T2003 Zen Texts – BDK America

Fascicle Two

Gate III (continued)

Question:Someone says,

"This school already insists on not setting up any words.

78 This makes it almost the same as those [who are] ill-attached to emptiness and those of obscure evidence. If that is the case, the Tiantai school has already denounced it. The Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 52b) explains the contemplation of what goes beyond thought, and says: This is far from what is known to a Dhyåna master of obscure evidence or a Dharma master who recites passages. The Profound Meaning [of the Lotus Sutra] (T. 33: 686a) says: If a person contemplating himself should say that he, as he is, is approved of since he is equal to the Buddha, never looks into scriptures such as sutras and Ωåstras (commentaries on sutras and independent treatises), and thus falls into a kind of self-conceit that he has attained awakening, then this is [like] embracing a torch to burn oneself. The Elucidatory Comments(T. 33: 829c) says: The one who grasps a torch named obscure evidence burns his hand called excellent dhyåna.

As for the motto of the Zen school,

"not setting up any words,

"

how could it be exempt from the above reprobation? Answer:This Zen school hates masters of obscure evidence, and rejects those who become ill-attached to emptiness. It is like the bottom of a great ocean that dislikes corpses to lie there. Just abiding in the "perfect rank" (yuanwei; en'i), 79 practicing the "perfect and

immediate" awakening (yuandun; endon), 80 and externally practicing

the precepts of restraint to prevent wrongs while internally benefit-115

7c

ing others out of compassion—this is called the principle of the Zen school; it is called the Buddha-Dharma. This significance is lacking in those who advocate Zen without discernment, those who are ill-attached to emptiness. They are thieves, as it were, in the midst of the Buddha-Dharma. The Collection of Records from the Ancestral Mirrors(T. 48: 496bc) says:

Internal reason (li; ri) really responds to external conditions (yuan; en); no reason obstructs phenomena (shi; ji). Phenemena stand depending on reason; there are no phenomena that have lost their reason. Nowadays all those who won't have "confidence in the perfect awakening" (yuanxin; enshin) belittle themselves as having nothing to do with awakening. They suppose the Buddhas to be the remotest beings. Such people have not only lost sight of phenomena; reason is also completely lacking in them. Only when one realizes the principal aim (zong; sh¥), which is the One Mind that is free from hindrance and is self-abidingly free, reason and phenomena, according to their own nature, will be seen mutually permeated, and the unworldly and the worldly will be known to interpenetrate. If one were attached to phenomena and becomes lost in reason, that person will perish for long kalpas of time. If one realizes reason but neglects phenomena, this is far from the "perfect attainment" (yuanzheng; enshø). The reason is this: neither reason nor phenomena go beyond the Mind that is self (zixin; jishin). How can [reason and phenomena or, in Buddhist terms,] original nature (xing; shø) and forms (xiang; sø) go against the meaning of oneness? If you attain the ancestral mirrors and immediately realize the true mind, then there will not be even the description: "neither reason nor phenomena.

" How could there be clinging

to "either reason or phenomena"? However, when one attains one's original ground (ben; moto), one will never cease to be engaged in the "perfect practice" (yuanxin; ensh¥). . . . As for those who advocate Zen without discernment, those of obscure evidence, how could they know living beings' 116

"sixfold immediacy" of awakening (luji; rokusoku)?81 As for those who are mad with intellect and who just follow words, how could they know the One Mind? Now people first need to establish confidence in the perfect awakening, have no doubt in it, and abide in the rank of "contemplating practice" (guan xing; kangyø) through which one immediately attains awakening. An ancient one82 says: "One should discern what is real and true all through one's life.

" How could it be false?

The Ancestral Mirrors(T. 48: 866bc) further says: The Tiantai teaching clarifies two kinds of cessation and contemplation: relative and non-relative. The former is a clumsy crossing,

83 and the latter a clever crossing.

84 The relative kind

has three cessations and contemplations, respectively. The three relative cessations are putting something to rest, stopping oneself, and getting free from cessation. The three relative contemplations are penetrating what is contemplated, the contemplator himself being penetrated in contemplation, and getting free from contemplation. The non-relative kind also has three cessations and contemplations respectively. The three non-relative cessations are self-nature85 being true cessation; taking the form of something external as skillful means for cessation; and cessation as putting to rest dualistic discrimination. The three non-relative contemplations are starting from the falsity of appearances and ending in attaining emptiness, starting from emptiness and ending in attaining provisionality, and abiding in the middle as the ultimate principle. Now this Ancestral Mirrorsonly discusses the significance of the perfection and immediacy of the One Mind. As for the cessation and contemplation that are perfect and immediate, they have the following characteristics. When through cessation reality (di; tai) is realized, reality is at once one and three. 86

When through reality cessation is realized, cessation is at once one and three. . . . When contemplation has something on which to contemplate, the object is at once one and three. 117

8a

When something external arouses contemplation on itself, contemplation is at once one and three. Like the three eyes on the face of the god MaheΩvara, they are three but on one face. . . . Oneness immediately makes three. All three make one. They don't make one line either vertical or horizontal. Neither are they juxtaposed or separated. . . . All these meanings lie in the One Mind. What are their characteristics? . . . Thus you may know that the principle of the Zen school is not obscure evidence or ill-attachment to emptiness. Much less is it a false religion, isn't it?

Question:Someone falsely calls the Zen school the Daruma school (Bodhidharma school), and insists as follows: "We make no practice or any cultivaton, for originally being free from self-afflicting passions, one is basically awakened. Therefore, there is no use for any particular precept or practice. There should only be use for lying down. Why should one take the trouble of making such practices as the nembutsu, 87 worshiping the Buddha's relics by making

o›erings, practicing a longtime observance of taking one meal a day before noon, being moderate in one's consumption of food, and so forth? What do you think about this?"

Answer:That person is to be counted among those who have no wrongs that they would never commit. It is to this kind of person that the holy teachings refer to as a holder of fixed views on emptiness. No one can sit and talk with such a person. One should keep a hundred yojanas' distance away from them. The Sutra of Treasure Clouds(T. 16: 278c) says:

You may keep arousing an ego-view, which, piled up, may rise as tall as Mount Sumeru; you should never, with a fixed view on emptiness, give rise to the self-conceit that you have attained awakening. The reason I say this is that we can become free from all fixed views only through our realization of emptiness, and that if we give rise to a fixed view on emptiness [itself], then we would have no way to be cured. 118

An ancient venerable master (unidentified) said, A Dhyåna master who embraces a perverted view on emptiness is like one who goes without the guiding function of the eyes and falls down into a fiery pit. A Dharma master who clings to letters is like a parrot that can speak human words but lacks human feelings.

