Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt Tremper, New York, Sunday 04/02/2023
Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the 2023 Founding Sesshin; On passages from Dogen’s Fascicle “Undivided Activity” and from the Buddha’s teaching in the “Maha-Parinirvana Sutra.”
Dogen teaches: “Birth is just like riding a boat, although you control the boat you could not ride without the boat…” And the Buddha teaches: “you are your refuge, unto yourself… there is no other refuge…”; “take yourself as your island…” i.e. you have everything you need within yourself… How do we take refuge within ourselves? How is that taking refuge in the three treasures? Dogen refers to the boat as something of our own making. What is that? How are we to be our own refuge when that ‘self’ that we turn to can be deluded and unclear or untrustworthy? Shugen Roshi and Ango participants take up these questions.
