井上義衍 Inōe Gien (1894-1981)

Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1894. He enlightened in 1919 at the age of 25 and inherited the Dharma discovered by the Buddha. In 1924, he became abbot of Ryusenji Temple in Hamamatsu. From 1925, he was the Zen teaching master at Kokutaiji Temple, Kahaisai Temple, Nitaiji Temple, and Toyama Nunnery. He also served as president of the Soto Sect Teachers' Association. In 1970, he was invited to the New York Zen Center to teach zazen, and traveled again to the US and France in 1971. In 1984, he appeared on Japanese national television, NHK’s “Shukyo no Jikan” (“Religion Hour”), exposing many viewers to the true Dharma for the first time, and caused a sensation. Many of his teisho (Zen lectures) have been compiled in Japanese.
Gien Roshi was known as a Zen master of the calibre seen only once in 600 years, as he taught with profound clarity. He conveyed the true essence of Zen in colloquial terms, without using difficult Buddhist terminology, and both monks and laypeople from throughout Japan went to learn from him. He died in 1981 at age 88.
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A Blueprint of Enlightenment:
A Contemporary Commentary on Dōgen Zenji’s Gakudō Yōjinshū “Guidelines for Studying the Way.”
by Gien Inoue Roshi (Ed. by 井上哲玄 Inōe Tetsugen)
Tr. by Daigaku Rummé, Keiko Ohmae. 2020.

When all dharmas are the Buddha-Dharma, there is delusion and enlightenment, there is practice, there is birth, there is death, there are Buddhas, there are sentient beings.

When myriad dharmas are all not the self, there is no delusion, no enlightenment, no buddhas, no sentient beings, no birth, no death. Because the Buddha Way is originally transcendent over abundance and scarcity, there is birth and death, there is delusion and enlightenment, there are sentient beings and Buddhas.

And yet, this is the way it is, flowers fall in our longing, and weeds grow in our loathing.

Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion. The myriad dharmas advance towards oneself to practice and enlighten is enlightenment. Those who greatly realize delusion are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings. Moreover, there are those who are enlightened upon enlightenment, and there are those who are deluded in the midst of delusion. When buddhas are indeed buddhas, there is no need for them to perceive that they are buddhas. Nevertheless, they are realized buddhas and they go on being buddhas realizing.

In seeing forms with the whole body-mind, hearing sounds with the whole body-mind, though one intimately realizes, it is not like reflecting images in a mirror, and not like the moon and water. When enlightening one side, the other side is dark.

To learn the Buddha Way is to learn oneself. To learn oneself is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to be enlightened by myriad dharmas. To be enlightened by myriad dharmas is to let it fall away one’s own body and mind, and the body and mind of others. There is ceasing of enlightenment, which causes one to leave continuously the traces of enlightenment forever.

When people first seek the Dharma, they are far from the borders of Dharma. When the Dharma has already been rightly transmitted in oneself, just then one is the original oneself.

When a man rides in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehend the shore is moving. When he closely keeps his eyes fixed on the boat, he knows that the boat is moving forward. Similarly, when one discerns the myriad things with the confused body and mind, one mistakenly thinks that one's own mind and nature are permanent. If one is intimately engaged in the activity of living and returns to the real state being now, it will be clear that the myriad dharmas are not on me. (It's all changed and over.)

Firewood becomes ash, and does not become firewood again. However, we should not see the ash after and the firewood as before. Know that firewood abides in the Dharma state of firewood and it has a before and after. Though it has a before and after, the realm of before and after is cut off. Ash is in the Dharma state of ash, and it has after and before. Just as that firewood, after becoming ash, does not become firewood again, so human beings, after death, do not live again. If it be so, not saying that life becomes death is an established custom in the Buddha- Dharma. Therefore, it is called unborn. That death does not become life, which is the Buddha preaching established in the turning of the Dharma-Wheel. Therefore, it is said imperishable. Life is a temporal state, death is a 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 is rests in an inch of water, the whole moon and the whole sky rest even in a dewdrop on the grass, rest even in a single droplet of water. That enlightenment does not shatter people is like the moon not piercing the water. People's not hindering enlightenment is like the drop of dew not hindering the sky and moon. 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 perceive the breadth and narrowness of the sky and moon.

