Genjokoan 11: Not One, Not Two but Real Things.



Genjokoan continues:


When the Dharma has not yet satisfied the body-and-mind we feel already replete with Dharma. When the Dharma fills the body-and-mind we feel one side to be lacking. For example, sailing out beyond the mountains and into the ocean, when we look around in the four directions, [the ocean] appears only to be round; it does not a to have any other form at all. Nevertheless, this great ocean is not round, and it is not square.


When we first get a glimpse in practice of the not-separateness of self and the universe we might think 'this is it, I've gotten it!' Master Dogen points out however that this experience of being 'replete' is not the end of practice -- we might find that there is much more to do in every new situation in life, that practice is ongoing and endless.


The 'roundness' (not-separateness) of everything is not the only feature of 'the myriad dharmas', or every single real thing that we encounter.

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