The Rule of Cause and Effect (4) Great Practice
Even in the Rule of Cause and Effect the ultimate state of the Four Philosophies comes back to the Real Phase, and so the ulitimate phase of Cause and Effect are also combined into one at the present moment. Therefore in the case of Shobogenzo the ultimate phase of the Rule of Cause and Effect, that is, "Great Practice," (76) is different from "Deep Belief in Cause and Effect." Both Chapters "Deep Belief in Cause and Effect" and "Great Practice" quote completely the same stories of Master Hyakujo Ekai and an old monk, who has changed into a wild fox.
In "Deep Belief in Cause and Effect" Master Dogen clearly explained the difference between "FURAKU INGA" and "FUMAI INGA".
"FURAKU INGA" means "They do not fall into cause and effect," and so the words suggest the denial of Cause and Effect, but in the case of "FUMAI INGA" the words means "Do not be unclear about cause and effect," and so the words suggest that "Even the practice of Zazen, we can not get rid of Cause and effect."
But in the case of the Chapter "Great Practice", Master Dogen thought that in the ultimate phase, or in the case of reality, even the cause and the effect occur just at the present moment, and in such situations cause and effect are combined at the present moment, and so even in the case of cause and effect the both are also combined into one reality, and then there is no difference between cause and effect, which are combined into only one reality at the present moment.
Therefore we should think that in the case of intellectual consideration, we can never accept the ilogical insistence of cause and effect at all, but at the basis of reality, we should transcend the theoretical area, and we should think about the situations of reality on the basis of just the present moment.
In "Deep Belief in Cause and Effect" Master Dogen clearly explained the difference between "FURAKU INGA" and "FUMAI INGA".
"FURAKU INGA" means "They do not fall into cause and effect," and so the words suggest the denial of Cause and Effect, but in the case of "FUMAI INGA" the words means "Do not be unclear about cause and effect," and so the words suggest that "Even the practice of Zazen, we can not get rid of Cause and effect."
But in the case of the Chapter "Great Practice", Master Dogen thought that in the ultimate phase, or in the case of reality, even the cause and the effect occur just at the present moment, and in such situations cause and effect are combined at the present moment, and so even in the case of cause and effect the both are also combined into one reality, and then there is no difference between cause and effect, which are combined into only one reality at the present moment.
Therefore we should think that in the case of intellectual consideration, we can never accept the ilogical insistence of cause and effect at all, but at the basis of reality, we should transcend the theoretical area, and we should think about the situations of reality on the basis of just the present moment.
posted by GUDO NISHIJIMA | 2:56 PM
10 Comments:
In the words "Great Practice," we should not misunderstand the meaning of the word "Great." It is not the great of great and small, good and bad, polite and rude. It is the Great of the Great Vehicle, the One Buddha-Vehicle in which all should intend to ride.
In his Hardcore Zen blog of January 17th, Brad Warner wrote:
"Ever since I started writing and doing talks I’ve attracted a seemingly endless stream of guys who want to challenge my Enlightenment. But for any of you who happen to be reading this, I said it in my book and I’ll say it here again: I am not now, nor will I ever be Enlightened."
These are never the words of a man of the Great Practice. They are the words of a small boy who, not understanding the true meaning of the Bodhisattva vow, attaches to the idea that he is riding only in some lesser kind of cart.
I do not challenge Brad Warner’s enlightenment. I challenge his arrogance to intend to write his commentary on my translation of Shobogenzo, when in fact he has not understood Master Dogen’s fundamental Zazen teaching at all.
I welcome Brad to challenge my fundamental understanding of Buddhism. If his viewpoint is true and mine is false, why does he not rise to my challenge and defeat me -- as Master Dogen challenged and defeated every wrong view in Shobogenzo? The answer is because Brad does not have any Buddhist power to do so. The excellent ability he has is not Buddhist power; it is excellent ability to write and sell popular books and make himself famous on the internet, catering to the pseudo-cool, punk/ex-punk market.
