The ethics of Dogen: a brief overview
Gary L. Ray
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Berkeley, CA 94709
Do-gen Zenji, the great 13th Century Zen Master, could play an important role in shaping a modern Zen ethic. While Do-gen aspired to enlightenment, his fellow Japanese monks were morally spiralling downward during one of Japan's most hedonistic periods of Buddhism. Do-gen brought Buddhism out of this decline with his teachings of enlightenment and morality. Buddhism and society in Japan as well as in the Western world are in decline again and the teachings of Dogen can be revived once more to reform Buddhism.
To demonstrate how this is possible, we need to look closer at Do-gen's life, his revolutionary teachings of the nature of enlightenment, how his view of enlightenment and practice results in an ethical life, and how his teachings have started to shape Buddhism today, especially in America. Before we do that, we need to look at what Zen has to offer, in they way of ethics, besides the teachings of Do-gen.
There is no organized Zen ethic. There are many reasons why, but the biggest is that there was never a need. Confucianism always played the role of upholding ethical standards in Chinese and Japanese society. As for a modern development, according to James Whitehill, there are three additional reasons why a moral philosophy has not been produced.
The first reason is that Zen, until recently, has been interpreted only by Japanese philosophers. The lack of an interest in ethics by these philosophers is a direct result of their methodology -- coming from the German model which has little interest in ethics. Instead, emphasis is put on metaphysical issues of enlightenment and self-transformation.
The second reason is that Zen's Western audience has been more concerned with other issues, such as enlightenment, aesthetics, psychology, and theology. It has not been until recently that questions were asked about ethics. American Buddhist groups started with enlightenment as a motivation for practice, but as these organizations have grown and matured, they have needed guidelines for action, similar to Christian ethics.
The final reason, and the most telling of Western society, is the apprehension of Japanese philosophers towards bringing what there is of Zen ethics to the West due to fear that it would be viewed as "...subversive of the official truisms and moral performance of Western societies." Apparently Japanese philosophers felt that Buddhist ethics were not compatible with Western society, or that Western society was so "immoral," from a Buddhist standpoint, that Zen ethics and possibly Zen itself would be rejected completely. So how can Zen ethics play a role in the West, and what type of ethic would be used?
Whitehill hints at Do-gen as a possibility for a Zen ethic, but quickly dismisses him because of Do-gen's emphasis on the monastic community and Whitehill's own misunderstanding of Do-gen's teachings. However, Do-gen's life and teaching, when interpreted correctly, contains a full ethical guideline that can be adapted to the modern "lay" Buddhist community as well as the monastic community. This "guideline for action" comes from an "enlightened" perspective from a teacher with a remarkable life.
Do-gen was born in 1200 C.E. to an aristocratic family living in Kyoto. His father was the most influential government minister in court. His mother was a daughter of the ex-regent, an important member of the aristocracy. At the age of two, his father died and his mother moved to the suburbs of Kyoto. Do-gen lived a sad and lonely childhood in Kyoto, and at age seven (eight?), his mother also died, profoundly impacting his view of life.
At age thirteen, Do-gen left his uncle, who he had been living with, and became a monk at Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei, a center for Tendai Buddhist scholarship. He was ordained as a monk April 9, 1213, by his teacher, Abbot Ko-en, and given the name Do-gen (Foundation of the Way) Do-gen trained with Ko-en for a while, exhaustively studying tantric esoteric and exoteric Tendai scriptures, but a question still remained unanswered for Do-gen:
Both exoteric and esoteric teachings explain that a person in essence has true dharma nature and is originally a body of "buddha nature." If so, why do all buddhas in the past, present, and future arouse the wish for and seek enlightenment?
When Do-gen asked his master for the answer, Ko-en was unable to give a reply that satisfied Do-gen. At that time, Tendai Buddhism was very concerned with hongaku, or original enlightenment and much less concerned with shikaku, or acquired enlightenment, so it is not too surprising that Do-gen was unable to find a response that adequately consolidate the two. Upset and disappointed, Do-gen left Mount Hiei to find the answer to his question.
