Good morning and welcome everyone to Berkley Zen Center. It is a joy and a privilege to welcome our old friend, Shohako Okamura Roshi, back to Berkley Zen Center. He's been coming here to teach us for well over a decade. Shohakusan Okamura Roshi was ordained by his teacher Uchiyama Roshi over 40 years ago and somehow his teacher asked of him to come to America and to teach Dogen and Soto Zen teachings in English. And somehow we've been fortunate enough that he had the generosity and courage to do that. He's the founding teacher of Sanxin Zen community over almost 20 years ago. The temple is located in Bloomington, Indiana. No one in this room could have been a Soto Zen student for any length of time without having been touched by Okamura Roshi's teachings.

[01:04]

He has translated, he's a preeminent translator of Dogen Zenji, the founder of this school. He has translated commentaries by his own teachers, Uchiyama Roshi and his teacher before him, Sawaki Koto Roshi. We study his books, realizing Genjo Koan here regularly and living by vow. He also has translated many, many fascicles of the Shobo Genzo and generously teaches them in week-long teachings. And we welcome him with the latest, the publication of his latest series of Waka poems by Dogen Zenji, which he will be teaching us today. Thank you and welcome. Good morning everyone.

[02:10]

I'm very happy to be here again. This time I I'd like to introduce this book, Zen of Four Seasons, Dogen Zenji no Waka. We made this book at Sanshin-ji in London. Dogen Zenji wrote quite many waka poems. He was He was a great Zen master and also a philosopher, but he was also a great poet. He wrote poems in Chinese and also in Japanese. Traditional Japanese poems are short.

[03:11]

I think you know better about Hankook. Haiku only has 17 syllables. But Haiku is much younger than Waka. Waka is as old as Japanese civilization. The first collection, okay? Sorry, it was ringing just a little bit. It's okay now? Okay now? I think so. Okay. The first collection of Japanese 7th or 8th centuries, so 7 years ago. That is called Man'yōshū. Since then, waka has been a very important part of Japanese poetry. And Dogen Zenji was from a very well-educated family. And both his grandfather and father were well-known waka poets at the time.

[04:14]

studied Chinese poems when he was four from his grandfather. So writing waka or Chinese poems is something very not special, something very natural thing for him. So around 60 of waka poems are part of his Dorenzen's biographies. and making comments on each waka a month for Sanshinzen community in newsletter. And in the first years, I translated his Dogen's wakas about the seasons, four seasons.

[05:31]

Both in waka poem and haiku, season is very important. the beauty of seasons and the changing of the seasons. That's why I first selected Dorgan's poems about seasons, and we decided to make a book for fundraising. And in Burlington, India, Nadia is kind of an expert of traditional binding of books. and he knows how to do, you know, Japanese binding. And he bought handmade paper from Nepal, because Japanese handmade paper is really expensive. And he put bamboo on here and bind by hands.

[06:41]

So this is really unique, And kindly, Kazu Tanahashi, he is a great calligrapher, made two calligraphies of Dogenzumaka. And a Japanese photographer contributed the photo of each seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter. And I, translated 14 Wako poems in this book. Introduction and conclusion, and three poems on each season. So that makes 14. Anyway, today I'd like to, I mean this morning, I'd like to talk on the poem as an introduction.

[07:49]

And in the afternoon, I'll talk about one poem for each season. That is my plan for today. And the first poem as an introduction is one of the most well-known waka poem of Dogen. Waka has 31 syllables. It's longer than haiku, but it's still very short. So let me read first in Japanese. The title of this waka poem in Japanese is HONRAI NO MENMOKU. In Japanese, it goes as follows.

[08:53]

HARU WA HANA NATSU HOTOTOGISU AKI WA TSUKI FUYU YUKI KIEDE TSUZUSHI KARI KERI My translation, poem expresses Spring, flowers. Summer, cuckoos. Autumn, the moon. Winter, snow does not melt. All seasons, pure and upright. So in this very short poem, he lists up the beauty of each season, spring, summer, those examples of beauty of each season are not unique.

[09:56]

These four things appeared in many numerous waka poems in Japan, so his list of beauty is not unique at all. All Japanese people know the beauty of these examples. important point to understand Dogen, why he entitled this poem, Beauty of Each Season, as hondai no naimoku, or in English, the original phrase. All Japanese people know and appreciate the beauty of each season, and all Japanese know beauty of flowers, songs of cuckoos, and moons in the autumn and snow in the winter.

