Mountains and Rivers Sutra<\/em>, Dogen says about those who hold this view, \u201cThe illogical stories mentioned by you bald-headed fellows are only illogical for you, not for Buddha ancestors. Even though you do not understand, you should not neglect studying the Buddha ancestors\u2019 path of understanding. Even if it is beyond understanding in the end, your present understanding is off the mark.\u201d<\/p>\nHe also says that those who hold the view that the buddhadharma is illogical are immature, foolish, have never truly studied,\u00a0 and are really, really stupid. So there.<\/p>\n
Dogen says this in regard to the views of monks he met in China regarding Nanchuan\u2019s sickle, Huangpo\u2019s staff, and Linchi\u2019s shout. Presumably, shorthand for the koan tradition.<\/p>\n
If there is an understanding that is understandable to Buddha ancestors, how does it unfold? What is the inner path of this undertaking?<\/p>\n
An old friend, a black-belt in Shotokan Karate, told me in that tradition there are three stages \u2013 birth, mastery, and breaking. That fits Dogen Zen work quite well \u2013 and I\u2019d add a fourth stage: flapping with vitality.<\/p>\n
When most of us are born in this Zen work, it\u2019s like coming home. We find in the buddhadharma an expression of what we\u2019ve always intuitively felt about this life. And because it\u2019s so damn ungraspable, we try to figure it out with our intellect while we while away the time in zazen. Fortunately, from time to time, we follow the instructions and let go of our thinking. In letting go of thinking, we discover a more and more subtle quality of thought.<\/p>\n
Through perseverance, increasing intimacy and grace, we suddenly find ourselves pivoting mysteriously. We bridge the gap and are no longer looking at the buddhadharma from the outside. This is mastery.<\/p>\n
And then to our surprise we find that in order to live the buddhadharma, what we have mastered must be broken, or rather, we find that we and it, we-as-it, have always been broken. And in the perfection of brokenness, we are no longer bound by the tradition so it can be expressed freely.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s left but to flap along with vitality, cursing the gods and buddhas, howling with the coyotes and the far-off train whistle on a hot summer night?<\/p>\n
Speaking of howling, the picture above is a self-portrait by Dogen, probably from 1249, just a few years before his death. He painted it on the night of the harvest moon and wrote a poem for it while he was feeling good (the calligraphy at the top of the painting). Okumura and Leighton (Dogen\u2019s Extensive Record<\/em>, p. 602) translate it like this:<\/p>\nAutumn is spirited and refreshing as this mountain ages.<\/em>
\n A donkey observes the sky in the well, white moon floating.<\/em>
\n One is not dependent;<\/em>
\n One does not contain.<\/em>
\n Letting go, vigorous with plenty of gruel and rice,<\/em>
\n Flapping with vitality, right from head to tail,<\/em>
\n Above and below the heavens, clouds and water are free.<\/em><\/p>\nMay we all go on practicing enlightenment just like this.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What\u2019s the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I\u2019m asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I\u2019m developing an online study program, Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training (which is full, btw, so if you\u2019re interested in doing this work, stayed tuned for openings or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2013\/08\/Dogen-174x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html\",\"name\":\"Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Flapping with Vitality: What’s the Point of Dogen Study?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \\\"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\\\" \\\"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\\\" and \\\"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?","description":"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?","og_description":"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html","og_site_name":"Wild Fox Zen","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port","article_published_time":"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2013\/08\/Dogen-174x300.jpg"}],"author":"Dosho Port","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dosho Port","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html","name":"Flapping with Vitality: What's the Point of Dogen Study?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-27T00:22:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd"},"description":"What's the point of study in Dogen Zen? Given my Dogenophile disposition, I'm asked this question from time to time, and especially now that I'm","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/08\/flapping-with-vitality-whats-the-point-of-dogen-study.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Flapping with Vitality: What’s the Point of Dogen Study?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/","name":"Wild Fox Zen","description":"Living the Dream","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd","name":"Dosho Port","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dosho Port"},"description":"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\" \"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\" and \"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\"","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2013\/08\/Dogen.jpg\" "\\"Dogen\\"")
<\/a>What\u2019s the point of study in Dogen Zen?<\/p>\n