Does Buddhism have heretics?
Dogen Zenji never rejects the theory that sentient beings are Buddhas. In Dogen's case so long as one practices, for example, does zazen, follows the precepts, etc., they are Buddhas since practice, in particular zazen, is Buddhahood.
During this same period in Japanese history, other Japanese Buddhists also agreed with Dogen that sentient beings are Buddhas, which might even include plants, but unlike Dogen Zenji they didn't believe it mattered what a person did. One can, so to speak, eat, drink and be merryor frequent brothels. Buddhahood, in other words, is just doing what you want. If this leads to the suggestion that there is no path to Buddhahood, or a very short one, because we are already Buddhas, I would say that you have a good grasp of where Dogen and those who accept this doctrine of original enlightenment are coming from.
It needs pointing out that one of the main sources of inspiration for this doctrine is the treatise, The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. However, while this treatise speaks of enlightenment it is always understood that Buddhahood has to be acquired by first awaking to this potential then perfecting it. One, in other words, is not already a Buddha nor, by implication, can zazen, the precepts or being a monk make one automatically a Buddha.
The treatise informs us that while non-enlightenment or non-buddhahood is grounded on original enlightenment we still must actualize Buddhahood. We have to awaken to the "fountainhead of Mind" which is called final enlightenment. The process of awakening to the fountainhead of Mind is accomplished by going through various stages of a Bodhisattva, from approximate enlightenment to full enlightenment thus realizing that Mind is absolute and eternalthere is nothing outside of it (since things are Mind-compositions).
According to the same treatise "all ordinary people are said not to be enlightened" because they have never been fre! e or lib erated from their deluded thoughts. One might conceive this problem to be like someone who firmly believes that a whirlpool is water owing to the fact that they have never seen water in its original non-whirlpool state. From this we can say that the whirlpool is grounded on water. Moreover, we can also say the whirlpool is an illusion, it doesn't actually exist. Likewise, original enlightenment is the substance of Mind, itself. All phenomena are composed of this Mind substance or tathat. But all ordinary people only see phenomena made of Mindnot Mind, itself. Such phenomena do not actually exist which means ordinary people are fundamentally clinging to illusion, not reality. Only Mind is real. As for enlightenment, itself, a Bodhisattva in the beginning has a glimpse into pure Mind. This is the embryo of Tathagata (tathagatagarbaha). Like a fetus it grows, then it is born and eventually arrives at the Bodhi-tree to defeat Mara the Evil One winning complete enlightenment or Buddhahood.
Those who teach that we are already Buddhas are, to be blunt, guilty of heresy. They have no basis for such a teaching other than their firm belief that original enlightenment is the same as final enlightenment.
