrō), its study hall (sōryō), its guest quarters play, Dōgen no tsuki (Dōgen‘s moon, by Tatematsu
(hinkan), and a new memorial hall (tōin) for Dōgen. In Wahei), which was performed at theaters in many of
1752 for the five hundredth memorial 23,700 monks Japan‘s major cities.
gathered at Eiheiji for the ceremonies. The main gate
War has not been the only historical calamity that
was rebuilt yet again.30 In 1802 for the five hundred
restricted Eiheiji‘s ability to stage memorials for Dōgen.
fiftieth memorial Eiheiji rebuilt its san.gha hall and its
Earlier, during the Tokugawa period, agricultural
study hall. In 1852 for the six hundredth memorial
famines, government policies, and conflicts with its rival

56
head temple, Sōjiji, had severely limited the scope of the 2. In accordance with the regulations established by
five hundred fiftieth and six hundredth memorials in the Eastern Shining Divine Ruler (Tōshō Shinkun, i.e.,
1802 and 1852. Beginning in 1774 the Agency of Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1542 –1616), all Sōtō monks in Japan
Temples and Shrines began to restrict direct solicitations must adhere to Eiheiji‘s house rules (kakun, standards).37
of donations by Buddhist temples because of the Recently, however, the monastic ceremonies performed
economic burdens they placed on the country‘s by Japanese Sōtō monks have become corrupted by
economy.35 These restrictions applied to Eiheiji and to influences from ―ne w styles of monastic regulations
Sōjiji equally, of course, but hurt Eiheiji more because based on Chinese Ming-dynasty elaborations‖ (Minchō
of its relatively small economic base. In 1788 Sōjiji, in karei no shinki). Japanese Sōtō monks have been turning
order to preserve its own economic base, ordered that their backs on Eihei‘s standards (Eihei no kakun, i.e.,
monks in Gasan‘s lineage (i.e., the lineage of all the Dōgen‘s teachings). In so doing, they are unfilial. This
temples affiliated with Sōjiji) could no longer seek unfilial behavior must be reformed. Sōtō monks who
monastic titles from Eiheiji. In other words, just when refuse to adhere to Dōgen‘s old regulations (koki) should
the government would no longer allow Eiheiji to solicit be punished by the government.
funds, its revenue from honorary titles also dried up.
3. In order to reform Sōtō monks, it is absolutely
Sōjiji‘s new policy had one more important necessary that Eiheiji be allowed to build a new san.gha
implication. Until this time the warrior government had hall and study hall in accordance with Dōgen‘s old
appointed new abbots to Eiheiji from three Kanto-area regulations. The new san.gha hall and study hall must be
Sōtō temples (the so-called Kan sansetsu) which ready in time for Dōgen‘s five hundred fiftieth memorial
remained affiliated with Sōjiji. Therefore, after Sōjiji in 1802. Dōgen wrote that he (i.e., Dōgen) had erected
forbade its monks from receiving honors at Eiheiji, none the first san.gha hall ever built in Japan. Therefore an
of the senior monks from those three Kanto temples old-style san.gha hall constitutes the very basis of
would accept a government appointment to Eiheiji. As a Dōgen‘s Buddhism. For these reasons, (Sokuchū argued)
result, Eiheiji‘s abbotship went vacant for three years Eiheiji must be permitted to raise funds for these
between 1792 and 1795.36 At the beginning of 1795 important construction projects. Otherwise, Eiheiji will
Eiheiji had no abbot, no fund-raising campaign, and be unable either to uphold its court-recognized status or
almost no income from honorary titles. Dōgen‘s five to adhere to the dictates of the divine ruler (Tokugawa
hundred fiftieth memorial would occur in 1802, just Ieyasu).38
seven years away. In 1795, therefore, any neutral outside
Gentō Sokuchū‘s arguments carried the day.
observer probably would have concluded that Eiheiji
In1801the Agency of Temples and Shrines authorized
would be unable to afford any special events or special
Eiheiji to implement Dōgen‘s old regulations by
constructions.
building a new san.gha hall and study hall. Sokuchū
immediately compiled new monastic regulations that
would explain how ceremonies, including Dōgen‘s
Traditional Practices
memorial services, were supposed to be performed in
Eiheiji escaped from this crisis by asserting that it accordance with his so-called old standards. In 1803 he
alone preserved the traditional monastic practices that published these new regulations in three fascicles as
had been taught by Dōgen. In 1795 Gentō Sokuchū Eihei shō shingi (Eihei‘s little regulations). The word
(1729–1807) assumed office as Eiheiji‘s new abbot. ―Ei hei‖ in this title simultaneously refers to Eiheiji
Sokuchūhad been affiliated to the Meihō line (via monastery and to Dōgen as the founder of that
Entsūji), a lineage whose members had fought against monastery. Moreover, the title as a whole alluded to a
Sōjiji in the past. Once he entered Eiheiji, Sokuchū compilation of temple regulations attributed toDōgen,
immediately began working to restore his new popularly known as Eihei shingi (Dōgen‘s regulations),
monastery‘s fund-raising capabilities. He wrote a series that Sokuchū had published in 1799 during his
of long missives to the Agency of Temples and Shrines negotiations with the government.39 With these two
in which he argued three main points (summarized from publications, Sokuchū established Eiheiji‘s reputation as
the original documents): the center for ancient monastic traditions, which he
1. Eiheiji must be recognized as the single, identified as the ancient unchanging essence of Zen
unequaled comprehensive head temple (sōhonzan) of all itself.
Sōtō dharma lineages in Japan. This status had been The timing of these events is very significant.
granted to Eiheiji by the court in medieval times. Sōjiji Sokuchū‘s Eihei shō shingi was published in 1803, but
is wrong to deny it. Therefore, Sōtō monks in Gasan‘s the procedures it described had been implemented at
dharma lineage must be allowed to appear at Eiheiji for Eiheiji in time for the five hundred fiftieth Dōgen
honorary titles. memorial in 1802. One can easily imagine how the ―ol d‖
procedures would have impressed visitors. Senior monks

57
from Sōtō temples throughout Japan came to Eiheiji to Eiheiji‘s power not just in its different kinds of
participate in the memorial rites. In previous years they buildings, not just in its different kinds of ceremonies,
had few occasions to think about Dōgen. Throughout but also in their own new clothes.40
this year, however, they had to work to raise money for
the journey on behalf of Dōgen‘s memory. At Eiheiji
they experienced a new form of monastic practice, Birth Celebrations
unlike what they performed at home. They found a new After the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the new
san.gha hall and new study hall, both of which differed regime‘s anti-Buddhist policies severely reduced the
in many ways from what they had known at their home nationwide population of ordained monks and nuns,
temples. The daily routine of ceremonies and the Eiheiji enlisted Dōgen‘s memory to cement closer ties
memorial services also differed. These differences with lay people. On the tenth day of the fifth month of
impressed upon them Eiheiji‘s unique status and 1899, a year corresponding to the seven hundredth
authority. The assertion that Eiheiji alone preserved the celebration of Dōgen‘s birth, Eiheiji organized its first
traditional monastic practices that had been taught by lay ordination ceremony specifically tied to Dōgen‘s
Dōgenwas not just rhetoric. Thevisitingmonkswere made birth rather than his death. Lay men and women were
toexperience it for themselves. Their eyes, ears, and invited to spend seven days at Eiheiji to observe
bodies told them Eiheiji was unique. They ceremonies, listen to Buddhist sermons, and to receive
discoveredinDōgen‘s memory a new importance for his ordination with the Sōtō lineage‘s special version of the
temple. bodhisattva precepts. This event, officially called
Eiheiji used these same tactics for the five hundred ―Ordi nations to Repay Kindness‖ (hōon jukai e), proved
fiftieth Dōgen memo- rialin1852.At that time Gaun so successful that the following year (1900) it was made
Dōryū (a.k.a.Kamimura Dōryū, 1796 –1871) served as an annual event at Eiheiji. The date of the ceremony,
Eiheiji‘s abbot. In 1850 he sent a detailed missive to the however, had to be changed. May 10 was inconvenient
Agency of Temples and Shrines in which he repeated the for the monks at Eiheiji because it came too close to the
same assertions mentioned above, especially that all start of the summer training period (ango, which begins
Sōtō monks in Japan must adhere to Eiheiji‘s house rules on May 15) and it was impractical for lay people, most
(kakun, standards) as dictated by the Eastern Shining of whom were farmers, because it conflicted with the
Divine Ruler (Tokugawa Ieyasu). He also added a new spring planting. In 1899, therefore, the ceremony was
twist. According to Dōryū, Eiheiji‘s house rules demand advanced one month to April 28.41 Finally, in 1900 Sōtō
that all monks wear Buddhist ― robes that accord with the leaders officially designated January 26 as Dōgen‘s
dharma‖ (nyohōe). Of course, exactly what kind of robe birthday and ordered all Sōtō temples in Japan to
accords with the dharma has never been exactly clear. At celebrate it.42 Of course no one knows the actual day of
the very least, robes that accord with the dharma Dōgen‘s birth. The Teiho Kenzeiki (Annotated Keizei‘s
correspond to the kind worn at Eiheiji but not found at chronicle), an extremely influential biography of Dōgen
other Buddhist temples in Japan. Dōryū‘s request, edited and annotated by Menzan Zuihō (1683–1769),
therefore, that the agency issue new regulations gives the date of Dōgen‘s birth as the second day of the
requiring Sōtō monks to observe this standard was an first moon of 1200. None of the earlier manuscript
attempt to force all Sōtō monks to acknowledge Eiheiji‘s versions of this text, however, provides any evidence
supremacy. from which Menzan might have derived this date.43
Unlike the previous case, however, on this occasion
the Agency of Temples and Shrines did not issue a
Scholarship
ruling in favor of Eiheiji‘s position. Not waiting for the
government to act, on the eleventh day of the fifth moon Mention of Menzan‘s Teiho Kenzeiki brings us to
of 1852, Gaun Dōryū sent a letter to Sōjiji notifying it the final component in Eiheiji‘s efforts to promote
that any monks who wore improper robes would not be Dōgen‘s memory, the one that has exerted the greatest
permitted to enter Eiheiji. In other words, any temple influence on ordinary people both inside and outside
representatives who came to Eiheiji to participate in the Japan whether affiliated to sectarian Sōtō institutions or
five hundred fiftieth Dōgen memorial—just three not. I refer, of course, to scholarship. Documentary
months hence—would not be admitted unless they first investigation into Dōgen‘s life and times began at Eiheiji
changed into new robes acceptable to Eiheiji. The during the fifteenth century when one of its abbots, a
implications of this position should be crystal clear. man named Kenzei, compiled a chronological account of
Senior Sōtō monks from throughout Japan who came to Dōgen‘s life, supplemented by copious quotations from
Eiheiji for the five hundred fiftieth Dōgen memorial Dōgen‘s own writings, letters, and other historical
would experience Eiheiji‘s authority—Eiheiji‘s ability to records. This work was originally titled Eihei kaisan
define Dōgen‘s memory—in concrete ways. They felt gogyōjō (An account of the activities of Eiheiji‘s
founder) but is more widely known as Kenzeiki
58
(Kenzei‘s chronicle). It is, without a doubt, the single played a key role, therefore, in encouraging lay people to
most influential biography of Dōgen ever written. Since become more closely involved in Sōtō activities.49In
1452, when Kenzei finished his account, down to the 1828, for example, Saian Urin (1768 –1845) instigated a
present day, almost all biographies, histories, new policy of encouraging the formation of lay
encyclopedia articles, and other works that mention fraternities (the kichijōkō), the members of which would
Dōgen repeat, either directly or indirectly, information send representatives to Eiheiji every year to participate
found only in Kenzei‘s chronicle. in memorials for Dōgen. Donations to Eiheiji by the
members of these lay fraternities helped maintain the
The year 1452 when Kenzei wrote his history is
monastery through times of severe economic hardship
significant because it corresponds to the two hundredth
such as the Tenpō period (1830) when Japan suffered
memorial of Dōgen‘s death. In his record, however,
many famines. Without the illustrated version of
Kenzei never mentions memorial rituals and does not
Kenzei‘s chronicle to encourage lay devotion to Dōgen,
suggest that Dōgen‘s memory served as a motivation for
it is questionable if Eiheiji would have been able to
his chronicle.44It is possible that Kenzei did not
solicit finances from poor people.50
consciously choose 1452. After all, his chronicle does
not end with Dōgen‘s death but continues with the early Publication of the illustrated Teiho Kenzeiki zue led
history of Eiheiji down to about the year 1340.45 to another tactic that Eiheiji used to encourage lay
Nonetheless, we can be certain that Dōgen memorial pilgrimages by members of kichijō fraternities. By the
services played a major role in preserving the text for middle of the 1800s, Eiheiji had begun erecting
later generations. The most accurate extant manuscript monuments (kinen hai) to commemorate the major
version of Kenzei‘s chronicle (the so- called Zuichō hon events in Dōgen‘s life that are illustrated in the Teiho
Kenzeiki), for example, was copied in 1552 to Kenzeiki zue. Of course, no one knew for sure where
commemorate Dōgen‘s three hundredth memorial.46 It is most of these events might have occurred—if in fact
reasonable to assume that Kenzei‘s scholarship had been they did occur. Nonetheless, the monuments were
motivated by a similar desire to memorialize Dōgen. erected. Members of the Kichijō fraternities stopped at
these sites along their route to and from Eiheiji.51 These
To commemorate Dōgen‘s five hundredth memorial
monuments made the pilgrimage to Eiheiji more
in 1754, the Sōtō monk and scholar Menzan Zuihō
interesting and also provided incentive for some people
published his annotated edition of Kenzei‘s chronicle,
to participate in the pilgrimage even if they could not
the aforementioned Teiho Kenzeiki.47 In his version of
travel the entire length of the route to Eiheiji.
the text, Menzan deleted anything not directly related to
Dōgen. All events after Dōgen‘s death were eliminated. The popularity of Kenzei‘s chronicle along with
Moreover, Menzan added considerable amounts of new Menzan‘s additions and the subsequent illustrations
material concerning Dōgen‘s biography, such as his among such a wide audience throughout all levels of
parentage, training on Mt. Hiei, meeting with Eisai Japanese society helped to firmly establish Dōgen as a
(a.k.a. Yōsai, 1141–1215), relations with his teacher familiar figure among Japan‘s eminent monks. Until
Myōzen (1184 –1225), trip to China and travels there, 1975 all accounts of Dōgen‘s life, whether written for
move to Echizen, trip to Kamakura, miracles, popular consumption or for scholarly consideration,
relationship to Sōtōmedicinal products, and so forth. were based almost entirely on Menzan‘s annotated
Menzan‘s deletions and additions narrowed the focus of version of Kenzei‘s chronicle. There simply were no
Kenzei‘s chronicle and converted it more clearly into a other sources beyond the meager biographical details
hagiographic account of Dōgen‘s life and a found in Dōgen‘s own writings. By 1952, for example,
comprehensive overview of Dōgen‘s environment. More more than 21 separate biographies of Dōgen had been
important, they inserted Menzan‘s authorial voice into published. Most of these biographies were published
Kenzei‘s chronicle in ways that are not always readily during the years 1852, 1902, and 1952—corresponding
apparent and to a degree much greater than the title to major Dōgen memorials—and all of them simply
Teiho Kenzeiki might suggest. This point is significant repeated or abridged the text of Kenzei‘s chronicle or the
because until 1975 Menzan‘s version of Kenzei‘s captions to its illustrations.52
chronicle was the only one readily available.
For this reason, our understanding of Dōgen‘s
Fifty years later, in celebration of Dōgen‘s five biography entered a new era when, in 1975, Kawamura
hundred fiftieth memorial, Eiheiji published an Kōdō published a compilation of six early manuscript
illustrated version of Menzan‘s annotated chronicle, the versions of Kenzei‘s chronicle. This book, the Shohon
Teiho Kenzeiki zue (preface dated 1806, but actually taikō Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji gyōjō Kenzei ki (Collated
published 1817).48 This illustrated edition was ideally editions of all the manuscripts of the activities of
suited for lecturing to an audience of lay people since the Eiheiji‘s founder, the Zen master Dōgen, chronicled by
lecturer could describe the contents of the illustrations Kenzei), reprints manuscripts that were originally copied
without being confined by the words of the text. It as early as 1472 and that, therefore, much more closely

59
adhere to Kenzei‘s own pen than Menzan‘s annotations constituting Dōgen‘s house rules (kakun), which must be
had allowed. Examination of these early versions followed by all members of his Sōtō lineage.56 Work on
revealed for the first time just how extensively Menzan the publication project began immediately, so that two
Zuihō had altered Kenzei‘s account. We now know that Shōbōgenzō chapters were printed in 1796. The task
Menzan‘s version of Dōgen‘s biography cannot be proved to be so onerous—collating variant manuscripts,
trusted. In other words, since all previous biographies of editing texts, rearranging the order of chapters, inserting
Dōgen were based on Menzan‘s work, none of them can unrelated works, retitling chapters, carving woodblocks,
be trusted. Even the 1953 biography by Ōkubo Dōshū, and raising money to finance publication—that the
his celebrated Dōgen zenjiden no kenkyū (Biographical project was not completed until 1815, seven years after
studies of Dōgen) must be used with caution. Since the Sokuchū‘s death (see Table 2).57 In spite of its numerous
full extent of Menzan‘s distortions was not immediately textual inaccuracies, the version of the Shōbōgenzō
understood, many encyclopedia entries, reference works, published by Eiheiji (known as the ― Head Temple,‖
and statements by Western and Japanese scholars honzan, edition) remains the one most widely read even
published after 1975 repeated the erroneous accounts in today.58
Menzan‘s annotated version of Kenzei‘s chronicle. One
Eiheiji not only published Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō but
cannot trust anything written about Dōgen‘s life,
also promoted its study by Sōtō monks and lay people.
therefore, unless one first ascertains whether its author
Beginning in 1905 Eiheiji organized its first Shōbōgenzō
made full use of Kawamura‘s early manuscripts.
conference (Genzōe). Academics, popular writers,
Aside from publishing Dōgen‘s biography, the interested lay people, and monks attended a series of
second major way Eiheiji has influenced the way we workshops in which they read and discussed specific
remember Dōgen is through its efforts to promote study Shōbōgenzō chapters. This first Genzōe was successful
of Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō (True dharma eye collection)— beyond all expectations. Since 1905 it has become an
now one of the most well-known religious books of annual event at Eiheiji, and over time it gradually
Japan. Today, when someone remembers Dōgen or changed the direction of Sōtō Zen monastic education.
thinks of Sōtō Zen, most often that person automatically In earlier generations only one Zen teacher, Nishiari
thinks of Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō. This kind of automatic Bokusan (1821–1910), is known to have ever lectured
association of Dōgen with this work is very much a on how the Shōbōgenzō should be read and understood.
modern development. By the end of the fifteenth century One of Bokusan‘s disciples, Oka Sōtan (1890 –1921),
most of Dōgen‘s writings had been hidden from view in
Table 2
temple vaults where they became secret treasures.53
Chronology of Eiheiji‘s Honzan
After textual learning was revived during the early
Edition of the Shōbōgenzō
Tokugawa period, most Japanese Sōtō monks still
Year Number of Shōbōgenzō
studied only well-known Chinese Buddhist scriptures or
Chapters Published
classic Chinese Zen texts.54 Eventually a few scholarly
monks like Menzan Zuihō began to study Dōgen‘s 1796 2 2
writings, but they were the exceptions. Even when
1797 14 14
scholarly monks read Dōgen‘s writings, they usually did
not lecture on them to their disciples. In fact, from 1722 1798 11 11
until 1796 the government authorities actually prohibited
1799 9 9
the publication or dissemination of any part of Dōgen‘s
Shōbōgenzō.55 1800 22 22
The government ban on publication of the 1801 14 14
Shōbōgenzō was lifted as a result of petitions submitted 1802 5 5
by Gentō Sokuchū, the monk who assumed office as
Eiheiji‘s new abbot in 1765 and whose efforts to 1803 8 8
implement Dōgen‘s ― old regulations‖ at Eiheiji were 1804 1 1
summarized above. Upon accepting Eiheiji‘s abbotship,
Sokuchū had vowed to publish Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō in 1805 3 3
time to commemorate Dōgen‘s five hundred fiftieth 1811 1 1
memorial in 1802. The exact wording that Sokuchū used
to advance the case for publication has not survived, but 1815 boxed set of entire edition
he probably sounded arguments similar to those cited Total 20 years 90 chapters
earlier. At least the same line of reasoning can be
detected in the official order lifting the publication ban Based on Kumagai Chūkō, ―K oki fukko to Gentō
where it specifically recognized the Shōbōgenzō as Sokuchū zenji,‖ in Sakurai Shūyū, ed., Eiheijishi (Fukui
Pref.: Dai Honzan Eiheiji, 1982), pp. 1086 –1102.
60
served as the first leader of the Genzōe. Sōtan‘s lectures measure to serve the sectarian agendas of Eiheiji in its
provided a model that could be emulated by each of the rivalry with Sōjiji. We should remember that the Dōgen
other Zen monks who came to Eiheiji.59 This model has of the Shōbōgenzō, the Dōgen who is held up as a
become the norm, not the exception. Today every Sōtō profound religious philosopher, is a fairly recent
Zen teacher lectures on Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō. innovation in the history of Dōgen remembrances.
However important that modern Dōgen may be for our
time, he might not be so important for Kamakura
Concluding Remarks Buddhism or for medieval Buddhism or for most of
Dōgen‘s memory has helped keep Eiheiji financially Tokugawa-period Buddhism. Instead, it is the Dōgen of
secure, in good repair, and filled with monks and lay sectarian agendas, the Dōgen who stands above Keizan,
pilgrims who look to Dōgen for religious inspiration. the Dōgen who works miracles, and so forth, who
Eiheiji has become Dōgen‘s place, the temple where commanded the memory of earlier generations of
Dōgen is remembered, where Dōgen‘s Zen is practiced, Japanese. As we remember Dōgen for the twenty-first
where Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō is published, where it is century, we must not forget about these other, older
read, and where one goes to learn Dōgen‘s Buddhism. images of Dōgen. Finally, in remembering Dōgen, the
As we remember Dōgen, we should also remember that time is ripe for someone to write a new, more accurate
remembrance is not value neutral. It cannot be a product biography of Dōgen, one that sorts out what can be
of pure, objective scholarship. We should perhaps known and what was only remembered or invented by
remind ourselves that the Dōgen we remember is a Menzan Zuihō and the artists of the illustrated version of
constructed image, an image constructed in large Kenzei‘s chronicle.

ENDNOTES:
1. Shūkyō nenkan (Tokyo: Bunkachō, 1997), pp. 64 –77.
2. Eiheiji is located in Fukui Prefecture (premodern Echizen Province) while Sōjiji is now located in Yokohama (near Tokyo). The
original Sōjiji is located on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.
3. Kagamishima Sōjun, ― Kaisetsu,‖ in Enkyōdo Sōtōshū jiin honmatsuchō (typeset version of 1747 and 1827 texts; 1944; reprinted
and expanded edition, Tokyo: Meicho Fukyūkai, 1980). Giin (a.k.a. Kangan or Hōō, 1217–1300) and Meihō Sotetsu (1277–1350)
were two prominent leaders within early Sōtō history in Japan.
4. Sakurai Shūyū, ed., Eiheijishi (Fukui Pref.: Dai Honzan Eiheiji, 1982), Vol. 2, pp. 1516–25.
5. Reliable data on temple relationships prior to the start of Tokugawa-period regulation of religious institutions are unavailable. For
an overview, see William M. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‗i Press, 1993), pp. 122–39.
6. E.g., Takahashi Zenryū, ―
Honmatsu seiritsu to Tokugawa bakufu no shūkyō seisaku ni tsuite,‖ in the 1980 reprint of Kagamishima,
ed., Enkyōdo Sōtōshū jiin honmatsuchō, p. 5.
7. As John Whitney Hall explained in the pages of this journal (see ― Terms and Concepts in Japanese Medieval History: An Inquiry
into the Problems of Translation,‖ Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 9 [1983], p. 10): ― It is unfortunate that in modern times tennō (or
tenshi)has so unquestionably been rendered ‗emperor‘....The translation ‗emperor,‘ whether drawing upon European or Chinese usage,
carrie[s] overtones of grandeur and autocratic personal power that the Japanese tennō did not possess.‖ Indeed, not only has Japan
never possessed a ruler commanding supreme authority (the usual meaning of ― emperor‖), but except for a brief moment in the
twentieth century the Japanese never extended rule over a vast territory approximating an empire. Moreover, in premodern Japanese
Buddhist literature, especially Sōtō documents, the ruler most frequently is designated simply as ō (king). For these reasons, in this
essay I refer to the ruler‘s court and its titles with the adjective ―
royal‖ instead of ―
imperial.‖
8. Nobutane kyōki (diary of Nakamikado Nobutane, 1442–1525), entries for 11.23 and 12.16, in Zōho Shiryō Taisei Kankōkai, ed.,
Zōho Shiryō taisei (Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 1965), Vol. 45, pp. 218b, 221b. Today on Eiheiji‘s main gate there is a wooden plaque that
is said to represent calligraphy by Goen‘yū tennō (1358–93), awarded by him to Eiheiji in 1372. It reads: Nihon Sōtō daiichi dōjō
(literally, the number one training center of Japan‘s Sōtō lineage)—not honchō Sōtō daiichi dōjō. It is extremely doubtful, however, if
Eiheiji received calligraphy from Goen‘yū or any other royal honors as early as the fourteenth century. No direct or indirect
documentary evidence among either Sōtō or non-Sōtō sources attests to this earlier award. Moreover, if earlier royal calligraphy had
established a precedent for use of the word Nihon, it is highly unlikely that a subsequent award would have changed it to honchō.
Other inconsistencies also exist. Nakamikado Nobutane reports that Eiheiji originally had requested a different word order (honchō
daiichi Sōtōdōjō), which had been rejected, and that the calligraphy was written by the nobleman Sesonji Yukisue (1476 –1532), not
by a royal sovereign. It is hard to imagine that in 1507 Eiheiji would have requested an unacceptable word order or would have
received calligraphy written by a mere nobleman if the temple already possessed a wooden plaque representing calligraphy awarded
by Goen‘yū more than 130 years earlier. See Imaeda Aishin, Chūsei Zenshūshi no kenkyū (1970; second edition, Tokyo: Tōkyō
Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982), pp. 395–96, 397 note 10.

61
9. The designation ―five mountains‖ refers not to a particular number of places but is the name of a broad category of Buddhist
monasteries and temples divided into three levels of status: gozan (as many as 11 centers), jissatsu (as many as 32), and shozan (as
many as 186). Except for one or two possible exceptions, Sōtō institutions were not affiliated with the Five Mountains. Regarding
bafuku fees for appointments to abbotships, see Martin Collcutt, Five Mountains: The Rinzai Monastic Institution in Medieval Japan
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981), pp. 228 –36. Regarding Eiheiji‘s case, see Imaeda, Chūsei Zenshūshi, pp. 394–
97.
10. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 135–36.
11. For these titles, see Shoshū chokugōki (circa 1311 to 1660), in Hanawa Hokiichi and Hanawa Tadatomi, eds., Zoku gunsho ruijū
(1822; reprinted Tokyo: Keizai Zasshisha, 1902), Vol. 28B.
12. Hirose Ryōkō, ―
Eiheiji no suiun to fukkō undō,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 1, pp. 384–86.
13. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 135–38. Ryōan Emyō (1337–1411) was a prominent leader in medieval Sōtō. His name
is used to identify one of the smaller networks of Sōtō temples affiliated to Sōjiji.
14. Eihei Dōgen oshōkōroku (1598 copy by Monkaku), reprinted in Ō kubo Dōshū, ed., Dōgen zenji zenshū (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō,
1970), Vol. 2, jōdō Nos. 184, 249, 274, 276, 342, 384, 515. Regarding the dates of these lectures, see ItōShūken, ―‗
Eihei kōroku‘
setsuji nendai kō,‖ Komazawa Daigaku Bukkyō Gakubu ronshū, no. 11 (1980), pp. 185–88.
15. See Giun oshō goroku, reprinted in Sōtōshū zensho (revised and enlarged edition; Tokyo: SōtōshūShūmuchō, 1970 –73), Vol. 5,
―Goroku‖ No. 1, p. 9a.
16. The observance in Japan of the Chinese sequence of memorial services is discussed by Tamamuro Taijō, Sōshiki bukkyō (Tokyo:
Daihōrinkaku, 1963), p. 171.
17. Zuichō hon Kenzeiki (1552 version of Kenzei‘s chronicle, recopied by Zuichōin 1589), reprinted in Kawamura Kōdō, ed., Shohon
taikō Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji gyōjōKenzeiki (Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, 1975), p. 85.
18. There exists a manual for Dōgen memorial services titled Eiheiji kaisan kigyō hokke kōshiki that was published in the early 1900s
at Eiheiji. According to its postscript, this text was revised by Menzan Zuihō in 1747 based on an original by Giun that had been
stored at Hōkyōji. The genealogy of this text, however, remains unknown. In Menzan‘s otherwise well- documented life, there is no
evidence that he ever saw this text. He did not mention it in the manual for Dōgen memorial services (Jōyō daishi hōon kōshiki) that
he compiled for Dōgen‘s five hundredth memorial in 1752. Moreover, we know that a manual for hokke kōshiki (Lotus Sūtra
ceremony) was donated to Eiheiji in 1759 by the abbot of Keiyōji (in Edo) for the express purpose of being used for Dōgen memorial
services. That Keiyōji text is the most likely origin of the Eiheiji kaisan kigyō hokke kōshiki. See Kumagai Chūkō and Yoshida Dōkō,
―Shūtō fukko undō to Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, vol. 2, p. 985.
19. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 70–80.
20. Hirose, ―
Eiheiji no suiun to fukkō undō,‖ pp. 477–81.
21. The following four documents help reveal Keizan‘s ambitions for Yōkōji: (1) Tōkoku dentōin gorō gosoku narabi ni gyōgō ryakki
(originally dated 1323.9.13, but included in a 1718 version of Tōkokuki; reprinted in Kohō Chisan, ed., Jōsai daishi zenshū, 1937;
reprinted and enlarged, Yokohama: Dai Honzan Sōjiji, 1976), pp. 411–16; (2) Tōkoku jinmirai honji to nasubeki no okibumi
(originally dated 1318.12.23, but included in the 1515 copy of Shōbōgenzō zatsubun; reprinted in Matsuda Fumio, ― Keizan Zenji no
jinmiraisai okibumi ni tsuite: Yōkōji kaibyaku no haikei,‖ Shūgaku kenkyū, No. 12, 1970), pp. 133 –34; (3) Tōkoku jinmiraisai
okibumi (originallydated1319.12.8;reprintedinŌ kuboDōshū,ed., Sōtōshū komonjo, Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1972), No. 163, Vol. 2,
pp. 120 –21; and (4) Tōkokuki (copy dated 1432 at Daijōji, reprinted in Ōtani Teppu, ed., ―Daijōji hihon ‗Tōkokuki,‘‖ Shūgaku
kenkyū, No. 16 (1974), pp. 231– 48. Regarding these documents, see Matsuda, ― Keizan Zenji no jinmiraisai okibumi ni tsuite,‖ but
note that at the time of Matsuda‘s analysis the 1432 Daijōji copy of Tōkokuki had not yet been published and the correct year of
Keizan‘s birth was not known. For a comprehensive study of Keizan and his religious world, see Bernard Faure, Visions of Power:
Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
22. James C. Dobbins, ―Envisioning Kamakura Buddhism,‖ in Richard K. Payne, ed., Re-Visioning ―Ka
makura‖ Buddhism
(Honolulu: University of Hawai‗i Press, 1998), pp. 32–33.
23. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 95–97.
24. The original text of the Tōkoku gyōji jijo probably was compiled by Keizan‘s disciples at Yōkōji after his death. The earliest
surviving copy was completed in two fascicles by Fusai Zenkyū in 1376 and is owned by Zenrinji temple (Fukui Prefecture). The
standard edition of Keizan oshō shingi, which was published in 1680 by Manzan Dōhaku, was edited and enlarged based on texts and
practices that were not yet in existence during Keizan‘s lifetime. It is crucial, therefore, when using the Keizan shingi as a source for
Keizan‘s monastic practices to verify each passage by comparison to earlier manuscripts. In the case of Dōgen memorial services, the
instructions found in the 1680 published text (fasc. 2, p. 353) can also be found in the earliest extant manuscript copy, Gyōji jijo
(1376, leaves 31–32). The exact same instructions also are found in versions of this liturgical calendar that were adapted for use at
other temples, such as Shōbō shingi (1509; reprinted in Sōtōshū Zensho Kankōkai, ed., Zoku Sōtōshū zensho [Tokyo: Sōtōshū
Shūmuchō, 1974 –77], Vol. 2, ― Shingi—Kōshiki,‖ fasc. 1, pp. 67– 68) and Ryūtaiji gyōji jijo (1559; reprinted in Zoku Sōtōshū

62
zensho, Vol. 2, pp. 110 –11). The Kōtakuzan Fusaiji nichiyō shingi (1527; reprinted in Sōtōshū zensho, Vol. 4, ― Shingi,‖ p. 653a), a
completely unrelated liturgical text, likewise gives elaborate instructions for the observance of Dōgen‘s memorial. Other medieval
liturgical manuals, such as the Seigenzan Yōtakuji gyōji no shidai (circa 1582; reprinted in Sōtōshū zensho, Vol. 4), however, do not
include memorial services for Dōgen. Moreover, analysis of monastic events mentioned in medieval-period transcripts of lectures also
omit Dōgen‘s memorial (see Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, p. 160). Of the four texts mentioned above, two were used at
temples (Ryūtaiji and Yōtakuji) affiliated with Sōjiji and two were used at temples (Shōbōji and Fusaiji) that functioned as
independent heads of their own factions. It is significant to note that Fusaiji‘s instructions command the participation of
representatives from affiliated branch temples.
25. Hirose, ―
Eiheiji no suiun to fukkō undō,‖ pp. 472 –77.
26. Ibid., p. 527.
27. Ibid., pp. 525 –30; and Hirose Ryōkō, ―
Bakufu no tōsei to Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 1, pp. 664 – 65.
28. I was prompted to explore this topic when I read Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi and noticed how much of that text is devoted to records of
Dōgen memorial services.
29. Hirose, ―Bakufu no tōsei to Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 1, pp. 666 – 67. The san.gha hall (sōdō), along with the
buddha hall (butsuden) and dharma hall (hattō), represents the presence of the three jewels (sanbō) within the monastery. As such, the
translation of sōdō as ―
monks hall‖ is incorrect. I thank T. Griffith Foulk and Yifa for drawing my attention to this point.
30. For the 1702 and 1752 services, see Kumagai and Yoshida, ―
Shūtō fukko undō to Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 2, pp.
836 –37, 976 –78.
31. Kumagai Chūkō,―
Bakumatsukino Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 2, p. 1293.
32. Yoshioka Hakudō, ―
Meiji ki no Eiheiji,‖ in ibid., pp. 1380 –89.
33. Kumagai, ―
Bakumatsuki no Eiheiji,‖ p. 1266.
34. Yoshioka Hakudō, ―
Taishō-Shōwa ki no Eiheiji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 2, p. 1455.
35. Kumagai and Yoshida, ―
Shūtō fukko undō to Eiheiji,‖ pp. 991–92.
36. Kumagai Chūkō, ―
Koki fukko to Gentō Sokuchū zenji,‖ in Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, Vol. 2, pp. 1017–22.
37. The designation ― Tōshō shinkun‖ is the exact wording used by Gentō Sokuchū in this document. Although Ieyasu‘s official
posthumous title was that of a local buddha or bodhisattva (daigongen), he was just as commonly referred to as the divine ruler. For
the regulations in question, see Eiheiji sho hatto (1615), in Ō kubo, ed., Sōtōshū komonjo, No. 28, Vol. 1, pp. 20–21. Regarding the
interpretation of kakun, see William M. Bodiford, ― Dharma Transmission in Sōtō Zen: Manzan Dōhaku‘s Reform Movement,‖
Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1991), p. 450.
38. For the original documents summarized above, see Kumagai, ―Ko
ki fukko to Gentō Sokuchū zenji,‖ pp. 1125 –90.
39. Because the preface to this work is dated 1794, that same year usually is erroneously listed as its date of publication. See ibid., pp.
1057–58. Although the Eihei shingi first appeared in print in 1667, Gentō Sokuchū‘s revised 1799 version became the standard (rufu)
edition. The history of this text prior to 1667 is not known.
40. Kumagai, ― Bakumatsuki no Eiheiji,‖ pp. 1291–1311. Reference works disagree as to the exact dates of Gaun Dōryū‘s life. Here I
provide the ones given in Eiheijishi.
41. Yoshioka, ―
Meiji ki no Eiheiji,‖ p. 1390.
42. Sakurai, ed., Eiheijishi, p. 1555.
43. See Teiho Kenzeiki (reprinted in Sōtōshū zensho, Vol. 17, ―
Shiden,‖ No. 2), p. 15. Cf. Kawamura, ed., Shohon taikō Eihei kaisan
Dōgen zenji gyōjō Kenzeiki, p. 2.
44. Kawamura Kōdō, ― Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji gyōjō Kenzei ki kaidai,‖ in Kawamura, ed., Shohon taikō Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji
gyōjō Kenzeiki, p. 201a.
45. Kawamura, ed., Shohon taikō Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji gyōjō Kenzeiki, p. 126.
46. Ibid., p. 136.
47. Kumagai, ―
Koki fukko to Gentō Sokuchū zenji,‖ p. 1223.
48. Ibid., pp. 1222 –23. The Teiho Kenzeiki zue (illustrated by Zuikō Chingyū and Daiken Hōju) is reprinted in Sōtōshū zensho, Vol.
17, ―Shiden,‖ No. 2. New editions of this text, some with full-color illustrations, were issued recently in time for Dōgen‘s seven
hundred fiftieth memorial.
49. Kumagai, ―
Bakumatsuki no Eiheiji,‖ p. 1272.
50. Ibid., pp. 1266, 1271.
63
51. Ibid., pp. 1276 –81.
52. Kawamura, ―
Eihei kaisan Dōgen zenji gyōjō Kenzei ki kaidai,‖ pp. 202–4.
53. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 134–35.
54. Yokozeki Ryōin, Edo jidai Tōmon seiyō (Tokyo: Bukkyōsha, 1938), p. 825.
55. Ibid., pp. 909 –12.
56. Kumagai, ―
Koki fukko to Gentō Sokuchū zenji,‖ p. 1035.
57. Today the Honzan edition of the Shōbōgenzō consists of 95 chapters. Five of those chapters, however, were not added until 1906.
In 1796 when publication of the Shōbōgenzō as a whole was permitted, publication of five chapters (―Den‘e,‖ ―Busso,‖ ―Shisho,‖
―Jishō zanmai,‖ and ―Jukai‖) remained prohibited because they concerned religious secrets (such as dharma transmission ceremonies).
See Kumagai, ― Koki fukko to Gentō Sokuchū zenji,‖ p. 1035.
58. For most scholarly purposes, the best small edition of Dōgen‘s writings is Ōkubo, ed., Dōgen zenji zenshū (two volumes plus a
supplement). For detailed textual investigation of the various premodern versions of Dōgen‘s Shōbōgenzō, though, one must turn to
the Eihei shōbōgenzōshūsho taisei (25 volumes plus a supplement) (Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, 1974 –82).
59. Yoshioka, ―
Meiji ki no Eiheiji,‖ pp. 1393 –95.
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

64
 Keizan and Dreaming

William Bodiford - Keizan’s Dream History 66

Bernard Faure – excerpts from Dreaming (in Visions of Power) 77
65
 Keizan‟s Dream History by William M. Bodiford
From the Introduction to Religions of Japan in Practice, that the precedents he recorded would dictate who gained control
by George Tanabe, in a section called: Special Places: over which temples, which Buddhas and gods were worshipped,
The priority of practice over doctrine is not limited to the calendar of ritual observances, and the mutual obligations of
modern developments but is also seen in the writings of the temples and local lay patrons. Most major temples and shrines
Keizan (1264-1325), who stands second in importance to in Japan possess comparable historical records in which
Dōgen himself in the line of Sōtō Zen partriarchs. Keizan, generations of worshippers found similar guidelines. Because
displaying a pragmatism for what works rather than what these other records usually lack clear authorship and describe
is doctrinally prescribed, easily adopted ritual practices miraculous events, modern readers tend to view them as more
that Dōgen would not have considered. The institutional mythological than historical. Keizan knew no such distinction. He
development of Sōtō Zen would have been significantly did not wait for pious tradition to invest his life with the
retarded if Dōgen‟s successors had confined themselves to miraculous but recorded his own miracles. He believed that publi-
the limits of his demanding teachings and not adopted cizing these miracles would enhance the status of his new
mortuary rites and rituals for this-worldly benefits. In monastery, which he named Yōkōji on Tōkoku Mountain, as a
Keizan‟s records selected for chapter 44 (see below), there sacred center of the nascent Japanese Zen lineage.
is only one instance mentioned of him sitting in Records of Japanese temples and shrines inevitably include
meditation; the other descriptions are about rituals for dream episodes. Keizan recorded more than twenty-three of his
warding off evil and inviting blessings, and about the dreams and wrote: “In all matters I have relied upon the
more mundane matters of institutional administration. interpretation of my dreams.” Temples and shrines must be
Women play an important role (as they do in most temples located where ordinary human beings can contact the Buddhas
today) in the life of his temple, and Keizan has much to and gods. Dream visions recorded by the religious patriarchs such
say about his grandmother, mother, and Sonin, the woman as Keizan testify that such is the case. Subsequent generations of
who donated the land for his temple Yōkōji. pilgrims visit the same sacred sites to experience the same dreams
Keizan‟s records are about Yōkōji in a valley he named of the Buddhas and gods. These dream visions, therefore, became
Tōkoku. Both names were chosen for their associations with shared public documents that advertised the spiritual power of the
Chinese Zen masters in whose lineage he was a dharma site and confirmed the correctness of ritual, social, and economic
descendant. In his sermons, Keizan uses the language of original arrangements.
enlightenment to speak generically about every place being one‟s Participation in its cycle of ceremonial observances helps
own self, one‟s radiant wisdom, the site of practice, and the monks, nuns, wealthy patrons, and local people establish
practice of Buddha activity; but when he speaks specifically of connections to the sacred history and spiritual power of religious
Tōkoku Yōkōji—its buildings, its activities, its people, his sites. Keizan‟s Zen tradition stressed monastic ritual. Dōgen
relatives, and how he selected the site in a dream—it becomes (1200-1253), the first Sōtō Zen patriarch in Japan, wrote
apparent that the place is one of belonging, his home, the locus of extensively on the style of ceremony that he had observed in
his everyday spiritual life…Keizan‟s Records of Tōkoku Song China. Keizan‟s teacher Gikai (1219- 1309), who had
explains the naming of that place in association with his spiritual studied under Dōgen, also journeyed to the major monasteries of
tradition and describes it as the venue of Buddha activity as well China for the sole purpose of mastering Song-style Zen
as his everyday routine. Yōkōji is at once an ordinary and a ceremonies. Keizan wrote detailed descriptions of the rites he
special place… learned from Gikai, occasionally including both instructions for
the ritual and accounts of his own ceremonial performance. These
Chapter 44 from Religions of Japan in Practice (pp 501-522): rituals usually identify Keizan with the Buddha, with the lineage
Keizan‟s Dream History by William M. Bodiford: of Zen ancestors, with Zen awakening, and with his local
Keizan Jōkin (1264-1325), the author of the selections monastic community and its lay patrons.
translated below, usually is remembered only as a revered Keizan‟s most important patron was a woman, Lady Taira
patriarch of the Sōtō Zen tradition and as the founder of Sojiji, one Sonin. In 1212 she and her husband donated land for what
of the Sōtō Zen school‟s dual headquarter temples. Keizan, eventually became Keizan‟s main temple, Tōkokusan Yōkōji.
however, can also be viewed as an ordinary, indeed average, rural Sonin eventually became a nun with her own chapel. Keizan
Buddhist monk of medieval times. He was not a great innovator, compared the closeness of their relationship to a magnet and steel.
original thinker, or gifted writer. Although lacking in literary merit Keizan‟s dependence on a female patron was not at all unusual.
and philosophical profundity, Keizan‟s writings remain When Dōgen founded his first temple, Koshoji at Fukakusa near
significant precisely because of their routine content. They Kyoto, an aristocratic woman named Sho-gaku donated the
provide a day- to-day record of rural Zen monastic life that Lecture Hall. Dōgen taught a number of laywomen and nuns,
reveals four important aspects of Japanese religiosity that all too including Keizan‟s grandmother Myōchi. Other Sōtō monks who
often are overlooked: history, dreams, ritual, and women. studied with Keizan as well as his disciples founded temples that
Keizan wrote primarily to provide himself a place in history. were sponsored by women patrons. Women outnumber men by a
By recording his own history and that of the newly established significant margin in the records of early donations preserved at
Sōtō Zen lineage, Keizan sought to direct the future. Keizan knew Tōkokusan Yōkōji. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century records of
66
Sōtō funeral sermons similarly reveal that the vast majority of lay who thus performed prayer (kitō) rituals for construction projects.
funerals conducted by rural Zen teachers were for women. Three hundred workers cleared the land, and numerous monks
Clearly, without the support and religious devotion of countless participated. A temporary hallway was built from the Monks‟
women, Japanese Zen institutions (and perhaps most other Hall (sōdō) to the Abbot‟s Square (hōjō).
Buddhist institutions as well) could never have succeeded on such
a wide scale. Yet today we know the names of only a few of these DEDICATION OF YŌKŌJI’S DHARMA HALL
vital female patrons. None of their biographies have survived. Format
Keizan‟s descriptions of Sonin, his grandmother, and his mother 4th Moon, 8th Day: Performed the dedication ceremony for
therefore provide rare glimpses into the essential role played by the new Dharma Hall.
women in the propagation of Buddhism in Japan. On the previous day the following announcement had been
During his lifetime Keizan never bothered to compile or edit posted on the east wall of the Dharma Hall:
his writings. After his death his records became scattered among In the Land of Japan, on the 8th day, 4th moon, of the first
his various disciples and their temples. Although a few original year of Shōchu [13241, the Head Master Keizan Jōkin will come
documents exist, for the most part scholars have read only late to this temple and dedicate the Dharma Hall according to the
editions of uncertain reliability. The standard edition of Keizan‟s following schedule of events.
Records of Tōkoku Temple (Tōkokuki), selections from which
appear below, for example, was first published in 1929 based on a [1] Hour of the Dragon [ca. 8:00 A.M.]: Decorate the
manuscript version compiled in 1718, almost four hundred years hall. Hang red curtains (omit this time); next to the Dharma seat
after Keizan‟s death. We now know that it contained many later erect a turning-the-Dharma-wheel banner, as well as banners of
additions and the order of its entries had been rearranged. To the eight dragon king gods, octagonal mirrors, and two white
remain as close to Keizan‟s own words as possible, the selections lions. Place the staff in a bag and lean it on the floor. Place the
from Records of Tōkoku Temple translated below are based on whisk in a bag to the left of the incense burner. Erect side stairs.
an unedited 1432 manuscript. Unlike the standard published text, The elder who sounds the clapper enters from the right stairs, and
the entries in the manuscript are not arranged in chronological the attendant who holds the incense enters from the left stairs. To
order. To aid the reader, section titles as well as dates and full the left of the Dharma seat place a small chair for presenting
names (when known) for people mentioned in the text have been orations, and place another small chair to the right. The elder who
added. sounds the clappers is positioned there. On the left set a reading
The text used for the translation is published in Otani Teppu, stand on which to place the texts of the orations. Place a seating
“Daijoji hihon Tōkokuki,” Shugaku kenkyu 16 (1974): 231-248. chair at the rank ahead of the temple administrators. The patron
Fujiwara Togashi Iekata is positioned there. Below the Dharma
Records of Tōkoku seat erect a table on which to place the incense burner. In front of
it place the bowing cushion. That is where the patron bows. Erect
CONSTRUCTION OF YOKOJI’S DHARMA HALL a table on which, to place the patron‟s donations. Erect a table on
1324: Genkō 4, Senior Wood Year of the Rat which to place flower vase and incense burners. That is where the
3d Moon, 3d Day: Dharma Seat (hōza, i.e., lecture platform) patron offers incense.
erected. Today is Junior Earth Day of the Ox, the day when the
stars meet, one of my six corresponding days (rikugō nichi). On
[2] Next, a light snack is served in the Abbot‟s Square,
Myōgon‟in.
this day the Buddha first turned the wheel of the Dharma in the
Deer Park. The day when the Buddha, in his former life as Prince [3] Next, sound the drum for the monks to assemble as
Kalyānakāri (Zenji), went to the Dragon Palace to seek the usual. The only difference is that the ceremonial instruments are
fabulous wish-fulfilling pearl corresponds to Shōwa 3 [1314], 5th sounded as the master enters the hall. The brocade banners,
Moon, Junior Earth Day of the Ox. According to the umbrella, etc., are omitted.
Constellations and Stars Sutra [Shukuyōkyō, T 1299], when
this day occurs during the second moon before entering into the [4] The elder who sounds the clappers enters first and
third moon, then it is a day of infinitely good fortune. Everyone in stands at the rank ahead of the temple leaders. When he takes his
this temple, therefore, gathered for the scripture recitation. We seat, he passes to the right of the Dharma seat. Next the patron
chanted the Surangama dhārani (Ryogonshu) once. At the sound enters. The temple receptionist lead the patron to the rank ahead
of the first gong, the carpenter Zen-shin erected the Dharma Seat. of the temple administrators.
2d Moon, 9th Day: Select days with good stars, like the
Demon Constellation, Pusya (Fusha), one of my six
[5] Next, the opening orations are presented. The
master stands in front of the small chair. The patron passes the
corresponding days, Junior Wood of the Ox, the infinitely lucky texts of the orations to the teacher and the teacher responds.
days of the second moon, as lucky days for disturbing the earth Incense is given to the attendant who passes it to the temple
with construction projects. When we started the foundations of supervisor. The receptionist passes the oration texts of both ranks
the Dharma Hall, everyone‟s participation was requested. We to the teacher to be read.
recited the Disaster-Averting dharani (Shosaiju), thereby
following the splendid example of my teacher, Gikai of Daijoji,

67
 fountainhead. The lamp of enlightenment transmitted at
[6] When the teacher‟s responses are finished, the Yōkō [Eternally Radiant Temple] requests that the right
attendant passes the texts to the Group Leader to be read. livelihood be demystified, so that now, during the Latter Five
[7] Next, pointing to the Dharma seat, the teacher makes Hundred Years, we might once again see the Buddha
preaching to his assembly at Vulture Peak.
a Dharma statement. Next, he gets down from his chair. The
master stands at the center stairs. (The abbot of Jōjūji, Mugai Head of the hall, please accept our oration with
Chikō [d. 1351], stands at the right stairs, and the attendant compassion.
holding the incense burners stands at the left stairs.) As witnessed by all the generations of Buddhas and
ancestors.
[8] Next, the teacher offers incense. (Incense is offered Respectfully submitted by Sondō and Meihō Sotetsu, etc.,
first on behalf of the emperor, then the patron, then the Buddha, on behalf of both ranks. Genkō 4 [1324], 4th moon, 8th day
then one‟s Dharma lineage.) When incense is being offered on
behalf of the patron, the patron will bow three times. Text of the oration submitted by Fujiwara Togashi Iekata, the
great patron of Tōkokusan Yōkōji in the Sakai Estate, Kashima
[9] Next, the attendant who is positioned at the chair, District, Noto Province, Country of Japan, Southern Hemisphere
offers incense, gets down from his seat, and performs a formal of Jambudvipa (Nan Enbu):
bow. Both ranks of monks perform formal bows as usual, except On the 8th day of this moon we ceremoniously observe
that ceremonial instruments are sounded for each bow. Last, the the auspicious anniversary of the Tathagata Sakyamuni‟s
abbot of Jōjūji performs formal bows. birth. I respectfully request our teacher, the head of the hall,
[10] Next, at the sound of the clapper, the abbot of Jōjūji to assume his newly crafted treasure throne and dedicate this
hall for the sake of mankind.
takes the bell from out of his sleeve and, sounding it once, calls
out: “Exalted dragons and elephants assembled at this Dharma I‟ve heard that teaching has a foundation. It‟s called
site, see now the first meaning!” transmitting the flame, and it originates in the revelation of
Dharma succession. This is termed “Dedicating the Hall.”
[11] Then, there is a session of questions and answers, Conveyed in secret without outward sign, the black and
which will be followed by a formal Dharma talk. white of Dharma succession must be forcibly requested.
Humbly, I do so request.
[12] Dharma talk. Great Monk, Dear Teacher, Head of the Hall: Please
[13] When the Dharma talk has ended, the abbot of take the incense from your breast. Fill the heavens with its
burning scent.
Jōjūji again sounds his bell and calls out: “See clearly the Dharma
of the Dharma King. The Dharma of the Dharma King is thus.” Great Zen Teacher, Abbot of Jōjūji: Please strike your
Sounding his bell again, he gets down from his seat and bows to bell. Evidence its sound to the ends of the earth.
the patron. Head of the hall, please accept my humble oration with
compassion.
[14] Next, monks bow as in the sequence of formal As witnessed by the full assembly of Zen teachers of
greetings, sounding the bell at the head and end. The abbot of every rank and the abbot of Jōjūji.
Jōjūji performs the abbreviated threefold kowtow. The leaders Respectfully submitted by Fujiwara Togashi Iekata, the great
and assembled monks do likewise. The former leaders and retired patron.
officers do likewise. The attendants perform the full threefold Genko 4 [1324], 4th moon, 8th day
kowtow. The nuns and female assistants bow three times. The
novices and young boys bow nine times. The carpenters bow KEIZAN’S RESPONSES
twice. Remarks by the founding monk, Keizan Jōkin of Tōkoku
Respectfully posted by the attendant Gensho Chinzan. Dated. Mountain, on arriving at this temple to dedicate the hall:
Taking up the text of the patron‟s oration, he replied:
OPENING ORATIONS Donating this temple to me resembles coughing up spit bubbles.
Text of the oration submitted by Sondō and Meihō Sotetsu As for requesting me to teach, to inaugurate this splendid seat, by
(1277-1350), representing both the East and West Ranks of the perfectly penetrating hands and eyes of these tattered monks,
Officers, and by Sokei and Kōan Shikan (d. 1341), representing by your solid faith that protects the precious Dharma, even before
all the assembled monks, of Tōkoku Mountain, Noto Province: I took up the text of your oration, not a person could have
In celebration of the Buddha‟s birthday we invite you to doubted it. I ask the supervisor to explain, so all gods and men
dedicate this hall by turning the wheel of the Dharma. Thus, will know in detail.
the waters of Dong (tōsui) reverse their flow; the branch
streams of our lineage overflow the Realm of the River and
Lake. The great solaris (taiyō) illuminates everywhere; its
rays radiate universally throughout the Land of the Sun. The
raging waves that cover the globe ask to know the

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 Taking up the text of the oration by the two ranks, he A monk asked: “Lions roared, winds stirred. Dragons
replied: O‟ phoenixes, O‟ dragons! You are such droned, clouds arose. The five positions separated, the ways of
auspicious signs, such good omens: like stars above the guest and host joined. At that very moment the Lord Sakyamuni
heavens, like waters below the earth. These syllables are assumed birth at Lumbini. The master glowed with an all-
as obvious as your eyes and feet. Group leader, inform the pervading radiance. The Lord Sakyamuni pointed one hand to the
assembly of all particulars. heavens and one hand to the earth and said, „Above the Heavens
Pointing at the Dharma seat, he said: This seat is so tall and and below the heavens, only I am to be revered.‟ Master, the first
wide. Neither the holy ones nor ordinary beings can cope with it. words of today‟s all-pervading radiance are what?”
Yet the Buddhas and ancestors soar over it, fanning the winds of Keizan replied: “The Dharma seat is so marvelously high, its
true religion. girth must permeate the earth.”
Remarks delivered while presenting incense: This first stick The monk said: “Your howl at once rattles the nine
of incense is humbly to wish the emperor a reign of ten thousand continents. All Zen men within the four oceans heard
years (banzai) and a long life without undue effort. May he equal completely.”
the heavens in expanse and the earth in dependability. May the Keizan replied: “Where they hear there is no echo. Their ears
multitudes of subjects who rely on him multiply like yin and are within the sound.”
yang. This second stick of incense is presented on behalf of this A monk said: “It is recorded that when Muzhou Daoming
temple‟s great patron, his descendants, and his clan. May all (Bokushu Domyo, n.d.) ascended the Dharma seat in a Hall
patrons who contribute to these halls and who support this Dedication Ceremony, he asked the Prior, „Is the superintendent
assembly enjoy long lives like the pine and the oak, which endure present?‟ The Prior replied, „Present.‟ Muzhou asked, Is the
repeated new years without losing their greenery. By their supervisor present?‟ The Prior replied, „Present.‟ Muzhou asked,
generosity to the Dharma and to the Sangha, by their continual „Is the group leader present?‟ The Prior replied, „Present.‟
bountiful gifts to this assembly, may they cultivate good roots Muzhou said, „The three sections are not the same. Taken
from generation to generation and ride in this vehicle from gen- together, they all conclude with the first point. The additional text
eration to generation. This third stick of incense is offered to He is too long. I will deliver it another day.‟ Then Muzhou vacated
who was born today, our true teacher, Sakyamuni, the Tathagata, the Dharma seat. What does it mean?”
as well as to all the generations of Zen ancestors who are his Keizan replied: “Clouds gather, clinging to the mountains.
direct descendants and to good Zen masters everywhere. Through Rivers flow, expanding the oceans. A design of elegant warp and
the eons they have performed the major and minor Buddhist woof. Please appear identically.”
ceremonies, assisting all assemblies to realize Buddha by debates A monk asked: “The old Buddha, Hongzhi Zhengjue
and by resolving doubts. This [fourth] stick of incense was al- (Wanshi Shōgaku, 1091-1157) commented by saying, „Master
ready offered long ago, even prior to the seven Buddhas of the Muzhou expounded with ten letters, directing with both hands.‟
past. Neither ordinary beings nor the holy ones know its name. How do you understand this?”
Even before this commonplace (heijō), unborn (fushō) tribute Keizan replied: “The infinite universe cannot conceal it. The
has been spoken, it cannot be kept secret. Dearly departed teacher, entire body reflects no image.”
Reverend Gikai, Master Tettsu, founding abbot of Shojurin The monk asked: “Does what the old Buddha said and what
Daijoji in Kaga Province, third abbot of Eiheiji, fifty-third you said have the same meaning or a different meaning?”
Dharma-generation descendant of Sakyamuni Buddha, the scent Keizan replied: “This old monk never rests among sameness
of your incense appears before us, wafts over your Dharma and difference.”
descendants, burns across the heavens, and settles over the sprouts A monk said: “Chisel a vein of royal jade and every chip is a
in the fields. Thus I express my debt of gratitude to you for jewel. Smash sandalwood and every splinter is fragrant.”
nursing me in the Dharma. Keizan took his seat. Keizan said: “In heaven above the stars all glitter. In earth
The abbot of Jōjūji sounded his bell once and called out: below the trees all thrive.”
“Exalted dragons and elephants assembled at this Dharma site, A monk said: “This mountain monastery has ten scenic
see now the first meaning!” He sounded his bell once and sat spots. I will mention each one and ask you before this assembly
down. of monks from all quarters to think of a song of praise for each.
Keizan said: “To expound the first meaning is to be the Do you permit it?”
mother of wisdom for all Buddhas, to be a pundit for all the holy Keizan replied: “Mountains are high; valleys are low. Who
ones. Throughout the ages no person has doubted this. In this can doubt it?”
assembly isn‟t there a tattered monk who can demonstrate his The monk said [1]: “Sitting with one‟s entire body until it
understanding in debate?” cuts through the solitary peak. The astrological phases cut off all
A monk asked: “A beautiful phoenix comes to perch in a voices, so one can hardly ask. Isn‟t this Squatting Monkey Ridge
jeweled tree in the garden. The Udumbara plant blossoms filling (Kyoenryō)?”
the world with its scent. These events are what kind of good
omens?” Keizan replied: “People‟s noses originally have no
doubts.”

