Zen in JapanZen in Japan

Master Dogen

and the Soto School

Dogen’s Great Doubt

If people already have Buddha-nature, 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

• 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 practice-and-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.