[11:02]

But he called those beauties as hondai no memoku, or the original face. This is how Dogen combined Japanese sense of beauty, traditional sense of beauty, with Zen teaching. and this expression, the original face, I think many of you already know, that appears from a kind of a story, a Koan story, about the sixth ancestor, Huinan. When Huinan received the transmission from that fifth ancestor, Huinan was not a monk yet, he was a layperson, and yet somehow He received the transmission and became the sixth ancestor. But some monks at the fifth ancestor's monastery didn't like it. So the fifth ancestor asked Shuenan to escape from the monastery.

[12:10]

I don't think this is historically true. I hope. But monks chased after him. to get the ball and rope as evidence of transmission back. But Shunan escaped so fast, so many of them stopped chasing, but only one monk caught up with him on the mountains, and that person was very strong, tough person who used to be a soldier. So Hyoinan thought it not possible to escape from him, or he didn't want to fight against him, so he put the rope, that means a kesa, and an oryoki ball on the stone and said, if you want these things, please take.

[13:15]

Then the person said, I didn't come to pick up these rope and balls, but I came for the Dharma. So he asked Shoninan to teach the Dharma. Then what Shoninan said was, without thinking good and bad, without thinking good and bad, what is the original face or true face of you? This expression, original faith, came from this story. So this means true faith means true reality of our life. And that is beyond dualistic thinking. You know, good and bad represent our dualistic thinking. discriminating thinking makes our life into sansara.

[14:25]

When we encounter something, we evaluate this, and if we think this is good, or this is important, or meaningful, or precious, I want to keep this with me and make this my possession. After this, something gave me the not pleasant sensation. I don't like this. I try to stay away from this, but somehow all these things I don't like came. toward me without my agreement. So I become angry or I hate this thing and I try to escape from this thing.

[15:34]

So that kind of discriminating thinking made me to run. To run after something we want or escaping something we don't want. So our life becomes running. And we lose the sight of peaceful, stable ground of life. That is called samsara. Sometimes we feel, you know, we are successful, and we feel like we are heavenly beings. But more often, we are like a hungry ghost, or even hell dwellers. And because things are always, situations are always changing, we transmigrate with not only six realities, but much more different realities. That is samsara. So this dualistic thinking and judgment and chasing after one thing and escaping from another thing makes us samsara.

[16:48]

was we should find, discover, what is the true faith before thinking good and bad. That is the meaning of this story. And this original faith or true reality of all beings came from, of course, Mahayana Buddhist teaching. not only Mahayana Buddhist teaching, but even when Shakyamuni attained awakening under the Bodhicitta, he had hesitation to teach because the true reality or dharma, the truth, is very deep, profound, and subtle. He thought even I try to teach, no one could understand. is difficult to express using words and letters, because words are dualistic by nature.

[18:06]

So Buddha had a hesitation to teach, but somehow because Brahma asked him three times, he couldn't say no, so he stood up and walked that he experienced the awakening with first those five monks. I think in this process he translated what he experienced and how he expressed or explained using words and letters. So from the very beginning of Buddhism, you know, the true reality is beyond thinking or language or conceptual concept. And yet, as Buddha did, we have to express and explain what this means using words and letters.

[19:15]

So Buddhism has, from the very beginning, has contradiction. Truth or reality cannot be said or expressed using words and letters to share the same truth or reality or experience of that reality. So that is what this true face means, true face or true reality, or original face of each one of us means. So we need to discover what is this true reality of this being five skandhas, without using language. And in the Mahayana Sutras, this reality can be expressed and experienced only within silence.

[20:26]

It is depicted, for example, Vimalakirti Sutra. One chapter of the Vimalakirti Sutra is Entering the Dharma Gate of Non-Duality or Oneness. And in this chapter Vimalakirti asks all the Bodhisattvas around him, tell me about how we can enter the gate of non-duality. and there are many Bodhisattvas and they all said this and that. For example, arising and perishing are duality. So we need to go beyond this duality and find neither arising nor perishing. And all the Bodhisattvas said basically the same thing.

[21:29]

But Manjushri was the last bodhisattva who was asked to say something. Manjushri said, all of you, all the bodhisattvas said was right, but by making say so, you create another duality. That is, duality and non-duality become duality. If we think duality is not good, and non-duality is good then this becomes duality and we think I don't like this so I want to enter non-duality this is the same as I don't like this so I want to escape or because I like this I want to make this my position and non-duality becomes such a desirable thing that creates duality, another duality.

