As in all the great spiritual and literary traditions, in Zen Buddhism the experience of awakening, realization of nirvana, Buddhahood, or satori (enlightenment) are described in terms of vision (rather than hearing). To hear the Buddha Dharma is to learn about it and to study it, to see the Buddha Dharma is to experience it [...]

Truly, great realization is limitless, and returning to delusion is limitless. Shobogenzo, Daigo, Gudo Nishijima & Mike (Chodo) Cross The Zen masters assert that all the myriad things are Buddha. Thus, if there is anything real in the particular mistaken views that block us from seeing truth, it too must be Buddha. In Dogen’s works [...]

In reality, reading and studying the teachings of Buddhism and engaging in the physical activity of Buddhism (including seated meditation) are not two separate things. All aspects of the Buddha Dharma are the Buddha Dharma. For Dogen it is meaningless to talk about the Buddha Dharma in terms primary and secondary or superior and inferior [...]

Dogen on Bodhicitta (the mind, or thought of enlightenment). In general there are three kinds of mind. “The first, citta, is here called thinking mind. The second, hrdaya, is here called the mind of grass and trees. The third, vrddha, is here called experienced and concentrated mind.” Among these, the bodhi-mind is inevitably established relying [...]

Does a Falling Tree make a Sound When Nobody is there to Hear it? As it presupposes dualism (between “things” (dharmas) in themselves and “things” as represented) the representational view of knowledge and experience is definitely rejected in Zen Buddhism, as it is in Mahayana Buddhism generally. In Zen, all real dharmas (things, beings, instances, [...]

Dogen on creating, fashioning, and concocting Since we human beings are continually arranging the bits and pieces of what we experience in order to fashion ‘a whole universe’, we must take care to look upon this welter of living beings and physical objects as ‘sometime’ things… In a similar manner, we are continually arranging bits [...]