88. Conze, Perfect Wisdom, p. 140.
89. Okumura, Realizing Genjōkōan, p. 209.
90. Nakamura, Gotama Buddha, p. 319.
91. My translation. Another is found in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 3, p. 55.
92. Shohaku Okumura, trans., Shōbōgenzō-zuimonki: Sayings of Eihei Dōgen Zenji (Tokyo: Sōtōshū Shūmucho, 1987), p. 124.
93. Inada, Nāgārjuna, p. 103.
94. When I gave this talk in 1994 my son was three years old and I was forty-five. That was the first time I felt I was aging.
95. One of the oldest temples in Japan, Shitennōji was built by Prince Shōtoku in the sixth century at the very beginning of Japanese Buddhism. At that time Osaka and Nara were the two main cities. Nara was the capital, and Osaka was a port for travel to Korea and China. The prince also built a temple in Nara called Hōryūji. Hōryūji has the world’s oldest wooden structure, almost fifteen hundred years old.
96. This translation, in the MZMC sutra book, p. 8, is by Thomas Cleary and is included in Cleary, Timeless Spring: A Sōtō Zen Anthology (Tokyo and New York: Weatherhill, 1980), p. 36. In the sutra book the word “patriarch” in the original translation was changed to “ancestor.”
97. The word Sandōkai derives from the title of a Daoist text on the Yijing (Book of Changes) written during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE).
98. John McRae, Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), p. 61.
99. Ibid., p. 62.
100. Yoshito S. Hakeda, trans., The Awakening of Faith (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), p. 31. This is one of the most important texts on the theory of tathāgatagarbha, or buddha-nature, which is an essential part of Zen teachings.
101. Hakeda says, “Since it has been made clear that the essence of all things is empty, i.e., devoid of illusion, the true Mind is eternal, permanent, immutable, pure, and self-sufficient; therefore, it is called “nonempty’” (ibid., p. 35).
102. Zongmi’s discussion about the differences among the four schools appears in “Chart of the Master-Disciple Succession of the Chan Gate That Transmits the Mind Ground in China.” See Jeffrey Lyle Broughton, trans., Zongmi on Chan (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 69–100.
103. Okumura, Realizing Genjōkōan, p. 2.
104. Inada, Nāgārjuna, p. 146.
105. Hakeda, Awakening of Faith, p. 31.
106. Sheng-yen, The Infinite Mirror: Commentaries on Two Chan Classics (Boston: Shambhala, 1990), p. 25. Sheng-yen translates Sandōkai as “inquiry into matching halves.” “Inquiry” is san, “matching” is dō, “halves” is kai. This is very different from the Japanese interpretation.
107. Translation by Shohaku Okumura and Hozan Alan Senauke, in The Bodhisattva’s Embrace: Dispatches from Engaged Buddhism’s Front Lines, by Alan Senauke (Berkeley: Clear View Press, 2010), p. 215.
108. Stephen Mitchell, trans., Tao Te Ching (New York: HarperCollins, 1988), pp. 40–42.
109. Inada, Nāgārjuna, pp. 146–48.
110. This kōan is called Yunyan’s “Great Compassion” in Congronglu (Shōyōroku), case 54. Cleary, Book of Serenity, p. 229.
111. This story appears in the Chinese Daoist classic Liezi, vol. 5.
112. This verse in the Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice is: “The unsurpassed, profound, and wondrous dharma / is rarely met with, even in a hundred, thousand, million kalpas. / Now we can see and hear it, accept and maintain it. / May we unfold the meaning of the Tathāgata’s truth.”
113. Hurvitz, Scripture of the Lotus Blossom, p. 23.
114. Ibid.
115. Ibid., p. 22.
GLOSSARY OF NAMES
Note: Sources for this glossary include Bukkyōgo Daijiten (Nakamura Hajime, Tokyo Shoseki), Zengaku Daijiten (Taishūkan Shoten), Bukkyō Daijiten (Shōgakkan), and The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen (Shambhala).
Ānanda: One of the ten great disciples of the Buddha. He was the personal attendant of the Buddha for twenty years and memorized all the teachings of the Buddha. His exposition of the Buddha’s discourses formed the basis for the sutras at the first council.
Aśvaghoṣa: Indian monk-poet who lived in the first to second centuries CE. He wrote Buddha-carita: Life of the Buddha. Another work, Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna, was attributed to Aśvaghoṣa, but some scholars today think the text was written in China.
Avalokiteśvara: One of the most important bodhisattvas of Mahāyāna Buddhism, considered to be the symbol of the Buddha’s compassion.