This being the case, the Zen school, which learns from the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma and keeps the Buddha's purifying precepts, can be called "the Buddha's Zen" (fochan; butsu zen). Besides, the Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation (T. 46: 18c) says:

In the northern districts of the Huai and Huang Rivers ("River Huai" in Zhiyi's text) there are Mahayana practitioners of emptiness. They are snake catchers without cages. Let me explain this in detail. Their late teacher practiced contemplations on the quality of good. After a fairly long time without success in penetrating the good, he turned, feeling free from anxiety, toward contemplating the quality of evil, [and then] gained some composure and a slight realization of emptiness. He was not versed in living beings' capacities and occasions for attaining awakening, nor did he reach the Buddha's true intention. He simply taught this quality of evil to others as empty. Long after88 he began teaching others, he came upon one or two who benefited from his teaching. When the result was something like a worm eating wood and leaving traces that happened to form certain letters, he approved of this as their attainment of awakening. He said this was a real matter and rejected the rest as false words. He laughed at those who kept precepts to cultivate good, saying that it was not the path. He simply allowed people everywhere to do wrong. Those who had no discerning eyes and did not discriminate right from wrong, whose mental strength was dull, and whose selfafflicting passions were heavy, heard this exposition by the 119

teacher, knew it accorded with their natural inclinations, and accepted it in faith. They followed him in obedience, gave up observing restraints and, leaving no wrong uncommitted, their transgressions acculmulated into a high mountain. This finally led the common people to regard sins as something as trifling as weeds, and the monarch and ministers to destroy the Buddha's teachings. Poison deeply infiltrated people's minds, and there has been no improvement. . . . This is a monster destroying the Buddha's teachings, a monster of the contemporary age. How could it have anything to do with my so-called spontaneous practice of self-concentration? I say this because such stupid persons, lacking the understanding based on wisdom, believe in their original teacher, admire their predecessors, and say decidedly that this is the path. They consider what agrees with their feelings to be easy to follow. They run after pleasure without restraint, and won't improve their delusional way of life. As we see, to the north of the Huai and Huang Rivers long ago there was a madman. As soon as he heard the truth of Chan, [he knew it] to be remarkably excellent. But not knowing how to practice, he practiced only dhyånain sitting posture (zazen) as he liked. He abolished activities both practical and theoretical. He was a man trapped in the net of false views. This person is to be called a master ill-attached to emptiness. This is a corpse in the midst of the Buddha's teachings. The Ancestral Mirrors(T. 48: 689ab), defeating a hundred and twenty fixed views, says: Some, in their attempt to imitate the one who has attained freedom from hindrance, relinquish practice; others, following their self-binding passions, presume emptiness to be the original nature of the passions. Both of them are deluded [as to] the principle and miss its significance. They are contrary to what is profound and true. . . . They break ice so as to get fire, climb a tree in order to seek fish.

This is a remark made out of disgust for those who do no prac-120

tice, not to speak of those who give up samådhiand Ω∆la,or those who blame true wisdom. Vinaya Master Daoxuan [in his Instructions and Admonitions on Observing Restraints] (T. 45: 869b) says: Those who don't practice dhyåna89 or samådhi90 long deviate from the mind of true wisdom. Those who don't practice various virtuous restraints (saµvara-Ω∆la) will hardly accomplish excellent activities. That is why persons of great virtue throughout history have really been good fields of merit for the world. In addition, the Tiantai school's Solutions for Propagation(T. 46: 262a) says:

If there is no keeping of a particular precept, there will be no practicing of a worldly dhyåna.Much less will there be realization of the three modes of reality. Therefore, the Zen school considers keeping precepts to be what precedes everything else. The Chan School Monastic Rules (Zoku zøkyø2-16) says: Practicing dhyånaand investigating the Way presuppose moral conduct that follows precepts.

Question:Someone says,

"Venerable Chønen,

91 in the rank of

hokkyø("Dharma bridge"), entered China, and on returning home wanted to establish the Sangaku school.

92 Because of the accusations

made against him by the contemporary Buddhist schools, his plan was abandoned. Is this school identical with or di›erent from what you refer to?"

Answer:The names are already di›erent; there can be no confusion between the two. I am not sure what Chønen's intention was. The present Zen school advocates the nondiscriminating (Ωubha; shøjø) dhyånaof the Tathågatas (nyoraizen).

93 It has never assumed

the name "Sangaku.

" Since the Liang dynasty it has only been called the Chan (Zen) school. There has been no other name or idea for it. Question: Someone says,

"The [practice of the] nembutsu

121

8b

samådhi(nenbutsu-zanmai) has prevailed all over this country without receiving any imperial sanction. Why does the Zen school expect one?"

Answer:Propagation of the Buddha's teachings has always been entrusted to monarchs. Therefore, [the Zen school] must wait for an imperial sanction before it can prevail in this country. Besides, concerning the Nembutsu school, it is said that the late emperor established it by imperial order in the Tennøji. 94 The prevailing nembutsupractice among people high and low displays its remaining fragrance. Why should the Zen school95 not [also] be blessed with the issuance of an imperial sanction? Question:Someone says,

"The Buddhist schools prevailing in

the world are eight in number. Why should there be nine?" Answer: Venerable Annen's Treatise on Teaching Time Polemics(T. 75: 355b; quoted above, p. 101) says: In the three countries, various schools have had times of rise and fall but the nine schools have been practiced side by side. Great Master Chishø says [in the Similarities and Dissimilarities of the Teaching Forms] (T. 74: 312c): [The Zen school] is not included among the eight schools. As for the names of the nine Buddhist schools that have prevailed in the three countries of China, Korea, and Japan, you can find them out for yourselves.

Question:As for this Zen school in relation to Ω∆la, samådhi, and prajñå,what would you say it is?

Answer:Its principle is the Tathågata's dhyåna, 96 which does

not set up words out of which to make any dogma. Positively expressed, it is common to all the Mahayana schools. Negatively stated, it is free from mind, ego consciousness, and perceptive consciousnesses; it is free from verbal expression. Question:If it is common to all the Mahayana schools, why is 122

it to be separately established?

Answer: The Buddha said (quote unidentified): My intention does not have any di›erent aspects. It comes to have di›erent appearances only because it follows living beings' various capacities.

We must respectfully look up to and delightedly accept the Tathågata's skillful means as well as the patriarchs' kindly intentions. The foreword to the Sutra of Perfect Awakeningsays:97 Directly expressed, the Way is without duality. Di›erences come into being in learning the Way. When the Buddha and Laozi talk about the Way, they are the same. When they discuss the means, they come to di›er from one another. Jizang, the Sanlun school master, in his Commentary on the Middle Treatise(T. 42: 3a), says:

All the Mahayana sutras express the Way as being without di›erentiation. Since the Way is without duality, how could the teachings be di›erent?

Although the Way has no di›erences, distinctions, or divisions, it comes to establish separate schools because of the di›erent means. There is nothing in which to find fault here; much less in the Zen school, which arose in the Liang dynasty and has flourished up to the present Song dynasty in China. How could younger people argue over "common" or "separate" [in regard to this historically important school]?

Question:If that is the case, does this school have any sutras and Ωåstras as its scriptural sources?

Answer:Positively stated, all the great Tripi†aka writings (sutras, Vinayas, and Ωåstras) are its scriptural sources. Negatively expressed, it has not a [single] word as its scriptural source. Question:Someone says,

"The Zen school has more than a thou-123

8c

sand volumes of books. How can this be explained?" Answer:They are records of Zen persons; they are like extracts in the secular world. Should one speak of any scriptural sources for the Zen school, it would be like [speaking of the] hair of a tortoise or the horns of a hare, which do not exist. However, this does not mean [these texts] have no profound, original purport. People of wisdom should deliberate on this.

Question:If that is the case, the very profound characteristics of reality will hardly be within the reach of ordinary, unawakened people's struggling e›orts. By what means and practice can one attain them?

Answer:The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra(T. 12: 1111a) says: Dependence on this morality will give rise to various sorts of concentration and the wisdom that extinguishes su›ering. Therefore, mendicants should keep their [practice of the] moral precepts clean, and never spoil or be lacking in [it]. Without precepts kept clean, no merit or virtue will come into being. Hence you should know that keeping precepts is the primary abode of tranquility and merit.

