Another poem of Dogen

 Another poem of Dogen:-

In the heart of the night,

Moonlight framing

A small boat drifting,

Tossed not by the waves

Nor swayed by the breeze

The meaning of this, at least for Dogen, can be illuminated by his words found in his "Genjokoan" (the actualisation of reality) He writes:-

If one riding in a boat watches the coast, one mistakenly perceives the coast as moving. If one watches the boat in relation to the surface of the water, then one notices that the boat is moving. Similarly, when we perceive the body and mind in a confused way and grasp all things with a discriminating mind, we mistakenly think that the self-nature of the mind is permanent. When we intimately practice and return right here, it is clear that all things have no fixed self.

Dogen, in his poem, gives voice to the vulnerability of enlightenment. We do not possess enlightenment. It possesses us.

"A clearly enllghtened person falls into the well. How is this so?" (A zen koan)

And Thomas Merton:-

We stumble and fall constantly, even when we are most enlightened.

As I see it, many fear vulnerability. We can cling to being right, of having "all truth" - but Faith is of another order. It is a letting go, trusting in becoming.

Which is the "eastern" way of seeing things. Becoming, not Being. The eastern preoccupation with impermanence is well known to anyone who approaches its poetry, and impermanence can - and does - bring suffering when we cannot trust in the river of change.

But impermanence, if we "let go", can transform the suffering. But Impermanence, it becomes clear, doesn’t mean that things last for a while then pass away: things arise and pass away at the same time. That is, things don’t exist as we imagine they do. Much of our experience of reality is illusory. And this is why we suffer. We attempt to hold onto happiness, as if it is a thing, a state of being, but as William Blake has written:-

He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy

He who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sunrise

Therefore Being IS becoming. "God" can become an idol.

A poem of Dogen - 13th century zen master

To what shall I
Liken the world?
Moonlight, reflected
In dewdrops,
Shaken from a crane's bill.

Many commentators, led astray by "the languid east" nonsense, and thoughts of maya (understood as "illusion") see such words, understand the poem, as being some some sort of diminution of the individual, and our world as being in a sense unreal.

Sir Edwin Arnold wrote, in his epic poem of the Buddha's life, "The Light of Asia", ended that poem with the words (upon the death of the Buddha as he enters Nirvana):-

"The dewdrop slips into the shining sea". More misunderstanding.

In fact, it is more that the shining sea slips into the dewdrop - yet even that does not capture the Buddhist position, which in fact is a no-position that supercedes all positions.

Getting back to Dogen's poem, here is a more perceptive understanding:-

“According to this verse, the entire world is fully contained in each and every one of the innumerable dewdrops, each one symbolic of the inexhaustible contents of all impermanent moments. Here the dewdrops no longer suggest illusion in contrast to reality because they are liberated by their reflection of the moon’s glow. Conversely, the moon as a symbol of Buddha-nature is not an aloof realm since it is fully merged in the finite and individuated manifestations of the dew. Just as the moon is one with the dewdrops, the poem itself becomes one with the setting it depicts.”

Thus the particular is seen to contain the universal. Each and every particular. Every moment. Every NOW. In this world, not some imagined "other" promised beyond the grave.

Another astute commentator Hee-Jin Kim invites us to pay particular attention to the pivotal word “shaken.” Many examples could be given of static images of the moon in a dewdrop or the moon reflected in still water but, by virtue of being shaken, the metaphor becomes dynamic and interactive.

So much for illusion, the diminution of the individual!

Christianity

 In one or two posts I have referred to what I term "Jesusainity". This is not meant to have been disparaging in any essential way, although I must admit to being dismayed by those who insist upon "one way only" and who then cite the usual couple of verses from the New Testament that they consider closes the matter.

If anyone is interested - and I guess that most are not, either being non-religious in any way, or being an ardent "one wayer" convinced of their infallibility - then I would simply seek to explain.

There is Jesusainity and there is Christianity.

Relevant here is a form of debate, argumentation, discussion, more prevalent in the East than the West i.e. argument by relegation. Here opposing positions are treated not by refuting them, but by accepting them as true, but only true as a part of the full picture. Logically, it broadens the scope of discussion. Even if I am persuaded that another’s view is incorrect in some respect, it is nevertheless a real point of view and my theory of reality must be able to account for its existence. In effect the discussion involves not refuting the position of another but will be competing over which position can relegate which. And so, which is relegated? Jesusainity or Christianity?

Christianity simply says that the words (found in the most "spiritual" of the Gospels, St John) "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me" are the words of the Eternal Logos - as spoken of in the prelude to St John's Gospel.

