Mind -- dogen

[Jesse]

I posted this along time ago, and just now re-read it. Thought i'd repost it for others to read.

Zen master Baoji of Panshan said, "The mind moon is alone and full. Its light swallows myriad forms. Moonlight does not illuminate objects. Objects do not exist. Light and objects both disappear. What is this?
What is said here is that Buddha ancestors and Buddha heirs always have the mind moon, because they make moon their mind. There is no mind which is not moon, and there is no moon which is not mind.

Alone and full, means nothing lacking. Beyond two or three is called myriad forms. Myriad forms are moonlight, not merely forms. Accordingly its light swallows myriad forms, myriad forms completely swallow moonlight. Here moonlight swallowing moonlight is called "Its light swallows myriad forms." That is to say, the moon swallows the moon, the moon-light swallows the moon. Therefore it is said, "Moonlight does not illuminate objects. Objects do not exist."

Since this is so, at the moment of awakening others with a Buddha body, a Buddha body comes forth and expounds Dharma; at the moment of awakening others with the boundless body, the boundless body manifests and expounds Dharma. This is nothing but turning the Dharma wheel within the moon. No matter whether the yin spirit or the yang spirit illuminates--no matter whether the moon is a fire jewel or water jewel, it is immediately actualized.

This mind is the moon. This moon is itself mind. This is penetrating and comprehending the mind of Buddha ancestors and Buddha heirs.

An ancient Buddha said, "A single mind is all things. All things are a single mind."

Thus, mind is all things, all things are mind. Since mind is the moon, the moon is the moon. Since mind which is all things is completely moon, the all-inclusive world is the all-inclusive moon; entire body is entire moon.
Amid the "before and after, three-tree" in the myriad years of a moment-- which of these is not the moon? Sun-face Buddha, moon-face Buddha -- our body, mind and environment are also within the moon.

The coming and going of birth and death is also the moon. The entire world in the ten direction is the up and down, the left and right of the moon. Everyday activity at this moment is hundreds of grasses brilliant in the moon, the mind of ancestors brilliant in the moon.

[LastLegend]

Master Dogen gives me a headache.

[White Lotus]

"The mind moon is alone and full. Its light swallows myriad forms. Moonlight does not illuminate objects. Objects do not exist. Light and objects both disappear. What is this?

even though you no longer possess mind, body or self there is a manner of mind which does not actually exist. so seeing one does not see and not having a mind there is still knowing. there is continuation without existence. "the buddha announces his extinction though he does not actually become extinct" (lotus sutra).

light and objects have both disappeared, though there is no longer seeing one still sees (but without seeing).

dropping off body, mind, self and consciousness one goes beyond Brahman (the indian concept of God as Self). though we go beyond the Hindu/indian concept of God there are those who say that God goes beyond the Hindu concept, beyond consciousness, perhaps the inner secret is that ultimately God is emptiness. i have little knowledge in this area, but it bears thinking about... that emptiness is personal.

happy Christmas everyone,

best wishes, Tom.

[Sara H]

I think it's important to actually have some context about what the term "mind" means in Zen Buddhism.

"The character 'shin,' in Japanese, translates as:
'heart,' 'heart-mind,' 'mind,' 'Mind,' 'Buddha Nature'
or even 'soul.' In order to avoid being criticized for possi-
bly holding a belief in a soul, most teachers of Buddhism
throughout the centuries have preferred to translate 'shin'
as 'mind.' Unfortunately, this does not tell the average lis-
tener what sort of mind is being talked about. When you
simply say 'mind,' the implication of the word is 'think-
ing.' And that, in the end, becomes what 'shin' means to
many people, instead of their realizing that what is really
being spoken of is something much deeper: our True Heart
or Buddha Nature. So, in the very attempt to say that which
will not be misunderstood, people often say that which is
immediately misunderstood."

-Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett
in The Roar of the Tigress, Volume II
Chapter: It is Enough to know the Unborn

What Dogen is talking about, in this chapter of the Shobogenzo, is the Buddha Nature. And as is often done with Zen Buddhist text, Dogen is talking about the difference between the Moon (with a capital M) that is a metaphor for our Buddha Nature. And the moon (with a small m) that refers to the giant rock in the sky that orbits the earth. He's also talking about the difference between the Mind (with a capital M) that again, is referring to the Buddha Nature, or Buddha Mind and the mind (with a small m) that refers to our intellectual thinking mind. Same with Heart and heart.

It really helps here, to have a GOOD translation of the Shobogenzo, that makes these distinctions clear, using typographic functions. That aids the reader a lot, especially if one is not used to reading Zen texts.

Rev. Master Hubert Nearman of Shasta Abbey does a good one here, of that same passage, which I will post in the next post.

[Sara H]

So here's Rev. Master Hubert's translation. Again it's important to realize that wherever you see a capitalized word, other than of the Buddha, Dogen is talking about the Buddha Nature. So "Moon" and "Light" are being used here as reference to the Buddha Nature, and the "light of the Dharma" that shines forth.

