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T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume I

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SHŌBŌGENZŌ

THE TRUE DHARMA-EYE TREASURY VOLUME I

Front Matters

BDK English Tripiṭaka Series SHŌBŌGENZŌ

THE TRUE DHARMA-EYE TREASURY Volume I

(Taishō Volume 82, Number 2582) Translated from the Japanese by

Gudo Wafu Nishijima and

Chodo Cross

BDK America, Inc. 2007

Copyright

Copyright of the Original Edition © 1994-1999 Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross Gudo Nishijima was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1919, and graduated from Tokyo University in 1946. In 1940 he first met Master Kōdō Sawaki, whose teaching he received until the master

s death in 1965. During this time he combined the daily practice of zazen and study of the Shōbōgenzōwith a career at the Japanese Ministry of Finance and at a securities financing company. In 1973 he became a priest under the late Master Renpo Niwa, and in 1977 he received transmission of the Dharma from Master Niwa (who subsequently became abbot of Eiheiji). Shortly thereafter Nishijima became a consultant to the Ida Ryogokudo company, and in 1987 established the Ida Ryogokudo Zazen Dōjō in Ichikawa City near Tokyo. He continues to give instruction in zazen and lectures, in Japanese and in English, on Master Dōgen '

works in Tokyo and Osaka and at the Tokei-in Temple in Shizuoka Prefecture. Chodo Cross was born in Birmingham, England, in 1959. He went to Japan in 1982, after graduating from Sheffield University, met Nishijima Roshi in June 1982, and received the Buddhist precepts in May 1983. In 1994 he returned to England to train as a teacher of the FM Alexander Technique. He formally received the Dharma in 1998 and in the following year established the Middle Way Re-education Centre (www.the-middle-way.org).

BDK America, Inc.

Reprinted by permission of Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. Fifth Printing, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-886439-35-1

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007938225 Published by

BDK America, Inc.

1675 School Street

Moraga, California 94556

Printed in the United States of America

A Message on the Publication of the

English Tripiṭaka

The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed.

Ever since the Buddha's Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha's teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha's eightyfour thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirtynine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future.

It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the CompassionateOne reach each and every person in the world.

NUMATAYehan

Founder of the English

August 7, 1991 Tripiṭaka Project

Editorial Foreword

In January 1982, Dr. NUMATAYehan, the founder of Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), decided to begin the monumental task of translating the complete Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Buddhist canon) into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April 1982. By July of the same year, the Translation Committee of the English Tripiṭaka was officially convened. The initial Committee consisted of the following members: (late) HANAYAMA Shōyū (Chairperson), (late) BANDŌShōjun, ISHIGAMIZennō, (late) KAMATA Shigeo, KANAOKAShūyū, MAYEDASengaku, NARAYasuaki, (late) SAYEKI Shinkō, (late) SHIOIRIRyōtatsu, TAMARUNoriyoshi, (late) TAMURAKwansei, URYŪZURyūshin, and YUYAMAAkira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: KANAZAWAAtsushi, WATA NABEShōgo, Rolf Giebel of New Zealand, and Rudy Smet of Belgium.

After holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee selected one hundred thirty-nine texts for the First Series of translations, an estimated one hundred printed volumes in all. The texts selected are not necessarily limited to those originally written in India but also include works written or composed in China and Japan. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the texts for the Second Series will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published.

Frankly speaking, it will take perhaps one hundred years or more to accomplish the English translation of the complete Chinese and Japanese texts, for they consist of thousands of works. Nevertheless, as Dr. NUMATAwished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue unto completion, even after all its present members have passed away.

Dr. NUMATApassed away on May 5, 1994, at the age of ninety-seven, entrusting his son, Mr. NUMATAToshihide, with the continuation and completion of the Translation Project. The Committee also lost its able and devoted Chairperson, vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

Professor HANAYAMAShōyū, on June 16, 1995, at the age of sixty-three. After these severe blows, the Committee elected me, then Vice President of Musashino Women's College, to be the Chair in October 1995. The Committee has renewed its determination to carry out the noble intention of Dr. NUMATA, under the leadership of Mr. NUMATAToshihide. The present members of the Committee are MAYEDASengaku (Chairperson), ISHIGAMIZennō, ICHISHIMAShōshin, KANAOKAShūyū, NARAYasuaki, TAMARU Noriyoshi, Kenneth K. Tanaka, URYŪZURyūshin, YUYAMAAkira, WATANABE Shōgo, and assistant member YONEZAWAYoshiyasu.

The Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research was established in November 1984, in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., to assist in the publication of the BDK English Tripiṭaka First Series. The Publication Committee was organized at the Numata Center in December 1991. Since then the publication of all the volumes has been and will continue to be conducted under the supervision of this Committee in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee in Tokyo. MAYEDASengaku

Chairperson

Editorial Committee of

the BDK English Tripiṭaka

viii

Publisher's Foreword

On behalf of the Publication Committee, I am happy to present this contribution to the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. The initial translation and editing of the Buddhist scripture found here were performed under the direction of the Editorial Committee in Tokyo, Japan, chaired by Professor Sengaku Mayeda, Professor Emeritus of Musashino University. The Publication Committee members then put this volume through a rigorous succession of editorial and bookmaking efforts.

Both the Editorial Committee in Tokyo and the Publication Committee in Berkeley are dedicated to the production of clear, readable English texts of the Buddhist canon. The members of both committees and associated staff work to honor the deep faith, spirit, and concern of the late Reverend Dr. Yehan Numata, who founded the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series in order to disseminate Buddhist teachings throughout the world.

The long-term goal of our project is the translation and publication of the one hundred-volume Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon, plus a few influential extracanonical Japanese Buddhist texts. The list of texts selected for the First Series of this translation project is given at the end of each volume. As Chair of the Publication Committee, I am deeply honored to serve in the post formerly held by the late Dr. Philip B. Yampolsky, who was so good to me during his lifetime; the esteemed Dr. Kenneth K. Inada, who has had such a great impact on Buddhist studies in the United States; and the beloved late Dr. Francis H. Cook, a dear friend and colleague.

In conclusion, let me thank the members of the Publication Committee for the efforts they have undertaken in preparing this volume for publication: Senior Editor Marianne Dresser, Dr. Hudaya Kandahjaya, Dr. Eisho Nasu, Reverend Kiyoshi Yamashita, and Reverend Brian Nagata, President of the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.

John R. McRae

Chairperson

Publication Committee

Note on the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series

Reprint Edition

After due consideration, the Editorial Committee of the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series chose to reprint the translation of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzōby Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross (originally published under the title Master Dogen '

Shobogenzo, Books 1-4,Windbell Publications, 1994-1999) in order to make more widely available this exemplary translation of this important text. The remaining volumes II, III, and IV of this edition of Shōbōgenzō: The True Dharma-eye Treasurywill appear in the forthcoming year. Aside from the minor stylistic changes and the romanization of all Chinese and Japanese characters in adherence to the publishing guidelines of the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, this edition reproduces as closely as possible the original translation.

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka NUMATAYehan v

Editorial Foreword MAYEDASengaku vii Publisher's Foreword John R. McRae ix Note on the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series Reprint Edition xi Translators' Introduction Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross xv

Shōbōgenzō: The True Dharma-eye Treasury, Volume I Chapter One. Bendōwa:A Talk about Pursuing the Truth 3 Chapter Two. Maka-hannya-haramitsu: Mahāprajñāpāramitā 31 Chapter Three. Genjō-kōan:The Realized Universe Chapter Four. Ikka-no-myōju:One Bright Pearl Chapter Five. Jū-undō-shiki:Rules for the Hall of Accumulated Cloud Chapter Six. Soku-shin-ze-butsu:Mind Here and Now Is Buddha Chapter Seven. Senjō:Washing 75 Chapter Eight. Raihai-tokuzui:Prostrating to the Marrow of Attainment 41 49

Chapter Nine. Keisei-sanshiki:The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains Chapter Ten. Shoaku-makusa:Not Doing Wrongs Chapter Eleven. Uji:Existence-time 143 Chapter Twelve. Kesa-kudoku:The Merit of the Kaṣāya Chapter Thirteen. Den-e:The Transmission of the Robe Chapter Fourteen. Sansuigyō:The Sutra of Mountains and Water Chapter Fifteen. Busso:The Buddhist Patriarchs Chapter Sixteen. Shisho:The Certificate of Succession 109 127

157

195

217

235

245

Chapter Seventeen. Hokke-ten-hokke:The Flower of Dharma Turns the Flower of Dharma 263 xiii

Translators’ Introduction

Contents

Chapter Eighteen. Shin-fukatoku:Mind Cannot Be Grasped (The Former) 289 Chapter Nineteen. Shin-fukatoku:Mind Cannot Be Grasped (The Latter) Chapter Twenty. Kokyō:The Eternal Mirror 297 313

