Good morning, everyone. I have been living in this building for two and a half years but I usually don't participate in the practice activities because I have another work and every day I walk to Sokoji in Japantown So I walk back and forth every day. Koji is the original place of Zen Center. And Zen Center moved to Page Street from Sokoji in 1969, so 30 years ago. And since then, there's not much interaction between Sokoji and Zen Center.

[01:10]

The office I have been working since 1997 is called Sotozen Education Center. and I'm the director of that office. This office was established by Japanese Sōtō school to be a kind of a bridge between American Sōtō Zen sanghas and Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition. So not only between Zen Center and Sokoji, but also I go back and forth between American Zen and Japanese Zen. And I'm also a part of American Zen. I have my own sangha. And my sangha bought a small piece of land in Bloomington, Indiana,

[02:24]

and I'm going to move there hopefully next year. So I'm a part of American Zen, but I was born in Japan, and I studied Buddhism, and I was trained as a priest in Japan. So within myself, there's American Zen and Japanese Zen, and I have to go back and forth. It's a kind of difficult practice. I feel, you know, I feel like a bat. Bat. Halfway between birds and animals. And I feel I'm neither of them. And I feel people think I'm not either of them. But I think this is very interesting and also precious experience as a person, as a practitioner of Buddhism and also thought and tradition.

[03:44]

Not many people can have such a practice. So it's really hard, but I like it. Anyway, this is the first session for me at the city center. And this is also the first genzōe session in this country. Genzōe means, of course, shōbō genzō. This is an abbreviation, you know, Genzo is an abbreviation of Shobo Genzo. And the English translation of this Shobo Genzo is True Dharma I Treasury. And this is the title of Dogen Zenji, the founder of Japanese Soto Zen school, Dogen Zenji's major writing.

[04:51]

And E means gathering or assembly. So Genzo E literally means a gathering for studying Shobo Genzo. And this tradition started in the early 20th century, actually 1905, so almost 100 years ago. Until early 20th, Shobo Genzo had been studied by only small number of soto, how can I say, priest, scholastic academic, not academic, but scholar monks. Even among priests, not many people studied Shobo Genzo because it's very difficult.

[05:55]

So in the beginning of the 20th century, people thought Shobo Genzo should be studied among the larger community. So at Eheiji, they started this gathering, Genzo-e, to study Shobo Genzo. And they invited a well-known teacher. Actually, the first lecturer of this Genzo-e at Eheiji in the year 1905 was Oka Sotanroshi. He was a very well-known Zen master and also a scholar. He was the president of Komazawa at that time. It was called Sotoshu University. And under the guidance of Oka Sotanroshi, he was also an abbot of a monastery called Shuzenji.

[07:13]

under the guidance of this Roshi, Sawaki Roshi is my teacher's teacher, and Kishidawa Ian Roshi was a teacher of Suzuki Shunryo Roshi, and Hashimoto Eiko Roshi, who was a teacher of Katagiri Roshi, practiced together. So, you know, we are all connected. So since then, many people, not only priest, Sōtoshū priest, but many lay people become interested in Shōbō Genzo. And today's poems or books on Shōbō Genzo have been published. I don't want to translate all of them. But anyway, Shobo Genzo is very well known in Japan now, in the last 100 years.

[08:21]

And in American Soto Zen, When I started to practice at an taiji with my teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, he asked me, not asked, but he encouraged me to study English. because that was early 70s at that time so many people westerners includes american and europeans came to japan lived in the neighborhood of urban taiji and came to sit with us every day But Ucchiamoros didn't speak English or any European languages. So he asked his students, his disciples, to study English. And three people went to English school, and I was one of them. When I was asked to study English, I didn't want to, actually.

[09:26]

I have no desire to study English or to speak English, but somehow he asked me. I couldn't say no. I was a very weak person. So I said, yes, that was a mistake. That yes made me a bat, you know, between American and Japanese then. Anyway. So somehow I started to study English. And I wanted to study Dogen's teaching in English. And I tried to find an English book on Soto Zen or Dogen's teaching.

[10:33]

I only found, let's see, three books. Two of them were translation. One of them, first one is translation of Shobo Genzo Zuimonji, translated by a Japanese scholar whose name was Masunaga Reiho. I think the title of the book was... premier of Sōtō Zen. I think this book is still available. And another one is a very small book and a collection of very short writings by Dōgen, like Fukanzazengi, or Universal Recommendation of the Zen, and a few chapters of Shōbō Genzō. And the third book I found was Suzuki Shigeru Roshi's The Mind, Beginner's Mind.

