“The previous questions and answers have come and gone, and it is quite untidy to be exchanging between the host and guests. To some extent, it would be like to set flowers in the empty flowerless sky. Even so, in this country, in the field of Zazen practice, the principle has not yet been conveyed, and those who want to know would be deeply disappointed. For this reason, I would like to bring together the few things what I learned in other countries, and record the true essence of the clarified Master's teachings so that those who want to learn can listen. In addition to this, there are the rules and formalities of the monasteries and the style of the temples, I have not time to show them and it should not be done in haste.

In general, even though our dynasty is located to the east of the Sea of Dragon, and are far separated by the clouds and mists, it is very fortunate for the people in our country that the Buddha Dharma in the west has been progressing eastward since around the reigns of the Kinmei and Yomei periods. But the terms and forms as well as the ritual and formalities have been mixed in confusion and the way of practicing has become troublesome. Bur now, we live with the mended robes and fixed bowls through our live time, tying thatched beside the blue cliffs and white stones and do Zazen and practice, the matter of the rise of the Buddha instantly manifests and we will complete the great matter of our life time practice. This is the ordinance of Ryuge; Mater Ryuge Kondon (835-923) and the legacy of Kukkutapada; Master Mahakayapa. The ritual and rules for doing Zazen are should be done following Fukan-Zazengi which I compiled in the Karoku era.

Although it is said that we should receive the royal decree to propagate the Buddha Dharma throughout the country, when I think about the legacy of the Vulture Peak again, all of the kings, nobles, ministers, and generals who have appeared in hundreds of thousands of millions lands have graciously received the Buddha's decree, and have come into being without forgetting their duty to uphold and guard Buddha Dharma of their past lives. As to the boundary of influencing, which place could not be a Buddha land? Therefore, in order to propagate the way of the Buddhist patriarchs, we should not necessarily choose a particular place and wait for conditions, but rather, we should think that today is the start.

Being so, then I should gather this together and leave it for excellent masters who seek the Buddha's Dharma, and true stream of practitioners who seek to learn the way of the Buddha wondering like floating clouds and drifting water weeds.”
In the middle of the autumn of the year of Kanki, the of Shin-u,
                                     By the Buddhist monk Dogen, who went to the Sung Dynasty and received the transmission of the Dharma.”
BENDOWA

 

Today's article does not contain anything too difficult. As we have read so far, it means "“The previous questions and answers have come and gone,” Looking at the exchange of questions and answers, it is said, “it is quite untidy to be exchanging between the host and guests.” Which means that they exchange questions and answers with each other. It would mean that the position of which one is the protagonist and which one is the guest is not always fixed. “to be exchanging between the host and guests,” is. That's how it' s called, “It is quite untidy.” And if you look at the content, you will see that it says, “it would be like to set flowers in the empty flowerless sky.” So, we can say that many kinds of unexpected questions come up. As is true for all of us, people ask questions that they themselves would not think to ask. So, when you talk with a lot of people, you may find that you notice things that you didn't expect. That's one of the interesting points. “Even so,” that is true, but, in Japan, when people were practicing Zazen, the content was not well known at that time. So, even if there were people who wanted to know about it, the content was not clear, and that was a pity, he said.
Then, he went to China and spent a short but fulfilling time there, “record the true essence of the clarified Master's teachings,” and through his encounter with Nyojo Zenji, he was able to clarify the true essence of the Buddha Dharma, with which, others may also have mentioned, he firmly marked what he had seen and heard from those with clear eyes, and teach and convey it to those who are interested in learning it, like us now. In addition, Dogen Zenji went to China and absorbed many other things in his life. The amount he absorbed during his stay in China was enormous. It is not clear if he did it all by himself or not. When he went to China, he took a boat to China, and there were many people around him. For example, there was a man named Tohkuro, who conveyed to Japan porcelain, made by crushing stones and throwing them on a potter's wheel to make plates, bowls, tea bowls, and various other items called ceramics, went together with him. Of course, he came back with knowledge of buildings and architecture, including many blueprints and drawings, so there must have been people who were well acquainted with such things.

