Welcome.
I'd like to talk about realization and how it relates to practice from the Sōtō-zen perspective.
We'll begin with this poem by Dōgen Zenji,
The founder of the tradition.
Attaining the heart of the sutra are not even the sounds of the bustling marketplace,
The preaching of the Dharma.
Enlightenment,
Or freedom from suffering,
Is not the result of a preferred psychological state,
An end state,
Or a fixed state.
Rather,
It is only in relation to and how we respond to all internal states,
And to others,
And the environment,
In our actions in the world.
In Japanese Waka poetry,
This relationship is expressed in terms of nature,
Humanity,
And our emotional response to both.
Here's another example.
The mystical cry of monkeys resounding from the mountain peaks echoing in the valley below,
The sound of the sutra being preached.
I'd like to unpack this fundamental point.
There are basically two approaches to Zen Buddhist practice.
They can be reduced to either seeking enlightenment by practice,
Or enacting enlightenment through the practice itself.
We can call the first instrumental or facilitative because we're using practice like a tool to get something or to get somewhere else.
The traditional image for this approach is of a person using a boat to cross a river.
Once the person gets to the other shore,
There's no need for the boat.
From the perspective of early Indian Buddhism,
Which emerged out of Hinduism,
And the notion of reincarnation,
The so-called somewhere else,
Was getting off the endless rounds of birth and death and merging with the ultimate Brahma.
We can call the second approach expressive or an enactment ritual.
This historically later non-dualistic approach to Buddhism functions as an ongoing enactment of our already enlightened nature,
Which is expressed through practice in the here and now,
And as I mentioned before,
How we act in the world.
The first is a deficit approach because the basic premise is that we lack something called enlightenment or realization,
And we have to strive for it in one way or another.
In other words,
It's separate from us.
The second approach,
By contrast,
Is a fullness or an abundance approach because we realize that there is nothing to seek.
Whole being is the Buddha nature.
So,
Whole being includes all of us.
No one is excluded.
In this way,
Practice becomes an expression of our basic nature.
It's guided by musho toku,
Or no gaining mind,
And shusho ichinyo,
Which means practice,
Enlightenment,
And realization are one.
There is no practice without realization and no realization without practice.
The something lacking approach is subject to objectification and reification,
Meaning we turn enlightenment,
An abstract concept,
Or a notion into a thing,
An object,
Or a state of mind,
A quote,
Something that we seek that needs to be found.
By abstract concept,
I mean enlightenment.
It is whatever we imagine it to be or whatever we have been told it is.
Either way,
We impose this concept onto reality,
And we start to look for what's missing.
This involves a split between not having and acquiring,
Being diluted and being enlightened,
For example.
The second approach,
The abundance model,
Is expressed as an action and as a relationship to all being.
We could say that the first is about an internal state of mind,
Or a preferred psychological state.
The second approach is about lived relationships,
Relationships to ourselves,
To nature,
And to others.
On this point,
From a non-dualistic point of view,
The influential 19th century Soto Zen Buddhist teacher,
Nishihari Bokusan,
Points out the discrepancy and the dualistic nature of the deficit view by emphasizing an insistent radical non-dualism with the comment,
And I quote him,
What is it that we are deluded about?
And he answers,
Enlightenment.
Enlightenment.
What is it we want to become enlightened about?
And he answers,
Delusion.
In this way,
He cuts through the illusion that delusion and enlightenment are different states of being or reality.
So,
With this in mind,
Keep on practicing,
No matter what.
In doing so,
Express your already realized being.
Thank you.
