Good morning, everyone. This is the first day of Genzoe Sesshin. This is my first lecture during this session. Maybe for some people, the word Genzoe might not be familiar. So first I'd like to talk about what Yantong is. Genzo, of course, is an abbreviation of Shobo Genzo, and that in English, True Dharma I Treasury, and this is a title of Dogen Zenji's major writings. Dogen Zenji was the founder of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhism.

[01:11]

He was born in the year of 1200. So he was born about 800 years ago. And he went to China when he was 23 to practice Zen. And he came back to Japan after five years. And he received Dharma transmission from a Soto, Chinese Soto Zen master, whose name was Tendo Nyojo. And when he was 33, he started to practice with his students at his own monastery in Kyoto. The name of the monastery was Koshouji. And after that, he wrote many writings.

[02:18]

Only within Shobo Genzo is a collection of short essays, and only in Shobo Genzo he wrote more than 90 first books. and Shobo Genzo and other writings of Dogen had been studied in our tradition, in Japanese Sōtōzen tradition. But Shobo Genzo was very difficult. It was written in the 13th century, but he wrote in Japanese. It was kind of very unusual for Japanese Buddhist priests who wrote in their own language. Buddhist writings were written in Chinese in Japan.

[03:22]

I think it's like Chinese language is like Latin or Greek for European scholars. Unless it was written in Chinese, it has no authority. So, you know, almost all the Buddhist writings was written in Chinese. But somehow Dogen wrote his writings in Japanese. It was very unusual. But his Japanese is also very unusual. It's very difficult. You can imagine some English writing written in 13th century mixed together with Latin and Greek. Even for modern Japanese cannot read really without a special education. So Shobo Gendo has been translated into modern Japanese for us.

[04:31]

Because it was very difficult, not many people studied, but they copied and stored it in a treasure house, in temples, and worshipped until until 17th or even 18th century. After 18th century, sort of the scholars started to study very scholastically. And until then, you know, the Shobo Genzo was copied by hand. So not many people could even read it. If you want to read it, you have to travel to the temples where the manuscript was stored and stay there and ask their permission to copy it. And it took, you know, a few months even just to copy it. That was how Shobo Genzo was studied and distributed within the very small community of Sotozen priests.

[05:46]

Shobo Genzo was first published in 19th century, early 19th century, I think, 1816. so less than 200 years. Until then, Shôbōgen was not available publicly. But that publication was with woodblock printing, so still not so widely available. And in the 20th century, after Meiji Restoration, the Japanese society had experienced a big change, and each and every Buddhist order had to find a way to, how can I say, make their teachings available to the wider public.

[06:54]

Otherwise, they lose their support from the people. So in 1905, so about 100 years ago, at the abattoir Heiji, started to have a gathering of studying Shobo Genzo. The first one. was about 70 days in May, June, and early July. During that time, the Heiji Monastery was open to the public. Of course, not everyone, both priests and lay people, and they could stay and practice together with their training monks. And they had a lecture on Satin for School of Shobo Genzo every day.

[07:55]

that was called Genzō-e. E means gathering or assembly. So Genzō-e means gathering to study Dōgen Zenji's Shōbō Genzō. The first lecturer or teacher who invited to give lectures on Shobu Genzo at Genzoe was Oka Sotan Roshi. Oka Sotan Roshi was a teacher of Kishida Iyan Roshi, who was the teacher of Suzuki Shunryu Roshi, and also Hashimoto Eiko Roshi, who was the teacher of Katagiri Dainin Roshi, who founded the Minnesota Meditation Center. And also Sawaki Kodo-roshi, my teacher's teacher, also studied with this person, Oka Sotan-roshi. And Oka Sotan-roshi was also a founder of antaiji, where I was trained.

[09:07]

And later, Kishidawa Iyan Roshi and Hashimoto Eiko Roshi and also Harada Sogaku Roshi, those well-known Roshis, were invited as a lecturer of Genzoe. So Genzoe is a relatively new tradition in Japan. I, since I started to work for Soto Zen Education Center, I thought, you know, there are many translations of Shobo Gemdo, but even in Japan, just reading Shobo Gemdo doesn't make any sense for many people. So we need some commentary, but commentary in English are not available. So I wanted to have a kind of a gathering to study Shobo Genzo in depth.

[10:16]

And I think two years ago, I asked Bulanchi-san if it's possible to have such a gathering at Samurai School Dance Center. and Branson agreed with it. And last year, I think in March, we had the first Genzoe, and we studied Dogen Zenji's Shobo Genzo Sansui-kyo. Sansui-kyo is mountains and water sutra. I gave two lectures a day. Each lecture was 90 minutes for seven days. So I talked more than 20 hours. In English. I was completely exhausted. But somehow I enjoyed it.

