The Shobogenzo Zuimonki is a collection of short talks, orations, comments on instruction and cautionary tales written by founder of the Soto sect of Japanese Buddhism Dogen (1200-1253) and recorded by his student, Ejo (1198-1280).
It was penned by Ejo between the years of 1235-1237 and remained unpublished for 400 years.
When compared to Dogen's massive opus; the Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye), the Shobogenzo Zuimonki is a much simpler and basic text without the philosophical delving and the confusing doctrines. Before attempting to tackle the big Shobogenzo, the smaller one may be a better first step. In this series of blog posts, I will be introducing some particular excerpts from the Shobognezo Zuimonki that I have found helpful.
I do not pretend to be an expert in this, but hope that it helps to focus my own practice as well as yours. Comments and criticisms are more than welcome...
One day Dogen instructed:
A monk in China always carried around, with great reverance, a golden image of the buddha and other holy relics. Even while in the monk's living quarters, he constantly burned incense to the relics and showed his respect with bows and offerings.
One day the Zen Master said: "The Buddha image and relics you worship will be of no use later on." The monk disagreed, but hte Master continued:
"This is the handiwork of demons. Throw them away." The monk grew stubborn and started to leave and the Zen Master called after him, "Open your box and look inside." When the monk complied, he is said to have found a poisonous snake within.
As I see it, relics should be reverenced, since they represented the Tathagata's image and his remaining bones. It is wrong however to expect enlightenment by just worshipping them...the Buddha's teaching has established the merit of practicing reverence so that the image and relics offer the same blessings to men and devas as does the living buddha. It is quite true that, if you revere and make offerings to the world of the Three Treasures (the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Dharma are the Three Treasures so the world of the Three Treasures would be a world outside of the cycle of birth and death; a world of enlightenment), you eradicate your crimes, gain merit, remove karma and are rewarded with a positive rebirth. But it is a mistake tothink that you can gain enlightenment in this way.
Since the true discipile follows the Buddha's teaching and seeks to attain the buddha's rank directly you must devote all your efforts to practice in accordance with these teachings. The true practice th at accords with these teachings is concentrated zazen, the most essential element in th e Zen monastery today. Think this over well.
Practical Buddhist Version:
Reverence in objects is nothing but entertainment. By all means show your reverence for the teachings of the Buddha. It is the same as the respect we afford to all the good teachers in our lives. But to think that the incense or statues and icons will do anything for you is foolish. The fact is that the practice of meditation, mindfulness and introspection will lead to an enlightened state and not the trappings of Buddhist iconology (the pictures, stupas, beads, mantras and sutras) itself.
No Illusions,
[Painting of Dogen above by Master Andre Sollier ]
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