Gudo Nishijima is expecting Brad to turn his translation of Master Nagarjuna’s MMK into something beautiful. This will remain an utterly forlorn hope, unless Brad devotes himself to in-depth study of Sanskrit, in the same way that I went back to Master Dogen’s original Japanese for the Shobogenzo translation. But Brad has no such intention, and he will never turn Nishijima Roshi’s MMK translation into something that Buddhist scholars will accept as authentic. Gudo Nishijima does not want to see this fact. He would rather die in blissful ignorance. He is in denial about his MMK translation, just as he has remained in denial of the fact that the person who translated Shobogenzo into English was not him but me. Remaining in denial allowed him firstly to betray me in our translation partnership, and latterly to steal the translation from me. Yes, inability to accept reality turned my Buddhist Master into an unknowing traitor and thief. This may not be what anyone expected to hear, but this just happens to be the truth. The only reason the truth hasn’t come out so far is that I suppressed the truth out of loyalty. But the time has come for the truth to be told.
Without FM Alexander's teaching I would never have understood the real meaning of Master Dogen's words "Just wake up."
Without Gudo Wafu Nishijima's teaching I would never even have heard of those words.
Homage to Gudo Wafu Nishijima. That stubborn, opinionated, irrepressible old man.
I hate him deeply. I prostrate myself to him wholeheartedly.
Jim,
You say "go in peace" but your real intent is not like that. Your real intent is malicious. In saying this I know that I am expressing an opinion which is shared by other of Nishijima Roshi's Dharma-heirs, not only me.
It seems that I have aroused the hatred of members of Dogen Sangha in my unskillful and arrogant attempts to teach them. But you have aroused such hatred in your unskillful and arrogant attempts to promote yourself.
As a matter of record, the argument between Nishijima Roshi and me over the Shobogenzo copyright was instigated by an email from him expressing to me his fear that you were out to get control over all his books. Maybe you would like me to post the email onto my blog so everybody can read for themselves what great confidence Nishijima Roshi has in you?
If there are people who read your comment and are not able to see you for the fraud you are, I feel very very sorry for them. I honestly cannot understand why Gudo Nishijima, if his Buddhist intention were true, would transmit the Dharma to a self-promoting troublemaker like you. That you have got formal recognition to teach Buddhism to others is something terribly wrong.
For 25 years I have persisted in questioning every day my understanding of Fukan-zazengi. For years and years I studied it under Gudo Nishijima (before you, Brad, and the like ever arrived on the scene). Finally I got confidence that I grasped the true meaning, and I am wondering how to begin in earnest the task of teaching it to others.
I say that "just wake up" means to liberate the body from unconsciousness, and this entails a clear decision not to do anything in the way of physical self-adjustment. In your understanding, expressed on this blog, Zazen is like going for a gentle ride on a bike--i.e. just unconscious doing.
I totally defeated you already, Jim. You just can't see it yet.
My situation now may be like that of Master Dogen when he came back from China, proclaiming his idea in Fukan-zazengi. It is said that Buddhist monks of the time burned down Master Dogen's temple. So I think that even in Master Dogen's time there were Buddhist monks like you on the earth.
I believe that I have still have at least one or two friends in Dogen Sangha who do not see things as you do, but they prefer to keep their silence. That is fine. I have no intention to cause a schism with Dogen Sangha of people for and against me. But readers of this blog should not think that you speak for anyone other than your own self-promoting self.
Hi Cromanyak,
"Maybe you are one of the monks who burned the temple?"
Maybe those of us who weigh in on a dispute whose background and circumstances we don't know provided the kindling.
Just a thought.
I don't think dharma transmission or the lack of it is the issue here, but I could be wrong.
Who cares? :))
Cromanyak, no problem. I should've made myself clearer. I hope I didn't offend you.
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For Mike Cross San
In the case the meaning of "Great" is, real, practical, or Buddhist, and so your interpretation of "the Great of the Great" or "the One Buddha-Vihicle" is not wrong.
I think that to be enlightened means to become balanced in the autonomic nervous system, and such state is beyond our consciousness, and so I agree with Brad San's idea.
I think that the third paragraph of Mike Cross San's expression is only his own subjective decision, which does not have any kind of objective certification, and so I afirm that Brad San's expression is reliable.
I know that Brad San practices Zazen everyday in the morning and at night.
The reason, why Master Dogen criticized the wrong ideas other than Buddhism, comes from his very sincere attitude to teach his true Buddhism to us, who want to know the true Buddhism so sincerely. But generally speaking, it is usually useless for us to have intellectual discussions in Buddhism, because it is usually impossible for us to grasp the True Buddhism relying upon only intellectual consideration.
