In our practice we just sit with our bodies and minds in the
zendo, and we aim to practice the Buddha Way in our activities outside the
zendo as well. In practicing the Buddha Way there is no separation between the
self that is studying the self and the self that is studied by the self; self
is studying the self, and the act of studying is also the self. There is no
such thing as a self that is separate from our activity. Dogen Zenji defined
this self as jijuyu-zanmai, a term that Sawaki Kodo Roshi described as “self
‘selfing’ the self.'”
To illustrate this point we can think of the relationship
between a runner and the act of running. When we think of this, we realize that
no runner is separate from the act of running; a runner and running are the
same thing. if the runner becomes separate from running, then the runner is not
running. If this is the case, the runner can no longer be called a runner since
a runner is defined as “one who runs.” The great ancient Indian master
Nagarjuna presented this example as part of his illustration of emptiness and
the negation of a fixed, permanent, fundamental essence that “owns” the body
and mind.
Running as well as sitting, eating, drinking, and breathing
are very ordinary things. But when we say, “There is no ‘I’ other than running”
or “running without a runner,” we think we are discussing something mysterious.
but this view of the teachings of people such as Nagarjuna or Dogen is
mistaken. These teachers are trying to express a very ordinary thing in a truly
realistic way without fabrication. To do this they use words that negate
themselves in a way that reveals the reality beyond our thoughts.
When we practice the Buddha Way, there is no self, no Buddha
Way, no others. This is because self, Buddha Way, and others work together as
one. What we call “our actions” are actually the work done by both self and
other beings and objects. For example, when a person drives a car, the person
thinks “he” as subject drives “the car” as object. But in reality we cannot
drive without the car; we can only become a driver or be driven with the aid of
the car, and the car can only express its full function as a vehicle of
transportation when someone drives it. Our cars affect us both psychologically
and materially as well. We will drive different cars in different ways, for
example, depending upon the style or quality of the car. The feelings and
attitude of a person driving a cheap old truck carrying a load of junk will
likely be totally different from the feelings and attitude that person will
have driving a luxurious new car carrying a VIP. A car can also provide us with
the ability to travel quickly and conveniently, yet if it breaks down, we may
have to make more effort than usual to get where we need to go repair, fuel,
and insurance costs can exert an added financial stress on our lives and can
even feel burdensome. So in a sense the car own us and shapes us as much as we
own and control it, and the action of driving can actually be manifested only
by a person and a car working together. This reality of mutual influence and
interconnectedness is true not only for a “special” practice done by a group of
people called “Buddhists”; in truth this is the way all beings are working
within the circle of interdependent origination.
The Buddha Way includes both self and objects. The Buddha
Way includes both people sitting and the sitting they do. They are actually one
thing. This is very difficult to explain, yet it is an obvious reality of our
lives. This reality is not some special state or condition that is only accomplished
by so-called “enlightened” people. Even when we don’t realize it, self, action,
and object are working together as one reality, so we don’t need to train
ourselves to make them into one thing in our minds. If self, action, and object
were really three separate things, they could not become one. The truth is that
they are always one reality, regardless of what we do or think.
