Tag: Japan

Made to Become So

Speaking of the Tannisho recently, here’s another interesting quote worth exploring:

6. 自然のことわりにあひいかなはわば、仏恩をもしり、また師の恩をもしるべきなりと云々。

“When we live according to the truth of ‘made to become so by itself’, we shall know gratitude to the Buddha and to our teachers.”

Translation by Dr Taitetsu Unno

“Made to become so by itself…” what does he mean by that? Let’s look at another example.

In an separate Jodo Shinshu work, Shinran’s Notes on Essentials of Faith Alone (唯信鈔文意, yuishinshō mon’i) which we explored recently, he explains this “made to become so by itself” in greater detail:

Ji also means of itself. “Of itself” is a synonym for jinen, which means to be made to become so. “To be made to become so” means that without the practicer’s calculating in any way whatsoever, all that practicer’s past, present, and future evil karma is transformed into the highest good, just as all waters, upon entering the great ocean, immediately become ocean water. We are made to acquire the Tathagata’s [Buddha’s] virtues through entrusting ourselves to the Vow-power; hence the expression, “made to become so.” Since there is no contriving in any way to gain such virtues, it is called jinen. Those persons who have attained true and real shinjin are taken into and protected by this Vow that grasps never to abandon; therefore, they realize the diamond-like mind without any calculation on their own part, and thus dwell in the stage of the truly settled. Because of this, constant mindfulness of the Primal Vow arises in them naturally (by jinen). Even with the arising of this shinjin, it is written that supreme shinjin is made to awaken in us through the compassionate guidance of Sakyamuni, the kind father, and Amida, the mother of loving care. Know that this is the benefit of the working of jinen.

Source: https://shinranworks.com/commentaries/notes-on-essentials-of-faith-alone/

The specific phrase Shinran uses is jinen hōni (自然法爾), which is tricky to translate into English. As the Notes explains above, “jinen” means to be become so, naturally, not through contrivance. The term “hōni” (法爾), alternatively hōnen (法然),1 means something like “by virtue of the Dharma”, but in Jodo Shinshu lingo specifically it means through the power of Amida Buddha’s vows to rescue all beings.

Here, Shinran is strongly advocating a sense of total reliance on Amida Buddha, with the belief that by fully entrusting oneself to Amida Buddha’s compassionate vows (as depicted in the Three Pure Land Sutras), called shinjin (信心), rather than through calculation or conscious effort (i.e. a “weekend warrior”), then one is transformed by Amida gradually without realizing it. So, rather than trying to reborn in the Pure Land, Shinran is saying that one should trust in Amida to guide you to the Pure Land.

I’ve always found this concept very interesting.

While I might quibble with Shinran’s interpretations of things (especially since other Pure Land teachers in the past did not have such a one-sided view), I do think there’s merit in the idea of transformation without one realizing it. This is accomplished simply by exposure to the Dharma, what Jodo Shinshu Buddhists like to call “deep listening” or monpō (聞法), which I also mentioned here.

1 Not to be confused with Honen (same kanji).

Finding Oneself

Years ago, my wife and I bought a book from Japan titled 禅の言葉とジブリ meaning “Zen Words and Studio Ghibli” (publisher link here). This book was written by a Rinzai Zen monk named Hosokawa Shinsuke (細川晋輔) who was born into a priest family in Japan, and later ordained as a priest. Chapter by chapter, he relates life lessons to Studio Ghibli movies. To be honest, the book sat on our shelf for a long time, until recently, when I finally reached a level where I can follow along (with a good dictionary, of course).

Anyway, a quick divergence to talk about “priest families” in Japan. For historical reasons that are too complicated to go here, many Buddhist priests in Japan live not in monasteries, but in local parishes and raise families. Frequently, one of the kids inherits responsibility of that parish. If you think of a local Protestant pastor, it’s the same idea. Mr Hosokawa was born into such a family, and was expected to take on the family role, so after college he trained at a Rinzai Zen monastery for three years.