And food, for example, or the volume of washing, there is a vast amount of information on how to wash one's face, brush one's teeth, how to use the bathroom, how to wash one's clothes, how to eat, human relations, etiquette, and the rules of the day, and so on. I would like to take a look at such things if I have a chance.

“the rules and formalities of the monasteries and the style of the temples,” In the footnote, it says that they mean some detailed rules and regulations, though, of course, such rules and regulations are included. I think that the blueprints of a building, as I mentioned earlier, are also a part of formality. Well, in any case, since there is not enough time to show them now, he started with the most important ones first, but he also said that other things should not be neglected.

The next paragraph says, “In general, even though our dynasty is located to the east of the Sea of Dragon," looking at the world globe, the land areas of the world today are divided into water and land areas, and the globe is made up of these two areas. This country of Japan has become what it is today because of various studies conducted by scholars and specialists who say that this is the way it used to be. If it were far away, it would not be east of the Sea of Dragon, and there was a time when it was not separated from it, but now there is a trench called the Sea of Japan, and it is attached to the east. I guess that's what they mean here. I think “are far separated by the clouds and mists,” I should leave it as it is.

Emperor Kinmei and Emperor Yomei are mentioned. This is probably because they are related to the Eastward Expansion of Buddhism. I think Emperor Kinmei was born in the 500th or 500th year of the Western calendar. The second prince of Emperor Kinmei would be Emperor Yomei. Emperor Kinmei was the 29th emperor and Emperor Umei was the 31st emperor of Japan, and Prince Shotoku was one of Emperor Youmei's children. It will be easier for you to understand if I mention that they were the people like this. It is said that Buddhism was introduced to Japan during the period of the Eastern Expansion of Buddhism, when there was a lot of exchange from China. “it is very fortunate for the people in our country.”

However, as he says, “But the terms and forms as well as the ritual and formalities have been mixed in confusion,” Through China, many people went to China and brought back Chinese translations of the original Buddhist scriptures called Shakyo, and they worked hard to copy them and brought them to Japan, which is said to be the progress eastward of Buddhism, or the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. That is why the scriptures were transmitted, and because the true meaning of the scriptures was not fully conveyed, it became necessary to read down the scriptures that had been brought in, to see what was written and what was being said.

Then, what is it? I think it is the same today, but when the text is left there, when you read the text and start reading what it says, the biggest problem is that you start to understand what is written there, without dealing with the truth of yourself, your situation itself, or the situation of each of you who are doing this now. And then, when you understand what it means, you think, "Oh, I get it now." I think this has been the mainstream practice in Japan for a long time, even today.

Dogen Zenji went to China, and how did he spend his time there? I think he studied in such a way that he could see the true nature of what was left behind, written down, and handed down, in the very state he was in now. It is a religion of self-awareness, and the way of self-awareness is to know the truth about oneself, to awaken, and to make oneself clear about one's own state of being. In many cases, however, it seems that people have neglected themselves and instead it has become an academic study to inquire about what is said in the texts that are written and left behind. This is what is referred to here as “But the terms and forms as well as the ritual and formalities have been mixed in confusion,” This is the way each person reads, understands, and thinks about this text, so, you know, it can be annotated in various ways, and it can be interpreted, because it is a way of thinking. Then, to be mixed in confusion, it means that some people say this and some say that. It would be fair to say that the more learners read, the more they read, and the more they read the interpretations left behind by many others, the more they become unclear. This was already the situation in Japan at that time. Accordingly, “the way of practicing has become troublesome.” There was no definitive one as to how the practice could really be done correctly. There was no one to convey such things. Therefore, Zen Dogen Zenji, who is represented BENDOEA, must have himself visited China early on. He went to China in search of guidance and a master. Fortunately, he was able to meet Nyojo Zenji. The next sentence reads, “we will complete the great matter of our life time practice.” In China, under Nyojyo Zenji, what the Buddha Way is all about has been settled.

