The Bridgeless Bridge - Spring 2002
Genjo Koan, Fundraising Update
Table of Contents
Groundbreaking and Dedication
We Are Making Headway
The Numbers and Perspectives on Raising Money
Dharma Inquiry: Genjo-Koan: Actualization of Reality, Part 2

Groundbreaking and Dedication

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Sanshin Zen Community practice center will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2002. The groundbreaking will be a way to announce the coming of Sanshin's practice center to the Bloomington community and to formalize this new stage in the evolution of Sanshin Zen Community to its new and longstanding practitioners and supporters. Hopefully, as many people from the Sanshin Zen Community as possible will be able to attend the ceremony to help achieve a warm and vigorous start for the practice center.

Practitioners from the Bloomington area will organize an event as part of the groundbreaking ceremony to serve as the beginning of an on-going effort to provide the people of Bloomington and the south-central Indiana area (and beyond!) an opportunity to learn what Sanshin Zen Community is all about. Along with the actual groundbreaking at the Olive Street property, a meal will probably be planned at which Shohaku Okumura will be introduced and be given the chance to address the gathering. A hall in the Unitarian Church in Bloomington, Indiana, will be available for Sanshin Zen Community's use from 4:00 to 9:00.

For those of you who are unable to attend, you may want to send your well wishes to be posted on a board at the groundbreaking event. If you'd like, include a little something extra: A picture of you with your friends and family or at one of your favorite places, a copy of your local sangha's newsletter, a sketch or doodle of your own, so-on-and-so-forth.

For more information about the groundbreaking ceremony and events, area accommodations and travel information, please contact Bob Meadows at 705 S Meadowbrook Dr., Bloomington, IN, 47401; 812/334- 2841 or rmeadows@indiana.edu.

Once the first building is completed, a dedication may be held sometime in fall or early winter 2002. We'll know more when that time comes. If it is ultimately scheduled, anyone can volunteer to help plan, organize and coordinate it. Please send your name and contact information to me, C. Hilmoe, 3133 38th Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55406, hilmoe@msn.com, if you would like to be contacted to volunteer if this event materializes. I will distribute the names to the appropriate person when the time comes. For those not living in Bloomington who would like to try their hand at helping to organize an event there, email access might be a helpful prerequisite.

We Are Making Headway

Dear Friends of Sanshin Zen Community,

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the people who responded to our fundraising appeal last fall. I would also like to thank the many Sanshin Zen Community practitioners and other Zen Centers for their assistance in carrying out the fundraising effort. So far, Sanshin Zen Community has received about $5,300 in donations from the appeal.

With these generous contributions, Sanshin Zen Community now owns the Bloomington, Indiana, land on which a practice center will be built. Paying off the land purchase loan has made things easier in the long run, but has made our financial situation in the short term a little tight. As a result of some personal appeals, we just received the final few thousand dollars needed to activate the loan for the construction of the first building by April 15. Beginning in April, then, we will be making mortgage payments. Additional contributions to be used for these payments may be sent in response to our original appeal last fall to supporters in Japan, America and elsewhere; or by sending out additional fundraising appeals using additional Zen Center mailing lists. I believe Buddha knows our need for the sake of Dharma.

I think my move to Bloomington is crucial to making Sanshin Zen Community's practice center alive and active. My tenure as Director of the Soto Zen Education Center in San Francisco concludes in spring 2003. By summer 2003, when my family and I move to Bloomington, we will need a house to live in. Additional funds will be necessary to construct the house for my family on the practice center grounds or to obtain interim housing in the event this is not yet built.

I have some uncertainty about how to support my family after moving to Bloomington. If it becomes necessary for me to have a job outside of teaching, writing and studying with Sanshin Zen Community and closely related activity, then that much of my time and energy will be diverted from Sanshin. I don't think I can expect Sanshin Zen Community practitioners and friends to provide enough financial support to support my family, especially in the beginning. This is my koan now. Suggestions from anyone would be deeply appreciated.

So far, we have received about 10,000,000 Yen or $75,000 from friends I know through my zazen practice at Antaiji and other places in Japan. The expectation of these supporters is simply to establish a practice center where people can visit to practice following Dogen Zenji's and Uchiyama Roshi's teachings. Since that is the main purpose of Sanshin Zen Community and its practice center, there is no conflict. However, if we receive more donations from a larger circle of Japanese people, we might have to accept other expectations. Therefore, I hesitate to make a larger effort to raise funds in Japan.

Ultimately, I would like people to experience Sanshin Zen Community's practice center as a place established by the sincere aspiration and cooperation of American people with some help from Japan, instead of being established mainly by Japanese financial support. Is there a way to approach our need for support that would ultimately result in a greater proportion of the support originating in this country? Does anyone know of people, foundations or companies who might be interested in helping a Soto Zen Buddhist meditation center, constructed by American people as an expression of American spirituality inspired by Asian spirituality? What potential is there for getting a grant for the translation work of Zen Buddhist texts? I also know that in order to establish a strong sangha, we need many other kinds of support besides monetary donations. Please help in anyway that you can.

