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    3 views8 pages

    Hello PDF

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    of 8
    658 THE KAMAKURA PrAIOD Mida no ek no mina marcha because Amida’ name is directed toward me, ‘idoku wa jupps ni michi tama its vstae and merit fills the ten quarters shoji shah mo nak mi ni te I, who lack even the slightest merey and love, tu riya wa omou maj ‘cannot expect to benefit sentient beings Nyorai no gansen imasazu wa not for the ship of Anvida’s vow, Iuka o ka de ku wataru beki hhow could we eross this sea of suffering? {Intvoctctin and translations by Jack Stoneman DOGEN Pogen (1200-1353) vas bom into a poner aristocrat family is Kyo in 300. Orphaned at an early age, he is sad to have entered the Tendai monastic comunity on Mount Hiei at thirteen and to have studied there for thee yean. Upon leaving Mount Hiei, he moved t9 Kenn a monastery established in Koto by Bisa (141-1215 forthe practice of Zen, where he studied under Kia’ disciple Myozen (84-225 until 1233, when he followed Myozen ona pigtinn- age to Mount Tia China. According to the hagiography tans- rtd by the Sot school of Japanese Zen (which recognizes Dagen a its Best Japanese patriarch), Dogen stadied with various Zan masters in the Lin ( Rinsai) tation, and i 335 with master Roig J, Nyoj, 1163-125), under ‘whom Dogen is spposed to have experienced great allanmet, which he de- serbed as “casting off body and mind” (shine datsraku). This expresion refers to the abandonment of any atachment to mental activites (ineluding those aiming at attaining buddhahood), which then allows ene to “ust si (shitan taza), another central eoncept in Dagens approach to Buddhist prac tice and philosophy. For Dagen, ifthe state of “just sitting” is achieved, the inherent buddha-natue (buss) is manifested or realized. agen returned to Japan in 1327 with a certificate of dar from Rojing and took up residence at Keni, by now a prestigious Tendal nonatery whose focus was the Rnzai practice of Zen (seated inediation aid ‘oan studies). Dagen's fist important tact on what he regarded as proper Budhin practice ss Bendowe (Discourse a Pursuing the Way, 1231, n which he portars seated meditation (zazen) asthe “right entrance” to the Buddhist dharma as catied out and transmitted since the tie of Shakyasnan bv 1231, ai in south an (publi ase) teh term for specifi digs sid eps of ancien (Chan nd Zen masts that te wed a objet of mediation in Zen. Many of hese “ees ad constr by absogent mass ate epee in collins TIE KANAKURA PERIOD 659 Dagen let the Kennini and moved to 4 temple hall in Fokakisa, on the ‘outskirts of Kyoto, where he eventually ereated a new monastery, the Koshi Jn 1253, on the occasion of the fist summer eta there, he wrote Bek engi (Universal Promotion ofthe Principles of Zazen, in whic he describes the importance of seated meditation forthe realization of buddhahood and provides specific instruction on how to practice seated melitation, Sections of this text ako appear in Bendoha (Vhe Dharma of Pursuing the Way, 125) cluded here. The Sot sehool’s focus on this practice, partienlarly om seated ieditation, is considered to be Dagens chief conteibution, During his ears at Kesha, Dagen wrote Genjakian (Realising Ultimate Realty, 1253), Uji (Be ing Time, 1240), and Buss (Buddha nature, 12). lo these writings. Dogen establishes his aetivity within a patriarchal ineage connecting him to Rujing Bodhidharma (Gos ptsiarch of Chan/Zen in China), and Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha) himself, Most ofthese teas eventually formed the core of Dgen’s magnum opus, Shobigenzd sanbyakwoke (Listing of Thee Hundred Items onthe Treasury of the True Dhurma lye). One ofthe distinctive chacac- teristics ofthis work is that it is writen entirely in Japanese, a clear break with the convention of Japanese Buddhist commentaries and texts being written in Chinese ln tur, this radical change introduced this Buddhist iterate toa snuch wider audience, including educated lay snetnbers In his philosophy of practice, Dogen develops the idea that evry phenom cvon “is” baddha-natue, a state that needs coreeet practice in order to be realized In this sense, he posits the identification of practi (ccaization) of buddhahood, and it i in this context that "just siting” with one's "body and mind cast of represents the conect form of practice. This view of practice as enlightenment is diametially opposite to the pervasive notion of mappo, the later age of the Buddhist lav, in which both practice and calightenment were thought to be impossible, «notion that Dogen rejected Dagen reinterpreted the dichotomy’ of space and tine as something akin to a space-time unit or “beingtime” (aj), which he sees as complete as well as fully interelated with every other instance of eingtime. In each ofthese i stances, proper practice leads to the realization of buddha-natue at that mo ‘ment and place, «proces that nus be repeated for every moment. Tiss the season why, even though buddha-ature is inherent, practice must be con Fushermore, since eal instance of bengtime fly encompasses every other instance of beingtime, at the moment of tre attainment all ther beingtime

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