TRUE NATURE
by Sensei Robert Joshin Althouse (c) 2005
"When a fish swims in the ocean, there is no limit to the water, no matter how far it swims.
When a bird flies in the sky, there is no limit to the air, no matter how far it flies.
However, no fish or bird has ever left its element since the beginning.
When the need is large, it is used largely.
When the need is small, it is used in a small way.
Thus, no creature ever comes short of its own completenes."
Dogen from Genjokoan

The Genjokoan may be one of the greatest pieces of spiritual literature in the world. Here Dogen expresses our intrinsic, awakened nature. Like fish, it is the waters we swim in. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes cold. Sometimes the water is muddy, sometimes clear. Whether it is muddy or clear, it's still our true nature. When we are confused, angry, sad or happy we are expressing it. As we are we are full and complete. It's hard to trust ourselves in this way. Normally, we are convinced something is wrong with us and with others. Our approach to spiritual practice is much the same. We approach it as a self-improvement program. But you can't improve upon your true nature. Here there is nothing to exclude because everything is included.

So why don't we appreciate the waters of our true nature? Our small selves get in the way. We become distracted looking somewhere else, often outside the waters altogether. We try to understand and control something which is fluid and moving all the time. It's so close, so intimate that we miss it altogether. It's the air we breath, but we hardly notice. It's sad, but we are like fish trying to swim in the air or walk on the ground. Each of us, whether old or young, male or female, covers the ground where we stand. We are perfect and complete as we are.

Last week I flew into Midway airport in Chicago on the hottest day of the year. The temperatures were well over 100 degrees. When it's like that, the body sweats, and you walk very slowly. That is our body expressing it's true nature. If it is very cold, we walk fast and shiver to stay warm. That's the body's wisdom. But again, we don't often appreciate this because we are busy wishing it were not so. If it's too hot, we complain about the heat and wish it were cooler.

In another passage from the Genjkoan Dogen says "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." When we focus on being in control, we miss the water we swim in. When the cardinal sings, everything sings. I remember sitting in sesshin in Hawaii and hearing the neighbor mow the lawn during meditation. This sometimes upset people. They felt it was distracting them. But how can your true nature be distracted in that way? Once you include the lawn mower in the ocean of your zazen, then there is no problem.

Dogen continues with the next line: "It is Buddhas who enlighten delusion. It is creatures who are deluded in enlightenment." When we approach spiritual practice as a self improvement program we try to get rid of that which is undesirable and cultivate that which is. This is not Dogen's understanding. He is suggesting that we enter fully into our delusion as an expression of our true nature. So when we are impatient, just be that. Sometimes the waters are muddy. Even being muddy, as a fish you will still swim in them. You will not get out of the water just because it's muddy. If you trust your life in this way, then where ever you stand, you will cover the ground completely.

Some of you may remember the I Ka Pono Community Garden we started in Hawaii. We worked on that garden for three years. I learned a lot about sustainable farming. I learned that it's important to farm the soil, not the plants. If you farm the soil, you are working with the source of life. When you enrich and increase the top soil, the plants take care of themselves. But if you have a short term focus on growing nice looking plants, you end up undermining the soil by putting insecticides and fertilizers in it. In this way you compromise the long term sustainability of the soil.

Spiritual practice is like this. We aren't distracted by abstractions. It's very specific. We know what to nurture, and what to trim away. Swimming in the ocean of our zazen, our practice continues endlessly and we respond fluidly and easily to whatever presents itself.