And I will say a bit before that, too. Now it means binding torn garments, broken-looking dishes, shabby. It's a simple life. For his life, “tying thatched beside the blue cliffs and white stones and do Zazen and practice,” He spent his time in a simple building where he could eat and sleep with only a small amount of his body inside. Then what did he do there? He sat and practiced Zazen. In Japan, as well as in China, it is probably the case, but here, we can best highlight the situation in which he went to China and spent time under Nyojyo Zenji.

“the matter of the rise of the Buddha instantly manifests” When he says that the matter of the rise of the Buddha instantly manifests, it does not mean that it will be perfected through further practice. I am sure you know this by looking at your lives. The fact that you are living like this now, will this fact that you are living now be completed in the future? By practice. I don't think so. First of all, you should be most careful. What you are doing now is not going to be completed in the future. What we're doing now, this is exactly how it's done as perfectly as it is done. Have you noticed that? It's the matter of the rise of the Buddha. It appears instantly. What's going on now shows up instantly, doesn't it? You don't know where it will come from. You don't know when things will turn out the way they are now. There is no need to do a single thing. Everyone is doing everything right, right now. Dogen Zenji made this perfectly clear, and that's why he said, “complete the great matter of our life time practice.” So, this is how it has turned out. He must have been astonished to see how completely different from the beginning it was from what he had thought, imagined. Like this, CLAP!(clapping palms) Even if we make one sound, it will be the same. You hear it. We hear perfectly well even though we do nothing. And it won't happen later. It's not like you can hear it properly after you have practiced it. That's how we live our lives, isn't it? This is what I want to say here.

The following sentence, “This is the ordinance of Ryuge, Mater Ryuge Konton (835-923),” is a poem called living in mountains by Ryuge Kondon Zenji. What is written is at the bottom of the page. The poem is written in the lower part of the verse: "Mokijiki, Eating only nuts and grass, in shabby grass robe, mind like the moon, lifetime with non-thinking, without limit,  and when asked where do you live? I say, "Green Water Blue Mountain is my home.”  I guess we should read it this way. As Dogen Zenji wrote earlier, “tying thatched beside the blue cliffs and white stones and do Zazen and practice,” which would be in in accord with the phrase we just read. And all your life without thinking, without thoughts. It is not to think. The facts are unfolding all the time. The fact is unfolding, and that fact is endless. We say " the present state of things," but the present state of things is limitless. There is no limit. There is no one who can say that the state of being now is formed by anyone's hands. And when asked where do you live? we say, "Green Water Blue Mountain is my home.” You are just here now. To be here now means, to put it politely, that you are living in the place where this thing called body and mind, written body and mind, is located. The question is, "Where are you?" It' s so where you are at any given time. I have told you this many times, but I have never been anywhere other than where this body and mind reside. There is no living anywhere away from this.

Such a thing is the ordinance of Ryuge, and it is the legacy of Kukkutapada, Master Mahakayapa. The Great  Master Mahakayapa in the Mount. Kukkutapada. There is a person called Mahakayapa. This refers to the successor to Lord Buddha, Venerable Mahakasyapa. The Mt. Kukkutapada, As you can see here, there is a mountain in China that has a ridge like a chicken's foot, and when the foot is spread out, the toe is like this and there is a tendon at the back, the mountain 's foot is like that, it is called Kukkutapada. It is a little over 3,000 meters high. It is a high mountain. I have never been there, but I searched for it. There are records that there were as many as 6,000 monks practicing Buddhism in the area around the mountain at one time. It is also one of the top ten monasteries for Buddhist practice in China. Well, this is such a place and it is the way of life that Venerable Mahakasyapa has left behind.

