The Coffee Made Me Do It

I am seeing the phrase "merging realization" in many of Dogen's fascicles, and each time I see it I think of merging traffic, so I am tempted to stretch the analogy: any time you are in a vehicle you are immediately traffic, and you can never be separate from traffic. Even though it may seem that when you merge onto the freeway, there is other traffic that you are joining, in reality there is only traffic. Traffic is not merely arising now; traffic abides in the phenomenal expression of traffic. Traffic may flow, but it is always traffic. Always traffic means the traffic may flow. Deeply consider the causes and conditions of traffic as you merge with it.