2. EITHEI DOGEN'S TREASURY OF TEACHINGS 正法眼蔵
正法眼蔵
EITHEI DOGEN - 永平道元
Dogen first studied the doctrines of the Tendai Buddha Dharma as a low-ranking monk, but although regarding the
significance of the rituals surplus to cultivating true practice, his main doubt was the following:
"As I study both the exoteric and the esoteric schools of Buddhism, they maintain that human beings are endowed with Dharma-nature by birth.
If this is the case, why did the Buddhas of all ages—undoubtedly in possession of Awakening—find it necessary to seek Awakening and engage in spiritual practice?
On the advice of a Tendai master Dōgen travelled to China. There, most Chan Masters at the time based their training around the use of gōng-àns.
Dōgen, after studying the gong-ans became disillusioned by the emphasis laid upon them, and considered that perhaps other aspects as well as
the Sutras needed to be studied with more intensity.
So he left and studied the Caodong model with Ju-ching (1163-1228).
It is said that Dōgen then Awakened upon hearing the Master say, "Cast off the body and mind", 身心脱落. This idea was important for Dogen
and can be encountered in his Genjōkōan, 現成公案:
"To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be awakened by all things of the universe.
To be awakened by all things of the universe is to cast off the body and mind of the self as well as those of others. Even the traces of awakening are wiped out, and life with traceless Awakening goes on forever and ever."
He eventually returned to Japan and founded the Japanese Soto sect.
Our main task is here to determine what he really took with him and if there was in his teachings
a real and substantial difference from Caodong.
Since it is clear that Dogen presented quite a different idea as his emphasis in his "Just Sitting," then Soto appears to distance itself from the Caodong "Silent Reflection."
If we accept "Just Sitting" as a valid discipline, then did Dogen bring alternative valid treasures to Soto that compensated for what appears to be a distancing from the Contemplations in which the Last Conceptualization of the Experience of Emptiness is essential?
We are also interested in fine nuances of the teachings of Dogen that may accompany and refine Chan Practices and Contemplations.
The objective here is not in any way to negate the Soto practice, but to assist those who have difficulty in perhaps focusing themselves in a different way which is still consistent with Dogen's approach.
As an example, a concept that must be emphasized within Chan is the importance of the link between Practice and the Contemplations.
In the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that Dogen composed upon his return to Japan from China, we find that there is great emphasis upon the fact that his Zazen is incomplete if not put diligently to practice.
Dogen declared::
"To practice the Way singleheartedly is, in itself, Awakening. There is no gap between training and Awakening or zazen and daily life."
Explaining this further we find:
"Zazen is not "step-by-step meditation". Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.
The Truth appears, there being no delusion.
If you understand this, you are completely free, like a dragon that has obtained water or a tiger that reclines on a mountain.
The supreme Law will then appear of itself, and you will be free of weariness and confusion."
You must really understand this complete idea of the integration of the TRAINING , the SITTING CONTEMPLATION, THE AWAKENING and your REAL LIFE within this STAINED SAMSARA. Only then will this apparent real life be enriched and natural.
BUT IT IS NOT A STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS.
If you make it such, then there will be the possibility of ignoring one step or finding oneself clinging and craving one apparent element more than another.
This is a grave error which most students and even teachers ignore or forget involved in their own stained expedient means.
In 1231 in the Bendōwa ,弁道話, "A Talk on the Endeavor of the Path," the same idea was clearly expressed:
"Thinking that Practice (and the Training for Contemplation) and Awakening are not one is no more than a view that is outside the Way.
In Buddha-Dharma, Practice and Awakening are one and the same.
Because it is the Practice of Awakening, a beginner's wholehearted practice of the Way is exactly the totality of original Awakening. For this reason, in conveying the essential attitude for training, it is taught not to wait for Awakening outside Practice."
In this modern age when most upon the Path are Laity the temptations and the demands of Stained Samsara are great and it is the above point which must be understood fully and stressed if the Teachings and Contemplations are to bear fruit.
正法眼蔵
THE SHOBOGENZO
THE TREASURE OF THE TRUE EYE OF THE DHARMA, BY DOGEN
Since we are interested here in the essential teachings and the Contemplation that is complete, then we will not deal here with the extensive regulations for trainees.
