Nomon Tim introduces us to Dōgen (13th century Japanese teacher considered to be the founder of Sōtō Zen) and his journals from when he was a young student of Ruijing in China.

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Tim's talk notes:

Our great ancestor Dōgen wrote an awful lot. I'm just lately in my studies starting to get clear on the whole catalog. If you're just hearing that name for the first time this is a Japanese teacher from the 13th century who's considered the founder of our school of Sōtō Zen.

We tend to think of the Shobogenzo as a big collection of his essays that he "wrote" and lump everything in there but actually he wrote a variety of different texts. Some of them he arranged into a collection called Shobogenzo, some he didn't.

And some other teachers after his death put in different arrangements that they also called Shobogenzo and in a few cases pieces of writing they included were clearly not intended by Dōgen to be a part of that.

There's evidence he had an original plan to make a 100 fascicle Shobogenzo - I don't know if that cultures' as base-10 centric as we are - 100 is that nice round number. And there's also evidence he might have majorly changed his mind about the legacy of teachings he wanted to leave behind towards the end of his life. He put together a 12 fascicle version then of pieces he'd written later that were more centered on ethics and less on subtle understanding of the Dharma. We'll never really know.

So it gets a little confusing. In some areas we know his intentions in others we don't.

And his primary student Ejo also did a lot of note taking and writing and arranging. One of the great sources on Dōgens teaching  called Shobogenzo Zuimonki is actually written by Ejo completely - it was his notes of informal talks Dōgen gave at that first monastery outside of Kyoto called Koshoji before they all went to start Eiheiji in the mountains.

And so the text I want to that speaking on tonight is one of the more mysterious ones. It's called Hōkyōki. Which literally means "record of the Hōkyō area" Hōkyō being the Japanese voicing for a brief era in Chinese history from 1225-1227 which is when he was in China with his teacher Rujing.

This title gets super loosely translate as by Kaz Tanahashi who translated it working with our own Norman Fischer as "Journal of my Study in China" in his 2nd Dōgen collection called Enlightenment Unfolder published in 1999.

Kaz is a self-taught scholar and accomplished artist who fell in love with Dōgen early. The other Japanese Dōgen translator we talk about a lot is Shohaku Okumura who is a priest and transmitted teacher who's teachers were big Dōgen fans. Kudo's to them both, different styles and training but both offering deep glimpses into Dōgen's thought for us English speakers.

Kaz's neat trick was, "well I'm not really a Dharma teacher and I'm not a native speaker of English, so I'll collaborate with people who are both of those things." He connected with SF Zen Center in the the 1980's and started doing this collaborations. They'd go character by character, word by word, through Dōgen and he'd explain the literal translation and the many possible meanings and the American Dharma teacher would work it all into meaningful sentences influenced also by their own understanding of Dōgen and Zen.

Back to the provenance of this text for a minute, I do geek out on the scholarship stuff a bit too much in my talks maybe but in this case it really affects how we read this one.

It's written like a journal he took in China. He described 50 meetings with his teacher Rujing and what they each said in that exchange. But the thing is he never shared it with anyone. So we don't really know if he wrote it in China.

His same prominent student Ejo found it a few years after he died. Ejo wrote:  "while shedding hundreds of thousands of tears of joy, I wondered if there might be other lost treasures left behind by Dogen." And then like so many Dōgen pieces it's forgotten about for centuries and a few different versions show up stashed at different temples until the great Dōgen reviver Menzan edited and distributed the "official" version in the early 1700's and then a scurry of scholarship again in the 1970's and then we have the first English translations not long after that.

So it's also possible he wrote this towards the end of life, reflecting back on these formative years. And it's all written with the benefit of hindsight. Or maybe he had some old notes from back in the day which he formed into the text written-as-a-journal. We'll never know but it's one of the writing that gives us an intimate glimpse into his process and I think helps us consider our own practice, attitudes and approach as we read about Dōgen as a student. And it kind of doesn't matter if this was written while he was a young student or as a seasoned teacher remembering his attitudes as a student.

