Existence-Time and Dharma-Transmission
To fully
appreciate of Dogen’s view of Dharma-transmission it needs to be understood
within the context of the nonduality of the temporal and the eternal as
presented by the essential doctrine of “existence-time” (uji). “Uji” or “existence-time”
is Dogen’s uniquely dynamic vision of the nondual nature of existence
(ontology, being, place [space, location]) and time (temporality, chronology, temporology).1
Many,
if not most Zen students are familiar with the Dogen’s unique teaching about existence-time
due to the fact that the Shobogenzo
fascicle of the same name – “Uji” – was one of the earliest, and has proven to
be one of the most numerous, translations made available.2 “Knowing of” Dogen’s teaching on existence-time, however, is not
the same as accurately understanding it, much less verifying it in experience
and incorporating it in practice-enlightenment.3
Briefly
then, the significance of “existence-time” (uji) is given a central position in
Dogen’s vision of Zen cosmology. This means, for one thing, that all of the
implications of Dogen’s view of existence-time are presupposed as intrinsic to
all his teachings.
Now,
the point we want to get at is this; Dogen’s teaching on “Dharma-transmission” –
when seen from within his view of existence-time – presents a remarkably
dynamic vision of the universe as an ever-present
activity of becoming Buddha. In short
“becoming Buddha” is not something limited to the present time, not something
that will cease in the future, nor something that will vanish in the past –
becoming Buddha now (i.e. in the
present) is not independent of becoming
Buddha then (i.e. in the past or
future). For Dogen then, “Dharma-transmission” describes the coordinating
activity of becoming Buddha as the
inherent “virtue of ascending and descending” (the up and down, or forward and
back flow of “time”) of each and all things, beings, and events (dharmas) exist.
In
short, the Dharma is not merely something that Buddhas and ancestors “pass on”
from the past, to the present, and into the future; Dharma is also transmitted
from the present to the past, and from the future to the present and the past. Thus Dogen is able to
express this astonishing vision for instance:
The
succession of the Dharma by ancestral patriarchs is forty patriarchs from the
Seven Buddhas to Sokei and forty buddhas from Sokei to the Seven Buddhas.
Because each of the Seven Buddhas has the virtue of ascending and of
descending, they extend to Sokei and extend to the Seven Buddhas. Because Sokei
has the virtue of ascending and of descending, he receives the authentic
transmission from the Seven Buddhas, he receives the authentic transmission
from Sokei, and he passes the authentic transmission to later buddhas. But it
is beyond only former and later. At the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, all the
buddhas of the ten directions are present; at the time of Seigen, Nangaku is
present; at the time of Nangaku, Seigen is present; and so on—at the time of
Sekito, Kozei is present. Their not hindering each other may be different from
having no connection. We should investigate the presence of such virtue. Each
of the forty Buddhist patriarchs mentioned above is an eternal buddha. At the
same time, each has a mind, a body, a state of brightness, and a national land.
Each has passed away long ago and has never passed away at all. It may be that
both never having passed away, and having passed away long ago, are equally the
virtue of an eternal buddha. Those who learn in practice the truth of eternal
buddhas realize in experience the truth of eternal buddhas; they are the
eternal buddhas of each age. Although the “eternal” of “eternal buddhas” is
exactly the same as the “old” in “new and old,” [eternal buddhas] have
completely transcended past and present; they belong directly in eternity.
Shobogenzo,
Kobusshin, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross
Notes
1. “Temporology” is the term
applied to the “science of time” inspired by Dr Kozyrev and under active
investigation at Moscow State Univeristy, which offers this
brief definition on their website: “In
our understanding, the ‘nature’ of time is the mechanism [that brings about]
appearing changes and occurring newness in the world. To understand the
‘nature’ of time is to point to … a process, a phenomenon, a ‘carrier’ in the
material world whose properties could be identified or corresponded with those
of time.”
2. The “Uji” fascicle of is
probably second in popularity only to “Genjokoan” – the other popular Dogen
work, “Bendowa” is not a Shobogenzo
fascicle.
3. Even the first step of
incorporating the reality of existence-time (i.e. achieving an accurate
understanding) cannot really be accomplished with the “Uji” fascicle alone –
for “Uji” is but one chapter (fascicle, part, section) of a single, complex,
literary expression consisting of (at least) seventy-four other chapters.
Peace,
Ted
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