Ever already enlightened, ever already deluded
It is axiomatic to Zen that Buddha can never be found “outside” our own mind or nature. As Dogen asserts, there is not one “objective molecule” in the whole universe; the human body-mind (shinjin) is the whole universe in the ten directions. There is no Buddha in the “outside,” “natural,” or “external” world – except perhaps in the mind of a deluded being. According to Dogen, the universe exists as the world we produce (fashion) from our selection of experiential material (bits and pieces) which is manifest as the here and now that is presented (present-ed), arrayed, or demonstrated (arranged). In a word, it is genjokoan (actualization of the immediate experiential universe). The real, everyday world we experience here and now is not a separate realm in which we exist nor is it an outside or external aspect of our “self.” The world, in Dogen’s Zen, is not something that we are to passively accept, submit to, detach from, or conform ourselves to; the world is always and already us.
In Dogen’s Zen, demonstrating passive acceptance of the status quo or acquiescing to the authority of an “other” is an unequivocal demonstration of ignorance of true nature. Ignorance, like enlightenment, is both specific and bottomless (i.e. there is no such thing as “general ignorance,” thus its appearance in particular dharmas is not limited by any boundary), and Dogen’s assessment of the ignorance of humans is qualified by the specifics of individuals. Even Buddha and Zen ancestors are “ever deluded,” and it is the very definition of “beginners” to be unaware of their true nature; but when it comes to wanton ignorance – apathetic or indolent attempts to evade the necessary exertions of thoroughgoing study and wholehearted practice – Dogen’s contempt is unabashed. Indeed, we can all be grateful for the existence of apathetic and indolent beings; for it is to them that we owe, for one thing, some of the most humorous passages in the whole corpus of Dogen’s writings. For instance, check out these examples:
I say: We do not tell our dreams before a fool, and it is difficult to put oars into the hands of a mountaineer; nevertheless I must bestow the teaching.
Shobogenzo, Bendowa, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
But if we learn this view as the Buddha’s Dharma, we are even more foolish than the person who grasps a tile or a pebble thinking t to be a golden treasure; the delusion would be too shameful for comparison.
Shobogenzo, Bendowa, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
[Those who exclude women] are just very stupid fools who deceive and delude secular people. They are more stupid than a wild dog worrying that its burrow might be stolen by a human being.
Shobogenzo, Raihai-tokuzui, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
The great master has never shown to the assembly any fist or wink of an eye that advocated the use of the name “Soto sect.” Furthermore, there was no flotsam mixed in among his disciples, and so there was no disciple who used the name “Tozan sect.” How much less could they speak of a “Soto sect”? The name “Soto sect” may be the result of including the name Sozan. In such a case, Ungo and Doan would have to be included too. Ungo is a guiding master in the human world and in the heavens above, and he is more venerable than Sozan. We can conclude, in regard to this name “Soto,” that some stinking skinbag belonging to a side lineage, seeing himself as equal [to Tozan], has devised the name “Soto sect.” Truly, though the white sun is bright, it is as if floating clouds are obscuring it from below.
Shobogenzo, Butsudo, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
Peace,
Ted