FREE Zen Newsletter!
Posts
In response to the interesting comment by David H-T, I thought it might be appropriate to post a couple of creatively expressive Dogen quotes that I think offer a remarkably clear vision of nonduality. See what you think:
The monk Dokai of Mount Daiyo, in instructing his assembly, said, “The verdant mountains are constantly moving on, and the Stone Maiden, in the dark of night, gives birth to Her Child.” The mountains are never lacking in the spiritual merits with which they are undoubtedly endowed. This is why they constantly reside at ease and are constantly moving on. By all means, you must examine in great detail the spiritual merits of their moving on. The moving on of a mountain will be just like the moving on of those who wander through life in ignorance, so, even though you may think that it seems the same as the human activity of walking, nevertheless, do not doubt ‘the moving on’ of mountains.
...
The statement “The Stone Maiden, in the dark of night, gives birth to Her Child” refers to the time when the Stone Maiden gives birth to Her Child as ‘in the dark of night’. Generally speaking, there are stones that are male and stones that are female, as well as stones that are neither male nor female, and all of these quite nicely fill up the heavens and fill up the earth. And there are heavenly stones and there are earthly stones, which those who wander without a preconceived goal speak of, though persons who really know them are rare indeed. One needs to understand the principle of Her ‘giving birth to a Child’.
At the time of Her giving birth to the Child, are Parent and Child made separate? You must devote yourself to exploring through your training not only that ‘the Child becoming the Parent’ is the full manifestation of ‘giving birth to the Child’, but also that ‘the time when the Parent becomes the Child’ is the full manifestation of ‘giving birth to the Child’. You must thoroughly penetrate what is being said here.
Shobogenzo, Sansuikyo, Hubert Nearman
Generally speaking, the time of the Dharma’s flowering is inevitably one in which, as the Lotus Scripture puts it, “The parent is young and the child is old.” This does not mean that the child is not a child, nor does it mean that the parent is not a parent: you should simply explore this as “The child is the one who is old and the parent is the one who is young.” Do not follow worldly disbeliefs and thereby be disconcerted, and that which is a worldly disbelief is also a time of the Dharma’s flowering. On account of this, we should make our turning of the Dharma Flower be ‘that singular time when the Buddha was dwelling in the world’. We come pouring forth from the earth when we are aroused by opening up to, manifesting, awakening to, and entering It, and we come pouring forth from the earth when we are aroused by what a Buddha knows through direct experience. At this time of turning the Flower of the Dharma, there is the mind’s awakening due to the Flower of the Dharma, and there is the flowering of the Dharma due to the mind’s awakening.
Shobogenzo, Hokke Ten Hokke, Hubert Nearman
...
The statement “The Stone Maiden, in the dark of night, gives birth to Her Child” refers to the time when the Stone Maiden gives birth to Her Child as ‘in the dark of night’. Generally speaking, there are stones that are male and stones that are female, as well as stones that are neither male nor female, and all of these quite nicely fill up the heavens and fill up the earth. And there are heavenly stones and there are earthly stones, which those who wander without a preconceived goal speak of, though persons who really know them are rare indeed. One needs to understand the principle of Her ‘giving birth to a Child’.
At the time of Her giving birth to the Child, are Parent and Child made separate? You must devote yourself to exploring through your training not only that ‘the Child becoming the Parent’ is the full manifestation of ‘giving birth to the Child’, but also that ‘the time when the Parent becomes the Child’ is the full manifestation of ‘giving birth to the Child’. You must thoroughly penetrate what is being said here.
Shobogenzo, Sansuikyo, Hubert Nearman
Generally speaking, the time of the Dharma’s flowering is inevitably one in which, as the Lotus Scripture puts it, “The parent is young and the child is old.” This does not mean that the child is not a child, nor does it mean that the parent is not a parent: you should simply explore this as “The child is the one who is old and the parent is the one who is young.” Do not follow worldly disbeliefs and thereby be disconcerted, and that which is a worldly disbelief is also a time of the Dharma’s flowering. On account of this, we should make our turning of the Dharma Flower be ‘that singular time when the Buddha was dwelling in the world’. We come pouring forth from the earth when we are aroused by opening up to, manifesting, awakening to, and entering It, and we come pouring forth from the earth when we are aroused by what a Buddha knows through direct experience. At this time of turning the Flower of the Dharma, there is the mind’s awakening due to the Flower of the Dharma, and there is the flowering of the Dharma due to the mind’s awakening.
Shobogenzo, Hokke Ten Hokke, Hubert Nearman
Peace,
Ted
No comments:
Post a Comment