Genjōkōan
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Genjōkōan
''Genjōkōan'' (現成公按), translated by Tanahashi as ''Actualizing the Fundamental Point'', is an influential essay written by Dōgen, the founder of Zen Buddhism's Sōtō school in Japan. It is considered one of the most popular essays in ''Shōbōgenzō''. History and background Genjōkōan was written for a lay practitioner named Koshu Yō in 1233. Title According to Taigen Dan Leighton "The word ''genjo'' means to fully or completely manifest, or to express or share. And in this context ''koan'' does not refer to these teaching stories, but to the heart of the matter." Shohaku Okumura says that ''Gen'' means "to appear", "to show up," or "to be in the present moment" while ''Jo'' means "to become," "to complete," or "to accomplish." The combined word ''genjō'' therefore means "to manifest," "to actualize," or "to appear and become." Hakuun Yasutani wrote: "... ncerning the word ''genjōkoan'', ''genjō'' is phenomena. It's the whole universe. It's all mental and physi ...
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Shōbōgenzō
is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japan by the 13th century Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Several other works exist with the same title (see above), and it is sometimes called the ''Kana Shōbōgenzō'' in order to differentiate it from those. The term shōbōgenzō can also be used more generally as a synonym for Buddhism as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism. Source of the title Shōbōgenzō as a general term In Mahayana Buddhism the term ''True Dharma Eye Treasury'' () refers generally to the Buddha Dharma, and in Zen Buddhism, it specifically refers to the realization of Buddha's awakening that is not contained in the written words of the sutras. In general Buddhist usage, the term "treasury of the Dharma" refers to the written words of the Buddha's teaching collected in the Sutras as the middle of the Three Treasures of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In Zen, however, the rea ...
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