So as not to set aside important techings regarding training that may easily be overlooked we will leave the first chapter, perhaps the most important, as a special treat and place it is a separate section.
Let us then make the first point that Dogen made that is important here:
"To truly study the way is to try to penetrate it, and, in order to do this, one must forget even the slightest trace of Awakening... By this method one may cut the functioning of consciousness and turn one's back upon the road of learning. Only after such training can we be free of the opposites of body and mind, Awakening and Delusion."
While there is no doubt that this is true, what it points out is the importance of correct and dedicated TRAINING.
Those who believe that they can simply come to a temple and sit, alert and fully conscious of SITTING, are in for a great surprise. All that they will have learned is to be "sitting perfectly." Indeed, their minds will have set aside the elaborate chains of thought which accompany them in everyday life and they can claim that they are Soto Zen practitioners.
Year after year, they will acomplish this and no more.
TRAINING AND AWAKENING
Dogen in the answer to the seventh question in the Shobogenzo declared:
It is heretical to believe that TRAINING and AWAKENING are separable, in Buddhism (Buddha Dharma) the two are one and the same.
Snce training embraces Awakening, the very beginning of TRAINING contains the WHOLE of original AWAKENING; as this is so,the teacher
tells his disciples to never search for enlightenment outside of traning since the latter mirrors Awakening.
Now this poses an interesting question. In Buddha's meditations, which Dogen considered important to replicate, it is clear that Buddha used ORGANIZATION of his task, depending upon his apparent objective.
This ORGANIZATION indeed was contained the whole of his Supra-mundane Contemplation. We may suppose that Zen Training is synonamous with Buddha's organization of his Contemplation.
In Chan, eventually within the Contemplations, beyond the beginner's level the REFLECTION is replaced by DIRECT ABSORPTION of the critical Last Conceptulization of the EXPERIENCE, which is prepared in training. Some indeed require no training in the REFLECTION at all and it is certainly preferable to proceed direclty with the Absorption.
Remember too that in Chan, once one either sits in meditation or begins the Contemplation if it is not in the sitting position, the mind has nothing to do except dwell in the BECOMING of CONSCIOUSNESS attained through the establishment of the WHOLE BODY DEFENSIVE QI.
This establishment of Defensive Qi is identical to the true "sitting" and is not simply sitting there with an empty mind, letting any thoughts simply slip through.
It is the organization or preparation of the TRAINING periods in Chan that sets the eventual Silent Contemplations in action. The question then to be addressed is whether Dogen's TRAINING provided the means which allowed both the REFLECTION and the ABSORPTION to be prepared.
If it is true that Dogen's teachings do provide this, then we must then ask why the TEACHINGS within TRAINING in Zen appear to neglect the important issues that are essential.
Dogen declared:
"Both the Buddhas and the Patriachs insisted uon the necessity of intense training in order that Awakening may be kept pure, being identical with Training itself."
DIFFERENT TRAINING IN THE SIX METHODS OF THE MASTERS
Dogen was much wiser that th Masters which followed him and certainly one would have to examine each individual master to see if the true Contemplation is taught.
Dogen did not declare ever that Soto Zen was the only correct approach to the Path. What he declared was that Zazen was the only correct approach.
It was not that he denied the Truth in the other SOTO systems. In his answer to question seventeen, we find:
"Both in India and China, from the beginning of time to the present day, some Chan terachers were Awakened by such things as the sound of stones striking bamboos whilst the colour of plum blossoms cleared the mind of others; the great Shakyamuni was Awakened by the sight of the morning star, while Ananda understood the Truth through seeing a stick fall... Did all of them practice Zazen?
From olden times down to the present day, all who were ever Awakened, either by colour or sounds, practiced "zazen without zazen and became simultaneously Awakened."
The base of the Yunmen, Fayan, Linji, (Rinzai), Guiyang and Zongmi traditions differ only in TRAINING from Soto, apart from the strong Soto emphasis upon the physical sitting position.
All, once entering Contemplation, are free of mind and body entrapment and dwell in the "Sitting of the Mind" which is the "Becoming of Consciousness."
ONLY the TRAINING program is different which sets up the internal process which develops as a result of the TENSION within the BECOMING OF CONSCIOUSNESS through dwelling within it without passing to the normal natural CAPTURE and ONE-POINTED operations.
