In the fourth talk of the 2024 Samish sesshin, Nomon Tim continues his reflections on Eihei Dōgen's Gakudo-Yojinshu, Points to Watch in Practicing the Way, which was written soon after his return from China.  This was the second of three talks given on Dōgen's early work. 

This text, translated by Shohaku Okamura, is the first of three translations in his freely available digitally published book Heart of Zen: Practice without Gaining-mind.  

Stream audio:

Tim's talk notes:

What a beautiful and unexpected practice we had this morning of standing in the rain together! Such a rich experience.

The little spatters of rain on my jacket. At first it was mostly robins singing to us [play song] then the chickadees were singing [play song].

I worried a little about the cooks - hoping they didn't feel too badly about running late.

I worried vaguely about you all - was it okay this standing in the rain practice?

I tuned back into myself and found I wasn't worried or upset. I was really fine. Just standing, breathing, listening - a little cool maybe but not wet at all.

I noticed the standard impulse of "standing in the rain is bad" sort of pinging around my brain and I questioned that a little. Is it?

I thought about the much more rigorous and uncomfortable practice Zen monks have done over the years and still do. At Eihei-ji the monks enter in February and stand in the snow at the giant ornate front gate - the Senmon, mountain gate, in their straw sandals and traveling robes. I don't remember for how long but longer than the 10 minutes or so we stood there. A few days?

It's pretty much a given they'll be let into the monastery, it's not that, but that's the first Zen ritual they do - standing at the gate and then sitting in a special waiting room for a few days being ritually ignored - the ritual of tangaryō.

I wondered if someone would come and whisper in my ear, "what should we do?" or "are you sure breakfast isn't ready? maybe we didn't hear the bell!" And I felt myself stiffen a little - I was ready to be grouchy and judgmental of that person I think!

But no one did do that! We stayed in the practice! So wonderful.

We just stood together. Breathing. Being. Listening. Feeling. Plenty of thinking I'm sure. Maybe some tape loops running in the mind but I'm sure with the power of sesshin supporting us we could see those thoughts weren't very important, or even particularly relevant - certainly not thoughts to act on. Just thoughts: the conditioned mind on high idle purring along spitting out thoughts and associations and worries and projections. As real as the smoke from an exhaust pipe - maybe that's a good analogy mostly harmless - car exhaust is most nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapors with a sprinkling of toxic carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter but with a little bit of toxicity in there - kind of like our thoughts can be, no? That's a little negative though as Zhaozhou was reminding us yesterday words are our great gift as well as our great curse plunging us into confusion.

And the mind returned again to standing. The feeling of the cool damp breeze. Little tiny raindrops, is it lightening up a little? The person in front of you shifting a little. Someone else nearby standing so still and solid. Feeling both alone and also part of something much bigger.

New birds singing. Breathing. Breathing. Standing. Being.

The BELL! so loud!

In we go for breakfast. And did you lose your mindfulness then?

The great blessing of this experience is this opportunity for continuous practice, don't you think. There is so much support in the silence, the schedule, the setting, the presence of our brothers and sisters. So many invitations back to right here.

We read as silence began on Friday some fancy words that I think I cribbed from a SF Zen Center version:

Be silent and still. Sesshin is a time to diligently care for and collect body and mind in one suchness. It is an opportunity to discover anew, clarify and actualize our ultimate concern.

What is this ultimate concern? Maybe the mind goes to goals and plans or intentions: right I need to pay more attention to ______. But perhaps this ultimate concern is a lot more immediate than that. This breath. This feeling. This bird song. This moment of standing in the rain. Actualizing our ultimate concern.

Returning to my lecture topic: Dōgen's early writing Gakudo Yojinshu "Points to Watch in Practicing the Way"

You might remember that Dōgen opens with a strong focus on arousing Bodhi Mind which he explains is the mind that clearly sees the impermanent nature of all things. And how naturally we live in alignment with Dharma when that's what we see and understanding in the flow of experience. We see how fleeting and provisional all of our ideas and labels and concepts are. How it's not just that we can learn to let go but that there was nothing to hold onto in the first place. That there's nothing wrong with pleasure but to see it's nature is like evening breeze or a drop of morning dew. Lovely, peaceful and already gone. And that this is true beyond the world of the senses: to the core of our universe-self that even delusion is impermanent and fleeting, the practice is too, that Buddha is. The understanding he's always rooted in of practice - enlightenment is just the simple way of things in bodhi mind. In impermanence.

