Also See: Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity

Chinese Version of this Article:《光明藏三昧》的修行者反思 

Last Updated 18/06/2025

A Practitioner's Reflection on the Kōmyōzō Zanmai (Version 0.4)

Introduction: The Four-Fold Path of Light

The Kōmyōzō Zanmai is one of the most luminous and direct transmissions in the Zen tradition. Authored by Koun Ejō, the direct Dharma successor of Eihei Dōgen, this text is not a mere philosophical argument. It is a direct pointing to the nature of reality. In this reflection, we will explore the meticulous path to which Ejō points. While the unfolding of insight is a dynamic process and not a rigid, linear sequence, this reflection will articulate the journey through a framework of four major phases that are commonly experienced:

1. The Foundational Realization of Pure Presence ("I AM"): The initial breakthrough of dis-identifying from the contents of mind and recognizing the timeless, formless, ever-present awareness that is the ground of all experience. While a crucial step, this can also lead to the subtle reification of this 'ground' as an ultimate, changeless Self.
2. The Initial Non-Dual Insight (Substantialist Nonduality / "One Mind"): The realization that all phenomena are the luminous, radiant display of a single Mind. The subject-object divide collapses and is often subsumed into an ultimate Subject or 'One Mind'. While this experience of 'All as Self' is a profound initial insight into 'No-Self', it subtly reifies a metaphysical essence, as understanding is still oriented from a view based on a paradigm of inherent existence and a subtle subject-object dichotomy. This is a deviation from the ultimate Buddhist path.
3. The Insight into Anātman (Emptiness of Self): A crucial and liberating realization that penetrates the empty, selfless nature of Mind and the agent (pudgala-nairātmya). Here, even the single, radiant Mind is seen to be empty of any inherent, independent self-nature (svabhāva). It is not a substance; rather, the knowingness is the self-knowing, dynamic, selfless, and agentless process itself, which unfolds and knows itself by itself without a knower.
4. The Maturation of Wisdom (Twofold Emptiness): The deepening of insight to perceive the empty, dream-like, and insubstantial nature of all phenomena (dharma-nairātmya). This is the realization that not only is the self empty, but all dharmas (sights, sounds, thoughts) are also without any inherent existence, arising like illusions or mirages. This is the path of purifying the subtle "obstruction of knowledge" (jñeya-āvaraṇa) and seeing reality as it truly is—vividly apparent, yet utterly empty.

In this reflection, we will explore not only Ejō's pointing but also practical methods of self-enquiry. While we do not know the exact pedagogical tools Ejō used with his students, the methods discussed here, drawn from the broader Dharma tradition, can serve as potent tools to directly realize the profound truths to which he points.

The Prefaces: A Lineage of Reverence

The historical prefaces by Mitsuun and Menpō frame the text not as a mere book, but as a sacred relic—a direct conduit to the mind of the enlightened ancestors. Their palpable joy at its rediscovery underscores its importance. For them, these words were not just teachings about the light; they were the living transmission of the light. They establish an unbroken lineage from the ancient Buddhas to Ejō, asserting that what follows is the authentic, undiluted heart of the Dharma.

Part 1: Defining the Treasury of Light - The Luminous, Sentient Heart of Reality

Ejō begins by defining his central metaphor: the Treasury of Light (光明藏, kōmyōzō). Critically, this is not a cold, empty void. This is a universe that "has a Heart." (See: The Transient Universe has a Heart https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2019/02/the-transient-universe-has-heart.html) Ejō’s light is not the lifeless photon of physics; it is a vibrant, intelligent, and numinous luminosity (靈光, líng guāng). This "radiance" is the very texture of reality itself, synonymous with what other traditions might call pristine consciousness or pure knowingness. It is the intrinsic clarity and wakefulness of Mind. When Zen masters speak of numinous awareness (靈知, líng zhī), they are pointing to this very same principle—an intelligent light that is not seen with the eyes, but is the very aware, noetic capacity behind seeing, hearing, and knowing. It is the sentient, aware quality that makes experience possible.

Realizing the Source: The 'I AM' Before All Things:

Ejō establishes that this Light is the "source of all Buddhas, the inherent nature of all beings, the total body of all things." This is a direct pointing towards the first crucial breakthrough on the path: the realization of the formless Source or Ground of Being. This is the insight into the "I AM" that was present before Abraham, the "Original Face before your parents were born." It is the direct, non-conceptual realization of the Mind that is prior to all sensory and conceptual experience—prior to seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking.

The purpose of self-enquiry, as taught in Zen and other direct paths, is to guide the mind back to this very Source. Questions like, "Without thoughts, tell me what is your very mind right now?" are not seeking a conceptual answer like "void" or "hollow." Such answers are products of the thinking mind. The question is a tool to exhaust the intellect and create an opening for direct recognition. As Ramana Maharshi explained, the enquiry "Who am I?" is like the stick used to stir a funeral pyre—it destroys all other thoughts and is finally destroyed itself, revealing the doubtless Self that remains.