Actually in the case of MMK I am relying upon Brad San's excellent ability to rewrite my Japanese English into his fluent English, because when I have accomplished my English translation, it is always necessary for me to ask some native speaker in English to rewite my Japanese English into a fluent native speaker's Eglish.
Therefore when I have finished my English translation of Shobogenzo into English, I asked Jefferey Bailley San, who is my first foreign Buddhist student, to rewrite it into his fluent English. And then I do not know what kind of negotiation was between Jefferey San and you, but you suddenly reported me that Jefferey San and you had decided that you would succeed the rewriting job from Jefferey San. Therefore I relied upon your ability for the rewriting. I remember that Jefferey San's rewriting was also very precise and sincere, and so I couldn't understand the personal negotiations between the two, but I didn't have any way to know the secret situations behind them.
However, at the same time, I have much appreciation to your excellent ability and efforts in the rewriting my English draft. I agree that my tranlation has become much better because of your talents and efforts in the rewriting Shobogenzo. From the beginning of my translation, I made two copies of my translation with an old typewriter by hand, which was Bailley San's present for me, and I have passed one copy of my translation of the whole volumes to Bailley San totally, and so I have supposed that you have received the copy of my English draft from Bailley San. And if you did not receive my draft of English translation from Bailley San, I had spent 16 years to translate the old style Japanese Shobogenzo into modern Japanese style, and then I needed to use more 6 years to translating it into English. At the same time I have heard my Buddhist English lectures in the Yangmen Buddhist Asociation of Tokyo University, and so forth, and I answered for your questions on Shobogenzo, and Buddhism, for more than tens of years. Therefore even though you insist that you have translated Shobogenzo totally without relying anything upon me, but I think that your insistences are completely wrong comparing with the real historical facts on the earth.
At the same time for finishing our English translation fortunately we have received a rather lot of money from the Japan Fund, and thinking about your situations I have presented the total money (decreasing the amount of the tax) for you just after receiving the money from the fund.
Therefore if you insist further that I am a thief in this case, I will have an idea to fight against you in the lawful court in England, or Japan.
For Mike Cross San
I have already explained the meaning of "Just wake up" even in this blog already.
Thank you very much for your excellent praise of me "That stubborn, opinionated, irreprssible old man."
I would like to know sincerely which is your honest opinion between "I hate him deeply," or "I prostrate myself to him wholeheartedly."
For cromanyak San
Yes, it is true. In conclusion, Master Dogen explains that cause and effect occur at the same moment together when an act is done at the present moment.
(Note) I have become a little tired, and so I will write my comments tomorrow too.
For Jundo Jim San
When I decided that I would like to have Mike Cross San out of Dogen Sangha, I asked Brad San's opinion on such matter. At that time I had an doubt whether it is adequate for me to report the fact by blog, or not, but Brad San recommended me not to use a blog. Therefore I didn't use blog, and I used only email limited inside the member of my Dharma Heirs. But I am very sorry that Mike Cross San does not know such a kind of Brad San's goodwill.
I do never have any kind of hate to Mike Cross San, but it is inevitable for me to recommend Mike Cross San to leave Dogen Sangha, because after many kinds of my questions to him, it has been inevitable for me to recognize that even though Mike Croo San believe in AT, he refused so many times to believe in the Buddhist fundamental principles at last.
For Mike Cross San
I am afraid that you have a strong tendency to believe that everyone has a kind of malice toward you, but it is not true, and so I think that it is much better for you to throw away such kinds of prejudice totally.
I think that you always have some kind of tendency to suspect someone's malice, but I think that such a kind of malice does never exist on the furface of the Earth at all.
On the problem of our copyright on Shobogenzo, I do not have any idea for me to restrict your freedom to publish your own translation of Shobogenzo. Therefore you can publish your own translation of Shobogenzo changing the contents of our translation as you like, but using your name only.
I myself gave my Dharma to Cohen San, and so I think that such a fact does never related with Mike Cross San's opinion.
Now you are perfectly free from me, and so I hope that you will proclaim your own idea without any hesitation by yourelf.
But I hope that Mike Cross San will not criticize other Buddhist monks so violently, because it is the very clear violation of the sixth and seventh precepts among the Ten Important Precepts.
For cromanyak San, Michael San, Paul San, oxeye San, and Virtual Ain't Reality San
I do not have anything to say so far.
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