Dogen Zen Belfast

Master Dogen continues his discussion of 'doing good' emphasising that 'good', in the Buddhist sense, is something much more direct and fundamental than ideas or theories of doing good... Doing right is good doing, but it is not something that can be fathomed intellectually. Good doing in the present is a vigorous eye, but it is beyond intellectual consideration. Master Dogen uses the term 'a vigorous eye' to represent the view we gain in practice, in 'dropping off body and mind', or our life experienced without it being chopped up by our thinking 'good' and 'bad', 'this' and 'that', 'me' and 'other' etc. All our actions are fundamentally like this, they aren't abstract thoughts or feelings. [Vigorous eyes] are not realized for the purpose of considering the Dharma intellectually. Consideration by vigorous eyes is never the same as consideration by other things.  Learning in zazen is therefore different...

Master Dogen goes on to discuss the nature of 'doing good', but by 'good' he means something much more fundamental and immediate and direct than theories of morality or ethics alone...  The many kinds of right do not arise from causes and conditions and they do not vanish due to causes and conditions. The many kinds of right happening now, that make up our whole existence now, are of a totally spontaneous nature. Our whole existence fundamentally happens instantaneously from moment to moment regardless of what causes and conditions are present. The many kinds of right are real dharmas, but real dharmas are not many kinds of right.  In our experience though, actions are real and have real consequences that may be right or otherwise, but ultimately our actions are beyond 'right' and 'wrong' ideation as they are real things that happen instantaneously outside the sphere of our personal or societal thoughts and values. This seems like a contradiction, but it...

Master Dogen looks at committing wrongs from two important viewpoints: the view of our ideas and values, and the view devoid of those values - idealism and materialism, as Nishijima Roshi discussed it:  Those who recognize that wrongs arise from causes and conditions, but do not see that these causes and conditions and they themselves are [the reality of] 'not committing', are pitiful people. Just looking at it from the point of view of our self, our own ideas and values, is not the Buddhist view of ethical conduct. We have to drop our views and feelings about things, our 'self' as we might generally understand it. The seeds of buddhahood arise from conditions and, this being so, conditions arise from the seeds of buddhahood. As mentioned previously, Master Dogen observes that buddhahood is not beyond the area or influence of cause and effect however, as some people held it to be. A buddha can still commit wrongs, and our Buddhist practice has effects. It is not that wr...

Master Dogen continues his talk on Buddhist ethics on the basis of the very practical term 'do not commit wrongs'. In this section he explores the area of our personal karma in practice, cause and effect... In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down through the twelve hours, we should carefully consider the fact that when living beings are becoming buddhas and becoming patriarchs, we are becoming Buddhist patriarchs, even though this [becoming] does not hinder the [state of a] Buddhist patriarch which has always belonged to us. There is a mutuality to Buddhist practice: When in our actions we are realising that we are fundamentally free, that we are not our thoughts and feelings, we are realising that all living beings are like that, thereby we are making them like that. While this can be described as being the state of being a Buddhist ancestor, this isn't a fixed state, because it is the dynamic state of our real actions right now, which is not hindered by any fixed st...

Image of a red kite by Thomas Kraft: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en Master Dogen's view is that if we don't do wrong then right is already happening. This is why he takes the practical position of emphasising 'do not commit wrongs'. Jumping ahead in the text a bit: When it becomes the preaching of the supreme state of bodhi, and when we are changed by hearing it, we hope not to commit wrongs, we continue enacting not to commit wrongs, and wrongs go on not being committed; in this situation the power of practice is instantly realised. Through sitting zazen, sitting 'dropping off body and mind', we can learn intuitively that many of our actions based on our thoughts and feelings are taking us a wrong direction, and that we needn't follow them. This is a key point to Buddhist ethics that distinguishes it from a theoretical or intellectual position: we have to practice and realise it directly in dropping off theories and positions. A litt...

Last time, in relation to Master Dogen's chapter about Buddhist ethics or 'not doing wrong', I mentioned the area of human nature. This is a pretty important matter, as our view of it can in no small way determine how we view ourselves, other people, society and humanity. Basically, Buddhism sees humans as fundamentally good, until we do something wrong. This is why Master Dogen takes the very practical angle of 'not doing wrongs' - if we're not doing wrongs then right is already happening. Buddhism has a fairly open, positive view of human nature then, or at least it sees that our inherently good nature, our buddha-nature, is always accessible to us when we just stop doing wrongs (Master Dogen discusses some of the real-life complexities of this later in the chapter). Buddha-nature is when we are realising that we are not our thoughts and feelings and are in accord with wider reality. In "dropping off body and mind" we express and actualise buddha-nat...