That's enough to practice with for a sesshin, or for a lifetime, right there but Dōgen loved to keep going.

I appreciated how Chris spoke about learning how to appreciate Dōgen over time. It does take some patient persistence over time that's for sure. I think I'm just lately starting to appreciate Dōgen a bunch more.

Sometimes I think about reading Dōgen like doing a kind of yoga with your mind. It's not enough in yoga to learn about an asana pose and just do it once, right? You need to do a variety of asanas over and over and feel your muscles and joints and ligaments working, softening, sometimes releasing to feel how your mind-body is.

Dōgen is a good yoga teacher: consider it this way - mind works, bends, stretches - and consider it that way - mind reaches, gets frustrated, lets go - and consider it this other way - mind is just about ready to give up and but there's some glimmer or feeling deep in the mind, but then maybe we try to figure out what we just figured out and it's gone. Oof. At the end we're a bit exhausted but hopefully like after a yoga class we're happy to have practiced. We feel good. Grateful but also we can see we have a long way to go.

Next in chapter 1, Dōgen does a really interesting thing for his audience of Japanese Buddhists in year 1234: he brings up the core teachings of the competition. One core teaching each from Tendai, Kegon, and Shingon Buddhism. At first it seems like he's just appreciating these teachings, then it seems like maybe he'd set up a little line of straw men so he could knock them down, but then he pivots back to appreciation for these teachings, but not he says as the best way to awaken Bodhi Mind. Good teachings for later on though, but start with Dōgen Zen to understand Bodhi Mind than sees impermanence and the interpenetration of practice and enlightenment.

Here's this section a bit elided and commented by me:

[Tendai] Some say that bodhi-mind is the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (ultimate awakening) transcending fame and profit.  Some say that bodhi-mind is the mind that contemplates the three-thousand-realms in the space of a single thought.

[Kegon] Some say that bodhi-mind is the Dharma-gate to the mind that does not bear thought.

[Shingon] Still others say that bodhi-mind is the mind that enters the realm of the Buddha.

These people do not understand bodhi-mind; moreover, they recklessly slander it. They are awfully far from the buddha-way, [but actually] arousing the mind that does not bear thought or the mind that realizes the forms of the three-thousand-realms are excellent practices after having aroused bodhi-mind.

From a historical frame, Dōgen was definitely trying to insert himself into the spiritual marketplace of the time. How do you do that? Your praise your product and cast some shade on the other company's products, sure.

But here he also praises the other options.

Maybe we can just appreciate his enthusiastic bodhisattva intention here. In his heart he felt so deeply that what he'd come to understand in China was so very deep and beneficial for beings.

We all get enthusiastic about what we find helpful, don't we? Even the shyest among us here proselytize whether we notice it or not. How would Dōgen be any different?

Chapter 2 of Gakudo Yojinshu is quite short and straight forward, I'll read the whole thing:

Honest advice given by a loyal minister often has the power to change the emperor’s will. There are none who fail to change their minds when the buddhas and ancestors offer a single word.

Unless the emperor himself is wise, honest advice will be lost on him. Unless the practitioner is a capable one, he will not accept the Buddha’ s word. If you do not change your mind, you cannot cut off transmigration in the cycle of life and death. If you do not heed honest advice, you cannot carry out benevolent policy and govern the country well.

So if a loyal minister can change the mind of even an emperor are you willing to have your mind changed by good teachings?

The conditioned mind is so full of opinions, judgements, certainties about ourselves and others. About how it all should be. We know these make us suffer but we cling to them nonetheless.

Are you willing to change that mind? To see it differently? I guess that does mean admitting you had it wrong, or more deeply that you're been fueling up and solidifying the mind that's so sure of it's many conclusions - every one of which was made with incomplete information of course but that doesn't stop us. When we're sure we're sure.

