Lately, our Buddha ancestors–past, present, and future–have been very much on my mind and in my heart.
At the September 12 interment ceremony for Sojun Roshi’s ashes at the memorial site at Tassajara, the doshi, Norman Fischer, read this statement:
We are keenly aware that birth and death give way to each other; day and night, cold and heat–all things turn and turn by opposition, coming like a lightning flash in a black sky, going like waves calming on a great sea. Today our Great Teacher Hakuryu Sojun Daiosho, White Dragon, Essence of Purity, Lineage Source, Teacher of Teachers, holder of the dharma seat for half a century, faithful disciple of his teacher, our founder, Suzuki Shunryu Daiosho, husband, father, friend, and support in this Sahā world, whose dharma life connects us all, everywhere, newly returns to the source.
Honoring Sojun Roshi, our old teacher, his old teacher Suzuki Roshi is right there; they cannot be separated. This lineage, passed warm hand to warm hand, is what made it possible for all of us to be brought together, all of us blessed with the amazing and rare gift of having encountered the true dharma in this lifetime.
In the Jukai (lay ordination) ceremony on October 25, the new ordinees received lineage papers (kechimyaku) along with their rakusus. It represents the blood vein of the ancestors running in an unbroken transmission from the Buddha, all the way through Bodhidharma, Eihei Dogen, Suzuki Roshi, Sojun Roshi, to the preceptors, and to the new ordinees. It does not end there–the line of lineage curves back up to Shakyamuni Buddha, thus forming an unbroken circle.
It is this continuity through space and time that makes it possible for the lineage to extend not only from past to present, but into the future. In Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon, Dogen says:
Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we; we in the future shall be buddhas and ancestors. Revering buddhas and ancestors, we are one buddha and one ancestor; awakening bodhi-mind, we are one bodhi-mind.
How do we manifest this in our own practice? Suzuki Roshi said:
If you can express yourself fully while sitting in zazen without dreaming of anything, that is the actual practice that includes everything. If you have that practice, Buddha is with you, Bodhidharma is with you, and every sage should be with you. . . . Who are they? They are you yourself. How is it possible for Buddha or the great sages to exist forever? The only way is for them to exist with us. When you think about the sages, they are with you in some form, and when you do not think about them, they are also with you. This point should not be forgotten. [Becoming Yourself, p. 39]
Staying home, attaining the way; leaving home, attaining the way. This is the great, creative experiment that we are all living together. Discovering what it means to take the precepts–and even more so, what it means to live them, from day to day, and year to year, in finding out what practice asks of us today, whether on the cushion or outside the temple gate in our daily lives. Meeting each moment with whatever we can bring forth of intention and awareness, kindness and clarity, perseverance and compassion.
Dogen’s Eihei Koso continues:
By revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith.
This is the practice of showing up completely, with our whole, perfectly-imperfect being, complete with missing parts. Accepting each successive moment just as it is, letting go of attachment to outcome. This is the heart of confession and repentance–to be willing to be deeply present and alive to our own experience, whether the light of awareness is turned inwardly or outwardly. The practice itself is simple, but not easy, especially to practice continuously.
Entering the dokusan hut in the early morning darkness and lighting the candles, I bow to images of Sojun Roshi and Hozan Roshi. The whole of our lineage is immediately present, fully lived. In that moment, it manifests as humility, support, and encouragement; bowing in greeting with the person who enters, it is just this.