SOTO TRAINING AND THE SETTING OF REFLECTION AND ABSORPTION
The question here is whether the SOTO TRAINING, advised by Dogen, which has been de-emphasized and ignored for many generations and continues to be so today, in fact performs the same function as the TRAINING in the Age of Gold model of Chinese CAODONG.
CONTRITION
Dogen believed that Contrition before the Buddha brings purification and salvation, true conviction and earnest behaviour. He presented the following way to make an act of perfect contrition:
"May all the Buddhas and Patriarchs, who have become Awakened, have compassion upon us, free us from the obstcle of suffering which we have inherited from our past existence, and lead us in such a way that we may share the merit that fills the universe, for they in the past were as we are now, and we will be as they in the future. All the evil commited by me is caused by my beginningless greed, hate and delusion. All evil is commited by our body, speech and mind. I now confess everything wholehertedly."
We must remember here that Contrition is not a confession in the traditionl sense, nor an acknowledgement of culpabilty or need for retribution. It is simply a sincere introspection into our present stained state and the admision of the stains at present within us.
If this is formed in the manner of a confessional and presented merely as a rote presentaion, it has no value whatsoever. This is followed in most training with the Refuge, which is in reality within the Dharma, the Buddha within, and the understanding of Oneness.
THE PRECEPTS
It is to be understood that the Three Pure precepts and the Ten normal precepts are understood and practiced.
The Tree Pure precepts are:
"Cease from Evil; Do only good; Do only good for others"
The Ten Precepts for Soto are:
1. Do not kill
2. Do not steal
3. Do not covet
4. Do not say that which is untrue
5. Do not sell the wine of Delusion
6. Do not speak against others
7. Do not be proud of yourself and devalue others
8, Do not be mean in giving either Dharma or wealth
9. Do not be angry
10. Do not debase the Three Treasures
It must be remembered here that these are not to be treated as commandments. The correct concept regarding these is that there should
can identify oneself with that which is not oneself one can understand then be a sincere and honest restraint regarding each one.
THE MIND OF A BODHISATTVA
The concept of acting as a true Bodhisattave is important in all models
"The four wisdoms, generosity, tenderness, benevolence and sympathy, are
the means we have of helping others and represent the Bodhisattva aspirations."
"... Oh you seekers of Awakening, meditate deeply upon these teachings and do not make light of them. Give respect and reverence to their merit which brings blessing to all living things; help all beings to cross over to the other shore."
"Generosity is the opposite of covetousness... The offering of only one coin or a blade of grass can cause the arising of good, for the teaching itself is the True treasure and the True treasure is the very teaching."
Giving of Oneself is the True treasure
"To behold all beings with the eye of Compassion is the meaning of Tenderness."
When being compassionate it is "All beings" towards whom
the compassion is directed, not the "Individual" who is receiving.
"If one creates wise ways of helping beings, whether they be in high places or lowly stations, one exhibits Benevolence. No reward was sought by those who rescued the helpless tortoise and the sick sparrow, these acts are utterly benevolent."
Benevolence is Benevolent Affect not Love, and is always
transformed into intention and action which has equanimity.
"If one can identify oneself with that which is not oneself, one can understand the true meaning of Sympathy."
To be Glad when others are Glad with correct Dharma.
LIFE AND DEATH - To be concluded
While it is clear that in much of Dogen's Shobogenzo we can find no real teachings regarding the base for the last Conceptualization of Emptiness,
we do find references to the necessity of there being a realization of No-self within others or in one's own being.
There is insufficient to make a connection with the Caodong ideas of working upon Emptiness. It is often suggested that Dogen was trying to counteract the over-emphasis in other models of the "Emptiness" conceptualization, but this simple avoidance of the issue is not Dogen's style.
We must look then within the most important chapter, the "Genjo-koan."
3. THE "GENJO-KOAN": THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE SHOBOGENZO
IN CONSTRUCTION, PLEASE RETURN
We must remember that the Master Dōgen considered that only twelve of these chapters to be complete. The Shobogenzo was presented as sermons, some registered by Dogen and others by his students.
THE ESSENTIAL POINTS FOR ZEN PRACTITIONERS
In Buddha-Dharma , Practice and Awakening are one and the same.
One must forget even the slightest trace of Awakening.
The very beginning of TRAINING contains the whole of AWAKENING.