Baizhang Huihai (Hyakujō Ekai, 749–814): An important Zen master of the Tang dynasty in China. He was a dharma successor of Mazu Daoyi and master of Guishan Lingyou and Huangbo Xiyun. Traditionally he was considered to be the author of the first rules of purity (Qinggui, Shingi).
Baotang Wuzhu (Hotō Mujū, 714–774): The founder of the Baotang school of Zen in the Tang dynasty.
Bodhidharma (Bodaidaruma): The twenty-eighth ancestor after Shakyamuni Buddha in the Indian lineage, who came from India to China and became the first ancestor of the Zen tradition.
Butsuju Myōzen (1184–1225): A disciple of Myōan Eisai who transmitted Rinzai Zen tradition to Japan and was Dōgen’s first Zen teacher in Japan. Myōzen and Dōgen went to China together, but Myōzen died while practicing at Tiantong monastery.
Changlu Qingliao (Chōro Seiryō): A Chinese Caodong (Sōtō) Zen master, a dharma heir of Danxia Zichun (Tanka Shijun), and the elder dharma brother of Hongzhi Zhengjue.
Changlu Zongze (Chōro Sōsaku, ?–1107): The Chinese Zen master who compiled Chanyuan Qinggui (Zen’en Shingi, Rules of Purity for the Chan Monastery).
Dai Daoxin (Daii Dōshin, 580–651): The fourth ancestor of Chinese Zen and the master of Doman Hongren. Dai and Doman’s assemblies were later called East Mountain Dharma Gates.
Dainin Katagiri Roshi (1928–1990): The founder of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He came to the United States in 1963 and assisted Shunryū Suzuki Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center until Suzuki Roshi’s death in 1971. He moved to Minneapolis to establish the MZMC in 1972.
Dajan Huineng (Daikan Enō, 638–713): The sixth ancestor of Chinese Zen and dharma heir of the fifth ancestor, Daman Hongren. He is considered the founder of the Southern school of Chinese Zen.
Daman Hongren (Daiman Kōnin, 602–675): The fifth ancestor in the Chinese Zen tradition, from whom the Northern and Southern schools were derived.
Daowu Yuanzhi (Dōgo Enchi, 769–835): A dharma heir of Yaoshan Weiyan and dharma brother of Yunyan Tansheng.
Dongshan Liangjie (Tōzan Ryokai, 802–869): The dharma heir of Yunyan Tansheng. Dongshan was the founder of the Chinese Caodong school.
Edward Conze (1904–1979): A British Buddhist scholar who taught in England and the United Sates. The author of many books on the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras.
Eihei Dōgen (1200–1253): A dharma heir of Tiantong Rujing, Dōgen is the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism.
Emperor Wu (464–549): The first emperor of the Rian dynasty. He supported Buddhism and himself lectured on Buddhist sutras such as the Parinirvana Sutra. In the Zen tradition it is said that he met with Bodhidharma.
Feixiu (Haikyū, 797–870): A government official of the Tang dynasty. He studied Fayen (Kegon) Buddhism with Guifeng Zongmi and Zen with Huangbo Xiyun.
Guifeng Zongmi (Keihō Shūmitsu, 780–841): A scholar-monk of the Fayen school and also a Zen master in the Tang dynasty. He wrote The Chart of the Master-Disciple Succession of the Chan Gate That Transmits the Mind Ground in China, Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Chan Source, and many other texts.
Guishan Lingyou (Isan Reiyū, 771–853): A dharma heir of Baizhang Huihai. Together with his disciple Yangshan Huiji, he is considered the founder of one of the five schools of Chinese Zen, the Guiyang school.
Hārītī (Kishimojin): The daughter of a demon
ic being (yaksa) in Rājagriha. She had five hundred (or one thousand or ten thousand) children to whom she fed the babies of others. When she heard the Dharma from the Buddha, she repented her misdeeds and vowed to protect Buddhism. In Japan she is invoked for an easy delivery and the health of children.
Heze Shenhui (Kataku Jinne, 668–760): A disciple of the sixth ancestor, Huineng. He attacked the Northern school and insisted that Huineng was the legitimate successor of the fifth ancestor. He is considered to be the founder of Heze school.
Hongzhi Zhengjue (Wanshi Shōkaku, 1091–1157): A famous Chinese Caodong (Sōtō) Zen master who served as abbot of Tiangtong monastery. Hongzhi was well known for the excellence of his poetry, and he composed verses to supplement a hundred koans. Wansong Xingxie later wrote commentaries on these verses and created the Congronglu (Shōyōroku).
Huang Tingjian (Kō Teiken, 1045–1105): A famous poet and calligrapher of the Song dynasty in China. He was a lay disciple of the Linji Zen master Huanglong Zuxin.
