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[永平] 道元希玄 [Eihei] Dōgen Kigen
(1200-1253)

Tartalom

Contents

Végh József: PDF: Dógen zen mester élete és művei PDF: Dógen Zen mester magyarul elérhető írásai Összegyűjtötte: Végh József Hrabovszky Dóra: Dōgen Kigen és a Fukan Zazengi Fukan-zazen-gi Általános javallatok a zen meditációhoz Címet fordította: Terebess Gábor; szövegford. Mák Andrea és Fábián Gábor PDF: Fukan-zazen-gi Hakuun Yasutani mester magyarázataival Fordította: Hetényi Ernő Dógen versei Dógen holdbanéző önarcképe A zazen dicsérete Fordította: Végh József Az ülő meditáció szabályai (Sóbógenzó zazengi) Fordította: Végh József A zazen ösvénye Fordította: Szigeti György A szívében a megvilágosodás szellemével élő lény (bódhiszattva) négy irányadó tevékenysége (Sóbógenzó bodaiszatta sisóbó) Fordította: Végh József Életünk kérdése (Gendzsókóan 現成公案) Fordította: Hadházi Zsolt (2006) PDF: Az Út Gyakorlásában Követendő pontok Fordította: Barna Mokurin Gyula

真字正法眼蔵 [Mana/Shinji] Shōbōgenzō 仮字正法眼蔵 [Kana/Kaji] Shōbōgenzō 普勧坐禅儀 Fukan zazengi 学道用心集 Gakudō-yōjinshū Advice on Studying the Way 永平清規 Eihei shingi Eihei Rules of Purity 永平廣錄 Eihei kōroku Dōgen's Extensive Record 宝慶記 Hōkyō-ki Memoirs of the Hōkyō Period 傘松道詠 Sanshō dōei Verses on the Way from Sanshō Peak DOC: The Zen Poetry of Dogen - Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace by Steven Heine 孤雲懷奘 Kōun Ejō (1198-1280) 正法眼蔵随聞記 Shōbōgenzō zuimonki 修證義 Shushō-gi, compiled in 1890 by Takiya Takushū (滝谷卓洲) of Eihei-ji and Azegami Baisen (畔上楳仙) of Sōji-ji as an abstract of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō Kōshō-ji Dōgen founded this temple in 1233 Self-portrait Dōgen's Zen Ancestors Chart PDF: The Life of Dōgen Zenji Eiheiji published an illustrated version (with 71 full-page woodcuts) of Menzan‘s annotated chronicle, the Teiho Kenzeiki zue 「訂補建撕記図会」 (preface dated 1806, but actually published 1817).

現成公案 Genjô kôan
> Translated by Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi
> Translated by Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens
> Translated by Thomas Cleary
> Lecture by Shohaku Okumura
> Translated by Reiho Masunaga
> Dōgen and the Five Ranks by Dale Verkuilen (PDF)

PDF: Dogen's Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries
Contains three separate translations and several commentaries by a wide variety of Zen masters. Nishiari Bokusan, Shohaku Okamura, Shunryu Suzuki, Kosho Uchiyama. Sojun Mel Weitsman, Kazuaki Tanahashi, and Dairyu Michael Wenger all have contributed to our presentation of this remarkable work.

Eight English Translations of Genjokoan:
http://www.gnusystems.ca/GenjoKoans.htm

1. Tanahashi et al. (2000) [TA] Enlightenment Unfolds (Tanahashi 2000)
2. Waddell and Abe (2002) [WA] Waddell and Abe, The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo (2002)
3. Jaffe (1996) Yasutani, Hakuun, Flowers Fall (a commentary on Dogen's ‘Genjokoan'), tr. Paul Jaffe (Boston: Shambhala, 1966)
4. Nishijima (1992) Nishijima, Gudo and Chodo Cross (ed./tr. 1994), Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, Book 1 (Dogen Sangha)
5. Cook (1989) Cook, Francis Dojun (1978), How to Raise an Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Master Dogen's Shobogenzo (Boston: Wisdom, 2002)
6. Cleary (1986) Rational Zen (Cleary 1986)
7. Nishiyama and Stevens (1975) [NS]
8. Masunaga (1958)

Each translation has been divided into the same 12 parts; links to the corresponding parts of the other translations are found to the right of each section. A few obvious typos in the source texts have been silently corrected by the compiler (April 2006). See the original sources for introductions, notes and commentary. See also Shohaku Okumura's Realizing Genjokoan: The key to Dogen's Shobogenzo (Boston: Wisdom, 2010) – the best translation with commentary i have seen. —Gary Fuhrman, March 2011

Actualizing the Fundamental Point

tr. Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi. Revised at San Francisco Zen Center, and later at Berkeley Zen Center; published (2000) in Tanahashi, Enlightenment Unfolds (Boston: Shambhala), 35-9. Earlier version in Tanahashi 1985 ( Moon in a Dewdrop ), 69-73, also Tanahashi and Schneider 1994 ( Essential Zen ).

Manifesting Suchness

tr. Norman Waddell and Masao Abe (2002), in The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō (Albany: SUNY Press), 39-45.

Genjo Koan

tr. Paul Jaffe (1996), in Yasutani, Flowers Fall (Boston: Shambhala), 101-107.

The Realized Law of the Universe

tr. Gudo Wafu Nishijima, from “Understanding the Shobogenzo ”, © Windbell Publications 1992 ( www.thezensite.com )

Manifesting Absolute Reality

tr. Francis H. Cook (1989), in Sounds of Valley Streams (Albany: SUNY Press), 65-9.

The Issue at Hand

tr. Thomas Cleary (1986), published 2005 in Classics of Buddhism and Zen V.2 (Boston: Shambhala), 275-80.

The Actualization of Enlightenment

tr. Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens (1975) ( www.thezensite.com )

Genjokoan

tr. Reiho Masunaga ( www.thezensite.com )

1a. GENJO KOAN
Actualizing the Fundamental Point
by Eihei Dogen
Translated by Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi
Revised at San Francisco Zen Center

As all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, and birth and death, and there are buddhas and sentient beings.

As the myriad things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death.

The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many of the one; thus there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas.

Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread.

To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.

Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings. Further, there are those who continue realizing beyond realization, who are in delusion throughout delusion.

When buddhas are truly buddhas they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas. However, they are actualized buddhas, who go on actualizing buddhas.

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you grasp things directly. Unlike things and their reflections in the mirror, and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water, when one side is illumined the other side is dark.

To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.

When you first seek dharma, you imagine you are far away from its environs. But dharma is already correctly transmitted; you are immediately your original self. When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self.

Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future and is independent of past and future. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes future and past. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death.

This being so, it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into death. Accordingly, birth is understood as no-birth. It is an unshakable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birth. Accordingly, death is understood as no-death.

Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.

Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.

The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long of short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.

When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.

For example, when you sail out in a boat to the middle of an ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular, and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round or square; its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only look circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this.

Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.

A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims there is no end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it flies there is no end to the air. However, the fish and the bird have never left their elements. When their activity is large their field is large. When their need is small their field is small. Thus, each of them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally experiences its realm. If the bird leaves the air it will die at once. If the fish leaves the water it will die at once.

Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish.

It is possible to illustrate this with more analogies. Practice, enlightenment, and people are like this.

