As I understand it, Dogen says that, at least for those new to seated meditation, there is no enlightenment outside seated meditation. Well, to me that if true that's awful! No speech, no writing, no solidarity, etc.? I think it's this that is the stumbling block along the buddha way, for me. Does it even have an answer?

Genjokoan says > Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression > complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call > winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring. Dogen says here that spring is not after winter, but there is still "before" and "after", which is included in spring, and spring is independent of them. etc. ---------- If not the beginning of spring, what is before spring? Not winter. ---------- And if - likewise - the end of life is discontinuous with the present, does that mean life does not end when I only exist in the present?

I'm fascinated by 'death': what would Dogen say? What about Rinzai zen? I don't have any questions about it, but I'm sure there's answers I haven't contemplated at all. Quotes would be necessary.

Dogen, Shobogenzo #26 > Guishan is the thirty-seventh ancestor, a direct descendant of > Shakyamuni Buddha. He was a dharma heir of Bhaizhang, Zen Master > Dazhi, Today buddha ancestors in the ten directions, even those who do > not call themselves descendants of Guishan, are all in fact his remote > descendant. > > One day, while Guishan was lying down, Yangshan Huiji came to see him. > Guishan turned to face the wall. > > Yangshan said, “I am your student. Please don’t be formal.” > > Guishan started to get up. > > Yangshan rose to leave. > > Guishan said, “Huiji.” > > Yangshan returned. > > Guishan said, “Let me tell you about my dream.” > > Yangshan leaned forward to listen. > > Guishan said simply, “Would you interpret my dream for me? I want to > see how you do it.” > > In response Yangshan brought a basin of water and a towel. Guishan > washed his face and sat up. > > Then Xiangyan came in. > > Guishan said, “Huiji and I have been sharing miracles. This is no > small matter.” > > Xiangyan said, “I was next door I heard you.” > > Guishan said to him, “Why don’t you try now?” > > Xiangyan made a bowl of tea and brought it to him. > > Guishan praised them, saying, “You two students surpass even > Shariputra and Maudgalyayana with your marvelous activity!” I don't think Dogen believed in miracles. Am I right?

Seems to me that memory is notoriously fallible, whatever we think about the nature of the self. I have a copy, but rather than reread it, I thought to ask, whether Dogen's wholehearted way, or right effort in general, from moment to moment, involves relying only on those memories of immediate relevance?

I have come across this phrase while studying Zen, in a Zen meditation center. It is Dogen's translation of Nirvan Sutra. That all beings by nature are Buddha. As I understand, we become Buddha when be are enlightened. We have to strive through Right Effort to become Buddha, isn't it? What does this phrase mean to you?

What is the "ease" of the "dharma gate of ease and joy"? Can an unelightened person achieve it outside seated meditation? Ought I ***imagine*** everything is difficult, or everything is easy? How can we be effortful in our everyday lay tasks?

What does the genjo-koan means? Especially: > 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 realization > remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly. and > A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims there is no > end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it > flies there is no end to the air. However, the fish and the bird have > never left their elements. When their activity is large their field is > large. When their need is small their field is small. Thus, each of > them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally > experiences its realm. If the bird leaves the air it will die at once. > If the fish leaves the water it will die at once. > > Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish > is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish. > > It is possible to illustrate this with more analogies. Practice, enlightenment, and people are like thi What does it mean to say that these are life and that there's no realisation?

His, Dogen's, Fukanzazengi, says > Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Be before > thinking. These are the basics of zazen. I haven't, I think, been formally taught zazen. But how does this sound, as a paraphrase: - think of thinking which is no longer thought Because, taken literally, I feel that it is a very good way of looking at our relationship to history, when we cannot do anything about it.