Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Never say that there is no benefit in hearing the Dharma without the involvement of mind-consciousness. Those whose mind has ceased and whose body is spent are able to benefit from hearing the Dharma, and those who are without mind and without body are able to benefit from hearing the Dharma. The buddhas and the patriarchs, without exception, pass through series of such instants in becoming buddhas and becoming patriarchs. How can the common intellect be fully aware of the influence of the Dharma connecting with the body-mind? It is impossible for us fully to clarify the limits of the body-mind.

The merit of hearing the Dharma, once sown as a seed in the fertile ground of the body-mind, has no moment of decay; sooner or later it will grow, and, with the passing of time, it is sure to bear fruit. Stupid people think: “Without progressing on the path of understanding, and unless our memory is good, even if we listen to the Dharma tirelessly there will be no benefit. The most important thing, whether in the human world or in the heavens above, is to devote one’s body and mind to the pursuit of wide knowledge. If we immediately forget, and leave the seat a blank, what benefit can there be? What educational merit can it have?” They say this because they have not met a true teacher and have not seen a person of the fact.

One who does not possess the traditional face-to-face transmission is said not to be a true teacher. One who has received the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha is a true teacher. [The time] that stupid people describe as [preaching the Dharma] being temporarily remembered in the mind-consciousness is the time when the merit of hearing the Dharma is subtly covering the whole mind and covering the whole consciousness. In this very moment, virtue is present which covers the body, which covers the moment before the body, which covers the mind, which covers the moment before the mind, which covers the moment after the mind, which covers causes, conditions, results, actions, forms, natures, substance, and energy, which covers buddhas, which covers patriarchs, which covers self-and-others, and which covers skin, flesh, bones, marrow, and so on.

Realized throughout speaking and preaching and throughout [daily actions] such as sitting and lying down, the virtue pervades the meridians and pervades the sky. Truly, it is not easy to recognize such virtue of hearing the Dharma; nevertheless, if we come upon the great order of the Buddhist Patriarch and investigate the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, there will be no time when the good influence of preaching the Dharma does not lead us, and there will be no place where we do not spread the Dharma influence of hearing the Dharma. In this way, allowing moments and kalpas to be fleeting or slow, we will see results become real. We should not deliberately throw away wide knowledge; at the same time, we do not see it, in isolation, as the pivot. Practitioners should know this. The founding patriarch has realized it in physical experience.’ (Shobogenzo Mujo Seppo)

I haven’t posted any Dogen for a liittle while; the study group has been working its way through this fascicle. This point of this passage (here in the Nishijima-Cross translation, which often captures nuances that the Kaz Tanahashi version glosses over, as well as providing extensive footnotes on some of the translation choices) is that even if you don’t think you are receiving the dharma – the footnotes suggest that you might be falling asleep listening to a lecture – the benefit still accrues.