First, Do-gen went to Miidera where the Onjoji temple was located. He spoke with a famous Tendai scholar, abbot Ko-in, who had left the Tendai school for the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism. Abbot Ko-in was also unable to held Do-gen, referring him to a Zen teacher named Eisai who taught at Kennin-ji.
Do-gen left Ko-in and travelled to Kennin-ji, in Kyoto, the center for Zen studies in Japan, as well as Tendai, Shingon and other schools. Do-gen asked Rinzai Zen Master Eisai the same question he asked his Tendai teacher, Ko-en. Eisai replied: "All the Buddhas in the three stages of time are unaware that they are endowed with the Buddha-nature, but cats and oxen are well aware of it indeed!" This meant that only the ignorant, the animal-like, think in terms of enlightenment and non-enlightenment. The Buddhas, having Buddha-nature, no longer concern themselves with these concepts.
Hearing this, Do-gen had an experience of enlightenment and decided to study under Eisai's guidance. Do-gen became Eisai's student, but unfortunately, the following year Eisai died. Eisai's successor, Myo-zen, became Do-gen's new teacher, eventually giving him dharma transmission.
Even after nine years of training under Myo-zen, Do-gen still felt that something was missing. So, Do-gen made the decision to leave Japan for study in China. Not only did Myo-zen give Do-gen his permission to go, but Myo-zen joined him. While in China, Do-gen eventually ran across Ju-ching, who was considered "...one of China's finest Zen masters." Shortly after Do-gen met Ju-ching, Myo-zen died.
From Ju-ching, Do-gen developed his extremely disciplined, intensive style of Zen training. Training under Ju-ching was extremely rigorous, with the meditation schedule lasting twenty or more hours each day. Ju-ching gave Do-gen formal Dharma transmission and Do-gen soon left for Japan.
On returning to Japan, Do-gen stayed at Kennin-ji once more. Unfortunately, he found it in a worse state of moral and spiritual decay than when he left. Monks spent their time making money, wearing fancy clothes and furnishing their rooms with expensive lacquered furniture. After spending several years at Kennin-ji, Do-gen wrote in the Sho-bo-genzo- Zuimonki: "It is an obvious fact that Buddhism is now on the decline." Some scholars believe that at this point Do-gen started work on what was later known as the Sho-bo-genzo- (The Eye and Treasury of the True Law). His first fascicle, Bendo-wa, or "The Practice of the Way," is a book intended to instruct his growing number of students with questions about proper practice and ethics.
Do-gen spent the rest of his life teaching his students with his unique approach to Zen practice. His teaching later became known as the Soto school of Zen, although Do-gen never intended to create a separate Zen school. The teaching that practice (zazen and mindfulness) was enlightenment itself, as well as a dedication to intellectual inquiry, was the key to Do-gen's teachings, out of which everything else flowed.
The concept that practice and enlightenment were identical was not Do-gen's original idea. Chinese Buddhists had long claimed this, basing their concepts on the meditation writings on the 4th Century Indian teachers Buddhaghosa and Patanjali. In fact, this concept is also one of the key points to a "sudden enlightenment" position, which will be discussed in detail later. This position is also affirmed in the Platform Sutra, which Do-gen and other Chinese Zen masters had access to. In one section, the Sutra reads:
Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike?
They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp there is light; if there is no lamp there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two.
Meditation and wisdom are also like this.
Although this passage is attributed more to Shen-hui than the official Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng, it demonstrates a trend that ran throughout Chinese Ch'an well before Do-gen.
Do-gen, however, was the first Japanese teacher to base his philosophy and teachings on this important foundation. For Do-gen, practice equalled enlightenment also. In his work "Sesshin Sessho" (Explaining Mind, Explaining Nature) he writes:
...very foolish people think that when we study Buddhism we do not arrive at the Buddhist Way until our study is completed. This occurs because such people do not know that proclaiming, practicing, and enlightening the Buddhist Way are all complete within themselves and contain all aspects of the Way.