In his words, these first three years were a slog. He describes how he woke up every morning at 2 – 3am, meditate long stretches, followed by incessant chores around the temple all day. Day in and day out, this continued with no free time, and no privacy. Eventually, he adapted to monastic life, but he kept counting down the days when his three year term would end.

Then, abruptly, someone close to him died, and it changed his view. He was close to this person, but they often quarreled, yet now he would never see them again. Suddenly, the issue of life and death became very important to him, and he went from “having to practicing Zen” to “choosing to practice Zen”.

Thus he stayed at the monastery another several years (nine total). Yet in spite of all this training, he writes that he never really had any great awakening or sudden burst of insight. Instead, in his own words (roughly translated by me):

禅の道場での修行に取り組めば取り組むほど、自分の中で凝り固まっていた価値観が、崩れていったのです。。。。つまりは今まで築いてきた知識や経験というものを、自然に手放せてくれたのです。　大切なものを手放して、捨てて去って辿り着いた私の目の前には、当たり前の風景しかありませんでした。

The more I struggled with ascetic practices in the Zen dojo, the more my firmly-held sense of values crumbled….simply put, the knowledge and experiences that I had built up so far I was allowed to let them go naturally. Having let go of such important things, having finally left it all behind, there was nothing left but the natural scenery that was right in front of my face.

Page 67

Later, he likens this experience to Totoro, the main character (monster, spirit, kami?) of the Ghibli movie My Neighbor Totoro. In the movie, many people in the village are totally oblivious that Totoro and his friends are there among them, because they are too caught up in their lives.

In the same way, the Dharma can be utterly hidden before your eyes, unless you take time to see it. In Mr Hosokawa’s case, it took nine years of intense monastic practice, the death of someone close to him, and gradually letting go of his ego. I can’t say whether this is the same for others (I haven’t learned to let go myself), but I think it’s an important lesson. I think the key word Mr Hosokawa uses is atarimae (当たり前), which in American English is like saying “duh, obviously”.

Chinese characters seem strange and mysterious until you learn them. Sex is strange and mysterious until you’ve experienced it. And so on and so forth. In the same way, for many the Dharma feels ethereal or mysterious until it finally clicks, and then its somewhat anti-climatic (“duh, obviously”).

Or so I believe. 😉

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

Hungry Ghosts are Among Us?

The Obon Season in Japan approaches, and so do ghost stories, and ceremonies around hungry ghosts. But what are Hungry Ghosts?

This is one of the traditional states of rebirth within Buddhism, on the never-ending cycle of people migrating from one life to the next. Rebirth as a hungry ghosts is seen as only one rung up from being in Hell, as it is a state of great suffering and hardship. Unlike hell, though, hungry ghosts are seen as beings that live among us, but only in the darkest shadows, living a precarious existence, constantly starving and thirsty, with no way to gain sustenance. They are often cursed to eat something awful, like garbage, or excrement, as punishment, or they are depicted in art as having emaciated bodies, with bloated bodies, and tiny throats that can’t swallow anything.

Although they are called preta1 in Indian Sanskrit language, in Japanese they are called gaki (餓鬼), which in modern slang is a rude expression for kids that means “a punk” (the Japanese meaning is harsher than the English one).

References to hungry ghosts go all the way back to early Buddhist texts such as the Pali Canon where the Buddha warns that among the hungry ghosts are probably some of your ancestors and kin:

Outside the walls they stand, & at crossroads.
At door posts they stand, returning to their old homes.
But when a meal with plentiful food & drink is served, no one remembers them:
Such is the kamma [karma] of living beings.

Tirokudda Kanda (Petavatthu 1.5), translation by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Later, stories of hungry ghosts appear in Sanskrit anthologies such as the Avadanasataka, including the story of Mogallana and his mother (source of the Obon holiday), before a similar version of the story appears in the Mahayana text, the Ullambana Sutra, for which there is a handy translation here. In the Ullambana Sutra, you can see how Mogallana’s mother suffers in her state as a hungry ghost:

Mahamaudgalyayana [Mogallana] felt deep pity and sadness, filled a bowl with food, and went to provide for his mother. She got the bowl, screened it with her left hand, and with her right hand made a fist of food. But before it entered her mouth, it turned into burning coals which could not be eaten….