When Dharma has not completely filled one's body and mind, one feels it is already sufficient. If the Dharma fills one's body and mind, in one respect, one feels insufficiency. For example, when one rides a boat out to the middle of ocean where no mountains are in sight and looks four directions, the ocean appears round and no other characteristics are visible. However, this ocean is neither round nor square; the remaining virtue of the ocean is inexhaustible. It is like a palace, it is like ornaments. Yet as for as our eyes can see, it only seems to be round. As it is for the ocean, it is for myriad dharma. In dust and out of the frame (in the secular world and the Buddhist world), there are numerous situations, but we see and comprehend only as for as our eyesight of learning in practice can reach. If we inquire into the family traditions of myriad dharmas, we should know that, besides seeming square and round, the remaining virtue of the oceans and mountains are endlessly numerous and that there beneath our feet and a single drop of water are also thus.

When a bird flies through the sky, there is no bound to the sky no matter how far it flies. While this is so, the fish and birds have never left the water and the sky since the beginning. It is just that when the need is large the use is large, and when the need is small the use is small. In this way, though none ever fails to extent itself to the full, and nowhere does any fail to move and turn freely, the bird would instantly die if it left the sky, and the fish would instantly die if it left the water. Know that water is life, know that the sky is life. There is bird being life, there is fish being life. Life must be birds, life must be fish. Beside this we could proceed further. That there is practice and enlightenment and there are long and short lives of people is just like this.

However, if there were birds or fish that tried to go further in the water or sky after having found the limit of the water or sky, they wouldn't find a path or a place in the water or the sky. When one finds this Way, this activity of living now is the Realized Law of the Universe. This way, this place is not large or small, not self or other, not existing from the beginning, not appearing right now ―therefore it is just what it is.

Similarly, when someone practices and realizes the Buddha Way, to get one dharma is to penetrate the one dharma, to meet one practice is to practice the one practice. In this state there is the place, where the way has been accomplished, hence being unable to know the boundary to be known is that this knowing is born together and practiced together with the thorough realization of Buddha Dharma. Do not learn that attainment necessarily becomes one's own knowledge, that it would be recognized by one's intellect. Although ultimate realization manifests immediately, the reality imperceptible is not necessarily actualized, why necessarily is there a manifestation?(Antonym; In the end, you'll know exactly what it' all about.)

Zen master Hotetsu of Mt. Mayoku was using a fan. A monk came and asked "The nature of wind is constancy and there is no place it does not reach. Why then do you use a fan? "

The master said "You only know the nature of wind is constancy but do not know the principle that there is no place it does not reach."

The monk said " What is the principle that there is no place it does not reach?"

The realization-evidence of the Buddha-Dharma, the living road of right transmission, is like this. To say that since the nature of wind is constancy one should not use a fan, and one should feel the wind even when one is not using a fan, is not knowing both constancy and nature of wind. Because the nature of wind is constancy, the wind of Buddhism causes the earth manifest being gold and ripen the long river into sweet creamy milk.

Shobogenzo Genjo-koan The First This was written in mid-autumn in the 1st year of Tenpuku, and was presented to the lay disciple Yo Koshu of Chinzei. Edited in the 4th year of Kencho.

When all dharmas are the Buddha-Dharma, there is delusion and enlightenment, there is practice, there is birth, there is death, there are Buddhas, there are sentient beings.

And yet, this is the way it is, flowers fall in our longing, and weeds grow in our loathing.

Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion. The myriad dharmas advance towards oneself to practice and enlighten is enlightenment.

As mentioned here Genjo-Koan, the realized Law of Universe, Genjo-Koan is the state of Maka Hannya Maha Prajna. It is truly the universal being void and subtle. It is composed based on this reality from the very beginning. So, in this way, it is called public, just as it is called Koan. It is the same as an imperial ordinance in the old days. Once an imperial ordinance is issued, the situation becomes untenable. That is why it is said “public.”

