Before the Great Master Keizan Zenji began recording the transmission of the Way in 1300 in a book entitled The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light, Soto Zen had remained in only a few isolated monasteries in Japan. Because of the Great Master Keizan Zenji’s work in revitalizing the line of the Ancestors in the Zen Tradition, it eventually became the largest Buddhist church in Japan and other Asian countries. Later in the twentieth century when Master Jiyu Kennett came to the task of translating the work into English, she made the difficult decision to release the work from behind monastery walls and allow the general public to read some of Zen Buddhism’s most sacred writings. Shakyamuni Buddha originated the line when he became enlightened and passed the transmission of his own great awakening to Makakoshyo, the First Ancestor.
Keizan Zenji and Reverend Master Abbess Jiyu Kennett
When Shasta Abbey Zen Buddhist Monastery decided to undertake the task of translating The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light recorded by the Great Master Keizan Zenji in the 1300’s, they assumed the average person would not understand it. It was initially intended for members of the Zen Buddhist priesthood engaging in serious and intensive training of the mind. It was understood that some of these Zen Aphorisms would make no sense to a Western born reader. It would require a penetration of sorts into the true core of what Zen is.
Master Keizan Zenji, born in Fukui Prefecture in 1267, would probably have been surprised to find his work administered in many languages to a lay population. The Sankon-Zazen-Setsu, Denkoroku are just two of the great works attributed to the Master Zenji. Most of the religious ceremonies still used today in Soto Zen tradition were penned by him.
The Moment of Enlightenment
The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light has the profound task of keeping for all eternity the records of the moment between Master and Disciple wherein the Master and current ancestor prepares the new disciple to take the torch of the Way to the next generation. Each moment is unique and profound.
Saint Daikan Eno, The Thirty Third Ancestor
“One night, while Eno was hard at work in the rice shed at Obai, Daiman Konin entered and asked, ‘Is the rice indeed white?’ Eno replied, ‘It is white but it has not yet been winnowed.’ Daiman struck Eno’s rice pounding mortar thrice with his staff; Eno shook the rice in the winnowing fan three times then followed Daiman to his quarters.” The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
Daikan Eno’s name means ‘The Able One’ and was of the Ro clan from Han’yo. Daimon Konin’s name means ‘He of Magnificent Endurance’ and was from Obal in Kishu. After Daiman Konin had transmitted the Way to Daikan Eno through the threshing of the rice three times in the middle of the night, he returned to his own monastery wherein nobody knew of the transmission that had occurred. When disciples came to Daimon Konin after this transmission, he was known to have said, ‘My Way is gone.’ Thus, sending them onto the next ancestor in the line of succession Daikan Eno.
“The mortar struck, its sound piercing high
beyond the empty blue;
The clouds are winnowed away,
The bright moon, deep in the night, shines clear.”
Keizan Zenji summarizes the teaching of Daikan Eno
Sources: The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light – Keizan Zenji, Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery
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