''Genjōkōan'' (現成公按), translated by Tanahashi as ''Actualizing the Fundamental Point'', is an influential essay written by

Dōgen Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Ja ...

, the founder of

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Sōtō school Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...

in Japan. It is considered one of the most popular essays in ''

Shōbōgenzō is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japan by the 13th century Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Several other works exist with the same title (see above), and it is som ...

''.

History and background

Genjōkōan was written for a lay practitioner named Koshu Yō in 1233.

Title

According to

Taigen Dan Leighton Taigen Dan Leighton (born 1950, grew up in Pittsburgh, PA) is a Sōtō priest and teacher, academic, and author. He is an authorized lineage holder and Zen teacher in the tradition of Shunryū Suzuki and is the founder and Guiding Teacher of Ancien ...

"The word ''genjo'' means to fully or completely manifest, or to express or share. And in this context ''koan'' does not refer to these teaching stories, but to the heart of the matter." Shohaku Okumura says that ''Gen'' means "to appear", "to show up," or "to be in the present moment" while ''Jo'' means "to become," "to complete," or "to accomplish." The combined word ''genjō'' therefore means "to manifest," "to actualize," or "to appear and become."

Hakuun Yasutani was a Sōtō rōshi, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan organization of Japanese Zen. Biography Ryōkō Yasutani (安谷量衡) was born in Japan in Shizuoka Prefecture. His family was very poor, and therefore he was adopted by another family. ...

wrote: "... ncerning the word ''genjōkoan'', ''genjō'' is phenomena. It's the whole universe. It's all mental and physical phenomena.... ''Kōan'' is derived from the word ''official document'', and is meant to mean the unerring absolute authority of the Buddha-dharma. So then, ''genjōkōan'' means that the subjective realm and the objective realm, the self and all things in the universe, are nothing but the true Buddha-dharma itself."

Content

''Genjōkōan'' begins with an explanation of Zen and then goes on to elucidate delusion and realization, wholehearted practice, and the relationship of self to realization and environment.

Thomas Cleary Thomas Cleary (24 April 1949 – 20 June 2021) was an American translator and writer of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of ''The Art of War'', a treatise on management, military strategy, and ...

states that ''Genjōkōan'' begins with an outline of Zen using a presentation of the

Five Ranks The ''Five Ranks'' (; ) is a poem consisting of five stanzas describing the stages of realization in the practice of Zen Buddhism. It expresses the interplay of absolute and relative truth and the fundamental non-dualism of Buddhist teaching. O ...

claiming that Dogen used the device throughout his ''Shōbōgenzō''. Shohaku Okumura says that in ''Genjōkōan'' "Dogen created a metaphor to express the reality of individuality and universality."

References

External links

''Genjo Koan''
translated by

Robert Baker Aitken Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Rōshi (June 19, 1917 – August 5, 2010) was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 together with his wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken. Aitken received Dharma tra ...

and

Kazuaki Tanahashi is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts from Japanese and Chinese to English, most notably works by Dogen (he began his translation of '' Shobogenzo'' in his twenties). He first met Shunry ...

for the

San Francisco Zen Center San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Th ...

(Archived)
Actualizing the Fundamental Point (''Genjo-koan'')
(same translation as above but in HTML format)

by Shohaku Okumura {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendowa Soto Zen Zen texts Kōan

History and background

Title

Content

See also

References

Further reading

External links