SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

66 Sōtō Zenregenerates itself constantly and thereby keeps on growing andextending itself throughout time and space. Great MasterKeizan declares in his Shinjin-mei Nentei: ÒThere are two kindsof Buddha Nature: the existent one (J. u) and the non-existentone (J. mu). The non-existent one is indivisible; the existentone has not a fixed, unchanging existence.Ó Also he observes,ÒBuddha comes forth in the world; things appear in the heartsof men. The Buddhas of the many countries conceal theirphysical bodies revealing only their shadows. The countries ofthe various Buddhas reveal their forms completely.Ó Thus doesKeizan uphold D‡genÕs idea that Òthe Buddha Nature is everythingÓas well as D‡genÕs four-way analysis of the BuddhaNature. It is further stated in the ÒZazen Y‡jinkiÓ that Zazenilluminates the mind of man and enables him to live peacefullyin his True Self. We call this Òshowing your natural faceÓ orÒrevealing the natural scenery,Ó thus making clear the contentof enlightenment and the religious practice of the BuddhaHeart.4. D‡gen, after being assailed by the doubts describedabove while he was on Mt. Hiei, came to the conclusion thatdespite the extent of Buddhist studies in Japan, the trueBuddhism was still unknown. He therefore resolved to goto China to find it, confident that he would be successful ifhe sought the true Buddhism from the standpoint that allBuddhism is one. However, what D‡gen sought was not a