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Our AtR group admin Juliette Paul wrote in 2022:
More pieces falling into place regarding Dogen's expression of Ocean-Reflection Samadhi/Total Exertion. From this post: http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2011/03/is-is.html
In the sutra, the Buddha describes his “body” as consisting of the “arising” and “vanishing” of myriad dharmas. He also asserts that he does not “speak of this body,” which is the arising and vanishing of myriad dharmas, as “the arising and vanishing of an ‘I’.” Here, Dogen quotes the Buddha as going on to explain that:
“A preceding thought-moment and a succeeding thought-moment do not anticipate each other; a preceding dharma and a succeeding dharma do not oppose each other. This is known as the ocean-reflection samadhi” Shobogenzo, Kaiin-zammai, Hee-Jin Kim, Flowers of Emptiness, p.166
For one thing, Dogen’s viewpoint differs significantly from the standard Huayen model in his emphasis on the unity of existence and time (uji; existence-time). This is seen in the present case by Dogen’s attention to the fact that preceding and succeeding “moments,” and “dharmas,” do not anticipate each other – thus the nondual nature of moments (time) and dharmas (existent forms) are underscored.
The
non-duality of experience and time became clear. It became clear that
the body of the buddha was all time-existence. In fact every moment, was
the entire body, including all other moments. It was clear that this
entire experience is and always has been the body of the buddha.
After
realizing this, I remembered my first glimpse of total exertion where
every moment in my life had been culminating up to this moment right now
and in fact was buddha all the way down.
Then
I thought of Avalokiteshvara with the thousand arms and I realized that
my entire life, every "this" had been an arm of his working towards
realization through this form. In fact the totality of moments was the
body of Avalokiteshvara, as well as the body of all the Buddhas. Empty
holographic bodies, appearing as flickering sensations, everywhere all
at once. Which buddha appeared for you depended on how you looked at it.
In this way, the total exertion is all of these and many many more,
none of them blocking any of the others.
This
is really hard to describe but I was looking at the world around me as
the buddha for awhile. Feels like what those descriptions of
experiencing your daily life as pure buddha fields might be referencing.
I'll leave you with a later passage from that blog post:
Thus, the “arising of dharmas” (the myriad particular things of experience) is itself “the one” totality of existence-time which is itself the whole, real, ever advancing body-mind of Buddha at each (and every) particular moment of existence-time. In other words, the totality of “myriad” dharmas right now are - as they are - the “one” body-mind of Buddha right now. This “body-mind” is immediately “cast off” and the new totality of myriad dharmas is fully exerted as the one body-mind of Buddha, which is immediately cast off as the “body-mind of Buddha” ceaselessly advances into novelty – This! Now this! Now this! Now this!
The “body-mind” of the Buddha (or Universe) that is manifested or actualized with each now total exertion “contains” or is “inclusive of” all previous total exertions (body-minds of Buddha) which, being “real dharmas” occupy dharma-positions (specific coordinates of space-and-time; uji, existence time), and therefore are “one of the myriad dharmas” that constitute the body-mind of Buddha here and now (i.e. their particular instance of existence forms part of the “fabric” of this particular instance of existence). Also, the “body-mind” of the Buddha here and now “contains” or is “inclusive of” all future total exertions (body-minds of Buddha) which, being “real potentials” are, and must be “real dharmas,” hence, actually present here and now. Thus, Dogen’s teaching, “Nothing in the whole universe has ever been concealed.”
One thing this means is that the body-mind of Buddha is directly perceptible here and now. The Buddha (thus our “self”) is nothing more, or less, than each and every particular thing and event of our experience here and now. As the masters say, “Truly seeing a mote of dust is truly seeing the whole universe.” In Dogen’s terms, “When one side (a dust mote) is illumined, the other side (the totality of space and time) is dark” (“dark” as in “shadowed,” or “eclipsed” – thus “dark” denotes presence not absence).
