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(Kanji/Phrase on left, followed by Katakana/Hiragana/ Romaji, chapter or other info on right, and further info below. )

Akasha / akasa

more info see: Kokuu

the whole world; the whole thing; infinite space; boundless space; everything happening;

Anatman

(Muga Jp. 無我

無我

ム、ない

ガ、われ

No self, non ego

Nothingness, not

I, ego, selfish, oneself

Trk 3 Muchu setsumu

Annuttara Samyak Sambodhi

(Jp. translit.: Anoku Bodai, a shortened version of Anokutara Sanmyaku Sanbodai)

阿耨菩提

⇓

-bodhi / bodai

-annuttara

-samyak sambodhi

supreme awareness

-perfect wisdom, the truth, the state of truth (P1 Nishijima and Cross trans.)

-beyond comparision

-awakening

Bendouwa

‘The Wholehearted Way’, Intro by Okumura Roshi, from line 1 of Bendouwa

⇓

Okumura:

Track 13: Meaning is awakening beyond comparison. (Okumura is relating to Jijuyu Zanmai and Myouhou.)

Anraku

安楽

あんらく

やすい、アン – yasui, an

たのしい, ラク、ガク – tanoshii, raku, gaku

Peace and joy; carefree; comfort

-Relaxed, content, rested, cheap

– comfort, ease, music, fun

Trk 35 Genjokoan

Asura

fighting spirits

(of the six realms)

Trk 5

Muchu Setsumu

Atman – see Ga

Banpo

万法

ばんぽう

マン、バン　-man, ban

ほう -hou

many beings, all things

-ten thousand

-law, system, dharma, being(s), method

(opp. of ichinyo)

Bendouwa

弁道話

べんどうわ

辦 (original kanji) べん -ben

ドウ、みち -dou, michi (ch.doa/tao)

ワ、はなす -wa, hanasu

talk on how to practice the Way wholeheartedly

-strength, put total energy into one thing

-way, street, Buddhist Way (eg Butsudou)

-talk, story

Bendouwa

Bodaishin

菩提心

ぼだいしん

ぼ -bo

ダイ、さげる　-dai, sageru

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

the mind that seeks awakening

-bodhi tree, sacred tree

-carry, take along

-mind, heart, spirit

Bendouwa, note 5, The Wholehearted way

Bodhi

awakening

Trk 1

Muchu Setsumu

Bussohen

佛祖邉

⇓

ぶっそへん

ブツ butsu

ソ　so

ヘン hen

boundary of buddhas and ancestors

-Buddha

-Ancestors

-edge, margin, boundary, border

Muchu Setsumu (1) line 2

⇓

Okumura:

‘Boundary where they are practicing, living, teaching’.

Butsudou

仏道

⇓

ぶつどう

ブツ、ほとけ -butsu, hotoke

ドウ、みち -dou, michi (Chinese – doa/tao)

-Buddha way

– way to become a Buddha

-day to day way taught by Buddha 　

-Buddha

-way; street; truth

Bendouwa Section 22; Muchu Setsumu Section (3)

⇓

Okumura:

Track 20 CD2: Dogen rejected calling his school zen shu or soto shu – said what he was trying to transmit was..instead butsudo – buddha way. People misunderstood Bodhidharma as just focussed on zazen, so called it zazen school. Later they took out and called zen school.

CD 2 Track 45-46: In a hundred efforts we never hit the target once – is another reality of our practice… we gradually begin to hit the target… one hit now is the result of many misses/ failures in the past… When we climb a mountain, the first step to leave home, and final step at the top, is the same step… this entire process is buddha-way, another meaning of cause and result are one.

Study Group (Bendouwa):

Buddha Way could be seen as the entire connected process of Buddhist practice, a phrase taking in lots of other ideas/ terms including shushou (practice and enlightenment – cause and result), inten (pulled and turned), juyu – (receive and use), shoshin (beginner’s mind), kan (leave everything to zazen), myoshu (wondrous practice). (BT)

Butsuji

仏事

⇓

ぶつじ

ブツ、ほとけ -butsu, hotoke

ジ、ズ、こと -ji, zu, koto

Buddha’s work

-Buddha; the dead

-matter, thing, business, reason

Lotus Sutra, Bendouwa

(para 12 in pdf, also end CD1)

⇓

Okumura:

"Butsu-ji – buddha’s work – is described in the Lotus Sutra as being to reveal/show the reality of all beings and allow all beings to awaken to that reality of all beings."

Butsukōjō

佛向上

or: Bukkojou?

⇓

ぶつこうじょう

ブツ butsu

コウ kou

ジョウ jou

こうじょう kōjō

Going beyond buddha; On experiencing that which is above and beyond Buddhahood (Rev. Nearman)

-Buddha

-beyond, yonder

-above, up

-elevation, ascend; improvement; progress

Muchu Setsumu (1) line 2; Chapter 28 Butsukojonoji

⇓

Okumura:

‘Buddha is always going beyond’

Rev Nearman trans. of Butsukoujou P361 notes:

‘one goes on, always becoming Buddha, even after an initial realization of the Truth.’

Dōgen Jiten (Tōkyō Dōshupan):

If you experience satori, even you experience that ‘end aim’, but not staying in satori but try hard to do more Buddha work.

Butsu shin in

仏心印

⇓

ぶつしんいん

ブツ、ほとけ -butsu, hotoke

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

イン　-in

Buddha mind/heart seal

-Buddha

– heart/ mind

-seal, stamp; mudra

Bendouwa section 7; Zanmai o zanmai chapter

⇓

Nishijima/ Cross:

In Chapter Seventy-two (Vol. III), Zanmai-ō-zanmai, Master Dōgen says that the Buddha-mind–seal is the full lotus posture

itself.

Chinchō izen

朕兆已前

⇓

ちんちょういぜん

チン

チョウ

before signs, sign or omen of things that haven’t yet happened, sign of something to come

-majestic/royalty ‘we’, our

-omen/ sign

Muchu Setsumu (1) line 1 ; Lecture 3, trk 13

⇓

Okumura:

In Daoism ‘prior to creation’ means mu, nothingness; In Buddhism expression means before any concept formed, before thinking.

Chuang Tzu

369-298 BCE Daoist philosopher (Lao Tzu also mentioned)

Trk 7

Muchu Setsumu

Chuushou

抽象

ちゅうしょう

チュウ、ひき -chuu, hiki

ショウ、ゾウ -shou, zou

abstract

-to pull out, extract

-shape, form, image, imitate, elephant

‘The Wholehearted Way’, Commentary by Uchiyama Roshi, p74, (Bendouwa)

Daichi

大地

Also: Jin Dai Ichi (whole great earth)

だいち

ダイ、タイ、おお「きい」-dai, tai, oo(kii)

チ、ジ　-chi, ji

land, the (vast) land, the solid earth

-large, great

-earth, ground, soil

Zenki; Realizing Genjokoan P92

Daigo

大梧

だいご

Great realization

Datsuraku

脱落

⇓

だつらく

だつ、ぬぐ -datsu, nugu

らく -raku

loss, dropping out, dropping off

-take off, undress, withdraw/escape from

-drop, fall

Zenki

⇓

透體脱落　-toutai datsuraku (long version of toudatsu)

出

で「る」、シュツ -de(ru), shutsu

leave, exit, take out, get out

Zenki (1-2)

Diamond Sutra

(Kongō-kyō 金剛経 , Vajra Sutra)

⇓

‘Sets forth the doctrines of sunyata and prajna’ – J-E Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō Shuppansha).

Early Chinese translation made around 401, late Shin Dynasty by Kumarajiva. One of the Prajnaparamita sutras.

Vajra – indestructible truth/ Indra’s weapon/ thunderbolt; Jp Kongou – lit. metal strong, diamond

Trk 4 Muchu setsumu

⇓

A.F.Price and Wong Mou-Lam translation:

(bold section discussed by Okumura in Lecture 1 Track 4)

SECTION XXXII: THE DELUSION OF APPEARANCES

Subhuti, someone might fill innumerable worlds with the

seven treasures and give all away in gifts of alms, but if any

good man or any good woman awakens the thought of

Enlightenment and takes even only four lines from this

Discourse, reciting, using, receiving, retaining and spreading

them abroad and explaining them for the benefit of others, it

will be far more meritorious.

Now in what manner may he explain them to others? By

detachment from appearances – abiding in Real Truth. – So I

tell you –

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:

A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;

A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,

A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

When the Buddha finished this Discourse the venerable

Subhuti, together with the bhikshus, bhikshunis, lay-brothers

and sisters, and the whole realms of Gods, Men and Titans,

were filled with joy by His teaching, and, taking it sincerely to

heart, they went their ways.

Translated by the Chung Tai Translation Committee, 2009:

All conditioned phenomena

Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow,

Like dew or a flash of lightning;

Thus we shall perceive them.”

一切有為法•

如夢幻泡影•

如露亦如電•

應作如是觀•

http://yusan.sakura.ne.jp/library/buddha_kongohannyakyo/

それでは、どのように、説くべきか。

囚われさせないように、説くべきである。」

「この現象界というものは、

夢、幻、泡のようなものにて、

影、霧、雷のようなものである。

このようなものと、考えるが良い。

Dōjō

道場

bodhi-manda

どうじょう

ドウ dou

ジョウ jou

Training hall; place for Buddhist practice or meditation; place for practicing the way; place for worship of Buddha; the ground under the Bodhi tree where the Buddha sat when attained enlightenment

-Way; road; teachings; awakening

-location, place

Muchu Sestsumu Lect 5 Trk 5, section (4) line 1

Doutoku

道得

どうとく

ドウ、みち -dou, michi

(Chinese – doa/tao)

トク

Able to speak; expressing the truth (Nishijima/Cross)

-way, road, path, truth; speak /express

-gain, advantage, able to, can, benefit

Doutoku

不

フ、ブ – fu, bu

Negative, non-, bad, un-, denial

(combined with Shiryo in Zazenshin – Fushiryo. See Shiryo and Hishiryo)

Zazenshin

Fukanzazengi

普勧坐禅儀

⇓

ふかんざぜんぎ

フ – fu

カン、すすめる -kan, susumeru

ザ – za

ぜん – zen

>ギ – gi

universal advice in the matter of zazen　

– universal

– persuade, recommend, encourage

– matter, ceremony

Bendouwa

⇓

Study Group:

Universal, as in activity of the universe.