The Foreword to the Brahmå Net Sutrasays:98 Keeping precepts, like a stable area of ground, plus practicing dhyåna,like a house built on the ground, can produce the light of wisdom from within.

The Lotus Sutra(T. 9: 8a) says:

I tell such people that they will [attain awakening in the midst of future birth and death] because they cultivate moral precepts and keep them clean.

The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 4b) says:

Pure concentration derives from pure morality. 124

Referring to a passage in the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 432a-c), the Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 38a) says: If Ω∆la(morality) is not pure, one falls into any of the three evil paths;99 no dhyåna-samådhi,no prajñå-jñåna(wisdomknowledge), will be developed. The Sutra of¸¥raµgama Practices (T. 19: 131c) says: Practitioners of dhyåna,if they don't break o› lust, will continue to transmigrate through the three evil modes of existence, unable to escape. It is like steaming grains of sand and gravel in the hope of cooking them into boiled rice; cooked for one hundred thousand kalpas, they will still be [only] heated sand. Which path could ever be practiced for the Tathågata's nirvana to be attained? My exposition like this is called the Buddha's exposition. What is not like this is the exposition of a devil.

The Buddha's teachings regard keeping precepts as preceding everything else. If anyone breaks moral precepts regulated by the Buddha, and calls himself a child of the Buddha, it can be compared to a subject who won't obey the monarch's orders but who [still] calls himself a subject of the monarch. [The Afterword to] theMahå pari nirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 901ab) says: Ånanda said to the Buddha,

"After your passing away, who

will be our master?" The Buddha said,

"Moral precepts [in

the perfection of Ω∆la] will be the master for you. "

How much more so it is with the three basic learnings and the five components of the Tathågata's being!100 They have Ω∆laas their first constituent. Therefore, this school has Ω∆laas regulated by the Buddha as its master. By practicing Ω∆la,one attains to it. To summarize, the person who breaks all evil views, and who cures various evil acts as well, is called a Zen person. Concerning the evil acts, The Sutra of[Bodhisattva] Samudrajñåna(T. 17: 948a) says in e›ect:

125

9a

At that time the bodhisattva Samudrajñåna said to the Buddha: "Now I would like to talk about the twelve evil enticements. They are: 1) for a bodhisattva not to bestow on others what is dear to oneself; 2) for one who, on seeing those who break morality, hate and despise them; 3) for one who is patient in acts of body and speech not to be so in acts of mind but to remain arrogant; 4) for one who teaches living beings to lead them into either of the two paths of the Small Vehicle (i.e., Ωråvakas and pratyekabuddhas), and to be fond of professional female singers and dancers, etc.; 5) for one who rises from the four stages of dhyånato return to the world of desire (kåmadhåtu), to wish for a long life and not see hundreds of thousands of Buddhas appearing in it; 6) for one whose knowledge of emptiness is still immature to find fault with the five perfections (påramitås), to praise the sixth perfection, and to sink into an evil path; 7) for one who favors dwelling in a forest (åra√yaka) not to practice for benefiting others; 8) for one not to teach the Buddha's teachings to those who are capable of being taught; 9) for one to expound treatises not related to the Buddha's teachings and hinder the latter from being manifested; 10) for one to call evil friends truly good ones; 11) for one to remain conceited, not to humble oneself either to one's master or one's parents; and 12) for one to be indulged in being wealthy, remaining lazy and arrogant— these are the twelve evil enticements.

"

The Sutra of Ratnakumåra(T. 17: 952c-953c) says: The Buddha said,

"Self-cultivating bodhisattvas have three

kinds of agreement between what they say and what they are: 1) They don't deceive Buddha Tathågatas; 2) they don't deceive any living beings; and 3) they don't deceive themselves. Because they are determined to attain awakening, they don't long for lesser fruits. Even though they may su›er in various ways, they won't be alarmed or upset. This is how they don't deceive Buddhas, living beings, or themselves. 126

Gate IV

"Further, there are four modes of being in which bodhisattvas don't deceive Tathågatas: 1) being firm and stable, 2) inspiring awe, 3) exerting themselves to the utmost, and 4) being strenuous in keeping precepts. The four modes of being in which they don't deceive living beings are: 1) being firmly determined to keep learning and cultivating themselves, 2) imparting delight to others out of friendliness, 3) sympathizing with su›ering people out of compassion, and 4) accepting living beings without exception. The four modes of being in which they don't deceive themselves are: 1) being firm and stable, 2) being firm and stable without end, 3) not flattering, and 4) being free from deceit. "

The Foreword to the Brahmå Net Sutra101 says: When you keep moral precepts and don't feel guilty, your longings will also be fulfilled.

If we keep our Ω∆laor moral precepts clean, then without fail our samådhiand prajñåwill be fulfilled completely. No other blame against or doubt about the Zen school, if there were any, need to be taken up for our consideration, and thus the [third] gate,

"Eliminating People's Doubts,

" has been established.

Gate IV

By the fourth gate,

"Scriptural Verification by Ancient People of Virtue,

" I mean the proofs that ancient people of virtue practiced the principle of this school. There are ten. 1. According to the Biography of Prince Shøtoku(Dainihon Bukkyø Zensho,vol. 112, 25) and Great Master Dengyø's Single Mind Moral Precept(T. 74: 645c), vol. II:

Dhyåna Master Nanyue [Hui]si (Nangaku Eshi) of Chen (Chin) came across Great Master102 Bodhi dharma (Daruma) and received direct teachings from him.

127

9b

Besides, the Postscript to A Treatise on the Contemplation of Mindof the Tiantai school103 says:

The Great Master of the Shaolin (Shørin) Temple on Mount Song (S¥zan) handed down the truth of Chan to Dhyåna Master [Hui]si of Nanyue; [Huisi] handed down the Chan truth to Dhyåna Master Zhizhe (or Zhiyi; Chisha or Chigi) of Tiantai.

2. Dhyåna Master Zhizhe constantly practiced this chan (dhyåna; zen). When reciting the Lotus Sutrahe came to the passage (T. 9: 53b), "This is the true exertion; this is named the true honoring of the Dharma (dharma-p¥jå) of the Tathågata (tathågata-p¥jå), " he suddenly attained great awakening. He saw for himself that the dignity of the very meeting on Vulture Peak in India, where the sutra had been expounded, remained without being dispersed.

3. From the Second Patriarch of Chan [Huike] down through the present Twenty-fifth Patriarch [Eisai], the Chan truth has prevailed in the world. 4. During the eighteen dynasties since the Later Han (Gokan) through the Tang there were more than two hundred Buddhist scholars, both priests and laymen, who engaged themselves in translating original scriptures into Chinese. Their translations included many scriptures on the essentials of dhyåna. 5. Daoxuan of the Tang came to Nara, Japan, and entrusted Gyøhyø with this truth of Chan.

6. Japan's Great Master Dengyø, in Nara, first heard about this school and, finally crossing the ocean, reached Xiuchansi (Sh¥zenji) on Mount Tiantai and personally received transmission of [Mount] Niutou; great awakening suddenly dawned on him. 7. Great Master Jikaku (Ennin) always practiced this Chan. One day when he was staying in Tang China, he made a vow: "On returning home to my native land under the rule of our emperor, I will have a Zen temple built.

"

8. Great Master Chishø (Enchin) selected104 the principle and 128

Gate V

substance of this school.

