Shobogenzo, Genjokoan, Eihei Dogen - Skeleton Key Part 6

A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

PART 6

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

Continuing on, the Genjokoan states:

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Those who are enlightened about delusion are buddhas.

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In the Shobogenzo, being “enlightened about delusion” means awakening to the reality of delusion. That is, realizing what delusion truly is. It is like when, for example, a person is shown the cause of a magician’s illusions: mirrors, wires, hidden compartments, and so on. The person can then grasp the reality of the illusion. The reality of the illusion, the mirrors, wires, hidden compartments, is existent, and the illusion is a real characteristic of its existence. Similarly, when you realize the cause of delusion: misperception or partial perception, of true nature, you realize the reality of delusion. The reality of delusion, misperception or partial perception of our own true nature is existent, and delusion is a real characteristic of its existence. Those who are “enlightened about” this are called “buddhas.”

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Next, the Genjokoan says:

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Those who are deluded about enlightenment are ordinary beings.

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To be “deluded about enlightenment” is to view enlightenment as being something outside or apart from you or the everyday world. This is not a judgmental statement; it is a simple observation. When you are aware of your true nature, you are called buddhas; when you are unaware of your true nature, you are called ordinary beings. Flowers fall, weeds flourish; cocks crow, dogs bark. The Genjokoan goes on:

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There are people who continue to realize enlightenment based on enlightenment.

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Dogen’s emphasis on post-kensho practice and enlightenment is rarely matched in Zen literature. He insists that attaining enlightenment is just the beginning of genuine practice and enlightenment. In fact, enlightenment for Dogen is only authentic as practice and enlightenment. In all his works, he repeatedly urges you to realize enlightenment based upon enlightenment, often using the Zen ancestors of the past as examples of how to approach the lifetime process of deepening and refining your realization. The Genjokoan continues:

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There are people in the midst of delusion adding to delusion.

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Dogen is not simply repeating his previous point but indicating something else. In Shobogenzo, Keisei-Sanshiki, Dogen uses the same phrase in a manner that suggests its deeper implication…

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…To Be Continued…

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~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

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[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

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Peace,

Ted

The Paradoxical Nature of Reality

The Paradoxical Nature of Reality

“Exhaust lifetime after lifetime examining this saying (dharma),” is a hallmark characteristic of Dogen’s methodology – this because the dharma (koan, flower, breath, oak tree, etc.) is the primary datum of experience/existence. As each dharma is an “explicit” aspect of the wholeness “implicit” in its presence, its infinite potential bestows it with the quality of original ambiguity – the more it is illumined, the more it eclipses – thus the unlimited potential for refinement and expansion – and the “paradoxical” (metaphorical) nature of dharmas that, “to expand” them is “to narrow” them also.

Peace,

Ted

The Truth of Buddha-Nature

The Truth of Buddha-Nature..

The truth of the buddha-nature is that we are not equipped with the buddha-nature before we realize the state of buddha; we are equipped with it following realization of the state of buddha. The buddha-nature and realization of buddha inevitably experience the same state together. We should thoroughly investigate and consider this truth.

Shobogenzo, Bussho, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross


Peace,
Ted

Dogen’s Shobogenzo - Genjokoan

Dogen’s Shobogenzo - Genjokoan, Skeleton Key Part 5

A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

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PART 5

[Click Here for Part 1] [Click Here for Part 2] [Click Here for Part 3] [Click Here for Part 4]

 

 

After laying the foundation in the first four lines of Genjokoan, Dogen methodically builds the structural framework upon which he spent the rest of his life fleshing out: the function and essence of “the rightly-transmitted buddha-dharma.”

Next, the Genjokoan begins an examination of delusion and enlightenment:

That people drive the self to actualize awareness of the many things is delusion. That the many things actualize awareness of the self is enlightenment.

Here Dogen gives a precise definition of the important Buddhist concepts of delusion and enlightenment, outlining their most basic aspects with clear precision. Delusion or enlightenment is what distinguishes a “buddha” from an “ordinary being.” A buddha is someone who is enlightened about delusion, that is, to the reality of his or her own true nature. An ordinary being is someone who is deluded about enlightenment (the reality of his or her own true nature). Because delusion and enlightenment are nondual, meaning they are not two separate, independent entities, we come to the understanding that differences between them are differences of perspective only.

