zen buddihsm 7

Dogen and Koans

JohnDaidoLoori

Dogen and the Two Shobogenzos

Relatively unknown during his lifetime in Kamakura Japan, Eihei Dogenisnowconsideredtobeoneofthemostremarkablereligiousfig- ures and teachers in the history of Zen, as well as an outstanding philosopher,mystic,andpoet.Hisworkshavehadatremendousimpact, notonly inJapanandwithintheSotoSchoolofZenBuddhism,butalso in theWest. Dogen is best known for his monumental work, theKanaor Japan-

eseShobogenzo, a collectionofninety-six essays composed in Japanese between theyears 1231 and 1253.BasedonDogen’sprofoundreligious experience and enriched by his philosophical and literary gifts, the ShobogenzoorTreasuryof theTrueDharmaEye isauniqueexpression of theBuddhist teachings.SeveralEnglish translationsofandcommen- tariesontheShobogenzoare inexistencetoday,andscholarsandpracti- tioners alike share the ever-increasing body of information on Dogen’s life andwork. Not as popular as Dogen’s Kana Shobogenzo is his Mana or Sam-

byakusoku Shobogenzo (The Shobogenzo ofThreeHundredKoans), a collectionof threehundredcases thatDogencollectedduringhis travels inChina from 1227 to 1230.This seminalwork,whichwas to influence allofDogen’sotherteachings,remainedinobscurityformanycenturies. It wasn’t until 1934 that it was rediscovered and made available to the general public by Professor Tokuju Oya, and only recently was its authenticityfinallyverified. TheManaShobogenzo, unlike Dogen’s other writings,was written

in Chinese.And though these three hundred cases were culled largely fromZen texts of theSongera—TheBlueCliffRecord (Hekiganroku),

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andTheBookofEquanimity(Shoyoroku,alsotranslatedasTheBookof Serenity)—unlike thekoans in these collections, theyarenot accompa- niedeitherbyatitleorcommentary,yetDogenusedthemfrequentlyas seeds for his other writings,particularly theKanaShobogenzo and the EiheiKoroku. However,becauseDogenwasanoutspokencriticofkoanstudy,some

people insist that he would never have collected or used koans. What seems closer to the truth is thatheopposed the superficial treatmentof koans, not koan introspection itself. Legend has it that before he left ChinatoreturntoJapan,theyoungDogenstayedupallnightandhand- copiedTheBlueCliffRecord.Dogen’searly teachers,Eisai andMyozen, bothtaughtkoanintrospection.Infact,DogenreceivedRinzaitransmis- sionintheOryulinefromMyozenbeforeleavingforChina,andthough that lineagediedout inbothChinaand Japan, it is preservedwithin the Sotoschool to thisday. Dogen’s teachings themselves require a solid understanding of Chi-

nese koan literature.AsWilliam Bodiford points out in hisSotoZen in Medieval Japan,Dogen used“more than 580 koans” in his writings. In theKanaShobogenzoalone,Dogenelaboratesonfifty-fivekoans,quot- ing themintheirentirety,andherefers to someof themmore thantwo hundred and eighty times. In the Eihei Koroku,ninety-nine koans are quoted,andonehundredandninearementionedatleastbriefly.Clearly, wecanno longerassertDogenwasflatlyopposed tokoans. Dogenknewabout the formulaicmethodofkoanstudyprevalent in

both the Soto and some lineages of the Rinzai School where, instead of having to “see into” a koan, practitioners could simply memorize the answers. He also knew of Dahui’s huatou method (literally, “head- word”; see also Buswell’s essay in this volume) of working with koans. This method emphasized seeing into the main point of a koan, but did notdelve into its subtlerdetails. In contrast to theseapproaches,Dogen’s studyandunderstandingof

koanshadmuchmorebreadthanddepth.Usingalinguisticstyleunpar- alleled in the history of koan literature,Dogen addressed both the key phrasesofeachcase,aswell as thesecondary—yetequally important— pointsnestled in thedialogues.Hefrequentlyexaminedkoans fromthe perspectiveoftheFiveRanksofDongshan(J.Tozan).Andhepointedout

