Fukan-Zazengi 2: A Big Question.


Now, when we research it, the truth originally is all around: why should we rely upon practice and experience? The real vehicle exists naturally: why should we put forth great effort? Furthermore, the whole body far transcends dust and dirt: who could believe in the means of sweeping and polishing? In general, we do not stray from the right state: of what use, then, are the tip-toes of training?


Master Dogen begins Fukan-Zazengi by posing a Big Question - if we are already living in reality, and every single part of us is a part of reality (which is already complete and real), then why do we have to practice at all to realise this?

This is the same question addressed by the 'Master Hotetsu's Fan' koan at the end of Genjo-Koan. It's said to be a question that Master Dogen carried with him from his first experience of Buddhist training with the Tendai sect, a Japanese school of esoteric Buddhism.

'Dust and dirt' and 'sweeping and polishing' refer to the Sixth Ancestor of Zen, Master Daikan (Chinese: Huineng) Eno, and an incident in The Platform Sutra where he replied to a monk's poem that described the self as a mirror that needs polishing. Master Daikan's response was that originally there is no dust and dirt, and nothing at all that needs cleaning.

Nishijima/ Cross note the optimistic view of Buddhism that sees us as, basically, not 'straying' very far from the truth, from this reality, at all times - and yet why do we sometimes feel so isolated or alienated from the world, so separate from other people and things? Why do we have a sense of separation that can make us feel so cut-off and lonely, or that has us view other people or the outside world (parts of our own lived reality) as cold, remote or even threatening?

Master Dogen begins his zazen instructions with this very essential, direct question, and he answers it directly in the next section of the text.

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