Dogen Sangha Blog

  by Gudo NISHIJIMA

Japanese / German

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

MMK (7) Examination of the External World (34 Verses)

1. When the External World has manifested already,
It might be necessary for the External World to be bound by having appearance, continuiy, and disappearance.

But when the World, which is different from the Real World, has appeared,
How is it possible for the External World to manifest itself at all?


2. If appearance, continuity, and disappearance as the three, are existing as the three, which are individually separated from each other,
But it might be impossible for such a description to be used exactly.

The situations of miscellaneous things and phenomena, which are placed as things and phenomena of this world at the same place together,
Might be possible to be described as the exsistence at the same place,
But it might be impossible for us to insist that the existence of the miscellaneous things and phenomena are existing continuously without any extinction at all.


3. Many miscellaneous occurances like appearance, continuity, and disappearance, and so forth,
are clearly different from the real characteristics of this world.

And when such an unstable condition exists in our circumstances ,
The real world and its characteristics do not exist,
And miscellaneous things and phenomena in this world do not exist at all.


4. An individual phenomenon, an individual phenomenon, and furthermore an individual phenomenon, are existing,
But what is called a fundamental phenomenon, is just a subjective feeling, which is only belonging to a person, who insists to describe it so.

An individual phenomenon and an individual phenomenon, those are just existing as the individual phenomenon,
And what is called the fundamental phenomenon, is something, which has been created later artificially.


5. An individual phenomenon and an individual phenomenon, those are just individual phenomena,
And those are always included into the fundamental phenomenon.

What hasn't been born relying upon the fundamental phenomenon, has produced this world,
And so it is perfectly impossible for the world to produce this world once more again even in future at all.


6. If it is actually true that this world has been born really from something fundamental,
It might be necessary for something fundamental should be born at every moment.

However, as a real fact, it is not true that something fundamental has been born from something fundamental itself.
Therefore how is it actually true for something fundamental to have born something fundamental itself?


7. The real facts in front of us are just the real substances, which are now produced actually,
And they are just miscellaneous things and phenomena.

At the time, when this world is just being produced now,
The facts in front of us, which is not born actually,
Are regrettable facts, which rob the comfortable situations of our talks actually.


8. What is called "light", is including both subjective consideration and objective perception,
And so it manifests itself following the method of the subjective consideration and the objective perception.

A fact that something manifests itself is subjective consideration and objective perception,
Are combined with each other together,
And relying upon such a combination of the two factors, the combinations of the two factors have become possible.


9. Because of existence of light it is impossible for darkness to exist,
And so in such a situation it must be necessary for something to be placed as a kind of light.

Perhaps something similar to a lamp might make the situations to be seen.
Because it might be true that some kind of brightness can break darkness actually.


10. With what kind of process actually, darkness is broken by brightness?

Because darkness is not permitted to keep its appearance without interuption,
Brightness might be possible to keep its appearance without stop.


11. The circumstances, for which it is impossible for us to get some kind of aim, exist always in the side of brightness,
And so the object, which is always destroyed, must be darkness itself.

The facts that everything is keeping its own place, where it is existing actually, is the common methods of everything in the world to exist,
And so as the exact situations of everything, darkness might be always the destroyer of all.


12. The brightness is always something, which has combined subjective thoughts and objective perceptions together harmoniously,
Therefore it might be impossible for us to refuse lying on the bed for taking a rest even in future.


13. The world, which can never be produced by anyone, is being seen in front of us.
How is it possible for subjective ideas to produce anything real in this world?

In such a situation, how is it possible for any idea, which has been born, produces something real again and again?


14. The world is never something, which has been produced for the first time, or something, which has appeared for the first time.
How is it possible that something, which is different from something, which has been produced for the first time, is perfectly impossible at all?

Even though actually something concrete has appeared without receiving its name at all yet,
On that situation we can explain it relying upon the same theory in the Chapter 2. that the only verbal explanations of 'Is Going', 'G0ne', and 'Not Gone', and the real act of going at the present moment, are completely different with each other dimensionally.


15. A fact that something is going on being produced now,
Suggests that nothing hasn't been accomplished yet.

How is it possible for something to be produced in this world for the first time?
If such a kind of occurrence has been realized actually,
Then it might be a very serious problem to be discussed which has been produced newly, without fail.


16. As we are looking at the real world in front of us,
Real concrete facts are existing actually one by one clearly,
And those kinds of concrete and individual things and phenomena,
Are existing as something, which is thought subjectively, and at the same time perceived objectively.

Therefore the things and phenomena, which are just going on, exist really,
And at the same time something, which has been born, are existing as the balanced and serene
situations just now.


17. When we think that there is nothing, which hasn't appeared yet in this world at all,
It might become perfectly impossible for us to think that something exists in this world
at all.

And so even a fact, that something has appeared, couldn't be clear actually at all,
And in the case that an idea of existence has to appear absolutely,
We have to say that the occurrence of such an idea seems to be so much unrealistic at all.


18. A fact that this world is produced for the first time, is just the appearance of this world,
And so we can say that this world is always being produced incessantly.

