Persistence
What did Master Dogen mean by "Just wake up"?
What did Master Dogen mean by "the subtle skill" that buddhas have, "the essential art of Zazen"?
When Master Dogen wrote of the "the vigorous road of getting the body out," what did he mean--get the body out of what? Liberate the body from what?
What is that intention, the grasping of which causes the Zazen practitioner to be "like a dragon that has found water, or like a tiger before its mountain stronghold"?
Zazen causes me to persist in asking these questions.
People, including friends, sometimes question my persistence, recommending me to "move on." But I like to persist. I like to persist for the sake of persistence. Maybe in the field of human relations too much persistence is a failing. But in Zazen practice persistence is a virtue.
Shortly before his death Gautama Buddha bequeathed to his followers eight great human truths. Master Dogen quoted them in the final chapter of Shobogenzo, shortly before his own death.
The first three of these truths one can observe without getting out of bed in the morning: (1) have small desire, (2) know satisfaction, and (3) enjoy peace and quiet.
But to observe no. (4) requires persistence. In fact, no. (4) is persistence.
Gautama Buddha said (paraphrasing):
If you persist, nothing will be difficult. So persist--like a constant trickle of water drilling through rock. Don't be a quitter--like someone who twirls a stick to make fire but gives up before the stick gets hot. Persist in pursuing the truth of liberation.
What did Master Dogen mean by "the subtle skill" that buddhas have, "the essential art of Zazen"?
When Master Dogen wrote of the "the vigorous road of getting the body out," what did he mean--get the body out of what? Liberate the body from what?
What is that intention, the grasping of which causes the Zazen practitioner to be "like a dragon that has found water, or like a tiger before its mountain stronghold"?
Zazen causes me to persist in asking these questions.
People, including friends, sometimes question my persistence, recommending me to "move on." But I like to persist. I like to persist for the sake of persistence. Maybe in the field of human relations too much persistence is a failing. But in Zazen practice persistence is a virtue.
Shortly before his death Gautama Buddha bequeathed to his followers eight great human truths. Master Dogen quoted them in the final chapter of Shobogenzo, shortly before his own death.
The first three of these truths one can observe without getting out of bed in the morning: (1) have small desire, (2) know satisfaction, and (3) enjoy peace and quiet.
But to observe no. (4) requires persistence. In fact, no. (4) is persistence.
Gautama Buddha said (paraphrasing):
If you persist, nothing will be difficult. So persist--like a constant trickle of water drilling through rock. Don't be a quitter--like someone who twirls a stick to make fire but gives up before the stick gets hot. Persist in pursuing the truth of liberation.
posted by Mike Cross at 12:42 PM
10 Comments:
FW,
You write of "practising right and not doing wrong," but in Shoaku-makusa it is always the other way round: the not doing first.
Similarly, in Alexander work, the primary effort is to eliminate the wrong, so that the right thing may do itself.
Not doing, and allowing: in reality are they two things or are they one thing?
Body and mind: in reality are they two things or are they one thing?
People who do not know it think of Alexander Technique as a kind of bodywork, but Alexander emphasized the principle of pyscho-physical unity.
People who do not know it think of Zazen as a spiritual practice, but Master Dogen called it dropping off body and mind (not mind and body; body and mind).
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I respectfully offer this parody:
Monday: "Mike, I'm not going to comment on your blog anymore. I can see it's a lost cause."
Tuesday: "OK, Mike, this time I really mean it. I'm not going to waste your time or mine anymore."
Wednesday: "Mike, now I really, truly mean it. I'm finished with your blog."
Thursday: "Mike, one last thing ... "
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Hi Oxeye,
On the contrary, I think writing can be a valuable tool toward self-discovery. At least it is for me.
Old Zen saying: Throw mudpies at everyone.
I would add: Especially at yourself. And if you throw them, then expect to be a target.
I think that anytime we write, we take that chance. But if it helps me to grow, then I think it's worth the risk. (OK, time for me to duck...)
outside the window... sun shines on newly fallen snow
FW,
Apologies for the delay in responding to your, as ever, elegant and accurate comment.
One cannot help wondering about the concrete form behind the words. I am reminded of the Nun Mastsuzan (Pine Mountain), who never showed her peak.
When I used the terminology of "eliminating the wrong," I had in mind the following quote from Patrick Macdonald's book, The Alexander Technique As I See It:
"You must learn to think in trends and tendencies and not in fixed positions. Everything (so they say) is relative, not least the proper relationship of the neck to the head, the neck and head to the back and neck, and the head and back to the rest of the body. If you can learn to think in tendencies (which is the way I teach you) you may continue to teach yourself.
Remember, you are slowly eliminating the wrong. Finality, for most of us, and that includes me, is not in sight."
Thank you, FW, for your meticulous investigations.
I am not sure what consciousness is. Did I write that consciousness liberates us from unconscious doing?
I think, for disciples of Gautama Buddha, it is sitting in Zazen as the not doing of wrongs, that liberates us from unconscious doing.
You wrote: "Perfection is already manifest, 'not doing wrong' reveals it to be so."
The intention behind this seems to me to be the same as the intention behind Master Dogen's words in Fukan-zazengi "The Universe is realized, and hindrances have never arrived."
Master Dogen says further that to get this intention is to be like a dragon that has found water. Those words suggest a certain finality, don't they? Would you describe your own state as being like that?
Thank you, FW.
If your question is still about consciousness liberating consciousness, I do not know about that. I have nothing to say about it.
If you are asking me if I have realized the reality that always exists just in this instant, the answer is No.
To realize reality is not what I do. Reality realizes itself.
In general, denial of reality is what I do... (your intuition on this point, sadly, may be all too true) ... except maybe in odd fleeting moments:
Two letters in the mailbox!!
John is dead.
The moon shines through the rafters
Of Shinagawa Station.
Thank you, FW. My prostrations to this prescient brightness which is you.
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