This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. I'm very grateful to all of you that your practice has been the most important support for the translation of Zen Master Dogen's work San Francisco Zen Center has supported this Dogen translation project for 33 years, providing a lot of great practitioners of Zen, Zen students and teachers, great poets. My co-translators, there are over 30 people.

[01:03]

Zen Center has funded the project for this number of years. The publication of this book marks the completion of the Dogen translation project. very grateful and very happy to share with you this little book. A Japanese journalist friend of mine who just purchased the book said, oh, cars Your book seems to be suited for a weight for pickle making. At least it has some use.

[02:09]

For those who have not heard of Dogen, he was a 13th century Japanese monk who went to China and then brought... Zen teaching to Japan. He established monastic practice, and this practice, very detailed practice, has been transmitted to many people, including those people who are practicing here. He was a great thinker, great poet, amazing teacher. I think he is one of the greatest elucidators of meditation throughout all spiritual traditions.

[03:18]

So anyone who would like to meditate, who would like to expand their meditation experience, technique, how to participate in communal practice, life of meditation. I think Logan's work would benefit all of us. When I first visited Suzuki Yoshi in 1964, There was only one little booklet in English about Dogen's work. So it's amazing that 46 years later, now we have so many Dharma teachers in this country, over 100, 150.

[04:27]

Dharma teachers of the Dogen's line. We have over 50 books in English published, translations of his work or commentaries. So your practice and your interest has built the foundations for studies, translations, And then that's brought many books, including this book. One of the... So you can take a look at Dogen's work. And I hope the interest will... continued to grow. So one of the people who really admired Dogen in history was Ryokan.

[05:36]

So I'd like to talk a little bit about his life. He was an 18th to 19th century Japanese monk who was trained in this monastery. And then he studied about Dogen. He was not really suited to be an organizer or a leader or trainer, training monks and nuns. So he chose to be kind of a pilgrim a hermit and a beggar, and practicing begging as a part of Buddhist practice. He took Dogen's teaching, one who studies the Buddha way needs to be poor.

[06:47]

So he kept himself very poor, and living in the countryside, he possessed almost nothing. He became one of the, actually he was the greatest calligrapher of all of his era, Edo period, you know, during these 250 years. He also became one of the greatest poets of this era. But sometimes he didn't possess a brush. Anyway, so I translated some of Ryokan's poems recently, but I'm not a good reader, so I asked Julius to read some of his poems.

[07:51]

So the first one is Haiku, and I think No one else could write such a haiku. You could see. Only thing the thief left behind. Moon in my window. So he was so poor, but, you know, someone broke into his hut and took everything, including, like, the board, you know, for the meditation, and then the mat. to sleep on, but the thief could not steal the moon. The next one is a walk-up poem, a little bit longer, a traditional five-phrase poem, very Buddhist. Within this serene snowfall, one billion worlds arise.

[08:57]

In each, flurries come floating down. So in Buddhist scriptures, you know, the universe is kind of described as one billion worlds. So he could see from his heart, you know, snow is falling. One billion worlds. So that's the power of meditation. Yes, this is a haiku, but also very true. Falling blossoms. Blossoms in bloom are also falling blossoms. So in Japanese poetry, if you say only blossoms or flowers, that means cherry blossoms. Gosh, how pathetic I am.

[10:10]

This morning again, I walk with a cane and knock on the temple door. Of course, to borrow one. Today while begging, I got caught in a shower. For some time I found shelter in an old shrine. Laugh if you like at the one jar and one bowl I own. Humble and cleansed, my life a broken house. Wilken loved to play with his children. He was so famous for playing children all day long. Playing with children under a shrine forest.

[11:17]

Let this spring day not turn to death. This is the last part of his long poem. called Discourse. At the end, he talks about Dogen. He studied with Kokusen, who was the leader of a small monastery, but his training was so rigorous. he made this temple, Entsuji Temple, one of the highest ranking training centers of Soto School. And his, Ryokan's Dharma brother became the abbot of Entsuji after the teacher Kokusen died.

[12:26]

And then later he became the abbot of Eheji and then head of Soto School. So you can see that Ryokan's training was quite well. Dogen was forgotten. Maybe his teaching was forgotten for about 400 years after his death. And then in the 17th century, there was a revival of Dogen kind of studies. And then I think 16... the abbot of Eheji Kozen collected all the manuscripts a lot of them were kept in Eheji but he collected and then created the version but it took 125 years for this manuscript to be published they had to get government permission and so forth

[13:30]

So Ryokan's Dharma brother, Sokuchu, as the abbot of Eheji, he was very instrumental to get this book published, 95 essays. However, the book was published some years, seven years or so after his death. And it was also published in the year Ryokan died so Ryokan didn't actually see the entire work but he really studied a few essays from this huge work by Dogen and he really admired Ryokan admired Dogen's work so this is the last part of his poem called Discourse Then came our Ehe Dogen, a true pioneer in the ancestral domain.