我

が

atman; the self; the ego

Genjokoan, Realizing Genjokoan P13

Genjou

現成

⇓

げんじょう

げん -gen

じょう、せい -jou, sei

manifestation; realization; actualization; to appear or become; to be in the present moment; to enact what is actually happening

-actual, appear, present;

-form, create, be completed

(pair with Toudatsu)

Zenki, Genjoukoan

⇓

Okumura:

Okumura’s translation of Zenki, for the Zenki & Shoji Genzo-e (DATE), translates Genjō as “manifestation”. (“The great Way of all buddhas, when it is completely penetrated, is liberation and is manifestation”).

In the Genzo-e talk (CD4 track 2) he explains: “GEN is “appear” and JOU is “becoming”. In the Shobogenzo chapter Shoho Jisso, Dogen says that each and every being that is existing have two sides, liberation (TOUDATSU) and manifestation (GENJOU). [LISTEN TO MORE FROM 3.00]

Uchiyama:

‘The Wholehearted Way’, p81: ‘does not mean that something that was not previously there suddenly appears. It means that eternal reality, which cannot be hidden nor revealed, which neither exists nor ceases to exist, must be actualized right here, right now.’

Dōgen Jiten (Tōkyō Dōshupan):

All things being here.

Genjoukoan

(現成公案)

現成公按 (Dogen’s original kanji)

⇓

げんじょうこうあん

げん -gen

じょう、せい -jou, sei

コウ – kou

案アン、つくえ – an, tsukue

按アン

こうあん – koan (original meaning from China 公案)

こうあん, 公按

げんじょう

Actualisation of reality

-actual, appear, present;

-form, create, be completed

– public, official, to equalise inequality (Senne)

– plan, table 案

– laying hands, massage, to push or press, 按 original kanji used by Dogen in contrast with usual kanji above, to keep one’s lot (Senne) , to investigate in order to heal or fix something

– public case

– the reality of our own lives, reality/ emptiness that includes the equality of all things and uniqueness of every thing (p17)

– manifestation; to appear or become; to be in the present moment

Genjokoan, Realizing Genjokoan P13

⇓

Okumura:

P269 Realizing Genjoukan: ‘the unity of practice, realization, and true reality manifesting as the present moment.. Dogen’s basic philosophy that one should approach every activity as bodhisattva practice.’

Nishijima/Cross:

Genjokoan means the realized law of the universe, that is Dharma or the real universe itself.

悟

ご

ご、さとり -go, satori

Realisation, enlightenment, perceive

(one of the three kanji for satori as well as kaku and shou;

Go is opp. of mei)

Goshaku

悟迹

ごしゃく

ご、さとり -go, satori

しゃく、あと -shaku, ato

Trace of realisation

– Realisation, enlightenment, perceive

– Trace, mark, sign

Track 44 Genjokoan; Genjokoan end of section 6

Gogai

五蓋

ごがい

ゴ – go

がい、フタ -gai, futa

Five coverings

– five

– lid, cover, cap

Track 33 Genjokoan

Gujin

究尽

⇓

ぐじん

きゅう、ぐ -kyu, gu

じん -jin

completely penetrated; thoroughly clarified; thoroughly investigated/studied; perfectly realized; perfectly mastered; perfectly exhausted; thoroughly practiced; in sum.

-study exhaustively, delve into

-exhaust, use up

Zenki

⇓

Okumura:

Okumura’s translation of Zenki, for the Zenki & Shoji Genzo-e (DATE), translates GUJIN as “completely penetrated” (“The great Way of all buddhas, when it is completely penetrated, is liberation and is manifestation”).

In the Genzo-e talk (CD3 track 6) he explains: ““completely penetrated” is a translation of GUJIN. GU is “to study” or “to investigate”. JIN is “thoroughly”, “completely”, “to the end”. When we read this word GUJIN in Dogen’s writings, Dogen expects us to know where this expression comes from (just as in Western literature a writer uses a specific word that comes from a classic work, like the Bible or Latin or Greek literature, and without any explanation the author expects the reader to understand). GUJIN is from a very well-known sentence or expression in the Lotus Sutra, which says, “Yuibutsu-yobutsu-nainō-gujin-shohō-jissō”. YUI is “only”; BUTSU is “Buddha”; YO is “together”; NO is “able to”; GUJIN is “penetrate”; SHOHO is “all beings” or “all dharmas”, that is, everything that is existing; JISSO is “true reality”. When Dogen uses the word GUJIN it’s clear that he uses this word in the context of this teaching of the Lotus Sutra: “Only Buddha, together with Buddha, …” – that means only buddhas, not human beings – “can penetrate / thoroughly clarify / investigate / study / understand, this true reality of all beings.””

In the Genzo-e talk (CD4 track 2) he explains that therefore GUJIN, “[when it is] completely penetrated” means “[when we are] living within this entire network of interdependent origination” that is SHOHO-JISSO. (See also Glossary entry for SHOHO-JISSO).

Nishijima and Cross:

In their translation of the Shobogenzo Zenki, N&C translate GUJIN as “perfectly mastered” (“The buddhas’ great truth, when perfectly mastered, is liberation and is realization” – no explanatory note is given for this term in Zenki). Elsewhere, they more usually translate it as “perfectly realize”. Other translations given by N&C include “reach the conclusion” (SHBGZ, Ch.17, Hokke-Ten-Hokke, p.211, note 97); “perfectly exhausted” (SHBGZ, Ch.17, Hokke-Ten-Hokke, p.215, note 136).

SHBGZ Ch. 11, Uji, footnote 27 (N&C vol.1, p.113), provides a note to Dogen’s sentence: “To universally realize the whole Universe by using the whole Universe is called “to perfectly realize”. The note explains:

“The original sentence is constructed with combinations of only three Chinese characters, jin, kai, gu. “The whole universe” is jinkai; jin, “whole,” works as an adjective,

and kai, “world,” works as a noun. “Universally realize” is kai-jin su; kai, “universally,”works as an adverb and jin su, “realize,” works as a verb. “Perfectly realize”is gujin su; gu, “perfectly,” works as an adverb, and jin, “realize,” works as a verb. Gujin appears in the key sentence of the Lotus Sutra (1:68): “Buddhas alone, together

with buddhas, can perfectly realize that all dharmas are real form.”

SHBGZ Ch.15, Busso, footnote 7 (N&C vo.1, p.187) provides a note to Dogen’s sentence: “Dōgen, during the summer retreat of the first year of the Hōgyō era of the great kingdom of Song, met and served my late master, the eternal buddha of Tendō, the Great Master. I perfectly realized the act of prostrating to, and humbly receiving upon my head, this Buddhist Patriarch; it was [the realization of] buddhas alone, together with buddhas.” The note explains:

“Perfectly realize” is gujin. “Buddhas alone, together with buddhas” is yui-butsu-yobutsu. These words are from a sentence in the Lotus Sutra which Master Dōgen often

quoted: “Buddhas alone, together with buddhas, can perfectly realize that all dharmas

are real form.” (LS 1.684)

SHBGZ, Ch.17, Hokke-Ten-Hokke, note 136(N&C vo.1, p.215) provides a note to Dogen’s sentence: ““When the mind is in the state of realization, we turn the Flower of Dharma” describes turning the Flower of Dharma. That is to say, when the Flower of Dharma has “perfectly exhausted” the energy with which it turns us, the “energy as it is” [NOTE ALSO A REF TO LS 1.68] with which we turn ourselves will, in turn, be realized. This realization is to turn the Flower of Dharma. Though the former turning is, even now, without cease, we, reversely, are naturally turning the Flower of Dharma.” The note explains:

“Perfectly exhausted” is another translation of gujin, usually translated as “perfectly

realized.” See LS 1.68.

Hoshin and Dainen

The White Wind Zen Community translation of Zenki translates GUJIN as “to sum it all up” (when it is summed up”): “To sum it up, the Vast Path of all the Awakened Ones is liberation and realization.”

Tanahashi and Brown

Their translation of Zenki gives GUJIN as “thoroughly practiced”: “The great way of all buddhas, thoroughly practiced, is emancipation and realization.”

Robert

The academic Jean-Noel Robert give a detailed account of how the sentence, “Buddhas alone, together with buddhas, can perfectly realize that all dharmas are real form…” (LS 1.684), developed between the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra and the Chinese versions by Dharmaraksa and Kumarajiva. “On a Possible Origin of the…”: a pdf file of his essay is on the Study Group Google Drive > Zenki & Shoji Study Materials. This sentence is the source of GUJIN, YUI-BUTSU-YOBUTSU and SHOHO-JISSO

Gyosan / Yangshan

Full name Yangshan Huiji, 813-890, disciple of Issan/ Guishan 771–854 one of the Six Patriarchs who founded Guishan school of Zen (Igyōshu school in Japanese).

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

Gyouji Doukan

行持道環

ぎょうじどうかん

ギョウ、コウ、いく -gyou, kou, i.ku

ジ、もつ -ji, motsu

ドウ、みち -dou, michi (ch.doa/tao)

カン、わ -kan, wa

ぎょうじ -gyouji

the practice of the circling way

-going, journey, to go

-have, hold

-way, street, Buddhist Way (eg Butsudou)

-circle, link, ring, wheel

-practice, protection of practice

‘The Wholehearted Way’ p12, Bendouwa　

非

ひ、あら「ず」-hi, ara(zu)

non-, un-, negative

(Zazenshin chpt: combined with Shiryou)

Zazenshin

Hishiryou

非思量

⇓

しりょう

ひ、あら「ず」-hi, ara(zu)

シ、おも「う」-shi, omo(u)

リョウ -ryou

Non thinking

– non-, un-, negative; fault, error, unfavourable

– think, consider, reflect

; as verb (omou) : to think, consider, believe, to think of doing, to dream, to expect, to feel, to desire, to recall, remember, to look forward to

-quantity, weight, measure

NB see also Shiryo – thinking about things

And note Fushiryo means – not thinking about things. See Fu.

Zazenshin, Fukanzazengi

⇓

GZG Study Group:

‘In sitting what are you thinking?’

Yakusan – ‘Thinking on not-thinking’

‘How are you thinking of not-thinking?’

