Summary by Scott Parker. Edited by Mark Unno 2/4/2002.

"Shobogenzo Genjokoan" Dogen Kigen Translated by Norman Waddell and Abe Masao

Dogen wrote the "Genjokoan" in 1233 for his disciple Yo-koshu. There was very little change in its content between 1233 and 1252 when he compiled the 75 fascicle Shobogenzo and included the "Genjokoan" at its beginning. The placement of the "Genjokoan" is thought to indicate its importance. Nishiari Bokusan, a Soto master of the Meiji era, said "his whole life's teaching begins and ends with this fascicle; |the 95 fascicles of Shobogenzo are offshoots of this one."(129)

"Genjokoan" does not translate easily into English, but loosely it "points to the ultimate reality in which all things are distinctively individual, and yet equal in the presence of their suchness."(130) This meaning comes from the words genjo and koan. Genjo can be taken as the manifesting of the awareness of ultimate reality as brought about through religious practice. Koan describes absolute equality, beyond equality and inequality, of all things.

• The first four sentences of the text are often considered to represent the basic ideas of the work. The first sentence reads: "When all dharmas are the Buddha Dharma, there is illusion and enlightenment, practice, birth, death, buddhas, and sentient beings."(133) This is the basic statement of "Genjokoan". There are no dualisms; any that are conceived of are illusionary; we must be liberated from dualistic views.
• The second sentence: "When myriad dharmas are without self, there is no illusion or enlightenment, no buddhas or sentient beings, no generation or extinction." This shows that the dualism in the first sentence between enlightenment and illusion is not really a dualism. The nonduality of the two are realized "when myriad dharmas are without self."
• The third: "The Buddha Way is originally beyond fullness or lack, and for this reason there is generation and extinction, illusion and enlightenment, sentient beings and buddhas." This sentence describes how Buddhist reality is beyond the affirmation and negation of distinction and sameness, respectively.
• The fourth: "In spite of this, flowers fall always amid our grudging, and weeds flourish in our chagrin." Here we see that our view of reality is corrupted by our desires. "Only when you neither love nor hate does it appear in all clarity."(132) Furthermore, Dogen says that people's love for flowers and loathing for weeds is part of reality in that they are conditions of being human.

Mark Unno interprets these four lines along the same lines but slightly differently:

1. Form. The teachings exist. Phenomena exist.
2. Emptiness. The teachings are empty. Phenomena are empty.
3. Form and emptiness. The teachings are seen for what they truly are in light of emptiness. Phenomena appear as phenomena in light of emptiness.
4. Here-and-now. In the moment of seeing our attachment, we are already illuminated by emptiness. Without a part of our awareness centered in emptiness, we cannot see our attachment. This cannot be captured in any formula, including that of the two-fold truth. It must be manifest in the here-and-now awareness of attachment.

In the remainder of the "Genjokoan" Dogen expounds on these major points with parable and recitation. In one passage he describes the process of attaining enlightenment: "To learn the Buddha Way is to learn one's own self. To learn one's self is to forget one's self. To forget one's self is to be confirmed by all dharmas. To be confirmed by all dharmas is to effect the casting off one's own body and mind and the bodies and minds of others as well. All traces of enlightenment [then] disappear, and this traceless enlightenment is continues on and on endlessly." (134-135) As long as one is aware of enlightenment as an object to be attained, it is not true enlightenment. True enlightenment is necessarily without trace or form. When one realizes true enlightenment "he is at once the Person of his original past." Enlightenment is not to be sought from without. It is always already within and need only be recognized, is not be clung to.

The notion of giving up attachment to one's self on the path to enlightenment can be intimidating, but Dogen reminds us that "enlightenment does not destroy man any more than the moon breaks a hole in the water." A lake radiates the light of the moon but is still made of water. This understanding cannot be known intellectually but only experientially.