Myoki Raizelah offers a reflection on Eihei Dogen's Genjo Koan during this fifth session of her shuso's class, Discovering Your Genjo Koan. This class was offered in support of the community's Winter Practice Period.
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Myoki Raizelah's talk notes:
Read Judith Ragir (from Receiving the Marrow) p. 99-100
I believe she is talking about the first lines of the Genjo Koan (which contains the whole of the Genjo Koan). In the first lines, Dogen tells us there is delusion, the relative world and there is enlightenment, the realm of the Absolute. Complete interpenetrating.
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.
When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.
Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.
Let’s start with the image of the moon reflected in the water.
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
The image of the moon reflected in water has long been used as a symbol of Emptiness/Boundlessness in Buddhism. Dogen wrote a whole fascicle called “Tsuki,” which is the Japanese word for “moon.” In it, he quotes Shakyamuni Buddha (from the Sutra of Radiance). Shakyamuni Buddha says, “The true Dharma Body of the Buddha is like empty space. Responding to things, it manifests form. It is like the moon in the water.”
In Nishiari’s commentary (p. 77) he writes, “The dharma of the entire dharmadhatu gets into this body that is five feet tall and this five feet tall body actualizes the enlightenment of the entire dharmadhatu.”
I had to look up that word, dharmadhatu: it is a Sanskrit term meaning “the realm of truth.” It can be translated as:
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absolute space
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basic space of phenomena
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domain of truth
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realm of phenomena
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sphere of reality
In this passage of the Genjo Koan, the moon represents the Dharmadhatu or the myriad dharmas and the drop of water represents the self. The moon is reflected in each and every drop of water, no matter how small (even if you are just five feet tall or even just an infant that is two feet tall).
Okumara writes (p.41), “Dogen tells us that our lives are limited and brief, yet we must awaken to the vast and eternal moonlight of the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion reflected in them.”
It is so true - that we are all limited, ego-centric, caught in the snares of the conditioned mind - and we live within the vast, boundless, interdependent network of all things.
Okumara again (p. 141) “We see that even though the vast moonlight is reflected in our practice, we remain the tiny drops of dew as the individual person. The vastness of the moon does not overwhelm the dewdrop of our lives, and the limits of our lives does not prevent the moonlight from reflecting in our practice…As Bodhisattvas, we must see how limited and deluded we are, and we must recognize the path is a long one, and in our practice we must investigate the height and vastness of the moon…Eternity is reflected in impermanence…We must endlessly go even higher and deeper in our practice so we can express the height and depth of the moon in all of our activities.”
This last sentence is the one that catches my attention. It is not enough to have experiences of the “moon”- of Emptiness, the vast space that is our nature. Okumura is saying here that the purpose of practice is to express “the height and depth of the moon in all of our activities.”
How do we express the height and depth (the vastness) of the moon in all of our activities? How do we bring our experience of the Absolute into our daily activities in the relative world? This is a question that has been driving my practice since my mid-thirties. I remember saying to my teacher then, “I don’t care if I have spiritual experiences if I can’t INTEGRATE them into my life.” I felt strongly about that. At the time, I was experiencing, touching, tasting the vastness of the Moon, but struggling in my life with depression and dysfunctional relationships. How do we, as Okumura says, express the height and depth of the moon in all of our activities?
Norman offers a simple answer: the precepts, the life of vow. My teacher, Chris, reminds me often that a Boddhisatva’s life is a life of vow. “Beings are numberless, I vow to save them.”
Maybe this is how the moon is reflected in the dewdrop of our lives. Maybe this is how we express the Absolute in the relative world. Back again at the first 3 lines of the Genjo koan in which Dogen expresses: the relative and the Absolute dimension of reality simultaneous and interpenetrating. Then Dogen says, “The Buddha way is basically leaping clear of the two and the one. Leaping clear?”
How do the precepts help us to leap clear? How do the precepts help us to realize the interpenetrating nature of the two and the one (the relative and Absolute)? How do the precepts help us actualize the moon in the dewdrop? To actualize the Buddha’s life in our daily activity?
Suzuki Roshi says (p. 80 Not Always So) “If you try to observe the precepts that is not true observation of the precepts. When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts. Our inmost nature can help us. When we understand the precepts as an expression of our inmost nature, that is the way as it is.”
This really echoes an earlier line in the Genjo Koan: “ To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening.”
