Posts
[10/3/23, 6:40:43 PM] John Tan: You and Andre are talking about philosophical concepts of permanence and impermanence. Dogen is not talking about that. What Dogen meant by "impermanence is buddha nature" is telling us to authenticate Buddha nature directly in the very transient phenomena -- the mountains, the trees, the sunshine, the drumbeats of footsteps, not some super awareness in wonderland.
[10/3/23, 6:41:40 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Oic..
[10/3/23, 6:43:15 PM] Soh Wei Yu: I didnt talk with andre lol
[10/3/23, 6:43:21 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Anna was talking with andre
[10/3/23, 6:44:24 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Actually what dogen said is pretty obvious imo even after initial anatta
[10/3/23, 6:44:32 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Wonder why mipham didnt emphasize that point
[10/3/23, 6:44:43 PM] Soh Wei Yu: Maybe he did with the rongzom appearances are divine
[10/3/23, 6:44:49 PM] John Tan: Different praxis
..........
p.s. some recent quotes I shared:
- Soh Wei YuDogen does not accept an unchanging Brahman. Being a Buddhist teacher he refutes an unchanging atman-brahman:As my mentor Thusness/John Tan said in 2007 about Dogen, “Dogen is a great Zen master that has penetrated deeply into a very deep level of anatman.”, “Read about Dogen… he is truly a great Zen master… ...[Dogen is] one of the very few Zen Masters that truly knows.”, “Whenever we read the most basic teachings of Buddha, it is most profound. Don't ever say we understand it. Especially when it comes to Dependent Origination, which is the most profound truth in Buddhism*. Never say that we understand it or have experienced it. Even after a few years of experience in non-duality, we can't understand it. The one great Zen master that came closest to it is Dogen, that sees temporality as buddha nature, that see transients as living truth of dharma and the full manifestation of buddha nature.”"When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine many things with a confused mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. But when you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that there is nothing that has unchanging self.• Dogen"“Mind as mountains, rivers, and the earth is nothing other than mountains, rivers, and the earth. There are no additional waves or surf, no wind or smoke. Mind as the sun, the moon, and the stars is nothing other than the sun, the moon, and the stars.”• Dogen“For Dōgen, Buddha-nature or Busshō (佛性) is the nature of reality and all Being. In the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen writes that “whole-being (Existence itself) is the Buddha-nature” and that even inanimate things (grass, trees, etc.) are an expression of Buddha-nature. He rejected any view that saw Buddha-nature as a permanent, substantial inner self or ground. Dōgen held that Buddha-nature was “vast emptiness”, “the world of becoming” and that “impermanence is in itself Buddha-nature”.[23] According to Dōgen: Therefore, the very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature. The very impermanency of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddha nature. Nature and lands, mountains and rivers, are impermanent because they are the Buddha nature. Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature.[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dōgen#Buddha-nature“Continued in my next post
Dōgen - WikipediaEN.WIKIPEDIA.ORGDōgen - Wikipedia - Reply
- Remove Preview
- 2d
- Reply
- Remove Preview
- 2d
- Reply
- 2d
- Reply
- 2d
Soh Wei Yu
From Bendowa, by Zen Master Dogen
Some
have said: Do not concern yourself about birth-and-death. There is a
way to promptly rid yourself of birth-and-death. It is by grasping the
reason for the eternal immutability of the 'mind-nature.' The gist of it
is this: although once the body is born it proceeds inevitably to
death, the mind-nature never perishes. Once you can realize that the
mind-nature, which does not transmigrate in birth-and-death, exists in
your own body, you make it your fundamental nature. Hence the body,
being only a temporary form, dies here and is reborn there without end,
yet the mind is immutable, unchanging throughout past, present, and
future. To know this is to be free from birth-and-death. By realizing
this truth, you put a final end to the transmigratory cycle in which you
have been turning. When your body dies, you enter the ocean of the
original nature. When you return to your origin in this ocean, you
become endowed with the wondrous virtue of the Buddha-patriarchs. But
even if you are able to grasp this in your present life, because your
present physical existence embodies erroneous karma from prior lives,
you are not the same as the sages.
