SHOBOGENZO

My 2025 "Cutting In" project is studying Shōbōgenzō (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) by Sōtō Zen founder and master Dōgen. The Shobogenzo consists of a series of essays (fascicles) written primarily for the monastic communities in which he lived and taught. The original Shobogenzo was a 75 fascicles edition, with a later 12 fascicle edition published later in his life. Dogen's hope was to create a 100 fascicle edition, but that was never fully realized.

The reasons for this study are manifold, but the primary motivations include:

1. My own journey into the practice of Zen.
   
2. Having a lot of time on my hands. (Thank you, broken arm.)
3. Discovering the poetry and pleasure of Dogen's writing, even amidst its density and weirdness.
4. Discovering that commentaries really help to unlock some of Dogen's more opaque concepts and word play.
5. Encountering excerpts from many of the pictured books during Dharma teachings at sittings with Olympia Zen Center and South Sound Zen.
6. Listening to what my own sangha (community) members and Zen teachers/mentors are referencing and recommending.
7. Lifelong learning!

To date, this has been a wonderful and challenging experience.

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Books pictured above for the project. (So far!)

Center, center: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi. This is the "Bible" of this project, so to speak. It includes translations of 96 essays/fascicles, plus a ton of supplementary material.

Center, right: Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, edited by Shohaku Okumura. These are teachings that were delivered to the monks of his communities, and recorded/transcribed by Dogen's disciple and Dharma heir/successor Ejō. It also includes Dogen's waka poetry with commentary. It has been valuable in unlocking some of the mysteries of the Shobogenzo.

Center, left: Shōbōgenzō: Zen Essays by Dōgen, translated by Thomas Cleary. This includes thirteen essays that Cleary considers key. It's interesting to read these in another translation.

Top, left: Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo, translated by Shohaku Okumura. A book-length commentary that helps to unlock a single Dogen essay, Genjokoan. One of my mentors considers this particular essay to be the best piece of spiritual writing ever written.

Top, center: Mountains and Rivers Sutra: Teachings by Norman Fischer, transcribed and edited by Kuya Minogue. The Buddhism Today Reading Group read this book. It's an interesting book because there are three voices speaking throughout. Dogen's Sansuikyō (Mountains and Rivers Sutra) kicks things off. Then there are 52 teachings by Soto Zen priest Zoketsu Norman Fischer, each paired with a suggested practice from Kuya Minogue and/or members of a yearlong group that studied these teachings with Kuya Minogue.

Bottom, center: Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests, edited by Eido Frances Carney. This includes eleven commentaries by female Zen priests on Shobogenzo essays/fascicles. I'm looking forward to this one, especially since I've had the opportunity to sit with the editor.

Bottom, right: Master Dōgen's Zazen Meditation Handbook: A Translation of Eihei Dōgen's Bendōwa, with commentary by Zen Master Kōshō Uchiyama Roshi, translated by Shohaku Okumura and Taigen Daniel Leighton. I'm interested in this one partly because of the master and disciple relationship of Uchiyama and Okumura and how it is informed by Dogen's Bendōwa. It's another book-lenght commentary on a single fascicle.

ANORA

Anora (2024) directed by Sean Baker. 

It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Mikey Madison), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing at the Oscars. Was it a bad film? No. Do I want to see it again? No. It reminded me of Uncut Gems in tone, atmosphere, and editing. (And I don't get the best film editing win at the Oscars. It feels "jumpy" to me at times. Frenetic.)

There's a lot of sex, but it isn't sexy; instead it's a bit soulless. There's not a lot of violence, but, strangely, it felt like it should have been more violent. It's a Romeo and Juliet, opposite side of the tracks type of story. It's also a story of bratty rich aimless young adults, a la Less Than Zero. And it's about the power of money. There is the hidden hope of tenderness tucked away, which ultimately redeems the movie.

Other echoes: Pretty Woman (1990), Saltburn (2023), Fresh Horses (1988).

Streaming on Hulu.

MICKEY 17

Mickey 17 (2025) directed by Bong Joon Ho. 

Robert Patterson plays an Expendable, a person attached to a colony ship, who can be reprinted after dying. (And will die and be reprinted and have memories uploaded/downloaded many times.) This comes in handy as the colonizers explore the risks and dangers of their new homeworld. The existential questions swirling around such a concept are interesting. The leader of the colony ship is a failed politician who has most of the rest of the colony under his cult of personality control. But he's a narcissistic dimwit who is himself easily controlled by his wife and the fawning adulation of his closest advisers. This satire hits a bit too close to home. It's less interesting. 