Thanks to your support, the dream of building the home of Sanshin Zen Community is becoming a reality. I look forward to practicing with you in Bloomington in the near future.

Gassho,
Shohaku Okumura

The Numbers & Perspectives on Raising Money

Sanshin Zen Community has raised more than $80,000 in the last few years to build its practice center and for other expenses. People have been very generous. Now, everyone can help raise additional money that is needed to complete construction of the practice center and to meet ongoing payments and expenses. No contribution is too small. Every effort to assist in fundraising is crucial.

Construction of the practice center is scheduled to begin in April 2002. The initial building (kitchen, dinning hall, lodging, temporary zendo, meeting space and offices) is expected to open in late 2002 at a cost of $150,000. Once construction begins, Sanshin Zen Community will need to make monthly payments on the money borrowed. After it is built, some of Sanshin Zen Community's monthly costs will be picked up by the Zen Center of Bloomington, which is renting space in the building. In addition to expenses, seed money for construction of the permanent zendo and the teacher's residence, the two remaining buildings in the practice center plan, is now being collected. Estimated costs for the zendo and the residence are $104,000 and $96,000, respectively.

The table below is an attempt to show Sanshin Zen Community's cash flow for the years 2002 and 2003, excluding a teacher's salary and mortgages on the teacher's residence and the permanent zendo. All the figures in the cash flow statement, except cash on hand, are estimates only, especially those showing projected income and future expenses. As you can see, additional support is needed.

So far, friends and practitioners in Japan have been the primary source of seed money for the Sanshin Zen Community practice center. Their large contributions made it possible to purchase the land and have brought Sanshin Zen Community a long way towards securing a loan for starting construction. Friends and practitioners in America have provided some financial support and much non-monetary support. By providing mailing list, newsletter and web site development and maintenance; fundraising planning and implementation; graphic design; accountant services; financial and legal services; general contractor services, architectural design; landscape design; and selected architectural fixtures, they have saved Sanshin Zen Community a lot of money. It would be great if people in America could provide or find sources of seed money for future construction and for ongoing expenses related to the practice center facility and Sanshin Zen Community “programs.”

Sanshin Zen Community is intentionally different from a local sangha. Conversations take form and relationships flourish within it in ways that may look different from a local sangha. How we inform each other of our financial status and encourage each other to share in fundraising are good examples. Sangha meetings, where real-time discussion is possible, are not readily available to us. So, information is shared here in print, a bit awkwardly. Financial projections are always full of uncertainty and seeing them in print sometimes gives people a false sense of certainty. Please do not mistake the information in the following table as a full-fledged business plan.

In the fall 1998 issue of this newsletter, Shohaku Okumura told about his experience doing takuhatsu (ritual begging). In the telling was his perspective on the fundraising that Sanshin Zen Community was about to embark upon. He described activity that turned profound through the spirit in which it was conducted. In other newsletter issues, Rev. Okumura has explained his vision for Sanshin Zen Community, its focus on studying the teachings of Dogen Zenji and the practice of zazen. This vision provides the most important context for supporting Sanshin Zen Community. Now that Sanshin Zen Community is in the middle of its fundraising activity, and breaking ground for the practice center, the figures are shared to help keep the momentum going.

More information about the practice center plan is available in the spring 2001 issue of this newsletter. If you have comments and questions about the construction budget, please contact Bob Meadows at 705 S Meadowbrook Dr., Bloomington, IN, 47401; 812/334-2841 or rmeadows@indiana.edu. You may inquire with David Naso about estimates of other income and expenses. Contact him at 727 Dearborn St., Iowa City, IA, 52240, 319/338-5748 or naso727@peoplepc.com. Please refer to another section of this newsletter for information about back issues.

DRAFT CASH FLOW STATEMENT

Sanshin Zen Community
February 2002
All figures are estimates only.

1 $5,300 received as of February 2002.
2 Based on prior years' information until additional information is available.
3 Teacher's salary: excluded until need for employment outside of Sanshin Zen Community is determined.
4 Mortgages for permanent zendo and teacher's residence: excluded until seed money has been raised.

Dharma Inquiry

Genjo-Koan: Actualization of Reality

This is the first in a series of three lectures given by Rev. Shohaku Okumura on the first chapter of Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo during Stillpoint's April 2000 sesshin in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is being reprinted here from Stillpoint's newsletter.

Dogen Zenji was born in the year 1200. We celebrated his 800th birthday in January of 2000. 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 Genjokoan. 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 Genjokoan. I translated this as "actualization of reality," but it has more layers than that. The word genjokoan 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 an is 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 rela tively 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.