The true nature of this cosmic construction is that, see, at the beginning, something you don't know anything about comes out into this world like this, and the whole of it is the state of what is called the universe. That's essentially how it's structured. Being so, what are called human beings and what are said things were all generated, came out, in the same way. In such a way, there is this thing called Koan; being public.
So, since that is the essence, it is the state as you are, you should see how well it works, like this, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, and form, voice, smell, taste, sense, and dharma. To put it plainly, we have six organs; the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind and it's the same with these six organs. Even these six organs are made in such a way that even if we want to do everything for ourselves, we can't do it. Inevitably, the eyes are related to things. It doesn't matter if there is a necessity or not, and it doesn't matter if there is a direct use or not, but whether there is a need or not, the eyes are definitely made to see in this way. They' re so public. It's the same for all six organs, isn't it? Whether it's our ears, our mouths, or our bodies.

Now it's the mind that's the hardest to understand. Even the mind is really made up in the same way. Being so, before you know it, anyways, when you think that you are going to do something, somehow, the fact of being exists beforehand. That is the state of the mind. The state of just being is dharma. What is called dharma is a thing. As a thing, the mind has properly moved in this way. That's what it means to be free from doing. That's the true way of being, and that's why it's called koan genjo; the Realized Low of the Universe. The Realized Law of the Universe is, it is formed as it is. What is it "koan genjo"? It's not something difficult to say. If this one is just thrown out there, it will become clear.

So I'm going to go to the next one. “When all dharmas are the Buddha-Dharma,” is said. “When all dharmas are the Buddha-Dharma,” means, as I just said, for the first time, the Buddha taught that this one is made to be public existence. That is the Buddha-Dharma. So, generally speaking, they say that there is something here and there like this. They all see the fixed things as they are fixed and talk about them as they are, and that is what is called dharma, or dharma as it is commonly called.

On the other hand, the Buddha's Dharma is what clearly knows what the content is and is just done publicly. If we bring it up to people for a while and say, what myriad things say is that, namely, there is being deluded and being enlightened for people. That is why there is a necessity to practice. The reason for this is that there are problems such as birth and death like this, this is how it is shown. And there are Buddhas who can save them, and there are all sentient beings who can be saved. The reason why this kind of thing came out is because, although it must have come out publicly as myriad dharmas, we have made it personal. We have come to nurture this one with the concept of the self; “I am.” Having been kept privately, there are many hindrances, and Shakyamuni Buddha knew all these things. This is because all Dogen Zenji knew it clearly. Then the dharma as “When all dharmas are the Buddha” came out like this.

And we say how the dharma should be, you know, no matter how many things that are said to be lost or enlightened exist､they are just as they are, they don't have an original form. There is no entity. To truly know that is the teaching of the Buddha-Dharma. Since there is nothing like fixed self, that is why we can be saved, because there is no sentient being when saving sentient beings, even if we say we were deluded, we were deluded, but when we realized, we were just like that.

Being so, look at this. A woman does not become a man. A man doesn't become a woman. There is no change at all. It's just that you were thinking about something trivial and it caused you harm. That's why Buddha Dharma is right. You see, there's nothing to be caught, nothing to be changed even a slightest, nothing to be done. That's why you don't get any scars. You can change a person uprooted without getting any scars. It's really made to change like that. In order to understand this reality, there is something we need to do, so that's why the next came up.

Please read the following words. “When myriad dharmas are all not the self,” Everything, like the view of human beings, such as human beings or Dharma has completely vanished. It has disappeared bottomless. Because of this, there is no delusion. That is true as there is no seed of delusion. Because you are not deluded, you don’t need to get enlightened. That is right isn’t it? Look the earlier words. Sentient beings have to realize because they are all deluded. And they also have something that is like the Dharma, so they have these two seeds. There is a state of such a seed that is completely non-existent. This is a very important issue. It is the most important issue in Buddha Dharma.