This realization is not necessarily achieved by entering deep meditative states where the senses shut down, though such states can intensify the absorption. As many masters have pointed out, it is a matter of realizing what is already, undeniably present. You exist, and you are aware that you exist. This is not just a vague or mental noticing of “Oh, I exist” but a unshakeable, doubtless realization of the Truth of Being. This dawning of a direct certainty of your own Beingness, this objectless Presence-Awareness, is the foundational realization. It is the simple, direct taste of your own essence before it is clothed in the five senses or labeled by the thinking mind.

The "All is Mind-Only" Insight (As a Subsequent, Pedagogic Tool):

After the foundational realization of the formless Source, the path often leads to a distinct, further insight that directly corresponds to the Yogācāra (Cittamātra) teaching that "the three realms are mind-only" (三界唯心). This is the realization that all external objects are nothing but luminous manifestations of one's own mind, collapsing the naive dualism of an inner self and an outer world into a single, unified field of Mind.

However, it is absolutely essential to understand the true intent of this teaching. As explained by Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the great Mādhyamika masters refute the Cittamātra system only when it is misunderstood. The error lies in reifying the mind as a truly existing substance. As Mipham says:

"self-styled proponents of the Cittamātra tenets, when speaking of mind-only, say that there are no external objects but that the mind exists substantially—like a rope that is devoid of snakeness, but not devoid of ropeness... they believe the nondual consciousness to be truly existent on the ultimate level. It is this tenet that the Mādhyamikas repudiate."

Cittamātra, correctly understood, is not a metaphysical assertion of a transcendental, ultimate Mind (like Brahman). Rather, it is an expedient pedagogic tool designed to break our attachment to the reality of external objects. The progressive path, as outlined by Asaṅga and echoed by Brunnhölzl, is as follows:

1. One first understands that all phenomena are simply the mind.
2. Subsequently, one has the experience that there is no object to be apprehended in the mind.
3. Then, one realizes that because there is no object, neither is there a subject (a mind cognizing them).
4. Immediately after, one attains the direct realization of Suchness, devoid of the duality of subject and object.

Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche clarifies this subtle point perfectly. He explains that while Mādhyamika masters refute a substantially existing mind, they do not refute the valid, conventional realization of a non-dual "self-illuminating gnosis." Mipham states:

"If, on the other hand, that consciousness is understood to be unborn from the very beginning (i.e. empty), to be directly experienced by reflexive awareness, and to be self-illuminating gnosis without subject or object, it is something to be established."

This "self-illuminating gnosis" is the profound ground of non-dual radiance—a direct, valid experience on the path. The critical point Mipham makes is that this gnosis is established conventionally as a valid realization while being understood as ultimately empty and unborn from the very beginning. The substantialist error, which Dōgen and all Buddhist masters refute, is to mistake this valid realization for a final truth by granting it its own independent essence, separate from the vivid, selfless self-knowing/self-luminous appearances cognized. The deeper insight into anātman deconstructs even this luminous ground, revealing that it has no inherent existence apart from its own manifestations.

The Realization of No-Attainment and Non-Arising (Mushotoku & Fushō):

Ejō’s emphasis on "no-attainment" (无所得, mushotoku) is the key that unlocks the entire path. This principle is supported by classic Zen dialectics, such as his reference to the Way being unobtainable by either 'a mind of existence' or a 'mind of non-existence' (mushin, 无心), pointing directly to the ungraspable, unfindable, and empty nature of Mind itself. The anātman insight reveals that there is no static, background consciousness or "Source" to be attained, only the dynamic, radiant foreground of appearances. As John Tan explains, this "background" is an illusion fabricated by a dualistic mind seeking something to hold on to. (Do read John Tan's article: Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment. You can visit John Tan's website at https://atr-passerby.com/) The realization of mushotoku is the direct seeing-through of this illusion. It is not just that Mind is already here; it is that there is no "Mind" as a separate, attainable entity apart from the transient phenomena themselves. Ejō deepens this by linking it to the lack of self-nature and the fundamental principle of non-arising (不生, fushō). He quotes, "The master of mind, at ease, awakens to the fundamental non-arising of one's own mind." Because Mind is without self-nature, it was never truly "born" or "created" in the first place. Realization, therefore, is not an act of acquisition but the cessation of all seeking, which dawns when the fundamentally unobtainable and non-arisen nature of reality is directly and irrefutably seen.

Part 2: The Foundational Realization - Discovering the Ground of "I AM"

This initial breakthrough is the shift from identifying with the contents of experience to identifying with the context in which they appear—the silent, ever-present space of awareness itself. This is the numinous awareness (靈知, líng zhī). In the Kōmyōzō Zanmai, Ejō raises several points from classic Zen masters to trigger this insight by turning attention away from the object of perception and back towards the perceiver itself.

• Linji's Pointing: "Now tell me, what is it that knows how to preach the Dharma and listen to the Dharma?"
• The Enjoyer of Life: "Now tell me: when you piss and shit right now... whose enjoyment is this, ultimately?"