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 Keizan replied: “Sit through a thousand peaks and ten Keizan replied: “The stone woman sings and dances. The
thousand peaks. Take in the four seas and five lakes in a wooden man claps his hands. Such idiots and fools resemble a
single glance.” master among masters (shuchūshu),”
The monk said [2]: “Its pines in the wind surely brush the The monk said: “Each one of the ten scenic spots has
bright moon. There is no convenient occasion for handing down received your comments. The one drop of Tozan [i.e., Dongshan
instructions. Isn‟t Cloud Gathering Peak (Shūunpō) like this?” Liangjie (Tozan Ryokai, 807- 869)], the clan of Taiyo [i.e.,
Keizan replied: “Dragon pines stir up clouds. Tiger rocks Dayang Jingxuan (Taiyo Kyogen, 942-1027)], flow to all ten
howl out the wind.” scenic spots, pulsating through them. This sacred monastery
The monk said [3]: “Hauling firewood and transporting via pierces the clouds beyond the dark greenery. Its jeweled towers
water are miraculous. Entering the hollows, climbing the peaks is and vermilion buildings hang in the empty sky. Is this the scenery
the wind of prajna (Perfect Wisdom). But as for Circuitous of the whole mountain?”
Stream Peak (Unsuipo), what is it?” Keizan replied: “The ten scenic spots radiate universally
Keizan replied: “Washing the clear sky, making it clearer. A (fukō) throughout Tōkokusan [Grotto Valley Mountain]. The
single drop from the fountain of Caoxi (Sokei) fills the Realm of great solaris (taiyō) that fills the eyes appears today the same as in
the River and Lake.” olden days.”
The monk said [4]: “Gold and grain are the Tathagata‟s one
attachment. This vast field holds the future. Millet Sprout Field KEIZAN’S DHARMA TALK
(Aohara) is of what variety?” Keizan then lectured: “Wondrous spirituality pervading
Keizan replied: “Golden grain, the Tathagata, and the great unrestrained; universal radiance sparkling bright; perfectly
field convert the living.” illuminated without defect. Who can doubt it? Seeing and hearing
The monk said in reference to Inari Peak (Inarimine) [5]: both perceive without mistake and function without obstructions.
“Inari marvelously appears in Jambudvipa. Surely since long All people possess this bright wisdom. One‟s entire body cannot
before there must have been doubts. As for the marvelous contain its outstanding magnitude. Don‟t wait for the stony turtles
response of Inari, what then?” to understand language. Don‟t hesitate to sit in the treetops
Keizan replied: “In front of the mountain there is a strip of listening to their realization. From the first, one is not restricted to
unused field. So many times it has been sold. So many times it knowing or not knowing. Who says „Ordinary Mind is the Way‟?
has been bought.” The ancestors and masters extend their hands and transmit their
The monk said [6]: “Transcending all eons, the rice from the minds. All the Buddhas certify the bestowal of this mystical
monastery‟s fragrant kitchen builds mountains and builds realization. Don‟t seize hold of appearances. Don‟t seek after
tombstones, terminating all feelings of hunger. Facing Rice affairs. Only when the mind realizes this spiritual communion
Abundant Tomb (Iimorizuka), how will you get a word in will the religious lifeblood of the Buddhas and ancestors flow
edgewise?” through. Transcend mundane calculations of the facades of being
Keizan replied: “One bowl of rice from the monastery‟s and emptiness. Become the only one to be revered, attaining the
fragrant kitchen; ten thousand men use it without using it up.” status of the ancestors. Become the marvelous virtuous reverence
The monk said [7]: “In death there is life. Six gates open. The within the universe. Become the highest illumination within the
five elders thusly continue their cool sitting. What about Buried vast emptiness. Know of every single place that it is one‟s own
Corpse Hollow (Umeshi-tani)?” self. Every single place is one‟s radiant wisdom. Every single
Keizan replied: “One flower blossoms with five petals. The place is one‟s wayfaring chapel (dōjō). Every single place is
fruit it produced ripens naturally.” one‟s practice of Buddha activity. When you return home and sit,
The monk said [8]: “One trunk pillar standing amidst the how will you understand this?”
rivers and clouds. Its branches sweep the earth with their shadows Keizan put down his fly whisk (hosso) and remained quiet
as it supports the heavens. How do you understand Shoe-Hanging for awhile. His subsequent expressions of thanks to the invited
Hackberry (Kakikutsu Enoki)?” guests were not recorded. Then, he continued: “Earlier a monk
Keizan replied: “Traversing oceans and scaling mountains, asked about this story. When Muzhou Daoming ascended the
none of the practitioners who come will ever be able to repay the Dharma seat in a Hall Dedication Ceremony, he asked the prior,
cost of their straw sandals.” „Is the superintendent present?‟ The prior replied, „Present.‟ Mu-
The monk said in reference to Crow Rock Peak (Usekimine) zhou again asked, „Is the supervisor present?‟ The prior replied,
[9]: “Stone crows understand a language no man hears. Speaking „Present.‟ Muzhou again asked, „Is the group leader present?‟ The
and listening simultaneously, nodding their heads. The language prior replied, „Present.‟ Muzhou said, „The three sections are not
that stone crows understand: Who knows its sound?” the same. Taken together, they all conclude with the first point.
Keizan replied: “The country-viewing pavilion and Crow The additional text is too long. I will deliver it another day.‟ One
Rock Peak watch one another from early morning to evening day while the ancient Buddha Hongzhi Zhengjue was residing on
rest.” Yuantong Peak of Mount Lu, he went to Donglinsi [Eastern
The monk said [10]: “The stone women flutter their sleeves Grove Monastery] to perform a Hall Dedication Ceremony.
without thought or feeling. The wooden men meld to their spot Hongzhi cited the story of Muzhou and commented as follows:
without life. But what about Shaman Witch Field (Mikohara)?” „Master Muzhou expounded with ten letters, directing with

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both hands. Muzhou‟s Hall Dedication has been carefully 15th day (full moon): Began Summer Training Retreat. After
investigated for you people on Yuantong. Now consider the three days installed the image of the Sacred Monk. (Invited the
Yuantong Hall Dedication. What will you people Say? abbot of Jojuji, Mugai Chiko [d. 1351], to perform the
Ultimately, what do you make of it? Meeting together the sound consecration.)
of knowing is known. Why must the clear wind move heaven and 14th day: Kohō Kakumyō (1271-1361) brought bamboo
earth?‟ As for Muzhou and Hongzhi: seven highways, eight tallies for use in the Precept Recitation Ceremony (Jusatsu) and
advancements. This is my verse summary: All doubts naturally said that they were from bamboo groves at Kōmyozanji Temple
vanish. Now that I have performed this Tōkoku Hall Dedication in Tōtomi Province. They will become permanent property of
for you, what will you make of it? „Above the mountains [i.e., Yōkōji. I‟ve heard it said that Eiheiji‟s bamboo tallies are from the
heaven] and the round earth both know themselves; the fine jade bamboo groves of Mount Suzuka in Ise Province. I appreciated
and rough stone entirely in hundreds of tiny shards.‟” his kindness in bringing a gift from Totomi and immediately
The abbot of Jōjūji sounded his bell and called out: “See arranged for these tallies to be used in the Precept Recitation
clearly the Dharma of the Dharma King. The Dharma of the Ceremony.
Dharma King is thus.” He came down from his seat and sounded 5th moon, 23d day: Made two vows. For life after life,
his bell again. existence after existence, I will convert all living beings and lead
them to supreme awakening. I will regard all sins from the distant
YOKOJI’S BUILDINGS past that cannot be eliminated as my rare treasures. No other vows
1324: Genko 4, Senior Wood Year of the Rat shall interfere with the proper endeavor to fulfill these two vows.
7th Moon, 6th Day, Senior Metal Day of the Dragon: These two vows were made not for my own self. One of the vows
Yōkōji‟s name plaques for the buildings arrived. They read: was made [in 1282] when in this present lifetime I awakened my
Fukōdō [Universal Radiance (Dharma Hall)], Saishōden [Highest bodhi-seeking mind under the guidance of master Jakuen (1207-
Victory (Buddha Hall)], Yōkōji [Eternally Radiant Temple (Main 1299) of Hokyōji Temple. I vowed with the bodhisattva Manjusri
Gate)], Kōsekiin [Wafting Scent (Kitchen)], Senbutsujō [Buddha (Monju) as my witness to disregard my own life on behalf of
Selecting (Monks‟ Hall) ], Myōgon‟in [Marvelously Strict fulfilling this vow from life to life, existence to existence. The
(Abbot‟s Square) ], Tōkokusan [Grotto Valley Mountain (Gate)]. other vow was made in accordance with my compassionate
Two plaques did not arrive. All the calligraphy was by the noted mother Ekan‟s final instructions to become a bodhisattva
master Fujiwara Yukifusa, a descendant of the famous dedicated to saving women. She could not be denied. I must
calligrapher Fujiwara Tsunetomo who was miraculously fathered follow her instructions and fulfill her command. May the
by Yukiyoshi. It is a rare miracle that all the name plaques of the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, the Surangama Sutra and
entire temple are written by the same brush. Even the ruling court all the Buddhist scriptures maintain and protect my adamantine
never commands more than one or two name plaques at a time. It resolve. If these vows accord with the intentions of the Buddhas,
is a blessing for this temple. On the very day the plaques arrived then I must certainly experience a mystical dream. While thinking
at the temple there were auspicious events. Noichi Tojirō of Kaga those thoughts I fell asleep. Just as dawn broke I had the
Province donated a Nirvana Image to the temple. Its depiction of following dream: There was my old tattered robe that I had not
the four transcendent virtues of Permanence, Bliss, Self, and worn in a long time. Wanting to put it on, I unfolded it and
Purity was unbelievably perfect. On the seventh day of the discovered rat nests. It was defiled with cow dung and horse
plaques‟ arrival (i.e.; the 12th day of that moon), Keizan returned dung, horse tails and human hair, and every kind of impure filth. I
to Yōkōji. On the ninth day (i.e., the 14th day of that moon), shook all the filth out and put it on. Truly it was a marvelous
Keizan ordained two new monks (named Meijo and Unsho) who dream! It was an auspicious sign that my vows had been
enrolled as residents of Yōkōji and performed ritual offerings to renewed. The Buddhas and ancestors had responded to
the Nirvana Image for nine consecutive days. Each of these aspirations and witnessed my two vows.
occurrences is an auspicious sign of the plaques‟ arrival. 24th day: The anniversary of my former teacher Ejo‟s death.
After performing the scripture recitation ceremony in his
LIFE AT YŌKŌJI memory, I returned and wrote this entry.
1325: Shōchō 2, Junior Wood Year of the Ox The subsequent abbots of Yōkōji first should be selected
4th Moon, 11th day: Permitted the nun Myosho Enkan from among Keizan‟s Dharma heirs and should serve as abbots in
[Keizan‟s cousin on his mother‟s side] to receive initiation in order of seniority. I have four main disciples. And there is perhaps
Precept Rituals. I asked her: “How do you understand the story one more as well as the disciple of a disciple [i.e., six in all]. If
(kōan) of Linqi (Rinzai) raising his fly whisk?” Myosho Enkan Yōkōji‟s abbotship should ever become vacant, these six heirs
remained silent. I said: “Your remarks cannot be expressed should cooperate in selecting someone to propagate Buddhism
with expressed with paper and ink.” Myosho Enkan bowed and and benefit the living [i.e., serve as abbot]. Everyone associated
departed. Thus I permitted the precept initiation. with this mountain monk Keizan and all future generations of my
12th day: Bid farewell to Sonin, the abbess of Enzuin lineage must know that each one has a responsibility to propagate
Chapel, as well as her attendant and group leader as they left the Buddhism and benefit the living. All I want is for each generation
temple gate to visit Myosho Enkan, the abbess of Hōōji Convent of my lineage to teach on behalf of the Buddha, to save others,
in Kaga Province. and to prevent the Dharma from disappearing. Dated Shochu 2,

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Junior Wood Year of the Ox [1325], beginning of autumn, 7th hall like the moon reflected in the water, instructing students like
moon, 2d day. reflections in a mirror, and enters the samadhi of the chimerical to
The six disciples: Meihō Sotetsu (1277-1350), Mugai Chikō perform Buddhist rituals that resemble dreams.
(d. 1351), Gasan Jōseki (1276-1366), Koan Shikan (d. 1341), Lady Sonin, our landlord, invited me here because she
Kohō Kakumyō (1271- 1361), Genshō Chinzan (n.d.). wanted to support a monastery. On my first visit, her husband
7th moon, 28th day: Initiated Supervisor Sokei and Unno Nobunao helped me search out a site to build a hermitage
Supervisor Sondd in precept rituals. in the mountains. At that time, I divined this valley as the place for
Same day, midnight: Transmitted Dharma lineage to Kohō my meditation cushion. We returned to the patron‟s residence to
Kakumyō. Also presented him with my meditation mat. He was stay the night.
my last Dharma heir. The very next morning he left Yōkōji and That night I dreamed that I was squatting on the innermost
went to Izumo Province. summit of this mountain. Looking into the distance below, I saw
7th moon, 16th day: Experience following auspicious dream: that this spot rose above the peaceful mountains below. In
A person held a box about a foot deep full of clear water. On the between the sky and the ground, within the valley gardens,
surface of the clear water floated a gold key that formed words suddenly a temple materialized. The several buildings, their roofs
that read “room,” “rock house,” and “dipper grotto.” After I lined up in all directions, filled the valley. To the right of where
awoke I understood what it said. “Room” (shitsu) is Mount the gate would be, there stood a great hackberry tree, the tips of its
Shoshitsu, the residence of Bodhidharma. “Rock House” is branches lushly intertwined. Monks gathered from all directions
Mount Stonehead (Sekito), the residence of Sekito Kisen (Shitou to hang numerous wornout straw sandals there.
Xiqian, 700-790). “Dipper Grotto” is Grotto Valley (Tōkoku), my Divining that dream, I understood it as an omen of a superior
residence. It means that there is no difference in our site that meant if I resided here the tattered monks arriving from
understanding. We share the same clear flow. What a marvelous all directions certainly would pay back the cost of their straw
sign! sandals [i.e., would become worthy students].
5th moon, 20th day: Daichi (1290-1366) arrived from distant Moreover, the following year when I went back to the
Kyushu to study. He presented me with copies of Second overlook where I had been in my dream, there was a wild
Revised Tōzan’s Five Positions Occult Secrets Revealed hackberry tree, its growing branches in full leaf. This means that
(Juhen Tozan goi kenketsu), Sayings of Tōsu Gisei (Tosu the monastery will certainly flourish. The cloud gathered together
Gi go), and Sayings of Shinketsu Seiryo (Shinketsu-ryō go). like congregations of monks. When we dug a well, the water,
The Second Revised Occult Secrets has not even been gushed out to fill the Realm of the River and the Lake. How
circulated in China, much less Japan. This is the first time anyone fantastic. How fantastic. Asleep or with open eyes, dreaming or
has seen it. It should be kept as a secret treasure and should not be awake, I saw the same thing,
shown to anyone except the most highly qualified. It will be our In the Zen tradition itinerant monks are referred to as cloud-
lineage‟s most precious asset. The Sayings of Tosu and flowing monks. To visit teachers, to inquire of the Way, monks
Sayings of Shinketsu have been published and already circulate scale mountains and transverse oceans. Be it east or west,
widely. traveling north or south, they have no fixed abode. Walking their
meandering route, higher and higher they come up or little by
YŌKŌJI’S ORIGINS little go down. Like clouds and flowing streams, they travel
1320: GEN‟O 2, SENIOR METAL YEAR OF THE beyond the farthest mountain, beyond the ends of the seas. They
MONKEY wear straw sandals and shoulder pilgrimage staffs. If one of
Last Night of the Year, Evening Meeting: Keizan explained them meets a good Zen master to whom he can respond, he will
the origins of this temple. He said: immediately open his bright Eye of the Correct Teaching
It is recorded that Dōgen, the abbot of Eiheiji, once said, (shōbōgen). That is how he would repay the cost of his straw
“Hundreds of thousands of millions of worlds are revealed in sandals and break his pilgrimage staff. This is the rule for Zen
each moment. The Buddhas and ancestors appear to teach you monks.
this topic. If I face this issue and attempt to give you a hint, I I remember when [in 1313] I first returned to this mountain
would say, the thousand mountains and the million valleys: how to build a hut. Venerable Vajraputra (Bajarahottara), the eighth of
high, how low.” His great-grandchild, Keizan Jōkin, holding his the sixteen major arhats, came to this mountain and entered my
breath in reverence, will continue the discourse. Assembled dream. He examined the mountain and said: “Elder Jōkin,
monks, do you want to hear? although this is a small mountain, it is a superior location. There
Keizan paused for awhile and then said: are no spots to obstruct the gods. Your propagation of Buddhism
Such words of no thought, of no awakening, and of no birth! and teaching of students will succeed as desired.”
Your nostrils themselves and the clarity of your eyes are the real Therefore, I built the hut and began teaching students from
topic. No matter how much I talk, I could only add that all quarters. For tea, I boiled pine needles. For a tea bowl, I used
emptiness, in the end, cannot be divided into high or low. Do not oak leaves. When I first received donations, I used a small pot to
analyze yourselves by grasping hold of “yes” or “no.” Piercing measure the rice—not having any standard measure.
intellectual investigations of this floating world are unimportant. [In 1317] when Sonin donated the Abbot‟s Square, I
This mountain monk Keizan sits in meditation within a training formally named this monastery. Because I admired Dongshan

72
Liangjie (Tozan Ryokai, 807-869, who lived on Grotto whether large or small, will have rations appropriate for each
Mountain) from the distant past and also valued the insight of day‟s meals. If there is enough for steamed rice, cook steamed
dreams in the present, I named this monastery Tōkoku Daikapō rice. If there is not enough for steamed rice, cook rice gruel. If
Yōkōji (i.e., Grotto Valley, Great Hackberry Peak, Eternally there is not enough for rice gruel, cook rice broth. This has been
Shinning Monastery) and named the Abbot‟s Square the family teaching of the Sōtō lineage since the time of Furong
Myōshogon‟in (Marvelously Adorned Building). Daokai (Fuyō Dokai, 1043-1118).
For food I relied upon the two holy bodhisattvas Monastic administrators must serve all monks with a large
Avalokitesvara and Akasa-garbha (Kokuzo), and on the two gods heart. The monastic cook is to balance the three virtues of cooked
Vaisravana (Bishamon) and Mahakala (Karaten). The three food and to cultivate the two fields of merit. Even the entire great
treasures (the Buddha, His Teachings, and His Community), the earth could never exhaust the twenty years lifespan of limitless
two holy ones, and the two gods were our patrons. And Inari, the blessings bequeathed by Sakyamuni Buddha.
god of this mountain, the protective spirits of the land, and Shōhō Now, I ask you assembled monks, as for the activities of
Shichirō (a guardian god) were our servants. That summer [1318] endless merit, what then?
we conducted the first ninety-day training period here. Our Keizan paused for awhile and then said: In the dark grotto
comptroller and my attendant obtained bucketfuls of wild rice valley [i.e., Yōkōji], coming and going regardless of the locked
from Elder Wetlands (Chōja-ga-sawa), located in this province. barrier, walk the two-headed men.
We stored that rice for three full years. The text above address clarifies the history of this monastery.
On the night of the 8th day of the last moon, the anniversary I have written down the details for future reference.
of the Buddha‟s awakening, as I slept in the seated posture, one of
those buckets entered my dream. It stood right in front of this old SONIN’S PLEDGE
monk. I purified it for use. That same dawn the temple patron also 1321: GEN‟O 3, JUNIOR METAL YEAR OF THE COCK
dreamed the same dream. A man presented me with a great New spring (1st moon), the following was recorded:
serving of rice. I ate some rice and then presented the rice to him. This monastery is located within the Sakai Estate, in the
That bucket of rice when used as this old monk‟s eating bowl district of Kashima. Its property boundaries are listed in its deed.
shrunk to only two-thirds its size. It automatically became the Lady Taira Sonin is the daughter of Sako Hachiro Yorichika and
appropriate amount of food for a disciple of the Buddha. Thus a is the wife of Unno Saburō Shigeno Nobunao. The two of them,
monk‟s eating bowl can contain the vastness of the sky while at Sonin and Unno Nobunao, donated this land as an act of faith.
the same time any single thing can fill the entire bowl. Each They declared: “We donate this small mountain. We desire
person receives in accordance with his needs. There is no fixed only that Master Keizan reside here for awhile. We will take
allotment. absolutely no notice whether the temple thrives or decays. Also,
Tonight is the last night of the old year. Tomorrow is the first we are not concerned whether the master observes or violates the
day of the new year, the beginning of spring. Your eating bowls Buddhist precepts. Likewise, if the master gives the land to a
partake of the endless nourishment of joy in the Dharma as each wife, child or relative, or even to outcasts (hinin) and beggars, we
receives the rice treasures that sprout from Elder Wetlands. For will not interfere. We will donate the land to the master once and
this reason, sometimes a bucketful of this treasure rice is for all with no intention of ever resuming control. We have long
equivalent to one bushel, while other times a single bowlful awakened to the mind of no attachments and dare not harbor any
donated to gods and men fills one bucketful. The extremely material desires.”
large equals the minute. The extremely small equals the immense. I was moved by the patrons‟ pure intentions. I decided this
All the Buddha‟s disciples receive the nourishing light of would be my final resting place and would be the pure site at
food to eat from his urna (tuft of hair between his eyebrows). which to intern the remains and writings of our successive
Each person eats the food as the food consumes people. The gruel patriarchs.
suffices. The steamed rice suffices. If you embody the fortitude
not to squander a single grain of rice then a scoopful fills a bucket FIRST DREAMS OF YŌKŌJI
while a bucketful fills one cup. When a small amount is needed, 1312: SHOWA 2 [1313], SENIOR WATER YEAR OF
use a small amount. When a large amount is needed, use a large THE R AT [1312]
amount. Spring: Sonin awakened her bodhi-seeking mind and
The Buddhist Way certainly transcends opulence and donated the land. On that night I lodged at the patron‟s house at
frugality. Therefore, administrators are to receive large portions. Nakakawa. In my dreams I saw the temple buildings appear and
Moreover, approximately one bushel of rice, divided into thirds, in front of the main gate stood a hackberry tree with straw sandals
should be used for the daily meals. Two-thirds are to be offered to hanging on it. From this, I knew that it would be a superior site
the revered Three Treasures and one-third allotted for feeding the where monks would repay the cost of their straw sandals. It was
compassionate underlings. Whether serving many or a few, the the peaceful, quiet place where I wanted to live out my life in
managing monks should follow the same procedures. Abundance seclusion.
or scarcity depends on the offerings received from men and gods 1317: BUNPŌ 1, JUNIOR FIRE YEAR OF THE SNAKE
and Heaven‟s blessings. If the community of monks is limitless, In response to the desires of Sonin, the patron, and in accord
then they certainly will beckon limitless fortune. The community, with the dying wishes of Sakō Hachirō Yorimoto, her brother

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who was the land steward (jitō) of Nakakawa, the former and Akasa-garbha), and the two gods (Vaisravana and Mahakala)
residence of their father, Yorichika, was donated to Keizan as an all are patrons who support this monastic community.
offering for his karmic benefit and for the fulfillment of their 1319: GEN‟O 1, JUNIOR EARTH YEAR OF THE RAM
prayers. That residence was converted into the Abbot‟s Square. 9th moon, 15th day (full moon): First performed service for
8th Moon, Autumn: Moved the residence and rebuilt it as an arhats. Should be performed every 25th day of each moon. That
Abbot‟s Square. is what the venerable arhats expect.
10th Moon, 2d Day: Moved disciples. Performed formal I am a sixteenth-generation Dharma descendant of the high
inauguration ceremony. patriarch Dong-shan Liangjie [Tōzan Ryokai, 807-869], who
1313: SHŌWA 2, JUNIOR WATER YEAR OF THE OX lived on Grotto Mountain. Because I admire his teachings, I
8th Moon: When I first built a hut to serve as a makeshift named this mountain “Tōkoku” (Grotto Valley), My changing
kitchen-office (kuin), Vajraputra (Bajarahottara), the eighth arhat, “mountain” to „Valley” is based on the precedent of Dongshan‟s
came here. After looking over the mountain landscape, he told disciple Caoshan Benji [Sozan Honjaku, 840-901], who named
me: “Although this is a small mountain, it is a superior location. It his monastery Caoshan (Sozan) Mountain in honor of the sixth
is superior to Eiheiji. At Eiheiji, the abbot‟s building sits in a patriarch‟s Caoxi Valley.
hollow. That is where the obstructing gods reside. All of Eiheiji‟s I am an eleventh-generation Dharma descendant of the high
past obstructions have resulted from poor location. This mountain patriarch Da-yang, “Great Sun” [Dayang Jingxuan, Taiyo
monastery, however, has no obstructions. Your propagation of Kyogen, 943-1027]. Because I admire the Great Shining Sun that
Buddhism and teaching of monks and nuns will succeed as fills my eyes, I have named this temple “Yōkōji” (Eternally
desired.” It is true. In the nine years since erecting that hut, there Shining Temple).
have been no obstructions. Doing nothing special, 1 practice The Buddha Hall is named Highest Victory Hall (Saishōden)
Buddhism and the monastery flourishes more every year. because when the Buddha preached the Highest Victory King
1317: BUNPŌ 1, JUNIOR FIRE YEAR OF THE SNAKE Sutra [Saishookyō, T 665], the two bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara
Winter Training Period: Koan Shikan (d. 1341), the and Akasagarbha stood by his side.
comptroller, Genka Tek-kyo (d. 1321), the supervisor of the The Monks‟ Hall is named Buddha Selecting Site
Monks‟ Hall, and Kakunichi, the sanitation officer, dreamed the (Senbutsujo) because mental emptiness extends to each.
same dream: Inari, the mountain god of this monastery, gave The Kitchen is named Wafting Scent Hermitage (Kosekiin)
them a favorable announcement. Inari said, “I am the former because eating food gives strength.
master of this mountain. I support Buddhism in this province. I The Bath is named Source of Enlightening Water (Myōsuiin)
will offer salted pickles (etc.).” His spiritual arrow pacifies the because washing away impurities is awakening.
mountains to the west. Just one shot pacifies both the mountains Lady Taira Sonin is the second coming of my grandmother,
in front and in back. the laywoman Myōchi, who had been Dōgen‟s disciple since the
I also had a dream. The guardian god of this province came time he was at Kenninji Temple in Kyoto. The Lady Sonin and I
and reported: “This is a message from the First Shrine of the stick together like steel and a magnet. As teacher and patron, or
province. I will supply vegetables.” Thus we receive the mystical teacher and disciple, we are inseparable.
blessings and protection of the First Shrine. 1321: GEN‟O 3, JUNIOR METAL YEAR OF THE COCK
Also, to protect the temple, I carved a piece of camphor 1st moon, 28th day: Genka Tekkyō passed away. He was
wood into an image of a seated Vaisravana. His left hand holds a one of the first five people I ever ordained, just like the venerable
wish-fulfilling jewel and his right hand forms the mudra of Kaundinya (Chinnyo) who was one of the first five disciples
offering. He is the main image in the kitchen. I can feel his ordained by the Buddha. He had served as Jomanji Temple‟s first
protection in my dreams. supervisor and served as supervisor for my master Jakuen (1207-
Winter: Mahakala also came. One of the workers observed 1299) at Hōkyoji Temple. Here at Yōkōji he was assistant abbot.
him. Forever hereafter he should be revered as the supervisor of this
1318: BUNPŌ 2, SENIOR EARTH YEAR OF THE HORSE temple.
Spring: Getsuan Koei dreamed that the guardian god Shohō
Shichiro came to this mountain to announce: “Enshrine me in the KEIZAN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Abbot‟s Square and I will guard over this lineage and protect this During the time of the Buddha Vipasyin (Bibashi Butsu), the
monastery.” According to these omens, the mountain god, the first of the Seven Buddhas of the Past:
First Shrine, and Shohō Shichiro protect this temple and provide After having attained the awakening of an arhat I resided in
offerings. the Himalaya Mountains north of Mount Sumeru, the central axis
Avalokitesvara used to be the main object of worship in this of the world. At that time there existed a Kokila Bird tree spirit, a
temple. Therefore, Avalokitesvara stands alongside the new four-legged beast with a dog‟s head, a bird‟s body and the belly
central image [of Sakyamuni Buddha]. Because Akasagarbha and tail of a reptile. That tree spirit instantly attained
rains treasures down to the monks, his image also stands on the enlightenment and to this day, together with venerable Subinda
other side. Therefore, the three treasures of the Buddha, His (Sohinda), the fourth arhat, continues to reside among the snowy
Teachings, and His Disciples, the two holy ones (Avalokitesvara Himalaya Mountains of Uttara Kuru (Hotsu Kuroshu), the
Northern Continent. Likewise, in this present existence I have

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been born here in northern Japan. I have prior karmic links to the My fifty-eighth year [1321]: On this first night of the
Northern Continent and am a child of Hakusan, the White Moun- beginning of spring, in the third year of the Gen‟o era, I have sat
tain. in meditation, neither dreaming nor awake, testifying to the seal
My eighth year of life [i.e., seven years old, 1271]: Shaving of awakening.
my head as a novice, I joined the community of Master Gikai,
then abbot of Eiheiji. KEIZAN’S MOTHER
My thirteenth year [1276]: I became a fully ordained monk, 1322: GENKO 2, SENIOR WATER YEAR OF THE DOG
the last disciple ordained by Master Ejo, formerly the second 6th moon, 18th day: Established the Universally Pervading
abbot of Eiheiji. (Enzuin) Avalokitesvara Hermitage at Supreme Lotus Peak
My eighteenth year [1281] : I resolved to attain the Way. (Shorenpo) and appointed as its first abbess Sister Sonin, the main
My nineteenth year [1282]: While studying under Prior patron of Yōkōji Temple. Its main object of worship is the image
Jakuen I awakened to the bodhi-seeking mind and attained the of an eleven-headed Avalokitesvara that my compassionate
stage of nonretrogression. mother of this rebirth had kept and worshipped throughout her
My twenty-second year [1285]: Upon hearing a stray sound I life.
attained awakening. The history of this image of Avalokitesvara began during my
My twenty-fifth year [1288]: Like Avalokitesvara, I compassionate mother‟s eighteenth year [ca. 1244-1245]. She had
pronounced the universal vow (to save all beings) of the become separated from my grandmother and did not know where
supremely compassionate icchantika, who never enter Nirvana. grandmother had gone. For seven or eight years my mother
My twenty-eighth year [1291]: I served as abbot of Jomanji suffered distress over this. Finally, she went to the Avalokitesvara
in Kaifu, Awa Province, Shikoku Island. Worship Hall of the Kiyomizudera to perform seven days of
My twenty-ninth year [1292]: Elder Gien of Eiheiji worship. On the sixth day, along the road to the temple she
authorized me to perform precept ordinations. In early winter of purchased the head of this image of Avalokitesvara. She
that year, I administered the precepts for the first time, ordaining thereupon made the following declaration and prayer. “While
five people. By my thirty-first year [1294], I had ordained more traveling to the Kiyomizu in order to pray for knowledge of my
than seventy people. mother‟s whereabouts, I have obtained the head of this image and
My thirty-second year [1295]: I realized the teaching of thereby will establish a karmic connection. If this connection is
Master Gikai, the founding abbot of Daijōji, Kaga Province. I true, then show me some of your compassion. If you help me find
inherited Gikai‟s Dharma line, becoming his foremost disciple my mother, then I will complete your body and worship you my
and Daijōji‟s first assistant abbot. Attaining the honor of shared whole life.”
abbotship was Gikai‟s attestation that I had attained the fortitude The next day, on the road, she met a woman. The following
to surpass my teacher. day, on the way to worship at Kiyomizu, they met again and the
My thirty-third year [1297]: The ceremony for appointing me woman informed my mother of her mother‟s whereabouts. She
chief monk was conducted in the abbot‟s building. immediately went to a Buddhist artisan and ordered a body
My thirty-fifth year [1298]: I assumed full office by carved for this image of Avalokitesvara. Thereafter she continued
becoming Daijōji‟s second abbot. For nineteen years I instructed her devotions to it all of her life.
students at Daijōji, until [in 1317] I moved to this monastery One morning when my compassionate mother was in her
(Yōkōji) as its founding abbot. thirty-seventh year [ca. 1263-1264], she dreamed that she had
Ever since having realized the fruit of awakening, throughout swallowed the warmth of the morning sunlight. She had a
five hundred rebirths I have appeared in bodily form in order to sensation in her womb and realized that she had become
propagate the Dharma and benefit the living. pregnant. At that point she prayed to this image, saying, “If this
Bodhidharma appeared in a dream and ordered me to bathe unborn child is to become a holy man, is to become a great
in the pure water flowing out of the rocks at the base of his seat. religious master and is to become of benefit to gods and men,
Bathing in the icy pool, I was naked. He presented me with a then let me have an easy delivery. However, if these are not to be,
kasaya robe. Placing it on, I awakened to the bodhi-seeking then, Avalokitesvara, use your spiritual powers to wither it dead
mind. while still in my womb.”
The future Buddha Maitreya appeared in a dream and Every day she made 3,333 prostrations and recitations of the
presented me with a blue lotus throne. It transported me through Avalokitesvara Sutra (Kannongyō). After seven months,
three rebirths. He led me flying across the sky. Celestial beings while traveling on the road to the birthing room, she calmly gave
performed music to send off Maitreya. As he led me to the inner birth to me. She named me Yukio (Traveling Birth). I was born in
palace in Tusita heaven, I attained the stage of nonretrogression. the Avalokitesvara Worship Hall in Tane Village, Echizen. After
Sakyamuni appeared in a dream and manifested his bodily that, in all affairs and concerns, she would pray to this image.
form of preaching the Ratnakuta Sutra (Hoshakukyo, T 310). My career has been without difficulty. All the good things
He explained the three methods of liberation, namely, liberation that I have accomplished—my becoming a monk, my study of
through opportunity, liberation through mind, and liberation literature, my Buddhist training, my attainment of knowledge, as
through objects. well as my Dharma succession, my abbotship and my teaching

75
gods and men—occurred because of the power of my mother‟s
prayers to this image.
And that is not all. When I was young, I was hateful and
would pass by people as if they were my inferiors. Therefore, my
mother again prayed to this image, saying, “Keizan, in spite of his
ability, his cleverness, his wisdom, and his being better than the
rest, will never be of benefit to gods and people as long as his
hatefulness continues to increase. With the power of prayer, put
an end to his hatefulness.”
By that time, in the winter of my eighteenth year [1281], I
had awakened to the Way-seeking mind, and in the autumn of my
nineteenth year [1282] I strengthened my resolve to pursue the
Way. Finally, I began serving as group leader, managing Hōkyōji
Temple‟s affairs at the head of the other monks. Everyone was
happy for me. Then, one person spoke ill of me. My hatefulness
flared up. I was ready to commit a major transgression. Yet, while
planning my revenge, I repented my anger. I thought, “Since
youth I have tried to better myself and surpass others. Now, I have
awakened my bodhi-seeking mind and serve in this monastic
office. My goal is to master Buddhism and to teach gods and
men. That is my vow. If I commit an evil act, then the way will be
closed to me. From now on I will not be hateful.” Since then, I
have gradually developed compassion and compliancy. And
now, I have become a great master.
All of this is due to the power of my mother‟s prayers.
Therefore, in her eighty-seventh year [ca.1313-1314] when my
compassionate mother passed away, she bequeathed this image to
me.
[In 1317] when I entered this mountain as abbot of Yokōji, I
designated one hill, named Supreme Lotus Peak (located next to
Circuitous Stream Peak and Millet Sprout Field). I have built a
retreat there, named Universally Pervading Avalokitesvara
Hermitage, and appointed as its first abbess Sister Sonin, the main
patron of Yōkōji Temple. I also have presented her with clippings
of my hair and my preserved umbilical cord along with my
compassionate mother‟s image of Avalokitesvara. It is now the
main object of worship at this hermitage. Because Sonin is
unequaled in her faith and her purity and has awakened her bodhi-
seeking mind, I have given this image to her. The hair clippings
and umbilical cord are to be placed to the right of the image. They
should be kept in a pewter box.
I have written this for future reference. Henceforth
Universally Pervading Avalokitesvara Hermitage will offer
prayers to protect Yōkōji Temple, prayers to fulfill my mother‟s
vow to save all women, and prayers for Keizan‟s promotion of
the Buddhist Dharma that benefits the living. This is the history of
the Universally Pervading Avalokitesvara Hermitage.
The geomancy of this land indicates that a hermitage should
be located at Supreme Lotus Peak. That is why the monk
Myōshinbō occasionally has heard the mystical Sounds like an
assembly of monks reciting scriptures there. I spoke of this while
preparing the site this spring. There can be no doubt that those
sounds were good omens for the hermitage. Yōkōji‟s Buddha
Hall and the Universally Pervading Avalokitesvara Hermitage
were constructed the same year.

76
 Bernard Faure – Dreaming (excerpts from Visions of Power)
[p. 114:] Thus, this dream revealed to Keizan that this site, of
AS WE NOTED earlier, the Record of Tokoku is not only a no very distinguished appearance, was in reality one of
narrative of the origins of Yokoji but also an oneirical the focal spots of the invisible world, a place peopled by
autobiography. Keizan dreamed of making the monastic extraordinary beings whose secret presence would protect
community of Yokoji into a dream community, in every present and future monks. Two universes, and two mon-
sense of the word. When he spent his first night at asteries (visible and invisible) are superimposed on the
Tokoku, in the home of his patrons, Keizan saw in a axis formed by the great tree that Keizan dreamed of and
dream a magnificent monastery prefiguring the future whose real existence he had subsequently uncovered.
Yokoji: Fortified by this proof, he was thenceforth convinced of
his mission. He knew then for sure that Yokoji, the
It also happened that the night after the donors‘ Monastery of the Eternal Light, would become the center
decision and gift I was staying at their home and I saw from which the Buddhist Law would radiate out over
in a dream the halls of a wonderful monastery. When I Japan. The center had moved from Eiheiji to Yokoji (to
reached the great enoki tree on which people hung their be understood as from Dogen to Keizan), as the Arhat
straw sandals, the one standing in front of the gate, I Vajraputra would confirm in the course of another dream
realized that this was a special site, where wandering that was to rule over the destinies of Yokoji and its
monks could reimburse the cost of their straw sandals. monastic community. This dream, recorded in the Record
Having received [this mountain] as a gift, I wanted to of Tokoku just after the one quoted above, actually took
make it into a place of retreat for the rest of my life. place one year later [1313], when Keizan began to build
[JDZ, 392] at Tokoku a thatched cabin that would serve as a
In a collective instruction dated 1320, that is, eight provisional refectory for the monks.
years later; Keizan returns in more detail to that founding Keizan was an inveterate dreamer who made dreams
event: into a veritable way of life: they supplied a criterion for
The original owner of this mountain, the lady Taira truth, but also an instrument of power. His visions gave
no uji, wanted to invite me and make me a gift of it. At him privileges to which the ordinary dreamers could not
first, I went with [her husband] Unno Nobunao to look hope to aspire. But Keizan did not lose himself in his
for a site on the mountain for my hermitage. I then dreams. To a certain extent he controlled them,
took possession of this hollow and made it my manipulated them. As he dreamed, he found himself. He
meditation place. Then, during the night that I spent in stood on the dangerous boundary between the real and the
the home of my benefactors, I dreamed that I went to oneiric, on the threshold of an invisible world that called
squat on the summit of the mountain and looked way him ceaselessly without causing him to lose his sense of
down to the base. Between the high peak and the deep reality. Keizan remained a realistic dreamer, one who
valley, the interval [was that which separates] heaven found in dreams the foundation of his adaptation to real
from earth. In a court in the hollow, a monastery life. Although he seems at times to have preferred his
suddenly appeared. Many buildings, their rooftops visions to the prosaic reality of the external world, he did
aligned, filled the whole valley. On the right, in front not reject the latter. He acquired through his dreams and
of the monastery gate, was a great enoki tree with visions a feeling that he had a supernatural mission and
burgeoning branches. Pilgrims came from all quarters then set to work to transfigure everyday events, which he
and hung their straw sandals on it. When I interpreted turned into so many ― Buddha affairs.‖
this dream, it became clear to me that, if I settled in The Record of Tokoku belongs to the literary genre of
this place, monks would come from the four cardinal ―foundation chronicles‖ (engi) but also has many of the
directions to repay here the price of their sandals. This features of another fairly widespread genre, that of the
is the sign that it was an extraordinary site. ―record of dreams‖ (yume no ki), of which the most
Furthermore, the next year when I saw the slope renowned example is by Myoe. Nevertheless, this does
that had appeared in my dream, I noted that there not seem to have been its primary function. In a ― record
actually was an enoki tree there, one whose branches, of dreams,‘‘ the dreams are usually set down in writing
as they grew, were becoming luxuriant. Thus the soon after the dreamer awakes and they are saved as basic
monastery would prosper just as the clouds mass materials for a psychological or spiritual hermeneutic. In
together swell up, and finally conceal the valley, or the Record of Tokoku, the dreams are often recorded long
streams in flood flow down and fill the rivers and after the fact and only insofar as they cast light on the
lakes. Strange, truly strange! See how wakefulness and foundation of Yokoji. Keizan does not give us all his
sleep merge together; dream and waking harmonize. dreams. Far from it. But neither, doubtless, do the
[JDZ, 397] compilers of ― records of dreams.‖ This is not important,
however since all these works (whatever may have been

77
their ulterior motives) give us a privileged and invaluable person who lived his dreams, or dreamed his life. The
access to the imaginaire of the medieval monk. Record of Tokoku alone mentions about twenty separate
At the outset we should note that for Buddhists there dreams, and other texts by Keizan report his oneiric
is no clear distinction between dreams that come during experiences. Despite his enunciation of the Buddhist
sleep and visions achieved in a waking state, or more principle of emptiness, Keizan lived in a world permeated
precisely during meditation, in a state (samadhi) that, like with very ― real‖ dreams. He shared this worldview with
trance, is often defined as being ― neither sleeping nor many Buddhists of the period, for whom dreams provided
waking.‖ As Keizan himself notes: ― In the first Genko a privileged access to the invisible world. On this point he
year [1321], kanenoto tori, on the night of the beginning was very close to Myoe, for whom ― dreams should be
of spring, while I was seated in meditation, [in a state that feared,‖ because they eventually come true. Like Myoe,
was] neither dreaming nor waking, I expressed by myself Keizan cultivated the gift of dreaming and having visions,
the confirmation [of awakening]‖ [JDZ, 399]. This and during these episodes he frequently communicated
different conception of the boundary between sleep and with transcendent beings. The Record of Tokoku can thus
waking sometimes makes it difficult to tell whether we be read as the account of a quest after visions.
are dealing with visions or dreams, with modes of waking Actually Buddhist dream practice was not entirely
or of sleeping, with lucid or deluded consciousness. The passive. It was possible to induce auspicious visions, and
border dividing the visible from the invisible does not various methods existed to achieve this. Thus the Great
follow the line we think of as obvious. As in ancient Dharani Sutra (Da fangdeng tuoluoni jing) includes a
Greece, where a single term, opsis, meant ― sight discussion of ― dream practice‖ in which are described a
(objective or subjective), presence, but also a dream,‖ dozen typical dreams, corresponding to the twelve
dreams in Buddhism constitute part of the visible and demon-kings converted by the Bodhisattva hero of this
― they function like an ‗autopsy‘ [auto-opsis, ― self- text. Also described is the so-called ― seven-day‖ method,
vision‖] for the person who receives them.‖ Dreams and the period during which visions come that must be kept
visions establish a quasi-hallucinatory connection with secret. This method was taken up again by the founder of
reality, which in turn brings up the question of their truth: the Tiantai school, Zhiyi (538-597). According to his
are we dealing with a connection—a privileged disciple Ryuben, Myoe cultivated an esoteric method,
connection even— or a nonconnection? When Keizan implying the use of mantras and mudras, to encourage
sees in his dream a wonderful monastery on the site of the ―true dreams‖ (masa yume). Such methods had long been
future Yokoji and later discovers in the real world certain practiced in China, as is attested by a document from
elements of his dream, he is fusing two levels: not so Dunhuang. The monk-painter Guanxiu (832-912),
much the antagonistic ones of waking and illusion, as celebrated for his Arhat ― portraits,‖ explains their genesis
Mahayana doctrine would have it, but rather those of the thus: ― Each time I paint one Arhat, I positively pray for a
real and the imaginary. In this case dreams are perceived dream. Thus I obtain the real shape of the saints and I
as the highest expression of reality. Far from being one paint them quite differently from the ordinary Arhat
who, in Balzac‘s words, ― dreams and does not think,... figures.‖ Likewise, it is a kami who explains to Keizan in
stirs and does not create,‖ Keizan is one of those for a dream how to make an icon of the Buddhist guardian
whom to dream is both to think and to create. Thus Bishamon. On every important occasions, Keizan tried to
dreaming his life is not better than living it because it is obtain auspicious dreams. As he notes after recording the
precisely living it, and one lives it fully only as one two solemn vows he made at the end of his life, ― If one
dreams it. Dreams do not make up a ― parallel‖ and accords with the will of the Buddhas, one will certainly
illusory reality, since they tend to blend with the waking have auspicious dreams.‖ Having gone to sleep with this
state: they make up this life, the only true one. Yet, in the thought, he effectively had at dawn a dream that he
end, the separation between waking and dreaming must considered to be auspicious.
be maintained: dreaming defines a particular, sacred time …
and space. Although Keizan keeps these two spheres of
reality separate, he allows a regulated overflowing from [P. 126:]
the one into the other. Standing on the threshold between KEIZAN’S DREAMS
the two realms, he acts as a mediator, a ― keeper of the The Record of Tokoku, Keizan‘s ― dream diary,‖ is less
gate.‖ well known and not as extensive as that of Myoe, but it
… does contain many interesting dreams. Like Myoe,
[p. 121:] Keizan noted down his premonitory dreams and
especially those that were connected to the monasteries
THE PRACTICE OF DREAMS he founded. As we have seen, he had an oneirical
In the Zazen yojinki, a short treatise on meditation, revelation of the future prosperity of Yokoji: ―I saw in a
Keizan seems to deny all soteriological value to visions dream the halls of a wonderful monastery. When I
achieved through meditation. But Keizan was still a reached the great enoki tree off which people hung their
78
straw sandals, the one standing in front of the gate, I something to drink in a skullcap filled with bloody bone
realized that this was a special site, where wandering marrow and brain tissue: an especially disgusting
monks could reimburse the cost of their straw sandals‖ mixture, but one whose taste, going against all ex-
[JDZ, 392]. This vision was confirmed by the prediction pectations, was that of sweet dew. The draught gave
made in 1312 by the Arhat Vajraputra, again during a Hanshan the impression of being purified in every pore of
dream. Keizan remembered this dream ten years later and his skin. After having rubbed his back, the Indian monk
noted that the prediction had come true since his teaching suddenly clapped his hands and Hanshan woke up.
had prospered since his move to Tokoku. The dream here Although he was covered with sweat, he felt himself
justifies after the event the schism between Gikai and ―very clean and relaxed.‖
Keizan and shows that, in spite of appearances, Keizan‘s …
community in the Noto peninsula was just as orthodox as,
if not more so than, that of the successors of Dogen at [p. 129:]
Eiheiji. Even more meaningful is the dream in which If we admit that the ― performative‖ dreams of Keizan,
Keizan received the transmission of the Buddhist Law, those, for example in which he receives the transmission,
successively from Bodhidharma, Maitreya, and are the oneiric replica and confirmation of a transmission
Sakyamuni. The latter appears to him in a specific ritual taking place in the framework of the monastery
context, at the time of his preaching the Ratnakuta-sutra, itself, should the confirmation of his awakening be taken
and more precisely the teaching of the ― Three as a ― sign‖ or as a performative act? The notion of a sign
Deliverances‖—from time, mind, and phenomena. This should not lead us into error: Favorable signs have the
sutra seems to play an important role in Keizan‘s dream effect of actually wiping away faults and so can lead to
world, as it appears at least in another dream. At any rate spiritual progress. Dreams and visions are ― vectors of
the denial of the phenomenal world is paradoxically action,‖ because in a way they ― find their place in the
based on the ultimate assumption of this world within a trans- migratory cycle, as in a single system, which is
dream. It is during an experience that includes time, ruled by the law of causality and action.‖ Finally, we
mind, and phenomena that Keizan must deliver himself must take into consideration the sectarian strategy in these
from these three aspects of reality. Just as in the esoteric dreams of ascension, which, by legitimizing with the seal
rituals so well known to him, the denial of images in the of the otherworldly a transmission that may at times be
name of emptiness is permitted through a manifestation problematic, permits an end run around established
that is itself eidetic. hierarchies. Thus a document dated 1460 reports that
Keizan‘s dream (if it is truly a single dream) Dainichi Nonin, who had never been to China and so had
corresponds quite closely to that in which Myoe went up difficulty in gaining recognition for his new Darumashu,
to Tusita Heaven. Bodhidharma takes the place of went up in a dream to Tusita Heaven where he received
Manjusri, but we seem to have here some kind of oneiric from Maitreya a relic of the Buddha.
tradition. The dreams experienced by Myoe and Keizan, If we wanted to establish a typology of dreams for
while they fit into the Buddhist framework, have all kinds Keizan, we could distinguish between hermeneutic,
of connotations that would lead us to call them, for want performative, and premonitory dreams (although these
of a better term, shamanistic. The symbolism of ascent last constitute a category of the hermeneutic type). To the
that characterizes some of them is also found in many last category belongs the dream in which Keizan sees a
other Chan/Zen dreams, usually in connection with majestic monastery stretched out over the entire Tokoku
Maitreya‘s Palace. We know, for example, that Dainichi valley, the dream featuring a huge tree with luxuriant
Nonin, the founder of the Darumashu, also went up into foliage, or the vision of clouds and flooding waters.
Tusita Heaven. These shamanistic elements are even Keizan himself gives a quasi-psychoanalytic
more striking in the case of the dreams of the Chan interpretation of the latter when he sees in it an oneiric
master Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623). In one of these in transposition of the term unsui, ― clouds and waters,‖ used
particular, Hanshan was invited by the Bodhisattva metaphorically to designate Zen adepts. And he
Manjusri to take a bath on the northern terrace of Mount concludes, ― Strange, truly strange! See how wakefulness
Wutai. Just as he was about to get into the bath, he and sleep merge together, dream and waking harmonize‖
realized that there was already someone in it, a young [JDZ, 397]. As another premonitory dream, we have
woman. Overcome by disgust [sic], he refused to get into already cited the prediction of the Arhat Vajraputra
the bath. But when the person in question turned out to be concerning Yokoji. The Arhat based his predication on
a man, Hanshan did not wait any longer. The man the geomantic excellence of the Tokoku site. This dream
washed him from head to toe and what is more cleaned would later actually permit Keizan to go against
his five visceral organs ―as one washes a basket of meat.‖ geomantic norms. When he planned to construct the
Hanshan soon had, literally, no more than skin over his Goroho funerary mound on a hill behind the monastery, a
bones, and his body became as transparent as a crystal disciple informed him that this was contrary to the normal
cage. A little later an Indian monk brought him rule: ― When

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 the site of the stupa is higher than that of the the Dharma there is nothing that can be revealed, and
monastery, the lineage will be interrupted. How was this nothing that can be denigrated, for all things are like
[error] possible?‖ Keizan then thought, ― From the outset space. This is why I have supplied these explanations
all my decisions concerning this monastery have been [JDZ, 399].
based on revelations [received] in dreams. Thus, when I In another dream, Keizan continued a dialogue with
began to build my hermitage, the Venerable [Vajraputra] two of his disciples that he had begun while awake. In a
announced to me, ‗Nothing will stand in the way of the meaningful fashion, the dream itself resolves the problem
numberless activities of this monastery, and you will be of levels of reality. Keizan explains to Koan Shikan that
able to spread the Buddhist Law there as you will.‘ As a these different types of awareness do not imply any
result, the site of this stupa will remain for all eternity, duality:
because it was in a dream that I learned it and understood
it‖ [JDZ, 409]. On the twentieth of the twelfth month [of the year
1321], towards midnight, I was explaining to the shuso
Keizan then decided to trust his next vision in order to [Shi]kan the words of Jiashan to Luofu, ― When there
determine the placing of Goroho. In a similar vein, when is no one in the whole empire whose tongue has not
he explained why he decided to rename the mountain been cut out, how can one make men without tongues
Tokoku, Keizan referred to the tradition of Dongshan understand what words a r e ? ‖ [ . . . ]
Liangjie (J. Tozan Ryokai), but also to his own oneiric
universe. ―In distant matters, I aspired to emulate Tozan; After this conversation, when I had fallen asleep, I
for matters near at hand, I valued dreaming. It was thus had a dream in which I saw Shikan and Soin
that, combining the two [approaches], I baptized [this discussing the story in question. Shikan was saying,
monastery] ― Magnificent Hall of Eternal Light of the ―It is precisely the man who has lost his tongue who
Peak of the Great Enoki Tree on Mount Tokoku‖ [JDZ, [best] understands words.‖ To which [So]in replied,
398]. A dream is thus not only a ― memory palace‖ in that ―A man without a tongue and the understanding of
it permits one to know about past lives, but it is also an words are completely unrelated items.‖ I [then] said,
instrument of divination that permits one to foretell the ―There is the man without a tongue, the man who
future. Dreams thus constitute a beginning of transcen- understands words, and the man who understands how
dence when it comes to time, a harbinger of awakening. to understand words.‖ Shikan said, ― Since [this latter]
understands the man without a tongue, it is he [who
Keizan also records dreams with a doctrinal tendency. grasps] the ultimate truth. But if one distinguishes
It really seems that, like Myoe, he expected from dreams between the person who understands words and the
not only predictions but also a gnosis. During a discussion one who understands the understanding of words, are
with his disciples, he mentioned that he had been able, there then degrees within the ultimate truth?‖ I said,
during meditation, to ― meet the men within the mirror‖ ―Although the ultimate truth admits of no degrees, it is
and, entering into the form of concentration known as as though, in speaking about the eye, one could
―samadhi of illusion‖ (nyogen zanmai, Skt. distinguish three different things: the white of the eye,
mayopamasamadhi), ― perform Buddha work within a the dark of the iris, and, within the iris, the pupil. This
dream.‖ The samadhi to which he refers seems to have does not imply that one has two pairs of eyes. The
played a certain role in Mahayana before being itself men who achieve awakening within the ultimate truth
rejected as illusory in the general movement of are also of three types. You must understand this in
disapproval of the imagination and the intermediary detail.‖ I made a note of this as an example for future
world. Still, as we have seen, it retained its full value with generations. [JDZ, 400]
masters like Myoe and Keizan. In one of these ― doctrinal‖
dreams, Keizan read a passage from the Ratnakuta-sutra, a The dream functions here as a ― supplement‖ to the
sutra that often recurs in his dreams. As soon as he woke dialogue that has just taken place, whereas in the former
up, he checked the original and found that the two case, the opposite occurred: Keizan started from the
versions (oneiric and ― real‖) of the passage reflected each textual passage seen in the dream, then found a
other, were mutually explanatory. supplement of meaning in the ― real‖ text, and this
supplement produced his insight. As Georges Didi-
On the fourth day of the second month [of the year Huberman points out, ― There is no awakening without the
1321] I read the Ratnakuta-sutra. Then, having fallen dream from which one awakens. The dream at the
asleep sitting up, I saw in a dream a passage of the moment of waking up becomes then like the ‗rubbish‘ of
sutra that said, ―Do not reject vain thoughts; do not conscious activity. ... The awakening as forgetting of
desire wisdom.‖ On my awakening, [I realized that] the dream must not be conceived of on the model of a
this passage was really saying, ― After having purified pure negativity or deprivation: as forgetting itself leaves
and cultivated the vision of the Buddha, one makes its traces, like ‗nocturnal remainders‘ that will continue to
manifest and ascertains all things.‖ With these words, I work—to bend, to transform, to ‗shape‘—conscious life
obtained awakening. As I have already explained, in itself.‖ The logic of the dream seems here to be that of the

