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Document 3 "Lancet of Seated Meditation" This translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo zazen shin is based on the edition published at DZZ. i: 90-i oi, which generally follows the text ofan early manuscript, preserved at Kofuku ji, in Kumamoto, thought by some to be in Dogen's own hand. (See Mizuno Yaoko, "Shobo genzo no shohon sono ta ni tsuite," in the introduction to Shobogenzo Shobogenzo zuimon ki, ed. by Nishio Minoru et al., Nikon koten bungaku taikei 81 [1965], 51-52. The manuscript has been published in Dogen zenji shinseki kankei shiryo shu [1980], 421-34.) Such minor variants as exist in other texts are noted in the DZZ edition and are not repeated here. Other English versions of this work have appeared in Nishiyama Kosen, Shobogenzo, vol. 4 (1983), 47-56; in Yokoi Yuho, The Shobo-genzo (1985), 133-47; and (in part) in Hee-jin Kim, Flowers of Emptiness: Selectionsfrom Dogen's Shobogenzo (1985), 157-65. Terms and passages in bold type here represent material from the root texts on which Dogen is commenting; square brackets indicate my interpolations. LANCET OF SEATED MEDITATION Kannon Dori Kosho Horinji1 Once, when the Great Master Hung-tao of Yiieh shan was sitting [in meditation], a monk asked him, "What are you thinking, [sitting there] so fixedly?" The master answered, "I'm thinking of not thinking." i. The monastery, in Fukakusa (present Fushimi ward, Kyoto), where Dogen lived from 1233 to I243- The DZZ text carries the additional title, "Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Number 12," but this designation does not appear in the Kofuku ji manuscript; it reflects rather the work's location in the 75-fascicle redaction of the Shobogenzo. The %azen shin is not included in either the 60- or 28-fascicle redactions. Lancet of Seated Meditation i8g The monk asked, "Howdo you thitilt of not thinking?" The master answered, "Nonthinking."' Verifying that such are the words of the Great Master, we should study and participate in the correct transmission of fixed sitting. This is the investigation offixedsitting transmitted in the way of the Buddha. Although he is not alone in thinking fixedly, Yiieh-shan's words are singular: he is thinking of not thinking. [These words express] what is the very skin, flesh, bones and marrow of thinking and the very skin, flesh, bones and marrow ofnot thinking. The monk asked, "How do you think of not thinking?" Indeed, though [thenotion of] not thinking may be old,here it is [the question], how do you think of it? Could there be no thinking [in sitting] fixedly? In [sitting] fixedly, how could we fail to penetrate [this]?3 If we are not the sort of fool that despises what is near, we ought to have the strength—and the thinking—to question [sitting] fixedly.4 The master answered, "Nonthinking."Although the employment ofnonthinking iscrystal clear, when wethink of not thinking, wealways use nonthinking. There is someone in nonthinking, and this someone maintains us. Although it is we who are [sitting] fixedly, [our sitting] is not merely thinking: it presents itself as [sitting] fixedly. Although [sitting] fixedly is [sitting] fixedly, how could it think of [sitting] fixedly? Therefore , sitting fixedly is not the measure of the Buddha, not the measure of awakening, not the measure of comprehension.5 2. Great Master Hung-tao is the posthumous title of Yiieh-shan Wei-yen (751-834), disciple of the important figure Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien. This conversation appears in the former's biography in the Ching-te ch'uan teng lu, T.SI 131 icaSff. For discussion of the terms here and Dogen's treatment of them, see Chapter 6. 3. Gotsugotsu chi nokdj'o nani niyorite ka tsuzez&ru. A tentative translation. Some interpreters would read gotsugotsu chinoAo/ohere as referring to a state "beyond [sitting] fixedly." Throughout this discussion, Dogen is treating the adverb gotsugotsu chi ("fixedly," also "toweringly") as a nominal expression equivalent to gotsuza ("fixed sitting")—hence, my rather awkward "[sitting] fixedly." 4. From the old Chinese saying, "The ordinary man values what is distant and despises what is near." Here, as later, the translation loses Dogen's play on ryo ("measure"), in the expressions shiryo ("thinking") and rikiryo ("strength"). 5. This is one of the more obscure "arguments" in the text. I understand the passage to say something like the following. Although nonthinking is an enlightened activity, free from all obstructions to knowledge(as in the Zen expression, "alleight sidesare crystal clear [hachimen...

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