In Dōgen’s thought there is no goal as distinct from the practice to attain it: The view that practice and enlightenment are not one is heretical. In the Buddha-Dharma they are one. Inasmuch as practice is based on enlightenment, the practice of a beginner is all of original enlightenment. Therefore, in giving instruction for practice, … Continue reading The Last Age: Dogen’s Practice
The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra states, “ ‘All existences’ without exception possess the Buddha nature” (issai shujō kotogoloku busshō o yūsu). However, in the Busshō (Buddha Nature) chapter of the Shabōgenzō, Dōgen reinterprets the Chinese in an ingenious manner to read, “All existences are the Buddha nature” (issai shujō shitsu u busshō). In this way he rejected … Continue reading The Last Age: Dogen’s Timeless Moment
In the Bendōwa (A Story of the Way) chapter of Dōgen’s major work Shōbōgenzō (The Eye and Treasury of the True Dharma), we find the following exchange: QUESTION: Is it possible to obtain the proof of enlightenment by this practice [of zazen] even during this evil latter age? ANSWER: The doctrinal schools emphasizing names and … Continue reading The Last Age: Dogen’s Rejection of Mappō
Like Dogen, Nichiren taught that Buddhahood is attained in the moment of practice: In the act of chanting Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō, one “simultaneously makes the cause and receives the effect of Buddhahood.” However, since one tends to revert to his ordinary deluded state when not actually engaged in practice, Nichiren also stressed the importance of strengthening the … Continue reading The Last Age: Polishing the Mirror of Englightenment
Nichiren (1222-1282), like Honen and Dogen, taught a single, exclusive practice for the age of mappō. However, rather than assigning absolute significance to some existing discipline, as these teachers had, Nichiren initiated a new form of Buddhist practice. In this last age, he asserted, men and women of whatever capacity could attain Buddhahood in their … Continue reading The Last Age: The Most Ideal Time
Back in January 2024 I discussed Dōgen, referencing Jacqueline Stone’s article, “Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age.” In fact, her explanation of Dōgen’s interpretation of time was one reason I sought out Leighton’s book on Dōgen. Stone writes: Because this “now” is absolute, and because “there is no time that has not arrived,” Buddhahood is … Continue reading About Time
Back in January 2024 I discussed Dōgen, referencing Jacqueline Stone’s article, “Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age.” The topic was Dogen’s Practice. Taigen Dan Leighton in “Dōgen and the Lotus Sutra” offers this: Both the Vajrayāna and the Zen emphasis is on fully expressed performance of reality, not its cognitive knowledge or interpretation, which reflects … Continue reading Bodhisattvic Workings
The one practice that was the “excellent medicine” for expressing the Lotus Sutra truth for Nichiren was recitation and veneration of the syllables “Namu Myōhōrengekyō,” the homage to the name of the Lotus Sutra that Nichiren saw as a symbolic embodiment of this enduring Śākyamuni and called “the essence of the chapter, ‘Duration of the … Continue reading Nichiren’s One Practice
From the flyleaf of the book: As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Indeed, says Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. … Continue reading Dōgen and the Lotus Sutra
Here you will find books that I have purchased – sometimes more than once and in multiple formats – and read. Included on this website are extensive quotes I’ve taken from these books. I’ve done this for my own use as a way of helping me remember. (Anyone under 60 will just have to take … Continue reading Selected Quotes