The Way of Everyday Life by Dogen Zenji

Genjo Koan –
The Way of Everyday Life
by Dogen Zenji

When all things are Awakened in Truth – there are enlightenment and delusion,
practice, life and death, Buddhas and creatures.
When the ten thousand things are without self,
There is no delusion, no enlightenment, no Buddhas, no creatures, 
no life and no death.
The Awakened Way transcends being and non-being,
therefore, there are life and death, delusion and enlightenment, Buddhas and creatures.
Nevertheless, flowers fall with our attachment,
and weeds spring up
 with our aversion.
To carry the self forward and realize the ten thousand dharmas is delusion.
That the ten thousand dharmas advance 
and realize the self is enlightenment.
It is Awakened Beings who enlighten delusion. 
It is creatures who are deluded in enlightenment.
Further, there are those who attain enlightenment above enlightenment, there are those who are 
deluded within delusion.
When Awakened Beings are truly Awake, 
one need not be aware of it.
However, one is the Awakened Buddha 
and further advances in realizing Awakening.
Seeing forms with the whole body and mind, hearing sounds with the whole body and mind, one understands them intimately.
Yet it is not like a mirror with reflections nor like water under the moon–
When one side is realized, the other side is dark . . .
To study the Awakened Way 
is to study the self.
 To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.
 To be enlightened by the ten thousand things is to free one’s body and mind and the body and mind of others.
 No trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment continues forever.
When one first seeks the Truth 
one separates oneself far from its environs.
When one has already correctly transmitted the Truth to oneself, one is one’s original face at that moment.
When riding on a boat, if one watches the shore one may assume that the shore is moving.
But watching the boat directly, one knows that it is the boat that moves.
If one examines every thing with a deluded body and mind, one will suppose that one’s mind and nature are permanent.
But if one practices intimately and returns to the true self, it will be clear that the ten thousand things are without self.
Firewood turns into ash and does not turn into firewood again. But do not suppose that the ash is after and the firewood is before. We must realize that the firewood is in the state of being firewood and has its before and after. Yet having this before and after
it is independent of them. Ash is in the state of being ash and has its before and after. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash,
 so after one’s death one does not return to life again.
Thus, that life does not come before death
is a confirmed teaching of the Awakened Truth.
For this reason life is called the non-born.
That death does not become life
 is a confirmed teaching of the Awakened Truth.
Therefore, death is called the non-extinguished.
Life is a period of itself. Death is a period of itself.
For example, they are like winter and spring.
 We should not think that winter becomes spring, Nor should we say that spring becomes summer.
Gaining enlightenment is like the moon reflecting in the water. The moon does not get wet
nor is the water disturbed.
Although its light is extensive and great,
 the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch across.
The whole moon and the whole sky are reflected in a dewdrop in the grass,
 in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not disturb the person just as the moon does not disturb the water.
A person does not hinder enlightenment just as a dewdrop does not hinder the moon in the sky.
The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. As for the duration of the reflection -
You should examine the water’s vastness or smallness, and you should discern 
the brightness or dimness
 of the heavenly moon . . .
When the truth does not fill our body and mind, we think that we have enough.
 When the truth fills our body and mind,
 we realize that something is missing.
For example when we view the four directions from a boat on the ocean where no land is in sight,
we see only a circle and nothing else. No other aspects are apparent.
However this ocean is neither round nor square and its realities are infinite in variety.
It is like a palace, it is like a jewel.
It just seems circular as far as the eye can reach at the time.
All things are like this.
Ordinary life and enlightened life assume many aspects,
But, we only recognize and understand
 through practice what the penetrating 
power of our vision can reach.
In order to appreciate all the ten thousand things, we should know that although they may look round and square,
The other qualities of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety.
Furthermore, other universes lie in all quarters.
It is so not only with ourselves but also right here, and in a single drop of water.
When a fish swims in the ocean, there is no end to the water – no matter how far it swims.
When a bird flies in the sky there is no end to the air – no matter how far it flies.
Yet no fish or bird has ever left its element since the beginning.
When the need is great,
the function is great.
When the need is small,
the function is small.
Thus, no creature ever comes short of its own fullness. Wherever it is, it functions freely.
If a bird leaves the air, it will die at once. If a fish leaves the sea, it will die at once.
Know then that water is life. Know that air is life.
Life is the bird and life is the fish.
Beyond this there is still more to see.
It is the same with practice and enlightenment, mortality and immortality.
Yet if a bird or a fish tries to move beyond the sky or sea,
this bird or this fish will not find
 a path or place.
Attaining this Place, one’s daily life reveals the truth,
attaining this Way,
 one’s daily life reveals the truth.
This Place and this Way are not large or small, not self or other.
They neither existed before
 nor are arising just now.
 They are just as they are.
Thus if one practices and realizes the Awakened Way,
when one realizes one thing, 
one penetrates the truth. 
Therefore, when one encounters one activity, one practices one activity.
Because the Place is right here and the Way leads everywhere,
the limits of what can be known, cannot be known.
This knowing and the total penetration of the Awakened Truth
arise together and are practiced together.
Attaining this Place, do not think it becomes one’s own knowledge or idea.
Even though this penetrating realization 
manifests at once, the most intimate nature
 is not easily understood.
Some may realize it and some may not . . .
Priest Pao-Ch’e of Ma-Ku Shan was fanning himself.
A monk approached and asked,
 “The nature of wind is eternal, and there is no place it does not reach.
Why, then, must you still fan yourself? “
Although you understand “the nature of wind is eternal,” you do not understand that
“there is no place it does not reach.”
“How does it reach everywhere?”
The master just fanned himself.
The monk bowed with deep respect.
This is the enlightened experience of Awakened Truth
And the vital way of its correct transmission.
Those who say we should not use a fan
 because the wind is eternal, and so we 
should know the existence of wind without using a fan,
know neither the eternal nor the nature of wind.
Because the nature of wind is eternally present, the wind of the Way actualizes
 the gold of the earth
and turns our life’s long river into sweet cream.