Infinite Circle (eBook)

Introduction Thinkof not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Non-thinking. This in itselfis the essential art of zazen [Zen meditation]. Zazen is not learningmeditation. It is simply the Dharma-gate of repose and bliss, thepractice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is themanifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Onceits heart is grasped, you are like the dragon when he gains the water, like thetiger when he enters the mountain. For you must know that right there, inzazen, the right Dharma is manifesting itself and that, from the first,dullness and distraction are struck aside.—,DogenZenji Inthis book I will attempt to clarify these words of Dogen Zenji, the founder ofthe Japanese Soto Zen sect, whose writings I first encountered in 1968 when Iread his essay, 'Being Time.' At that time I was completing mystudies for a doctorate in applied mathematics and was struck by Dogen'sdescription of space and time. Here was a thirteenth-century thinker writingabout concepts we were just starting to develop in modern physics andmathematics! Not long thereafter I was fortunate enough to begin my studieswith my teacher, Taizan Maezumi Roshi, under whose guidance I began to explorethe world that Dogen Zenji had described. DogenZenji says that zazen, or Zen meditation, is the actualization of theEnlightened Way. Zazen is not simply a technique to learn to become enlightenedor to learn to calm the mind or to strengthen the body. Zazen istheEnlightened Way. The simplest form of zazen is sitting meditation. But it goesfar beyond that. As Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'Everything as it is, is theEnlightened Way!' Thus zazen is the thunder, the lightning, the rain.Zazen is the elimination of distance between subject and object. But what iszazen? What is enlightenment? What is actualization? I hope the followingchapters will help clarify these terms for you. Thisbook is based on a series of three workshops I offered at the Greyston Seminaryof the Zen Community of New York in Riverdale, New York, on the HeartSutra, The Identity of Relative and Absolute (theeighth-century poem by Ch'an Master Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien), and the BodhisattvaPrecepts. The three studies together parallel the structure of koan study,developed by eighteenth-century Zen teacher Hakuin Ekaku in Japan. Koan studyis traditionally practiced in face-to-face encounters between student andteacher and requires an experiential, rather than an intellectual, grasp of thematerial. So please read this text as if we were talking to each other, asindeed we are. Using the HeartSutra text,we will explore the intimacies of Zen practice and leap into the realm ofnot-thinking, or not-knowing. We will then penetrate into Dogen's world ofpractice-realization by discussing TheIdentity of Relative and Absolute. Finally,we will broaden our perspective by analyzing the Bodhisattva Precepts (or Kai,'aspectsof our life') that constitute the Right Dharma. Theseworkshops were given in the early years of the Zen Community of New York. Wehad developed a strong meditation practice and study program and were justbeginning our social action ministry. Ahead of us was the move to southwestYonkers and the development—,over a period of some fifteen years—,of theGreyston model for social change, informed by Buddhist values and vibrantlyalive and thriving to this very day. Ahead of me was the founding of the ZenPeacemaker Order and the beginnings of the Peacemaker Community, open topeacemakers of all spiritual persuasions who wish to integrate their practicewith...