However, a fact that we want to produce something, is also a kind of production,
And so we can think that in the case of producing something we have two cases of production, the one is to produce something actually, and the other is to want to produce something in future.
Therefore even in a case of birth there are two cases that the one is to produce something actually, and the other is only to hope producing something, and so even in the case of production, there is a selection between the two.


19. In another case, when we are going to bear something,
What would be born is usually to be unstable.

In such a situation, even in a case where anything hasn't be born yet,
People usually think as if someone has been born already,
And in that case everything has been taken care of as if the new birth has been born already.


20. From what is really existing, something is born really at each case.
And anything, which does not exist really, does not have any relation with what is born.

Before a problem, whether what is born is not relied upon something existing, or is not relied upon something not existing, would be discussed,
The facts, which is actually seen in front of us, does not have any doubt at all.


21. When something is born in a situation, which is self-regulated,
Such a situation does not have any relation with whether it really exists, or not.

Such a situation is always continuing to go on without being disturbed by anything,
Therefore as an actual problem of existence, the problem of existence does never appear at all really.


22. A fact that, what should stop, has stopped, is called "existence,"
And it is perfectly impossible that what is stopping actually will stop further again at all.

In a real situation that many things are placed, we do never use an expression that "many things are standing still."
A thing, which hasn't appeared into this world at all, can never stand still at all.


23. A behavior standing still is included into the situation of being regulated into self-regulations,
And a self-regulation does not manifest itself in a simple condition of existence.

Such a kind of simple existence is a condition, which is transcending the self-regulated conditions,
And so such a kind of transcending the self-regulation, does not manifest itself as a real existence.


24. Aging and death are following the rule of the Universe,
And they are following the whole existence of everything,
Therefore aging and death do never have any stop at all.

If some existences are fixed to some other many existences,
Those existences, which are fixed, do never have any aging, or any death.


25. Even in a case, when we do not take a fixed attitude, or we take a fixed attitude,
If we are keeping a reliably comfirmed attitude,
Each individual thing, by keeping to follow their own special character, can perfectly avoid receiving any kind of restriction by others at all.

A problem that what kind of individual attitude will appear following their own characteristics,
Does not follow each individual subjective decision, or never objective spirituality at all.


26. It is not possible for us to supress the situation, which has never been supressed at all,
And it is also impossible for us to supress what has been already supressed completely.

In such situations the states, which have been regulated already, only exists as they are,
And it is perfectly impossible for what hasn't been born yet, to be regulated, at all.


27. As far as so restrictively we will be included in the situations of being fixed,
We will become so much intensively caught by a minimum problem,
And so it will become so difficult for the self-regulated situations to manifest themselves at all.

Actually when we are just never in the state of irresolution,
The state of self-regulation appears without fail.


28. Exactly following such a situation above, the scenery of Reality manifests itself just following the real situation of Reality.

And even when the scenery of Reality has changed,
The scenery, which has changed, manifest itself,
Therefore it is perfectly impossible for the changed scenery not to appear at all.


29. Just in such situations the whole Universe, which includes so miscellaneous phenomena,
manifests itself as it is, simply,
And it is not completely different from what is called phenomena manifests itself at all.

Just in such a situation it is a simple fact that the whole Universe, which just includes miscellaneous phenomena, manifest itself as it is,
And what is called self-regulation, does not appear itself especially.


30. Because of such situations, as our concern about existence, or not, will become deeper and deeper,
The situation of self-regulation will conceal itself from the surface of the problem.

And the reason, why we say so, is that a fact, that something exists, does not indicate only existence of one thing at all.


31. Even though what is not real does never really exist,
The situation of self-regulation is possible to appear.

It is perfectly impossible for the highest to belong to the second class.
Even in such a situation, a problem of self-regulation can become the object of discussion as an individual problem still.


32. Function of subjective mind does not exist really in a situation of being self-regulated condition,
And the condition of self-regulated state is also different from the function of objective spirituality too.

When we think in what kind of method does this world belong to this world,
This world does never belong to this world relying upon the subjective idea,
Nor it does belong to this world relying upon the objective idea at all.


33. It is completely impossible that appearance, continuity, and disappearance, exist really as an imperfect shape of this world.

In this world it is perfectly impossible for some thing to exist really relying upon some thing, Which is not accomplished yet, and so it is doing something by halves,
It might be perfectly impossible for any kind of different world to be accomplished even in future at all.


34. It is said that this world is called as if it were fantasy, a sleep, or a fantastic city, called Gandharva.

But actually this world is just the world, which has been born already,
And it is just existing in front of us already,
Therefore it is said that the real world is just the enormously big change of Reality, which can never been supposed at all before.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mike Cross said...

The fundamental meaning of these not-external-world-dependent efforts to translate MMK into English, in my intellectually opinionated eyes, might be just the effort itself.
Enjoying effort just for the sake of effort itself was always the strong point of the Gudo Nishijima I knew -- GUCHOKU ICHIRO
One Way, Stupid & Straight

5:47 PM, November 15, 2008  

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