It is crucial here to distinguish between a mere glimpse or recognition of this "I AM" Presence, and its full, abiding realization. Many practitioners may experience fleeting moments of recognizing the formless witness. This is a vital first step. However, Self-Realization proper is the direct, unshakeable certainty of this Beingness, a Eureka! realization beyond all doubt of what one’s Essence or Ground of Being is. The purpose of sustained self-enquiry is to deepen these initial recognitions until they mature into an abiding, unshakable Reality.

Expanded Practical Enquiry:

Finding the Listener ("I AM")

These are not questions for the intellect, but tools for direct investigation designed to transform glimpses into certainty.

Method 1: Koan and Direct Pointing (The Zen Method)

1. Settle and Ask: Sit quietly in a comfortable posture. Allow your body and mind to settle. Become aware of the ambient sounds in the room.
2. Turn the Question Inward: Now, with genuine curiosity, turn your attention inward and ask Linji's question: "What is it that is hearing these sounds right now?"
3. Investigate Directly and Relentlessly: Your conceptual mind will immediately try to answer with labels. Discard them. The instruction is to find out who is the listener, or what is listening to the sound.
4. The Realization of Objectless Presence: As you search with sustained, non-conceptual diligence, a profound recognition will dawn: you cannot find the listener as an object, however, It is undeniably present—clearly, something is aware of that sound, that awareness and presence is undeniable—but it is formless, boundless, and objectless. It has no center and no edge—it is an all-pervading pure Presence. This is not a realization of nothingness, but a direct certainty of Beingness that is simply without object. This direct, non-conceptual recognition of the formless, ever-present knower is the initial insight. Rest in this open, knowing space of Being.

Method 2: Self-Inquiry and Neti-Neti (The Vedantic Method)

1. Systematic Negation: Ask, "Am I this body?" Feel the sensations of the body. You are the awareness of them. Conclude firmly: "Not this." Observe a thought. Ask, "Am I this thought?" You are the witness of it. "Not this."
2. What Remains? After you have negated everything perceivable, what is left is the irreducible, undeniable, subjective sense of presence, of knowing, of being—the "I AM." Also see: Self Enquiry, Neti Neti and the Process of Elimination https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2024/05/self-enquiry-neti-neti-and-process-of.html

A Note on Other Methods for Awakening Presence

The Song of Vajra and Sacred Sound

The principle of using sound to quiet the discursive mind and reveal presence is found in many traditions. Beyond general mantra recitation, there are more profound practices. The Song of Vajra is not merely a mantra but is revered in the Dzogchen tradition as a supreme semdzin (mind instruction).

As Chögyal Namkhai Norbu explained:

"The Song of the Vajra is like a key for all of the methods we can learn in the Dzogchen teachings... We can learn the Song of the Vajra in three different ways: through sound, where each sound represents the different functions of our chakras; through the meaning of the words, which are not easy to understand because each word is like a symbol; and through our real condition. This threefold nature of the Song of the Vajra is related to the three aspects of our existence (body, speech, and mind)."

Each syllable relates to specific energy points and functions, working on a deep level to bring the practitioner directly into the state of knowledge (rigpa). (See: https://melong.com/song-vajra-webcast-talk-adriano-clemente/) Given its profundity, this practice requires direct transmission and initiation from a qualified Dzogchen teacher. For those interested, such instructions and transmissions can be sought from teachers like Acarya Malcolm Smith (See: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2024/01/finding-awakened-spiritual-teacher-and.html).

There are accounts of practitioners who, after receiving the transmission, awakened to Instant Presence simply through the dedicated practice of the Song of Vajra combined with a light, non-conceptual inquiry.

Recommendations from a Dharma Friend

The following sections are based on the advice of Sim Pern Chong, a Dharma friend who has traversed similar phases of realization (from "I AM" to nonduality, anātman, and the insight into emptiness), and is offered here as a practical supplement to the self-enquiry methods. You can visit Sim Pern Chong's website at https://innerjourneylog.weebly.com/

Mindful Meditation Practice

Sim Pern Chong offers the following guidance for formal meditation, such as focusing on the breath at the tip of the nose:

• Let go of the 'Meditator': Do not hold the thought that "I am meditating." Release the sense of a person performing an action.
• Effortless Awareness: Simply be aware of the breath as it is. Do not control or deliberately alter its natural rhythm.
• Posture is Key: Maintain a straight spine  (preferably unsupported by wall) and neck. Using a cushion to elevate the buttocks slightly higher than the crossed legs can facilitate this posture, which is conducive to mental clarity.
• Abiding in the Present: The goal of these techniques is to align the mind with the immediate present moment. The 'I AM' is experienced when the mind is not grasping at thoughts of the past or future, but is abiding fully in the now. Any method that cuts off this grasping can reveal the underlying presence.
• Eyes-Open Practice: This presence can also be experienced outside of formal meditation with eyes open. Simply look straight ahead into an open space and relax the focus. An expansive view, such as an open field, is often more conducive.