Now if a bird or a fish tries to reach the end of its element before moving in it, this bird or this fish will not find its way or its place. When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find you way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point; for the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others'. The place, the way, has not carried over from the past and it is not merely arising now.

Accordingly, in the practice-enlightenment of the buddha way, meeting one thing is mastering it--doing one practice is practicing completely. Here is the place; here the way unfolds. The boundary of realization is not distinct, for the realization comes forth simultaneously with the mastery of buddha-dharma.

Do not suppose that what you realize becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your consciousness. Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. Its appearance is beyond your knowledge. Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, "Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. When, then, do you fan yourself?"

"Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent," Baoche replied, "you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere."

"What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?" asked the monk again. The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply.

The actualization of the buddha-dharma, the vital path of its correct transmission, is like this. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind. The nature of wind is permanent; because of that, the wind of the buddha's house brings for the gold of the earth and makes fragrant the cream of the long river.

Written in mid-autumn, the first year of Tempuku 1233, and given to my lay student Koshu Yo of Kyushu Island. {Revised in} the fourth year of Kencho {I252}.

1b. Genjokoan
The Actualization of Enlightenment
by Eihei Dogen
Written in mid-autumn, 1233
Translated by Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens (1975)

When all things are the Buddha-dharma, there is enlightenment, illusion, practice, life, death, Buddhas, and sentient beings. When all things are seen not to have any substance, there is no illusion or enlightenment, no Buddhas or sentient beings, no birth, or destruction. Originally the Buddhist Way transcends itself and any idea of abundance or lack--still there is birth and destruction, illusion and enlightenment, sentient beings and Buddhas. Yet people hate to see flowers fall and do not like weeds to grow.

It is an illusion to try to carry out our practice and enlightenment through ourselves, but to have practice and enlightenment through phenomena, that is enlightenment. To have great enlightenment about illusion is to be a Buddha. To have great illusion about enlightenment is to be a sentient being. Further, some are continually enlightened beyond enlightenment but some add more and more illusion.

When Buddhas become Buddhas, it is not necessary for them to be aware they are Buddhas. However, they are still enlightened Buddhas and continually realize Buddha. Through body and mind we can comprehend the form and sound of things. They work together as one. However, if it not like the reflection of shadow in a mirror, or the moon reflected in the water. If you look at only one side, the other is dark.

To learn the Buddhist way is to learn about oneself. To learn about oneself is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to perceive oneself as all things. To realize this is to cast off the body and mind of self and others. When you have reached this stage you will be detached even from enlightenment but will practice it continually without thinking about it.

When people seek the Dharma [outside themselves] they are immediately far removed from its true location. When the Dharma has been received through the right transmission, one's real self immediately appears.

If you are in a boat, and you only look at the riverbank, you will think that the riverbank is moving; but if you look at the boat, you will discover that the boat itself is actually moving. Similarly, if you try to understand the nature of phenomena only through your own confused perception you will mistakenly think that your nature is eternal. Furthermore, if you have the right practice and return to your origin then you will see that all things have no permanent self.

Once firewood is reduced to ashes, it cannot return to firewood; but we should not think of ashes as the potential stare of firewood or vice-versa. Ash is completely ash and firewood is firewood. They have their own past, future, and independent existence.

Similarly, when human beings die, they cannot return to life; but in Buddhist teaching we never say that life changes into death. This is an established teaching of the Buddhist Dharma. We call it "non-becoming." Likewise, death cannot change into life. This is another principle of Buddha's Law. This is called "non-destruction". Life and death have absolute existence, like the relationship of winter and spring. But do not think of winter changing into spring or spring to summer.

When human beings attain enlightenment, it is like the moon reflected in the water. The moon appears in the water but does not get wet nor is the water disturbed by the moon. Furthermore the light of the moon covers the earth and yet it can be contained in small pool of water, a tiny dewdrop, or even one minuscule drop of water.

Just as the moon does not trouble the water in any way, do not think enlightenment causes people difficulty. Do not consider enlightenment an obstacle in your life. The depths of the dewdrop cannot contain the heights of the moon and the sky.

When the True Law is not totally attained, both physically and mentally, there is a tendency to think that we posses the complete Law and our work is finished. If the Dharma is completely present, there is a realization of ones insufficiencies.

For example, if you take a boat to the middle of the ocean, beyond the sight of any mountains, and look in all four directions, the ocean appear round. However, the ocean is not round, and its virtue is limitless. It is like a palace and an adornment of precious jewels. But to us, the ocean seems to be one large circle of water.

So we see this can be said of all things. Depending on the viewpoint we see things in different ways. Correct perception depends upon the amount of ones study and practice. In order to understand various types of viewpoints we must study the numerous aspects and virtues of mountains and oceans, rather than just circles. We should know that it is not only so all around us but also within us--even in a single drop of water.

Fish in the ocean find the water endless and birds think the sky is without limits. However, neither fish nor birds have been separated from their element. When their need is great, their utilization is great, when their need is small, the utilization is small. They fully utilize every aspect to its utmost--freely, limitlessly. However, we should know that if birds are separated from their own element they will die. We should know hat water is life for fish and the sky is life for birds. In the sky, birds are life; and in the water, fish are life. Many more conclusions can be drawn like this. There is practice and enlightenment [like the above relationships of sky and birds, fish and water]. However, after the clarification of water and sky, we can see that if there are birds or fish, that try to enter the sky or water, they cannot find either a way or a place. If we understand this point, there is actualization of enlightenment in our daily life. If we attain this this Way, all our actions are the actualization of enlightenment. This Way, this place, is not great or small, self or others, neither past or present--it exists just as it is.

Like this, if we practice and realize the Buddhist way we can master and penetrate each dharma;and we can confront and master any one practice. There is a place where we can penetrate the Way and find the extent of knowable perceptions. This happens because our knowledge co-exists simultaneously with the ultimate fulfillment of the Buddhist Dharma.

After this fulfillment becomes the basis of our perception, do not think that our perception is necessarily understood by the intellect. Although enlightenment is actualized quickly, it is not always totally manifested [it is too profound an inexhaustible for our limited intellect].

One day, when Zen Master Hotestsu of Mt. Mayoku was fanning himself, a monk approached and asked, "The nature of wind never changes and blows everywhere so why are you using a fan."

The master replied, "Although you know the nature of wind never changes you do not know the meaning of blowing everywhere". The monk then said, "Well, what does it mean?" Hotetsu did not speak but only continue to fan himself. Finally the monk understood and bowed deeply before him.

The experience, the realization, and the living, right transmission of the Buddhist Dharma is like this. To say it is not necessary to use a fan because the ntarue of the wind never changes and there will be wind even without one means that he does not know the real meaning of "never changes" or the wind's nature. Just as the wind's nature never changes, the wind of Buddhism makes the earth golden and cause the rivers to flow with sweet, fermented milk.

This was written in mid-autumn, 1233, and given to the lay disciple Yo-ko-shu of Kyushu.

1c. Genjokoan
The Issue at Hand
by Eihei Dogen
Translated by Thomas Cleary

The term genjokoan seems to appear first in ninth-century China and is often used in Japanese Soto Zen to refer to present being as the topic of meditation or the issue of Zen. Gen means "manifestation" or "present," jo means "become." Genjo means actuality-being as is, at hand, or accomplished, as of an accomplished fact. Koan is a common Zen word which is often left untranslated, having to some extent become a naturalized English word. Ko means official, public, or open, as opposed to private or personal; an means a consideration, or a considered decision. A koan in standard literary Chinese means an official report or an issue under consideration. The term was adopted in Zen with much the same meanings, only transposed into the frame of reference of Zen tradition and experience.

