Shohaku Okumura on Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature") Part 3 of 3

== Announcements ==

Watch and listen to the recorded lectures
See below for the video recordings of Okumura Roshi's recent genzo-e lectures on Shobogenzo Bussho, Part 3. These recordings will remain available to all genzo-e registrants for a period of one month -- until June 16th, 2023. Note that the videos are unedited, so you may need to track forward a bit to get to the start of the lecture. A list of the texts referenced by Okumura Roshi during the genzo-e is also provided below.

Lecture #1 (Wed, May 4th, morning)
Lecture #2 (Wed, May 4th, afternoon)
Lecture #3 (Thurs, May 5th, morning)
Lecture #4 (Thurs, May 5th, afternoon)
Lecture #5 (Fri, May 6th, morning)
Lecture #6 (Fri, May 6th, afternoon)
Lecture #7 (Sat, May 7th, morning)
Lecture #8 (Sat, May 7th, afternoon)
Lecture #9 (Sun, May 8th, morning)

Texts referenced during the genzo-e
(in order presented, not exhaustive)
  • Sayings and Doings of Pai-chang – January 1, 1978, by Huai-hai (Author), Thomas Cleary (Translator); p. 40
  • ​Shinji Shobogenzo; Koan 115; p. 160 in Nishijima translation
  • Shobogenzo Shoji ("Life-and-Death"); paragraph 2
  • Life-and-Death: Selected Dharma Poems – April 12, 2018, by Kosho Uchiyama (Author), Daitsu Tom Wright (Translator), Shohaku Okumura (Translator)
  • The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind – January 18, 1994, by John Blofeld (Translator), P'ei Hsiu (Preface); p. 90
  • Dvayatanupassana Sutta (Origination and Cessation) in Sutta Nipata (Pali Canon)
  • Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues – March 22, 2005, by Thomas Cleary (Translator); case 87
  • The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu – September 18, 2001, by James Green (Translator), Kreido Fukushima Roshi (Foreword); referred to as “Joshuroku”; sections 132, 305, & 36
  • Book of Serenity; case 18
  • Mumonkan; case 1
  • The Blue Cliff Record – April 12, 2005, by Thomas Cleary (Translator), J. C. Cleary (Translator); case 81, “Elk of Elks”
  • Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo – July 6, 2010, by Shohaku Okumura (Author), Taigen Dan Leighton (Foreword)
  • The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku – April 9, 1996, by Francis Dojun Cook (Author), Francis H. Cook (Author)
  • Sekito's Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage; available in Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Buddhist Master Hongzhi – August 1, 2000, by Honghzhi Zhengue (Author), Taigen Dan Leighton (Translator), Yi Wu (Translator)
  • Dogen’s Jijuyu-Zanmai in Bendowa; available in Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dagen's Bendowa, With Commentary by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, by Eihei Dogen (Author), Shohaku Okumura (Translator) 
  • Shobogenzo Inmo; in Book 2 of Nishijima translation
  • Dogen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku – March 16, 2010, by Eihei Dogen (Author), Taigen Dan Leighton (Editor), Shohaku Okumura (Translator), Tenshin Reb Anderson (Foreword), John Daido Loori (Contributor), Steven Heine (Contributor)
  • Shobogenzo Gyobutsu igi (“Dignified Conduct of Practice Buddha”); in Book 2 of Nishijima translation
  • Vimalakirti Sutra
  • Dogen’s Bendowa; section 16​

Things to know during the event

  • All zazen periods and lectures (see the schedule) will be shared on Zoom, and we encourage participants to participate in the full schedule if you are able. The Zoom room will open about 10 minutes prior to a given set of zazen periods or lecture. The opening evening consists simply of two periods of zazen, with no orientation or opening remarks, and we will not be monitoring online participants throughout the schedule. As Uchiyama Roshi emphasized, you are responsible for your own practice.
  • If you need help getting into the online segments or have other technical questions related to the event, please email us. If something happens in the middle of an online segment and the connection is lost on our side, wait five minutes or so and then try to sign back into the meeting. If necessary, updates will be posted to this page.
  • Participants will be unable to unmute themselves except during Q&A sessions. If you need to communicate with us during a lecture, use the direct message chat function or send us an e-mail.
  • There will be nine lectures, as usual, with the last lecture on Monday morning. If one of these cannot be held as planned for technical reasons, an additional lecture session will be held on Monday afternoon.
  • Okumura Roshi will be taking questions only after the morning lecture each day. If you have a question about the text or about something he's said, please reserve it until that time. After each morning lecture, participants will be invited to use the “raise hand” function within Zoom, which will automatically put you into a first-come, first-served queue. The co-host will unmute participants to ask questions in the order in which they raised their hands. If you come up with a question outside of the allotted Q&A sessions, you can email it to us here, and we will aim to bring that question forward sometime during the next Q&A session.
  • All of Okumura Roshi's lectures are recorded as a matter of course and archived by our Dogen Institute for eventual later release or for transcription into books and other publications. Recordings of the lectures will not be available during the event, but will be available to participants after the close of the genzo-e for a period of one month. This is primarily a matter of limited human resources; the crew that operates the event is very small and largely volunteer. We don't have the personnel to process recordings during the retreat and make them immediately available.  

