Realizing Genjokoan - Chapter 3 - P 35 to P 42

[mundi]

Just to share that I have been reading along with you all over the last week and will continue to do so. Re-reading this book slowly with others is a new and illuminating experience. My first reading helped me build a relationship with Dogen, which had a been a bit tenuous up until then. Nonetheless, it was a fast, hungry, almost rabid reading due to this and I'm most grateful to have the chance to read again with others.

gassho

dean

sattoday

[Seibu]

I'll keep it short because many people elaborated on the reading material so I don't have that much to add. Before I came to Treeleaf I read the comics on the Soto Shu website and I saw the 2009 movie about his life, but reading in detail about his views and teachings is profoundly enriching and I concur with Dean on the fact that studying his writings has elevated my admiration for Dogen tremendously. I read the reading material in conjunction with appendix 2 and all the pieces of the puzzle came together. Dogen is a genius and I can't wait to study more of his works. The part on how everything is prajna made a deep impact and I will incorporate it in my daily practice to the best of my ability. Thank you all for this amazing trip .

Gassho,
Jack
Sattoday

[Heikyo]

I like the way that this section of the book describes the subtle difference in viewpoints between early Buddhism to Mahayana and then specifically Zen. I'm finding it a little difficult at times and I'm trying to pick out the key idea he's getting to. It seems that in Zen wisdom is being able to realise the emptiness in everything we say do and feel on a day to day basis rather than just on the cushion. And any conceptual ideas like the Four Noble Truths are also empty. Is this right?

Paul
Sat today
Lah

[Jundo]

I like the way that this section of the book describes the subtle difference in viewpoints between early Buddhism to Mahayana and then specifically Zen. I'm finding it a little difficult at times and I'm trying to pick out the key idea he's getting to. It seems that in Zen wisdom is being able to realise the emptiness in everything we say do and feel on a day to day basis rather than just on the cushion. And any conceptual ideas like the Four Noble Truths are also empty. Is this right?

Paul
Sat today
Lah

Hi Paul,

I a too small nutshell ...

I would say that it is about realizing the "Emptiness" (which is also the flowing "Wholeness") of all things and moments, including you and me and our lives. This is on and off the cushion. It is not really necessary to know it every single moment (that is not very practical in daily life), but it is always available to realize and always so, tasted or not tasted in a particular moment. The Four Noble Truths are also empty but, strange as it sounds, the relief from Dukkha that results from Emptiness is in fact the key to the prescription of the Four Noble Truths.

Mahayana and Zen Buddhism is more that this, of course: The is also our living as gentle and more caring people, as free from excess desires, anger, violence and divided thinking as we can. That also goes hand-in-"sound of one"-hand with realizing Emptiness and living such realization.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Meitou]

Lovely reading.

There are many little passages I highlighted in this section that I found meaningful. What really stuck with me was the overall concept that Dogen is trying to communicate which is really that life and practice are one. Practice isn't just sitting on the zafu for X minutes each day. This practice permeates all of life. I tend to use the (borrowed) conjunction "life-practice" in my own references for this reason.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

Lovely Tairin, this is what I nearly always take away when reading anything he wrote.
I'm still reading along but people here are much smarter than me at discussing the text, so I'm learning a lot. I've found that when the text gets a little dense, a dip into Dogen's beautiful poetry is like a refreshing drink of water!
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday

[Ryoku]

Thank you for the additional commentary Jundo. I see in DogenÂ’s writings the recurring message that what we usually see as separate are not actually separate. And beyond their not being separate from each other, they are one, actually existing together as one. We must find nirvana within Samsara. Within our chaotic lives is Nirvana, and if we canÂ’t find it there, we wonÂ’t find it at all. Profound message for our current times.

I also see the many similarities between Jazz music and Zen study. The Heart Sutra makes a great ‘lead sheet’ and Dogen takes a solo with his commentary. The chord changes and scales he uses are the same as all other masters who have commented, but the music has his characteristic ‘sound’. Boundless.

Gassho,

Ryoku
ST/LAH

[brucef]

I’m so impressed by Okumura Roshi - as challenging as his explanations are - that I bough two other books by him from the Kindle Store..the Mountains and Waters Sutra, and Living By Vow.

I’ve tried to read Dōgen unaided. Even in those brief moments when I think I understand something, I probably don’t or else I miss a lot. He’s cryptic. Forget 13th century Japanese, I need someone who can translate Dōgenese!

Okumura Roshi is someone I feel I can trust.

And Jundo explaining Okumura Roshi explaining Dōgen is even better!

I was a Tibetan Buddhist from 1990 to 2010. Tibetan teachers can talk about emptiness for hours on end. They'll explain it every which way from every angle imaginable. And it’s all so logical. But also, sometimes those explanations get quite abstract.

Dōgen is different. He concentrates so much into so few words, it’s like poetry. But the most important thing he does for me is remind me that emptiness isn’t an abstraction, a Buddhist theory. It’s here now, within and without me, it’s the ten thousand things ....mountains and waters and clouds and old dogs asleep on the carpet....it’s me sitting here at the kitchen table with this iPad, a cup of tea, the ocean going boom boom boom in the distance.

Gassho

Brucef

st/lah

[Tokan]

Thank you Bruce

Tokan

SatLAH