First Dogen says, “That people drive the self to actualize awareness of the many things is delusion.” The very idea that you can “drive the self” to enlightenment implies that you must be experiencing your self as separate from enlightenment. Because in reality you are both separate and not separate from the many things, experiencing your self as only separate is delusion.

Awakening to the truth that “the many things actualize awareness of the self” is the function of Zen practice; your true nature is the true nature of the universe. The Buddhist formula for salvation, liberation, enlightenment, or any of the other terms used to indicate the ultimate truth of religion consists of personally realizing that you are one with all things including both enlightenment and delusion. Continuing on, the Genjokoan states:

Those who are enlightened about delusion are buddhas.

 

 

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

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...To be continued...

[Click Here for Part 1] [Click Here for Part 2] [Click Here for Part 3] [Click Here for Part 4]

 

Peace,

Ted

Zen: The Role of Intellectual Concepts According to Dogen

Dogen on the role of “intellectual concepts” in the authentic Dharma:

The underlying principle of momentarily opening the Gate of Skillful Means involves opening It by opening the whole universe. At the very moment when you catch sight of the opening of the whole universe, it will be something that you have never encountered before. By our grasping once or twice at an intellectual concept of what opening of whole universe is and then grasping at it for a third or fourth time as something real, we cause the Gate of Skillful Means to open.

Shobogenzo, Shoho-Jisso, Hubert Nearman


Peace,
Ted

The Enlightened Wisdom (Bodhi Prajna) of Zen: Maha Prajna Paramita

A New Series of Posts on The Four Prajnas of Buddhahood on our sister blog FLATBED ZEN BLOG

A Zen Commentary on Prajna (Great Perfect Wisdom) from The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing by Ted Biringer

Peace,
Ted

Genjokoan: Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Part 4

Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

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A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

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PART 4

[Click Here for Part 1] [Click Here for Part 2] [Click Here for Part 3]

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Throughout his works, Dogen consistently affirms the vital position of verbal expression in the buddha-dharma (the authentic teaching of Buddhism), and at the same time, clearly defines its limitations. The next line of Genjokoan is one of the finest examples of this.

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

This line may be the most direct expression in the whole Shobogenzo. It may also be the most misunderstood. It is often interpreted as a simile, which completely misses, and even subverts the point Dogen is making. In fact, Dogen points out that the previous three points are similes with the words, “And though it is like this.” In this line, he points out that reality is not like anything: it is simply reality; that is, “flowers fall…weeds flourish.”

This teaching corresponds with the true meaning of the often-quoted Zen dictum “a separate transmission outside the scriptures, not dependent on words and letters.” This does not mean that Zen disregards scriptures and texts, but that the reality the scriptures indicate is separate from the scriptures themselves, and not dependent on the words and letters that are used to indicate it.

Zen teachings require you to see into and through the words, while avoiding becoming attached to the words. You cannot “learn” Zen through reading and study, but you cannot disregard reading and study either. To use an analogy: reading a recipe for chocolate cake will not result in producing a chocolate cake–you must possess the ingredients and follow the instructions. At the same time, simply possessing the ingredients without the knowledge provided by the recipe will not do either.

In the first three statements, Dogen illustrates what reality is like; in this line, he presents it more directly, “and though it is like this, it is only that flowers, while loved, fall; and weeds while hated, flourish.” This kind of expression, common in Zen literature, is meant to convey the truth that reality or enlightenment is not produced by words, knowledge or even spiritual practice; reality is reality, as it is here and now.

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

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To be continued...

[Click Here for Part 1] [Click Here for Part 2] [Click Here for Part 3]

Peace,

Ted

Zen Treasury: Subtle Clues To Dogen's Shobogenzo

To Dogen, mind was at once knowledge and reality, at once the knowing subject and the known object, yet it transcended them both at the same time. In this nondual conception of mind, what one knew was what one was—and ontology, epistemology, and soteriology were inseparably united. This was also his interpretation of the Hua-yen tenet “The triple world is mind-only.” From this vantage point, Dogen guarded himself against the inherent weaknesses of the two strands of Buddhist idealism: the advocacy of the functions of mind (shinso) by the school of consciousness-only and the advocacy of the essence of mind (shinsho) by the school of tathagata-garbha—both of which were vulnerable to a dualism between phenomena and essence. Thus, philosophically speaking, Dogen maneuvered between monistic pantheism and reductionistic phenomenalism.