9. Venerable Annen expounded the essentials of Zen. 10. Prevailing in the contemporary China of the Great Song is a scripture of ten fascicles, the Chan School Monastic Rules (Zoku zøkyø2-16). The gist of it is as follows: All the scriptures, i.e., sutras, Vinayas, and Ωåstras, which derive from ¸åkyamuni's lifetime teachings in their five periods, clarify the essentials of the Buddha's dhyåna.The Buddha's four basic postures come from dhyåna.A sutra (unidentified) says: "Abiding in the self-concentration of dhyåna,one is compassionate toward living beings. "

These are none other than so many examples of scriptural verification for the Zen school. Thus established is the [fourth] gate,

"Scriptural Verification

by Ancient People of Virtue.

"

Gate V

By the fifth gate,

"The Sects of the Zen School's Lineage,

" I mean

that this seal of the mind105 was transmitted down through the past seven Buddhas, and that the close transmission that has been continuing, one lineage106 after another, makes it uninterrupted. Reasons for the Rise of the Chan School(Shøwahøbø Sømokuroku, General Index 2, 770a) says:

And the Chan school is observed to have started in the times of the preceding Buddhas, as long ago as kalpas as numerous as dust particles.

According to the Longer Records of the Buddha's Words:107 During the past kalpaof supernal mainfestations (vy¥hakalpa; zhuangyanjie; shøgongø), there appeared a thousand Buddhas in the world; the last three of them were counted as the first three of the seven Buddhas with whom the present [auspicious] kalpabegan. The seven Buddhas kept entrusting one after another with the 129

seal of the mind. Their oral transmission exists apart from this. Their lineage relationship is as108 follows: The Buddhas 1) VipaΩyin, 2) ¸ikhin, 3) ViΩvabhu, 4) Krakucchanda, 5) Kona ka muni, 6) KåΩyapa, and 7) ¸åkyamuni.

¸åkyamuni, forty-nine years after attaining awakening, was with a large assembly at a shrine named Bahuputraka ("Having Plen ty of Children")109 on Vulture Peak.

110 He praised Mahå kåΩyapa, o›ered him half his seat, and said: I am entrusting you with the eye of the Dharma that is pure and clean, the sublime mind of nirvana, the reality that is without form, the authentic truth that is subtle. You should protect and uphold this.

He also ordered Ånanda to help KåΩyapa preserve the eye of the Dharma and not let it be interrupted. He also composed a verse. 111

The Sutra on Handing Over a Lotus Flower(T. 16: 127b-128c) says:

The Buddha, looking at KåΩyapa far in the distance, said to him,

"Welcome, KåΩyapa. It's a long time since we met. You should take this half of the Buddha's seat. " When the Buddha

moved aside, the three thousand worlds quaked. KåΩyapa said to the Buddha,

"I don't dare sit at the seat of the

Buddha's robe and bowl. The Buddha is a great master, while I am a disciple. In the past, from the Buddha I received a saµghå†∆robe.

112 Holding it high with esteem, I didn't dare wear it. . . . Since that time I have had no lust. I received the Buddha's robe when I was in the process of self-cultivation. When I raised it in my hands above my head, I attained the ultimate fruit of no-cultivation. I followed the Buddha's suggestion and received the Tathågata's robe. Although it is in my possession, I dare not think it has lessened in value. I only hold it in my hands but dare not place it beneath me. If [my hands are] not washed and cleaned, I also dare not hold it. How could I make little of it by placing it below my 9c

130

head? . . . The Lord of the Dharma had no master to follow but in a self-e›ected manner has attained awakening. That is not common to any Ωråvakaor pratyekabuddha. "113

The Buddha said,

"Well said, well said. It is as you have said.

"

. . . The Buddha then said to KåΩyapa, "Now take this

seat, and ask me anything you are wondering about. I shall expound my view for you.

"

KåΩyapa then rose from his seat, bowed his head at the Buddha's feet, and, as he was told to, sat. The Sutra on the Great Drum of the Truth(T. 9: 291c) says: KåΩyapa said to the Buddha,

"The Tathågata is great enough

to treat me respectfully. By 'respectfully' I mean the Tathågata once told me, 'Come and sit with me.

' It is for this reason

that I naturally feel deeply obliged to the Tathågata. "

The Buddha said,

"Well said. That is why I treat you respectfully.

"

[What follows is the Dharma transmission in the Zen school:]114 The first, MahåkåΩyapa; the second, Ånanda; the third, ¸ånavåsin; the fourth, Upagupta; the fifth, Dh∆tika; the sixth, MiΩraka; the seventh, Vasumitra; the eighth, Buddhanandi; the ninth, Buddha mitra; the tenth, PårΩva; the eleventh, Pu√yayaΩas; the twelfth, AΩvagho≈a; the thirteenth, Kapimala; the fourteenth, Någårjuna; the fifteenth, Kå√adeva; the sixteenth, Råhulåtta; the seventeeth, Saµgha nandi; the eighteenth, GayåΩa†a; the nineteenth, Kumåra låta; the twentieth, Jayanta; the twenty-first, Vasubandhu; the twenty-second, Manorhita; the twenty-third, Kroñcaratna; the twenty-fourth, Siµha; the twenty-fifth, VaΩi≈†ha; the twenty-sixth, Pu√yamitra; the twentyseventh, Prajñottara; and the twenty-eighth, Bodhidharma. Great Master [Bodhidharma] crossed the South Asian Sea and reached Guangfu (Køfu) in Putong (Futs¥) the eighth year of Liang (Ryø), the year of dingwei(teimi; hinoto-hitsuji). In November of the same year he arrived in Luoyang; it was Taihe (Taiwa), the tenth year of Wei (Gi).

115 He stayed in Shaolin (Shørin) Temple on 131

10a

Mount Song. . . . He looked at Huike (Eka) and said: In the past the Tathågata entrusted the eye and treasury of the Dharma to Mahåsattva KåΩyapa. Then it has been entrusted one to another, and has finally come to me. I am going to entrust it to you. You should protect and uphold it. I'll also give you a yellowish-red garment. Use it for acquiring people's trust in the truth. . . . Two hundred years after my death, the robe will no longer be handed down, while the Dharma will circulate throughout the worlds as many as the grains of sand of the Ganges River. . . . There will be more than a thousand, ten thousand people who accord with it secretly, and who attain it personally. . . . Listen to my verse. . . . "116

[Here follows the Dharma transmission in the Zen school from the Second Patriarch of Chinese Chan to Eisai, in the lineage of the Huanglong (Oryø) branch:] the twenty-ninth, Great Master [Hui]ke (Eka); the thirtieth, Great Master [Seng]can (Søsan); the thirty-first, Great Master [Dao]xin (Døshin); the thirty-second, Great Master [Hong]ren (Gunin); the thirty-third, Great Master [Hui- ] neng (Enø); the thirty-fourth, Great Master [Nanyue Huai]rang (Nangaku Ejø); the thirty-fifth, Chan Master [Mazu Dao]yi (Baso Døitsu); the thirty-sixth, Chan Master [Baizhang Huai]hai (Hyakujø Ekai); the thirty-seventh, Chan Master [Huangbo Xi]yun (Øbaku Kiun); the thirty-eighth, Chan Master [Linji Yi]xuan (Rinzai Gigen); the thirty-ninth, Chan Master [Xinghua Cun]jiang (Køke Zonshø); the fortieth, Chan Master [Nanyuan Hui]yong (Nan'in Egyø); the forty-first, Chan Master [Fengxue Yan]zhao (Fuketsu Enshø); the forty-second, Chan Master [Shoushan Shong]nian (Shuzan Shønen); the forty-third, Chan Master [Fengyang Shan]zhao (Fun'yø Zenshø); the forty-fourth Chan Master [Shishuang Chu]yuan (Sekisø Soen); the forty-fifth, Chan Master [Huanglong Hui]nan (Øryø Enan); the forty-sixth, Chan Master [Huitang Zu]xin (Kaidø Soshin); the forty-seventh, Chan Master [Linyuan Wei]qing (Reigen Isei); the forty-eighth, 132