Audio-Entrainment and Brainwave Technology

A modern pedagogical approach involves using technology to induce a meditative state conducive to insight. Sim Pern Chong recommends technologies similar to Hemi-Sync, which use binaural beats.

• How it Works: By feeding slightly different sound frequencies to each ear, the brain generates a third 'difference-tone' that can entrain its electrical activity into specific brainwave patterns (e.g., low-alpha or theta).
• As you listen, especially during periods of silence, gently turn your focus inward. Ask the simple question, “who am I?” or "what is aware?" Don't search for an answer in words or concepts. The answer is the immediate, non-verbal knowing of awareness itself. Rest in that simple, open feeling of Being.
• Neuro-physiological Effects: Studies suggest this can lead to 'hemispheric synchronization,' quieting the brain's Default Mode Network (DMN), which is responsible for self-referential thought and the "me-story." When this inner narrative subsides, the raw, wordless sense of 'I AM' can become more apparent.
• A Catalyst, Not a Guarantee: It is important to view this technology as a powerful catalyst that can create a favorable physiological state for awakening, but not a guarantee. Personal intention and practice remain essential. Eckhart Tolle, for example, awakened spontaneously but later partnered with the Monroe Institute to use Hemi-Sync as an aid for his students.

Part 3: The Profound Insight into Anātman: From Non-Dual Radiance to Selfless Radiance-As-Transience

The realization of "I AM" is a profound and stable ground, but it is not the end of the Buddhist path. It can become a subtle trap—a reified "True Self" or Universal Consciousness, a view Dōgen directly refuted as the Senika heresy. The Buddhist insight into anātman goes deeper. It involves turning the light of enquiry onto Awareness and phenomena themselves, revealing them as empty of any permanent, independent, or substantial self-nature. This progression from a substantialist to an insubstantialist non-dual view is absolutely critical.

(A Pre-Anātman stage) Stage 3a: The Initial Non-Dual Insight

This first non-dual breakthrough is pointed to by "Class 2 Kōans" like Changsha's:

"Zen Master Changsha said to the assembly, 'The entire ten-direction world is the eye of a monk... the entire ten-direction world is one's own light.'"

This kōan directs the practitioner to the realization that the entire world is a seamless, luminous display of Mind. It is the insight that all appearances ARE the radiance of consciousness (心相一如). This is a profound experience of non-duality. However, as John Tan clarifies, this initial insight is often characterized by a "hyperreal" vividness. The world appears with a magical, stark clarity, but it may not yet be seen as "unreal" or empty. One can realize that "all is Mind's radiance" and still subtly cling to "Mind" or "Radiance" as a real, underlying substance—a substantialist view.

Stage 3b: The Anātman Insight - Realizing Insubstantiality of Mind and Agentlessness

The full insight into anātman requires a further step: penetrating the empty, selfless, and transient nature of Mind and the agent, even if the emptiness of all phenomena has not yet been fully realized. The Bahiya Sutta provides the ultimate instruction for this, and the two stanzas of contemplation are a direct, practical application of its wisdom. A critical warning is needed here. While this stage dismantles the illusion of an agent or a substantial Mind, if the insight into emptiness is not extended to all phenomena (the five aggregates), a subtle trap remains.

Without seeing the insubstantiality of forms, sounds, and thoughts themselves, these phenomena can appear 'hyperreal'. The initial emptying of self/Self does not necessarily lead to an illusion-like experience of reality. It does, however, allow experience to become vivid, luminous, direct, and non-dual. This first emptying may also lead a practitioner to become attached to an 'objective' world or to perceive it as physical, before the maturity of insight extends anātman into twofold emptiness (the emptiness of both self and phenomena). Even though phenomena are no longer seen as expressions of a substantial Mind (Mind is realised to be empty of an inherently existing substance), they can still be perceived as having their own inherent, momentary existence—as being truly arisen, real, or even physically solid. This is a subtle clinging to the reality of dharmas, which is only fully deconstructed as wisdom matures further (as discussed in Part 7).

Expanded Practical Enquiry: A Unified Practice for Anātman based on the Bahiya Sutta

• The Synergy: The Bahiya Sutta's core instruction—"In the seeing, just the seen"—encapsulates both stanzas.
• Stanza 1: There is thinking, no thinker

There is hearing, no hearer

There is seeing, no seer

• Stanza 2: In thinking, just thoughts

In hearing, just sounds

As John Tan emphasized, these two aspects must be realized together for it to be a genuine insight into Anātman.