"Those
who fail to grasp this truth are destined to turn forever in the cycle
of birth-and-death. What is necessary, then, is simply to know without
delay the meaning of the mind-nature's immutability. What can you expect
to gain from idling your entire life away in purposeless sitting?"
What do you think of this statement? Is it essentially in accord with the Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs?
Answer 10:
You have just expounded the view of the Senika heresy. It is certainly not the Buddha Dharma.
According
to this heresy, there is in the body a spiritual intelligence. As
occasions arise this intelligence readily discriminates likes and
dislikes and pros and cons, feels pain and irritation, and experiences
suffering and pleasure - it is all owing to this spiritual intelligence.
But when the body perishes, this spiritual intelligence separates from
the body and is reborn in another place. While it seems to perish here,
it has life elsewhere, and thus is immutable and imperishable. Such is
the standpoint of the Senika heresy.
But
to learn this view and try to pass it off as the Buddha Dharma is more
foolish than clutching a piece of broken roof tile supposing it to be a
golden jewel. Nothing could compare with such a foolish, lamentable
delusion. Hui-chung of the T'ang dynasty warned strongly against it. Is
it not senseless to take this false view - that the mind abides and the
form perishes - and equate it to the wondrous Dharma of the Buddhas; to
think, while thus creating the fundamental cause of birth-and-death,
that you are freed from birth-and-death? How deplorable! Just know it
for a false, non-Buddhist view, and do not lend a ear to it.
I
am compelled by the nature of the matter, and more by a sense of
compassion, to try to deliver you from this false view. You must know
that the Buddha Dharma preaches as a matter of course that body and mind
are one and the same, that the essence and the form are not two. This
is understood both in India and in China, so there can be no doubt about
it. Need I add that the Buddhist doctrine of immutability teaches that
all things are immutable, without any differentiation between body and
mind. The Buddhist teaching of mutability states that all things are
mutable, without any differentiation between essence and form. In view
of this, how can anyone state that the body perishes and the mind
abides? It would be contrary to the true Dharma.
Beyond
this, you must also come to fully realize that birth-and-death is in
and of itself nirvana. Buddhism never speaks of nirvana apart from
birth-and-death. Indeed, when someone thinks that the mind, apart from
the body, is immutable, not only does he mistake it for Buddha-wisdom,
which is free from birth-and-death, but the very mind that makes such a
discrimination is not immutable, is in fact even then turning in
birth-and-death. A hopeless situation, is it not?
You
should ponder this deeply: since the Buddha Dharma has always
maintained the oneness of body and mind, why, if the body is born and
perishes, would the mind alone, separated from the body, not be born and
die as well? If at one time body and mind were one, and at another time
not one, the preaching of the Buddha would be empty and untrue.
Moreover, in thinking that birth-and-death is something we should turn
from, you make the mistake of rejecting the Buddha Dharma itself. You
must guard against such thinking.
Understand
that what Buddhists call the Buddhist doctrine of the mind-nature, the
great and universal aspect encompassing all phenomena, embraces the
entire universe, without differentiating between essence and form, or
concerning itself with birth or death. There is nothing - enlightenment
and nirvana included - that is not the mind-nature. All dharmas, the
"myriad forms dense and close" of the universe - are alike in being this
one Mind. All are included without exception. All those dharmas, which
serves as "gates" or entrances to the Way, are the same as one Mind. For
a Buddhist to preach that there is no disparity between these
dharma-gates indicates that he understands the mind-nature.
In
this one Dharma [one Mind], how could there be any differentiate
between body and mind, any separation of birth-and-death and nirvana? We
are all originally children of the Buddha, we should not listen to
madmen who spout non-Buddhist views.
BOOKS.GOOGLE.COM.SG
The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo
Alberto Befani
Soh Wei Yu thank you so much, this passage is so important for my understanding of Dogen! 
Jundo Cohen
Soh Wei Yu Lovely.