Yakusan – ‘Non thinking’ (hishiryo)

– used to describe zazen

– non- thinking; unthinking; not about thinking; not about judging; beyond viewpoints or right and wrong

-Buddhist dictionary – ‘unthinkable.. zen term referring to enlightenment’

-Dogen dictionary – going over the two concepts of thinking or not thinking; the absolute state of just only doing zazen; In the chapter Zazenshin – people should study sitting and also grounding themselves; In Fukanzazengi chapter Hishiryo related to Youjitsu meaning ‘important technique’.

-Notes on Shi kanji –

Kanji radical parts of Shi – top square part is not meaning rice field (tanbo no ta) but originally was brain; bottom part is heart-mind

– so brain+ heart – or meaning – mind activity done in the brain

– original meaning of shi was also related to the top of the baby’s head and the meaning ‘brain’

– ancient people thought heart and brain both together was the thinking place

Rev. Tsunoda:

( https://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/library/key_terms/pdf/key_terms08.pdf, translated by Issho Fujta)

-realm beyond discriminative thinking, beyond the ability of reasoning or emotions to grasp; state of mind in -zazen – leave ideas and views alone

-not a state of no thoughts.

-zazen is not a special state of mind.

-In ‘Zazen Yojinki’ – state of mind when breathing is natural due to posture

-‘Fukanzazengi’ – when a thought arises, be aware of it..make yourself into one piece/ become one with ourselves

– neither a transcendental state of no thoughts; nor to remain in a state of discriminative thinking

Mike Leutchford (from Zazenshin chapter study notes and kanji):

‘gotsu gotsu chi shi ryo’ – to do thinking in the still still (stable) state

Hō

法

ほう

ほう -hou

Dharma, all things

-law, system, dharma, being(s)

Trk 4

Muchu Setsumu

Hōben

方便

Upaya

ほうべん

ホウ hō

ベン ben

Skillful means (upaya); expedient; methods of teaching

-direction, side, way

-convenience, facility

Hokke ten hokke

法華転法華

ほっけてんほっけ

ホウ hō

カ ka

テン　ten

ほっけ hokke

dharma flower turns the dharma flower; lotus sutra sets in motion the dharma flowering

– law, system, dharma, being(s), all things

-flower, splendour, petal, gorgeous

-Turn, revolve, change, set in motion, give rise to

-dharma flower, Lotus Sutra (shortened title)

See: Hōrinten

Muchu setsumu

Lecture 4; Chpt 17 Hokke ten Hokke

Hōrinten

法輪転

Tenbōrin,

Shotenpōrin

dharma-cakra

⇓

ほうりんてん

ホウ　hō

リン　rin

テン　ten

dharma wheel, dharma-cakra; the teachings of Buddha

-Dharma, all things

-wheel/ circle

-Turn, revolve, change, set in motion, give rise to

See: Hokke ten hokke

(1) line 5 ; Lecture 4

⇓

J-E Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō Shuppansha);

Used to describe the teachings of the Buddha, because they crush all evil in their path, and are in ceaseless motion

Related:

転法輪 tenbourin – this is the commonly used phrase for turning of the dharma wheel. Also 初転法輪 shotenpourin – new/ beginning turn of the dharma wheel

Okumura:

Dogen changed to hourinten in section 1 Muchu setsumu, to show that the dharma wheel does the turning rather than be turned, similar to Hokke ten hokke phrase (Chpt 17 Shobogenzo), in which the dharma flower does the turning.

Houi

法位

ほうい

ほう -hou

くらい、イ　-gurai, i

Dharma position

-law, system, dharma, being(s), all things

-rank, grade, throne, crown, about, some

P119 Genjokoan; Genjokoan section 8

Honsho

本証

⇓

ほんしょう

ホン、もと

ショウ　　　　-shou

-Original enlightenment

-Original realization

– intrinsic state of awakening (Rev. Seijun Ishii)

-origin, book, true, real, main, present

-illuminate, reveal, decode (older kanji for shou　證)

-evidence, proof, certificate (recent kanji)

Bendouwa Section 35; CD 2 Track 39

⇓

Okumura:

Track 39 CD2: Beginner’s practice or Bendouwa is entirety of this enlightenment – need faith/ belief to make sense of this.

(Honsho) not a state of mind to see reality of beings as an object – as we are part of it. For Dogen enlightenment is reality itself – not awakening to reality.

Rev. Seijun Ishii:

Writes about relationship between shusho and honsho, together with the example of Nangaku polishing the tile.

http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/library/key_terms/pdf/key_terms07.pdf

Nishijima/Cross translation from sections 35-36:

In the Buddha-Dharma practice and experience are completely the same. [Practice] now is also practice in the state of experience; therefore, a beginner’s pursuit of the truth is just the whole body of the original state of experience. This is why [the Buddhist patriarchs] teach, in the practical cautions they have handed down to us, not to expect any experience outside of practice. And the reason may be that [practice itself] is the directly accessible original state of experience. Because practice is just experience, the experience is endless; and because experience is practice, the practice has no beginning.

Hosshin

発心

ほっしん

ハツ、ホツ -hatsu, hotsu

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

arousing body mind, spiritual awakening

-discharge, emit, departure

-mind, heart, spirit

Ichidaiji innen

一大事因縁

いちだいじいんねん

イチ　Ichi

ダイ dai

ジ　ji

イン in

ネン nen

One great matter cause and conditions; The reason buddhas appeared in this world (Okumura); The sole purpose of the appearance of the Buddha in this world (J-E Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō Shuppansha)

-one

-great

-matter

-cause

-conditions

See innen

Muchu setsumu

lecture 3 trk 12 9mins, ref. Lotus Sutra

Ichiji

一事

いち、ひと -ichi, hito

ジ、ズ、こと -ji, zu, koto

one, single

matter, business, thing, fact

Zenki (4)

Ichinyo

一如

いちにょ

イチ、ひと -ichi, hito

ニョ、じょ、ごとし -nyo, jo, gotoshi

oneness, one seamless reality, ultimate nature of all things

-one

-likeness, as if, best, equal

(opp. of banpo or shutsuro)

Bendouwa; Trk 27 Genjokoan; Lecture 4 Muchu Setsumu

印

イン　-in

seal, stamp; mudra; abbreviation for India

Inmo

恁麼

いんも -inmo

like this, just so, it

Inmo

Innen

因縁

hetu and prataya

いんねん

イン in

ネン nen

reason, cause; fate/destiny; hetu and prataya direct causes and indirect conditions

-cause

-conditions

lecture 3 trk 12 9mins, ref. Lotus Sutra

Inten

引転

⇓

いんてん

イン、ひく

テン、ころがる

-pulled and turned

-pull, tug

-revolve, turn around, change

Bendouwa Section 36; CD 2 Tracks 45; commentary P163

⇓

Okumura:

Track 45 CD2: It is not our engine, but we are pulled by some larger power.

Turn – guided or turned like a steering wheel.

Uchiyama:

P163 Bendouwa commentary: Pulled and turned in the practice of enlightenment..This is not about ourselves doing zazen or doing life but life being done to us – the world explains us – not us in control… Similar to us being driven.

Ishin denshin

以心伝心

⇓

いしんでんしん

イ、もって -i, motte

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

デン、つたう -den, tsutau

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

-with mind transmit the mind

-dharma transmission without using words or concepts, or written language

-(modern japanese) telepathic, great minds think alike

-by means of, because of, compared with

-mind, heart, spirit

-transmit, walk along, communicate, tradition

-mind, heart, spirit

Bendouwa CD 2 track 20

⇓

Okumura:

CD2 Track 20: ‘Shobogenzo myoshin nehan’ – name of the dharma transmitted by mind to mind, ishin denshin, with mind transmit the mind, eg when Buddha saw Mahakashyapa smile after seeing the flower, the famous story of the first dharma transmission without using any words or concepts.

Isshou

一生

いっしょう

イチ、ひと -ichi, hito

しょう、せい、なま -shou, sei

whole life; once-in-a-lifetime; lifelong; one existence; the whole world

-one

-life, be born, student, raw

Bendouwa (4)

Ittai sambō

一諦三寶

いったいさんぼう

いったい ittai

さんぼう sambou

イチ ichi

タイ tai

サン san

ボウ bou

Absolute three treasures; Three treasures as one body

-One truth, absolute or non dual truth

-three treasures ratna-traya; three basic elements in buddhism – Buddha, dharma, sangha; dharmakaya, the universe itself

-one

-truth, clarity

-three

-treasure, jewel, precious

Other version uses 一体 for ittai, one body

Muchu Sestsumu Lect 5 Trk 2, section (4) line 1

Ittoki

一時

いっとき

いち、ひと -ichi, hito

とき, じ -toki, ji

one seamless moment

one, single

time, moment

Zenki (4)

事

ジ、こと -ji, koto

individual concrete phenomenon

(as paired with the universal/ general principle – see Ri)

Shouji

Jiko

自己

じこ -jiko

じ -ji

こ、き、おのれ -ko, ki, onore

oneself, self, ego

-self

-oneself、I , me

Zenki (3)

Jijuyuu Zanmai

自受用三昧

⇓

じじゅうゆうざんまい

じ -ji

ジュ、うける -ju,ukeru

ヨウ、もち（いる） -you, mochi(iru)

じじゅうゆう -jijuyuu

サン、みつ -san, mitsu

マイ、くらい -mai, kurai

さんまい -sanmai, zanmai

-Samadhi of self-fulfillment, or self enjoyment

-this entire body is Samadhi

-self-receiving and using Samadhi

-state that you live as your true self (ie in zazen, which is the key to jijuyu zanmai)

-taking on your role in life

-self

-receive, accept

-use, employ, apply, task

-only the self; we receive (Okumura Trk. 13)

-three, third

-dark, foolish

-Samadhi, Dharma

-concentration, state, experience, nature of, the balanced state

Bendouwa, Muchu Setsumu Lect 5 Trk 5

⇓

Okumura:

The Wholehearted Way p18: Our practice, through which the buddha-dharma manifests and influences others, like a circle. Our own life is unique and cannot be shared…my life is just myself.. create our own way of practice… it pervades the universe (NB relates to myohou, wondrous dharma, in Bendouwa). Through our practice, the buddha-dharma manifests and influences other people.

Track 15: Just sitting is a criterion of Jijuyuu Zanmai.

Track 14: When we sit and let go of our self-centred thought, we are part of Buddha’s samadhi… we vow to let go of our self-centred life. Keep practicing zazen, venerating and enquiring into our life.

