Words of Wisdom for Sept. 2, 2019: Shohaku Okumura on Dōgen’s Teachings

"Another point we have to understand is that Dōgen uses language to negate language and to go beyond its ordinary limits. For Dōgen, language and thinking can function as tools to help us to awaken to the reality beyond language and thinking. This is what Dōgen calls dōtoku (being able to speak). When we truly see reality, we can say that the mountain is moving, the boat is moving, or both are moving simultaneously; all of these are expressions of reality. We can say the wind makes the sound, the bell makes the sound, the mind makes the sound, or the entire universe makes the sound, and all of these can be expressions of reality as well. This is what Dōgen meant when he wrote, “When the Dharma is correctly transmitted to the self, the person is immediately an original person.” In other words, an “original person” meets reality as it comes, without clinging to any particular fixed concept of reality."

— Shohaku Okumura,
Realizing Genjokoan:
The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo

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