Informal Reading Group: REALIZING GENJOKOAN 2021 Edition Begins Week of 11 April 2021

[Nengei]

Gassho, Sangha,

A small and informal group of folks interested in contemplating (or recontemplating) the excellent text Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo by Shohaku Okumura with a foreword by our friend Taigen Dan Leighton have arisen in another thread. We will begin reading and discussing in the week of 11 April to allow interested members who do not yet have a copy of this book to acquire one.

Realizing Genjokoan is an unparalleled introduction to Dōgen Roshi's Shōbōgenzō (Genjōkōan is the first chapter of Shōbōgenzō) and is a delight to read. As Taigen says in the first line of his foreword, "This book is a treasure." And indeed it is. All who would like to deepen--or begin--their understanding of Dharma with this commentary on the foundational text of our school are invited to join us.

Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō by Shohaku Okumura is published by Wisdom Publications, ISBN 978-0-86171-601-2. This is the link to the US Amazon page for the book, not to promote Amazon as a source but so that you can see what you are looking for. During the week of 11 April we will read and discuss Taigen's foreword and the first chapter; just the first 11 pages. Please feel invited to join us.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

[Onkai]

Thank you, Nengei, for starting this thread. I look forward to the discussion.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

[Seikan]

Thank you Nengei. I'm really looking forward to this.

Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-


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[Risho]

thank you!

risho
-stlah

[Tom A.]

Thank you, Nengei, for starting this thread. I look forward to the discussion.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

Thank you Nengei. I'm really looking forward to this.

Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-


Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

Ditto

Gassho,
Tom

SatLah

[JimInBC]

Thank you, Nengei. Very much looking forward to reading and discussing.

Gassho, Jim
ST/LaH

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[aprapti]

thanks nengei



aprapti

sat

[Kiri]

Thank you Nengei!
Gassho, Nikolas
Sat/Lah

[Tairin]

Perfect. I am in the midst of reading Jundo’s book but I expect I can handle the overlapping time frame.

Thank you for organizing this.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Meishin]

Thank you, Nengei.

Gassho
Meishin
stlah

[Inshin]

Amazing!

Gassho
Sat

[Doshin]

I will follow along. Even if you don’t hear me much I will be listening. Thank you for this opportunity.

Doshin
St

[Ryumon]

Thank you Nengai.

Gassho,

Ryūmon

sat

[Seikai]

Thank you. Wonderful choice.

Gassho.

ST

[Nengei]

Informal Reading Group: REALIZING GENJOKOAN 2021 Edition WEEK 1, 11-17 April

Gassho, friends. This is the beginning of the first week of our informal Realizing Genjōkōan reading group. For a description of the book and what we are doing, please visit this thread.

This week we are reading through page 11 in the paperback version. This includes
- the Foreword by Taigen Dan Leighton,
-Shohaku Okumura's Preface,
-Okumura's translation of the text of Dōgen Roshi's Genjōkōan, and
-the first chapter of commentary, called Chapter 1: Dōgen Zenji's Life and the Importance of Genjōkōan.

As your colleague only, in this undertaking, I gently suggest that you not let yourself get bogged down in the foreword and preface. Read them if you like, as they do provide context on the importance of Genjōkōan, but it would also be fine to not read them, or to read them later.

Once you have read and considered this week's portion, please do come back to this thread and comment. I will list some question ideas below, but these are just ideas I had while reading. My understanding is as full of holes as anyone's, so please feel at liberty to come up with your own questions, or no questions. If you read, but don't feel that you want to comment on this week's portion, please do post that. Any discussion helps me, and probably others, to keep going.

I find Genjōkōan is at once simple and profound. It is brief but has a depth that is challenging to reach. In translation (I have no comprehension of Japanese) it seems plainly written and impossible to fully understand. I like to think that this was intentional on Dōgen's part. In reading Dōgen's writings, I find two things quite helpful, so I will tell them to you and you can decide for yourself. The first is to read Genjōkōan aloud (a trick I learned to use when I don't want my mind to wander or have to read the same paragraph fifteen times). The second is to re-read Genjōkōan regularly, perhaps even with each new section or chapter of the book. As I said earlier, it is brief.

The first chapter of Okumura's commentary is a quick description of Dōgen's life, and is interesting on its own.

Some questions I thought were helpful to think about, from this week's portion:
1. What is dharma?
2. Does realization require delusion?
3. What is the self?
4. Do realization and delusion exist among all sentient beings, or only humans?
5. Dōgen writes that there are inexhaustible characteristics in what is beyond what we can see, and also within what is right in front of us. How is this borne out or refuted by the advancement of scientific knowledge?

I am looking forward to what you write about this week's portion of Realizing Genjōkōan. I am ready to learn from your insights. Also, I am in charge of absolutely nothing. All ideas about what we should be doing here are invited. I am simply reading along with you, and hoping for glimpses of realization along with you.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.