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Dogen
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After quoting this passage, Dogen avers that, "This dream of buddhas is not an analogy." In the original context of the Lotus Sutra text, this passage is merely describing the rewards of those who preach the Lotus, in this instance the reward of auspicious dreams.[32] But Dogen uses his creative reading to validate, or at least exemplify, his teaching that the dream-state of the conditioned phenomenal world is exactly the arena for awakening. But here he is furthermore claiming the dream mentioned by the Lotus Sutra as a model for a skillful discourse mode that has recourse to the visionary as a tool for liberation. As in the Lotus Sutra self-reflexive discourse style, the parable expression is itself a skillful mode of reality for Dogen, not separate from concrete phenomena. Dogen continues,
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[One] major source of insight in interpreting Dogen is the extensive body of translations available both in Japanese and English, as well as commentaries, mostly in Japanese. There are... limits to their usefulness. Some translators have laudably taken it upon themselves to translate large volumes of Dogen’s writings, such as Shobogenzo in its entirety, which reduces the amount of time they can spend on any given essay. In other cases, apparent mistakes in interpretation are propagated from one commentator or translator to another. In any case, in addition to referring extensively to preceding translations and commentaries, we present those alternative translations to the reader (in the form of footnotes to avoid disrupting the flow of the notes), less to criticize potentially misleading translations as to give the reader the opportunity to draw her own conclusions. Given that objective, attributions to specific translators are often omitted, since the intent is not a scholarly review of previous translations.
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Although Dogen had some reservations about the Five Ranks, it was not because he did not find them true. He simply did not want them to become a formula—a mere intellectualization or abstraction. Dogen did not use them in the way they were taught conventionally. He wanted them to be realized face-to-face in koan introspection between teacher and student.
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Both the classic and Dogen's commentaries are perfectly consistent with the traditional Mahayana teachings found in the sutras and sutra commentaries. There seems to be no departure from traditional understanding of the Mahayana teachings in either writings. None of the teachers presenting the koans invented a new dharma. Everything they said always reflected the historical teachings of the Buddha, particularly as understood in the Mahayana tradition, although they may have said it in new, perhaps dramatically different ways. There is... something especially unique and fresh in how Dogen expresses the Zen truth of the traditional koans that sets the Kana Shobogenzo in a class by itself. The question of interest then becomes, "What are the unique characteristics that placed Dogen's treatment of the koans apart from the traditional commentaries?"
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[T]o make Dogen more accessible to those getting to know him for the first time, the decision was made to accompany the translation with extensive translator’s notes. The annotations are not in general meant to elucidate the essay’s deeper meaning. Dogen can speak for himself if only given the voice to do so. Rather, the focus is on pointing out interesting or challenging aspects of Dogen’s prose and possible alternatives for interpret-ing or translating it. This opportunity to clarify aspects of Dogen’s writings in the notes makes it possible for the translation itself to adhere more closely to the original. The annotations ... present historical and cultural background to enhance the reader’s understanding. The translated essay is first given by itself, to avoid distracting the reader with the annotations. The translations are then repeated, this time interspersed with translator‘s notes.
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Dogen believes that all illuminating distinctions depend on two facets, such as light and dark, being and non-being, and trees and leaves. The underlying emptiness that absorbs all dichotomies makes possible the realization of these distinctions. As Dogen writes, "The Buddha Way is originally beyond fullness and lack, and for this reason there is generation and extinction, illusion and Enlightenment, sentient beings and buddhas."6 These distinctions must be understood and accepted in the light of the idea that they are all one. Only through truly seeing and embracing the dual nature of all, can one feel and experience the sense of a fundamental ultimate. As Shunryu Suzuki explains, "each existence depends on something else. Strictly speaking, there are no separate individual existences.
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