Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi Zen Mountain Monastery, 3/14/2019

 

This Fusatsu talk invites us to reflect deeply on Dōgen’s teaching from the Spring Ango study fascicle: “Refrain from unwholesome action. Do wholesome action. Purify your own mind. This is the teaching of all buddhas.” Shugen Roshi explores how all actions (positive, negative, and neutral) are unborn, undefiled, and are reality manifest in various ways. Study of our thoughts, words, and actions with an undivided heart offers insight to understanding intentions, desires, and karma. Refraining from unwholesome action is how is “the power of practice immediately actualized” which Dōgen describes.