Dogen On Great Delusion and Great Enlightenment

1.       The Nonduality of Enlightenment and Delusion

1.       Enlightenment and delusion are nondual, thus equal in actuality, significance, and value.

2.       Enlightenment is only and always realized within and through delusion; delusion is only and always realized within and through enlightenment.

 

2.       The Nature and Dynamics of Enlightenment and Delusion

 

1.       Enlightenment is the experiential verification of reality, the normal sentient capacity that is genjokoan (‘the actualization of the universe’).

2.       Delusion is the experientially verifiable existential quality of reality that enables experiential verification (i.e. genjokoan).

3.       With the experiential verification of reality (enlightenment) sentient beings see (experience, know) their true nature (their unborn/imperishable identity in/as the universe).

4.       In seeing their identity in/as the universe, sentient beings see enlightenment/delusion is infinite and eternal.

Great Delusion and Great Enlightenment

Insofar as the terms ‘delusion’ and ‘enlightenment’ are used to designate the nondual foci ‘enlightenment’ and ‘delusion’ (enlightenment/delusion), delusion is ‘great delusion’ (daimei) and enlightenment is ‘great enlightenment’ (daigo). The point here is that, while the term ‘delusion’ is commonly used to designate ‘wrong’ or ‘distorted’ views, and the term ‘enlightenment’ to designate ‘right’ or ‘accurate’ views, the terms are not limited to those meanings.

For example, Dogen says that ‘Buddhas are enlightened about delusion’ (Shobogenzo, Genjokoan) which means, for one thing, that Buddhas do not exist independent of delusion – delusion and enlightenment are nondual, hence, coessential and coextensive. The recognition of delusion as ‘great delusion’ is one of the key insights informing Zen expressions on the unlimited potential for the expansion or advancement of realization (practice-enlightenment). It is also an insight that resolves an apparent paradox; that of the capacity of dharmas to simultaneously ‘expand’ and ‘contract.’

To clarify, the significance of ‘great delusion’ can be generally understood in light of the truth of how dharmas are experienced. The (only) way dharmas are experienced is by distinguishing them from what they are not – this dharma is this dharma by virtue of the fact that it is not anything else in the universe. Thus, the reality (existence/experience) of any dharma always consists of ‘what is that particular dharma’ and ‘what is not that particular dharma.’ To think of, speak about, or act upon any dharma requires (is dependent on) distinguishing what is that dharma from what is not that dharma – requires the existence of what is and the existence of what is not that dharma. The reason (dori) of ‘great delusion’ can thus be seen as inherent to the reason of experience/existence itself; experiencing something (i.e. a dharma) intrinsically-involves not experiencing everything. In sum, ‘great delusion’ designates the truth that seeing anything depends on (thus is inclusive of) not-seeing everything – in short, seeing (enlightenment) is blindness (delusion).

The wisdom (true knowledge) disclosed by the recognition of ‘great delusion’ is that eternal omnipresence and infinite complexity is inherent to each and all dharmas. If, as we just saw, the existence (existence/experience) of a dharma depends on the existence of not that dharma, then experiencing a dharma is (also) experiencing the ‘presence’ of ‘a lack’ (everything that is not that dharma). As experience is existence, and the reality of a dharma is inclusive of what is and what is not that dharma, the existence of any dharma is the existence of every dharma. To say the same thing from the other perspective, the whole of existence-time is each particular instance of existence-time.

Moreover, due to the quality of passage inherent to the nature of dharmas, their ‘arrival’ and ‘departure’ are unceasing – as Shobogenzo says, ‘Before donkey business is finished, horse business begins.’ With this we get a sense of what it means to say dharmas are infinitely complex as well as eternally omnipresent. The recognition of dharmas as infinitely complex is the reason informing the refrain in Zen records urging us to strive on; to continuously apply ourselves, to diligently refine our skill, and to sustain our effort. Eternal omnipresence and infinite complexity means delusion is ever-present and unlimited (i.e. ‘great’) – just as enlightenment is ever-present and unlimited.