Track 20: There are two sides of jijyyu zanmai –

1. When sitting we can let go and become one with the myriad dharmas.

2. When outside the zendo, such as working, constantly let go of our perceptions and conceptualizations. Such as for the tenzo concentrating and letting go of other things. Or for Okumura lecturing and trying wholeheartedly to explain his understanding of writings.

Track 20: in the lecture hall there are people listening, but those folk are not objects in the room, even though there is perception in me, within jijuyu zanmai the person talking and the listener are one thing. For instance for the tenzo, all the things going on and all things in the kitchen are one thing along with the tenzo, all one reality.

-P43 Note 2: Juyu – this as a common compound means enjoyment or fulfillment. Hence translation of whole phrase as ‘Samadhi of self-fulfillment’ or ‘self-enjoyment’…

‘So we can understand this samadhi.. as the samadhi or concentration on the self when it simply receives and accepts its function, or its spiritual position within the world. The important point is that this is not the self that has an object. There is nothing other than or outside of this self. The enjoyment, fulfillment, or satisfaction is the samadhi of the self, of which there is no other. This is not an experience that is somewhere other than here and now, it is not something to be acquired or gained.’

‘Jijuyu is often contrasted with tajuyu, others receiving the enjoyment of dharma… Dogen Zenji’s jijuyu, there is no ta. Ta is included in ji. Everything becomes everything, all becomes all. Jijuyu samadhi is buddha’s practice. In Shobogenzo Genjokoan, Dogen Zenji says, ‘To study the buddha way is to study the Self; to study the Self is to forget the self; to forget the self is to be enlightened by myriad dharmas; to be enlightened by myriad dharmas is to drop off the body and mind of self and others.’ This is jijuyu zanmai. This actually occurs in zazen.

Uchiyama:

The Wholehearted Way p64: Each one of us is living out.. the self that is exactly the self…and living out the present that is exactly the present. The self that is only the self: nothing else outside of ourself. Jijuyuu Zanmai is the foundation of the reality of life experience and thus the criterion of dharma.

Relates to Sawaki Roshi saying: ‘The self making the self into the self’. (Phrase where he repeats jijuyuu three times).

Nishijima and Cross:

Bendouwa Trans. P23 Note 3: ‘ Zan-mai represents the Sanskrit word samādhi. Samādhi is explained from many viewpoints in the Shōbōgenzō, for example as jishō-zanmai, samādhi as self-experience; as hosshō-zanmai, samādhi as Dharma-nature; as kai-in-zanmai, samādhi as the state like the sea; and as zanmai-ō-zanmai, the samādhi that is king of samādhis. Jijuyō-zanmai suggests the state of natural balance that we experience when making effort without an intentional aim.

-P454 glossary: samādhi (the balanced state, the state). Represented phonetically or by jō, “deﬁnite, ﬁxed, constant, regular.” [MW] Setting to rights, adjustment, settlement. Ref: Chapter One [11]; Lotus Sutra, chapters 2, 24.

Kodo Sawaki Roshi:

Zazen You Ten: Sawaki says Jijuyuu Zanmai is (jibun ga jibun o jibun de jibun suru) ‘自分が自分を自分で自分する’ – do the self, with the self, for the self, anything self (Trans. by Okumura, Bendouwa Track 13). This four part phrase is a down to earth, unfancy expression (using jibun which is a more spoken way of saying self than jiko). A rough translation of the context he uses:

‘Jijuyu zanmai is, do the self, with the self, for the self, anything self. Zazen has no hierarchy. Any high up monk or any low down monk, zazen is zazen. Once anyone sits down they become jijuyuu zanmai of all buddhas. So this zazen is training your true self which is made alive by mother nature, before the derivations of human relationships or social relationships.’

The four part phrase could also be understood very simply to mean ‘I do the self, by the self’ or ‘I make me, by myself’.

Dan Leighton:

Says it is a synonym for zazen.

"Ji means self; juyu as a compound means enjoyment or fulfilment, but ju and yu read separately mean literally ‘to accept your function.’ These two characters might be interpreted as taking on your place or your role in life. When we accept our life, our potential and qualities, and enjoy these, we discover self-realisation and fulfillment. This is not mere passive acceptance but actively taking on and finding our own way of responding. This experience is the samadhi of accepting our own karma, feeling and accepting this situation with it’s difficulties and its richness, while using our abilities and not turning away from our sadness or fear. Facing the challenging parts of ourselves we connect to our humanity. How do we accept our place in the world, in the totality of the self?"

Study Group:

Hearing jijuyu zanmai discussed like this feels like it brings what is being discussed in Bendowa closer to the activity of our daily lives; self-fulfilling samadhi, not as some state to achieve through meditation but rather the reality of our practice as it is, day to day, living out our own lives. (KM)

Mike Leutchford: (Bendouwa Talk Part 1 P2)

Samadhi is a word which actually means ‘putting the body right’ or ‘practice’.’Receiving and using the self’…what it tries to do in that phrase is to describe the fact that when we’re in Zazen, we’re both passive – receiving, and active – using ourselves. We think in terms of doing something to the world or the world doing something back to us, that’s the kind of model that we use to look at life. So sometimes we feel passive and ineffective, sometimes we feel aggressive. But in zazen we’re neither passive nor aggressive or in other words we’re both passive and aggressive. So that’s an attempt to capture that by saying we’re receiving and using ourselves – we’re coming in and going out at the same time. And we can feel that in zazen, we may feel one then the other as we wobble.

Jinkokuu

尽虚空

also see: kokuu

⇓

じんこくう

ジン、ず

コ、うつ。る

くう、そら

infinite space where all phenomena exist; all space; all existence; everything in the whole world; the whole thing vanishes

-everything; exhaust; vanish; deplete; use up

-void, emptiness

-empty, sky, void, emptiness

Bendouwa (11)

⇓

Study Group:

The compound Kokuu is used in Buddhism as a japanese translation of the sanskcrit akasha. In Japanese buddhism at least this can mean – the whole world, the whole thing, infinite space, boundless space, everything happening, all phenomenon, everyday life, existence, infinite space where all phenomena exist. Kokuu can also mean – no obstacles in space.

Relating to the understanding of this translation ‘all space becomes satori’, a soto site we found (www.soto-tokai.net) said of jinkokuu something like –

you yourself melt into this absolute world which is related to infinity, your boundary disappears so there is nothing to interfere with or be interfered with; all time and space is re-acknowledged as enlightened world.

Jisshou

実相

じっしょう

じ、じつ、しつ -ji, jitsu, shitsu

しょう -shou

-truth, reality

-aspect, together

Zenki (1-2)

Juuji

住持

じゅうじ

ジュウ、す.む -juu, su.mu

ジ、も。ち -ji, mo.chi

dwell in and maintain (the dharma)

-dwell, reside, live

-have, hold

1 of absolute three treasures – see: ittai san bou.

Bendouwa, CD Trk. 20; Muchu Sestsumu Lect 5 Trk 2, section (4) line 1

Juyuu

受用

じゅうゆう

ジュ、うける -ju,ukeru

ヨウ、もち（いる） -you, mochi(iru)

-fulfillment; enjoyment

-receiving and using

-receive, accept

-use, employ, apply, task

Okumura, P43 Note 2 Bendouwa

也

ヤ、エ、なり -ya, e, nari

to be (classical); (or use as ka question)

Zenki (6)

Karada, Tai

體、体

タイ、からだ　-tai, karada

substance, body, group(first kanji is original, second is modern)

Zenki (1-2)

Keigei

罣礙

けいげ

けい -kei

ガイ、げ　 -gai, ge

interfere

-hinder, obstruct

-prevent/ interfere (in something ongoing, has a -ve connotation)

Zenki (6),

Heart Sutra

⇓

心無罣礙しんむけいげ -shinmukeige, nothing interferes with your heart (from the Heart Sutra)

Keisei sanshoku

谿聲山色

けいせいさんしょく、けいせいさんしき

ケイ kei

せい sei

サン san

ショク、シキ shoku, shiki

The voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains

-valley

-Sound, voice, music

-mountain

-colour, form

Title Vol 1 chpt 9 Shobogenzo; Lecture 4 Trk 18 Muchu Setsumu

Kenkai

見解

けんかい

ケン、み「る」-ken, mi(ru)

カイ、ゲ、と「かす」-kai, ge, to(kasu)

opinion, view, understanding

-see, observe, look

-take apart, dissect; dissolve; clarify

Zenki (6)

Kikan

機関

きかん

き -ki

カン、せき -kan, seki

engine

-mechanism; opportunity/crucial point

-gateway, connection, barrier, involve

Zenki (1-2)

Kobutsu

古佛

こぶつ

コ ko

ブツ butsu

Ancient buddhas; old teachers

-old, ancient

-buddha

Muchu setsumu Section (4), line 3, Lect 5 trk 4

Kokuu

虚空

(translation of sanskrit akasha/ akasa)

⇓

こくう

コ、うつ。る

くう、そら

the whole world; the whole thing; infinite space; boundless space; everything happening; all phenomenon; everyday life; existence; empty space; no obstacles in space

-void, emptiness

-empty, sky, void, emptiness

Zenki (6), Bendouwa (11), Kuge

⇓

Study Group:

Used in Buddhism as a japanese translation of the sanskrit akasha. Note that it is advised not to mix up akasha – often translated as boundless space – and emptiness or sunyata (or 空 kuu in Japanese).

To say ‘all’ space doesn’t actually refer to a total extension across physical space (space conceived geometrically, which is what we usually associate with the word space)… It’s rather pointing to and emphasising the completely inclusive interconnectedness of all thoughts, feelings, grass, trees, sounds, smells, room, other people, sky etc that are all there in, or as, zazen. Space is, as Leighton says nicely, the texture of that interconnectedness. And it’s this that becomes awake to itself in zazen. (DT)

The space/emptiness relationship is fascinating, space seemingly functioning as the ’embodiment’ of emptiness. (JF)

It does seem to make more sense to me if Dogen is emphasising ‘all space’ in the sense of ”all ‘content’ of our zazen is included without exception. That said, it does also seem true to say that in zazen there are no limits apparent that could be cutting of the experience from anything or any place else. So the experience is fairly described as ‘limitless’. But rather than use the term ‘all space’ to describe that limitlessness, I would prefer a description more like that given by Hongzhi (which I saw in Dan Leighton’s article, "Dogen’s Cosmology of Space and the Practice of Self-Fulfillment"):

"Naturally in the entire territory all is satisfied. … The moon accompanies the flowing water. … All faculties and all object-dusts" [are of] "the same substance and the same function, one nature and one form".