Genjokoan is one of the most popular and oft-quoted essays in Shobogenzo. Written to a lay disciple, it contains a number of key points stated in a most concise fashion. The very first paragraph contains a complete outline of Zen, in a covert presentation of the so-called "five ranks" (go i) device of the original Chinese Soto Zen school. The scheme of the five ranks-relative within absolute, absolute within relative, coming from within the absolute, arriving in the relative, and simultaneous attainment in both relative and absolute-is not overtly used in Dogen's work, perhaps because of the confusion surrounding it, but its structures are to be found throughout Shobogenzo.

Following this summary introduction, the essay proceeds to the discussion of enlightenment. Dogen says the way to enlightenment is to forget the self. The self in this sense refers to an accumulation of habits, including the habit of attachment to this accumulation as a genuine personality. Dogen calls this forgetting "shedding body and mind," an expression which is said to have galvanized his awareness as a young man and which he repeatedly uses to describe Zen study. Commentators on Dogen's lectures describe it in these terms: "Each moment of time is thoughtless; things do not provoke a second thought," and "This is the time when the whole mind and body attains great freedom."

This, however, is not the whole issue. In one of his lectures Dogen says that "shedding body and mind" is the beginning of the effort, and in Genjokoan he affirms that there is continuing progress in buddhahood, going beyond the attainment of enlightenment: "There is ceasing the traces of enlightenment, which causes one to forever leave the traces of enlightenment which is cessation." In the Hokke scripture Buddha reveals to his liberated disciples that nirvana, cessation of afflictive habits, which had been expediently represented as the goal, is as it were a resting place on an infinite path.

In the essay The Business of Progress (or transcendence) of Buddha, also in Shobogenzo, Dogen wrote, "To go on informing the Buddha of today it is not only today is called the business of progress of Buddha." The celebrated Zen master Hakuin said, "Without cultivation and practice after enlightenment, many who have seen the essence miss the boat"; and Hakuin's assistant Torei said, "Lesser enlightenment turns out to be a hindrance to great enlightenment. If you give up lesser enlightenments and don't cling to them, great enlightenment will surely be realized." Dogen says that there are differences in depth and breadth of the realization of enlightenment, and speaks here of enlightenment as being enlightened by all things. This leads to the issue of perspective.

Dogen states that delusion is a matter of experiencing things with the burden of the self-the bundle of mental habits, ingrained views, which is identified with the self. This is a basic issue of all Buddhist thought. The condition of the self, with its set of conditioned perceptions and views, is implicitly taken as a kind of absolute or veritable point of reference, if one takes one's experience as conceived to be reality. In order to overcome hidden prejudice in the form of unquestioned views, Dogen says that introspection is necessary, to see that things have no absolute identity, that they are not necessarily or totally as one may view them.
But then Dogen goes on to point out the absoluteness, so to speak, of relative identity. Logically, if particular things exist, or are defined, relative to one another and therefore lack absolute identity, yet that absolute identitylessness still depends on their relative identity. The approach Dogen takes, however, is not that of deduction but of direct witness (genryo), which he refers to, in classic Zen terminology, as the realms of before and after being disconnected. Thus Dogen explains the traditional "characteristics of emptiness" called birthlessness and nonperishing in terms of the noncoexistence of before and after, or the nonconcurrence of a state with its own nonexistence. Dogen's emphasis here seems to be not on discursive understanding of this point of logic, but on presence of mind in the most thoroughgoing sense, direct experience of the present.

Dogen also speaks of enlightenment in terms of the universal being reflected in the individual; this "merging" of universe and individual does not, however, obliterate the individual or restrict the universal. This leads to the apparent paradox of life being at once finite and infinite. One life, or one sphere of experience, contains everything that is within its scope and nothing that is beyond its range. At every moment we reach, or are at, the full extent of our experience; and yet this never limits the potential of experience in itself. Each moment is complete, hence infinite, in itself, though it be finite as a point of comparison with past or future. In the Kegon philosophy, this interpenetration of the finite and the infinite is represented by the figure of "arriving in one step," each moment of awareness being the focal point of the whole nexus of existence. Again Dogen drives at the full experience of the present without conceptually delineating it.

Finally Dogen quotes a classic Zen story alluding to the necessity of practical application even though truth, or enlightenment, is inherent in everyone. A monk asks his teacher why he uses a fan if the nature of wind is eternal and omnipresent; the teacher replies that the student knows the nature of eternity but not the principle of omnipresence, and to illustrate this principle the teacher just fans himself. As one of the Kegon philosophers said, "If not for practice flowing from reality, there is no means to merge with reality."

*

When all things are Buddha-teachings, then there is delusion and enlightenment, there is cultivation of practice, there is birth, there is death, there are Buddhas, there are sentient beings. When myriad things are all not self, there is no delusion, no enlightenment, no Buddhas, no sentient beings, no birth, no death. Because the Buddha Way originally sprang forth from abundance and paucity, there is birth and death, delusion and enlightenment, sentient beings and Buddhas. Moreover, though this is so, flowers fall when we cling to them, and weeds only grow when we dislike them.

Acting on and witnessing myriad things with the burden of oneself is "delusion." Acting on and witnessing oneself in the advent of myriad things is enlightenment. Great enlightenment about delusion is Buddhas; great delusion about enlightenment is sentient beings. There are also those who attain enlightenment on top of enlightenment, and there are those who are further deluded in the midst of delusion. When the Buddhas are indeed the Buddhas, there is no need to be self-conscious of being Buddhas; nevertheless it is realizing buddhahoodBuddhas go on realizing.

In seeing forms with the whole body-mind, hearing sound with the whole body-mind, though one intimately understands, it isn't like reflecting images in a mirror, it's not like water and the moon-when you witness one side, one side is obscure.

Studying the Buddha Way is studying oneself. Studying oneself is forgetting oneself. Forgetting oneself is being enlightened by all things. Being enlightened by all things is causing the body-mind of oneself and the body-mind of others to be shed. There is ceasing the traces of enlightenment, which causes one to forever leave the traces of enlightenment which is cessation.
When people first seek the Teaching, they are far from the bounds of the Teaching. Once the Teaching is properly conveyed in oneself, already one is the original human being.

When someone rides in a boat, as he looks at the shore he has the illusion that the shore is moving. When he looks at the boat under him, he realizes the boat is moving. In the same way, when one takes things for granted with confused ideas of body-mind, one has the illusion that one's own mind and own nature are permanent; but if one pays close attention to one's own actions, the truth that things are not self will be clear.

Kindling becomes ash, and cannot become kindling again. However, we should not see the ash as after and the kindling as before. Know that kindling abides in the normative state of kindling, and though it has a before and after, the realms of before and after are disconnected. Ash, in the normative state of ash, has before and after. Just as that kindling, after having become ash, does not again become kindling, so after dying a person does not become alive again. This being the case, not saying that life becomes death is an established custom in Buddhism-therefore it is called unborn. That death does not become life is an established teaching of the Buddha; therefore we say imperishable. Life is an individual temporal state, death is an individual temporal state. It is like winter and spring-we don't think winter becomes spring, we don't say spring becomes summer.