[14:39]

He carried Taibo's seal of approval. His voice resounded like thunder throughout this country. Vigorous was his work of spreading Dharma, so vigorous that it overshadowed other dragons and elephants. Even hermits did not miss being illuminated. He also guided those living on remote eyeing. He eliminated what should be eliminated, offered what should be offered. Since the master left this land of Shinto deities, how many years have passed? Thorn bushes grow around high halls, Fragrant flowers wither in the weeds. Vulgar songs fill the days. Who will expound the luminous teaching?

[15:41]

Ah, I, a humble one, have encountered this era. When a great house is about to crumble, a stick cannot keep it from falling. Unable to sleep on a clear night, I toss in bed, chanting this poem. So dragons may sound a little bit funny, but it's a symbol for outstanding practitioners. So elephants. So at that time, maybe... Japanese Buddhism was protected by the government. And people could not change their membership because they have to register the temples for their citizenship.

[16:47]

And as a proof, temples issued proofs that these people are not Christians. Christians were persecuted at that time. So temples had so much privilege and then of course privilege comes corruption and decline and so forth. So Ryokan really saw this decline or dharma. There's one more poem, it's a longer poem, Ryokan's poem about Dogen, which has been published in On a somber spring evening around midnight, snow sludge sprinkled the bamboo in the garden.

[17:50]

I wanted so desperately to ease my loneliness. My hand reached behind me for the words of Ehe Dogen beneath the open window at my desk. I offered incense, lit a lamp, and quietly read. Body and mind dropping away is simply the upright truth. In 1,000 postures, 10,000 appearances, A dragon toys with the pearl. Beyond ordinary freaking, the precious tiger is captured. Thus, Dogen's writings reflect the Buddha's teaching. I remember the old days when I lived at Ensu Monastery and my late teacher lectured on the true Dharma eye.

[18:53]

It was then that I had a breakthrough. I was granted permission to read it and studied it intimately. Until then, I had depended solely on my own limited understanding. Soon after, I left my teacher and became a wanderer. What is my relationship to Dogen? Everywhere I went, I devotedly practice the true Dharma I. How many years have passed since then? Forgetting myself, I returned home and now live in leisure. I take this book and examine it quietly. Its tone is not in line with the teachings of others. No one has asked whether it is a jade or a pebble.

[19:59]

For 500 years it's been covered with dust, simply because no one has an eye for Dharma. For whom was all his eloquence expounded? Longing for the ancient times and grieving for the present, my heart is exhausted. Sitting by the lamp one evening, my tears wouldn't stop. They soaked into the book of the ancient Buddha, He He. In the morning, an old man living nearby came to my thatch hut. He asked me why the book was damp. I wanted to speak, but didn't, as I was embarrassed, deeply distressed, I could not explain. I dropped my head for a while before finding my words.

[21:01]

Last night's rain drenched my basket of books. Thank you, Julius. I guess many of you need to go to bed soon. So if you have any thoughts or questions, Yes. I understand that who Suzuki referred to as Big Suzuki, D.T. Suzuki, never wrote about Dogen in his writings in the West. Is that the case? And if so, would you comment on that? Yes. D.T. Suzuki was the one who made Zen or Zen philosophy or thinking. famous. He wrote a lot about koan studies, you know, paradoxes, Chinese Zen stories, Zen and psychology, and so forth.

[22:16]

But you're right, he almost never mentioned, maybe a few times, but it's only maybe Nothing important about Dogen's teaching or anything like that. D.T. Suzuki was an extensive writer. It's puzzling, but he was in Rinzai school. So in Japan, Rinzai school and Soto school. Rinzai school does a lot of koan studies. And then Soto School does Dogen practice and Dogen studies. T.T. Suzuki didn't also talk so much about practice, right? It was then thinking and philosophy and paradoxes and so forth. Yes. Yes. I actually have two questions.

[23:17]

One, I don't know, maybe try one and then maybe somebody else has a question. Do you have a favorite fascicle? Oh. I think the first one, Bendoa is very nice. It's very comprehensive. He's teaching that everything, you know, all his thinking, his understanding of Zen, and the summary of his own practice and teaching is all condensed. So... That is good. Of course, Kenjo Koan is everyone's favorite. Waihai Tokuzui is wonderful, bowing and receiving marrow. It talks a lot about women, women's equality.