(DT)

Akasha sounds like an important word for Kukai and Shingon shu, it comes up in the flower garland sutra ( Huayen and Kegon), describing Indra’s net. In Shingon the associated bodhisattva is Ākāśagarbha, wikipedia translates as ‘boundless space treasury’ or ‘void store’. His twin bodhisattva is Ksitigarbha (the earth store) – the heaven and earth – eg Dogen mentioned the entire great earth and the entire space in Zenki (6).

Leighton:

Dan Leighton discusses the relationship between the practitioner and space – earth – insentient objects in the above and other articles. In ‘Dogen’s Zazen as Other-Power Practice’:

“This cosmological perspective of the world as an active Buddha field or in some ways a pure land is evident even in Dogen’s earliest writings. His "Talk on Wholehearted Engagement of the Way" Bendowa, written in 1231, is his fundamental text on the meaning of zazen. In this writing Dogen avows that when even one person sits upright in meditation, "displaying the buddha mudra with one’s whole body and mind," then "everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment."[xxi] The notion that space, the surrounding world of the practitioner, can itself become enlightenment or awakening is profoundly subversive to conventional modern viewpoints. In this passage Dogen continues to elaborate on this awakening of all things. He adds that, "earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in ten directions, carry out buddha work." Not only are the landscape features of the world dynamically active, but they also are agents of enlightening activity. Moreover, the meditator and the phenomenal elements of the world "intimately and imperceptibly assist each other."

According to Dogen there is a clear and beneficial mutuality in the relationship between practitioner and the environment. "Grasses and trees, fences and walls demonstrate and exalt it for the sake of living beings; and in turn, living beings, both ordinary and sage, express and unfold it for the sake of grasses and trees, fences and walls." This world is very far from being an objective, Newtonian realm of dead objects that humans hold dominion over in order to manipulate and utilize for their human agendas. Rather, the myriad aspects of phenomena are all energetic partners in spiritual engagement and devotion, in what is in effect a kind of pure land.

Thus the role of meditation is not to create, achieve, or obtain some enlightened state through the power of one’s personal effort. Rather, meditation is the necessary expression of this interactive event of awakening. The practitioner is gifted with the opportunity and responsibility to express this together with grasses and trees, fences and walls, and space itself. As Dogen says almost at the very beginning of Bendowa, "Although this dharma is abundantly inherent in each person, it is not manifested without practice, it is not attained without realization. When you let go, the dharma fills your hand."[xxii] The upright sitting he describes is the manifestation of letting go of one’s self-clinging, and the simultaneous acceptance of the abundant dharma of the surrounding buddha field.”

‘Dogen’s Cosmology of Space and the Practice of Self-Fulfillment – Awakening Space and the Self-Fulfilling Samadhi’:

“His discussions of the practice relationship to space go back to Dogen’s early writing about zazen, Bendowa, or "Talk on Wholehearted Practice of the Way." The excerpts in this essay have not been presented in chronological order, but a major issue in Dogen studies is the shifting of themes and emphases in Dogen’s writings. Modern scholars are learning more about the actual dates of Dogen’s various writings, and the complexity and nuancing of shifts in emphasis, style, and mode of teaching through Dogen’s life, not reducible to simply early and late periods as in some recent stereotypes. But while there are shifting emphases during Dogen’s career, there is also very much an underlying consistency, which seems to apply to his engagement with space. All of the passages quoted above from Dogen about space are written later than Bendowa, one of Dogen’s earliest and fundamental writings about meditation, which I will discuss in terms of its practice of space.

Dogen says, "When one displays the Buddha mudra with one’s whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi even for a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment." To say that all space itself becomes enlightenment is a startling and radical statement from our usual view of space, or of enlightenment. Dogen continues:

"There is a path through which the anuttara samyak sambodhi,complete perfect enlightenment, of all things returns to the person in zazen, and whereby that person and the enlightenment of all things intimately and imperceptibly assist each other. Therefore this zazen person without fail drops off body and mind, cuts away previous tainted views and thoughts, awakens genuine buddha-dharma, universally helps the buddha work in each place, as numerous as atoms, where buddhas teach and practice, and widely influences practitioners who are going beyond buddha, vigorously exalting the dharma that goes beyond buddha. At this time, because earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in the universe in ten directions [the whole of space and all the things that are space: grasses, trees, fences and so forth] carry out buddha-work, therefore everyone receives the benefit of wind and water movement caused by this functioning, and all are imperceptibly helped by the wondrous and incomprehensible influence of buddha to actualize the enlightenment at hand."[22]

Because of this mutual resonance, Dogen is saying that not only teachers help the practitioner, but that there is an "imperceptible" guidance and assistance between space itself and the person sitting. Zazen influences not only the people around the practitioner, but also, "grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles." But because the elements of space then also carry out "buddha work," they in turn inform and assist the practice of the person engaged in zazen. This is the import of this previous passage, which is part of the "self-fulfillment samadhi" jijiyu zanmai section of Bendowa that is chanted daily in Japanese Soto Zen training temples.

The etymology of the "self-fulfillment samadhi" is significant in Dogen’s teaching about space itself becoming enlightenment. The etymology of jijiyu, or self-fulfillment, is literally, "the self accepting its function." When each person takes their place or dharma position, receiving their particular unique function or role in the world, then that active acceptance becomes the fulfillment of the deeper self that is not separate from the things of the world. There is an intimate relationship between self and the world, and that is involved in what might be called "faith," in trusting both oneself and the world. But this does not mean mere passive and unquestioning acceptance of everything. The practitioner’s own active response and participation in the world, based on precepts and on principles of acting to benefit and awaken all beings, is part of the dynamic space that Dogen is expounding.

There is a word in the previous passage that I had not heard before studying in Japan, myoshi, or another version is myoka, meaning "mysterious guidance," or "incomprehensible assistance." This refers to the possibility of practitioners receiving benefit from the bodhisattva energy and buddha energy of the world. But also it works reciprocally; when we sit zazen, we affect the nature of the space. After you have sat a period in the meditation hall and arise, you might perhaps feel a difference in the space. This is hardly objective or scientific in the usual sense, but if you travel to Bodhgaya in India, or certain old temples in Japan, places where people have practiced for a very long time, and then walk into that space, you might feel some of the impact of the centuries of practice.

This idea of myoshi implies trusting the world to give what is needed, no matter how painful it is. It is also taking refuge, returning to the world, returning to one’s place in the world. Myoshi is the basis for the whole practice of lay people, going to the temples and making offerings, chanting, and bowing to buddha and bodhisattva statues. Japanese college students call on Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, for help on their tests. But the other side of myoshi is that there is a responsibility; it is not just one-way. It is our practice that activates the response from the phenomenal world. So we have a responsibility to the world and to space, and with our responsive and aware practice, assistance can arrive from the awakened space."

‘Visions of Awakening Space and Time – Dogen and the Lotus Sutra’ – The Lotus Lands Dharma Position (pages 71, 72)

This section further explores Dogen’s view of the world as an active agent of awakening, quoting from Bendowa; when one person fully performs Zazen "all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment"’ Leighton in this section parallels these views first expressed in Bendowa with a dharma discourse given 8 years later…

Eihei Koroku, Discourse 91 (1241)

All dharmas dwell in their dharma positions; forms in the world are always present.

Wild geese return to the [north] woods and orioles appear [in early spring].

Not having attained suchness, already suchness is attained.

Already having attained suchness, how is it?

after a pause Dogen said:

In the third month of spring, fruits are full on the Bodhi tree.

One night the blossom opens and the world is fragrant.

Koto

異

イ、こと -i, koto

different thing, difference (from one another), variance, other; curious.

Variation?

Zenki (6)

Kudoku

功徳

くどく

ク　-ku

ドク、トク – doku, toku

Virtue, act of merit

– Achievements, merit, honour

– virtue, benevolence, goodness

Muchu Sestsumu (1); Fueko chant

Kū

空

trans. from Sunyata

⇓

くう、から、そら -kuu, kara, sora

emptiness, void, sky, no substance/ nothing has its own fixed nature or identity

(pair with form – see Shiki)

(also linked to but different from Akasha/ Kokuu)

Heart Sutra, Kuge, Muchu Setsumu

⇓

Okumura:

‘The Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra is talking about emptiness. And emptiness means no substance, everything is impermanent, and suffering, and without self, or no substance, or no self, or anatman. That is what this emptiness or "kū" means. That means, nothing has its own fixed self-nature. Therefore each and every thing has no fixed nature. That means, nothing can exist without relation [to] or connection with others. So that means, when other things are changes [change] this has to change. So this being has no fixed self-nature or identity. That is what emptiness means.’ (Audio Lecture 1, Track 3)

John Fraser:

(Kusen 177)

Each time we sit, we chant the Heart Sutra: Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form. But what do we mean by Emptiness?

The meaning has changed over time. In the original teachings, the word simply meant absence. If the room was empty of elephants, that just meant there were no elephants there. The concept wasn’t central, because anatta – No Self – was emphasised. The person was ’empty’ of a self.

In due course, in the Mahayana, all things were seen as being empty of a ‘self’ – an immutable essence – and hence the world was empty: interdependent, dynamic, connected, whole.

But the original meaning of absence, voidness, vacuity has always lingered.

So when the Chinese started using the term, they equated it with Suchness. They said that it meant empty of delusion. And Dogen said it was prajna – before thinking. Hence Emptiness is that felt inexpressible wholeness which is there prior to thinking, which is always there, before the mind tries to amputate a self from the body of the world.

Nishijima:

Shōbōgenzō Vol. 2 P330 Note 44:

‘Kū means 1) three-dimensional space, 2) emptiness – the circumstances of the state without emotional thought or feeling, and 3) the immaterial – the abstract as opposed to the material or concrete.

