{"id":373,"date":"2009-03-12T08:14:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T08:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification\/"},"modified":"2009-03-12T08:14:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-12T08:14:00","slug":"sonins-bow-of-verification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html","title":{"rendered":"Sonin’s Bow of Verification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/www.geocities.com\/odamachi2\/yokoji2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

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\u2019s successors. Bernard Faure\u2019s book, <\/span>Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism<\/span><\/span><\/a> has more about her and her close relationship with Keizan.
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Keizan was born in 1268 and studied with several of Dogen\u2019s direct descendants. Almost all of the surviving Soto lineages come through him. He seems to have been a quite broad-minded medieval fellow, especially supportive of woman\u2019s practice.
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a dialogue that I pieced together from Faure\u2019s book:
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sonin was asked by Keizan about her understanding of temporal conditions and was at first unable to answer. Afterward she eventually had an insight and went to see Keizan in his cell. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Keizan asked Sonin, \u201cThe year is coming to an end, the springtime is arriving. There is an order in this. What is it?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sonin replied, \u201cOn the branches of a shadeless tree, how could there be any seasonal knots?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Keizan asked, \u201cAt such a time, what about it?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sonin bowed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Keizan said about this, \u201cThese were her first extraordinary words. I noted them down for future generations.\u201d Keizan then transmitted his Dharma<\/a> robe to her.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A number of things interest me here. First is the matter of temporal conditions. Like now. Second is how Keizan invited her to investigate them. No dead sitting here either. Third is the shadeless (or shadowless) tree \u2013 how can that be? And in the midst of emptiness, what this about seasons?
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Keizan transmitted to her based on her insight. What we can see from the story is that she bowed. How could Sonin have bowed that would have led Keizan to give her his Dharma robe?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s successors. Bernard Faure\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSonin's Bow of Verification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sonin's Bow of Verification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-12T08:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.geocities.com\/odamachi2\/yokoji2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html\",\"name\":\"Sonin's Bow of Verification\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-12T08:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-03-12T08:14:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/03\/sonins-bow-of-verification.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sonin’s Bow of Verification\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. 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