Again, the "no other name" verse should be seen in the context of its historical proclamation, this in line with the Catholic Church's understanding of how we should approach and understand inspired scripture:-

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another. (Dei Verbum, III, 12, 2)

(Again, in this instance, as is said, "what is in a name"? "Jesus" is simply an anglicised form of the original Hebrew name)

Accepting all this, what do we have? Christianity expands beyond the theology of the Protestant Reform Tradition, which is time-conditioned, insular and in fact shut off from the whole world of our various Faith Traditions, enclosed within itself, the "only truth". Expands instead to embrace all movements of the Spirit (that "blows where it will") - which explains just why the fruits of the spirit.....

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

.....can be seen throughout history, in various individuals, of all Faiths, and sometimes of none. The Lord knows his own, as is said!

Thomas Merton once said that we should never presume that Christ is in our own heart if we cannot also see Him and find Him in the hearts of others most remote from ourselves. I think this is true.

I guess I am quite "remote" to some here (especially to one who has blocked me......) being a non-theistic Buddhist of the Pure Land path. But we say:-

My eyes being hindered by blind passions,
I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;
Yet the great compassion, without tiring,
Illumines me always

(Shinran, from "Hymns of the Pure Land Masters", verse 95)

Which corresponds with the words of Julian of Norwich of the theistic Christian tradition:-

If there be anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.

I appreciate that there will be some who will continue to believe and insist that the God they worship turns His face away from those who - in their own time worn phrase - have not "accepted Jesus as their own personal Savior". Yet all I am saying here is that in Christianity, just how Christ is "accepted" can take infinite forms according to the almost infinite number of individual human beings.

The spirit blows where it will.

That is all. Make of it what you will.

Responding to a guy who had a very large library!

 Hi, I often wonder just how much of all this you actually read or absorb at any level. Not criticising, just wondering. I tend to download lots of stuff and then can forget I've even done so. A few times recently I was browsing the Kindle store and thought "hey, can I afford that", went to the order screen and was told that I had already got it!

I have about 2900 or so books in my Kindle Library, and as many of them are "The Complete Works of" type books, I might just have 10,000 or so separate titles.

All good stuff, often I browse through my collection and download a selection from the Cloud. Much like browsing in a library.

Each to their own, I read somewhere that it is far better to just concentrate on one single book, go deep, stay with it (I can hear some Christians here yelling "yes, yes") and the book can become a sort of life koan that brings forth what zens call The Great Doubt - which dispenses with "answers"as such and yet answers everything in one fell swoop! Making us able to move on with Reality, an constant unfolding into novelty, unencumbered with beliefs, conclusions, allowing the spirit to blow where it will and not according to anyone elses dictates.

Obviously, I'm waffling as usual. At this moment I am into Dogen, the 13th century zen master. A couple of new books I have my eye on to add to my collection. But, then again, Dogen's quite short "Genkokoan" could well prove to be my life koan.

A koan to finish:-

A clearly enlightened person falls into the well. How is this so?

(Which makes me think of Thomas Merton's:-

We stumble and fall constantly, even when we are most enlightened.)

Anyway, sincerely, all the best.

Far from the madding crowd

 Decided to retreat here to the Buddhist section. Very little activity here and "views" at a minimum. I can waffle to my hearts content as I sit in McDonald's with my coffee.

Just done a good deed as I approached McDonald's, seeing this guy hunched up on the stone bridge into town, looking frozen solid. At first I just walked by but turned back and asked if he was OK. "I've just had enough" he sighed. Enough of what? Who knows. I said I'd get him a tenner and he could go in somewhere warm. I went to the cash machine then returned and gave it to him. "Come here" he said and I stooped down and he hugged me. "Thanks mate".

Who knows his story?

Anyway, Christianity is not the only Faith that recognises that "works" are not the gateway to heaven - or to Reality-as-is as I prefer to call it. When the Buddhist missionary Bodhidharma arrived in China the emperor there boasted of his good deeds and asked Bodhidharma what merit he had gained from them. "None at all" replied Bodhidharma. Anyway, Bodhidharma was the guy who stared at a wall for nine years, which just goes to show - not my cup of tea (or coffee.....) but it takes all sorts I suppose.

Anyway, I waffle. I'm a Pure Land Buddhist. The core is pure Faith. Pure Trust. In Reality-as-is, aka Amida. Just let go, have Faith, and leave it all to the path of no-calculation (Japanese = hakarai)

Whether heading for the Pure Land
Or heading for Hell
All is in Amida's hands.
Namu-amida-butsu (i.e. Thank You)

But nevertheless, I take a great interest in zen, particularly the 13th century zen master Dogen. To me he is the bees knees, a fascinating character. His writings, both poetry and prose, are astonishing in their depth. That commentaries on his writings often come up with vastly different conclusions just adds to the attraction, at least for me. Confusion rather certainties and conccusions! (And what is so boring as those who insist that any particular set of words mean this and this alone?)

Dogen was a wordsmith, using language in a wonderful way.

Reality, the truth, is not something abstract. For this reason it cannot be grasped with words. Why, then, should we spend our time pursuing explanation? Or more to the point, why can we not cease our efforts to explain reality?

