Dogen on Samadhi

By: Eihei Dogen

The Buddha says: 'When you monks unify your minds, the mind is in samadhi. Since the mind is in samadhi, you know the characteristics of the creation and destruction of the various phenomena in the world [...] When you gain samadhi, the mind is not scattered, just as those who protect themselves from floods guard the levee.

From The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person, in The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment, by Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman. Dogen (1200-1253) was the founder of the Soto Zen school in Japan.

On Not Wasting Time

By: Eihei Dogen

Even when you are uncertain, do not use this one day wastefully. It is a rare treasure to value. Do not compare it to an enormous jewel. Do not compare it to a dragon’s bright pearl. Old sages valued this one day more than their own living bodies. Reflect on this quietly. A dragon’s pearl may be found. An enormous jewel may be acquired. But this one day out of a hundred years cannot be retrieved once it is lost. What skillful means can retrieve a day that has passed? No historical documents have recorded any such means. Not to waste time is to contain the passage of days and months within your skin bag without leaking. Thus, sages and wise ones in olden times valued each moment, each day, and each month more than their own eyeballs or the nation’s land. To waste the passage of time is to be confused and stained in this floating world of name and gain. Not to miss the passage of time is to be in the way for the sake of the way.

Once you have clarity, do not neglect a single day. Wholeheartedly practice for the sake of the way and speak for the sake of the way. We know that buddha ancestors of old do not neglect each day’s endeavor. Reflect on this every day. Sit near a bright window and reflect on this, on mellow and flower-filled days. Sit in a plain building and remember it on a solitary rainy evening. Why do the moments of time steal your endeavor? They not only steal one day but steal the merit of many kalpas. What kind of enemy is the passage of time? How regrettable! Your loss of time would all be because of your negligence of practice. If you were not intimate with yourself, you would resent yourself.

From: Gyoji (Continuous Practice), translated by Mel Weitsman and Kaz Tanahashi, with David Schneider, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo

Continuous Practice

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.

***

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

Forgetting the Self, Dropping Away of Body and Mind

By: Eihei Dogen

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.

From "Actualizing the Fundamental Point (Genjokoan), Moon in a Dewdrop, translated by Kaz Tanahashi and Robert Aitken.

Note: Other translations of this passage from the Genjokoan can be found on the blog page of this site.

Nonthinking: Sotan Tatsugami Roshi

By: Sotan Tatsugami

Dogen Zenji asks: "How do you think the unthinkable?" Answering himself, Dogen says: "non-thinking". "Non" is not merely a negation. In this case "non" means beyond, transcendent, or emancipated. Non-thinking is the state of one's mind beyond the thinkable, yet including it. Non-thinking is to transcend "no thinking" and to become free. The function of thinking exists, of course, but you are able to transcend it and free yourself. You cannot attain freedom, however, when you cling to something, when you cannot abandon everything. Your view of things becomes very one-sided then. In Japanese there is a very interesting word: tam-pan-kan. This means a person who carries a board on his shoulder. He can see just one side of the board, not the other. Therefore, tam-pan-kan denotes an inflexible and unadaptable person. You should not be a tam-pan-kan. I would like to recommend that you practice zazen. By doing so you will get a taste of what non-thinking means. It is difficult to understand what non-thinking means by listening to a lecture. Please practice zazen. The experience of non-thinking is not only very important, but essential in the practice of zazen. It enables you to realize how valuable zazen is.

Note: This quote is taken from a series of lectures given by Sotan Tatsugami at Tassajara Monastery in 1969-70, translated by then Katagairi Sensei, later Katagiri Roshi (founder of the Minnesota Zen Center and one of the early Japanese Zen pioneers in America). Sotan Tatsugami served for 12 years as the head of training at Eiheiji Monastery in Japan, which was founded by Dogen.

If you are interested, there is an interesting piece on David Chadwick’s Crooked Cucumber website on the relationships and differences in practice and viewpoints between Tatsugami, Katagiri and Suzuki when they were practicing together at Tassajara that can be found here:

Strict Adherence to Form is Not True Zazen or True Dharma

By: Sekkei Harada Roshi

But it isn’t necessary to stick to this form [prescribed by Dogen in the Fukanzazengi]. It is fine to switch over and put the right foot on the left thight. It is also all right to sit the way women do in Japan, with their feet tucked under them. Or to use various kinds of seats or benches. In any case don’t worry too much about the outer form. I would simply like you to find a position so you can sit comfortably for a long time, without feeling too much pain in your legs.

In some of the bigger monasteries in Japan, if a monk could not sit zazen in the full-lotus position, he was not allowed to stay. In recent years, though, there has been a realization that this was an error, and slowly things have changed. I think this is good.

Why is it that only the outer form has become emphasized in this way? The reason is that the essential Dharma has been lost, and in order to at least pass down something, a lot of emphasis has come to be placed on form.

We hear of people who think that Buddhist practice involves faithfully following the rules that Dogen prescribed. This is a great misinterpretation. This is to practice in a very narrow, militaristic sort of way. There may be some people here who think that practice means strictly adhering to the form, with no deviation allowed whatsoever. They may like to do it this way and thing it cannot be done in any other manner. I would like you to understand, however, that it is clearly taking place in a context where true zazen and true Dharma have disappeared. For that reason, only the form is emphasized and rigidly followed.

Note: Sekkei Harada Roshi (1926-2020) was the abbott of Hoshin-ji, a Soto Zen training monastery in Fukui Prefecture, near the coast of central Japan. The above quote is taken from his book, The Essence of Zen: The Teachings of Sekkei Harada.

Dharma Filling One's Body and Mind

By: Eihei Dogen

If the dharma has not yet fully come into one’s body and mind, one thinks it is already sufficient. On the other hand, if the dharma fills one’s body and mind, there is a sense of insufficiency. It is like going out in a boat in the middle of the ocean with no mountains. Looking in the four directions one only sees a circle; no distinguishing forms are seen. Nevertheless, this great ocean is neither a circle nor has directions. The wondrous features of this ocean that remain beyond our vision are inexhaustible. It is like a palace; it is like a jeweled necklace. It is just that, as far as my vision reaches for the time being, it appears to be a circle. The myriad dharmas are also just like that. Though they include all forms within and beyond the dusty world, clear seeing and understanding only reach as far as our penetrating insight.

From Dogen’s Genjokoan, in Flowers Fall: A Commentary on Zen Master Dogen’s Genjokoan, Hakuun Yasutani

Vowing to Create a Practice Dojo

By: Eihei Dogen

“Even if we don’t have lofty temple buildings, if we practice, the place can be called a dojo of ancient buddhas.” 

“We hear that ancient people practiced on the ground or under a tree.  Such places are sacred forever.  A single person’s continuous practice creates a dojo for many buddhas.”

Commentary by Shohaku Okumura: “We don’t need a formal zazen hall. When we vow to establish a dojo or sangha we should not forget this.”