Source: https://www.cttbusa.org/ullambana/ullambana.asp, Buddhist Text Translation Society, part of City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

Scenes of hungry ghosts appear in old Buddhist art too:

A picture from the Gaki zōshi 餓鬼草紙 “Scroll of Hungry Ghosts”, circa 12th century, courtesy of the Kyoto National Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In this famous image, you can see emaciated hungry ghosts living among us, unseen, scrounging remains from human refuse and so on. Early Buddhist texts never described what hungry ghosts looked like, but this is how they are depicted in medieval artwork.

Because the hungry ghosts wander aimlessly through life endlessly starving, and some of them may include past ancestors and loved ones, Buddhism has developed certain ceremonies thought to help relieve the suffering of one’s ancestors, and by extension other hungry ghosts. In Chinese culture, this is exemplified in the Ghost Festival (中元節, zhōngyuánjié) of Chinese culture, Obon (お盆) in Japanese culture and the Segaki ritual in some Buddhist traditions.

It’s a fascinating example of how Buddhist teachings have suffused cultures, and how cultures have responded to concerns over family and the afterlife.

1 Alternatively peta in Pali language.

Zen for Everyone

Myoshinji Temple (English homepage) in Kyoto is one of the central temples of the Rinzai Zen tradition, especially after the reforms by Hakuin in the 18th century. Although I’ve never been there, it is a very scenic and seems like a worthwhile place to visit.

The website in Japanese lists a number of activities that one can partake in for experience Zen:

  • Learning zazen meditation
  • Sutra copying
  • Listening to a sermon
  • Singing Rinzai-Zen hymns1
  • Monastic training

What struck me is that Myoshinji Temple provides a variety of activities to suit different people. Not everyone is ready for Zen training or meditation, yet they can still get something wholesome out of the experience. I like this kind of inclusive Zen Buddhism.

In my limited experiences with western Zen temples, the focus is solely on meditation and practicing as monks do. This approach only works for certain lifestyles and certain temperaments. It’s not wrong, but through my experiences in Pure Land Buddhism, especially through immigrant communities, I feel that a more inclusive, more approachable Buddhism is really beneficial.

Just sitting around enjoying donuts and coffee with congregants after service, and talk about stuff, is really nice. This only works when new people don’t feel intimidated, and people aren’t trying to one-up each other.

So to me, Buddhism works best when it accommodates people as they are now, with a variety of practices and options, rather than being written off as “cultural accretions“. Just let people be people, come as they are, and soak in the Dharma at their own pace.

Someone who only listens to sermons today, prays to Kannon, or copy a sutra, may be inspired to pick up deeper practices later at the right time. You never know.

P.S. Happy Tanabata to readers!

1 Similar to Jodo Shinshu sect Buddhism, Rinzai Zen, at least at Myoshinji temple, has a lot of hymns. I don’t know much about these, and there is no information in English.

Pride and Meditation

常に大慈大悲に住して、坐禅無量の功徳を、一切の衆生に回向せよ。憍慢・我慢・法慢を生ずることなかれ。これ外道凡夫の法なり。

“Always keep the noble spirit of goodwill and mercy in your heart, and dedicate the limitless merits of meditation to all beings. Do not allow pride, conceit, or sanctimony to dwell, lest this becomes the Dharma of heretics and fools.”

Keizan’s Zazen Yojinki (坐禅用心記, “A Guide to Zazen”), amateur translation by me.

The Zazen Yojinki of Keizan (1268–1325) is a text I have never encountered before and I was unable to find any English translations or information on. Japanese sources say that it is similar to, and inherits from, Dogen’s Fukan Zazengi but tends to emphasize more practical matters by comparison.

Anyhow, I thought this was a great quote.

There are many reasons why one starts Buddhist practice, including meditation, but Keizan emphasizes that it’s not about personal benefit. In fact, chances are you’ll not feel any personal benefit at first, at least not in the way you’re expecting. In a sense, meditation is useless.