Such is the question often posed from a zen perspective, a perspective that sees Reality as being impossible to capture in words. "Don't mistake the finger that points for the moon itself" is a little phrase often quoted with approval on Buddhist Forums. Myself, I have often said that Reality can be lived but not thought. In a way I still think this - yet the key here is "think this". Another concept. A thought. An idea. Not Reality itself.

Dogen objected to all this. Although many Zen patriarchs used language to defeat language, or as a “poison to counteract poison,” resulting in a realization beyond thought and scripture, Dogen in effect saw such an approach as remaining within dualism. Dogen instead employs a variety of verbal devices such as philosophical wordplay, paradox, and irony in order to stress that there is a fundamental identity of language and enlightenment. Or as one commentator on Dogen has said, to realise non-duality within duality.

In a strange way - perhaps not so strange - this seems to bring me back to my own Pure Land way, where the dojo (training ground) is this world and no other, is every moment - and not just moments that conform to some preordained pattern dictated by some book, holy or not. Yes, this moment alone is supreme - yet (once again as Dogen says) nevertheless there is a "movement toward Buddha")

As the Pure Land saint Saichi once exclaimed:-

O Saichi! What is your delight?
This world of delusion is my delight!
It contains the seeds of relishing the Dharma
Namu-amida-butsu is blooming everywhere!

Anyway, whatever, I wander on. Often stumbling. But strangely, things become simpler and simpler by the day.

"And a little child shall lead them" as one of our world's "holy" books says.

Oh, just to finish, mentioning Holy Books, a story I have always loved, of a group of zen monks transporting a great collection of precious texts across a high mountain path, monastery to monastery. Caught out at night by a great storm, cold, they made a fire of the books to keep themselves warm. Lovely. Captures Reality perfectly.

May true Dharma continue.
No blame. Be kind. Love everything.

Answering without hearing

 Let's consider Proverbs 18:13 from what some call "The Good Book", "God's Word", aka the Bible.

He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.

(Forget the patriarchal "he" and assume this also applies to the female of the species......)

What is the full depth of this little proverb, this pearl of wisdom? Many insist that the Bible has ALL the answers, that its full depth is virtually unplumbable. This being so, the key word in this Proverb would be "hear". What is it to truly hear a matter?

To hear what a Faith is saying, what life means - in fact, what anything means, is, can be, will be. To truly hear another human being - this before we judge them, put them into a category, dismiss them as of no consequence?

Someone once said that the only extension to the present is intensity. Depth. The present moment is the only moment and yet there is - as the zen master Dogen claimed - a "movement toward Buddha". An ever growing intimacy with the Reality around us.

It seems to me that many reach conclusions, even come to final conclusions. Yet what have they truly heard? Movement has stopped.

Confucius said, “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge"

That too is a deep saying. Profound. And if any here simply think "well, his words are not Biblical, therefore I will not reflect upon them" then my post here has been in vain.....

Leaving Similar Worlds

 It's quite a trial leaving SW. Even when you have pushed umpteen prompts to LEAVE you are still on the site. Now I am on countdown, about 37 hours before I can press the final option to de-activate my account. Maybe even then I'll get an "are you sure" option and another 100 hours.....

Posting this on the Atheist section for many reasons.

One, it doesnt matter much what we call ourselves. As the pious say, "The Lord knows his own" and there could well be surprises when the prizes are handed out......

Two, I AM an atheist according to the strict wording.......a (not) theist. I'm not a theist. I tend to find many of them far too stuffy, preoccupied with their own fate beyond this life. Something to do with the "flippancy of the saved" as per the Catholic Thomas Merton.....the whole context:-


But the magicians keep turning the Cross to their own purpose. Yes, it is for them too a sign of contradiction: the awful blasphemy of the religious magician who makes the Cross contradict mercy. This of course is the ultimate temptation of Christianity. To say that Christ has locked all doors, has given one answer, settled everything and departed, leaving all life enclosed in the frightful consistency of a system outside of which there is seriousness and damnation, inside of which there is the intolerable flippancy of the saved - while nowhere is there any place left for the mystery of the freedom of divine mercy which alone is truly serious, and worthy of being taken seriously.

Life is fluid to me. Words are fluid. So many relate to words as to cement, locking their minds into closed boxes - boxes which they strangely seem to identify with the "truth that sets us free". Strange. But there is no arguing with them.

Anyway, as Merton says (and I suppose many here will simply think "Catholic" and toss his words into the dustbin and return again to their very own chains, quoting their very own chosen verses of their very own chosen scripture, or "holy book", seeking to justify themselves, terrified of putting Mercy to the test, refusing the freedom of Grace. Gift) only Marcy should be taken seriously.

Well, I'm waffling as usual. I have found that belonging on a forum stimulates me into rambling on, then I turn my rambles into blogs. I find it therapeutic. So that is what I shall so with this.