Wild Fox Zen
This from an email from one of the 100-day practitioners:
“There is no goal … but at the same time there seems to be something to be had…which is it?”
Neither. It is necessary to strive for the truth of dharma. A willy-nilly zennish understanding “it’s already perfect blah blah blah” – is just another belief system and has no power to “ripen the sweet milk of the long river” or even free ourselves for a moment.
On the other hand, all “somethings” are empty and dharma realization isn’t some magical and childish thing that “we” can “get.” That doesn’t mean there is nothing that is realized. That goals are empty does not mean there are no goals. No goal afterall is a goal. There are no eyes (and yet through something these words are read), no ears (and yet through something these words are heard), no nose (and yet flowers and fried chicken have different smells).
“What we attain,” said Bokusan, “is the capacity to practice one practice.”
And Dogen, “On the Endeavor of the Way (Bendowa),” put it like this:
Although this inconceivable dharma is abundant in each person, it is not actualized without practice, and it is not experienced without realization. When you release it, it fills your hand–how could it be limited to one or many? When you speak it, it fills your mouth–it is not bounded by length or width.
Thank you for your practice,
Dosho
Neither. It is necessary to strive for the truth of dharma. A willy-nilly zennish understanding “it’s already perfect blah blah blah” – is just another belief system and has no power to “ripen the sweet milk of the long river” or even free ourselves for a moment.
On the other hand, all “somethings” are empty and dharma realization isn’t some magical and childish thing that “we” can “get.” That doesn’t mean there is nothing that is realized. That goals are empty does not mean there are no goals. No goal afterall is a goal. There are no eyes (and yet through something these words are read), no ears (and yet through something these words are heard), no nose (and yet flowers and fried chicken have different smells).
“What we attain,” said Bokusan, “is the capacity to practice one practice.”
And Dogen, “On the Endeavor of the Way (Bendowa),” put it like this:
Although this inconceivable dharma is abundant in each person, it is not actualized without practice, and it is not experienced without realization. When you release it, it fills your hand–how could it be limited to one or many? When you speak it, it fills your mouth–it is not bounded by length or width.
Thank you for your practice,
Dosho
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