An encouragement to listen? To soften the sure-ness. To wonder. Maybe with some uncomfortable doubt. Some hanging out in the rich and uncomfortable in between places where you're not sure which end is up or what you're supposed to do.

I don't think we should assume the emperor finds this easy. The loyal minister has to be really skillful and patient. There are so many old stories about this. Maybe the loyal minister even tricks the emperor a bit to shake his mind loose from some fixed idea - and she would be doing this at the risk of her life probably - you didn't piss off an emperor of China and expect to be around later to write a clever aphorism about it. And by the way, Dōgen's quoting Confucius here.

As usual the great tool for seeing fixed views is our suffering. You inner emperor is riled up and upset - what aren't they all acting like they're supposed to and so on. In the spacious of sesshin maybe it's easier to notice this dynamic and listen to the loyal minister this time. Let go of that idea.

I've been working on the practice of releasing from resentment lately. This is tricky territory for me because I'm also very good suppressing emotions when someone does something that hurts me. I've had to learn to feel the pain and anger, to say OUCH at least to myself.

Recently I went though this with someone. And boy was I ready to straighten that person out next I saw them. I was definitely in the right and they were in the wrong. And I think probably a reasonable person would agree with me in this case. The person who triggered me was pretty rude and inconsiderate by any measure. First seeing this person I felt the anger flare up a little, but also with it some shame - for feeding that fire a bit maybe - and I found my instinct was to pull back and not engage. Then somehow I listened to the loyal minister - this all took some time - and was able to deeply acknowledge that just like me the other person is a flawed human being who simply missed a trick here - forget to do what most people would have - there was nothing deliberate here. An omission. And that person is who they are. I was able to relax and enjoy a nice conversation and see their better side - maybe actually I also in my return to kindness made it a heck of a lot easier for them to show that sweet connected thoughtful side.

And I'm glad I went though this actually. I'm glad I didn't surpress the pain - it was important to feel hurt, and interesting to watch my mind prepare some righteous zingers to throw at the person - surely this will straighten them out - and then to watch is all dissolve again.

And boy it's so much more pleasant to be kind and connected but it needs to be, I think, on the basis of honest feeling. I also know how to grin and bear it which was not this experience.

Do you know what I mean?

Can you support your stubborn emperor in listening to the loyal minister. Whether the minister is within you or without?

So let's venture a little into Dōgen's Gakudo Yojinshu chapter 3 before we go.

Here we see Dōgen developing his teachings around practice-realization. These earlier teachings and also the teachings that his student Ejo wrote down and collected in Shobogenzo Zuikmonki - "the record of things heard" - are often a bit more accessible and also a bit less fully formed which makes sense. The later teachers are often more elegant and deep but their yoga works our minds a lot harder.

There is a Confucian maxim which goes, “The rewards of study lie within the study.” The Buddha said, “Realization lies in practice.” I have never heard of anyone who earned rewards without studying or attained realization without practice.

This does say practice for practice's sake - it points to practice-realization but it also says you earn rewards and attain realization through practice. I think it's great to hear this as a both-and statement. Later Dōgen who would never hint as such a thing as rewards from practice is tougher for us. We like rewards but we can appreciate too that practice is for practice's sake don't you think?

He goes on with another theme he'll develop more later.

Although people vary in their abilities, some base their practice on faith and others base their practice on dharma. Some realize instantaneously and others practice gradually. All of them enter realization through practice. Even though some people’s study is deep because they are sharp-witted and others’ study is shallow because they are dull witted, all of them receive rewards through accumulating knowledge from study. This does not simply depend on the emperor’s wisdom or one’s fortune.

Practice is the most important things. It doesn't really matter if you're sharp-witted or dull-witted but there is a difference in the depth of your studies. And the emperor is back, the emporer does matter, but it doesn't depend on their wisdom or your good fortune.

And goodness, as Norman mentioned yesterday, it's hard to even take in our good fortune. We have the means and opportunity to be here doing this? WHAAA? One can feel a little embarrassed by any complaining going on in the mind in light of that, no? What immense privilege we share here. Let's be sure we're using it for the good.