The appearance of these Zazen activities can be seen in his book written after his return to Japan. He came back to Japan from Nyojyo Zenji’s place, it is Karoku period, he is 28 years old, I guess. He must have returned to Kyushu after the summer of 1227. After that, he wrote the original of the Fugan zazenyi, and later refined it into the current version, which is called Ryufubon, the popular book, "Fugan Zazengi" which is commonly read by the general public. There is a Tenpuku version of the Fugan zazenyi between those two, and it is housed at Eiheiji Temple. There are a few differences between the Ryufubon and the Tenpuku version of the Fugan Zazengi. Please look at them if you are interested. In any case, the appearance of Zazen is shown in this Fugan Zazen-gi, which he himself presented.

It says, “Although it is said that we should receive the royal decree to propagate the Buddha Dharma throughout the country,” As Japan is said to be a Buddhism country, it is said that it was around the time of Emperor Kinmei and Emperor Yomei, as mentioned earlier, that Japan came to be known as a Buddhism country and that Buddhism was the national religion of Japan. Among the children of Emperor Kinmei were Prince Shotoku and others, who really cherished Buddhism and made it known to the people. “when I think about the legacy of the Vulture Peak again,” The legacy that Buddha entrusted to future generations as wishes while he was alive are called legacy. “all of the kings, nobles, ministers, and generals who have appeared in hundreds of thousands of millions lands have graciously received the Buddha's decree, and have come into being without forgetting their duty to uphold and guard Buddha Dharma of their past lives.” Thanks to the efforts of these leaders and those in positions of leadership, this has been spreading throughout Japan.

“As to the boundary of influencing, which place could not be a Buddha land?” In Japan, lines are drawn in various places according to human intentions, just as in the case of prefectural borders, it is divided into one metropolis (Tokyo), one "circuit" (Hokkaido), two urban prefectures (Osaka and Kyoto) and 43 prefectures proper, and the way politics is conducted is divided accordingly. When the Buddha Dharma is spread, it transcends the lines drawn by human beings, and has the power to permeate everywhere. He says, “propagate the way of the Buddhist patriarchs,” I believe the word “propagate" is used to describe how water, no matter how thick the bamboo, flows through the roots of the bamboo. It permeates any place without being disturbed. Therefore, it does not necessarily choose a place. It is not because the customs and history of the place are good enough to accept people, or because the place is inferior. “we should not necessarily wait for conditions,” Just waiting, though, doesn't always get things done. They say that chances are important. In order to encounter a chance, you have to be willing to receive such a chance, or else you will often have miss opportunities. For example, if you ask if they want to get married and they say that they do not want to get married, it will be difficult for them to find a partner. If you say, "Do you want to get married," "Yes, I want to get married," or " You have feelings like that," then you can offer him or her any number of ways. To take a simple example, it is, “we should not necessarily wait for conditions, but rather, we should think that today is the start.” We should think that today is the start. There is no such thing as tomorrow in Buddhism. The first day you think of it is a good day. There are many ways. There is no earlier time than now. For us to do it. The fastest time is to do it now.

“Being so, then I should gather this together and leave it for excellent masters who seek the Buddha's Dharma, and true stream of practitioners who seek to learn the way of the Buddha wondering like floating clouds and drifting water weeds.”

Because of this, Dogen Zenji himself decided to write the Shobogenzo while he had the strength and clarity of memory, so he must have started writing the Shobogenzo around the 28th year of his 52-year life, and left behind nearly 100 scrolls.  Whenever he had time, he would give lectures, give sermons, receive guests, eat with them, and do Zazen with them, which I am looking at, I wonder whether he really slept for 3 or 4 hours or not, and he left these things behind at such a rapid pace as if he had been burning up. This is what I feel now when I look back at the history of Dogen Zenji. It shows how great Dogen Zenji's passion was. Thanks to him, we are able to read these things so close to our hearts. I am grateful for that. The day of the middle of autumn in Kanki-Shin-u, the autumn of his 32nd year. That's amazing. Well, this is the end of my reading. I hope that by the time you finish reading this book, you will be able to say, "The importance of a lifetime of study has come to an end here." I hope you will.