Finally, delusion is inherent to reality whether beings are aware of it or not. At the same time, the distinction between being aware of it and not being aware of it is of the utmost significance in Zen; it is the distinction between ‘Buddhas’ and ‘ordinary beings.’ In the Genjokoan fascicle of Shobogenzo, Dogen underscores this distinction by asserting that to see dharmas as they are is to ‘sense something is lacking.’ To ‘sense something is lacking’ is to experience ‘the presence’ of ‘a lack.’ The ‘presence of this lack’ is most comprehensively treated by the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness which we explore later. For now it suffices to notice that being aware of this ‘presence’ in/as (all) dharmas is being Buddha ‘enlightened about delusion,’ which also means being ‘enlightened about enlightenment’ – being unaware of this ‘presence’ is being an ordinary being ‘deluded about enlightenment,’ which, of course, also means being ‘deluded about delusion.’

With these points in mind consider Dogen’s commentary on the following koan:

Great Master Hochi of Kegon-ji temple in Keicho (succeeded Tozan; his monk's name was Kyujo) on one occasion is asked by a monk: "What is it like at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to delu­sion?" The Master says, "A broken mirror does not again reflect. Fallen blos­soms cannot climb back onto the trees."

The present question, while it is a question, is like preaching to the assembly—[preaching] not proclaimed except in the order of Kegon, and not possible for anyone except a rightful successor of Tozan to deliver. Truly this may be the squarely regulated order of a Buddhist patriarch who experiences satisfaction. "A person in the state of great realization" is not intrinsically in great realization and is not hoarding a great realization realized externally. It is not that, in old age, [the person] meets with a great realization [already] present in the public world. [People of great realization] do not forcibly drag it out of themselves, but they unfailingly realize great realization. We do not see "not being deluded" as great realization. Neither should we aim, in order to plant the seed of great realization, to become at the outset a deluded being. People of great realization still realize great realization, and people of great delusion still realize great realization. If there is a person in great reali­zation, accordingly there is buddha in great realization, there are earth, water, fire, wind, and air in great realization, and there are outdoor pillars and stone lanterns in great realization. Now we have inquired into a person in the state of great realization. The question "What is it like at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion?" truly asks a question that deserves to be asked. And Kegon does not hate [the question]; he venerates the ancient ways of the forest orders—[his conduct] may be the meritorious conduct of a Buddhist patriarch. Let us consider for a while, is the return to delusion of a person in the state of great realization completely the same as a person being in the unenlightened state? At the moment when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion, is [that person] taking great realization and making it into delusion? Does [the person] return to delusion by bringing delusion from a distant place and covering great realization? Or does the person in the state of great realiza­tion, while remaining a whole person and not breaking great realization, nevertheless partake in a return to delusion? Again, does "the return to delusion of a person in the state of great realization" describe as "returning to delusion" the bringing forth of a further instance of great realization? We must master [these questions] one by one. Alternatively, is it that great realization is one hand, and returning to delusion is one hand? In any case, we should know that the ultimate conclusion of our study up to now is to hear that a person in the state of great realization experiences returning to delusion. We should know that there is great realization which makes re­turning to delusion a familiar experience. Thus, recognizing a bandit as a child does not define returning to delusion, and recognizing a child as a bandit does not define returning to delusion. Great realization may be to recognize a bandit as a bandit, and returning to delusion is to recognize a child as "a child." We see great realization as a bit being added in the state of abundance. When a bit is taken away in the state of scarcity, that is returning to delusion. In sum, when we grope for and completely get a grip on some­one who returns to delusion, we may encounter a person in the state of great realization. Is the self now returning to delusion? Is it beyond delu­sion? We must examine it in detail, bringing it here. This is to meet in expe­rience the Buddhist patriarchs. The Master says, "A broken minor does not again reflect. Fallen blossoms cannot climb back onto the trees." This preaching for the multi­tude expresses the very moment of a mirror being broken. That being so, to concern the mind with the time before the mirror is broken and thereupon to study the words "broken mirror," is not right. [Some] might understand that the point of the words now spoken by Kegon, "A broken mirror does not again reflect, fallen blossoms cannot climb back onto the trees," is to say that a person in the state of great realization does not again reflect, and to say that a person in the state of great realization cannot climb back onto the trees—to assert that a person in the state of great realization will never again return to delusion. But [Kegon's point] is beyond such study. If it were as people think, [the monk's question] would be asking, for example, "How is the everyday life of a person in the state of great realization?" And the reply to this would be something like "There are times of returning to delusion." The present episode is not like that. [The monk is asking] what it is like at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion; therefore he is calling into question the very moment itself of returning to delusion. The actualization of an expression of the moment like this is: "A broken minor does not again reflect. Fallen blossoms cannot climb back onto the trees." When fallen blossoms are just fallen blossoms, even if they are rising to the top of a hundred-foot pole, they are still fallen blossoms. Because a broken mirror is a broken mirror just here and now, however many vivid situations it realizes, each similarly is a reflection that does not again reflect. Picking up the point that is expressed as a mirror being bro­ken and is expressed as blossoms being fallen, we should grasp in experi­ence the moment which is the time when a person in the state of great re­alization returns to delusion. In this [moment], great realization is akin to having become buddha, and returning to delusion is akin to [the state of] ordinary beings. We should not study [Kegon's words] as if they discussed such things as turning back into an ordinary being, or traces depending o n an origin. Others talk about breaking the great state of enlightenment and becoming an ordinary being. Here, we do not say that great realization is broken, do not say that great realization is lost, and do not say that delusion comes. We should never let ourselves be like those others. Truly, great realization is limitless, and returning to delusion is limitless. There is no delusion that hinders great realization, [but] having brought forth three in­stances of great realization, we create half an instance of small delusion. In this situation, there are [snow mountains] realizing great realization for the sake of snow mountains; trees and stones are realizing great realization rely­ing on trees and stones; the great realization of buddhas is realizing great realization for the sake of living beings; and the great realization of living beings is greatly realizing the great realization of buddhas: it cannot be re­lated to before and behind. Great realization now is beyond self and beyond others. It does not come; at the same time, it fills in ditches and fills up valleys. It does not go; at the same time, we keenly hate pursuit that follows an external object. Why is it so? [Because] “we follow objects perfectly.”

