I'm 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 Senei'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 us. That's just very interesting. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Maybe in October last year, Michael asked me if I wanted to have a workshop

[01:01]

at the Zen Center on Genjo Koan. And I thought in February. I thought I had a lot of time to prepare. So 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.

[02:07]

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.

[03:11]

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 this oldest commentary on Shobo Genzo, today I just talk on the commentary on the part of Genjo Koan. I'd like to briefly talk on the history of studying Shobo Genzo. And that's why I also prepared the collection of the short biographies of early Soto Zen masters.

[04:13]

When I made this, I didn't know... No, I didn't remember those people are 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.

[05:20]

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 the first chapter of Shobo Genzo. And also there are 60 volumes, versions of Shobo Genzo. And 28. A collection of 28 first groups of Shobo Genzo.

[06:25]

And finally, there are 95 volume versions. That was 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 75 volume versions of Shobo Genzo. The reason why I translate these short biographies of early masters is

[07:30]

I thought I didn't have time to talk of each of them. 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.

[08:34]

Ejo was the second abbot of Eheiji. And many chapters of Shobo Genzo were copied by Ejo. And some scholars think Ejo was the person who made that collection. 75 version and 12 version 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 Ejo's main successor was Tetsugikai. Tetsugikai was the third abbot of Eheiji. And Tetsugikai's disciple was Keizan Jokin. And Keizan Jokin was the founder of Sojiji.

[09:37]

Another major monastery in Soto school, Japan. 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.

[10:38]

So basically Ejo and Senne were two Dharma successors of Dogen. And this Senne and Kyogo were the people who made this commentary. So-called traditionally this commentary was called Gosho. First Senne 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 it Kikigaki-sho. Kikigaki literally means memo. Memo is hard.

[11:40]

And fat is hard. Listen. That was written by Senne. And sho, kikigaki and sho. Sho literally means extract. And this sho was written by Kyogo. And they put them together. And Kyogo put them together. And this kikigaki and sho all together is called Gosho. Traditionally. But modern scholars call this kikigaki and sho because they are a collection of two different commentaries by two different people. After Kyogo, Senne practiced with Dogen.

[12:43]

Probably until Dogen's death. And after Dogen died, Senne moved to Kyoto. And built a small temple. Where Dogen's cremation was taking place. That is in the east part of Kyoto. Kyoto city. Near Yasaka-jinja. The name of the temple was Yoko-ji. Yoko is the same character as Ei in Eiheiji. And Ko is the same character as Ko in Kosho-ji. Kosho-ji is the first monastery Dogen founded. Before he moved to Fukui prefecture.

[13:48]

So Yoko-ji, I think the name of this temple Yoko-ji came from Eiheiji and Kosho-ji. But unfortunately after Kyogo, this temple didn't exist for a long time. Somehow it disappeared. It stayed until the 5th of August. So after Kyogo, it existed. But somehow it disappeared. So there's no one after Kyogo in this lineage chart. So Senne and Kyogo lineage is one of the kind of outside of the mainstream Soto. And another important people who received Dharma transmission from Ejo,

[14:56]

beside Tetsu Gikai, was Houkyou Jakuen. This person was actually a Chinese. He was born in China. And when Dogen went to China and practiced with Tendo Nyojo, Jakuen was still a very young monk. And maybe Jakuen liked Dogen. So after Dogen went back to Japan, Jakuen 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,

[15:58]

Jakuen moved to a temple named Houkyou-ji. Houkyou-ji is still there, near Ehe-ji. It's a very beautiful place, but in a very deep mountain. And Jakuen sat by himself for many years, until his disciple came. And that disciple was Ji-en. Katagiri Roshi's temple was... Houkyou-ji. Houkyou-ji was named after... No, a different character. A different character. In the case of Houkyou-ji in Minnesota, it's Houkyou in Houkyou Zanmai, Treasure Mirror. But this Houkyou came out of the name of the era when Dogen practiced with Nyojo.