[11:37]

That was, I think, published in 1970 or 71. Anyway, so 30 years ago, we only had three English books on Soto Zen. At least I found. But in the last 30 years, there are so many books have been translated from Japanese to English. And also many books are written in English about sotos and practice. And I'm very happy about that. That's why we have so many people here today. So we have many translations. But the problem is, you know, How can I say? Dogen's writings is very difficult. Even in Japan, when we study Shōbō Genzo, not only Shōbō Genzo, but any Dogen's writings, we study with commentaries, because, you know, Dogen lived in the 13th century, 800 years ago.

[12:52]

And his writings were like, maybe for Western people, English literature written in 13th century mixed together with Latin and Greek, I think. Chinese is like Latin or Greek for European people in that age. So you can imagine how difficult it is. And not only Chinese, but mixed together with Sanskrit words. So even Japanese people, it's very difficult to even read Shobo Genzo. with that understanding. So as a person who is walking back and forth between Japanese Zen and American Zen, I think this is my kind of a mission to, how can I say,

[14:10]

I don't think I have enough, deep enough understanding of Dogen's writings, but at least I have been studying and practicing Dogen's teachings and his practice for a little bit more than 30 years. I studied Buddhism and Dogen's teachings at Komazawa University, and since then I have been studying Dogen's teachings and practicing Zazen according to Dogen's teachings. One thing I can contribute from Japanese side to American Zen is to offer my understanding of Dogen's teaching. And this Genzoe, is the first kind of activity I try to offer my understanding through my practice and experience of zazen and reading Dogen's writings.

[15:34]

And I hope my activity or my practice can be helpful for American practitioners and the students of Dogen Zenji's Zen, not only Dogen students, but also Dogen is very unique. and yet very profound teacher. So not only people who are interested in or practicing Dogen's or Soto's tradition. His teaching must be very interesting and helpful to understand what Buddha's teaching is. So this is what I'd like to do rest of my life. And this is the first such activity, so I'm very happy to be here today and to have this Genzoe Sesshin.

[16:48]

Anyway. And this session, we study one of the chapters or facets of Shobo Genzo, entitled Sansui-kyo. Sansui-kyo literally means mountains, waters, sutra. And this is really typical Dogen's writing. All people, many people like this writing. And I like it too. But I'm not sure whether I understand it or not. After 30 years of practice and study, I'm not sure whether my understanding is really what Dogen wants to say or not. But anyway, I think I have some understanding.

[17:53]

So I'd like to share with people who practice this session. As an introduction of this writing, Sansui-kyo, Mountains, Rivers, Sutra, basically in this writing, what Dogen is saying is mountains and rivers, or not only rivers, but waters, what we see today is themselves sutra this is not a sutra about mountains and waters but basically he is saying mountains and waters are themselves a sutra that means expounding Buddha's teaching or Buddha Dharma And at least one source of Dogen's inspiration about this idea, mountains and rivers are themselves sutra, is, of course, we can find many sources, but one poem

[19:23]

by a very well-known Chinese poet. And Dogen Zenji wrote another chapter of Shobo Genzo about this poem. And the name of the Chinese poet was Su Shi, or another name is Su Dong Po, or in Japanese, So Shoku, or Sotoba. And this poem is very well known. in Zen practitioners. And usually this poem was called the verse or poem of Keisei Sanshoku. Kei means valley stream. And se means sounds, so the sounds of valley stream.

[20:31]

And san is mountain. And shiki, shoku or shiki means color or form, form or shape. So keisei sanshoku literally means sound of valley stream and color or form of mountains. This is Chinese poems, so I cannot read Chinese. I'm a Japanese. But we read Chinese poems in Japanese way. And first I read this Chinese poem in Japanese way. It might be interesting to you. And I found five English translations of this poem. And it might be interesting to you, too, to know how different translations are.

[21:42]

And I'd like to talk about my understanding of this poem and my understanding of Dogen's understanding of this poem. Anyway, the original poem is as follows. In Japanese. That's a very short poem. And the first English translation is by the person's name, Beta Grant, from the book titled, Mount Roo Revisited.

[22:53]

This is a book about sushi. And this translation is as follows. The murmuring brook is the Buddha's long, broad tongue and is not the shapely mountain, the body of purity. Through the night, I listen to 80,000 gutters. When dawn breaks, how will I explain it to the others? This is the first translation. And the second one is by Karl Bielefeld, the professor at Stanford University.

[23:58]

His translation is, the sound of the stream, the sound of the stream is his long, broad tongue. The mountain, his immaculate body. These evenings, 84,000 verses. How will I tell them tomorrow? This is the second translation. And the third one is by Francis Cook. It says, the sounds of the valley stream are his long, broad tongue. The forms of the mountains are his pure body.