Shobogenzo, Daigo, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

Enlightenment, from Dogen’s perspective

Enlightenment, from Dogen’s perspective, consists of clarifying and penetrating one’s muddled discriminative thought in and through our language to attain clarity, depth, and precision in the discriminative thought itself. This is enlightenment or vision.

Hee-Jin Kim, Dogen on Meditation and Thinking, p.63

 

If anything demands ‘clarifying and penetrating one’s muddled discriminating thought’ it is an accurate appreciation of Dogen’s Zen masterpiece, Shobogenzo.

 

Fortunately, like other comprehensive literary expressions, the work itself provides its own key, or rather, eye – the True Dharma-Eye – through which ‘clarity, depth, and precision’ are attainable. Two significant points clearly seen through the True Dharma-eye are

 

·         Everything that is accurate or meaningful can be expressed.

·         Anything that cannot be expressed is neither accurate nor meaningful.

 

From the perspective of Shobogenzo (hence Zen), accurately expressing truth has less to do with seeing the limitations of language and more to do with seeing through false presuppositions about language.

 

The widespread notion that Zen is antithetical to language is, from Shobogenzo’s viewpoint, a serious delusion based on a false assumption; specifically, the dualistic assumption that the reality of verbal expressions (spoken or written) is separate and independent of the reality of what the expressions concern. Of the host of fallacies about Zen spawned by dualism, the delusion that the reality of Zen somehow exists independently of the expressions of Zen is the most pernicious. It is to this distortion that we owe all the vulgar claims that Zen is some kind of mysterious or ineffable reality, condition, or experience that is somehow transcendent to, thus independent of, the normal human capacities of communication.

