Shōji
Introduction
Shōji (生死, "Birth and Death") is the seventy-ninth fascicle of Dōgen Zenji's Shōbōgenzō. The title addresses the fundamental Buddhist problem of birth-and-death (saṃsāra) — the cycle of suffering that all beings seek to transcend. Yet Dōgen utterly transforms the question: birth and death are not obstacles to be overcome but the very life of the Buddha.
Dōgen opens with the words of two Chan masters: "If there is a buddha in birth-and-death, there is no birth-and-death" and "If there is no buddha in birth-and-death, you are not deluded by birth-and-death." To seek a buddha outside birth-and-death is like pointing the carriage-shaft south while trying to go north — it only accumulates more causes of saṃsāra.
The fascicle is a masterpiece of Dōgen's most direct and accessible teaching: birth is just birth, death is just death. Do not hate birth-and-death, do not long for nirvana. When you abandon body and mind, cast yourself into the Buddha's house, and follow the Buddha's activity, you become a buddha without effort. The easy path to buddhahood is this: do no evil, cling neither to birth nor death, have deep compassion for all beings, honor those above and pity those below, and seek nothing outside.
If there is a buddha within birth and death, there is no birth and death. It is also said, if there is no buddha within birth and death, one is not deluded by birth and death. The meaning is the words of the two Zen masters, Kyōzan and Jōzan. Since these are the words of those who have attained the Way, they are certainly not empty. Those who wish to be free from birth and death should clarify this principle. If a person seeks the buddha apart from birth and death, it is like going north to reach Yue, or facing south to see the North Star. They increasingly accumulate the causes of birth and death and further lose the path of liberation.
Simply understand that birth and death are themselves nirvana; there is nothing to despise in birth and death, nothing to seek in nirvana. Only then is there a portion of being free from birth and death. To think of moving from birth to death is a mistake. Birth is a single state; it already has before and after. Therefore, in the Buddha Dharma, it is said that birth is itself non-birth. Cessation is also a single state; it too has before and after. Because of this, it is said that cessation is itself non-cessation.
When speaking of birth, there is nothing apart from birth; when speaking of cessation, there is nothing apart from cessation. Therefore, when birth comes, just meet it with birth; when cessation comes, just meet it with cessation. Do not despise it, do not crave it. This birth and death is the very life of the buddha. If you try to despise and discard it, you will lose the life of the buddha. If you linger here and become attached to birth and death, this too is to lose the life of the buddha, to obstruct the state of the buddha. Without despising, without clinging—only then do you enter the mind of the buddha.
However, do not try to measure it with your mind; do not try to express it in words. Just let go and forget your body and mind, cast them into the house of the buddha, and be activated by the buddha; following along in this way, without exerting force, without expending mind, you are freed from birth and death and become a buddha. Who then could harbor any lingering thought? There is an easy way to become a buddha.
Refrain from all evil, have no mind that clings to birth and death, be deeply compassionate for all sentient beings, revere those above and pity those below, have no mind that hates anything, have no craving mind, have no thoughts in the mind, have no worries—this is called a buddha. Seek nothing elsewhere.
Translated from classical Japanese based on the text established by the SAT database (Shinshū Taishōzō Taikei Database), University of Tokyo. Shōbōgenzō, fascicle 79. Eihei Dōgen Zenji (1200–1253).