Check this out – makes a similar point to that of understanding and realization that I blogged about recently. Thanks, Alan, for pointing me to this. Read more

Here’s the week’s Genjokoan post. We’re moving to the next couple sentences. Those of you doing the practice period, please comment to the questions raised below sometime this week. Those of you not in the practice period are welcome to comment as well. Those who greatly realize delusion are Buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded in realization are living beings. The common way of understanding this passage is to see it as defining the difference between Buddhas and living beings.... Read more

I was in a conversation with several coworkers recently. An African American women, married to a Euro American man, was asked by an African American woman, “How are you going to raise your new baby – Black, White, or Mixed?” “None of the above,” she said, “my kids are post-racial.” Later the same day (note to reader: sorry for the rough transition), I was exchanging emails with another Zen teacher about “homeleaving” and priest/minister ordinations – clarifying some of our... Read more

Once Dongshan was conducting a memorial service for his master, Yun-yen (literally, Cloudy Cliff, Cloudy Light). A monk asked, “What teaching did you receive while you were at Yun-yen’s place?” Dongshan said, “Although I was there, I didn’t receive any teaching.” The monk asked, “Since you didn’t actually receive any teaching, why are you conducting this memorial service?” Dongshan said, “Why should I turn my back on him?” The monk asked, “If you began my meeting Nan-chuan, why do you... Read more

Sesshin ended today. In dokusan the difference between understanding and realizing came up again. It’s a difficult thing to learn (and “teach”) because most of us are only familiar with understanding and are impatient. Realization takes as long as it takes. What’s the difference? Take the koan I offered in the last post: …When Kishizawa Ian, Suzuki Roshi’s second teacher, was a young monk, he was sitting in meditation on a rainy day and heard the sound of a distant... Read more

The frozen waters of winter are starting to flip here in Minnesota. Above is a nearby pond – the first open water of any kind. Tomorrow we start a weekend sesshin and in our practice period we’re wrapping up our work with the following lines from the Genjokoan:“To convey the self toward the 10,000 dharmas to do practice/verification is illusion. The 10,000 dharmas advancing and practicing/verifying through the self is satori.”I’ve been working through bits and pieces of the Kyogo... Read more

A protagonist might say, “In my lineage, practice and enlightenment are one. Therefore, every moment of every zazen of every person is complete enlightenment. You seem to be saying in these rambling blogs that verification is outside practice. ” Response: What I’m saying here is that although practice and enlightenment are not separate as people commonly believe, neither are they one as people commonly believe. More like the boy, dog and ball are one. As old boy Dogen puts it... Read more

A couple points today. First, one important insight that several practitioners have had from contemplating, “To convey the self toward the 10,000 dharmas to do practice/verification is illusion,” is from understanding “to convey” as “to express.” The issue (rather than somehow to avoid illusion) becomes how to express the self. As a monk? As a social worker? As a lover? As an artist? As a friend? That’s the macro-picture and then there is the micro-picture – how to express this... Read more

Head smeared with mud and dirt,Thus does he clearly reveal himself.– Zen Sand 10.350 In our Genjokoan study we’re continuing to work with these lines: “To convey the self toward the 10,000 dharmas to do practice/verification is illusion. The 10,000 dharmas advancing and practicing/verifying through the self is satori.” The conversation was quite rich last night, too rich for one post. Below I’ll begin unpacking the above passage and then make at least one more Genjokoan post this week, probably Sunday.... Read more

The photo above might be Yokoji, the monastery established by Keizan in about 1320 on land donated by Sonin, a woman who became one of Keizan’s successors. Bernard Faure’s book, Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism has more about her and her close relationship with Keizan. Keizan was born in 1268 and studied with several of Dogen’s direct descendants. Almost all of the surviving Soto lineages come through him. He seems to have been a quite broad-minded medieval fellow,... Read more