Here it is worth stating the obvious; since claims asserting that the truth about Zen cannot be communicated through language, are themselves constituted of language, they thereby refute their own validity!

The Mutual Actualization of the Self and the World

The Mutual Actualization of the Self and the World

 

The state that is visited by brightness and by color may be present in this learning in practice. “I entrust effects to effects themselves”: this expresses “natural realization.” “Natural realization” means enacting causes and accepting effects. The world has causes, and the world has effects. We enact the cause-and-effect that is this world, and we accept the cause-and-effect that is the world. “The [natural] self” is “itself,” and the self is inevitably just you, in other words, the four elements and five aggregates.

Shobogenzo, Kuge, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

 

We (the subject we call ‘myself’) ‘enact… this world.’ The actualization of consciousness is an object enacted by a subject; a subject enacts, an object is enacted. Notice that in the case that we think, speak, or act in regard to a ‘subject’ enacted (e.g. ‘I felt myself falling,’ ‘I made myself go,’ ‘I reminded myself of my vow,’ etc.) we think, speak, or act in regard to what is actually an ‘object.’ Further, to regard a subject as an object, or to regard an object as a subject is, in either case, to regard an object – for ‘that which regards’ is the subject in either case. And despite my objectification of the subject with ‘that which regards,’ my meaning should be clear enough; to treat an object as a subject does not make an object a subject. The subject is the enactor, the object is the enacted. For example, consider this expression of Dogen:

 

So life is what I am making it, and I am what life is making me.

Shobogenzo, Zenki, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

 

In the first clause, ‘life’ is the object and ‘I’ is the subject; in the second clause, ‘life’ is the subject and ‘I’ is the object. Subject and object are nondual not one and the same, interdependent not interchangeable, coessential not undifferentiated, coextensive not homogenous. The subject is always the enactor, maker, or fashioner; the object is always the enacted, made, or fashioned.

 

I am belaboring the point because without a firm grasp it is easy to confuse the limitations and potentials of our actual capacities, our true abilities to respond (hence our responsibilities) to the world. For, while it is true that, in harmony with the principles of nonduality, our (subjective) ‘self’ is all-inclusive (of ‘self/other’) and our (objective) ‘world’ is all-inclusive (self/other), each, ‘self’ and ‘world,’ possesses unique qualities and characteristics. That is, if we fail to clearly distinguish which qualities and characteristics belong to our self (enactor) and which to the world (enacted) we will be unable to think, speak, or act normally (from the enlightened perspective). In short, we will be confused about what we actually can and cannot do in regard to ‘making life what it is.’

 

For example, according to the doctrine and methodology of certain pseudo-Zen groups, individual beings (subjects) are largely, or wholly enacted or fashioned by the (objective) world, hence efforts to enhance the world are largely, or wholly futile, thus regarded as symptoms of delusion. At the other extreme, for instance among some ‘New Age’ movements, individual beings are supposed to fashion the world so completely that their worldly circumstances (e.g. health, financial status, intelligence, etc.) are largely, if not entirely of their own making. The ‘way’ to peace, happiness, or liberation advocated by the former species is either to accept the world as it is, or else to cultivate detachment or ‘goallessness’ and cut off desire and aversion. The ‘way’ of the latter species is to transform the world into a horn of plenty by rooting out negativity by cultivating positive thoughts or ‘vibes’ with affirmations of health, abundance, and happiness. In both of these ‘ways’ the nature of subjective and objective reality, the truth of existence/experience is seen as it is not, hence can only obstruct their followers from the true Dharma.

Enlightenment and Dogen’s True Mission: the Rightly Transmitted Buddha-Dharma

Enlightenment and Dogen’s True Mission: the Rightly Transmitted Buddha-Dharma

 

Among the world’s spiritual traditions the ultimate goal is variously called salvation, deliverance, liberation, paradise, nirvana, and other similar names. ‘Enlightenment’ is the name most commonly used in Zen. Thus ‘enlightenment,’ or more specifically, ‘full and perfect enlightenment’ (annuttara-samyak-sambodhi) is the root of every name, expression, or allusion to the end or goal of Zen.