Hee-Jin Kim, Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist, p.117

The obvious (surface) meaning of this is clear enough; for Dogen, to exist is to know (to sense, feel, perceive, experience, etc.), to know is to exist, and to know Buddha (enlightenment, liberation, nirvana, etc.) is to exist as Buddha. While this is profound in its own right, I would like to suggest there may be some subtler clues we might come away with.

Consider closely the implications of Kim’s assertion about Dogen making no division between existence, knowledge, or the Buddha Way (ontology, epistemology, and soteriology). If Dogen does not regard ontology, epistemology, and soteriology, as being three different things, as Kim contends, then clearly, Dogen’s expressions on any one of these must also apply to the other two.

It is this, that I would like to suggest can serve as a kind of key in approaching Shobogenzo. That is, it serves as a key insofar as it neutralizes Dogen’s obligation to confine his expressions to the specific terms and doctrines appropriate to any one of these three, as would be necessary if the three were treated as different things. This means, for example, that if Dogen could not accurately transmit some Buddhist truth on knowledge within the terms and teachings of Buddhist epistemology he could appeal to the terms and teachings available within Buddhist ontology or soteriology – he could even combine terms and teachings from these “three” realms of Buddhist thought, thus vastly increase the degree of subtlety with which his expressions could be refined.

In other words, Dogen’s view of the inseparability of ontology, epistemology, and soteriology vastly increases Dogen’s capacity to transmit wisdom by increasing the terms and teaching available for so doing. The possibilities available to a painter limited to a single color are not simply doubled with the addition of one more color, but pushed to the brink of infinity – a third color and the brink is transcended; this same reasoning applies to musicians, poets, and Zen masters.

If you have followed the significance of this, you will also be able to appreciate that, just as Hee-Jin Kim provides these clues to Dogen’s teachings on “ontology, epistemology, and soteriology,” Kim points similarly to “language, thinking, and reason,” as well as “activity, expression, and understanding.”

By assimilating the significance of these clues, we rid ourselves of obstacles by dispensing with limitations imposed by arbitrary divisions, thus expanding our capacity for receiving Dogen’s transmission.

Please, dig into Dogen’s treasury and enjoy its profound richness…

Peace,

Ted

Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

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A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

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PART 3

[Click Here for Part 1] [Click Here for Part 2]

 

The next lines of the Genjokoan read:

When all things are seen as empty of self, there is no delusion and no enlightenment, no buddhas and no ordinary beings, no life and no death.

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These lines acknowledge the truth of the universal or empty aspect of reality. “When all things are seen as empty of self” refers to another way of perceiving the buddha-dharma (reality). The experience of reality from this perspective is the experience of absolute oneness. In the experience of oneness, there are no separate individual things; the buddha-dharma is totally undifferentiated. From this perspective, all things (the myriad dharmas) cease to appear as distinct entities (empty of self) and are therefore not distinguishable as things. That is to say, oneness is truly oneness, without anything left over. When there is no-thing that can be distinguished from any other thing, “there is no delusion and no enlightenment, no buddhas and no ordinary beings, no life and no death.” There are no people, no animals, no houses, no stars, or any other particular things.

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In the Shobogenzo, Dogen reveals the meaning of this aspect of reality in some startling and ingenious ways. Without resorting to innuendo or “mystical” language he exposes the truth of the universal nature of emptiness, or the void, excepting nothing, not even emptiness itself. Dogen, perhaps more than any other Zen master, makes rational the profound rationale of the truth of emptiness, making the emptiness of emptiness as self-evident as the emptiness of form.

The Genjokoan continues:

Buddha’s truth includes and transcends the many and the one, and so there is life and death, delusion and enlightenment, ordinary beings and buddhas.

The Buddha’s truth is not in reality divided into the many (the myriad dharmas) and the one but includes and transcends both. Since the Buddha’s truth (true nature of reality) is all-inclusive, there is “life and death, delusion and enlightenment, ordinary beings and buddhas.” There are people, animals, houses, stars, and all the other particular things.

