By: Eihei Dogen
On the great road of buddha 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. This being so, continuous practice is undivided, not forced by you or others. The power of this continuous practice confirms you as well as others. It means your practice affects the entire earth and the entire sky in the ten directions. Although not noticed by others or by yourself, it is so.
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The effect of such sustained practice is sometimes not hidden. Therefore, you aspire to practice. The effect is sometimes not apparent. Therefore, you may not see, hear, or know it. Understand that although it is not revealed, it is not hidden.
As it is not divided by what is not hidden, apparent, existent, or not existent, you may not notice the causal conditions that led you to be engaged in the practice that actualizes you at this very moment of unknowing. The reason you don’t see it is that becoming conscious of it is not anything remarkable. Investigate in detail that it is so because the causal condition [the aspiration] is no other than continuous practice, although continuous practice is not limited by the causal condition.
From Gyoji (Continuous Practice), in Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo, Edited by Kazuaki Tanahahi