We're very grateful that Shohaku is here with us today. Shohaku has done his own commentaries on the Genjo Koan. He's in the midst of translating his teacher's commentaries on the Genjo Koan. And now we have Sene's, which I haven't seen translated anywhere, which is maybe the earliest commentaries on the Genjo Koan. So we're very lucky, and I don't want to stall Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Maybe in October last year, Michael asked me if I want to I have a workshop at the Zen Center on Genjokuhan.

[01:08]

I thought in February, I thought I had a lot of time to prepare. I thought it might be interesting for me and for you to study Genjo Koan with the oldest commentary of Shobo Genzo made by Dogen's direct disciple. And when I translated my teacher's commentary. I made the first draft, and now I'm working on improving English with Michael and Taiyo.

[02:08]

When I translated that book, I tried to study as many commentaries as possible to avoid mistaken understanding. And I made a very rough translation of that commentary, the oldest commentary. So in October, I thought this is a nice occasion to type it and make a little better English translation. But unfortunately, I didn't have much time to work on this project. When I was in Minneapolis last December, I typed it and made a little changes. And I asked Taigen, Dan Layton, to check the grammatical mistakes.

[03:12]

So that is what you have now. So this is still very rough translation. So please don't trust this translation. As a kind of introduction to all this commentary on Shogo Genzo, today I just talk on the commentary on the part of Genjo Kowan. I'd like to briefly talk on the history of studying Shogun Genzo. And that's why I also prepared a collection of the short biographies of early Soto Zen masters.

[04:15]

When I made this I didn't know, no, I didn't remember those people in this book, Soto Zen in Medieval Japan by William Spodiford. So if you are interested in those people or the history of early Soto Zen in Japan, I recommend you to read this book. I brought those books. I'll talk about these books later. As I think all of you know, Shobo Genzo is a collection of short essays written by Dogen.

[05:23]

and it was compiled and made. There are many different schools of scholars who compiled those versions. Basically, there are three or four collections of Shobo Genzo. One is called 75 chapters of Shobo Genzo. And another is 12 volumes of a chapter of Shobo Genzo. And also there are 60 volumes, versions of Shobo Genzo. And 28 collections. a collection of 28 first group shobu genzo.

[06:28]

And finally, there are 95 volume versions that were made or collected by the abbot of Eheiji in the 18th century. Anyway, this commentary written by Dogen's direct disciples, whose names were Senne and Kyogo. Senne was Dogen's disciple, and Kyogo was Senne's disciple, based on a 75-volume version of Shogo Genzo. The reason why I translate these short biographies of early masters is I thought I didn't have time to talk of each of them.

[07:39]

So please read this later by yourself. So I just mention the names. Could you take a look at page 10 of this collection of the biographies? I put a chart, lineage chart, of people under Dogen. As you know, Dogen's major Dharma successor was Ejo. Ejo was the second abbot of Eheiji.

[08:43]

And many chapters of Shobo Genzo was copied by Ejo. And some scholars think Ejo was the person who made that collection, 75 versions and 12 versions of collections. Some scholars think that was made by Dogen himself. Since I'm not a scholar, I don't know. I feel lucky, I can say I don't know. And Eijo's main successor was Tetsugikai. Tetsugikai was the third abbot of Eheiji. And Tetsugika's disciple was Keizan Jokin. And Keizan Jokin was the founder of Soji-ji, another major monastery in Soto school, Japan.

[09:47]

And Keizan's lineage became the mainstream Soto Zen, as you know. But those are not only students or lineage under Dogen. It's said Dogen had three Dharma successors. Two beside Ejo. One is Senne. And it's said another is a monk whose name was Sokai. But this person, Sokai, died when he was 27. Very early. So, basically, Ejo and Senne were two Dharma successors of Dogen.

[10:52]

And this Senrei and Kyogo were the people who made this commentary of the so-called, traditionally, this commentary was called Gosho. First, Senrei wrote his own commentary and later his disciple Kyogo added his own commentary and put it together. and that was called gosho, or recently Japanese scholar called that kikigaki-sho. Kikigaki literally means memo, or memo, that is hard. And that is hard, listen. That was written by senne. And shou, kikigaki and shou, shou literally means extract.