Ichirō Okumura (1923–): Father Ichiro Okumura entered the Catholic Church in 1948 and was ordained to the priesthood within the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1957.
Jingzhong Wuxiang (Jōshu Musō, 684–762): A Tang dynasty Zen master from Korea and the teacher of Baotang Wuzhu.
Kōdō Sawaki (1880–1965): A modern Sōtō Zen master, and Kōshō Uchiyama’s teacher. He was a professor at Komazawa University but never had his own temple or monastery. He was called ‘homeless Kōdō’ because he traveled throughout Japan to teach.
Kōshō Uchiyama (1912–1998): Kōdō Sawaki’s dharma heir who succeeded Sawaki at Antaiji. He wrote many books, several of which have been translated into English and other languages.
Kumārajīva (344–413): One of the most important translators of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. He translated many Mahāyāna texts including the Lotus Sutra, Vimalakīrtinirdesha Sutra, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, and Mahāprajñāpāramita-shāstra.
Longtan Chongxin (Ryūtan Sōshin): A Tang dynasty Zen master in Shitou Xiqian’s lineage. Shitou’s disciple Tianhuang Daowu was his teacher and Deshan Xuanjian his disciple.
Mahākāśyapa: One of the ten major disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. He was famous for his strict discipline living in the forest even after the Buddha founded monasteries. After the Buddha’s death he became the leader of the sangha and took the leadership for the first council of five hundred arahats. In the Zen tradition he is considered the first ancestor in the Indian lineage, since he received dharma transmission from the Buddha.
Maitreya Buddha: The next buddha. Maitreya is in Tuṣita heaven now as a bodhisattva and is expected to come to this world in the future.
Mañjushrī: The bodhisattva of wisdom. In Zen, Mañjushrī is enshrined in the center of the monks’ hall.
Mazu Daoyi (Baso Dōitsu, 709–788): One of the most important Tang dynasty Zen masters. Mazu was a disciple of Nanyue Huairang. He had many disciples, including Baizhang Huihai and Guishan Lingyou.
Menzan Zuihō (1683–1769): One of the important Sōtō Zen monkscholars in the Tokugawa period. Dharma heir of Sonnō Shūeki, he studied Dōgen extensively and wrote many commentaries on Shōbōgenzō and other writings of Dōgen.
Myōan Eisai (1141–1215): The first Japanese master, who transmitted the Rinzai Zen tradition to Japan. He established several Zen monasteries including Kenninji Kyoto, where Dōgen practiced Zen with Eisai’s disciple Myōzen.
Nāgārjuna: One of the most important philosophers of Buddhism and the founder of Mādhyamika school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. His most important work is Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. In the Zen tradition he is considered to be the fourteenth ancestor.
Nanshan Daoxuan (Nanzan Dōsen, 596–667): A Buddhist master in Tang dynasty China. He was the founder of the Nanshan (Nanzan) Ritsu-shū (Vinaya school).
Nanyue Huairang (Nangaku Ejō, 677–744): A Tang dynasty Zen master. He was dharma heir of the sixth ancestor, Huineng, and the master of Mazu Daoyi.
Niutou Farong (Gozu Hōyū, 594–657): A Tang dynasty Zen master. He was considered the disciple of the fourth ancestor, Daoxin, and the founder of the Niutou (Ox Head) school of Zen.
Qingyuan Xingsi (Seigen Gyōshi, 660?–740): A Tang dynasty Zen master. One of the dharma heirs of the sixth ancestor, Huineng, he was the master of Shitou Xiqian.
Samantabhadra: One of the most important bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna Buddhism, who is venerated as the protector of all those who teach the Dharma.
Shakyamuni Buddha: The founder of Buddhism. Shakyamuni means “sage from the Shākya clan.”
Śāriputra: One of the ten great disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. He is considered to be the person with the deepest wisdom in the Buddha’s assembly.
Shitou Xiqian (Sekitō Kisen, 700–790): A Tang dynasty Zen master. The dharma heir of Quingyuan Xingsi and the master of Yaoshan Weiyan, he is famous for his poems “Merging of Difference and Unity” (Sandōkai), and “Song of the Grass Hut.”
Shōtoku Taishi (574–622): Prince of Emperor Yōmei. He served as prince regent for his aunt, Empress Suiko. He played a key role in establishing Buddhism in Japan. He founded Hōryūji in Nara and Shitennōji in Osaka.
Sōen Nakagawa (1907–1984): A modern Japanese Rinzai Zen master. He was the abbot of Ryūtakuji temple.
Subhūti: One of the ten great disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, considered to have the deepest understanding of emptiness.