Chan Master [Zhangling Shou]zhuo (Chørei Shutaku); the fortyninth, Chan Master [Wushi Jie]shen (Mushi Kaijin); the fiftieth, Chan Master [Xinwen Tan]ben (Shinmon Donhi); the fifty-first, Chan Master [Xue'an Cong]jin (Setsu'an Shøkin); the fifty-second, Chan Master [Xu'an Huai]chang (Ki'an Eshø); the fifty-third, Eisai. In the spring of the third year of Nin'an in Japan, the year of boshi(wuzi; tsuchinoe-ne,1168) I intended to cross the sea. I reached the port of Hakata, Chinzei (Kyushu), where in February I happened to meet an interpreter for the two imperial courts, Li Dezhao (Ri Tokushø). He told me [he had learned] through hearsay that there was a Buddhist school called Chan flourishing in the Song dynasty. In April I crossed the sea and arrived in Mingzhou (Meish¥) of the Great Song, and first met a Chan master in charge of reception at Guanghuisi (Køeji). I asked him: "Patriarchs of my country, who had transmitted Chan, returned home, but the school is now neglected and lost. I came here because I intend to help the abandoned school flourish. I pray you may reveal the gist of the religion. I wonder, what is the Dharma transmission verse by the Chan school's patriarch, Great Master Bodhi dharma?"

The receptionist monk replied,

"The Dharma transmission

verse by Great Master Bodhidharma is this: . . . "

I asked him,

"In my country, Japan, there has been a verse by Great Master Bodhidharma, entitled,

'Knowing the Time of

Death.

'117 What do you think about its authenticity?" The receptionist monk answered,

"What is expressed there is

something an evil person of little capacity composed in delusion. Speaking of the way of birth and death in our school, I would say that coming and going, living and dying, are basically equal. Originally there is no principle of generation and extinction. If anyone says he knows the time of death, he is deceiving others as to the way of our patriarch. It will do no small harm. For a long time I have heard that in the land of Japan the Buddha's teachings have prevailed. Fortunately I have met you, my respected master. I must present you my view in written words.

133

10b

"Yes, human beings have the di›erence of Chinese and non-Chinese. But the Buddha's teachings have the single truth of the mind. The moment one realizes oneness of the mind, 118 one knows

that the truth is a single gate. It is what the Diamond Sutra(T. 8: 749c) says,

'You should give rise to the mind that abides nowhere.

'

"When you want to know its original streams, please pay a visit to me. I shall speak with you about each of them. Extensively knowing the way of the patriarchs exceeds inference made from the viewpoint of the Small Vehicle.

"

This was in Qiandao (Kendø) the fourth year of Song, the year of wuzi(1168). In the autumn I returned to Japan. Then, reading Annen's Treatise on Teaching Time Polemics,I knew the names of the nine Buddhist schools. Besides, carefully reading Chishø's Sim ilarities and Dissimilarities of the Teaching Forms,I knew the details of Dharma transmission in the Japanese Tendai school on Mount Hiei. Next, I saw Great Master Dengyø's Genealogyand knew that our Mount Hiei had received the transmission of the Dharma. Since then I kept nourishing this thought, and twenty years passed. I intended to pay a visit to the eight holy stupas that had been built in memory of ¸åkyamuni in India. In March, the third year of Bunji in Japan, the year of teimi(dingwei,1187), I left my native land. I took with me a list of the lineages of the various schools as well as a book on the geography of the western districts. On reaching the land of the Song I first went to the capital, Lin'anfu, visited the Undersecretary of Pacification, and reported my wish to travel through India. I presented to him a paper which conveyed my wishes as follows:119

Dragging this half-shadow of mine on planks laid across a precipice,

I shall terminate the whole body on the equable diamond seat of awakening.

However, he did not give me a certificate; he just told me that my case was on record, and kept me from leaving for the west. I 134

could not but weary myself thinking about India: "Is the time not yet come? Does my attainment not accord with oneness?"120 It was in Chuxi (Junki), the fourteenth year of the Brilliant Song, the year dingwei(1187). Then I climbed Mount Tiantai, and took a rest in Wannian Temple. Seeking instruction from the head priest of the temple, Chan Master [Huai]chang (Eshø), I practiced Chan with him and asked the Way of him. Through him I gained a good understanding of the style of the Linji school. I recited the precepts of the Vinaya in Four Divisions.I finished reciting the precepts of the bodhisattva restraints. Finally, in July, the autumn of Shaoxi (Shøki) the second year of Song, the year of xinhai(shingai; kanoto-i,1191)—the second year of Kenky¥ in Japan—I returned home. When I parted with the Chan master, he brushed a calligraphy121 for me which read: The Great Dharma Master of the Senkøin, Japan (by which he meant me, [Ei]sai), has had an ingenious disposition ever since his previous lives. He swiftly abandoned worldly life with its heavy entanglements of obligations and a›ections, followed the Buddha to receive the tonsure, wore a saµghå†∆robe, magnaminously held this teaching, and, not minding the distance of ten thousand li,arrived by sea in our land of the Brilliant Song to search out the mysteries of the principle. In the year of Qiandao wuzi(1168) he sauntered on the mountain of Tiantai and, upon seeing the excellent beauty of the mountains, rivers, and land, as well as the special purity of the seat of awakening, he greatly rejoiced. Once he gave a faithful donation, making o›erings to those bodhisattvas who had gathered from the ten directions to learn to practice prajñå. He also went to the stone bridge, where he o›ered incense, made tea, and saluted the living five hundred great arhats. Soon he returned to his native country. He remained in our dream for exactly twenty years. Although they did not hear from him, elder mendicants in this mountain were vividly reminded of those days. Now memories of his previous visit 135

10c

have been revived. Our old relationship seems to have been far from shallow. With his diligence and determination deepened, I could not but indicate the essence of the Dharma to him. In the past, when the aged ¸åkyamuni was about to manifest perfect cessation (parinirvå√a), he entrusted the mind of nirvana, the eye and treasury of the Dharma, to Mahå kåΩyapa, which has been transmitted generation after generation up to me. Now I entrust this Dharma to you. Protect and uphold it and, bearing the patriarchs' seal on yourself, return home to help the latter-day world attain awakening. Reveal the Dharma to living beings, and keep the authentic truth continuously alive among them. I also give you a ka≈åya ("dyed yellowish-red") garment. Great Master [Bodhidharma], in the past, transmitted a robe to help people have trust in its bearer. It was an expression of the truth that originally there was nothing to which to cling. When it was handed down to the Sixth Patriarch, its transmission ceased. Although the style is out of vogue now, I give you a saµghå†∆ robe only for the sake of its bearer gaining people's trust in a foreign country. I ordain you in the bodhisattva Ω∆la.A sta›, a bowl, and the other essentials of a monk—all of these are given to you without exception. Listen to my verse of Dharma transmission. . . .