Enlightenment in Zen, means personally verifying (seeing and understanding) the true nature of reality. According to Zen, seeing true nature or ‘realizing enlightenment’ means liberating all beings from suffering. Leaving aside the question as to how this is said to occur, the expressions of Dogen (or any genuine Zen teacher) spring from a sincere conviction that what they communicate truly possesses the power to actualize universal liberation. Only by remaining mindful of the true import Dogen attached to his expressions – whether or not we agree with him – can we possibly encounter the truth of what he communicated.

Notwithstanding the uncertainty of Dogen’s intentions as to the final form of Shobogenzo, it is clear that he did intend Shobogenzo to form a unified vision with a specific purpose. In my view, Dogen’s Shobogenzo was intended as – and successfully achieved – a complete exposition of the essential doctrine and methodology of authentic Buddhism inclusive of everything necessary for sincere students to directly and personally realize full and perfect enlightenment. By that, I mean that Dogen fulfilled the ‘mission’ he set down in Bendowa, one of the first writings he undertook upon his return from China. After describing how his journey to China led him to, ‘accomplishing the task of a lifetime,’ Dogen described his experience upon returning to his native land and how he came to decide ‘to spread the Dharma and save living beings’:

 

‘…I came home determined to spread the Dharma and to save living beings it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders. Nevertheless, in order to wait for an upsurge during which I might discharge my sense of mission, I thought I would spend some time wandering like a cloud, calling here and there like a water weed, in the style of the ancient sages. Yet if there were any true practitioners who put the will to the truth first, being naturally unconcerned with fame and profit, they might be fruitlessly misled by false teachers and might needlessly throw a veil over right understanding. They might idly become drunk with self-deception, and sink forever into the state of delusion. How would they be able to promote the right seeds of prajna, or have the opportunity to attain the truth? If I were now absorbed in drifting like a cloud or a water weed, which mountains and rivers ought they to visit? Feeling that this would be a pitiful situation, I decided to compile a record of the customs and standards that I experienced first-hand in the Zen monasteries of the great Kingdom of Sung, together with a record of profound instruction from a [good] counselor which I have received and maintained. I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha’s lineage. This may be a true mission.’

Shobogenzo, Bendowa (Italics mine), Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

 

Here I would point out that the method Dogen chose for providing ‘true practitioners’ with a vehicle to ‘know the right Dharma’ is a method disparaged by many contemporary Zen representatives as unreliable, ineffective, or even misleading. Many within the Soto Zen sect (which claims Dogen as its founder) claim the only way practitioners can ‘know the right Dharma’ is through transmission from a living representative (i.e. a formally certified ‘Dharma-heir’). Such claims commonly suggest that such a ‘transmission’ is not only required, but solely sufficient, that is, no ‘records,’ whether of ‘customs and standards’ or ‘profound instruction,’ are necessary.

 

For those claiming to be ‘heirs’ of Dogen, this is convenient; the record Dogen left so people could ‘know the right Dharma of the Buddha’s lineage’ was all but lost to the world for about 700 years. It should be noted that such ostentatious claims are usually not intentionally malicious or insincere, but simply the results of the usual competition and power struggles common to sectarian institutions.

 

 

Kensho and Kenbutsu, Seeing True Nature, Seeing Buddha

Seeing True Nature, Seeing Buddha

 

You cannot realize the Buddha’s Way if you do not aim to practice the Way, and It will be ever more distant from you if you do not aim to study It.

Shobogenzo, Shinjin Gakudo, Hubert Nearman

 

According to the classic records of Zen, the aim of Zen practice-enlightenment is ‘realizing the Buddha’s Way’ which is described as realizing ‘perfect universal liberation and fulfillment’ (annuttara-samyak-sambodhi). This aim is said to be realized by ‘seeing’ (‘ken’) one’s ‘true nature’ (‘sho’), sometimes called ‘kensho’ (particularly in reference to an initial realization). Because one’s true nature (‘sho’) is the true nature of the whole universe, sometimes called ‘Buddha,’ realizing Zen practice-enlightenment is also sometimes called ‘kenbutsu’ – ‘seeing’ (‘ken’) ‘Buddha’ (‘butsu’).

