Portraits of Great Master Keizan, Great Master Jiyu-Kennett, and Great Master Dogen.

This is the third in a series of articles; the first can be found in the May issue, and the second in the July issue.

Together with Shakyamuni Buddha, the lives and teachings of three Great Masters (J: Daiosho)—Great Master Dogen, Great Master Keizan, and Great Master Jiyu-Kennett—are regarded in our lineage of Soto Zen as foundational. Although biographies of them are beyond the scope of this article, some selected sources for research can be found here. This article offers some reflections on what they, and masters in general, offer to us as Buddhist trainees.

There is no field of serious human endeavor that does not have some form of teacher-student/master-disciple/master-apprentice relationship built into it. It is the mechanism by which foundational knowledge and experience is transmitted from one generation to the next. Those who try to go it alone, without reference to the tradition they are operating within and the experience of others within it, are in danger of “going south when wanting to go north” and becoming completely confused and disoriented.

Along with meditation and the Precepts, the master-disciple relationship is one of the foundation stones of Zen Buddhism. As the Most Excellent Mirror, Samadhi, one of our core scriptures, says, “trainees embrace the Ultimate, masters contain the means.” The master cannot give the disciple anything, but by teaching and example can inspire the disciple to bring forth what is already within them. Every being has the Buddha Nature, but our inherited and self-created karma seems to divide this Truth from us.

This self-inflicted misperception of separation from our True Nature is a source of great grief for us; as the poet Rilke so poignantly expressed it, “You, the great homesickness we could never shake off.” We long to return home to the Eternal, and when and if we are ready in this lifetime to undertake the journey, we are brought together with a spiritual friend—a Master—who has the experience to guide us on the journey, someone who has walked ahead of us and can point out the missteps and wrong turns, and never let us forget the great purpose of the journey: reharmonization of body and mind with the Eternal, our True Nature.

At the deepest level all of the world’s religious traditions teach that the single greatest obstacle to this reunion is the egocentric self, the karmically conditioned self-centeredness that makes us spiritually “heartsick.” The master watches for flare-ups of self-centeredness in the disciple, in any of the myriad forms it can take, and shows it to the disciple. As Rev. Master Jiyu writes in Zen is Eternal Life: “The Zen teacher…must first diagnose the spiritual ‘illness’ from the trainee’s questions, and then administer the cure thereof, and he will not be gentle in the way in which he does it.” Sometimes medicine can be a bitter pill to swallow, but if we want to be cured of our debilitating sickness, we accept it gratefully (ideally).

We naturally feel profound gratitude for the doctor who diagnoses an illness and saves our physical life, despite the pain and discomfort that accompanies the cure. How much more so, then, the boundless gratitude for the master who diagnoses our karmic illness and teaches us how to save our spiritual life, despite the pain and discomfort that might cause our ego.

Every morning in Zen monasteries and temples the Ancestral Line—including Great Masters Dogen, Keizan, and Jiyu—is recited as part of Morning Service. This expresses our reverence and gratitude for all those masters who have kept the flame of Truth alive and passed it from generation to generation until it now lights up our own. Although the names of the Great Masters in our lineage are recited, I think of them as representatives of all the masters—and disciples—down the ages who have undertaken to train and enlighten themselves for the benefit of themselves and others.

There is a saying, “When the disciple is ready the master appears.” The Eternal knows the deepest longing of our heart to reharmonize with It. And, since we enfold the Buddha Nature, deep down we know this longing, too, whether we acknowledge it or not, accept it or deny it. In whatever way we may try to sublimate this longing with worldly diversions or roles sanctioned by society, we will still feel the anguish of that “homesickness.” If and when we are ready to offer the effort and energy to begin the journey home, the Eternal will provide the guide. It can happen that the mere sight of one’s guide can fan the spark of longing into a flame of purpose and dedication. However the recognition occurs, one naturally feels gratitude that, at last, the real stage of life’s journey can begin.

Because of consideration for others on the part of the Buddhas and Ancestors, we are enabled to see the Buddha even now and hear His teachings: had the Buddhas and Ancestors not truly Transmitted the Truth it could never have been heard at this particular time: even only so much as a short phrase or section of the teaching should be deeply appreciated. What alternative have we but to be utterly grateful for the great compassion exhibited in this highest of all teachings which is the very eye and treasury of the Truth? —Great Master Dogen, Shushogi

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Short overviews of the lives of Great Masters Dogen and Keizan can be found in the Preface to Rev. Master Jiyu’s Zen is Eternal Life. More detailed overviews of the lives of Dogen and Keizan and their roles in the history of Soto Zen are found later in the book in the sections on their teachings.

A brief biography of Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett can be found on the website of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.

In this period of the pandemic I have been one of those whose life has become less busy, with much more time spent at home. I have been fortunate enough to be able to continue working at home. And then at weekends life is generally quieter and more home-based, with quite a bit of time spent doing “mundane” tasks. One thing that has struck me is the profundity of one of the basic elements of our practice – that is, the bringing of the Mind of Meditation to our daily tasks.

With all that is going on in the wider world, it is very easy to think that simply doing a “mundane” task with focus and care does not have much value. How can it? When compared to the more obvious forms of helpful action that we may take, through our jobs, or through engagement in the community in some way, just quietly doing a “mundane” task may not seem very worthwhile or important. It is so easy to do these tasks in a distracted way, or to wish them away. And yet, I find that when I allow myself to be content to simply do the task in front of me, with care, something in me knows the value and profundity of it. There is a joy and a “rightness” to it as well as the settledness that arises when we ground ourselves in the Stillness at the heart of things. And I sense also that when we allow ourselves to settle in this way it reverberates deeply and really can have long lasting and far reaching beneficial consequences for ourselves and others.

NEWS OF THE TEMPLES