(BENDOWA XXXVIII)
In other words …
Dogen responds, “You still don’t get it, silly boy? Let me say it again … Zazen is enlightenment itself, Zazen is enlightenment realized here and now. Even a beginner’s Zazen is original enlightenment made manifest. We are not waiting for enlightenment, we are instead “doing enlightenment” right here. Where one goes, the other is … without a gap.
Got it now? Got that you always had it?
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As forthe practice of Zazen, people who have not yet realized buddha-dharma shouldattain enlightenment through practicing the way of Zazen. But what could thosewho have already clarified the true buddha-dharma expect from doingzazen?"
Reply:
Although it is said that oneshould not relate dreams to fools and it is useless to give oars to mountainfolks, I give you further instruction. Thinking that practice and enlightenmentare not one is no more than a view that is outside the Way [that is deluded]. Inbuddha-dharma, practice and enlightenment are one and the same. Because it isthe practice of enlightenment, a beginner's wholehearted practice of the Way isexactly the totality of original enlightenment. For this reason, in conveyingthe essential attitude for practice, it is taught not to wait for enlightenmentoutside practice. This might be so because [this practice] is the directlyindicated original enlightenment. Since it is already the enlightenment ofpractice, enlightenment is endless; since it is the practice of enlightenment,practice is beginningless. Therefor both Shakyamuni Tathagata and the VenerableMahakasyapa were accepted and used in the practice of enlightenment, and in thesame manner Great Teacher Bodhidharma and Great Ancestor Daikan [the SixthAncestor] were pulled and turned in the practice of enlightenment. Traces ofdwelling in and maintaining buddha-dharma are all like this. ...
From: Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way -Kosho Uchiyama (with Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Daniel Leighton)
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