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the questions that should be addressed in each case, challenging practi- tioners toexamine themdeeply. These three characteristics of Dogen’s approach to koan introspec-

tion—hisuniqueuseof language,treatmentof theFiveRanksofDong- shanandmeticulousstudyofallaspectsofakoan—setDogen’swritings onkoansfarapartfromthetraditionalcommentariesavailableintheZen literature. They make a careful comparative reading of Dogen’s Kana Shobogenzo and his other writings with the Song-Dynasty collections extremelyvaluable tomodernkoanpractitioners. TofullyappreciateDogen’s treatmentofkoans, it is critical todiffer-

entiatebetweenkoanstudyandformalkoanintrospectioninthecontext of a vital teacher-student relationship.Koan study tends to rely on the intellect.ItaimstoshedlightonthebasicBuddhist teachingscommuni- cated in thekoan ina similarway that a teacherwill commentona case ina teishoor formaldiscourse,clarifying thekoan’skeypoints. Inkoan introspection,students sitwith thekoan inzazen,lettinggoof tryingto solveorunderstandit.Theyembodyitasawholebody-and-mindexpe- rience.Theteacherthenteststhestudents’directinsightindokusan,pri- vate face-to-face interviews. Dokusan demands that one directly and dynamically present one’s

ownrealization.Becauseofthis,itcanbesaidthatthereisnooneanswer toakoan.Seeing intoakoanrequires theembodimentof a certain state ofconsciousness.It is thisdirectseeingintoakoanthattheteacher looks for and tests to determine the clarity of the student’s insight.And it is thisdirect insight that is at theheartof realization. Inmyowntraining,myfirst encounterwithDogen’s singularway

of dealing with koans happened within that intimate teacher-student relationship.Maezumi Roshi asked me to work with a set of miscella- neous koans I had already passed through with a previous teacher. I refused. Instead of arguing with me,Maezumi Roshi instructed me to sit shikantaza. Soon after, I came across Dogen’s “Genjokoan” (“The WayofEverydayLife”)andbroughtafewquestionsabout it intoface- to-face teachings.MaezumiencouragedmetositwithDogen’s lines in zazen,treatingthemaskoans.Withtime,readingotherchaptersof the KanaShobogenzo, I began to develop a deepening appreciation of the wayDogenpresentedkoanswithanunprecedenteddegreeofdepthand

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scope. Later still, as my traditional koan training evolved, it became increasinglycleartomethatDogenwasatruemasterofthekoanform, offering an amazing vista of the Buddhadharma through his koan treatment. As a Zen teacher, my chief interests in the two Shobogenzos are

Dogen’suniquewayofcommentingonkoans in theKanaShobogenzo, aswellasthechoiceofkoanshecollectedintheManaShobogenzo,espe- ciallyas theymayaffect contemporaryWesternpractitioners.

Dogen’s Unique Commentary Style

Dogen isamasterof language.It is impossible to studyhiswritingsand notbemovedbythepoetryandcreativityofhiswords.Hebringstoeach koanhisliterarysophistication,anextensivefamiliaritywithBuddhism, and an unparalleled appreciation of the dharma. In his teachings, he always communicates on multiple levels: with discursive language, poetic imagery,andwith“intimatewords,”mitsugo. Intimatewordsare a direct pointing to the truth, meant to be grasped in an instant and absorbed intuitively rather than in a linear, sequentialway.Dogenuses allof thesemethods freely to transmithisunderstanding.His teachings havethe“lipsandmouth”qualitythatcharacterizedthestyleofChinese mastersZhaozhou(J.Joshu)andYunmen(J.Unmon),teacherswhoused live,“turningwords”tohelppractitioners see into theirownnature. Another aspect of Dogen’s unique treatment of koans is his use of

theFiveRanksofMasterDongshantoilluminatedifferentperspectives availablewithinakoan.TheFiveRanks—firstdelineatedbyDongshan andelaboratedonbyhis successorCaoshan (J.Sozan)—are a formula- tion of the coming together of dualities.The first rank is “the relative within theabsolute.”This is emptiness:noeye,ear,nose, tongue,body, or mind. The second rank is the realization of that emptiness, and is referred to as “the absolute within the relative”—the realm in which theenlightenmentexperience,or“kensho,”occurs.Yetabsoluteandrel- ative are still dualistic. The third rank is “coming from within the absolute.”No longer in the abstract, the whole universe becomes your very life itself and, inevitably, compassion arises. Dongshan’s fourth rankis“arrivingatmutual integration,”thecomingfrombothabsolute

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and relative.At this stage, the absolute and relative are integrated, but they’restilltwothings.Inthefifthrank,“unityattained,”thereisnomore duality.Thereis justonething—neitherabsoluteorrelative,upordown, profaneorholy,goodorbad,maleor female. Dogen never explicitly talks about the Five Ranks, except to sum-

marily dismiss them, yet he definitely engages them in a way that reflects a singular understanding and appreciation of their method. In “Sansuikyo” (“The Mountains and Rivers Sutra”) for example, he writes:

Since ancient timeswise ones and sageshave also livedby the water.When they live by the water they catch fish or theycatchhumansor theycatch theWay.These are tradi- tionalwater styles.Further, theymustbecatching theself, catching the hook, being caught by the hook, and being caughtby theWay.