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―symbol‖ (in the etymological sense) or of the tallies—a hour of the tigers I saw the following oracle in a
logic to which we return in Chapter 9 [― The Power of dream:
Symbols‖]. ―At the foot of Mount Nasaka [ware sumeru]
DREAMS AS CRYPTOGRAMS Where my house stands [nasaka no yania mo]
The moss is churned up [burni naraji]
In that they are signs requiring decipherment, dreams So much is the soil beaten down by the steps
involve a hermeneutic; but at the same time, like all [koke no shita kaherite]
oracles, they are also self-sufficient. An especially Of those who come to see me.‖ [hito zo tohikur]
strange dream, one that for this reason is seen as a form Both oracles are given in the form of poems and
of ― divine response,‖ tends in spite (or because) of its apparently read (or in any case are recorded) in the
semantic obscurity to be taken as a happy portent and syllabary using Chinese characters (man’yo-gana). Keizan
may thus be considered as performative. Dreams are remarks on this point that the use of ― unconventional
often divine responses to a religious act, and they are characters‖ is itself a happy portent. We may note in
invoked by the practitioner as an indication that the act is passing that the use of this archaic (and therefore
meritorious. They form part of the cycle of gift and numinous) form of writing—composed of Chinese
counter-gift, as a token of indebtedness. Keizan records, characters used for their strictly phonetic value—to
for example, a dream that he had about a year before his transcribe a Japanese poem constitutes a paradoxical
death, one about the Dharma robe. He had earlier made rejection of Chinese and Buddhist poetry (on the part of
two vows and felt that if these were in line with the someone who writes in Chinese) and the emergence of a
Dharma he should be granted an auspicious dream. That ―purely‖ Japanese version of the sacred. Oracular dreams
night, at dawn, he had the following dream: of Hachiman, which in earlier times had a purely public
I owned an old robe that I had not put on for a long and political character, now seem to have a more private
time. I now wanted to wear it, but when I found it, rats nature.
had made their nest in it and it was spotted with filth Here is another example of decipherment. It is the last
that looked like cow and horse excrement, hairs from dream reported in the Record of Tokoku, one month before
horses‘ tails, and human hairs. I brushed it off, and Keizan‘s death—which, despite his premonitory talents,
then, after I had cleaned it, I put it on. It was truly a he does not seem to have anticipated in a more precise
strange dream, an auspicious dream. It was the sign fashion:
that my fundamental vows would be accomplished.
The Buddhas and patriarchs had replied to me and On the sixteenth of the seventh month [of the
confirmed my two vows. [JDZ, 433] year 1324] I had this auspicious dream: Someone had
a container about a foot deep in which there was
Keizan‘s interpretation may seem strange to the some clear water. On the surface of the water floated
outside observer. Perhaps we should see here an allusion letters that looked like golden hooks and spelled out
to the etymology of one of the words used for kasaya, “
shitsu ganden tokoku, the same pure stream.‖ After
funzoe (litt. ―
robe to sweep excrements,‖ Skt., pam-sukula). waking up I understood their significance: shitsu is
It could thus be an attestation that Keizan‘s practice is in Shoshitsu [Shaoshi, i.e., Bodhidharma]; ganden is
conformity with the traditional Buddhist ideal of austerity Sekito [Shitou]; tokoku is Tokoku [Keizan]. The
(dhutaguna). knowledge of these three men [Bodhidharma, Shitou
Dreams can be explicitly oracular, particularly when Xiqian, and Keizan] is not separate because they all
they emanate from native gods. After mentioning the belong to the same pure stream [i.e., school]. This
explicit predictions made by the Arhat Vajraputra and by was a very auspicious sign. [JDZ, 433-434]
the gods Ichinomiya and Inari, Keizan records two This dream, an almost Freudian rebus, indicates
oracles that seem to come from the kami Hachiman: according to Keizan that among these three individuals
On the twenty-seventh of the first month of the there is a perfect harmony. It has the same structure as the
second Genko year [1322] I saw in a dream the set of portraits of the patriarchs, which usually represent
following oracle: Bodhidharma (the founder of Chan), the founding father
―It has now been a year since [kotoshi yori] of a specific lineage (here Shitou, patriarch of the
The god of Yahata [yahata no kami no] Caodong/Soto line), and the most recently deceased
Appeared to me [arawarete] master. It is thus perhaps, after all, a veiled prediction of
And made himself the guardian Keizan‘s death. Another example of glyphomancy, this
[wagatatsu soma no] time inverted: the way in which Keizan interprets the
Of the wooded mountain where I reside.‖ dream in which he sees a flourishing monastery:
[mahoto nam kana] Furthermore, the next year when I saw the slope
On the fourth day of the sixth month of the same that had appeared in my dream, I noted that there
year, on the kinoe ne day [first in the cycle], at the actually was an enoki tree of that kind there, one whose

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 branches, as they grew, were becoming luxuriant. The point, however is that dreams are taking place on
Thus the monastery would prosper just as the clouds the ― other scene‖—the stage where the other manifests
mass together swell up, and finally conceal the valley, itself in ―
response‖ to a prayer or an expectation. Dreams
or streams in flood flow down and fill the rivers and in this sense are never casual; they are elements of an
lakes. Strange, truly strange! See how wakefulness incubatory ritual. Incubatory dreams were a very signifi-
and sleep merge together dreaming and waking cant element of the medieval imaginary landscape. Clerics
harmonize. Indeed, is it not true that wandering monks and laypeople alike went into retreat in shrines and
are called ―clouds and waters‖? Seeking a master to temples to receive dream revelations from the gods and
consult regarding the Way, they cross mountains and the Buddhas. Keizan was no exception, and it is worth
seas; wandering with no fixed abode, they go towards recalling at this point his interest in Kannon. Kannon was
east and west, towards south and north. Far from popular, not only as a child-giver but also as a dream-
beaten tracks, they ascend suddenly, and slowly go giver. The three main temples dedicated to her—
back down. Like clouds, like water; they explore all Ishiyamadera, Hasedera, and Kiyomizudera—were all
the mountains and travel all the seas. They wear straw famous places for incubation…
sandals and sling a staff over their shoulder. If, by [p. 138:]
chance, they meet a worthy friend, he will imme-
diately open the True Dharma eye of these pilgrims. THE IDEOLOGY OF THE DREAM
Paying back the price of one‘s straw sandals and If we are to take Keizan seriously when he tells us
breaking one‘s [pilgrim] staff, this is the common rule that he takes dreams seriously, we should also examine
for monks. [JDZ, 397] the ideological function of these dreams and statements.
INCUBATION Even if dreams should, according to Myoe, ― be feared,‖
this does not prevent dreamers and others from
Dream images are ― animated‖ images in the same manipulating them, for all sorts of down-to-earth reasons.
sense as icons in that they reveal a presence, channel a The dreams are also ambiguous in that they are at the
―force.‖ Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gods appear in same time collective and individual. If they usually serve
dreams. Dreams make up a kind of ritual area where the the interests of tradition, they can also threaten them,
invisible takes form, the framework for a hierophany. The inasmuch as they reflect the power of a personal religion
mental space of dreams provides a counterpart to the in which dreams were a means of contact with divinity.‖
physical space of the temple, the oneiric image of the god Sometimes they tend to impose themselves to the
is the double of the icon. Thus it is no coincidence that detriment of ― pure‖ Buddhist values. In the words of
incubatory dreams are conjured up in the presence of a Georges Duby, ― The mark left by a dream is as real as a
statue of the Buddha—or perhaps we should say rather footprint.‖ It is thus that priestly marriage, a major
that dreams allow precisely a kind of coincidence of the structural change in the history of Japanese Buddhism,
profane and the sacred, of the consciousness of the and flagrantly contradictory to the Scriptures, was
dreamer and the super-consciousness of the Awakened supported by the oneiric revelation that Shinran received
Ones, the Buddhas. In the case of initiatory dreams from the Bodhisattva Kannon. In this famous dream
preceding and making possible ordinations, we are Kannon addressed the future reformer of the Pure Land
dealing with a form of incubation that requires sleeping in movement in these terms: ― If you should happen, due to
a sacred place, in the presence of icons. In a more general your karma, to succumb to sexual desire,/ I shall take the
fashion, we may say that initiation is a dream lived in a body of a ‗jade woman‘ to be ravished by you./ I shall be
waking state, a dream wished for and put into effect by an the ornament of your entire life,/ and on your death I shall
entire society in its rites of passage. lead you to paradise.‖ Although the case of Shinran is
In some cases the anthropomorphic presence of the ―exemplary,‖ the representation of Kannon as a woman
Buddha or god is not necessary; an oracular ready to prostitute herself in order to save men was
pronouncement may take his place, because just like the popular in Buddhist circles long before Shinran‘s dream.
icon, although in a different form, it is a ―
substitute body‖ The soteriological value of dreams sometimes remains
of the god. Thus when Keizan talks of poetic oracles problematic, even in the eyes of those who champion it.
received from the god Hachiman, he does not mention the Insofar as their uncertain origins make them
actual appearance of this god. As the monk-poet Saigyo fundamentally ambivalent, dreams may always constitute
stressed, ― A poem is the true external body of the an obstacle on the path to awakening. They are thus truly
Tathagata. Thus when one composes [or receives it], one the ―guardians of sleep‖ Freud speaks of. They are also
has the feeling of erecting the statue of a figure from the two-edged swords for the community since they can just
Buddhist pantheon, and when one forms a vow, it is as as well provide arguments both for or against change and
though one were reciting an incantatory formula pregnant either increase communal control over the individual or
with mystery.‖ undermine it. On the whole, reliance on dreams seems to
have developed in medieval Chan/Zen, and especially in

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the Soto tradition, in the context of a ― return of the dreams as to his own—at least insofar as they agree. Thus
sacred,‖ of a resurgence of local cults. This resurgence of he reports the dream in which the god Inari appeared to
dreams and the sacred went along with the geographical his disciples Shikan and Genka as the ancient protector of
expansion of Zen during the fourteenth to sixteenth the mountain, or that in which the dragon-king Shoho
centuries. Shichiro told another disciple named Koei, ― I have
One of the essential functions of the dreams in the received from your superior the order to reward or punish
Record of Tokoku is to legitimize Keizan and his teachings. the monks and to keep the gates of this monastery.‖ As
If dreams are ― guardians of sleep,‖ they are also, Keizan notes, ― The protection of the Dharma was
according to Freud, ― the realization of a desire.‖ Thus, therefore received in a dream.‖ In the same way, when
Myoe, when he ascends in a dream to Tusita Heaven, Keizan fell heir to the temple that would become Sojiji, it
feels as if he is walking on the roads of India, realizing a was under the dream auspices of Kannon. At the begin-
deep desire that had been denied by the deity of Kasuga. ning of 1321, this Bodhisattva appeared in a dream to the
This wish-fullfilling aspect is also clear from the dream, Vinaya master Joken and told him: ― Now, a great good
already quoted, in which Keizan receives the approval of friend in the fifty-fourth generation of transmission from
Gien, the former superior of Eiheiji, whom he had left in Sakyamuni has appeared in this province, at Mount
order to follow Gikai at the time of the controversy Tokoku in Sakai, and he has set in motion the wheel of
between the two factions represented by these two the Dharma ... He has received [the Law] transmitted at
masters. the Vulture Peak. You should immediately give your
temple to this holy man so that he may turn it into a ‗place
Keizan may be a dreamer, but he is a realistic dreamer of awakening‘ [bodhimanda] where the Law of the Buddha
whose dreams (at least those that he writes down in the may prosper through eternity.‖
Record of Tokoku) usually have useful outcomes. We have
noted that the foundation of Yokoji, and later that of If we are to believe him, Keizan had also received a
Sojiji, had been encouraged by various deities of Buddhist similar dream. He was not surprised, therefore, when
and non-Buddhist origins. A dream also influenced Joken asked him to succeed him as the abbot, or more
Keizan to undertake new constructions like that of the precisely as guardian (ushiromi), of Morookadera. Various
Goroho memorial or the Dharma hall of Yokoji. After the indications may lead us to believe that things may
closing of Goroho, Keizan notes, among other auspicious actually have happened rather differently in reality, and
signs, the dream of one of his disciples: ―
The same night we are justified in wondering to what extent Keizan was
the supervisory officer [kansu] Keido dreamed that he was sincere, and to what extent he was manipulating his
putting a silver sword into a water-colored raw silk bag dreams—if he really had them.
and putting it upright on the west bank. Alongside there Keizan also used his dreams to legitimize his
was a box fastened crosswise. In addition, crystals as predecessors. In the Denkoroku, he reports a dream of the
white as rice were placed into a provisions chest standing Chan master Shitou Xiqian (700-790), who we shall see
there‖ [JDZ 409-10]. Unfortunately he does not attempt to shortly, along with the sixth patriarch Huineng, immersed
elucidate the dream. in the eternal dream of mummies. After having read a
The construction of the Dharma hall was undertaken treatise on the identity of the self and the other, Shitou fell
less than four months after Keizan had the following asleep. He dreamed that he was riding on the back of a
dream: tortoise along with Huineng, in the middle of a deep lake.
On waking up, he understood the meaning of the dream:
In the third Genko year [1323], on the twenty- the miraculous tortoise symbolized knowledge, and the
fourth of the tenth month, at night, at the hour of the lake was the ocean of essence. Later; Keizan tells us,
tiger; I dreamed that at the very spot where I was right Shitou put together a ― Treatise on the Fusion of
then a new Dharma hall was being inaugurated. In Difference and Identity,‖ which was very highly regarded.
front of the Dharma seat there were three steps. I went This dream indicated that his spiritual knowledge was
up to the seat and preached the Law. Unthinkingly I already the equal of that of the sixth patriarch and was
descended from the highest step and stood on the identical to that of his master Qingyuan [Xingsi].
ground. Then Mugai [Chiko] of Joju[ji], the shuso
Meiho [Sotetsu], and others came to bow before me. I It would be oversimplifying things to make Keizan
clasped my hands and preached as follows: ― The eye out to be a cynic who took advantage of his followers by
of the True Dharma is open and bright, the Dharma having recourse to the unanswerable argument of dreams.
hall is wide open. For whoever can understand, [this There certainly are cases in which Keizan settled matters
means] that men should not be arranged in by referring to dreams. But the imagination does not
hierarchies.‖ [JDZ 420] submit servilely to sectarian or material interests. Rather
than an ― easy way out,‖ dreams for Keizan provided a
Keizan was not the only person at Yokoji to benefit touchstone to the real. From all the evidence, Keizan
from oneiric oracles and other auspicious signs, and he attributed to these various ― provinces of meaning‖ pro-
attached almost as much importance to his disciples‘
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vided by dreams a quality of reality beside which the traveled to Kannon temples in search of dreams. Unlike
reality of the waking state seems secondary, the idealist thinkers among whom they are counted in
impoverished. In addition, it may be rather that theory, thinkers for whom the dreamer isolated in
meditation, or more exactly samadhi, the place of visions, himself, does nothing more than take his desires for
should be termed ― reality,‖ since our ordinary waking realities, dreams for Myoe and Keizan are an ― arena of
state is, according to Buddhist doctrine, no more than a awakening‖ in which a truly real presence manifests
state of torpor. Finally, dreams and reality for Keizan are itself. The dream opens onto the divine Other or Others. It
not mutually exclusive. They form a kind of braid that is belongs to the realm of the ― other power‖ (tariki), not to
difficult for us to imagine, let alone describe, given that that of ― self-power‖ (jiriki). [footnote: Buddhists were divided
the dichotomy between dream and reality, and the on the question whether dreams are produced by the gods or by
downplaying of the former are the very foundations of our the dreamer. In Chinese esoteric conceptions, for instance, the
whole culture. It is not easy to do justice to dreams in a spirits that appear in oracular dreams are manifestations of the
work like this one since, as Georges Bataille has said, seven po souls. The two approaches need not be entirely at
odds: as Saigo Nobutsuna points out, the soul is itself a kind of
―Analysis introduces an unusual work into a framework
―other‖ that appears as deity. However in the case of dreams
that makes it null and void, and substitutes for awakening induced by gods like Hachiman, we are dealing with an entirely
a sleepy heaviness.‖ It is this dull-wittedness that runs the Other (totaliter aliter).]
risk of seeing ideological contradictions in what was
initially perhaps a form of original fusion between the
imaginaire and the real. Conversely, the preference for
dreams can never be entirely free of ideology. Oneiric
imagination is doubtless destined to remain an arena
where conflicting interpretations constantly arise.
Between dreams and the writing down of dreams, there is
a ― spacing,‖ a ― travail de l‘ecriture‖ that modifies
radically for us—condemned as we are to written
―traces‖—its content and meaning. It is in the last
analysis as impossible to retrieve the original experience
that left this trace, or even to affirm the existence of such
experience, as to deny it.
It is true that the use of dreams, as we have seen it in
Myoe and Keizan, seems a little backward in relation to
Mahayana doctrine. If there is an oneiric tradition, it is
not the same as that of Tibetan Buddhism, which is
judged to be more orthodox. It is one that has to do with
the practice of incubation, which, according to Saigo
Nobutsuna, can be traced back to pre-Buddhist Japan.
However; it can also be found in Chinese Buddhism—
whether or not it represents in that case a shamanistic
influence. At any rate, whereas Tibetan Buddhists try to
concretely realize the emptiness of dreams, the oneiric
realm remains for Myoe and Keizan more an ― enchanted
garden,‖ to which one must remain in submission.
Despite the startling realism of some of their dreams or
visions, there does not seem to have been any kind of
awareness of working toward a practice of ― lucid
dreaming,‖ as is preached by Tibetan Buddhism in
particular. In Tibetan Buddhism the dream becomes
obscured or at any rate loses its symbolic importance to
the act of dreaming, a dreaming in which what matters is
the state of consciousness, lucid or not, of the dreamer.
While they insist on the ultimate emptiness of the world
of the imagination, Myoe and Keizan both chose to
follow quite passively the thread of their dreams rather
than seek to control and eventually dissolve them. In this
sense they are not so different from lay believers like the
authors of the Kagero nikki and the Sarashina nikki, who

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 Buddha holds up a flower (2nd case of Denkoroku)

Denkoroku and Koan Commentary

Approaches to Denkoroku 86
Shohaku Okumura – from Realizing Genjo Koan 88
William Bodiford - The Denkoroku as Keizan's Recorded Sayings 91
Denkoroku Verses Translation Study 100
On the Himitsu-Shobogenzo 108
Thomas Cleary - Esoteric Shobogenzo 109

85
 Approaches to Denkoroku

From Thomas Cleary’s introduction (Transmission of Light):

Transmission of Light is one of the major classics of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Ostensibly a collection of stories about
fifty-three Buddhist illuminates from India, China, and Japan, in reality it is a book of instruction in the art of satori—Zen
enlightenment. Satori is the essential initiatory experience of Zen Buddhism, the beginning of true Zen realization, and
Transmission of Light is the most thorough guide to satori in the entire Japanese Zen canon. Using its format of tales about
the awakenings of fifty-three successive generations of masters, Transmission of Light illustrates quintessential techniques
for realization of satori, showing how this experience transcends time, history, culture, race, gender, personality, and
social status.
From Francis Cook’s introduction (The Record of Transmitting the Light):
The Denkoroku (The Record of Transmitting the Light) is a type of literature that can be called ―s
piritual genealogy.‖ Like
ordinary genealogies, it traces the bloodline of a family, locating its origins in some ancestor long ago and tracing that
ancestor’s descendants down through the successive generations to the present. This tracing process accomplishes several
goals that are important for the family. In ordinary genealogies, it provides a panoramic view of the continuity of a
bloodline rooted in distant antiquity; it records the exploits and special distinctions of each generation; it provides a basis
for family pride and style; and, perhaps most important, it provides a strong sense of identity. This may be accomplished
even if the genealogical effort locates one’s origins in anonymous farmers or artisans whose descendants left little mark
on their world. On the other hand, an individual may take pride in the knowledge that one is descended from royalty or
other powerful and noteworthy people and that successive generations have been marked with prominence, distinction,
and achievement. However anonymous or illustrious these past generations may have been, however, the sense of
rootedness, continuity, and identity remains.
Keizan’s Denkoroku is also a genealogy and serves some of the same purposes as ordinary genealogies, as well as a
special purpose that will be discussed further on. However, the Record differs from ordinary genealogies in a particular
way. Rather than tracing a genetic bloodline, the bloodline is spiritual. The fifty-three generations recorded in Keizan’s
work are not related by blood but rather by spiritual kinship. It could be said that rather than genetic inheritance or the
inheritance of wealth and power, the inheritance of each generation is one of spiritual endowment and authority.
…
At the heart of the Record lie such genealogical matters as transmission, succession, and inheritance, words that are
encountered frequently in the text. There are also the related matters of continuity, legitimacy, and authenticity. The
structure of each chapter is fairly uniform. The current patriarch of the family is wandering about teaching, or is an
abbot of a monastery, and he is searching for a suitable individual to inherit his authority. He encounters a young man
of unusual commitment and talent who has forsaken secular life and seeks enlightenment. After some passage of time,
during which the young man struggles valiantly and single-mindedly, he achieves enlightenment, often during an
encounter with the patriarchal master. The master confirms the awakening and recognizes the younger man as a fit
successor. Thus, the younger man succeeds the older in a process that has continued unbroken over many generations.
The point to such a narrative is that at any point in the chain of successors, an individual can demonstrate his legitimacy
and claim to the family name and charisma by proving that his predecessor was so-and-so, whose own claims derive
from his descent from his own predecessor, and so on back to the founding ancestor. Ultimately, Sakyamuni, himself,
as the founder of the family, is the ultimate legitimator of all subsequent successors.
…
In the course of documenting the patriarchal succession over the generations, Keizan centers his talks primarily on
two topics. One is the necessity to be totally committed to achieving awakening, to take the Zen life most seriously, and to
make a supreme effort in Zen practice. This is also a focal point in Dogen’s writing, and both men, as patriarchs, are
equally concerned with the training of monks and the selection of successors. The second emphasis, and, indeed, the
overwhelmingly central focal point of all these chapters, is the ―Li ght‖ of the title of the work. It is this light that is
transmitted from master to disciple as the disciple discovers this light within himself. In fact, once the light is discovered,
this is the transmission. The light is one’s Buddha nature or true Self. Keizan uses a number of striking and provocative
epithets and titles for this true Self, including ―Tr
ue Self,‖ ―
That One,‖ ― That Person,‖ ― The Old Fellow,‖ and ― The Lord
of the House.‖ Such language is uncommon in Dogen’s writings, as is the focus on discussing the existence and nature of
this Old Fellow. But that is part of what constitutes ―Keizan Zen‖ as distinct from ―Dog en Zen.‖

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 From Bernard Tetsugen Glassman (On Zen Practice):
The books that we study in Yasutani Roshi’s system are the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate), which has forty-eight cases;
the Hekigan roku (Blue Cliff Record), which has a hundred cases, and then the Shoyoroku (Book of Equanimity), which
has a hundred cases also. Maezumi Roshi is giving teishos on that and we’re appreciating the cases in sesshin now. Then
we next study the Denko roku, which is a collection of the enlightenment experiences of the first fifty-one Patriarchs plus
Shakyamuni Buddha. So that’s fifty-two cases. [note: actually there are 53]
The Denko roku was compiled by Keizan Zenji, the Fourth Patriarch of the Soto Sect in Japan. He lived three
generations of Dharma succession after Dogen Zenji. Keizan Zenji is actually mainly responsible for the spreading of the
Soto Sect in Japan.
The Denko roku starts with Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment experience and then goes through the
enlightenment experiences of each of the Patriarchs; Mahakashapa, Ananda, and so forth. We chant the- names of these
Patriarchs in our morning service. Keizan Zenji wrote a poem on each enlightenment experience, expressing his
understanding of that experience. In our koan study, we appreciate those. So that’s another fifty-two cases.
Then we appreciate Master Tozan’s Goi, the Five Positions, and then the precepts, the sixteen kai. It’s a very
comprehensive study, and normally we are such that we wouldn’t be that comprehensive with ourselves.

From Eto Sokuo (see excerpts in the section on Keizan and Dogen above):
The major written work of the grand successor, Keizan Zenji, was the Record of Transmission of the Light, which he
propounded for his student practitioners at Daijoji. This text presents and explains the transmission of the light of the
original spirituality of Sakyamuni’s Buddha-dharma and successive patriarchs in three countries, starting with the first
patriarch, Mahakasyapa, and ending with the fifty-second patriarch, Koun Ejo. Why, despite the fact that the grand
successor was not a historian, did he expound on the subject of the history of the succession of the light in his Denkdroku?
The fifty-two patriarchs, in succession across the three countries, are footprints tracing the history of the Buddha-dharma
of personal authentication that activates ―continual succession of the spiritual light and perpetuation of illumination.‖
Hence, (his work) is not a philosophical elucidation of the personal authentication, but a clarification of the footprints of
the continual life of personal authentication. From this point of view, the essential motivation of the Denkoroku should be
regarded as promulgation of the Buddha- dharma of personal authentication.

From Stefano Mui Barragato (Zen Light):

The major question that struck me as I studied each case was: ―W hat is transmitted?‖ The title of the book told me:
―Li ght‖ is the central metaphor in the Denkoroku.
ght.‖ The Transmission of the Light. ―Li

From Lex Hixon (Living Buddha Zen):

The Denkoroku is a fifty-three stroke ink and brush drawing of essential Buddhist history. Seen more broadly, this
text presents in the direct Zen manner the essential nature of awareness, the single light celebrated by all ancient wisdom
traditions. The Denkoroku is a work of art whose subject is sacred history. It is not historiography.
Even more than a work of art, this text is a vehicle for mutual study between Zen masters and their successors, honing
the insight of each and insuring the actual continuation, without diminution, of Dogen Zenji’s radical spiritual teaching,
perpetual plenitude – the perfect awakeness, here and now, of all beings and worlds. This transmission of Light remains
continuous throughout the unpredictable developments of planetary history, such as the transplanting of Zen from Japan
to America and, from America, to the strange global landscape called the postmodern world.

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 From Realizing Genjokoan by Shohaku Okumura
From the FOREWORD to Realizing Genjokoan shinjin-datsuraku is a frequent topic of discussion between Dogen
by Taigen Dan Leighton Zenji and his teacher. Here is one of those discussions:
… I want to address directly one portion of Shohaku's Rujing said, "Sanzen [i.e., zazen] is dropping off body
commentary that might be controversial for some and mind. We don't use incense burning, making
American Zen people. In relation to the important prostrations, nembutsu (reciting the Buddha's name), the
Genjokoan line, "To be verified by all things is to let the practice of repentance, or reading sutras. We only engage in
body and mind of the self and the body and mind of others just sitting."
drop offT Shohaku discusses the phrase frequendy cited Dogen asked, "What is dropping off body and mind?
by Dogen, "dropping body and mind," shinjin datsuraku in Rujing said, "Dropping off body and mind is zazen.
Japanese. For Dogen this phrase, which he heard at least When we just practice zazen, we part from the five desires
some version of from his Chinese teacher, Rujing, is a and remove the five coverings."
synonym for both zazen and for enlightenment itself. Ihere Dogen asked, "If we part from the five desires and
is a popular story about Dogen that goes back to a remove the five coverings, we follow the same teachings as
hagiographical, nonhistorical work about the whole Zen those of the teaching schools and are therefore the same as
lineage leading to Dogen written by his third generation practitioners of the Mahayana and of the Hinayana."
successor Keizan. This story, which has become enshrined Rujing said, "The descendants of the ancestor
in Soto legend, claims that Dogen had a dramatic [Bodhidharma] should not dislike the teachings of the
awakening experience (Jap.: kensho or satori) related to Mahayana and Hinayana. If a practitioner is against the
hearing the phrase about "dropping body and mind" from sacred teachings of the Tathagata, how can such a person be
Rujing. Shohaku Okumura disputes that story, which the descendant of buddhas and ancestors?''
Dogen himself never mentioned. Shohaku cites several Dogen asked, "In recent times, some skeptical people
highly respected modern Japanese Soto scholars who say that the three poisonous minds are themselves Buddha
agree, and he concurs with them that Dogen never Dharma and that the five desires are themselves the Way of
advocated or understood dropping body and mind as some the Ancestors. They say eliminating them is equal to making
sudden or special psychological experience or condition. preferences and therefore the same as Hinayana practice."
Certainly dramatic opening experiences can occur in Rujing said, "If we don't eliminate the three poisonous
practice, historically and still today, and may be helpful in minds and the five desires, we are the same as the non-
shifting life perspectives. Some approaches to Zen have Buddhists in the country of King Bimbisara and his son
even emphasized such experiences as the goal of practice. Ajatasattu [during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha]. For the
But Dogen is very clear that the awakening he speaks of is descendants of buddhas and ancestors, removing even one of
an ongoing vital process, and dramatic experiences are not the five coverings or one of the five desires is of great benefit;
the point of practice. Even in traditions that promote it is meeting the buddhas and ancestors."
kensho, it is not seen as the ultimate conclusion of Here Rujing says that "sanzen is dropping off body and
practice. For example, the great eighteenth-century Rinzai mind" and "dropping off body and mind is zazen." He also says
master Hakuin had many dozens of such experiences. And that in dropping off body and mind, we are freed from the five
modern Rinzai adepts have clarified that kensho is not desires and eliminate the five coverings. The five desires are
some experience to acquire, but a way of actively seeing desires that arise in the mind as a result of contact with objects of
into any or all of experience. For Dogen, dropping off the five sense organs. When we see, hear, smell, taste, or touch an
body and mind is zazen itself, and the "deep awareness of object, we may enjoy the sensation and desire more of it; this is
the fact that the existence of the self is not a personal attachment. Or if the sensation is unpleasant our desire is to avoid
possession." it, and since this often is impossible, we become frustrated or
angry. So we can see that the five desires are the source of greed
as well as the source of anger.
Shohaku Okumura excerpt from Realizing Genjokoan: The five coverings are hindrances that prevent the mind from
DROPPING OFF BODY AND MIND functioning in a healthy way. These five coverings of the mind
To be verified by all things is to let the body and mind of are greed, anger (hatred), sleepiness or dullness, distraction, and
the self and the body and mind of others drop off. [-Genjo doubt. The five desires and five coverings were originally
Koan] discussed as obstacles to meditation in the Daichidoron
(Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra), Nagarjunas commentary on the
"Dropping off body and mind" is a translation of shinjin- Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra. Tiantai Zhiyi (Jap.: Tendai Chigi), the
datsuraku (身心脱落). This is a keyword in Dogen Zenji's great philosopher of the Chinese Tiantai (Tendai) school, also
teachings. This expression was originally used in the teachings of mentioned them in his meditation manual, Makashikan (Ch.:
Dogen's teacher, Tiantong Rujing (Jap.: Tendo Nyojo). In Hokyoki Mohezhiguan) (Larger Book of Shamatha and Vipassana). Zhiyi
(Record in the Hokyo Era), Dogen's personal record of his said that practitioners should part from the five desires and
conversations with Zen Master Rujing at Tiantong Monastery,
88
eliminate the five coverings in a meditation practice called shikan poisonous minds. This is why Dogen Zenji said that zazen is not a
(shamatha and vipassana, "stopping" and "seeing"). As I practice of human beings; it is the practice of buddhas.
mentioned in chapter 1, Dogen Zenji was originally ordained as a In his instruction to Dogen, Rujing also says that "the
Tendai monk in Japan. He was familiar with the teachings and buddhas and ancestors have not set up classifications in practice"
meditation practice of the Tendai tradition, and he began to and that there is nothing "that falls into two or three." These
practice Zen because he was not satisfied with Tendai practice. So sayings are from Tendai teachings that originated in the Lotus
we see that in this conversation Dogen was questioning Rujing to Sutra. In the Lotus Sutra we read:
see if Zen teachings about the five coverings and five desires
differed from Tendai teachings. Until this conversation Dogen In the buddha-lands within the ten directions
had been looking for teachings that differed from those of the There is only the Dharma of One-Vehicle,
Tendai school, yet here Rujing says that zazen practice should not Neither a second nor a third,
differ from the Buddha's teachings that were recorded in the Except the skillful teachings of the Buddha.
sutras and systematized in the philosophical teaching schools. This means that in reality, there are no such classifications as
Rujing and Dogen continued their conversation on this topic the three vehicles (shravaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva); they
as follows: are simply tentative skillful means. Rujing uses these expressions
to show that his zazen practice is not one of the three expedient
Rujing said, "The descendants of the buddhas and ances- means but is the practice of the Dharma of One-Vehicle. Dogen
tors first eliminate the five coverings and then remove the six echoes this teaching in Shobogenzo Zuimonki:
coverings. The six coverings consist of the five coverings
plus the covering of ignorance. Even if a practitioner only Sitting itself is the practice of the Buddha. Sitting itself is
eliminates the covering of ignorance, that practitioner will be non-doing. It is nothing but the true form of the Self. Apart
freed of the other five coverings. Even if a practitioner from sitting, there is nothing to seek as the Buddha Dharma.
eliminates the five coverings, if ignorance is not removed In Hokyoki, Dogen recorded one more conversation with his
the practitioner has not yet reached the practice of the teacher concerning dropping off body and mind:
buddhas and ancestors." Rujing said, "The zazen of arhats and pratyekabuddhas
Dogen immediately offered a prostration and expressed is free of attachment yet it lacks great compassion. Their
gratitude for this teaching. Placing his hands in shashu he said, zazen is therefore different from the zazen of the buddhas
"Until today, I have not heard of an instruction such as the and ancestors; the zazen of buddhas and ancestors places
one you have just given me, teacher. Elders, experienced primary importance on great compassion and the vow to
teachers, monks, and Dharma brothers here do not at all save all living beings. Non-Buddhist practitioners in India
know of this teaching; they have never spoken in this way. also practice zazen, yet they have the three sicknesses,
Today it is my good fortune to have received your great namely attachment, mistaken views, and arrogance. There-
compassion through teachings that I have never before heard. fore, their zazen is different from the zazen of the buddhas
This good fortune is a result of my connections to the and ancestors. Sravakas also practice zazen, and yet their
Dharma in previous lives. And yet I would like to ask you compassion is weak because they don't penetrate the true
another question; is there any secret method one can use to reality of all beings with wisdom. They practice only to
remove the five coverings or the six coverings?" improve themselves and in so doing cut off the seeds of
The teacher smiled and said, "To what practice have you Buddha. Therefore, their zazen is also different from the
been devoting your entire energy? That practice is nothing zazen of the buddhas and ancestors. In buddhas' and
other than the Dharma that removes the six coverings. The ancestors' zazen, they wish to gather all Buddha Dharma
buddhas and ancestors have not set up classifications in from the time they first arouse bodhi-mind. Buddhas and
practice. They directly show us and singularly transmit the ancestors do not forget or abandon living beings in their
way to depart from the five desires and six coverings and the zazen; they offer a heart of compassion even to an insect.
way to be free from the five desires. Putting one's effort into Buddhas and ancestors vow to save all living beings and
the practice of just sitting and dropping off body and mind is dedicate all the merit of their practice to all living beings.
the way to depart from the five coverings and the five desires. They therefore practice zazen within the world of desire, yet
This is the only method of being free from them; there is even within the world of desire they have the best connection
absolutely none other. How can there be anything that falls with this Jambudvipa. Buddhas and ancestors practice many
into two or three?" virtues generation after generation and allow their minds to
This is Tiantong Rujing s explanation of dropping off body be flexible."
and mind (shinjin-datsuraku), and to understand this term, we Dogen made a prostration and then asked, "What does
should study his teachings since he originated the expression. 'allowing the mind to be flexible’ mean?"
According to Rujing, dropping off body and mind is freedom Rujing said, "Affirming the dropping off body and mind
from the six coverings, which basically are the same as the three of the buddhas and ancestors is the flexible mind. This is
poisonous minds. The three poisonous minds are the cause of called the mind-seal of the buddhas and ancestors."
transmigration in samsara, and in zazen we let go of the three Dogen made six prostrations.
This is Dogen's personal record of these conversations.
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 Traditionally, it is said that Dogen Zenji had an himself never wrote of a definitive enlightenment experience in
enlightenment experience when Rujing, scolding a monk who any of his writings. In his lecture on Bendowa (Talk on the
was sitting next to Dogen, said, "Zazen is dropping off body and Wholehearted Practice of the Way) published in Eiheiji's
mind. Why are you just sleeping?" This story originally appeared magazine Sansho in July 1999, Suzuki Kakuzen Roshi agreed
in Dogen's biography as part of Keizan Jokin Zenji's Denkoroku with Professor Sugio and Professor Ishii: "In the case of Dogen
(Transmission of Light). Zenji, his religious experience is not attaining some sudden and
Today some Dogen scholars, such as Sugio Genyii of special psychological satori experience. Dogen never talked about
Yamaguchi University and Ishii Shudo of Komazawa University, such an experience in Shobogenzo. In his teachings, realization is
think Keizan invented this story. Otherwise, they say, Dogen's a deep awareness of the fact that the existence of the self is not a
criticism of practice aimed at attaining kensho becomes a personal possession of the self."
contradiction to his own practice experience. Professor Ishii has I agree with these scholars because I think it is best to trust
said that the fictitious story of Dogen's enlightenment experience Dogen's own account of his conversations with Rujing
has caused more misunderstanding of Dogen's teachings than any concerning dropping off body and mind, rather than give
other fabricated portion of Dogen's biography. Dogen Zenji authority to an account apparently invented after Dogen died.

Denkoroku 52:
Dogen studied with Zen master Rujing. Once during meditation sitting late at night Rujing said to the assembly, "Zen
study is the shedding of mind and body." Hearing this, suddenly Dogen was greatly enlightened. He went right to the
abbot's room and lit incense. Rujing asked him, "What are you burning incense for?" Dogen said, "My body and mind
have been shed." Rujing said, "Body and mind shed, shed body and mind." Dogen said, "This is a temporary byway--
don't approve me arbitrarily." Rujing said, "I'm not." Dogen said, "What is that which isn't given arbitrary approval?"
Rujing said, "Shedding body and mind." Dogen bowed. Rujing said, "The shedding is shed."
At that time Rujing's attendant said, "This is no small matter, that a foreigner has attained such a state." Rujing said,
"How many time has he been pummeled here--liberated, dignified, thunder roars."

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 The Denkoroku as Keizan‟s Recorded Sayings
William Bodiford

1 Chisan (1879- 1967), which is based on the 1925 revised

version (reprinted 1985) by Ishikawa Sodo (1842-1920),
which in turn is based on the 1885 revision (reprinted
In 1857 a Soto Zen priest named Busshu Sen‟ei (1794- 1985-1987) by Ouchi Seiran (1845-1918), which in turn is
1864) edited and published a previously unknown text, itself based on the 1857 version (reprinted 1959, 1868,
which he titled K e i z a n o s h o d e n k o r o k u 1889, 1930, 1931, 1971) edited by Busshu Sen‟ei (see
瑩山和尚傳光錄 (2 vols.). A literal translation of this title Azuma 1970, 130; and Azuma 1991, 58-59).
would be “The Record of Conveying Illumination by the In 1958 Tajima Hakudo discovered an early
Upadhyaya Keizan.” The u p a d h y a y a (teacher) Keizan, manuscript of the D e n k o r o k u at the Kenkon‟in (or
of course, is the Zen patriarch Keizan Jokin 瑩山紹瑾 Kenkoin, a Soto Zen temple in Aichi Pref.). This
(1264 -1325) who in Sen‟ei‟s day was remembered manuscript in two fascicles was copied between 1430 and
primarily as the founding abbot of Sojiji 總持寺, the most 1459 by Shiko Soden (d.1500), the third generation abbot
powerful Soto monastery, and who today also is revered as of Kenkon‟in. It preserves language and textual passages
the grand ancestor (t a i s o 太祖) of the entire Soto that correspond to Keizan‟s own age. The discovery of the
denomination. Today this text, commonly known simply as Kenkon‟in manuscript enabled scholars to establish the
the D e n k o r o k u , has been designated by the Soto early textual history of the D e n k o r o k u and has silenced
Headquarters (Sotoshu Shumucho 曹洞宗宗務庁) as one most questions as to the D e n k o r o k u ’ s authenticity.
of the denomination‟s main scriptures. In spite of its After Tajima‟s discovery, three other medieval (i.e., prior
exalted status, however, the D e n k o r o k u has been little to 1650) manuscripts have come to light. They are: the
studied. Most scholars of Japanese Buddhism, both in Ryumonji (Ishikawa Pref.) manuscript in five fascicles
Japan and abroad, have not read it. Many questions remain copied in 1547 by Tesso Hoken; the Shozanji (Ishikawa
unanswered regarding its contents, literary structure, and Pref.) manuscript in two fascicles copied between 1599 and
textual history. Lack of space prevents me from addressing 1627 by Yuzan Senshuku; and the Choenji (Aichi Pref.)
all of those questions here. Since very little reliable manuscript in five fascicles copied in 1637 by Kido Soe.
information regarding the D e n k o r o k u exists, perhaps a Comparison of Sen‟ei‟s 1857 version of the D e n k o r o k u
brief overview of the text can serve to illuminate some of with these medieval manuscripts reveals many radical
the characteristics and questions presented by early discrepancies. It appears that Sen‟ei prepared the text for
Japanese Zen literature. publication by replacing Japanese-language passages with
Chinese quotations from the Ming-dynasty edition of the
The D e n k o r o k u contains both prose and verse Buddhist canon (ca. 1620), by rewriting ambiguous lines,
written in Japanese and in Chinese. It discusses fifty-three by adding additional materials, by deleting some passages,
generations of the Soto Zen lineage, beginning with and abbreviating other passages. In short, he created a new
Sakyamuni Buddha and continuing through fifty two version of the D e n k o r o k u (Azuma 1970, 132). For these
ancestors down to Ejo 懷奘 (1198-1280), the second abbot reasons neither the 1857 edition nor its modern
of Eiheiji 永平寺 monastery. Busshu Sen‟ei produced his reproductions should be used as an introduction to the
version of the D e n k o r o k u more than 432 years after teachings of the Keizan Jokin who lived and taught in the
Keizan‟s death based on sources unknown. Some of his early fourteenth century (although they can be used as a
sources must have been relatively late, since his text uses guide to his late nineteenth and early twentieth century
language and quotes textual passages that clearly date from image). Nonetheless, all the translations currently available
after Keizan‟s time. For this reason almost as soon as it in English are based on Sen‟ei‟s D e n k o r o k u .
appeared some critics rejected it as an obvious forgery.
Other internal evidence, however, supports the purported Today (2005) no authoritative edition of the
link between the D e n k o r o k u and Keizan. Editors of D e n k o r o k u exists. All manuscript and published
subsequent editions, therefore, attempted to correct versions present many textual problems. In addition to such
Sen‟ei‟s version to eliminate its historical anachronisms. as the ones found in the Taisho edition of the Buddhist
Since they lacked access to any earlier versions, they could canon (T a i s h o s h i n s h u d a i z o k y o 大正新脩大藏經,
base their revision only on their own sense of whatever 1931) and in the collected scriptures of Soto Zen
seemed most reasonable. Each new revised and corrected ( S o t o s h u z e n s h o 曹洞宗全書, 1930, revised 1971) –
edition thus became less reliable than its predecessors. there exist at least eight published versions the
Today when ordinary Soto Zen monks read the D e n k o r o k u that derive from Sen‟ei‟s edition. None of
D e n k o r o k u , as likely as not they read the 1934 revised the revised versions agree with one another. Scholars know
version (reprinted 1937, 1942, 1956, 1967) by Koho the locations of approximately thirty one manuscript

91
versions of the D e n k o r o k u that date from before 1857. Therefore, the Chinese composed by Japanese Zen
(For a detailed bibliography, see Azuma 1991 and 1970). monks in medieval Japan (the so-called literature of the
Nonetheless, no one has yet attempted to correlate them, to Five Mountains, g o z a n bimgaku 五山文学) consists not
determine their filiations, or to produce a critical edition of just of poetry but of every possible manner of prose,
the text. Without a critical edition of the text with which to records, legal documents, and ritual pronouncements.
work, any study or translation of the D e n k o r o k u must Chinese stylistic forms were reproduced with such care and
remain tentative and uncertain. regularity that modern scholars who examine the
One of the distinctive features of the D e n k o r o k u is documentary record alone can detect hardly any
that its format or structure does not correspond to any one differences between the literary environment of Chinese
genre of Chinese Zen (Chan) literature, but combines Buddhist monasteries and their Japanese Zen counterparts.
elements from several of them. In this respect, the Reproducing this world of written signs was as much a
D e n k o r o k u exemplifies the difficulties faced by religious activity as it was a literary one. Japanese Zen
Japanese Buddhists when they imported new Zen norms teachers repeatedly touted their faithful adherences to these
from China. Japanese Zen developed within Japanese Chinese norms as proof that their Buddhism was more
society, where it was taught by Japanese teachers to authentic and more orthodox than anything heretofore
Japanese students on behalf of Japanese patrons. From practiced in Japan. For this reason, deviation from Chinese
within this thoroughly Japanese context, Zen teachers and forms could only be seen as signs of weakness or failure,
students looked to China for models of what Zen should not as creativity or self expression.
be. Today, several hundred years later, many of those Nonetheless, the D e n k o r o k u cannot be identified
models have become celebrated as examples of Japanese with any of the standard Chinese forms of Zen literature.
culture, but we should not forget how extremely foreign This is one of the reasons why its publication in 1857 was
many of them must have struck Japanese people of the greeted with such suspicion. Its mixture of genres seems
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Likewise, we must not more reminiscent of later Japanese Zen texts from the
ignore the many transformations that resulted from sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which were compiled
transplanting Chinese models into a radically different during an age when Chinese learning was largely forgotten
Japanese context. New Japanese Zen temples facilitated the and lavish adherence to the literary structures no longer
introduction of all the latest fashions, artistic trends, and mattered. The practice of assigning the authorship of later
new technology from China. These Chinese models compositions to prestigious earlier authors has a long and
encompassed all aspects of religious life and material prolific history in Japan. Archives and published
culture: architecture and construction techniques, garden collections abound with works whose attributions of
design, crafts, furniture, textiles, clothing, musical authorship are doubtful. Japanese Zen collections are no
instruments, foods and drink, eating utensils, icons, deities, exception. Some texts bearing Keizan‟s name, such as the
ceremonies, daily rituals, personal etiquette, and so forth monastic regulations published in 1681 as the K e i z a n
(Collcutt 1981, 171 172). o s h o s h i n g i 瑩山和尚淸規 (which is based on the
Zen also introduced new forms of language and G y o j i j i j o compiled by Keizan‟s disciples), incorporate
literature. Not only did Zen require an entirely new set of later additions and alterations (Takeuchi 1990). Many other
Buddhist vocabulary and concepts, but even traditional texts attributed to Keizan, such as the k o a n collection
scriptures were chanted in new ways. All Chinese titled H o o n r o k u with its references to subsequent Zen
vocabulary, old and new, was pronounced differently in teachers like Jochu Tengin 如仲天誾(1365-1440), clearly
ways that more closely approximated the standardized postdate him (Okubo 1966, 178 179). Although the mixture
forms of Song Dynasty officialdom. Familiar words of Chinese genres in the D e n k o r o k u might seem
thereby sounded exotic and new. For example, the standard normative in light of later Japanese Zen texts, it rarely
Chinese term for scripture 经 (modern Mandarin j i n g ), appears in Japanese Zen texts from Keizan‟s days (the
which had been known as kyo by Buddhists of the eighth early fourteenth century). An examination of this mixture
century as k e i by those of the ninth century, now became will help us to better understand not just the D e n k o r o k u
k i n . More important than pronunciations and vocabulary but also the roles of genre in Japanese Zen literature.
was the importation of new literary structures and forms.
Establishing Zen in Japan forced Japanese students to
master heretofore ignored ways of writing Chinese. They 2 Recorded Sayings
carefully imitated not just new rules of Chinese prosody,
but also specifically Zen literary genres (so-called flame
histories, recorded sayings, koan collections, etc.), as well The fifteenth century manuscript of the D e n k o r o k u
as the bureaucratic rhetoric of Chinese Buddhist discovered at Kenkon‟in temple begins with the following
institutions with their specific kinds of proclamations for inner title ( n a i d a i ): “The recorded sayings of the great
every ceremony and event (Tamamura 1996 and 1991). Upadhyaya Keizan while residing at Yokoji monastery,
Mount Tokokuzan, Noto Province, as compiled by his

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attendant (s)” ( K e i z a n d a i o s h o j u N o s h u categories agree with the content of other texts labeled as
T o k o k u z a n Y o k o j i g o r o k u , j i s h a h e n ) (Azuma “recorded sayings” that were produced in Japanese Five
1970, 5). “Recorded sayings” ( g o r o k u 語 錄 ) is the first Mountains (gozan 五山) Zen establishments and in China
genre I wish to consider. The D e n k o r o k u is included as (Tamamura 1991, 117 139). Indeed, one of main purposes
volume 5 in the series “Recorded Saying of Japanese Zen” of these texts is to demonstrate that Zen in Japan shares a
(Nihon no Zen Goroku) edited by Furuta Shokin and Iriya structural identity with its namesake in China. This is the
Yoshitaka (published by Kodansha in 1978). Tajima reason why the records are written entirely in grammati-
Hakudo translated the text of the Kenkon‟in manuscript cally correct Chinese.
into modern Japanese for this volume. In his introduction,
The D e n k o r o k u , in contrast, shares none of these
though, Tajima does not discuss the term “recorded
characteristics. It includes not a single one of the above-
sayings” or explain why the D e n k o r o k u belongs to that
mentioned categories (no j o d o , no s h o s a n , no hogo,
genre. Azuma Ryushin, in the very first line of the
etc.). It is written almost entirely in Japanese, except for
introduction to his 1991 modern Japanese language
short Chinese verses which conclude its remarks on each
translation of the D e n k o r o k u (p. 3), also identifies it as
patriarch. And only one line in the entire text suggests the
Keizan‟s recorded sayings. He goes on to say (p. 4),
existence of a specific monastic ceremony. Even that line,
however, that the inner title of the Kenkon‟in manuscript is
though, conveys no sense of the of the routines of monastic
incorrect. He does not explain why it is incorrect, but
practice. In short, the D e n k o r o k u is not recorded
merely points out that a more accurate title would be the
sayings in terms of the usual conventions of that genre.
version found in some later manuscripts, which identify the
text as „„T h e D e n k o r o k u by the great Upadhyaya The D e n k o r o k u ’ s mention of a monastic ceremony
Keizan Jokin, the second-generation [abbot] of Daijoji occurs immediately after the inner title quoted above. The
monastery” ( D a i j o n i s e i K e i z a n J o k i n very first line of the text says: “On the eleventh day of the
d a i o s h o D e n k o r o k u ). I assume that Azuma objects exemplary moon, second year of the Shoan Era, the teacher
only to the misidentification of the location (Yokoji instead (Keizan) began (during) a Requesting Benefits
of Daijoji) where the text was produced, not to the term (ceremony)” ( S h i o S h o a n n i n e n shogatsu j i u c h i
“recorded sayings.” Thus, both editions avoid the question: n i c h i , s h i s h i n ‘ e k i ) (Azuma 1970, 5). This date
in what way can the D e n k o r o k u be called “recorded corresponds to the first lunar month of 1300, two years
sayings”? after Keizan had become the second abbot of Daijoji
monastery (and many years before Keizan began
In other words, what are the usual connotations of the
constructing Yokoji). The date alone tells us that the
term “recorded sayings”? What similarities are exhibited
D e n k o r o k u cannot be a record of Keizan‟s lectures at
by other Japanese Zen texts commonly identified by this
Yokoji monastery as asserted by inner title. The requesting
term? Within the Soto Zen tradition, we can point to at
benefits ceremony ( s h i n ’ e k i ) is described in detail in
least four other early recorded sayings as examples of this
Keizan‟s C e r e m o n i a l Procedures ( G y o j i j i j o leaf
genre. They are: (1) E i h e i G e n z e n j i g o r o k u (1
18; cf. Kagamishima and Azuma 1974, 23-24). It was a
fasc.), the record of Dogen 道元 (1200-1253) at Koshoji regular event during the 90-day winter and summer
and at Eiheiji monasteries; (2) Giun osho g o r o k u (2 training periods, on the evenings of the days numbered
fasc.), the record of Giun (1253 1333) at Hokyoji and at with “Is” or “3s” (i.e., on the 3d, 11th, 13th, 21st, and 23d
Eiheiji monasteries; (3) K e i z a n osho g o r o k u (1 fasc.), days of each month). On those evenings all the monks will
the record of Keizan Jokin at Yokoji monastery; and (4) assemble in the abbot‟s quarters (h o j o ), where the chief
Tsugen r o k u (1 fasc.), the record of Tsugen Jakurei monk ( s h u s o ) recites a Zen story ( k o a n 公案) and
(1322-1391) at Sojiji, at Yokokuji and at Ryusenji
asks the teacher to comment on it. The abbot then gives his
monasteries. The content and structure of all four of these
evaluation of the story, which he summarizes with a verse
texts are remarkably similar to one another, but differ
(agyo 下語 ). Afterwards, the monks are free to state their
greatly from the D e n k o r o k u . The four texts of recorded
sayings are episodic, consisting of brief comments written individual evaluations of the story or to ask additional
in Chinese to commemorate ceremonies conducted questions.
according to the liturgical calendar of the various As Azuma (1991, 14-19) points out, nothing in the
monasteries. Frequently, these ceremonies mention the subsequent content of the D e n k o r o k u suggests that it
occasion and, especially, the names of lay patrons or was presented according to this ceremonial procedure.
sponsors. Moreover, the contents of the recorded sayings Instead of evenings, the text suggests daylight hours since
are assembled into specific categories, such as addresses in several places it uses the words “today” (kyo) or “this
delivered in the dharma hall ( j o d o 上 堂) in the abbot‟s morning” (kesa) . It is not the monks who present the
quarters (shosan小參), dharma epistles (hogo 法語 ) stories, but Keizan. There is no give and take between
inauguration remarks ( k a i d o 開堂), poems written on Keizan and his audience. There is no mention of any other
portraits (san), funerary remarks ( s h o b u t s u j i 小佛事), dates nor any indication of the passage of time. It is
impossible to know how much of the text might have been
and Buddhist verse or gatha ( g e j u 偈頌) . All of these
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presented on any particular day or how many days might The J i n g d e E r a T r a n s m i s s i o n o f t h e
have been required to complete the entire text. Assuming F l a m e reinforces this sense of everlasting truth by
that the D e n k o r o k u is a transcript of lectures that were identifying the origins of the Zen lineage not just with
presented during the regularly scheduled requesting Sakyamuni Buddha alone but with the seven Buddha‟s
benefits ceremony, Azuma (1991, 14-15) estimates that it: ( s h i c h i b u t s u ) of the past. The seven Buddha‟s consist
required between two to four years (depending on exactly of the last three Buddhas of the previous eon ( s h o g o n
how often the ceremonies occurred) to complete the entire k o ) as well as the first four Buddhas of the present eon
series of lectures. Nonetheless, other than the text‟s own ( k e n g o b h a d r a k a l p a ) , of which Sakyamuni is
assertion (which, as we have seen, are not always number four. Each eon is an infinitely long period of time
trustworthy), we have no evidence that it involved the during which 1,000 Buddhas appear, only one Buddha
requesting benefits ceremony. appears at a time, and each new appearance is separated
from the others by an incalculable number of years. In spite
of the vast distance of time and space separating these
3 Flame (Lineage) Histories seven Buddhas, they all proclaim the same doctrines and
practice. Moreover, they transmitted this truth from one
Buddha to the next via dharma transmission verses
What we do know for certain about the D e n k o r o k u ( d e n p o g e ). Each generation of the Zen lineage, from
is that it narrates the history of the Soto Zen lineage the first Buddha of the past down to Sakyamuni and
consisting of one Buddha (Sakyamuni) and fifty two continuing through all the patriarchs of India down to the
ancestors. At first glance, this narrative structure thirty-third ancestor, Iluineng ISrib (the sixth ancestor of
corresponds most closely to the Zen genre known as flame China), chants a Buddhist verse ( g a t h a ) that plays on
(or lamp) histories ( t o s h i 燈史 and t o r o k u 燈錄 1 ). the same doctrinal motifs as found in the verse chanted by
Flame histories consist of the large hagiographic the previous generation. Thereafter this model of seven
collections produced by Chinese Zen monks during the Buddhas and their dharma transmission verses became part
Song dynasty (960-1279), beginning with the J i n g d e of the standard image of Zen2. This emphasis on poetic
Era Transmission of the Flame (Jingde expression of timeless truth served the religious agenda of
c h u a n d e n g l u 景德傳燈錄 30 fasc.; T no. 2076) of the literary Zen (w e n z i c h a n ) that prevailed in elite
1004. It was followed in quick succession by the following monasteries during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1086).
flame histories, all of which predate Keizan: Tiansheng The D e n k o r o k u clearly aims to demonstrate that the
Era Extensive Flame Record (Tiansheng guangdeng lu) of Buddhism that Keizan inherited from his teachers is the
1029; Transmitting the Dharma in the Legitimate Lineage same authentic Buddhism depicted by the flame records as
Chronicle (Chuanfa zhengzong ji 9 fasc.; T no. 2078) of having been handed down from generation to generation
1061; Jianzhong Era Pacifying the Realm Continued within the Buddha‟s true religious family. In this sense, it
Flame Record (Jianzhong jingguo xu deng lu 30 fasc.) of shares the same world view and religious agenda as the
1101; Extracts of the Zen School’s Flame Lineage flame records mentioned above. In many other respects, it
( Z o n g m e n liandeng huiyao 30 fasc.) of 1183; Jiatai differs from them. First, the D e n k o r o k u presents only
Era Universal Flame Record (Jiatai pudeng lu 30 fasc.) of one genealogical line, the Soto Zen lineage. As a result, its
1202; and the Extracts of the Five Flame Records (Wudeng progression is strictly diachronic. It lacks any synchronic
huiyuan 五燈會元 20 fasc.) of 1252. All of these sense of Zen as a collective activity. Second, it does not
compilations present the hagiographies of hundreds of Zen attempt to present the same kind of hagiographic details as
teachers, arranged in genealogical sequences that go back in the flame records. Unlike them, it is not structured
through India to the Buddha Sakyamuni. around a biographical framework. Third, it ignores the
These Song-period flame histories present Zen (Chan) seven Buddhas of the past. It omits the mythological
as the only the only authentic Buddhism because it is the dimension of Zen as a timeless truth outside of time of
Buddhism that has been handed down from generation to space. By ignoring the seven Buddhas and starting with
generation by the patriarchs and teachers ( s o s h i 祖師) Sakyamuni, the D e n k o r o k u focuses immediately on our
who constitute the Buddha‟s true religious family. This world, our history, and our circumstances. Each generation
religious family functions conceptually like one of the differs from the others. Each generation confronted
different environments. Each generation approaches the
aristocratic clans ( z o n g 宗) of ancient China, with
truth in its own way. Rather than the static, unchanging
several branch houses (k e 家 ). All the members of all nature of the truth, the D e n k o r o k u emphasizes the
these various households collectively authenticate and dynamic, dramatic, and ultimately unique process by which
transmit the same Buddhism. Thus, flame records convey one must encounter that truth. In this respect, the
an overall impression of Buddhism as consisting of D e n k o r o k u differs in focus and purpose from traditional
timeless standards shared by all members of the Zen family Chinese flame histories. Instead of timelessness, the
regardless of geographical location or the passage of D e n k o r o k u seems to emphasize how every generation
history. encountered different struggles and developed diverse
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teaching methods. Fourth, instead of linking the therefore, have identified the internal divisions by adding
generations together with dharma verses, the appropriate subsection titles. The wording of these
D e n k o r o k u links them through k o a n 公案 (pivotal subsection titles differ from one edition to the next, but
events or words) that depict the crucial moment in each regardless of the precise terminology used one can
generation when the truth was fully authenticated ( s h o accurately say that the D e n k o r o k u describes each
証). generation according to the following four-part structure:
Each episode begins with (1) a main k o a n ( h o n s o k u
The word k o a n already has entered the English 本 則), which consists of the central koan when the Buddha
language. Nonetheless, its connotations in Zen literature or patriarch authenticated the dharma; next, a brief
and its connotations in English are not necessarily the same biographical section summarizes the (2) circumstances
or even similar. Here I want to adopt the “k o a n as literary
( i n n e n 因縁) under which the k o a n occurred; then,
framework” definition of k o a n proposed by T. Griffith
Foulk. He stipulates that a k o a n consists of “any text that Keizan‟s (3) presentation (n e n t e i 拈提) explains the
combines, at a minimum, the following two formal religious significance of the main koan, how it should be
features: (l) a narrative that has been excerpted from the studied, and how it should be authenticated in daily life;
biography or discourse record of a Chan, Son, or Zen and finally, Keizan‟s (4) appended verse summarizes the
master, and (2) some sort of commentary on that narrative” gist of the matter or relates it to current events. This four-
(Foulk 2000, 27). As Foulk notes (p. 17) “to treat a part structure resembles the format found in famous
particular passage from the patriarchal records as a k o a n Chinese k o a n commentaries, such as the B l u e C l i f f
is precisely to single it out and problematize it as R e c o r d ( B i y a n l u 碧 巖 錄 T no. 2003) or
something profound and difficult to penetrate.” This is W u m e n ’ s B a r r i e r s ( W u m e n g u a n 無門關; T no.
exactly what the D e n k o r o k u does. It singles out a 2005).
specific episode from the records of each generation of the Today we know of at least two versions of the B l u e
Soto Zen lineage and comments on that episode as a Cliff R e c o r d : (a) the so-called “Single Night” (Ichiya)
profound demonstration of truth. manuscript secretly preserved at Daijoji monastery, and (b)
As a result of the D e n k o r o k u ‟s central emphasis on the Yuan dynasty reprint (1317) that was widely studied in
k o a n , its Chinese poetry also serves a different purpose. Zen circles. Legend states that the Daijoji manuscript was
Every episode of the D e n k o r o k u concludes not with brought to Japan in 1227 by Dogen, who was aided by
transmission verse, but with an “appended verse” gods in copying the entire text in a single night on the
( a g y o 下語 ). These verses amplifies the main themes of evening just before his return ship left China. Its actual
the k o a n under consideration and place them in a larger history is unknown, but scholars assume that it preserves
context by alluding to other passages in Chinese literature an earlier format than does the 1317 reprint. Although both
where related issues appear. In the D e n k o r o k u , the versions probably existed during Keizan‟s lifetime (which
appended verses generally are very short, with only two ended in 1325), there is no evidence he ever saw either of
lines of seven glyphs per line ( s h i c h i g o n n i k u ; in 46 them. Nonetheless, Keizan probably would have been
cases). Only a very few episodes have verses of four lines familiar with the general structure used in the genre of
(7 cases; Tajima 1978, 46). These short verses cannot stand k o a n commentary that the B l u e Cliff R e c o r d
on their own without the k o a n on which they comment. represents.
This use of appended verses reflects the shift away from The internal structure of the B l u e Cliff R e c o r d is
literary Zen in favor of k o a n study ( k a n h u a that slightly more complex than the D e n k o r o k u , since it
occurred in China during the Southern Song dynasty originated as Xuedou Chongxian‟s (980 - 1052) verse
(1227-1279). commentary ( j u k o ) 100 k o a n . Later Yuanwu Keqin
(1063-1135) created the B l u e C l i f f R e c o r d by adding
prose commentary and appended verses to Xuedou‟s
4 Koan Commentary compilation. Thus, there are three layers: 100 k o a n (from
a variety of sources), 100 verses by Xuedou, and 100 sets
of comments by Yuanwu that address the k o a n and the
Since each episode in the D e n k o r o k u revolves verses. These three layers result in a seven-part structure
around a k o a n , its account of each generation is for each chapter of the text. To make matters even more
structured in a format similar to those associated with the complicated, the seven-part structure is not identical in the
genre of k o a n commentaries. None of the manuscript Single Night and the 1317 reprint. Each chapter begins
versions of the D e n k o r o k u include any paragraph with (I) Yuanwu‟s opening remarks (labeled his “address,”
divisions or internal subsection titles. The structure of the j i s h u in the Single Night text and his “instructions,” suiji
D e n k o r o k u must be deduced from stylistic clues and
垂示 in the reprint edition). Next, the command “focus”
textual content. These clues reveal an obvious four-part
( k o 举 ) introduces (2) the main k o a n ( h o n s o k u )
structure that is shared by all the episodes. The editors of
all modern published editions of the D e n k o r o k u , originally selected by Xuedou. This k o a n is accompanied

