Rev. Jodo Cliff Clusin: Dogen's Zenki: The Whole Works

Rev. Jodo Cliff Clusin presents a talk on Dogen's Zenki: The Whole Works.

Transcript

So I decided to present some of Dogen's teaching, which tends to be difficult,

but I thought, after reading this through many times, I thought we could try it.

It's from one of his showbook, and so essay is called The Whole Works.

Whole is in wholeness. It's H-O-L-E. Well, that's pretty much the whole thing.

That kind of says it all. one word.

So a wholeness that includes everything. Everything. No separation.

Everything's included.

We say, you know, that's reality. That's how things are.

But we don't normally think that way. Oh, words are pretty good for separation.

But, and then works.

Works is a good word to add, though, because works is dynamic.

Everything is changing, moving.

Our blood is flowing. Our breath is, everything's alive and working.

So that's the title of the whole works.

But I'll give a little introduction.

Yeah, so this is stressing oneness, connection, no separation, togetherness.

But oneness doesn't diminish separation, either.

It includes separation.

The ability to discern, ascertain, see differences is—we wouldn't be alive without it, you know.

We wouldn't know how to get food or build shelters or,

treat things medically if we didn't have a very,

good, astute ability to see differences.

However, in human life, that's all we believe in is differences.

You know, separateness is often painful.

And so, having some time where we investigate oneness kind of puts humans in balance.

There's The phrase, a tempest in a teapot, I researched it some,

it was first used by Greek philosophers,

and then it was a phrase used by British thinkers and politicians in the 1700s, 1800s.

So, a lot of things that upset us, you could say, are in retrospect or in a

wider view, are kind of like a tempest in a teapot.

And Buddhist teachings, kind of like, there's teapots, but there's also the

ocean. In the ocean, there's plenty of room.

There's plenty of, it's just so much larger than our usual tempest in a teapot.

Now, of course, Dogen's essay, of course, my talk is using words intellectually, but,

it's important to not just a philosophical idea of oneness.

It's pointing us to an experience that seems to include our bodies.

Of course, our bodies always include it.

Even when we're off mentally inseparateness, our bodies being affected by that.

But it's based on just a different way of thinking, kind of an intuition.

That's actually hard to put into words.

But I say we kind of suffer from the tyranny of ideas.

We get an idea, it's a good idea, within its limits, you know.

Things change, it's not complete.

So freedom, freedom to be more fluid, like everything, all delusions,

they're part of the whole works.

But if we have this wide view of the whole works, then things are put in perspective.

I told someone, you know, I hold views, and I try to just not hold them too tightly.

I like my views, I think.

But then I struggle. It's painful when people have very different views.

You know, where can we find the peace in that? But the oneness Dogen talks about

is like, it's inherent in reality.

It's not like, okay, let's take these separate things and put them together, tell them to play nice.

I mean, that's wonderful, but Dogen's talking about a oneness that's already inherently there.

And some people, you know, they think, well, this is really questionable that you're,

are you loosening things up too much when you switch from teapot to ocean?

Is this going to soften my analytical skills?

But it's like, no, it doesn't impede analytical skills.

It's complimentary.

And I'd say it might soften up our brain, but I think the nice thing about studying

this is that over time it softens our heart.

And when I listened to Dharma Talks with Katagari Roshi, and ever since we weren't

actually told to do this,

I don't think, but we pretty much just sat in Zazen listening to the talk.

I would look at Katagari Roshi part of the time, But I'd also have my eyes down sitting Zazen,

but you're free to listen as you choose, as it happens.

So I'm going to read this essay. a little dense we'll see how it goes here,

the great path of the buddhas in its consummation is passage to freedom is actualization,

that passage to freedom in one sense is that life passes through life to freedom,

and death, too, passes through death to freedom.

Therefore, there is leaving life and death, there is entering life and death.

Both are the great paths of consummation. There is an abandoning life and death.

There is a crossing over life and death.

