Dogen's Fascicle 'Undivided Activity'

"Life Is Like Riding In a Boat"

The seminar is part of the 2025 Everyday Bodhisattva Practice Period (Jan 18-Apr 12, 2025). It can, however, be attended separately without prior knowledge of Zen or the teachings of the Practice Period. It will be held at the Boulder Zen Center (2151 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder).

During the Practice Period, Zenki Roshi will provide a commentary on the Dogen fascicle ‘Undivided Activity.’ It has also been translated as ‘Total Function,’ ‘The Whole Works,’—or for most entertainment value as ‘The Everything Machine.”

The main point of ‘Undivided Activity’ is that to live an awakened life is to experience both life and death (appearance and disappearance) as a manifestation of the whole, interdependent meshwork of all beings and phenomena. Each moment is simultaneously emptiness and form, liberation and manifestation.

The central image Dogen uses to illustrate this point is summarized in the line 'Life is like riding in a boat.' This seemingly simple image brings together the person, the physical environment, attention, and intention—the main ingredients of practice. A teaching like this can only be unlocked if we find ways to enter into the embodied concreteness of our everyday life. The goal of practice is to enjoy our own lives together with others as liberated aliveness —manifesting moment by moment. To do so, we need to discover our everyday activities as a place of practice.

While Zenki Roshi will begin to explore these themes during his bi-weekly talks going through the text line-by-line, it is the Weekend Seminar where we will have time to dive deep together.