When I open the door to my room at Upaya, the Old Boy greets me.  Year after year, ever faithful, I think he’s waiting for me to ask if I can try on the slipper.  Like Cinderella, I’m always waiting to be rescued from the ashes of my life.  But I don’t feel worthy and I am reluctant to enter a relationship in which he defines the terms of my membership.

Then, I notice he’s not wearing slippers either.  Maybe we have more in common than I thought: Wandering this path without the old protective gear and entering the sensing body fearlessly.

Everyone has a body-and-mind.  In activity and appearance its function is either leading or following, courageous or cowardly.  To realize buddha immediately with this body-and-mind is to hit the mark.  Without changing your usual body-and-mind, just follow buddha’s realization is called “immediate,” is called “hitting the mark.”

To follow buddha completely means you do not have your old views.  To hit the mark completely means you have no new nest in which to settle.

Dogen on Guidelines for Studying the Way in Moon in a Dewdrop edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi

Thank you for practicing,

Genju

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