[17:00]

So Houkyou, you know, Dogen's journal was called Houkyou-ki. That Houkyou. So this person, Ji-en, I'm sorry, Ji-un, is a disciple of Jakuen. And this lineage became very important in the history of Soto school, beside Keizan's line. Because Ji... Maybe I have to talk about a short history of Eheji after Ejo. Tetsugikai was the main successor of Ejo, the second abbot. But somehow Tetsugikai had some conflict

[18:04]

with other people. Maybe the person whose name is Ji-en in this lineage chart. Ji-en became the fourth abbot. Somehow, though Tetsugikai became the abbot success after Ejo retired, somehow he had to resign. And Ejo became the abbot again because of some problem. And there are many... How can I say? Interpretation of fatwas of conflict. And I don't know, actually. And when Ejo died, Tetsugikai became the abbot again. But after six years or so, he had to leave. Then after Tetsugikai left,

[19:08]

from Eheji to Daijoji, this person Ji-en became the abbot, the fourth abbot. Kangan Ji-en? No, Ji-en. Ji-en, right after, below Ji-en, I mean Tetsugikai. But it's sound... When Ji-en was the abbot of Eheji, they didn't have many monks. Many monks left Eheji with Tetsugikai and Keizan's line. And when Ji-en died, no one succeeded Eheji from Ji-en. So they didn't have many monks, and the buildings of Eheji were maybe half lost or burned or something. So since Ji-en had no successor,

[20:14]

this person, Ja-ku-en's disciple Gi-un, was asked to be the fifth abbot of Eheji. And after this person Gi-un, the abbot of Eheji was taken by Gi-un's, I mean, yes, Gi-un's, or Ja-ku-en's lineage until, I think, until 17th century. So this lineage took Eheji, but it's kind of a small number of people and temples, I think, in comparison with Keizan's lineage. And next person, Kangan Ji-in,

[21:15]

not many things were known about this person, but it's said this Kangan Ji-in 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 Ji-in, went to China twice. Once, it's said, right after Dogen's death. And second time, about, I think, 10 years after Dogen's death. And this time, Kangan Ji-in brought or took Ehe Korok, that is a collection of Dogen's Jodo, or formal Dharma discourses,

[22:20]

recorded in Chinese, that has 10 volumes. That's a collection of Jodo and Dogen's Chinese poems. And Ji-in went to China with this text and asked Dogen's, one of Dogen's Dharma brothers under Tendon Yojo, to make selection. And this person, Kang Mugai Ji-on, 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.

[23:22]

So this person also left, separated from Ehe-ji. So not many people remained at Ehe-ji after Ejo's death. There are some problems there, I think. And Kangan Ji-in's lineage later became kind of a bigger group of people. And it's still there. So in Dogen's stream, the mainstream is Ejo, Gikai, and Keizan. But another stream is Jaquien, Gion, and their lineage. And Senrei and Kyogo's line, those are kind of major streams after Dogen.

[24:27]

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 Kyogo are the only people who wrote commentary on Shobo Genzo. And another person, Gion, the disciple of Jaquien, wrote not a commentary but verses, a collection of poems on each chapter of Shobo Genzo, on the 60-volume version of Shobo Genzo. 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

[25:34]

from Japan and from Stanford. I think they know better than me. Ishii Seijun-san is from Komazawa University. He's a very eminent Dogen scholar. And also Karl Wilfert is, I think, the most important Dogen scholar in this country. So please, if you have questions, please ask them. They know better than me. Anyway, besides Senrei and Kyogo, and this Gion who wrote poems on one poem chapter, so it's not a lot. I mean, 60 poems. It's many, but that's it. Not... I wonder why, but not many people studied Shobo Genzo.

[26:35]

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 Genzo wasn't studied much until 17th century. Is that because the texts weren't that available? Or do you think... Why do you think? Well... I don't really know. It's very difficult to study. And... You know, it was handwritten. So it's not possible to publish, can I say, make so many copies.

[27:47]

So, I think that is true. Shobo Genzo was not available for so many people. But if they want to study, I think they can make more copies and more commentary. So it was in the Heihei-ji library. Maybe so. So, as I said, until 17th century, Dogen Shobo Genzo wasn't studied so much. It was copied and kind of, how can I say, stored as a treasure. 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,

[28:52]

in the Tokugawa period, there were a few Chinese Zen masters who came to Japan from the 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's Zen must be authentic.

[29:54]

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 Gesshu 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 disciples,

[30:58]

this Gosho became kind of an authority. 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. 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.

[31:59]

And this is the rest of Dogen's writings. So Shobo Genzo is very big. 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, 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

[33:05]

made before Meiji era. That means in Tokugawa era. Including Gosho and commentaries made by masters in Tokugawa period. 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 the most important modern Soto Zen master. Tensho is a formal lecturer.