• The Practice:
1. Begin with a Single Perception: Settle your mind and focus on one continuous sensory experience. For example, look at a cup on a table.
2. Apply the Bahiya Sutta's Instruction to Deconstruct the Experience:
• Strip Away the Label: Look at the cup. The word "cup" is a learned concept. Before that label, what is your direct, empirical experience? It is a collection of colors, shapes, shadows, and reflections. That is all. Return to this raw, pre-conceptual data.
• Contemplate the First Stanza (Agentlessness): Now, bring in the first stanza: "There is seeing, no seer." As you look at these colors and shapes, search for the independent "seer" who is doing the looking. Can you find it? You will only find the impersonal process of seeing itself. There is no agent.
• Contemplate the Second Stanza (Non-Dual Radiance): Now, bring in the second stanza, framed by the Bahiya Sutta's radical directness: "In the seeing, just the seen." The word "just" is the key. It means there is nothing else there. The practice is to see through the illusion that there are two separate parts to vision: 1) the seer, and the act of seeing and 2) the object seen.
• Investigate deeply: See that the “seeing” and "awareness" do not exist as something inherent or with its own essence apart from the colors; the knowing radiance IS the colors, the colors ARE the knowing radiance, and that all phenomena are not inert objects but are the self-luminous, self-knowing radiance of Mind itself. Likewise, the "seen" (the raw colors and shapes) is not a separate object "out there" being perceived by a "seeing" "in here." The visual objects ARE the colors and shapes, and these colors and shapes ARE the seeing. You never experience an "unseen color"; they are one single, indivisible process. The entire visual field is not an object to your mind; it IS the active, knowing radiance of Mind itself.

Kyle Dixon writes: "For the Buddhas, the phenomenal field does not show up as an external given, but as their very own display. This essentially means that knowing and known are not different. The known is the activity of knowing itself." Rongzom: "The buddhas and bodhisattvas are the subject, and the unmistaken authentic reality is the object. Thus, it is said in the sūtras that the subject and object are not two." Kūkai: "Though mind and color are different, their essence is the same. Color is mind; mind is color. They blend with one another without obstruction. Therefore, the knower is the known, and the known is the knower. The knower is reality, and reality is the knower."

• The Liberating Insight of "Not Being 'With That'": The Bahiya Sutta's instruction culminates in liberation: "Then, Bahiya, as you are not thereby, you will not be therein. As you are not therein, it will be clear to you that there is no here or there or in between. This, just this, is the end of suffering." This points to the final fruit of the Hinayana path, Arhatship. The crucial, irreversible step on this path is the direct insight into anātman. When it is directly realized that seer and seeing are not anything in and of themselves apart from vision and colors, and the colors ARE the seeing, and that there is no seer, the entire foundation for a self-view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) collapses. This direct seeing-through of the illusion of a self/Self marks the attainment of Stream-entry (Sotāpanna: See articles Meaning of Stream-Entry and Reddit post: [insight] [buddhism] A reconsideration of the meaning of "Stream-Entry" considering the data points of both pragmatic Dharma and traditional Buddhism), after which the final cessation of suffering described by the Buddha is certain when the practice of sila, samadhi, prajna is perfected and comes to complete fruition.
• The Ultimate Collapse: It is crucial to realize in Anatman, "In hearing, no hearer" (dismantling the illusion of an agent). But as Thusness/John Tan pointed out, the final deconstruction goes even further than merely “hearing without hearer”. "In hearing, only sound. No hearing." Ultimately, even the verb "hearing" or "seeing" is a subtle conceptual overlay. The final insight collapses the entire structure. There is not even "seeing happening." as "seeing" too is without any inherent existence of its own. There is simply (self-seen/self-aware/self-knowing) radiant color. There is simply sound. The raw phenomenal datum arises agentlessly as the luminosity of Mind that is No-Mind.
• The Realization of Anātman as Dharma Seal: When this practice matures, the insights from the two stanzas merge. This is not the achievement of some new, extraordinary peak state, but the direct realization of the Pellucid No-Self, which is simply seeing in accordance with the Dharma Seal—the way things have always already been. This realization has two key facets:
1. Agentless Unfolding: Through contemplating "no seer," "no hearer," you directly realize that experience unfolds without a central coordinating agent or "doer." Actions happen, thoughts think, and senses sense, but no one is authoring them. This is the selfless nature of reality, always already so.
2. Non-Dual Radiance: Through contemplating "in seeing just the seen," "in hearing just the heard," you realize that there is no "awareness", "seeing", or "hearing" apart from the colors; the colors ARE the knowing radiance, and that all phenomena are not inert objects but are the self-luminous, self-knowing radiance of Mind itself. This is the non-dual nature of reality, always already so.
• When unified, this insight reveals reality as a seamless, agentless, and dynamic process. It is a world of verbs, not nouns. There is no "Seer" seeing a "scene," only seeing-happening, which ultimately resolves into just scenery. Everything is at zero distance, gaplessly intimate, self-seen and self-heard without duality, as the radiant knowingness of Mind that is No-Mind. This insight is profound, yet it is not the final attainment of ultimate Buddhahood but a crucial, irreversible seeing of the true nature of things. An elaboration of how life is experienced after the realization can be found in https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2021/04/why-awakening-is-so-worth-it.html
• The Nature of This Realization (Dōgen's View): This agentless, selfless process is not a cold, mechanical, or dead unfolding. It is the very Buddha-Nature itself in dynamic expression. This view is central to the Sōtō lineage to which Ejō was the direct successor. As Dōgen, his master, taught:

Dōgen: "Therefore, the very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature... Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature."

