Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Dongshan said to the assembly, “It’s the beginning of autumn, the end of the summer, and you will go, some east, some west; you must go where there’s not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles.” 

He also said, “But where there’s not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles, how can you go?” 

Shishuang said, “Going out the gate, immediately there’s grass.” 

Dayang said, “I’d say, even not going out the gate, still the grass is boundless.”‘ (The Book of Serenity)

We came across a reference to this koan in our Dogen study group the other week. It’s about what happens at the end of the summer training period. Can you go out into the world and experience the same sense of oneness that might have been accessible in the monastery? Inevitably the reality of life is there. Can that be the training too?