Good morning!
Last night I forwarded to our listserv my translation of the Fukanzazengi (A Universal
Recommendation for True Zazen) now available in free pdf format from the Bukkyo
Dendo Kyokai (Association for the Promotion of Buddhism), which provides Buddhist
Bibles in hotels worldwide and publishes the English Tripitaka Series. It contains my
translation published decades ago.
The text consists of four parts: essence, form, function, and existence. The true “essence”
or root (本: moto/hon/ben, indicating the tree root) of the true way or the awakened way
is characterized by four hallmarks: penetration, freedom, purity, and locus. The original
word for “exhaustive pursuit” is source (原: gen/yuan, spring under a rock) or sourcing
(to nirvana, wherefrom all flow out and return – appear and disappear).
The true “form” is the true Zazen, or the Buddha form, or the Buddha-mind seal (Buddha-
mind is sealed in this form and all Buddhas are alike like sealed/stamped), which is the
shikantaza (wholly sitting) that stills all karmas (past/present, bodily/verbal/mental:
formations: functions: habits/heredities) and leads to samādhi and nirvana (nir-vāṇa/
vāta, no-wind > no-wind of karmas: no karma-wind: 業風：goppū).
The true “function” is free and full function based on awakening (bodhi) and prognosis
(prajňā) in nirvana (from the supra-mundane), without mental fabrications (triple
poisons, four defilements, five coverings, etc., cf. the four stages of zen/chan/jhāna/
dhyāna) and with Bodhisattva aspirations (four universal vows, four limitlessness, four
embracing matters, six prajňāpāramitās, etc.) in the mundane realms.
The true “existence” is in the true “essence” of constantly learning the right or holy (wholly
wholesome) “forms and functions” with awakening and concentration, here and now, to
aspire to and appreciate the treasure house of all and for all. Otherwise we are lost in
confusions and condemnations, as we are in the karma world, in endless transmigration
through the six paths (samsara, hell-being, etc.) and suffering.
12/20/15
Above pictures of Mt. Fuji were contributed by Mr. Noriyuki Otsuka
taken a few days ago near his home