The True Dharma-Eye Treaurury (Shobogenzo) 65 Gems From Dogen

Nils - Happy 65^th

 

65 Gems From the True Dharma-Eye Treaurury

 

 

1.   When this principle is preached and realized, it is said that “matter is just the immaterial” and the immaterial is just matter. Matter is matter, the immaterial is the immaterial. They are hundreds of things, and myriad phenomena.

Shōbōgenzō Maka-hannya-haramitsu

 

2.   And though it is like this, it is only that flowers, while loved, fall; and weeds while hated, flourish.

Shōbōgenzō Genjō-kōan

 

3.   Life is an instantaneous situation, and death is also an instantaneous situation.

Shōbōgenzō Genjō-kōan

 

4.   Realization is the state of ambiguity itself.

Shōbōgenzō Genjō-kōan

 

5.   The sun’s face appears together with the sun’s face, and the moon’s face appears together with the moon’s face.

Shōbōgenzō Ikka-no-myōju

 

6.   When stupid people hear talk of “mind here and now is buddha,” they interpret that ordinary beings’ intellect and sense perception, which have never established the bodhi-mind, are just buddha.

Shōbōgenzō Soku-shin-ze-butsu

 

7.   The Dharma is rarely met.

Shōbōgenzō Raihai-tokuzui

 

8.   This being so, we should hope that even trees and stones might preach to us, and we should request that even fields and villages might preach to us. We should question outdoor pillars, and we should investigate even fences and walls.

Shōbōgenzō Raihai-tokuzui

 

9.   A monk asks Zen Master Chōsha [Kei]shin, “How can we make mountains, rivers, and the earth belong to ourselves?” The master says, “How can we make ourselves belong to mountains, rivers, and the earth?” This says that ourselves are naturally ourselves, and even though ourselves are mountains, rivers, and the earth, we should never be restricted by belonging.

Shōbōgenzō Keisei-sanshiki

 

10.                Right and wrong are time; time is not right or wrong. Right and wrong are the Dharma; the Dharma is not right or wrong.

Shōbōgenzō Shoaku-makusa

 

11.                We put our self in order, and see [the resulting state] as the whole universe.

Shōbōgenzō Uji

 

12.                Let us pause to reflect whether or not any of the whole of existence or any of the whole universe has leaked away from the present moment of time.

Shōbōgenzō Uji

 

13.                The mountains and water of the present are the realization of the words of eternal buddhas.

Shōbōgenzō Sansuigyō

 

14.                At the present time in the great kingdom of Song, there is a group of unreliable fellows who have now formed such a crowd that they cannot be beaten by a few real [people].

Shōbōgenzō Sansuigyō

 

15.                The Buddha says, “All dharmas are ultimately liberated; they are without an abode.” Remember, although they are in the state of liberation, without any bonds, all dharmas are abiding in place.

Shōbōgenzō Sansuigyō

 

16.                The present is the reality85 as it is of the real form, the real nature, the real body, the real energy, the real causes, and the real effects of the Flower of Dharma turning.

Shōbōgenzō Hokke-ten-hokke

 

17.                This being so, the present is the “form as it is” of the state of experience, and even “alarm, doubt, and fear” are nothing other than reality as it is.

Shōbōgenzō Hokke-ten-hokke

 

18.                When we carefully consider this story of the meeting between the old woman and Tokusan, Tokusan’s lack of clarity in the past is audible [even] now.

Shōbōgenzō Shin-fukatoku

 

19.                A foreigner appears, a foreigner is reflected—one hundred and eight thousand of them. A Chinese person appears, a Chinese person is reflected—for a moment and for ten thousand years. The past appears, the past is reflected; the present appears, the present is reflected; a buddha appears, a buddha is reflected; a patriarch appears, a patriarch is reflected.

