(Shoaku-Makusa) Part 2
In the first part of the chapter, Dogen emphasizes active individual action. But he also mentions that it is of due importance to let rightful action happen and not to tolerate unjust action. More observant behavior which lets things happen can often be morally rightful action.
In our lives we
often come into contact with unjust action. This can happen through friends,
relatives, but mostly through our enemies and rivals.
Buddhism teaches
with utmost clarity that it is not correct to allow others to do injustice and
to look on. Such behavior cannot be justified with the misunderstood comment,
“it is how it is” – this is to shirk responsibility in this world.
Beneath rightful
and wrongful action, according to Dogen, there is also neutral action – which
is neither just nor unjust.
This is because
injustice does not exist as a permanent, abstract reality, but is or is not generated
through our own actions which can only happen in the present moment.
Therefore, the
right or unjust action exists only in the present of the Now, and not
permanently.
From a Buddhist
perspective, the injustice of the past, which we can still remember, is only
roughly comparable to the injustice of the present – it is not identical.
Memories can never be the same as the reality of the present.
The same is true
of the expected and anticipated injustice of the future. According to Dogen, we
gain clarity about that through Buddhist practice, mainly Zazen.
In this connection
he mentions that, regarding the question of justice and injustice, people of
the Buddha-Dharma on the one hand and people of the ordinary world on the other
, differ greatly compared to other differ more greatly from each other than in
other areas within Buddhism.
As mentioned in
detail in the chapter “Just for the Time Being, Just for a While, For the Whole of Time is the
Whole of Existence (Uji)” in the Shobogenzo, the true time of the present
moment is inseparably connected to rightful and wrongful action.
If you only hear
the words that you should not commit wrong, this, according to Dogen, already
changes your behavior and actions to some degree. It is important that the
Buddhist practice of Zazen is carried out and that a moral code is not limited
to thinking and talking only, because the power of practice enables us to gain
more clarity and to transform our actions and behavior.
Due to this
practice one gains an intuitive and moral clarity in the present moment, so
that it is almost impossible to do wrong.
As we are always
acting in the present moment, this creates the clarity and power in the Now.
But this moment is
so short that we cannot reflect consciously on justice and injustice and act at
the same time.
While we are
acting rightfully, independent evil cannot evolve – at any place or at any
time.
This is even true
if we are living in an environment or get into a situation in which a lot of
injustice is perpetrated, and we believe that injustice has won over action.
Then, in fact, the thought or the idea injustice has become stronger and turned
into an essence, which rules the mind.
Dogen speaks about
it as follows:
“If
we devote our whole mind and our whole body to the practice (of Zazen), eighty
or ninety per cent are being realized (that no injustice is generated) just
before (at) this moment. And there is (also) the fact that after the moment (no
injustice) is generated”.
The practice of
Zazen is realized through physical and mindful action. This way we avoid
becoming contaminated.
As there is a
unity between the universe and the world in Buddhist practice, we can overcome
limitations and duality. According to Dogen, we can also say that mountains,
rivers, the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars practice as well and that we
let them practice.
In this sense, the
Buddhas and their predecessors in the Dharma have never contaminated practice
and experience. They are free and have never limited themselves. This means: do
not commit wrong!
With regard to the
Buddhist teachings, injustice as an independent entity is neither existent nor
non-existent – but it is always generated immediately through the action
itself.
In the same way,
it does not have a material or immaterial quality because it is about
generating action in the Now. One should not understand it as being too
abstract, as it refers to a real and concrete act in the Here and Now. All too
easily injustice is minimized and whitewashed. However, these are only
assessments of people, which make things unclear.
While we regret
having done wrong, the strength and the desire for the rightful action develop,
according to Dogen.
If one has gained
the necessary strength and clarity through practice, it is not possible to deliberately
do wrong.
In the beginning
of the poem mentioned above it is said that we can practice many kinds of right. This involves concrete
action in the present moment – and the liberty we possess to do good and right
things (by acting in the present moment).
Discussions as to whether right
exists or not do not lead any further and necessarily become rather inflexible
on a theoretical level, which is far removed from acting in the Here and Now in
our everyday life. For then right is being discussed as a thing, which is not
correct.
