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What Do Zen teachers mean when They say Practice Itself Is Enlightenment! They are 1 and the Same? ?
We all have innate buddha nature that is clouded up and not seen due to the three poisons intermingling in our consciousness. When we practice, it is our buddha nature practicing, though the water is still muddied. Also, one moment of clear seeing in practice, is of the same substance as enlightenment. Every time we have one, we are demonstrating the potentiality of this practice.
Whatever you are doing, that is your Buddha Nature.
Master Seung Sahn says to attain a clear mind briefly is easy, easy. Just cast away your delusions and see the correct situation. But to keep clear mind always and in any situation is hard!
Enlightenment is overrated in the extreme as it is glorified by most. Zen encourages the ordinary - the mundane - abided in with alertness and intention. The "Chop Wood, Carry Water" quote exemplifies practice. "After enlightenment, the laundry." also puts practice in perspective as "not extraordinary" - "not trippy" - "not metaphysical" - just living - just so.
Ive heard zen stories like, 'One doesnt train to become a thief. He automatically becomes a thief when he steals' (Thats what they said about enlightenment. One doesnt practice to become enlightened. Because when they practice that is enlightenment itself)
However; What if we looked at it like this: 'One doesnt become a Hairdresser just because hes practising. Practising itself doesnt make you a Hairdresser does it? You have train hard, learn and eventually you become a hairdresser over time. So I guess we can look at it both ways can't we?
there is the break through, which is the satori then the gradual cultivation of such insights. there is also those who gradually practice and then have a break through. both realize that just this is what is. just sitting zazen is buddha. just walking is buddha. just this.
A good practice is akin to acting like a Buddha. That is how practice is like enlightenment itself.
Keep going, and it the transformations of mind make it natural. Effort is no longer required because it is seen to be right by experiential insight rather than held to in mere confidence.
Oneness of practice-enlightenment The primary concept underlying Dōgen's Zen practice is "oneness of practice-enlightenment" (修證一如 shushō-ittō / shushō-ichinyo). In fact, this concept is considered so fundamental to Dōgen's variety of Zen—and, consequently, to the Sōtō school as a whole—that it formed the basis for the work Shushō-gi (修證儀), which was compiled in 1890 by Takiya Takushū (滝谷卓洲) of Eihei-ji and Azegami Baisen (畔上楳仙) of Sōji-ji as an introductory and prescriptive abstract of Dōgen's massive work, the Shōbōgenzō ("Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma").
For Dōgen, the practice of zazen and the experience of enlightenment were one and the same. This point was succinctly stressed by Dōgen in the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that he composed upon his return to Japan from China: "To practice the Way singleheartedly is, in itself, enlightenment. There is no gap between practice and enlightenment or zazen and daily life".[15] Earlier in the same text, the basis of this identity is explained in more detail:
“ Zazen is not "step-by-step meditation". Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom. The Truth appears, there being no delusion. If you understand this, you are completely free, like a dragon that has obtained water or a tiger that reclines on a mountain. The supreme Law will then appear of itself, and you will be free of weariness and confusion.[16] ”
The "oneness of practice-enlightenment" was also a point stressed in the Bendōwa (弁道話 "A Talk on the Endeavor of the Path") of 1231:
“ Thinking that practice and enlightenment are not one is no more than a view that is outside the Way. In buddha-dharma [i.e. Buddhism], practice and enlightenment are one and the same. Because it is the practice of enlightenment, a beginner's wholehearted practice of the Way is exactly the totality of original enlightenment. For this reason, in conveying the essential attitude for practice, it is taught not to wait for enlightenment outside practice.[17]
I think it means, that no matter what we do, whether this is our last life or not, that we will always be on the path to enlightenment, for everything is a learning lesson.
Comments
Whatever you are doing, that is your Buddha Nature.
Master Seung Sahn says to attain a clear mind briefly is easy, easy. Just cast away your delusions and see the correct situation. But to keep clear mind always and in any situation is hard!
The practice itself is Enlightenment.
Ive heard zen stories like, 'One doesnt train to become a thief. He automatically becomes a thief when he steals' (Thats what they said about enlightenment. One doesnt practice to become enlightened. Because when they practice that is enlightenment itself)
However; What if we looked at it like this: 'One doesnt become a Hairdresser just because hes practising. Practising itself doesnt make you a Hairdresser does it? You have train hard, learn and eventually you become a hairdresser over time. So I guess we can look at it both ways can't we?
there is also those who gradually practice and then have a break through.
both realize that just this is what is. just sitting zazen is buddha. just walking is buddha. just this.
Keep going, and it the transformations of mind make it natural. Effort is no longer required because it is seen to be right by experiential insight rather than held to in mere confidence.