{"id":699,"date":"2009-07-15T09:17:44","date_gmt":"2009-07-15T09:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2009\/07\/zazen-the-practice-of-original.html"},"modified":"2009-07-15T09:17:44","modified_gmt":"2009-07-15T09:17:44","slug":"zazen-the-practice-of-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/07\/zazen-the-practice-of-original.html","title":{"rendered":"Right Here All Along"},"content":{"rendered":"

(BENDOWA XXXVIII)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

In other words …<\/p>\n

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Someone asks Dogen … “Hey Dogen, if Zazen is a way for unenlightened folks to get enlightened … is there any reason for enlightened folks to continue Zazen after they get enlightened?”<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

Got it now? Got that you always had it?<\/i><\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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