Notes on Bendōwa

by Kikan Michael Howard

Updated February 18, 2026

On this page I provide notes and links to where Katagiri Roshi commented on Zen Master Dōgen’s Bendōwa: “A Talk on Pursuing the Way” or where he discussed key terms used in it. This document is a work in progress. I will update it as I transcribe talks and find additional references.

“SZ” indicates text from the Sotoshu translation of Shobogenzo.

“EB” indicates text from “Dōgen’s Bendowa,” translation by Norman Waddell and Abe Masao in The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. IV, No. 1, May 1971, p. 124-157, which was the translation that Katagiri Roshi used most often.

“MD” indicates text from Moon in a Dewdrop, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi.

Title

辦道話

SZ: Talk on Pursuing the Way
EB: Discourse on Negotiating the Way
MD: On the Endeavor of the Way

“The Way” is tao or dao (道), or in Japanese, dō. Dōgen Zenji’s name, Dō-gen (道元), means “Way Origin.”
The term “Way” is discussed extensively by Katagiri Roshi; perhaps the best place to start is the “Principles of Practice” series. Basically:

“The Way means the universal life beyond conscious or unconscious worlds. This is the Way, where all beings exist in peace, in harmony, prior to the germination of any subtle ideas. […] All sentient beings exist in the realm of the Way; that is called universal life. This life is open not only to human beings or living beings, but also inanimate beings: pebbles, water, et cetera.” - from “Principles of Practice, Talk 1: The Purpose of Practice”
For more on the term “Way” see “Notes on Fukanzazengi”

1

諸佛如來、ともに妙法を單傅して、阿耨菩提を證するに、最上無爲の妙術あり。

SZ: The buddhas, the tathagatas, all have a wondrous skill, supreme and unconditioned, for uniquely transmitting the wondrous dharma and verifying anuttara-bodhi.

EB: Buddha-tathagatas all have a wonderful means, which is unexcelled and free from human agency, for transmitting the wondrous Dharma from one to another without alteration and realizing supreme and complete awakening.

MD: All buddha tathagatas, who directly transmit inconceivable dharma and actualize supreme, perfect enlightenment, have a wondrous way, unsurpassed and unconditioned.

Katagiri Roshi reviews this sentence and the next sentence in “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 3” at 33:16, introducing them as Dōgen Zenji’s statement of “the key point of the zazen we are practicing.”
In Chinese, wu wei (無爲) – translated here as “unconditioned” or “free from human agency” – is a philosophical term literally meaning “not-acting” or “not-doing,” according to Wikipedia. In Japanese, apparantly the term is mui; it translates the Sanskrit term asamskrita, and has the same meaning as “unconstructed”. (Moon in a Dewdrop, glossary, p. 346.)
Shō (證), translated here as “verifying” or “realizing”, is a key term that should not be overlooked. Katagiri Roshi spends an entire talk discussing it in “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 5”. It is part of the term shushō (修證), “practice-realization”, which is central to understanding Dōgen. For more on shō see “Notes on Fukanzazengi”.
Anuttara-bodhi (阿耨菩提) is short for the Sanskrit anuttara-samyak-sambodhi: “complete, perfect, supreme enlightenment.” Katagiri Roshi discusses this term specifically in:
- “Principles of Practice, Talk 1: The Purpose of Practice” - as “the purpose of spiritual life,” in relation to prajñāpāramitā.
- “Principles of Practice, Talk 2: Bodhicitta” - as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind, or “one-mind of the Buddha.”
- “Three Collective Pure Precepts” at 15:02 - connection to the Three Collective Pure Precepts.
- “Diamond Sutra, Talk 9: Emptiness” at 11:27 – as identical with sho, “realization”.

2

これ、ただほとけ、佛にさづけてよこしまなることなきは、すなはち自受用三昧、その標準なり。

SZ: The reason this [method] is transmitted only from buddha to buddha, without deviation, is that the samādhi of receiving and using the self is its standard.

EB: That it is only transmitted without deviation from buddha to buddha is due to the jijuyu samadhi, which is its touchstone.

MD: Only buddhas transmit it to buddhas without veering off; self-fulfilling samadhi is its standard.

Jijuyu zanmai (自受用三昧) – jijuyu samadhi, “the samādhi of receiving and using the self” or “self-fulfilling samadhi” – is discussed particularly in:
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 1” at 48:44 - as “wow” or “self-joyfulness.”
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 3” at 33:16 - referring specifically to these first lines.
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 3” at 1:01:51 - specific question on why it’s referred to as “self-enjoyment samadhi,” noting that the translation is difficult and it’s not exactly “joy.”
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 5” at 24:10 - as being the same as sho or “realization.” Or earlier, noting that it is the same as buddha.
- “Fukanzazengi: Dōgen’s Universal Recommendation for Zazen – Talk 7” at 9:14 - here KR translates ji as “of itself” rather than “self.”
- “Taking Care of Karma” at 1:00:05 - the connection with karma is noted.
- “The Awakening of Faith – Talk 37” at 22:20 - with regard to ceremonies, particularly funeral services.
- “Turning the Three Poisons into Wheels” at 15:46 - with regard to the precepts and the three poisons.
- “Zazen: Entry to the Buddha Dharma” – as “wow!” or “ahhh”.
- “Platform Sutra – Talk 7” – on not understanding it.
- “Baika: Plum Blossoms – Talk 2” at 58:54 – on the connection with or equivalence to ki or “momentum of time and energy”.
- “Baika: Plum Blossoms – Talk 5” - TBD.

3

この三昧に遊化するに、端坐参禪を正門とせり。

SZ: To disport oneself in this samadhi, studying Zen in upright sitting, is considered the main gateway.

EB: To disport oneself freely in this samadhi, the right entrance is proper sitting in zazen.

MD: Sitting upright, practicing Zen, is the authentic gate to the unconfined realm of this samadhi.

Yuge (遊戯) is from Sanskrit vikrīḍita (विक्रीडित) – “play” or “sport”. Apparantly this appears as yuke (遊化) in this version of Bendōwa (EB, p. 129).
Upright sitting (端坐): for the character za 坐, “sitting”, see “Katagiri Roshi’s Zazen Instruction”.
“Practicing zen” or “studying zen” is sanzen (參禪), another key term. Katagiri Roshi often leaves the term sanzen untranslated because the word practice in English “doesn’t hit the mark” of what sanzen means. He comments on the actual meaning of sanzen extensively; see:
- “Zazen: Dropping Off Body and Mind” - sanzen as “surrender to tranquility or simplicity (zen) in life.”
  - The question, then, is what we mean by tranquility. One talk where Katagiri Roshi discussed tranquility in greater detail (pun more or less intended) is “Principles of Practice, Talk 1: The Purpose of Practice”, where the Japanese term jakujō is discussed.
- “Zazen: Entry to the Buddha Dharma” at 18:32
- “Principles of Practice, Talk 1: The Purpose of Practice”
- “Principles of Practice, Talk 2: Bodhicitta”
- See also “Notes on Fukanzazengi”.
The term shōmon (正門) – translated as “main gateway”, “authentic gate”, or “right entrance” – appears later in Questions 1 and 2, and so – happily – the term is covered extensively by Katagiri Roshi, who uses the term right entrance, and clarifies what the term right means in Buddhism (as in right speech, etc.).
- “Zazen: Entry to the Buddha Dharma” In his extensive commentary, Katagiri Roshi says, “Right means that you have to learn (or do) something straightforward[ly], without artifice or design, without intention or purposes.”
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 1”
- “Bendōwa: Dōgen’s Questions & Answers – Talk 2”