[11:22]

And it seems people also enjoyed it. So that's why we have the second one now. And I'm very happy about that. And this year, we are going to study on another fascicle of Shobo Genzo, titled Gyo-ji, Shobo Genzo Gyo-ji. Gyo is practice, and ji is protect or maintain. And usually this word, gyōji, is translated into English as continuous practice, continuous, ceaseless practice. And this is, this gyōji, is the longest fascicle in shogu genzo, because it's very long.

[12:25]

It has two parts. I tried to make my own translation. And I made the English translation of only the first part. And I think first part is enough for seven days. So this again, I don't talk on the second part. But so this morning, I'd like to introduce the very first paragraph of the part two of Gyoji. And actually, the Gyoji, Shobo Genzo Gyoji, is a collection of stories of well-known Chinese Zen masters. In Zen tradition, there are many collections of so-called koan stories.

[13:36]

And usually, the main point of those collections is enlightenment, how they must attain enlightenment. But this Gyoji is kind of unique. The topic is not enlightenment, but practice. So Dogen didn't write how they attained enlightenment and what kind of experience enlightenment was of each teacher, but he basically wrote about practice, how they practiced, how they kept practice in many cases in very difficult situations. And part two of Gyoji starts with Bodhidharma.

[14:40]

And this section of Bodhidharma is actually the longest section in Gyoji. But I just read a few, maybe I can say one paragraph. I'm going to talk on this one paragraph because this is kind of important to me. My teacher's name was Uchiyama Koshoroshi. He retired. He was the abbot of Wampaigi for 10 years. And after Sawakiroshi, his teacher died. That was 1965. And he became the abbot of Wampaigi. But then he started to serve as abbot. He said, I would be abbot only for 10 years. And he retired at 75 because he was physically very weak person.

[15:47]

He had TB. He lived with TB for 50 years. Anyway, he retired when he was 62 or 63 as a Zen teacher, very young. But, you know, he had to because he couldn't fish anymore. His session, our session was very kind of unique. We only sat, nothing else. No lectures, no doctor, no work period, no chanting. One period was 15, no, one period was 15 minutes. And we sat 15 period a day and 10 minute kinking between each period. Anyway, when he, no, not when, but before that, in 1970, one American old lady from Massachusetts visited Antaji and asked my teacher to come to this country.

[16:59]

But because he was physically weak, he couldn't. So he sent one of his disciples, one of my Dharma brothers, whose name was Karako Shojo-san. So Shojo-san came to this country in 1970. I heard he visited San Francisco Zen Center and met with Suzuki Roshi. And he went to Massachusetts. and he started a small group of practitioners in Northampton, Massachusetts. But Shojo-san had a physical problem after three years, so he went back to Japan. But that group of people continued to practice together. So Uchiha Maroshi, my teacher, sent another That was in, I think, 1974. The person's name was Koushi-san, Koushi Ikida.

[18:05]

When Koushi-san left Kyoto, Uchiyama Roshi gave instruction or recommendation to chant this part of a gyoji every morning. because this is important, this was important for Uchamaroji himself. And he thought it was very helpful to really, you know, keep this teaching of Dogen about Bodhidharma really coming from India. It was helpful and encouraging us. And next year, Koshi-san came to this country one year before me and another disciple. So Sir Uchamurochi retired in 1975.

[19:08]

And myself and Eishin-san, another dharma brother, came to this country in 1975. Then we visited him. to come to this country, before coming to this country, he also recommended us to chant this part of Gyoji. But we are kind of a bad student. Or a good student. We never chanted. At Antaiji we have no chanting, we have no morning service. We never chant even the Heart Sutra, except the time we went for Takuhatsu. I stayed in Massachusetts for five years. During five years, we never chanted anything. So when I went back to Japan, I forgot even the Heart Sutra.

[20:13]

Anyway, so we didn't chant, but this part of Gyoji was very important for me during that period of time. Not only that time, but since then, even today. So let me read the paragraph. This is my translation I made a few days ago, and it's not edited yet. So it's not a good English, I'm sure. So don't laugh. Or you can laugh. I try to make it as literal as possible so it's not really good English. It says, the first ancestor of China, Bodhidharma. came to the east from the west because of the instruction from his teacher, Venerable Prajnatara.