[34:06]

Yes, a lecturer. And this is Nishiyari Bokusan's commentary or understanding. It's based on Gosho. So that's why Gosho has been authority until recently. And Nishiyari Zenji's main student, not a disciple, was Oka Sotan, who was an abbot of Shuzenji. And that Shuzenji, one of the disciples of Nishiyari Bokusan was Kishizawa Ian Roshi. And Kishizawa Ian studied with Oka Sotan. And also Hashimoto Eiko Roshi practiced with this master, Oka Sotan. And also Sawaki Kodo Roshi

[35:07]

practiced with them. And Kishizawa Ian 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 Eiji. Hashimoto Roshi was Godo. And of course Sawaki Roshi was my teacher's teacher. So those three lineages, Suzuki Roshi's lineage, Katagiri Roshi's lineage, and my lineage came from this person, Nishiyari Bokusan's not a direct lineage, but a kind of a stream. And, you know,

[36:11]

I said, Gosho still has authority until recently. That means, after I left Komada University, that means 30 years ago, during these last 30 years, the study, style of study of Dogen in Soto school has kind of changed. You know, study scholars, Komada scholars, become Ishii Sensei later, has changed. Until when I was a student at Komada University, the president of the university was Kurebayashi Kodo, who is the person who made this book, who published this book, compiled, edit, compiled, and published this book.

[37:15]

So the main professors at Komada University was studying Dogen based on their understanding. After I left Komada, it's changed. Scholars become more kind of critical, and they don't think Gosho is authority. Some scholars think Gosho made, how can I say, misunderstanding of Dogen. Gosho was not, how can I say, how can I say, the authentic, doesn't present authentic understanding of Dogen.

[38:16]

Somehow it was, how can I say, twisted. Anyway, that is about what I can say about 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, I'd like to start to talk on the commentary on Shobo Gendo. Do you have any questions so far? Please. Do you still consider Gosho to be an authority? Me, personally? No.

[39:18]

I mean, I studied Shobo Gendo with my teacher, Uchiyama Gosho Roshi, and his teacher is Sawaki Kodo Roshi, and I think Sawaki Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi's interpretation is somehow different from Gosho. They didn't criticize, theoretically. They think Gosho is most authoritative, but somehow their way of expressing Dharma, or their own practice, is different from Gosho's. So, my understanding of Genjo Koan and Gosho's commentary are often contradictory. That is the most important and interesting point

[40:20]

to study Gosho, for me. And when I read and talk on each commentary, on each section of Genjo Koan, maybe I mention what is my understanding and how different it is from Gosho. Okay? Is Kishizawa Iyan's commentary based on Gosho? Who? Kishizawa Iyan Roshi's. I think so. I think so. Please. Of course it has something to do

[41:34]

with history or situation, condition of Japanese society. 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. What number version of Shobo Genzo was, as I understand it, a commentary straight out on Koan? Well, in a sense, almost all chapters of Shobo Genzo Dogen discussed about some Koan. And as I'm going to talk,

[42:39]

for him, Koan means Genjo Koan. And Koan as stories or questions and answers between Chinese Zen masters and their students. Certain expression of this Genjo Koan. OK? Other questions? So, are you OK so far? OK. What time shall we have? 3.20? 3.20? OK. Original. Original. I'm not sure whether this is real or original, written by Kyobo or not. But some people believe so.

[43:41]

Some scholars not. But this is how Gosho was written. And this is a kind of maker printing. Honestly speaking, I cannot read this part. Really. You can't read it because... I cannot. Because the handwriting is irreversible 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. Thank you. OK. Now, I'd like to start to talk on what Senrei and Kyobo are saying about Shobo Genjo, Genjo Koan.

[44:42]

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 have figured out that this is what he wrote and then have put it into modern Japanese. Is there disagreement even about that? I think so. Each scholar has different opinions. But as a kind of bibliography, there's a certain fixed way to read the original handwriting.

[45:46]

And... So I think this is... This copy is made by Ishimitsu Seijun-san at Stanford and he gave it to me. I think this is the text Modern Soto Scholar 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. Since I'm a practitioner,

[46:51]

my understanding came out of my practice. So, from an academic point of view, I think I make many mistakes and strange understanding. But that is my karma. 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 what Dogen said. And I tried to make my own translation. That was the first time I translated Dogen.

[47:54]

So, at that time, there are not many Dogen translations. But after, since then, for 25 years, there are many good translations now. And now, Carl Buford 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...

