Genjokoan 10: Keeping the 'Real' in 'Realisation'.

Image by Roger McLassus: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en


Master Dogen turns to the nature of realisation, and its implications for those who practice it:


A person getting realization is like the moon being reflected in water: the moon does not get wet, and the water is not broken.


In Zen tradition, the full moon is a symbol of realisation. Because practice-realisation is just directly realising the self as it is, it doesn't hinder itself nor alter its original nature.


Though the light [of the moon] is wide and great, it is reflected in a foot or an inch of water. The whole moon and the whole sky are reflected in a dew-drop on a blade of grass and are reflected in a single drop of water. Realization does not break the individual, just as the moon does not pierce the water. The individual does not hinder the state of realization, just as a dew-drop does not hinder the sky and moon.


We can practice and realise that we are part of reality regardless of our circumstances or personal conditions. Everyone can fully practice and realise our true nature no matter what the circumstances of their lives, whether a great master or an ordinary person - everyone is a part of reality right now and can directly realise the fact.

 

The depth [of realization] may be as the concrete height [of the moon]. The longness and shortness of its moment should be investigated in large [bodies of] water and small [bodies of] water, and observed in the width and the narrowness of the sky and the moon.

 

Master Dogen encourages us to understand realisation in all the diverse, real situations of our lives, as opposed to 'realisation' as some abstract general principle. Although we don't always directly realise it, every diverse situation and encounter in our lives is a moment of our becoming reality.

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