[12:03]

And this shou was written by kyougo. And they put them together. And kyougo put them together. And this kikigaki and shou all together is called goshou, traditionally. But modern scholars call this Kikigaki and show because they are a collection of two different commentaries by two different people. After Kyōgo, Senrei practiced with Dōgen until, probably until his Dōgen's death. and after Dogen died, Senne moved to Kyoto and built, I think, a small temple where Dogen's cremation was taking place.

[13:10]

That is in the east part of Kyoto, Kyoto city, The name of the temple was Yō Kōji. Yō is the same character with Ei in Eiheiji. And Kō is the same character with Kō in Kōshōji. Kōshōji is the first monastery Dōgen founded before he moved to Fukui Prefecture. So, Yoko-ji, I think the name of this temple, Yoko-ji, came from Ehe-ji and Kosho-ji. But unfortunately, after Kyo-go, this temple didn't exist for a long time.

[14:14]

Somehow, it disappeared. It stayed until the 5th Kabo. So after three, after Kyogo, it existed, but somehow it disappeared. So there's no one after Kyogo in this lineage chart. So Senrei and Kyogo lineage is one of the kind of outside of stream, mainstream Soto. Another important people who received dharma transmission from Ejo, beside Tetsugikai, was Houkyou Jakuen. This person was actually a Chinese.

[15:20]

He was born in China. And when Dogen went to China and practiced with Tendo Nyojo, Jaquen was still a very young monk. And maybe Jaquen liked Dogen. So after Dogen came back to Japan, went back to Japan, Jaquen came from China to Japan and practiced with Dogen. And yet he didn't receive transmission from Dogen, but received transmission from Ejo. And after Dogen's death, Jakuen moved to a temple named Hokyoji. Hokyoji is still there, near from Eheji. It's a very beautiful place, but very

[16:23]

in a very deep mountain. And it said, Jakuen sat by himself for many years until his disciple came. And that disciple was Jien. Katagiri Roshi's temple was... Hokyoji. Hokyoji was named after? No, different character. In the case of Hōkyōji in Minnesota is Hōkyō in Hōkyōzanmai, Treasure Mirror. But this Hōkyō came out of the name of the era when Dōgen practiced with Nyojo. So Hōkyō, you know, Dōgen's journal was called Hōkyōki, that Hōkyō. So, this person, Gi-en, I'm sorry, Gi-un, is a disciple of Ja-ku-en.

[17:32]

And this lineage became very important in the history of Soto school, beside Keizan's line. Because he, maybe I have to talk about a short history of Eheiji after Ejo. Tetsugikai was the main successor of Ejo, the second robot. But somehow, Tetsugikai had some conflict with other people. Maybe the person whose name is Gi-en in this lineage chart. Gi-en became the fourth avatar. Somehow, though Tetsurikai became the avatar success after Eijo retired, somehow he had to resign.

[18:39]

And Eijo became the avatar again because of some problem. And there are many, how can I say, interpretations of fatwas and conflict. And I don't know, actually. And when Ejo died, Tetsugikai became an avatar again. But after six years or so, he had to leave. Then after Tetsugikai left, from Ehei to Daijoji, this person, Giyen, becomes the abbot, the fourth abbot. Kangan Giyen? No, Giyen. Giyen, right after Ryo Giyen, I mean, Tetsugikai. But it's sound... When Giyen was the abbot of Heiji, they didn't have many monks.

[19:45]

Many monks left Eheiji with Tetsugikai and Keizan's line. And Feng Jien died. No one succeeded Eheiji from Jien. So they didn't have many monks and the buildings of Eheiji was maybe half lost or burned or something. So, since there was no... Gi-en had no successor, this person, Ja-ku-en's disciple Gi-un was asked to be the fifth, let's say, fifth abbot of Ehe-jin. And after this person, Gi-un, the Awase of Eheji was taken by Gyun's, I mean, yes, Gyun's or Jaquen's lineage until, I think, until 17th century.

