Enlightenment Based On Enlightenment...
Continued from the post: Buddha Mind - Fences, Walls, Tiles, and Pebbles
Now then, if our existence is fashioned by “bits and pieces” of unceasing experience that “cannot be held onto,” it would obviously be a total waste of time and energy to endeavor to diminish or eradicate anything. The more effective approach is simply to learn, activate, and apply ourselves to the essential art of Zen practice-enlightenment that Dogen calls “nonthinking.” The authentic practice of Zen, according to Dogen, is the actualization of the universe (genjokoan), it is the intentional activity of “fashioning” a universe (and a self) that is lucid, harmonious, and free.
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The “non” of nonthinking should not be confused with the “not” of not-thinking; nonthinking is inclusive of and transcendent to both thinking and not-thinking. For now the gist of the matter is this: “thinking” is the deliberate utilization of cognitive faculties, “not-thinking” is the ceaseless stream of (random, or chaotic) experience, and “nonthinking” then, is to think not-thinking, that is, to express the ultimate truth of all particular things (dharmas) through the practice of thinking (managing, utilizing) not-thinking (ceaseless experience).
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To experience without the deliberate utilization of thinking is to be (exist as) an animal (an ox, or a cat), to experience deliberate not-thinking is to be a non-sentient thing (a rock, or a dead tree). At the same time, to experience nonthinking passively (as in cultic practices to “seek no goal” or “let things be as they are”) is to exist as a puppet; in Dogen’s terms, to be used by time rather than to use time, or to be turned by the Dharma rather than to turn the Dharma.
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According to Dogen, no one can even begin to experience Zen without an intense aspiration to experience truth and an unqualified willingness to experience reality—all of reality as it truly is. To imagine one could achieve truth by denying or avoiding any aspect of reality, intellectual, emotional, instinctual, or otherwise is, in Dogen’s terms, to “be in delusion adding to delusion.” Dogen lauded the Sixth Zen Ancestor’s decision to leave his mother in order to meet the Fifth Ancestor, acknowledging the courage it must have taken for one with such a powerful emotional attachment. Ridiculing traditions that restricted females from participation or attendance because they might cause practitioners to “stray from the path,” Dogen quipped that perhaps males should also be restricted since they too could be “objects of sexual attraction.” The ceaseless stream of experience is the only material beings have for fashioning a universe and fashioning a self; the greater and fuller our experience the greater and fuller our existence. Therefore, not only is the universe fashioned uniquely according to the perspectives of individuals, but also according to the skills and depth of wisdom of individuals. Each being experiences the one mind uniquely, and the awakened being experiences it more accurately and deeply than the unawakened.
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Now, let us give ear to the verse that the Venerable One spoke, specifically his lines, “Through my body, I have manifested the look of the Full Moon, thereby displaying the physical presence of all Buddhas.” Because the display of the physical presence of all Buddhas is a manifestation of one’s Spiritual Body, it has the look of the Full Moon. Accordingly, you need to grasp that all manner of tallness and shortness, as well as of squareness and roundness, are manifestations of your Spiritual Body. Those who are ever so ignorant of what this Spiritual Body is and of what manifesting It means are not only in the dark about the look of the Full Moon, they are not displaying the physical presence of all Buddhas. Foolish people fancy that the Venerable One provisionally displayed his body in some altered form, which is described as ‘the look of a full moon’, but this is an arbitrary and false notion of those who have not had the Buddha’s Way Transmitted to them from Master to disciple, for where or when would It possibly manifest as something separate from and independent of one’s body? What is important for you to recognize is simply that, at the time, the Venerable One was seated on the raised platform of a Dharma teacher. His body showed itself in the same manner as the body of anyone sitting here now, for this body of ours is, in fact, a manifestation of the Moon at Its full. His manifestation of the Spiritual Body is beyond being something square or round, beyond something existing or not existing, beyond something hidden or revealed, beyond something consisting of eighty-four thousand components: it is simply the manifestation of his Spiritual Body. ‘The look of the Full Moon’ describes the Moon implied in Fuke’s remark, “Right here is where the What is, whether the matter is put clumsily or delicately.” Because this manifestation of his Spiritual Body is rid of any arrogant pride, It goes beyond his being Nāgārjuna; It is the physical presence of all Buddhas. Because he displayed It, his Spiritual Body passes through and beyond the physical presence of all Buddhas. Hence, It has no connection with whatever may be on the periphery of the Buddha’s Way.
