Emptiness and the Sentient Nature of Reality
Among
the vast number of characteristics Dogen’s
Shobogenzo attributes to emptiness, are these six, decidedly positive, characteristics:
Emptiness
is present in/as existence-time
Emptiness
is differentiated
Emptiness
is active
Emptiness
is sentient
Emptiness
is intelligible
Emptiness
is communicable
Even
after a short foray into Dogen’s treatment of emptiness in the first fascicle
written for Shobogenzo –Maka-hannya-haramitsu – it is clear that his vision of emptiness cannot be understood
as negative
or apophatic. This point merits emphasis; the meticulous
attention to, and refutations of negativistic views of emptiness in Shobogenzo testifies to the pervasiveness
of such distortions in Dogen’s era. The distorting power of negativistic views
of emptiness can and does obstruct practitioners from clearly seeing any aspect of Zen, not to mention actualizing its
wisdom.
The Sentient Nature of Reality
I meet with a human being, a human being meets with a human
being, I meet with myself, and manifestation meets with manifestation.
Shobogenzo, Uji,
Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross
What has been described like this is that life is the self, and
the self is life.
Shobogenzo, Zenki, Gudo
Nishijima & Mike Cross
Dogen’s treatment of emptiness, in his (altered) citation of
the Heart Sutra followed by the series
of affirmative expressions on the nature of the self, the world, and the myriad
dharmas presents (makes present) a glimpse into the grand vision of Shobogenzo. Right there, in the very first fascicle of Shobogenzo, the common thread that binds
together and runs throughout the whole of Dogen’s masterpiece is prominently evident.
That thread is the reason (dori) of
the nonduality of duality, and the duality of nonduality.
In short, experience,
existence, and liberation (epistemology, ontology, and soteriology) are
nondual; the experience of clear
seeing, the existence of prajna, and the actualization of liberation are three, but are not three
different things. The nature and dynamics of the actualization of the universe
(genjokoan) advanced by the
nonduality of experience, existence, and liberation is creatively brought into
relief in numerous ways and from a great variety of perspectives throughout Shobogenzo. To clearly see (i.e. know, experience, encounter)
is to be (i.e. appear, exist,
manifest), thus to clearly see liberation
(Buddhahood, enlightenment, deliverance) is to be liberation. More precisely,
the continuous activity of seeing Buddha (kenbutsu)
is the continuous activity of becoming Buddha (gyobutsu). Your life (sentient existence)
is what you clearly see (sentient experience),
what you clearly see is your life.
So life is what I am making
it, and I am what life is making me.
Shobogenzo, Zenki, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross
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