The "light" of the Kōmyōzō Zanmai is not the light of a permanent, unchanging ground. It is the brilliant, radiant light of moment-to-moment arising and ceasing. The final view is not a static abiding in an unperturbed changeless Awareness; it is the dynamic, effortless, and compassionate living as this transient, radiant reality.

“Buddha-nature

For Dōgen, buddha-nature or busshō (佛性) is all of reality, "all things" (悉有).[41] In the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen writes that "whole-being is the Buddha-nature" and that even inanimate objects (rocks, sand, water) are an expression of Buddha-nature. He rejected any view that saw buddha-nature as a permanent, substantial inner self or ground. Dōgen describes buddha-nature as "vast emptiness", "the world of becoming" and writes that "impermanence is in itself Buddha-nature".[42] 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.[43]

Takashi James Kodera writes that the main source of Dōgen's understanding of buddha-nature is a passage from the Nirvana sutra which was widely understood as stating that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.[41] However, Dōgen interpreted the passage differently, rendering it as follows: All are (一 切) sentient beings, (衆生) all things are (悉有) the Buddha-nature (佛性); the Tathagata (如来) abides constantly (常住), is non-existent (無) yet existent (有), and is change (變易).[41]

Kodera explains that "whereas in the conventional reading the Buddha-nature is understood as a permanent essence inherent in all sentient beings, Dōgen contends that all things are the Buddha-nature. In the former reading, the Buddha-nature is a change less potential, but in the latter, it is the eternally arising and perishing actuality of all things in the world."[41] Thus for Dōgen buddha-nature includes everything, the totality of "all things", including inanimate objects like grass, trees and land (which are also "mind" for Dōgen).[41] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dōgen#Buddha-nature “

Part 4: Shattering the Obstacles on the Path

With this three-phase model of realization in mind, Ejō’s warnings about the pitfalls of practice become even clearer. They are precisely the errors that prevent this progression.

• Seeking an External Light: One of the most common pitfalls, which Ejō warns against repeatedly, is to conceptualize "light" as a sensory object or a phenomenon with specific characteristics. He states that this luminosity "is not blue, yellow, red, white, or black." He then describes how "foolish people," upon hearing the word "light," immediately begin to search for something akin to "the glow of a firefly, like lamplight, like the luminosity of the sun, moon, gold, or jade." This act of objectifying the light is a fundamental error. It keeps the practitioner trapped as a "seeker" looking for a "sought" object, reinforcing the very subject-object duality they are trying to transcend. By looking for a radiance "out there" to be perceived, one misses the crucial point: the true light is the formless, ever-present knower itself. Therefore, seeing through this trap is the essential first step, requiring one to abandon the search for any special appearance and instead turn the faculty of awareness back upon itself to realize the "I AM" presence directly.
• The Trap of Stillness (The "State" vs. "Principle" Error): Mistaking a quiet mental state for realization is a common pitfall. This is often confusing a dull, non-conceptual state for the vibrant, clear light of pristine awareness. The "I AM" is not a dull blankness; it is bright, luminous knowingness and pure Presence.
• The Reification of Consciousness: This is a subtle trap that inevitably arises, beginning with the foundational "I AM" realization up to the initial non-dual insight (pre-anatta, substantialist nondual phase of realisation). The practitioner may feel they have found the "True Mind" or Universal Consciousness and reify it into a new, subtle identity. This is why the deeper anātman enquiry is necessary—to deconstruct this final, subtle "Self," not the egoic self but the Great Self with a capital ‘S’.

Part 5: The Flame Sermon - Reality as Non-Dual, Total Radiance

The metaphor of the "great mass of fire" (大火聚, daikaju), which Ejō invokes, is a powerful and direct pointer to the nature of non-dual radiance as appearance.

• A Total, Immersive Field: A great fire is an all-encompassing reality. It is not an object that one can stand apart from and observe. To approach it is to be enveloped by its heat and light. This illustrates that there is no standpoint from which one can observe reality. The deeper truth of anātman is that there is no "one" to be apart, nor an "it" to be apart from.
• The Radiance and Directness of Appearance: This provides the perfect context for Yunmen's famous answer. When asked, "What is this luminosity of yours?", he doesn't point to a mystical source or offer a philosophical concept. He points directly at the "great mass of fire" that is the raw, vivid, phenomenal world right in front of everyone: "The monks' hall, the Buddha hall. The kitchen, the storehouse, the temple gate." The kitchen is the fire. The temple gate is the fire. The luminosity is not hidden behind these appearances; the appearances themselves, in their direct and undeniable presence, ARE the luminosity. The "great mass of fire" is not a symbol for anything else; it is a direct pointer to the totality and immediacy of the radiant phenomenal field itself. It is the inescapable, all-encompassing Treasury of Light.

Part 6: The Life of Realization - "The Person of Old"

The "person of old" (旧时人, kyūjinin) is the one who lives from this integrated, anātman understanding. The distinction between a substantial Mind and the world has vanished.

