Shohaku Okumura
By: Bob Zeglovitch
Shohaku Okumura translates the character for "Gen" in Eihei Dogen’s Genjokoan as "to appear", "to be in the present moment", and "to show up"! So, the Just Show Up Zen Sangha name has this wonderful affinity with the title of this classic Soto Zen text. ("Jo" means "to become", "to complete," or "to accomplish"--so Genjo as a compound means "to manifest,", "to actualize," or "to appear and become."). The complex and multifaceted meaning of “koan” is saved for another day.
By: Bob Zeglovitch
At our last session, we looked some at what it means to be a student of the dharma. One of our jumping off places was the famous line In Dogen’s Genjokoan (often translated as Actualizing the Fundamental Point), “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.” Shohaku Okumura, in his book Realizing Genjokoan, unpacks the meaning of “study”, in part through his translations of the Japanese word and Chinese character.
The Japanese word translated as “study” is “narau,” which originates from the word “nareru,” which means: “to get accustomed to”, “to become familiar with”, “to get used to”, “to become intimate with.” Study is therefore much more than just the intellectual investigation of a subject, although it can certainly include that.
In the Chinese character, the upper part is a symbol for the wings of a bird and the lower part means “self.” So, it points to studying something in the way a baby bird “studies” flying with its parents. The baby bird possesses the potential to fly, but must watch its parents to learn how to actually perform the action of flying. The baby watches and tries until can fly. This is the meaning of study as in “to study the self.”
Okumura also points out that when we truly practice or study the Self, there is no separation between I, self, Buddha Way, study and practice. When we practice the self, I is the self and there is no I apart from the activity of studying. Subject, object, and activity are all completely one thing. However, he kindly acknowledges that to speak, we must use concepts and language and say “I study the self,” or “I study the Buddha Way.”
The entire verse from Genjokoan reads:
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.
To study the Self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be verified by all things.
To be verified by all things is to let the body and mind of the self and the body and mind of others drop off.
There is a trace of realization that cannot be grasped.
We endlessly express the ungraspable trace of realization.