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The point Dogen makes in this short line, forms the topic of thousands of pages of Buddhist literature. It is also the subject of the most popular Mahayana Buddhist scripture, The Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra was the subject of the very first commentary Dogen wrote for the Shobogenzo: Shobogenzo, Maka-Hannya-Haramitsu, the second or third thing he wrote upon his return from China. Though commentaries on emptiness are myriad, the profound implications of this sublime doctrine are extremely subtle and difficult to penetrate. Dogen’s illumination on the topic of emptiness is extraordinarily clear, provocative, and evocative.

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Dogen’s expressions in the first three sections of Genjokoan are a succinct overview of the nature of the universe; first as perceived from the contrasting perspectives of the universal and the individual, then as transcending those perspectives. Transcending these opposing perspectives is sometimes referred to as the mutual interpenetrating and non-obstruction of the one and the many where each thing and event, and all things and events, contain, and are contained by, each other. This is expressed in the Buddhist literature by the doctrines of form and emptiness, the particular and the absolute, the universal and the individual, and so on. This mutually inclusive aspect of the one and the many is expressed in Zen koans in an intimate and direct manner; for instance, in the classic koan, Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds:

Master Hogen raised his hand and pointed to the blinds. Two monks went and rolled them up in the same way. Hogen said, “One gains, one loses.”

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Upon resolution of this koan, you will intimately realize that master Hogen’s words “One gains, one loses” apply to each of the two monks. Indeed, his words apply to every thing and event in all of time and space.

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~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

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To be continued...

[Click Here for Part 1][Click Here for Part 2]

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Peace,

Ted

A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo: Genjokoan

Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

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A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

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PART 2

[Click Here for Part 1]

The opening lines of Genjokoan outline the fundamental aspects of reality: the interdependence and interpenetrating aspects of the one and the many, the individual and the universal.

 

When all things are seen as the buddha-dharma, then there is delusion and enlightenment, there is practice, there is life and there is death, there are buddhas and there are ordinary beings.

This line affirms the relative aspect of reality. Here, “the buddha-dharma” denotes all-inclusive reality. “When all things are seen as the buddha-dharma” indicates one way of perceiving the buddha-dharma (reality). In this way of perceiving the buddha-dharma, “all things” (the myriad dharmas) are seen. That is, reality appears as a multitude of separate individual things. From this perspective of reality, there is “delusion and enlightenment, there is practice, there is life and there is death, there are buddhas and there are ordinary beings.” There are people, animals, houses, stars, and all the other kinds of things.

Dogen, more than most Zen masters, delves deeply into the implications of this aspect of reality. While many Zen masters and Buddhist texts give short shrift to the relative aspect of experience, often simply dismissing it as the experience of delusion, Dogen methodically articulates how this aspect of reality affirms the ultimate significance of every particular thing. The Shobogenzo repeatedly directs us to this truth; because everything is the buddha-dharma, the buddha-dharma is every thing. For Dogen, every thing has ultimate significance as the buddha-dharma; including even such things as broken tiles, pebbles, dreams, illusions, and doubts.

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

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 To be continued...

[Click Here for Part 1]

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Peace,

Ted

Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

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Genjokoan: A Skeleton Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo

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A Study of Genjokoan and the Commentary in The Flatbed Sutra of LouieWing by Ted Biringer

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PART 1

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The celebrated Genjokoan is one of the most widely known and highly praised essays of the thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master Dogen. There is a very good reason for this; Genjokoan, literally meaning “actualization of the fundamental point,” is a masterpiece of Zen expression.

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One thing that places Dogen in the company of the greatest of Zen masters is his magnificent skill for Zen expression. Few masters before–and none since–have matched his skill for expressing the profound and subtle wisdom of the enlightened mind. Two of his early predecessors, Tozan and his disciple Sozan, earn their inclusion among these few through their elucidation of the classic Zen teaching of the Five Ranks.

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The doctrine expressed as the Five Ranks is one of the most influential Zen expressions of all time. The subject of that doctrine–the function and essence of the enlightened mind–is, and has always been, the summum bonum of Buddhism. Every genuine Buddhist expression is grounded on this central principal. The presentation of this principal by Tozan, further refined by Sozan as the Five Ranks, marks one point where the expression of the central truth of Buddhism evolved.

