I have some favorite writings that I return to over and over again. One of them is by Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, who is known for his great prose and his flowing, inspirational expressions of the Dharma. Genjokoan’s first four lines remind me of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths.
GENJŌKŌAN
(1) When all dharmas are the Buddha Dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, life and death, buddhas and living beings.
(2) When the ten thousand dharmas are without [fixed] self, there is no delusion and no realization, no buddhas and no living beings, no birth and no death.
(3) Since the Buddha Way, by nature, goes beyond the dichotomy of abundance and deficiency, there is arising and perishing, delusion and realization, living beings and buddhas.
(4) Therefore, flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them. Conveying oneself toward all things to carry out practice-enlightenment is delusion. All things coming and carrying out practice-enlightenment through the self is realization. Those who greatly realize delusion are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded in realization are living beings. Furthermore, there are those who attain realization beyond realization and those who are deluded within delusion.
— Okumura, Shohaku. Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo . Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition.