Writing by Walter Bitner on nonmusical topics. For Walter’s writing on music and education, visit Off The Podium at walterbitner.com.
Udana (mumon jisetsu), are spontaneous presentations not prompted by questions. … people generally wait until requested to present the Dharma but here unasked they offer spontaneous presentations not prompted by questions. The Buddha Dharma is so difficult to comprehend that it is called “unaskable”. Without spontaneous presentations, many would not come to know it. In Teaching others … manifest spontaneous presentations not prompted by questions and so present Teachings so profound they can only be understood through experience… by spontaneous presentations not prompted by questions… reveal what should be revealed.
~ from Bukkyo: The Buddha’s Sutras
Eihei Dogen (1200-1253)
Jisetsu means “spontaneous teaching” in Japanese – at least, I suppose, in Medieval Ecclesiastical Japanese – this is how the word was explained to me by my Zen teacher Sensei Taiun Michael Elliston. It is the fifth of The Twelve Divisions of the sutras, as described by Dogen, the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen in a teisho (Zen sermon) delivered nearly 800 years ago. Dogen devotes many more words to jisetsu than to any of the other eleven mumon (gates) he defines here – more than twice that of any of the other descriptions. He may have thought this kind of sutra was particularly important, or perhaps not well understood, and went to some trouble to be clear.
Jisetsu is my first Dharma name, which Sensei gave me at my initiation into the Sōtō Zen school Silent Thunder Order in 2008. My second Dharma name is Hokyo “Dharma Bridge”, which I was given later when I received the precepts (jukai) and became a “lay Zen monk”. I have often felt that Sensei put some pressure on me with these Dharma names.
On this site I will gather my nonmusical writings previously posted on Off The Podium at walterbitner.com, and continue to post my writing that is not about music or education here. While Off The Podium will continue to be the internet home for my work as a musician and educator, I have felt for some time the need to find a separate way to share my nonmusical writing, which has occupied more of my attention in recent years. I do not promise to always provide the profound jisetsu promised by Dogen, but I do promise to continue to make my best effort in what I write and share here.
I may be a Zen Buddhist monk (although not a very good one), and I will write about things spiritual here, but this is not a “Zen site” (or is it?). You will find a variety here. I have many interests!
Hokyo Jisetsu Walter Bitner
June 2024
Midlothian, Virginia, USA
Jisetsu 