Letter from the President
by Tim Kennedy

Dear Stillpoint:

It has been a pretty good summer. Not real hot-not a lot of tomatoes.

However, Stillpoint had the good fortune to create lots of practice opportunities. We organized an April sesshin with Shohaku Okumura in a new place-St. Paul's Retreat House. We had two beautiful retreats at Chatham Village in June and August. The August retreat was led by Issho Fujita. Fujita is from the Pioneer Valley Zendo. This is the place in Massachusetts where Shohaku first arrived in America. In addition, there were all-day sits once a month on Saturdays.

And the sesshins keep coming! We have one scheduled for Nov. 10-12 with Shohaku. We have a slot for Shohaku again in April 2001 (no dates yet). And we have Reb Anderson, a teacher who is new to us, coming June 1-4, 2001. We have already reserved the place - The Burning Bush on the South Side. You will note that it will be four days - this is longer than the usual three days we do. I see this as a growth of sorts for our sangha in that it is another teacher, American born, taught by Suzuki Roshi himself.
I'm happy that Stillpoint can provide these practice opportunities. And I'm happier still that so many are able to come and sit. My hope is that Stillpoint is serving each of you in a way that supports your practice.

I'm really sorry that there are many of our members who I don't get to see very frequently and that is because of my busy schedule. However, it is my intention to pare down my activities and in late November, I intend to start coming on Sundays. It's so important for me to sit with you guys. My experience is that my practice only deepens to the extent that I put myself into Stillpoint.

Our sangha and teachers are such precious treasures. I think we should avail ourselves of these treasures.

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Sangha News

Catherine Gammon is on the road this year. She has spent many hours on the cushion in a Rinzai practice center and a Soto practice center, both in California. She is also going to China, where she will visit some of the temples of our Zen ancestors. We miss her but deeply respect this practice.

Thanks to... Don and Carole Orr for again offering their wonderful hospitality and home in hosting the second annual Stillpoint picnic/bocce tournament in July . . .
Mark Pfaff for an outstanding job on the web site redesign and update . . .
and to Jay Hershey, Catherine Gammon and Don Orr for working with Mark on the web site . . .
Neal and Bev Griebling for organizing the August retreat with Issho Fujita . . .
Jay Hershey for setting an example with many hours on the cushion . . .
Suzanne Hudson for bringing gifts from Dai-En Bennage.

Reb Anderson to Lead Retreat
On June 1-4, 2001, Stillpoint will welcome Reb Anderson, who will lead a four-day retreat here. Reb Anderson, Tenshin Roshi, is a lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition. He left advanced study in mathematics and Western psychology to practice with Suzuki Roshi, who ordained him as a priest in 1970. He served as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center's three training centers (City Center, Green Gulch and Tassajara) from 1986 to 1995. He continues to teach at the Zen Center, living with his family at Green Gulch Farm. Anderson is the author of "Warm Smiles from Cold Mountain: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation" and "Being Upright: Zen Meditation from the Bodhisattva Precepts."

Since this is a somewhat longer retreat than usual, please mark your calendars for this opportunity, or enroll early now. Members of other sanghas are also welcome to attend. Please spread the word. For more information, call the Stillpoint voice mail number at [412] 441-4171 or e-mail Tim Kennedy at: timnottom@aol.com.

New, Improved Web Site
Stillpoint's web site is getting an overhaul. The new site includes updated sitting schedules, upcoming retreats and an archive of the sangha's newsletters. More content is currently being developed. We also have a new, easy to remember URL: http://www.stillpointzen.org. Please contact Mark Pfaff at mpfaff1@go.com with any questions or comments about the new web site.

Issho Fujita Leads Summer Sesshin
We all appreciated the opportunity to practice with Issho Fujita in August. His retreat included a very thorough instruction on posture. His instructions regarding posture should be helpful for everyone. We intend to provide a tape of that retreat.

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In Memory: Georgia Schneider

With deep sorrow, Stillpoint says goodbye to a good friend. Georgia Schneider died October 1, following complications from surgery for esophageal cancer. She was 74. For those of us who had the pleasure to know her, Georgia was a gracious and quiet presence at Stillpoint, and one who will be sadly missed. A memorial service at the Friends Meeting House drew a large crowd, and her family, students and many friends spoke with affection and respect as they remembered an amazing life. She was raised in a family of civil rights activists. Her mother was writer Willie Snow Ethridge. Her father was Louisville Courier-Journal editor Mark Ethridge. She was at the historic 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech. Georgia Schneider's distinguished career was devoted to education and teaching: she was a professor at Duquesne University and Carnegie Mellon. And there was no such word as retirement: in her seventies, she volunteered as a teacher's aide at a school in Homewood and worked part time at the Women and Family Center in McKeesport. "While she was very passionate about civil rights and justice in the world, she was also able to step back and take the larger view, and really see the goodness in people. I think that's part of the legacy she leaves us," says fellow sangha member Neal Griebling. She quietly helped Stillpoint fund the purchase of chairs for people who were uncomfortable using the floor for seated meditation. Memorial contributions in her name can be made the Children's Defense Fund, 25 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, or to the charity of one's choice.