[20:56]

So this lineage took Eheji, but it kind of a small, a number of people and temples, I think, in comparison with the Keisans' lineage. And the next person, Kanggang Giin, not many things were known about this person, but it's said this Kanggang Giin was the prince, I mean, son of the emperor. But somehow he became a monk at Tendai school. And he became Dogen's disciple. And he, Kangan Jin, went to China twice.

[22:00]

Once, it said, right after Dogen's death. And second time, about, I think, 10 years after Dogen's death. And this time, Kangan Giin brought or took Eihei Korok, that is a collection of Dogen's Jodo, or formal Dharma discourses, recorded in Chinese, that has 10 volumes. That's a collection of Jōdō and Dōgen's Chinese poems. And Giyin went to China with this text and asked Dōgen's, one of Dōgen's Dharma brothers, Pendō Nyōjō, to make selection. And this person, Kang Mugai Rion,

[23:05]

made a collection and made a smaller version of Ehe-Korok, named Ehe-Genzenji-Korok, a collection of Zen Master Dogen's sayings. And after he came back to Japan, he built a temple in Kyushu. So this person also left separate from Eheiji. So not many people remained at Eheiji after Ejo's death. They had some problems there, I think. And Kangan Gin's lineage later became kind of a bigger group of people. And it's still there. So in the Dogen's stream, the mainstream is Ejo, Gikai, and Keizan.

[24:13]

But another stream is Jaquien, Gion, and their lineage. And Senrei and Kyogo's line. Those are kind of major streams. and after Dogen. And it's kind of a strange thing that those teachers after Dogen are very quiet in terms of studying Shobo Genzo. I mean, Senrei and Kyobo were the only people who wrote commentary on Shobo Genzo. And another person, Gi-un, the disciple of Ja-ku-en, wrote not a commentary, but verses, a collection of poems on each chapter of Shobo Genzo, on the 60-volume version of Shobo Genzo.

[25:26]

And those two are the only people who wrote something about Shobo Genzo. As far as I know, today we have an eminent Dogen scholar from Japan and from Stanford. I think they know better than me. Ishii Seijun-san is from Komagawa University. He's a very eminent Dogen scholar. And also Carl Griffith is, I think, the most important Dogen scholar in this country. So please, if you have questions, Anyway, beside Kyogo, Senrei and Kyogo, and this Giyun who wrote poems, one poem, a chapter, so it's not a lot.

[26:31]

I mean, 60 poems. It's many, but that's it. Not, I wonder why, but not many people studied Shobo Genzo. And what they studied is in the Keizan line, their main thing to study was so-called Goi, or five ranks, a kind of a koan. So actually after Dogen died, Shobo Gendo wasn't studied much until 17th century. Is that because the texts weren't that available or do you think, is that, why do you think? Well, I don't really know.

[27:35]

Very difficult to study and you know, it was handwritten. So it's not possible to make so many copies. So I think that is true. Shobo Gendo was not available for so many people. But if they want to study, I think there they can make more copies. and more commentary. So it was in the Eheiji library? Maybe so. So, as I said, until the 17th century, Dogenzo Shobo wasn't studied so much. It was copied and kind of, how can I say, stored as a treasure.

[28:44]

So Shobo Genzo is not something they had to study, but it's kind of an object of worship, or stored as a treasure. But in the 17th century, in the Tokugawa period, there were a few Chinese Zen masters came to Japan from Ming Dynasty China. And one of them was Obaku Ingen. And Obaku Ingen established a third Zen school in Japan. Third means Soto-shu and Rinzai-shu and Obaku-shu. We have three Zen schools. And first Japanese Zen masters thought that since Obaku came from China, Obaku Zen must be authentic.

[30:04]

So first they tried to study with Obaku, both Japanese Rinzai and Soto masters. But later they found Obaku's Zen is somehow different from Dogen. So they started to study Dogen again. And those people are like Geshu Soko, or Manzan Dohaku, or Menzan Zuihou. Those are great Soto Zen masters. And they started to make commentary on Shobo Genzo. And for them, since the Gosho made by Senne and Kyogo was only one commentary made by Dogen's disciple, this Gosho became kind of an authority.