“When myriad dharmas are all not the self, there is no delusion,” Being so, there is no need for Buddha, and there is no such a thing as sentient beings, accordingly the matter of life and death come to be no longer an issue at all. Even though it does not make any problems, it is not that this one does not exist. This one exists just as it did before, only there is no seed of its own kind anywhere, and it is said “this is intimate; Shinnyo-Itu; the truth is pervasive and thorough.” (When you are without self, you always become one and act with things.) The body, the body itself, touches the surroundings, becomes anything, goes anywhere, and is made in such a way that it can be free. There is aspect that everything seems to be getting through such things. So, while we have this reality, that is inevitably going to be a problem, isn't it?

Here it is said, “Because the Buddha Way is originally transcendent over abundance and scarcity,” This “abundance and scarcity,” The Buddha's teaching is that, if you look into the bottom of your being, you can say that this abundance and frugality are various problems, such as too much or too little. All kinds of problems. Everyone is beyond all these problems, that's what we are saying now. Everyone is outstanding from the beginning. Accordingly, on which this is said, “there is birth and death, there is delusion and enlightenment, there are sentient beings and Buddhas.”
The world of Shakyamuni Buddha is like this, and sentient beings admit all such things, and that is why salvation comes out like this. Therefore, the essential reality of you is that you are all created in the same conditions as the living Buddha. That's the way it is. That's for sure. That's why it's right, isn't it? If the Buddha's body were different from ours, if it were as different as the snow from the coal cinders, there would be nothing we could do. But from one point of view, they are both coal cinders. But whether you know the contents of this coal cluster or not, that is how it came to be. “There are the living buddhas; sentient beings and the Buddha.

“And yet, this is the way it is,” why does it become such a problem? “flowers fall in our longing, and weeds grow in our loathing.” What does that mean? Well, it's because of the feelings of preference and dislike. The discriminative mind arises and causes problems saying likes or dislikes, that is why it comes to be in disorder. This is what he says. “flowers fall in our longing, and weeds grow in our loathing.” It's not that there is anything else. Being so, there is the phrases in the beginning of the third patriarch’s shinjinmei; Xinxin Ming, “The way is not difficult, it only excludes picking and choosing.” “Once you stop loving and hating, it will enlighten itself.” That's what it' all about. It is very clear and precise like that.

Let me leave it at that. “Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion.” As it is said, here and now, what I have just said is that this kind of practice, all of them, are the same. Driving yourself, you try to prove yourself with it. It began by carrying the self and saying, "What shall I do with it?" Then, it began by looking at the unit here, the unit called "I", and saying, "What shall I do with it? It should not be there originally, but we have to put such a unit like this, and it is like that, isn't it?

And if you go on like that, no matter how far you go, the thing that hinders you the most, what hinders you the most, is your own recognition of this unit. That's right. It's not the other things that get in the way. That's why it's not the practice of the Buddha Dharma to have such a center and to train in it, is it? If you do that, you will always be like this. But that's only for those who do it in earnest. In general, those who want to make their practice as splendid as possible, do it like this. It's definitely good.

But in order to be really thorough, there are problems like the ones I have just mentioned. It is because Dogen Zenji has experienced it himself. That is why he said, “Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion.” It has been like that from the beginning. You have to throw this away, but you don’t discard this, being centered on this to be thrown away, and you are going to do. So that's why what you do is, the thought of this one, for the sake of yourself. You start playing this. No matter how you do it, you can't step out of that range. There is no way out. So, you throw it away.

That is why it is said when doing zazen, you should not think good or bad, right or wrong. In case of Huiming, when he ran after the six patriarch and tried to take the iron bowl, he confessed “I did not come to get the iron bowl but to hear the true state of the Dharma.” Being so, the sixth Patriarch answered “Well then, what are you now? What about the state you have thrown away everything you have, your desires, your views?” That is what is said not-thinking right or wrong. He neither thinks good nor wrong. What is the condition of this one that has nothing? And when he was pursued by the patriarch, he realized. In that case, he was pursuing with his own self in the beginning and the sixth patriarch made him abandon himself. It is possible only you abandon yourself.

