Article Contributed on: 5/8/2009 12:08:01 PM
This is a paper I wrote for a class on the Philosophy of China and Japan. The primary text that I was using to cite from is called, "Moon in a Dew Drop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen" and is edited by, Kazuaki Tanahashi. The Method I used for using in text citations is by first giving the name of the chapter in Japanese, and then writing the passage number it was taken from. I don't always share my papers, but I particularly liked writing this one and I love eastern philosophy so I thought I would share. Enjoy...
An important concept of Buddhism is the concept of anatman (or no self). This can also be understood as emptiness or a kind of radical interdependence. The action of Karma, created the situations in which you arose. All elements that surround us create the possibility for us to appear; and continue to influence us. Thus we are entirely a product of our environment; we are completely dependent on it and unable to function with out it.
However, I believe that there actually is no dependence or at least we misunderstand this concept by thinking about it. I am not denying that we are dependent on the world around us to sustain us, but I feel that in reading the writings of Dogen, there is perhaps even another layer of understanding that can be missed if we stop on the concept of interdependence. It appears to me that Dogen is going even deeper then the simplicity of radical interdependence.
"Know that in this way there are myriads of forms and hundreds of grasses throughout the entire earth, and yet each grass and each form itself is the entire earth. The study of this is the beginning of practice.
When you are at this place, there is just one grass, there is just one form; there is understanding of form and no-understanding of form; there is understanding of grass and no-understanding of grass. Since there is nothing but just this moment, the time-being is all the time there is. Grass-being, form-being are both time." (Uji, 4)
Interdependence is the first step, it is "the beginning of practice". The problem is, within that interdependence we cannot pull ourselves out of time or space. We cannot pull ourselves out of the moment, which is constantly alive, alert, and creating. "When you are at this place," means to be in the beginning to seeing the structure of the functioning world. But this is the gate, which most people do not pass through. They stop by reaching an understanding of the radical interdependence and most, never seem to venture further.
"Grass-being, form-being are both time," is Dogen's attempt to point to the deeper understand that he is trying to get to. Nothing is inseparable from the present moment, the fact that anything exists, is because of the present moment. Whatever came before was also within the present moment when it arose. Anything that exists must also become unexistent in the present moment.
"Just actualize all time as all being; there is nothing extra. A so-called "extra being" is thoroughly an extra being. Thus, the time-being half actualized is half of the time -being completely actualized, and a moment that seems to be missed is also completely being. In the same way, even the moment before or after the moment that appears to be missed is also complete-in-itself the time-being. Vigorously abiding in each moment is the time-being. Do not mistakenly confuse it as nonbeing. Do not forcefully assert it as being." (Uji, 11)
The word "being" appears almost a dozen times in the passage above, and for good reason. "A so-called "extra being" is thoroughly an extra being," is referring to conceptions in understanding. One conception is radical interdependence, and because there is nothing but the present, there is nothing to be dependent on, and yet all things are completely dependent on that present moment. Thus, radical interdependence is dependent on radical interdependence.
You cannot miss out on the moment, because even if you think you missed that single moment, you find yourself thinking about missing the moment within the very moment you feel you have been missing. Dogen recognized this in the passage above and saw the completeness of being, which goes beyond interdependence.
"In your study of flowing, if you image the objective to be outside yourself and that you flow and move through hundreds and thousands of worlds, for hundreds, thousands, and myriads of eons, you have not devotedly studied the Buddha way." (Uji, 14)
You are not moving, the present moment is not taking you anywhere, and if you feel that somehow you are moving, then you have missed the point entirely. The point is simply that in each moment change is created. The only thing that is moving is your perception.
There is nothing outside of you and if you turn outward, then you have entirely missed the point, or as Dogen puts it, the Buddha way. Just as you are dependent on the world, the entire world is dependent on you, and all things are dependent on the present moment in order to exist. Without the one to observe the world, the world would have no experience. Just as the human being is empty, the entire world is empty.
