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Hearing, Seeing, Dogen and Louie on the Eternal Mirror
Undifferentiated and able to differentiate
The vast, unnamable, fathomless void is imperceptible, formless, intangible, and unmoving; it was never born and can never die. Though it is not separate from the myriad things, the myriad things do not alter it; like a clear mirror, it adapts to all things while fundamentally remaining unchanged by them. Similarly, your own basic awareness is able to perfectly perceive all things, without becoming entangled with them. The unnamable true nature or your own mind is, at once, undifferentiated and able to differentiate all things. When the neighbor’s dog barks unexpectedly, your clear awareness spontaneously comprehends it; when a spider walks along the back of your neck, your luminous mind registers it. Who hears the dog? Who feels the spider?
~Louie Wing, ~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
What all the buddhas and all the patriarchs have received and retained, and transmitted one-to-one, is the eternal mirror. They1 have the same view and the same face, the same image and the same cast; they share the same state and realize the same experience. A foreigner appears, a foreigner is reflected—one hundred and eight thousand of them. A Chinese person appears, a Chinese person is reflected—for a moment and for ten thousand years. The past appears, the past is reflected; the present appears, the present is reflected; a buddha appears, a buddha is reflected; a patriarch appears, a patriarch is reflected.
~Dogen, Shobogenzo, Kokyo, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross
Peace,
Ted
An old Korean saying: “Pig’s eye sees pig. Buddha’s eye sees Buddha.”
For the story behind this: http://www.oxherding.com/my_weblog/2009/10/pigs-eye-buddhas-eye.html
Hello Barry,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes! Excellent! Dogen says it in similar fashion:
There is a saying from olden days, “If you are not a fish, you do not know what is in the mind of a fish, and if you are not a bird, you do not know how to follow the traces of birds…”
This principle also applies to Buddhas… And there may be someone who asks, “And why, pray, can I not know it?” Well, since it is with the Eye of a Buddha that someone sees the traces of a Buddha, one who is not a Buddha is not yet in possession of the Eye of a Buddha… If these traces are visible to your Eye, you are undoubtedly in the presence of Buddhas and will be able to compare Their footprints with those of others. In making that comparison, you will be able to recognize the traces of a Buddha, as well as the magnitude and depth of the traces that that Buddha has left, and, through consideration of that Buddha’s traces, your own traces will become clear to you. When we learn what these traces of a Buddha are, we call them the Buddha Dharma, that is, our True Self.
Shobogenzo, Yui Butsu Yo Butsu, Hubert Nearman
Thanks again.
Peace,
Ted