Then, Dogen introduces one of the koans from the Mana Shobo- genzo,Case 90 (“JiashanSees theFerryman”),andcommentson it:

Inancient times,whenChuanzi suddenly leftYaoshanand went to live on the river, he got the sage Jiashan of the flower-in-river. Isn’t this catching fish, catching humans, catching water? Isn’t this catching himself? The fact that Jiashan could see Chuanzi is because he is Chuanzi. Chuanzi teaching Jiashan isChuanzimeetinghimself.

This passage is presenting the first two of the Five Ranks.The line, “Thefact that JiashancouldseeChuanzi isbecauseheisChuanzi”is the relativewithintheabsolute(ortheabsolutecontainingtherelative),the first rank.The line“Chuanzi teaching Jiashan isChuanzimeetinghim- self” is theabsolutewithin therelative, the secondrank. AlthoughDogenhadsomereservationsabout theFiveRanks, itwas

not because he did not find them true.He simply did not want them to becomeaformula—amere intellectualizationorabstraction.Dogendid not use them in the way they were taught conventionally. He wanted

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them to be realized face-to-face in koan introspection between teacher andstudent. “Catchingtheself,”“catchingthehook,”“beingcaughtbythehook,”

“being caught by the way”are all expressions of the interplay of oppo- sites—specifically about how that tension works within the teacher- student relationship.So,“Chuanzi teachingJiashan isChuanzimeeting himself”is“theteacher teachingthestudent is theteachermeetinghim orherself.” Again, in“Katto,”Dogen writes about Bodhidharma’s transmission

of themarrowtoHuike (J.Eka):

You shouldbe awareof thephrases“Youattainme; I attain you;attainingbothmeandyouandattainingbothyouand me.” In personally viewing the ancestors’ body/mind, if we speakoftherebeingnoonenessof internalandexternalor if wespeakofthewholebodynotbeingcompletelypenetrated, thenwehavenotyetseentherealmoftheancestors’present.

ForDogen, the relationshipof a teacher andstudent iskatto, a spiri- tual entanglement, which, from his perspective, is a process of using entanglements to transmit entanglements. “Entanglements entwining entanglements is the buddhas and ancestors interpenetrating buddhas andancestors.”This is anexpressionof themergingofdualities.This is the relationship between Jiashan and Chuanzi. It is the relationship between Bodhidharma and Huike. And it is the relationship to which Dogen directs himself whenever he expounds the non-dual dharma in thekoanshe isusing. NextwehaveDogen’smeticulous treatmentof all aspectsof akoan.

As Imentionedbefore,commentariesonmanyof thekoans thatDogen deemed important and thatwere included inhisManaShobogenzo can befoundintheclassicSongcollections.Whenwecomparethecommen- taries of these collections with Dogen’s commentaries in the Kana Shobogenzo,wefindthatthetruth—thedharma—ofthesekoansiscon- sistentlypresentedbyeachcommentator,andyet,thereisauniquequal- itytoDogen’sexpressionoftheZentruththatsetshistreatmentofkoans ina classby itself.

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Forexample,abrief lookatCase 105 of theManaShobogenzo,“The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion,” will help to illustrate Dogen’s depth of understanding and expression.This koan appears in two fasci- cles of the Kana Shobogenzo: in “Daishugyo” and in “Kannon.” The samekoanappears asCase 89 in theBlueCliffRecordandasCase 54 in theBookofSerenity:

YunyanaskedDaowu:“Howdoes theBodhisattvaofGreat Compassion [Kannon]use somanyhandsandeyes?” Daowusaid:“It’s just likeaperson in themiddleof thenight reachingback insearchofapillow.” Yunyansaid:“Iunderstand.” Daowusaid:“Howdoyouunderstand it?” Yunyansaid:“Allover thebodyarehandsandeyes.” Daowusaid:“Whatyousaid is all right,but it’sonlyeighty percentof it.” Yunyansaid:“I’mlike this,seniorbrother.Howdoyou understand it?” Daowusaid:“Throughout thebodyarehandsandeyes.”