[24:18]

It's ridiculous to sort of discriminate women who are enlightened. they should be equally respected and so forth. And I think that's a very important fascicle. Thank you. The other question, I wondered if you could say a few words about the 96th fascicle, 108. Well, Dogen wanted to make 100 fascicles and then at some point when he was He was revising different essays. Fascicles means chapter, length, text bound independently. So he created 75 fascicle versions. And then newly written or edited fascicles

[25:24]

12 fascicles. So that was Dogen's own idea of the structure of the text. As I mentioned, Kozen of the Ehe Monastery collected 95 fascicles. Some of them are not really showbogens or essays sometimes regulations are included and so forth but 95 is common but there's different versions and then they have one essay which is incomplete kind of manuscript of Dogen called 108 Gates of Dharma you know So we added that one.

[26:26]

That's why this fascicle, this book has 96 fascicles. Yes. Yes. As I understood it, you thought it was very important for people who speak English to be introduced to Dogen's work But I wonder, how widely read is he among the general populace in Japan? Well, in the early 20th century, there was a philosopher called Tetsuro Watsugi, and then he discovered Dogen as a kind of a great philosopher. Until then, it had been studied by Soto monks and nuns.

[27:31]

And since then, Dogen is so difficult, first of all. First of all, Buddhist philosophy is difficult. Zen is a little bit also more difficult because a lot of colloquial languages, Chinese. And then Dogen's idiosyncratic way of expressing and writing. So it's very difficult. So in 1960, I said to a Zen master, a friend of mine, he said, well, I heard that actually I read that there are only three people in Japan who can understand Dogen's life work, Shobo Genso. So you must be one of them. So I'd like you to, if you would, translate Dogen's work into modern Japanese.

[28:36]

And he said, yes, I will, if you help me. So I started, you know, and I'm still doing that. And then... Your question was... How widely read was... Ah, so, like, you know, in Japan, there are, like, books of traditional Japanese philosophy and so forth. So Dogen will be always there. And also, books of Japanese classical literature, and Dogen will be there, and so forth. So he is widely published. I don't know how widely read he is. So we, Nakamura, Soichi, Roshi and I, did the first complete translation, modern Japanese translation of Dogen, published in four volumes and one dictionary.

[29:45]

in late 1960s. So now we have about seven or eight modern Japanese translation often along with the original medieval text. So I think Logan is accessible in Japan at the moment. Yes. Did Dogen write his own, or did he have like an amanuensis, someone who wrote what he was dictating? Well, Shogo Genzo was written by himself. He didn't type it. His maybe student, successor Ejo helped, and he often edited together with Dogen. and then did some clean writings.

[30:47]

Dogen himself did also clean writings. His dharma talks, traditional dharma talks are short, formal dharma talks. I think it's written in Chinese, maybe not was written in Chinese, or it was taken down in Chinese. by his students. So his students collected these Dharaman books. Yes? So I recently read that early in his career, upon returning from China, that Dogen had quite a bit of support for lay practice. And that later in his life, that he sort of stepped back from that and had a much greater emphasis on monastic practices and, in fact, the remote retreat monastic practices.

[31:49]

Is that also your sense of it? And if so, could you say a few words about that? Yes. So when he wrote this first essay called Vendor on Endeavor of the Way, he had this vision of, you know, converting the entire Japan overnight. But it didn't happen. And then eventually he could see that lay people at that time in Japan were not so serious. They had to support their family and business and so forth. And of course there were great lay supporters. That's why he could build his monastery and so forth. So he had to of course teach lay people, including the regent of Japan, the ruler of Japan at that time.

[32:54]

But he realized that training a small number of serious students would be more effective. These people will teach and then train a small number of people and then eventually the Dharma would spread. He was right. He had only a few successes and then some other advanced students, and then those people kind of spread the Dharma. Currently, Satoshi is the largest school of Buddhism in Japan. So I think he was right. And of course, when he was teaching just monks and nuns,

[34:03]

He would say, you know, to be monks and nuns are important, you know. Without leaving a household, one cannot experience enlightenment or something like that. But, you know, he was always addressing to just a small number of people, so we have to understand that he was not thinking about mass market, you know. Maybe one more question? Yes, please. No. No, he was actually, he said something like writing, kind of beautiful writing, you know, decorating your writings, speech, you know, eloquent writings.

[35:09]

He said, that's not Dharma. But ironically, what he wrote was so beautiful. Maybe because he didn't intend to. Brokhan said the same thing. What I hate is calligraphers' calligraphy and poets' poems. Well, what can I say? Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[36:01]

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