By: Bob Zeglovitch
At our retreat this past Saturday, we continued our investigation of vow with the help of some passages from Dogen’s Gyoji (“Continuous Practice”). This is the longest fascicle in Dogen’s great work Shobogenzo. In it, he recounts the various ways in which dharma ancestors from Shakyamuni Buddha forward manifested continuous practice.
Here are some quotes that give a flavor of Gyoji. While the expression “continuous practice” could strike one as daunting, I think that instead what emerges from Dogen’s language is a sense of practice that is natural and imbued with ease.
“On the great road of buddhas and ancestors there is always unsurpassable practice, continuous and sustained. It forms the circle of the way and is never cut off. Between aspiration, practice, enlightenment, and nirvana, there is not a moment’s gap; continuous practice is the circle of the way.”
“As a result, the practice is not done by forcing oneself to do it and it is not done by being forced to do it by someone else: it is a ceaseless practice that is never tainted by forcing. The merits from this ceaseless practice sustain us and sustain others.”
“The underlying principle of this practice is that the whole universe in all ten directions receives the merit of our ceaseless practice. Though others may not recognize it, though we may not recognize it ourselves, still, it is so.”
“If we wish to grasp what ceaseless practice is, we should not make a special case out of every new thing that comes along.”