[21:18]

Prajnatara is Bodhidharma's teacher in India. During the seasons of frost and flowers in the three years of his voyage, the wind and snow he had to endure must be more than we can sympathize. How many times he had to go through the mountainous waves under clouds and mist. He was going to the unknown country. Ordinary beings who hold dear their bodily life could not even think of it. This must be his continuous practice out of his great compassion. to transmit Dharma for the sake of saving deluded sentient beings.

[22:25]

That was done because he was the self of Dharma transmission, and his word was the entire world of Dharma transmission. That was done because the entire ten-direction world was the true and genuine way, and he was the self of an entire ten-direction world. That was done because the entire ten-direction world was the entire ten-direction world. Which condition of the life could not be a royal palace? Which palace can be prevented from being the place of the way? Because of these reasons, Bodhidharma came from the West in such a way

[23:33]

Because he was the self of saving deluded beings, he had no alarm, doubt, and fear. Because his world is the entire world of saving deluded beings, there was no alarm, doubt, and fear. I think this is very, to me, clear description of Bodhidharma's kind of practice. Why he came, no, not came, but he went to China from India. What made him to move to that movement? because he was asked by his teacher, according to the story, this is not a historically real thing, but according to the story Bodhidharma's teacher asked Bodhidharma to go to China to transmit the Dharma.

[24:59]

after, I think, 67 years, 67 years after his death. So when Bodhidharma went to China, said he was more than 100 years old. You believe or not? I don't believe. And according to the story, he went to China from India by ship. And it took him three years. I'm not sure whether it really took him three years to sail from India to China. But I think, too, it was a difficult trip.

[26:01]

That was the beginning of the sixth century, 527. He arrived at China. And Dogen then tried to... how can I say, describe the state of this dharma transmission going through the difficulties. And even, you know, after he arrived, went to China, maybe he couldn't speak Chinese. So he was just sitting. in a cave for nine years. He had no students until the who became the second ancestor visited.

[27:05]

He was just sitting by himself. So it must be very difficult for such a person, more than 100 years old. But anyway, using this story, Dogen then tried to describe what is our basic spirit of practice, of continuous practice, or gyōji. So he said, ordinary beings who hold dear their bodily lives could not even think of such a trip, such a practice. And he said, this must be his continuous practice out of his great compassion.

[28:05]

to transmit Dharma for the sake of saving deluded sentient beings. This transmit Dharma for the sake of saving deluded sentient beings is an expression from the verse of Dharma transmission, Bodhidharma made in the story of the or the record of transmission of Dharma lamp. Bodhidharma said, I originally came to this land in China to transmit the Dharma, Buddha Dharma, and save deluded beings, deluded sentient beings who made Joe. And the second half is famous.

[29:11]

And one flower opens five petals, and it's naturally bare fruit as a result of Bodhidharma coming from India. And Dogen then used that expression to transmit Dharma and save all, save the rooted sentient beings. And this saving the rooted, saving sentient beings is of course one of the four bodhisattva vow. Sentient beings are numberless, we vow to save them. So that Bodhisattva vow or Buddha's vow allowed Bodhidharma can went to China, went through such a difficult voyage.

[30:22]

And Dogen Zenji himself went to China from Japan. It didn't take him three years, only two weeks. But it was still dangerous. Many Japanese died during the saying from Japan to China. So he risked his life. Travelling used to be much more dangerous than it is. But somehow the people who transmitted Dharma from India to China, or China to other Asian countries, or people who went to visit China from Asian countries like Japan, Korea, or Vietnam, or those countries, risk their life to study and transmit the Dharma. And so I don't think this is, Pat Ndogan is saying here is not only about Bodhidharma, but all people who transmit Dharma from one country to another country.

[31:47]

You know, Buddhism has been transmitted from Asian countries to United States and other, you know, part of the world. And many people went to Asian countries to study and practice Dharma. And so it's not only, you know, Bodhidharma, and it's not only Dogen, but this kind of spirit or practice is even practiced today. And it's very difficult to go to other country in a completely different culture to study the spiritual teaching and practice it. Not only that, come back and transmit to teach, transmit to people in this country or their own country.

[32:53]

It's very difficult. And also people like Suzuki Roshi or Katagiri Roshi, and of course myself too, came to this country and tried to transmit what I studied in Japan. But why this happened, those people, including Bodhidharma or Dogen, or we can include the Tsubukiyoshi, why those people did such a thing? And this is, I think, Dogen's answer, I think, for himself, for how much time. He said that was done because he was the self of dharma transmission.

