Realization
is effort without desire.
Vast sky transparent throughout; a bird flies like a bird.
Clear water all the way to the bottom; a fish swims like
a fish.
Is this the same as the Genjo Koan's No
trace of realization remains and
this no trace continues endlessly?
Realization
is effort without desire.
Effort and desire: When we want
(desire) something—some thing— we
usually have an idea what to do to
get it, what effort to make.
But realization? Desiring the Buddha
way?
Is it self-defeating to make an
effort to reach realization? How
can you strive without effort?
“I want realization.”
Well it’s OK to want it. But what happens
if you get it? Is your life over? No.
You practice whether you’re enlightened
or not.
And it may be better if you’re
not enlightened to practice, because
that may have true realization in
it. What do you think? Are there,
perhaps, traps whichever way you
carve this up?
Clear
water all the way to the bottom; a fish swims
like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout; a bird flies like a bird.
Realization
is effort without desire, like a fish
in water. A fish doesn’t say, “Well
now I’m water I’m not going to
swim.” A bird doesn’t stop flying
because it’s in the sky.
Realization
is the way we can be — in our truest sense.
Actualizing, putting forth effort without wanting
something for something small. Of course a bird
looks for food in the sky and a fish looks….
But that’s part of the depth of the water
and the vastness of the sky.
Clear
water all the way to the bottom … Vast
sky transparent throughout…
Is the field of your mind different
than the clear water of the fish
or the vast transparent sky of the
bird?
When we talk about emptiness this
is what we’re talking about.
A fish swims through water effortlessly
manifesting its realization. Does
a fish require any special effort
to swim like a fish? Is Dogen suggesting
that we humans living in our world,
which included our mind, should manifest
our realization without effort?