95
by (3) interlinear comments (labeled c h u k y a k u or k o a n responds to its predecessors. (It begins, for example,
j a k u g o 著 語 ) by Yuanwu. The main k o a n is followed with a sequence of k o a n that address various aspects of
by (4) Xuedou‟s verse comment (ju 頌). The verse affirmation and negation.) As a result, W u m e n ’ s
comment is accompanied by (5) Yuanwu‟s interlinear B a r r i e r s differs considerably from the D e n k o r o k u , in
comments. Then, the text concludes with Yuanwu‟s (6) which the sequence of k o a n follows a genealogical
evaluation of ( h y o s h o 評 唱commentary on) the main sequence. Again, this emphasis on genealogy connects the
k o a n and his (7) evaluation of Xuedou‟s verse. Note that D e n k o r o k u more closely to flame histories.
the above order represents the textual sequence in Single
Night manuscript. In the 1317 reprint, parts 4 5-6 are
ordered 6 4-5, so that Yuanwu‟s evaluation of the main 5 Conclusion
k o a n precedes Xuedou‟s verse comment.
Regardless of the order, one can see both similarities The D e n k o r o k u does not fit easily into any of the
and differences between the B l u e C l i f f R e c o r d and standard genres of Zen literature that had developed in
the D e n k o r o k u . First, the D e n k o r o k u ’ s four-part China. Unlike the typical recorded sayings, it does not
structure is simpler than the seven-part one in the B l u e provide a Chinese-language record of the main lectures
C l i f f R e c o r d . The D e n k o r o k u presents its main presented at monastic ceremonies conducted according to
k o a n ( h o n s o k u ) with neither an opening remark nor the liturgical calendar. Unlike the typical flame history, it
interlinear comments. Likewise, the appended verses does not present a hagiographic account of the Zen school
( a g y o ) in the D e n k o r o k u are accompanied neither by as a whole, beginning outside of time and place with the
interlinear comments nor by a prose evaluation. Second, seven buddhas. Unlike a typical k o a n commentary,
Yuanwu‟s evaluation ( h y o s h o ) of the main k o a n though, it does focus on a specific lineage, which it follows
corresponds to Keizan‟s presentation ( n e n t e i ) . At the from Sakyamuni down to Keizan‟s immediate
same time, though, the D e n k o r o k u provides an predecessors. Thus, it combines elements from each of
additional layer of commentary on each main k o a n . In these genres into a text that addresses the unique needs of
place of the single evaluation found in the B l u e Cliff Keizan‟s nascent Zen community, which existed in relative
R e c o r d , the D e n k o r o k u . provides not just a isolation in rural Kaga Province. Rather than bemoaning
presentation, but also an explanation of the biographical the D e n k o r o k u ’ s unorthodox structure and style, it
circumstances ( i n n e n ) . The addition of this should be accepted simply as early example of an attempt
biographical information probably was more desirable in to develop new mode of Zen exposition suitable to the
Japan (where access to Zen lore was much more limited) unfamiliar cultural environment of Japan.
than in China. Moreover, as explained above, this
We cannot conclude, though, without returning to our
biographical component takes the Denkoroku out of the
initial question: in what way can the D e n k o r o k u be
genre of k o a n commentary and causes it to overlap with
called “recorded sayings”? Certainly Professor Azuma
the genre of flame histories.
(1991, 3) would not have declared the D e n k o r o k u to be
The simpler structure of the D e n k o r o k u more Keizan‟s recorded sayings without good reason. While not
closely resembles the format of the other major Chinese presuming to speak for the Professor, I wish to offer one
k o a n commentary: W u m e n ’ s B a r r i e r s by Wumen possible explanation. Aside from recorded sayings as
Huikai (1183 1260). Written in 1228 and first published in genre, one can also define recorded sayings in terms of
1229, the text of W u m e n ’ s B a r r i e r s was brought to what they purport to represent: a record of someone‟s
Japan in 1254 by Wumen‟s disciple Shinchi-bo Muhon sayings. The encyclopedia of Zen culture, Z e n r i n
Kakushin (1207-1298). It seems to have been even more s h d k i s e n (1741), by the great Zen scholar Mujaku
widely read in Japan than in China. In any case, D o c h u (1653-1744), for example, defines recorded
W u m e n ’ s B a r r i e r s comments on forty-eight k o a n sayings as: “Extracts of the sayings of Zen patriarchs,
according to a three-part structure. Each chapter begins which are transcribed as they occur either by an attendant
with (l) a main k o a n ( h o n s o k u ); next, (2) Wumen or by the teacher himself in ordinary, direct speech without
comments on the religious significance of the main k o a n ; flowery literary elegance” (chapter 21, “Kyoroku mon” p.
and finally, he (3) appends a verse that summarizes the gist 599a). As Azuma subsequently points out (1991, 24) the
of the matter. This three-part structure closely resembles Kenkon‟in manuscript of the Denkoroku shows clear signs
the format of the D e n k o r o k u , except for the of mistaken listening. For example, the phrase “convert
D e n k o r o k u ’ s inclusion of the biographical ordinary people into holy ones,” which normally is written
circumstances (i n n e n ) behind each k o a n . In spite of in Japanese as t e n h o n nyusho 転凡人聖, is miswritten as
their structural similarity, the two texts differ in their goals. t e n b u n nyusho 転分人聖. A Likewise, the term “three
W u m e n ’ s B a r r i e r s emphasizes the so-called “short- jewels,” which normally is written as sanbo 三宝, is
cut method” (Buswell 1987) of focusing on a single word
miswritten as sango 三業. The incorrect glyphs (i.e., bun
to arouse great doubt. Moreover, one can sometimes detect
hints of a dialectical sequence in which each of its main 分 for b o n 凡, and g o 業 for b o 宝) do not look similar

96
to one another. A copyist would never substitute one for of what he said. Thus, it represents a precursor to the
the other. But if not heard clearly, they can sound similar. “lecture transcription” (k i k i g a k i ) genre of Zen literature
These kinds of errors (and there are many more examples) that developed in medieval Japan. We see here an example
demonstrate that the text of the D e n k o r o k u originated as of how Chinese elements transplanted in Japan gave birth
the transcription of Keizan‟s lectures. In other words, the to a new Zen culture that is neither completely the same
actual text was not written by Keizan. Instead, it is a record nor completely different from its ancestors.

Footnotes:
( 1 ) In translating t o as “flame” I am following the lead of T. Griffith Foulk (1993, 200 n 20), who points out
that the metaphor normally translated into English as “conveying a lamp” ( d e n t o 傳燈) can best symbolize
the conveyance of wisdom (illumination) from one generation to the next only when it is conceived of as “the
flame of one lamp [being] used to light another.” To demonstrate that Zen texts refer to the flame (not the
body) of the lamp, Foulk cites the following passage from the P l a t f o r m S u t r a o f t h e S i x t h
Patriarch (Liuzu tanjing) :
“Good friends, how then are concentration ( j o 定 ) and discernment ( e 惠) alike? They are
like the flame ( t o 燈) and its light ( k o 光 ) . If there is a flame there is light; if there is no
flame there is no light. The flame is the substance ( t a i ) of light; the light is the function ( y u )
of the flame. Thus, although they have two names, their substance is not of two types. The
practices of concentration and discernment are also like this.” (cf. Yampolskv 1967, 137; sec. 15)
Foulk explains: “If (following Yampolsky) one reads „lamp‟ for „flame‟ here, the statement becomes patently
false, and the entire metaphor loses its force, since a lamp may exist (unlit) without there being any light.”
( 2 ) The Jingde Era Transmission of the Flame reproduces the transmission verses found in the Ancestral Hall
Collection (Zutang ji; 20 fasc.) of 952. I cite the later text because after its publication in 1004 the Jingde Era
Transmission of the Flame was included in the official versions of the Chinese Buddhist canon and,
consequently, influenced all subsequent flame histories. The Ancestral Hall Collection, in contrast, circulated
very little in China before becoming lost. It survived only in Korea, where it was published in 1245.

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 Denkoroku (Transmission of Light) Verses by Keizan The poem at the end of each chapter should, at some
CLEARY: Thomas Cleary, Transmission of Light. North Point Press (1990) time, be read in sequence with all the others; they will
COOK: Francis Cook, The Record of Transmitting the Light. Center Pub. (1991) then be perceived as one long, ROLLING OF THE
NEARMAN: Hubert Nearman, The Denkoroku. Shasta Abbey Press (1993) WHEEL OF THE ETERNAL. – Jiyu Kennett
1. 荊 一 CLEARY: One branch stands out on the old apricot tree;
Shakyamuni 棘 枝 Thorns come forth at the same time.
與 秀
釋迦牟尼佛 時 出 COOK: A splendid branch issues from the old plum tree;
築 老 At the same time, obstructing thorns flourish everywhere
Shakamuni
著 梅 NEARMAN: Unsurpassed in the beauty of its graceful form is the old Plum Tree;
來 樹 Its spiny branches, when the season is ripe, will burst forth in bloom.
2. 更 可 CLEARY: Know that in the remote recesses of the misty valley
Mahakashyapa 有 知 There is another sacred pine that passes the winter cold.
靈 雲
摩訶迦葉 松 谷 COOK: Know that in a remote place in a cloud-covered valley,
歴 幽 There is still a sacred pine that passes through the chill of the ages.
Makakashō
歳 深 NEARMAN: Know that hidden deep within the cloud-enshrouded valley
寒 處 There still remains the SACRED PINE enduring through the chill of time.
3. 溪 藤 CLEARY: The vines withered, the trees fallen, The mountains crumble away--
Ananda 水 枯 The valley stream swells in a torrent, Sparks fly from stone.
瀑 樹
阿難陀 漲 倒 COOK: Wisteria withered, trees fallen, mountains crumbled—
石 山 Valley streams gush forth, and sparks pour out [from the stones].
Anānda
火 崩 NEARMAN: When the vines have withered, the trees have fallen and the mountains have crumbled
流 去 away,
The valley stream, in cascades, will gush beyond its banks and the very rock will pour
forth fire.
4. 散 萬 CLEARY: The sourceless river on a mountain miles high--
Shanavasa 雪 仭 Piercing rocks, sweeping clouds, it surges forth;
飛 巖 Scattering clouds, sending flowers flying in profusion,
商那和修 花 上 The length of white silk is absolutely free of dust.
Shōnawashu 縱 無
亂 源 COOK: Sourceless stream from a ten-thousand-foot cliff,
亂 水 Washing out stones, scattering clouds, gushing forth,
Brushing away the snow, making the flowers wildly fly—
一 穿
A length of pure white silk beyond the dust.
條 石
白 拂 NEARMAN: From atop a ten-thousand-foot cliff the WATER WITHOUT SOURCE,
練 雲 Piercing through rock, sweeping away clouds, comes seething and gushing forth;
絶 湧 Though scattering the snow and flower petals, making them fly in wild disorder,
塵 沸 This CLOTH-LIKE STRIP, pure white as cotton, Is beyond the drab world of dust.
埃 來
5. 身 家 CLEARY: The house broken up, the people gone, neither inside nor out,
Upagupta 心 破 Where have body and mind ever hidden their forms?
何 人
優婆毱多 處 亡 COOK: House demolished, the person perished, neither inside nor outside,
隱 非 Where can body and mind hide their forms?
Ubakikuta
形 内 NEARMAN: With the house demolished and the self o'erthrown, no inside or outside remains
來 外 So where, pray, are body and mind to conceal their forms?
6. 輪 得 CLEARY: When you attain the marrow, know the attainment is clear;
Dhrtaka 扁 髓 An adept still has an incommunicable subtlety.
猶 須
提多迦 有 知 COOK: By acquiring the marrow, you will know the clarity of what you found;
不 得 Lun-pien still possesses subtleties he does not pass on.
Dāitaka
傳 處 NEARMAN: Reach the VERY MARROW and you will know the splendour and clarity of THAT
妙 明 which you have realized;
Even so, the master artisan Lun-pien encountered such wondrous subtleties that they lay
beyond his expression!
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7. 人 縱 CLEARY: Though there be the purity of the autumn waters Extending to the horizon,
Micchaka 家 有 How does that compare with the haziness Of a spring night's moon?
多 連 Most people want clear purity,
彌遮迦 是 天 But though you sweep and sweep, The Mind is not yet emptied.
Mishaka 要 秋
清 水 COOK: Even with purity like an autumn flood reaching to the heavens,
白 潔 How can it compare to the haziness of a spring night‘s moon?
Many people desire to find purity in their lives,
掃 何
But though they sweep and sweep, their minds are not yet empty.
去 如
掃 春 NEARMAN: Even though there may be an everyday purity, silt-clear as a river‘s water in autumn,
來 夜 How can it possibly compare with a luminous spring night, the moon softened by haze?‖
心 月 Many are the houses where people thus speak, yearning for a spotlessly clean life
未 朦 But, however much they sweep this way and that, their hearts are still not emptied and
空 朧 clear.
MAEZUMI & GLASSMAN: Though clear waters range to the vast blue autumn sky,
How can they compare with the hazy moon on a spring night!
Most people want to have pure clarity,
But sweep as you will, you cannot empty the mind.
8. 斯 霜 CLEARY: The frosty dawn's bell rings as it's struck,
Vasumitra 中 曉 You never need an empty bowl here.
元 鐘
婆須蜜 (世友) 不 如 COOK: Just an echo follows when a bells sounds on a frosty morning,
要 隨 So, here, from the first there is no need for an empty cup.
Vashumitsu
空 扣 NEARMAN: He is like the bell at the break of an August morning which, being struck,
盞 響 reverberates and echoes forth.
On such a ‗Festival for the Dead‘ as this, who needs an empty wine cup?
9. 若 善 CLEARY: Even Manjusri and Vimalakirti could not talk about it,
Buddhanandi 人 吉 Even Maudgalyayana and Shariputra could not see it.
親 維 If people want to understand the meaning themselves,
佛陀難提 欲 摩 When has the flavor of salt ever been inappropriate?
Butsudanāndāi 會 談
這 未 COOK: The discussions of Subhuti and Vimalakirti did not reach it;
意 到 Maugalyayana and Sariputra saw it as if blind.
If you wish to understand the meaning of this intimately,
鹽 目
When is some seasoning not appropriate?
味 連
何 鶖 NEARMAN: Subhuti and Vimalakirti did not reach IT through their conversations
時 子 And Moggallana and Shariputra saw IT as though blind.
不 見 If anyone personally wishes to understand the meaning of this,
的 如 When will a pinch of salt to season the experience not be suitable?
當 盲
10. 豈 莫 CLEARY: Do not say that words and silence touch upon The remote and subtle;
Punyamitra 有 言 How can there be material senses To defile inherent essence?
根 語
伏馱蜜多 塵 默 COOK: Do not say that speech and silence are involved in with separation and concealment;
染 渉 How can sense and their objects defile one‘s own nature?
Fudamītta
自 離 NEARMAN: Do not say that speech or silence is the way to manifest the wondrousness of the
性 微 HEART
For how can your sense organs and their objects ever possibly defile your own SELF
NATURE?
11. 死 轉 CLEARY: Turning, turning, how many pages of scripture? Revolving, revolving, how many
Parshva 此 來 scrolls?
生 轉 Dying here, born there-- Divisions of chapter and verse.
婆栗溼縛 (脇) 彼 去
Barishiba 章 幾 COOK: Turning, turning – so many sutra scrolls!
句 經 Born here, dying there – nothing but chapters and phrases.
區 卷 NEARMAN: Turning page after page, oh how many volumes of Scripture there are!
Dying here, being born there, is but chapter and verse.
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12. 來 我 CLEARY: My mind is not the Buddhas, and not you either;
Punyayashas 往 心 Coming and going has been here all along.
從 非
富那夜奢 來 佛 COOK: My mind is not the Buddhas, nor is it you.
在 亦 Coming and going abide herein as always.
Funayasha
此 非 NEARMAN: My ORIGINAL NATURE is not the Buddha nor is IT you,
中 汝 And all my comings and goings abide therein.
13. 更 野 CLEARY: The red of the village is not known to the peach blossoms,
Ashvagosha 教 村 Yet they made an ancient Zen master reach certainty.
靈 紅
阿那菩底 雲 不 COOK: The red of the rustic village is unknown to the peach blossoms;
(馬鳴大士) 到 桃 Yet, they instruct Ling-yun to arrive at doubtlessness.
不 華 NEARMAN: In the country village the peach blossoms did not know that they were red
Anabotēi
疑 識 Yet they taught Ling-yun how to arrive at certainty.
14. 清 CLEARY:Even if the enormous waves flood the skies,
Kapimala 淨 渺 When has the water of the pure ocean ever changed?
海 波 COOK: Even though the huge waves flood the heavens,
迦毘摩羅 水 濤
何 How can the pure ocean water ever change?
Kabimara 縱
曾 滔 NEARMAN: Upon the vast expanse of water the billowing waves are set free to dash up and meet
變 天 the sky;
Always immaculate is the water of this OCEAN! How can IT ever possibly change?
15. 如 孤 CLEARY: The solitary light, aware space, is always free from darkness;
Nagarjuna 意 光 The wish-fulfilling jewel distributes its shining radiance.
摩 靈
那伽閼喇樹那 尼 廓 COOK: The orphan light, marvelously vast, is never darkened;
(龍樹大士) 分 常 The wish-fulfilling mani[-jewel] shines everywhere.
照 無 NEARMAN: ITS solitary light, wondrously vast, is never darkened
Nagyaharajuna
來 昧 For the wish-fulfilling MANI-JEWEL shines forth illumining everywhere.
16. 獰 一 CLEARY: One needle fishes all the waters of the ocean;
Kanadeva 龍 針 Wherever it goes, the ferocious dragon can hardly conceal its body.
到 釣
迦那提婆 處 盡 COOK: A needle fishes up all the ocean water;
叵 滄 Wherever fierce dragons go, it is hard to conceal themselves.
Kanadāiba
藏 溟 NEARMAN: Once the SINGLE NEEDLE has fished up all the sky-blue waters of the ocean,
身 水 The FIERCE DRAGON, wherever HE may go, will not conceal HIMSELF.
17. 惑 惜 CLEARY: What a pity the eye of the Way is not clear--
Rahulata 自 哉 Losing himself, repaying others, his retribution isn't ended.
酬 道
羅睺羅多 他 眼 COOK: What a pity his Dharma eye was not clear.
報 不 Deluded about Self, repaying others, the retribution never ends.
Ragorata
未 清 NEARMAN: How sad that his Enlightenment-seeking Eye was not clear and bright!
休 白 Deluded as to TRUE SELF, he sought to repay others and, in recompense, is ceaselessly
born again and again.
18. 我 心 CLEARY: Mental workings turn freely in accord with mental characteristics;
Sanghanandi 我 機 How many times has the self of selves changed faces now?
幾 宛
僧伽難提 分 轉 COOK: Mind‘s activity smoothly rolling on is the form the mind takes;
面 稱 How many times has the Self appeared with a different face!
Sōgyanāndāi
目 心 NEARMAN: The mind machine persuasively calls itself the way mind is
來 相 And, as a result, how many times has the WE come forth wearing a different face?
19. 僧 寂 CLEARY: The silent mind ringing echoes in ten thousand ways;
Jayashata 伽 寞 Sanghanandi, Jayashata, as well as the wind and chimes.
伽 心
伽耶舍多 耶 鳴 COOK: Silent, still, the Mind rings and echoes in ten thousand ways –
及 響 Sanghanandi, Gayasata, and wind and bells.
Kayashata
風 萬 NEARMAN: Silent and still, ORIGINAL NATURE resounds, reverberating in a myriad ways,
鈴 樣 Sagyanandai and Kayashata as well as wind and bell.
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20. 而 推 CLEARY: Pushing over the body of past lives blocked by experience,
Kumarata 今 倒 Now he meets the same old fellow.
相 宿
鳩摩羅多 見 生 COOK: In past lives he cast off one body after another;
舊 隔 Right now, he encounters the Old Fellow.
Kumorata
時 歴 NEARMAN: Clinging to a body from a past life, made ever so remote by the passage of time,
漢 身 We suddenly meet face to face with the ONE from ancient days.
21. 枝 豫 CLEARY: The camphor tree, as ever, grows to the sky;
Jayata 葉 章 The branches and leaves, roots and trunk, flourish beyond the clouds.
根 從
闍夜多 莖 來 COOK: The camphor tree as always, is born in the sky;
雲 生 Its limbs, leaves, roots, and trunk flourish beyond the clouds.
Shayata
外 空 NEARMAN: The camphor tree, as of old, grows up into the sky;
榮 裏 Its branches and leaves, roots and trunk flourish beyond the clouds.
22. 道 風 CLEARY: The wind traverses the vast sky, floods emerge from the mountains;
Vasubandhu 情 過 Feelings of enlightenment and things of the world are of no concern at all.
世 大
婆修盤頭 事 虚 COOK: The wind blows through the great sky, clouds appear from the mountain caverns;
(世親) 都 雲 Feelings for the Way and worldly affairs are of no concern at all.
無 出 NEARMAN: The wind blows across the vast sky, making the clouds expose the mountain peak;
Vashubānzu
管 岫 Worldly affairs and yearnings for enlightenment are both of no concern.
23. 見 舜 CLEARY: The spirit of emptiness is not inside or outside;
Manora 聞 若 Seeing, hearing, sound and form, all are void.
聲 多
摩奴羅 色 神 COOK: The spirit of shunyata is neither inside nor outside;
倶 非 Seeing, hearing, forms, and sounds are all empty.
Manura
虚 内 NEARMAN: The spirit of SHUNYATA is neither inside nor outside;
空 外 Seeing and hearing, sound and form, are all as the empty sky.
24. 純 粉 CLEARY: The powdered wall sticking through the clouds--snow on the massive crags.
Haklena-yasas 清 壁 Absolute purity without a blotch is different from the blue sky.
絶 挿
鶴勒那 點 雲 COOK: A white precipice—snow of a great peak sticking through the clouds.
異 巨 Its purity annihilates all details and contrasts with the blue sky.
Kakurokuna
青 嶽 NEARMAN: A whitened wall breaks through the clouds, snow on its massive crags;
天 雪 Perfectly pure and without a blotch, it stands out against the blue sky.
25. 冲 若 CLEARY: If you want to reveal the void, do not cover it up;
Sinha-bodhi 虚 欲 Thoroughly empty, pure and peaceful, it is originally clear.
淨 顯
獅子菩提 泊 空 COOK: If you want to reveal the sky, do not cover it up.
本 須 It is empty, tranquil and originally bright.
Shishibodāi
來 莫 NEARMAN: If you want to manifest the ABSOLUTE, do not conceal IT ;
明 覆 Indefinable in ITS emptiness, pure in ITS tranquillity, IT has been evident from the first.
26. 藥 開 CLEARY: Blooming flowers, falling leaves, when they directly show,
Vashashita 樹 華 The medicine tree fundamentally has no different flavor.
王 落
婆舍斯多 終 葉 COOK: At the time blooming flowers and falling leaves are displayed at once,
無 直 The king of medicine trees still has no distinct flavor.
Bashashita
別 彰 NEARMAN: Whilst blossoming flowers and falling leaves may display themselves directly,
味 時 The LORD of healing herbs and trees ultimately possesses no particular flavour or aroma.
27. 宗 本 CLEARY: The original ground is level, without a blade of grass--
Punyamitra 風 地 Where can Zen teaching make an arrangement?
何 平
不如蜜多 處 常 COOK: The original realm is ordinary, without an inch of grass;
作 無 Where is there room here for the ways of Zen?
Fūnyomītta
安 寸 NEARMAN: The ORIGINAL GROUND, at all times, is without even a single blade of grass;
排 草 Where do a monk‘s personal explanations add or subtract anything?

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28. 再 潭 CLEARY: The light of the moon reflected in the depths of the pond is bright in the sky;
Prajnatara 三 底 The water flowing to the horizon is thoroughly clear and pure.
撈 蟾 Sifting and straining over and over, even if you know it exists,
般若多羅 漉 光 Boundless and clear, it turns out to be utterly ineffable.
Hānnyatara 縱 空
知 裏 COOK: Moonlight reflected in the bottom of the pond is bright in the sky;
有 明 The water reaching to the sky is totally clear and pure.
Though you scoop it up repeatedly and try to know it,
寛 連
Vast, clarifying all, it remains unknown.
廓 天
旁 水 NEARMAN: The light of the moon, reflected in the depths of the pool, is bright in the sky;
分 勢 The appearance of the water, as it flows toward the horizon, is thoroughly clear and pure;
虚 徹 Even though you trawl through IT again and again, knowing full well that IT does exist,
白 昭 IT is so spacious and empty, yet discoverable everywhere, that any attempt to grasp IT is
成 清 completely futile.
29. 豈 更 CLEARY: There is no more location, no bounds, no outside--
Bodhidharma 有 無 Is there any thing at all, even in the slightest?
秋 方
菩提達磨 毫 所 COOK: There is no distinction or location, no edge or outside.
大 無 How can anything be larger than an autumn hair?
Bodāidaruma
者 邊 NEARMAN: There is no location, boundary or surface,
麼 表 So how can anything even as minute as autumn down possibly exist?
30. 了 空 CLEARY: Empty yet radiantly bright, conditioned thought ended,
Dazu Huike 了 朗 Perspicuous, aware, always open and clear.
惺 朗
太祖慧可 惺 地 COOK: In the realm that is empty and bright, conditions and thought are exhausted;
常 縁 It is clear, alert and always bright.
Tāiso Eka
廓 思 NEARMAN: Empty yet resonant, all earth-bound thoughts exhausted,
明 盡 IT is, beyond doubt, alert and clear, always still and bright.
31. 心 性 CLEARY: Essential emptiness has no inside or outside--
Jianzhi Sengcan 佛 空 Sin and virtue leave no traces there.
本 無 Mind and Buddha are fundamentally thus;
鑑智僧璨 如 内 The Teaching and Community are clear.
Kānchi Sōsān 是 外
COOK: Empty of essential nature, without inside or outside,
法 罪 Good and bad leave no traces.
僧 福 Mind and Buddha are fundamentally the same,
自 不
And Dharma and Community can be understood in the same way.
曉 留
聰 蹤 NEARMAN: The ORIGINAL NATURE of things is void, unstained and pure,
without inside or outside,
Hence neither defilements nor virtues leave any traces therein.
ORIGINAL NATURE and BUDDHA are fundamentally the same;
Both DHARMA and SANGHA are, in themselves, clearly wise.
32. 縱 心 CLEARY: When mind is empty, pure knowledge has no wrong or right;
Dayi Daoxin 別 空 Here I don't know what there is to bind or free.
五 淨 Even if you distinguish the elements of body and mind,
大醫道信 蘊 智 Seeing, hearing, sound and form, are ultimately not another.
Dāi-I Dōshīn 及 無
四 邪 COOK: Mind is empty, and pure knowing contains no right or wrong.
大 正 In this, what is there to be bound or liberated?
Even though it becomes the four great elements and five Skandhas,
見 箇
In the end, seeing, hearing, forms and sounds are nothing else [than Mind].
聞 裏
聲 不 NEARMAN: ORIGINAL NATURE is empty, ITS unsullied wisdom holds no thought of right or
色 知 wrong;
終 縛 Within ITSELF, IT recognises nothing as being fettered or free;
非 脱 Even though we may distinguish five Skandhas and four elements,
他 何 Sight and hearing, sound and form are ultimately nothing other than IT.

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33. 豈 月 CLEARY: The moon bright, the water pure, the autumn sky is clear;
Daman Hongren 有 明 How could there be a fleck of cloud spotting this great clarity?
片 水
大滿弘忍 雲 潔 COOK: Moon bright, water pure, the autumn sky clear,
點 秋 How can a speck of cloud mark this immense purity?
Dāimān Kōnīn
大 天 NEARMAN: The moon is so resplendent, the water so pure, the autumn sky so clear;
清 淨 How could there be even a whisp of cloud to bespeck the GREAT IMMACULACY?
34. 簸 打 CLEARY: Knocking the mortar--the sound is high, beyond the sky,
Dajian Huineng 雲 臼 Sifting in the clouds--the bright moon is clear deep in the night.
白 聲
大鑑慧能 月 高 COOK: Striking the mortar – the sound was loud, echoing beyond time and space;
(曹溪) 夜 虚 Sifting the clouds – the silver moon appeared, and the night was deep and clear.
深 碧 NEARMAN: The mortar struck, its sound piercing high beyond the empty blue;
Dāikān Enō
清 外 The clouds are winnowed away, the bright moon, deep in the night, shines clear.
35. 豈 鳥 CLEARY: Coming and going on the bird's path, there are no tracks--
Qingyuan 堪 道 How can you look for stages on the mystic road?
玄 往
Xingsi
路 來 COOK: When a bird flies, it comes and goes, but there are no traces.
青原行思 覓 猶 How can you look for stages on the dark path?
(弘濟) 階 絶 NEARMAN: A bird in its passage leaves no traces of its flight,
Sēigēn Gyōshi
級 跡 So why look for stages on that dark and solitary road which leads deep within?
36. 毫 一 CLEARY: All at once he raises infinity--
Shitou Xiqian 髮 提 Never has he clung to anything beyond him.
未 提
石頭希遷 曾 起 COOK: With one raising of the hossu, he held up the totality of the Way;
(無際) 分 百 Never by so much as a hair did Shih-t‘ou ever deviate from it.
外 千 NEARMAN: A single raising of the fountain scepter gave rise to everything possible,
Sekitō Kisēn
攀 端 Yet Sekita never climbed even a smidgeon beyond the proper limits.
37. 喚 平 CLEARY: That one who is always lively--
Yaoshan 作 常 We call the one raising the eyebrows, blinking the eyes.
揚 活
Weiyan
眉 溌 COOK: That One whose whole life is extremely active and lively
藥山惟儼 瞬 溌 We call the One who raises the eyebrows and blinks.
(弘道) 目 那 NEARMAN: That lively STRANGER who is always so vigorous and bold;
Yakusān Igēn
人 漢 Whenever you call to HIM, you make HIM be the ONE whose eyebrows raise and eyes
twinkle.
38. 回 孤 CLEARY: Without moving, the solitary boat sails ahead in the moonlight;
Yunyan 頭 舟 As you look around, the reeds on the ancient bank have never moved.
古 不
Tansheng
岸 掉 COOK: A solitary boat proceeds unaided in the bright moonlight;
雲巖曇晟 蘋 月 If you turn around and look, the reeds on the ancient shore do not sway.
(無住) 未 明 NEARMAN: The solitary boat, without rocking and pitching, advances toward the moon;
Ūngān Dōnjō
搖 進 If you but look back, behold, the duckweed that floats beside the old shore is still not
moving!
39. 平 微 CLEARY: Extremely subtle, mystic consciousness is not mental attachment:
Dongshan 日 微 All the time it causes that to teach profusely.
令 幽
Liangjie
伊 識 COOK: Extremely fine subtle consciousness is not emotional attachment;
洞山良价 説 非 It constantly makes That One preach keenly.
(悟本) 熾 情 NEARMAN: The humble TRUE CONSCIOUSNESS is not emotional attachment
Tōzān Ryōkāi
然 執 And every day of the week IT causes IT to teach energetically.

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40. 説 名 CLEARY: Name or form it has never had--
Yunju Daoying 何 状 What transcendence or immanence is there to speak of?
向 從
雲居道膺 上 來 COOK: Never has it been bound to names and forms;
(弘覺) 及 不 How can you speak of it as ―beyond‖ or ―r elative‖?
向 帶 NEARMAN: Name or form IT has never come to assume
Ūngodōyō
下 來 So how am I to speak of higher or lower levels?
41. 本 空 CLEARY: With empty hands seeking on one's own, Coming back with empty hands;
Tongan Daopi 無 手 Where there is fundamentally no attainment, After all one attains.
得 自
同安道丕 處 求 COOK: Seeking it oneself with empty hands, you return with empty hands;
果 空 In that place where fundamentally nothing is acquired, you really acquire it.
Dōān Dōhi
然 手 NEARMAN: Empty-handed, I sought IT on my own and, empty-handed, have returned;
得 來 Since, from the first, there was nothing to realize, now, being satisfied, I have realized!
42. 放 心 CLEARY: The mind-moon and eye-blossom have fine bright color--
Tongan Guanzhi 開 月 Opening beyond time, who is there to enjoy him?
劫 眼
同安觀志 外 華 COOK: The light of the Mind-moon and colors of the eye-flower are splendid;
有 光 Shining forth and blooming beyond time, who can appreciate them?
Dōān Kānshi
誰 色 NEARMAN: The moon-like TRUE NATURE and the blossoming in the eyes, how fine their light
翫 好 and colour are!
They open outside the aeons of time so who is there to take pleasure in them?
43. 不 水 CLEARY: The water is clear to the very depts;
Liangshan 待 清 It shines without needing polish.
琢 徹
Yuanguan
磨 底 COOK: The water is clear to the very bottom;
梁山縁觀 自 深 The pearl gleams naturally, without need of cutting and polishing.
Ryōzān Ēnkān 瑩 沈 NEARMAN: The water is clear through and through down to its very depths:
明 處 Even without cutting and polishing, the TRUE SELF is naturally lustrous and bright.
44. 丹 圓 CLEARY: The round mirror hung high, it clearly reflects all;
Dayang 艧 鑑 Colored paints in all their beauty cannot depict it completely.
盡 高
Jingxuan
美 懸 COOK: The mind mirror hangs high and reflects everything clearly;
太陽警玄 畫 明 The vermillion boat is so beautiful that no painting can do it justice.
Tāiyō Kyōgēn 不 映 NEARMAN: The Perfect Mirror hangs high, Its brightness clearly shining into every nook and
成 徹 corner:
The Vermilion-trimmed Boat is so utterly beautiful that no picture can truly capture It.
45. 劍 嵯 CLEARY: A steep mountain miles high--birds can hardly cross;
Touzi Yiqing 刃 峨 Who can walk on thin ice or the blade of a sword?
輕 萬
投子義青 氷 仭 COOK: The outline of a peak so high that birds can hardly cross;
誰 鳥 Sword blades and thin ice – who can walk on them?
Tōsu Gisēi
履 難 NEARMAN: A ridge of rocky hills so many miles high that birds can scarcely pass over it,
踐 通 A sword blade and thin ice—who can tread on them?
46. 自 紅 CLEARY: Even without rouge, ugliness cannot show--
Furong Daokai 愛 粉 Naturally lovely, the lustrous radiance and jade powder.
瑩 不
芙蓉道楷 明 施 COOK: Even without cosmetics, no ugliness shows;
玉 醜 We naturally admire the ornaments of lustrous jade bones.
Fuyō Dōkāi
骨 難 NEARMAN: There is no need for rouge or powder for any ugliness would be hard to find;
粧 露 Just love the lustrous radiance that adorns the Body of the Heavenly Child within
yourself.

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47. 誰 清 CLEARY: The pure wind circling may shake the earth,
Danxia Zichun 把 風 But who will pick up and show it to you.
將 數
丹霞子淳 來 匝 COOK: The pure wind circles the earth and shakes it time after time,
(雪峰) 爲 縱 But who can pluck it up and show it to you?
汝 搖 NEARMAN: Though a clear breeze swirls round and round, stirring up the earth,
Tānka Shijūn
看 地 Who can grasp hold of it and show it to you?
48. 淺 古 CLEARY: The ancient stream, the cold spring--no one looks in;
Changlu 深 澗 It does not allow travelers to tell how deep it is.
未 寒
Qingliao
聽 泉 COOK: The icy spring of the valley stream – no one peeks into it.
[Wukong] 客 人 It does not allow travelers to penetrate its depth.
長蘆清了 通 不 NEARMAN: The old valley stream; its icy spring is hidden from all eyes;
(悟空) 來 窺 No traveller is permitted to penetrate its ultimate depths.
Chōro Sēiryō
49. 抑 宛 CLEARY: It's just like wedges above and below--
Tiantong 不 如 You can't push them in or pull them out.
入 上
Zongjue
兮 下 COOK: It is like trying to drive a wedge between two plants;
天童宗珏 拔 橛 You can‘t drive in the wedge or pry them apart.
Tēndō Sōgaku 不 相 NEARMAN: By analogy IT is just like a post wedged in at top and bottom;
出 似 You cannot push it in farther and you cannot pull it out!
50. 其 可 CLEARY: We could call it the indestructible immanent body;
Xuedou Zhijian 身 謂 That body is empty, clear, and luminous.
空 金
雪竇智鑑 廓 剛 COOK: It is called the indestructible hidden body;
明 堅 That body is empty and bright.
Sēcchō Chikān
明 密 NEARMAN: Were you to call IT an unseen Body, indestructible as a diamond,
哉 身 How immaculate, vast and radiant would such a Body be!
51. 匝 道 CLEARY: The breeze of the Way, blowing far, Is harder than diamond;
Tiantong Rujing 地 風 The whole earth is supported by it.
爲 遠
天童如淨 之 扇 COOK: The mind of the Way, circulating everywhere, is harder than diamond;
所 堅 The whole earth is supported by it.
Tēndō Nyojō
持 金 NEARMAN: The winds of training fan far into the distance, irresistible as a diamond is hard;
來 剛 They circulate everywhere and, because of them, the whole world is sustained.
52. 豈 明 CLEARY: Clear as pure light, no inside or outside--
永平道元
有 皎 Is there any body or mind?
身 皓
Ēihēi Dōgēn 心 地 COOK: The bright and shiny realm has neither inside nor outside;
可 無 How can there be any body and mind to drop off?
脱 中 NEARMAN: The bright, shining, pure PLACE has neither inside nor outside
來 表 So how can there possibly be any body or mind to drop off?
53. 莫 虚 CLEARY: Space has never admitted even a needle;
孤雲懷奘
謂 空 In the vastness there is nothing to rely on, So who is there to discuss it?
一 從 Do not say one hair goes through myriad holes--
Koūn Ejō 毫 來 The bare, clean ground hasn't a trace.
穿 不
衆 容 COOK: Space, from the beginning, has not admitted even a needle;
穴 針 Vast, nonreliant, it is beyond all discussion.
赤 廓 Do not say that a hair passes through the many holds;
洒 落 Empty and spotless, it is unmarked by any scars.
洒 無
NEARMAN: The spacious VOID, from the first, does not let even a needle pierce IT ;
地 依
絶 有
Vast and still IT is, dependent on nothing, so who, pray, is there to dispute IT?
瘢 誰 Do not speak of IT as ‗the SINGLE HAIR piercing a multitude of holes‘;
痕 論 IT is a REALM naked and without blemish, beyond any trace of anything.

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 On the Himitsu-Shobogenzo

From Carl Bielefeldt (Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation, from footnote 33 on p. 153):
Menzan's prejudice against the koan inherits and develops the position of Dogen's Heian disciples Senne and Kyogo,
whose Shobogenzo kikigaki and Shobogenzo sho include several comments against "a bunch calling themselves Zen
masters" who advocate "simply bearing in mind a koan" (SSZ.Chukai, 1:223a; see also 543b and 2:459b~46oa. For a
discussion of the passages, see lto Shuken, "Koan to shikan taza," SK 22 [3/1980], 101-6.), but theirs was hardly the
prevailing view in the subsequent literature of the school. In fact, whatever we may say of his interpretation of Dogen,
Menzan's version of the pristine tradition of shikan taza has had a disastrous effect on the historical understanding of
medieval Soto; for it led him and his epigones to dismiss as unworthy of serious attention the considerable corpus of
esoteric koan manuals (monsan) the secret initiation into which formed one of the most characteristic features of
Muromachi Soto religion. Perhaps the earliest such text, known as the Himitsu shobo genzo sho, is based on a collection
often cases probably put together by Keizan himself. (See Ishikawa Rikizan, "Himitsu Shobo genzo saiko," SK 21
[3/1979], 173-78. Ishikawa has been a leader in the recent rediscovery of the medieval Soto esoteric literature [styled
kirigami] initiated by Sugimoto Shunryu's Tojo shitsunai kirigami oyobi sanwa kenkyu [ 1941 ]. For some bibliography
on the Soto vernacular koan commentaries known as kana sho, see Hiwatari Noboru, "Hoon roku shohon to sono honbun
o megutte," SK 24 [3/1982], 58-64.)

From William Bodiford (Soto Zen in Medieval Japan, pp 150-151):

In some cases koan manuals authored by Rinzai monks apparently did become confused with the witings of Soto
patriarchs. Two texts in particular, the Kenshoron (Treatise on Perceiving Reality) attributed to Dogen and the Himitsu
Shobo genzo (Secret Shobo genzo) attributed to Keizan appear to have originated in the Hotto line of the Rinzai monk
Kyo-o Unryo. Kyoo obtained access to the writings of Dogen and Keizan when he served as abbot of Daijoji (see chapter
5). Biographies state that Kyoo also authored several Zen texts, including Kana kenshosho (Japanese-Language Treatise
on Perceiving Reality) and Shobo genzogo (Shobo genzo Koans). It cannot be proved that Kyoo’s texts are the same as the
ones now attributed to Dogen and Keizan, but a recently discovered manuscript (copied ca. 1486) suggests that they are
probably related. This text quotes Hotto-line monks such as Shinchi Kakushin and Bassui Tokusho as well as various
Chinese masters on techniques for concentrating on koan in ways that will arouse doubt (gidan) and induce an insight into
reality (kensho). It also includes an essay attributed to Dogen, titled Kenshoron. This essay, still attributed to Dogen, also
has been preserved at various Soto temples, but under the same title as Kyoo’s treatise, Kana kenshosho.
A similar example of confusion over titles and authorship appears in the biography of Keizan Jokin compiled by the
Rinzai monk Mangen Shiban, which states that Keizan wrote a text titled Shobo genzogo – again the same title as Kyoo’s
text. Soto records mention no such title. But Keizan is cited as the author of a commentary on ten Chinese koan titled
Himitsu shobo genzo (Secret Shobo genzo). Significantly, this Himitsu shobo genzo was found among the Hotto-line
manuscripts just mentioned. Also significant is the fact that not all versions of this text cite Keizan as author. Somo Soto
lineages secretly transmitted copies of the same set of ten Chinese koans under the title Jusoku shobo genzo (Ten-Koan
Shobo genzo), but without any reference to Keizan.
These example suggest that koan texts passed from one rinka lineage to another. The outside origin of these teachings,
however, could not be acknowledged. Instead, the texts borrowed respectability associated with the names Dogen and
Keizan. A similar process of borrowing the authority of ancient patriarchs can be observed in most of the secret koan
literature passed down within medieval Soto. This literature defies easy summation, but it cannot be ignored. It presents us
with a gold mine of information regarding what Soto monks studied and how; what institutional, pedagogical, and ritual
structures mediated the koan experience; what religious or doctrinal interpretations were applied to koan; and the general
flow of monastic rituals at medieval institutions.

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 Jokin‟s Esoteric Shobogenzo
秘密正法眼藏書 Himitsu-Shobogenzo-Sho
compiled by Keizan Jokin translated by Thomas Cleary
Citation 1:
At the assembly on Vulture Peak, before hundreds of thousands of beings, the World-Honored One raised a flower and
blinked his eyes. Mahakashyapa broke into a smile. The World-Honored One said, “I have the treasury of the eye of the
true teaching, the inconceivable mind of nirvana, the formless adamantine form, and the subtle, ineffable teaching of truth.
It is communicated outside of doctrine and does not establish verbal formulations. Today I personally entrust this to
Mahakashyapa. Continue to teach in my stead.” And he also commended Ananda to transmit it as it is, continuing from
successor to successor without letting it be cut off.
Jokin’s Reflections:
At the meeting on the holy mountain long ago, all without exception were the circumstances of this “raising a flower”
and “smiling.” Just as the World-Honored One raised the flower, what was the circumstance? And when Kashyapa smiled,
what was the circumstance?
If one perceives it directly, past and present are simultaneously penetrated. One may say, “Without relying on today‟s
situation, how can one speak of last night‟s dream?”
Later the zen teacher Seiryo of Mt. Kei said, “The World-Honored One had a secret saying – spring lingers on the
ancient ford; Kashyapa did not keep it hidden – falling flowers float on the stream.”
Also zen master Chikan of Setcho said, “The World-Honored One had a saying, but Kashyapa did not keep it hidden; a
night of flowers falling in the rain, water is fragrant throughout the city.”
These are models of men of old citing the ancient to illumine the present. I ask you people; at that time, what flower did
he raise? What flower did he smile at? Say it straight out now! (Striking a blow) You‟ve stumbled past. Do you
understand? There is only one indestructible esoteric body, wholly manifested in the dusts. Look!
Citation 2:
Ananda asked the venerable Kashyapa, “Elder brother, you received the golden robe of the World-Honored One; what
else was transmitted besides this?”
Venerable Kashyapa said, “Ananda!”
Ananda responded.
Venerable Kashyapa said, “Take down the monastery banner.”
Ananda greatly awakened.
Jokin’s Reflections:
Kashyapa calls “Ananda!” Immediately it is perfectly clear; do not harbor any doubt or hesitation. Ananda responds;
what sound is this in actuality? If one awakens on the spot, what would there be of any of this?
A man of old said, “Elder brother calls and younger brother replies, revealing the shame of the house; not the province
of night and day, this is a separate spring.”
As soon as Kashyapa calls on Ananda, he is off the track; the immediate reply is off the track. At this very moment, how
do you understand?
(Striking) What season is this? Do you understand? It‟s right at hand; immediately concentrate your eye and see.
Investigate!
Citation 3:
Emperor Bu of Ryo asked the great master Bodhidharma, “What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?”
The great teacher said, “Empty; nothing is holy.”
The Emperor said, “Who is replying to me?”
The great teacher said, “I don‟t know.”
The Emperor did not understand.
Jokin’s Reflections:
“Empty; nothing holy” does not establish real or provisional, does not discuss doctrine or contemplation. Even the
buddhas of the three times cannot see it; even the six generations of patriarchs could not transmit it. This is the time when
the land is quiet.
And it was said, “Who is replying to me?” A good scene, but do you see? The great teacher said, “I don‟t know.” Why
does he not know? Not knowing is the public affair that is now manifest (genjo koan). As for the “manifestation,”
mountains are really mountains, rivers are really rivers. Wrong! Mountains cannot know mountains, rivers cannot know
rivers. Like so the Whole Body manifests; there is no further entry point.
And ultimately? “I only know allow The Old Barbarian‟s knowledge: I do not allow his understanding.” Investigate!

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Citation 4:
A monk asked zen master Gyoshi of Seigen, “What work does not fall into stages?”
The master said, “Even the holy truths are not practiced.”
The monk bowed.
Jokin’s Reflections:
The place clear, the time obvious, there are no stages or tracks. Leave it to fate, leave it to fate, always like this.
Sekito made a verse in praise of Yakusan:
Though we‟ve been dwelling together, I don‟t know his name;
Abandoned to fate, we go along as ever.
Even the great sages since the remote past do not know him;
How could the later rabble understand him?
If you would understand the words, “Even the noble truths are not carried out,” you should seek out the intent of this
verse.
Ultimately, how is it? “A patchrobed monk sits with shrouded head, not knowing aught of cool or warmth.” Investigate!
Citation 5:
Our ancestor, the great teacher Gohon of Tozan, asked Ungan, “Who can hear inanimate objects preaching the
Dharma?”
Ungan said, “The inanimate can hear.”
Tozan said, “Why do I not hear?”
Ungan raised his whisk and said, “Do you hear?”
Tozan said, “I do not hear.”
Ungan said, “You do not even hear my preaching; how could you hear the preaching of the inanimate?”
Tozan thereupon had an insight; he then chanted a verse:
Wonderful! Wonderful!
The sermon of the inanimate is inconceivable:
If one uses the ears to hear, it will be after all impossible to understand;
Only by hearing with the eyes can one know.
Jokin’s Reflections:
This is the time of great awakening and thorough penetration. If you hear Mount An discussing wisdom, how could you
doubt Mount Ju‟s talk of true suchness? The pillar and the lamp are also thus.
At the time that the inanimate preach the Dharma, what are the circumstances? If you understand, then communities are
preaching, beings are preaching, all in the three times are simultaneously preaching. They are always preaching, clearly
preaching, without pause.
Layman Toba studied with Shogaku and gained entry into the Way, whereupon he expressed his inner experience:
The sound of the valley is an immense tongue;
Is not the color of the mountains the pure body?
Since evening, eighty-four thousand verses –
How could I recite them to others?
Already he has cited them all. Also he said,
The valley sound; an immense tongue;
The mountain colors; a pure body.
Eighty-four thousand verses;
Later I recite them to others.
Before he said, “How to express them to others?” Here he says, “I express them to others.” Are these the same or
different? If one can hear the content of the sermon of the inanimate, it rests with him; where does he not express to others?
Tell me, how is it when one hears it expressed to people? Ungan and Tozan, Shogaku and Toba, have their nostrils
pierced all at once. But do you understand? (Silence) Speechless speech is true speech. Investigate!
Citation 6:
Zen master Kakuun Doju asked a monk, “„Speaking, silent, not speaking, not silent: wholly so, wholly not so‟ – how do
you reply?” The monk had no answer. The master then hit him.
Jokin’s Reflections:
Speech, silence, motion, stillness; wholly so, wholly not so. Outside this group, in what manner could one respond? The
monk did not reply – “who knows the law fears it.” After all, he has realized a little bit. As the first blow of the staff, the
effort was not made in vain.

110
 I ask you people, when the six senses are inoperative and the seven consciousnesses are not present, what will you use
to answer? Why do you not bow and leave?
Kyogen‟s story of „up in a tree‟ may also be seen in the same way as the phase beyond the six propositions. If you can
express the matter of the tree, then you understand the single phrase beyond the six propositions.
But say; without setting up either „the tree top‟ or „that which is beyond the six propositons,‟ coming directly to this
point here, how will you turn around and show some life? (striking) Look!
(Note on Kyogen‟s story: he said, “Suppose a man climbs a tree and is holding on to a branch with his mouth, his hands
not holding any limb, his feet not standing on the trunk: under the tree there is someone who asks about the reason why
Bodhidharma came from the West; if (the man in the tree) doesn‟t answer, he is ignoring the question, but if he does
answer, he still loses his body and life. At this moment, how would you answer?” The „six propositions‟ are speech,
silence, etc., as mentioned in the citation.)
Citation 7:
Zen master Goso asked a monk, “The girl Sei split her spirit; which one is real?” The monk had no reply.
Jokin’s Reflections:
This is the situation which is beyond the reach of „lord and vassal,‟ „biased and true,‟ It is not the wonderful principle of
the zen way or to the Buddhist teaching.
If one is already two, how could they be one? If you say the two are one, why are they not two? Try to say which is real.
Shakyamuni Buddha manifests a hundred-thousand million emanation bodies; the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is
endowed with so many hands and eyes: are they the same or different?
Thus it is said, “Above to the summit of the heavens, below to the deepest hells, all is as yellow gold.” Thus there are no
signs of self and others, of society and individual. Such is this situation; which is Shakyamuni, which is Avalokiteshvara?
Also, Manjushri spent summer retreat in the wineshops, brothels, and butcher shops: Kashyapa, wanting to drive him
away, reached for him with a staff when suddenly he saw hundreds of millions of billions of Manjushris. Shakyamuni said,
“Kashyapa, which Manjushri would you drive out?” Kashyapa had no reply. This is the same situation: which is
Manjushri? Which is Kashyapa? Which is the real one? Try to say.
There‟s an echo in Shakyamuni‟s words when he says, “Which Manjushri would you drive out?” If you can understand
this saying, then you should be able to see the saying “Sei split her spirit.” Goso‟s “Debt of gratitude to the elixir of
eternal life” is based on this saying.
Therefore it is said, “Before me, no you; here, no me.” Why is it like this? Because mind and body are one suchness. A
living man‟s tongue is a dead man‟s mouth; a dead man walks on a living man‟s road. At this moment it is indescribably
perfect; it is not concealing or revealing. Illumining the whole body, alive and unconstrained; the great function is not in
the image of man – behold its visage, clearly manifest; there is no Buddha Way, no ancestral path. Knowledge of all
knowledge, pure and clear, absolutely unique, it is without duality and without separation, because is has no gap.
Ultimately how is it? The girl Sei split her spirit; which is the real one? Investigate!
(Note: this koan refers to the story of a young woman named Sei who took to a sickbed when her betrothed went away
without her. As her betrothed was going, however, he saw Sei coming after him; thus reunited, they spent five years
together before the man decided to return. When they got back, the man found that Sei had been seen lying on her sickbed
for these five years: when he brought the „Sei‟ he had been living with to the sickbed where the pining „Sei‟ lay, the two
„Sei‟s merged into one. Goso asks, “Which is the real one?”)
Citation 8:
The zen master Tokusan Senkan one day left the hall carrying his bowl. Seppo saw him and said, “Old man, the bell has
not yet rung, the drum has not yet sounded; where are you going with your bowl?”
Tokusan lowered his head and returned to his abbot‟s quarters.
Seppo brought this up to Ganto, who said, “That Tokusan has after all not yet understood the last word.”
Tokusan had his attendant summon Ganto, whom he asked, “You do not agree with this old monk?”
Ganto silently expressed his meaning; Tokusan said nothing.
Jokin’s Reflections:
Tokusan just accepts the flow, being as is. Ganto and Seppo scatter rubbish in the eye; playing at being adept, they turn
out inept.
Tokusan lowered his head and returned to his abbot‟s room; what contrivance is there in this? If you try to approach it in
terms of inside and outside, dependent and true, subject and object, or guest and host, you have not even seen it in dreams.
Carrrying the bowl, lowering the head, returning to the room – what ease or difficulty is there?
Seppo once said to his congregation, “We meet at the inn in Bo province, we meet at Vulture Peak, we meet in front of
the monks‟ hall.” Hofuku asked Gacho, “I do not ask about the monks‟ hall; as for the inn in Bo province or Vulture Peak,

111
where do we meet?” Gacho ran hurriedly back to his abbot‟s quarters; Hofuku thereupon went into the monks‟ hall. This
is the time. What doctrine is this?
Where there is not the slightest breath, if you can understand this story, then you will see the story about Tokusan
carrying his bowl.
Ultimately how is it? Be uniformly equanimous; of itself it disappears without a trace.
Also I say “Wrong!” There is still the final word. How do you see it? Investigate!
Citation 9:
Zen master Gyozan Ejaku was asked by a monk, “Can the Dharma-body also expound the Dharma?”
Gyozan said, “I cannot expound it, but there is another one who can.”
The monk said, “Where is the one who expounds the Dharma?”
Gyozan pushed forward a pillow.
Isan (Gyozan‟s teacher) heard of this and remarked, “Mr. Ejaku is bringing out the action of a sword.”
Jokin’s Reflections:
This monk was not anxious for his life under the sword; he brought up a question, and Gyozan didn‟t slip with his sword
– he cut off the man‟s head before he knew it.
Just when he pushes the pillow forward, there is a unique subtlety; can it be considered the one who replies? Or can it be
considered a pillow? Can it be considered the act of pushing forward? Here, how will you understand? I push forth a
cushion; do you people really see? (Making a whistling sound) Like this! Investigate!
Citation 10:
The zen master Kassan Zenne was asked by a monk, “What is the Way?”
Kassan said, “The sun floods the eye; not a fleck of cloud for ten thousand miles.”
The monk said, “I do not understand.”
Kassan said, “In the clear water, the wandering fish deludes itself.”
Jokin’s Reflections:
The One Great Matter has always been manifest; do not seek enlightenment, for fundamentally there is no illusion.
Lucid, without obscurity, everywhere perfectly obvious; why do you not understand? People of today are as if riding an
ox in search of an ox.
A monk asked Haryo, “What is the Way?” Haryo said, “A clear-eyed man falls into a well.” If the eye is clear, one
should see the road and go directly on; why fall into a well? If you understand this story, then you will see the koan saying
“In the clear water, the meandering fish deludes itself.”
Do you understand? The sky is clear, there is no rain; why do you not see the sun and moon? Investigate!
I have cited ten examples of the acts of the ancient worthies; pass through them one by one.
The first, the story of raising the flower and smiling, is the setting of the one great concern of all buddhas of the three
times.
The second, the story of the banner before the monastery, is the model of the enlightenment of all the ancestors.
The third, the story of emptiness and not knowing, is the subtlety which the ancestors and buddhas neither transmit nor
receive.
The fourth, the story of not even practicing the holy truths, is the point to which the historical ancestors actually attained.
The fifth, the story of the sermon on the inanimate, is the beginning of our ancestor‟s understanding mind and
awakening to the Way.
The sixth, the story of one expression outside of the six propositions, is that which all the monks in the world can neither
swallow nor spit out.
The seventh, the girl Sei separating from her spirit, is the power of intrepid zeal of all buddhas and all ancestors.
The eighth, leaving the hall with bowl in hand, is the ancient‟s way of letting go and accepting the flow.
The ninth, the story of the pillow, is the ancient worthies‟ method of not grabbing the sword and cutting the hand.
The tenth, the story of not understanding the Way, is the aspect of the ancients extending their hands to save those
enshrouded by ignorance.

