Reminded of what i wrote in 2012
Buddha-Dharma: A Dream in a Dream
(Above: Ted Biringer's book)
Like always, Ted Biringer have interesting and well written postings.
Just like to add a short comment:
Dogen
here relates nyo (“like”), to ze (“this”), evoking the familiar Zen
association nyoze (“like this,” “thusness”). He goes on to draw the
implication that “like this” signifies not mere resemblance but the
nondual identity of symbol and symbolized. He thus rejects any dualistic
notion of metaphor or simile (hiyi), whereby an image points to,
represents, or approximates something other than itself. Rather, for
Dogen, the symbol itself is the very presence of total dynamism, i.e.,
it presents.
Hee-Jin Kim, Flowers of Emptiness, note 8, p.251
I could think of one example: people liken “Buddha-nature” to be “like the moon”.
In
actuality, the very appearance of the moon is buddha-nature, it is not
that there is some hidden thing called buddha-nature which merely
resembles the moon. The moon is buddha-nature, the buddha-nature is the
moon, the nondual identity of symbol and symbolized. Or as Dogen says,
the moon-face buddha and sun-face buddha, the whole body is the whole
moon. There is nothing hidden or latent about it, there is no hidden
noumenon in which phenomenon or symbols can “point to” or “hint at”. The
symbol, e.g. the moon, is itself the very presence of total dynamism.
Furthermore, manifestation does not 'come from' Buddha-nature, nor does
Buddha-nature 'contains' manifestation, Buddha-nature is empty of a self
but conventionally imputed on the "myriad forms". Likewise for Truth,
Awareness, etc.
In fact everything is like this.
Scent
of a flower is not scent of “a flower”, the scent does not represent or
approximate something other than itself but is a complete reality (well
not exactly a 'reality' but rather a whole and complete
manifestation/appearance which is empty and unreal) in itself: the scent
IS the flower, wheel of a car is not wheel of “a car”, the car IS the
wheel. Wheel cannot be said to "come from a car" or "be contained by a
car". The word “car” is a mere imputation, not a true reality that can
be established. “Self” and aggregates are likewise.
Seen
in such manner, all constructs are deconstructed and what's left is
just the shimmering "dream-like" (coreless, empty, illusory), luminous
appearances which is all there is, but not to be confused with a dreamy
state.
Anyway this is Ted's new post:
Friday, June 01, 2012
Buddha-Dharma: A Dream in a Dream
On the True Nature of the Self...
The
final belief is to believe in a fiction, which you know to be a
fiction, there being nothing else. The exquisite truth is to know that
it is a fiction and that you believe in it willingly.
Wallace Stevens
The
appearance of buddhas and ancestors in the world, being prior to the
emergence of any incipient sign, has nothing to do with old, narrow
opinions. This accounts for the virtues of buddha-ancestors, as of going
beyond the Buddha. Unconcerned with time, the life-span [of
buddha-ancestors] is neither prolonged nor momentary, as it is far from
the comprehension of ordinary minds.
The
ever turning wheel of the Dharma is also a principle prior to the
emergence of any incipient sign; as such, it is an eternal paragon with
immeasurably great merit. [Buddha-ancestors] expound this as a dream in a
dream. Because they see verification within verification, it is known
as expounding a dream in a dream.
The
place where a dream is expounded in a dream is indeed the land and
assembly of buddha-ancestors. The buddha-land and buddha-assembly, the
ancestral way and ancestral seat, are all verification founded upon
verification, hence all are the expounding of a dream in a dream. Upon
encountering their utterances and discourses, do not think that these
are not of the buddha-assembly; they are the Buddha’s turning the wheel
of the Dharma. Because this wheel of the Dharma turns in all directions,
the great oceans and Mt. Sumeru, the lands and buddhas are all
realized. Such is expounding a dream in a dream, which is prior to all
dreams.
The
entire world, crystal-clear everywhere, is a dream; and a dream is all
grasses [things] clear and bright. To doubt the dream state is itself to
dream; all perplexity is a dream as well. At this very moment, [all
are] grasses of the “dream state,” grasses “in” [a dream],
grasses“expounding” [a dream], and so on. Even as we study this, the
very roots and stalks, leaves and branches, flowers and fruits, lights
and hues [of our perception] are all a great dream. Never mistake this,
however, for a dreamy state.
Dogen, Shobogenzo, Muchu-setsumu (Expounding a dream in a dream), Trans. Hee-Jin Kim, Flowers of Emptiness, p.279-280
It’s a wonderful, wonderful opera. Only it hurts.
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers)
Dogen
here relates nyo (“like”), to ze (“this”), evoking the familiar Zen
association nyoze (“like this,” “thusness”). He goes on to draw the
implication that “like this” signifies not mere resemblance but the
nondual identity of symbol and symbolized. He thus rejects any dualistic
notion of metaphor or simile (hiyi), whereby an image points to,
represents, or approximates something other than itself. Rather, for
Dogen, the symbol itself is the very presence of total dynamism, i.e.,
it presents.
Hee-Jin Kim, Flowers of Emptiness, note 8, p.251
If
the new empirical results are taken seriously, then people throughout
our culture have to rethink some of their most cherished beliefs about
what science and philosophy are and consider their values from a new
perspective...
If
conceptual metaphors are real, then all literalist and objective views
of meaning and knowledge are false. We can no longer pretend to build an
account of concepts and knowledge on objective, literal foundations.
This constitutes a profound challenge to many of the traditional ways of
thinking about what it means to be human, about how the mind works, and
about our nature as social and cultural creatures.
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, p.273
Allegory
and metaphor both start off saying one thing as if it were another. But
where allegorical method divides this double talk into two constituents
– latent and manifest – and requires translation of manifest into
latent, the metaphorical method keeps the two voices together, here the
dream as it tells itself, ambiguously evocative and concretely precise
at each and every instant. Metaphors are not subject to interpretive
translation without breaking up their peculiar unity... Since symbols
and metaphors cannot be translated, another method for understanding
dreams is needed, a method in which masks, disguises, and doubleness
inherently belong, a method that is itself metaphorical.
…if
the dream is psychic nature per se, unconditioned, spontaneous,
primary, and this psychic nature can show a dramatic structure, then the
nature of the mind is poetic. To go to the root human ontology, its
truth, essence, and nature, one must move in the fictional mode and use
poetic tools.
James Hillman, Healing Fiction, pp35-36 [italics Hillman’s]
Peace,
Ted
Labels: Anatta, Emptiness, Ted Biringer, Zen, Zen Master Dogen |