People's attaining enlightenment is like the moon reflected in water. The moon does not get wet, the water isn't broken. Though it is a vast expansive light, it rests in a little bit of water-even the whole moon, the whole sky, rests in a dewdrop on the grass, rests in even a single droplet of water. That enlightenment does not shatter people is like the moon not piercing the water. People's not obstructing enlightenment is like the drop of dew not obstructing the moon in the sky. The depth is proportionate to the height. As for the length and brevity of time, examining the great and small bodies of water, you should discern the breadth and narrowness of the moon in the sky.

Before one has studied the Teaching fully in body and mind, one feels one is already sufficient in the Teaching. If the body and mind are replete with the Teaching, in one respect one senses insufficiency. For example, when one rides a boat out onto the ocean where there are no mountains and looks around, it only appears round, and one can see no other, different characteristics. However, this ocean is not round, nor is it square-the remaining qualities of the ocean are inexhaustible. It is like a palace, it is like ornaments, yet as far as our eyes can see, it only seems round. It is the same with all things-in the realms of matter, beyond conceptualization, they include many aspects, but we see and comprehend only what the power of our eye of contemplative study reaches. If we inquire into the "family ways" of myriad things, the qualities of seas and mountains, beyond seeming square or round, are endlessly numerous. We should realize there exist worlds everywhere. It's not only thus in out of the way places-know that even a single drop right before us is also thus.

As a fish travels through water, there is no bound to the water no matter how far it goes; as a bird flies through the sky, there's no bound to the sky no matter how far it flies. While this is so, the fish and birds have never been apart from the water and the sky-it's just that when the need is large the use is large, and when the requirement is small the use is small. In this way, though the bounds are unfailingly reached everywhere and tread upon in every single place, the bird would instantly die if it left the sky and the fish would instantly die if it left the water. Obviously, water is life; obviously the sky is life. There is bird being life. There is fish being life. There is life being bird, there is life being fish. There must be progress beyond this-there is cultivation and realization, the existence of the living one being like this. Under these circumstances, if there were birds or fish who attempted to traverse the waters or the sky after having found the limits of the water or sky, they wouldn't find a path in the water or the sky-they won't find any place. When one finds this place, this action accordingly manifests as the issue at hand; when one finds this path, this action accordingly manifests as the issue at hand. This path, this place, is not big or small, not self or other, not preexistent, not now appearing-therefore it exists in this way. In this way, if someone cultivates and realizes the Buddha Way, it is attaining a principle, mastering the principle; it is encountering a practice, cultivating the practice. In this there is a place where the path has been accomplished, hence the unknowability of the known boundary is born together and studies along with the thorough investigation of the Buddha Teaching of this knowing-therefore it is thus. Don't get the idea that the attainment necessarily becomes one's own knowledge and view, that it would be known by discursive knowledge. Though realizational comprehension already takes place, implicit being is not necessarily obvious-why necessarily is there obvious becoming?

Zen Master Hotetsu of Mt. Mayoku was using a fan. A monk asked him about this: "The nature of wind is eternal and all-pervasive -why then do you use a fan?" The master said, "You only know the nature of wind is eternal, but do not yet know the principle of its omnipresence." The monk asked, "What is the principle of its omnipresence?" The master just fanned. The monk bowed.

The experience of the Buddha Teaching, the living road of right transmission, is like this. To say that since (the nature of wind) is permanent one should not use a fan, and that one should feel the breeze even when not using a fan, is not knowing permanence and not knowing the nature of the wind either. Because the nature of wind is eternal, the wind of Buddhism causes the manifestation of the earth's being gold and by participation develops the long river into butter.

1233

1d. Dogen Zenji's Genjo-koan Lecture
by Shohaku Okumura
Transcribed from the original article published in the November 1997 issue of Soto Zen Journal (Dharma Eye)

PDF: Realizing Genjokoan, by Shohaku Okumura and Philip Shoryu Bradley, Wisdom Publications, 2010.

(1) Introduction

Genjo-koan is one of the most well-known chapters of Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo. This is the best text to start to study Dogen's teachings. Genjo-koan is really important is one wants to understand the meaning of zazen practice and daily activities as bodhisattva practice. As a practitioner, intellectual understanding alone is not enough. That's why Dogen wrote many instructions about how to practice daily. In order to show how to sit Zazen he wrote Fukanzazengi, (Universal Recommendation of Zazen), in order to show how to eat in the Zendo he wrote Fushukuhanpo (Dharma for taking meals), and to show how to work in the kitchen he wrote Tenzo Kyokun (Instruction for the Tenzo or cook in a Monastery). There are many such very concrete instructions about how we have to behave, how we have to work, and what kind of attitude we should maintain toward our own lives. Not simply for practice in a monastery, but even for us modern people, his teachings are relevant. There are many concrete ways of practice he taught his students, and the basic philosophy is expressed in Shobogenzo. And Genjo-koan is the first chapter of Shobogenzo. The basic philosophy of our day to day lives as practice in bodhisattva way is very precisely and also concentratedly written in this short writing, Genjo-koan.

Today, I'd like to talk about what is the position of Genjo-koan within Dogen Zenji's writings and also on the meaning of the title "Genjo-koan."

(2) Position of Genjo-koan in Dogen Zenji's writings

Dogen Zenji was born in the year 1200 A.D. in Kyoto, Japan. Three years from now we'll have the 800 year anniversary of his birth. He was ordained as a Tendai monk when he was thirteen years old at Mount Hiei near Kyoto.

According to his biography, it was said he had a question about Mahayana teaching, particularly the Tendai teaching at his time. At the time the tendai-hongaku-homon (Tendai teaching of original enlightenment) doctrine was very popular and people often said, "All beings have buddha nature and so actually those beings are Buddhas; they are all enlightened from the very beginning." Dogen's question was then why Buddhas had to arouse way-seeking mind, study Buddha's teaching and practice before they became buddhas. Why would they have to practice if all beings are already enlightened, if they are already, by nature, Buddhas?

He visited many teachers at the time but no one gave him an answer that satisfied him. So Dogen left the Tendai School and started to practice Zen when he was seventeen years old at Kennin-ji with Eisai's disciple Myozen.

Later, Dogen and Myozen went to China together because Zen was something so new in Japan at that time; like Zen is in America today. So they wanted to go to China together and study authentic, traditional Chinese Zen. Dogen stayed in China for five years until he was 27. He practiced with Soto Zen master Nyojo, and received Dharma transmission from him.

He came back to Japan in the year 1227. Right after returning from China, he wrote Fukanzazengi (The Way of Zazen recommended universally) to show how to practice zazen and the essential meaning of zazen. He wrote Bendowa (Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way) when he was thirty years old. In Bendowa he discussed the meaning of zazen further in the context of Buddhist teachings, and he made eighteen questions and answers.

In 1233 he founded his own monastery; Kosho-ji. In the same year he rewrote Fukanzazengi. During the first summer practice period, he wrote Maka Hannya Haramitsu (Maha Prajna Paramita). This short writing is Dogen's comment on the Heart Sutra. In the fall of the same year he wrote Genjo-koan. I think these two short writings expressed his own basic understanding about Buddhist teachings. For him the practice of Zazen is the practice of Prajna Paramita, and in Genjo-koan he expressed the same philosophy, in his own very poetic way. Dogen Zenji stayed at Koshoji for ten years and moved to Echizen to found Eiheiji in the year of 1243. He lived another ten years to establish his own monastery in the remote mountains. He produced many writings until the end of his life in 1253.