[33:55]

This is a kind of a strange expression in English, but in Japanese he said denbo no jiko, the self of dharma transmission. And he said his world, Bodhidharma's world, was the entire world of dharma transmission. So his self, Bodhidharma's self, is a self of dharma transmission. And his world, Bodhidharma's world, is the entire world of dharma transmission. So dharma transmission is only thing there. Both himself, his life, and the entire world he was living in is for the sake of Dharma transmission, transmitted Dharma. That was done because the entire ten direction world was the truth and genuine way.

[35:03]

So this entire world is the place where we practice, study and practice this dharma. And he was the self of entire ten-direction world. Self of entire ten-direction world is also a strange expression, I think. But this is the reality of our life, that we and all beings within this entire world are connected within the network of interdependent origination. So this person, each one of us, and this entire world is one thing through the relationship. Without the relationship with all beings, this person cannot be here. So when we take, it is like a net. And each one of us is a knot for each knot of this entire net.

[36:10]

And then we grasp one knot, we grasp entire net. So one person is really entire world. And entire world is one person actually. That's the meaning of this dog and the expression, the self of 10 direction world. Because I think the kind of awakening to the reality that we are connected with everything. You know, our life is not personal. When we awake to this relationship, interconnectedness, our life cannot be ego-centered. we are still ego-centered as a karmic person. So that's why we need a vow. Such a vow, like sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.

[37:13]

That will come out from my personal, individual, ego-centered self. But once we awake to the reality of this interconnectedness, we cannot avoid this vow. Because if, you know, other part of the network has a problem, that problem influence this person's problem. So we are really connected. So this awakening to the reality of interconnectedness is a source of Buddha's compassion. And that is a source of bodhisattva vow. That's why even though it's very difficult as a person, individual person, but somehow we cannot stop doing it. So this awakening is very important.

[38:15]

And what Dogen is saying here in his description of this interconnectedness, one person and all beings are one thing. And let me talk five more minutes. which condition of the life could not be a royal palace. This means Bodhidharma was a prince. He was born in a royal palace. But somehow he became, he left his palace, like Shakyamuni. But what Dogen is saying here is even though we are not a prince, we were not born at a palace. Still, forever we are born in a palace, royal palace. That means within the network of interconnected ordination, that is the palace.

[39:15]

That is the world of Buddha, the world of Dharma. So we are already born in that palace. And wherever we are, that is the place of the way. The place of the way is the translation of dojo, I think some of you are familiar with the Japanese word do or jo. Do is way and jo is place. These days we use this word dojo as a place to practice something. But originally, this word dojo is a place where Bodhidharma, not Bodhidharma, Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment. That was a dojo, that place where Buddha completed a way. That is dojo. So wherever we are, that is a place we manifest Buddha's enlightenment through our practice.

[40:20]

So our practice is a manifestation of Buddha's enlightenment, Buddha's awakening. According to Dogen, our practice is not a method or a means to make this person awakened. Through the practice, Buddha's awakening manifests itself. So even though we are still ego-centered karmic beings, our practice can be Buddha's practice if we practice based on bodhisattva vows. And because of these reasons, Bodhidharma came from the West in such a way. And because he was the self of saving the deluded being, he was really motivated by the vow to save the deluded being. He had no alarm, doubt, and fear.

[41:25]

To me, this was very helpful when I was in Massachusetts. We lived in a small place in the western Massachusetts. And three Japanese men, only three Japanese men lived together. There was nothing about this country, actually. and we had no financial support. We had to support ourselves by doing many odd jobs. It was really difficult and many times I had a question, why I need to be here? If I don't come to this country and stay in Japan, our practice would be much easier. But as I said, we didn't chant this section, but reading this writing of Dogen was really helpful for us.

[42:31]

We don't need to be alarmed or surprised or having doubt or fear. that came from not Dogen's writings or not certain theory or philosophy, philosophical teaching of Buddha written in certain Buddhist sutras. But that is the reality of life we are actually living at this moment. That's why we don't need to have fear, doubt or fear. If we awaken to that reality, that reality, whether we awaken to or not, that reality is reality. So it's already there. So we need a kind of faith. Faith and awakening. But if we feel that reality, we have no fear. One of the three offerings, according to Buddhism, Buddhist teaching, is a gift or offering of fearlessness.

[43:39]

And the source of fearlessness in Buddhist teaching is awakening to the interconnectedness of all beings. So there's no foreign country, actually. No other people. Wherever we are, we are in the palace. Sometimes it's very difficult to believe it. But anyway, I think that is what Dogen said. And one more sentence. I said, and the entire world. Well, I think it's time to stop talking. I think we have time to question and answer. So thank you for listening.

[44:31]

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