Without further ado here is the first passage. The first 3 or 4 are a bit longer. The majority of the 50 entries are pretty brief.

 (1) I wrote to Master Rujing shortly before I met him: "When I was young I aroused the aspiration for enlightenment and visited various monasteries in my country. I had some understanding of the principle of cause and effect; however I was not able to clarify the real source of buddha, dharma, and sangha. I was only seeing the outer forms, the marks and names. Later I entered the chamber of Eisai, Zen Master Senko, and for the first time heard the teaching of the Linji School. Now I have accompanied Monk Myozen to the flourishing kingdom of Song China. After a voyage of many miles, during which I entrusted my phantom body to the billowing waves, I have finally arrived and have entered your dharma assembly. This is the fortunate result of my wholesome roots from the past.

   "Great Compassionate Teacher, even though I am only a humble person from a remote country, I am asking permission to be a room‑entering student, able to come to ask questions freely and informally. Impermanent and swift, birth‑and‑death is the issue of utmost urgency. Time does not wait for us. Once a moment is gone it will never come back again, and we're bound to be full of regret.

   "Great compassionate reverend abbot, grant me permission to ask you about the way, about the dharma. Please, I bow to you one hundred times with my forehead humbly touching the floor."

   Rujing wrote back, "Yes, you can come informally to ask questions any time, day or night, from now on. Do not worry about formality; we can be like father and son." And he signed it, "Old man at Mt. Taibo."

A great example of asking for help. Of humility. Of seeking input from a teacher.

How do you do asking for help? Zen can seem pretty mysterious and what to ask and bring up in. our private interviews can also sound mysterious. Plus maybe you put out your card here and didn't get in - that has happened a bit, sorry.

Unlike Dōgen's incredible response from Rujing - whah? some strange new Japanese monk shows up and he gives him all of this personal attention? I mean the guy sounds super passionate and committed but this. These were large monasteries - up to 1,000 monks and mostly you don't get to talk to the abbot directly. That seems to be true to this day in Eihei-ji which currently has 250 monks in training: the abbot is a venerated but somewhat remote figure to the monks in training there and exchanges with him are very formal. So this reply is actually quite amazing.

I wonder how I'd do if someone asked me if they could call me night or day? Well I do offer that if anyone's in real trouble and distress, but I wouldn't want you calling me up to ask Dharma questions at 2am.

Also: did you see the note in the newsletter that I'm now offering additional dokusan appointments? There's a simple online sign up. I'm making it more clear that you definitely have a dokusan spot during 7am zazen (and that I'll definitely be there), plus I put early morning slots on there and late afternoon. Those are all on Zoom for now but in person appointments are coming at Sansui-ji - our new temple on Cedarwood we're starting to build.

[JACK HAMMERING PROMO!]

And Chris does a wonderful job making herself available - just reach out to her, she seems to be on Zoom talking to people about the dharma and their practice all day somehow. Several of our practice leaders also offer practice discussion which is just a touch less formal than dokusan - trying to get them into the rotation more and we'll have more options there at Sansui-ji. And we have our mentorship program (which oops, I'm a little behind on matching people just now - tsk I'll get back to that). So a few options here.

But the more important point isn't how Red Cedar makes this easy or not is it? It's whether you choose to ask. And you can consider this more broadly in other areas of life. Do you ask for help? Do you take up the practice of beginner's mind Dōgen models here or figure nah, I've got this. Or do insecurities get in the way, it happens: nah, she doesn't have time, I don't want to bother him, I'll be okay. I guess.

It's a vulnerable thing to do asking for help. And our practice is about our lives really so it's an intimate thing too - opening one's heart to a teacher to some extent.

Here's the second entry. Longer and more complex. I'll read it straight through and then we'll break it up a little.

 (2) On the second day of the seventh month of the first year of the Baoqing Era [1225] 1 entered the abbot's room and asked, "Nowadays in many places they talk about transmission outside the teaching. They call this 'the essence of Bodhidharma's coming from India.' How do you understand it?"

