Welcome to our fourth talk on A.
A.
Dogen's Ryujin,
The Dragon Song.
We took a look at a number of images in the previous talk.
And in this section of his writing,
He brings these images together.
He writes,
Sprouts buds is a repetition of leaves in the spring.
They are both images for realization.
Once again,
He points out the identity of practice and realization as he writes in Bendoa,
Wholehearted Practice of the Way,
One of his first writings,
And I quote,
This Dharma is abundantly present in each human being,
But if we do not practice it,
It does not manifest itself,
And if we do not experience it,
It cannot be realized.
Dogen often repeats himself when he thinks it's an important point.
He wants to make sure that everyone gets it.
The dragon singing is the realist being expressing realization,
Preaching the Dharma,
Without even saying a word,
Just sitting in Shikantaza,
Is an expression of our realized being,
Silently expressing the Dharma as we sit.
He adds,
And I quote,
This expression of the Dharma,
This practice,
Goes all the way back in an unbroken line to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni.
We are all his descendants.
Dogen often legitimizes his teachings by connecting to the succession of ancestors.
He continues,
And I quote,
And here he's referring to the 9th century Zen master Shushan Guangren.
It is beyond a withered stake.
There are mountain valley trees and fields of village trees.
The mountain valley trees are called pines,
And the cypresses in the common world.
Cypress,
Pine,
And sometimes oak trees or cedars,
As he teaches in Hakujushi,
The cypress,
Represent solidity and reliability,
Like a good friend who you can count on.
Can you count on the three gems?
Can you count on the Buddha?
Can you count on the Dharma?
Can you count on the Sangha,
The spiritual community?
Can you count on your practice of just sitting?
He continues with this line of thinking and writes,
The fields of village trees are called humans and devas in the common world.
Those that depend on roots and spread leaves are called Buddha ancestors.
They all go back to the essence.
This is to be studied.
This is the tall Dharma body of a withered tree and the short Dharma body of a withered tree.
What he's describing here are all particular manifestations of reality.
We are all unique human beings,
So our expression of the Dharma is also unique.
But at the same time,
We are all one in our different ways.
We all express the one truth,
The essence.
In other words,
To use the metaphor of the ocean and waves,
We are all unique waves in one ocean.
Without a withered tree,
There wouldn't be the dragon singing.
In other words,
Without the basic fact of sitting,
There would be no expression of the realization of the Dharma.
Dogen is once again emphasizing the significance and importance that he attributes to just sitting.
So in conclusion,
He once again circles back to this main point of just sitting no matter what.
Until next time,
Thank you.