[48:56]

Senrei is a teacher, and Kyogo was Senrei's student. But in this collection of commentaries, Kyogo put his comment first, and Senrei's comment second. Since we don't have so much time, I cannot read sentence by sentence. So I try to pick up important points. The first part is about the title, Shobo Genzo, Genjo Kōan. I think the part of Shobo Genzo is not so difficult to understand. And I think it's pretty much understandable.

[49:58]

So I'd like to start the part of their commentary on Genjo and Kōan. That is in this handout. Page 2, I think. The word Genjo Kōan can be used together with any names. The word Genjo Kōan can be used 1, 2, 3... Paragraph 4 of page 2. Oh, we are at the top of page 3. I'm sorry. Okay.

[50:59]

The word Genjo Kōan... Yes. Oh, I made a different version. I'm sorry. May I have that copy? Do you have extra? Thank you. It said, the word Genjo Kōan can be used together with any names. When we expound the Dharma of Being, or U, we can say Genjo Kōan of Being. And when we expound the Dharma of Non-Being, or Mu, we can say Genjo Kōan of Non-Being. And when we expound the Dharma of

[52:02]

Neither-Being, nor Non-Being, or He-U, He-Mu, we can speak in the same way. So according to this comment, Genjo Kōan can be expressed in many different ways. To say U or Being is Genjo Kōan. It's one way to express Genjo Kōan. To say Mu or Non-Being. As Dogen said, in the first sentence of Genjo Kōan, there are delusion, enlightenment, Buddhas, living beings, practice, and life and death. And in the second sentence, he said, there aren't, or there is not, such things. So, according to this comment, Genjo Kōan can be expressed

[53:04]

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. And, he said, so this Genjo Kōan is a name of the reality expressed by many different expressions in Buddhism or Zen. That reality is called Genjo Kōan. And he said, each title of the 75 chapters of this writing Shōbō Genzo, can be called Genjo Kōan. That means, all the chapters, all 75 chapters can be called Genjo Kōan. So, according to this commentary

[54:07]

by Gosho, Genjo Kōan is a very basic, fundamental concept, or keyword, of entire Shōbō Genzo. What Dōgen is trying to say in the entire Shōbō Genzo is Genjo Kōan. And, in order to explain what Genjo Kōan is, Dōgen wrote 75 chapters. And, he said, there can be the Genjo of delusion and the Genjo of realization. So, delusion is part of Genjo Kōan. And enlightenment, or realization, is part of Genjo Kōan. Or, the Genjo Kōan of Fiske, Fiske's horse, and a monk's staff.

[55:10]

That means, each and everything is Genjo Kōan. 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 Kōan. This delusion is the delusion at a time when all dharmas are the Buddhadharma. When Dōgen talks about delusion, according to this commentary, this delusion is part of Buddhadharma. Not something we need to eliminate. Not something we have to dislike,

[56:12]

or something we have to escape. After all, this expression, Genjo Kōan, is to express the meaning that has been transmitted in this translation, the truth or essential teaching of this tradition. It is expressed by Dōgen with this expression, Genjo Kōan. So, according to this commentary, Genjo Kōan is the keyword of the entire teaching of Dōgen. And, they start to talk about Kōan, Genjo and Kōan. Kōan refers to this Shōbō Genzo.

[57:17]

This Kōan, in Genjo Kōan, refers to Shōbō Genzo itself. And, Shōbō Genzo means the treasury of true Dharma. And, when Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, transmitted Dharma to Mahākāśyapa, Buddha said, I have Shōbō Genzo. I have the treasury of true Dharma. And, wondrous mind of Nirvana. And, I transmit this to Mahākāśyapa. So, something, basic point, what has been transmitted from Buddha to, in this case, Dōgen, through successive ancestors,

[58:21]

is Shōbō Genzo. And, here said, this Genjo Kōan is referred to that thing that has been transmitted through Buddhas and ancestors are called Genjo Kōan. 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

[59:23]

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, 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, become clear, appear in front of us,

[60:26]

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. That was their understanding of Gen and Jo, too. In the next paragraph, he says about Jo. He said, we should carefully think over this word, Jo. Jo, the literal meaning of this Jo, Chinese character Jo, is to become, as I said,

[61:28]

become, or complete, or accomplish. In discussion, the meaning of Sokushin Jo, this literally means, this body itself becomes a Buddha. So, this body becomes a Buddha. This is the teaching in the Japanese Vajrayana school, or Shingon school. The founder of the Japanese Shingon school, whose name was Kukai, wrote a writing titled, Sokushin Jo Butsu Ji, and he said, this body, this actual body, human body, becomes Buddha. And, Asukara said, the expression Sokushin Ze Butsu, the mind is itself Buddha, this is the saying in Zen literature, in Goen's story,

[62:29]

is not in accord with Buddha Dharma, Asukara said, because such a Buddha, that becomes a Buddha at a certain time, so, something, or someone, who was not a Buddha, becomes Buddha, at a certain time, through certain practice or experience. The person said, it's not a, how can I say, it's not a real Buddha. It cannot be revered, because it is very inferior. But, what he is saying is, the 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.