Then, immediately following those words, he said, “The myriad dharmas advance towards oneself to practice and enlighten is enlightenment.” What does it mean? Well, from this side, though there is nothing to do, it is always done in such a way. There is nothing to move them or anything to move them, but it comes out the way it is done. And see? You don't have to go through all the trouble of making a problem out of it, you can go ahead instantly, CLAP! (He claps both hands)and. There is such a way.

And Dogen Zenji, after all, he was made to suffer a lot by himself, wasn't he? Even after he went to China, he was subjected to many hardships, and finally he realized this. In Shobogenzo-Zuimonki, there is this statement. “Now in our school, both with the body and the mind,” that is right. We need to practice with the body and the mind. To practice means to attain the way through both the body and mind. To attain with the body and mind. It is certain to attain the way with the body and mind. However, during the period of time when you are calculating with your mind what to do with the Buddha Dharma, there is the phrase "thousand years and a thousand lives," this is time, you can't find the way forever. Being so, “Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion.” So, he said it all out loud.

“When you let go of your mind and cast aside your views and understanding, it can be attained.” When you leave from the view and thinking of human beings, the Way is truly manifested as it is. From the beginning it has been manifested. Saying, “what?” Then you destroyed it with thoughts and search for it again, in that such things happen doubled redoubled, you have only to stop it. But you can hardly believe this. And he said, “Being clarified on seeing the form or attaining the Way by hearing the sound, it is also the same for attaining with the body.”
There are times when a person hears the voice and is enlightened, times when a person hits a stone, and when he heard the sound of a pebble hitting a bamboo and enlightened the Way. Like Reiun Zenji, peach blossoms fell and he got enlightened. There are things of that sort, though, to realize like that is to attain with the body. That's right. This itself is made so that you don't have to think about anything. So that you don't have to think about it, the materials for working like this are in order, they are in place. Therefore, if you leave the six organs as they are, then everything will appear on top of the six organs, and you don't know where or how everything will appear on them.

But when I say six organs, you might think you have to know all of them at the same time, it is not good. Any one of them (six organs), whatever it is that you're facing at the moment, you're going to know it naturally, so just let it happen. “It is to attain with the body.” That is why, “Therefore you completely cast aside thoughts and views and practice zazen, you will intimately attain the Way. Being so, the way is doubtlessly attained with the body.” He even says this clearly. This is a really important thing. Because Dogen Zenji took great pains himself, he wondered how people could really and quickly attain the Way, so he showed us the result of his progress. Now you know how it is.
“The myriad dharmas advance towards oneself to practice and enlighten is enlightenment.” From this side (the side of things), not from the eyes, from the side of things it advances to you like this, everything in the eyes, it has inevitability like this, it's fine just as it is inevitable.

And the latter is, you know, just a decoration of the sentences. “Those who greatly realize delusion are buddhas.” You were lost, and then you realized that you were lost, and then you said, "Oh, I see. What you thought was the seed of delusion until now is the seed of enlightenment. This is the whole of it. What we used to think of as vexation and mediocrity, we now know is that it is not so. And yet, for something that is so perfectly endowed, it is said, “Those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings.” Being said like this, you say “Even if you say such a thing, I have full of earthly desires, or, you say that it is absurd that this is such a Buddha,” and now you take a stance, and you run away more and more. Here's the thing.

Many people say “What? You say this is the buddha, you're exaggerating. It is an absurd story. The teaching of the Buddha is not such a trivial matter.” They said like that and they sound to esteem the Buddha. They sound they set a high value on the Dharma, though, that is a self-centered opinion. ( An egoistic opinion) It is so.

The reason for this is that the Zen adepts have experienced this, and they firmly say that anyone can do it, and that the thought is to break down what has been established, but they set themselves up in such a way that they will not be satisfied. However, if they say that after having experienced it, they have not experienced it. Therefore, they are not people who genuinely believe and do what the Buddha says, but people who ignore the Buddha's Dharma.

