SHUSSHIN: Getting the Body Out

SHUTSU get out
SHIN body
Read in Japanese as SHUSSHIN, "getting the body out."

It is opposed to the subject of the previous post, NYUTO, "putting in the head."

The words NYUTO, "putting the head in," and SHUSSHIN, "getting the body out," appear in both the original and revised versions of Fukan-zazengi.

The orignal version, read in Japanese, is:
NYUTO NO RYO ARI TO IEDOMO, NAO SHUSSHIN NO RO O KAKU.
"We have the capacity to put the head in, but still lack the path of getting the body out."

The revised version is a bit longer:
NYUTO NO HENRYO NI SHOYO SU TO IEDOMO, HOTONDO SHUSSHIN NO KATSURO O KIKETSU SU.
"We ramble in remote spheres entered by the head, but almost completely lack the vigorous path of getting the body out."

Master Dogen is acknowledging the tendency some of us have to ramble intellectually in pursuit of the truth -- which is a kind of end-gaining. And, in direct opposition to this end-gaining tendency, Master Dogen points to the practical means whereby the body may be liberated from what is familiar, known, habitual.

Let nobody say that, in this age of degenerate Dharma, the path of getting the body out has been lost. Because FM Alexander re-discovered it for our time; Marjory Barlow demonstrated it to me; and I am having a wonderful time trying to gain the end of letting everybody know about it.

The four characters shown below are:

SHUTSU get out
SHIN body
SHI of
RO road, path

They are read in Japanese as SHUSSHIN NO RO, "the path of getting the body out."