But that’s not the point.

You do not live in isolation with others. We depend on one another, even when we can’t stand each other. What we do affects others, what others do affects us. No matter how you try to come out ahead, you will always depend on others, and even when others come out ahead, they still need you.

So, like it or not, we’re all in this together. Thus, the only way to find peace and well-being is to stop being a dick. The only way to stop being a dick is to take up training rules such as the precepts, to quiet the mind through meditation, and finally to dedicate any good merit you accumulate for the sake of others even when you feel they don’t deserve it.

Namu Shakamuni Buddha

P.S. Bonus 4th of July post. Ee’d Plebnista, baby!

Soto Zen Service Book

Something I haven’t really covered before, but worth talking about lately is a Soto Zen service book I picked up some years ago at Sojiji Temple which is not too far from my wife’s home in Japan.

Back then, we’d visit Japan yearly to see relatives, and let the kids get much-needed language exposure. Also, I was in touch with an expat1 who lived there for 20 years and shared a passion for Buddhist temples. He and I would go “temple hopping” together around the Tokyo area whenever I was in town, and as my firstborn daughter got older, she would come with us.

In any case here is the cover of the service book for Soto Zen home liturgy:

Cover of Soto Zen service book, purchased at Sojiji temple. Title roughly translates as “Soto Zen scriptures for parishioners”.

Inside, you can see the table of contents on the right side. Japanese text is tradtionally written right to left, and vertically (not horizontal):

Table of contents of sutra service book for Soto Zen. Purchased at Sojiji temple.

On the left-hand side is the Kaikyoge, a verse recited traditionally when starting a service. The gist of the verse is that encountering the Dharma is quite rare, and yet we are privileged to read and recite it now. Thus, may we all attain the Buddha way. During my years with the Buddhist Churches of America, we read a very similar liturgy in English. The concept is almost universal in Buddhist services.

Also, notice that the text in the Kaikyoge is Chinese characters (kanji), but with hiragana text to the side as a pronunciation aid. This is because most liturgy in Japanese Buddhism was originally adopted from China, and thus requires pronunciation guides (same is true with Korean Buddhism too, iirc). At the very bottom-left is smaller text helping to explain the meaning of this verses.

The photo below is the first part of the verse section of the Kannon Sutra (a.k.a. chapter twenty-five of the Lotus Sutra). Again, we see vertical lines of Chinese characters since the original edition was recorded in old literary (not modern) Chinese, and phonetic hiragana script beside each character. The large circle mark indicates a ring of the bell if you have one. As with above, it is read from right to left, vertically.

A copy of the Kannon Sutra, version section, from a Soto Zen service book, from Sojiji temple.

What I really like about this particular sutra book is how clear and readable the hiragana text is. Some books use a font that’s hard to read if you are a foreigner (or even Japanese possibly). This makes reciting difficult. But here, if you can read hiragana script, it’s easy to follow along.

A close up of the Kannon Sutra as printed in a Soto Zen service book, purchased at Sojiji Temple.

By the way, below is an example of verses that are not recorded in Classical Chinese: an excerpt of the Shushogi, chapters three and four. Since the Shushogi was recorded natively in Japanese, there are fewer Chinese characters, and the style of language is more readable to a native speaker. To me, as a language student, it’s still pretty difficult since the source text by Dogen was composed in the 13th century. The grammar is quite different 800 years ago. This section also includes explanations at the bottom for modern native speakers.

Because of the popularity of the Shushogi among laity in the Soto Zen tradition, all five chapters are recorded in this sutra book.

The rest of the content is pretty typical, and I explained the full contents in an older post, but what I liked about this particular sutra book was the quality, readability, and thorough content.