Kufuu Bendou

功夫弁道

くふうべんどう

ク、コウ -ku, kou

ふう、フ -fuu, fu

くふう -kufuu (modern kanji for ku used is 工)

辦 (original kanji) べん -ben

ドウ、みち -dou, michi (ch.doa/tao)

the wholehearted practice of the Way; effort to pursue the truth; (expressing zazen itself, p2 Nishijima and Cross translation, Dogen uses Bendo as in Bendouwa)

-achievement, accumulated experience

-husband, man

-dedication/effort to training (same kanji as Kungfu martial art)

-strength, put total energy into one thing

-way, street, Buddhist Way (eg Butsudou)

Bendouwa

Kufuu Sangaku

功夫参学

くふうさんがく

ク、コウ -ku, kou

ふう、フ -fuu, fu

サン、まい -san, mai

ガク、まな「ぶ」 -gaku, mana(bu)

さんがく　-sangaku

くふう -kufuu (modern kanji for ku used is 工)

dedication to practice, training and efforts to study/ experience

-achievement, accumulated experience

-husband, man

-going, visiting

-study, learning, science

-going to study/effort to study

-dedication/effort to training (same kanji as Kungfu martial art)

Zenki (5)

Kyota ?

許多

きょた?

キョ、ゆる「す」-kyo, yuru(su)

タ、おお「い」-ta, oo(i)

permission for many; limitless (Nishijima)

-permit, allow, permission, approve, sanction

-many, frequent, much, multi-, multiple, multiplicity (Nishijima)

Zenki (6)

Kyoukuu

虚空

きょくう

きょ -kyo

クウ、そら、から -ku, sora, kara

emptiness

-void, false　

-empty, sky, void

Zenki (5)

Kyukatsu

休歇

きゅうかつ

キュウ、やすむ – kyuu, yasumu　

カツ, – katsu　

At rest; stopped; not in action; cannot be grasped

– rest, day off

– Exhausted, out of

Trk 45 Genjokoan; Genjokoan end of section 6

Manpou

萬法

myriad dharma

Genjokoan

Mei

迷

めい

Doubt, lost, illusion, delusion

(opp.of go, realisation)

Genjokoan

Mei chu yuu mei

迷中又迷

めいちゅうゆうめい

メイ mei

ちゅう, なか -chū, naka

ユウ yū

メイ mei

Within delusion another delusion

-Doubt, lost, illusion, delusion

(opp.of go, realisation)

-middle, centre, inside, vb to exist concretely

-again, another

-Doubt, lost, illusion, delusion

(3) line 3, Trk 18 lecture 4

Mei mei haku sō tō

明明百草頭

めいめいはくそうとう

ミョウ、ミョウ、あかるい – mei, myō, akarui

ヒャク hyaku

ソウ sou

トウ tou

Hundred bright grasses tips

-Bright, light; mei mei means clearly, brlliantly

-hundred

-grass, weeds, pasture

-head/ counter for large animals eg heads of cattle

Layman Pang (8th C) sayings; Muchu Setsumu (2) line 6, Trk 13 lecture 4

Metsu

滅

メツ　-metsu

perishing, destroy, ruin

Shouji; Section 8 Genjokoan

Mon shi shu shou

聞思修証

See: shushou

もん　し　しゅ　しょう

モン – mon

シ -shi

シュウ、シュ　-shu

ショウ　　　　-shou

(4 stages of practice) hear the teaching, think about it, put into practice and find true – verification/enlightenment

-hear, listen

-think

-discipline, conduct, study, practice

-illuminate, reveal, decode (older kanji for shou)

-evidence, proof, certificate (recent kanji for shou)

Bendouwa CD 2 Track 1; Trk 27 Genjokoan

無

ム、ない -mu, nai

not, nothing, nothingness

(opp.of /pair with u, existence)

Mu/Yume

夢

ム、ゆめ　　mū, yume

dream, vision, illusion

Trk 1, 4

Muchu Setsumu

Muchū-setsumu

夢中説夢

むちゅうせつむ

ム、ゆめ　　-mu, yumeちゅう, なか -chū, naka

せつ　　-setsu

relating a dream within a dream

Dream, vision, illusion
In or inside
Preach, expound; ‘to manifest or tell in action or in words’ (Nishijima trans. notes)

Trk 1

Muchu Setsumu

Mui

無為

⇓

むい

ム、ない -mu, nai

イ、ため – i, tame

no action; action that has no goal, method or means

-not, nothing, nothingness, no

-action, aim, advantage, consequence

(opp.of ui, having action)

CD Trk. 13

Bendouwa; CD 2 Question 3, Why is doing nothing good? Tracks 13-15; Section 36

⇓

Okumura:

Track 13: As a human action we want to possess and grasp; but in zazen we want to practice mui, this is really good for nothing (Sawaki). There is nowhere to go in zazen, zazen is nirvana. Myou-jitsu -wondrous method/technique/art (same wondrous as in myou-hou).

Track 14: When we practice enlightenment is already there.

CD 2 Track 15 Zazen and Nembutsu..:

Dogen similar to Shinran (Jodoshinshu founder) as thought our practice is not about making oneself a better person, for Dogen within this zazen no such separation with this self and others.

Mui – stop all intentional action to achieve something, just be here. Non doing, doing nothing, is another name for nirvana.

Muryou

無量

むりょう

ム、ない -mu, nai

リョウ -ryou

immeasurable, numberless

-not, nothing, nothingness

-quantity, weight, measure

Zenki

Myoudou

妙道

みょうどう

ミョウ、たえ -myou, tae

ドウ、みち -dou, michi

Wondrous way

-strange, mystery, excellent, delicate

-way, road, path, truth

Bendouwa CD2 Quest 4 trk 11

Myouhou

妙法

⇓

みょうほう

ミョウ、たえ -myou, tae

ほう -hou

dharma; wondrous dharma; ultimate truth

-strange, mystery, excellent, delicate

-law, system, dharma, being(s)

Bendouwa

⇓

Okumura:

Track 2: Myouhou renge kyo – Wondrous Lotus sutra is Japanese name for the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus is a symbol of myouhou, as it grows out of muddy water and yet is pure…like Buddhist practitioners..the purity grows out of our human delusions.

Track 3-4: But we need support from all beings in order to live as a self-centred individual being (part of the mystery of myouhou). We can’t see this wondrous dharma – the oneness of all time and space – because we are part of it, like a circle, we are inside the circle and so can’t see beyond the boundary, we can only see the moment.

Track 12: Teacher and student are both part of wondrous dharma; so nothing is transmitted; yet wondrous dharma is always transmitting. Each and everyone completely independent yet completely interdependent. This is one system of philosophy we cannot grasp – let go of activity to put everything in my order or my control – beyond our reach the entire reality is manifesting itself, and we are part of it.

Track 13: Wondrous dharma is jijuyu zanmai – the person and the practice and the self are all the same – there is no comparison or separation with others.

Track 17: For Dogen all living beings and entire beings are Buddha Nature – the same as myouhou, it is always revealed, not something precious that needs to be uncovered to be revealed.

Track 19: When we try to get myohou we lose it – it is not about gaining or losing wondrous dharma, as it is already there.

Ultimate truth – to see as one (as opposed to conventional/ relative truth – to see as different).

Track 20: To express wondrous dharma we have to stay silent – yet whatever we say is an expression of myouhou. When we don’t speak we hear the voice of silence, has nothing to do with present, past, future, or horizontal or vertical, is just wondrous dharma. (In Japan and China horizontal represents time and vertical is space.)

Myoujutsu

妙術

⇓

みょうじゅつ

ミョウ、たえ -myou, tae

ジュツ -jutsu

wondrous method (related to myouhou)

-strange, mystery, excellent, delicate

-art, technique (i.e. used for martial art), skill, means, trick, resources, magic　　

section 1, line 1 Bendouwa Translation

⇓

Study Group:

Could be seen as being used ironically here in line one, making a compound with myou and jutsu, as jutsu usually used for some sort of skill like a name for a martial art or fine art. So this is a wondrous method rather than a method to get somewhere or something.

Myoushu

妙修

⇓

みょうしゅ

ミョウ、たえ -myou, tae

シュウ、シュ　-shu

Wondrous practice

-strange, mystery, excellent, delicate

-discipline, conduct

Bendouwa sect 36; Okumura CD 2, track 4

⇓

Okumura:

…we transmit myoushu (wondrous practice) as this is not a personal attempt to get something, it is not something forced, somehow the dharma lets me live in this way even though I may not want to start living in this way – the practice makes big changes… It is my choice I think, but it is not really my choice, the total function of the network makes my life like this, I was moved or turned, my willpower was just a very small part of it.

Nehan

涅槃

ねはん

ネッ -ne

ハン -han

nirvana; Buddha’s death

-black soil

-tub

Shouji, Bendouwa

理

リ

formless, universal, general principle

(as paired or opposed with individual concrete phenomenon – see Ji)

Shouji

Ryōhen

Name of a monk-scolar, contemporary of Dōgen 1194- 1252 (Hossou school, Yogācāra)

Trk 6

Samadhi, see: Sanmai

Sambō

三寶

ratna-traya

See: Ittai sambō

一諦三寶

Sanmai

三昧

⇓

さんまい

サン、みつ -san, mitsu

マイ、くらい -mai, kurai

-Samadhi, dharma

-concentration, state, experience, nature of, the balanced state

-putting the body right/ practice

-three

-dark

⇓

John Daido Loori Roshi:

‘Samadhi is a state of consciousness that lies beyond waking, dreaming, or deep sleep. It’s a slowing down of our mental activity through single-pointed concentration’.

Nishijima:

P454, Shobogenzo Trans. Vol. 1: samādhi (the balanced state, the state). Represented phonetically or by jō, “deﬁnite,

ﬁxed, constant, regular.” [MW] Setting to rights, adjustment, settlement. Ref: Chap-

ter One [11]; Lotus Sutra, chapters 2, 24.

Mike Leutchford: (Bendouwa Talk Part 1 P2)

Samadhi is a word which actually means ‘putting the body right’ or ‘practice’.

See: Jijuyu Zanmai

Sansuigyo

山水経

さんすいぎょう

Mountains and Water Sutra

Chpt 14 Shobogenzo title；Trk 12 Lecture 4 Muchu Setsumu

Sanzen

参禅

⇓

さんぜん

サン -san

ゼン -zen

Zazen；Interview with abbot

-take part in, visiting, going

-Zen, silent meditation

Realizing Genjokoan P81

⇓

Okumura:

(Notes P283) ‘Sanzen often refers to a personal interview with a Zen master, especially in the Rinzai tradition. In Shobogenzo Zazengi, however, Dogen Zenji wrote, “Sanzen is zazen.” Here Rujing also uses the word as an equivalent to zazen.’