This school, ever since the Sixth Patriarch, has gradually divided itself into sects, and has caused the Dharma to circulate over the four seas. Its generations [from Master Nanyue Huairang up to me] have grown to twenty; its lineage streams became five (i.e., the five leading Chan sects: Fayan [Høgen], Linji [Rinzai], Weiyang [Igyø], Yunmen [Unmon], and Caodong [Søtø]). The one that most widely flourishes now is the Linji sect. Since the seven [past] Buddhas down to Eisai, about sixty generations have succeeded in the lineage. Indeed, it is with good reason that the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma have had public verification. In the above I gave a single branch of Dharma transmission alone. For the rest of the 136

Gate VI

branches, you may see them in a diagram separately prepared. We have come to the end of the [fifth] gate,

"The Sects of the Zen

School's Lineage.

"

Gate VI

By the sixth gate,

"Scriptural Evidence for Promoting People's

Confidence in the Zen School" I mean what follows: The principle of this Zen school does not set up any words out of which to make dogma. It has been specially transmitted outside of scriptural teachings. It does not cling to passages taught; it only transmits the seal of the mind. It is free from letters, being without words. Through directly pointing to the source of the mind, 122 it

has one attain awakening. We see verification for this scattered in various sutras and Ωåstras. Let me show you a few of them to have them serve as proofs of the present school. The Flower Ornament Sutra(T. 9, no. 278, 449c) says: At the time of original aspiration (bodhicitta) one attains authentic awakening.

It also says (T. 10, no. 279, 89a):

Upon realizing that everything that has its own characteristics is immediately the self-nature of the mind, one fulfills the body of wisdom; no realization through others achieves this. The Heap of Jewels Sutra(T. 11, vol. 52, 308c) says: The original nature of the mind is like the moon reflected in water.

It also says (T. 11, vol. 62, 361b):

The self-nature of everything that has its own characteristics is unobtainable. As in a dream one tries to satisfy desires, every attempt is made in vain. Things arise according to imagination and turn out to be unreal. This is also how the World-137

honored One knows things.

The Vimalak∆rti Sutra(T. 14, I, 538c) says: As the mind is free from discrimination, the Buddha's land becomes free from discrimination. It also says (T. 14, IX, 551c) in e›ect: Vimalak∆rti remained silent.

123

The Laçkå[vatåra]-s¥tra(T. 16, II, 492a) says: The Tathågatas' nondiscriminating dhyåna. 124

The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra(T. 7, fasc. 409, 49a) says: What is seen as having form does not have its own being, and is unobtainable. Even all-knowing wisdom (sarvajñajñåna) has no being of its own and is unobtainable. It also says:125

There being no words is called the Buddha-Dharma. And this:

The ultimate way of reality has no words; all verbal expressions are so many secular explications. The Diamond Sutra(T. 8, X, 749c) says: You should give rise to the mind that abides nowhere. It also says (T. 8, XXVI, 752a): If anyone insists that the Tathå gata has any truth that is verbally expounded, he is blaming the Buddha without reason. It also says (T. 8, XXVI, 752a): If anyone sees me as form, his practice is deluded. The Lotus Sutra(T. 9, II, 5c) says: 138

Only the Buddha with other Buddhas can exhaustively investigate the real form of all that has its own characteristics. It also says (T. 9, XVI, 42c):

It is not like this; it is not di›erent from this. It also has this (T. 9, II, 10a):

It is impossible to manifest reality in words. The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 406b) says: The Tathågata eternally abides and does not su›er change. . . . Anyone who expounds the truth in this way is a true disciple of mine.

It also says:126

Not a word have I expounded.

The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise(T. 25: 190b) says: Perfection (påramitå) of the knowledge of emptiness (prajñå) is the real truth, free from perversion, where memory, imagination, and contemplation are already removed, where verbal truth is extinguished, and innumerable transgressions are done away with. It is free from discrimination; it is the mind that is constant and one. People of such honorable, deep wisdom can see the truth, knowing emptiness. It is like space, free from contamination, deceit, and words. If anyone contemplates in this way, he is regarded as seeing the Buddha. If contemplated as they truly are, the three—Buddha, knowledge of emptiness (prajñå), and nirvana—are of one characteristic; in truth, there is no di›erence among them. The Mantra school's Mahåvairocana Sutra(T. 18: 9b) says: Being awakened that I am originally free from birth and from verbal modes of being, I have attained liberation from all faults. I have become free from causal conditioning. I know 139

11a

emptiness like space. Wisdom that knows reality as it truly is has arisen in me. Already free from all kinds of darkness, I am of the ultimate nature and without defilement. The Middle Treatise(T. 30: 1b; quoted above, p. 84) says: Question:Why do you compose this treatise? Answer:During the last five hundred-year period . . . people are dull-witted and deeply attached to. . . verbal expressions, [and give rise to perverted views. That is why] the author composed this Middle Treatise.

The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 1c and 3a) says:

Tiantai (Master Zhiyi, the speaker,) transmits Nanyue's three kinds of cessation and contemplation. . . . In spite of the latter's three passages, one should not be attached to any of them. Otherwise, tumors will grow on oneself. The [Mahå prajñå påramitå] Treatise(T. 25, XVIII, 190c) says: "Knowing emptiness and not knowing emptiness—all make bondage and all make liberation.

" The same is true with the three passages. The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 520b) says: "If anyone knows the Tathågata never expounds the awakened truth, that one will be called a person of much hearing. This indicates that not making exposition is at once exposition. "

The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning(T. 16: 712c) says:

The self-attained truth that is formless is free from verbal exposition and the four things. It is the awakened truth free from polemics, which is the characteristic common to everything, and which goes beyond being an object of discriminating consciousness.

By the "four things" the sutra means seeing, hearing, and other [sense] perceptions, as well as knowing by consciousness. 140

The Sutra of [the Jain] Satyaka's [Instruction] (T. 9: 326a) says: It is because the nature of everything in the world is free from discrimination.

The Sutra of Moonlight Samådhi (T. 15: 550b) says: The self-nature of everything that has its own characteristics is equal, free from deceit, and in self-concentration (samådhi). The MañjuΩr∆ Inquiry Sutra(T. 14: 495c) says: That this goes beyond calculation, being free from mind, ego consciousness, and perceptive consciousnesses, and that every verbal expression is cut o› with it—this is the practice of prajñå.

The Sutra of Examining through Divination(T. 17: 907a) says: Bodhisattva K≈itigarbha ("Earth Womb") said, "By the one

real realm I mean the self-nature of living beings. From the beginning it is free from generation and extinction, free from discrimination by its self-nature.

"

The Sutra of the Diamond Samådhi(T. 9: 373a) says: Anything that has its own characteristics is originally free from existence and nonexistence. It is free from self and other, too. It has no beginning and no end. With it, success and failure have no place. The Sutra of King Longevity(T. 3: 387c) says: Being self-e›ected, liberation is not the gift of any teacher. For my practice I am under no teacher's care. Determined to proceed alone, I have no companion. . . . The ultimate path is free from journeying to and fro; it is deep and subtle, pure, wondrous, and true.

The Sutra of the Bodhisattva Precepts for Practicing Good(T. 30: 973b) says:

141

11b

Bodhisattvas, for the sake of awakening, practice dhyåna, enjoy delight in this life, and keep body and mind calm and composed—this is called benefiting oneself. Because of the tranquility of body and mind, they do not worry living beings. This is called benefiting others.

The Demonstration of Consciousness Only(T. 31, X, 54-59a) says in e›ect:

Everything of the world that has its own characteristics is nothing but what makes itself known (vijñaptimåtra), without any substance.

