Sunday, April 8, 2012

Bare Bones Teaching


...
To speak in broader terms, upon seeing an object in the world of desire, it would be good for you to learn to clarify what it is that you are looking at. To learn only to flee when you are frightened by something is the teaching and practice of those in the lesser course who rigidly follow what they have learned by rote. Were someone to attempt to abandon the populous east to live in seclusion in the sparsely-settled west, it would not mean that there are no objects in the world of desire to be found in the west. Even though such persons may think that they have succeeded in fleeing, to the extent that they have not yet clarified the matter of sensual desire, whether they keep their distance or come up close, there will be a world of desire. But this is not intended to be a full explanation, for the long threads of sensual desire will prove to extend even deeper.
...
What had to be clarified, he made completely clear; what had to be done, he did fully; what needed to be explained, he fully explained.
...
This realm completely permeates
the world of thoughts and things
and, by its very nature
is bound to boundless immaculacy.

Source: Excerpt from chapter 10, "On 'Respectful Bowing Will Secure for You the Very Marrow of the Way'", found in the book Shobogenzo, by Dogen.