[31:14]

So all those Soto scholars in the Tokugawa period studied this Gosho. And this Gosho became a source of authority. Until recently. What changed recently? I'll talk a little later. And the reason why I brought these books... Let's see. This is a complete collection of Dogen's writings. Two volumes. And the first volume is a collection of Shobo Genzo. And this is the rest of Dogen's writings. So Shogo Genzo is very big.

[32:18]

So Dogen wrote many things, but somehow his students and grandsons didn't write a lot. And this is a collection of Dogen's handwritings, Dogen's calligraphy. So I think we have a break. If you are interested, please take a look at it. This is Dogen's original writings before publication. Some scholars doubt whether this is Dogen's or not. Of course, that's a scholar's job. And this one is a collection of commentaries made before Meiji era, that means in Tokugawa era, including gosho and commentaries made by masters in Tokugawa period.

[33:35]

So it has ten volumes. And in the modern times, after Meiji, that means after 19th century. This is a commentary on, not a commentary, but a record of Tensho by Nishiyari Bokusan. Nishiyari Bokusan was most important modern Soto Zen master. Tissot is a formal lecturer. Yes, a lecturer. And this is Nishari Bokke-san's commentary or understanding. It's based on Gosho. So that's why Gosho has been an authority until recently.

[34:36]

And Nishari Zenji's main student, not a disciple, was Oka Sotan, who was the abbot of Shuzenji. And at Shuzenji, one of the disciples of Nishari Bokken was Kishidawa Ian Roshi. And Kishidawa Ian studied with Oka Sotan. And also Hashimoto Eiko Roshi practiced with this Master Oka Sotan and also Sawaki Kodo Roshi practiced with them. And Kishida Iwan Roshi was a teacher. Suzuki Shunryo Roshi studied. Not a disciple, but studied. And Hashimoto Roshi was a teacher of Katagiri Roshi. Katagiri Roshi practiced with Hashimoto Roshi at Eheiji.

[35:41]

friend Hashimoto Roshi was Godo. And of course, Sawaki Roshi is my teacher's teacher. So those three lineages, Suzuki Roshi's lineage, Katagiri Roshi's lineage, and my lineage came from this person, Nishiya Rieboku-san's, not a direct lineage, but a kind of a stream. Gosho still has authority until recently. That means after I left Komazawa University, that means 30 years ago, during these last 30 years, the style of study of Dogen in Soto school has kind of changed.

[36:53]

you know, study scholars, Komazawa scholars become, uh, Prezasko Ishii sensei later, has changed. Until when I was a student, Komazawa University, the president of the university was, uh, Kurebayashi Kodo, who is a person who made this book, who publish this book, edit, compile, and publish this book. So the main professors at Komada University were studying Dogen based on their understanding. After I left Komazawa, you know, it's changed. Scholars become more, kind of, critical. And they don't think gosho is authority.

[37:57]

Rather, some scholars think gosho made, how can I say, misunderstanding of Dogen. Gosho was not, how can I say, the authentic, doesn't present authentic understanding of Dogen. Somehow it was Anyway, that is about what I can say about the importance and the history, importance of gosho and the history of how shobo gendo has been studied in Soto school. Of course, there are many more things I have to say, but since we don't have much time,

[39:05]

I'd like to start to talk on the commentary on Genjo Gohan. Do you have any questions so far? Please. Do you still consider Gosho to be an authority? Me, personally? No. I mean, I studied Shobo Genzo with my teacher, Uchiyama Kosho Roshi, and his teacher is Sawaki Kodo Roshi. And I think Sawaki Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi's interpretation is somehow different from Kosho. They didn't criticize, theoretically. They think Kosho is most authoritative. But somehow, their way of expressing Dharma, or their own practice, is different from Gosho's.

[40:16]

So, my understanding of Genjo Koan and Gosho's commentary are often contradicted. That is the most important. important and interesting point to study Gosho for me. And when I read and talk on each commentary, on each section of Genjo-Kohan, maybe I mention what is my understanding and how different it is from Gosho. I think so. Japan's political system, not to analyze it.

[41:34]

But is there a direct correlation, or is that just my simple idea? Of course, it has something to do with history or a situation, condition of Japanese society. So now it goes to the original source, trying to avoid some politics? Is that part of it, an attempt to remove the interpretation from politics? Well, I'm not sure. It's a kind of what people are doing right now can be another, how can I say, continuation of something political. So we cannot tell. Please. Well, in a sense, almost all chapters of Shogō Genzo, Dōgen, discussed about some koan.

