Nomon Tim concludes his exploration of Dogen's Japan journals, an account of when he was a young student of Master Ruijing. 

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Tim's talk notes:

Dōgen's conversations with his teacher included both subtle philosophical discussions and very practical matters. Here are a few practical ones:

Rujing instructed me: "When you do zazen, place your tongue on the roof of the mouth and allow it to press behind the front teeth. If after forty or fifty years of zazen practice you are accustomed to sitting without drooping or becoming drowsy, it is all right to close your eyes during zazen. Those who are not so accustomed to zazen should sit with the eyes open. If you sit long and are tired, it is all right to shift the position of your legs. This has been directly transmitted by the Buddha for fifty generations."

Rujing said, "During zazen do not lean on the wall, screen, or the back of a chair. If you do, it will cause you to become ill. You should sit with a straight back, following the guidelines for zazen, never violating them."

   Rujing said, "If you get up from zazen and do walking meditation, do not walk in a circle, but go in a straight line. If after twenty or thirty steps you want to turn around, always turn to the right. Always begin your steps with the right foot, then the left foot."

Plus another time:
 

Rujing said, "When you get up from zazen to walk, you should practice the method of slow walking meditation. Do not go more than half a step with each breath."

Rujijng said, "In zazen it is possible to develop samadhi by placing the mind in various locations. However, I would say, during zazen set your mind on the palm of your left hand. This is the way correctly transmitted by buddha ancestors."

And there are some interesting suggestions about the spirit and feeling of the practice, especially zazen. it does seem clear from this journal - assuming it really is a journal - that Rujing really did emphasize zazen very strongly.

Rujing said, "The World‑honored One said that hearing and thinking about the way is like being outside the gate, but zazen is like coming home and sitting calmly inside. Therefore the merit of doing zazen even for one moment is immeasurable.

   "I have been practicing the way for over thirty years without ever turning back, and although I am sixty‑five years old I am more determined than ever. You too should practice with this intensity, as if you had received the prediction of enlightenment from the golden mouth of the Buddha himself."

Rujing said, "The zazen of arhats and pratyeka‑buddhas is free from attachment, but it lacks all‑embracing compassion. This is very different from the zazen of buddha ancestors, where all-embracing compassion and the vow to awaken all sentient beings is the highest priority.

   "People outside the way in India also practiced zazen, but this zazen still has the three problems of attachment, wrong views, and pride, and so it is permanently and utterly different from the zazen of buddha ancestors. Shravakas also practice zazen, but their compassion is limited. They do not penetrate the reality of all things with wisdom; instead they merely improve themselves and thus remove themselves from the creative seed of the buddhas. So their zazen, too, is permanently and utterly different from that of buddha ancestors.

   "The very essence of buddha ancestors' zazen is the vow to accumulate all buddha qualities from the moment of arousing the aspiration for enlightenment into the endless future. Buddha ancestors never forget or abandon sentient beings, but have compassion for all creatures, even insects, and make a constant effort to rescue them all, and they turn over whatever merit is produced by all this to sentient beings. Because of this vow, buddha ancestors always practice zazen in the desire realm, in our everyday world of Jambudvipa, which has great opportunities for influencing cause and effect. Buddha ancestors practice this way life after life, world after world, and attain great flexibility of mind and heart."

   I bowed and said, "How do we attain this flexibility of mind and heart?"

   Rujing said, "To actualize buddha ancestors' dropping off body and mind is the essence of this flexibility. That is why dropping off body and mind is called the mind seal of buddha ancestors."

   I bowed.

And Rujing encouraged Dōgen feel the presence of the ancestors in a very tangible way:

Rujing said, "The ruins of the place where the Tathagata got up from zazen and did walking meditation still exist in Udyana Kingdom in India. Also, Layman Vimalakirti's house still exists today, and the foundation stones of Jeta Grove Monastery have not been buried. When people go to examine these sacred places, the results of their measurements always differ: some measure long, others measure short, some find the stones close together, and others find them farther apart. Their findings don't correspond to each other. This is the vitality of buddha ancestors.

   "You should also know that the bowl and robe, as well as the fist and nostrils of the ancestors, which have been transmitted to us in China, cannot be definitively measured."

   I stood up and bowed with my head down to the floor, shedding tears of joy.

The last bit I want to highlight is this very sweet discussion of a poem that Rujing wrote with Dōgen loved. He later wrote about it in Shobogenzo.

       ("Windbell" by Rujing:

The real body is a mouth hanging in emptiness.

Whether the wind blows

          from the east, west, south, or north,

          it joins the whole universe in chiming out prajna.

Ting‑ting, ting‑ting, ting‑ting.)

I asked, "I heard your verse on the windbell. The first line says, 'The entire body is a mouth hanging in emptiness.' And the third line says 'Joining the whole universe in chiming out prajna.' What is this emptiness? Is it just the lack of form? People who doubt the way say this. And nowadays even students of the way do not understand buddha‑dharma; they regard the spaciousness of the blue sky as emptiness. This is regrettable."

   Rujing said, "Emptiness is no other than prajna. It's not the lack of form. Emptiness is neither having nor not having hindrances; therefore it is not emptiness in the sense of simple lack. It is not one‑sided reality. Elders in different places have not yet clarified even form; how can they clarify this emptiness? I'm afraid that here in Great Song China the decline of buddha‑dharma is beyond description."

   I said, "Your verse on the windbell is supreme. Even if they had numberless eons, other elders would never be able to compose a verse like this. Brother monks should venerate it. Although I have come from a remote land and am not well versed in dharma, I have read collections of Zen masters' teachings, like Transmission of the Lamp, Wide Lamp, Successive Lamp, and Universal Lamp, as well as the recorded sayings of various masters, and I have not yet seen anything like your windbell verse. It is my good fortune to have seen it. I wet my robe with tears of joy and bow day and night in appreciation of its straightforwardness and its beautiful rhythm."

   Rujing was about to ride off in a sedan chair; he smiled and said, "Your words are deep and your spirit is outstanding. I composed this verse when I was at Qingliang Monastery. At the time many people praised it, but none of them spoke as you have done. I acknowledge that you have a sharp dharma eye. When you compose a verse, you should do it in the same manner."

Another translation brings out some ideas about the sound of the wind bell

Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space;

Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north,

For all others equally, it chatters wisdom;

Chin Ten Ton Ryan Chin Ten Ton.

In Dōgen's essay "Empty Space" Kokū after he quotes Rujing's poem, he quotes the beautiful teaching from Vashubandu:

Vasubandhu, the Twenty-first Ancestor, said:

Mind is like the world of space equally bringing forth things of emptiness.

When you realize space, there is nothing good or bad.

But he opens that essay with this kind of goofy story:

Shigong, who would later become Zen Master Huizang of Fu Region, asked his younger dharma brother Xitang, who would later become Zen Master Zhizang, ”Do you know how to grasp space?” Xitang said, “Yes, I do.”

Shigong said, ”How do you grasp it?” Xitang stroked the air with his hand.

Shigong said, ”You don’t know how to grasp space.”

Xitang responded, ”How do you grasp it, elder brother?” Shigong poked his finger in Xitang’s nostril and yanked his nose. Xitang grunted in pain and said, ”You’re killing me! You tried to pull off my nose.”

Shigong said, ”You can grasp it now.”