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Genjo-Koan: Actualization of Reality
A talk on the first chapter of "Shobogenzo" by Shohaku Okumura

Dogen Zenji was born in the year 1200. We celebrated his 800th birthday in January of this year. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk when he was 13 years old. According to his biography, his mother died when he was eight years old. The next year, he started to study Buddhism. His determination to be a Buddhist monk was fixed since he was very young.

He practiced at Tendai Monastery in the beginning, but left the monastery after four years of study and practice. He started to practice Zen when he was 17 years old at Kenninji in Kyoto, with his teacher Myozen. At that time, Zen was very new in Japanese Buddhism. He and his teacher felt they should go to China to study more deeply under authentic teachers. Myozen and Dogen left Japan when Dogen was 23. Unfortunately, Myozen died in China when he was 42 years old. After Myozen's death, Dogen found a very good teacher. The teacher's name was Nyojo (Ch. Rujing). He was a Soto teacher. Dogen finally received dharma transmission from this Soto teacher.

Dogen brought back Soto Zen practice from China to Japan when he was 27 years old - still very young. He went back to the original Rinzai monastery in Kyoto and stayed there for a few years, but since his lineage and practice was different from Rinzai Zen, he left. Right after he went back to Japan, he wrote "Fukanzazengi," or "The Universal Recommendation of Zazen." It is a very precise and poetic explanation of the meaning of zazen and how to practice it. After he left that Rinzai monastery, he lived by himself outside of Kyoto for three years. During that time he wrote "Bendowa," or the "Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way." In it, he described zazen practice and made up the questions that people in his time may have asked about this practice, and answered them.

In 1233, he established his own monastery, named Koshoji, in the southern outskirts of Kyoto. That was the beginning of Soto Zen in Japan. He had the first practice period in that year, during which he wrote "Shobogenzo Makahannya-haramitsu (Perfection of Great Wisdom)." "Shobogenzo" means the "true dharma eye treasury." A few months after, in the fall, he wrote this "Genjo-koan" and gave the writing to a lay student. It is interesting that "Genjo-koan" was originally written for a lay practitioner.

When Dogen later compiled the 75-chapter version of "Shobogenzo," he made "Genjo-koan" the first chapter, because, I believe, this is a very basic expression of his understanding of Buddha's teaching (the true dharma) and his practice of zazen.

In a monastery, monks don't only sit, they have to take care of all the other day-to-day things to support their practice. So "Genjo-koan" is the basis of the entire life of practice of the buddha dharma for his students. It has been considered to be the most essential teaching of Dogen in Soto Zen tradition.

When I was in Minneapolis, I had a Buddhist study group in the winter. One year we studied "Genjo-koan." I worked on this translation with several of Katagiri Roshi's disciples. Now I am working on Uchiyama Roshi's commentary on "Genjo-koan." I have made the first draft, but I am still working on polishing the English with a few priests at the San Francisco Zen Center. Hopefully it will be done within two or three years. Translation takes a long time.

Dogen's writing of the first chapter of "Shobogenzo" is very short, and poetic. I'm not sure whether this translation is poetic enough. It's almost impossible to convey the beauty of the rhythm and sound, rich associations and profound implication and suggestion of many important words. I just tried to translate the meaning and logic. He uses very beautiful images about practice and enlightenment, using the moon's reflection in the water, fish in the ocean or a bird in the sky.

This morning I'd like to talk about the title "Genjo-koan." I translated this as "actualization of reality," but it has more layers than that. The word "genjo-koan" consists of four Chinese characters. Each character has several different meanings. "Genjo" is one compound consisting of two Chinese characters-"gen" and "jo." "Koan" is another compound of two Chinese characters - "ko" and "an."

"Gen" has a few meanings. It means "to appear," "to be real, true or actual." Another meaning is "presence," at this moment, at this place. So it means something that has been hidden has become apparent, something that did not exist comes into being.

"Jo" means "to become something" or "to accomplish or achieve something." For example, when Shakyamuni becomes Buddha, in Japanese we use the expression "Jodo," or to complete or achieve the Way. "Jo" as a Buddhist term has something to do with "becoming enlightened" or "completing the way". "Genjo" as a compound has a connotation of "actually to become Buddha" or "become enlightened," or "to complete the way." That is the meaning of "actualization of the reality."

"Koan" is a famous Zen word. If you read any books on Zen, you will find the word. Commonly, the original meaning of this word was considered to be a public (or government) document. In this case, "ko" means "public," as opposed to private or personal. The Chinese character for "an" has two parts. The upper part means "to be peaceful, steady, or to be settled down" or "to place something on something." And the lower part of this character means "tree" or "wood." So this character means a wooden desk on which things are placed. And the main thing that is placed on the desk in the government office is legal documents. This is how this word "koan" is interpreted as "public document." This "an" also means "to think," which is what government officers do at their desk.