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 Contemporary Portrait of Keizan by Kokyo

Zazen

On Keizan and Zazen 114

Sankon-zazen-setsu Study 116
Zazen Yojinki Study 120

113
 On Keizan and Zazen
From Steven Heine (Did Dogen Go to China, p. 214):
Ishii Shudo, one of the leading representatives of what Kagamishima has identified as the compromise or traditionalist (b)
view [that allows for some development in Dogen over the span of his writing], is sympathetic to but criticizes some
aspects of the Renewal Theory [which argues that Dogen underwent a major and decisive change expressed in the 12-
fasicle Shobogenzo]. Ishii agrees that Dogen’s approach to Buddhism is based primarily on wisdom (chie, Skt. prajna)
and learning rather than on meditative contemplation, despite the fact that Soto is often characterized as a religion based
on zazen-only or just-sitting, a sectarian misunderstanding traceable to fourth patriarch Keizan and projected back to
Dogen. Without being too harsh on Keizan, who since the Tokugawa era has been revered by the sect as an eminent
patriarch of equal status to Dogen, Ishii feels that the purity of Dogen’s thought was subverted by the un-Buddhistic
syncretism and misleading simplification inspired by Keizan and his disciples.

From Carl Bielefeldt (Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation, pp 151-153):

This reading of the vulgate Fukan zazen gi would seem to fit snugly into what we already know about the historical
circumstances of its composition: that it was probably written at a time when its author was less concerned with pursuing
Tsung-tse’s dissemination of Zen meditation than in educating an elite core of experienced religious; that this education
was carried out primarily through the study of the classical Ch’an wisdom literature; and that the Fukan zazen gi was
revised in the light of this study to cleanse it of any suggestion of dubious meditation doctrine and upgrade it with material
from the old cases that were the primary focus of Sung Ch’an. In such a setting, it would at least not be surprising if
Dogen, like most of his contemporaries, had chosen to replace (or supplement) Tsung-tse’s concentration exercise with a
practice that focused on a koan. This would mean, of course, that, at different times or perhaps to different students,
Dogen taught more than one method of ― just sitting‖—a traditional mindfulness exercise and a more modern kanna
technique.
Whatever their relative strengths and weaknesses, both these readings of the vulgate Fukan zazen gi are speculative.
Whether or not its realized koan can be grasped through .the old koan of nonthinking, the actual technique by which this
is done manages in the end to elude our baskets and cages. But, if we are thus left empty-handed, we should note that this
fact will now leave the burden of proof with those who would maintain that Dogen’s practice of just sitting is a unique
form of meditation, distinct from both the pedestrian concentration exercise of Tsung-tse and the despised k’an-hua
method of Ta-hui. For historical and ideological reasons the burden will no doubt seem particularly heavy in the case of
the latter distinction; hence, it may be worth adding a few words here on this issue.
The notion that Dogen’s unique shikan taza might have involved a form of kanna practice is not, of course, favored by
the mainstream of Soto tradition and would quickly be dismissed by most Dogen scholarship. This scholarship tends to be
guided by two sets of assumptions that require a sharp distinction between ― just sitting‖ and ―
looking at a saying.‖ One of
these is historical. It begins from the fact that the Soto school, at least in modern times, has distinguished itself from, and
argued strongly against, the Rinzai tradition precisely on the basis of such a distinction; it then projects the same argument
back on the founder of the school, Dogen. ― Noting that he too was highly critical of Sung Lin-chi and especially of its
famed representative Ta-hui, and that Ta-hui was famed especially for his k’an-hua practice, it assumes that Dogen
rejected this practice and taught his Zen of just sitting as an alternative.
The other kind of assumption is conceptual. Following in the tradition of modern Zen polemics, it understands the two
terms shikan taza and kanna as referring to mutually incompatible techniques of mental training—one that abandons all
fixed objects of concentration and all conscious striving for satori and simply abides in the undefiled awareness of the
Buddha nature, the other that focuses the mind on the wato and intentionally strives to break through the ― great doubt‖
(daigi) in a sudden experience of awakening. Once again it projects this understanding on history and assumes that koan
study for Dogen would have been in conflict with both the theory and the practice of his zazen.
Although these assumptions tell us much about modern Japanese Zen, they do not help us much to understand the
actual character of Dogen’s meditation. The distinction between the practices of Rinzai and Soto is not nearly so clear in
premodem times as it becomes in the hands of Menzan and his successors. Even in his own day Menzan had to struggle
against Rinzai heresies within the bosom of his Soto school; and before his day, in the centuries separating him from
Dogen, if Rinzai monks continued to read Tsung-tse’s Tso-ch’an i and practice his zazen, Dogen’s successors persisted in
reading Ta-hui and studying koan, In fact, as we have seen, Dogen’s own leading disciples, for all his harsh criticism of
Ta-hui, continued to treasure their Daruma school roots and transmit the heritage of Ta-hui’s Yang-ch’i tradition. No less
than Keizan Jokin, chief among Dogen’s descendants and ― Second Founder‖ of Soto Zen, considered himself a successor
to that tradition and, like so many of its other members, advocated its popular kanna technique in his manuals of zazen.

114
[footnote: See Sankon zazen setsu, SSZ.Shugen,2:428a. Here Keizan distinguishes three levels in the understanding of
zazen (corresponding to the traditional Buddhist disciplines): the lowest emphasizes the ethical character of the practice;
the middling, the psychological character; the highest, the philosophical. The second, he describes as ― abandoning the
myriad affairs and halting the various involvements,‖ making unflagging effort to concentrate on breathing or consider a
koan, until one has gotten clear about the truth. (In the highest zazen, of course, this truth is already quite clear.) In his
influential Zazen yojinki as well – though he repeats the Fukan zazen gi passage on nonthinking—Keizan recommends
the practice of kanna as an antidote to mental agitation in zazen (ibid. 497b).
Menzan’s prejudice against the koan inherits and develops the position of Dogen’s Heian disciples Senne and Kyogo,
whose Shobogenzo kikigaki and Shobogenzo sho include several comments against ― a bunch calling themselves Zen
masters‖ who advocate ― simply bearing in mind a koan‖ (SSZ.Chukai, 1:223a; see also 543b and 2:459b~46oa. For a
discussion of the passages, see lto Shuken, ― Koan to shikan taza,‖ SK 22 [3/1980], 101-6.), but theirs was hardly the
prevailing view in the subsequent literature of the school. In fact, whatever we may say of his interpretation of Dogen,
Menzan’s version of the pristine tradition of shikan taza has had a disastrous effect on the historical understanding of
medieval Soto; for it led him and his epigones to dismiss as unworthy of serious attention the considerable corpus of
esoteric koan manuals (monsan) the secret initiation into which formed one of the most characteristic features of
Muromachi Soto religion. Perhaps the earliest such text, known as the Himitsu shobo genzo sho, is based on a collection
often cases probably put together by Keizan himself. (See Ishikawa Rikizan, ― Himitsu Shobo genzo saiko,‖ SK 21
[3/1979], 173-78. Ishikawa has been a leader in the recent rediscovery of the medieval Soto esoteric literature [styled
kirigami] initiated by Sugimoto Shunryu’s Tojo shitsunai kirigami oyobi sanwa kenkyu [ 1941 ]. For some bibliography
on the Soto vernacular koan commentaries known as kana sho, see Hiwatari Noboru, ― Hoon roku shohon to sono honbun
o megutte,‖ SK 24 [3/1982], 58-64.)]
If this blurring of what are now often taken to be crucial sectarian differences was common in medieval Japan, how
much more was this the case in Sung China, where lineage was less linked to institutional structure, and the houses of
Ch’an were not in direct competition for patronage. Ta-hui may have attacked the practice of silent illumination, but we
have no evidence that he considered it characteristic of the Ts’ao-tung house as a whole; his own practice of k’an-hua
may have become popular, but we cannot conclude from this that it ever obviated the cultivation of more traditional
forms of tso-ch’an in the routine of Lin-chi monks. Indeed, if it had, either in China or Japan, we could hardly explain the
persistence of the Tso-ch’an i in the monastic codes used by those monks in both countries. Similarly, Dogen’s Ts’ao-
tung master, Ju-ching, may (or may not) have taught that Ch’an practice was just sitting, but this did not seem to inhibit
him, as we have seen, from advocating the contemplation of Chao-chou’s ― aw.‖ Nor, for that matter, did either of these
teachings prevent him from proposing others; even in Dogen’s own Hokyoki he encourages the study of Tsung-tse’s
meditation manual and recommends the practice of sitting with the mind focussed in the palm of the left hand, a
technique he describes as nothing less than ― the method correctly transmitted by the Buddhas and Patriarchs.‖ Thus, even
where—as in the ease of Dogen—we find a strong assertion of sectarian tradition, we should be wary of easy
extrapolation from the modern Japanese experience and suspicious of the notion of a distinctive Soto meditation practice.

From Denkoroku, Case #22 on Vasubandhu:

Jayata said, ―
I do not seek the Way, yet I am not confused. I do not pay obeisance to Buddha, yet I do not disregard
Buddha either. I do not sit for long periods, yet I am not lazy. I do not limit my meals, yet I do not eat indiscriminately
either. I am not contented, yet I am not greedy. When the mind does not seek anything, this is called the Way.‖ When
Vasubandhu heard this, he discovered uncontaminated knowledge.
Keizan’s teisho (Francis Cook translation): This story contains the greatest secret for learning the Way. Why? If you think
that you have to become a Buddha or acquire the Way, and that in order to acquire the Way you have to abstain from food
[except once a day], live a life of purity, meditate for long periods, never lie down, venerate the Buddha, and chant the
scriptures and accumulate all the virtues – this is [like] making flowers rain down from a sky where there are no flowers,
or making holes [in the ground] where there are none. Even though you spend eons and eons [doing these things], you will
not find liberation. When there is nothing to want, this is called the Way. Thus, even wanting to know what is enough is
the root of desire. Even in enjoying meditation for a long time there is the blame of being attached to the body. If you
attempt to eat just once a day, you become obsessed with food. Also, if you try to honor the Buddha and chant the
scriptures, these are flowers in the eyes. All these practices are meaningless, not at all your own original nature. If you
think that sitting in meditation for a long time is the Way, then sitting in the womb for nine months would be the Way, so
what would there be to seek later? If abstaining from eating except once a day [at the approved time] is the Way, then
does this mean that if you are ill and cannot fix a definite time for eating that you are not practicing the Way? This is
really a big laugh!

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 Sankon-Zazen-Setsu
The original text of Sankon-zazen-setsu has not been discovered (this is true of all of Keizan’s writings actually). The
Japanese text included below is a Japanese rendering of a version of the text in Chinese (which itself was edited from the
original which was probably in a special non-standard language used in medieval Zen writings) [source: William
Bodiford email communication.]
The Japanese text below was accessed online at:
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tenjin95/e/5aadcd74703684a6452d7b8c9430fcbd

From Carl Bielefeldt (Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation, footnote 33 on p.152):

Here Keizan distinguishes three levels in the understanding of zazen (corresponding to the traditional Buddhist
disciplines): the lowest emphasizes the ethical character of the practice; the middling, the psychological character; the
highest, the philosophical. The second, he describes as ―a bandoning the myriad affairs and halting the various
involvements,‖ making unflagging effort to concentrate on breathing or consider a koan, until one has gotten clear about
the truth. (In the highest zazen, of course, this truth is already quite clear.) In his influential Zazen yojinki as well – though
he repeats the Fukan zazen gi passage on nonthinking—Keizan recommends the practice of kanna as an antidote to
mental agitation in zazen (ibid. 497b).

From Henrich Dumoulin (Zen Buddhism: A History, Japan, p. 147, Note 70 on Sankon-zazen-setsu):
The brief text is found in a book compiled for cultic practice, the Sotoshu nikka seiten, pp.69-72. [Sōtōshū nikka
gongyō seiten (曹洞宗 日課 勤行 聖典)]

三根坐禅説

Theory of Zazen for Three Personality Types - Translation by Reiho Masunaga

Introduction: Keizan wrote this treatise while at Yokoji in Ishikawa prefecture. It is related closely to Dogen’s Fukan-
zazengi. In Zazenyojinki Keizan elaborated on Dogen' basic work. In Sankon-zazen-Setsu Keizan provided instructions for
three types of persons. For the most superior person, zazen is natural behavior embodying enlightenment. It is sleeping
when tired and eating when hungry. The zazen of a less superior person, according to Keizan, suspends relations with
myriad things and occasionally concentrates on a Koan. The zazen of an ordinary person withdraws from the karma of
good and evil, and expresses the basic nature of the Buddha with the mind itself. Manuscripts of this work stored for many
years in Daijoji, Yokoji, and Sojiji. But no one knew of their existence until Manzan rediscovered the work in 1680 while
at Daijoji. Adding a prologue and epilogue, Manzan published the work the following spring together with Keizan
shingi...

The Three Types Of Personalities Resulting From Training - Translation by Jiyu Kennett
Introduction: The Sankon-zazen-setsu is a short work describing the three types of mind that result from the three types
of meditation practice. It was many years before this manuscript was unearthed and, apart from one very poor translation,
it has never before, as far as I know, appeared in the English language.

Three Kinds of Zen Practitioners – Translation by Yasuda Joshu Dainen and Anzan Hoshin

116
 I.
上根の坐禅は、諸仏出世の事を覚らず、仏祖不伝の妙を悟らず。飢え来たれば喫飯し、困じ来たれば打眠す。
万象森を指して、以て自己と為すに非ず。覚・不覚倶に存せず。任運堂々として、只麼に正坐す。
然も是の如くなりと雖も、諸法に於いて分かれず、万法と異にして昧まさざるなり。

MASUNAGA: (1) The zazen of the most superior person does not concern itself with questions about why the Buddhas
appeared in this world. He does not think about the excellence that even the Buddhas and patriarchs cannot transmit.
When hungry, he eats; when tired, he sleeps. He does not insist that all appearances are the self. He stands above both
enlightenment and delusion. Naturally and effectively, he just does right zazen. And despite of this, the myriad things are
not dualistically considered. Even if differentiations would arise, the most superior person does not let them enslave him.

KENNETT: (1) The person who does Zazen of the highest type has no interest in such matters as how Buddhas appear in
this present world nor does he consider Truths which are untransmittable by even the Buddhas and Ancestors. He does not
doctrinalise about all things being expressions of the self for he is beyond enlightenment and delusion. Since he never
considers anything from a dualistic angle, nothing whatsoever enslaves him even when differences show themselves; he
just eats when he is hungry and sleeps when he is tired.

YASUDA & ANZAN: (1) The person whose zazen is of the most profound type has no interest in how the Buddhas might
appear in this present world. Such a one doesn’t speculate about the truths which cannot even be transmitted by the
Buddhas and Ancestors. She doesn’t have any doctrine about "all things being the expression of the self" because she is
beyond "enlightenment" and "delusion". Since his views never fall into dualistic angles, nothing obstructs him, even when
distinctions appear. She just eats when she is hungry. He just sleeps when he is tired.

II.
中根の坐禅は、万事を抛捨し、諸縁を休息し、十二時中、暫くも怠惰無し。
出息入息に就いて斷々として工夫す。或いは一則の公案を提撕して、双眼を鼻端に注ぐ。自家本来の面目、
生死去来に渉らず。真如仏性の妙理、慮知分別に堕せず。不覚不知にして覚せずということ無し。
明々了々として、古に亘り今に通ず。当頭十方世界に明らかに、全 身万象の中に独露す。

MASUNAGA: (2) The zazen of the less superior person forsakes all things and cuts off all relations. In the 12 hours there is
no idle moment. As he inhales and exhales, he meditates each moment on truth. Or picking up a single Koan, he focuses
his eyes on the tip of his nose. His natural face is not conditioned by life and death or by going and coming. The superior
truth of the eternal reality and Buddha-nature cannot be grasped by the discriminating mind. While not thinking
dualistically, he is not unenlightened. The wisdom clearly and brightly radiates from ancient times to now. The head
sharply illuminates the 10 directions of the world; the whole body is manifested individually in all phenomena.

KENNETT: (2) The person who does Zazen of the less high type gives up everything and cuts all ties. Since, throughout
the entire day, he is never idle, every moment of his life, every breath, is a meditation upon Truth; as an alternative to this,
he may concentrate on a k.an with his eyes fixed in one place such as the tip of his nose. The considerations of life and
death, or going and staying, are not to be seen upon his face: the discriminatory mind can never perceive the highest Truth
of the Eternal nor can it comprehend the Buddha Mind; since there is no dualism in his thought, he is enlightened. From
the far past to the present day, wisdom is always shining clearly and brightly; the whole universe, in all the ten directions,
is permeated suddenly by the illumination from his head; all phenomena are seen separately within his body.

YASUDA & ANZAN: (2) The person whose zazen is of a medium type abandons everything and cuts all ties. Throughout the
day she is never idle and so every moment of life, every breath, is practice of the Dharma. Or else he might concentrate on
a koan, eyes fixed, his view in one place such as the tip of the nose. Considerations of life and death, going and staying,
are not seen on her face. The mind of discrimination can never see into the deepest unchanging truth, nor can it understand
the Buddha-mind. Since there is no dualistic thoughts, he is enlightened. From the far past up to right now, wisdom is
always brilliant, clear, shining. The whole universe throughout the ten directions is illuminated suddenly from her brow,
all things are seen in detail within her body.
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 III.
下根の坐禅は、且く結縁を貴んで善悪の業道を離れ、直ちに即心を以て諸仏の性源を顕す。
足、仏地に結んで悪処に入らず。手、定印を結んで経巻を取らず。
口を閉じて縫うが如く緘じるが如くにして、一法をも説かず。眼を開いて大ならず小ならずして、
諸色を分かつこと無し。耳、善悪の声を聴かず。鼻、好悪の香を嗅がず。身、物に寄らず動作頓に止む。
意、攀縁せず、憂喜共に尽くす。形相如々にして木仏の如し。縦い心、種々の妄想顛倒を起こすと雖も、
其の咎を作らず。譬えば明鏡の上に更に浮影 を留めざるが如し。

MASUNAGA: (3) The zazen of the ordinary person weighs myriad relations and breaks free from the karma of good and
evil. Our mind itself expresses the basic nature of the various Buddhas. Our feet are linked to the Buddha's position, and
we stay away from evil places. Our hands are held in the meditative sign. There is no sutra in our hands. Our mouth is
sewn shut, and our lips are sealed. Not even one doctrine is preached. Our eyes are open, but neither wide nor narrow. We
do not differentiate the myriad things; we do not listen to the voice of good or evil. Our nose does not discriminate
between good and bad smells. Our body does not rely on things. We abruptly stop all delusive activities. With no
delusions stirring up our mind, sorrow and joy both drops away. Like a wooden Buddha, body and form naturally
harmonize with truth. Even though various deluded and inverted thoughts arise, they do not take possession. It is like a
clear mirror that holds no waving shadows.

KENNETT: (3) The person who does ordinary Zazen considers everything from all angles before freeing himself from
good and evil karma: the mind expresses naturally the True Nature of all the Buddhas for the feet of man stand where the
Buddha stands; thus are evil ways avoided. The hands are in the position for meditation, holding no Scripture; the mouth,
being tightly shut, is as if a seal were upon the lips for no word of any doctrine is ever uttered; the eyes are neither wide
open nor half shut; in no way is anything considered from the point of view of differentiation for the voice of good and
evil is not listened to; the nose takes no cognisance of smells as either good or bad; the body relies upon nothing
whatsoever for all delusion is suddenly ended. Since there is no delusion to disturb the mind, neither sorrow nor joy are to
be found: as in the case of a wooden Buddha, both material and form are one with the Truth. Although worldly thoughts
may arise they are not disturbing for the mind is as a bright mirror in which no shadows move.

YASUDA & ANZAN: (3) The person whose zazen is just ordinary views all things from all sides and frees herself from good
and bad conditions. The mind naturally expresses the True Nature of all the Buddhas because Buddha stands right where
your own feet are. Thus wrong action does not arise. The hands are held in Reality mudra and do not hold onto any
scriptures. The mouth is tightly closed, as if the lips were sealed, and no word of doctrine is spoken. The eyes are neither
wide open nor shut. Nothing is ever seen from the point of view of fragmentation and good and evil words are left
unheard. The nose doesn’t choose one smell as good, another as bad. The body is not propped up and all delusion is
ended. Since delusion does not disturb the mind, neither sorrow nor glee appear. Just like a wooden carving of the
Buddha, both the substance and the form are true. Worldly thoughts might arise but they do not disturb because the mind
is a bright mirror with no trace of shadows.

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 IV.
五戒・八戒・菩薩の大戒、比丘の具戒・三千の威儀、八万の細行、諸仏菩薩の転妙法輪、
皆此の坐禅の中自り現前して、尽きること無し。万行の中、最勝の実行は、唯坐禅の一門なり。
僅かに坐して一歩の功徳を進むれば、則ち百千無量の堂塔を作るに勝れり。
何に況や常に修して退くこと無きをや。永く生死を解脱して自己の心仏を見ん。
行住坐臥、無作の妙用に非ずということ無し。見聞覚知、悉く是れ本有の霊光なり。
初心後心を選ばず、有智無智を論ずること無し。此の如きの坐禅、専精に修行して 忘失すべからず。

MASUNAGA: (4) The five precepts, the eight precepts, the Great Precepts of the Bodhisattvas, all the precepts of monks,
3,000 behaviors, the 80,000 thorough practices, the superior true law of the various Buddhas and patriarchs - all these
arise from zazen limitlessly. Within the sphere of training, zazen alone is the most superior practice.
If we practice zazen and accumulate even a single merit, it is better than to build 100, 1,000, or innumerable halls and
towers. In short, do zazen continually and don't give it up. We free ourselves from birth and death forever and penetrate to
the Buddha in our own mind. The four activities of going, staying, sitting, and lying are nothing but natural and
unexcelled functions. Seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, are all the light of original nature. There is no choice
between the beginning mind and the ripened mind. Knowledge and ignorance are not open to argument.
Just do zazen wholeheartedly. Do not forget it or lose it.

KENNETT: (4) From Zazen, the Precepts arise eternally, whether they are the five, the eight, the Great Precepts of the
Bodhisattvas, the Precepts of the priesthood, the three thousand manners, the eighty thousand beliefs or the Highest Law
of the Buddhas and Ancestors; in all training, nothing whatsoever compares with Zazen.
Even if only one merit is gained from doing Zazen it is greater than the building of a hundred, a thousand or an
uncountable number of temples. Just do Zazen for ever without ceasing for, by so doing, we are free of birth and death
and realise our own latent Buddha Nature. It is perfect and natural to go, stay, sit and lie down; to see, hear, understand
and know are natural manifestations of the True Self; between first mind and last mind there is no difference and none can
make an argument about either knowledge or ignorance. Do Zazen with your whole being, never forget, and lose, it.

YASUDA & ANZAN: (4) The Precepts arise naturally from zazen whether they are the five, eight, the Great Bodhisattva
Precepts, the monastic Precepts, the three thousand rules of deportment, the eighty thousand Teachings, or the supreme
Dharma of the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. No practice whatsover can be measured against zazen.
Should only one merit be gained from the practice of zazen, it is vaster than the construction of a hundred, a thousand or a
limitless number of monasteries. Practice just sitting ceaselessly. Doing so, we are liberated from birth and death and
realize our own hidden Buddha-nature.
In perfect ease go, stay, sit and lie down. Seeing, hearing, understanding and knowing are all the natural display of the
True Nature. From first to last, mind is mind, beyond any arguments about knowledge and ignorance. Just do zazen with
all of who and what you are. Never stray from it or lose it.

119
 Zazen Yojinki Translation Study

a) Translations of Zazen Yojinki

b) Introductions to Zazen Yojinki
c) Translation Study (with notes)

a) Translations of Zazen Yojinki (坐禅用心记 Taisho 2586):

1. HEINE: Advice on the Practice of Zazen, Steven Heine, in Zen Texts, Berkeley: Numata Center, 2005.
2. CLEARY: What to be aware of in zazen, sitting meditation, Thomas Cleary in Timeless Spring, New York:
Weatherhill, 1980.
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Notes on What to be Aware of in Zazen. Yasuda Joshu Dainen Roshi and Anzan Hoshin Roshi,
Online at: http://www.wwzc.org/translations/zazenYojinki.htm (accessed 9/23/2010). Also published in The Art of Just
Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza, second edition, edited by John Daido Loori roshi, Wisdom
Publications, 2004.
4. MASUNAGA: (reordered): Zazenyojinki (Points to Watch in Zazen), Reiho Masunaga, Soto Approach to Zen,
(Masunaga reordered the text – I have not preserved his order here- but cut and paste it to match the
Chinese/other translations, Tokyo: Layman Buddhist Society Press [Zaike Bukkyo kyokai], 1958.
5. NEARMAN: Instructions on How to Do Pure Meditation. From Buddhist Writings on Meditation and Daily Practice:
The Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition, trans. Rev. Hubert Nearman, O.B.C., with Rev. Master P.T.N.H. Jiyu-
Kennett, M.O.B.C., and Rev. Daizui MacPhillamy, M.O.B.C., as consultants and editors (Mt. Shasta, California: Shasta
Abbey Press, 1998), pp. 191–210.
6. SENZAKI:(excerpts): CAUTIONS ON ZAZEN by Kei Zan Zenji translation by Nyogen Senzaki. From the Daily Sutra Book of
N.Y. Zazen Center.
7. OKUMURA: (excerpts):Zazen Yojinki Things We Should Be Careful about Regarding Zazen, by Shohaku Okumura
and edited by Hozan Alan Senauke, in Soto Zen: An Introduction to Zazen, Tokyo: Sotoshu Shumucho, 2002.
8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER(excerpts): Notebook on Zen Practice, Heinrich Dumoulin, translated from the
German by James Heisig and Paul Knitter, in Zen Buddhism: A History, Japan, New York: Macmillan Publishing
Company, 1990.

b) Introductions to Zazen Yojinki:

HEINE: Although Keizan is known for a generally Zazen), Zazenshin (Zazen Lancet), Bendowa (Lecture on the
eclectic approach to Zen, Advice on the Practice of Zazen, an Wholehearted Practice of the Way), and Sammai o zammai (The
instructional guide to zazen practice for monks and Samadhi that is the King of Samadhis) fascicles of the
laymen, uncompromisingly insists on the priority of Shobogenzo. In Advice on the Practice of Zazen, Keizan pulls
―zazen only‖ (shikantaza). Consistent with the central together a variety of key philosophical doctrines and practical
standpoint of Dogen, which was based on his training recommendations from Dogen‘s thought. The central doctrines
under his Chinese mentor Tiantong Rujing, Keizan include shinjin datsuraku (the dropping off of body and
stresses that a clear recognition of the meaning of mind),jijiyu zammai (self-fulfilling samadhi), honsho myoshu (the
impermanence is the key to attaining an enlightened identity of original realization and marvelous practice), and
nondiscriminatory perspective beyond all dualities hishiryo (non-thinking beyond thinking and not-thinking). There
through rigorous discipline and complete dedication to are numerous specific recommendations for zazen practice, such
zazen. The practice of zazen, according to Soto theorists, as: regulations for posture and breathing exercises; requirements
is the one single method of attainment that has been for the meditation cushion and place of practice; descriptions of
followed by all Buddhists since the time of Sakyamuni. the full- and half-lotus positions; techniques for focusing attention
Keizan‘s text is greatly influenced by a number of Dogen‘s to eliminate mental distractions; methods for swaying on the
writings on zazen, including the Fukanzazengi (A Universal meditation cushion and walking meditation; and
Recommendation for True Zazen), pp. 233-8 in this volume, recommendations for eating and personal associations.
Hokyoki (Memoirs of the Hokyo Period), Shobogenzo zuimonki An interesting contribution by Keizan is the clarification of
(Miscellaneous Talks), Bendoho (Methods for the Wholehearted the relation between zazen and the Buddhist ideals of teaching,
Practice of the Way), and the Zazengi (Standard Method of practice, and realization as well as the goals of meditation,
120
concentration, and wisdom in light of Dogen‘s notions of the the body and walking around. A definite mental
unity of being-time and the identity of practice-in-realization. attitude is also of great help.
Each of the three ideals and goals is based on zazen and thus
inseparably connected to one another. None is an end in itself but
all are varying perspectives of the dynamically integrated TAIGEN LEIGHTON: Teachings on meditation as
temporal unfolding of sustained zazen practice. enactment ritual continued among Dogen‘s successors in
Japan. Keizan Jokin (1264-1325), a third generation
successor of Dogen, is considered the second founder of
MASUNAGA: Keizan, the founder of Sojiji wrote this Soto Zen after Dogen. Keizan‘s manual on Zen
manuscript, while he was staying at Yokoji, a temple meditation, ― Zazen Yojinki‖ (Writing on the Function of
in Ishikawa prefecture. Dogen, in Fukanzazengi gave Mind in Zazen), begins, ― Zazen just lets people illumine
the basic rules for zazen, but Keizan made these the mind and rest easy in their fundamental endowment.
rules more explicit. In Zazenyojinki he goes into such This is called showing the original face and revealing the
details as choosing a sitting place, precautions scenery of the basic ground‖ [Cleary translation] This
against weather, harmony of breathing, and ways to resting in and revealing of the fundamental ground
calm the mind. Zazenyojinki even covers sitting certainly continues Dogen‘s enactment practice. As this
posture, eating habits, proper clothing, inhaling and text proceeds, Keizan gives extensive ritual instructions in
exhaling, psychological condition, and sitting rules. It when, where, and how to perform zazen, incorporating
thus gives the trainee a detailed set of precautions much of the procedural recommendations of Dogen‘s
for nearly all-foreseeable problems. ―Fukanzazengi,‖ while adding much more detail. In the
Together with Fukanzazengi this work provides a midst of these ritual instructions, Keizan also provides
base for Soto Zen practice. The trainee will find here detail on how he sees zazen‘s relationship to and
all he needs to avoid the major pitfalls of zazen. enactment of teaching, practice, and realization.
Manzan (Dohaku (1636-1715) published ― Zazen is not concerned with teaching, practice, or
Zazenyojinki in 1680 and wrote an introduction for it. realization, yet it contains these three aspects. . .
Since then the work has prompted a number of Although teaching is established within zen, it is
commentaries - the most famous being one by not ordinary teaching; it is direct pointing, simply
Shigetsu Ein (died 1764) called Zazenyojinki communicating the way, speaking with the whole
Funogo. body. . . . Although we speak of practice, it is
practice without any doing. That is to say, the
body doesn‘t do anything, the mouth does not
OKUMURA: Zazen Yojinki was written by Keizan Zenji as a recite anything, the mind does not think anything
manual for zazen. Literally, yojin means to be cautious or over. . . . Though we may speak of realization, this
careful. Ki means record or notes. Keizan Jokin Zenji (1268- is realization without realization, . . . the gate of
1325) became a monk under Koun Ejo Zenji when he was 13 illumination through which the wisdom of the
years old. After Ejo‘s death, he practiced with Tettsu Gikai realized ones opens up, produced by the method of
(1219-1309), the dharma heir of Ejo, and received transmission practice of great ease‖ [Cleary translation].
from him. Keizan Zenji educated many disciples and founded a
Here clearly Keizan is not espousing zazen as some
number of temples such as Sojiji, Yokoji, and Jomanji. Through
technique to gain enlightenment, or some perfected
his disciples, Soto Zen spread broadly. Eiheiji, founded by Dogen
practice or expounding, but simply is affirming the full
Zenji, and Sojiji are the two main monasteries of Japanese Soto
endowment of realization already expressed in zazen.
Zen today.
(From Zazen as Enactment Ritual, an article in: Zen
Rituals: Studies of Zen Theory in Practice, edited by
DUMOULIN: Keizan’s much loved Notebook on Zen Steven Heine and Dale Wright, Oxford University Press,
Practice (Zazen yojinki) originated during his work at 2008.)
Daijo-ji. The book follows Dogen’s directions and
encourages the disciples to practice zealously, Note: Eto Sokuo brings Zazen Yojinki a few times in his
explaining that zazen is concerned mainly with a basic piece excerpted in the section on Dogen and Keizan.
attitude… Basing himself on the classical teaching on
enlightenment, Keizan develops his advice on how to go
about practice; he can be very concrete…Keizan treats
in detail all the bodily and psychological aspects of Zen
meditation and has much to say about bodily posture
and breathing. Drowsiness can be fought off by moving

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c) Translation Study:
[NOTE: Section breaks (roman numerals I.-XXXVI.) in the text below are somewhat arbitrary.]
I.夫坐禪者。直令人開明心地安住本分。是名露本來面目。亦名現本地風光。身心倶脱落。坐臥同遠離。故不思
善不思惡。能超越凡聖。透過迷悟之論量。離却生佛之邊際。故休息萬事。及放下諸縁。一切不爲。六根無作。
1. HEINE: Zazen (seated meditation) allows people to directly 5. NEARMAN: Pure meditation opens us so that we may
enlighten the primordial mind and to abide peacefully in their directly realize the Foundation of our minds and dwell
original state. This is known as realizing one‘s original face, or content within our own Buddha Nature. This is called
manifesting the true nature of the primordial mind. Zazen is the ‗displaying our Original Face‘. It is also called ‗revealing
dropping off of body and mind and remaining detached, whether the landscape of our Original Nature‘. Body and mind
seated or lying down. It is not concerned with good or evil, and both drop off, with no clinging to sitting up or lying down.
transcends the distinctions of worldly and sacred delusion and Hence, there are no discriminatory thoughts of ‗this is
enlightenment, sentient beings and Buddhas. It relinquishes the good‘ or ‗this is bad‘. You readily go beyond thoughts of
ten thousand things, renounces all conditions, casts aside ‗this is worldly‘ or ‗this is saintly‘. You penetrate into, and
everything, and does not rely on the six senses. go on beyond, the multitude of notions and theories about
2. CLEARY: Zazen just lets people illumine the mind and rest delusion versus enlightenment. You leave far behind the
easy in their fundamental endowment. This is called boundary between ‗ordinary beings‘ and ‗Buddhas‘.
Therefore, you cease to pant after the myriad phenomena
showing the original face and revealing the scenery of the
and let go of all attachments to them. All willful actions
basic ground. Mind and body drop off, detached whether
have ceased; the six sense faculties are not actively
sitting or lying down. Therefore, we do not think of good pursuing what things are, unsure of what to call them.
or bad, and can pass beyond all conception of illusion and
7. OKUMURA: Zazen allows a person to clarify the mind-
enlightenment, leave the bounds of sentient beings and
ground and dwell comfortably in one‘s original nature.
buddhas entirely. So, putting a stop to all concerns,
This is called revealing the original Self and manifesting
casting off all attachments, not doing anything at all, the
the original-ground. In zazen both body and mind drop
six senses inactive - who is this, whose name has never off. Zazen is far beyond the form of sitting or lying down.
been known, cannot be considered body, cannot be Free from considerations of good and evil, zazen
considered mind? transcends distinctions between ordinary people and
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Sitting is the way to clarify the sages, it goes far beyond judgements of deluded or
ground of experiences and to rest at ease in your Actual enlightened. Zazen includes no boundary between sentient
Nature. This is called ―the display of the Original Face‖ beings and buddha. Therefore put aside all affairs, and let
and ― revealing the landscape of the basic ground‖. Drop go of all associations. Do nothing at all. The six senses
through this bodymind and you will be far beyond such produce nothing.
forms as sitting or lying down. Beyond considerations of 8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: Zazen clears the mind
good or bad, transcend any divisions between usual people
immediately and lets one dwell in one’s true realm.
and sages, pass beyond the boundary between sentient
This is called showing one’s original face or revealing
beings and Buddha. Putting aside all concerns, shed all
attachments. Do nothing at all. Don‘t fabricate any things the light of one’s Original state. Body and min are cast
with the six senses. off, apart from whether one is sitting or lying down.
Therefore one thinks neither of good nor of evil—
4. MASUNAGA: Zazen clears up the human-being mind
transcending both the sacred and the profane, rising
immediately and lets him dwell in his true essence.
above delusion and enlightenment—and leaves the
This is called showing one’s natural face and
realm of sentient beings and Buddhas.
expressing one’s real self. It is freedom of body and
mind and release from sitting and lying down. So
think neither of good nor on evil. Zazen transcends
both the unenlightened and the sage, rises above
the dualism of delusion and enlightenment, and
crosses over the division of beings and Buddha.
Through zazen we break free from all things, forsake
myriad relations, do nothing, and stop the working of
the six sense organs.
Notes:
Denkoroku (Transmission of Light), Case 52 includes an account of Dogen’s awakening: Dogen studied with Zen
master Rujing. Once during meditation sitting late at night Rujing said to the assembly, ―
Zen study is the shedding of mind and
body‖ (身心脱落). Hearing this, suddenly Dogen was greatly enlightened. He went right to the abbot‘s room and lit incense.
Rujing asked him, ―
What are you burning incense for?‖ Dogen said, ― My body and mind have been shed.‖ Rujing said, ― Body
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 and mind shed, shed body and mind.‖ Dogen said, ― This is a temporary byway--don‘t approve me arbitrarily.‖ Rujing said, ― I‘m
not.‖ Dogen said, ― What is that which isn‘t given arbitrary approval?‖ Rujing said, ―Shedding body and mind.‖ Dogen bowed.
Rujing said, ―The shedding is shed.‖ At that time Rujing‘s attendant said, ―
This is no small matter, that a foreigner has attained
such a state.‖ Rujing said, ―
How many time has he been pummeled here--liberated, dignified, thunder roars.‖
Also see Shohaku Okumura‘s piece on ―
dropping off body & mind‖ in the section on Denkoroku, pp. 86-88 of this study.
In Mumonkan (Gateless Barrier) Case # 23, Huineng instructs Ming the head monk, ―
Don‘t think good; don‘t think evil. At this
very moment, what is the original face of Ming the head monk?‖ 不思善、不思惡、正與麼時、那箇是明上座本來面目.
OKUMURA: ― Mind-ground”: The true mind inherent in all living beings is compared to the earth or ground from which
everything grows. Buddha-nature. “Original nature”: The nature of the true Self, which is beyond any distinction between
enlightened and deluded.

II.這箇是阿誰。不曾知名。非可爲身。非可爲心。欲慮慮絶。欲言言窮。如痴如兀。山高海深。不露頂不見底
。不對縁而照。眼明于雲外。不思量而通。宗朗于默説。坐斷乾坤。全身獨露。
1. HEINE: What is this that is nameless and cannot be identified 4. MASUNAGA: Who does this? We still do not know
with either body or mind? If you try to conceive of it, it is beyond his name. We should call it neither body nor mind. If
thought; if you try to express it, words are exhausted. It appears we try to imagine it, it defies imagination. If we try to
both foolish and saintly. It is as high as the mountain and as deep describe it, it defies description. It is like the fool -
as the ocean, yet discloses neither its full height nor depth. It is and also the sage. It is high as the mountain and
illuminatively unbound by conditions, displaying a radiance that deep as the sea - impossible to see the top or
cannot be discerned by the naked eye. It penetrates beyond bottom. It reaches without thinking and radiates the
thought and has a clarity above the entanglements of speech. It essential teaching in silence. Sitting in both heaven
transcends both heaven and earth and is realized only by the entire and earth, we express our whole body in freedom.
person. 5. NEARMAN: No need to activate body, no need to activate
2. CLEARY: When you try to think of it, thought vanishes; mind. Should you wish to deliberate, you find that
when you try to speak of it, words come to an end. Like deliberative thought has died out; should you wish to
an idiot, like an ignoramus, high as a mountain, deep as speak, you find that you are destitute of words. You are
an ocean, not showing the peak or the invisible depths — like the fool and like the one who is resolute; you are as
shining without thinking, the source is clear in silent lofty as a mountain and as profound as the ocean, with the
explanation. Occupying sky and earth, one’s whole body peak beyond view, the bottom beyond sight. Without
alone is manifest; comparing conditions, you illumine them, your Eye
shining out from the clouds. Without pondering on
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Who is this? Its name is unknown; it anything, you penetrate all; your teaching is clear as you
cannot be called ― body‖, it cannot be called ― mind‖. speak out from the silence. Whilst sitting in pure
Trying to think of it, the thought vanishes. Trying to speak meditation, cut yourself free of Heaven and Earth: your
of it, words die. It is like a fool, an idiot. It is as high as a whole being is as a solitary drop of dew.
mountain, deep as the ocean. Without peak or depths, its
brilliance is unthinkable, it shows itself silently. Between
sky and earth, only this whole body is seen.
Notes:
The Jewel Mirror Samadhi says, ―
Like a fool, like an idiot‖ (如愚若魯).

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III.沒量大人。如大死人。無一翳遮眼。無一塵受足。何處有塵埃。何物作遮障。清水本無表裏。虚空終無内外
。玲瓏明白。自照靈然。色空未分。境智何立。從來共住。歴劫無名。三祖大師且名爲心。龍樹尊者假名爲身。
現佛性相。表諸佛體。此圓月相無缺無餘。
1. HEINE: It is like an immeasurably perfected person who has 4. MASUNAGA: The great man who has sloughed off
experienced the great death (parinirvana) and has unobstructed thinking is like one who has died the Great Death.
vision and unhindered action. What dust defiles it, and what No illusions distort his sight; his feet pick up no dust.
obstacle can block it? Clear water originally has neither front nor No dust anywhere and nothing obstructs him. Pure
back, and empty space is not bound by inside or outside. Zazen water has neither front nor back. In a clear sky there
has a pristine clarity that is self-illuminating prior to distinctions of is essentially no inside and out side. Like them -
form and emptiness, subject and object. It is eternal but has never transparent and clear - zazen shines brightly by
been named. The Third Patriarch (Sengcan) [provisionally] itself. Form and void are undivided nor are objects
referred to it as ―mind,‖ and Nagarjuna [provisionally] referred to and wisdom apart. They have been together from
it as ― body.‖ It manifests the form of Buddha-nature and time eternal and have no name. The Third Patriarch,
actualizes the body of all Buddhas. Like the full moon, it is a great teacher, tentatively called it “Mind”; the
without absence or excess. respected Nagarjuna called it “Body.” It expresses
2. CLEARY: a person of immeasurable greatness – like one the form of the Buddha and the body of the Buddhas.
who has died utterly, whose eyes are not clouded by any- This full-moon form has neither lack nor excess.
thing, whose feet are not supported by anything — 5. NEARMAN: Those whose spiritual realization is
where is there any dust? What is a barrier? The clear unfathomable in its depth are as great corpses: their eyes
water never had front or back, space will never have have no veil, no cataract; their feet never contact even a
inside or out. Crystal clear and naturally radiant before single mote of dust, for where is there any dust? What is
form and void are separated, how can object and there to obscure or hinder? By its very nature, clear water
has no front or back; in the last analysis, the empty sky
knowledge exist? This has always been with us, but it has
has no inside or outside. Like them, you are unbeclouded
never had a name. The third patriarch, a great teacher,
and clear, luminous in yourself, spiritually ablaze, for
temporarily called it mind; the venerable Nagarjuna form and space are not yet divided, so how are knowledge
provisionally called it body - seeing the essence and form and the wisdom that contemplates it to arise? From the
of the enlightened, manifesting the bodies of all buddhas, beginning, they have dwelt together for successive eons
this, symbolized by the full moon, has neither lack nor without a name. The Great Master who was our Third
excess. Ancestor called It ‗Mind‘, meaning ‗Original Nature‘. The
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: This one is without compare—he has Venerable Nagyaarajuna, as an expedient, called It
completely died. Eyes clear, she stands nowhere. Where is ‗Body‘, meaning ‗True Self‘. The former points to the
there any dust? What can obstruct such a one? Clear water aspect of Buddha Nature, whilst the latter expresses the
has no back or front, space has no inside or outside. embodiment of the Buddhas. As ‗the Full Moon‘, It
Completely clear, its own luminosity shines before form reveals no lack or excess.
and emptiness were fabricated. Objects of mind and mind
itself have no place to exist. This has always already been
so but it is still without a name. The great teacher, the
Third Ancestor Sengcan temporarily called it ― mind‖, and
the Venerable Nagarjuna once called it ― body‖.
Enlightened essence and form, giving rise to the bodies of
all the Buddhas, it has no ― more‖ or ― less‖ about it.
Notes:
The third ancestor, Sengcan, calling it ―
mind‖ may be a reference to his Faith in Mind (Xinxinming). Keizan
composed a commentary on this text: Shinjinmei nentei (T2587 信心銘拈提).
CLEARY:In an incident well known in zen circles, the fourteenth patriarch of zen, the Indian master Nagarjuna, once
manifested the appearance of a circular figure, like the full moon, where he sat to expound the Dharma; the full
moon represents the dharmakaya, or body of reality.

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IV.即此心者。便是佛也。自己光明騰古輝今。得龍樹變相。成諸佛三昧。心本無二相。身更異相像。唯心與唯
身。不説異與同。心變成身。身露相分。一波纔動。萬波隨來。心識才起。萬法競來。所謂四大亓蘊遂和合。四
支亓根忽現成。以至三十六物･十二因縁。造作遷流展轉相續。但以衆法合成而有。
1. HEINE: This mind itself is nothing other than Buddha. Self- 4. MASUNAGA: Anyone self-identified with this mind is
illumination shines from the past through the present, realizing the a Buddha. The light of this self, shining both now and
transformation of Nagarjuna [who manifested himself as the in the past, gains shape and fulfills the samadhi of
moon, symbolizing Buddha-nature] and attaining the samadhi of the Buddhas. The Mind essentially is not two; the
all Buddhas. Mind originally is undifferentiated, and the body Body takes various shapes through causality. Mind-
manifests various forms. Mind-only and body-only cannot be only and Body-only cannot be explained either as
explained in terms of sameness or difference. Mind transforms different or the same. It shines without an object, and
itself and becomes body, and the manifest body has different the eyes of wisdom penetrate beyond the Body; the
forms. When one wave is generated, ten thousand waves appear; Body expressed itself and forms emerge. The ripple
when mental discrimination arises, ten thousand dharmas appear. of one wave touches off 10,000 waves. The slight
That is, the four elements and five skandhas interdependently twitch of consciousness brings the 10,000 things
originate, and the four limbs and five senses become manifest. bubbling up. The so-called four elements and five
Furthermore, the thirty-six parts [of the body] and the twelve aggregates combine, and the four limbs and five
conditions ceaselessly continue to appear. organs immediately take form. In addition the 36
2. CLEARY: It is this mind which is enlightened itself; the bodily possessions and the 12 mutual causes arise
light of one’s own mind flashes through the past and and circulate in successive currents. They
interpenetrate with myriad things.
shines through the present. Mastering Nagarjuna’s magic
symbol, achieving the concentration of all buddhas, the 5. NEARMAN: This Original Nature is none other than
mind has no sign of duality, while bodies yet differ in Buddha. The radiance of the True Self arises from the
appearance. Only mind, only body their difference and ancient past and is dazzling in Its brilliance today. It
sameness are not the issue; mind changes into body, and effects the transmutations of Nagyaarajuna and perfects
the samadhi of Buddhas. Our minds, from the first, have
when the body appears they are distinguished. As soon as
no dual nature and our bodies differ in appearance. There
one wave moves, ten thousand waves come following;
is just mind and just body; do not speak of them as being
the moment mental discrimination arises, myriad things different or as being alike. Mind shifts and perfects body;
burst forth. That is to say that the four main elements body manifests and its appearance diverges. A single
and five clusters eventually combine, the four limbs and wave moves ever so little, and myriad waves come -
five senses suddenly appear, and so on down to the thirty following after. No sooner have mind and perceptual -
six parts of the body, the twelve fold causal nexus; consciousness arisen than myriads of phenomena -
fabrication flows along, developing continuity – it only compete to come in. Thereupon, what we call ‗the four
exists because of the combining of many elements. elements and the five skandhas‘ harmoniously combine,
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: This is symbolized by the full moon and the ‗four bodily segments and their five sense -organs‘
but it is this mind which is enlightenment itself. The suddenly emerge, culminating in the thirty-six physical
luminosity of this mind shines throughout the past and parts and excretions, along with the twelve links in the
brightens as the present. Nagarjuna used this subtle chain of dependent origination. Our features, ever
symbol for the samadhi of all the Buddhas but this mind is changing and shifting, roll on in succession, inheriting
signless, non-dual, and differences between forms are only from what has gone before. Still, combining with all
apparent. Just mind, just body. Difference and sameness phenomena, they have ‗existence‘.
miss the point. Body arises in mind and, when the body
arises, they appear to be distinguished. When one wave
arises, a thousand waves follow; the moment a single
mental fabrication arises, numberless things appear. So the
four elements and five aggregates mesh, four limbs and
five senses appear and on and on until the thirty-six body
parts and the twelve-fold chain of interdependant
emergence. Once fabrication arises, it develops continuity
but it still only exists through the piling up of myriad
dharmas.
Notes:
I could not easily find an enumeration of 36 parts of the body. The Pali tradition often cites 32 parts. The parts of
the body are usually contemplated as being impure, defiled, etc. The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines
enumerates 37 parts: ― (1) hair of the head, (2) hair of the body, (3) fingernails and toenails, (4) teeth, (5) skin, (6)
skin irritations, (7) flesh, (8) tendons, (9) blood, (10) bones, (11) marrow, (12) heart, (13) kidneys, (14) liver, (15)
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 lungs, (16) spleen, (17) large intestine, (18) small intestine, (19) mesentery, (20) stomach, (21) urine, (22) feces,
(23) tears, (24) sweat, (25) fat, (26) saliva, (27) nasal mucus, (28) pus, (29) bile, (30) phlegm, (31) watery body
fluid, (32) oily body fluid, (33) impurities, (34) brain matter, (35) cerebral membrane, (36) mucous discharge of
the eye, and (37) ear secretions.‖
CLEARY: The body-mind is represented as being made up of organs and functions corresponding to the four gross
elements: earth, water, fire, and air; since early times buddhists in India represented the being td be made up of five
clusters: matter, sensation, perception, relational functions (including emotions, judgments, etc.), and
consciousness.

V.所以心如海水。身如波浪。如海水外無一點波。如波浪外無一滴水。水波無別。動靜不異。故云。生死去來眞
實人。四大亓蘊不壞身。
1. HEINE: In explaining the interdependence of phenomena, 4. MASUNAGA: Our mind is like the ocean water, our
the mind can be compared to ocean water and the body to body, like the waves. Just as there is not a single
waves. There are no waves without water, and no water wave outside the ocean waters, not a drop of water
without waves. Water and waves are inseparable, motion exists outside waves. The water and waves are not
and stillness are indistinguishable. Therefore it is said, different; action and inaction do not differ. So it is
―The true man [who comprehends] life and death, coming said: “Even though living and dying, going and
and going, realizes the imperishable body of the four coming, they are true men. Even though possessing
elements and the five Skandhas.‖ the four elements and five aggregates, they have the
2. CLEARY: Therefore the mind is like the ocean water, the eternal body.”
body is like the waves. As there are no waves without 5. NEARMAN: Hence, the mind is like the ocean‘s water,
water and no water without waves, water and waves are the body like its billowing waves. Just as there is no trace
not separate, motion and stillness are not different. of a wave outside the ocean‘s water, so there is not a
Therefore it is said, “The real person coming and going single drop of water outside of, or apart from, the
living and dying – the imperishable body of the four billowing waves. Water and wave have no separate
elements and five clusters.” existence; movement and rest are no different. Hence, it is
said that the True Person of ‗birth and death, coming and
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: The mind is like the ocean waters, going‘, the Indestructible Body of the four elements and
the body like the waves. There are no waves without water the five skandhas, is the One who now sits in meditation,
and no water without waves; water and waves are not who straightway enters the ocean of Buddha Nature and
separate, motion and stillness are not different. So it is accordingly manifests the embodiment of the Buddhas.
said, ―
A person comes and goes, lives and dies, as the
imperishable body of the four elements and five
aggregates.‖
Notes:
―The true person [who comprehends] life and death‖ is a phrase that Dogen uses in Shobogenzo. I could not find a
source for the entire quote.

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VI.今坐禪者。正入佛性海。即標諸佛體。本有妙淨明心頓現前。本來一段光明終圓照。海水都無増減。波浪亦
無退轉。是以諸佛爲一大事因縁出現於世。直令衆生開示悟入佛之知見。而有寂靜無漏妙術。是謂坐禪。即是諸
佛自受用三昧。又謂三昧王三昧。若一時安住此三昧。則直開明心地。良知佛道正門也。
1. HEINE: Now, [practicing] zazen is directly entering into the becomes the most crucial problems by giving all
ocean of Buddha-nature and manifesting the body of all Buddhas. beings direct access to the Buddha’s wisdom. They
The fundamental purity of the radiant mind is disclosed, and the teach a wonderful way of calmness and detachment
original brightness shines forth without limit. There is no increase zazen. It is, in fact, the self-joyous meditation of the
or decrease in the waters of the ocean, and the waves are never Buddhas. It is the king of meditations. Dwelling in
distracted in their course. Therefore, all Buddhas appear in the this meditation even for a moment will clear away
world for the singleminded function of causing sentient beings to your delusions. This, we know, is the right gate to
realize Buddha[hood] and to attain and manifest enlightenment. Buddhism.
Their incomparably tranquil and wondrous technique is known as 5. NEARMAN: From the first, the wondrous, pure, bright
zazen. It is also known as the self-fulfilling samadhi, or the king Original Nature immediately appears before one‘s eyes.
of all samadhis. If you abide tranquilly in samadhi, it directly One light continuing from the first ultimately becomes
enlightens the primordial mind and is the true gate to the fully illuminating. The waters of the ocean are all without
attainment of the way of Buddhas. increase or decrease. Likewise, the waves and billows
2. CLEARY: Now zazen is going right into the ocean of have no withdrawing or turning back upon themselves.
enlightenment, thus manifesting the body of all buddhas. Thus, all Buddhas have appeared in the world for the sake
The innate inconceivably clear mind is suddenly revealed of the Reason for the One Great Matter for which we train.
and the original light finally shines everywhere. There is Straightway, They help sentient beings open up spiritually
no increase or decrease in the ocean, and the waves and see the way to go, that they may awaken and know
never turn back. Therefore the enlightened ones have Buddha. Also, They have a wondrous method which does
appeared in the world for the one great purpose of not entangle or distress or foster defiling passions: it is
called ‗pure meditation‘. It is, of course, the samadhi
having people realize the knowledge and vision of
which all Buddhas employ, to their delight. It is also
enlightenment. And they had a peaceful, impeccable
called ‗the samadhi that is the lord of samadhis‘. If even
subtle art, called zazen, which is the state of absorption for a little while you reside contented within this samadhi,
that is king of all states of concentration. If you once rest then straightway you will open your spiritual eye and
in this absorption, then you directly illumine the mind – clarify what your mind really is. Know well that this is
so we realize it is the main gate to the way of indeed the right gate to Buddhahood.
enlightenment.
7. OKUMURA: Now, zazen is entering directly into the ocean of
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Zazen is going right into the Ocean buddha-nature and manifesting the body of the Buddha. The
of Awareness, manifesting the body of all Buddhas. The pure and clear mind is actualized in the present moment; the
natural luminosity of mind suddenly reveals itself and the original light shines everywhere. The water in the ocean neither
original light is everywhere. There is no increase or increases nor decreases, and the waves never cease. Buddhas
decrease in the ocean and the waves never turn back. Thus have appeared in this world for the sake of the One Great Matter;
Buddhas have arisen in this world for the one Great Matter to show the wisdom and insight of the Buddha to all living
of teaching people the wisdom and insight of Awakening beings and to make their entry possible. For this, there is a
and to give them true entry. For this there is the peaceful, peaceful and pure way: zazen. This is nothing but the jijuyu-
pure practice of sitting. This is the complete practice of zanmai of all buddhas. It is also called zanmai-ozanmai (the
self-enjoyment of all the Buddhas. This is the sovereign of King of Samadhis). If you dwell in this samadhi for even a short
all samadhis. Entering this samadhi, the ground of mind is time, the mind-ground will be directly clarified. You should
clarified at once. You should know that this is the true know that this is the true gate of the buddha-way.
gate to the Way of the Buddhas.
8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: The mind, originally
4. MASUNAGA: This zazen directly enters the ocean of marvelous, clear, and bright, suddenly the original light
the Buddha Mind and immediately manifests the shines fully at last. . . All Buddhas appear in this world
Buddha Body. Then the Mind -inherently unexcelled,
because of the one great thing, in order to show all
clear, and bright-suddenly emerges, and the
sentient beings the wisdom of the Buddha and to lead
supreme light shines fully at last. The ocean waters
know no increase or decrease, and neither do the them to enlightenment. This is a wonderful art of
waves undergo change. All Buddhas appear in this stillness and purity called zazen, is the self-joyous
world to solve its cloud. The Mind changes and samadhi (jijuyu’zammai) or the kingly samadhi.
Notes:
Dogen discusses the self-fulfilling samadhi (jijuyu-zanmai自受用三昧) in Shobogenzo Bendowa and the samadhi that is the
king of samadhis (zanmai o zanmai 三昧王三昧) in the Shobogenzo fascicle of the same name.