• Effortless Functioning (无为, wúwéi): This person is "like a great dead man" because the separate, striving ego-agent is dead. Yet they are fully alive and responsive. Their actions are not decided upon; they flow spontaneously from the totality of the situation. This is the effortless action that arises when there is no "one" standing apart to calculate or contrive.
• The World as Selfless, Radiant Process: For this person, the world is no longer an external object being perceived by an internal subject. The colors on the mountains, the changing of seasons, the feeling of the breath—all are direct, immediate, and selfless expressions of the one, dynamic, radiant reality. There is no longer a "me" seeing a "flower." There is only the sentient, selfless verb of flowering-seeing.

Part 7: The Path After Anātman - Practice-Enlightenment and the Two Wings

The profound insight into anātman is not a final endpoint, but a crucial gateway. It marks the end of the seeker and the path of deliberate "how-to" practice in one sense, but it is the beginning of a different, deeper mode of practice in another. It is a grave error to conclude that because there is no-self, there is nothing to do. The correct understanding is the opposite: because there is no fixed self, there is only the ongoing flow of ignorance and afflicted activities that need to be addressed. The insight into anātman becomes the very motivation for continued, correctly-oriented practice.

Practice-Enlightenment (修証一如, shushō-ittō): This is where Dōgen's core teaching becomes the living reality of the practitioner. The insight into anātman reveals that there was never a separation between practice and enlightenment to begin with. Practice is not a means to an end (a future enlightenment). Rather, every moment of rightly-oriented practice, such as shikantaza (just sitting), IS the direct expression and actualization of awakening and Buddha-nature. This is what Dōgen's teacher Rujing meant by "dropping off body and mind"—it is not a goal to be achieved, but the very act of zazen itself, free from the coverings of desire and delusion. (As per Wikipedia): To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.

The Two Wings of Wisdom (Prajñā) and Compassion (Karuṇā): The post-anātman path is often described as the cultivation of the two wings of a bird, which must be in balance for flight.

• The Maturation of Wisdom: The focus of practice after the initial anātman insight shifts from acquiring a realization to the natural functioning and maturation of wisdom (prajñā). This is not a passive process but an ongoing, dynamic authentication of the truth in every moment. This maturation involves deepening the understanding of twofold emptiness—the emptiness of both person (pudgala-nairātmya) and all phenomena (dharma-nairātmya). This can be understood through the complementary dimensions of "-a" and "+a" emptiness.
  
  Also see https://atr-passerby.com/ and https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/08/compilation-of-post-anatta-advise.html for pointers to trigger such insights experientially.

1. -a: The Deconstructive Insight into the Emptiness of Phenomena

This is the direct seeing into the insubstantial and illusory nature of all reality. It is the profound wisdom that deconstructs the nature of whatever dependently originates. This "Freedom from Elaborations" (niṣprapañca) is achieved by seeing that whatever dependently originates has such a nature: a lack of self-nature (svabhāva); a non-arisen nature (anutpāda); an illusoriness (māyā); and freedom from the eight conceptual extremes (Arising/Ceasing, Permanent/Annihilation, Coming/Going, One/Many). When it is directly seen that all phenomena are empty in this profound way, the mind's tendency to proliferate conceptual fabrications (prapañca) collapses. Buddhahood does not block conceptuality; as Ācārya Malcolm Smith notes, Dzogchen root texts state that a Buddha still employs conceptual designations yet never mistakes them for intrinsically or independently existent things. This accords with Nāgārjuna’s famous verse (MMK 24.18) that ‘whatever is dependently arisen is emptiness—that, being a dependent designation, is itself the Middle Way.’ Contemporary teacher John Tan echoes the same point in his commentaries, emphasising that conceptuality continues to function but are recognised as dependent designations and non-arisen (empty and free from extremes). Contemporary Zen masters I’ve met have reiterated similar points.

Ejō illustrates this "-a" insight perfectly by drawing on Mahayana sutras, pointing to the empty, signless, and illusory nature of all things:

"Secret Master, all dharmas are signless, meaning they are of the characteristic of empty space... the Mahāyāna practitioner gives rise to the mind of the unconditioned vehicle; dharmas are without self-nature. Why is that? Just as those practitioners of old, observing the skandhas and ālaya[-vijñāna], knew their self-nature to be like an illusion, a mirage, a reflection, a spinning wheel of fire, a gandharva's city."

2. +a: The Functional Insight of Dependent Arising in Action

While the "-a" insight deconstructs reality to reveal its empty nature, the "+a" insight sees how that very emptiness functions as the living, expressive, and radiant unfolding of the world. This is "Total Exertion": the realization that in each moment, the entire web of interdependent existence is fully present and exerting itself as that single appearance.

Critically, as John Tan and the provided texts caution, this must not be mistaken for the reification of a "Whole" as a substantial entity. The very paradigm of 'parts and wholes' is a conceptual trap that total exertion transcends. It does not mean a part (a flower) is contained within a larger, static Whole. Rather, the flower is the entire web of interdependent conditions functionally expressing itself in that moment. There is no 'Whole' as a noun or truly existing entity; there is only the selfless, dynamic functioning of the all, without any underlying substance or container.