❀
"Meditation Master Banzan Hōshaku once said:

'The Moon of our heart and mind is solitary and at the full,
Its light swallows up all forms that arise.⁵
Its light is not something that illumines concrete objects, And concrete objects, in turn, are not things that truly
exist.⁶
When Its light and objects both vanish from sight, There is still That which is the What.'

"What is now being expressed is that, without fail, the Ancestors of the Buddha, as disciples of the Buddha, possess the Moon of their heart and mind because they treat their Moon as their heart and mind. If It were not the Moon, It would not be their heart and mind, and without a heart and mind, there is no Moon. ‘Solitary and at the full’ means that It lacks for nothing. Whatever is more than ‘two or three’, we call ‘all things’. When all things are in the Moon’s Light, they are not seen as ‘all things’, hence Its Light swallows up all things. Since all things spontaneously absorb the Moon’s light completely, Its Light swallows up the Moon’s light, which means that Its Light swallows up all things. For instance, it will be the Moon swallowing up the Moon, and the Light swallowing up the Moon.⁷ Accordingly, the Master expressed the Matter* as:

'Its light is not something that illumines concrete objects, And concrete objects, in turn, are not things that truly
exist.'

"Because Banzan had attained such a state, when people could be helped to reach the Other Shore by means of a Buddha Body, he would forthwith manifest his Buddha Body and give voice to the Dharma for their sake. And when people could be helped to reach the Other Shore by means of an ordinary physical body, he would forthwith manifest that customary physical body of his and give voice to the Dharma for their sake. It is said that he never failed to turn the Wheel of the Dharma from within his Moon. Even though the lunar yin energy and the solar yang energy illumine objects by means of the fire jewel—which is the Sun—and the water jewel—which is the Moon—he would forthwith manifest both. This heart and mind of his was nothing other than his Moon, and this Moon of his was, as a matter of course, his own heart and mind. This is how the Buddha’s Ancestors, as disciples of the Buddha, master the principle of mind and the details of mind.

❀

"A Buddha of the past once said, 'The whole of your mind contains everything, and everything contains the whole of your mind.' Since this is so, your mind is everything, and everything is your mind. Because your heart and mind are your Moon, your Moon must be the Moon. Because everything, which is your
heart and mind, is completely the Moon, the whole universe throughout is the whole Moon throughout. And being intimately acquainted with your self, through and through, is being intimately acquainted with your Moon, through and through. Even with the ‘three and three before, or three and three after’ over time immemorial, who among them is not a Moon? The Buddha with the Solar Face and the Buddha with the Lunar Face—which are our body and mind along with their internal propensities and external conditions at this present moment—will both be within our Moon.⁸ Birth-and-death and coming-and-going will both be in our Moon, and the whole universe in all ten quarters will be the top, bottom, left, and right within our Moon. Whatever is going on right now in our daily life will be just some of the hundreds of things that sprout up in our mind ever so clearly within our Moon, and it will be what sprouts up in the minds of the Buddhas and Ancestors within Their Moon."


Notes:

5. ‘Swallows up’, both here and throughout this discourse, is a metaphor meaning ‘takes in and comprehends’.

6. That is, they do not have a permanent, unchangeable nature.

7. ‘The Moon’s light’ refers to the reflected light of the Sun (that is, Buddha Nature), whereas ‘the Moon’s Light’ refers to the Sun Itself.

8. The Buddha with the Solar Face is said to have a lifespan of 1,800 years, whereas the lifespan of the Buddha with the Lunar Face is said to be one day. This reference was used by Meditation Master Baso to describe our original Buddha Nature as being beyond any temporal measure, such as ‘long’ or ‘short’.

* See Glossary.

References:

Nearman, H. (2007). Tsuki: on the Moon as One's Excellent Nature. In Shōbōgenzō: The Treasure House of the Eye of the True Teaching (1st ed., pp. 546-548). Mt. Shasta, CA: Shasta Abbey Press.

http://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/shobo/043tsuki.pdf

[Sara H]

So, for example, a good way to think about this text, and to read it, would be to take one line as an example:

What is now being expressed is that, without fail, the Ancestors of the Buddha, as disciples of the Buddha, possess the [Buddha Nature] of their heart and mind because they treat their [Buddha Nature] as their heart and mind. If It were not the [Buddha Nature], It would not be their heart and mind, and without a heart and mind, there is no [Buddha Nature].

This of course, is because our heart and mind are not separate from the Buddha Nature. Nothing is separate from IT. Dogen is saying that it is of certainty that the Ancestors not only had the Buddha Nature (all beings do), but that they were acting from a Place where their Buddha Nature was their source of their decision making. That they were being guided by their sense of their Buddha Nature, and not by their small thinking mind, or small emotional heart. Rather, they were being guided by their True Mind or True Heart: their Buddha Nature.