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Most of us are familiar with the quotation by Dogen Zenji, the famous 13th century Zen master, on the study of the self. There are lots of translations, but the gist of them all is this:
To realize the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things. When the self is forgotten, body and mind fall away.
And we can all go back to various Zen teachings that remind us that the key to the Buddha Way is setting our self aside. But on the surface of it, isn’t there a contradiction inherent in these words? Are we to study ourselves or forget ourselves? Which is it? How can we do both at once?
Well, how about this? Maybe Dogen and all the other teachers are simply telling us to turn to our own inner awareness as we navigate the twists, turns, and the stillness of everyday life. We can look inward and discover when it is that we are most at rest: at those times when we are totally absorbed in living our lives – in our work, in loving, in listening, in whatever it is that the Universe has called us to in any given moment. These are the moments in which we are living most fully that which we are. These are the moments when we are at our best. These are the moments in which “self” is forgotten. And when we look back upon these moments, we realize that “self” is a notion – a construct of the mind. All we have is the content of each moment. The “just this” of it.
In his book The Essence of Zen (© 2008, Wisdom Publications), Roshi Sekkei Harada of Japan offers a story from Zen lore that helps us understand what forgetting the self entails. In koan study, we run into a version of this story in Case 19 of the koan collection The Gateless Gate. The Roshi writes:
Joshu asked his master, Nansen, “What is the Way?”
Nansen replied, “Everyday mind is the Way.”
Roshi then goes on to illuminate what the master meant by “everyday mind.”
“Everyday mind” is our daily life. In other words, it is every activity in our ordinary life from the time we rise in the morning until the time we go to bed at night. But when “everyday mind” is expressly pointed out in this way, you immediately reflect on the condition of your life and say, “So that’s what it is. My condition right now is “everyday mind.” It is the Way of Buddha.
So, for us to live in “everyday mind” means just to go about our business. Sometimes we can do special things like reading Zen books or making retreats or sitting in silent meditation – doing zazen. But let us not fool ourselves into thinking these are the only ways to forget the self, to come into oneness with life, to realize “the Way of Buddha.” To experience the “just this” of living.
When we realize and experience the “just this-ness” of every moment, we are exercising our inner awareness in a way that unifies what we think of as “I” and the thing that “I” am experiencing. Then we may ask, “Who is seeing?” or “Who is hearing?” or indeed, “Who is praying?”
To emphasize this point, Roshi Harada cites an episode from the life of Bodhidharma before he left China for India. In an interview with a certain king, Bodhidharma is said to have answered the king’s question, “What is the Way?” with these words:
Being is conceived in the womb,
Becoming a person takes place in the world,
Seeing is done with the eyes,
Hearing is done with the ear,
Smelling is done with the nose,
Speaking is done with the mouth,
Carrying is done with the hands,
Walking is done with the feet.
This is what it called buddha-nature.
By this, Roshi (and Bodhidharma) meant that our condition right now, what master Nansen called “everyday mind,” is exactly the Buddha Way. And when we allow our inner awareness to take all this in, we are at once studying the self and forgetting the self. We are so absorbed in whatever it is we are doing – even sitting in meditation or prayer – that we don’t separate ourselves from the doing. In fact, the “doing” becomes transparent; it’s action in non-action. Wu wei.
Strangely enough, this paradigm also shows up in Christian mystical thought. Here is a version of a verse from the 14th century Dominican mystic Johannes Tauler, cited in Arne Lade’s book Zen and the Mystic Impulse (© 2025, Lotus Press):
When one abides with inner awareness, the “I” loses hold.
That “I” that wanted to have things, that knew things, that wished for things.
Until this clinging to things perishes, one faces suffering.
This does not happen in one day, nor in a short time.
By letting go, humility, and diligence, inner awareness grows.
And with time and perseverance, this will become easy and satisfying.
So, with diligent attention to practice – meditation practice, living practice – we can arouse our inner awareness and thus embrace the Buddha Way, the Way of Life, our Way as humans. And we can be the best of ourselves.
Thank you.
EMPTY CLOUD ZEN 