Shōbōgenzō Kokyō

 

20.                In the house of the Buddhist patriarchs, some experience it directly and some do not experience it directly, but reading sutras and requesting the benefit [of the teaching] are the common tools of everyday life.

Shōbōgenzō Kankin

 

21.                This sitting in zazen is not learning Zen concentration.

Fukanzazengi

 

22.                The whole universe is utterly without objective molecules: here and now there is no second person at all.

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

23.                The buddha-nature is always total existence, for total existence is the buddha-nature.

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

24.                If you want to know this “buddha-nature,” remember, “causes and circumstances as real time” are just it.

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

25.                The Fifth Patriarch says, “The buddha-nature is emptiness [ku; shunyata], so we call it being without”[mu].  This clearly expresses that “emptiness” is not nonexistence.

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

(Note: Dogen’s comment, “This clearly expresses that ‘emptiness’ is not nonexistence”, reads, in the original, “kū wa mu ni ara zu”, thus, “kū is not mu,” or “śūnyatā is not nonexistence.” Nishijima & Cross)

 

26.                This emptiness is beyond the emptiness of “matter is just emptiness.” [At the same time,] “matter is just emptiness” describes neither matter being forcibly made into emptiness nor emptiness being divided up to produce matter. It may describe emptiness in which emptiness is just emptiness. “Emptiness in which emptiness is just emptiness” describes “one stone in space.”

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

27.                To affirm [the buddha-nature] as the miscellaneous circumstances manifest before us is “to command the style of behavior that is free of hindrances.”

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

28.                A monk asks Great Master Shinsai of Jōshū, “Does even a dog have the buddha-nature or not?”

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

29.                We should clarify the meaning of this question.

Shōbōgenzō Busshō

 

30.                At this dharma [reality] has “already arrived.” At that dharma [reality] has “already arrived.”

Shōbōgenzō Gyōbutsu-yuigi

 

31.                [To research] this truth of moment-by-moment utter entrustment, we must research the mind. In the mountain-still state of such research, we discern and understand that ten thousand efforts are [each] the mind being evident, and the triple world is just that which is greatly removed from the mind. This discernment and understanding, while also of the myriad real dharmas, activate the homeland of the self. They make immediate and concrete the vigorous state of the human being in question.

Shōbōgenzō Gyōbutsu-yuigi

 

32.                If I put it in words, “expounding the mind and expounding the nature” is the pivotal essence of the Seven Buddhas and the ancestral masters.

Shōbōgenzō Sesshin-sesshō

 

33.                In conclusion, we should know that in the Buddha’s truth there are inevitably Buddhist sutras; we should learn in practice, as the mountains and the oceans, their universal text and their profound meaning; and we should make them our standard for pursuing the truth.

Shōbōgenzō Bukkyō

 

34.                Because they are too stupid to understand the meaning of the Buddhist sutras for themselves, they randomly insult the Buddhist sutras and neglect to practice and learn them. We should call them flotsam in the stream of non-Buddhism.

Shōbōgenzō Kenbutsu

 

35.                We should realize in experience that every single thing is truly “something.” “Something” is not open to doubt: “it comes like this.”

Shōbōgenzō Inmo

 

36.                When we have the will to venerate the ancients, the ancient sutras come to the present and manifest themselves before us.

Shōbōgenzō Gyōji

 

37.                In the great truth of the Buddha-Dharma, the sutras of the great thousandfold [world] are present in an atom, and countless buddhas are present in an atom. Each weed and each tree are a body-mind. Because the myriad dharmas are beyond appearance, even the undivided mind is beyond appearance. And because all dharmas are real form, every atom is real form. Thus, one undivided mind is all dharmas, and all dharmas are one undivided mind, which is the whole body.

Shōbōgenzō Hotsu-mujōshin

 

38.                Just at this moment, how is it? We might say, “it is completely beyond necessity.”

Shōbōgenzō Bukkyo

 

39.                The mystical power and wondrous function,

Carrying water and lugging firewood.