[24:59]

At night, I heard the myriad sutra verses uttered. How can I relate it to others what they say? And the fourth translation, one, two, three, four, is by Kaz Tanahashi in the book Enlightenment Unfold. It says, various sounds are the long, broad tongue. Mountain colors, he says colors, mountain colors, are no other than the unconditioned body, unconditioned body. 84,000 verses are heard throughout the night.

[26:05]

So he made passive. What can I say about this at our future times? And the last one, the fifth one, is by Nishijima in his translation of Shobo Genzo. He said, the voices. of the river valley are the Buddha's wide and long tongue. The form of the mountains is nothing other than his pure body. Through the night, 84,000 verses, On another day, how can I tell them to others?

[27:08]

Those are five translations of the same poem. And I think these five different translations of one poem has something to do with what Dogen is saying in Sansui-kyo. That means our views, each one of us view, are limited. or biased by our karma or karmic consciousness. There are five different translations of one poem. But when we read one of the translations, we understand through only this one translation.

[28:12]

And depending upon the translation, the image we have might be different. And even we read the same translation, one same translation, depending upon our karma or our experiences about valley streams or the color of mountains, our understanding might be different. Then, what is the true color of the mountains and what the valley stream really saying? which understanding is true, or is there any such true or real understanding or not? This is very important point of what Dogen discussed in Sansui-kyo.

[29:20]

You know, I tried to make my own translation of this verse. And I looked up dictionaries, both Japanese-English dictionaries and Chinese-Japanese dictionaries. Chinese is not my own language, and English is not my own language. So again, I have to be back and forth between Chinese and English. And when I looked up the Japanese-English dictionary of the Japanese word for tani, the original word for valley stream, Tani, as an equivalent of Japanese word Tani, I found almost 10 English words.

[30:33]

And when I looked up a Chinese-Japanese dictionary, I found almost 10 different Chinese characters, Chinese words for this word Tani. So there are 20 different words. And as a poet, the difference of each word is very important. So what really this Chinese poet, Suu Kyi, want to use? I don't know because I'm not him and I'm not Chinese. So I only understand, try to understand this poem through my understanding and my experience about the valley stream and the colors of mountains.

[31:39]

and my understanding of Buddhist or Dogen's teaching about this poem. So I really don't know what the Chinese poet wants to say. And I really don't know what I'm speaking right now in English. sound to you. So we are very kind of uncertain. And I think this uncertainty is reality of our life. And so to know, to understand this uncertainty is very important point of insight of Dharma. And this is something to do with Buddha's teaching of emptiness.

[32:43]

So we must be patient. So please be patient. That means please don't trust my fatame saying, but try to really see the colors of mountains by yourself. And try to hear the sound of valley stream by yourself as your own personal experience. And try to tell others. That is what Sushi is saying. So what I'm speaking now is my experience, my understanding, or my thought about the sounds of a valley stream and the color of mountains. And both Susi and Dogen said, those are Buddha's teaching.

[33:54]

He said, the sounds of valley stream are Buddha's teaching, or voice of Buddha. And the colors or forms of mountains are Buddha's body. How can we hear that message from Buddha? And how can we see the Buddha? This is most essential point of Buddhist teaching or Buddhist study. If we are Buddha's student, we have to listen to Buddha's teaching, of course. And we have to see Buddha. seeing Buddha is really important point of Mahayana teaching. Dogen wrote a chapter of Shobo Genzo entitled, Ken Butsu, that means seeing Buddha.

[35:00]

Because, you know, in India, after Shakyamuni Buddha died, people thought there's no Buddha anymore. So there's no way to see Buddha, to meet Buddha personally. So they tried to study Buddha's teaching recorded in the sutras and tried to practice following those teachings in the sutras. But somehow Mahayana people thought they saw Buddha, they could see Buddha's. That's why Mahayana people produce so many Mahayana sutras. Historically, those are not a record of Buddha's teaching, as you know. But somehow, Mahayana people thought they really saw Buddha's body, and they really heard Buddha's teaching.

[36:09]

And they produced so many sutras. And they thought those are really written by Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. In a sense, that is not true. It's a lie. So Mahayana Buddhism is based on a kind of lie, false things. So this is also a very important point of Mahayana Buddhism. How we can see Buddha's body. How we can hear Buddha's voice. Is it possible or not? And Mahayana people thought it's possible. And Dogen said it's possible. because at least in Dogen's tradition, because the sound of the valley stream, not only the sound of the valley stream, but this means the sound of everything in the nature, like the sound of the wind, the sound of birds singing, or whatever sound,

[37:41]

is expounding what Buddha taught, expounding the truth or reality what Buddha discovered, what Buddha awakened to. And whatever thing we see as object of our eyes, If we have eyes to see, that is Buddha's body. You know, the title of Dogen's writing, Shobo Genzo, first three words, Shobo Gen, means true Dharma eye. So we need this eye, true Dharma, this Dharma which can see true Dharma. then we can see Buddha's body. And if we have the ear to hear Buddha's teaching, then we can hear really the sutra.