As it is said in the postscript of the text, Genjo-koan was compiled in the fourth year of Kencho, that was 1252. Some scholars have discussed what this word "compile" (shuroku in Japanese) means; some scholars think this was the time when Dogen Zenji put Genjo-koan as the first chapter of Shobogenzo. Shobogenzo has about ninety five chapters and there are several different versions; such as the 75-chapter version, a 12 chapter version, 60 chapter version, 28 chapter version, a 12 chapter version. Traditionally the seventy five chapter version was considered to be Dogen Zenji's original collection. Scholars thought that he wrote another twelve chapters after he compiled the 75 chapter version of Shobogenzo. In the Tokugawa period, Soto Scholars added several more chapters and published the ninety five chapter version of Shobogenzo (Honzanban version).

There is another school of scholars who think Dogen Zenji was not satisfied with what he wrote in the 75 chapter version and began the 12 chapter version as a fresh start to rewriting Shobogenzo in which he planed to include 100 chapters. Anyway, the first chapter of the 75 chapter version Shobogenzo is Genjo-koan. Although Genjokoan was written when he was very young, Dogen probably rewrote it in the year before his death.

The expression "Genjo-koan" is used many times particularly in the 75 chapter version Shobogenzo. Someone counted how many times Dogen used this expression and it is said he used "Genjo-koan" twenty five times in the various chapters, and in the case of "Genjo" alone, he used it more than 300 times in sixty three chapters. So this word, "Genjo" is a key word to understand Dogen Zenji's teachings in Shobogenzo.

(3) The meaning of the title "Genjo-koan"

Next I'd like to talk on what "Genjokoan" means. This is Genjokoan ( text gives the Chinese characters) in Chinese character; Kanji.

This is the Chinese character for Gen (gives character). Gen means to appear, and to be in the present moment. In Japanese, genzai (gives character) means "present moment," and another expression gendai (gives character) means "modern times." Basically, gen has these two meanings; to appear, to show up, something we couldn't see and now we can see it, so it means manifestation or actualization, something which was potential becomes actual; that is gen.

Jo (gives character) means "to become," "to complete," or "to accomplish." Genjo as a compound term means, as a verb, "to manifest" or "to actualize" (to appear and become). As a noun it implies the reality actually and presently happening. Ko (gives character) means to be public. The problem is an. (gives characters) Koan is a very famous word in Zen particularly in the Rinzai tradition. The practice of Rinzai Zen is called "koan practice." In the case of koan practice, koan implies recorded stories, or sayings of ancient Chinese masters. Those stories or sayings are expression of truth or reality.

Beginning in the Sung Dynasty China (11th - 13th century), koans were used as a method to educate students. Zen masters gave a koan as a question with which students had to work.

Japanese Rinzai masters, particularly Hakuin Zenji (18th century) developed a system of Koan practice. The Rinzai tradition of Koan practice was introduced to the Western world by D.T. Suzuki. In koan practice, a koan is an expression of the truth or reality, and also a question practitioners have to wrestle with. In the common usage, the kanji for koan is (gives characters).

The upper part (shows character) means "to place" or "to be peaceful". The lower part (shows character) means wood or tree. The original meaning of this kanji is a desk. A desk is a place where we think, read, and write. This "an" also means a paper or document on the desk.

There is another kanji used in koan, that is (gives character). In the case of this kanji (shows part of character), the left side part means "hand." The literal meaning of this kanji is to press, or to push with a hand or a finger. For example, in Japanese, massage is "an-ma." (shows character) So this "an" is to press to give massage for healing. This kanji also means "to make investigation" to put things in order when things are out of order.

These two Chinese characters can be used as alternatives to each other because they have the same pronunciation. We may interpret both (characters) as the same word. Actually, even in a dictionary of Zen words like Zengaku-dai-jiten, these two are considered to be one and the same word. So, it might not be appropriate to make distinctions between them.

The common understanding of the word koan (shows character) is public document that is on the desk of a government office. That means a law issued, in the case of ancient China, by the Emperor. Once a law was issued with the name of the Emperor, it was absolutely unchangeable and all people had to observe it. No one can question or complain about it. In Zen, people thought koans were like a government document to which laws or regulations are written. Koans express the unchanging truth or reality.

However, in the oldest commentary of Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo made by his direct disciple Senne, the word "koan" is interpreted with the kanji (shows character). Senne was Dogen Zenji's disciple who was his attendant at one time and compiled volume one, nine and ten of the Eihei-koroku; the collection of Dogen Zenji's formal lectures. Senne founded Yokoji temple in Kyoto after Dogen Zenji's death, and with his own disciple Kyogo, made the oldest commentary of 75 chapter version of Shobogenzo. The commentary is commonly called the Okikigakisho or just Gosho. Since the Tokugawa period (17th Century), the Gosho has been considered to be the most authoritative commentary of Shobogenzo.

In the beginning of their commentaries on Genjo-koan, Senne and Kyogo interpreted the word "koan" based on this kanji (gives character): "Ko (character) means to be equal. An (character) means to keep one's lot. Hei-fu-hei (shows characters; equalize inequality) is ko (to be public). Keeping one's lot is an.

Ko (to be public) means to equalize inequality. When there are some unequal and unfair situations, the duty of a government officer is to equalize the unfair situation for all people.

An is to keep one's lot. Each person has different responsibility depending on their occupation in the society. Each profession such as Emperor, ministers, high-class officers, low-class officers, merchants, farmers, teachers, doctors, etc. has its own lot. each person has different personality, capability and occupation. Each of us is unique and cannot be replaceable with anyone else.

Ko is equality of everything and an refers to uniqueness or particularity of each and every thing.

Gosho says, "Koan refers to the Shobogenzo itself." Shobogenzo is the true-dharma-eye-treasury that has been transmitted from the Buddha through ancestors in each generation. Shobogenzo is another name of the true reality of all beings (shoho-jisso).

According to the Gosho, the word koan expresses the reality of our own lives. That is, we are the intersection of equality (universality, unity, oneness of all beings) and inequality (difference, uniqueness, particularity, individuality). Emptiness includes both unity and difference.

Everything in the world has differences; nothing is actually equal. Also, in society there are many kinds of discrimination, inequalities, unfair situations. to equalize such inequality is to be public. "Public" is the opposition of private. As a private person, each person is different. For example a person who has a public position has to think all people are equal. That's the meaning of "to be public." A public officer should think how we can all become equal.

"An" means each person should take care of his/her own responsibility. Ko and an are in opposition within this dynamic. Ko is to be public, we should think of all people as equal, and an means, as a private person each person has a different and unique personality and each person takes care of different things.