The Treatise on Awakening Confidence(T. 32: 576a, Liang version) says: Free from the characteristics of verbal expression. We might have to exhaustively quote passages on the essentials of Zen, which ¸åkyamuni expounded in his lifetime. Here, however, I have shown only a few. I hope readers will know the same is true with other sources. In other words, all the expositions by the Tathågata that appear in the sutras, some being provisional and others unconditional, are meant for living beings to accept and hold the nondual truth of the Buddha as no-mind and sentient beings as mind. For this purpose he first made the skillful means of traps and nets. Venerable Annen says [in the Treatise on Teaching Time Polemics] (T. 75: 355b; quoted above, p. 102): [T]he Zen school, with its traps and nets amply employed by ¸åkyamuni all his life, and ultimately with emphasis on the transmission of mind to mind without reliance on scriptural authority, constitutes the heart of all the Buddhas' [teachings]. Great Master Chishø says [in the Similarities and Dissimilarities of the Teaching Forms] (T. 74: 312c; quoted above, p. 101): Its principle is that the mind is nothing other than the Buddha. A mind freed from clinging to anything constitutes 142

Gate VII

its religious act.

I pray that seekers of the Way in the latter-day world may undertake the study of the eight treasuries and cultivate the myriad practices, that they may not be deceived by the partial mind, and that they may use the strength of this Zen principle to extinguish grave sins. The Commentary on the Mahåvairocana Sutrasays in e›ect (T. 39: 582b): "Attaining prajñå without relying on dhyånais quite impossible.

"127

If anyone can realize the aim of prajñå,his sins are certain to be extinguished. The reason is that for causing the extinction of sins nothing surpasses the real characteristics of prajñå.The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 39c; quoted above, p. 111) says:

If anyone commits grave sins of the nature of phenomena (dharmas), he will find the practice of four kinds of self-concentration to be the way of repentance. The Sutra on Contemplation of Samantabhadrasays in e›ect: "Taking the [seated meditation] posture and focusing one's thought on the true mode of reality. . . this is called the first repentance. "

The Sutra on the Most Wondrous Supreme Dhyånasays: "Transgressors of the four grave o›enses and the five grave transgressions will, except for deepening their thought (dhyåna), have no way to be saved.

"

All this provides scriptural evidence for the Zen school. Hence the [sixth] gate,

"Scriptural Evidence for Promoting People's Confidence128 in the Zen School, " has been established.

Gate VII

The seventh gate,

"Citing a General Principle and Exhorting People to Practice Zen,

" has three aspects. They are: 1) teaching, 2) Zen, and 3) the general aspect. First, by teaching I mean various teachings. People of not very brilliant capacity will first examine the 143

admirable ideas of various teachings and schools. When they learn the essentials of Zen, those teachings will serve as the means for cultivating themselves to enter Zen. The Collection of Records from the Ancestral Mirrorsquotes sixty sutras and Ωåstras, collects the excellent purports of the three schools,

129 and comments on the

expressions of more than three hundred authorities. It does so in order to expound the essentials of the Chan school. Second, by Zen I mean the Buddha's dhyåna.It is not adhering to words, not being bound by mind or thought. Therefore, one penetrates this by getting free from mind, ego consciousness, and perceptive consciousnesses. One learns this by transcending the paths of the unawakened and the awakened. In this way Zen concerns people of superb brilliance.

Third, by the general aspect I mean what follows. The so-called teachings and so-called Zen are nothing but names. To say "penetrating" and "learning" are also provisional matters. "I,

" "others,

"

"living beings,

" "awakening" (bodhi), and "nirvana" are all names, too. They don't substantially exist. The teachings expounded by the Buddha are also names; there is nothing expounded. Therefore, the Zen principle is free from the characteristics of words, free from those objects of the mind. It is beyond thought and deliberation and ultimately unobtainable. Concerning the Buddha-Dharma (lit.,

"the Buddha's awakened truth"), what has no Dharma to be expounded is called the Buddha-Dharma. What I now call Zen is an expression of that characteristic.

Since the three aspects mentioned above are provisional names, if anyone insists that the Buddha's dhyånahas letters and words, he is blaming the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Therefore, the patriarch [Bodhidharma] did not set up words out of which to make any dogma but, by directly pointing to the human mind, causes one to see one's self-nature [as no-mind] and attain awakening. This was the so-called Chan (Zen) gate.

He who takes hold of names and letters misses the Dharma. He who clings to characteristics and appearances is also perverted. 144

Originally there being no moving and nothing to be obtained is called the Buddha-Dharma,

130 the Buddha's truth. The Buddha-Dharma lies just in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. Adding even a bit to it is impossible, whereas taking away just a bit is also impossible. Realizing this, you will not waste even the slightest energy. As soon as you estimate it by deliberation to be something marvelous and mysterious, you already have nothing to do with it. Therefore, if you move, you will be arousing the base of birth and death. If you stay quiet, you will be getting drunk in the area that is dark and heavy. If you forget both movement and quietude, you will squander your Buddha-nature. 131 When nothing

like this is available, what will you do?132

If you clarify the principle outside the scriptural teaching, you will never seek rules in words. Instead, immediately you will see, and pull up the garment and go. An arrow that has left the bow is not bound to return; none of the thousand sages would be able to grasp it.

133 If you have not reached this source of creativity, you should take care not to be so careless and arrogant as to try to cheat others. Otherwise, the final day of the year-end month134 will see you incapable of making use of it.

Have you not heard this? [In the days of the Five Dynasties in China], a Chan monk laughed at Elder Monk Fu of Taiyuan (Taigen) [when he was expounding the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra]. Immediately then and there Fu realized Chan, with the result that his name came to be known throughout the nine divisions of the entire country. [As recorded in the Blue Cliff Record] (T. 48: 183ab, case 47, and 222bc, case 99), Fu said to the monk who laughed at him:135

Since I began lecturing on Buddhist scriptures, I have been fidgeting with my nose on the body born of my parents. Hereafter I shall never dare behave like that. If someone goes into the sea to collect treasures, he should seek136 the "wish-fulfilling gem" (cintåma√i). If he cannot obtain 145

11c

one, nothing else will do. Among those who learn the Way, how can there not be one who knows a little but understands less? However, not attaining to this Great Matter is really to be grieved. A remark by an ancient man [of Chan] goes:137 "Insofar as you have not clarified the Great Matter, behave like when you lost your parents. "

¸åkyamuni, the aged man, originally made his appearance in the world for the sake of this Great Matter. Now what is the Great Matter and how is it clarified? By this I mean that one should attain great awakening once and for all; that is, one needs to see it for oneself. That alone enables you to open your own mouth and give expression to your own thoughts. On the other hand, insofar as you don't attain, see, or reach awakening, however well you can expound the whole five thousand and forty-eight volumes of the Tripi†aka, and with whatever skill during your exposition of them you can hold a bowl filled with water and not spill even a drop, this is only of the quantity level of the Dharma body. How remote it will be from the Great Matter!

Let me raise the case of the ancients who attained awakening. Try deliberating on this [passage from the Eye and Treasury of the True Dharma] (Zokuzøkyø2-23, 63b):

Venerable Luoshan138 asked Venerable Shishuang139 one day, "When arising and perishing don't cease, what shall I do?" Shishuang said,

"You need immediately to make yourself

like cold ashes or a withered tree. Make one moment ten thousand years. Have the container and the lid fit together. "140

Luoshan did not accord with [Shishuang]. [Luoshan] then went to Venerable Yantou141 and presented the same question to him. Venerable Yantou, on hearing it, shouted, "Who is it

that arises and perishes?"