He goes on:

You must understand that we practice within delusions and attain realization before enlightenment. At that moment, you will comprehend that boats and rafts are merely yesterday’s dream and will be able to cut off your previous views based on words which bind you like a vine or a snake. The Buddha does not force this to happen, it naturally comes about by the function of your own practice.

Boats and rafts are the early Buddhist metaphor of the teachings as expedient means and that even they are to be let go of when they're no longer needed. Once we're reached the other shore we are grateful for the boat but it's not helpful to carry it on your back in hopes of it carrying you even further.

A few people recently have been talking to me about how they can't help but think of an important experience they'd had at a previous retreat - an opening of some kind you could say - and then some version of , "I know I shouldn't try to re-create that, and that wouldn't work anyway, but…". Which is a little like have this row boat on your shoulders and saying, "Boy this row boat's kind of heavy, I know I don't need it but…."

My teacher friend Anita is more blunt than me. I was telling her about such a remark from a student and she said, "oh geeze: tell him to just throw his big experience into the garbage!" . it came to mind but I guess it's just not my style. I just smiled I bet - yeah that's kind of heavy I bet, holding onto that big experience from the past.

Dōgen is so encouraging here isn't he?

You must understand that we practice within delusions and attain realization before enlightenment. At that moment, you will comprehend that boats and rafts are merely yesterday’s dream and will be able to cut off your previous views based on words which bind you like a vine or a snake. The Buddha does not force this to happen, it naturally comes about by the function of your own practice.

Delusions are okay, realization is okay. Eventually the boats and rafts - the views and attachments that binds us like vines around our hearts - just dissolve. It's natural. If Buddha doesn't force this to happen all the more so you can't force this to happen. But there is effort involved - Dogen doesn't lay that part out very clearly which is usual for him. Suzuki Roshi was a big Dōgen superfan - and actually kind of like Dōgen himself, Suzuki Roshi doesn't seem to have named his quotations, references and sources most of the time - it was all just in his heart and he expressed it in his own way.

Here's Suzuki Roshi from the wonderful "Mind Waves" section of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not good for our practice because it creates waves in our mind. It is impossible, however, to attain absolute calmness of our mind without any effort. We must make some effort, but we must forget ourselves in the effort we make.

Make effort, and feel the waves you're creating as you do that's important also, but not because you're doing a great job here, forget about that entangling idea of "me" - it's not your practice, it's not something you can do right (or wrong),  it's not that kind of thing, make effort with less me in there is what he means by forget yourself. And of course that's almost a direct quote from Dōgen's essay Genjo Koan that we chanted yesterday which was also written early in Dōgen's teaching career:

To study the Way is to student the self, to study the self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to be awakened by everything.

So I know these talks can be a lot of words and they fly by like a bubbling stream. You know the usual instruction for listening to a Zen talk is to just let that happen. But out of kindness for our minds that want to cling to these little rafts here's a synopsis of what I think I just said:

• everything is practice from standing in the rain, to sitting on your cushion, to working through being insulted - everything is practice
• that's the nature of this life in which practice occurs? impermanence, flow, change, nothing quite exactly what you think it is - so why cling to anything?
• our conditioned mind is like an emperor - it knows a lot, it's pretty wise, and it's SO stubborn and righteous -it doesn't see the limitations of the very nature of how it operates. Your loyal minister may have a few suggestions for you, learn how to listen. Can you change your mind?
• practice is awakening, awakening is practice and boy it's easy to cling to your favorite raft - and Dōgen doesn't even talk about the powerful tendency we have to go raft shopping - to be on a constant hunt for an even better raft which makes it so hard to appreciate the rafts on offer wherever you are - but of course it's hard to see any of this clearly with that row boat on your shoulders.
• it doesn't matter all that much if you’re a smarty - sure smarty practice might look different from yours but that doesn’t mean it's better
• it all happens naturally - this practice-awakening
• and you still need to make effort - make effort and faugettaabout it!

Thank you very much.