Those who regard worldly affairs as an obstacle to their training do not realise that there is nothing such as worldly affairs to be distinguished from the Way.
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In Dogen’s view, things, events, relations were not just given, but were possibilities, projects and tasks that can be acted out, expressed, and understood as self-expressions and self-activities of the Buddha-nature [my italics - KJ]. This did not imply a complacent acceptance of the given situation but required man’s strenuous efforts to transform and transfigure it. Dogen’s thought involved this element of transformation, which has been more often than not grossly neglected or dismissed by Dogen students. (Dogen Kigen: Mystical Realist, p.183).
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Carl Bieldefelt has argued that “Dogen’s vision is of a Buddhist life of total engagement with the world around us, of a Buddhist self that is a full participant in the immediate circumstances in which it finds itself … I have in mind something like the ancient ideal of the bodhisattva, who is at once patiently accepting of the world as it is, and yet deeply committed to making it better.”
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The true person is
not anyone in particular
but, like the deep blue colour
of the limitless sky,
it is everyone, everywhere in the world
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When were you last compassionate? When you will be compassionate next? In what ways can be you be more compassionate? In what ways do you find yourself enjoying not being compassionate? What's that pleasure like? What's the pleasure of compassion like?
The primary recipients of my compassion are my girlfriend and my students. These are the people most vulnerable to my actions on a daily basis. May I always remember that I am a beacon of light and understanding in their lives, a refuge from the Mara of their other, often toxic or lackluster family and social relationships.
What about you?
Submitted March 02, 2018 at 05:58AM by pohw http://ift.tt/2ozeQ3E
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