That's what you mean when you say it's prideful. It's the opposite, it's haughty. That's right. When you ask yourself what you should do, you don't know, but you say, "I don't think I can do it. I don't see how we can do it if we stay as we are." And that' s pride. You don't know that. That's why the Buddha said so. Those who are truly pure in Buddha's teachings are his disciples, and those who hold such views are not really his disciples. It's natural. Even if they are taught, they run away like that.

And again, look. “Moreover there are those enlightened upon enlightenment.” It is on top of enlightenment, and even today, as Dogen Zenji taught the Heart Sutra, there are many problems in the content of such a sutra, and only after you really know it will you be able to believe that the detailed content of the sutra is true. In addition to this, there is the saying “There are those enlightened upon enlightenment.”
But, “and there are those who are deluded in the midst of delusion.” About this, some people say that this is a statement about lostness itself, or the original meaning, that we as human beings go astray again. That is not true. This means that we are repeatedly lost in the midst of lostness. You must know that there is a clear distinction between these things here.

What it means is, to say “and there are those who are deluded in the midst of delusion” is that about ourselves, we are in doubt about this one, what we own. And on top of that, the other thing we are confused about is whether or not someone will do something about it. We think that there is something that can save this one, and we come to think something outrageous, and we try to seek for it. So, the more we seek, the further we are away from the truth. That's why it is said “those who are deluded in the midst of delusion.”

Accordingly, it comes out that, like new religions, people are trying to gain this real benefits. That is benefits gained in this world through observance of the Buddhist teachings. They really want to gain worldly benefits. That is why if it doesn’t do well, they would say it is some curse and they would ask for a fortune teller. And then they would ask for prayers, such things are gradually piling up, and in the end, you don't know who you're living for, and you're living your life wandering aimlessly, taking orders from others. Like that you will become, “those who are deluded in the midst of delusion.” Because there are such worries, this is the way that can really save us.

Being so, when I say that things are going to happen like this, if you really get this awareness, the next problem will come up. “When buddhas are indeed buddhas, there is no need for them to perceive that they are buddhas.” “Nevertheless, they are realized buddhas and they go on being buddhas realizing.”

If I say about the beginning of the attitude of practice, even if you don't know it, when I say ‘Oh-I,’ there is an active body that does not do anything, as it is. In fact, that is really the state of all Buddhas. In that opinion, he allowed us not to use perception for a while, this is the story. But here, the thing about not using perception is that, after we have really done it thoroughly, we don't need to think about it all the time. However, if we always think that we have realized this, we will not be able to do so, because there is a part of us that feels that way. So Dogen Zenji said something like this here.

That' s not so. Once you realized, to know or not to know, this or that, such problems are all blown off. It's because you won't feel like you have to do something this or that toward yourself. You become happy-go-lucky; great ease as such. If you are such a person, you have already been saved.

Being so, it is said “"The self is the Buddha.” Even if you don't think specially about it, you've already seen it once, and once you've really found your true nature like this, you'll see that there's nothing you can do about it, no matter how you say to do or doubt it.

Some of you may be new to this place. You were wondering what that monk who was supposed to advocate was like. So, when you came here and took a glance, you say, “What's with that bald head?” Just one glance, and look at it, you've been thinking about this and that, but just one glance and you're done, saying “Oh Yeah.” Even if you were asked to go back to the way before you saw me and look at me again, you can't do that. No matter how you try, you can't look back, just like you did before. In a position like the former. It's that certain. So, if you really find the real form of yourself, You do not have to hold on to it any longer. Because you don't hold it, you are itself. “they go on being buddhas realizing.”