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Although there is the Unbounded Radiance which takes some form like ‘the Moon of Buddha Nature at Its Full’, It is beyond what is commonly construed as ‘the look of a full moon’. And what is more, Its real functioning is beyond what is said or how it is put, and the manifestation of this Spiritual Body is beyond the physical and the mental, beyond the realm of the skandhas. Although It completely resembles the realm of the skandhas, It displays Itself by means of them, for this realm is the physical presence of all Buddhas. The Buddhas are the skandhas which give expression to the Dharma; the Unbounded Radiance has no set form. Further, when Its not having any set form is evinced by the meditative state that has no attachments, this is a manifestation of one’s Spiritual Body. Even though our whole assembly may desire to see ‘the look of the Moon at Its full’, this is something one’s eyes have never seen before. It is the turning point for the skandhas, which will give voice to the Dharma, and it is the absence of any fixed way in how the Dharma is stated or what form It may take, while the Spiritual Body manifests freely as It will. Its very ‘being hidden from sight’ and Its very ‘being openly displayed’ is Its stepping forward and stepping back in a cyclic manner. At the very time when Nāgārjuna’s Spiritual Body was manifesting Itself freely as he sat upon his platform, the whole assembly merely heard the words of the Dharma and did not perceive the ‘look’ of their teacher.
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The Venerable Kānadaiba, who was Nāgārjuna’s Dharma heir, clearly recognized the Full Moon, the perfection of that Full Moon, the manifestation of Nāgārjuna’s Spiritual Body, the look of all Buddhas, and the physical presence of all Buddhas. Although there were many within the assembly who had entered the Master’s private quarters and had had the Buddhist Teachings poured into them, none could stand head-and-shoulders with Kānadaiba. Kānadaiba was respected for his Master’s sharing the Dharma seat with him, and he functioned as a teacher and guide for the whole assembly, since his partial seat was the whole of the Dharma seat. In that he had had the great, unsurpassed Dharma of the Treasure House of the Eye of the True Teaching authentically Transmitted to him, it was just like the Venerable Makakashō occupying the chief Dharma seat on Vulture Peak.
Shobogenzo, Bussho, Hubert Nearman
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For Dogen, seeing the full moon, like seeing a dust mote, is seeing the whole universe. To experience the “full moon” as “all manner of tallness and shortness, as well as of squareness and roundness” is to experience a realer, grander, and more accurate full moon than that of a round white disk in the sky. Its existence is realer and more accurate because the experience that goes into fashioning it is clearer and more abundant. The reason the assembly does “not perceive the ‘look’ of their teacher” is because the masses prefer to think the moon exists independently of their experience of it, and thus independent of their responsibility. The flat white disk in the sky is an isolated, abstract, impersonal thing. Zen masters, including Dogen, also see the disk, just as they see the mote of dust, but they see it completely. This kind of seeing requires us to see with all our capacities of experience. This kind of seeing is not done by thinking or by not-thinking, but by nonthinking which includes and transcends both. The masses see the full moon as an abstraction (which is always a subtraction) of reality, the Zen master sees the full moon as a demonstration of the infinite tangible aspects of reality.
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For Dogen, and all the classic Zen masters, enlightened vision or wisdom (bodhi prajna) is the criterion of “normality” (the “ordinary mind). “Foolish people” are “in the dark about the moon” insofar as mediocrity, ambiguity, or generalization is seen as the standards of “normality.” The bonds of self-centeredness, sloth, and fear lead many, who are otherwise astute, reasonable, and intelligent, to accept simplistic “interpretations” that subvert the intention of Dogen’s (and Zen’s) teachings on the “normal mind” (ordinary mind, everyday mind). Rather than seeing that the “ordinary” is Buddha, they opt to see the “Buddha” as ordinary.
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Why? If the ego-centric, indolent, and timid can subtract enough precision and definition from the real forms of the myriad dharmas they can reassure each other of the validity of their (common) views—and comfortably dismiss the assertions of the visionary (and the responsibilities such assertions imply).