Both are the great paths of consummation. Consummation means completion.

Actualization is realization of potential.

So, he contradicts himself in the same sentence, leaving life and death and

entering life and death.

It's interesting, a friend of mine put on Facebook her meditation set up,

her cushion and her alternator set up, and he goes,

this is my boat for leaving body and mind.

But I thought body and mind were the boat.

But I didn't post that on Facebook because I didn't want to diminish her point,

anyhow there's both,

leaving and there's both entering I guess that would be called freedom,

I say one step left oh that's great one step left is pretty good I'm more oriented

now Well, don't forget the ability to take one step to the right.

Okay, next paragraph.

Actualization is life. Life is actualization.

When that actualization is

taking place, it is without exception the complete actualization of life.

Life, it is the complete actualization of death.

This pivotal working can cause life and cause death.

At the precise moment of actualization of this working, it is not necessarily great,

not necessarily small, not all-pervasive, not limited, Not extensive, not brief.

So we stop measuring. We stop...

Analyzing.

You know, we can say, well, this is great. Well, it's not always great.

Great's a temporary state, something you're experiencing temporarily.

So he's, you know, telling our mind, don't try to pin it down.

The present life is in this working. This working is in the present life.

Life is not coming, not going, not present, not becoming.

Nevertheless, life is the manifestation of the whole works.

Death is the manifestation of the whole works.

Know that among the infinite things in oneself, there is life and there is death.

One should calmly think, is this present life,

along with the myriad things concomitant with life, together with life or not?

There is nothing at all, not so much as one time or one phenomenon,

that is not together with life.

Even be it a single thing, a single mind, none is not together with life.

So it's pretty interesting. We separate, we think, how should I relate to my life?

What should I do? about my life.

Like, we're separating a concept of ourselves and our actual life.

Dogen wants to point out there's nothing separate.

It's just life, which is the whole works.

We have a single view, a single thought. We think, oh, how does that fit in?

Well, it's already fitted. It's already always together with everything.

Like the sentence, know there are that among the infinite things in oneself.

So you can't, how can you fully understand yourself, you know? Infinite.

Infinite things.

Okay, this next part's pretty good. Life is like one rides in a boat.

Though in this boat one works the sail, the rudder and the pole,

the boat carries one, and one is not without the boat.

Riding in the boat, one even causes the boat to be a boat.

One should meditate on this precise point.

At this very moment, the boat is the world. Even the sky, the water,

and the shore all have become circumstances of the boat.

Unlike circumstances which are not the boat. For this reason,

life is our causing to live.

It is life's causing us to be ourselves.

When riding in a boat, the mind and body, object and subject,

are all workings of the boat.

The whole earth and all of space are both workings of the boat.

We that are life, life that is we, are the same way.

So the boat, we seem to think, well, there's a boat and there's us.

But when you're out on a big body of water, you definitely are interested in being one with the boat.

And yeah, he presents the human experience where you see, oh,

I'm in this boat and there's the sky,

there's the water, there's the shore, but it's all one experience.

It's all one working together.

And we, this is an interesting line, that one even causes the boat to be a boat, because,

well, that's your experience, your, you

give the boat a lot of meaning by participating in the life of the boat.

Okay, there's only two paragraphs left, but they're long paragraphs.

Zen Master Ngo Kogukon said, In life the whole works appears.

In death the whole works appears.

One should thoroughly investigate and understand this saying.

What thorough investigation means is that the principle of in life the whole

works appears has nothing to do with beginning and end,

though it is the whole earth and all of space,

not only does it not block the appearance of the whole works in life it doesn't

block the appearance of the whole works in death either.

I had to look at this. He has this word, it.

Though it is the whole earth and all space.

As I study the paragraph, It corresponds to the whole works.

So I seem to understand that he's saying the whole works does not block the whole works.

So we have an idea of the whole works.

But that doesn't limit anything.

The whole works goes beyond our idea of the whole works.

