GENJO KOAN
As all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, birth and
death, and there are buddhas and sentient beings. As the myriad things are without an
abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth
and death. The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many and the one; thus
there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas. Yet,
in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread.
To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That
myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. Those who have
great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about
realization are sentient beings. Further, there are those who continue realizing beyond realization, who are in delusion throughout delusion. When buddhas are truly buddhas they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas. However, they are actualized buddhas, who go on actualizing buddhas.
All things are Buddha-dharma. This is the essence of Buddhism right here. The Zen Master Guite never gave a long dharma talk. He just held up one finger. All things are buddha-dharma. As the myriad things are without an abiding self all things are buddha-dharma. Why say more? Why even say this much? We can see the world as one and we can see the world as many, this is knowing that all things are buddha-dharma. Know that the one and the many are not separate It may seem that Dogen is making a distinction but these two ways of seeing things are just differing expressions of the single way of seeing things, all things are buddha-dharma.
In Mahayana Buddhism there are two essential strains of thought, oneness and emptiness. Such Sutras as the Avatamsaka and Surangama express a philosophy of Oneness, of non-duality. All things are buddha dharma. The other strain of thought, sunyata translated from the Sanscrit as emptiness, is the subject of a whole family of Sutras called the Prajnaparamita Sutras which includes the popular Heart Sutra. As all things are without an abiding self everything is empty of true existence I don't see these two philosophic positions as essentially different but rather as complementary. They must be understood together for there to be a deep understanding of either idea. It is because all things are One that all things are empty and it is because all things are empty that all things are One.
But as Zen practitioners we need not involve our selves in philosophic discussion but rather we go for the experiential root of both of these ideas, the place, the state of mind, where these ideas arise as obvious and we need not even talk about them. This is what meditation is about. Dogen says that the Buddha way is to leap clear of both these ideas. This does not mean that it is not important for the practitioner to understand Oneness and Emptiness, these are important mileposts in Zen training, but that he/she should not carry these ideas around as attachments as they function in life. One might say that Zen training is learning how to function with a clear mind, not pushed around by aversions and attachments. Yet we need to have passed through the gate of Oneness and Emptiness to more then just briefly experience this clear mind in daily life
To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That
myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.
Every line of the Genjo Koan is packed with meaning. This is why people have written whole books on this three page essay. In this blog it is impossible for me to do a line by line commentary as is customary in Zen. On the other hand all of Zen comes from one basic experience. Here in these two contrasting lines Dogen tells us about this experience in contrast to the experience of most people. The root of delusion is our persistent idea of an individual self. We experience through this idea. We develop attachments and aversions because of this idea. How do we experience the world if we forget our delusional idea of self? We experience the self as the other. But then the other has no self either. Everything is ephemeral ever changing impermanent phenomena bound as One and I am included. And in this knowledge we relax into an abiding intimacy where the self becomes the other. Maybe saying, the self becomes the other, is too much. Leaping clear of the many and the one, returning to life as a human being, we find ourselves experiencing and functioning with an ever present intimacy.
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