Study Hall - Shobogenzo

I didn't get much more clarity on 'The Mind Itself Is Buddha' re-reading it this morning, but the next two fascicles in the book are more accessible - 'Cleansing' ('Senjo') and 'Washing The Face' ('Semmen'). It is easy to imagine Dogen preaching these to the assembly as a way of getting his slovenly young followers to take care of themselves correctly, but of course he does not just deal with the forms around going to the toilet and washing on a mundane level. While the level of detail might seem excessive, he makes use of precedents in sutras and older guidelines to underline the importance of treating each activity as practice activity: "In the practice of buddha ancestors, there is always the awesome practice of this cleansing...Those who hear little think that buddhas don't have a procedure for the wash house or that the procedure for buddhas in the Saha World is different from that of Buddhas in the pure land. This is not the study of the way...Thus, be aware that all buddhas use a wash house".
Similarly, for washing the face and cleaning the teeth: "If someone asks you, 'what is the essential matter?' say 'I have fortunately met Old Man Eihei chewing a willow twig'". Dogen goes on to lament the use of new-fangled brushes in China when he was there: "So, monks and laypeople in Great Song China have bad breath. When they speak, their breath can be smelled two or three shaku away, which is hard to bear. Those who call themselves reverend teachers who have attained the way, or guiding masters of humans and devas, are not aware of the way to rinse the mouth, scrape the tongue, and chew a willow twig. The decline of the great way of buddha ancestors is beyond measure...How much of the pure dharma has perished before us? It is regrettable, truly regrettable".