"Mind is the moment of actualizing the fundamental point; words are the moment of going beyond, unlocking the barrier. Arriving is the moment of casting off the body; not-arriving is the moment of being one with just this, while being free from just this. In this way you must endeavor to actualize time-being." (Uji, 18)
It is within the moment that mind arises. It is in this moment that the mind, distracts us from its own birth within the moment. Words can be used in order to recognize that we have forgotten that the mind was born in the moment. The moment we recognize that the mind is born within the moment, just as all other things, that is when we arrive at a kind of understanding. It is when we move beyond the simplicity of external perception.
However, even if you don't recognize this, or do not "actualize time-being", it is still the case. By not recognizing, one can also recognize this factor, by simply being. If one becomes present in the moment, then these conceptions become irrelevant and the experience itself is simply what matters. In either case it is the importance of the actualization of the present moment that is important.
"People of the present say you should practice what is easy to practice. These words are quite mistaken. They are not at all in accord with the Buddha way. If this alone is what you regard as practice, the even lying down will be wearisome. If you find one thing wearisome, you will find everything wearisome. It is obvious that people who are fond of easy practice are not capable of the way." (Gakudo Yojin-Shu, 6)
This is not an easy practice. To bring oneself back into the present constantly is a tricky endeavor; not that you have ever really left it. We spend most of our time thinking about the future, or reminiscing in the past, rather then accepting the moment and existing in the truth of what is. People do not even realize, that in thinking of the future, or reminiscing in the past, you are living within the present, for it is in the present that you are utilizing these mental processes.
Sometimes it can be this simple recognition that can be enough to bring you back into the truth of the moment. However, most the time this is not enough, one cannot simply think their way back into the present, but they must also feel their presence within the present moment.
"You should know that even though all things are liberated and not tied to anything, they abide in their own phenomenal expression. However, when most human beings see water they only see that it flows unceasingly. This is a limited human view; there are actually many kinds of flowing. Water flows on earth, in the sky, upward, and downward. It can flow around a single curve or into many bottomless abysses. When it rises it becomes clouds. When it descends it forms abysses." (Sansui-Kuo, 13)
Again, knowing of the present moment is not enough. One must exist there fully. If one simply knows the moment, and does not utilize it to its greatest potential, then the act of knowing the moment is entirely worthless. "There are actually many kinds of flowing," means that we must learn to flow and change within the moment. The moment is constantly changing, and if we hold on to our own rigidity and conceptions, if we allow ourselves to get in our own way, then we are unable to flow with the moment.
This is why radical interdependence can be a dangerous concept. It too, like any other concept can get in the way of our flowing with the moment. We must of coarse be mindful of radical interdependence, and the effects of our actions on all other things around us, as well as their effect on us; but if we do not allow ourselves to flow with the moment because of it, we lose the point of actualizing the greatest potential of the moment that we are in.
"To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly." (Genjo Koan, 4)
The self can easily get in the way of practice and for Dogen practice is enlightenment. Practice is the moment. It is the actualization of the flow of life within each and every second. It is about being with life and not allowing your "self" to get in the way of your ability to be with life.
The only thing to be, is present. Being with life is about the patience, compassion, and flow of the moment. Dogen presents these elements in his writing of the Bodaisatta Shisho-Ho (Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance). These four qualities are giving, kind speech, beneficial-action, and identity-action. When one lives within these methods, they begin to actualize the elements of life. Or, when one realizes the truth of life, they begin to live these qualities. One naturally follows the other.
Life is not about realizations; it is about the experience within the moment. One can find great peace without a realization. The realization, just as the understanding of radical interdependence, is the doorway into the possibility of enlightenment. Realizations presuppose that the truth was not always there. Even if your realization was that the truth was always there, you assumed that at some point you were separate from the very truth of life. This cannot be so. The realization is, that in fact there is no realization to be had; for how can you realize the fundamental principles on which all life is based and from which you yourself came into existence?
Michael Kilman
www.ActualizingPotential.com