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.