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anyway we don't know who took the notes. One thing is certain, that Dogen must have said something to create the fault.
First, TRUE ASPIRANTS OF BUDDHISM. He is still talking in terms of `isms' and Zen is not an `ism'. Zen is freedom from all `isms' -- Buddhism included. And aspirants are for the truth, not for Buddhism, not for Hinduism, not for Christianity. These are not aspirants, these are conditioned people who are following their conditioning. They may find a certain solace, a consolation, but they will never find the truth, because truth is not part of any theology.
Dogen's statements are very amateurish. TRUE ASPIRANTS is enough; don't say OF BUDDHISM. Why should anybody be an aspirant of Buddhism? Everybody is a buddha himself. So it is better to say: "Seekers, aspirants, searchers of one's own being." Why bring theologies in? That is not the Zen way.
And he does not know that a master can have thousands of disciples. He may not know even their names, he may not have even met them -- it does not matter. He works in a totally different way than things are done in the ordinary world. He simply creates an atmosphere, he does not work with "A" and "B" and "C".
Then naturally, according to Dogen, a man's life is very short; if he becomes enlightened -- as Gautam Buddha became enlightened -- at the age of forty.... He lived up to eighty-two. In forty-two years, if he had worked day and night without sleeping, without eating... even then, how many people would he have been able to bring to the consciousness that he had achieved?
And that is a very foolish way, there is no need. The very mastery, the art of being a master is to create an atmosphere in which things start happening on their own. What are we doing here? I don't know many of you, I don't know your names, I don't meet you personally. I simply create an atmosphere in which you can drown, in which you can drink the very juice of life. There is no need for me to work on individuals -- that is a very poor and primitive way. I work by creating an atmosphere, an energy field, and every day that energy field becomes more and more powerful. Every one of you contributes to
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