makyo

When you hear a song of praise sung by a musician deity or a mysterious bird, let it be as the evening breeze brushing against your ears. If you see a beautiful face, let it be like the morning dewdrops coming into your sight . - Dogen

"When you hear that kind of song or you see something like that, he says, let it be like the evening breeze or like the morning dew. Dogen Zenji here is pointing to the world of 'makyo' , the world of mysterious experience, pregnant and potent dreams of the dharma. It happens naturally when our practice begins to deepen, and so that mystery becomes present. We call it 'makyo' , mysterious vision or mysterious experience.
And Dogen here is saying: Let it be ordinary, let it be common. Even if you hear a song of praise sung by a musician deity or a mysterious bird, let it be ordinary; because our first reaction to makyo is sometimes just to step back and see it as something extraordinary. I think what Dogen is saying here is: Let it be completely ordinary, a completely everyday life experience. Even if you are seeing that face or you are hearing that mysterious song, let it be ordinary. So we can get into the world of makyo. Instead of working it or being astonished by it or being fascinated by it, we go into the world of makyo and dance with it, play with it, live with it, as if it were really ordinary life experience. "

Guidelines for Studying the Way Part 3