Dear All,
Master Dogen wrote in Shobogenzo-Menju, Face-To-Face Transmission ...
I am so very pleased to announce that, in recent weeks and months, I bestowed Dharma Transmission upon two beautiful Priests of this Sangha, Jindō Shōkai (仁道 生開) and Hondō Kyōnin (奔道 協忍). Both now recognized as a Fully Ordained Priest and Independent Teacher in the Soto Zen Tradition.
As such, their work here at Treeleaf is done, and they are free to go where they wish to establish their own Sangha and their own students. There is no need for them to remain here now, at Treeleaf. That being said, it is my understanding that they wish to stay, and in that, I rejoice and so welcome them. Perhaps not much will so visibly change, and they just remain the same two beautiful gentlemen as always. Please know that, should anything ever happen to me whereby I am unable to continue my own role at Treeleaf, this place would be in their good hands.
The Ceremony of Dharma Transmission is traditionally conducted privately and face-to-face, only between Teacher and Disciple, as was done in these three cases. This Soto Zen Tradition continues from generation to generation in this manner.
Master Dogen has written ...
Nine Bows, Chigen Jundō (知原 純道)
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Master Dogen wrote in Shobogenzo-Menju, Face-To-Face Transmission ...
“Then Śākyamuni Buddha, in the order on Vulture Peak in the Western Country, India, among an assembly of millions, picked up an uḍumbara flower and winked. At that time the face of Venerable Mahākāśyapa broke into a smile. Śākyamuni Buddha said, ‘I possess the right Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana. I transmit them to Mahākāśyapa.’”
...
In this way the true ancestral masters of successive generations have each passed on the face-to-face transmission through the disciple regarding the master and the master seeing the disciple. ... When master and disciple have definitely seen each other, have been seen by each other, have given the face-to-face transmission, and have succeeded to the Dharma, that is the realization of the truth which resides in the ancestors’ face-to-face transmission. Thus, master and disciple have directly taken on the brightness of the Tathāgata’s face. In sum, even after thousands of years, or myriad years, or hundreds of kalpas, or koṭis of kalpas, this face-to-face transmission is the appearance of the face of, and the realization of the transmission from, Śākyamuni Buddha. ... Even before a word is comprehended and even before understanding of half a word is transcended, when the master has seen the back of the disciple’s head, and the disciple has regarded the master through the crown of the head, that is the authentic face-to-face transmission
...
In this way the true ancestral masters of successive generations have each passed on the face-to-face transmission through the disciple regarding the master and the master seeing the disciple. ... When master and disciple have definitely seen each other, have been seen by each other, have given the face-to-face transmission, and have succeeded to the Dharma, that is the realization of the truth which resides in the ancestors’ face-to-face transmission. Thus, master and disciple have directly taken on the brightness of the Tathāgata’s face. In sum, even after thousands of years, or myriad years, or hundreds of kalpas, or koṭis of kalpas, this face-to-face transmission is the appearance of the face of, and the realization of the transmission from, Śākyamuni Buddha. ... Even before a word is comprehended and even before understanding of half a word is transcended, when the master has seen the back of the disciple’s head, and the disciple has regarded the master through the crown of the head, that is the authentic face-to-face transmission
As such, their work here at Treeleaf is done, and they are free to go where they wish to establish their own Sangha and their own students. There is no need for them to remain here now, at Treeleaf. That being said, it is my understanding that they wish to stay, and in that, I rejoice and so welcome them. Perhaps not much will so visibly change, and they just remain the same two beautiful gentlemen as always. Please know that, should anything ever happen to me whereby I am unable to continue my own role at Treeleaf, this place would be in their good hands.
The Ceremony of Dharma Transmission is traditionally conducted privately and face-to-face, only between Teacher and Disciple, as was done in these three cases. This Soto Zen Tradition continues from generation to generation in this manner.
Master Dogen has written ...
In conclusion, the great truth of the Buddhist Ancestors is nothing other than a face giving and a face receiving, and the reception of a face and the giving of a face, beyond which there is nothing surplus and nothing lacking. We should rejoice in, delight in, believe in, and serve whatever has had the opportunity to meet this face-to-face transmission, even if it is our own features
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