This last chapter will totally debunk the 9 chapters before it! What a fabulous way to end my story…
Even though there are millions of pieces of writings about Buddhism it is more important for your life to keep it simple! Since there are the schools of Theravada (Hinayana), Mahayana and Vajrayana. There are Zen/Chan Buddhists, Tibetan Buddhists, and how about Tantrism.
But Dogen simply relies on one thing and one thing only as he says, “From the first time you meet a master, without engaging in incense offering, bowing, chanting Buddha’s name, repentance, or reading scriptures, you should just wholeheartedly sit, and thus drop away body and mind (page 145).”[1]
Yes, we love to start our sitting with services by chanting or reading or singing a sutra to set the stage for sitting (zazen). However, it is not necessary to do so to be a Buddhist, or to reach enlightenment, or to find peace in your life. It does not matter if you were raised as a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, an atheist, or in an indigenous group such as Aboriginal or Manitoba with The Seven Grandfather’s Teachings. You will benefit by simply sitting.
Sitting each day will help you meld with your traditions through the silence, to be one with the peace “that passes all understanding.” Regardless of whether you sit for 5 minutes or 50 minutes make time to sit! As Dogen says, “In this sense, the words ‘Mind itself is buddha’ are like the moon reflected on water; the teaching ‘Sitting itself is becoming buddha’ is like the reflection in the mirror (page 149).”[2]
Whose reflection do you see in the mirror each day? The reflection of your buddha nature of peace, love, and compassion or the reflection of the bandit’s MO—lack, limitation, fear, and anger? The bandit wants to steal your health, peace, compassion, and joy. Will you let that happen?
Who shows up today is in your hands alone—the buddha or the bandit!
It is always up to you.
[1] Tanahashi, K. (1985) Moon in a Dewdrop Writings of Zen Master Dogen North Point Press: New York
[2] Ibid.