Now for the attitude of the practice, right? Now that we've got the premise, it' s going to be clarified a little bit in this way.So, “In seeing forms with the whole body-mind, hearing sounds with the whole body-mind,” When doing so, when you see or hear, it means that you see or hear with this one. “though one intimately realizes,” It must be that everything exists intimately. But, the way it is, many people think that “reflecting images in a mirror,” Dogen Zenji wants to tell us that there is a mistake in that. It's not like “reflecting images in a mirror,”

So what does it say? It says “it is not like the moon and water.” It is not the relationship between you and things. If we ask what part of it is not such a relationship, we can say that when we just look at it, it is only a thing on the other side, and when we look at it here, we say it is on this side, but we don't know it. Without knowing, they exist. Lifting up whole body, you don't know if it's inside or outside. You don’t know whose matter it is. That is how this one and that one is, there is the saying, "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist," Without the other party, this cannot be proven. Without this, the other party can't be proven. But even if no one can prove it, it's already been proven, all the time.

In this kind of situation, you would either hold on to one of them, then it is said “When enlightening one side, the other side is dark.” It's dark, which means it's assimilated. Being so, when hearing a bird’s voice, it is not that you are here on this side and heard the bird’s voice, really. It just sounded. There was just a voice. That's why I often say, " Do you hear it, can it be heard, or is it to be?” That's it. It's just being. There is nothing to say. This thing is. As the movement of this thing, it just exists like this. That's called the real form. When the truth of a thing is truly known, it is said to be real form. That's what we call shoho-jisso; the real form of the myriad dharmas. It means the truth of things. When we say what the truth of a thing is, there is a situation like this.

That's why we have to be careful, even more so. I'm sure you've been seeing and hearing things with your mind and body, but if you set your mind too much, you won't be able to perceive the truth like that. That's why you should be intimate with the truth of the moment, and you are like this without trying what to do this or that, and then, unintentionally, you can realize that this is the way things are done without any human views.

It is because of this that I have just mentioned, the following words come out. “To learn the Buddha Way is to learn oneself.” These words came out, and they really show us the way of the true state of ourselves. So, it is as stated now. And, “To learn oneself is to forget oneself.” “To forget oneself.” That's how it is. Don't practice with your own views. Stop using your own views. Don't use them anymore. But when you are being careful, you are using yourself, you know. You should know that you have to be careful, even otherwise, you may be dragged around by the way of thinking till now. Therefore, it is important that you never allow yourself to do so, and that you leave all extraneous thoughts behind, and live only on the state in the present.

“To forget oneself,” is mentioned, “To learn oneself is to forget oneself.” This is the attitude of the practice of Buddhism. Throw away what is like you, throw away what is like your own view, and just do this with these tools. “To forget oneself is to be enlightened by myriad dharmas.” When we practice, it means that there are things, things on top of this one, on top of that one, which sounds special, but it's not. It just exists. There are things that the wind blows and moves. Of which, most of us think that it is happening on the other side. It's not that, it's the current movement of this one, the fact that it is moving itself. Look at where we are going in that way. It really is the true way of being of this, without ego. You can see that it is so."

"To be enlightened by myriad dharmas is to let it fall away one’s own body and mind, and the body and mind of others.” It says to make it drop out, so you're going to make something work, but it' not. It's not that you're dropping out, it's that you're bumping into the way that you' re being dropped out. You know that it is not the way of thinking as such, but rather the way of doing this one's activity.

One more thing, “to let it fall away one’s own body and mind, and the body and mind of others.” When everyone realizes that he or she is not alone like that and that there is no self, then they all know that they have dropped out and how they are. That' s what it's all about. That's why when one person is saved, all people are saved. That's for sure. The same is true for the past of infinite eon and future. There is no such thing as a human being except for this one, which is equipped with these six sense organs. What we call the human function is the human being equipped with all these tools. So, if we know the truth about this, then everyone in the past will be able to be known. It's the same for everyone in the future. Therefore, the fact that one person can be saved is definitive that the salvation of human beings is in this way. That is how solid it is, and you can confirm it to yourself. It's in your hands.

In this way, from now on, as it says, “There is ceasing of enlightenment, which causes one to leave continuously the traces of enlightenment forever.” When there is enlightenment, this enlightenment is left behind, and when you say, "I've been enlightened," you always try to look at things with that enlightenment as the center, and that kind of thing happens. That is a hindrance. In the Zen sect, there are those who deny enlightenment, even Dogen Zenji. When they deny enlightenment, they are not denying that they are enlightened. If you say, "I've been enlightened," you have that kind of enlightenment, and then you immediately go on to say, "Look, I've been enlightened," and then it comes back to live. Therefore, there are times when it hinders us from following the Dharma that we have realized ourselves. So, they say, that' s not good. You have to let go of enlightenment once and for all.

