tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36986548.post2166345939815863982..comments2023-10-21T03:56:17.837-07:00Comments on Zen Buddhism Dogen and the Shobogenzo: Zen methodology, Dogen, and emptinessTed Biringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497538623775589400noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36986548.post-10507326365266943272009-12-27T04:33:30.845-08:002009-12-27T04:33:30.845-08:00Well I to but I dream the brief should acquire mor...Well I to but I dream the brief should acquire more info then it has.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36986548.post-37864773683030627742008-08-27T23:40:00.000-07:002008-08-27T23:40:00.000-07:00Thank you Harry,I agree. Dogen works (especially S...Thank you Harry,<BR/><BR/>I agree. Dogen works (especially Shobogenzo), more than any other Zen record I know of, uses a vast array of techniques and expressions to demonstrate the ultimate truth of Sunyata, namely, "The fact that all the myriad things are empty (sunya) means that each of them IS absolute (real)." <BR/><BR/>Your reference to Shobogenzo, Maka Hannya Hara Mitsu (which is considered as the First Chapter in at least 3 "versions" of Shobogenzo) is one of the clearest illustrations of this by Dogen. Also of note, I would say Shobogenzo, Kuge, Shobogenzo, Gabyo, and Shobogenzo, Immo are extremely clear demonstrations. As Hee-Jin Kim says, "For Dogen, even a figure of speech is Buddha."<BR/><BR/>While I think that most of the great Zen masters (as well as the Mahayana sutras and shastras) also acknowledge this truth, it is often done tacitly, or implicitly, rather than explicitly, as in Dogen's work.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again for your comments.<BR/><BR/>Gassho,<BR/>Ted BiringerTed Biringerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00497538623775589400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36986548.post-92026440398739192042008-08-26T02:35:00.000-07:002008-08-26T02:35:00.000-07:00Ted,Just a note which I sent to another forum re. ...Ted,<BR/><BR/>Just a note which I sent to another forum re. Dogen/emptiness... it seemed slightly relevant:<BR/><BR/>Just to say that it seems to me that Dogen doesn't take the obvious Buddhist 101 line of negating time as a concept. He instead seems to affirm time, real existence/time.<BR/><BR/>Dogen doesn't emphasise that we should 'challenge our egoistic self' or other such things. His emphasis seems to be that we instead practice our real self directly using our whole self inc. our 'egoistic self' ('using the self' in Zazen as he says in fukanzazengi).<BR/><BR/>This is firmly established in his reworking of the heart sutra where, instead of negating the listed objects as all 'emptiness' he chooses instead to affirm them as instances of prajna. His overall approach was affirmative, not negative.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/><BR/>Harry.Harryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168631752214481563noreply@blogger.com