Do-gen's idea of practice means a continuous fostering of mindfulness centered around zazen. Practice becomes the realization of Buddha-nature (Tathagata-garbha, or hongaku), otherwise known as enlightenment. Do-gen's original question that eventually sent him on a spiritual quest to China, is answered in this concept of practice. This is not to say that everyone who practices Zen is completely enlightened; the quality of zazen is the equivalent of the quality of enlightenment, and there are an infinite number of levels of maturation. Do-gen scholar Francis Cook explains that:
Consequently, enlightenment exists with the commencement of zazen practice, at least to some degree. It is `to some degree' because zazen itself is probably weak and immature in the beginning, and so, consequently, the enlightenment that is expressed in practice may also be weak and immature.
As a Zen student's practice matures, so does enlightenment. Therefore, no one is ever finished with practice. Do-gen uses the expression "One inch of zazen, one inch of Buddha" to communicate this.
Mindfulness practice as well as zazen practice emphasize the merging of subject and object, or "samadhi consciousness". For example, if a student were to wash the floor, they would do it with a sense of unity. There would not be a student and a floor -- just the washing of the floor. Do-gen refers to this practice as shinjin-datsuraku, or "dropping off mind and body." This experience of samadhi is enlightenment for Do-gen, and thus a student could be enlightened during one activity but not for another.
Do-gen is essentially "de-mythologizing" the enlightenment experience. Anyone can experience enlightenment, according to Do-gen, even the most inexperienced of students. This is not limited to monastic students either, anyone can practice enlightenment in Do-gen's system. The idea that "lay" practice also plays an important role in Do-gen's Zen is supported by scholars such as Jee-Jin Kim and Francis Cook. Francis Cook writes: "Do-gen believed that is was attainable by anyone, lay or monk, who made a serious effort, and he presents it in a remarkably demystified and demythologized [re-mythologized according to Kim] way." This is interpreting a modern view of Do-gen's ethics.
Do-gen's view has some very important implications in how actions are performed. According to Do-gen, enlightenment is the foundation for moral behavior. In Do-gen's Shoakumakusa (Refrain from all Evil) from the Sho-bo-genzo-, he describes how enlightenment leads to moral behavior:
Practice is accomplished through the law of karma. That is, it is not moved by karma, nor does it create new karma. When karma exists it causes us to practice. When the original nature of karma is illuminated we see true refraining, impermanence, and the harm that ceases and never stops because there is only detachment. If we study like this we will see that we are able to refrain from all evil. When this understanding is actualized we can completely refrain from all evil and cut off all delusion through zazen.
Some scholars, such as James Whitehill, misunderstand what is meant by enlightenment as the basis for morality. For example, Dr. Whitehill writes:
Waiting for enlightenment so that one may do these things spontaneously and naturally, without effort or purpose or self, has never been the way of the Bodhisattva.
This is an understanding of the traditional, non-Chinese, view of enlightenment, one in which enlightenment is an end result of practice rather than identical with practice. For Do-gen, practicing true morality without Zen training is impossible since ignorance is the basis for evil and only by acting from an enlightened perspective can moral actions be accomplished, but the training and moral action begin immediately in Zen instruction. This is also a profound shift from the Western view of morality and ethics. For example, In Zen, acting selflessly with compassion is not ethical altruism, it is a profound shift in behavior and an individuals "way of being." James Whitehill summarizes enlightened versus non-enlightened moral behavior:
By claiming that the enlightened act morally, but without calculation or hesitation, they seek to differentiate and separate morally responsible and worthy action from actions resulting from ethical reflection. The intention is to claim that the enlightened act morally, but without the encumbrances or "thought-coverings" of doubt, reflection, or calculation. Ethical judgement is viewed negatively as a more or less detached, rational activity that neglects the fullness, complexity, and subjectivity of human action.
Of course this still goes under the false assumption that an individual is always acting from an enlightened position, a concept that Do-gen rejects. This kind of reasoning also assumes that an "enlightened perspective" is one that is removed from reason and common sense. It is a view that expresses enlightenment more as an realization of some profound impractical truth rather than an realization of reality as it truly is.