When the whole works appears in death, though it is the whole earth and all

space, it does not block the appearance of the whole works in death.

It doesn't block the appearance of the whole works in life either.

For this reason, life doesn't obstruct death.

Death doesn't obstruct life.

The whole earth and all space are in life and in death, too.

However, it is not fulfilling the potential of one whole earth and one whole

space and life in fulfilling their potential in death, too.

Though they are not one, they are not different.

Though they are not different they are not identical,

though they are not identical they are not multiple,

therefore in life there are myriad phenomenon of the appearance of the whole

works and in death too there are myriad phenomenon of the appearance of the whole works,

there is also the manifestation of the whole works in what is neither life or death.

So most people, they say, I have a headache.

Because first he says, they're not different.

Okay, that's an aspect. And then he says, well, though they're not different, they're not identical.

Though they're not identical, they are not multiple.

So reality cannot be pinned down to, but this is very,

this may seem like just some irrelevant philosophy, but you know,

in our life, let's take family,

family, two, two, more, more people,

extended family.

So oneness, there's one family, but the one family is separate individuals.

Separate individuals, pretty good. It's freedom. People have freedom to be themselves.

But kind of in the background, you know, we kind of struggle.

Am I family, or am I a multitude, or am I an individual?

And then we can kind of pay attention to how separateness and togetherness,

how we think about them, how they affect our body, how we work,

with the amazing paradox of both separateness and oneness.

And I find when I'm not at peace,

it's often because I'm really struggling with separateness.

In the manifestation of the whole works there is life and there is death.

Therefore the whole works of life and death must be like a person bending and

straightening their arm.

Herein there are so many spiritual powers and lights which are manifest.

The moment of manifestation, because it is completely activated by manifestation,

one sees and understands that there is no manifestation before manifestation.

However, prior to this manifestation is previous manifestation of the whole works.

Although there is previous manifestation of the whole works,

it does not block the present manifestation of the whole works.

For this reason, such a vision and understanding vigorously appears.

So things that seem different seem different, but he says it's as natural as

straightening and bending your arm.

It's just like, those are different.

It's bent or it's straight. Sometimes that's really important,

whatever you're trying to hold.

But also, it's just an arm. It's just natural.

The difference just happens naturally.

So the difference Susan is part of the whole.

Then he talks about how, so usually we let the past, we cling to the past,

we're diminishing the present.

So he says, although there is previous manifestation of the whole works,

it does not block the present manifestation of the whole works.

Of course, before that, the sentence before that, he implies something of the opposite.

At the moment of manifestation because it is completely activated by manifestation.

The present moment is just completely here.

One sees and understands that there is no manifestation before manifestation.

So that sentence, you know, it frees us up, you know, forget the previous manifestation.

But also, well, you know, there is a prior moment, which was also a complete manifestation.

And it's not, but don't let it inhibit.

But, so, he's really, it sounds pretty philosophical, but, you know,

it's really meant to be experiential.

He doesn't present one view without, in the same sentence, practically balancing it out.

With a different viewpoint.

So I say we study these teachings.

We kind of marinate. We kind of let these teachings in a little bit.

And over time.

And then these teachings are kind of trying to put in words the experience of Zazen so in Zazen,

everything everything comes up uh.

Our mind runs through its separation routine daily separation calisthenics that we,

just have this habit of doing and then with like oh wait a minute i'm just,

sitting here facing a wall there's that i just imagined i just imagined,

And my memory,

you know, I ran through my memories, but how,

my memories are just one point of view.

My memories are how I feel about my memories right now.

I don't know what really happened. I just know, just sifting through the traces

of what happened in the future, pretty.

Pretty unknown, though we're pretty, I think we're pretty sure about it,

so that our slowly,

but people always have blind spots.

You know, people, no matter how awake the trend is to use the word awake instead

of the word enlightened,

no matter how awake you are, you're never free from blind spots. You know, you never...

So, please, please enjoy everything.