There are echoes and inspirations throughout—Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, Andor (and it's grittier, working class look at sci-fi tropes), Blade Runner, Alien, and much more. Robert Pattinson was having fun in his role(s) and the exploration of mortality and humanity, and I had fun watching him. He makes the movie for me.

Viewed at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma.

A REAL PAIN

A Real Pain (2024) directed by Jesse Eisenberg. 

This is an "odd couple" "buddy film" following Jewish cousins, played by Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg, on a tour through Poland. Culkin's Benji is a bit unhinged, even though brutally honest and truthful, even to the point of discomfort for others in his presence. This is held in tension with Benji's "other side" which is a sentimental, even endearing, tenderness. Culkin won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, with good reason. I probably would have passed this by if Culkin hadn't won, but I'm glad I saw it.

Streaming on Hulu.

KINDS of KINDNESS

Kinds of Kindness (2024) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. An anthology triptych film, with an ensemble cast playing different characters in each of the three stories. If you've seen other Lanthimos films then you'll encounter some of his "obsessions" here—twins, feet, animals as people (and vice versa). I think this is existential Gnostic body horror. It's definitely weird at times. Many of the characters are flat of affect, as relationships are constantly under threat, or hanging on by a (rather tenuous) thread. I really liked this, but many won't. 

The NPC who plays R.M.F. and provides the "thread" that ostensibly sews the three stories together: I think his initials stand for Real Mother Fucker, although neither Lanthimos nor any of the crew are talking.

 

Streaming on Hulu.

COWARDS

During the past couple of months, Squid released three singles from their third studio album Cowards. The first single, "Crispy Skins" (track 1) is about cannibalism and one of their most accessible songs. The second single, "Building 650" (track 2) is about evil things committed by Frank and the narrator. The third single, "Cro-Magnon Man" (track 6) is wild and jazzy and I'm not really sure what it's all about, but it is probably my favorite Squid track. I've listened to it every day since it dropped. Multiple times. So much so that one of my coworkers asked me about it.



The album was released on Friday, February 7, 2025. I should have pre-ordered it. Instead I called multiple record stores. They either hadn't received it yet or didn't know what I was talking about. So I picked up a week later from my favorite Tacoma record store, Hi-Voltage Records.

It went right into heavy rotation.



Cowards is a great marriage of its two predecessors—2021's Bright Green Field and 2023's O Monolith—while also feeling like a step forward. Squid's art rock with jazz leanings has also incorporated classical elements more so than in the past, so much so that each track includes the core quintet of Squid but also a string quartet. This collaboration grounds the entire album in the spirit of some of my favorite slower and stranger Squid tracks—"Siphon Song," "If You Had Seen the Bull's Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away," and "Boy Racers."

I'm glad to follow Squid on their musical journey, with each album serving as both landmark along the way and a souvenir to remember the movement.

BLOSSOM

"'In the mountains' means the blossoming of the whole world."
—Dōgen

"Reality is reborn with every flower that blooms."
—Norman Fischer

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom."
—Isaiah 35:1

BULLSHIT CHRISTMAS

Sorry baby Jesus, but it was a Bullshit Christmas. And then some.

Today is Day 23/7. Twenty-three days since I broke my left humerus on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Seven days since I had a 28 centimeter metal rod inserted into my bone to stabilize the arm.

Originally, we decided to immobilize the arm with splint and sling. Upon the recheck twelve days later, however, it was discovered that the arm was healing crooked and I probably would lose some movement in it. I couldn't live with that, so surgery it was! That way I get closer to full recovery, although it also meant starting the clock over on healing.

So it's been days of pain and nerve burn. It's been days of meds, ice, rest. It's been days of boredom and lack of focus. Hopefully, it all adds up to a fully functional left arm in a few months, which will include weeks of no weight bearing on the arm and physical therapy. Here's to healing!

NOSFERATU

Nosferatu (2024) written and directed by Robert Eggers. Atmospheric. Impressionistic. Apocalyptic. Intense. If The VVitch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman were appetizers and early courses of a themed meal, then Nosferatu is the sumptuous feast and main course that ties everything together. This is classic and Romantic horror at its best. I will be seeing this again!

Experienced at The Grand Cinema with The Wife.

THE ACOLYTE

We just binge watched Season One of Star Wars: The Acolyte in a single sitting. I put off watching it because of mixed reviews, but I liked it. It plays with familiar Star Wars tropes—"virgin birth," duos/twins/clones (without explaining too much, thanks be to God), Jedi versus Sith, power, truth. There are multiple perspectives and narratives swirling about the core story, which adds some ambiguity and paradox. And it doesn't revolve around the Skywalker saga!

Streaming on Disney+.