Dogen’s Shishobo and the Bodhisattva Path

[DaveSumner]

I’ve been sitting on the Bodhisattva way lately. Looking at the precepts during this time has caused me to want to understand the Bodhisattva way better. I have been focusing on what Dogen talks about on giving (non-greed).

There is the obvious giving, but I started to think about what we can offer through our home practice. Our sitting, bowing, incense, flowers and so on.

I was thinking also about how we extend metta. So I was hoping to hear other opinions on how we can give through our practice?

Gassho, David
sat/lah

[Jundo]

I’ve been sitting on the Bodhisattva way lately. Looking at the precepts during this time has caused me to want to understand the Bodhisattva way better. I have been focusing on what Dogen talks about on giving (non-greed).

There is the obvious giving, but I started to think about what we can offer through our home practice. Our sitting, bowing, incense, flowers and so on.

I was thinking also about how we extend metta. So I was hoping to hear other opinions on how we can give through our practice?

Gassho, David
sat/lah

Hi David,

All our practice, everything we do from Sitting Zazen to ... EVERYTHING ... all of life, should all be dedicated in our heart to helping all suffering sentient beings.

In worldly terms, our "Lend-A-Hand" (LAH) efforts are meant to inspire things we can do ... BIG or SMALL and BOTH ... each day. Folks can have a look there ...

https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/treeleaf/practices/engaged-charitable-projects-center/16154-sattoday-lend-a-hand-please-lah-and-sat-before-chat

It is good if we have benefit from our practice, of course. But the greatest benefit, both to ourselves, others and the whole world, comes when we dedicate our practice to suffering sentient beings.

Any more specific questions in your mind?

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[DaveSumner]

Hi David,

All our practice, everything we do from Sitting Zazen to ... EVERYTHING ... all of life, should all be dedicated in our heart to helping all suffering sentient beings.

In worldly terms, our "Lend-A-Hand" (LAH) efforts are meant to inspire things we can do ... BIG or SMALL and BOTH ... each day. Folks can have a look there ...

https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/treeleaf/practices/engaged-charitable-projects-center/16154-sattoday-lend-a-hand-please-lah-and-sat-before-chat

It is good if we have benefit from our practice, of course. But the greatest benefit, both to ourselves, others and the whole world, comes when we dedicate our practice to suffering sentient beings.

Any more specific questions in your mind?

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

I guess I was chasing for more of a Dogen’ese answer . Kidding but kind of not. I have to admit, I’m not a metaphysical or mystical kind of guy, but I am resonating with Dogen. It’s still way over my head and I’m not very philosophical either but I do want to understand this better. I do want to see better the interconnectedness and Dogen’s view of time and how our practice effects all sentient beings? Hopefully that makes sense.

Gassho, David
sat/lah

[Jundo]

Oh, you want Dogen! Then, I will give you two of the four Shishobo ... The Bodhisattva's Four Ways of Guidance .... Here, Dogen relates several stories of people giving great and small acts, but with sincerity. Whether one is kind or pauper, one can give. We give things, food, money, but also teachings, companionship, strength. We give to others, and to ourself sometimes ... the whole world turns on giving, beyond separation of giver, gifted and gift.

~~~

THE BODHISATTVA’S four methods of guidance are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action.

“Giving” means nongreed. Nongreed means not to covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor. Even if you govern the Four Continents, you should always convey the authentic path with nongreed. It is like giving away unneeded belongings to someone you don’t know, offering flowers blooming on a distant mountain to the Tathagata, or, again, offering treasures you had in your former life to sentient beings. Whether it is of teaching or of material, each gift has its value and is worth giving. Even if the gift is not your own, there is no reason to abstain from giving. Without despising the fact that the object is trivial, [we should recognize] that its merit is real.

... The Buddha said, “When a person who practices giving goes to an assembly, people take notice.” Know that the mind of such a person communicates subtly with others. This being so, give even a phrase or verse of the truth; it will be a wholesome seed for this and other lifetimes. Give your valuables, even a penny or a blade of grass; it will be a wholesome root for this and other lifetimes. The truth can turn into valuables; valuables can turn into the truth. This is all because the giver is willing. A king [Emperor Tai of the Tang Dynasty] gave his beard as medicine to cure his retainer’s disease. A child offered sand to Buddha and became King [Ashoka] in a later birth. They were not greedy for reward but only shared what they could. To launch a boat or build a bridge is an act of giving. If you study giving closely, you see that to accept a body and to give up the body are both giving. Making a living and producing things can be nothing other than giving. To leave flowers to the wind, to leave birds to the seasons, are also acts of giving.

... The Buddha said, “If you are to practice giving to yourself, how much more so to your parents, wife, and children.” Thus, know that to give to yourself is a part of giving. To give to your family is also giving. Even when you give a particle of dust, you should rejoice in your own act, because you authentically transmit the merit of all buddhas, and begin to practice an act of a bodhisattva. The mind of a sentient being is difficult to change. Keep on changing the minds of sentient beings, from the moment that you offer one valuable, to the moment that they attain the way. This should be initiated by giving. Thus, giving is the first of the six paramitas [realizations]. Mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. And yet, in giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.

~~~

“Beneficial action” is skillfully to benefit all classes of sentient beings; that is, to care about their distant and near future, and to help them by using skillful means. In ancient times, someone helped a caged tortoise; another took care of a sick sparrow. They did not expect a reward; they were moved to do so only for the sake of beneficial action. Foolish people think that if they help others first, their own benefit will be lost, but this is not so. Beneficial action is an act of oneness, benefiting self and others together. To greet petitioners, a lord of old stopped three times in the middle of his bath to arrange his hair, and three times left his dinner table. He did this solely with the intention of benefiting others. He did not mind instructing even subjects of other lords. Thus, benefit friend and enemy equally. Benefit self and others alike. If you have this heart, even beneficial action for the sake of grass, trees, wind, and water is spontaneous and unremitting. This being so, make a wholehearted effort to help the ignorant.

~~~~

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Chiko]

I love the reference to "offering flowers blooming on a distant mountain." To offer what we don't possess gets to the heart of dana practice: what does it mean to "own" something, and how does clinging to this concept enforce a rigid sense of self-vs-other? When we provide help, relief, dedication, love...we don't detract from our balance sheet to add to another. On the contrary, all of life is supported simultaneously in that moment.

with bows,
Chiko
ST/LaH