The Bodhisattva’s Four Embracing Actions - Tenzen David Zimmerman - Dharma Talk
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- This talk was given at one of Beginner's Mind Temple’s pop-up events at Unity Church, by Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman. Dogen Zenji’s beautiful and inspiring essay “Bodaisatta Shishobo” addresses four central practices of a bodhisattva ─ giving, loving speech, beneficial action, and identity action. Abbot David provides an overview of these four “embracing actions” which can heal our sense of separateness, deepen our connection with others, and foster social harmony and communal well-being. By actively taking up these practices together, we can ultimately transform the world.
Recorded at Unity Church, Page St., San Francisco, on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
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Thank you for your time and patience! Thank you for sharing this wisdom!
4:00 Dogen: Founder Soto Zēn. 13th century Japanese buddhist zen monk. Wrote Shishobo Genzo in 1243.
5:00 SHISHOBO:* Unifying, Integrative Way or Method: Four ways of embracing & unfying all beings.
5:30 Four Actions:
1. Giving
2. Kind speech
3. Beneficial Action
4. Identity Action
...
*Other translations:
4 methods of guidance;
4 integrative methods of social relations or social integration.
...
Related sources:
Lotus Sutra
Theravada Pali Canon
From my studies and experience, I believe Dogen exhibited traits of an obsessive-compulsive personality, which is clearly apparent in the chapter "Senjou" of the Shobo Genzo. This behavior seems to have been transmitted to his disciples, as evidenced by the numerous ritualistic and seemingly irrelevant practices observed at Eiheiji in Japan.
While I acknowledge and endorse his Kensho based on my own experience, I suspect that something changed in his mental state after returning to Japan and confronting the challenging situations with the warrior monks. This shift may have influenced him to write the Shobo Genzo, which I find to be overly complex and nonsensical. It is not necessary to take my word for it-read the text yourself, and you’ll see the extent of his confusion. Many who do not understand the text end up commenting or writing more nonsense, perpetuating the delusion. If mere verbosity were conducive to Kensho, then the entire monkhood would surely have achieved satori.
Roshi Tetsukobu Musashi
Rinzai School of Zen
Abbot of Gokanji, Tokyo