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 Daiyo Kyogen, The Forty Third Ancestor
“Daiyo asked Ryozan, ‘What is the seat of enlightenment (‘Bodhimandala’) that has no characteristics?’ Ryozan pointed to a picture of Kannon and said, ‘This was painted by the retired scholar, Mr. Go (C. Su).’ Daiyo was about to speak when Ryozan suddenly demanded of him, ‘This one has characteristics; which is the ONE that has no characteristics?’ Upon hearing these words Daiyo awoke to his TRUE SELF.” The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
Daiyo Kyogen’s name means ‘He in Whom the Precepts are Deep’ and he was from the Cho clan from the region of Koka. He became a full monk at the age of nineteen, having left home years earlier to begin his training.
Ryozan joked with Daiyo Kyogen that the following words Kyogen had spoken to him would be engraved in his gravestone, although in the end it did not happen.
“Long ago, as a novice,
I wandered off onto the path of learning.
Across myriad rivers
And over thousands of mountains
I searched for tangible knowledge;
Seeing the now clearly
As well as discerning what has long passed
Proved, in the end, too hard for me to comprehend,
And direct talk of what is beyond mind
Set my doubt spinning about even more.
Then my Master gave me the ancient mirror of Ch’in
Which he set up before me;
Illumined in it I saw the time before the concept
‘father and mother’ had been invented.
Now that my pursuit has come to an end,
What have I attained?
Were you to set free into the night
The silky black raven,
It would fly off clothed in snow.”
The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
“The Perfect Mirror hangs high, Its brightness
clearly shining into every nook and corner:
The Vermilion trimmed Boat is so utterly beautiful
That no picture can truly capture It.”
Keizan Zenji summarizes the teaching of Daiyo Kyogen
Sources: The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light – Keizan Zenji, Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery
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