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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 15

lose ourselves, to disappear. We enter these gateways is to be with whatever we encounter right here now.”
to awaken to our delusions, this is the process of fully
knowing ourselves. This is devotion to the creative joy At first, we may see the path as merely placating our
and art of the bodhisattva, engaged in endless play, personal struggles and our pains, but as we proceed a
expressed in the practice of vow. deeper understanding grows of the depth, the mystery,
and the wonder of the Way. We learn that it is not about
4) Butsu do mu jo sei gan jo – Unsurpassable “me,” but about a magnificent “us” that encompasses the
Buddha Way, I vow to embody/be it. whole world.

Finally, we vow to walk the Eightfold Path of the In this very moment we have the opportunity to fulfill
Buddha as vigorously and as nobly as he did. This is our Bodhisattva vows. After making this Great Vow, you,
the Way that begins with right views: clear insight into the Bodhisattva, belongs to the entire universe. The vow
the insubstantial nature of the self and all things, and itself possesses cosmic significance; the vow itself is a
extending to the uniqueness of each individual being. cosmic force.

So, the Buddha’s Way is unsurpassable, and yet, we Are you ready to taste the flavor of truth, to take the
foolishly keep vowing to become it, even when we get vow to enter every experience, every dharma gate?
it wrong. And yet, this path contains everything we I can’t tell you what you’ll encounter, but I suspect it
need, nothing is lacking. We practice it with our entire won’t contain any of your old ideas, things, or people.
being, and that is why we can say “we vow to be it.” And You will discover life itself, vividly appearing to you. And
we can honestly and wholeheartedly say this because you will know for yourself, like the Buddha, that you,
we are already Buddha, right from the start. Universal and I, the great earth, the stars, the moon, and all beings,
Buddhahood, Interdependence, and Radical Nonduality; are naturally and simultaneously awakened.
this is our faith.
Master Dogen said it best: “This is the mindset that
Dogen Zenji said, “There is no need to change our Buddha after Buddha has transmitted. We together
existing body and mind, for the direct realization of the with all beings, are now receptive to hearing the true
Way is neither to be bound by old viewpoints, nor to Dharma, accepting the true Dharma, and attaining the
create new ones. The Buddha Way is to not look aside. It Way. Surrender, surrender to the Vow.” EH