SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

54 Sōtō ZenZen Master, GiÕin in Higo, Ky‰sh‰, in the spring of 1297. InJanuary of the year 1300, he delivered sermons before manylarge gatherings in place of his master at Daij‡-ji Temple. Afterhis formal inauguration as second master of Daij‡-ji Temple inDecember 1304, clergy and laity alike flocked to him. At theinvitation of J‡j‰-ji Temple he became its first master in 1311.He founded Y‡k‡-ji Temple in Noto in 1313 and thereby laidthe foundation for spreading the teachings in Kaga and NotoProvinces. In 1325 Keizan was invited by J‡ken Risshi, chiefpriest of Sh‡gaku-ji Temple in Kusui, Noto, to take up residencethere after Kannon (Skt. Avalokite±vara) had appeared tothe latter in a dream. Accordingly, in June of that year, Keizanrenamed the temple S‡ji-ji.In one of the main works of Keizan, The Record ofthe Transmission of the Light (J. Denk‡roku), it is written,ÒShakyamuni held the flower aloft to let it be known thatIT was, is and will be immutable and indestructible whilstMakakasho broke into a smile to let it be known that ITwas, isand will be beyond beginning or end,Ó * which is a phrase oftenquoted in Zen texts and refers to the Buddha who, when asked* Keizan Zenji, The Denk‡roku or The Record of the Transmission ofthe Light, trans. Rev. Hubert Nearman, O.B.C., with Rev. MasterP.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett, M.O.B.C., as consultant and editor (Mt. Shasta,California: Shasta Abbey Press, 1993), p. 8.