So, “There is ceasing of enlightenment.” Once you are away from it, you are exactly, with the whole body, the state of Dharma that you realized. This is what becomes clear to you. That's when the hands finally become free from everything. Because you can do that, you can continue to work for others and for yourself. Simply say, “which causes one to leave continuously the traces of enlightenment forever.” From now on, our lives will be based only on the world that we have now, and it will be fine as long as we keep going. That's what he was showing us.

There is such steadfast a thing, but there are many problems that can occur, and there are dangers where problems can occur and mistakes can be made, so Dogen Zenji shows next. “When a man rides in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehend the shore is moving. When he closely keeps his eyes fixed on the boat, he knows that the boat is moving forward. Similarly, when one discerns the myriad things with the confused body and mind, one mistakenly thinks that one's own mind and nature are permanent.” This is what he says. When it comes to “one’s own mind and nature,” you think that there is a firm and steady "I" here, and it sits there forever, and various things just appear on top of it. We want to recognize this one as the host, as if there is something to host. That is where the mistake lies. This is what he was talking about with the analogy of the boat.Isn't that right?

That is Dependent Origination. CLAP! CLAP! (He claps his hand) It’s the same as this. That this sound was made is, CLAP! When the two collide and become one, there is a sound like this. Similarly, all perception through six senses; of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and consciousness, are all oneness as it is. That is why each one of them is on Dependent Arising. Each one is new. The one before this one is intimate with this one, and the one before this one is intimate with the one before this one, this one is like that, this one is like that, it's not like that. Each one is new in every moment and place. Being so, it is said if you once take it up, it is new at that time. In that sense, if you want to be rejuvenated, you should do zazen. CLAP! With this, as it is always new, you can be rejuvenated. There's nothing left of the old, you see. In this way, both ourselves and others, things and us, are together. When you move, you move, and that's the truth of this one. Therefore, you have to calm your mind of now and get along with the body and mind. “With the confused body and mind,” means that you observe things with the view as “me,” or “mine alone,” this becomes problems for everyone. Things that are in the hands, you feel it might be taken away, that kind of thing can happen. So, you can go like this without any of those things.

“When one discerns the myriad things with the confused body and mind, one mistakenly thinks that one's own mind and nature are permanent.” He says that it is a mistake to think that only this thing that seems to be my spirit is right there at all times. You can understand this best when you talk about it with the four flags at funerals. Look at that, it says, “The myriad things are not constancy.” All things are not fixed. Therefore, they are formed and destroyed on Dependent Arising, so appearing is Dependent Arising, disappearing is Dependent Arising, it's not that the created material is destroyed. That's where the difference lies. The myriad things are not constancy, and they are on Dependent Arising.

Being so, as the next sentence says, this is the Dharma of birth and death. Impermanence is. The reason why it is impermanent is because there is nothing fixed. This is the Dharma of birth and death. It's the way that is made to be created and broken, so even this is made in such a way that you don't know how it will move, in a messy way, depending on conditions of Dependent Origination. It's so non- constancy. It's such an active-body. That activity itself is this. The truth about us is that this active body itself is really the truth about ourselves. This is because you mistakenly think of yourself as only this body that was made with earthen balls, which is all that you are. That's why we have a hard time because we live by making a big active thing into a small one. So, why then, if it is impermanent as it is now, is there no such thing as self in this thing? That's what the Dharma of birth and death is. As it is said, to be born and destroyed, to say that things are already born and died means to say that things are created and destroyed, and that is what I myself am now. That's why there is not a subject called me in it, isn't there? So, when you know that, there's nothing you can do about it. It's really just the way it is, and no matter which way it goes, there is only Dependent Origination, it is fine.