Bendowa [5]

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4: The Tendai school and Kegon teachings have both came across to this country; they represent the cream of Buddhism. In the Shingon school-transmitted directly from Vairocana Tathagata to Vajrasattva - there is no stain between master and disciple. This school maintains that "this mind is the Buddha", and that "this mind becomes the Buddha"; it does not advocate long step-by-step training. It teaches the simultaneous enlightenment of the five Buddhas. It is unexcelled in Buddhism. In view of all this what superiority does zazen have that you recommend it alone and exclude the other teachings?

A: You must understand that in Buddhism the stress falls on the truth or falsity of the training-not on the excellence or mediocrity of the teaching or the depth or shallowness of the principle. In times past, men were drawn to Buddhism by grass, flowers, mountains, and water. Some received the Buddha seal by grasping dirt, stones, sand, and pebbles. The dimensionless letters overflow all forms, and we can hear the sermon now in a speck of dust. "This mind is the Buddha" - these words are like a moon reflected in water; and the meaning of the words: "sitting cross-legged is itself Buddhism"? Like a figure in the mirror. Do not be victimized by clever manipulation of words. When I recommend the training of immediate enlightenment, I want to make you a true human being by indicating the superior path transmitted by the Buddhas and patriarchs. To transmit the Buddha law you should always make the enlightened person your Zen master. Don't follow a scholar who counts the letters of the scripture. This would be like the blind leading the blind. In the teachings directly transmitted from the Buddhas and patriarchs, the Buddha law is sustained by respect for the enlightened person. When the Gods of darkness and light reject the Zen masters and when the enlightened Arhats ask the path, they provide the means of opening the Buddha Mind. In the other teachings we could not endure it. The followers of Buddhism only have to study the Buddha law.

You must understand that we do not lack the highest wisdom. Though we enjoy it eternally, we do not always harmonize with it. This is because we meet setbacks on the Great Way through clinging to individual opinion and chasing after material things. Through individual opinions various phantoms arise. For example, there are countless views on the 12 chains of transmigration, the 25 worlds, the three vehicles, the five vehicles, the Buddha, and the non-Buddha. Training in the true path does not require learning these opinions. So when we sit cross-legged, depending on the Buddha sign and abandoning all things, we can enjoy great wisdom. We enter at once the superior field beyond delusion and enlightenment - a field without distinction between sage and commoner. How can one who clings to verbal tools rise up to this?

Interpretation
This is a very interesting passage. The questioning now moves to other schools of Buddhism that were dominant in Japan at the time. Tendai, Kegon and Shingon are other Japanese Mahayana schools teaching similar things to Zen but with more emphasis on sutra study and philosophy and a bit less emphasis on zazen. The questioner wants to know why zazen should be superior to the other schools.

Dogen replies by saying that what is important in Buddhism is the effectiveness of the practice not theoretical understanding - variations in doctrine are unimportant because they are not to be understood as dogma. The real meaning of Buddhism goes beyond words and letters and can be equally understood from the forms of nature around us. It is worth noting here that although Dogen sometimes appears rather dogmatic himself - insisting in the previous questions that zazen is the only true gate of Buddhism - here he openly acknowledges the realisation of people in the past, through a variety of phenomena, 'by grasping dirt, stones, sand, and pebbles'. The true meaning of Buddhism goes beyond language. And he warns the questioner not to be fooled by words such as: 'This mind is the Buddha' (given by the quetioner as a Shingon teaching) and 'sitting cross-legged is itself Buddhism' (the Zen teaching Dogen himself is giving) and that they are like 'a moon reflected in water' and 'a figure in the mirror'. That is, they are just devices to help the listener to truly realise the meaning of Buddhism - they are not dogmas or metaphysical claims or philosophical arguments to be pondered. They should not be clung to and they should not be taken literally - they are merely metaphors.

Teachers who are attached to theoretical, dogmatic understanding lead people astray as they don't understand the real meaning themselves. The person to follow is an enlightened person not a scholar.

You must understand that we do not lack the highest wisdom. Though we enjoy it eternally, we do not always harmonize with it.

This is an expression of Dogen's most characteristic teaching - an answer to the doubt he had when he left Japan for China in his youth - "Both the esoteric and external doctrines of the Buddha teach that enlightenment is inherent in all beings from the outset. If this is so, why do all the Buddhas, past, present, and future, seek enlightenment?". This is a theme that comes up again and again in Dogen's work and is the central subject of the Genjokoan.