 

40.                We must investigate this truth thoroughly.

Shōbōgenzō Jinzū

 

41.                The time that is just the moment of this [realization] is now.

Shōbōgenzō Daigo

 

42.                The question “What is it like at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion?” truly asks a question that deserves to be asked.

Shōbōgenzō Daigo

 

43.                For example, while I see the “I” of yesterday as myself, yesterday I called [the “I” of] today a second person. We do not say that present realization was not there yesterday; neither has it begun now. We should grasp it in experience like this.

Shōbōgenzō Daigo

 

44.                Nangaku says, “When you are [practicing] sitting buddha, that is just killing buddha.” This says further that when we are investigating sitting buddha, the virtue of killing buddha is present. The very moment of sitting buddha is the killing of “buddha.” If we want to explore the good features and the brightness of killing buddha, they are always present in sitting buddha. The word “to kill” is as [used by] the common person, but we should not blindly equate [its usage here] with that of the common person. Further, we should investigate the state in which sitting buddha is killing buddha, [asking:] “What forms and grades does it have?” Taking up [the fact] that, among the virtues of buddha, killing buddha is already present, we should learn in practice whether we ourselves are killing a person or not yet killing a person.

Shōbōgenzō Zazenshin

 

45.                Those who have not illuminated each dharma, dharma by dharma, cannot be called clear eyed, and they are not the attainment of the truth; how could they be Buddhist patriarchs of the eternal past and present?

Shōbōgenzō Zazenshin

 

46.                The present words of master and disciple we should without fail examine in detail.

Shōbōgenzō Butsu-kōjō-no-ji

 

47.                We ourselves are tools that it possesses within this universe in ten directions.

Shōbōgenzō Inmo

 

48.                How do we know that it exists? We know it is so because the body and the mind both appear in the universe, yet neither is ourself.

Shōbōgenzō Inmo

 

49.                The body, already, is not “I.” Its life moves on through days and months, and we cannot stop it even for an instant.

Shōbōgenzō Inmo

 

50.                Do not pass time in vain.

Shōbōgenzō Gyōji

 

51.                The integrated form that is “composed” of “real dharmas,” is “this body.”

Shōbōgenzō Kai-in-zanmai

 

52.                So is there any Buddhist patriarch who is other than the hundred weeds? And how could the hundred weeds be other than “I” and “you”?

Shōbōgenzō Juki

 

53.                Without being objective things, [cedar trees] cannot be cedar trees.

Shōbōgenzō Hakujushi

 

54.                To see and hear the brightness of the self is proof of having directly encountered buddha; it is proof of having met buddha.

Shōbōgenzō Kōmyō

 

55.                The Buddha’s truth is such that if we intend not to practice the truth we cannot attain it, and if we intend not to learn [the truth] it becomes more and more distant.

Shōbōgenzō Shinjin-gakudō

 

56.                This I preach as a dream in a dream.

Shōbōgenzō Muchū-setsumu

 

57.                Because it is the realization of experience in experience, it is “the preaching of the dream-state in the dream-state.”

Shōbōgenzō Muchū-setsumu

 

58.                The buddhas and the patriarchs are the expression of the truth.

Shōbōgenzō Dōtoku

 

59.                Buddhas are the state of experience itself, and so things are the state of experience itself.

Shōbōgenzō Gabyō

 

60.                So life is what I am making it, and I am what life is making me.

Shōbōgenzō Zenki

 

61.                What has been described like this is that life is the self, and the self is life.

Shōbōgenzō Zenki

 

62.                So although the moon was there last night, tonight’s moon is not yesterday’s moon.

Shōbōgenzō Tsuki

 

63.                Remember that space is a thing.

Shōbōgenzō Kūge

 

64.                The moment and causes-and-conditions of the present, and the lands-of-dust and space of the present, are both nothing other than the eternal mind.

Shōbōgenzō Kobusshin

 

65.                How much less could they know that the succession of the complicated continues by means of the complicated? Few have known that the succession of the Dharma is the complicated itself.

Shōbōgenzō Kattō