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Dogen’s Shobogenzo marks another such point.

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Dogen’s genius for expression is displayed nowhere better than in Shobogenzo, Genjokoan. His views, on every major aspect of the buddha-dharma, are revealed, either explicitly or implicitly, in this extraordinary essay. Genjokoan is a skeleton key that can be used to unlock the Shobogenzo, literally “Treasury of the True Dharma-Eye.”

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing: The Second Ancestor of Zen in the West by Ted Biringer

…To be continued…

Peace,

Ted

Three Classic Zen Masters on Joshu’s Mu Koan: Rujing, Torei, & Mumon

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Three Classic Zen Masters on Joshu’s Mu Koan

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While contemporary sectarians continue to debate the distinctions between the “various” lineages, schools, sects, traditions, etc. of Zen, the classic masters continue to express the authentic Buddha-Dharma with the one-voice of Buddha.

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A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have Buddha Nature?"

Joshu said, "Mu."

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(Note: The literal meaning of the Japanese “mu” [Chinese “wu”] is “no,” “does not have,” “is without,” etc.)

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Here is Tendo Nyojo (Dogen’s Chinese Teacher) on how to apply this koan in practice:

"When thoughts are flying around your mind in confusion, what do you do? 'A dog’s Buddha-nature? No (Mu).' This one word No (Mu) is an iron broom: Where you sweep there is a lot of flying around, and where there is a lot of flying around, you sweep. The more you sweep, the more there is. At this point where it is impossible to sweep, you throw your whole life into sweeping. Keep your spine straight day and night, and do not let your courage flag. All of a sudden you sweep away the totality of space, and all differentiations are clearly penetrated, so the source and its meanings become evident."
~Unlocking the Zen Koan, Thomas Cleary

Here is Master Torei (Hakuin’s Primary heir) on how to approach the “mu” koan:

If thoughts are flying around, consider this story: “Does a dog have buddha-nature? No.” Bring it to mind directly, and don’t interpret it logically. Don’t interpret it as flavorless, don’t interpret it as nothing. If you conceive any logical understanding, you’ll never complete the work. But don’t develop an illogical mind either. Logic and no logic are after all random ideas. Just bring it up and look at it. It has nothing to do with interpretations; it is the real way of practice of the Buddhas. Continue moment to moment, whether speaking or silent, active or quiet, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—do not forget it! Or if you occasionally forget, don’t lose power.

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This is like learning archery—it takes a long, long time to hit the bull’s-eye. Just develop the will to persevere; be careful not to flag and slack. If you give up this teaching, by what teaching will you attain liberation?

~The Undying Lamp of Zen, Thomas Cleary

Finally, here is Mumon (Compiler of the Zen classic “Mumonkan”) on this koan:

"In order to master Zen, you must pass the barrier of the patriarchs. To attain this subtle realization, you must completely cut off the way of thinking. If you do not pass the barrier, and do not cut off the way of thinking, then you will be like a ghost clinging to the bushes and weeds.

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Now, I want to ask you, what is the barrier of the patriarchs? Why, it is this single word 'Mu.' That is the front gate to Zen. Therefore it is called the 'Mumonkan of Zen.' If you pass through it, you will not only see Joshu face to face, but you will also go hand in hand with the successive patriarchs, entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with the same eyes, hearing with the same ears. Isn't that a delightful prospect? Wouldn't you like to pass this barrier?

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Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin; summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word 'Mu.' Carry it continuously day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of 'has' or 'has not.' It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try. All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united. You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream.

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Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth. It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of the valiant general Kan'u and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Buddha, you kill him; when you meet the patriarchs, you kill them. On the brink of life and death, you command perfect freedom; among the sixfold worlds and four modes of existence, you enjoy a merry and playful samadhi.

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Now, I want to ask you again, 'How will you carry it out?' Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this 'Mu.' If you hold on without interruption, behold: a single spark, and the holy candle is lit!'
~Two Zen Classics, Katsuki Sekida

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It seems there is only one Buddha Dharma after all…

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Peace,

Ted