SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

The True Spirit of the Two Ancestors 67theoretical solution, but religious peace of mind. In China hevisited famous Buddhist scholars in Liang-che (J. Ry‡setsu)and studied under masters of the five schools of Zen, but to noavail. They could not satisfy his longings for religious Truthand dispel the doubts that assailed him. At last he became adisciple of Ju-ching under whose guidance he arrived at theliberation of body and mind, thereby freeing himself from alldoubts. This deep experience became a source from which anew Buddhism emerged which had been Transmitted fromteacher to disciple. Of this D‡gen said: ÒIn liberating my mindand body, I preserved the traditions of ancestral successioneven after I returned to Japan.ÓCorrectly transmitted Buddhism means that the spirit ofGautama Buddha, the historic founder of Buddhism, is alive inthe personalities of the successive Ancestors and Masters andthat this Buddhism is pure and its practice of the Way of theBuddha perfect. It is not prejudiced in favor of the recordedword of the Buddha, or biased in favor of his mind, but ratheraccepts the Buddha as a complete entity, mind and body.D‡gen fervently wished to grasp the essential source ofBuddhism, rejecting its many branches and schools in order toenable it to flourish. But, in the final analysis, what is it thatgives a firm foundation to Buddhism? To this we must answerthat it is the uninterrupted direct succession from master todisciple (J. menju shih‡). In this direct succession (menju) the