[42:44]

And as I'm going to talk, for him, koan means genjō koan, and koan as stories or questions and answers. between Chinese Zen masters and their students. A certain expression of this Genjo Koan. Okay? Other questions? So, are you okay so far? I'm not sure whether this is a real original written by Kyobo or not.

[43:47]

But some people believe so, some scholars not. But this is how Gosho was written. And this is a kind of a maker printing. Honestly speaking, I cannot believe this part. Really. the handwriting is invertible or the characters have changed? Because I don't know much knowledge about calligraphy and classic Japanese, so I'm really grateful for the works of the scholars. Okay, now I'd like to start to talk on what Senrei and Kyogo are saying about Shobu Genjo Gohan.

[44:51]

Can I ask one question? Do the scholars agree that what you just showed us, the actual printed Japanese, is actually what is the handwritten part? Or is there even disagreement about that? Could you say it again? Well, there's the calligraphy part, and then there's the printed part. And you say that the scholars, you know, have figured out that this is what he wrote, and then have put it into modern Japanese. Is there a disagreement even about that? I think so. Each scholar has different opinions. Okay. But as a kind of bibliography, there's a certain fixed way to read, you know, the original handwriting.

[45:55]

So I think this is, this copy is made by Ishii Seijun-san. at Stanford and he gave it to me. This is the text of the modern Soto scholar's study, Gosho. Of course, there are many different interpretations of what they are saying. Since I am not a scholar, I don't have much knowledge about the classic Japanese. And since I'm a practitioner, my understanding came out of my practice.

[47:04]

From an academic point of view, I think I make many mistakes and strange understandings. But that is my karma. I mean, I started to work on translation when I was in Massachusetts from 1975 to 1981. someone brought a translation of Fukanza Zengi. And when I read it, I thought, this is not Dogen, what Dogen said. And I tried to make my own translation. That was the first time I translated Dogen. So, at that time, you know, there are not many Dogen translations. But after, since then, for 25 years, there are many good translations now.

[48:18]

And now, Karl Milfeld is working on a new translation of Shobo Genzo as a part of a project sponsored by the Japanese Soto School. I think his translation will be the best so far, maybe not for a long time. In the very beginning, Kyogo and Senrei... Senrei is a teacher and Kyogo was Senrei's student. But in this collection of commentaries, Kyogo put his comment first and Senne's comment second. Since we don't have so much time, I cannot read sentence by sentence.

[49:31]

So I try to pick up important points. The first part is about the title, Shōbō Genzo, Genjo Kōan. I think the part of Shōbō Genzo is not so difficult to understand, and I think it's pretty much understandable. So I'd like to start the part of their commentary on Genjo and Koan. That is in this handout.

[50:33]

Page two, I think. The word genjo-koan can be used together with any names. 1, 2, 3, paragraph 4 of page 2. Page 3. Oh, we are at the top of page 3. I'm sorry. The word genjo-koan, yes. I made a different version. I'm sorry. May I have that copy? Do you have extra? Thank you. It said, the word Genjo-Koan can be used together with any names.

[51:41]

When we expound the Dharma of Being, or Wu, we can say Genjo-Koan of Being. And when we expound the Dharma of Non-Being, or Mu, we can say Genjo-Koan of Non-Being. And when we expound the Dharma of neither Being nor Non-Being, Or, he, who, he, move. We can speak in the same way. So, according to this comment, Genjokovan can be expressed in many different ways. To say, who or being is Genjokovan. It's one way to express Genjokovan. To say, move. or no, non-being. As, you know, Dogen said, in the first sentence of Genjo Koan, there are delusion, enlightenment, Buddhas, living beings, practice, and life and death.

[52:59]

And in the second sentence, he said, there aren't, or there is not, such things. So, according to this comment, the Genjo Koan can be expressed in any way. We can say there are those things and there are not those things. Or we can say neither being nor non-being. So this Genjo Koan is a name of the reality expressed by many different expressions in Buddhism or Zen. That reality is called Genjo-ko. And he said, each title of the 75 chapters of this writing, Shobo Genzo, can be called Genjo-ko.

