Monkey Grasping for the Moon

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk during the Fall Practice Period, Sensei Shinzan turns to Dōgen’s Genjō Kōan, drawing on the  image of a monkey grasping at the moon’s reflection to reveal how our search for enlightenment often obscures what is really there. “You want to see who is awake or who is enlightened? Just watch how they live their lives,” he says, reminding us that realization is expressed through embodied action rather than social or material achievement. Quoting Dōgen, “Enlightenment does not disturb the person, just as the moon does not disturb the water,” Shinzan points to awakening as inseparable from daily life—reflected in each moment, whether washing a bowl, placing shoes at the zendo door, or meeting one another fully awake.