This traditional argument against enlightened morality is that morality without thought can become distorted, as in the case of many of the scandals involving confirmed "Zen masters". Again, this comes from a misunderstanding of "enlightenment" in Do-gen's sense. A Zen master who were to act immorally would not be acting within an enlightened framework. A Zen master then is fallible, and capable of acting immorally if not actualizing enlightenment in that moment. However, for Do-gen, any moral judgements about such an individual could only be made by his/her peers, whose level of morality/enlightenment could adequately evaluate such actions. In fact, Do-gen made many such judgements about his peers in the Sho-bo-genzo-. This possibility for immoral actions is Do-gen's reason for continual practice for life. This leads us to a discussion of the "Descending Path" of enlightenment.
Compassionate action and morality from a base of enlightenment is sometimes known as the "Descending Path". Since those with the strongest realization of enlightenment are empowered to act morally, it is their job to empower those below them, not just in the common perception of compassionate action, such as helping the sick or poor, but in bringing them to increasing levels of enlightenment by giving good advice and by being a proper example of moral/enlightened behavior. This is a significant change from the traditional role of the Bodhisattva. The model for the "Descending Path" is:
WISDOM -----> MEDITATION -----> PRECEPTS (morality)
Wisdom, or praj§a, involves actualizing the first five paramitas of meditation, charity, patience, diligence and keeping the precepts. Rather than keeping the precepts in order to realize praj§a, one practices the precepts as an expression of praj§a.
This is in direct opposition to the Theravadan path which starts with precepts and results in wisdom:
PRECEPTS (morality) -----> MEDITATION -----> WISDOM
This model is known as the "Ascending Path," or what I like to call "Trickle Down Ethics." Similar to "Trickle Down Economics", trickle down ethical behavior flows from those with the most enlightenment (those at the top) down to those with the least enlightenment, less advanced students and non-students. This is in sharp contrast to the "Descending Path," in which everyone is empowered, to some degree, to act morally, ethically and to bring others to enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhists reject "Trickle Down Ethics" almost as much as modern economists reject "Trickle Down Economics." The key point is that everyone has something to offer in the "Descending Path" model.
This model is important in understanding the enlightenment process. The concept that enlightenment can only be realized after a long purification period, including following the precepts, is considered a "gradual" approach to enlightenment, and is usually found in Indian Buddhism. The Chinese position, which Do-gen followed, is an "antinomian" position in which enlightenment can happen suddenly without any purification or moral development. The word "antimonian" means that one can realize liberation regardless of moral status.
The reason for this change of position is probably cultural. Indian society, with its rigid caste system, had a strong sense of class immobility. Chinese society, in contrast, was one in which anyone could rise to a higher station based entirely on effort. The idea that you had to wait many years or lifetimes to realize enlightenment was foreign and distasteful to Chinese sensibilities, and was readily dropped for the "sudden" approach to practice. However, it should be noted that both Chinese and Indian Buddhism consider the actual experiences of enlightenment, or "satori", to be a very sudden event that occurs in a flash. The question then is: what role does morality and precepts play in this model? With the Descending Path model, precepts are placed last. We should not make the mistake of assuming that actual precepts play a subservient role in Do-gen's Zen. In fact, Do-gen held the precepts as an integral part of proper practice that begins with the monks first day in the monastery. According to Hee-Jin Kim, "A prime characteristic of Do-gen's thought lies in his passionate search for the translation of moral visions -- hence spiritual visions -- into the daily activities of monastic life,"
Kim goes on to describe Do-gen's use of precepts as the "ritualization of morality" in which every action performed by a monk is an expression of enlightenment and thus, morality. Every action does not mean every ritual performed by a monk, such as various meditations and dedications -- it includes every single act a monk is involved in. If a monk were to tend a garden, he would tend the garden mindfully, 100% in the moment, that would make the act of tending the garden a moral and enlightened activity based on the precepts. Francis Cook writes: "Even the most ordinary acts become compassionate when, as expressions of enlightenment, they inspire and encourage others to seek the Buddha Way."
As for the actual precepts themselves, Do-gen believed that they were essential to Zen:
If one does not take the precepts and therefore guard against defilement, it is unthinkable that one could become a Buddha or Patriarch.... All the Buddhas and Patriarchs taught that receiving the precepts is the first step of the Way. When we take the precepts we guard against doing wrong. How then can someone who is not protected in this way be a disciple of the Buddha or a follower of the Patriarchs?
