善は作られる | Righteousness is an artifact.

「正法眼蔵」とは正しく伝えられた仏法の要点(眼)の集成(蔵)という意味だが、ここまで見てきたところ、どうやらその要点は「点」ではなさそうなのだ。正法とはこれとこれとこれです、という形で示せない。正法は「これ」であったり、なかったりする。

諸悪なきにあらず、莫作まくさなるのみなり。諸悪あるにあらず、莫作なるのみなり。|正法眼蔵第三十一・諸悪莫作

たとえば諸悪はないわけではなく、あるわけでもない。有か無かという選択が、仏法にはないのだ。諸悪に対してはただ「莫作(作さない)」だけだという。どういうこと?同様のことが衆善(=諸善)についても言われる:

さきより現成して行人をまつ衆善いまだあらず。作善さぜんの正当恁いん時、きたらざる衆善なし。万善は無象なりといへども、作善のところに計会すること磁鉄よりも速疾なり。|同上

あらかじめ善というものが存在して人が来るのを待っているなんてことはない。善は有るのではなく、作すのだ。有る善を作すのではなく、作すところに善が出来る。どんな善もそれ自体に善の象かたちが定まってはいない。だが作善するまさにその時(正当恁麼時)、万の善が、磁石に引き寄せられる鉄片よりも速く集結する。

行為をベクトル、行為の対象を点で示せば、道元は世界を点の巨大な集合ではなく、ベクトルの海とみているようだ。海流にしたがって無数億の点が離合集散し、ところどころに島ができている風景。

 

Although ‘Shōbōgenzō’ –– Treasury of the True Dharma Eye –– literally means “Collection of the True Dharma Points”, they do not seem to be a collection of points; you will not be able to point to this dharma or that dharma in the collection. A dharma could be this one, but is not always so.

It is not that evils does not exist, but it is just do-not-make-it. It is not that evils does exist, but it is just do-not-make-it. | Shōbōgenzō Ch.31

Dharma seems to be not about existence. Dōgen would say, “To be, or not to be, that is no problem.” The problem would be replaced by “To make it or not to make it”.

He wrote on righteousness in a similar way:

There is no righteousness that is already present and waiting for someone to practice it. At the moment of making it, there is no righteous action that does not arrive. Although all righteous actions have no recognizable forms, they arrive faster than iron pieces drawn by a magnet. | ibid.

In short, evilness and righteousness are kind of entities that are not to be given but to be created. Because Buddhism does not place an external power to create everything for mankind, we have to create, define and redefine the world by ourselves. It’s a tough, but fascinating challenge. While there is no given entities, there is never-ending human activities of creating/defining entities. You can imagine the world as a sea of ‘arrows’ which are for such activities followed by ‘points’ for created things; currents of arrows carry the points to make up rocks and islands which in turn influence the currents.

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