This glossary was started by Ray Watkins who has been working with Suzuki lectures. Additions welcome. If you want to do that contact DC.

Ray writes: A minimal list of terms deemed useful to readers encountering Suzuki Roshi’s lectures for the first time; terms Suzuki explains in context are excluded. Also excluded --  most geographical and historical references, and Buddhist religious terms.

I added the macrons for oryoki below as an example. We are eliminating them from the versions we're working with to facilitate searching but I'd like to have them in a glossary. Got the oryoki with macrons and kanji from Wikipedia and added that link. - dc

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A

asura --   demon or evil spirit

B

Blue Cliff Record[s] (The Hekigan Roku).  A collection of 100 koan-stories compiled by the Chan Master, Hsüeh-tou Ch'ung-hsien (Jap. --  Setcho Juken), A.D. 980–1052, who added an "Appreciatory Word" to each one.  A later Zen Master, Yuanwu Keqin (Jap. Engo Kokugon), A.D. 1063–1135, added his "Introductory Word" as a kind of preface to each Main Subject. The version most often used by Suzuki is the translation by R. D. M. Shaw. (London --   Michael Joseph, 1961).

C

Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi. Came from Eiheiji in June of 1967 to Tassajara, where he served as head of training for monks.  In 1983 he founded Jikoji temple in Los Gatos, in the Santa Cruz mountains of northern California.

D

E

F

fascicle --  a separately published installment of a book or other printed work.

Fukan Zazen-gi --  One of Dogen’s first compositions after he returned to Japan from his pilgrimage to China. Suzuki uses Reiho Masunaga's translation, The Soto Approach to Zen. (Tokyo --  Layman Buddhist Society Press,1958).

G

gomashio --  A table seasoning of ground roasted sesame seeds (goma) and salt (shio).

Gyokujun So-on Suzuki (c. 1877-1934) --   Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's master.  As an orphan, he was legally adopted by the Suzuki family, at which time he was given the family name Suzuki.  He received dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi's father Butsumon Sogaku Suzuki.  He served as abbot of Zoun-in monastery, where Shunryu Suzuki began his training for the priesthood, and later Rinso-in Temple.

H

hakama --  traditional pleated trousers.

hara --   (Chin. --  dantian, dan t'ian, tan t'ien; Jap. --  tanden) --  region of the body below the navel, regarded as the core or center of one's being and/or focal point for meditative/exercise technique.

Hekigan Roku (see Blue Cliff Record[s]). The version most often used by Suzuki is the translation by R. D. M. Shaw. (London --   Michael Joseph, 1961).

hossu (Jap.) --   a whisk made with long animal hair.

I

J

Jamesburg. Here in the lectures, the small town nearest to Tassajara (Zen Mountain Center).

jisha --  attendant to a priest or head monk.

K

[Dainin] Katagiri Roshi (1928-1990)  Japanese Soto Zen master who first came to the United States in 1963.  He was Suzuki Roshi's close colleague in the early years of San Francisco Zen Center, and later established the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center.

Kishizawa Minpo Ian Zenji (1865-1955) --   Soto Zen master, leading interpreter of Dogen's Shobogenzo, and third abbot of Antaiji.  He received dharma transmission from Nishiari Bokusan and succeeded Oka Sotan and Genpo Kitano as official lecturer on the Shobogenzo at Eiheiji.  Suzuki Roshi attended him at Eiheiji monastery and later studied with him for many years.

L

The Lotus Sutra. (Jap. Hoke-kyo; Sanskit --  Saddharma-pundarika). In his lectures on this sutra, Suzuki read from H. Kern's translation of the Lotus Sutra --  Saddharma Puõóarãka or The Lotus of the True Law, New York --  Dover, 1963 (an unaltered reprint of the 1884 edition of The Sacred Books of the East).

            Suzuki examined the Lotus Sutra in three series. The first series of seven lectures began in February 1968, and was edited for the Spring 1969 edition of Wind Bell.  The second series of at least 13 lectures began in October 1968.  The third series of six or seven lectures was given from October 20 to November 7, 1969.

M

“My master”  --  see Gyokujun So-on Suzuki.

“My teacher” --  see Kishizawa Minpo Ian

[I wonder if Suzuki was consistent in these usages of teacher and master. - dc]

N

F. S. C. Northrop --   1893–1992.  Professor of philosophy and jurisprudence at Yale University for 39 years.  Suzuki Roshi might have been referring to his The Meeting of East and West (1946).  Northrop urged humanity to be "continuously aware of the freshness and the ineffable beauty and richness of the immediately apprehended." (The Logic of the Sciences and the Humanities).

Nyojo  (Tendo Nyojo) (Chin. --  Tiantong Rujing)  1163–1228.  Chan master who conferred transmission to Eihei Dogen Zenji.

O

oryoki - Ōryōki (応量器^?, "Just enough") --  set of eating bowls and utensils, wrapped in a cloth, with which Zen monks eat their meals.  The procedure for unwrapping the bowls, eating from them, cleaning, and re-wrapping them has been formalized, and is performed in unison at mealtime. wikipedia

P

Q

R

Ryokan Daigu (1758?–1831) --   Soto priest and renowned poet

S

R. D. M. Shaw, The Blue Cliff Records --   The Hekigan Roku.  London --   Michael Joseph, 1961.

T

tabi --  thin white socks traditionally worn with sandals

tatami --  rigid floor mats of woven straw

tenzo --  head cook in a Zen monastery

tokonoma --  an alcove, often near the front door in many Japanese homes typically featuring a scroll and flower arrangement.

Totsu! (sometimes Katsu!) is a kind of exclamatory word or scolding voice, shouted to cut off entanglements completely.

U

Ummon Bun'en (Ch. --  Yunmen Wenyan) --   864-949.  Ch'an master.

V

W

X

Y

Z

 

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