Confession of lifelong pessimist: I still have a foundational belief that people / beings are innately good. But some days this belief is under strain from the impact of personal and geopolitical events. So this week the question is: can innate goodness survive the evidence?
In Shoaku Makusa, Dogen opens with a quote that goes back at least to the Dhammapada:
Do no evil,
Engage in what is skillful,
And purify your mind;
This is the teaching of the Buddhas.
~Gil Fronsdal Tr., Dhammapada, verse 183
Being Dogen, he does not stop there, but goes on to equate "various evils refrained from" with "awakening to the living reality".
Sometimes a cloud pouring down the side of a mountain mountain is the Dharmakaya manifesting in a way so absurd it cannot be ignored, and in that moment all thought of "good" and "evil" is out the window, forgotten under the trees. The actuality of living reality is always like this.
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