In that case, "koan" means a public, legal document issued by the emperor. In China, the emperor has absolute power and authority. When something was issued with the name of the emperor, no one could question or change it. It had absolute authority. So here "koan" is meant as some thing that has absolute authority. It means we cannot doubt it. We have to accept, study and follow it. That is the original meaning of "koan" in common usage of the word.

In Zen tradition, when Zen masters are asked questions, they say something often very unique as expression of the reality, and the masters' answers become absolute authority to their students to study. The student needs to accept them and study them through their practice, but without criticism. In that case, the koan is considered to be the story in which the absolute undeniable reality or truth is expressed. Often in Zen koan stories, the question is not simply a question, but question and answer together express entire reality. Not only the master's answer, but the student's question, express the reality of truth - a question and answer between student and teacher together are the expression of absolute reality or truth. Some actions without saying any words by Zen masters are also the expression of the reality of truth. Those are also called koans.

During the Sun dynasty in China (10th - 13th century), Zen became really popular. Many people, including lay people studied and practiced Zen. One teacher had many students. In the earlier times in the Tang dynasty (7th -10th century), the Zen community was relatively small; a teacher had only 20 or 30 students, so it was possible to have daily communication. But when one teacher has a hundred or even a thousand students, it's not possible to have day to day contact. So they used koan stories as a method to communicate and teach and practice.

Some Chinese Zen masters selected important koans and composed poems or verses about the truth each koan story expresses, and made a commentary. There are several collections of those koans and verses and commentaries that became the texts for Zen practitioners. "Hekiganroku," "The Blue Cliff Record," which has 100 koans, was one of the most important koan collections. "Mumonkan," or "Gateless Gate" was another collection of 48 koans. In the Soto tradition, "Shoyoroku," "The Book of Serenity," was made.

Dogen Zenji didn't put emphasis on so-called "koan practice" in which people use koans as objects of meditation in zazen through which kensho experience is attained. But he studied koans and wrote comments on them. Actually, many chapters of "Shobogenzo" are Dogen's comments on certain koans.

In the case of Dogen's teaching, the word "koan" has a different meaning. When he wrote "Genjo-koan," he used another Chinese character for "an." The right side of the Chinese character Dogen uses is the same with the upper part of the "an" in the common usage, that is "to place", "peace," "to be settled down," "steady" etc. But the left part of the Chinese character is "hand" instead of "wood." This means to place a hand on something to make it peaceful. This means a kind of function or work. In this case, "koan" means a public work; our function for the public, not for our private desire. When we work for the public, we need to have a position within a certain system and we are expected to do things depending on what position we are in. In the oldest commentary of "Shobogenzo," "an" is interpreted as "knowing one's lot." In that sense, "an" is individual. "Ko" is public. Both something individual and something beyond individual are included within this expression, "koan." So this expression "koan" refers to the reality of our life that is the intricacy of individuality and universality. Our body has eyes, ears, nose and so forth. Each part is different from others and has particular function. But they are all connected and function as one person's body. Each has individuality. A nose cannot be a mouth. So each has its own peculiarity, but still everything works together as a part of one body. That is the image of koan as reality of our life in Dogen's writings.

When Dogen uses the word, he points to the reality of our own life. Everything is interdependent. In order to be interdependent, we need both independence and dependence. If we don't have independence, there's no way to interdependence. But our independence doesn't mean we are separate from the rest of the universe. We are connected and being supported by each other. In that sense everything is dependent on something else. Dependence and independence together make interdependence. Our life has both.

This reality of interdependence-including dependence and independence - is what Dogen means when he use this expression "koan." We are born, live and die within this koan. We cannot live by ourselves. We have to study how we are connected as independent beings in relationship with other independent beings, and interact in that sense. First we have to awake to that reality. Second we have to put ourselves into that reality and interact together with other beings. That is the manifestation of interdependence. "Genjo-koan" means we have to awake to that reality and we have to learn how to live within this reality of interdependence. Of course, because Dogen is a Buddhist, he uses Buddhist concepts. He shows us this reality of interdependence and how we can live based on awakening to that reality following Buddha's teachings.

Sitting zazen is the basic and most condensed way we actualize this reality. We sit with our own body and mind. This is really independent. Nobody can sit for me. Even when we sit together with hundreds of people, we are sitting alone. And yet in this sitting, we let go of our thought. Letting go of our thought means we let go of our individuality. Both independence and dependence are actualized within sitting. This sitting is a perfect complete actualization of interdependent origination. In this sense, Zen sitting practice is the basis of Dogen's teaching to awaken to that reality of interdependence. It's really precious to have time to sit together. Practice together as a sangha allows us to awaken the reality of interdependence. In order to do so, we need support from the sangha. Sesshin is a really perfect occasion of being alone together with others. We study and practice together about how we can live as a part of interdependent origination.

Thank you very much for listening.

(First in a series of three lectures given by Rev. Shohaku Okumura during Stillpoint's April 2000 sesshin.)

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