[63:32]

He is, so that Dharmakaya, he is the real Buddha, a person who used to be deluded, and who became enlightened through practice. He is not, ultimately speaking, a Buddha. This idea, I think, is what Dogen tried to criticize. This means, the expression for this idea is Honjo. Hon means originally, from the very original beginning, 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,

[64:39]

using the word Genjo, 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. He is not a real Buddha. That is about the comment on Gen and Jo. And next paragraph, on page 4,

[65:40]

second line of page 4, they talk about Koan. This word Koan came from Did you have some questions? This word Koan came from the mundane world. So this word expression, Koan, originally was not the Buddhist term. But this came from 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. One is original meaning, in the ordinary society, and another is as Buddha Dharma.

[66:43]

And he said, to equalize unequal condition is called to be public. The Chinese character for Ko literally means to be public. And the definition of being public, according to this commentary, is to equalize unequal condition. To equalize unequal condition 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

[67:46]

in order to make all people happy. So if there is something unfair, they 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. Yes. So this word Koan came from a legal system in China. So Ko means something which is public, which is not private. So is the meaning here something like public official? In some sense, is he saying that this is what is meant, that official is what is meant? Yes. Actually, the word Koan as compound

[68:52]

means official document. Actually, I will use a blackboard. Koan. Logan and Gosho do not use this Chinese character. But the Chinese character Logan and Gosho use is this An.

[69:56]

And Ko means public. And in the case of this kanji, this part is the same. An means peaceful. It also means to place something on something. And this part means tree or leaf. And in this case, this part means hand. And the literal meaning of this Chinese character is a desk. This part is a wooden thing and on which is something. So this An means a desk almost in a government office.

[71:05]

And people, government officers, put the government document, official document on the desk. And what they do is to think that the program should be, how the program should be taken care of. So this An also means to think, to consider. So as a traditional understanding, this Koan, as a compound, means public document or law. Law? Legal case. Yeah. This is issued by the emperor. When something is issued in the name of the emperor, no one can question. No one can against it.

[72:12]

But people have to accept it without question. So this Koan means the law or principle we cannot question with absolute authority. So we have to study and do something and do something according to the law or principle or rules. And Ishii sensei told me this Koan also means a sentence made by a judge at a court. Then some sentence is made by a judge. People have to follow it. A verdict. Edict. In English we say edict.

[73:14]

Spoken from. Spoken from an authority. An authority says this and now... This is something we have to study and follow. People really have to obey. That means observing of court. And the correction of the master's sentence are called Koan because that expresses the absolute reality. We cannot doubt or question, but we have to study and follow. And most Koan stories are given from the teacher to the student as a kind of a point students have to study. That's why Koan becomes a question. A question from a teacher who has authority to the students.

[74:19]

That is the usual meaning of Koan in Zen practice. And this Kanji, as I said, this part is a hammer to place a hand on something. And, you know, the English word massage is Amma in Japanese. That one is to place a hand to kind of as a treatment to take care of things. I think that is what this commentary, Gosho's understanding about Koan. So, in my understanding,

[75:22]

the Koan, Gosho, is not a public document or the law issued by the emperor which has absolute authority. Actually, the two arms can be used alternatively. So, no one said, as far as I know, those two Koan are different. But Koan using either arm is a Koan. So probably this is my personal kind of a strange understanding. But somehow, at least according to Senrei and Kyogo, the expression Koan doesn't mean

[76:28]

how can I say public document. That is one one of my understandings or my misunderstandings. So when Dogen wrote the title, Genjo Koan, he used the second character? Yes. Both Dogen and Senrei and Kyogo. But the first one is how it's commonly used. The first one is a public document or a sentence by a judge. I took the mirror from Dogen. Don't they say a legal precedent? So outcome of some case could be used in another case.

[77:29]

Anyway, I'd like to discuss Koan according to Senrei and Kyogo. Well, maybe we can take a break. So how long? Ten minutes?

[77:53]