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Muho gives talk on Shobogenzo Gyoji (Japanese & English), February 27th 2018

Nishijima translation of the Shobogenzo: thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Dogen_Teachings/Shobogenzo_2_NC.pdf

Shasta abbey translation of the Shobogenzo: shastaabbey.org/pdf/shoboAll.pdf

There were people who were still going to India after the P’u-t’ung era of the Liang dynasty, and for what? This was foolishness in the extreme. Depending on how their bad karma led them, they wandered about in foreign countries. Step by step, they proceeded down false paths that were an insult to the Dharma; step by step, they were running away from their Father’s True Home. And what, pray, was gained by their going off to India? Nothing but suffering the hardships from crossing great mountains and obstructing waters. Without examining the principle that India had already come to the East, they did not clearly see what the eastern advance of the Buddha Dharma was, so that they futilely wandered about, lost in the labyrinths of India. Although they had a reputation for seeking the Buddha Dharma, they lacked an earnest desire for the Way-seeking Mind, so that they did not meet any genuine Masters in India, and vainly encountered only pedantic
teachers of Scriptures and cerebral scholars. Even though genuine Masters were still present in India, these travelers lacked the true spirit that seeks the True Teaching, and, as a result, the True Teaching did not come within their grasp. Some claimed that they had met a genuine Master upon their arrival in India, but we have yet to hear who those Masters were. Had they met genuine Masters, they would naturally have named names, but there have been no such names mentioned because there were no such encounters.

Further, after our Ancestral Master came from the West, there were many monks in China […]

Muho on Brad Warner’s “The God of Zen”, February 24th 2018

When I’m there, you’re there; when I’m
not, you’re not. If I’m not here I’m
waiting. Try it again: when you’re here,
I’m here too, and when you’re not, then
I’m not. Where am I then, when you’re
not here? I’m nowhere. What am I doing
nowhere ? Waiting. I’m sitting in (what
we’ll call) nowhere, looking into the
dark, and waiting.

I ought to be able to say it better than
that. But how? By not trying? I’ll try not
to try. I’ll try to say it the way it is, the
way i see it. But I won’t try too hard.
Trying too hard gets me off the track.
I know where I am now. I know I can
get some part of it said. I can, if I don’t
try too hard.
(Robert Lax)

Walk around the hall, February 22nd 2018

Walk around the hall, February 18th 2018

Muho wals and talks, February 16th 2018

View from the Antaiji kitchen door & walk around the hall, February 13h 2018

Descending the mountain to pick up the mail, February 6th 2018

Descending the mountain to pick up the mail, February 6th 2018

Same procedure…, February 4th 2018

Muho talks about Hyakujo’s fox and Joshu’s cat, January 31st 2018

Short English Q & A at the very end (2:07:00)!

Shobogenzo Zuimonki
Book 1 Chapter 6
(quoted from: global.sotozen-net.or.jp/common_html/zuimonki/01-06.html)

Once Ejo asked,

“What is the meaning of not being blind to cause and effect?” ①
Dogen replied, “Not moving cause and effect.”

Ejo asked, “How can we be released then?”

Dogen said, “Cause and effect are self-evident.” ②

Ejo inquired further, “Then does cause bring about effect or does effect bring about cause?”

Dogen said, “If it is so in every case, what about Nansen’s ③ killing the cat? When his students could not say anything, Nansen immediately killed the cat. Later, when Joshu heard about the incident, he put his straw sandal on his head and went out. This was excellent action.”

Dogen added, “If I had been Nansen, I would have said, ‘If you cannot speak, I will kill it; even if you can speak, I will kill it. Who would fight over a cat? Who can save the cat? On behalf of the students, I would have said, ‘We are not able to speak, Master. Go ahead and kill the cat!’ Or, I would have said for them, ‘Master, you only know about cutting it (the cat) into two with one stroke, yet you do not know about cutting it into one with one stroke.’”

Ejo asked, “How do you cut it into one with one stroke?”

Dogen said, “The cat itself.”

Dogen added, “If I had been Nansen, when the students could not answer, I would have released the cat saying that the students had already spoken. An ancient master said, ‘When the great-function manifests itself, no fixed rules exist.’”

Dogen also said, “This action of Nansen’s that is, cutting the cat, is a manifestation of the […]