Dogen

I don’t know where to start. I have a million thoughts about everything he said. I really liked when he talked about the fish, I thought of a fish in the ocean. The ocean never stops so the fish has no reason to stop swimming. The fish does not need to take up a lot of room, he only uses the space he needs. We don’t know what the fish thinks, but I like to think that he’s perfectly at peace. He never worries about how much space he has because wherever he goes, he has all he needs. Lucky peaceful free fish.

“To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion. To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment. To be enlightened about delusion is to be Buddha. To be deluded in the midst of enlightenment is to be an ordinary person.” I really like this. I think what he means is to just let go. Let go of everything in the mind and you’ll soon be enlightened. But when you’re enlightened about being enlightened than you’re truly enlightened. I think a better way to explain what I’m trying to say is looking at a blind man as an example. If a blind man lives his life knowing he can’t see (if he, for some strange reason, grew up with a bunch of other blind people) then it’s never a problem, he grew up that way and has no idea about a completely different world involving sight. Then one day, he meets someone that can see and realizes that there’s something else out there, something he knows nothing about but now he’s beginning to hear and learn about an entire different world, but never really experiences it himself. That is the first way of being enlightened. And then one day, he gets his sight, and he can really experience and see things for himself. That is how he is truly enlightened.

I liked what he said about meditation. Let thoughts come and go, but don’t hold on to any of them, and don’t desire to attain enlightenment. The truth is within, so if you can’t find it within yourself, where are you supposed to find it? He makes a good point. If all of these wise enlightened people could find such wisdom within themselves, then if we try hard enough, should we? Well I guess if we tried, then we would really never attain enlightenment. I think before we research deep into the insights and thoughts of others, we should first try to find some truths and insights within. I think that’d make a better foundation and understanding of what other people already know.