I often use the example of a hand: this is one hand and each hand has five fingers. When we think this is a collection of five fingers each finger is independent and has a different shape and function. The thumb has its own shape and function. A little finger has its own shape and its own function. We cannot exchange. Each finger has its own unique way of being. And yet, as one hand, all five fingers function together and there's no separation. This is really "one" hand. We can see this as only one hand and also as a collection of five fingers. Not only a hand but each one of us is the same. We have both sides of universality and individuality. And these are not two separate aspects. Each side is absolute. One hand is 100% five fingers. When we call this one hand, there are no five fingers. And when we call this five fingers, one hand is hidden. In Genjokoan, Dogen xZenji expresses this, "When one side is illuminated another side is dark." This whole universe is one universe, there's no separation within it. And yet, when we see it from another aspect, this universe is a collection of billions of different, unique and individual beings. Nothing can be the same; everything has its own position in particular time and space. Each and everything is completely independent. And yet, this whole world, whole universe and all time -- from beginningless beginning to endless end -- is just one. Dogen Zenji said in Bendowa, "Even if only one person sits for a short time, because this zazen is one with all existence and completely permeates all time, it performs everlasting buddha guidance within the inexhaustible dharma world in the past, present, and future." We cannot separate. It's really only one time and one space.

There are two ways of viewing this one reality. One is to see things as a whole, the other is to see things as independent. these two ways of seeing things are really important in understanding Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. In Mahayana Buddhist philosophy the two aspects of this one reality of our life is called "the two truths," one is absolute truth and another is conventional truth.

For example, in the Heart Sutra emptiness is considered to be absolute truth, there's no eyes, no ear, no hand, no nose, no tongue, no anything because this reality is just working as one; emptiness. Yet, from the other side, each has form, eyes are eyes, nose is nose, tongue is tongue; this person, Shohaku is Shohaku; I'm not you and you are not me. Even when you eat delicious food my stomach is not filled or vice versa. So we are completely different individual people. And yet, as a whole, we are living the same life; as living beings, we are interconnected completely together with all beings. This whole universe is just one thing, as five fingers are just one hand.

In Zen this reality is called sabetsu (distinction, inequality) and byodo (equality). Everything is different and independent on the one side, and everything is equal and interconnected on the other side. To see one reality from those two sides is the basic view of Mahayana Buddhism including Zen.
As a form, everything is different. Everything has different form and yet those forms are empty; empty means no discrimination and separation. And yet this emptiness is form. We see one reality as an intersection or merging of equality and uniqueness.

In Chinese Zen literature, such as the Sandokai (merging of difference and unity) composed by Zen master Sekito Kisen, it says these two sides are called difference and unity. this difference and unity should merge. In Sandokai, Sekito expresses this side of oneness or unity as dark, and the other side is light. When it's bright outside we can see things and different forms, different colors, different names and different functions; when it's completely dark all beings are there but we cannot distinguish them. As a whole, it's one darkness. These are two aspects of one reality.

This is the basic way we see reality in Buddhism and Zen. It's important to understand this point to understand any Zen literature or Buddhist philosophy.

In the case of Dogen, however, to see one reality from two sides is not enough. We should express both sides in one action. For example, in the Heart Sutra two sides are expressed as "form is emptiness and emptiness is form." But, Dogen Zenji said in Shobogenzo Makahannya-haramitsu, "Form is form. Emptiness is emptiness." When we say form is emptiness and emptiness is form, there is still separation of form and emptiness. If form is really emptiness and emptiness is really form, we can only say form is form and emptiness is emptiness. When we say form, emptiness is already there. And when we say emptiness, form is already there. If we understand this basic point we can understand the first three sentences (paragraphs) of Genjokoan.

When we study and practice according to Dogen Zenji's teachings, it's important not only to understand with our intellect those two aspects; actually we should aim at actualizing these two different sides within one action. That's a really important and yet difficult thing. for example, Dogen Zenji wrote Instructions for the tenzo (cook). As a person who is cooking, each action is a personal action. We have 100% responsibility in how we work and the result of our work. Each person must receive the result of one's own karma.

Yet this personal practice also has a function within the community. It's not only a personal action, we cannot say "This is my practice. I just do whatever I want to do." this is my personal practice and yet this is also part of the practice of the whole community. there is a certain way and a certain time food should be ready.l The food cooked by the tenzo nurtures all the people's practice.
The actual action in the kitchen is the person's own and yet this one person's action has influence on the whole community. As a person who lives with this body and mind we have to aim at how we can manifest or actualize those two aspects of our lives. One is "this is my own practice, no one can do my practice for me" and yet this practice is really not for me, but this practice or work, is for the whole community. We have to think how we can serve the whole community in the best way, and yet we should do it as our own personal action with our own responsibility. We are completely independent persons and yet we are 100% part of the community.l How can we actualize both sides within one action? That is the really basic point of our lives. Not only for human beings but particularly for human beings, because we think we are independent beings. Particularly in modern society we put emphasis on independence and individuality. However, when we only think of ourselves as independent persons without considering others, we cannot live together with others.

For example in traditional Japanese society, family or communities, as well as schools or companies, are more important than the individual persons. Countries are more important than the people. I think that is one extreme. That is called wholism. I think that it is really unhealthy. But if we only see our independence, and think "I can do whatever I want to do," we become really isolated and egoistic. These two are sicknesses caused by a misguided view of reality. We are actually living as independent, unique persons, and yet we are living as a part of the whole community. When we cling to only one aspect and put emphasis we become sick; either way, through wholism or through individualism. Actually both sides should be there. It is the most healthy way when we are living together and yet each person is independent. We have to live together, and in order to live together we have to, in a sense, put aside our uniqueness, otherwise we have to always fight against other people. I think the most important teaching of Buddha is to find the middle way. We need to avoid either extreme and practice the reality as a middle way. We have to create our own way because there's no certain fixed middle way. We have to see the whole situation and find the most healthy and joyful way of life for both each one of us and for the community as a whole. And we should do this with our own responsibility. I think this is the essential point of Buddha's and Dogen Zenji's teachings.

In the Genjo-koan, Dogen Zenji expresses individuality as " a drop of water," and universality is expressed as "moonlight," and he said that even in a small drop of water, the moonlight is reflected. This is the reality of our life. We are individual and yet universal. The vast, boundless moonlight is reflected in us like a drop of water. The point of our practice, according to Dogen's teaching in Genjo-koan, is how we can keep awakening to that reality of individuality and universality together. Through our practice, we try to actualize one reality which has two sides. We go to extremes when we cling to our thinking. Thinking comes out of our experience, that is our karma. Depending upon our past experiences, we have tendency to think that this side should be important, or the other side should be more important. And we lose sight of the reality as a whole.
In our practice of zazen and also our practice in our daily lives, we awake to reality as a whole. We are free from either side and find the middle path. Both sides should be really there. This is the most vivid and healthy way of life.

My understanding of the title "Genjo-koan" is genjo (reality actually and presently taking place) is koan (absolute truth and also a question from reality to us). And koan is nothing other than genjo (things actually happening in front of our eyes). We have to answer the question from reality through our each and every action as practice.

1e. GenjoKoan
by Eihei Dogen
Translated by Reiho Masunaga

Introduction

The Shobogenzo flow consists of ninety-five chapters. But when first put together it had only seventy-five chapters. Dogen revised these seventy-five chapters between 1248 and 1252. He finished this revision one-year before his death.

The first chapter in this collection is the Genjo-Koan It was written when Dogen was 34 years old (mid-autumn 1233) and given to Mitsuhide Yo, a layman in Kyushu.

In the Zen sect Koan means problem to be solved. The Zen master gives it to the trainee, and the trainee thinks about it during zazen. The Rinzai sect especially emphasizes the Koan, but the Soto sect does not put too much stress on it. The Soto sect lays stress on daily life; it believes that the Koan should be expressed in our daily activities.