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Attempting to prune away all the aspects of the full moon so one’s views harmonize with the majority that sees only a “round disk” is only accomplished by blinding oneself. Once, when Dogen was in China, he saw a depiction of the Zen ancestors painted on the wall inside a temple. The panel that was supposed to represent Nagarjuna simply showed a circle. Dogen asked:
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“Just what kind of transformation is this?” The guest supervisor says, “It is Nāgārjuna’s body manifesting the form of the round moon.” In saying this he has no nostrils in his complexion and no words in his voice. I say, “This really seems to be a picture of a rice cake!” At this the guest supervisor laughs loudly, but there is no sword in his laughter to break the painted cake.
Shobogenzo, Bussho, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
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The guest supervisor’s laugh reveals that he sensed Dogen saw the truth—but there was no sword in his laughter. In other words, the laugh attempted to hide his ignorance—and imply that his view agreed with Dogen’s (whatever it might be). Thus, even when faced with the possibility to discover truth, some would rather be “mistaken as wise” than actually get at truth—at the risk of revealing their “ignorance.” As observed earlier, Dogen lamented that “Zen” was often misconstrued as being anti-intellectual. According to Dogen, this misled some to believe that study and clear understanding was not a requirement for authentic Buddhist practice. Dogen’s refutation of such notions is presented with no uncertain terms in his discussion on Nagarjuna manifesting the form of the moon.
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Other skinbags who hear our talk also have nothing to say. Former and recent heads of the dining table are not perplexed to see [the picture] and they do not correct it. They probably could not even paint it themselves… because [people] do not wake up from views and opinions that the buddha-nature is related with the thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization [described] now, they seem… to have lost the boundary of clear understanding. Few even learn that they should speak the words. Remember, this state of neglect comes from their having stopped making effort. Among heads of the table in many districts there are some who die without once in their life voicing the expression of the truth “the buddha-nature.” Some say that those who listen to teachings discuss the buddha-nature, but patch-robed monks who practice Zen should not speak of it. People like this really are animals. Who are the band of demons that seeks to infiltrate and to defile the truth of our buddha-tathāgata?
Shobogenzo, Bussho, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross
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As we saw in our examination of the interaction between the experienced and the experiencer, in Dogen’s cosmology there can be no real distinction between voluntary and involuntary actions; our true self is as responsible for beating the heart as for smiling or going to the mailbox. However, in the worldview of cults that minimize or dismiss the role of intellectual effort in Zen, “experience” is regarded as something that “happens to us,” rather than something “we participate in.” To the “no goal” cults, seeing and hearing are not the activity of a true self transiting inward and outward, forward and backward fashioning a universe and a self. For them, seeing and hearing are simply inflicted on beings from somewhere “external” to or “other than” the being’s “self.” In such a view, “we” are nothing more than the hapless victim of our experience which is haphazardly thrust upon us by whatever environment we happen to be in. From such a worldview it is “normal” to see the “look of the full moon” as a white disk in the sky somewhat like a “rice-cake;” for such is the “normality” of general mediocrity.
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To see the precise details and various characteristics of the full moon as Dogen, Kanadaiba, and all genuine Zen Buddhists do, demands focused, deliberate, enlightened effort—this is the normality of the Zen master (the ordinary mind of Zen). Such is not the focused, deliberate activity of the bean counter or the sniper, but the wholehearted attentive absorption of the child with a bin full of Lego’s, or the fly-fisherman at the mountain stream. The Zen practitioner that has genuinely cast off the body-mind (of self and other), that has genuinely glimpsed true nature (kensho), will not be satisfied to sit passively by allowing experience to simply “happen” as it will. The genuine practitioner has verified the truth expressed by Buddhas and ancestors—has awakened to the true nature of the universe and the self and personally experienced the true nature of freedom.
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I am frequently questioned about the frequency with which my posts are involved with the consideration of "words." Here, in passing, let me be clear: the Buddha Dharma is words--and words are Buddha Dharma. The liberation of all beings always begins with words, moves on to meaning, then to experiential realization, which in turn is expressed as words. Thus, enlightenment is cast off, exerted, cast off, exerted as the continuous actualization of enlightenment based on enlightenment advances and actualizes the universe. With the certainty that experience is existence—is self creation—Zen practitioners can begin to develop the skillful means of experience, existence, creation—that is, the essential art of Zen.
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Peace,
Ted Biringer