   Rujing said, "The great road of buddha ancestors is not concerned with inside or outside. The reason they call it transmission outside the teaching is this: although Kashyapa Matanga and others had transmitted the teaching to China previously, in coming here from India Bodhidharma brought the teaching to life and showed the craft of the way. This is why they call it transmission outside the teaching. But there aren't two buddha‑dharmas. Before Bodhidharma arrived in China there were practices but no master to enliven them. After Bodhidharma came to China it was as if an aimless people acquired a strong king who brought the land, people, and property of the kingdom into order."

   I asked, "Nowadays elders of different monasteries say that only direct experience without discrimination – hearing the unhearable and seeing the unseeable – is the way of buddha ancestors. So they hold up a fist or a whisk, shout, or beat people with sticks. This kind of teaching doesn't do anything to awaken students.

   "Furthermore, these teachers don't allow students to inquire about the essentials of the Buddha's guidance and they discourage practices that aim to bear fruit in a future birth. Are these teachers really teaching the way of buddha ancestors?"

   Rujing said, "To deny that there are future births is nihilism; buddha ancestors do not hold to the nihilistic views of those who are outside the way. If there is no rebirth there is no present birth. We know this present birth exists. How could it be that the next birth doesn't also exist?

   "We have been followers of the Buddha for a long time. How can we hold views that are outside the way of the Buddha? To teach students the power of the present moment as the only moment is a skillful teaching of buddha ancestors. But this doesn't mean that there is no future result from practice.

   "If you believe there is no future result of practice, then you won't study with teachers and buddhas won't emerge in the world. Just listen to what I'm saying here and realize it for yourself.

   "If we do not have trust in future results and so do not practice the way of enlightenment, we would be like the people from the world of Uttarakuru. In that world no one can ever receive the Buddha's guidance and no one is ever awakened."

   I asked, "Teachers in the past and present talk about inherent knowledge; they liken it to a fish drinking water and immediately knowing whether it's warm or cold. Awakening is this kind of knowledge, they say, and this is itself enlightenment. I don't understand this. If inherent knowledge is correct awakening, then all sentient beings will automatically become completely enlightened tathagatas, because all sentient beings already do have this kind of knowledge. Some people say this is how it is, that all sentient beings really are beginningless original tathagatas. Others say that sentient beings are not necessarily tathagatas. They say that only those sentient beings who become aware of their inherent wisdom are tathagatas, and those who are not aware of it are not. Are any of these theories correct buddha‑dharma or not?"

   Rujing said, "Those who say that sentient beings are already buddhas are really professing a belief in spontaneous enlightenment. This view is not at all in accord with the way. To equate ‘I’ with buddha is to mistake unattainment for attainment and unenlightenment for enlightenment."

[with comments]

 (2) On the second day of the seventh month of the first year of the Baoqing Era [1225] 1 entered the abbot's room and asked, "Nowadays in many places they talk about transmission outside the teaching. They call this 'the essence of Bodhidharma's coming from India.' How do you understand it?"

Dōgen is referring to a famous saying attributed to Bodhidharma about how Zen is a special kind of Buddhism:

A special transmission outside the scriptures

Not founded upon words and letters

By pointing directly to [one's] mind

It lets one see into [one's own true] nature and [thus] attain Buddhahood

Which makes it sound like the traditional teachings and sutras are irrelevant, just drop deeply into the Zen way, sit your butt off and awaken.

   Rujing said, "The great road of buddha ancestors is not concerned with inside or outside. The reason they call it transmission outside the teaching is this: although Kashyapa Matanga and others had transmitted the teaching to China previously, in coming here from India Bodhidharma brought the teaching to life and showed the craft of the way. This is why they call it transmission outside the teaching. But there aren't two buddha‑dharmas. Before Bodhidharma arrived in China there were practices but no master to enliven them. After Bodhidharma came to China it was as if an aimless people acquired a strong king who brought the land, people, and property of the kingdom into order."

Rujing saying here that that kind of thinking is pretty dualistic actually which is ironic in a tradition that's all about not being caught in dualisms and limited views "not concerned with inside or outside" refers to Bodhidharma's first line "A special transmission outside the scriptures".