Satori /Kaku

覚

かく、さとり

Awakening;

real reality in our common life is a dream (Okumura, Muchu Setsumu)

Trk 1

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e; Genjokoan section 5

Sei

斉

equality

Trk 7

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

Sekishin

赤心

せきしん

セキ、あか「い」-seki, aka(i)シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

unbared heart

-red

-mind, heart, spirit

Zenki

Sha

捨

シャ、す「てる」 -sha, su(teru)

abandon, reject, throw away

Zenki (1-2)

Shi hōjō

此宝乗

This precious carriage, this treasure carriage

Muchu Sestsumu Lect 5 Trk 5, section (4) line 4

Shikantaza

只管打坐

しかんたざ

シ、ただ – shi, tada

カン – kan

タ – ta

ザ – za

Just sitting

– only, free

– control

– strike

– sit

Trk 33 Genjokoan

Shiki

式

しき

form, style

(pair with emptiness, see kuu)

Heart Sutra, Shouji

Shiku Funbetsu

四句「分別」

Shiku

四句

しく「ふんべつ」

シ、よん　-shi, yon

く　-ku

four possibilities/ four line discrimination (as described by Nishijima/Cross in Shobogenzo Vol.3, philosophical logic system inc. the 4 kanji sets 1. u, 2. mu, 3. yakiuyakimu, 4. hiuhimu)

-four

-phrase, section, sentence

Shiku hyaku hi

四句百非

⇓

しくひゃくひ

しく – Shiku

シ、よん　-shi, yon

く　-ku

Four phrases one hundred not

Shiku is a Buddhist philosophical logic system (see ‘Shiku Funbetsu’ in General Glossary)

Trk 11 Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

⇓

Okumura:

‘All logical ways of thinking does not work.. That means Mahayana teachings is beyond our logical conceptual thinking..

This is what Yang-shan (Gyosan) said in his dream.. Mahayana teaching is about awakening.. from that dream we think is real.’

Shin

心

しん

シン、こころ -shin, kokoro

mind/ heart

Trk 6

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

Shin

信

See also shin

⇓

しょうしん

セイ、ショウ、ただしい -sei, shou, tadashii

シン -shin

true faith/ trust; correct faith; right faith

-justice, correct, righteous,

-faith, truth, fidelity, honesty, trust, vb. to believe in

section (21), (67)

⇓

Study Group:

What meanings are there beyond this translation of ‘faith’, which has a lot of Christian association.

The phrase Dogen uses in question 3 (section 21) for instance, is shou-shin 正信, which Okumura has as ‘true faith’. The shou kanji can also be correct or proper and the shin can be trust, honesty, belief.

Sotoshu wiki has this compound as generally meaning: ‘without any slight doubt but you believe the buddha’s teaching’

Shinran Shonin’s (contemporary of Dogen) Pure Land Jodoshinshu seems to tie in with Dogen’s ideas. A connected site, tulip-k.co.jp talks of shoshin as ‘right belief’, ‘as not only believing in a god or buddha, but feeling supported and trusting in something, having belief.. if people don’t believe in anything they can’t keep on living, living equals belief…’ It also quotes Shinran on shoushin: ‘we do feel pain when we find out we were betrayed by something we believed, so if you want to have true happiness you better have the right belief which never betrays you.’

We chatted before about his other power practice being related to Dogen’s. Shinran’s phrase shinjitsu no shinjin (from his writings Kyougyoushinsho, info on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Ddo_Shinsh%C5%AB) describes faith/ belief in a different way from western thinking, not like a contract you have with a god or buddha being your faith, but as something given by the Buddha, not arising from the believer, but arising from naturalness and spontaneity of the vow, and something that cannot be achieved solely through conscious effort.

Possibly true belief or correct trust or something like that might be better than faith. We may tend to think belief or trust should come from us, rather than the opposite way around, or as Dan Leighton talks about regarding space and awakening, that all living and insentient things including the practitioner ‘are partners in expounding the dharma’.

Dan Leighton:

Dogen’s Cosmology of Space and the Practice of Self-Fulfillment – Awakening Space and the Self-Fulfilling Samadhi

“When each person takes their place or dharma position, receiving their particular unique function or role in the world, then that active acceptance becomes the fulfillment of the deeper self that is not separate from the things of the world. There is an intimate relationship between self and the world, and that is involved in what might be called "faith," in trusting both oneself and the world. But this does not mean mere passive and unquestioning acceptance of everything. The practitioner’s own active response and participation in the world, based on precepts and on principles of acting to benefit and awaken all beings, is part of the dynamic space that Dogen is expounding. There is a word in the previous passage that I had not heard before studying in Japan, myoshi, or another version is myoka, meaning "mysterious guidance," or "incomprehensible assistance." This refers to the possibility of practitioners receiving benefit from the bodhisattva energy and buddha energy of the world. But also it works reciprocally; when we sit zazen, we affect the nature of the space. After you have sat a period in the meditation hall and arise, you might perhaps feel a difference in the space. This is hardly objective or scientific in the usual sense, but if you travel to Bodhgaya in India, or certain old temples in Japan, places where people have practiced for a very long time, and then walk into that space, you might feel some of the impact of the centuries of practice.

Shoutou

正当

しょうとう

セイ、ショウ、ただしい -sei, shou, tadashii

とう　-tou

at this moment

-justice, correct

-appropriate, right

Zenki (1-2)

Shōyōroku

從容録

Book of Serenity

Trk 11

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

Shugyou

修行

しゅぎょう

シュ -shu

ギョウ、コウ、いく -gyou, kou, i.ku

practice

-discipline, study

-going, journey, to go

Bendouwa

Shuhou?

衆法

しゅうほう

しゅう、しゅ -shuu, shu ほう -hou

all beings

-multitude, populace, masses

-law, system, dharma, being(s)

Zenki (3)

Shukko/ Suiko

出興

Utopada

しゅっこう

シュツ、スイ

コウ、キョウ

get out, support, rise

trans. of utopada – result fruits (opp of cause – sanskrit hetu)

-exit, leave, go out

-entertain , interest

Muchu setsumu (1) line 1

Shu shou

修證 (older kanji)

修証

⇓

しゅしょう

シュウ、シュ　-shu

ショウ　　　　-shou

practice and enlightenment; practice and realization; practice and experience; practice and verification

-discipline, conduct, study, practice

-illuminate, reveal, decode (older kanji for shou)

-evidence, proof, certificate (recent kanji)

(combined with ichi nyo as shushou ichi nyo – practice and enlightenment are one)

Bendouwa CD2 Quest 4 trk 11, Genjokoan; Question 7; CD 2 track 37; Bendouwa commentary P162; Trk 27 Genjokoan

⇓

Taisen Deshimaru Roshi:

In the Zen of Master Dogen, as opposed to other religions, practice and satori are simultaneous. This point is very important.

For example: When you eat, during the action of eating, hunger is satisfied. It’s not necessary to think of satisfying your appetite. Unconsciously, naturally, automatically, the stomach is satisfied. In the same way, during zazen, it is not necessary to think of attaining satori. And it’s wrong to believe that eating once means that it is no longer necessary to eat in the future. In the same way, it’s necessary to continue the practice of zazen.

Zazen is not an instinct, so it’s more difficult. Kodo Sawaki wrote:

‘Eternal satori is contained and rests only within the practice of the moment. Zazen means to practice that which cannot be explained.’

Zazen is to practice that which cannot be thought by our own consciousness. True religion is not thought, but only practiced. So true Zen means to practice here and now, to practice eternity here and now.

Buddha does not only mean Shakyamuni Buddha. The true Buddha is he who practices the Way of Shakyamuni Buddha. Zazen means recovering the unity between the state of Buddha and the ego, and not only during zazen but through all the postures of daily life. If those postures are correct, satori is realized unconsciously, naturally, automatically.

Study Group:

This phrase is also used near the start of Genjokan:

自己をはこびて萬法を修證するを迷とす、萬法すすみて自己を修證するはさとりなり

Pushing the self forward to practice and experience the myriad dharma is a delusion. To allow the myriad things to come forward and experience themselves is enlightenment. (JF)

some workings for this:

自己 jiko oneself, ego

はこびて / 運ぶ hakobute to carry; to transport; to move; making the effort

萬法 manpou myriad dharma

修 shu discipline conduct study, practice 證 shou illuminate

修證 shu shou practice/ reveal/ understand/ decode/ experience

迷 mei doubt, lost, illusion, delusion

すすみて advance, go forward, to do of own free will

NB Section 36 of text – ‘.. both Shakyamuni Tathagata and Venerable Mahakashyapa were accepted and used in the practice of enlightenment, and in the same manner Great Teacher Bodhidharma and Great Ancestor Daikan were pulled and turned in the practice of enlightenment’.

Note the strong connection between the phrases inten ‘pulled and turned’ and juyuu ‘accepted and used’ (from jijuyuu zanmai) together with shushou. These are part of the connected set of phrases in Bendouwa, along with shoshin ‘beginner’s mind’ and myoushu ‘wondrous practice’ perhaps, making up the butsudo ‘buddha way’ process Dogen is writing about here.. (BT)

Nishijima’s version reads:

Driving ourselves to practice and experience the myriad dharma a is delusion. When the myriad dharmas actively practice and experience ourselves, that is the state of realisation.

Tanahashi’s version reads:

To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening

Other modern Japanese versions:

pushing ourselves forward to experience/ reveal the myriad things is delusion. Using buddha’s teaching and the way things are, to reveal your true self is enlightenment.

you can’t get truth with you going around hither and thither, truth is coming from over there.

it is a delusion to try to explain the world’s rule from your point of view, but it is enlightenment that the world’s rule will explain yourself.

Dan Leighton:

In his early 1231 writing "Bendowa." In response to one of the questions posed, Dogen states,

“In buddha-dharma, practice and enlightenment are one and the same. Because it is the practice of enlightenment, a beginner’s wholehearted practice of the Way is exactly the totality of original enlightenment. For this reason, in conveying the essential attitude for practice, it is taught not to wait for enlightenment outside practice. . . Since it is already the enlightenment of practice, enlightenment is endless; since it is the practice of enlightenment, practice is beginningless.”[34]

For Dogen, true practice of buddha-dharma can only be a response to some present awareness of enlightenment or realization. And enlightenment is not realized, or meaningful, unless it is engaged in practice. Dogen says that because of this unity he urges all to engage in zazen, and then he cites Nanyue’s, "It is not that there is no practice and enlightenment, but only that it cannot be defiled."[35]

Okumura:

Track 11 CD 2 related to Question 4, Mon shi shushou (see this entry on the 4 stages of practice, hear- think- practice- enlightenment):

Dogen said shushou are one, we don’t need to wait after practice to look back and verify it, practice is itself verification, practice and enlightenment are one (shushou ichi nyo)…practice is verification of the teaching.

