> > Why do you suppose the Buddha and the Zen Masters > > like Dogen continued to meditate years after they > > supposedly attained enlightenment? > > Vaj: > I assumed they weren't merely meditating Willy... > All enlightened masters meditate, Vajji. That's what enlightened masters do.
Since we are all already enlightened at birth, all we need to do is sit down and think things over - meditate. Thoughts will fall away naturally, once striving has been abandoned, then your essential nature will shine forth without any effort at all. "... you must suspend your attempts to understand by means of scrutinizing words, reverse the activity of the mind which seeks externally, and illuminate your own true nature" (page 96). Read more: 'How to Raise an Ox' Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo by Francis D Cook, Ph.D. Forward by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Wisdom Publications, 2002