Śuddhodana: King of the Shākya clan and Shakyamuni Buddha’s father.
Tianhuang Daowu (Ten’nō Dōgo, 748–807): A Tang dynasty Zen master, one of Shitou Xiqian’s disciples.
Tientai Zhiyi (Tendai Chigi, 538–597): One of the most important Chinese Buddhist masters. The Chinese Tientai (Tendai) school is based on his teachings.
Tiantong Rujing (Tendō Nyojō, 1163–1227): A Song dynasty Zen master who was the abbot of Tiantong monastery when Dōgen practiced in China. Dōgen received dharma transmission from Rujing.
Vairocana Buddha: The main Buddha of the Avataṃsaka Sutra is the sambhogakāya buddha. Maha Vairocana (Dainichi Nyorai) is the dharmakāya buddha and the main Buddha in Vajrayāna Buddhism.
Vimalakīrti: The principal character of Vimalakīrtinirdesha Sutra. He was a rich lay student of the Buddha who had better understanding of emptiness than the Buddha’s disciples.
Vipaśyin Buddha: The first of the seven buddhas in the past. The seventh is Shakyamuni.
Xuanzang (Genjō, 600–664): One of the most important translators in the history of Chinese Buddhism. He traveled to India by himself and stayed there for seventeen years and transmitted the teaching of the Yogācāra school and established the Faxiang (Hossō) school.
Yangshan Huiji (Gyōsan Ejaku, 807–883): A Tang dynasty Zen master, dharma heir of Guishan Lingyou, and considered as the cofounder of the Guiyang (Igyō) school of Zen.
Yunyan Tansheng (Ungan Donjō, 780–841): A Tang dynasty Zen master, dharma heir of Yaoshan Weiyan, and the teacher of Dongshan Liangjie.
Yuquan Shenxiu (Gyokusen Jinshū, 606–706): A Tang dynasty Zen master, a disciple of the fifth ancestor, Daman Hongren, and the founder of the Northern school of Zen.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND TEXTS
Abhidharma: The earliest compilation of Buddhist philosophy and psychology. It took form in the period between the third century BCE and the third century CE. Its interpretations and explanations of concepts in the sutras reflect the views of individual Buddhist schools.
Absolute Three Treasures (ittai sanbō): One of the three categories of the Three Treasures mentioned in Dōgen’s comments on the sixteen precepts. See ittai sanbo.
Āgama Sutra: The name used in China for collections of early Buddhist sutras, comparable to the Pāli Nikāya.
aggregate (Skt., skandha): A bundle, pile, or collection.
ambrosia: An English translation for the Sanskrit word amṛta, in Japanese kanro. This is a drink for heavenly beings. When one drinks it one attains immortality. It symbolizes nirvana and the
Buddha’s teachings.
anātman: Nonself, nonessentiality; one of the three marks of everything that exists. The anātman doctrine is one of the central teachings of Buddhism; it says that no self exists in the sense of a permanent, eternal, integral, and independent entity within an individual. Thus, in Buddhism, the ego (self) is no more than a transitory, fluid process that is a result of the interaction of the five aggregates. In early Buddhism this analysis is limited to the personality. In Mahāyāna it is applied to all conditionally arising beings. This freedom from self-nature is called emptiness.
ancient buddha (kobutsu): Dōgen used this expression as a title of the Zen masters who truly attained the Dharma, such as Zhaozhou, Hongzhi, and his teacher Tiantong Rujing.
Antaiji: A Sōtō Zen temple located in Kyoto, Japan, where Kōdō Sawaki Roshi and Kōshō Uchiyama Roshi taught. It moved to Hyōgo Prefecture in 1976.
asura: One of the six realms of samsara. English translations are “fighting spirit,” “demon,” “evil spirit,” and “titan.”
ātman: According to Brahmanism, the real immortal self of human beings, corresponding to what is known in the West as the soul. It is the nonparticipating witness of the jīva (unchanging essence) beyond body and thought, and, as absolute consciousness, is identical with brāhman, the underground of all reality. By virtue of its identity with brāhman, its characteristic marks (ātmakara) are identical: eternal absolute being, absolute consciousness, and absolute bliss. In Buddhism the existence of an ātman is denied: neither within nor outside of physical and mental manifestations is there anything that can be designated as an independent, imperishable essence.
Avataṃsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament Sutra): A Mahāyāna sutra that is the basis of the teachings of the Chinese Huayen (Kegon) school, which emphasize ‘mutual interpenetration.’
Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna (Daijōkishinron): One of the most important Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, which advocates tathāgatagarbha theory (see buddha-nature). This text greatly influenced many Chinese and Japanese Buddhist teachings.
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