Tesshin used this week’s talk to continue the discussion of Dogen’s Shobogenzo.  Specifically, this week we worked on Dogen’s Gabyo or “Painted Rice Cakes.”  

(The entire facile can be found here)

 

Tesshin called out some of the key passages for us…

 

All buddhas are realization; thus all things are realization. Yet, no buddhas or things have the same characteristics; none have the same mind. Although there are no identical characteristics or minds, at the moment of your actualization numerous actualizations manifest without hindrance.

 

Do not use the measure of oneness or difference as the criterion of your study. Thus, it is said, “To reach one thing is to reach myriad things.

 

To reach one thing does not take away its inherent characteristics. Just as reaching does not limit one thing, it does not make one thing not separate. To try to make it not different is a hindrance.

 

An ancient buddha said, “A painting of a rice cake does not satisfy hunger.”

 

Tesshin remarked that this passage is a commentary Dogen was applying to a much older Zen story.  Tesshin wanted to provide his commentary on Dogen’s commentary to help us to understand.  At this point, Tesshin chuckled as he wondered out loud if he could really add anything to Dogen and if layering commentary on top of commentary really helps anyone achieve true understanding.  

 

So, what is Dogen trying to convey in the above passage?  According to Tesshin, Dogen is trying to get us to look at the absolute “ground truth” of reality.  The statement, “A painting of a rice cake does not satisfy hunger” is a common rejoinder in Zen.  It means that the teachings only point to reality and are not reality themselves.  It is similar to the Zen warning that one should not to focus on the finger pointing at the moon, but rather at the moon itself.  

 

Dogen is not content with this Zen cliché, however.  He is pushing us to go further, and clearly notes in this facile that most monks and masters have not really deeply penetrated this issue.  Tesshin commented that Dogen is clearly stating that making a distinction between the painted rice cake and the real rice cake is dualistic thinking.  Dogen states that, “All buddhas are realization; thus, all things are realization. Yet, no buddhas or things have the same characteristics.”  (Buddhas meaning phenomena in this case.)  So Dogen is stating that we must begin to see the painted and physical cake as the same thing.

 

You may be thinking at this point – “Whoh!  How can a picture of a rice cake be equivalent to a real rice cake?”  If you are feeling tension at this point, that is good because you know that the original koan Dogen is writing about is starting to work upon your consciousness.  It is that same message again and again.  It would not be a surprise if MU made an appearance in your mind at this point.  

 

Dogen is clear that he is not just talking about “real” and painted rice cakes.  He notes that there are many different kinds of rice cakes, teachings, phenomena, and so on.  Each “thing” is different, however if we look deeper and deeper, we begin to see the sameness of all things.  We also see this in the spiritual studies.  We study one school of Buddhism and think we have the “truth.”  As we practice more and more, we realize that all schools, and in reality, all philosophies and religions are trying to convey the same truth.  At a very practical level, this must be the case as they all arise from the mind of humanity – how could they be radically different?  

 

Next, Tesshin read another quote out of the facile…  

 

“Know that a painted rice-cake is your face after your parents were born, your face before your parents were born… All rice-cakes actualized right now are nothing but a painted rice-cake. If you look for some other kind of painted rice- cake, you will never find it, you will never grasp it.”

 

Zen normally asks what was your face before your parents were born.  This is to get the student to understand that there is no point in discriminating between this and that.  Your true nature is universal and is part of an enduring suchness.  Dogen doubles down, however and states that the rice cake is your face both BEFORE and AFTER you were born.  Do you see it?

 

Tesshin moved on to state that in many religious traditions, there is talk of the spiritual plane and the conventional plane.  We hear this commonly in Zen as the “Ultimate vs Relative.”  There is a misconception that the ultimate plane is reality and the relative plane is delusion.  The thinking is that meditation allows us to get to the Nirvana of the Ultimate.  Dogen is warning us that this is WRONG thinking.  The ultimate and relative are the same thing and there is no place to get to.  THIS is the key message of this facile – specifically there is no difference between the absolute and relative.  

 

Tesshin wrapped up by asking us to watch/stream a movie called “Being There” by peter sellers which came out in 1979.  It is a story about a man who is a complete “Tabula Rasa” –   he knows nothing of the world.  The story is about how is moves through the world and people “paint” on him what they want to see in him.  Tesshin wanted us to watch this movie and we will discuss it at our next program.