(Rather than just believing words) real teaching of Buddha is in the actual things and in the interaction of person to person, not by written teaching – actual things, right here and now in front of our eyes, how to use our body and mind – that is practice.

Dogen criticises other schools that have teaching but not practice to verify it.

Related to ideas on cause and effect (CD 2 track 37), discussing fox koan:

Principle that practice and enlightenment are not two, not separate. Usually practice is thought of as a cause and enlightenment as a result. Causality a very important teaching in Buddhism, one of the four noble truths. Accepting causality to accept the four noble truths. If Dogen says cause and effect are one thing, does this negate these truths?

Dogen says two things on koan (does a person fall into cause and result if a great practitioner of the way?)… 1) cause and effect/result are not different. 2) the body of the fox and body of the zen master are not different.

Dogen also says we should not neglect cause and effect or try to become free of it.

Karmic consciousness is not a negative thing, we have to learn how to use it, as vow and repentance – we should avoid unwholesome actions.

CD 2 Track 45-46:

Just practice, just sit, even without thinking or grasping ‘I am a practitioner’, ‘I am sitting’, then the shou starts to fill our hands, our hands are filled with the dharma/ enlightenment. There is a paradox – when we grasp we lose it, when we let go we get it (but actually we get nothing).

Practice and enlightenment is defiled by our discriminating mind to try to get something, to get enlightenment. In a hundred efforts we never hit the target once – is another reality of our practice… we gradually begin to hit the target… one hit now is the result of many misses/ failures in the past… When we climb a mountain, the first step to leave home, and final step at the top, is the same step… this entire process is buddha-way, another meaning of cause and result are one.

Uchiyama:

The word shu (practice) is often used, but the meaning is vague. According to a dictionary this word means to put something in order, fix, put things to right, or make things ready. So practice means to fix yourself, put yourself right, and make yourself straightforward. In other words, the reality of life settles down into the reality of life itself. The reality of life becomes straightforward and carries out the reality of life in accordance with the reality of life. In my expression, enlightenment is to be the reality of life and practice is to actualize the reality of life. (P164 of commentary, Question 7)

Shutsuro

出路

⇓

しゅつろ

シュツ、でる、だす -shutsu, deru, dasu

ロ、ル、みち -ro, ru, m

path of letting go (Tanahashi), path of emancipation (Okumura), road away from discrimaination (Rev, Nearman)

-exit. leave, come out, go out

-path, road, distance

(opp. of ichinyo)

Bendouwa

⇓

Okumura:

Track 28 approx: Get out of oneness, walk among multiplicity. Even in our daily life of many things and choices and discrimination, and yet our practice in our daily lives should be practice of emancipation.

Track 2: We should find nirvana even among our problems and our pains; if we are just chasing after our satisfaction this is truly a problem.

Sunawa

即

ソク、すなわ -soku, sunawa

identity, identical (Nishijima, Okumura);

conform, adapt; instant, immediate, as

is. Uniformity/ conformity possible too?

Zenki (6)

Sunyata

see: Ku

emptiness

多

タ、おお「い」-ta, oo(i)

many, frequent, much , multi- , multiple,

multiplicity (Nishijima)

Zenki (6)

Tanden

単伝

⇓

たんでん

タン -tan

デン、つたう -den, tsutau

simply transmitting

-one, simple, single (new kanji?)

-communicate, transmit, to follow

Bendouwa

CD Track 13

⇓

Okumura:

Track 13: Dharma transmitted by Buddha with a smile, without the conceptions transmitted from life to life. Tanden – must be done from person to person, always one to one.

Tenbōrin, see Hōrinten

渡

ト、わた「る」 -to, wata(ru)

ferry, cross, migrate, ford

Zenki (1-2)

Tou

同

トウ、おな「じ」-tou, ona(ji)

same, equal

Zenki (4), Bendouwa (12)

Toudatsu

透脱

⇓

とうだつ

とう -tou

だつ、ぬぐ -datsu, nugu

Liberation, freedom

-pass through, see through/transparent,

as vb to be transparent, to pass through, to make a space, see clearly through

-take off, undress, withdraw/escape from

(pair with Genjou)

Zenki (1-2)

⇓

Okumura:

Okumura’s translation of Zenki, for the Zenki & Shoji Genzo-e (DATE), translates TODATSU as “liberation” (“The great Way of all buddhas, when it is completely penetrated, is liberation and is manifestation”).

In the Genzo-e talk (CD4 track 2) he explains: “TO literally means “pass through”, and also means “transparent”. That means no separation – when something is transparent, all the light can pass through, nothing is hindered. DATSU is the same character as in SHINJIN-DATSURAKU, “taking off” or “dropping off”. This is why I translate TODATSU as “liberation” – there is no such boundary, we can freely come and go.

Nishijima and Cross:

In their translation of the Shobogenzo Zenki (vol.2, p.285), N&C translate TODATSU as “liberation” (“The buddhas’ great truth, when perfectly mastered, is liberation and is realization”.) Footnote 1 (p.285) explains: “TODATSU stands for TOTAI-DATSURAKU, or “penetrating through to the substance and dropping free.” TO includes the meanings of penetration, clarification, and transparency. DATSURAKU, “dropping off,” most commonly appears in the phrase SHINJIN-DATSURAKU, “dropping off body and mind”.

Dōgen Jiten (Tōkyō Dōshupan) P168:

(rough interpretation) ‘All the thoughts that are stuck in your head, all the things you are bothered about, you become free of these – deep attachments are thrown away. The meaning is ‘life is life’ – you stick to it and just totally do it out and out.’

Elsewhere/’, …

U, Yū

有

ユウ、ウ、あ「る」-yuu, u, a(ru)

existence; have, possess, available

(opp. of/ pair with Mu, nothingness, see below)

有為

うい

ユウ、ウ、あ「る」-yuu, u, a(ru)

イ、ため – i, tame

conditioned

-existence; have, possess, available

-action, aim, advantage, consequence

Trk 4

Muchu Setsumu Genzo-e

Warui

悪

アク、わるい -aku, warui

unwholesome, evil, false

Shouji

Yosei

依正

よせい ? -yosei

ヨ「リ」、ヨ -yo(ri), yo

セイ、ショウ、ただしい -sei, shou, tadashii

depending correctly

-depend on

-justice, correct

Zenki (5)

Yuge

遊戯

Yuke　

遊化

Yukesuru

遊化する

⇓

ゆげ

ユウ、あそぶ　-yuu, asobu

ギ、ゲ -gi, ge

ゆけ

ゆけする

ユウ、あそぶ　-yuu, asobu

カ、ケ、ば．ける -ka, ke, bakeru

-play freely, frolic

-respond and engage with spontaneity (Leighton)

-this compound can also mean: game, pastime, amusement (for example yuugijo 遊戯場 means playground)

-play

-sport

-Buddhist term used in later version of the text: go out (somewhere) to preach/ teach people; preach the dharma

-play

-change, take the form of, influence, -ization

part 1, line 3 Bendouwa Translation

⇓

Okumura:

The Wholehearted Way Note 3 Page 43: Translate as play freely. The character for change was added in a later version of Bendouwa, to mean ‘to go out and expound the teaching’. This kanji replaced the original kanji for sport or game.

Study Group:

This is a total change from the kanji in the original compound, in use commonly for play, or sport, a fun game, such as in yuugi-jou which literally means play-ground. Also used in other types of compounds to do with fun, jest, joke, or theatrical play. So we should probably ignore the use of the kanji for change here and the compound to expound the dharma.

Dan Leighton:

Zazen as Enactment Ritual

There are many other such examples in Dogen’s writings. But one of the most revealing dharma hall discourses is 266 from 1248, truly astonishing in disclosing Dogen’s self-awareness of the subtlety of his training approaches. He states four aspects of his practice teaching, and their intended impact on his students.[25] He begins with, "Sometimes I enter the ultimate state and offer profound discussion, simply wishing for you all to be steadily intimate in your mind field." This may refer to the impact of his talks, either from Shobogenzo or Eihei Koroku. Then he adds, "Sometimes within the gates and gardens of the monastery, I offer my own style of practical instruction, simply wishing you all to disport and play freely with spiritual penetration." This refers to his teaching about engaging with everyday monastic activities, as inEihei Shingi. But in both of the first two instances, the desired impact is not about the students acquiring some new state of being or understanding, but rather about their fostering steady intimacy in their awareness, or for them to disport and play freely, i.e. to respond and engage with spontaneity, in their daily activities. In the third approach "I spring quickly leaving no trace, simply wishing you all to drop off body and mind." This may refer to abrupt exclamations or startling demonstrations in Dogen’s teaching. But dropping off body and mind, his stated aim, is an expression Dogen uses both for complete enlightenment, but also as a synonym for zazen. This dropping off, letting go of physical and conceptual attachments, is the activity of zazen that is enacted in the zazen ritual.

Yuu, see: U

Yuumu

有無

⇓

ユウム

existence or nonexistence, presence or absence

(each kanji No. 1) and 2) respectively of Four Possibilities discrimination, see Shiku)

⇓

亦有亦無 -yaki u yaki mu both existence and nonexistence (No.3) from Shiku)

非有非無 -hi u hi mu nether (or beyond) existence and nonexistence (No.4) from Shiku)

Zanmai (see Sanmai)

Zenki

全機

ぜんき

ぜん -zen

き -ki

total functioning

-all, whole, complete

-mechanism; opportunity/crucial point

Zenki (1-2); trk 52 Genjokoan

Zenna

染汚

⇓

ぜんな

ぜん、しみ、そめ

な、ま、きたない、オ

Defiled

-dye, stain, smear, permeate

-dirty, pollute, disgrace　　

Bendouwa Section 40; track 45 CD2

⇓

Okumura:

Track 45 CD2: …only that it cannot be defiled, separated into practice and enlightenment, defiled by our discriminating mind to try to get something, to get enlightenment.

Helpful Links

Sūtra of Immeasurable Meaning 無量義經
http://www.sutrasmantras.info/sutra20.html#top