Some folks may misinterpret the "no attainment" teachings of Soto Zen by making it sound as if Soto teachers are advocating for complacency, passivity, killing time, wallowing in our own stupidity. Nothing could be further from the truth!
We practice very, very diligently, each moment, all to realize this radical "no other place to be, nothing to attain, all goals ever realized, Buddha is manifest right here!" It is much like walking up a mountain (Buddha Mountain) in which every single step is itself total arrival at Buddha Mountain, every inch its own "summit" of Buddha mountain ... and yet we keep on moving on, not quitting. We seek to do our sincere best with each step to avoid the "mud holes" of greed, anger and ignorance, thus bringing Buddha to life in our walking Buddha Mountain. No need to seek this mountain which is always underfoot, and yet we seek to walk it well. Thus we strive and gain the glorious realization that there is no need to gain Buddha Mountain aside from this very step by step along Buddha Mountain. Buddha Mountain is right here, not hidden behind the distant hills.
We may also learn to ease our heart, relax from all thirst and fear, free of the hunger to be elsewhere, thus ... striving with our legs, our heart beating, even as our heart is free of all hunger and striving: Thus, striving-without-striving, this doing-non-doing.
There is no need for perfection for, in fact, we can never get away from Buddha Mountain. Nonetheless, we keep trying to do our very best as sincere and diligent practitioners walking this mountain. One step may be graceful, the next step a stumble, yet we get up and continue on through this life. Eventually, with time, the walker may become enlightened to the fact that she has been Buddha-Walking-Buddha all along, and not an inch has ever been travelled away from Buddha, nor can one be nearer..
Suzuki Shunryu spoke about this attitude in 'Not Alway So':
Dogen Zenji says, "Practice and enlightenment are one." Practice is something you do consciously, something you do with effort. There! Right there is enlightenment. Many Zen masters missed this point while they were striving to attain perfect zazen: things that exist are imperfect. That is how everything actually exists in this world. Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality. It is true intellectually and also in the realm of practice. It is true on paper and true with our body. You think that you can only establish true practice after you attain enlightenment, but it is not so. True practice is established in delusion, in frustration. If you make some mistake, that is where to establish your practice. There is no other place for you to establish your practice.
We talk about enlightenment, but in its true sense perfect enlightenment is beyond our understanding, beyond our experience. Even in our imperfect practice enlightenment is there. We just don't know it. So the point is to find the true meaning of practice before we attain enlightenment. Wherever you are, enlightenment is there. [f you stand up right where you are, that is enlightenment.
(not always so, p 129)
We talk about enlightenment, but in its true sense perfect enlightenment is beyond our understanding, beyond our experience. Even in our imperfect practice enlightenment is there. We just don't know it. So the point is to find the true meaning of practice before we attain enlightenment. Wherever you are, enlightenment is there. [f you stand up right where you are, that is enlightenment.
(not always so, p 129)
It is the Koan of 'Ongoing, Continuous, Practice-Enlightenment' which we Soto folks savor.
Is the fellow in this picture going up or down or on a level plain?
In truth, he is moving yet always still, always right here yet moving.
Gassho, J
STLah
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