However, unlike the other teachers of his day, Do-gen believed in using the Bodhisattva precepts only. He rejected the "sravaka" precepts, believing them to be inferior and even contradictory to the Bodhisattva precepts. In the Shoakumakusa, he writes: "Keeping the precepts of the sravakas is the same as breaking the precepts of the Bodhisattva." Do-gen believed that the Theravadan precepts were too rigid and inflexible and that a Tharavadan practitioner was bound by the "letter of the law" rather than by compassion.
This importance of precepts, known as "kairitsu-isen" in Japanese, as well as the merging of precepts and meditation, "zenkai-itchi" were common themes of Kamakura Zen. Do-gen differed from the Kamakura style only in his rejection of the Theravadan precepts, although it is said that Do-gen himself followed them during his lifetime.
On top of the Bodhisattva precepts, Do-gen's quest for the "ritualization of morality" led him to create a large collection of rules called Eihei-Genzenshi-Shingi (Regulations for Monastic Life by Eihei Do-gen-Zenji), with many ideas taken from Chinese sources such as the famous two-volume Hyakujo-shingi (The Regulations of Pai-chang). This comprehensive set of rules ranged from not talking about "the presence or absence of others" to "not going pit-a-pat" with your slippers. For example:
When hot water or tea is given to the monks present the shuso-priest (head priest) of the monks' hall sits down on his seat and the manager of it burns some incense to the sacred statue. While he is burning incense other monks must clasp their hands. At that time the manager may burn incense with a kesa on or sometimes folded on his left arm, according to the master's directions or the traditional way of the temple.
Throughout his writings, Do-gen stressed his rules existed to cultivate mindfulness. In mindfulness, Do-gen taught, the precepts were complete, and through the precepts and rules, one was able to practice mindfulness. One was essential for the other, and in fact, Do-gen identified them as being the same. However, it still appears that many of Do-gen's rules were created because of problems that arose during monastic life, much life the Vinaya rules, and it is hard not to think that Do-gen's rules were created as a Japanese version of the Vinaya.
Through the teachings of Do-gen, modern students can realize that enlightenment is possible now, rather than at a future date when one has mastered practice. Ethically then, since enlightenment and ethical actions are identical, one can act correctly from an "enlightened" perspective, early in practice. This is vastly different from the Theravadan approach, as well as the concepts of the future transformation of society proposed by liberation theologists and socialist models. Christopher Ives, in his Ph.D thesis Zen Awakening and Society describes the importance of the unity of enlightenment and ethics:
From the Zen perspective, only by eliminating entrapment in dualism and realizing Awakening can one truly overcome the fundamental cause of socio-political problems and work compassionately in the ethical and religious arena; if one is not grounded in subjectivity that realizes the interconnectedness of all things and can see the "other" as oneself, one's ethical efforts will ultimately fail.
Do-gen has been a part of the Zen tradition for hundreds of years, so why is "Engaged Buddhism" such a new thing? The reason is that Japanese culture, based on strong cultural "caste-like" relationships, is not capable of incorporating Do-gen's ethic into society. The Chinese created the sudden enlightenment (without moral development) approach for their own culture, in direct contradiction to the Indian model, but, ironically, it may have proved ineffective when it was adopted in Japan. Robert Bellah explains this:
For centuries nobody knew that Do-gen really blew everything sky high, so to speak. The pattern of traditional relationships even within the religious life continued to predominate over the radical liberation. But I would suggest that this is the Japanese problem, and may still be the Japanese problem.... Our problem is: how can we reformulate or recreate some kind of viable intermediate structures that can put our society together again?
This putting back together of society has already begun in the West, led by such "Engaged Buddhism" movements as The Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, The Greyston Family Inn, the Maitri Hospice, and many other smaller groups and movements that are sprouting up around the country to re-construct our society with an enlightened perspective. Many of the founders and participants of these movements are practitioners of the Soto Zen school, who often draw directly from Do-gen's work as inspiration and justification of their actions. Clearly then, Do-gen's teachings play an important role, not only in the development of Zen thought, but as an active and living legacy that Zen Buddhists can practice and aspire to today.
Works Cited
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