Taking up only a few of the points in this rich koan,we find the fol- lowing. In the Blue Cliff Record commentary, Yuanwu refers to the 84,000 arms of Kannon Bodhisattva as symbolic arms and says,“Great Compassion has this many hands and eyes. Do all of you?”With this question he challenges the reader to consider the statement from the pointofviewof intimacy. When he addresses “reaching back for a pillow in the middle of the

night,”heasksthequestion,“[Inthisactivity]tellme,wherearetheeyes?” But,whereasYuanwudealswiththephrase“thenight”onlybriefly,Dogen commentsonitextensively,since it isapivotalpointof thekoan. Yuanwu also deals with Yunyan’s “all over the body are hands and

eyes”and Daowu’s“this is all right, but it is only eighty percent of it” and “throughout the body are hands and eyes.” He asks the question, “But say, is ‘all over thebody’ right,or is ‘throughout thebody’ right?” Then he himself indirectly answers this with the statement“Although they seem covered with mud, nevertheless they are bright and clean,”

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implying thatalthoughDaowuandYunyanmayappear tobehaving“a conversation in the weeds” (are intellectualizing), in fact they are both expressingclearly the truthof theactivityofGreatCompassion. Yuanwu then concludes by saying that practitioners who think that

Yunyan’s responsemusthavebeenwrongwhileDaowu’swas right are caughtup inwordsandphrasesandhavenotyet realized the truth. In theBookofEquanimity,Wansongbeginshis commentarywitha

quote:“LiAoaskedEhu,‘Whatdoes theGreatCompassionateOneuse a thousand hands and eyes for?’ Ehu said, ‘What does the emperor use public officials for?’”This exchange seems to imply that the thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion are meant to facilitate the bodhi- sattva’s functioning in the world. It is a reasonable and logical conclu- sion,but it entirelymisses the truthof thiskoan. He thenquotesa coupleof stories that areperhaps intended to illus-

trate the principles presented in the koan, but they do not in any way clarify themfor the reader.They just introducemore entanglements of wordsand ideas.HedoesagreewithYuanwuabout the identityofYun- yanandDaowu’sunderstanding,refuting thenotion that one is clearer than theother. Let us look now at Dogen,who begins his treatment of the koan by

extollingthevirtuesofbothYunyanandDaowu,andimmediatelyestab- lishingtheirunitywitheachother.HethenpresentstheidentityofKan- non Bodhisattva and Yunyan, and the uniqueness of Yunyan’s understandingofKannon.He says:“Kannon is present inYunyanwho hasbeenexperiencing it togetherwithDaowu.Andnotonlyoneor two Kannons, but hundreds of thousands of Kannons are experiencing the samestateasYunyan.” Then, speaking of the 84,000 hands and eyes of great compassion,

Dogen makes clear that they are not limited to any number. He says, “Theyareindeedbeyondtheboundsofcountlessnessandlimitlessness.” The limitlessly abundant hands and eyes are clearly the state of con- sciousness that Yunyan and Daowu are experiencing together. With a unique twist Dogen says, “Yunyan is asking Daowu, ‘The use [of the hands and eyes] does what?’” He is asking the reader to consider how Kannonuseshermanifoldhandsandeyesandtoask,“Doeswhat,moves what,expresseswhat?”

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Dogen then uses Daowu’s answer,“She is like a person in the night reaching back for a pillow,” to launch into an exhaustive exploration of “inthenight.”Heasksustoexaminethedifferencebetween“nighttime asitissupposedinthelightofday”and“thenighttimeasitisinthenight. In sum,weshouldexamine it as that timewhich isnotdayornight.” Thenhebecomesevenmorespecific.Hesays,“Thisnighttime isnot

necessarilyonlythenighttimeofthedayandnightofhumanbeingsand gods.”ThenightthatDogenisspeakingofis intherealmoftheabsolute, thenon-dual stateof consciousness inwhichbodyandmindhave fallen away.Extending this concept ofnight into thematter of searching for a pillowhesays,“Youshouldunderstandthattheexpressionusedhereby Daowu does not concern taking a pillow, pulling a pillow, or pushing a pillow. If you try to deeply understand what Daowu means when he speaksof‘reachingbehindatnightforapillow,’youmustexamineitwith nighteyes.Lookat it carefully.” Theremainderofthekoanissubjectedtothesamekindofclosescru-

tiny, functioningwithinvarious levelsofunderstandingandaddressing subtleties that were not presented in theBlueCliffRecord andBookof Equanimity. This koan is only one among the many examples of the uniquestyleandprofoundinsightthatDogenbringstotheunderstand- ingof classical koans.