Side note: it turns out that there is also an eBook version of the service book (originally linked here) available in both Apple Books and Google Play formats. The eBook version is a lot nicer than I expected, and closely follows the physical book (the subject of this post), with a few slight differences:

  • The kaikyōge (verses on opening of the sutra) uses Sino-Japanese, the service book uses a mixture of native Japanese and Sino-Japanese
  • Similarly, the Sankiraimon uses native Japanese in tbe eBook version, but Sino-Japanese in the physical book.
  • the eBook version has a really nice altar image (gohonzon). A person who can’t access Buddhist altar goods could print it out, and install in a Buddhist altar (obutsudan).

But I digress.

For some reason I find sutra books fascinating, and if readers enjoyed this post, please let me know. I might try to make more posts on the various books I’ve collected over the years. I have service books from practically every sect in Japan.

P.S. Happy 4th of July to readers in the US. Also, happy (belated) Canada Day to readers there. To my ancient roman readers happy … (checks notes) … Battle of Adrianople?

1 via online Buddhist circles, namely the long-dead E-Sangha forum. IYKYK.

Soto Zen: A Tale of Two Founders?

A while back, I talked about the history of Zen [particularly Rinzai Zen] and the samurai class in pre-modern Japan. Rinzai has a particularly convoluted history compared to other Buddhist sects in Japan due to its multiple waves of immigration from China, each unrelated to one another. Soto Zen’s history is notably different, but fairly convoluted in its own way, since it has two founders.

This concept of two founders started in the 19th century, after certain Soto Zen temples got into a spat about who was the actual founder of Soto Zen. If you’re reading this and know something about Japanese Buddhism, you might think that the answer is obvious: duh, it’s Dogen since he was the one who went to Song-dynasty China, and brought the tradition back. That was Eiheiji temple’s position at the time.

Conversely, Sojiji Temple took the position that it was Keizan’s influence a couple generations later that actually allowed it to flourish in Japan, establishing it as a proper sect, and not just an isolated temple. Further, until the 19th century, Dogen’s writings were kept secret, so very few Soto priests and students ever read it. So Dogen’s actual influence in the sect would be thus smaller than expected. Or so the argument goes.

Needless to say, eventually the two groups came to a compromise and agreed that both monks contributed to the growth of Soto Zen in Japan, each in their own way. Thus, in the Soto Zen tradition since, they are known as:

  • Dogen – “high founder” (高祖, kōsō)
  • Keizan – “great founder” (太祖, taisō)

Thus every 29th of September the Soto Zen liturgical calendar holds a memorial service for both founders known as Ryōsoki (両祖忌, lit. “dual founders memorial).

Even today, if you look at a Soto Zen obutsudan in Japan, you often see altar images like the ones linked here and here: namely an image of Shakyamuni Buddha in the middle, and Keizan on the left (facing right), and Dogen on the right (facing left). This is not an entirely unusual arrangement, by the way: in the Jodo Shinshu tradition, the Buddha Amida is in the middle, and often flanked by Shinran the founder, and Rennyo the restorer. Sometimes in Tendai Buddhism, you also see Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by Saicho the Japanese founder, and Zhi-yi the original Chinese founder.

The concept of “trinities” often appear in Buddhism, though not in the Western-Christian sense.

In any case, I am glad to see that Soto Zen was able to reconcile this dispute in a way that feels harmonious to me. I have visited Sojiji a couple times over the years (since it is thankfully pretty close to my wife’s house),1 and it is a pretty neat temple. I haven’t visited Eiheiji yet as it is in a remote prefecture in Japan, but I am sure it’s quite a nice place to visit. Just like Keizan and Dogen, each temple enriches the Soto Zen community in its own way, and this helps broaden the community and make it more inclusive.

It is tempting to look at Japanese-Buddhist history and assign one sect to one founder, etc, but both Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen have histories that tend to defy this mold, and it’s important to recognize that religious history is organic and complicated, but also quite fascinating.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. Moving back to two posts a week, now that the backlog is caught up.

P.P.S. Posting late, sorry! Made a scheduling mistake. 😅

1 The present location of Sojiji is actually fairly recent. It was in Fukui Prefecture (same as Eiheiji) for many centuries, and was a branch temple of Keizan’s main temple of Yōkōji (永光寺). Ironically, as Yokoji declined, Sojiji gained in prominence. But, history is funny this way.

