There are a few jades running through a golden needle (celebrity standouts) in the line of 52 Soto Zen Buddhist Ancestors and Patriarchs. Although the remnants of most of the ancestors lives remain sketchy, there are three who remain well remembered today and whose writings are still extant: Nagyaarajunya (commonly referred to as Nagarjuna), Bodaidaruma and the Master Eihei Dogen, author of the Shobogenzo-Zuimonki and Moon in a Dewdrop, both profound Soto Zen Buddhist texts which remain studied in monasteries and by Buddhists the world over today.
Keizan Zenji
Born in Fukui Prefecture in 1267, Master Zenji entered a monastery – Eiheiji – and learned from Koun Ejyo and Tettsu Gikai. He became one of the greatest of the Soto Zen Ancestors and became Chief Abbot of Shogakuji in 1321 shortly thereafter renaming the temple Shogaku-zan Sojiji which later was made one of the two primary temples in Japan for the Soto Zen Church.
Zenji wrote many works including the Sankon-Zazen-Setsu, Denkoroku and most of the religious ceremonies used in the Soto Zen Tradition.
Denkoroku
The Denkoroku records the moment when the Way was transmitted from teacher to disciple for each of the fifty two patriarchs. In each story, there is a narrative of the moment the student received the Way, short biographical information and a set of verses summarizing that particular Patriarch’s teaching.
Saint Funyomitta, The Twenty Sixth Ancestor
“When Funyomitta was a crown prince, Bashyashita asked him, ‘Since you wish to leave home to become a monk, what activities would you undertake to do?’ Fuynyomitta said, ‘Were I to leave home to become a monk, it would not be to do anything in particular.’ Bashyashita then asked, ‘What would you refrain from doing?’ Funyomitta answered, ‘ I would refrain from pursuing worldly activities.’ Bashyashita asked him, ‘What activities ought you to do?’ Funyomitta replied, ‘I would undertake the activities of Buddha.’ Bashyashita then said, ‘Prince, your enlightened wisdom reaches the heavens; you are no doubt a descendant of the sages.’ Thereupon, Bashyashita permitted him to become a monk.” The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
Funyomitta’s name means ‘A Friend of the Virtuous,’ and he was a crown prince in Southern India.
“The ORIGINAL GROUND, at all times,
is without even a single blade of grass;
Where do a monk’s personal explanations
Add or subtract anything?”
Keizan Zenji summarizes the teaching of Funyomitta
Sources: The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light – Keizan Zenji, Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery
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