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VII.其欲開明心地者。放捨雜知雜解。抛下世法佛法。斷絶一切妄情。現成一實眞心。迷雲收晴心月新明。佛言
。聞思猶如處門外。坐禪正還家穩坐。誠哉。若夫聞思。諸見未休。心地尚滯。故如處門外。只箇坐禪。一切休
歇。無處不通。故似還家穩坐。
1. HEINE: If you wish to enlighten the primordial mind, renounce 4. MASUNAGA: Those who would clear up their mind
discriminative knowledge and interpretation, cast away [the dis- must abandon complex intellection, forsake the
tinctions between] worldly and Buddhist principles, and remove world and Buddhism, and make the Buddha Mind
all attachments. If you manifest the One True Mind, the clouds appear. Then the cloud of delusion lifts and the
of delusion will be dispersed and the mind will be as clear as the moon of the mind shines anew. The Buddha is
new moon. The Buddha said, ― Listening and thinking are supposed to have said that hearing and thinking
standing outside the gate, zazen is sitting calmly in one‘s own about Buddhism is like standing outside the gate
home.‖ How true! For listening and thinking perpetuate [one- but that zazen is truly returning home and sitting
sided] views, leaving the primordial mind in turmoil, just like down in comfort. This is true. In hearing and
being outside the gate. But zazen creates an all-pervasive thinking of Buddhism, opinions prevail. The mind
restfulness, just like sitting calmly at home. remains confused; it is truly like standing outside
2. CLEARY: Those who wish to illumine the mind should the gate. But in this zazen all things disappear; it is
give up various mixed-up knowledge and interpretation, not conditioned by place. It is like returning home
and sitting down in comfort.
cast away both conventional and buddhist principles,
cut off all delusive sentiments, and manifest the one 5. NEARMAN: If you are desirous of clarifying what your
truly real mind the clouds of illusion clear up, the mind mind really is, let go of all your deluded, discriminatory
moon shines anew. The Buddha said, “Learning and knowledge and explanations. Put aside the teachings of
thinking are like being outside the door; sitting in the world and the Teachings of the Buddha. Cut yourself
free from all false and deluding opinions and sentiments.
meditation is returning home to sit in peace.” How true
When you manifest the true Nature of the One Reality,
this is! While learning and thinking, views have not
the clouds of doubt and delusion that have accumulated
stopped and the mind is still stuck —that is why it is like will disperse, and the Moon of your Original Nature will
being outside the door. But in this sitting meditation, once again shine clear and bright. The Buddha said,
zazen, everything is at rest and you penetrate ―Should you, upon hearing the Dharma, ponder on Its
everywhere thus it is like returning home to sit in peace. meaning, you are still as one outside the gate. To come
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: If you want to clarify the mind- back straightway to pure meditation is to calmly sit
ground, give up your jumble of limited knowledge and within the house.‖ How true this is! And just as with that
interpretation, cut off thoughts of usualness and holiness, ‗hearing and pondering‘, likewise all your opinions are
abandon all delusive feelings. When the true mind of still not yet put to rest. Your mind is still hindered by
reality manifests, the clouds of delusion dissipate and the attachments. Thus, you are as one sitting outside the
moon of the mind shines bright. The Buddha said, gate. Just do pure meditation, and all will relax and come
―Listening and thinking about it are like being shut out to rest. There is no place where you will not penetrate.
by a door. Zazen is like coming home and sitting at Therefore, you will resemble one who returns home and
ease.‖ This is true! Listening and thinking about it, sits in peace.
views have not ceased and the mind is obstructed; this is 7. OKUMURA: If you wish to clarify the mind-ground, you
why it‘s like being shut out by a door. True sitting puts should relinquish your various types of limited knowledge and
all things to rest and yet penetrates everywhere. This understanding. Throw away both worldly affairs and buddha-
sitting is like coming home and sitting at ease. dharma. Eliminate all delusive emotions. When the true mind
of the sole Reality is manifest, the clouds of delusion will clear
away and the moon of the Mind will shine brightly. The
Buddha said, ― Listening and thinking are like being outside of
the gate; zazen is returning home and sitting in peace.‖ How
true this is! When we are listening and thinking, the various
views have not been put to rest and the mind is still running
over. Therefore other activities are like being outside of the
gate. Zazen alone brings everything to rest and, flowing freely,
reaches everywhere. So zazen is like returning home and
sitting in peace.
Notes:
I could not locate a source for the quote (―
The Buddha said…‖) using the CBETA database of Buddhist texts in Chinese (Taisho
and the Zokuzokyo supplement) or the SAT database of the Chinese and Japanese portions of the Taisho.

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VIII.而亓蓋煩惱皆從無明起。無明若不明己也。坐禪者是明己也。縱雖斷亓蓋。未斷無明。非是佛祖。若欲斷
無明。坐禪辨道。最是祕訣也。古人云。妄息寂生。寂生智現。智現眞見。若欲盡妄心。須休善惡思。又須一切
縁務都來放捨。心無思身無事。是第一用心也。妄縁盡時。妄心隨滅。
1. HEINE: The attachments of the five desires all arise from 4. MASUNAGA: The delusion of the five hindrances
ignorance, ignorance is due to a lack of clarity about the self, and arises from ignorance. Ignorance stems from not
zazen illuminates the self. For example, although the five desires knowing the self - the self, that zazen enables us to
may be removed, if ignorance is not yet removed that is not yet know. Even if we cut off the five hindrances, we still
[the attainment] of a Buddha or patriarch. If you want to remove remain outside the sphere of the Buddhas and
ignorance, the diligent practice of zazen is the key. An ancient patriarchs unless we also free ourselves from
said, ―If distraction is removed tranquility arises, and if tranquility ignorance. And the most effective way to do this is
arises wisdom is attained, and if wisdom is attained the truth is zazen. An ancient sage has said: “When delusions
clearly seen.‖ If you want to remove distractions, you must be disappear, calmness emerges, When calmness
free from thoughts of [the distinction of] good and evil, and emerges, wisdom arises. When wisdom, arises,
renounce all involvement in karmic relations. The most important there is true understanding.” To get rid of delusive
concern is that the mind be free from thinking and the body free thoughts we have to stop thinking about good and
from acting. evil. We have to sever all relations, throw everything
2. CLEARY: The afflictions of the five obscurations all come away, think of nothing, and do nothing with our body.
from ignorance, and ignorance means not understanding This is the primary precaution.
yourself. Zazen is understanding yourself. Even though 5. NEARMAN: Now then, the defiling passions from the five
you have eliminated the five obscurations, if you have not skandhas all arise out of ignorance. ‗Ignorance‘ is ‗not
eliminated ignorance, you are not a buddha or an seeing the True Self clearly‘; ‗pure meditation‘ is ‗seeing
ancestor. If you want to eliminate ignorance, zazen to the True Self clearly‘. Even though you rid yourself of the
discern the path is the most essential secret. An ancient five hindrances—namely, desire, anger, drowsiness,
excitability, and doubt—you still have not rid yourself of
said, “When confusion ceases, tranquility comes; when
ignorance. That was not the case with the Buddhas and
tranquility comes, wisdom appears, and when wisdom
Ancestors. If you wish to rid yourself of ignorance, then
appears reality is seen.” If you want to put an end to your pure meditation and practice of the Way, together, will
illusion you must stop thinking of good and bad and must form the key. Someone of old said, ― If you are exerting
give up all involvement in activity; the mind not thinking yourself unnecessarily, live quietly. If you live quietly,
and the body not doing is the most essential point. When wisdom will manifest. If wisdom manifests, Truth will be
delusive attachments end, illusion dies out. seen.‖ If you wish to bring a disordered mind to an end,
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Being afflicted by the five you must put thoughts of what is good or bad to rest and
obstructions arises from basic ignorance and ignorance abandon all worldly pursuits and obstacles. Let your mind
arises from not understanding your own nature. Zazen is have no judgmental thoughts and fancies; let your body
understanding your own nature. Even if you were to have no ‗business to attend to‘.
eliminate the five obstructions, if you haven‘t eliminated 7. OKUMURA: The delusions of the five-obstructions (gogai) all
basic ignorance, you have not yet realized yourself as the arise out of basic ignorance (mumyo). Being ignorant means not
Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. If you want to release clarifying the Self. To practice zazen is to clarify the Self. Even
basic ignorance, the essential key is to sit and practice the though the five obstructions are eliminated, if basic ignorance is
Way. An old master said, ― When confusion ceases, clarity not eliminated, you are not a buddha-ancestor. If you wish to
arises; when clarity arises, wisdom appears; and when eliminate basic ignorance, zazen practice of the Way is the key.
wisdom appears, Reality displays itself.” If you want to An ancient master said, ― When delusive thoughts cease,
cease your confusion, you must cease involvement in tranquility arises; when tranquility arises, wisdom appears; when
thoughts of good or bad. Stop getting caught up in wisdom appears, reality reveals itself.‖ If you want to eliminate
unnecessary affairs. A mind ― unoccupied‖ together with a delusive thoughts, you should cease to discriminate between
body ― free of activity‖ is the essential point to remember. good and evil. Give up all affairs with which you are involved;
When delusive attachments end, the mind of delusion dies do not occupy your mind with any concerns nor become
out. physically engaged in any activity. This is the primary point to
bear in mind. When delusive objects disappear, delusive mind
falls away.
Notes:
The five hindrances (Sanskrit: nivarana) are sometimes described as hindrances to meditation and consequently, the
achievement of access concentration or the 1st dhyana are sometimes defined in terms of the subsiding of the hindrances.
Also see Shohaku Okumura‘s piece on ―
dropping off body & mind‖ in the section on Denkoroku, pp. 86-88 of this study.

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 OKUMURA: The five obstructions which prevent our mind from being aware and functioning normally are greed, anger,
indolence, agitation and doubt. Basic ignorance is a translation of mumyo (Skt., avidya). Literally, it means ―
no-light‖ (of
wisdom).
CLEARY: The five obscurations, or coverings, of the mind in meditation are greed and lust, anger and hatred, folly
and delusion, drowsiness, and excitement and regret.
I could not locate a source for the quote (―
An ancient said…‖) using the CBETA database of Buddhist texts in
Chinese (Taisho and the Zokuzokyo supplement) or the SAT database of the Chinese and Japanese portions of the
Taisho.

IX.妄心若滅。不變體現。了了常知。非寂滅法。非動作法。然所有技藝･術道･醫方･占相。皆當遠離。況乎歌舞
妓樂諠諍戲論名相利養。悉不可近之。頌詩歌詠之類。自雖爲淨心因縁。而莫好營。文章筆硯擲下不用。是道者
之勝躅也。是調心之至要也。
1. HEINE: When distracting relations are ended mental Stay away from singing, dancing, music, noisy
disturbances are subdued, and when mental disturbances are chatter, gossip, publicity, and Profit-seeking.
subdued the unchanging body is manifest. You continuously Although composing verse and poetry may help
realize its clarity as neither extinction nor commotion. Therefore, quiet your mind; don’t become too intrigued by them.
you must not be involved in arts and crafts or healing and Also abandon writing and calligraphy. This advice
divination. Furthermore, song, dance, and music, debate and represents a supreme legacy from the seekers of the
rhetoric, as well as the pursuit of fame and fortune must be way in the past. It outlines the prerequisites for
completely avoided. Although eulogy and lyrical poetry can in bringing your mind into harmony.
themselves contribute to calming the mind, you must not indulge 5. NEARMAN: This is a primary point to heed, for, when
in writing them. The renunciation of literature and calligraphy is a you have brought the causes of your delusory thoughts to
priority for seekers of the Way, and is the most effective means of an end, the misleading mind will follow suit and become
regulating the mind. extinguished. When the misleading mind is extinguished,
2. CLEARY: When illusion dies out, the unchanging essence the Immutable Body will manifest, and you will
is revealed and you are always clearly aware of it. It is not understand and forever know. This is not a teaching of
absolute quiescence, it is not activity. Hence you should nihilistic annihilation nor is it a teaching of a perpetual
avoid all arts and crafts, medical prescription and augury, personality ever on the move. The active pursuit of arts
as well as songs and dance and music, disputation, and crafts, medicine, and fortune-telling should all be left
meaningless talk, and honor and profit. Though poetry far behind. How much more so, singing and dancing, as
and song can be an aid to clarifying the mind, still you well as seeking friendships, arguing, playing pranks, or
engaging in debates and discussions. Keep your distance
should not be fond of making them; to give up writing
from chasing after things because of their reputation or
and calligraphy is the superior precedent of the people of
appearance, seeking to profit from them! Although poetic
the way, the best way for harmonizing the mind. eulogies and lyrics of various kinds are, by nature, the
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: When delusion dies out, the Reality karmic effects of a pure attitude of mind, nevertheless, do
that was always the case manifests and you are always not dote on reciting them. Lay aside brush and ink for
clearly aware of it. It is not a matter of extinction or of com-posing literary works, and do not use them for such
activity. Avoid getting caught up in arts and crafts, purposes. Such abstention will serve as a fine model for
prescribing medicines and fortune-telling. Stay away from one who would tread the Path; it is what is adequate for a
songs and dancing, arguing and babbling, fame and gain. harmonious mind.
Composing poetry can be an aid in clarifying the mind but 7. OKUMURA: When delusive mind disappears, the unchanging
don‘t get caught up in it. The same is true for writing and reality manifests itself and we are always clearly aware. It is not
calligraphy. This is the superior precedent for practitioners extinction; it is not activity. Therefore, you should avoid
of the Way and is the best way to harmonize the mind. engaging in any arts or crafts, medicine or fortune-telling.
4. MASUNAGA: When delusive relations disappear, Needless to say, you should stay away from music and dancing,
delusive thoughts disappear. When delusive arguing and meaningless discussions, fame and personal profit.
thoughts disappear, there emerges the reality that While composing poetry can be a way to purify one‘s mind, do
gives us clear insight into all things. It is not not be fond of it. Give up writing and calligraphy. This is the fine
passivity, nor is it activity. Free yourself from all such precedent set by practitioners of the Way. This is essential for
trifles as art, technique, medicine, and fortune telling. harmonizing the mind.

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X.美服與垢衣。倶不可著用。美服者生貪。又有盜賊畏。故爲道者障難。若有因縁。若有人施與。而不受者。古
來嘉蹤也。縱本有之。又不照管。盜賊劫奪。不可追尋悋惜也。垢衣舊衣者。浣洗補治去垢膩。令淨潔而可著用
之。不去垢膩。身冷病發。又爲障道因縁也。雖然不管身命。衣不足。食不足。睡眠不足。是名三不足。皆退惰
因縁也。
1. HEINE: Do not wear clothing that is either elegant or 4. MASUNAGA: Also avoid both beautiful robes, and
tattered. Fine clothes give rise to greed as well as the fear stained clothing. A beautiful robe gives rise to desire,
of being robbed, and this becomes an obstacle to the and there is also the danger of theft. It, there fore,
pursuit of the Way. To refuse clothes if offered as alms hinders the truth-seeker. If someone hap pens to
has always been a praiseworthy practice since ancient offer you a rich robe, turn it down. This has been the
times. Even if you already own such clothes, do not worthy tradition from long ago. If you have such a
indulge in wearing them. If thieves come to steal the robe from before, discount its importance. And if
clothes, do not bother to chase after them or regret the someone steals it, don’t brood over your loss. Wear
loss. You should wear old clothes that have been washed old clothes but mend any holes and wash off any
and mended till completely clean. If you do not clean [and stain or oil. If you don’t clean off the dirt, your
mend] the clothes you will get cold and sick, and that is chances of getting sick increase, and this would
also an obstacle to the pursuit of the Way. Although we obstruct training. Lack of clothing, lack of food, and
should not be overly concerned with physical conditions, lack of sleep - these are the three lacks. They
the lack of food, clothing, and shelter is known as the become a source of idleness.
three insufficiencies, all of which are obstructive 5. NEARMAN: Do not be attached to the wearing of fine
conditions. garments or of soiled or ragged clothing. Fine garments
2. CLEARY: You should not be attached to either fine give birth to covetousness and encourage a fear of thieves
clothing or dirty rags. Fine clothing instigates greed, and and robbers; thus they are impediments for the follower of
there is also the fear of theft — therefore it is a hindrance the Way. To refuse to accept them—whether offered with
to someone on the way. To refuse it when someone gives an ulterior motive or, openly, as alms—is a praiseworthy
it for some reason is a praiseworthy act exemplified from act traceable to ancient times. Even if you had them to
ancient times. Even if you happen to have fine clothing, begin with, do not worry about them; should some thief
still don’t be concerned about taking care of it; if thieves steal them, do not chase after them or begrudge their loss.
Wash and patch your soiled or old robes, removing any
take it, don’t chase after it or regret the loss. Old dirty
dirt and grime. Make them clean and fit for wearing;
clothes, washed, mended, and completely cleaned,
otherwise, your body will be exposed to the cold or
should be worn; if you don’t get rid of the dirt you’ll get become ill from not removing the dirt and grime. These
cold and become sick this too causes obstruction on the are also conditions that obstruct your pursuit of the Way.
way. Although we are not to be anxious for our lives, if Do not neglect taking care of your body‘s life. Lacking
clothing, food, and sleep are not sufficient, this is called sufficient clothing, food, or sleep is referred to as the three
the three insufficiencies, and are all causes of regression. insufficiencies, for each is a cause of regressions and
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Don‘t wear luxurious clothing or lapses.
dirty rags. Luxurious clothing gives rise to greed and then 7. OKUMURA: Wear neither luxurious clothing nor dirty rags.
the fear that someone will steal something. This is a Luxurious clothing gives rise to greed and may also arouse fear
hindrance to practitioners of the Way. Even if someone of theft. Thus, they are a hindrance for a practitioner of the way.
offers them to you, to refuse is the excellent tradition from Even if someone offers them to you, it is the excellent tradition of
ancient times. If you happen to have luxurious clothing, the masters to refuse them. If you already own luxurious clothes,
don‘t be concerned with it; if it‘s stolen don‘t bother to do not keep them. Even if these clothes are stolen, do not chase
chase after it or regret its loss. Old dirty clothes should be after or regret its loss. Old or dirty clothes should be washed and
washed and mended; clean them thoroughly before putting mended; clean them thoroughly before wearing them. If you do
them on. If you don‘t take care of them you could get cold not clean them, they will cause you to become chilled and sick.
and sick and hinder your practice. Although we shouldn‘t This will be a hindrance to your practice. Although we should not
be too anxious about bodily comforts, inadequate clothing, be anxious about bodily life, insufficient clothing, insufficient
food and sleep are known as the ― three insufficiencies‖ food, and insufficient sleep are called the three insufficiencies and
and will cause our practice to suffer. will cause our practice to suffer.
Notes:
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (6-3, Okumura translation): ― Students of the Way, you should not be greedy for food and
clothing. Everyone has an allotted share of food and life. Though you might seek after more than your share, you
will never be able to obtain it. Moreover, for us students of the Buddha-Way, there are offerings from donors. The
food obtained from begging will not be exhausted. There will also be provisions belonging to the monastery.
These are not the products of personal work. Fruits and berries, food gained from begging, and offerings from
faithful believers are the three kinds of pure food. Food obtained from the four kinds of occupations, farming,
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 commerce, soldiering, and craftmaking is all impure. This is not food permissible for monks.‖ Okumura notes that
living in poverty and not clinging to food and clothing is a theme in Shobogenzo Zuimonki (see sections: 1-16, 2-
3, 2-6, 3-4, 3-7, 3-11, 3-12, 4-14, 4-15, 5-2, 5-5, 5-21, 5-22, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5).
XI.一切生物堅物。乃至損物不淨食。皆不可食之。腹中鳴動。身心熱惱。打坐有煩。一切美食不可耽著。非但
身心有煩。貪念所未免也。食祇取支氣。不可嗜味。或飽食打坐。發病因縁也。大小食後。不得輒坐。暫經少時
。乃堪可坐。凡比丘僧必可節量食。節量食者。謂涯分也。三分中。食二分餘一分。一切風藥胡麻･薯蕷等。常
可服之。是調身之要術也。
1. HEINE: Do not eat food that is either raw or tough, stale 4. MASUNAGA: In eating, avoid anything unripe,
or spoiled, for intestinal rumbling is a discomfort for the indigestible, rotten, or unsanitary. Such food will
body and mind and an obstacle to zazen. Do not indulge in make your stomach rumble and impair your body
eating fine food. That is not only an obstruction for the and mind. You will merely increase your discomfort
body and mind but indicates that you have not overcome in zazen. And don’t fill up with delicacies. Such
greed. Eat enough food to maintain your vitality but do gorging not only will decrease your alertness, but
not relish it. If you try to sit in meditation after you have also will show everyone that you still have not freed
eaten until you are full, it can cause illness. Do not attempt yourself from avarice. Food exists only to support
meditation immediately after either a large or small meal; life; don’t cling to its taste. If you do zazen with a full
you must wait awhile to be ready to sit. Generally, stomach you create the cause of sickness. Avoid
mendicants and monks should eat sparingly. That means zazen immediately after breakfast or lunch; it is
that they should limit their portions, for example, eating better to wait awhile. Generally, monks watch the
two parts of three and leaving the rest. The usual amount of food they eat. Watching their food intake
medicinal foods, such as sesame and yams, should be means limiting the amount: eat two thirds and leave
eaten. That is an effective means of regulating the body. one third. In preparing for zazen, take cold
2. CLEARY: Any living things, hard things, and spoiled things Preventing medicine, sesame seed and mountain
– impure food – should not be eaten; with gurgling and potatoes.
churning in the belly, heat and discomfort of body and 5. NEARMAN: Also, do not eat any sentient being nor any
mind, there will be difficulty in sitting. Do not indulge in stale or spoiled food, for they are not pure. Such things
attachment to fine food – not only will your body and will upset the stomach and make the body and the mind
mind be uncomfortable, but it means you are still greedy. fevered and pained, so that, when sitting in meditation,
You should take enough food just to support life; don’t you will feel ill and anxious. Likewise, do not be addicted
to fine and fancy foods. When you have not rid yourself of
savor its taste. If you sit after having eaten your fill it can
thoughts of greed, it is never enough for the body and
cause illness. After big or small meals, don’t sit right
mind simply to be free from illness and anxiety. Food is
away; rather, wait a while before sitting. In general, men- taken simply to support one‘s vital energy, so do not lust
dicant monks should be moderate in eating; that means after flavors. Since, in some cases, eating a hearty meal
to limit their portions, eat two parts of three and leave and then sitting can cause illness, you ought not to sit
one part. All usual medicaments, sesame, wild yams, etc., immediately after a large or a small meal. After a little
can be eaten. This is the essential technique of tuning the time has passed, you will again be fit for sitting. Monks,
body. without fail, should restrain themselves as to the amount
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Don‘t eat anything alive, hard, or of food eaten. ‗To restrain intake‘ implies ‗in relation to
spoiled. Such impure foods will make your belly churn your particular body‘. Within three parts, eat two parts and
and cause heat and discomfort of bodymind, making your leave one. This principle can always find exception for
sitting difficult. Don‘t indulge in rich foods. Not only is medical reasons, such as the taking of sesame, potatoes,
this bad for bodymind, it‘s just greed. You should eat to and so forth, as remedies for colds, for such practices are
promote life so don‘t fuss about taste. Also, if you sit after an essential technique in regulating the body.
eating too much you will feel ill. Whether the meal is 6. SENZAKI: Students, do not eat any unripened fruit,
large or small, wait a little while before sitting. Monks poorly cooked food, or anything hard to digest. If you
should be moderate in eating and hold their portions to have any trouble with your stomach, it will disturb your
two-thirds of what they can eat. All healthy foods, sesame, Zazen. Take your food to keep up your physical
wild yams and so on, can be eaten. Essentially, you should processes, not to please your desire for sapidity. Do not
harmonize bodymind. do Zazen too soon after a meal.
7. OKUMURA: Do not indulge in fine foods. It is not only bad for
your body and mind, but also shows you are not yet free from
greed. Eat just enough food to support your life and do not be
fond of its taste. If you sit after eating too much, you will get sick.
Wait for a while before sitting after eating big or small meals.
Monks must be moderate in eating.
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XII.凡坐禪時。不可靠倚牆壁禪椅及屏障等。又莫當風烈處而打坐。莫登高顯處而打坐。皆發病因縁也。若坐禪
時。身或如熱或如寒。或如澁或如滑。或如堅或如柔。或如重或如輕。或如驚覺。皆息不調。必可調之。調息之
法。暫開張口。長息則任長。短息任短。漸漸調之。稍稍隨之。覺觸來時。自然調適。而後鼻息可任通而通也。
1. HEINE: When sitting in meditation, you must not lean harmonize breathing, use this method: open your
against a wall, support, or screen to prop yourself up. Do mouth for awhile and if a long breath comes, breathe
not sit in a place susceptible to wind and storm, or in a long; if a short breath comes, breathe short.
high and exposed spot, for that can lead to illness. When Gradually harmonize your breathing and follow it
sitting in meditation, your body may feel hot or cold, tight naturally. When the timing becomes easy and
or slack, stiff or loose, heavy or light, or you may feel natural, quietly shift your breathing to your nose.
abruptly awakened, all because the breath is not regulated 5. NEARMAN: When sitting in meditation, do not lean up
and must be controlled. The method for regulating the against fences, walls, partitions, meditation chairs,
breath is to keep your mouth open for a while, holding screens, barriers, and the like. Also, do not sit for
deep breaths and short breaths alternately until your meditation in a spot where there is a strong wind or climb
breathing is gradually regulated and controlled for a atop a stupa and meditate there, for these are all causes of
period of time. When awareness comes, it means that illness. When sitting in meditation, the body sometimes
breathing is spontaneously regulated. After this, let the feels as though it were boiling hot or freezing cold,
breath pass naturally through the nose. sometimes as though stagnant or like a whirlpool,
2. CLEARY: When sitting in zazen, do not lean against any sometimes strong or weak, sometimes heavy or light,
wall, meditation brace or screen. Also don’t sit in a windy sometimes as though being forced to stay awake: all are
place or up on a high exposed place. These are causes of disharmonies of the breathing which you should certainly
illness. When sitting in meditation, your body may seem bring into regulation. To regulate the breathing, open the
hot or cold, uneasy or comfortable, sometimes stiff, mouth wide for a short while. If your inhalations are long,
sometimes loose, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, let them be long; if short, let them be short. Slowly,
sometimes startled awake. This is all because the breath slowly, regulate them, doing it ever so gradually. When
you feel the opportune moment has come, gently adjust
is not in tune and needs to be tuned. The way of tuning
the breathing to normal, finally letting the breath pass
the breath is as follows: open your mouth, letting the
through the nose, and then continue on in that way.
breath be, long or short, gradually harmonizing it;
following it for a while, when a sense of awareness 6. SENZAKI: Students, when you do Zazen, do not lean
comes, the breath is then in good tune. After that let the your back against a wall, chair or screen. Do not sit
facing a strong wind. Do not do Zazen in a highly
breath pass naturally through the nose.
elevated place; it may cause you illness. Students,
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: When you are sitting in zazen, do not when you do Zazen, if you feel as though you have a
prop yourself up against a wall, meditation brace, or sort of fever or chill, or you sense that your physical
screen. Also, do not sit in windy places or high, exposed mechanism seems dull (inert) or too smooth (alert); or
places as this can cause illness. Sometimes when you are it is too hard (tense) or too soft (relaxed); or too heavy
sitting you may feel hot or cold, discomfort or ease, stiff (sluggish) or too light (buoyant); or you alarm
or loose, heavy or light, or sometimes startled. These yourself with no cause; these are all due to your
sensations arise through disharmonies of mind and breath- improper breathing. Students, I will tell you how to
energy. Harmonize your breath in this way: open your regulate your breath. Open your mouth and breathe
mouth slightly, allow long breaths to be long and short naturally in your own way. If you always have long
breaths to be short and it will harmonize naturally. Follow breath, follow it. If your habit is short, breathe that
it for awhile until a sense of awareness arises and your way accordingly. When you recognize that your
breath will be natural. After this, continue to breathe breathing is in your own natural condition, shut your
through the nose. mouth and breathe with the nostrils.
4. MASUNAGA: In actually doing zazen, don’t lean 7. OKUMURA: During zazen, your body may feel hot or cold,
against walls, backs of chairs, or screens. Stay away rough or smooth, stiff or loose, heavy or light, or astonishingly
from high places with strong winds even if the view is wide-awake. Such sensations are caused by a disharmony of
good. This is a fine way to get sick. If your body is mind and breath. You should regulate your breathing as follows:
feverish or cold, dull or active hard or soft, or heavy open your mouth for a little while, letting long breaths be long
or light, you probably aren’t breathing correctly. and short breaths be short, and harmonize it gradually. Follow
Check your breathing, too, if your body feels overly your breath for a while; when awareness (kakusoku) comes,
irritable. You must make sure that you are breathing your breathing will be naturally harmonized. After that, breathe
harmoniously at all times during zazen. To naturally through your nose.

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XIII.心若或如沈或如浮。或如朦或如利。或室外通見。或身中通見。或見佛身。或見菩薩。或起知見。或通利
經論。如是等種種奇特種種異相。悉是念息不調之病也。若有病時。安心於兩趺上而坐。心若昏沈時。安心於髮
丹田謂亓分
際眉間。心若散亂時。安心於鼻端丹田 居常坐時。安心於左掌中。若坐久時。雖不必安心。心自不散亂也
臍下一寸也
1. HEINE: The mind may feel depressed or flighty, foggy or 4. MASUNAGA: When breathing and mind are not
clear. Or, sometimes it may see outside the room or inside coordinated, certain symptoms arise. Your mind
your body. Or, it may visualize the bodies of Buddhas or sinks or rises, becomes vague or sharp, wanders
the forms of bodhisattvas, or it may formulate theories, or outside the room or within the body; sees the image
evaluate the sutra or Nostra literature. Such types of of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas, gives birth to
miraculous and unusual behavior result from a lack of corrupting thoughts, or seeks to understand the
regulating one‘s consciousness and breathing. When doctrines of the sutras. When you have these
attachments such as this arise, focus attention on your lap. symptoms, it means your mind and breathing are not
When the mind lapses into bewilderment, focus attention in harmony. If you have this trouble, shift your mind
on the middle of your forehead (three inches above the to the soles of both feet. If the mind sinks, put it on
center of the eyebrows). When the mind is distracted, the hairline and between the eyebrows. If your mind
focus attention on the tip of your nose or your lower is disturbed, rest it on the tip of the nose or on the
abdomen (one and a half inches below the navel). As you solar plexus. In ordinary zazen, put your mind in your
remain seated, focus attention on the left palm. When sit- left palm. In prolonged sitting, even without this the
ting for a long time, although you will not necessarily mind naturally remains undisturbed.
reach a state of tranquility, your mind will on its own be 5. NEARMAN: Sometimes, whilst sitting, your mind may
freed from distraction. feel as though it were sinking down or floating up.
2. CLEARY: Your mind may feel as though it is sinking or Sometimes it may seem foggy or uncommonly keen.
floating, dull or sharp, or as though you can see outside Sometimes it may see through the wall to outside the room
the room, inside your body, or the body of buddhas or or see into your body. Sometimes it may see the Buddha
bodhisattvas. Sometimes, you may feel as though you in person or some Bodhisattva. Sometimes it may bring
have wisdom and can understand the sutras or up ‗sage opinions‘ or ‗penetrating insights‘ into the
commentaries thoroughly. These unusual and strange meaning of Scriptures and Commentaries. Experiencing
conditions are all sicknesses that occur when the mind various wondrous happenings such as these, along with
their extraordinary characteristics, are, through and
and breath are not in harmony. When you have this kind
through, illnesses from a disharmony of thoughts and
of sickness, settle your mind on your feet. When you feel
breathing. Should such an illness occur, focus your mind
dull, place your mind on your hairline (three inches above on your crossed legs as you sit. Should your mind feel dull
the center of the eyebrows) or between your eyes. When and depressed, focus the mind on the space between your
your mind is distracted, place it on the tip of your nose or eyebrows. Should your mind run riot, focus your mind
on your lower abdomen, one and a half inches below the down the ridge of your nose onto the tanden. (The tanden
navel (tanden). Usually, place your mind on the left palm is located an inch and a half below the navel.) Normally,
during sitting. When you sit for a long time, even though when sitting, you should quietly focus your mind on the
you do not try to calm your mind, it will, of its own palm of your left hand. Then, should you sit for a long
accord, be free of distraction. time, even though you do not force your mind to be
2. CLEARY: The mind may seem to sink away or float off,
focused, the mind will not of itself wander off.
sometimes it seems dull, sometimes it seems sharp. 6. SENZAKI: Students, if your mind sinks or floats; if it is
Sometimes you see through outside the room, too dark or too light; or it is too dull or too sharp; or you
sometimes you can see through your body, sometimes see outside the world with your mental power; or you
you see forms of buddhas or bodhisattvas. Sometimes observe your physical organs by imagination; or see
you comprehend scriptures or treatises. Extraordinary images of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas; or make arguments
things like this are diseases from lack of harmony in your mind; or think the teaching of Buddha
transparent; you may think these are wonderful
between awareness and breath. When they happen, sit
phenomena, but you are quite mistaken. Your breathing
with the mind resting in the lap. If the mind sinks into
needs regulation, that is all. Students, if you are sick,
torpor, rest your mind between your eyes on your keep your attention upon the soles of your feet. If your
hairline (three inches above the center of the eyebrows). mind sinks down, hold it around your forehead and the
If your mind is distracted and scattered, rest your mind border of hair. If your mind inclines to scatter away, be
on the tip of your nose and your lower belly (one and a conscious of the tip of your nose or concentrate your
half inches below the navel). When sitting all the time attention upon the hypogastric region of your abdomen.
rest the mind in the left palm. When you sit for a long Usually, you should hold your mind in your left palm. If
time, though you do not force the mind to be calm, it will you keep up your Zazen in this way, you can reach to a
naturally not be scattered. quiet state of concentration with ease.
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7. OKUMURA: Your mind may feel as though it is sinking or dull (konchin), place your mind on your hairline (three inches
floating, dull or sharp, or as though you can see outside the room, above the center of the eyebrows) or between your eyes. When
inside your body, or the body of buddhas or bodhisattvas. your mind is distracted (sanran), place it on the tip of your nose
Sometimes, you may feel as though you have wisdom and can or on your lower abdomen, one and a half inches below the navel
understand the sutras or commentaries thoroughly. These (tanden). Usually, place your mind on the left palm during
unusual and strange conditions are all sicknesses that occur when sitting. When you sit for a long time, even though you do not try
the mind and breath are not in harmony. When you have this to calm your mind, it will, of its own accord, be free of
kind of sickness, settle your mind on your feet. When you feel distraction.

XIV.復如古教。雖照心家訓。不可多見之書之聞之。多則皆亂心之因縁也。凡疲勞身心。悉發病因縁也。
1. HEINE: Although the traditional precepts are instructions 5. NEARMAN: Furthermore, even though such things as the
for illuminating the mind, you must not read, write, or ancient writings are the instructions of bright minds within
listen to them too much, for that will cause mental our Tradition, you ought not look at them, read them, or
disturbances. Generally, weariness of the body and mind listen to them in too great a measure, since, in excess, this
is the cause of illness. causes the mind to become scattered and disorderly. In
2. CLEARY: Now as for the ancient teachings, though they general, to exhaust and overwork body or mind causes
are traditional lessons for illuminating the mind, don’t illness.
read, write, or listen to them too much — too much 6. SENZAKI: Books written by the old teachers are
causes disturbance to the mind. In general, anything that helpful to your reflection but if you read them too often,
wears out body and mind can cause illness. or copy them greedily or make discussion about them, it
will be rather a disturbance to your study of Zazen. You
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Although the ancient Teachings are a must avoid karma-relation which stirs your mind. If you
long-standing means to clarify the mind, do not read, write force Zazen when you are tired physically and mentally,
about, or listen to them obsessively because such excess it will cause you illness and increase more delusions.
only scatters the mind. Generally, anything that wears out
bodymind causes illness. 7. OKUMURA: Also, although the ancient teachings are the
traditional instructions for illuminating the mind, do not read,
4. MASUNAGA: The old teaching emphasized write, or listen to them too much. Running to excess scatters the
illumination of mind, but doesn’t pay too much mind.
attention to this. Any excesses lead to a disturbed
mind. Anything that puts a strain on body and mind
becomes a source of illness.
Notes:
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (Okumura translation) section 2-8: ―
People who study the Way should not read the scriptures of the
teaching-schools, nor study non-Buddhist texts. If you wish to study, read the collections of sayings [of the ancient Zen
masters]. Put aside all other books for the time being. These days, Zen monks are fond of reading literature, composing
poetry and writing dharma-discourses. This is wrong…I have been fond of studying literature since childhood, and even
now I have a tendency to contemplate the beauty in the words of non-Buddhist texts. Sometimes I even refer to Monzen
or other texts; still, I think it is meaningless and should be completely abandoned.”
And in section 2-9: “Learning the deeds of the ancient masters by reading the recorded sayings or koans in order to
explain them to deluded people is ultimately of no use to my own practice and for teaching others. Even if I don’t know a
single letter, I will be able to show it to others in inexhaustible ways if I devote myself to just sitting and clarifying the
great matter. It was for this reason that the monk pressed me as to the ultimate use [of reading and studying]. I thought
what he said was true. Thereupon, I gave up reading the recorded sayings and other texts, concentrated wholeheartedly
on sitting, and was able to clarify the great matter.”
And in section 5-23: ““Even if you may seem to have some understanding while reading koans, such studies will lead you
astray from the Way of the buddhas and patriarchs. To spend your time sitting upright with nothing to be gained and
nothing to be realized is the Way of the patriarchs. Although the ancient masters encouraged both reading and shikan
zazen, they promoted sitting wholeheartedly. Although there are some who have gained enlightenment hearing stories (of
the masters), the attainment of enlightenment is due to the merit of sitting. True merit depends on sitting.”

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XV.火難･水難･風難･賊難。及與海邊･酒肆･婬房･寡女･處女･妓樂之邊。并莫打坐。國王･大臣･權勢家。多欲･名
聞･戲論人。亦不得近住之。大佛事･大造營。最雖爲善事。專坐禪人不可修之。不得好説法教化。散心亂念從是
而起。
1. HEINE: Do not practice zazen in a place where there may 4. MASUNAGA: …Temple rituals and buildings have
be danger from fire, flood, storms, or robbers, or near the their worth. But if you are concentrating on zazen,
seashore, a liquor store, or brothel; or where you may avoid them. Don’t get attached to sermons and
meet a widow, virgin, or geisha. Do not visit the homes of instructions because they will tend to scatter and
kings, important officials, or powerful people, or associate disturb your mind.
with people who indulge in their desires or who gossip. 5. NEARMAN: Do not by any means do sitting meditation
Although attending a large congregation of monks or during fires, floods, windstorms, or robberies, nor at the
engaging in full-scale construction projects may be of beach, in wineshops or brothels, in the houses of widows,
great importance, you must avoid such practices in order or in the presence of female entertainers. Also, you should
to concentrate on zazen. Do not be attached to not take up residence in the houses of the ruler of the
explanations and [intellectual activity], for a distracted nation, his ministers, or other influential people, nor in the
mind and confused thinking will arise from them. dwelling places of those who greatly crave fame or
2. CLEARY: Don’t sit where there are fires, floods, or indulge in frivolous discussions and arguments. Although
bandits, or by the sea, near wineshops, brothels, or participating in massive Buddhist Services and working
where widows, virgins, or singing girls are. Don’t hang on huge construction projects are, by and large, fine
around kings, important officials, powerful people, or activities, they are impracticable for those devoted to
people full of lust and eager for name and fame, or tellers seated meditation. Also, do not foster a passion for
of tales. As for mass buddhist services and large construc- voicing the Dharma or for teaching others how to turn
tion projects, though they are good things, people who their hearts around, for those who are attached to these
things are subject to scattered minds and disordered
are concentrating only on sitting should not do them.
thoughts.
Don’t be fond of preaching and teaching, for distraction
and scattered thoughts come from this. 7. OKUMURA: Do not sit where there are fires, floods, high winds,
thieves; by the ocean, near bars, brothels, where widows or
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Don‘t sit where there are fires, virgins live, or near places where courtesans play music. Do not
floods, or bandits, by the ocean, near bars, brothels, where live near kings, ministers, rich and powerful families, or people
widows or virgins live, or near where courtesans sing and who have many desires, who seek after fame, who like to argue
play music. Don‘t live near kings, ministers, powerful or meaninglessly. Although grand Buddhist ceremonies or the
rich families, people with many desires, those who crave building of large temples are very good things, people who
name and fame, or those who like to argue meaninglessly. devote themselves to zazen should not be Involved in such
Although large Buddhist ceremonials and the construction activities.
of large temples might be good things, one who is
committed to practice should not get involved. Don‘t be 8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: …Great Buddha
fond of preaching the Dharma as this leads to distraction festivals and massive constructions are very good
and scattering. things, but , if you concentrate entirely on zazen, you
should avoid them…

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XVI.不得好樂多衆貪求弟子。不得多行多學。極明極暗。極寒極熱。乃至游人戲女處。并莫打坐。叢林之中。善
知識處。深山幽谷。可依止之。緑水青山。是經行之處。谿邊樹下。是澄心之處也。觀無常不可忘。是勵探道心
也。
1. HEINE: Do not take pleasure [in attracting] crowds or 5. NEARMAN: Do not encourage a delight in being in
seek out disciples. Do not be distracted by various sorts of crowds or long to seek for disciples. Do not become
practices or learning. Do not practice zazen where it is involved with too many activities or too many studies. By
extremely light or dark, cold or hot, or in the vicinity of no means sit in meditation in extreme brightness or dark,
rowdy men and indecent women. You must spend time in in extreme cold or heat, or the like, to say nothing of the
a monastery, among wise and compassionate people. Or, places frequented by entertainers or gamblers. Within a
you must travel deep into the mountains and valleys, monastery, at the home of good friends, deep in some
practicing concentration next to flowing streams amid the forest or glen can serve you for this. By blue waters, in
mountains or clearing the mind by sitting in meditation in green hills are places to stroll quietly; near valleys, under
a valley. You must carefully observe impermanence and trees are places for clearing the mind. Beholding
never forget its significance, for this inspires the mind in impermanence, do not ignore it, for this encourages the
the pursuit of the Way. mind to search the Way.
2. CLEARY: Don’t take delight in crowds or seek for 6. SENZAKI: In a monastery where there is a Zen-master
disciples. Don’t study or practice too many things. Don’t is the proper place to study Zazen. Usually a monastery
sit where it is extremely bright or dark, extremely cold or is built in a remote part of the mountains, or in a thickly
hot, or around roustabouts and playgirls. You can stay in wooded valley. You can make ― Zen walking‖ near green
a monastery where there is a real teacher, deep in the hills or running water. You can purify your mind sitting
mountains and hidden valleys. Green waters and verdant under a tree or near murmuring creeks. You can think of
mountains are the place to walk in meditation; by the the impermanence of the world. It will encourage you to
search for permanent truth.
streams, under the trees are places to clear the mind.
Observe impermanence, never forget it; this urges on the 7. OKUMURA: Do not be delighted by large assemblies; nor covet
will to seek enlightenment. disciples. Do not practice and study too many things. Do not sit
where it is too bright or too dark, too cold or too hot; nor should
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Don‘t be delighted by huge you sit where idle pleasure- seekers and harlots live. Stay in a
assemblies or run after disciples. Don‘t try to study and monastery where you have a good teacher and fellow
practice many different things. Do not sit where it is too practitioners. Or reside in the deep mountains or glens. A good
bright or too dark, too cold or too hot. Do not sit where place to practice kinhin is where there is clear water and green
pleasure-seekers or whores live. Go and stay in a mountains. A good place for purifying the mind is by a stream or
monastery where there is a true teacher. Go deep into the under a tree. Contemplate impermanence; do not forget it. This
mountains and valleys. Practice kinhin by clear waters and will encourage you to seek the Way.
verdant mountains. Clear the mind by a stream or under a
tree. Observe impermanence without fail and you will 8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: Do not practice zazen
keep the mind that enters the Way. where it is extremely light or extremely dark, extremely
cold or extremely hot, or near pleasure-seekers and
4. MASUNAGA: Don’t take pleasure in attracting crowds
or gathering disciples. Shun a variety of practices public women. You can stay in the meditation hall with
and studies. Don’t do zazen where it is too light or a good master, deep in the mountains and secluded
too dark, too cold or too hot, or too near pleasure- valleys. Green waters and verdant mountains are the
seekers and entertainers. You should practice inside place for walking in meditation; by the streams and
the meditation hall, go to Zen masters, or take under the trees are places to clear the mind. Do not
yourself to high mountains and deep valleys. Green forget the sight of impermanence, which encourages the
waters and Blue Mountains - these are good places mind to seek the Way.
to wander. Near streams and under trees - these
places calm the mind. Remember that all things are
unstable. In this you may find some encouragement
in your search for the way.
Notes:
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (Okumura translation) section 6-7: ― Only if you follow a good teacher and practice with fellow
practitioners without harboring personal views, will you naturally become a person of the Way.‖

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XVII.坐褥須厚敷。打坐安樂也。道場須清潔。而常燒香獻花。則護法善神及佛菩薩影向守護也。若安置於佛菩
薩及羅漢像。一切惡魔鬼魅不得其便也。
1. HEINE: You must lay out a thick meditation cushion so 5. NEARMAN: Your meditation cushion should be thick
as to be comfortable during zazen. The zazen area must be enough so that you are comfortable and at ease when
perfectly clean, and if you always burn incense and offer sitting. Your meditation and ceremonial halls should be
flowers, the good spirits who guard the Dharma, as well as clean and neat—always make offerings of incense and
Buddhas and bodhisattvas, will cast a protective aura flowers. Accordingly, the good deities that protect the
around it. If you install an image of a Buddha, Dharma, as well as the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, will
bodhisattva, or arhat there, no mischievous demons will be respond by guarding and watching over you. If you
able to harm you. enshrine the image of a Buddha, Bodhisattva, or Arahant,
2. CLEARY: A sitting mat should be spread thick for Mara‘s wicked minions with all their deluding charms and
comfortable sitting, and the place of practice should be entanglements will be unable to depend on your support.
clean – always burn incense and offer flowers: the good 6. SENZAKI: Students, when you do Zazen, you should
spirits who guard the true teaching, as well as buddhas use a thick cushion, then you can sit up a long time with
and bodhisattvas, will cast their shadows there and give ease. The place in which you do Zazen should be clean,
protection. If you place an image of a buddha, and always burn incense there and offer flowers. Good
bodhisattva, or saint there, no evil demon or spirit can Gods guard the Dharma and preceding Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas will protect you from devils and demons.
get at you.
Always place a picture or statue of Buddhas or
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: The mat should be well-padded so Bodhisattvas in the room where you do Zazen.
that you can sit comfortably. The practice place should
7. OKUMURA: The zabuton (mat) should be thick enough for
always be kept clean. Burn incense and offer flowers to
comfortable sitting. The dojo (place for practice) should be clean.
the Dharma Protectors, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and
Always burn incense and offer flowers to the guardians of the
your practice will be protected. Put a statue of a Buddha,
dharma, the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who secretly protect your
Bodhisattva or arhat on the altar and demons of distraction
practice. If you enshrine a statue of a buddha, bodhisattva, or an
will not overwhelm you.
arhat, no demons can tempt you.
4. MASUNAGA: The mat should be spread thickly:
8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: The mat should be
zazen is the comfortable way. The meditation hall
should be clean. If incense is always burned and spread thickly; zazen is a comfortable way of sitting. The
flowers offered the gods protecting Buddhism and place of practice should be clean. If incense is always
the Bodhisattvas cast their shadows and stand burned and flowers are offered, the good gods who
guard. If you put the images of the Buddhas and protect the Dharma and the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
Bodhisattvas and Arhats there, all the devils and will cast their shadows and watch guard. If you put
witches are powerless. images of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats there, no
devil or demon can trouble you.

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XVIII.常住大慈大悲。坐禪無量功徳。回向一切衆生。莫生憍慢我慢法慢。此是外道凡夫法也。念誓斷煩惱誓證
菩提。只管打坐。一切不爲。是參禪要術也。常可濯目洗足。身心閑靜。威儀齊整。應捨世情。莫執道情。
1. HEINE: Always abide in great compassion and pity, and 5. NEARMAN: Constantly dwelling within great
dedicate the immeasurable merit of zazen to all sentient benevolence and compassion, transfer the immeasurable
beings. Do not develop pride, conceit, or self- spiritual merits of your seated meditation to all sentient
righteousness, for these are the ways of non-Buddhists and beings. Do not give rise to arrogance, conceit, or pride in
ordinary people. Be concerned only with efforts to end your knowledge of the Dharma, for such attitudes lie
attachment and realize enlightenment. The singleminded outside the Way and are the methods of ordinary,
concentration of zazen is the most effective means of everyday, people. Mindfully resolve to rid yourself of
practicing Zen. You must always wash your eyes and feet, defiling passions; vow to personally confirm Buddhahood.
and act with dignity and compassion to keep body and Just sit, without ‗doing‘ anything: this is the essential
mind tranquil. You must renounce both worldly technique for practicing pure meditation. Customarily, you
attachments and any clinging to the pursuit of the Way. should rinse your eyes and wash your feet before sitting.
2. CLEARY: Always abide in great compassion, and dedicate Make your body and mind quiet, and be well-regulated in
the boundless power of sitting meditation to all living your deportment at all times. You must discard worldly
feelings and not cling to emotional attachments to the
beings. Don’t become proud, conceited or self-righteous
Way.
these – these are qualities of outsiders and ordinary
people. Remember the vow to end afflictions, the vow to 6. SENZAKI: Students, make your heart dwell in great
realize enlightenment. Just sitting, not doing anything at loving-kindness and whatever you may have of merit
all, is the essential technique for penetrating zen. Always from your Zazen, offer it to all sentient beings. Avoid
having personal pride especially if you have more or
wash your eyes; and feet (before zazen). With body and
better knowledge than others. Other teachings fail
mind at ease, behaviour harmonious, abandon worldly
because each student believes only in his particular
feelings and don’t cling to feelings of the way. teaching. Just so Zazen innocently, without any aiming.
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Remain always in Great Compassion This is the best Zazen. Students, you should keep your
and dedicate the limitless power of zazen to all living eyes and feet clean. (Wash your eyes with cold water
beings. Do not become arrogant, conceited, or proud of and your feet with hot water.) You must live quietly
your understanding of the Teachings; that is the way of both physically and mentally. Both your appearance and
those outside of the Way and of usual people. Maintain manner should be in good form. You should avoid
the vow to end afflictions, the vow to realise Awakening worldly interests, but also do not cling to unworldly
and just sit. Do nothing at all. This is the way to study things.
Zen. Wash your eyes and feet, keep bodymind at ease and 7. OKUMURA: Remain always compassionate, and dedicate the
deportment in harmony. Shed worldly sentiments and do limitless virtue of zazen to all living beings. Do not be arrogant;
not become attached to sublime feelings about the Way. do not be proud of yourself and of your understanding of dharma.
4. MASUNAGA: Dwelling always in great compassion, Being arrogant is the way of non-buddhist and ignorant people.
you should offer the limitless merits of zazen to all Vow to cut off all delusions and realize enlightenment. Just sit
beings. Don’t let pride, egotism, and arrogance arise; without doing anything. This is the essence of sanzen. Always
they are possessions of the heretical and wash your eyes and feet, keep your body and mind at ease and
unenlightened. Vow to cut off desire; vow to obtain tranquil, and maintain a proper demeanor. Throw away worldly
enlightenment. Just do zazen and nothing else. This sentiments, yet do not attach yourself to a sublime feeling of the
is the basic requirement for zazen. Before doing way.
zazen, always wash your eyes and feet, and 8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: Always dwelling in
tranquilize your body and mind. Move around easily.
great compassion, dedicate the boundless merits of
Throw away worldly feelings, including the desire for
sitting in meditation to all sentient beings! Do not let
Buddhism.
pride, conceit, and feelings of superiority arise! They
are the manner of unbelievers and the unenlightened.
Vow to cut off the passions and acquire bodhi. Sitting
only in zazen and doing nothing else—this is the
essential art of zazen. Always wash your eyes and feet;
your body and mind should be calm, your behavior
well-ordered. Cast away worldly feelings and do not
attach yourselves to feelings of the Way.

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XIX.法雖不可慳。然不請莫説。守三請從四實。十欲言九休去。口邊醭生如臘月扇。如風鈴懸虚空不問四方風。
是道人風標也。只以法而不貪於人。以道而不貢於己。便是第一用心也。
1. HEINE: Although you must not be stingy with the possessing the teaching but not selling it cheap.
Dharma, do not offer explanations of it to anyone unless Attaining enlightenment but not taking pride in it.
you are asked about it. Then, wait until the inquirer has 5. NEARMAN: Although you should not be stingy with the
asked three times and respond only if the fourth request is Dharma, even so, do not give voice to It if you are not
sincere. Of ten things you may wish to say, hold back asked, keeping to the ‗triple request‘. Follow the Four
nine. The method of followers of the Way can be likened Noble Truths. Ten times having the urge to speak, let nine
to a winter fan waved around the mouth, or to a bell go past: let the moss grow around your mouth. Be like a
hanging in the air which does not wonder about the breeze fan in midwinter, or be like a wind chime hanging in
blowing from all directions. Do not rely upon anyone in space, which does not query which way the wind blows.
pursuing the Dharma, and do not overestimate yourself Such are weathervanes for one who would tread the Way.
because of the Way—this is the most important It is enough to have the Dharma, you need not crave for
consideration. anyone; it is enough to have the Way, you need not add
2. CLEARY: Although one should not begrudge the teaching, self-praise: this is a primary point to heed.
don’t speak about it unless you are asked – then hold 6. SENZAKI: You should not hesitate to spread the
your peace for three requests, comply if there is a fourth teachings, but unless someone asks you, you should
request in earnest. Of ten things you would say; leave off not open your mouth. Buddha generally only preached
nine. Mold growing around the mouth, like a fan in when his disciples had asked three times. If you have
winter; like a bell hung in the air, not questioning the to tell others, speak only of what you have actually
wind from all directions this is characteristic of people of experienced; and your speech must come out of the
the way. Just go by the principle of the teaching, don’t true source—that is, Buddha-Dharma. Your listeners
care about the person; go by the path and do not must get real profit and also enjoy your preaching.
congratulate yourself - this is the most important point. When you want to say something, nine times out of ten
it is better to refrain from speaking. You know, fans in
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Though you should not begrudge the winter time sometimes mold through lack of use, but
Teachings, do not speak of it unless you are asked. If when summer time arrives they are much in use, and
someone asks, keep silent three times; if still they ask are smooth and shining. Your mouth should be like
from their heart, then give the Teachings. If you wish to that. Your mouth is like a stationary bell, hanging in
speak ten times, keep quiet nine; it‘s as if moss grew over the air unmindful of wind from any side. That is the
your mouth or like a fan in winter. A wind-bell hanging in way you should guide yourself. Whatever you preach
the air, indifferent to the direction of the wind—this is is for nothing but Dharma. Do not expect any merit or
how people of the Way are. Do not use the Dharma for compensation whatever.
your own profit. Do not use the Way to try to make
yourself important. This is the most important point to 7. OKUMURA: Though you should not begrudge anyone the
remember. dharma, do not preach it unless you are asked. Even if someone
asks, keep silent three times; if the person still asks you from his
4. MASUNAGA: Although you should not begrudge the or her heart, then teach him or her. Out of 10 times you may
teaching, don’t preach it unless you are asked. After desire to speak, remain silent for nine; as if mold were growing
three requests, give the four effects (indicate, around your mouth. Be like a folded fan in December, or like a
instruct, benefit, rejoice). When you feel like talking, wind-bell hanging in the air, indifferent to the direction of the
keep quiet nine out of 10 times-like mold growing wind. This is how a person of the Way should be. Do not use the
around the mouth and a fan used in December or dharma to profit at the expense of others. Do not use the way as a
like a bell hanging in the sky that rings naturally means to make yourself important. These are the most important
without reliance on the four directions of the wind. points to keep in mind.
For the trainee this is the main point to watch:
Notes:
In Shobogenzo Makahannya-haramitsu, Dogen quotes Rujing‘s poem on the windbell:
渾身似口掛虚空、 The entire body is a mouth [windbell] hanging in empty space,
不問東西南北風、 regardless of the wind from the east, west, south, or north,
一等爲他談般若。 joining the whole universe in chiming out prajna.
滴丁東了滴丁東。 Ting-ting, ting-ting, ting-ting.
CLEARY: [“Justgo by the principle of the teaching‖]: This principle is one of the so-called ‗four reliances‘ —- to
rely on the truth, not the person, which means that anyone can see reality and become enlightened if they go by
the truth which is as it is because that is its real nature; it is not a question of human feelings, tile other three
reliances are to rely on the definitive teaching, not the incomplete teaching, to rely on the meaning and not the
words, and to rely on wisdom, not conventional knowledge.
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XX.夫坐禪者。非干教行證。而兼此三徳。謂證者以待悟爲則。不是坐禪心。行者以眞履實踐。不是坐禪心。教
者以斷惡修善。不是坐禪心。
1. HEINE: Zazen is not just a matter of teaching, practice, or 4. MASUNAGA: This zazen does not attach itself one-
realization, it encompasses all three ideals. That is, to sidedly to doctrine, training, or enlightenment. It
evaluate realization only in terms of attaining enlight- combines all these virtues. Enlightenment ordinarily
enment is not the essence of zazen; to evaluate practice means Satori, but this is not the spirit of zazen.
only as following the true path is not the essence of zazen; Training ordinarily means actual practice, but this is
and to evaluate teaching only as cutting off evil and not the spirit of zazen. Doctrine ordinarily means
practicing good is not the essence of zazen. stopping evil and doing good, but this is not the spirit
2. CLEARY: Zazen is not concerned with teaching, practice, of zazen.
or realization, yet it contains these three aspects. That is 5. NEARMAN: Pure meditation does not concern itself with
to say, the criterion of realization depends on teachings, practices, or realization and it encompasses the
enlightenment – this is not the spirit of zazen. Practice is virtues of all three. ‗Realization‘ depends on the tenet of
based on genuine application – this is not the spirit of ‗waiting for enlightenment‘, which is not the attitude of
zazen. Teaching is based on eliminating evil and mind in pure meditation. ‗Practice‘ depends on ‗sincere
cultivating goodness – this is not the spirit of zazen. application and genuine effort‘, which is not the attitude of
mind in pure meditation. ‗Teachings‘ depend on ‗cutting
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Zazen is not based upon teaching, off evil and doing good‘, which is not the attitude of mind
practice or realization; instead these three aspects are all in pure meditation.
contained within it. Measuring realization is based upon
some notion of enlightenment—this is not the essence of 6. SENZAKI: Students, in general, Buddhist study is in
three processes-teaching, practicing and realizing.
zazen. Practice is based upon strenuous application—this
is not the essence of zazen. Teaching is based upon Now, Zazen does not follow these processes. It
freeing from evil and cultivating good—this is not the includes all three. If one ― aims‖ at realization, he is not
a true Zen student. If he strives to follow the teachings
essence of zazen.
which the Buddha prescribed, he is not a good Zen
student. If he strives to stop doing wrong things and do
good things according to the scriptures, he is not a
good Zen student.