Debating

Another interesting quote from a 13th century Japanese Zen text, the Zuimonki (first described here), about the importance of not engaging in debates with others.

1-10) In a dharma talk, Dōgen said,

Even if you are speaking rationally and another person says something unreasonable, it is wrong to defeat him by arguing logically. On the other hand, it is not good to give up hastily saying that you are wrong, even though you think that your opinion is reasonable.

Neither defeats him, nor withdraw saying you are wrong. It is best to just leave the matter alone and stop arguing. If you act as if you have not heard and forget about the matter, he will forget too and will not get angry. This is a very important thing to bear in mind.

Source: https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/leaflet/Zuimonki/pdf/zuimonki.pdf

I think there’s only so much one can do to convince others, and if you meet someone who’s already made up their mind, it’s very unlikely you can change it because one’s beliefs are part of their core identity.

Spock: “Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose and excluding that which is painful.”

Star Trek, “And The Children Shall Lead” (s3ep4), stardate 5029.5

At that point, any effort to convince them is a sunk cost, a waste of energy.

So, like Dogen says, better to just drop the subject and let it go.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

Rubble Into Gold

Shinran (親鸞, 1173 – 1263), founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect in Japan, was a prolific writer. His largest work by far as the voluminous text, the Kyogyoshinsho (教行信証, “The True Teaching, Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way“), but Shinran also wrote a number of lesser-known text and commentaries, including the Notes on Essentials of Faith Alone (yuishinshō-mon’i, 唯信鈔文意).

Shinran’s writing style is a bit challenging, even with translations,

because Shinran tended to use subtle turns of phrase that would be lost on readers today. Sort of like a certain Buddhist blogger you might know.

or to make use quotations within quotations…

But I digress. 😋

In the Notes, which are commentaries on an older text written by Genshin, Shinran quotes a certain Chinese Pure Land teacher named Fa-zhao1 as follows:

That Buddha [Amida], in the causal stage, made the universal Vow:

When beings hear my Name and think on me, I will come to welcome each of them, not discriminating at all between the poor and the rich and wellborn, not discriminating between inferior and the highly gifted, not choosing the learned and those upholding pure precepts, nor rejecting those who break precepts and whose evil karma is profound.

Solely making beings turn about and abundantly say the nembutsu, I can make bits of rubble change into gold.


Fǎzhào (法照, 746–838), original source here: https://shinranworks.com/commentaries/notes-on-essentials-of-faith-alone/

The most important phrase here, and one that Dr Taitetsu Unno liberally referred to in his books, is “turning bits of rubble into gold”.

This notion of transformation gets to the very heart of the Buddhist path. It is not limited to Pure Land Buddhism, but speaks to the potential of all beings toward transformation if given the right conditions and training. Or, alternatively, through the compassion of Amida Buddha. If you look at the 48 vows of Amida Buddha, by the way, in the Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, there is this vow:

(3) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land should not all be the color of pure gold, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

Translation by Rev. Hisao Inagaki, source: http://www.acmuller.net/bud-canon/sutra_of_immeasurable_life.html

Or, the Buddha’s simile of refining gold in the Pali Canon: the Paṁsudhovaka Sutta (AN 3.102):

“There are these gross impurities in gold: dirty sand, gravel, & grit. The dirt-washer or his apprentice, having placed (the gold) in a vat, washes it again & again until he has washed them away.

“When he is rid of them, there remain the moderate impurities in the gold: coarse sand & fine grit. He washes the gold again & again until he has washed them away.

In both sutras, we see that gold was used to symbolize the purity of one’s inner character. Regardless of one’s impurities, one’s inner character and potential for awakening can shine forth if purified. What makes Fa-zhao’s comment even more extraordinary is the symbolism of little bits of rubble becoming gold, not just a large nuggets.

He describes the compassion of Amida Buddha toward all beings, and his non-discrimination toward them, and how Amida’s compassion extends to all equally, transforms all equally, each according to their background and inspires them to recite the nembutsu out of sheer magnetism.

