Short English Q & A at the very end (2:07:00)! Shobogenzo Zuimonki Book 1 Chapter 6 (quoted from: global.sotozen-net.or.jp/common_html/zuimonki/01-06.html) Once Ejo asked, “What is the meaning of not being blind to cause and effect?” ① Dogen replied, “Not moving cause and effect.” Ejo asked, “How can we be released then?” Dogen said, “Cause and effect … Read more
In the seventh month of the same year, I registered at Tiantong [Monastery]. While I was there, that cook came to meet me and said, “At the end of the summer retreat I retired as cook and am now returning to my home village. I happened to hear a disciple say that you were here; … Read more
Again, in the fifth month of the sixteenth year of the Jiading era (1223), I was on the ship at Qingyuan. While I was talking with the Japanese captain, there was an old monk who arrived. He was about sixty years old. He came directly onto the ship and inquired of the Japanese passengers if … Read more
When a patron comes into the monastery and donates money to hold a feast, the various the stewards should all be consulted; this is the precedent established in monasteries of old. With regard to the distribution of the merit-making donations, they also consult together. Do not create a disturbance in the hierarchy by infringing on … Read more
With resolve and sincerity, one should aim to exceed the ancients in purity and surpass the former worthies in attentiveness. The way to put that aspiration into practice in one’s own person is, for example, to take the same three coins that one’s predecessors spent to make a soup of the crudest greens and use … Read more
When Xuefeng resided at Dongshan [monastery], he served as cook. One day when he was sifting rice [master] Dongshan asked him, “Are you sifting the sand and removing the rice, or sifting the rice and removing the sand?” Xuefeng said, “Sand and rice are simultaneously removed.” Dongshan asked, “What will the great assembly eat?” Xuefeng … Read more
Zen for Nothing is showing in theaters in Tokyo and Osaka. Read an article about the movie in the Japan Times: japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/01/10/films/zen-art-documentary-film