[54:01]

That means all the chapters, all 75 chapters, can be called Genjo-ko. According to this commentary by Gosho, Genjo-koan is a very basic, fundamental concept or keyword of the entire Shobo-genzo. What Dogen is trying to say in the entire Shobo-genzo is Genjo-koan. And in order to explain what Genjo Koan is, Dogen wrote 75 chapters. And he said, there can be the Genjo of delusion and the Genjo of realization. So delusion is part of Genjo Koan. and enlightenment or realization is part of Genjo-Koan.

[55:06]

Or the Genjo-Koan of a fisked horse and a monk's staff. That means each and everything is Genjo-Koan. Because the reality of each thing is manifested This manifested is a translation of the word Genjo, within each thing. So everything around us, not only around us, but also things inside of us, are all Genjo called. This delusion is the delusion at a time when all dharmas are the Buddha dharma. When Dogen talks about delusion, according to this commentary, this delusion is part of bodhidharma, not something we need to eliminate, not something we have to dislike or something we have to escape.

[56:18]

After all, this expression, Genjo Kogan, is to express the meaning that has been transmitted in this translation. The truth or essential teaching of this tradition is expressed by Dogen with this expression, Genjo Koan. So, according to this commentary, Genjo Koan is the keyword of the entire teaching of Dogen. And they start to talk about koan, genjo and koan. Koan refers to this Shobo Genzo. This koan, in genjo koan, refers to Shobo Genzo itself.

[57:27]

And Shobogenzo means the treasury of true Dharma. And when Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha transmitted Dharma to Mahakasyapa, Buddha said, I have, I have Shobogenzo. I have treasury of true Dharma I, and wondrous mind of Nirvana. and I transmit this to Mahakasyapa. So, something, a basic point that has been transmitted from Buddha to, in this case, Dogen, through successive ancestors, is Shobo Genzo. And he said, this Genjo Kowa is referred to that thing that has been transmitted through Buddhas and ancestors are called Genjo Kowa.

[58:44]

And he said, Genjo, or manifestation, does not mean that something that has been concealed is now being revealed. We should not consider that this Genjo, or manifestation, is supposed to be hidden or concealed. As the literal meaning of Chinese character gen means to appear or to manifest or to actualize. So gen and jo means to become or complete. So genjo means something which was not there

[59:52]

or which was hidden, or which we cannot see, become clear, or appeared, or manifested, or actualized, then we can see it. But according to this commentary, Genjo doesn't mean something concealed, something hidden in the past, clear, appear in front of us, and now we can see it. But he said, Genjo is something which never be hidden, never be concealed. Genjo is the meaning of the word. Genjo means the reality which is always revealed. Never hidden.

[60:54]

That was their understanding of Gen and Joe, too. And in the next paragraph, he says about Joe, he said, we should carefully think over this word, Joe, literal meaning of this Jō, Chinese character Jō, is to become, as I said, or become, or complete, or accomplish. In discussion, the meaning of Sokushin Jō, this literally means, this body itself becomes a Buddha. So this body becomes a Buddha. This is a teaching in the Japanese Vajrayana school, or Shingon school. The founder of Japanese Shingon school, whose name was Kukai, wrote a writing titled Sokushinjogutsu-ji.

[62:06]

And he said, this body, this actual body, human body, becomes Buddha. And a scholar said, the expression Sokshin Zebutsu, the mind is itself Buddha. This is the saying in Zen literature, in Goan's story. It's not in accord with Buddha Dharma, some scholar said. Because such a Buddha, that becomes a Buddha, at a certain time. So, something or someone who was not a Buddha became Buddha. At a certain time, through a certain practice or experience, the person said, it's not a... How can I say?