[22:40]

So Manjushri said, in order to enter the non-duality, we should stop saying anything, close our mouths, and stop thinking. We cannot use any language. Manjushri said, you know, we should not stop using language. It's still a language. Anyway, after that Manjushri asked Vimalakirti, how do you express or explain this non-duality? Vimalakirti kept silent. He didn't say anything. Then Manjushri said, Hiroki's silence is a more eloquent expression of non-duality.

[23:47]

That is a kind of a source of many such Zen stories, including this saying by Rinan, what is the original case, without thinking good and bad. And there are many that kind of Zen stories You know, one of the famous one is when Shakyamuni transmitted Dharma to Mahakasyapa. One day, Shakyamuni ascended. That he's seen. So, as people expect, he is going to say something. He's going to give some teaching. But at that time, he didn't say anything. but he picked up a stalk of flower. That's it. So no one understood what this means, but only Mahakasyapa smiled.

[24:50]

Then Shakenri said, you know, I have this dharma named, it's a long name, Shobo Genzo Nehan Myoshi, Somu Somu Hyori, So this transmission was done without any speaking. That is one example. And Huenan's saying to this monk was another example. That is what original faith means in Zen teaching. Then the fact of the relation. between the beauty of seasons and this true reality of all beings, which cannot be expressed using language.

[25:56]

Poems are language. So while Dogen could say that the description of the beauty of seasons can be an expression of this true reality, beyond language. I think that is the point of understanding this poem, this particular poem, and not only this poem, but all of his poems. Why he wrote poems? What's the meaning of writing poems for him as a Zen master? How could he combine this to reality or Zen teaching non-duality and, you know, writing poems. It seems contradicted. And Bogen himself said it's contradicted. In Sho Bogen's Zoemonki, he said,

[26:59]

in order to make a connection between this reality or truth beyond language and expression or beauty of things using language. I'd like to introduce another poem, the same kind of poem, one, case one of Sho Yoroku or Book of Serenity. The story is pretty the same. Again, Shakyamuni ascended his seat, and again, he didn't say anything, so probably he didn't like to speak. The world-honored one ascended the seat.

[28:18]

Manjushri struck the gable and said, Clearly observe the dharma of the king of dharma. The dharma of the king of dharma is thus. The world-honored one then got down from the seat. So again he didn't say anything. But Manjushri said, while Buddha kept silence, Manjushri said, the Dharma, or the teaching, or the reality itself expressed through teaching of this king of Dharma, means Shakyamuni, is thus. Thus means koan story, again, you know, true reality cannot be expressed using language.

[29:21]

But Wan Shi, or Honji, who was a Chinese Soto Zen master, composed a verse of each of 100 koans that became the Book of Seventy. And in His verse, Zen Master Wanshi Ohonji's verse in the Book of Theremin, on this koan, is as follows. The unique breeze of reality, Continuously, creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring.

[30:30]

But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Let me read it again. The unique breeze of reality, do you see? Continuously, creation learns her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's beading." So what she's saying, you know, this true reality or true form or original face is beyond beyond thinking, beyond duality. So we have to see it and experience it. But it's not possible to speak using language. But he says, continuously creation learns her room and chateau.

[31:40]

This creation refers to In Chinese, k-mom, k-mom, mother of creation. So the image is, this mother of creation is working with the loom, the weaving machine. And there is a vertical and horizontal thread. working, this vertical and horizontal thread, roof and wrap. And in Japanese, originally Chinese, Chinese imaginary, you know, this vertical thread is like a time, from past to present and future. And the horizontal thread is like a space,

[32:40]

So within time and space, you know, all different kinds of thread connect each other and create certain patterns on the fabric. So this is the image of the Four Seasons for Chinese people. You know, the mother of creation is operating the weaving machine. And depending upon the thread, vertical and horizontal, that means within time and space, all things are getting together or dispersed and create the scenery of each season. So this is the image interdependent origination or interconnectedness within time and space.

