Tag Archives: Shohaku Okumura
Wondrous Dharma
*This post is dedicated to two people: 1) The late Chan (Zen) scholar John McRae who introduced me to Shohaku Okumura for the first time in 1997. 2) My friend Bryce who reintroduced me to Shohaku in 2004. These two people unintentionally changed my life and I am forever grateful to them. On a Saturday [...]
Uchiyama’s Shōmyō Practice
Some of the contributors and readers here are already aware that in addition to his devotion to zazen, Uchiyama Kōshō (1912-1998) had a kind of shōmyō (chanting) practice; and, as he became older, even a bowing practice. Before becoming a Sōtō Zen priest in his late twenties, Uchiyama had already earned a Masters degree in [...]
Notes on Shohaku Okumura’s ‘Realizing Genjokoan’ (W2)
This will be just a brief note, focusing on choices in translation. My advisor has been working on “Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook” – which I think will be a great resource for anyone interested in Japanese thought (then again, I am biased..) which includes his own translation of Genjōkoan. I cannot reproduce it in its entirety, [...]
Buddha and Pure Land as Dynamic Activity
Earlier this week, in Notes on Shohaku Okumura’s ‘Realizing Genjokoan’ (W1), Wamae described the active nature of enlightenment in Dōgen’s writings: This question of the relationship between ‘original enlightenment’ and continuing Buddhist practice is one that, arguably, occupies Dōgen’s writings throughout his life. In brief, the answer he found was that enlightenment (original, or otherwise) [...]
Notes on Shohaku Okumura’s ‘Realizing Genjokoan’ (W1)
I mentioned in a comment to Kyōshin’s first post that ‘Realizing Genjokoan‘ suffers from a lack of clarity as to its audience. Thinking about the issue a little further, I think the issue has to do with the framing of Okumura’s commentary in such a way as to jibe with what might be roughly characterized [...]
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