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XXI.禪中縱立教。而非居常教。謂直指單傳道。擧體全説話。語本沒章句。意盡理窮處。一言盡十方。絲毫未擧
揚。是豈不佛祖眞正之教乎。
1. HEINE: Although the establishment of teaching lies 4. MASUNAGA: Although Zen has doctrines, they differ
within Zen, it is not ordinary teaching. Rather, the Way of from those of Buddhism in general. The method of
simple transmission through direct pointing is an direct pointing and true transmission is expressed by
expression demonstrated by the entire body. It is speaking the whole body in zazen. In this expression, there
without phrases. At the point where thought and reason are no clauses and sentences. Here, where mind
are exhausted, a single word conveys the totality of the and logic cannot reach, zazen expresses the 10
world, and yet not a single hair is raised—isn‘t this the directions. And this is done without using a single
true teaching of the Buddhas and patriarchs? word. Isn’t this the true doctrine of the Buddhas and
2. CLEARY: Although teaching is established within zen, it is patriarchs?
not ordinary teaching; it is direct pointing, simply 5. NEARMAN: Even though teaching is done with regard to
communicating the way, speaking with the whole body. pure meditation, it is not customary teaching; it is called
The words have no sentences or phrases; where ideas are ‗the way of direct pointing to Buddha Nature and single
ended the reason exhausted, one word comprehends the Transmission from mind to mind‘, in which the Master
ten directions. And yet not a single hair is raised – is this gives his whole being to voicing the Truth; his words,
not the true teaching of the buddhas and enlightened from the first, do not have chapter and verse. It is the place
where notions and ideas have come to an end, and the
ancestors?
limits of reasoning are surpassed—one word encompasses
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Teaching is found in Zen but it is not the universe, even without the slightest shred of praise.
the usual teaching. Rather, it is a direct pointing, just This is surely the true and proper teaching of the Buddhas
expressing the Way, speaking with the whole body. Such and Ancestors!
words are without sentences or clauses. Where views end
6. SENZAKI: Zen also must have some teaching, but
and concept is exhausted, the one word pervades the ten
that teaching is not the ordinary dualistic explanation.
directions without setting up so much as a single hair. This
It points directly to the Essence of Mind. Therefore,
is the true Teaching of the Buddhas and Awakened
every word expresses the whole, and that word
Ancestors.
transcends worldly thinking. When the road of
thinking is blocked off, before any word is ever
spoken, the message is already delivered in that very
moment. Is not this the true teaching of the Buddhas
and the Patriarchs?
Notes:
Verse attributed to Bodhidharma:
教外別傳 A special transmission outside the scriptures;
不立文字 No dependence upon words and letters;
直指人心 Direct pointing to the human mind:
見性成佛 Seeing into one’s own nature and attainment of Buddhahood.

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XXII.或雖談行。又無爲行。謂身無所作。口無密誦。心無尋思。六根自清淨。一切不汚染。非聲聞十六行。非
縁覺十二行。非菩薩六度萬行。一切不爲。故名爲佛。只安住諸佛自受用三昧。遊戲菩薩四安樂行。是豈不佛祖
深妙之行乎。
1. HEINE: Although practice is realized [in Zen], it is the 4. MASUNAGA: Although Zen talks about training, it is
practice of non-action. The body functions spontaneously, the training of no-action. The body does nothing
the mouth does not chant esoteric doctrine, the mind is not except zazen. The mouth does not utter the Dharani,
preoccupied with thoughts, the six senses are naturally the mind does not work at conceptual thinking; the
clear and unaffected by anything. This is not the six sense organs are naturally pure and have no
sixteenfold practice of the Buddha‘s disciples, the defilement. This is not the 16 views (toward the Four
twelvefold practice of dependent origination, or the Noble Truths) of the Sravaka, or the 12 causal
myriad practices of the six stages of the bodhisattva. relations of the Pratyekabuddha, or the six paramitas
Because it is not doing any [particular] thing, it is known and other training of the Bodhisattvas. Nothing is
as acting as a Buddha. Only abiding tranquilly in the self- done except zazen, and this zazen is called the
fulfilling samadhi of all Buddhas, or resonating in the four Buddha’s conduct. The trainee just dwells
peaceful reposes of the bodhisattva—is this not the comfortably in the self-joyous meditation of the
profound and marvelous practice of the Buddhas and Buddhas and freely performs the four comfortable
patriarchs? actions of the Bodhisattvas. This then is the deep
2. CLEARY: And although we speak of practice, it is practice and marvelous training of the Buddhas and
without any doing. That is to say, the body doesn’t do patriarchs.
anything, the mouth does not recite anything, the mind 5. NEARMAN: On the one hand, a Master may speak of
does not think anything over, the six senses are naturally practice, but it is a natural, spontaneous practice free from
pure and clear, not affected by anything. This is not the defiling passions. It is called ‗having nothing that the body
sixteen-fold practice of the buddhist disciples or the needs to do; having nothing the mouth needs to chant,
twelve-fold practice of those enlightened through even to itself; having nothing that the mind needs to seek
after‘: the six sense faculties are naturally immaculate, all
understanding of causality, or the six ways of
without stain or flaw. This is not the sixteen aspects of the
transcendental practice undertaking myriad actions done
Four Noble Truths which Shravakas hold to, nor is it the
by bodhisattvas; not doing anything at all, it is therefore twelve links in the chain of dependent origination which
called buddhahood, the state of enlightenment. Just the Pratyekabuddhas speak of, nor is it the six paramitas
resting in the absorption self-experienced by all en- and the ten thousand good deeds of the Bodhisattvas: none
lightened ones, roaming at play in the four peaceful and of these acts is ‗the seeing of the Eternal before one‘s very
blissful practices of bodhisattvas, is this not the profound, eyes‘, which is therefore called ‗being a Buddha‘. Just
inconceivable practice of buddhas and ancestors? reside at ease in the samadhi which the Buddhas
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Although we speak of ― practice‖, it themselves accepted and used. Joyfully and unhindered,
is not a practice that you can do. That is to say, the body perform the four actions of a Bodhisattva which ease the
does nothing, the mouth does not recite, the mind doesn‘t way to Buddhahood, for these are surely the profound and
think things over, the six senses are left to their own wondrous deeds of Buddhas and Ancestors!
clarity and unaffected. So this is not the sixteen stage 6. SENZAKI: Usually a man understands reason
practice of the hearers [the path of insight or through practicing it, but in Zen, practicing itself is
darsanamarga into the four noble truths at four different understanding. There is no ― two-fold‖ process, but
levels]. Nor is it the practice of understanding the twelve merely ― one-process.‖ If a man does everything
nidanas of inter-dependent emergence of those whose aimlessly, he does not have to recite mantras; he does
practice is founded upon isolation. Nor is it the six not have to think philosophical theories. His six
perfections within numberless activities of the organs will be purified and his surroundings have no
Bodhisattvas. It is without struggle at all so is called spot of impurity at all.
Awakening or enlightenment. Just rest in the Self-
enjoyment Samadhi of all the Buddhas, wandering
playfully in the four practices of peace and bliss of those
open to Openness. This is the profound and inconceivable
practice of Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors.
Notes:
CLEARY: [― does not recite anything‖]: The way this is worded it could refer to mystic spells, and/or to silent
recitation
[―sixteen-fold practice‖]: This refers to the sixteen stages of mind on the path of insight (darsanamarga) as
defined in the Abhidharmakosa: they consist of the tolerance and knowledge of the corresponding truths of
suffering, etc., in the ‗higher‘ worlds of form and formlessness (eight more) [To elaborate a bit more: first there
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is patience with respect to the truth of suffering pertaining to Kamadhatu (the realm of desire), second there is a
knowledge of the same, then, third and fourth, there is a patience and a knowledge with respect to the truth of
suffering in the higher spheres (Rupadhatu & Arupyadhatu). The next 12 follow the same pattern with respect to
the noble truths of origination, cessation and the path. See Abhidharmakosa, Ch VI, verses 25-27. - Charlie]
[―Twelve-fold practice‖]: This refers to the application of the understanding of the twelve links of causality:
ignorance, activity, consciousness, name and form, six senses, contact, sensation, desire, attachment, becoming,
birth, old age and death. By removing one link the chain can be broken.
The six ways of transcendental practice are generosity without conception of giver, receiver, or gift; morality;
tolerance; effort; meditation; and wisdom. These are transcendent in that their accomplishment is supposed to
involve no sense of subject or object.
[―Four peaceful and blissful practices‖]: This refers to blissful and peaceful activities of body, mouth, and mind,
and of carrying out vows. According to the Lotus scripture, for the body this means not associating with
powerful aristocrats, with sorcerers, with criminals or prostitutes, with butchers, with followers of the vehicles of
disciples or self-enlightened ones, desirous thoughts, with hermaphrodites, dangerous censured things, or
keeping young children as acolytes; once one avoids these ten kinds of people or actions, one is at ease. As far as
the mouth is concerned, it means not to indulge in talking about the errors of other people or the scriptures, not to
belittle others, not to praise others, not to slander others, and not to be resentful. As far as mind is concerned, it
means to avoid flattery, depredation, to avoid scorning those of small actions with one‘s own grandiose actions,
and to avoid contention. Carrying out vows in peace and bliss means using the power of one‘s vow to rescue all
beings to govern oneself.

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XXIII.或雖説證。無證而證。是三昧王三昧。無生智發現三昧。一切智發現三昧。自然智發現三昧。如來智慧開
發明門。大安樂行法門所發。越聖凡格式。出迷悟情量。是豈不本有大覺之證乎。
1. HEINE: Although realization is realized [in Zen], it is the 4. MASUNAGA: And although we talk about
realization of non-realization, the king of all samadhis, the enlightenment, we become enlightened without
samadhi that realizes the unborn, comprehensive, and enlightenment. This is the king of samadhi. This is
spontaneous wisdom, the gate to disclosing the the samadhi that gives rise to the eternal wisdom of
Tathagata‘s wisdom and the path of great tranquility and the Buddha. It is the samadhi from which all wisdom
harmony. It transcends the distinction between sacred and arises. It is the samadhi that gives rise to natural
mundane, goes beyond delusion and enlightenment—is wisdom. It is the clear gate that opens into the
this not the realization of original enlightenment? compassion of the Tathagata. It is the place that
2. CLEARY: Though we may speak of realization, this is gives rise to the teaching of the great comfortable
realization without realization, this is the absorption in conduct (zazen) - It transcends the distinction
between sage and commoner; it is beyond dualistic
the king of concentration, the state of awareness in
judgment that separates delusion and enlightenment.
which you discover knowledge of birthlessness, all
Isn’t this the enlightenment that expresses one’s
knowledge, and spontaneous knowledge; it is the gate of original face?
illumination through which the wisdom of the realized
5. NEARMAN: On the other hand, a Master may speak of
ones opens up, produced by the method of practice of
personal confirmation, yet there is no confirming and
great ease. It transcends the patterns of holy and
there is confirmation. This is the samadhi that is lord of
ordinary, goes beyond the sense of confusion and
samadhis, the samadhi that manifests the wisdom of the
understanding; is this not the realization of innate great Unborn, the samadhi that manifests all wisdom, the
enlightenment? samadhi that manifests the wisdom of one‘s Original
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Although we speak of realization, Nature: it is the Bright Gate which the Tathagata‘s
this realization does not hold to itself as being Wisdom opens out; it is That which flows from ‗the Gate
―realization‖. This is practice of the supreme samadhi that leads to the Teaching on the great deeds that ease the
which is the knowing of unborn, unobstructed, and way to Buddhahood‘. It surpasses any social rules of
spontaneously arising Awareness. It is the door of ‗being worldly‘ or ‗being saintly‘; It lays bare the
luminosity which opens out onto the realization of Those emotional thinking behind ‗delusion versus
Who Come Thus, born through the practice of the great enlightenment‘. How could this not be confirmation of
ease. This goes beyond the patterns of holy and profane, Supreme Enlightenment?
goes beyond confusion and wisdom. This is the realization
of unsurpassed enlightenment as our own nature.
Notes:
CLEARY: Knowledge of the birthlessness, or nonorigination of all things, was sometimes understood to mean unborn or
knowledge that is natural and not fabricated. All knowledge is spoken of as general and particular; knowing universal
relativity, and knowing the particular relations. Spontaneous knowledge is the knowledge that has no teacher that doesn‘t
come from without…[― realized ones‖]: Tathagata, one who has realized thusness, is an epithet of a buddha.

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XXIV.又坐禪者。非干戒定慧。而兼此三學。謂戒是防非止惡。坐禪觀擧體無二。抛下萬事。休息諸縁。佛法世
法不管。道情世情雙忘。無是非無善惡。何防止之有乎。此是心地無相戒也。
1. HEINE: Although zazen is not restricted to discipline 4. MASUNAGA: Though zazen does not cling to virtue,
(sila), concentration (samadhi), or wisdom (prajna), it meditation, and wisdom, it includes them. So-called
encompasses all three goals. That is, although discipline is virtue protects one from wrong and stops evil. But in
to prevent or stop evil, in zazen we observe the principle zazen we see the total body without two-ness. We
of complete nonduality, renounce the ten thousand things, abandon all things and stop varied relations; we do
put an end to all entanglements, abandon the distinction not cling to Buddhism and worldly affairs; we prized
between Buddhist and worldly principles, forget attach- religious sentiment and worldly thoughts. There is
ments to the Way as well as to the world, and neither right and wrong nor good and evil. What is
acknowledge neither affirmation nor denial, neither good there to suppress and to stop? This is the formless
nor evil—so what is there to prevent or stop? That is the virtue of Buddha nature.
formless discipline of the primordial mind. 5. NEARMAN: Also, pure meditation does not stand against
2. CLEARY: Also zazen is not concerned with discipline, the Precepts, mindfulness, or wise discernment. Rather it
concentration, or wisdom, but contains these three combines with these three aspects of spiritual training.
studies. That is, discipline is to prevent wrong and stop ‗Precepts‘ are the resisting of what is wrong and the
evil; in zazen we see the whole substance as non dual, ceasing from what is evil. When seated in pure meditation,
cast aside myriad concerns and lay to rest all we observe that there is no duality whatsoever; we cast
entanglements. Not concerned with the buddhist way or aside the multitude of things and bring all conditions to
the worldly way, forgetting feelings about the path as rest. Neither the Teachings of the Buddhas nor the
teachings of the world dominate us; emotional
well as mundane feelings, no affirmation or denial, no
attachments to the Way and worldly feelings are both left
good or bad – what is there to prevent or stop? This is the
behind. There is no ‗right and wrong‘, no ‗good and evil‘,
formless discipline of the mind ground. for what is there to resist or cease from? This is what the
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Zazen is also not based upon Precepts that go beyond mental characterization are.
discipline, practice, or wisdom. These three are all 6. SENZAKI: Zazen does not belong either to discipline
contained within it. Discipline is usually understood as or contemplation or the achievement of knowledge, but
ceasing wrong action and eliminating evil. In zazen the it contains all of these three. Discipline is to prevent a
whole thing is known to be non-dual. Cast off the person from doing wrong actions, but Zazen sees no
numberless concerns and rest free from entangling separation between a person and his actions. When one
yourself in the ―Buddhist Way‖ or the ― worldly way.‖ does Zazen in the Zen way, he stops all actions and
Leave behind feelings about the path as well as your usual accordingly all ― karma-relation‖ is cut off. He has
sentiments. When you leave behind all opposites, what nothing to do with laws of the world, or laws of
can obstruct you? This is the formless discipline of the Buddhism. He has no feeling either in the world or in
ground of mind. religion. He does not see good or bad, liking or
disliking. Why should he prevent himself from doing
any action? This is called the ― formless discipline of
Zen.‖
Note:
In early Buddhism, discipline (sila), concentration (samadhi), or wisdom (prajna) was a basic model for
encompassing practice. They are mutually supporting dimensions of praxis: effort in one benefit the others; all
three need to be cultivated.

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XXV.定是觀想無餘。坐禪脱落身心。捨離迷悟。不變不動。不爲不昧。如癡如兀。如山如海。動靜二相了然不生
。定而無定相。無定相故名大定也。慧是簡擇覺了。坐禪所知自滅。心識永忘。通身慧眼。無有簡覺。明見佛性
。本不迷惑。坐斷意根。廓然瑩徹。是慧而無慧相。無慧相故名大慧也。
1. HEINE: Concentration is undivided contemplation. Zazen 4. MASUNAGA: Usually zazen means concentrating the
is the dropping off of body and mind, renouncing [the mind and eliminating extraneous thoughts. But in this
distinction between] delusion and enlightenment. It is zazen, we free ourselves from dualism of body and
neither motionless nor active, neither creative nor mind and of delusion and enlightenment. Neither the
quiescent, and resembles both fool and saint, mountain body nor mind changes, moves, acts, or worries.
and ocean. No trace of movement or stillness originates Like a rock, like a stake, like a mountain, like an
from it. Concentration functions without form. Because it ocean, the two forms of movement and rest do not
is formless, it is known as great concentration. Wisdom is arise. This is meditation without the form of
discriminative awareness. In zazen, subject and object meditation. Because there is no form of meditation, it
disappear on their own and mental discriminations are is called just meditation. But in this zazen we
forever forgotten. The eye of wisdom pervades the body. naturally destroy the obstacle of knowledge
Although it makes no discriminations, it clearly sees (ignorance), forget the delusive activity of the mind;
Buddha-nature. Originally without delusion, zazen cuts off our entire body becomes the eye of wisdom; there is
conceptualization and remains unbound and clear. no discrimination and recognition. We clearly see the
Wisdom is formless; because it is formless, it is known as Buddha nature and are inherently not deluded. We
great wisdom. cut the delusive root of the mind and the light of the
2. CLEARY: Concentration means undivided contemplation; Buddha mind shines through suddenly. This is
in zazen we slough off body and mind, abandon confusion wisdom without the form of wisdom. Because it is
wisdom without form, it is called Great Wisdom.
and understanding, immutable and imperturbable, not
acting, not befuddled, like an idiot, like a dunce, like a 5. NEARMAN: ‗Mindfulness‘ is the observing that there is
mountain, like an ocean, no trace of either motion or nothing that is in excess. When seated in pure meditation,
stillness arises concentrated without any sign of we let go of ‗body and mind‘, abandon ‗delusion and
concentration, because there is no form of concentration, enlightenment‘. We are unchanging, immovable,
unwillful, impervious. We are like a simpleton or a legless
it is called great concentration. Wisdom is discerning
man. We are like a mountain or an ocean: no trace of
comprehension; in zazen knowledge disappears of itself,
‗movement versus stillness‘ has yet arisen. When mindful,
mind and discriminating consciousness is forever there is no fixed state of things. Because there is no fixed
forgotten. The wisdom eye throughout the body has no state of things, we call this Supreme Mindfulness. ‗Wise
discernment, but clearly sees the essence of discernment‘ is being selective within enlightened
buddhahood; fundamentally unconfused, cutting off the awareness. When seated in pure meditation, what is
conceptual faculty, open and clearly shining all the way intellectually known spontaneously vanishes and self-
through, this is wisdom without any sign of wisdom; consciousness is discarded. Your whole being‘s Eye of
because it has no sign of wisdom it is called great Wise Discernment possesses no ‗specialized insight‘: It
wisdom. clearly sees Buddha Nature and is, from the first, not
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Practice usually means unbroken deluded. Whilst sitting, you cut off the roots of thought,
concentration. Zazen is dropping the bodymind, leaving and this is wise discernment without any outer signs of
behind confusion and understanding. Unshakeable, wise discernment. Because it has no signs of wise
without activity, it is not deluded but still like an idiot, a discernment, it is called Supreme Discerning Wisdom.
fool. Like a mountain, like the ocean. Without any trace of 6. SENZAKI: Contemplation (general contemplation)
motion or stillness. This practice is no-practice because it observes inner and outer conditions thoroughly.
has no object to practice and so is called great practice. (Subjectivity and objectivity.) Zen transcends both
Wisdom is usually understood to be clear discernment. In body and mind. It has nothing to do with delusion or
zazen, all knowledge vanishes of itself. Mind and realization. It never changes and never moves. There is
discrimination are forgotten forever. The wisdom-eye of no action and no tardiness (slowness). It is like the
this body has no discrimination but is clear seeing of the seemingly ― foolish person‖ who rooted to the ground
essence of Awakening. From the beginning it is free of maintains immovability. It is like the mountain or like
confusion, cuts off concept, and open and clear luminosity the ocean. There flares no phase of ― motion‖ or
pervades everywhere. This wisdom is no-wisdom; because ―stillness.‖ It transcends all terms applied to ―human
it is traceless wisdom, it is called great wisdom. activity.‖ It is contemplation which has no ― form of
contemplation‖; therefore, it is called the ― greatest
contemplation.‖

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XXVI.諸佛教門。一代所説。無不總收戒定慧中。今坐禪者。無戒不持。無定不修。無慧不通。降魔･成道･轉輪･
涅槃。皆依此力。神通妙用･放光説法。盡在打坐也。且參禪亦坐禪也。
1. HEINE: The teaching of all Buddhas, as expressed in 4. MASUNAGA: The teachings of the Buddha and the
their own lifetimes, is nothing other than what is included sermons of Sakyamuni (in his life) are all included in
in discipline (sila), concentration (samadhi), or wisdom virtue, meditation, and wisdom. In this zazen we hold
(prajna). Now, in zazen, there is no discipline that is not all virtue, train all meditation, and penetrate into
cultivated, no concentration that is not observed, no wisdom. Suppression of demons, enlightenment,
wisdom that is not realized. Overcoming suffering, sermon and death all depend on this power. Superior
attaining the Way, turning the wheel [of the Dharma], and work and illuminating sermon are all in the zazen.
the attainment of enlightenment all depend on its power. Interviewing the Zen master is also zazen.
Supernatural powers and illuminating the Dharma are 5. NEARMAN: The instructional Gates of the Buddhas—
fully rooted in zazen. Studying Zen is also based on zazen. what They gave voice to in Their lifetime—contain
2. CLEARY: The teachings expounded by the buddhas in nothing that is not within the Precepts, mindfulness, and
their lifetimes are all contained in discipline (morality), wise discernment. Pure meditation has no Precepts that are
concentration (meditation), and wisdom (knowledge); in not kept to, no mindfulness that is not put into practice, no
this zazen, there is no discipline that is not maintained, wise discernment that does not know things through and
no concentration that is not cultivated, no wisdom that is through. ‗Overcoming demons‘, ‗realizing Buddhahood‘,
not realized. Vanquishing demons, attaining the way, ‗turning the Wheel‘, ‗nirvana‘: all depend on the strength
turning the wheel of the true teaching and returning to of your pure meditation. The wondrous uses of your
spiritual powers, your emitting light when voicing the
extinction, all depend on this power. Supernormal
Dharma, are all there when you are truly sitting in pure
powers and their inconceivable functions, emanating light
meditation. Moreover, participating in a spiritual
and expounding the teaching are all in the act of sitting. examination is also a form of sitting in pure meditation.
Investigation of zen also is sitting in zazen.
6. SENZAKI: All teachings of Buddha in the world could
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: The Teaching that the Buddhas have be classified into three parts: precepts, contemplation and
presented all throughout their lifetimes are just this wisdom. Now Zen has no precepts that are not kept; no
discipline, practice, and wisdom. In zazen there is no contemplation that is not practiced; no wisdom that is not
discipline that is not maintained, no practice that is revealed. It is said that Buddha conquered demons and
uncultivated, no wisdom that is unrealized. Conquering attained enlightenment; that he turned the wheel of
the demons of confusion, attaining the Way, turning the Dharma to enlighten others, and that at the last he entered
wheel of the Dharma and returning to tracelessness all into Parinirvana These were all phenomena of his Zazen.
arise from the power of this. Siddhis and inconceivable There are those who describe the miraculous deeds of
activities, emanating luminosity and proclaiming the Buddha, who was considered to have brilliant emanations
Teachings—all of these are present in this zazen. from his body. Those dreamers should sit down in Zazen
Penetrating Zen is zazen. and break through to ultimate bottom.

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XXVII.欲坐禪者。先靜處宜焉。茵褥須厚敷。莫教風煙入。勿令雤露侵。護持容膝地。清潔打坐處。雖有昔人坐
金剛座坐盤石上之蹤跡。亦無不有座物。坐處當應晝不明夜不暗。冬暖夏冷。是其術也。放捨心意識。休息念想
觀。勿圖作佛 。勿管是非。護惜光陰。如救頭然。
1. HEINE: If you want to practice zazen, you must first be in 4. MASUNAGA: If you want to do zazen, you must first
a quiet place and lay out a firm cushion. Do not let in find a quiet place. You should sit on a thick cushion.
either wind, smoke, rain, or dew. Keep a clean place to sit You should allow no smoke or wind to enter. You
with plenty of room for your knees. Although ancient should keel away from rain and dew. Take care of
monks were reported to have sat on a diamond seat or on a the sitting place and keep it clean. The Buddha sat
huge rock, there were none who did not use a cushion. on a diamond seat, and the patriarchs sat on huge
The place for sitting should not be too bright in the rocks, but in each case they used cushions. The
daytime or too dark at night, and must be kept warm in the sitting place should neither be too light during the
winter and cool in the summer. That is the method [for day nor too dark during the night. It should be warm
zazen]. Renounce discriminative consciousness and in winter and cool in summer. These are
terminate conceptualization. Do not try to gauge the precautions regarding the place abandon the
activities of a Buddha or to judge good and evil. Make the functioning of the mind; stop dualistic thinking,
most of your time as if your own life was at stake. and do not plan to become a Buddha. Don’t
2. CLEARY: If you want to sit in meditation, first find a quiet think about right and wrong. Do not waste time
place and lay a thick cushion; do not let wind or smoke, make efforts as though saving your burning
rain or dew in. Keep a clear place to sit, with enough head.
room for your knees. Although there were people who 5. NEARMAN: When you wish to do seated meditation, first
sat on diamond seats or boulders in ancient times, they of all, seek a good, quiet place. See that your cushion is
all had sitting cushions. Where you sit should not be light thickly padded. Do not let mist, smoke, or fog enter. Do
in the daytime or dark at night; it should be warm in not let rain and dew intrude upon you. Protect and take
winter and cool in summer — that’s the technique. Cast care of the ground where you put your knees. Keep your
off mind, intellect, and consciousnesses, cease sitting place neat and clean. Although in ancient times
recollection, thought, and observation. Don’t aim at some sat on a diamond throne, there are traces of their
becoming a buddha, don’t be concerned with right or sitting atop boulders. Also, at no time should you fail to
wrong; value time, as though saving your head from have some carpeting spread out beneath your meditation
burning. mat. Your sitting place must not be bright during the day
or pitch dark at night. It should be warm in winter and
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: 3. YASUDA & ANZAN: To practice
cool in summer. This is the technique for meditating: Let
sitting, find a quiet place and lay down a thick mat. Don‘t
go of, and abandon, awareness of thoughts; put to rest
let wind, smoke, rain or dew come in. Keep a clear space
looking at mental fancies and images. Do not devise some
with enough room for your knees. Although in ancient
notion of what ‗realizing Buddhahood‘ is. Do not let ‗right
times there were those who sat on diamond seats or on
and wrong‘ control you. Act as if you were saving your
large stones for their cushions. The place where you sit
head which was ablaze!
should not be too bright in the daytime or too dark at
night; it should be warm in winter and cool in summer. 8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: Cast off mind,
That‘s the key. Drop mind, intellect and consciousness, intention, and consciousness; stop recollection,
leave memory, thinking, and observing alone. Don‘t try to imagination, and vision; do not intend to become a
fabricate Buddha. Don‘t be concerned with how well or Buddha, do not judge about right and wrong! Use time
how poorly you think you are doing; just understand that to the utmost, as if you had to save your head from
time is as precious as if you were putting out a fire in your burning!
hair.
Notes:
Fukanzaznegi:
不思善惡。 Do not think ‗good‘ or ‗bad.‘
莫管是非。 Do not judge true or false.
停心意識之運轉。 Give up the operations of mind, intellect, and consciousness;
止念想觀之測量。 stop measuring with thoughts, ideas, and views.
莫圖作佛。 Have no designs on becoming a Buddha.
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (Okumura translation), section 5-20: ― 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, or devoting yourself to practice
as diligently as the Buddha who stood on tiptoe 1 (for seven days), it will amount to nothing but meaningless
trouble, having nothing to do with emancipation.‖
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XVIII.如來端坐。少林面壁。打成一片。都無他事。石霜擬枯木。太白責坐睡。不用燒香禮拜念佛修懺看經持課
。只管打坐始得。
1. HEINE: The Tathagata practiced zazen in an upright 4. MASUNAGA: The Buddha sitting under the Bodhi
position, Bodhidharma sat with singleminded attention tree and Bodhidharma wall gazing concentrated only
and no other concerns, Sekiso resembled a withered tree, on zazen and did nothing else. Sekiso (Shih-shuang
and [Tiantong] Rujing was critical of those who sleep Ch’ing-chu) (807-888) sat like a withered tree. Nyojo
while doing zazen. Rujing counseled: ― Attainment is (Ju-tsing) (1163-1228) warned against taking a nap
reached through zazen only, not by burning incense, while doing zazen. Nyojo always said that you can
worship, repetition of the nembutsu, repentance, or obtain your goal for the first time by merely sitting -
reading or reciting sutras.‖ without burning incense, giving salutation, saying the
2. CLEARY: The Buddha sat upright, Bodhidharma faced a Nembutsu, practicing austerity, chanting the sutra, or
wall, single-minded, without any other concerns at all. performing various duties.
Shishuang was like a dead tree, Rujing admonished 5. NEARMAN: The Tathagata‘s sitting erect, Bodhidharma‘s
against sleeping while sitting; “you can only succeed by facing the wall at Shorin Monastery as he attended only to
just sitting, without need to make use of burning incense, his meditation: both had no ‗other thing‘ to them. Sekiso
prostrations, remembrance of buddha names, imitated a withered tree; Taihaku censured the practice of
repentance ceremonies, reading scriptures or ritual falling asleep whilst sitting. Do not get involved with the
burning of incense, the making of bows, the reciting of the
recitations.”
Buddha‘s name, the undergoing of some penitential ritual,
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: The Buddha sat straight, the reading of Scriptures, the holding on to a daily work
Bodhidharma faced the wall; both were whole-hearted and schedule: just sitting, without ‗doing‘ anything, is what
committed. Shishuang was like a gnarled dead tree. Rujing you should aim at above all.
warned against sleepy sitting and said, ― Just-sitting is all
8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: The Perfected One
you need. You don‘t need to make burning incense
offerings, meditate upon the names of Buddhas, repent, sitting upright and Bodhidharma wall-gazing in the
study the scriptures or do recitation rituals.‖ temple of Shao-lin concentrated on zazen and did
nothing else. Shih-shuang Ch’ing-chu sat like a
withered tree, Ju-ching warned not to sleep while
sitting. He said that without burning incense, paying
veneration, reciting the nembutsu, practicing sange,
reading the sutras, or performing rites, you can attain
enlightenment by only sitting in zazen.
Notes:
In Fukanzazengi, Dogen brings up the precedent‘s of Shakyamuni and Bodhidharma: ― Consider the Buddha: although he
was wise at birth, the traces of his six years of upright sitting can yet be seen. As for Bodhidharma, although he had
received the mind-seal, his nine years of facing a wall is celebrated still. If even the ancient sages were like this, how can
we today dispense with wholehearted practice?‖
From Hokyoki (Dogen‘s journal of his study with Rujing): (Tanahashi & Norman Fischer translation): Rujing said,
―Studying Zen is dropping off body and mind. Without depending on the burning of incense, bowing, chanting Buddha‘s
names, repentance, or sutra reading, devote yourself to just sitting.‖ I asked, ―
What is dropping off body and mind?‖
Rujing said, ―Dropping off body and mind is zazen. When you just sit, you are free from the five sense desires and the
five hindrances.‖ I asked, ―
Is this freedom from the five sense desires and the five hindrances the same as what the sutra
schools are talking about? Does it mean we are to be practitioners of both the Mahayana and Hinayana?‖ Rujing said,
―Descendants of ancestors should not exclude the teachings of either vehicle. If students ignore the Tathagata‘s sacred
teachings, how can they become the descendants of buddha ancestors?‖
Dogen states in Bendowa: ― From the first time you meet a master, without engaging in incense offering, bowing, chanting
Buddha‘s name, repentance, or reading scriptures, you should just wholeheartedly sit, and thus drop away body and
mind.‖ Also see the Griff Foulk‘s comments on this passage in the section on ritual, pp. 159-160 of this study.
CLEARY: This is a statement of Rujing, Dogen‘s teacher.
DUMOULIN: These short sentences describe the zazen of classical tradition. Bodhidharma and a famous Zen master of the
T‘ang period (Shih-shuang Ch‘ing-chu) are referred to. The image of fire threatening one‘s head is an allusion to koan
literature, while the name of Ju-ching recalls Dogen‘s great experience of enlightenment. In the last sentence, Keizan
affirms Ju-ching‘s and Dogen‘s insistence on “zazen only‖ (shikan taza) to the exclusion of all other practices of Buddhist
practice. [Further, Dumoulin states that this passage, ―
summarizes Keizan‘s point of view, is the book‘s climax.‖]

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 除開定 ･與晡 經亘一尺二寸
XXIX.大抵坐禪時。可搭袈裟 莫略。蒲團 非全支趺坐。自跏趺半而後至脊骨下。
前後･夜 時 周圍三尺六寸

是佛祖之坐法也。或結跏趺坐。或半跏趺坐。結跏法者。先以右足置左髀上。以左足置右髀上。而寛繋衣物
内衣
可令齊整。次以右手安左足上。以左手安右手上。兩手大指相拄近身。拄指對頭當對臍安。正身端坐。
帶紐
不得左側右傾前躬後仰。耳與肩鼻與臍。必倶相對。舌拄上腭。息從鼻通。脣齒相著。眼須正開。不張不微。如
是調身已。欠氣安息。所謂開口吐氣一兩息也。次須坐定搖身七八度。自麁至細。兀兀端坐也。
1. HEINE: Whenever you practice zazen, you must wear the 3. YASUDA & ANZAN: When you sit, wear the kesa (except
kesa (kasaya) robe (except during the night and upon in the first and last parts of the night when the daily
arising from sleep, as per the schedule). Do not neglect to schedule is not in effect). Don‘t be careless. The cushion
do this. The cushion (twelve inches across, thirty-six should be about twelve inches thick and thirty-six in
inches in diameter) should not support the entire leg. It circumference. Don‘t put it under the thighs but only from
should extend from the middle of the leg to the base of the mid-thigh to the base of the spine. This is how the
spine. That is the zazen method of the Buddhas and Buddhas and Ancestors have sat. You can sit in the full or
patriarchs. You may sit in either the full-lotus or half-lotus half lotus postures. To sit in the full lotus, put the right
position. The method for the full-lotus is to put the right foot on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh.
foot on the left thigh and the left foot on the right thigh. Loosen your robes but keep them in order. Put your right
Loosen your robe and let it hang neatly around you. Then, hand on your left heel and your left hand on top of your
put your right hand on your left foot and your left hand on right, thumbs together and close to the body at the level of
your right foot, keeping the thumbs together, close to the the navel. Sit straight without leaning to left or right, front
body at the navel. Sit perfectly upright without leaning left or back. Ears and shoulders, nose and navel should be
or right, forward or backward. The ears and shoulders, aligned. Place the tongue on the palate and breathe
nose and navel must be perfectly aligned. The tongue through the nose. The mouth should be closed. The eyes
should rest on the roof of the mouth and the breath pass should be open but not too wide nor too slight.
through the nose. The mouth is closed but the eyes are left Harmonizing the body in this way, breathe deeply with the
open. Having regulated the body so that it is neither stiff mouth once or twice. Sitting steadily, sway the torso seven
nor limp, breathe deeply through the mouth one time. or eight times in decreasing movements. Sit straight and
Then, while sitting in concentration, sway your body [to alert.
the left and right] seven or eight times, going from a 4. MASUNAGA: Generally when doing zazen you
greater to smaller [range of motion]. Sit upright with lofty should wear a kesa; you must not leave this out. You
dedication. should not sit completely on the cushion; it should be
2. CLEARY: Whenever you sit, you should wear a kashaya put halfway back under the spine. This is the sitting
(kesa) (except during the first and last parts of the night method of the Buddhas and the patriarchs. Some
when the daily schedule is not in effect) – don’t neglect meditate in paryanka and others in half-paryanka. In
this. The cushion (twelve inches across, thirty-six in paryanka you must put your right thigh […?...].
circumference) should not support the whole thighs it Wearing your robe loosely adjust your posture. Next
should reach from midthigh to the base of the spine. This rest your right hand on your left foot and your left
is the way the buddhas and patriarchs sat. You may sit in hand on your right palm. Touching your thumbs
full or half lotus position; the way to sit in full lotus is to together, bring your hands close to your body. Put
them close to your navel. Sit upright and do not lean
put the right foot on the left thigh, then put the left foot
either to the left or right. Neither should you lean
on the right thigh. Loosen your clothes and straighten
forward nor backward. Place your navel. Keep your
them; next put your right hand on your left foot and your tongue against the palate, and breathe through your
left hand on your right hand, with your thumbs together nose. Keep your lips and teeth firmly closed. You
near the body about the level of your navel. Sit up should keep your eyes open. Neither open them too
straight, without leaning to the left or right, front or back. wide nor narrow them too much. After you have
The ears and shoulders, nose and navel, should be seated your self comfortably, inhale sharply. To do
aligned. The tongue is kept on the roof of the mouth and this you open your mouth and breathe out once or
the breath should pass through the nose. The mouth twice. After sitting you should move your body seven
should be closed, while the eyes should be open, though or eight times from the left to right, going from large
not too widely or too slightly. Having attuned your body motions to small. Then you should sit like an
in this way, breathe deeply through the mouth a couple immovable mountain.
of times. Next, sitting steady, sway your body seven or
eight times, going from larger to smaller movements.
Then sit upright and intent.
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5. NEARMAN: As a general practice, when doing seated right hand. With the thumbs of both hands touching, bring
meditation, you should put on your kesa. (Remove it in the your hands near your body, the touching thumbs opposite
dark before dawn and at dusk, as you come out of the the navel. Your body is held straight as you sit upright, not
meditation state.) Do not omit this. Whilst on your mat tilting to left or right, not leaning forwards or backwards.
(which, when folded over is one foot two inches wide, Your ears need to be symmetrically aligned with your
when rolled up is three feet six inches in circumference), shoulders, your nose with your navel. Your tongue rests
do not always sustain the cross-legged, ‗lotus‘ sitting against the roof of the mouth. Breathe through your nose.
position; range from a half-lotus position to, later, sitting Your lips and teeth are together. Your eyes should be kept
with your feet under your spine. This is the method of open, but neither fully open nor almost shut. Balance your
sitting of the Buddhas and Ancestors: sometimes to do full body in this way, breathe out sharply, then breathe easily.
lotus, sometimes half-lotus. As for the full lotus method, This is what is called ‗opening the mouth and expelling
first put your right foot on top of your left thigh. Then, put the breath once or twice‘. Next, you should settle down in
your left foot atop your right thigh, and loosely arrange your sitting place by swaying your body seven or eight
your robes. (Gird your under-robe with a cord.) You times in ever smaller movements, then steadily sitting
should make everything well-regulated. Next, rest your erect.
right hand atop your left foot, and your left hand atop your

Notes:
CLEARY:Rujing told Dogen that it was all right to close the eyes. A number of recommendations about meditation
found in this little work seem to have come from Rujing‘s teaching.

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XXX.於此思量箇不思量底。如何思量。謂非思量。是乃坐禪要法也。直須破斷煩惱親證菩提。
1. HEINE: So,how does one think of that which is beyond 4. MASUNAGA: In this position try to think the
thinking? By non-thinking—that is the fundamental unthinkable. How do you think the unthinkable? By
method of zazen. You must directly break through all going beyond both thinking and unthinking. This is
attachments and realize enlightenment. the key to zazen. You should cut off your delusions
2. CLEARY: Now think of what doesn’t think – how to think immediately and enlighten the way suddenly.
of it? Not thinking. This is the essential method of zazen. 5. NEARMAN: Take care in this not to think of any
You should break directly through afflictions and particular thing. How does one take care of this? By not
personally realize enlightenment. trying to ‗take care‘ of anything. This is the essential
method of doing seated meditation: straightway, you
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Now think of what is without
should break free of any defiling passions and personally
thought. How can you think of it? Be Before Thinking.
realize enlightenment.
This is the essence of zazen. Shatter obstacles and become
intimate with Awakening Awareness.
Notes:
Dogen in Fukanzazengi: 思量箇不思量底。 Think of not thinking.
不思量底如何思量。 Not thinking – what kind of thinking is that?
非思量此乃坐禪之要術也。 Nonthinking. This is the essential art of zazen.
Case #129 of Dogen‘s collection of 300 koans (Tanahashi & Loori translation): When Yaoshan was sitting in
meditation, a monastic asked, ―
What do you think about as you sit in steadfast composure?‖ Yaoshan said, ―
I
think not-thinking‖ (思量箇不思量底) The monastic said, ― How do you think not-thinking‖
(不思量底如何思量) Yaoshan said, ― Nonthinking‖ (非思量).
[Also note: Okumura translation of hishiryo (非思量): ―
Beyond thinking‖.]
From Sit by Taisen Deshimaru, translated and ed. Philippe Coupey, pg 221‖
The flower has fallen and the mountain is tranquil
Push the sky with the head, the ground with the knees.
If our mind becomes normal, becomes tranquil, it vanishes naturally and automatically. This is satori, this is hishiryo. Here is
master Keizan's commentary:
The white clouds disappear, the blue mountain stands alone.
The souring power of the many mountains vanish,
Only one—the highest, the one which reaches to the sky—is standing.
Nobody arrives at its summit, nobody knows its name.
Even Buddha and the Patriarchs cannot explain it (dosha),
Neither in conference (kusen), nor through silence.
In the realm, arrived at through deep study:
All the day long you look,
Yet there are no eyes with which to see it;
All the night long you listen,
Yet there are no ears with which to hear it.
Keizan's poem is beautiful; I like this poem. What is zazen? It is this.
This could be read think of the unthinkable, or think of what doesn‘t think; this is a famous saying of
CLEARY:
Yaoshan, a disciple of Shitou and one of the early ancestors of Soto zen in China.

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XXXI.若欲起定。先兩手仰安兩膝上。搖身七八度。自細至麁。開口吐氣。伸兩手捺地。輕輕起坐。徐徐行歩。
須順轉順行。坐中若昏睡來。常應搖身或張目。又安心於頂上髮際眉間。猶未醒時。引手應拭目或摩身。猶未醒
時。起座輕行。正要順行。順行若及一百許歩。昏睡必醒。而經行法者。一息恒半歩。行亦如不行。寂靜而不動
1. HEINE: If you want to rise from concentration [practice], 4. MASUNAGA: When you want to get up from zazen,
put your hands on your knees and sway the body seven or put your hands on your thighs with palms up and
eight times, going from a smaller to greater [range of move your body seven or eight times from left to
motion]. Breathe through the mouth, put your hands on right with the motions getting progressively larger.
the ground, and simply raise yourself from your seat. Then open your mouth and inhale; put your hands on
Walk deliberately to the left or the right. If drowsiness the floor; gently arise - from the cushion; and quietly
threatens while sitting, always sway the body or open your walk around. Turn your body to the right and walk to
eyes wide. Also, focus attention on the top of the head, the the right. If you feel sleepy during zazen, you should
hairline, or the forehead. If you still do not feel awake, move -your body and open your eyes widely.
wipe your eyes or rub your body. If that still does not Concentrate your mind on the top of your head, edge
awaken you, get up from your seat and walk around in the of your hair, or between your eyebrows. If this
correct manner. After walking about a hundred steps, your doesn’t make you - wide awake, stretch out your
drowsiness should surely be overcome. The method [of hand and rub your eyes, or massage your body. If
walking meditation] is to take a half step with each breath. even this does not awaken you, get up from your
Walk as if you are not walking—calm and undistracted. seat and walk around lightly. You should walk
2. CLEARY: When you want to rise from stillness, first put around to the right. If you walk in the way for about
your hands on your knees, sway your body seven or eight 100 steps, your sleepiness should go away. The
method of walking is to take a breath every short
times, going from small to larger movements. Open your
step (about half of the average step); like moving
mouth and breathe out, put your hands on the ground
without moving, it should be done quietly.
and lightly rise from your seat. Walk slowly, circling to the
5. NEARMAN: When you wish to arise from meditation,
right or left. If torpor and sleepiness overcomes you while
sitting, always move your body or open your eyes wide; first, place your hands respectfully on your knees and
sway your body seven or eight times in ever larger
also put your mind on your hairline between your
movements. Open your mouth and exhale. Flatten out
eyebrows. If you still are not wakeful, rub your eyes or
your hands and place them on the ground. Gently rise
body. If that still doesn’t wake you up, get up and walk from your sitting place; slowly and with dignity begin to
around, always circling to the left. Once you have gone a walk, moving at a normal pace. Whilst sitting, if you
hundred steps or so, your sleepiness should have begin to fall asleep, you should always sway your body or
vanished. The way to walk is to take a half step with each open your eyes wide. Also, focus your mind on the space
breath. You walk as though not walking anywhere, silent between your eyebrows. If you are still not fully awake,
and unmoving. use your hands to wipe your eyes or rub your body. If you
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: When you want to get up from are still not fully awake, rise from your sitting place and
stillness, put your hands on your knees, sway seven or walk about calmly, making sure to do it at a normal pace.
eight times in increasing movements. Breathe out through When you have taken about a hundred paces, you will
the mouth, put your hands to the floor and get up lightly most likely have come out of your sleepiness. The method
from the seat. Slowly walk, circling to right or left. If for walking calmly is to regularly take one breath for each
dullness or sleepiness overcome your sitting, move to the half step. Although you are walking, do it as though you
body and open the eyes wider, or place attention above the were not walking: be calm and tranquil, and do not thrash
hairline or between your eyebrows. If you are still not your body about.
fresh, rub the eyes or the body. If that still doesn‘t wake 6. SENZAKI: While you are in Zazen, if you feel sleepy,
you, stand up and walk, always clockwise. Once you‘ve move your body a trifle; or open your eyes wide; or
gone about a hundred steps you probably won‘t be sleepy become conscious of the border of the hairline; or
any longer. The way to walk is to take a half step with concentrate on the tip of the nose. If you still feel sleepy,
each breath. Walk without walking, silent and unmoving. rub your hands together, or rub your body gently with
your hands; or stand up and walk a few paces. If you
walk 100 paces, you will be wide awake.
Notes:
CLEARY: Thefoot should be moved a distance equal to the length of the foot. This method of walking in meditation
(kinhin) was taught to Dogen by Rujing.

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XXXII.如是經行。猶未醒時。或濯目冷頂。或誦菩薩戒序。種種方便勿令睡眠。當觀生死事大無常迅速。道眼未
明。昏睡何爲。昏睡頻來。應發願云。業習已厚。故今被睡眠蓋。昏蒙何時醒。願佛祖垂大悲。拔我昏重苦。
1. HEINE: Ifyou are still not awake after walking around in most important thing is to transcend the problem of
this way, rinse your eyes or cool off your head, or recite birth and death. Though this life moves swiftly, the
the preface to the bodhisattva vow. Or do any combination eye for seeing the way is not open. We must realize
of these things so that you do not fall asleep. You must that this is no time to sleep. If you are about to be
consider the Great Matter of life and death and the swift lulled to sleep, you should make this vow: “My
changes of impermanence and ask yourself, ― How can I habitual passion from former actions is already deep-
sleep when the insight of the eye of the Dharma is not yet rooted; therefore I have already received the
illuminated?‖ If drowsiness continues to threaten to hindrance of sleep. When will I awake from the
overtake you, you must recite, ― Because my karmic darkness? Buddhas and the patriarchs I seek
tendencies are so deeply rooted, I am now lost in the veil escape from the suffering of my darkness through
of fatigue—when will I awaken from my ignorance? I beg your great compassion.”
for the great compassion of the Buddhas and patriarchs to 5. NEARMAN: If after walking in this way you are still not
remove my suffering.‖ fully awake, either rinse your eyes and dowse your head
2. CLEARY: If you still don’t wake up after walking around with cold water or recite, say, the ― Introduction to the
like this, either wash your eyes and cool your forehead, or Bodhisattva Precepts‖. Apply these various skillful means
recite the preface to the precepts for bodhisattvas, or so that you do not let yourself fall off into sleep. You
some such thing just find some way not to fall asleep. You should observe that the matter of birth and death is a great
should observe that the matter of life and death is a great one, and that impermanence is swift indeed. What do you
one, and impermanence is swift – what are you doing do about drowsiness when your Eye that seeks the Way is
sleeping when your eye of the way is not yet clear? If not yet bright? If periods of drowsiness persist, you
should make a vow, saying, ― Because my karmic habits
torpor and drowsiness come over you repeatedly, you
are already heavy, I am now shrouded in sleep. When will
should pray, “My habits are deepseated, and that is why I
I awaken from my dark and confused wandering in the
am enshrouded by drowsiness – when will my torpor mind? I pray that the Buddhas and Ancestors will confer
disperse? I pray that the buddhas and enlightened their great compassion on me and remove my dark and
ancestors will be so compassionate as to remove my heavy suffering.‖
darkness and misery.”
6. SENZAKI: Those who do Zazen should think this: ― To
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: If you still don‘t feel fresh after find out what Life and Death are is a great matter; and
doing kinhin, wash your eyes and forehead with cold time passes so quickly that one may not solve the
water. Or chant the Three Pure Precepts of the question. One‘s life may end before the answer is found!
Bodhisattvas. Do something; don‘t just fall asleep. You Why then, should one devote time to sleeping greedily?‖
should be aware of the Great Matter of birth and death and Students, you should take a vow to conquer the karmic
the swiftness of impermanence. What are you doing effects which make you wish to sleep so much, and ask
sleeping when your eye of the Way is still clouded? If the help of Buddha and the Patriarchs to sustain you
dullness and sinking arise repeatedly you should chant, toward this accomplishment.
―Habituality is deeply rooted and so I am wrapped in
8. DUMOULIN, HEISIG & KNITTER: By various means
dullness. When will dullness disperse? May the
compassion of the Buddhas and Ancestors lift this avoid sleep. The matter of life and death is great,
darkness and misery.‖ impermanence moves swiftly. How can you sleep, when
the eye of the Way is not yet cleared?...[If sleepiness is
4. MASUNAGA: If even all this does not awaken you, due to bad karma, then the meditator should pray:]
wash your eyes and cool your head. Or read the
“May Buddhas and patriarchs in their great
introduction of the precepts of the Bodhisattva. By
compassion remove the pain of my heavy darkness!”
these various means you should avoid sleep. The
Notes:
The Han verse: 生死事大 Shou ji ji dai Great is the matter of birth and death.
無常迅速 Mu jou jin soku Impermanence is swift.
光陰可惜 Kou in oshimu beshi Awaken! Awaken!
時不待人 Toki hitowo matazu Time waits for no one.
In Eihei Koso Hotsugonmon, Dogen writes: ― Although our past evil karma (惡業) has greatly accumulated,
indeed being the cause and condition (因縁) of obstacles in practicing the way (障道), may all buddhas and
ancestors who have attained the buddha way be compassionate to us and free (解脱) us from karmic effects
(業累), allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. May they share with us their compassion, which
fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings.‖
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XXXIII.心若散亂時。安心於鼻端丹田。數出入息。猶未休時須一則公案提撕擧覺。謂是何物恁麼來。狗子無佛
性。雲門須彌山趙州拍樹子等。沒滋味談。是其所應也。
1. HEINE: If your mind is distracted, focus attention on the 4. MASUNAGA: If your mind is disturbed, rest it on the
tip of your nose or your lower abdomen and count the tip of the nose or below the navel and count your
breaths coming in and out. If the distractions continue, inhaled and exhaled breath. If your mind still is not
then reflect on an instruction koan for awakening, such as calm, take a Koan and concentrate on it. For
― What is it that thus comes?‖, ―Does a dog have Buddha- example consider these non-taste the stories: “Who
nature?‖, ― Unmon‘s Mount Sumeru‖ koan, and ― Doshu‘s is this that comes before me?” (Hui-neng); “Does a
cypress tree in the garden‖ koan. Artless dialogues such as dog have Buddha nature?” (Chao-chou); Yun men’s
these are suitable. Mt Sumeru and Chao-chou’s oak tree in the garden.
2. CLEARY: If your mind is scattered, fix your mind on the tip These are available applications.
of your nose and lower belly and count your incoming 5. NEARMAN: If there are times when your thoughts go off
and outgoing breaths. If that doesn’t stop your in all directions or are agitated, focus your mind down the
distraction, then bring a saying to mind and keep it in ridge of your nose to your tanden and count your cycle of
mind to awaken you – for example, “What thing comes inhalations. If your thoughts are still not at rest, you
thus?” “A dog has no enlightened nature.” “When no should call to mind some short koan which your Master
thought arises, is there still any fault? – Mount Everest!” has given you to guide you, such as, ‗What is It that comes
like this?,‘ ‗A dog‘s not having Buddha Nature‘,
“What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the
‗Ummon‘s Mount Sumeru‘, ‗Joshu‘s oak tree‘, for
West? – the cypress tree in the garden.” Flavorless
instance: ‗bland talk‘ is what meets the need.
sayings like this are suitable.
6. SENZAKI: If your mind scatters around, be conscious of
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: If the mind wanders, place attention the tip of your nose, or the lower part of the abdomen, or
at the tip of the nose and tanden and count the inhalations count your breaths. If you cannot succeed in the above
and exhalations. If that doesn‘t stop the scattering, bring mentioned ways, you should bring forth a koan and
up a phrase and keep it in awareness – for example: ― What question yourself-‖What is this?‖
is it that comes thus?‖ or ― When no thought arises, where
is affliction? – Mount Meru!‖ or ― What is the meaning of
Bodhidharma‘s coming from the West? – The cypress in
the garden.‖ Sayings like this that you can‘t draw any
flavour out of are suitable.
Notes:
― What is it that thus comes?‖ appears frequently in Dogen‘s writings and is from a story included in Dogen‘s
collection of 300 koans (#101, Tanahashi & Loori translation): Zen master Huairang of Nanyue [Dahui] went to
study with the Sixth Ancestor, Dajian Huineng [Caoxi]. The Sixth Ancestor said, ― Where are you from?‖ Nanyue
said, ―I have come from National Teacher Huian of Songshan.‖ The Sixth Ancestor said, ― What is it that has come
like this?‖ (是什麼物恁麼来) Nanyue could not answer. He attended on the master for eight years and worked on
the question. One day he said to the Sixth Ancestor, ― Now I understand it. When I first came to study with you, you
asked me, ‗What is is that has come like this?‘‖ The Sixth Ancestor said, ― How do you understand it?‖ Nanyue said,
― To say it‘s like something misses it‖ (説似一物即不中). The Sixth Ancestor said, ― Does it depend upon practice
and enlightenment?‖ Nanyue said, ― It‘s not that there is no practice and enlightenment. It‘s just that they cannot be
defiled‖ (修証即不無、染汚即不得). The Sixth Ancestor said, ― Just this nondefilement is what buddhas have
maintained and transmitted. You are like this. I am like this. Ancestors in India were like this.‖
Mumonkan (Gateless Barrier), Case #1: A monk asked Zhaozhou, ― Does a dog have a buddha-nature or not?‖ Zhaozhou said,
―No‖ [mu]. A longer version of this dialogue as well as another dialogue on the same subject make up Case #18 of the Book of
Serenity, which is also Case #114 of Dogen‘s collection of 300 koans. Discussed by Dogen in Shobogenzo Bussho (Buddha-
Nature).
Shoyo-roku (Book of Serenity), Case #19: A monk asked Yunmen, ―
When not producing a single thought, is there any fault or
not?‖ Yunmen said, ―
Mount Sumeru.‖
Mumonkan Case #37: A monk asked Zhaozhou, ―
What is the meaning of Bodhidharma‘s coming from the West?‖ Zhaozhou
said, ―
The oak tree in the courtyard.‖
DUMOULIN: Keizan used the practice of koan as an aid for concentrating during meditation. If one is beset
with distractions, he suggests concentrating on a koan, and offers two possibilities from the Mumonkan: case 1,
dealing with the Buddha nature of a dog, and case 37, “The Oak Tree in the Garden,” He also cites a koan
question from a Zen chronicle.

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XXXIV.猶未休時。向一息截斷兩眼永閉端的。打坐工夫。或向胞胎未生不起一念已前行履工夫。二空忽生。散心
必歇。起定之後。
1. HEINE: If the distractions still persist, then meditate by 4. MASUNAGA: If your mind is still disturbed, sit and
concentrating directly on stopping your breath or keeping concentrate on the moment your breath has stopped
your eyes shut. Or focus on the state prior to conception, and both eyes have closed forever, or on the unborn
before a single thought has been produced. If you follow state in your mother’s womb or before one thought
Buddhist practice, the twofold emptiness [of self and arises. If you do this, the two Sunyatas (non-ego) will
dharmas] spontaneously arises and mental attachments are emerge, and the disturbed mind will be put at rests.
necessarily dispersed. 5. NEARMAN: If your thoughts are still not at rest, do your
2. CLEARY: If (scattering distraction) still doesn’t stop, sit meditation period by focusing on the great matter where
and focus on the point where the breath ends and the your breathing comes to an end and your eyes close
eyes close forever, or else where the embryo is not yet forever. Or, focus on the ‗not-yet-born state‘ before a
conceived and not a single thought is produced; when the single thought has arisen. Then, when you are doing your
twin void suddenly appears, the scattered mind will surely daily activities, you will suddenly give rise to the two
come to rest. types of ‗emptiness‘—that of there being no personal self
and of there being no permanent self in phenomena—and
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: If scattering continues, sit and look your scattered thoughts will, without fail, lose their force.
to that point where the breath ends and the eyes close
forever and where the child is not yet conceived, where 6. SENZAKI: If your mind still wanders, you should think
not a single concept can be produced. When a sense of the of your own death; that is; your breathing stops, and your
two-fold emptiness of self and things appears, scattering eyes shut forever. Or else you should think: ―Who were
will surely rest. you before you were born?‖ Or else: ― What were you
thinking in that moment before thinking can be raised?‖
If you work on these questions, you will realize two sorts
of emptiness: the emptiness of material things and the
emptiness of mind (non-material): and your mind will be
naturally concentrated on the subject.
Notes:
Sometimes it is said that early Buddhism only taught the emptiness of the person. A number of the Abhidharma
schools taught that the person was empty, but that dharmas have real existence (the dharmas being components of
experience which were used in analysis to liberate oneself from grasping a self of the person). The Prajna
Paramita literature (e.g. Heart Sutra) teach that all dharmas are empty of real existence, as well as the person.
Madhyamaka teachings present extensive argumentation for this position.
CLEARY: [―
Twin void‖]: This refers to the voidness of person and things.

