Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Wild Fox Zen

Home
Buddhist
Why Make a Name?

Why Make a Name?

Last updated on: September 12, 2008 at 2:33 pm by Dosho Port

Why Make a Name? 2008-09-12T14:33:00-06:00 Dosho Port

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the first posting for the 100-day practice period study group on the Shobogenzo Genjokoan. I’ll mark these posts with the moon of the night we met (or the day of the posting if it is something pertaining to the study) in order to help identify them. I’m considering a separate blog for this … but not clear about that yet. Your thoughts welcome.

The moon on Thursday was a waxing gibbous. I talked a bit about the purpose of study, the commentarial text that we’d be digging into, and then together we dug into the first word of the title, Shobogenzo, and ended it all with a question.

The Purpose of Study

Study can be an important aide for reflecting deeply into our lives, opening our hearts to what’s true, and rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. Study can also inform zazen.

However, study often gets a bad name in Zen circles from it’s misuse – stuffing up our heads with knowledge in a futile attempt to shore up our walls of defense and separation.

There isn’t anything wrong with you if you do that – it just means that you are human.

Working with a teacher and a community who are willing to point out stinkiness can help us use study to really turn the light around. Getting stinky, letting go, and getting stinky again are all included in the circle of the Way.

That’s where Shobogenzo, True Dharma Eye Treasury, fits in. It is a phrase that comes from the story of Buddha holding up a flower and Mahakasyapa smiling. Click here to read the story and a bit about it’s origin.

Dharma study and zazen can come together in wholehearted inquiry bent on discovery of the true dharma eye treasury.

The Commentary

We’ll be studying the classic Soto text, Genjokoan, using Okikigaki-sho, “Notes on What Was Heard and Extracted,” by two of Dogen’s students, Sen’ne and Kyogo, to shed light on its original meaning. Click here if you’d like to learn more about these two important figures in Soto Zen and about the Okikigaki-sho .

To simplify, I’ll refer to the commentary simply as Notes.

The Notes are presented as a dialogue between Sen’ne and Kyogo. Like a real dialogue, it isn’t always apparent that they are listening to each other. In the first couple pages, however, they are beating the same drum, attempting to call our school by its true name.

True Dharma Eye Treasury

Kyogo begins,

“Since the Buddha held up a flower and blinked his eyes, we may call our school Holding Flower School or because Mahakasyapa smiled we may call our tradition the Smiling School. But we don’t call our school with such names.”

Sen’ne continues this thread, maybe correcting his disciple, “We should not use our personal wordings. What shall we take and what shall we throw away among the Buddha’s words?”

That’s a tough one. Can we avoid using our personal wordings? Can we digest the whole of the Buddha dharma, no part left out?

Sen’ne then raises a fundamental issue. “Why do we have to make a name for our school?”

The study group kicked this around. On the one hand, naming something puts it in a box and closes down inquiry. The word is not the thing. Once we say “Zen” or “Soto” our formations might lock down and we see the thing as we are, not as it is.

This can be especially dangerous when we identify with something against something else. Democrat vs. Republican, Buddhist vs. Christian, Soto vs. Rinzai. Under the beautiful flag of our favorite thing, we fight.

On CNN last night, James Carville said that at this point in any campaign, the true believers on both sides are energized by hating the lies of the other side and loving their own.

Which of your own lies do you love?

On the other hand, without a name we might not notice the details of a thing or notice it at all or even see that it’s a lie. Living with a black lab, I now see labs much more often. Learning the names of people helps me see them more clearly as they are rather than in some category – Black, white, man, woman.

Question

But back to the issue at hand. Why make the name true dharma eye treasury?

Don’t respond only through the conditioning of your frontal lobe. Please dig into this question, allowing it to roll around in your belly during zazen (and letting it go), bringing it to heart from time to time your daily life, using the mind to clarify rather than obscure.

Why make a name?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 8, 2008

What My Upcoming Book is About

Next Post

September 13, 2008 Relief for Aching Sitters

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 December 2016 October 2016 June 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who is considered the ideal wife and mother in Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Martha Eve Mary Magdalene The Proverbs 31 woman