The Three Hundred Koans and Their Relevance to Modern Zen Practice

All we have dealt with so far would be of little more than theoretical interest tous,were it not for the relevance thatDogen’s teachingshave forcontemporarywesternpractitioners.InadditiontoDogen’sstyleand insight, a critical aspect of his treatment of koans is how the particular cases he selected can assist practitioners to examine important areas of spiritualpractice in the twenty-first century.Amongtheseareasare the moralandethical teachingsofZen,theteacher-studentrelationship—as illustrated incase90quotedabove—andsocial activism. Over the years, in developing my own commentaries of the Mana

Shobogenzokoans,IhaveattemptedtopresentDogen’sdharmaheartas itismanifestedinthisparticulartime,thisplace,andthesecircumstances,

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aswell as address issues thatwerenotdealtwith in thepast for various political,social,orculturalreasons.OneexampleisCase227oftheMana Shobogenzo,“PriestXixian’s, IAmWatching”:

XixianFaanofLushanwasaskedbyagovernmentofficer, “WhenI took thecityof Jinlingwithanarmytroop, I killed countlesspeople.AmIat fault?” Xixiansaid,“I amwatchingclosely.”

AJapanesemaster commentingonthiskoansaid:

AsBuddhistswetakeapreceptnottodestroylife.Thegov- ernmentofficerwasworriedsincehispositioninvolvedhim inorderingthekillingofmanypeople.Thathisactionswere sinful, of course. If we judge his conduct, he committed many sins,but he was unable to avoid this in carrying out his duty. Master Xixian recognized the difficult circum- stance of the officer’s life, and so he wouldn’t say that his actionsweresins.Hejustsaid thathewasalwayswatching reality.Inrealityitisdifficultattimestocategorizethecon- duct of others as good or bad.Reality is very severe.Mas- ter Xixian recognized the officer’s life was in reality very severe so that he himself was just watching the real situa- tion. In reality, situations are usually complex. We must recognize theexistenceof sucha fact. It is sometimesdiffi- cult to criticize or to affirm. If we see a snake crawling towardababyandwearetooconcernedwithfollowingthe preceptsexactlywemayhesitate too longtosave thebaby. At the moment of the present we must be free even from theprecepts toact as the circumstancesdemand.

Myownviewissomewhatdifferent.ThecommentaryIaddedtothis case reads:

PriestXixian’s response,“Iamwatchingclosely”isatonce fat-headedandmisguided.Hehasmissedanopportunityto

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causeanevil thathasalreadyarisentobeextinguished,and to cause good that has not arisen to arise.Both he and the generaldeserve thirtyblowsofmystick. Governments and rulers are traditionally driven by

power, politics, and money, and are usually not inclined toward clear moral commitments. However, for a Zen priest to avoid taking moral responsibility when asked is inexcusable. Enlightenment without morality is not yet enlighten-

ment.Moralitywithoutenlightenmentisnotyetmorality. Enlightenmentandmoralityarenon-dual intheWay.One does not exist without the other.The truth is not beyond goodandevil as is commonlybelieved.It is ratherawayof living one’s life with a definite moral commitment that is practiced, realized, and verified within the realm of good andevil itself,yet remainsundefiledbythem. Settingasideimpostorpriestsandphonyfollowers,you

tell me, how do you transform watching into doing, the three poisons into the three virtues? More importantly, what is it thatyoucallyourself?

How far are we willing to go to justify our position? Gary Snyder once wrote:“Institutional Buddhism has been conspicuously ready to acceptorignoretheinequalitiesandtyranniesofwhateverpoliticalsys- tem it found itself under.This can be death to Buddhism because it is deathtoanymeaningfulfunctionofcompassion.Wisdomwithoutcom- passion feelsnopain.”Or,“Enlightenmentwithoutmorality isnotyet enlightenment.Moralitywithout enlightenment isnotyetmorality.” The consequences of not engaging the wisdom of honest, raw prac-

ticeare that real lives suffer,peopledie,our fragileandwondrousplanet istreatedpoorly.Weneedtochallengeandencourageoneanothertoreal- izeour clarityandcompassion.That isour imperative. For me, the comparative use of the two Shobogenzos and Dogen’s

other writings, along with the traditional koans in our koan introspec- tion,isaverypractical—andcrucial—endeavor.Whilethiskindofstudy hasopenedupnewpossibilities in the trainingofwesternZenstudents

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byaddressingtheirnaturalphilosophicalandpsychological inclinations, ithasnotabandonedtheheartof thedharmatransmittedfromShakya- muniBuddha to thepresent. We are incredibly fortunate to have access to Master Dogen’s out-

standingbodyofwork.Weshouldnotwastetheopportunitytostudyit. And,ashehimself saidoften,wemuststudyexhaustively.Becauseulti- mately,nomatterhowmanyhundredsofkoanswepassthrough,if they do not change the way we relate to the rest of the world, then they are nothing but meaningless intellectual exercises. We must realize these koans,andwemustactualize themineverything thatwedo.That is the onlywaywewill truly transformour lives.

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