[33:48]

You know, Indian image of this interconnectedness is Indra's net. You know, in the palace of Indra, there are beautiful nets. There are also threads, and the knot of the thread in the net There's a beautiful jewel, and this jewel reflects everything within this network. And all other jewels on other knots also reflect everything. So everything reflects everything, each other. That is Indian. And this image of weaving machine or loom is a Chinese image of interconnectedness, how things are happening, depending upon the elements, how things getting together or separate or connect each other.

[35:02]

Then spring has its own beauty, but it doesn't stay you know, without moving, without changing. So it changes. And in the summer, we see different patterns, different scenery. And, you know, fall and winter. So four seasons refer to changes or impermanence. And this change is caused by, you know, the same flowers. So the image of four seasons includes both changing and also continuity.

[36:10]

Things are always changing, but each year something happens. Four seasons doesn't change. or future, depending upon how we live, we may destroy that continuation. But anyway, this is Chinese image of interdependent origination. And this interdependence, the interdependent origination or co-arising, is the truth or reality Buddha awakened to. So from one side, each and everything is empty. There is no independent entity separate from other beings. All are interconnected. So we cannot say this thing exists.

[37:17]

And yet, we cannot say this thing does not exist. This is here, and yet this is not really here. That is what emptiness means. And that is the reason why everything can exist only within relation with others. So there is no fixed self-nature. That means when something changes, this must be changed. That is two sides of interconnectedness, and we cannot say form is really existing. is also form, so we should not neglect each side. These two phrases, form is emptiness and emptiness is form, should not be separate. These are one thing. That is why it is difficult to understand using our conceptual thinking.

[38:26]

So for Chinese Zen masters, the change of seasons is a very clear image or And it changes. It doesn't stay even one moment. You know, in Japanese lunar calendars, we not only four seasons, but we, not we, but Japanese people are divided into 24 seasons, 24 sols. you know, every two weeks, changes, you know, very subtle changes.

[39:39]

But Japanese people and also Japanese culture are very sensitive about this subtle change. And this change has some, you know, relation and connection. So this season, beauty of season, is really a good way to express this form is emptiness and emptiness form. That is the true face or original face of our life. Neither U nor Mu. U is being and Mu is non-being. And one of the expressions of emptiness neither being nor non-being. And the beauty is not a being.

[40:40]

But somehow, you know, we find the beauty of each season through different phenomena, like a flower blooming, or a bird singing, or green leaves. or the sound of waves, or colors of mountains. If you read Dogen Shobo Gendo's authors, such as Voice of Valestry and Colors of Mountains, Dogen says they are expanding Dharma. And the Dharma they are expanding is these two connect the beauty of each season and then teaching of original face or true reality of all beings.

[41:44]

In the Honshi, Honshi, or Wanshi, in Japanese, pronunciation continues. Weaving the ancient brocade, so this mother of creation is weaving different to eternity. Brocade, incorporating the form of spring. Form of spring is here and now. So using, weaving the eternal or ancient brocade, this mother of creation, phenomenal beings in each season. In this case, the form of spring that is impermanent. Impermanent things express the eternity, which doesn't change.

[42:52]

This, how can I say, kind of contradicted idea Mother of Creation's work of weaving. And weaving in Chinese character is qi. And this qi also means a machine. And the oldest machine in Chinese civilization was weaving machine, wangyun. So this ki means originally referred to weaving machine, and this ki is a word Dogen used in his expression, for example, zen-ki.

[43:55]

Zen-ki is a total function in my translation, and he wrote, first In Katagiri-Roshi translations, this is something like... Do you remember? Total dynamic working. This total dynamic working is working of this Mother of Creation. You know, all these things. We cannot be observers, but when flowers bloom, somehow our mind changes. Sometimes, after a long winter, when we see the first flower bloom in the early spring, we become happy.

[45:06]

So our mind, or our life, under a small flower, is connected. A tiny flower can influence or even change our mind. So we are connected and we are part of this scenery. In the sutra of Buddha's last teaching, Buddha gave, right before his death, he said, after my death, you should practice following my teachings.

[46:14]

And then, within your practice, the Buddha's Dharmakaya of Tathagata is always present within our practice. Our practice is within time and space. But through our practice, our activity as a practice, Buddha's eternal lifespan can be expressed. the timeless spring. So this eternity or timelessness and each and every impermanent things are really working together. That is the image of this poem of Wanshi and Dogen. And finally, Wanshi says,

[47:18]

For the story in the Vimalakirti Sutra, Manjushri gave a kind of explanation of the meaning of silence. Without Manjushri's explanation, if only the sutra says that Vimalakirti didn't say anything, then we don't really understand the meaning of this silence. In the case of Buddha's dharma transmission, Buddha himself says, I have this dharma and now I transmit it to Mahakasyapa. don't know what's transmitted, we don't really understand what is happening.

