Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo
by Shohaku Okumura
★★★★★
Dogen, the thirteenth-century Zen master who founded the Japanese Soto school of Zen, is renowned as one the world's most remarkable religious geniuses. His works are both richly poetic and deeply insightful and philosophical, pointing to the endless depths of Zen exploration. And almost precisely because of these facts, Dogen is often difficult for readers to understand and fully appreciate.
Realizing Genjokoan is a comprehensive introduction to the teachings and approach of this great thinker, taking us on a thorough guided tour of the most important essay-Genjokoan-in Dogen's seminal work, the Shobogenzo. Indeed, the Genjokoan is regarded as the pinnacle of Dogen's writings, encompassing and encapsulating the essence of all the rest of his work.
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"In this book, I am communicating through this writing, and I hope my communication is an expression of impermanence and lack of independent existence. But if I mistakenly cling to my egocentric ideas and write about my understanding only in order to convince others of my views, I am not expressing prajna. My communication becomes only an expression of my self-centered desire. (I try not to do this, but I am not sure that I am truly expressing prajna—so please don’t trust me!) You must be really free from what I say and you must inquire into prajna and practice prajna yourself. What I can communicate to you is only my own understanding from my reading, my practice, and my daily life; I cannot communicate an understanding of the reality of your life. You must inquire into your life for yourself."
— Shohaku Okumura, Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo
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"Another point we have to understand is that Dōgen uses language to negate language and to go beyond its ordinary limits. For Dōgen, language and thinking can function as tools to help us to awaken to the reality beyond language and thinking. This is what Dōgen calls dōtoku (being able to speak). When we truly see reality, we can say that the mountain is moving, the boat is moving, or both are moving simultaneously; all of these are expressions of reality. We can say the wind makes the sound, the bell makes the sound, the mind makes the sound, or the entire universe makes the sound, and all of these can be expressions of reality as well. This is what Dōgen meant when he wrote, “When the Dharma is correctly transmitted to the self, the person is immediately an original person.” In other words, an “original person” meets reality as it comes, without clinging to any particular fixed concept of reality."
— Shohaku Okumura,
Realizing Genjokoan:
The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo
19051
"The Buddha taught that the atman or self does not ultimately exist. He said that everything living or existing is a collection of different elements that are constantly changing. Our lives are dependent on other beings and elements that allow us to be alive as the person we are in this moment. So if one of these things that we depend on changes, whether it is within or outside us, we also must change. This is in fact what the Buddha meant when he said that everything is impermanent and without essential existence. This is the basic reality of our lives, but it is difficult for us to accept."
— Shohaku Okumura
Realizing Genjokoan:
The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo
19024