[63:10]

It's not a real Buddha. cannot be revered because it is very inferior. But what he is saying is that Dharmakaya Buddha, which has been Buddha from the very beginningless beginning to the endless end. So in this case, this Buddha is not a person. So that Dharmakaya is the real Buddha, a person who used to be deluded and who became enlightened, through practice, is not ultimately speaking the Buddha. This idea, I think, is what Dogen tried to criticize. This means, the expression for this idea is Honjo, Hon, originally, from the very original beginning,

[64:14]

Buddha is already Buddha. And Buddha is never changed, never deluded. That is Honjo, or original Jo. I don't know how to translate into English. But Dogen tried to say using the word Genjo. It means, at this moment, With this practice, the Buddhahood is manifested. Not some kind of ultimate reality. Beyond this person's life, beyond this person's practice, beyond this person's experience, is not a real Buddha. That is about the comment on Gen and Jo.

[65:26]

And next paragraph, Koan. Page 4, second line of page 4, we talk about Koan. This word, koan, came from the mundane world. So this word, expression koan, originally was not a Buddhist term, but this came from an ordinary society in China. This should be understood in both worldly and supra-worldly meaning. So, he said, the word koan can be interpreted in two ways.

[66:32]

One is the original meaning in the ordinary society, and another is as Buddha Dharma. It says, to equalize unequal condition is called to be public. The Chinese character for call literally means to be public. And the definition of to be being public, according to this commentary, is to equalize unequal conditions, to equalize unequal conditions, is called to be public. That means, I think, as a public person, not private, a public person, like emperor or government officials, they have to do things in order to

[67:45]

make all people happy. So if there is something unfair, we have to change it. Not many actual government do this. Not many actual government officials try to do things in this way. But that is the idea. Like the legal system, supposedly. So this word, koan, came from a legal system in China. So koan means something which is public, which is not private. So is the meaning here of public something like public official? In some sense, is he saying that this is what is meant by official? Actually, the word koan, as compound, means official document.

[68:54]

Actually, an will use that book. And Dogen and Gosho not use this Chinese character. But the Chinese character Dogen and Gosho use is this an. And ko in public.

[69:59]

And in the case of this kanji, means peaceful. It also means to place something on something. And this part means tree or wood. And in this case, this part means honey. And the interior window of this Chinese character is a desk. This part is a wooden frame, and on it is a pencil. So this arm is a desk, placed in a government office. And people, government officers,

[71:05]

the government document, official document on the risk. And what they do is to think that, you know, the problems, the harsh problems should be taken care of. So it's also important to think and to consider. So as a traditional understanding, it's called, as a compound, law, in this case issued by the emperor. When something is issued in the name of the emperor, no one can question, no one can object, but people have to accept it without questioning.

[72:11]

So this core means the law of principle we cannot question. That means without absolute authority. So we have to study and do something. Sensei, this poem also means a sentence made by a judge at a court. And some sentences are made by a judge. People have to follow it. A verdict. In English we say edict, spoken from. But spoken from an authority. Yes, yes.

[73:13]

An authority says this and now... Yes. It's something we have to study and follow. We really have to obey. That means observing the core. And the correction of the Master's sayings are called the core. Because that expresses the absolute reality. We cannot doubt or question what we have to study and follow. And most koan stories are given from the teacher to the student as a kind of a point the student has to study. That's why the koan becomes a question. A question from a teacher who has authority to the students. That is the usual meaning of koan Zen tradition.

[74:22]

And this kanji, as I said, this part is a hammer. So place a hand on something. And, you know, place, hand, to kind of adopt treatment, to take care of things. I think that, in fact, this commentary, Gosho's, excuse me, Gosho's understanding about koan, so in my understanding, The Koan in Gosho is not a public document or the law issued by the emperor, which has absolute authority.

[75:32]

Actually, the two anmes can be used alternatively. So no one said, as far as I know, those two Koan, different. But Koan in Iida, using Iida-an is a Koan. So probably this is my personal kind of a strange understanding. But somehow, according to, at least according to Senrei and Kyoko, The expression koan doesn't mean, how can I say, a public document. That is one of my understanding or my misunderstanding.

[76:44]

So when Dogen wrote the title, Genjo Koan, the second character, not the first? Both Dogen and Senmei and Kyoko. But the first one is how it's commonly used? The first one is a public document or a sentence by a judge. Anyway, I'd like to discuss Koan according to Senrei and Kyoko. Well, maybe we can take a break. So, how long? Ten minutes?

[77:44]