Dōgen's passage from the Genjōkōan masterfully illustrates this "+a" functional insight. He begins by using the boat analogy to explain the mistaken perception of a fixed self, then expands it to show how the empty rower, boat, and world function as one undivided activity of total exertion:

"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.

Life is just like riding in a boat. You raise the sails and you row with the oar. Although you row, the boat gives you a ride and without the boat no one could ride. But you ride in the boat and your riding makes the boat what it is.

Investigate a moment such as this. At just such a moment, there is nothing but the world of the boat. The sky, the water, and the shore all are the boat's moment, which is not the same as a moment that is not the boat's. When you ride in a boat, your body and mind and the environs together are the undivided activity of the boat. The entire earth and the entire sky are the undivided activity of the boat."

Synthesizing Wisdom: Seeing the Dream-Like Nature of Vivid Reality

The ultimate maturation of wisdom involves holding these two insights—the empty, illusory nature of things (-a) and their vivid, functional appearance (+a)—as an inseparable unity. This is precisely what Dōgen pointed to when describing the dream-like relativity of all things. In his Mountains and Waters Sutra, he illustrates that there is no absolute, independently existing reality:

Dōgen: "Not all beings see mountains and waters in the same way... Hungry ghosts see water as raging fire... Dragons and fish see water as a palace... Human beings see water as water... There is no original water."

There is no objectively "real" water, only the contextual, dependently arisen experience of "water-seeing." This vivid yet empty presence is like a dream. As Dōgen further clarifies, this dream is not a dull or sleepy state: “The entire world, crystal-clear everywhere, is a dream; and a dream is all grasses [things] clear and bright... Never mistake this, however, for a dreamy state.”

As John Tan clarifies, the maturation of wisdom requires integrating these two intertwined insights:

"Tasting the 'realness' of what appears and what appears is nothing real are two different insights... It is not only realizing mere appearances are just one's radiance clarity but that empty clarity is like a rainbow. Beautiful and clearly appears, but nothing 'there' at all. These two aspects are very important: 1. Very 'vivid', pellucid, and 2. Nothing real. Tasting either one will not trigger the 'aha' realization."

This entire process of maturation corresponds to the Mahayana path of purifying the "obstruction of knowledge" (jñeya-āvaraṇa). Ejō concludes this point by warning that mistaking any view for a final reality is a trap: “Clearly know that within the Treasury of Luminosity of the unconditioned vehicle, there is no self-nature and no views. Self and views are different names for demonic apparitions.”

John Tan wrote over a decade ago,

”Hi David, I see that you are expressing what I called the +A and –A of emptying.

(+A)

When you cook, there is no self that cooks, only the activity of cooking. The hands moves, the utensils act, the water boils, the potatoes peels… here there is no room for simplicity or complications, the “kitchen” went beyond it’s own imputation and dissolved into the activity of cooking and the universe is fully engaged in this cooking.

(-A)

30 years of practice and 23 years of kitchen life is like a passing thought.
How heavy is this thought?
The whereabouts of this thought?
Taste the nature of this thought.
It never truly arises.”

• The Arising of Great Compassion: This deepening of wisdom is what gives rise to true, great compassion (mahākaruṇā). As Rujing clarified to Dōgen, the zazen of a Buddha is different from that of an arhat because it is grounded in great compassion and the vow to save all beings. This compassion is not a moralistic choice or a sentimental feeling, but the spontaneous, unobstructed, and natural expression of wisdom in action. When the boundary between self and other is truly seen as illusory, the well-being of another is no longer separate from one's own. This active compassion is the antidote to the pitfall of a dry, sterile "emptiness sickness," allowing one to live out the implications of non-separation in the world.

This continued path is the inseparable union of these two wings, a dynamic unfolding where practice becomes the effortless expression of enlightenment itself.

Conclusion: The Living Light of Practice-Enlightenment

Koun Ejō's Kōmyōzō Zanmai provides more than a map to a destination; it charts the entire territory of liberation. The path guides the practitioner through a profound sequence of deconstruction: from discovering the foundational ground of Presence, to seeing the world as Mind's radiant display, and finally, to the crucial insight into anātman which dissolves even that ground into a selfless, agentless, and radiantly impermanent process.

Yet, as Ejō and his master Dōgen make clear, this ultimate insight is not a sterile endpoint but a vital gateway. It is the end of the seeker, but the true beginning of practice-enlightenment (shushō-ittō), where every action becomes the living expression of awakening. The "Treasury of Light" is fully realized not in a static abiding, but in the dynamic flight of the two wings of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom matures to see the dream-like emptiness within the vivid, pellucid display of reality, while great compassion arises as the spontaneous, functional expression of non-separation. Thus, the light is not merely realized; it is lived. To engage with this text is to be invited not just to find the light, but to become its ceaseless, compassionate, and wise unfolding in the world.