Now Dogen brings it back to Zazen - why zazen is the Buddha Gate rather than intellectual opinionating. We get 'out of harmony' because we meet setbacks on the Great Way through clinging to individual opinion and chasing after material things. Through individual opinions various phantoms arise. For example, there are countless views on the 12 chains of transmigration, the 25 worlds, the three vehicles, the five vehicles, the Buddha, and the non-Buddha. Training in the true path does not require learning these opinions. So when we sit cross-legged, depending on the Buddha sign and abandoning all things, we can enjoy great wisdom. We enter at once the superior field beyond delusion and enlightenment - a field without distinction between sage and commoner. How can one who clings to verbal tools rise up to this? Again he makes it clear that attachment to views and philosophy is not true Buddhism - it is dualism, samsara. Only the all-inclusive, non-dualistic mind of someone who sits in open, unattached and inner stillness of zazen realises the Dharma.

Bendowa [4]

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3: Such reasons as correct transmission by the unexcelled method of the Tathagatas and following in the footsteps of the patriarchs are beyond common
sense. To ordinary people, reading the sutra and saying the Nembutsu are the
natural means to enlightenment. You just sit cross-legged and do nothing. How is
this a means to enlightenment?

A: You look on the meditation of the Buddhas and the supreme law as just sitting and doing nothing. You disparage Mahayana Buddhism. Your delusion is deep; you are like someone in the middle of the ocean crying out for water. Fortunately we are already sitting at ease in the self-joyous meditation of the Buddhas. Isn't this a great boon? What a pity that your true-eye remains shut-that your mind remains drunk. The world of the Buddhas eludes ordinary thinking and consciousness. It cannot be known by disbelief and inferior knowledge. To enter one must have right belief. The disbeliever, even if taught, has trouble grasping it. For example, when the Buddha was preaching at Grdhrakuta, the disbelievers were allowed to go away. To bring out the right belief in your mind you must train and study. If you cannot do this, you should quit for awhile, regretting that you lack the influence of
the law from a former beneficial relation. What good are such actions as reading
the sutras and saying the Nembutsu. How futile to think that Buddhist merits
accrue from merely moving the tongue and raising the voice. If you think this
covers Buddhism, you are far from the truth. Your only purpose in reading the
sutras should be to learn thoroughly that the Buddha taught the rules of gradual
and sudden training and that by practicing his teachings you can obtain enlightenment. You should not read the sutras merely to pretend to wisdom
through vain intellections. To strive for the goal of Buddhism by reading many
sutras is like pointing the hill to the north and heading south. It is like putting a square peg in a round hole. While you look at words and phrases, the path of your training remains dark. This is as worthless as a doctor who forgets his prescription. Constant repetition of the Nembutsu is also worthless-like a frog in a spring field croaking night and day. Those deluded by fame and fortune, find it especially difficult to abandon the nembutsu. Bound by deep roots to a profit-seeking mind, they existed in ages past, and they exist today. They are to be pitied. Understand only this: if enlightened Zen masters and their earnest disciples correctly transmit the supreme law of the seven Buddhas, its essence emerges, and it can be experienced. Those who merely study the letters of the sutras cannot know this. So put a stop to this doubt and delusion. Follow the teachings of a real master and, by zazen; attain to the self-joyous samadhi of the Buddhas.

Interpretation
When it is suggested that zazen is 'just sitting and doing nothing' Dogen accuses the questioner of delusion and of blindness to what is all around him - you are like someone in the middle of the ocean crying out for water. This is interesting - he is pointing the questioner to reality that is within and all around him - sometimes this is called 'Buddha nature'. This point is even more explicit when he says Fortunately we are already sitting at ease in the self-joyous meditation of the Buddhas. Isn't this a great boon? What a pity that your true-eye remains shut-that your mind remains drunk
To enter one must have right belief. This corresponds directly to the Right View aspect of the Eightfold Path
He then turns the question around and queries how chanting the Nembutsu and reading the sutras in themselves could ever lead to awakening. The Nembutsu practice is chanting the name of Amida Buddha - the Buddha of compassion - in the hope or faith that Amida's will compassionately take one to the 'Pure Land' of Buddhas after death. This form of Buddhism has evolved into a supernatural form not unlike animism or theistic religion. It relies on chanting (rather than understanding) sutras to invoke the aid of imaginary beings for efficacy in taking one to an imaginary and happier place. It is superstitious and dualistic. Repeating them like parrots, they don't understand that the sutras are training instructions. What difference should it make to the universe whether we chant or not. Such practices are captured by dualistic delusions and attachments. With correct communication, enlightenment is something which can be experienced for oneself. So, Dogen urges them to give up doubt and delusion and practice zazen with a zen master to experience this for yourselves.

He is similarly scornful of 'reading many sutras', saying that it is merely intellectual vanity and that the only purpose of it is 'to learn thoroughly that the Buddha taught the rules of gradual and sudden training and that by practicing his teachings you can obtain enlightenment'. It's interesting to note that Dogen at least considers both gradual and sudden training to be valid. Other than that he has so far insisted that there is just one gate: zazen.