[48:38]

So this reality beyond language needs to be explained or at least pointed out using the language. And that is the meaning of writing. or Dogen's Shobo Genzo. Those are the Manjushri's reading, and they always think reality cannot be said using words. Using words. So this contradiction, reality cannot be expressed using words, and yet we have to this reality by using words. Otherwise we cannot share this dharma.

[49:39]

So that is what I'm doing now. Thank you. With regard to waka and haiku, is there a significance or relation to the 17 or 31 syllables to any teaching? Buddhist teaching. Buddhist or Taoist or some other teaching? No, these syllables are only in Japanese culture. Somehow, we, traditionally, in Japanese poetry, five syllables and seven syllables are used. Somehow, the rhythm made by those five syllables and seven syllables creates some kind of beauty in our mind.

[50:51]

So, it's simply Japanese culture that has not connection with Buddhist or Taoist or any Chinese philosophy. Thank you. Please. So it's very poignant to me that you're speaking today as it's raining and drizzling for the first time in quite a while. So it feels like Dharma rain. And what it brings to mind is often when I'm in the forest or a park, especially around here with the old trees, I'll see a tree that's leaning, that looks like it's on its way to falling, and have this sense that in the time span of the life cycle of the tree, we are the blink of an eye. So it's like it's on its way, and we appear, and we can't necessarily sense that. And what comes up is this real wanting to ask this tree for forgiveness, because I don't know if it's going to make it.

[51:55]

And yet, in the trees, As I imagine it, we're in the blink of an eye and it's already falling. And I'm just wondering how that connects to what you're teaching today. Falling means all the trees fall down? Is it a process of dying? Well, eventually, but these could be hundred-year-old trees that are going to live for another hundreds of years, but they're just leaning right now. I think it's up to gravity. and the weight of the tree itself. And it also has some connection with the wind. If the wind blows from one direction, the tree needs to lean this way or that way. So whether the tree could be upright or leaning is really also

[53:02]

this tree has connected with all other things. Well, I'm going to open my mouth. I have to use words, but aren't words themselves, why are they any different than the ancient brocade? Aren't words part of the ancient brocade? I think so. Can we ever be apart from, aren't words part of what it is that we are manifesting? I think so. For example, in Zen teaching, language is often compared with a finger and reality as a moon, boundless light of moon, and we point This moon is using language.

[54:06]

So the teaching is we should not see the finger, but we should see the moon, not the finger itself. But Dogen, not Dogen, but Ryokan, Ryokan said the finger is a part of moon. Dogen said there is nothing to nourish us besides painted rice cakes. Yes. That's the same thing, right? Yeah. Creativity. Expression using words, language, or logics can be a painted rice cake. But without a painted rice cake, we cannot receive nourishment to nourish nature, Is that also what's meant by nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking? We can't avoid Manjushri.

[55:12]

We need Manjushri. We need such a talkative person. And Dogen did the same thing by writing Shobo Genzo. If we memorize the entire Shobo Genzo and repeat, invent our own expression. Even our expression cannot be such wonderful poetry or literature. Still we need to express using our own words. I was just thinking the original face that we carry is like the season it doesn't change itself but it's the sum of what the weather is and what's going on outside and also aging and Suzuki Roshi says that we should have faith in our practice that as we go through this wearing the original face and able to experience that is how the moon reflects itself through each and every

[56:28]

drop of water. Please. We were repeating the vows in the bodhisattva ceremony as you probably heard this morning and I was struck as I always am by a lot of not, I will not, I will always, I will never. So is there a way to express the precepts with our original face? The precept or the precept we receive is an expression of this according to Dogen's tradition, is an expression of this true reality beyond wording, using wording. So if we study Dogen's comment on each of the ten major precepts, this is realer than teaching. Those comments by Dogen on each of the ten major precepts like capping words in the literature.

[57:32]

So we cannot keep those precepts, just be realistic, good and bad. This is good, so I do this. simple, realistic thinking or attitude, then we cannot really understand what this present means. Thank you very much for listening. In the afternoon I'm going to talk about

[58:15]

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