So Dōgen keeps going, wanting to understand fully, and being him even if he did write this at 25 year old student, includes some criticism of what he's seen in China of Zen so far:

   I asked, "Nowadays elders of different monasteries say that only direct experience without discrimination – hearing the unhearable and seeing the unseeable – is the way of buddha ancestors. So they hold up a fist or a whisk, shout, or beat people with sticks. This kind of teaching doesn't do anything to awaken students.

   "Furthermore, these teachers don't allow students to inquire about the essentials of the Buddha's guidance and they discourage practices that aim to bear fruit in a future birth. Are these teachers really teaching the way of buddha ancestors?"

That it all seems so mysterious and like they are teaching in a way that feels outside any teachings you can read or talk about or understanding.

   Rujing said, "To deny that there are future births is nihilism; buddha ancestors do not hold to the nihilistic views of those who are outside the way. If there is no rebirth there is no present birth. We know this present birth exists. How could it be that the next birth doesn't also exist?

   "We have been followers of the Buddha for a long time. How can we hold views that are outside the way of the Buddha? To teach students the power of the present moment as the only moment is a skillful teaching of buddha ancestors. But this doesn't mean that there is no future result from practice.

The birth and death stuff is also about cause and effect in general. That what happens in this lifetime affects the next if course a core idea in traditional Buddhism. I've been fine being agnostic about rebirth myself because it works just as well in the day to day. What you do in this moment affects how the next moment is born and it all combines together in unimaginably complex ways with everything else that's happening to determine where you end up over time.

This is setting us up for the next thing Rujing says:

   "If you believe there is no future result of practice, then you won't study with teachers and buddhas won't emerge in the world. Just listen to what I'm saying here and realize it for yourself.

   "If we do not have trust in future results and so do not practice the way of enlightenment, we would be like the people from the world of Uttarakuru. In that world no one can ever receive the Buddha's guidance and no one is ever awakened."

Uttarakuru turns out to be a land in the cosmological world of Buddhism - Mt Sumeru being in the center. It's a land that sounds exactly like a god realm where the inhabitants have lifespans of a thousand years. There is unrelenting pleasure, food and clothing obtainable without work, and suffering is unknown. Thus although they see, hear, and perceive things as human beings do, they can't understand the Dharma. So we don't want to be like them.

So we have to remain rooted in cause and effect. Even though we practice with no gaining idea there is change and growth that happens. I would say this happens mysteriously, in it's own time and way and Dōgen would agree and probably add and you might not notice with your conscious mind that you're more in touch with your awakened nature but you are.

  I (Dōgen) asked, "Teachers in the past and present talk about inherent knowledge; they liken it to a fish drinking water and immediately knowing whether it's warm or cold. Awakening is this kind of knowledge, they say, and this is itself enlightenment. I don't understand this. If inherent knowledge is correct awakening, then all sentient beings will automatically become completely enlightened tathagatas, because all sentient beings already do have this kind of knowledge. Some people say this is how it is, that all sentient beings really are beginningless original tathagatas. Others say that sentient beings are not necessarily tathagatas. They say that only those sentient beings who become aware of their inherent wisdom are tathagatas, and those who are not aware of it are not. Are any of these theories correct buddha‑dharma or not?"

This is a "well how about this?" question. A little convoluted but I think he's saying but doesn't practice also have this very natural organic nature too? It's an echo of what's presented as his central question always: if we're already of the nature of awakening, why do we need to practice. Let me remind you of one of his wonderful answers to this from his later essay  Genjo Koan. He answers his own question with a story:

Mayu, Zen Master Baoche, was fanning himself.

A monk approached and said, “Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?”

“Although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent,” Mayu replied, “you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.”

“What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?” asked the monk. Mayu just kept fanning himself.

The monk bowed deeply.

Discussion questions:

1. how's your practice of asking for help going? Dōgen's asking Rujing to be a "room-entering students" is a powerful example that, it seemed, totally changed his life when Rujing said yes.
    
2. do you feel like you have some kind of balance between sitting practice and study?

 

1. What are your indulgences or distractions? Can you let some of them go? Or reduce them anyway?