GenjoKoan deals with the Koan expressed in daily life. First, Dogen here indicates the essence of religion from his standpoint. Secondly, he expresses his basic view that original enlightenment and superior training are self-identical. Thirdly, he makes it clear that the Koan is not a formal problem but a way of life. Here he ex presses the Soto view that thorough training should be integrated with zazen and daily life. GenjoKoan especially underlines these points. Though given to a layman, this essay is very difficult to understand. Anyone who understand it will be able to grasp the overall spirit of the Shobogenzo and the essence of Dogen' Zen.

Text (Genjo Koan)

When all things are Buddhism, delusion and enlightenment exist, training exists, life and death exist, Buddhas exist, all-beings exist. When all things belong to the not-self, there are delusion, no enlightenment, no all beings, no birth and decay. Because the Buddha's way transcends the relative and absolute, birth and decay exist, no delusion and enlightenment exist, all-beings and Buddhas exist. And despite this, flowers fall while we treasure their bloom; weeds flourish while we wish them dead. To train and enlighten all things from the self: is delusion; to train and enlighten- the self from all things is enlightenment. Those who enlighten their delusion are Buddhas; those deluded in enlightenment are all-beings. Again there are those who are enlightened: on enlightenment-and those deluded within delusion. When Buddhas are really Buddhas, we need not know our identity with the Buddhas. But we are enlightened Buddhas-and express the Buddha in daily life. When we see objects and hear voices with all our body and mind-and grasp them intimately-it is not a phenomenon like a mirror reflecting form or like a moon reflected on water. When we understand one side, the other side remains in darkness. To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be en lightened by all things. To be enlightened by all things is to be free from attachment to the body and mind of one's self and of others. It means wiping out even attachment to Satori. Wiping out attachment to Satori, we must enter actual society. When man first recognizes the true law, he unequivocally frees himself from the border of truth. He who awakens the true law in him self immediately becomes the original man. If in riding a boat you look toward the shore, you erroneously think that the shore is moving. But upon looking carefully at the ship, you see that it is the ship that is actually moving. Similarly, seeing all things through a misconception of your body and mind gives rise to the mistake that this mind and substance are eternal. If you live truly and return to the source, it is clear that all things have no substance. Burning logs become ashes - and cannot return again to logs. There fore you should not view ashes as after and logs as before. You must understand that a burning log - as a burning log - has before and after. But although it has past and future, it is cut off from past and future. Ashes as ashes have after and before. Just as ashes do not become logs again after becoming ashes, man does not live again after death. So not to say that life becomes death is a natural standpoint of Buddhism. So this is called no-life.

To say that death does not become life is the fixed sermon of the Buddha. So this is called no-death. Life is a position of time, and death is a position of time . . . just like winter and spring. You must not believe that winter becomes spring - nor can you say that spring becomes summer. When a man gains enlightenment, it is like the moon reflecting on water: the moon does not be-come wet, nor is the water ruffled. Even though the moon gives immense and far-reaching light, it is reflected in a puddle of water. The full moon and the entire sky are reflected in a dewdrop on the grass. Just as enlightenment does not hinder man, the moon does not hinder the water.

Just as man does not obstruct enlightenment, the dewdrop does not - obstruct the moon in the sky. The deeper the moonlight reflected in the water, the higher the moon itself. You must realize that how short or long a time the moon is reflected in the water testifies to how small or large the water is, and how narrow or full the moon.

When the true law is not fully absorbed by our body and mind, we think that it is sufficient. But if the right law is fully enfolded by our body and mind, we feel that something is missing. For example, when you take a boat to sea, where mountains are out of sight, and look around, you see only roundness; you cannot see anything else. But this great ocean is neither round nor square. Its other characteristics are countless. Some see it as a palace, other as an ornament. We only see it as round for the time being - within the field of our vision: this is the way we see all things. Though various things are contained in this world of enlightenment, we can see and understand only as far as the vision of a Zen trainee. To know the essence of all things, you should realize that in addition to appearance as a square or circle, there are many other characteristics of ocean and mountain and that there are many worlds. It is not a matter of environment: you - must understand that a drop contains the ocean and that the right law is directly beneath your feet.

When fish go through water, there is no end to the water no matter how far they go. When birds fly in the sky, there is no end to the sky no matter how far they fly. But neither fish nor birds have been separated from the water or sky - from the very beginning. It is only this: when a great need arises, a great use arises; when there is little need, there is little use. Therefore, they realize full function in each thing and free ability according to each place.

But if birds separate themselves from the sky they die; if fish separate themselves from water; they die. You must realize that fish live by water and birds by sky. And it can be said that the sky lives by birds and the water by fish, and those birds are life and fish are life. You probably will be able to find other variations of this idea among men, although there are training and enlightenment and long and short lives, all are modes of truth itself. But if after going through water, fish try to go farther, or if after going through the sky, birds try to go farther-they cannot find a way or a resting place in water or sky.

If you find this place, your conduct will be vitalized, and the way will be expressed naturally. If you find this way, your conduct is realized truth in daily life. This way and place cannot be grasped by relative conceptions like large and small, self and others - neither are they there from the beginning nor emerging now. They are there just as they ought to be. Because the way and place are like this if, in practicing Buddhism, you pick up one thing, you penetrate one thing; if you complete one practice, you penetrate one practice. When deeply expressing this place and way, we do not realize it clearly because this activity is simultaneous with and interfused with the study of Buddhism.

You must not think that upon gaining enlightenment you can always become aware of it as personal knowledge. Although we are already enlightened, what we intimate have is not necessarily expressed, and we cannot point it out definitely. Zen master Pao-ch'ih was fanning himself one summer day when a passing priest asked: "The nature of wind is stationary, and it is universally present. Why do you then use your fan, sir?" The Zen master replied: "Though you know the nature of wind is stationary, you do not know why it is universally present." The priest asked, "Why then is the wind universally present?" The master only fanned himself, and the priest saluted him. Enlightenment through true experience and the vital way of right transmission are like this. Those who deny the need for fanning because the nature of wind is stationary and be cause the wind is sensed without the use of a fan understand neither the eternal presence of the wind nor its nature. Because the nature of wind is eternally present, the wind of Buddhism turns the earth to gold and ripens the rivers to ghee.

Eihei Dógen: Életünk kérdése (Gendzsókóan 現成公案)
Fordítás: Jaszuda Dzsósú rósi és Anzan Hósin rósi fordításából készítette Hadházi Zsolt (2006)
http://zen.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=4792614&nid=2602587

Mikor mindent Felébredett Tapasztalatnak látunk, akkor a megvilágosodás és megtévesztettség, gyakorlatok, élet és halál, Felébredettek és érző lények világosan megkülönböztetettek. Mikor a tapasztalatok nagy tágasságával én nélkül találkozunk, akkor nincs megvilágosodás és nincs megtévesztettség, nincsenek gyakorlatok, nincs élet, nincs halál, nincsenek Felébredettek, nincsenek érző lények. A Felébredt Éberség Útja túllép a semmin és a valamin. Így, létezik megtévesztettség és megvilágosodás, élet és halál, Felébredettek és érző lények. Azonban az ilyen: ragaszkodásunk ellenére a virágok elhervadnak, utálatunk ellenére a gazok virágoznak.

A törekvéssel gyakorlás, találkozni a számtalan tapasztalattal mint énnel és akként látni őket, megtévesztettség. Mikor a tapasztalatok nagy tágassága tovább megy, és gyakorol és megvalósítja az ént, ez a Felébredés.