Email contact

​Email a question for Okumura Roshi about the content of the text or a lecture.
Email a technical question about joining or participating in an online segment or concerns about your ability to see or hear.

Items to download

*Note: Only Shobogenzo Bussho, Part 3 will be discussed in detail during this genzo-e. The translations of Part 1 and 2 are also provided below for reference -- Okumura Roshi will be summarizing his teachings on Part 1 and 2 at the beginning of this genzo-e.
Translation of Shobogenzo Bussho​, Part 3 
shobogenzo_bussho__part_3__final.pdf
File Size: 264 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
​Chants
genzo-e_chants_2021.pdf
File Size: 39 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Translation of Shobogenzo Bussho, Part 2 ​ (from the November 2022 genzo-e)
shobogenzo_bussho__part_2__final.pdf
File Size: 269 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Translation of Shobogenzo Bussho, Part 1 (from the May 2022 genzo-e)
shobogenzo_bussho__part_1__final.pdf
File Size: 238 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
​SCHEDULE
Times are US Eastern Time.

Parts of the schedule in blue are applicable only to Sanshinji residents and will not appear on Zoom

Opening Evening (May 3rd)
07:10PM Zazen  
08:00 Kinhin
08:10 Zazen
09:00 End of day

Full Retreat Days (May 4th-7th)
04:40AM Wakeup
05:10 Zazen
06:00 Kinhin
06:10 Zazen
07:00 Breakfast
07:30 Soji (temple cleaning)
08:00 Break
09:00 Lecture
10:30 Question & answer
10:50 Break
11:10 Zazen
12:00PM Lunch/Break
12:40 Study period
02:00 Lecture
03:30 Break
04:10 Zazen
05:00 Kinhin
05:10 Zazen
06:00 Dinner/Break
07:10 Zazen
08:00 Kinhin
08:10 Zazen
09:00 End of Day

Closing Day (May 8th)
05:10AM Zazen
06:00 Kinhin
06:10 Zazen
07:00 Breakfast
07:30 Soji (temple cleaning)
08:00 Break
09:00 Lecture
10:30 Question & answer

End of retreat

Want to continue studying genzo-e?

You're invited to join the Dogen Institute listening community on Podia. 

​With a monthly subscription, you will receive access to a collection of Okumura Roshi's genzo-e lectures. We are offering a variety of audio and video recordings of various genzo-e given over the years. When available, a printed translation of the text being studied is also provided. We plan to make more recordings available each quarter, as our selection of recordings on this site is built.
If you are not yet a subscriber to our Podia site, please join us! You can find information about subscribing here.

Want to continue working with texts like Bussho?

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Our Dogen Institute is always interested in talking with those who'd like to volunteer as listeners, transcribers, editors, traffic managers, designers or other roles involved in turning Okumura Roshi's teachings into publications in a variety of forms.

Volunteers report finding their work extremely rewarding, providing an opportunity for give-back, and for study.  There are many exciting and varied projects underway in which you can participate from anywhere in the world. 

The Dogen Institute provides educational opportunities for all who are interested in the study of Dōgen Zenji and his teachings.  Its primary mission is to make available  Okumura Roshi’s life work on Dōgen.  His translations, commentaries, and lectures are offered through books, audio, video, and web based materials. 

A word about financial support

In response to the exceptional experience they enjoy while studying and practicing with Okumura Roshi, participants frequently feel moved to offer gifts of financial support to him, to Sanshin and to the Dogen Institute.  All such donations are greatly appreciated, especially as we recover from the pandemic shutdown when so much of our programming was cancelled.  Without the usual physical dana jars in which funds can be placed, we've enabled giving in different ways.

Gifts to Okumura Roshi:
Go here to contribute to the Abbot Retirement Plan Fund or to make a direct donation online to Okumura Roshi.  You may also send a check to Shohaku Okumura at 1726 S. Olive St., Bloomington, IN  47401.  Please do not make contributions to Sanshin and ask that they be redirected or passed through to Okumura Roshi.  Under the board's financial policies, it can't be done and your gift will remain with Sanshin.  You must give to Okumura Roshi directly, and these gifts are not tax deductible. 

Gifts to the Dogen Institute:  Please go here to make your contribution.

Gifts to Sanshin:  Please visit our giving page and choose the amount and method that works best for you.

Thank you for your generous support, and for your practice!
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