Shakyamuni Buddha was the originator and Master in the line of 52 Ancestors or Patriarchs - as they have been called - in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. Each successive ancestor represents a generation of the teaching of the UNBORN and how it was passed down to each successive Master in the line of the transmission. Although not much is known about the lives of many of these great Patriarchs, the moment of transmission was preserved due to the diligent efforts of the Master Keizan Zenji when in 1300 he began writing The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light to record each moment of enlightenment for future generations of monks.
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.
Shakyamuni Buddha, The Awakened One
“Upon seeing the morning star, Gautama became Shakyamuni Buddha when He was, is and will be awakened to His TRUE SELF and said, says and will say, ‘I was, am and will be enlightened, together with the whole of the great earth and all its sentient beings, simultaneously.” The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light.
Born to the Indian Nisshu line, his clan traced their lineage back to the sun. After living a very sheltered life inside the palace as the king’s son protected from death, suffering, old age and disease, he was taken aback when he escaped the palace walls one day to be suddenly face to face with death, suffering, old age and disease. Escaping over the palace walls, he shaved his head and spent six years as an ascetic. After years of meditation on both the extreme life of opulence he had lived in the palace and the extreme life of asceticisim he’d lived since leaving the palace, Shakyamuni Buddha discovered what he called The Middle Way. In essence, he stated that the Way is not achieved in either extreme, but by living in the middle – a life of moderation.
“Unsurpassed in the beauty of its graceful form
is the old Plum Tree;
Its spiny branches, when the season is ripe,
Will burst forth in bloom.”
Keizan Zenji summarizes the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha
Sources: The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light – Keizan Zenji, Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery
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