157
XXXV.不思量而現威儀時。見成即公案。不回互而成修證時。公案即見成。朕兆以前之消息。空劫那畔之因縁。
佛佛祖祖靈機樞要。唯此一事也。
1. HEINE: After emerging from concentration, to realize the 4. MASUNAGA: When you arise from meditation and
majestic activities [of walking, standing, sitting, and lying unconsciously take action, that action is itself a
down] without thought is the spontaneous manifestation of Koan. Without entering into relation, when you
Zen enlightenment. When you actualize the accomplish practice and enlightenment, the Koan
undifferentiated differentiation of practice-in-realization, manifests itself. State before the creation of heaven
Zen enlightenment is spontaneously manifest. The and earth, condition of empty kalpa, and wondrous
primordial state before anything appeared, the condition functions and most important thing of Buddhas and
prior to the formation of heaven and earth—the ultimate patriarchs - all these are one thing, zazen.
concern of the Buddhas and patriarchs is nothing other 5. NEARMAN: After you have given rise to mindfulness,
than this one thing. without a thought or care, you will manifest a dignified
2. CLEARY: After coming out of stillness, when you carry on appearance. Then, what is right before your eyes will be
your activities without thinking, the present event is the your koan. You and it will not be ‗two things going
public affair (koan); when you accomplish practice and around each other‘; you will realize that that which your
realization without interfusion, then the public affair is training confirms has come to full fruition. At that
the present happening. That which is before any signs moment, what the koan is is ‗right before your eyes‘.
appear, the situation on the other side of the empty ‗What happens when signs of existence are not yet to be
aeon, the spiritual capacity of all buddhas and patriarchs seen‘, the conditions and causes which surround the eon of
annihilation, and the importance of the wondrous spiritual
is just this one thing.
deeds of the Buddhas and Ancestors are all just this One
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: Arising from stillness, carry out Matter for which we train. Straightway you should go take
activities without hesitation. This moment is the koan. a day away from your normal schedule.
When practice and realization are without complexity then
the koan is this present moment. That which is before any
trace arises, the scenery on the other side of time‘s
destruction, the activity of all Buddhas and Awakened
Ancestors, is just this one thing.
Notes:
Keizan refers to Genjo (soku) Koan (見成即公案)and Koan (soku) Genjo (公案即見成). Genjo Koan is
sometimes regarded as the most important fascicle of Shobogenzo. In Fukanzazengi, Koan Genjo appears:
唯是安樂之法門也 It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease,
究盡菩提之修證也 the practice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment.
公案現成 羅籠未到 It is the koan realized; traps and snares can never reach it.
CLEARY: Interfusion means nondifferentiation, so not interfusing means differentiation, each thing abiding in its
characteristic state – so called ‗mountain is mountain, river is river.‘

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XXXVI.直須休去歇去。冷湫湫地去。一念萬年去。寒灰枯木去。古廟香爐去。一條白練去。至祷至祷
1. HEINE: Be still and calm, indifferent and free of passion, 4. MASUNAGA: We must quit thinking dualistically and
letting ten thousand years pass in an instant, like cool put a stop to our delusive mind, cool our passions,
ashes or a withered tree, like incense burning without transcend moment and eternity, make our mind like
smoke in an ancient temple, or a piece of white silk. May cold ashes and withered trees, unify meditation and
this be realized! wisdom like a censer in an old shrine, and purify
2. CLEARY: You should just rest, cease; be cool, passing body and mind like a single white strand. I sincerely
myriad years as an instant, be cold ashes, a dead tree, an hope that you will do all this.
incense burner in an ancient shrine, a piece of white silk. 5. NEARMAN: Go rest. Go cool down. Let ‗one thought is
This I pray. equivalent to ten thousand years‘ pass. Let ‗being cold
ashes‘ or ‗being a dead tree‘ pass. Let ‗being an incense
3. YASUDA & ANZAN: You should just rest and cease. Be
burner in an old shrine‘ pass. Let ‗the single white thread‘
cooled, pass numberless years as this moment. Be cold
pass. Wholeheartedly do I pray for this; with all my heart
ashes, a withered tree, an incense burner in an abandoned
do I so pray.
temple, a piece of unstained silk. This is my earnest wish.
6. SENZAKI: At the last I only say: ―
Go on, to rest. Go on,
and stop. Go on, and make yourself the autumn lake full
of water. Go on, and make your one moment of thought
the length of ten thousand years. Go on, and make
yourself cold ashes and a decayed tree. Go on, and make
yourself an incense burner, with no trace of incense. Go
on, and make yourself white silk of endless length. I
congratulate you all!‖
Notes:
Keizan‘s verse on Shanavasa, the 3rd ancestor in India, includes the line, ―
A length of pure white silk beyond the
dust.‖ Cook‘s footnote: ―
The length of pure white silk is an image of the flowing water and symbolizes the inner
Buddha nature as inherently pure.‖

159
 Ritual

Griff Foulk - excerpts on ritual and the Keizan Shingi 161

Griff Foulk – The Origins of the Gyoji Kihan and
the Question of Ritual in the Zen Tradition 163

160
 Griff Foulk – On Ritual
(three excerpts on the Keizan Shingi & Zen Ritual from various sources)
From the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
瑩山淸規: Keizan's Rules of Purity: Keizan shingi. Two fascicles, T 2589.82.423c-451c. A text, originally entitled
Ritual Procedures for Tōkoku Mountain Yōkō Zen Monastery in Nō Province (Nōshū tōkokuzan yōkōzenji gyōji shidai
能州洞谷山永光禪寺行事次第), written by the abbot Keizan Jōkin 瑩山紹瑾 in 1324. Keizan seems to have compiled it
as a handbook of ritual events and liturgical texts for use in the single monastery named in its title. The text contains a
detailed calendar of daily, monthly, and annual observances that the monks of Yōkō Zen Monastery were to engage in,
and the dedications of merit 囘向 statements of purpose 疏 that they were to chant on those various occasions. It thus had
the basic functions of a schedule of activities and a liturgical manual, as well as laying out a few rules and ritual
procedures for monastic officers. It shared those features with the Rules of Purity for the Huanzhu Hermitage (Huanzhu
an qinggui 幻住菴淸規), a manual written in 1317 by the eminent Chan master Zhongfen Mingben 中峰明本 (1263–
1323). Keizan probably modeled his text on that or some other similarly organized work imported from Yuan dynasty
China. In 1678, the monk Gesshū Sōko 月舟宗胡 (1618–1696) and his disciple Manzan Dōhaku 卍山道白 (1636–1715),
two monks active in the movement to reform Sōtō Zen by ―r estoring the old‖ 復古 modes of practice originally
implemented by Dōgen 道元 and Keizan, took the set of rules written for Yōkōji and published them for the first time
under the title of Reverend Keizan's Rules of Purity (Keizan oshō shingi 瑩山和尚淸規). From that point on the text
became a standard reference work used in many Sōtō Zen monasteries. In its organization and contents, Keizan's Rules of
Purity is the direct predecessor of the present Standard Obsevances of the Sōtō School (Sōtōshū gyōji kihan
曹洞宗行持規範). [G. Foulk; reference(s): FGD]
Cited from: Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: 瑩山淸規 | Keizan's Rules of Purity http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-
bin/xpr-ddb.pl?74.xml+id(%27b7469-5c71-6df8-898f%27)#ixzz1126IDYlp

From “Ritual in Japanese Zen Buddhism” by T. Griff Foulk

(in Zen Ritual, ed. Steven Heine & Dale S. Wright)
The claims of twentieth-century Soto school scholars that Dogen rejected the ― syncretic‖ aspects of Song Chan monastic practice
and that he taught a form of ― pure‖ Zen that consisted of an exclusive devotion to seated meditation are entirely groundless: they are
nothing more than a projection of the modern Zen academic embarrassment with traditional modes of Buddhist ritual onto the founder of
the school. As I have detailed elsewhere, every one of the ritual practices that Dogen apparently dismissed in the famous passage from
his Bendowa that is quoted above—incense offerings (shoko), prostrations (rathai), recitation of buddha names (nenbutsu), repentances
(shusan), and sutra reading (kankin)—was prescribed by him in great detail in his other writings [see below]. Dogen never criticized the
Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries (Chanyuan qinggui) for being ― syncretic‖ or for any other reason. On the contrary, he held it up as
a model for his disciples to follow, lecturing and commenting extensively on many of its provisions.
Nor does the notion that Keizan later embraced rituals that were originally spurned by Dogen have any basis in historical evidence.
All attempts to substantiate that view involve a faulty comparison of the Eihei Rules of Purity (Eihei shingi), a collection of six separate
commentaries by Dogen on various sections of the Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries that was initially compiled in 1667,
with Preceptor Keizan’s Rules of Purity (Keizan osho shingi), a set of procedures for calendrical and occasional rituals that was
originally prepared by Keizan for his Yoko Zen Monastery (Yoko zenji) in Noto Province and only published under its present title in
1678. Both texts came to be called rules of purity (shingi) in the Edo period (1600-1868), but beyond that they have very little in
common. The idea that Dogen wrote a comprehensive rules of purity in which he purposefully ignored or rejected many ritual practices
that were later embraced by Keizan in the latter’s rules of purity is a gross distortion of the historical record but one that is widely
accepted by modern Soto scholars. Keizan is not criticized too harshly for diluting and sullying Dogen’s ― pure‖ Zen, however, for he is
regarded as a spiritual ancestor by a great many Soto clergy who trace their dharma lineages back to Dogen through him. The general
consensus among Soto scholars is that Keizan acted out of a combination of practical necessity and compassion for the common people.
Since the Meiji era, Dogen and Keizan have been honored in tandem as the two patriarchs (ryoso) of S6to Zen. Although that
arrangement originated in what was basically a political settlement reached in the Meiji, it has since provided an umbrella under which
Soto leaders can simultaneously hail the pure Zen of Dogen as the essence of their tradition and continue, without fanfare, to uphold the
practice of funerals and memorial services, which constitute the actual religious and economic foundation of contemporary Japanese
Zen.

From “Rules of Purity” in Japanese Zen by Griff Foulk

(from Zen Classics, ed. Steven Heine & Dale S. Wright)
Modern Japanese scholars, just as they have worked to depict the Zen of Eisai and Enni as ― syncretic,‖ have been at pains to
portray Dogen’s Zen as especially ― pure.‖ One champion of this view, Kagamishima Genryu, has argued that Song Chan was already
syncretic and degenerate compared with the ― pure Chan‖ (junsui zen) that had existed in the golden age of the Tang. According to him,
virtually all of the Zen transmitted to Japan, whether by Eisai, Enni, or the Chinese monks who followed, was at its very source overly
ritualized and beholden to the religious and political needs of the court and aristocracy. Dogen alone, Kagamishima argues, spurned the
syncretic doctrines he encountered among the Chan schools in Song China, criticized the worldly tendencies of continental Chan with its
aristocratic patronage, rejected the syncretism of early Japanese Zen, and insisted on an ― unadulterated‖ form of Zen. Thus, he
concludes, what Dogen transmitted to Japan was not the Zen that he actually encountered in Song China but rather the pure Zen of
Baizhang that had flourished in China during the Tang dynasty.
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 Dogen’s writings on monastic rules were rather typical in that they focused on some aspects of monastery organization and
operation and took others for granted. The fact that he did not leave writings that dealt with every aspect of the ―
rules of purity‖ literature
does not mean that he rejected or neglected the practices that were prescribed in them. I stress this point because scholars have too often
taken Dogen’s silence on a particular feature of monastic practice as evidence that he was a purist who rejected it. If one pays attention to
the many passing references to multifarious rituals and bureaucratic procedures that occur in his writings, however, there is ample
evidence that Dogen embraced the model of the Song Chan monastery in its entirety, including most of the ostensibly ― syncretic‖ and
―popular‖ ceremonies and rituals that were later treated explicitly in the Keizan shingi (Keizan’s Rules of Purity).
Scholars associate the ―
purity‖ of Dogen’s Zen with his putative rejection of ritual and his emphasis on seated meditation (zazen).
A passage from Do- gen’s Bendowa (A Talk on Cultivating the Way) is frequently cited in support of this interpretation:
From the start of your training under a wise master [chishiki], have no recourse to incense offerings [shoko], prostrations [raihai],
recitation of buddha names [nembutsu], repentances [shusan], or sutra reading [kankin]. Just sit in meditation [taza] and attain the
dropping off of mind and body [shinjin datsuraku].
In this passage Dogen gives advice to the beginning Zen trainee, stressing that sitting in meditation is the one practice essential for
attaining enlighten―rules of purity‖ in japanese zen 143 ment and thereby inheriting the true transmission of the buddha-dharma.
Although Dogen clearly did extol seated meditation as the sine qua non of Buddhism, scholars who seize on just this passage (and a few
others like it) to characterize his approach to monastic practice badly misrepresent the historical record.
The specific rituals that seem to be disavowed in the Bendowa passage are all prescribed for Zen monks, often in great detail, in
Dogen’s other writings. In Kuyo shobutsu (Making Offerings to All Buddhas), Dogen recommends the practice of offering incense and
making worshipful prostrations before buddha images and stupas, as prescribed in the sutras and vinaya texts.29 In Raihaitokuzui
(Making Prostrations and Attaining the Marrow) he urges trainees to venerate enlightened teachers and to make offerings and
prostrations to them, describing this practice as one that helps pave the way to one’s own awakening. 30 In Chiji shingi, Dogen stipulates
that the vegetable garden manager in a monastery should participate together with the main body of monks in sutra chanting services,
recitation services (nenju) in which the buddhas’ names are chanted (a form of nembutsu practice), and other major ceremonies; he
should burn incense and make prostrations (shoko raihai) and recite the buddhas’ names in prayer morning and evening when at work in
the garden.31 The practice of repentances (sange) is encouraged in Dogen’s Kesa kudoku (Merit of the Kesa),32 Sanjigo (Karma of the
Three Times),33 and Keiseisanshiki (Valley Sounds, Mountain Forms).34 Finally, in Kankin (Sutra Chanting), Dogen gives detailed
directions for sutra reading services in which, as he explains, texts could be read either silently or aloud as a means of producing merit to
be dedicated to any number of ends, including the satisfaction of wishes made by lay donors, or prayers on behalf of the emperor.35
Kankin, as Dogen uses the term, can also refer to ― turning‖ (without actually reading) through the pages of sutra books, or turning
rotating sutra library stacks (rinzo), to produce merit. He occasionally uses kankin to mean ― sutra study,‖ but the Bendowa passage most
likely refers to sutra reading as a merit-producing device in ceremonial settings.
In short, Dogen embraced Song Chinese Buddhist monastic practice in its entirety, in a manner that was scarcely distinguishable
from that of Eisai or Enni. It is true that he occasionally engaged in polemical criticism of certain members of the Linji lineage in China,
but the disgust with and rejection of Song monastic forms that Kagamishima and other scholars ascribe to him is almost entirely missing
from his lengthy, generally laudatory writings on the subject. Indeed, Dogen had far more complaints about his Japanese compatriots
who were ignorant in the proper way of doing things—that is, the way they were done in Song China.

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 Griff Foulk -
The Origins of Gyōji kihan
The Japanese edition of Standard Observances of the Soto Zen School (Sōtōshū gyōji kihan 曹洞宗行持軌範) that is in
use today was originally published in 1889 with the title Standard Observances of the Soto Tradition (Tōjō gyōji kihan
洞上行持軌範). It was first published with its present title in 1918, and subsequently underwent minor revisions in 1950
and 1966. The most recent edition, upon which the translation presented in this book is based, dates from 1988.
The Meiji era compilers of the first edition of Gyōji kihan based that work directly on three existing sets of Zen
monastic rules that were in widespread use at the time: (1) the Guidelines for Shōju Grove (Shōjurin shinanki 椙樹
林指南紀),4 compiled in 1674 by Gesshū Sōko 月舟宗胡 (1618-1696) and his disciple Manzan Dōhaku 卍山道白 (1636-
1715); (2) the Rules of Purity for Sangha Halls (Sōdō shingi 僧堂清規) by Menzan Zuihō 面山瑞方 (1683- 1769),5
published in 1753; and (3) the Small Eihei Rules of Purity (Eihei shō shingi 永平小清規),6 written by Gentō Sokuchū
玄透即中 (1729-1807) and published in 1805. Before discussing those three works, let us take stock of a number of earlier
ules of purity‖ (shingi 清規) that they in turn were based on, and that the compilers of Gyōji kihan also consulted.
―r
The most important of those earlier rules is the so-called Eihei Rules of Purity (Eihei shingi 永平清規), a text
attributed to Dōgen 道元 (1200-1253), first ancestor of the Soto lineage in Japan and founder of its head monastery
Eiheiji. The text has a complicated history. The first version of it was entitled Rules of Purity by Zen Master Dōgen, First
Ancestor of Soto in Japan (Nichiiki sōtō shoso dōgen zenji shingi 日域曹洞初祖道元禪師清規). That text was published in
1667 by Kōshō Chidō 光紹智堂 (d. 1670), the thirtieth abbot of Eiheiji, who compiled it by piecing together six separate
works pertaining to monastic practice that had originally been written by Dōgen. It was subsequently reedited and
published by Gentō Sokuchū in 1794, a year before he became the fiftieth abbot of Eiheiji. The title he gave the work was
Revised and Captioned Eihei Rules of Purity (Kōtei kanchū eihei shingi 校訂冠註 永平清規).7 That text was widely
distributed and eventually became known simply as the Eihei Rules of Purity (Eihei shingi 永平清規). It is sometimes
called the Large Eihei Rules of Purity (Eihei dai shingi 永平大清規), to distinguish it from the handbook entitled Small
Eihei Rules of Purity that was written by Gentō in 1805. The Meiji compilers of Gyōji kihan referred to it simply as the
Large Rules of Purity (Dai shingi 大清規).
The six works by Dōgen that were brought together to form Eihei Rules of Purity are: (1) Admonitions for the Chef
(Tenzo kyōkun 典座教訓), dated 1237; (2) Procedures for Relating to Monks Five Retreats Senior to Oneself (Tai taiko
gogejari hō 對大己五夏闍梨法), 1244; (3) Procedures for Practicing the Way (Bendōhō 辨道法), 1246; (4) Procedures for
Taking Meals (Fushukuhanpō 赴 粥飯法), 1245; (5) Rules of Purity for Stewards (Chiji shingi 知事清規), 1246; and (6)
Admonitions for the Common Quarters (Shuryō shingi 衆寮箴規), 1249. All six of these texts are commentaries that
Dōgen wrote on Chinese Buddhist monastic rules. The second, Procedures for Relating to Monks Five Retreats Senior to
Oneself, is based on the ―
Procedures for Relating to Teachers and Procedures for Entering the Assembly‖ (shishi fa
ruzhong fa 事 師法入衆法) section of the Instructions on the Ritual Restraints to be Observed by New Monks in Training
(Jiaojie xinxue biqiu xinghu lüyi 教誡新學比丘 行護律儀) by Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667).8 The other five texts deal with
various sections of an influential monastic code that Dōgen brought back with him from Song China and used to regulate
the monasteries he founded in Japan: the Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries (Chanyuan qinggui 禪苑 清規),9 compiled
in 1103 by Changlu Zongze 長蘆宗賾 (d. 1107?). In those five texts, as well, Dōgen cites Vinaya texts such as the Four
Part Vinaya (Sifenlü 四分律) and the Sūtra on Three Thousand Points of Monkish Decorum (Sanqian weiyi jing
三千威儀經).
Dōgen’s appeal to Vinaya texts as authoritative was a perfectly normal thing for him to do, for the Rules of Purity for
Chan Monasteries that he relied on to establish Zen institutions in Japan was itself heavily based on Chinese translations
of Indian Vinaya texts and the tradition of indigenous Vinaya commentary and adaptation that had evolved in China
throughout the Sui (589-618) and Tang (618-906) dynasties. From the Song dynasty on in China, it is true, the Chan
school promoted the story of the Tang patriarch Baizhang Huaihai 百丈懐海 (J. Hyakujō Ekai, 749-814), who was said to
have founded the first independent Chan monastery and authored the first monastic rules that were not based on the
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Vinaya. That story helped to explain and justify the preeminent position that abbots belonging to the Chan lineage had
come to occupy within the Buddhist monastic institution in the Song. It also legitimized all the indigenous rules and
procedures that had evolved over the centuries in China by attributing them to Baizhang, a native promulgator of monastic
rules whose authority came to mirror that of Śākyamuni Buddha, the putative author of the Vinaya in India. The Baizhang
story in its traditional form did not speak of any rejection of the Vinaya. It stated that prior to him all monks belonging to
the Chan lineage, from Bodhidharma down to the sixth patriarch Huineng, had resided in monasteries regulated by the
Vinaya. And it described Baizhang himself as drawing on Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna Vinaya rules when formulating his
own rules for Chan monks.
Early modern scholars such as Ui Hakuju 宇井伯壽 (1882–1963) and Hu Shih 胡適 (1892-1962), however, took the
notion that Baizhang had founded an independent system of Chan monastic training several steps further, arguing that
from its very inception in China the Chan school was a sectarian movement that rejected mainstream ―m onastery
Buddhism‖ (garan bukkyō 伽藍佛教) with its reliance on lay patronage, elaborate merit making rituals, and
conventionalized lectures on the sūtras. In their view, Chan monks originally wandered about practicing austerities and
meditation in the mountains and forests, then gradually settled into monastic communities where they grew their own food
and supported themselves through communal labor (C. puqing zuowu, J. fushin samu 普請作務). This scenario, as
explained in the following section, served the needs of modern apologists who wished to portray Zen as a mode of
spirituality that, in its historical origins and timeless essence, was and is free from religious superstition and ritual. More
recent scholarship, however, has shown beyond a doubt that the Chan school in China was a movement that arose and
grew to power within the state-controlled Buddhist monastic order, not outside it. The only rejection of Buddhist ritual
that followers of the school demonstrably engaged in was purely rhetorical. The practice of communal labor, moreover,
was not unique to Chan monks and was never intended or used to free monastic communities from dependence on lay
supporters.
The so-called transmission of Zen from China to Japan in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) is best understood as the
replication on Japanese soil of the elite Buddhist monastic institution of Song and Yuan China. The Chan school was a
dominant force within that institution, and the abbacies of many major public monasteries were reserved by the imperial
court for monks who were dharma heirs in the Chan lineage. The monastic institution of the Song and Yuan, however,
also contained many elements of generic and specialized Buddhist practice that, in China, were not identified as belonging
to the Chan tradition. And, it incorporated many elements of Chinese culture that were not Buddhist in origin. Large
monasteries, for example, imitated the architecture and ground plan of the imperial court; their internal bureaucratic
structure was patterned after that of the state; and their social etiquette was basically that of the literati (scholar-
bureaucrat) class, from which many leading prelates came. The philosophical, artistic, and literary dimensions of literati
culture did admit to some Buddhist (and specifically Chan) influences, but on the whole they were more firmly embedded
in the Confucian tradition. Nobody in Song or Yuan China, certainly, thought that the ubiquitous social ritual of drinking
tea, the literati arts of calligraphy and ink painting, or the enjoyment of rock gardens (C. shiting, J. sekitei 石庭) had any
essential connection with Buddhism or Chan. When it was replicated in Japan, however, the entire package of Buddhist
monastic forms, Chan literature and ritual, and literati culture eventually came to be identified as ― Zen.‖
The monks who later became known as the founders of Zen in Japan, Dōgen in particular, were quite explicit in their
declarations that what they sought to transmit from China was not merely the lineage of Bodhidharma, but true Buddhism
in its entirety. That Buddhism can be summed up as comprising three fundamental modes of practice (C. sanxue, J.
sangaku 三 學): morality (C. jie, J. kai 戒), concentration (C. ding, J. jō 定), and wisdom (C. hui, J. e 慧). Morality in Song
Buddhism meant adherence to the ten novice precepts (C. shami shijie, J. shami jikkai 沙彌十戒) and 250 precepts for
bhiksus (fully ordained monks) listed in the Pratimoksha (C. Jieben, J. kaihon 戒本) of the Four Part Vinaya (C. Sifenlü, J.
Shibunritsu 四分律). Concentration comprised many techniques for focusing the mind, but for novice monks in basic
training it took the form of communal seated meditation (C. zuochan, J. zazen 坐禪) on the long platforms in a sangha hall
(C. sengtang, J. sōdō 僧堂). The cultivation of wisdom, at its most basic level, entailed the study of the Buddha’s
teachings as those were handed down in Mahāyāna sutras. The ability to read and recite sutras was a requirement for
novice ordination. Sutra chanting (C. fengjing, J. fugin 諷經) was also the primary device for generating merit (C. gongde,
J. kudoku 功徳) for dedication (C. huixiang, J. ekō 囘向) in conjunction with food offerings and prayers to buddhas,
bodhisattvas, arhats, protecting deities, and ancestral spirits, which were the most common forms of ritual in Song
Chinese Buddhism.

164
 Once novice monks had gone through a period of basic training in the three modes of practice, they could begin to
specialize. Some became experts in the Vinaya and the indigenous Chinese rules of purity that regulated monastic
procedures and rituals. Those who wished to specialize in meditation techniques gravitated to the Tiantai tradition, which
preserved Zhiyi’s 智顗 (538-597) compendia of methods for ―c alming and insight‖ (C. zhiguan, J. shikan 止觀) and
maintained special facilities for the practice of various samadhis (C. sanmei, J. zanmai 三昧).10 Becoming an heir in
Bodhidharma’s lineage of dharma transmission, which was the fast track to high monastic office within the Buddhist
sangha, entailed training under a recognized Chan master, studying Chan genealogical collections (C. chuandenglu, J.
dentōroku 傳燈録) and discourse records (C. yulu, J. goroku 語録), learning the distinctive mode of rhetoric that those
texts modeled, and receiving formal dharma transmision from one’s teacher. As Chan adherents saw it, of course, it meant
realizing and utilizing the wisdom of the Buddha inherent within oneself, not as a sutra exegete, but as one in full
possession of the very ―m ind of buddha‖ (C. foxin, J. busshin 佛心). But affiliation with the Chan school never entailed
giving up any of the observances that occupied all Buddhist monks, many of which were mandatory in the major
statesanctioned public monasteries where Chan monks served as abbots.
When Dōgen returned to Japan after training in Song Chinese monasteries and inheriting the Chan dharma from his
teacher Rujing 如淨 (1163- 1228), he stressed adherence to the procedures found in the Rules of Purity for Chan
Monasteries and to the precepts and etiquette deriving from the Vinaya. He did so because he regarded the practice of
morality, which had been treated rather lackadaisically by the Japanese Tendai and Shingon schools in the latter part of
the Heian period (794-1185), as fundamental to the Buddhist path. He also emphasized the practice of communal seated
meditation (zazen 坐禪). Again, that was not because there was any exclusive association of seated meditation with the
Chan lineage in China, but rather because zazen was deemed fundamental to the basic training of all Buddhist monks
there, whereas it had been largely neglected by Japanese monks in the late Heian period. Dōgen actually criticized the use
of the name ―Chan/Zen lineage‖ (C. chanzong, J. zenshū 禪宗) as a synonym for the lineage of Bodhidharma, arguing that
what Bodhidharma transmitted to China was the Buddha Way (C. fodao, J. butsudō 佛道) in its entirety, not only the
practice of meditation (C. xichan, J. shūzen 習禪).11
In China, where all Buddhist monks practiced zazen as part of their basic training in a sangha hall, the Chan school
was distinguished by its lineage myth (the claim to have inherited the Buddha Śākyamuni’s awakening or ―bu ddha mind‖
in an unbroken sequence of master-to-disciple transmissions of the ―m ind dharma‖) and by its unique forms of rhetoric
and pedagogy (e.g. the use of koans). The name ― Chan lineage‖ was synonomous with ―Bu ddha mind lineage.‖ In that
context, the word ―Ch an‖ did not mean ―m editation‖ in the sense of making an effort to concentrate the mind; it indicated
the true, higher ―m editation‖ that (according to the Platform Sutra) is not a means to gain liberating wisdom (prajnā) but
is indistinguishable from wisdom itself. In Japan, however, despite Dōgen’s admonition, the idea that the ―Z en school‖ is
the ― meditation school‖ seemed fitting and took hold, for in contrast to other schools of Japanese Buddhism, the Zen
school has in fact put more emphasis on the practice of zazen.
Another important set of monastic rules that figured both directly and indirectly in the Meiji era compilation of Gyōji
kihan was Keizan’s Rules of Purity (Keizan shingi 瑩山清規). That work was composed in 1324 by Keizan Jōkin 瑩山紹瑾
(1268-1325), Dōgen’s dharma heir in the fourth generation and founder of the monastery Sōjiji, who in the Meiji era was
placed alongside Dōgen as one of the ―t wo ancestors‖ (ryōso 兩祖) of the Soto school. The original title was Ritual
Procedures for Tōkoku Mountain Yōkō Zen Monastery in Nō Province (Nōshū tōkokuzan yōkōzenji gyōji shidai
能州洞谷山永光 禪寺行事次第),12 and it seems to have been written as a handbook of ritual events and liturgical texts for
use in the single monastery named in its title, where Keizan was abbot. In 1678, Gesshū Sōko and his disciple Manzan
Dōhaku edited the handbook and published it for the first time under the title Reverend Keizan’s Rules of Purity (Keizan
oshō shingi 瑩山和尚清規). Thereafter, it became a standard reference work in Soto Zen monasteries.
Keizan’s Rules of Purity is the oldest Japanese Zen monastic code to be organized around a detailed calendar of daily,
monthly, and annual observances. Indeed, that feature of the Meiji and later editions of Gyōji kihan can be traced directly
back to Keizan’s Rules. In compiling his handbook for Yōkō Zen Monastery (Yōkōzenji 永光禪寺), however, it seems
likely that Keizan consulted a Chinese work entitled Rules of Purity for Huanzhu Hermitage (Huanzhu an qinggui
幻住菴清規),13 which had been written in 1317 by the eminent Chan master Zhongfen Mingben 中峰明本 (1263–1323).
That text, too, was originally intended to regulate only one monastic community: the hermitage where Mingben resided in
his later years. It includes guidelines for just a handful of key monastic offices—the hermitage chief (C. anzhu, J. anju

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菴主) or abbot, head seat (C. shouzuo, J. shuso 首座), assistant abbot (C. fuan, J. fukuan 副菴), stores manager (C. zhiku, J.
chiko 知 庫), and head of meals (C. fantou, J. hanju 飯頭)—far fewer than was the norm at the great public monasteries of
the day. It also establishes procedural guidelines for a just a few basic bureaucratic functions, such as taking up residence
(C. guada, J. kata 掛搭) in the monastery, alms-gathering (C. fenwei, J. bun’ei 分衞), and ― all invited‖ (C. puqing, J.
fushin 普請), which is to say, ― mandatory attendance‖ at communal labor, funerals, and other events. The bulk of the
Rules of Purity for Huanzhu Hermitage is given over to an enumeration of daily, monthly, and annual observances and
rites that the monks of the hermitage were to engage in, and the verses (mostly dedications of merit) that they were to
chant on those various occasions. The text thus had the basic functions of a calendar and liturgical manual, as well as
laying out a few rules and ritual procedures for monastic officers. Those are features shared by Keizan’s rules for Yōkō
Zen Monastery, which he compiled some seven years later.
Keizan, presumably, would have known Dōgen’s writings on monastic discipline and the Chinese source that he
relied on most heavily: Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries. By Keizan’s day, however, the latter text had been
superseded in China by two others: (1) Essentials of the Revised Rules of Purity for Major Monasteries (Conglin jiaoding
qinggui zongyao 叢林校訂清規總 要),14 or Revised Rules of Purity (Jiaoding qinggui 校訂清規) for short, compiled in 1274
by Jinhua Weimian 金華惟勉; and (2) Auxiliary Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries (Chanlin beiyong qinggui
禪林備用清規),15 or Auxiliary Rules of Purity (Beiyong qinggui 備用清規) for short, which was completed in 1286 by an
abbot named Zeshan Yixian 澤山弌咸 and published in 1311. There is reason to believe that Keizan was familiar with
both of these works, but in any case they both contain materials of a type that eventually made their way into the Meiji
and later editions of Gyōji kihan.
The Revised Rules of Purity, for example, opens with a number of diagrams detailing the seating and standing
positions that the officers and other participants were to take in incense offering rites and tea services held in various
monastery buildings. Those are followed in the first fascicle with samples of what to write on the formal invitations and
signboards that were used to announce feasts, tea services, and the like. The text then gives detailed procedural guidelines
for the invitation and installation of new abbots, the appointment and retirement of officers, and numerous tea services.
While the first fascicle focuses on what may be termed social rituals and bureaucratic procedures, the second fascicle is
given over to rites of a more religious, didactic, and mortuary nature, including sermons by the abbot, entering the abbot’s
room, sitting in meditation, recitation, funerals for abbots and other monks, and memorial services. All of these appear, in
more or less the same form, in Gyōji kihan.
The Auxiliary Rules of Purity is a lengthy work that includes virtually all of the religious rites, bureaucratic
procedures, and guidelines for monastic officers found previously in the Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries and
Revised Rules of Purity. In addition, the Auxiliary Rules of Purity establishes procedures for a number of rites that are not
treated in any of the aforementioned ―r ules of purity,‖ such as: sutra chanting services (C. fengjing, J. fugin 諷經) and
prayer services (C. zhusheng, J. shukushin 祝聖) for the emperor; celebrations of Buddha’s birthday (C. xiangdan, J. gōtan
降誕), awakening (C. chengdao, J. jōdō 成道), and nirvana (C. niepan, J. nehan 涅槃); and memorial services (C. ji, J. ki
忌) for Bodhidharma, Baizhang, the founding abbot (C. kaishan, J. kaisan 開山), and various patriarchs (C. zhuzu, J. shoso
諸祖). The Auxiliary Rules of Purity is also noteworthy as the oldest of the extant ― rules of purity‖ texts to include a
schedule of events, albeit a sketchy one, under the heading of ―m onthly items‖ (C. yuefen biaoti, J. getsubun hyōdai
月分標題).16 Despite the heading, this is basically an annual calendar of major rites and observances, listed by the month
(and often the day) of their occurrence. Virtually all of the observances treated in the Auxiliary Rules of Purity are also
found in Gyōji kihan.
Two other Chinese monastic codes that the Meiji era compilers of the first edition of Gyōji kihan consulted are: (1)
Rules of Purity for Daily Life in the Assembly (Ruzhong riyong qinggui 入衆日用清規),17 written in 1209 by Wuliang
Zongshou 無量宗壽; and (2) Imperial Edition of Baizhang’s Rules of Purity (Chixiu baizhang qingqui 勅修百丈清規),18
which was produced by decree of the Yuan emperor Shun and compiled by the monk Dongyang Dehui 東陽徳輝 between
the years 1335 and 1338. The former was written for novices who had just entered the ― great assembly‖ (C. dazhong, J.
daishu 大衆) of ordinary monks: those who had no administrative duties and thus were free to concentrate on a daily
routine of meditation, study, and devotions. It is the oldest ―r
ules of purity‖ to contain mealtime verses similar to those
used in Soto Zen today, although those can be traced back to still more ancient roots and are in no way unique to the
Chan/Zen tradition. The latter was a massive work that collated and incorporated all the various elements of previous
166
―rules of purity,‖ including: precepts and general behavioral guidelines for individual monks; procedures for routine
activities in the daily life of monks, such as meals, bathing, meditation, and worship; descriptions of the duties and ideal
spiritual attitudes of officers in the monastic bureaucracy; daily, monthly, and annual schedules of rituals; and liturgical
texts, mainly prayers and verses for the dedication of merit. In his preface the compiler Dehui states that he drew on the
aforementioned Rules of Purity for Chan Monasteries, Revised Rules of Purity, and Auxiliary Rules of Purity for source
materials, and that he had been commissioned by the emperor to compile a single, comprehensive, authoritative set of
rules for the entire Buddhist sangha.
The Imperial Edition of Baizhang’s Rules of Purity was extremely influential within the so-called ―five mountains‖
(gozan 五山) network of metropolitan Zen monasteries in the Muromachi period (1333-1573), which was dominated by
five mountains edition‖ (gozan ban
various branches of the Rinzai lineage. The first Japanese printing of the text was the ―
五山版), issued in 1356. It was reprinted in 1458, and a Japanese language commentary on it entitled Summary of
Baizhang’s Rules of Purity (Hyakujō shingi shō 百丈清規抄) was produced, based on lectures on the text given by various
abbots of major Zen monasteries in Kyoto between 1459 to 1462. Subsequent reprintings of the Imperial Edition of
Baizhang’s Rules of Purity took place during the Tokugawa (Edo) period (1603-1868), in 1629, 1661, 1720, and 1768.19
Although modern scholars usually associate the text with Rinzai Zen, digital search of the Taishō edition—which only
produces ― hits‖ on phrases that are perfectly verbatim—reveals that much material now found in Gyōji kihan also appears
in the Imperial Edition of Baizhang’s Rules of Purity. It seems that the text has had a greater influence on Soto Zen than
was previously imagined.

167
168
 Another influence on modern Soto observances, although it goes unmentioned in any edition of Gyōji kihan, comes
from the Ming dynasty (1368- 1644) Chinese style of monastic practice that found its way to Japan in the Tokugawa
period. In the middle of the seventeenth century there was a new importation of Buddhism from the continent that began
within the Chinese merchant community in Nagasaki and gained a following among the Japanese as so-called Ōbaku Zen
黄檗禪. It received a huge boost when the eminent Chinese monk Yinyuan Longqi 隠元隆琦 (1592-1673) came to Japan
and was helped by the Tokugawa shogunate to build a large Ming-style monastery named Manpukuji 萬福寺 in Uji, just
south of Kyoto. In 1672, Yinyuan promulgated a set of ritual procedures for Manpukuji, entitled Ōbaku Rules of Purity
(Ōbaku shingi 黄檗清規),20 that was based on earlier Song and Yuan rules of purity. When the Japanese saw the style of
communal monastic training that was established at Manpukuji and other monasteries of the Ōbaku school, they were
much impressed. Many monks who were interested in rigorous Buddhist practice gravitated to those centers. Leaders of
the Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen were stimulated to initiate reforms that resulted in the reinstatement of many of the
forms of communal monastic training that had been lost in the intervening centuries.
Gesshū Sōko’s Guidelines for Shōju Grove (written in 1674), the oldest of the three Tokugawa period works that the
Meiji compilers of Gyōji kihan based their work on, was inspired in part by the Ōbaku Rules of Purity. Having studied
with Yinyuan at Manpukuji, Gesshū wanted to produce a counterpart to the Ōbaku rules that could be used to facilitate
communal training and hold formal retreats (kessei 結制) at the Soto monastery Daijōji 大 乘寺 (a.k.a. Shōju Grove),
where he was abbot. In addition to the Ōbaku rules, he drew on the Rules of Purity by Zen Master Dōgen that Kōshō
Chidō had compiled in 1667, Dōgen’s writings on monastic procedure and ritual found in his Treasury of the Eye of the
True Dharma (Shōbōgenzō 正法眼藏), and Keizan’s Ritual Procedures for Tōkoku Mountain Yōkō Zen Monastery in Nō
Province, which he edited and published four years later as Reverend Keizan’s Rules of Purity.
The second of the Tokugawa period works that the Meiji compilers of Gyōji kihan used was Menzan Zuihō’s Rules of
Purity for Sangha Halls, published in 1753. In preparing that work, Menzan studied and drew on Kōshō’s Rules of Purity
by Zen Master Dōgen, Gesshū’s Reverend Keizan’s Rules of Purity, Yinyuan’s Ōbaku Rules of Purity, and all the Song
and Yuan Chinese rules of purity that are discussed above. Menzan presented his research findings in a companion
volume entitled Separate Volume of Notes on the Soto Rules of Purity for Sangha Halls (Tōjō sōdō shingi kōtei betsuroku
洞 上僧堂清規考訂別録),21 published in 1755. He also researched the arrangement of Zen monastery buildings and sacred
images used in Dōgen’s and Keizan’s day, publishing his findings in 1759 in the Record of Images Placed in the Various
Halls of Soto Monasteries (Tōjō garan shodō anzōki 洞上伽藍 諸堂安像記).22
The last of the three Tokugawa period works that the Meiji compilers of Gyōji kihan based their work on was Gentō
Sokuchū’s Small Eihei Rules of Purity, published in 1805. Gentō was the fiftieth abbot of Eihei and, as noted above, the
editor of Revised and Captioned Eihei Rules of Purity, better known as Large Eihei Rules of Purity or simply Eihei Rules
of Purity, a collection of six works by Dōgen. Gento wrote his Small Eihei Rules of Purity to regulate training at Eiheiji.
He, too, consulted all the Song and Yuan Chinese rules of purity mentioned above, but he favored the Rules of Purity for
Chan Monasteries on the grounds that it was the text relied on by Dōgen.
As the preceding account of the origins of Gyōji kihan makes clear, the text is heir to a long and varied tradition of
adapting and augmenting rules and procedures for Buddhist monastic practice that can be traced all the way back to the
earliest Chinese attempts to interpret and implement the Vinaya transmitted from India. Following its initial compilation
in 1889, Gyōji kihan continued to undergo minor changes with each subsequent edition. After the second world war, for
example, most prayers for the emperor (the texts of which had actually come directly from Song and Yuan Chinese rules
of purity) were replaced with wording that called for peace among nations instead. As noted in the previous section, the
observances detailed in Gyōji kihan will no doubt continue to undergo modifications as Zen practice spreads in the West.
Nevertheless, in surveying the long history of Buddhist monastic practice in East Asia, the continuities with the past that
one finds in Gyōji kihan far outweigh the innovations.
The Question of Ritual in the Zen Tradition
Standard Observances of the Soto Zen School may be described as a liturgical handbook or ritual manual. Because
there is a widespread misconception in the West that ritual is something extraneous, incidental, or even antithetical to Zen
in its pure or original form, the question of the role of ritual in the history of Zen needs to be addressed.
To begin with, it is important to understand that in the vocabulary of the Zen tradition itself, there is no term or
concept that corresponds very well to the meaning of ― ritual‖ as that word has evolved from the Latin ritus. There is a
tendency in European languages to apply the label ―r itual‖ to behaviors that appear more formal or schematic than is
necessary to achieve some particular end, or stylized behaviors that display no evident connection between means and
ends. We are inclined to withhold the designation ―r itual‖ from behaviors (even highly repetitive ones such as work on an
169
assembly line) that have an obviously pragmatic function, and to think of ritual as activity that either (1) has a symbolic or
religious meaning to those who engage in it, (2) is motivated by a quasi-scientific but false understanding of the way
things really work, or (3) is a manifestation of some obsessive- compulsive neurosis. The distinction between ―pr actical‖
and ― ritual‖ behavior is deeply embedded in European languages, but it is alien to the East Asian Buddhist tradition of
which Zen is a part.
ritual‖ is gyōji (行持 or 行事),
The Sino-Japanese Buddhist term that comes closest in semantic range to the English ―
translated herein as ―obs ervances.‖ As is clear from the contents of the Standard Observances (Gyōji kihan 行持軌範),
however, that term encompasses a very broad range of activities that Zen clergy engage in. Many observances, such as
offerings of food and drink made before icons enshrined on an altar, might be labeled as ― rituals‖ by Western standards,
but many others are more likely to be called ― practices‖ (e.g. undertaking moral vows, sitting in meditation), ―work ‖ (e.g.
serving food, cleaning), ―s tudy‖ (e.g. attending a class on a Zen text), or simply ―e
veryday activities‖ (e.g. eating,
sleeping, and bathing) that are regulated by a particular set of procedures and manners. It is fallacious to imagine that
anyone who represented the Zen tradition in the past, before it came into contact with Western culture, could have
selectively rejected Buddhist observances that modern Europeans and Americans regard as ―r itual‖ while embracing those
that we deem ―pr actice.‖
The idea that Chan (Zen) masters in the Tang dynasty (618-906) were iconoclasts who literally rejected the
conventional modes of merit-making, worship, morality, sutra study, and meditation that characterized the Buddhism of
their day is a modern conceit, apologetic in nature, and grounded in a dubious reading of the historical evidence. The
traditional biographies and records of Tang masters that come down to us from the Song (960- 1279) and Yuan (1280-
1368) dynasties (there are very few that actually date from the Tang) do contain many dialogues, couched in a colloquial
style of Chinese, in which they employ apparently iconoclastic, antinomian, or sacrilegious sayings and gestures to
instruct their disciples. At the time when this style of literature first appeared, however, the Chan monks who propagated
it resided in mainstream Buddhist monasteries where they participated in the full range of daily, monthly, annual, and
occasional observances of the sort still found in Gyōji kihan.
It is clear, therefore, that the rejection of conventional Buddhist practices attributed to the Tang masters was a
rhetorical device that was never meant to be taken literally. It was, rather, an innovative way of teaching the Mahāyāna
doctrine of emptiness (kū 空, S. śūnyatā), which holds that all appellations and conceptual constructs (including the names
and theoretical underpinnings of all Buddhist practices) are ultimately devoid of any correspondence with really existing
things, although on the plane of linguistic convention they may still be more or less valid and useful. The point of the
rhetorical rejection of particular practices is not that monks should literally cease engaging in them, but rather that they
should cease clinging to the imaginary categories and fond hopes that are conventionally used to motivate practitioners.
Let us consider, for example, a famous anecdote that appears in the traditional (Song period) biography of Chan
master Nanyue Huairang 南嶽 懷讓 (677-744):
During the Kaiyuan era [713-742] there was a monk named Daoyi (that is, the great teacher Mazu) who resided at the
Chuanfa Cloister and spent every day sitting in dhyāna (C. zuochan, J. zazen 坐禪). The master [Huairang] knew that he
was a vessel of the dharma, so he went to him and asked, ― What do you intend to accomplish by sitting in dhyāna?‖ Daoyi
replied, ―Iintend to make myself into a buddha.‖ The master picked up a tile and rubbed it on a stone in front of the
hermitage. Daoyi inquired, ―M aster, what are you doing?‖ The master said, ―Iam polishing it to make a mirror.‖ Daoyi
said, ―Howcould you ever get a mirror by polishing a tile?‖ [The master said], ―H ow could sitting in dhyāna ever result in
becoming a buddha?‖ Daoyi asked, ―Howis it done, then?‖ The master said, ―I t is like a man driving a cart that does not
move: should he strike the cart to get it to go, or should he strike the ox?‖ Daoyi had no response.23
Here we see a Chan master instructing his disciple, who was later to become the famous patriarch Mazu Daoyi
馬祖道一 (709-788), by pretending to engage in an obviously impossible task: polishing a tile to make a mirror. One might
read this, as a number of modern scholars have, as a literal rejection of the traditional Buddhist practice of seated
meditation. Another way of interpreting it, however, is that Huairang did not criticize Mazu’s practice so much as his
deluded attachment to the idea of buddhahood as something—an experience or state of being—that one might hope to
attain through practice. To sit in meditation for the purpose of gaining awakening, he implies, is like ― striking the cart.‖
To sit with the understanding that ultimately there is no such thing as awakening, that it is just a conventional designation,
is to ―strike the ox.‖ Most of the iconoclastic rhetoric for which Zen is famous amounts to the same thing: a warning not
to cling to any concepts, even Buddhist ones, as ultimate truths. Huairang’s dialogue

170
 with Mazu can also be interpreted as an expression of the doctrine of innate buddha nature (C. foxing, J. busshō 佛性),
which is not something that can be produced or gained through practice. To reify that concept and conclude that since one
is already a buddha one should give up practice, however, is also to ―strike the cart.‖
Throughout the history of the Chan school in China, from its emergence as the dominant trend within the Buddhist
sangha in the Song down to the present, few within that school have ever interpreted the iconoclastic rhetoric attributed to
the patriarchs as a call to literal inaction with regard to conventional Buddhist observances. There may have been a few
scattered movements in Tang China, such as the Baotang school, that took the axiom of innate buddha-nature and the
corollary of non-cultivation literally as guides to cultivation and thus abandoned Buddhist practices, but there is little hard
evidence to prove that.24 The Zen school in Japan, certainly, has never included many real (as opposed to merely
rhetorical) iconoclasts. As explained above, the transmission of Zen to Japan in the Kamakura period was actually a
replication in that country of the most conservative, statesanctioned monastic institutions of Song, Yuan, and Ming
dynasty China. The Japanese Zen school is thus heir to a wide range of observances, most of which are generically
Buddhist, not uniquely ―Z en,‖ although they have often been regarded as such in Japan. More than any other branch of
modern Japanese Buddhism, it preserves monastic procedures and rituals that can be traced all the way back to medieval
Chinese adaptations of Vinaya materials that were originally translated from Indic languages.
It was only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that scholars associated with the Zen denominations in
Japan began to advocate a literal reading of the iconoclastic rhetoric of the Chan masters of the Tang. They did so because
they wished to defend Zen against the charge, leveled against Japanese Buddhism as a whole, that it was a backward and
superstitious religion, antithetical to the scientific and cultural progress that the newly empowered Meiji oligarchs
envisioned as they pushed the country to modernize and industrialize. Apologists such as D.T. Suzuki (Suzuki Daisetsu
鈴木大拙, 1870–1966) and Nukariya Kaiten 忽滑谷快天 (1867– 1934) were eager to cast Zen as an East Asian and
particularly Japanese form of philosophy, psychology, aesthetics, or direct mystical experience— anything but a religion
encumbered by unscientific beliefs and nonsensical rituals. It was difficult for them to deny that the Zen monasteries and
temples of their day engaged in observances such as the feeding of hungry ghosts, offerings to ancestral spirits, and the
generation of merit through sutra chanting, but they tried to portray those rituals as ― excrescences‖ that had nothing to do
with Zen in its pure form and as concessions made to lay patrons. They bolstered that case by arguing that in the ― golden
age‖ of the Tang masters such as Huairang and Mazu, Zen had originally been free from all the superstition and ritual that
later, from the Song on, began to bog it down. Such arguments not only played well among elites in early twentieth-
century Japan, they struck a sympathetic chord among a number of intellectuals in the West and even a few in China, each
of whom had their own culturally and historically specific reasons to find it attractive. They are not consistent with the
historical record, however, and are obviously at odds with the actual circumstances of the Zen schools in contemporary
Japan. It is largely in the West that the false image of a Zen tradition inimical to Buddhist ritual has persisted down to the
present day.
Endnotes:
4 Sōtōshū Zensho Kankōkai, ed., Sōtōshū zensho: Shingi (Tokyo: Sōtōshū Shūmuchō, 1973), 439-548. The full title of the text is:
Rules of Purity Handbook for Shōju Grove Daijō Nation-Protecting Zen Monastery (Shōjurin daijō gokoku zenji shingi shinanbo
椙樹林大乘護國禪寺清規指南簿); also known as Shōju Grove Rules of Purity (Shōjurin shingi 椙樹林清規). Gesshū’s disciple, Manzan
Dōhaku 卍山道 白 assisted to such a degree in the compilation that he should be considered a coauthor.
5 Sōtōshū zensho: Shingi, 29-207. The original full title of the text is Summary of Procedures in Rules of Purity for Sōtō Sangha

Halls (Tōjō sōdō shingi gyōhōshō 洞 上僧堂清規行法鈔). The colophon has the date 1741, so the text may have been completed then,
but Menzan’s preface to its publication is dated 1753.
6 Sōtōshū zensho: Shingi, 331-416. The original full title is: Small Rules of Purity for Kichijō Mountain Eihei Monastery

(Kichijōzan eiheiji shōshingi 吉祥山永平寺小 清規).

7 T 82.319a-342b.
8 T 45.869a-874a; see ZGDJ 2:805b, s.v. taitaikohō.
9 ZZ 2–16–5; Sōtōshū zensho, Shingi, 867–934; Kanazawa bunkoshi zensho, Zenseki hen; for a critical edition and annotated
Japanese translation, see Kagamishima Genryū, Satō Tetsugen and Kosaka Kiyū, eds. and trans., Yakuchū Zennen shingi (Tokyo:
Sōtōshū Shūmuchō, 1972). For an English translation see Yifa, The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China: An Annotated
Translation and Study of the Chanyuan Qinggui, Kuroda Institute, Classics in East Asian Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2002).
10 For details of these practices, see Daniel Stevenson, ―
The Four Kinds of Samādhi in Early T’ien-t’ai Buddhism,‖ in Peter N.
Gregory, ed., Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987), 45–97.
11 Butsudō, in Ōkubo Dōshū, ed., Dōgen zenji zenshū, 2 vols., (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1969, 1970), 1:376-379.
171
 12 T 82.423c-451c.
13 ZZ 2–16–5.486–506.
14 ZZ 2-1-1, 1a-28a.
15 ZZ 2–17–1, 28–74.
16 ZZ 2–17–1.71d-72b.
17 ZZ 2-16-5. For an English translation and analysis, see T. Griffith Foulk, ―
Daily Life in the Assembly,‖ in Donald S. Lopez, Jr.,
ed., Buddhism in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), 455–472. The text is also called Chan Master Wuliang
Shou’s Small Rules of Purity for Daily Life (Wuliang shou chanshi riyong xiaoqinggui 無量壽禪師日用小清規), the title as cited in the
Revised Rules of Purity, or simply Rules of Purity for Daily Life (Riyong qinggui 日用清規).
18 T 48.109c-160b.
19 ZGDJ 1050b-c
20 T 82.766a-785c.
21 Sōtōshū zensho: Shingi, 209-330.
22 Sōtōshū zensho: Shingi, 815-836.
23 T 51.240c19-24.
24 Most of what we know about the Baotang school derives from the writings of an opponent and critic, the scholar monk Guifeng

Zongmi 圭峰宗密 (780-841), who may have deliberately depicted them as reckless and antinomian.

172
 The Founder’s Hall at Sojiji

Bibliography

173
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Sōtōshū Shūmuchō, 2010).
Heine, Steven and Wright, Dale S., eds. Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism. (New York:
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Loori, John Daido, ed. The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza, second edition.
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T2586 坐禪用心記 Zazen yojinki: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat3.php?s=&mode=detail&useid=2586_,82
T2587 信心銘拈提 Shinjinmei nentei: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat3.php?s=&mode=detail&useid=2587_,82
T2588 十種敕問奏對集: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat3.php?s=&mode=detail&useid=2588_,82
T2589 瑩山淸規 Keizan Shingi: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat3.php?s=&mode=detail&useid=2589_,82

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 Two Ancestor's (Dogen and Keizan Zenji) Annual Memorial Statement
(from Sotoshu gyoji kihan 曹洞宗行持軌範 translated by T. Griffith Foulk)
— September 29 —
The pure body of the dharma realm [jōhokkaishin 浄法界身],
fundamentally, neither appears nor disappears;
the power of the vow [ganriki 願力] of great compassion [daihi 大悲]
manifests itself in present, past, and future [genkorai 現去来].
We humbly beg your true compassion [shinji 真慈] and illumination [shōkan 照鑑].
<Name>, Monk [biku 比丘]/Nun [bikuni 比丘尼], Abbot of <Mountain Name [nansan 何山]>, <Monastery Name [nanji
何寺]> in <Name> District/City/Town/Village, <Name> Prefecture, Nation of Japan [Nippon koku 日本国], who is a
dharma grandchild [hōson 法孫].
On this day of this month, we have humbly arrived at the time [shin 辰] of the Eminent Ancestor [kōso 高祖] Jōyō
Daishi's 承陽大師 [Dōgen's] and the Great Ancestor [taiso 太祖] Jōsai Daishi's 常済大師 [Keizan's] great final nirvana
[daihatsunehan 大般涅槃].
Having carefully provided modest offerings [bikū 微供] of incense, flowers, lamps, candles [kōgetōshoku 香華灯
燭], mountain vegetables and wild tea leaves [sanso yamei 山蔬野茗]; especially assembled the dharma grandchildren
[hōson 法孫] who are present here [genzen 現前]; and respectfully chanted [fuju 諷誦] sutras and dharanis [kyōshu 経呪]
before the mortuary portraits [shinzen 真前]; we give up the excellent merit [shukun 殊勳] accumulated thereby to repay
their compassionate blessings [jion 慈恩].
The preceding is humbly considered [u fūi 右伏以].
Crossing over ten thousand leagues [banri 万里] of billowing waves [hattō 波濤] and returning home empty-handed
[kūshu genkyō 空手還郷], from far away [Dōgen] planted the extraordinary seedling [ibyō 異苗] of Tiantong [Rujing] on
these exquisitely craggy shores [reirō ganban 玲瓏巖畔].
Receiving the bowl [uhatsu 盂鉢] in the fourth generation, [Keizan] ate the meal with his entire body [tsūshin
kippan 通身喫飯] and transplanted Eihei's [Dōgen's] spiritual tree [reiboku 霊木] to the Hourglass Drum Woods
[Kakkobayashi 羯鼓林].
Thereby,
At this training center for future abbots [shusse dōjō 出世道場], foremost in the realm [tenka 天下], the virtues of the old
buddhas [kobutsu 古仏] have long been reverently praised [sangō 讃迎]. In this Zen monastery [zen'en 禅苑], peerless
[musō 無双] in Japan [Nichiiki 日域], the blessings [on 恩] of the two ancestors [ryōso 両祖] are always recompensed
[hōtō 報答].
We truly know [jōchi 誠知]:
The True Dharma Eye Collection [Genzō 眼藏], that extraordinary composition [ihen 異篇], has promoted [kōki 興起]
the soft and subtle [menmitsu 綿密] way of our [Sōtō] ancestors [sodō 祖道]. The Record of the Transmission of the Light
[Denkō 伝光], that marvelous record [hiroku 秘録], proclaims and spreads [senyō 宣揚] their open-minded [kattatsu 豁
逹] style of Zen [zenpū 禅風].
Already there are ninety-some chapters of marvelous text [myōden 妙典]; how could there not be fifty-two
generations of dharma lamps [hōtō 法灯]?
The water of the streams of Etsu [etsukei 越渓] flows into Crane Bay [kakuwan 鶴湾], widely benefiting the triple
world [sangai 三界]. The clouds of Kippō Peak [kippō 吉峰] [Eiheiji] circulate around Shogaku Mountain [Shogaku 諸
嶽] [Sōjiji], broadly blanketing all nations [banoō 万邦].
We humbly pray [gyōsho 仰庶] that the sun and moon shall hang together [nichigatsu narabekakeru 日月双懸],
shining their radiance [kōmyō 光明] on all 14,000 temples of our school [monsetsu 門刹]; and that father and son [fūshi
父子] shall be intimate [shinmitsu 親密], extending their compassion [jihi 慈悲] to trillions of humans and devas [ninden
人天] in the ten directions [jippō 十方].
Humbly Stated [kinsho 謹疏].
The luminous mirror [heikan 炳鑑] of the two ancestors [ryōso 両祖]
is compassionate [jihi 慈悲] in appearance [yōnō 容能].
Humbly stated [kinsho 謹疏] on this <day> of <month> of <year>, by <Name>, Monk [biku 比丘]/Nun [bikuni 比丘尼],
Abbot of <Mountain Name [nansan 何山]>, <Monastery Name [nanji 何寺]>, who is a dharma grandchild [hōson 法孫].

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