You could say it this way: “ To carry the self forward and practice the precepts is delusion. That the precepts come forth and illuminate the self is awakening.” It’s beautiful to see it this way. Buddha’s life comes forth to illuminate the self.
The precepts are powerful. We take them over and over and over again in Zen practice. We receive the precepts in lay ordination, in priest ordination, in priest transmission, monthly at Red Cedar, and in a zen marriage. When I took the precepts again at my wedding in July, I got the chills. I was moved by them and they moved me - to take these vows with another in the presence of 100 (or so) witnesses. It’s hard to explain the feeling as I got the chills - like the precepts were touching my bones - it was like a quivering of my bones (the deepest tissue layer of the body).
(Chant the precepts together)
I take refuge in Buddha, embracing the spaciousness and love as practice.
I take refuge in Dharma, embracing all that life teaches me.
I take refuge in Sangha, embracing the community of Being.
I vow to avoid causing suffering, practicing with wise restraint and compassionate action.
I vow to increase awareness and happiness, practicing wholesome speech and activity.
I vow to live for and with all beings.
I vow to cultivate and encourage life - never harming another.
I vow to receive only what is offered - everything and nothing belongs to me.
I vow to remain faithful - always open and honest.
I vow to communicate truthfully - with integrity and kindness.
I vow to polish clarity - avoiding the confusion of intoxication.
I vow to speak with loving-kindness and compassion.
I vow to practice humility and gratitude - never praising myself at the expense of others.
I vow to share freely and generously - approaching the world with open hands.
I vow to cultivate equanimity- allowing and then letting go of anger and resentments.
I vow to embrace the Buddha nature of all beings, open my heart to the wisdom of the Dharma, and entrust myself to the love and support of the Sangha.
Triads (each person 5 minutes and then 5 minutes of discussion): How does precept practice show up at this time in your life? How do you work with the precepts? How do the precepts help you to realize the interpenetrating nature of the relative and Absolute? How do the precepts help you actualize the moon in the dewdrop? Do they help you actualize the Buddha’s life in your daily activity?
Group discussion: anything you want to share about precept practice in your life?
Re-read previous section:
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Continuing with a new section:
When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.
It is easy to think, when we begin to glimpse the experience of our true nature, when we first taste the spaciousness that is beyond the constriction of our conditioned mind, that we have attained satori (enlightenment). But in fact, that is only the beginning of a journey that is both beginningless and endless.
When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.
Paradoxical, but the longer I practice, the more I realize I don’t know. The longer I practice, the more I see how limited my views are by my conditioning and my karma. The more deeply I study, the more things I find that I don’t understand. And ironically, I still believe most of the time in my “I’m rightness.”
Uchiyama says (p.204) “When we are filled with the universal ‘Life of Buddha,’ we can see how small, foolish and ignorant we are. This is wisdom.”
Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.
In the Buddhist tradition, an analogy often used is the “the four views of water.” To a fish, water is a palace; to a Heavenly being, it’s a jewel; humans see water as water; a hungry ghost sees water as fire. These are “the four views of water.” We see things in our way, through the lens of our conditioning. And all that we know is what we know. Because we don’t know what we don’t know, we don’t necessarily see that our view is simply our view - our own self-centered view, limited by our own experience and karma. As Dogen says here, “you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach.”
Yet he continues by saying “the features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.”
Uchiyama (p.107) “There are innumerable characteristics of the ‘Life of Buddha’ beyond the boundaries of what we can conceive…This is true not only in the external world (oceans and mountains)...Our body and mind, which is right here, is also like this. Each and everything taking place in our body - circulation, breathing and thought - is animated by the reality of life, the ‘Life of Buddha’ that is vast, boundless and interpenetrating. “
This leaves me feeling just how tiny I am in this vast universe. Just a dewdrop. But I don’t feel small in a discouraged way. I feel inspired by the wisdom expressed here that the vast moon is reflected in this tiny dewdrop. Wow - the universe is awaiting my discovery. And yet, even though the vast moonlight is reflected in my practice and in this life, I remain a tiny dew drop of an individual person believing in her “I’m rightness.” For this reason, I keep practicing.
Group Discussion or triads if there is time: What is the Genjo Koan saying to you?
Maybe you want to share an ah-ha moment. Or an aspect of the teaching that popped out at you. How does the Genjo Koan speak to you?
When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.
Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.
