‘Water is not necessarily pure or impure by origin. The body is not necessarily pure or impure by origin. All things are like this. Water is not sentient or insentient. The body is not sentient or insentient. All things are like this.
The teaching of the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is like this. It is not that you purify the body with water; there is a method to maintain buddha dharma with buddha dharma. This is called cleansing.
You authentically receive this cleansing in person with the single body-mind of buddha ancestors. This is to see and hear a single phrase of buddha ancestors. It is to abide clearly in a sole radiant light of buddha ancestors. This is to actualize immeasurable, boundless merit.
At the very moment of embodying the awesome presence of this practice in body-mind, the timeless original practice is fully accomplished. Thus, the body-mind of this practice is originally actualized.’ (Shobogenzo – Cleansing Fascicle)
This was another section I pulled out for the class. I was interested in the repetition of the phrase ‘all things are like this,’ which also appears in the Genjo Koan. If you could summarise Dogen in one phrase, this would be right up there in phrases to choose.
Shundo David Haye 