A Felébredettek megvilágítják a megtévesztettséget, az érző lények megtévesztettek a megvilágosodásban. Továbbá, van megvilágosodás a megvilágosodás előtt, van megtévesztettség a megtévesztettségben. Mikor valóban látod magadat mint Felébredettet, nem kell magadat Felébredettnek látnod. A megvalósított Felébredett megvalósítja a köznapi életet, mint Felébredt Éberség.

Az egyedüli testtudattal lásd a formákat, az egyedüli testtudattal halljad a hangokat és akkor belsőleg megérted őket. Ez nem olyan, mint a tükröződések egy tükörben, vagy a hold a vízben; ezekkel az egyik oldal tisztán látható, a másik elrejtett.

A Felébredés Útját tanulmányozni az én tanulmányozása. Az ént tanulmányozni az én elfelejtése. Elfelejteni az ént a felébredés a tapasztalatok nagy tágasságával. Felébredni a nagy tágassággal, a saját és mások testtudatának elejtése.

Nem találni a megvilágosodás jelét és ez a jeltelenség folyamatosan megmutatja magát. Először, mikor keresed az igazságot, elválasztod magad onnan, ahol van. Végül, mikor megkaptad az igazi átadást, abban a pillanatban eredeti önmagad vagy.

Hajón utazás közben a partot nézve úgy tűnik, mintha a part mozogna. Közvetlenül a hajóra nézve tudni fogod, hogy a hajó az, ami mozog. Hasonlóképp, ha megvizsgálod és értelmezed a számtalan tapasztalatot miközben össze vagy zavarodva saját testtudatod felől, azt fogod gondolni, hogy tudatod és természete állandó. Legyél belsőségesen mindazzal amit teszel, térj vissza eredeti magadhoz és világos lesz, hogy a számtalan tapasztalat én nélküli.

A tűzifa hamu lesz, nem lesz újra fa. Ne gondold, hogy először van a fa, utána a hamu. Megértésed át kell lássa ezt, bár a tűzifa az tűzifa, van előtte és utána; hogy van előtte és utána, szabad ezektől. A hamu az hamu és van előtte és utána. A fa nem lesz újra fa, miután hamu lett, és mikor meghalsz, halott vagy, nem térsz vissza az életbe. Az élet nem lesz halál; ez az igaz tanítása a Felébredettnek. Így, az élet kezdettelen. A halál nem lesz élet; ez az igaz tanítása a Felébredettnek. Így, a halál végtelen. Az élet élet, a halál halál és mindegyik a maga helyén, mint a tél és a tavasz. A tél nem lesz tavasz, a tavasz nem lesz tél.

A felébredés olyan, mint a vízben tükröződő hold; a hold nem nedves, a víz nem kavarodott fel. Minden sugárzásával együtt a hold látható még egy pocsolyában is. Telihold, tágas ég, mindkettő tükröződhet a fűszálon lógó egyetlen harmatcseppben. A Felébredés nem akadályoz téged, ahogy a hold nem fodrozza a vizet. Nem tudod megragadni annál jobban a Felébredést, mint amennyire a harmatcsepp megfékezheti a teliholdat, vagy a tágas eget. Amilyen mély a csepp, olyan magas a hold. Hogy meddig tart egy ilyen visszatükröződés, csak gondolj a víz mélységére és a hold fényére.

Mikor az igazság még nem töltötte be a testtudatot, úgy tűnik túlcsordulsz. Mikor a testtudat egy vele, megláthatod mi hiányzik.

Mikor a tengeren hajózol és nincs szárazföld a láthatáron, a négy irányba nézel, csak a kerek tengert látod. Valójában a tenger nem kerek vagy szögletes, tízezernyi tulajdonsága van, mint egy palotának, egy díszítésnek. Csak addig tűnik kereknek, ameddig abban a rövid időben láthatjuk. Lásd a tapasztalatok nagy tágasságát ily módon.

Az élet a megvilágosodás maga és sok oldala van, de csak azt tudod látni, amit gyakorlatod megértése enged. Hogy értékeld a tapasztalatok nagy tágasságát, értsd meg, hogy a tengerek és a hegyek kereknek vagy szögletesnek tűnhetnek, de még vannak meglátandó részletek és egész világegyetemek vannak minden irányban. Közvetlen érdekeltséged körei jelentéktelenek. Ami van, megmutatja magát pont itt a talpad alatt és egyetlen csepp vízben.

Nem számít, milyen messzire úszik a hal, nem éri el a tenger végét. Nem számít milyen messzire repül a madár, nem éri el az ég végét. Kezdetektől fogva a halak és a madarak mindig egyek voltak az elemükkel. Mikor nagy szükség van, megjelenik a nagy használat. Mikor kis szükség van, megjelenik a kis használt. Így a dolgok teljes körű használata mindig úgy van, ahogy. Bárhol legyen is valami, lefedi a saját területét. Ha a madár elvágná magát az égtől, meghalna. Ha a hal elvágná magát a víztől, szintúgy meghalna. Ugyanígy, az ég élete a madár maga, a víz élete a hal maga. A madár élet, a hal élet. Még bővíthetnéd ezeket a példákat, ha akarnád. Gyakorlás, megvilágosodás, hosszú és rövid élet, ezek példák.

Ha a madár, vagy a hal megpróbálna elmenekülni elemétől, a saját helye nélkül lenne. Megvalósítani az életed mint az életed, megvalósítod a Felébredt Éberség használatát. Ha megérted ezt, akkor minden amit csinálsz azt valóban úgy teszed, ahogyan az Út van. Nincs nagy vagy kicsi, én és más, kezdet, vég - és így létezik az Út most. Úgy gyakorlod és valósítod meg a Felébredt Éberség Útját, hogy felveszel egy dolgot és átlátod, hogy befejezel egy dolgot annak megértésén keresztül. A hely itt van, az Út mindenütt. Nem érhetsz el az igazság határához, mivel az Éberség Útjának tanulmányozása által felkél egyben a látóköröd is. Ne korlátozd a megvalósítást a tudásod határaival. Még azután is, hogy a megvalósítás megnyilvánult, az annyira belsőséges, hogy nem lehet úgy ismerni, mint személyeset és ezért minden kifejezése szükségszerűen helyet hagy még többnek.

A Ma-ku hegy szerzetese, Pao-cse ült és legyezte magát, mikor egy szerzetes jött és kérdezte:

- A szél természete állandó és egyetemesen cselekszik. Miért használsz legyezőt?

A mester válaszolt:

- Bár érted a szél állandó természetét, nem látod az egyetemes cselekvését.

- Mi az egyetemes cselekvés? - kérdezte a szerzetes.

A mester legyezte magát, a szerzetes meghajolt.

Ez a Felébredt Éberség megvilágosító tapasztalatát átadó élő út. Ha azt mondod, hogy nem kell használnunk legyezőt, mert a szél természete állandó, hogy ismeretünk erről az állandóságról nem igényel legyezőt, akkor te nem tudsz semmit a szél természetéről, vagy az állandóságról. Az a Felébredt Éberség állandó természete miatt van, hogy a földet arannyá, a folyókat ghível áramlóvá teheti.

(Íródott 1233 őszének közepén, s odaadatott világi tanítványomnak, kjúsúi Jó-kosunak.)