At these words, Luoshan suddenly became awakened. Now tell me, to what was he awakened? The ancients kept thinking of this, abiding in this. During all the twelve divisions of the day they continued to struggle with this [question]. For Luo shan, attaining awakening was everything. Only because worldly anxieties con-146

fusingly arose and perished without stopping in his mind did he raise that single question so as to ultimately clarify this matter. Venerable elder masters prescribed medicines according to the disease. Some will find one dose e›ective. Others will need a variety of methods combined with the application of all kinds of acupuncture and moxibustion. Only with the disease gone and the medicine removed does the whole body become light and clean—that fact alone verifies the e›ect. Among later way-seekers, those who don't reach the original source are likely to distinguish between superior and inferior, and insist that Shishuang's words for Luoshan were dead, whereas Yantou's words for him were full of life. Discerning views like these are something held only after one buys sandals to travel on foot on a way-seeking journey.

One who fails to apprehend the aim of the steelyard hook wrongly clings to the measurement marks on the beam. 142 A lion

bites a man while a mad dog chases a clod of dirt thrown by him. Generally speaking, venerable elder masters never make a remark in vain. Way-seekers should by all means be equipped with the eye of discernment critical enough to be able to throw a pepper seed onto the tip of a needle.

143 If one cannot discern what is right

and what is not, it will be like poling a boat casually up the Shanxi (Senkei) Gorge.

144 How could one reach the other shore?

Venerable Tianhuang145 said [in the Jingde Records of Transmission of the Lamp] (T. 51, XIV, 313b):146 Roam through your own inclinations;

Be free, carefree, following conditions.

Exhaust the feeling of being unawakened,

With no self-understanding of being awakened. If instructions were needed, they would all, the master meant, be [like] painting legs for a snake.

[According to the Eye and Treasury of the True Dharma,fasc. 5] (Zokuzøkyø2-23, 61b),Venerable Qinglin147 said: What is inside the patriarchs' gate is as profoundly subtle as 147

12a

traces of birds [in the sky]. When [one's] e›orts [have been] exhausted, all pass the crisis. Unless it is investigated, it can hardly be clarified. Reaching this point, you should penetrate it by getting free from mind, ego consciousness, and perceptive consciousnesses. Learn it by transcending the paths of the unawakened and the awakened. Only then can you hold it yourself. Otherwise, no one can be the child of the Chan school. I wish I could give all such wonderful words of ancient masters, for they express the profound gist of their whole lives. Any way-seeker who wants to practice this Dharma148 should be a bodhisattva who practices to know emptiness, to arouse great compassion, to make the comprehensive vow, to cultivate himself in self-concentration, to be equipped with a great bodhisattva's pure, wonderful precepts, and to exert all his e›orts to cause living beings to attain awakening, seeking liberation not solely for himself.

Thus149 you may relinquish all connections with the world, put the myriad a›airs to rest. Keep body and mind one, no matter whether moving or at rest. Drink and eat neither too much nor too little. Regulate your sleep, not making it too short nor too long. Sit cross-legged, keeping the eyes slightly open. In this posture, with the breath already regulated and worldly associations long forgotten, you will make yourself into one. If you realize the purport of this posture, spontaneously all the four elements of your physical being will become light and stable. You will enjoy the so-called truth of bliss and stability. For one who has already attained this, it will be like a dragon that has gotten [an ample supply of] water. To one who has not yet attained this, let me advise you to establish self-confidence and never withdraw in aversion. When you come out of dhyåna,move your body slowly at first, and be dignified and reserved in rising. All the time preserve the strength of dhyånaas if protecting an infant. Then it will be easy for the power of dhyånato grow. Just as divers 148

prefer quiet waves for seeking pearls as in the moving water it is extremely di‡cult to find them, when the dhyåna water is clean and clear the pearl of the Mind spontaneously appears. The Sutra of Perfect Awakening(T. 17: 919a) says: "The unhindered nondiscriminating wisdom arises from dhyåna. "

Herewith we know that transcending the unawakened way of being to enter into the Awakened Way requires quietude as its necessary condition. All our basic postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down should rest on the strength of dhyåna. This is something to be achieved most urgently. If you want to attain dhyåna,you must depend on practicing morality. There is no reason for attaining dhyånawithout the provision of moral precepts. An Essential Understanding of Dhyåna Practice(T. 15: 292b) says:

It is like a monkey tied to a post. All day long it runs about, and the chain always pulls it back. When it gets to the end of the chain, it rests. The monkey's attention, like the chain, is directed to the post. Our mind is compared to this monkey. A practitioner's self-contemplation is also like this. Gradually the mind is controlled and made to abide in itself as the object of contemplation. If the mind abides here long, it accords with the practice of dhyåna.

Therefore, if you want to accomplish this dhyåna,keep yourself morally clean without a flaw; for controlling yourself with the help of moral restraints resembles that monkey. The Sutra of Moral Conductsays:

Keep your mind tied to itself and prevent it from being negligent, just like a monkey that is attached to a chain. I am an uncouth person born and brought up in Japan, living in a forest at the foot of a mountain. Following my predecessors' example, I undertook long journeys across rivers and seas. Wearing 149

12b

a soiled robe, I spent days sitting [in meditation], facing a wall in silence. I was content with my lot and refrained from stating my view to others, for I felt deeply ashamed at my way of life which was full of stupidities.

Recently, however, following the ancient masters' footsteps for awhile, I observed a Chinese master's style of awakening. He was often eagerly attentive but would also very often stop. However, as soon as I burned a stick of incense to salute the master (Xu'an Hua ichang; Ki'an Eshø), the relationship of guest and host was established between us. Fortunately, raising the patriarch's instructions, I had an early opening of the eye of awakening. Repeatedly I cultivated the method of transcending birth and death and, entering the Way, I returned home. Since I have already achieved the unity of being, I would very much like to help the patriarch's Way greatly flourish in this country of Japan. That is the only reason I have taken upon myself the responsibility for its realization and at the same time pray heartily for that result.

Because of this I have made repeated cultivation of the method of transcendence, and when I look back150 on it again and again, I see not one word to be transmitted and circulated. In the ancient days, to the repeated censure from a Jain, the Well-awakened One (Sugata) ¸åkyamuni retorted with the unity of silence. That precisely accords with the present case. Whether the school itself is shallow or deep is known by one who gains its purport. Please don't exhaust yourself by knocking at the gate or grasping at the sky. Great Sage Någårjuna means this when he says [in the Mahå prajñå påramitå Treatise] (T. 25, XI, 139c): Existence is not anything; nonexistence is not anything; existence-nonexistence is not anything; neither existence nor nonexistence is not anything. This kind of exposition is also not anything.

He also says [in the same treatise] (T. 25, XVIII, 190b): There is no verbal expansion; there are no words. If anybody 150

can contemplate like this, he is regarded as seeing the Buddha. We have seen the general principle of the Zen school. The Laçkå[vatåra]-s¥tra(T. 16: 492a) gives four kinds of dhyåna: 1) The kind of dhyånathat serves for ignorant people; 2) that which investigates the meaning of reality; 3) that which rests on the true mode of reality (tathatå) as its base (ålambana); and 4) that which, free from discrimination, is the Tathågata's way of being (tåthågataµ dhyånam). The last is so called because when there is penetration into the mode of the Tathågata stage, there is abiding in the personally attained noble wisdom. These are the characteristics of Zen.

End of Fascicle Two

151