The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light, written by the Master Keizan Zenji, is considered to be highly intuitive according to his contemporaries and counterparts. In about the year 1300, Zenji realized that the stories of Soto Zen Buddhist transmission from Patriarch to Patriarch would be lost if it were not set to writing. It was then that he set his pen to record as much as could be recovered from the lives, and more importantly, the actually moment of Zen Transmission from Master to disciple. These disciples were to become the Masters of the following generations, and would, too, need to find a deserving pupil to transmit the Way before their own death was to occur.
Origination of Soto Zen Ceremonies
Most of the religious ceremonies used in the Soto Zen Tradition were written by the Master Keizan Zenji who was author of many works including the Sankon-Zazen-Setsu and Denkoroku.
Becoming Chief Abbot of Shogakuji Monastery in 1321, he’d lived a life of great devotion to reach this great pinnacle. In 1267, he was born in the Fukui Prefecture. Entering a monastery in Eiheiji, he learned from Koun Ejyo and Tettsu Gikai. He became one of the greatest of the Soto Zen Ancestors with his greatest work having been to document the line of the transmission of the Way all the way back to Shakyamuni Buddha. The Shogakuji Monastery was later made one of the two primary temples in Japan for the Soto Zen Church.
Transmission of the Way
Recording the actual moment in which the Way was transmitted from one successive generation of Masters to the next The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light shows the continuum of Zen Transmission for 52 generations. Every story contains the exact narrative on record as to the exact manner in which each of the great ancestors and patriarchs received the TEACHING and understood the UNBORN.
Saint Choro Seiryo, The Forty Seventh Ancestor
“Seiryo trained under Tanka who asked him, ‘What is the SELF prior to the period of cosmic emptiness?’ Seiryo was just about to respond when Tanka said, ‘Since you are being so noisy, go away for a while.’ One day, whilst climbing Begging Bowl Peak (J. Hachi’uho; C. Po yun feng), Seiryo suddenly awoke to his TRUE SELF . . . The next day Tanka entered the meditation hall and said in verse,
‘The sun makes the solitary peak glow green,
The moon visits the valley stream so chill;
The dark and wondrous SECRET
of the Ancestors and Masters
Does not turn a trifling heart
to find a resting place.’”
The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
Choro Seiryo’s name means ‘Clear in Intelligence.’ Shinketsu, meaning ‘Truly at Rest’ was his Buddhist name and Goku, meaning ‘The Enlightened Void’ was his title as a meditation master. It is not known where he was born and to which clan he was associated as a child.
“The old valley stream;
its icy spring is hidden from all eyes;
No traveler is permitted to penetrate
Its ultimate depths.”
Keizan Zenji summarizes the teaching of Choro Seiryo
Sources: The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light – Keizan Zenji, Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery
 |