It’s easy to see why Shinran was inspired by this passage.

But also, if we look at non-Pure Land texts such as the Lotus Sutra, a recurring theme there through similes as the Dragon Princess, medicinal plants, and the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, is that anyone can become a Buddha. Sometimes you just need to believe.

“I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true”… from the original Lego Movie

P.S. I keep quoting the same Lego Movie joke over and over again for some reason. I must be getting old. 😂

1 Pronounced like “fah-jow”.

It Can Be Done

I found a neat quote recently from an old Soto Zen text called the Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki (正法眼蔵隨聞記), or “The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: [A] Record of Things Heard”. We will call it the Zuimonki for short. Dōgen, who brought Soto Zen from China to Japan in the 13th century wrote a massive tome called the Shōbōgenzō, but his chief disciple Koun Ejō (孤雲懐奘, 1198–1280) also recorded the Zuimonki in the 13th. Ejo was actually a few years older than Dogen, yet outlived him by 20+ years or so. He would become the second abbot of Eiheiji temple, and its spiritual successor after Dogen’s passing.

The Zuimonki occupies a similar space as the Tannisho in the Jodo Shinshu tradition: a record of informal conversations between the founder and a trusted disciple. You can find a nice translation of it here on the Soto Zen homepage.1

Near the very end is the following conversation that I wanted to share (emphasis added):

[6-16]. Dōgen instructed,

All the buddhas and patriarchs were originally ordinary people.

While they were ordinary people, they certainly did bad deeds and had evil minds. Some of them were undoubtedly dull or even stupid. However, since they reformed their minds, followed their teachers, and practiced (the Way), they all became buddhas and patriarchs. People today should also be like this. Do not underestimate yourselves because you think you are dull or stupid.

If you do not arouse bodhi-mind in this present lifetime, when can you expect to be able to practice the Way? If you force yourselves to practice now, you will surely attain the Way.

https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/leaflet/Zuimonki/pdf/zuimonki.pdf

There’s a lot to unpack in this quote, all of it good I think.

First, Dogen reiterates that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Buddhist tradition were all normal sentient beings at some point, with foibles, bad habits, etc. However, they resolved to change, and in time they became something much more. We saw this in the second chapter of the Shushogi as well, so we can definitely infer that Dogen sincerely believed that everyone could accomplish the Buddhist path if they only applied themselves.

I grew up in a broken home as a kid, with two younger sisters, and a chaotic family environment, and needlessly to say I did poorly in school. I remember year after year my teachers would tell my mom that if I just applied myself, I’d do really well. Finally, in the 10th grade, after reading a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring, I discovered that I really liked reading, and soon my grades improved enough that I could get into the local University and live the life I do now. So, I can attest that “believing in yourself, and applying yourself” really is true.

Second, Dogen is clearly not concerned about Dharma Decline, which was the milieu at the time in medieval Japanese Buddhism. Most sects in Japan had felt that because of the increasing chaos and declining Buddhist institutions, which roughly lined up with some aspects of Buddhist chronology,2 traditional Buddhist practice could no longer provide solutions to people’s suffering, hence alternative solutions arose. However, looking back from the 21st century, 8 centuries later, this may seem silly now. Yet, it was an intensely discussed subject at the time. Presumably, since Dogen had journeyed to China unlike other eminent monks at the time, he saw things from a different perspective and wasn’t convinced that the End Times were nigh.

Finally, Dogen is telling listeners not to lose faith in themselves. Self-doubt for anyone is crippling, but Dogen says even if you think you are slob, or an idiot, or whatever, don’t underestimate yourself.

From the original “Lego Movie”.

But if you’re unsure, start small, know your limits, but don’t give up either. Keep your eyes on the prize. 💪🏼

1 English resources on the Soto Zen website are actually quite good, and if you can read the Japanese pages, they are even better.

2 … using some pretty liberal interpretations of certain old Buddhist texts, and some calculations of the Buddha’s historical birth that no longer are accurate thanks to modern archaeology and research.