Shobogenzo Translations

Dogen teaches that in zazen, meditation in an upright sitting posture, practice and awakening are one. They are not two stages in which we first practice and only later become awakened. Even a beginner's sitting is already the practice of awakening. For the same reason, we continue practicing after awakening.more →

In this chapter Dogen comments on the Heart Sutra, a short Buddhist scripture about prajñā, a Sanskrit word the translators render as “real wisdom.” His central claim is that this wisdom is not something apart: our body and mind, our acts, and the things of the world are themselves its concrete forms. Among these forms he names our senses and what they perceive, the Buddhist teachings, time (past, present, and future), the elements of the world, and even walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.more →

Dogen teaches that the Buddha's truth takes shape in what we do among the things around us, not from the viewpoint of an unchanging self. Things are not merely objects we try to understand; in practice, they also act on us. That is why learning the Buddha's truth involves learning about ourselves and then forgetting ourselves. Here, forgetting ourselves includes giving up the assumption that our own mind provides an unchanging measure of everything we encounter. From a moving boat, the shore may seem to move; looking at the boat reveals the mistake. Likewise, Dogen calls it a mistake to assume that our own mind or essence is permanent. Realization does not destroy the individual, just as the moon's reflection does not break the water. Nor does the individual block realization, just as a drop of water does not prevent the moon from appearing in it.more →

For Dogen, everything that exists is one bright pearl, ourselves included. The pearl is the whole of reality, not a separate treasure to acquire. The teacher Gensa encounters this reality when he strikes his toe on a stone. In pain, he questions the claim that his body is unreal. He cannot be satisfied with second-hand explanations; he must experience things for himself.more →

For Dogen, time is inseparable from what exists and what happens. Beings, things, and their activity are themselves time. Spring offers a concrete example: warm air, open flowers, and singing birds are its different forms. Spring itself is this passage of time, inseparable from these concrete forms.more →

Buddha-nature is not a hidden quality a person owns; Dogen uses the name for people, mountains, rivers, and other things just as they are now. He calls this Total Existence: our bodies and minds, what surrounds us, and what we do are not separate from it. He rejects the picture of Buddha-nature as a seed that will ripen into enlightenment later. So neither “everyone has it” nor “no one has it” settles the question if “has” means owning a thing.more →

For Dogen, freedom is found within life and death themselves, without rejecting them or clinging to them. Life and death are themselves nirvāṇa—the liberation one is seeking—not obstacles to be left behind. Looking for buddha outside them is like facing south while hoping to see the North Star.more →

In Doshin, commitment to the Buddha's truth means giving his teaching priority over our own mind, body, and life. This resolve cannot be judged from a person's reputation. Some people known for it lack it, while others have it unnoticed. We should learn about it from people who clearly know it. Dogen asks us to remember how uncertain the world is and how fragile human life is.more →

For Dogen, zazen—sitting upright in stillness—is both the practice of the Buddha's teaching and the direct experience of its truth. This truth is already at hand, but that does not make practice unnecessary. We can become proud of what we understand while losing touch with bodily practice. Dogen compares this to loving pictures of dragons while being afraid of a real dragon. Here the real dragon means zazen itself: knowing about it cannot replace sitting.more →