[38:53]

And when we have this ear, and when we have this eye, which can really see the reality of each and everything. not only good things, but also we see and hear so many terrible things, so many painful things. But even through those negative things, if we have the ear, if we have the eye, we can see and hear Buddha's teaching. And how so important point is, how can we have such an ear and such an eyes? That is the point of our study and practice, at least in Mahayana Buddhism.

[39:57]

And that is what Dogen is discussing in Sansui-kyo, or mountain and water's sutras. So that is what I'm going to talk this week during this session. Well, basically Dogen's answer, how we can see, hear Buddha's teaching through the sound of valley stream, or wind, or birds singing, and how can we see Buddha himself through everything we see. The point of this kind of transformation is, of course, our zazen practice.

[41:13]

And another point I'd like to share is the two sentences Dogen wrote in the end of chapter of Keisei Sanshoku in Shobo Genzo. He says, At the time of genuine practice, that means when we practice Buddhadharma, or when we practice with genuine aspiration, Sounds and forms of the valley stream and sounds and forms of the mountains do not begrudge their 84,000 verses.

[42:33]

So, when we practice, Of course, fatigue of practice is another point to discuss. But if we have a genuine practice, The sound of valley stream and color of mountains doesn't, how can I say, hide the teaching, the truth, the reality of all beings. So the important point is, what is the condition of this person? whether we are ready to listen to the sound of various dreams, or whether we are ready to see Buddha's form or Buddha's body through the form of mountains, not only mountains, but form of everything.

[43:51]

And then the self does not be glad fame and gain, body and mind, the valley stream, do not begrudge anything in the same way. So he's saying, if we don't hide, that means we often, or almost always, make a kind of a fence, a wall, between us and all other things. And we begrudge whatever we own as my personal possession. And, you know, we often want to get something good and take them into my territory. and try not to give away. This is our basic problems caused by our three poisonous minds, you know, greed, anger, or hatred, and ignorance.

[45:10]

This is the basic problem caused by us human beings. And if we are free from those three poisonous minds and see, you know, how can I say, the fence we create is only our mind construction made by ourselves. Within reality, there's no such fence. And if we are free from this separation, according to Dogen, then mountains and rivers and all each and everything are always expanding Buddha's teaching. That means the reality of impermanence, egolessness,

[46:19]

and interdependent origination. So actually, there's no such thing. This is the sound of something. So . try to say is in order to listen, hear the teaching of Buddha through everything we encounter in our everyday, we have to make our eyes clear and make our ear also clear. And even though we see the Dharma, we don't really see the Dharma.

[47:23]

So how can we get this true Dharma eye or true Dharma ear? That is the point of our practice. And in, of course, in Soto Zen tradition, what we have been doing in order to make this transformation of our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, and mind, is, of course, kind of a monastic practice. And the center of our monastic practice is Zen. and not only Zazen, but each and every action, activities in our day-to-day lives, chanting sutras, or listening Dharma, or eating, using Oryoki, or cooking, or cleaning, those activities with our pure mind, pure heart, and awakening.

[48:39]

mind or being mindful is the way we transform our six sense organs into the two dharma eye, ear, tongue, body and mind. And I think as American Zen, as I said in the beginning, I'm a part of American Zen. Maybe Fat Dogen, Dogen Zenji, prescribed about the practice of this transformation, or in the way, not practice of transformation, but practice of transformed way, transformed ear, eye, tongue, body, and mind. Maybe

[49:43]

don't work so well. I think we can still practice in the same way with same spirit as Dogen did 800 years ago in Japan. Still in this country, we can do it. But not many American people want to do it. Then how we can practice with this transformed way how we can live with, you know, through Dharma eye, through Dharma ear, through Dharma anything. I think this is the point that we have to kind of create, how we can live in that way in the modern society. And if we find such a way, not only find, but create the way how to live with such a spirit in the modern society, then I think, you know, American Zen could be very helpful for non-Japanese Zen too, because

[51:14]

In Japanese society, we have the same problem. We have a long established tradition of Zen practice, but somehow we felt that doesn't work anymore. So we need something new, but we don't know. Because of such a long, strong tradition, it's very difficult to create something new. So if we Americans create something new, then it can be very helpful as an inspiration to Japanese Zen practitioners, I think. So this is my kind of a wish as a but. Well, I think it's time to stop talking. Thank you very much for listening.

[52:18]

I hope you hear Buddha's voice through my voice. Thank you.

[52:24]

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