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Zen in Japan
Master Dogen
and the Soto School
Dogen’s Great Doubt
If people already
have Buddhanature, why do
they need to go
through the whole
process of
training?
Dogen’s Great Doubt- in his own
words:
Now, when we research it, the truth
originally is all around: why should we
rely upon practice and experience? The
real vehicle exists naturally: why should
we put forth great effort? … In general,
we do not stray from the right state: of
what use, then, are the tip-toes of
training?
Dogen’s Big Ideas
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shinjindatsuraku
shushoitto
shikantaza
genjokoan
Shushoitto: the answer to the
Doubt
In the Buddha-Dharma practice and
experience are completely the same. [Practice]
now is also practice in the state of experience;
therefore, a beginner’s pursuit of the truth is
just the whole body of the original state of
experience. This is why [the Buddhist
patriarchs] teach… not to expect any
experience outside of practice. And the reason
may be that [practice itself] is the directly
accessible original state of experience.
Shikantaza
We should remember that from the
beginning we have never lacked the
supreme state of bodhi… At the same time,
because we cannot perceive it directly, we
are prone to beget random intellectual ideas,
and because we chase after these as if they
were real things, we vainly pass by the great
state of truth…
(con’td)
Shikantaza
… We should not think that the learning of
these intellectual ideas is the right path of
Buddhist practice. When we sit solely in
Zazen, on the other hand, relying right now
on exactly the same posture as the Buddha,
and letting go of the myriad things,… at
once we are roaming outside the intellectual
frame, receiving and using the great state of
bodhi.
Shinjindatsuraku
Therefore we should cease the intellectual
work of studying sayings and chasing
words. We should learn the backward step
of turning light and reflecting. Body and
mind will naturally fall away, and the
original features will manifest themselves
before us.
Genjokoan
This sitting in Zazen is not learning Zen
concentration. It is simply the peaceful and
joyful gate of Dharma. It is the practiceand-experience which perfectly realizes the
state of bodhi… I beseech you, noble
friends in learning through experience, do
not become so accustomed to images that
you are dismayed by the real dragon.