Chapter Twenty-one. Kankin:Reading Sutras 341 Appendix I. Chinese Masters 359 Appendix II. Fukanzazengi:Universal Guide to the Standard Method of Zazen(Rufubon—The Popular Edition) 363 Appendix III. Busso:The Buddhist Patriarchs 371 Appendix IV. The Kaṣāya 373

Appendix V. Traditional Temple Layout 375 Appendix VI. Lotus SutraReferences 381 Glossary of Sanskrit Terms 413 Bibliography 447

Index 455

A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series) 487 xiv

Translators' Introduction

Preface

by Gudo Wafu Nishijima

The Shōbōgenzōwas written by Dōgen in the thirteenth century. I think that reading the Shōbōgenzōis the best way to come to an exact understanding of Buddhist theory, for Dōgen was outstanding in his ability to understand and explain Buddhism rationally.

Of course, Dōgen did not depart from traditional Buddhist thought. However at the same time, his thought as expressed in the Shōbōgenzōfollows his own unique method of presentation. If we understand this method, the Shōbōgenzō would not be difficult to read. But unless we understand his method of thinking, it would be impossible for us to understand what Dōgen is trying to say in the Shōbōgenzō.

Buddhists revere the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Buddha means Gautama Buddha. Sangha means those people who pursue Gautama Buddha's truth. Dharma means reality. Dōgen's unique method of thought was his way of explaining the Dharma. Basically, he looks at a problem from two sides, and then tries to synthesize the two viewpoints into a middle way. This method has similarities with the dialectic method in Western philosophy, particularly as used by Hegel and Marx. Hegel's dialectic, however, is based on belief in spirit, and Marx's dialectic is based on belief in matter. Dōgen, through the Buddhist dialectic, wants to lead us away from thoughts based on belief in spirit and matter. Dōgen recognized the existence of something that is different from thought; that is, reality in action. Action is completely different from intellectual thought and completely different from the perceptions of our senses. So Dōgen's method of thinking is based on action and, because of that, it has some unique characteristics. xv

Translators' Introduction

First, Dōgen recognized that things we usually separate in our minds are, in action, one reality. To express this oneness of subject and object Dōgen says, for example:

If a human being, even for a single moment, manifests the Buddha's posture in the three forms of conduct, while [that person] sits up straight in samādhi,the entire world of Dharma assumes the Buddha's posture and the whole of space becomes the state of realization. This sentence, taken from the Bendōwachapter (Chapter One), is not illogical but it reflects a new kind of logic.

Secondly, Dōgen recognized that in action, the only time that really exists is the moment of the present, and the only place that really exists is this place. So the present moment and this place—the here and now—are very important concepts in Dōgen's philosophy of action.

The philosophy of action is not unique to Dōgen; this idea was also the center of Gautama Buddha's thought. All the Buddhist patriarchs of ancient India and China relied upon this theory and realized Buddhism itself. They also recognized the oneness of reality, the importance of the present moment, and the importance of this place.

But explanations of reality are only explanations. In the Shōbōgenzō,after he had explained a problem on the basis of action, Dōgen wanted to point the reader into the realm of action itself. To do this, he sometimes used poems, he sometimes used old Buddhist stories that suggest reality, and he sometimes used symbolic expressions.

So the chapters of the Shōbōgenzōusually follow a four-phased pattern. First Dōgen picks up and outlines a Buddhist idea. In the second phase, he examines the idea very objectively or concretely, in order to defeat idealistic or intellectual interpretations of it. In the third phase, Dōgen's expression becomes even more concrete, practical, and realistic, relying on the philosophy of action. And in the fourth phase, Dōgen tries to suggest reality with words. Ultimately, these trials are only trials. But we can feel something that can be called reality in his sincere trials when we reach the end of each chapter.

I think this four-phased pattern is related with the Four Noble Truths preached by Gautama Buddha in his first lecture. By realizing Dōgen's method of thinking, xvi

Translators' Introduction

we can come to realize the true meaning of Gautama Buddha's Four Noble Truths. This is why we persevere in studying the Shōbōgenzō. Notes on the Translation

by Chodo Cross

Source Text

The source text for Chapters One to Twenty-one is contained in the first three volumes of Nishijima Roshi's twelve-volume Gendaigo-yaku-shōbōgenzō (Shōbōgenzō in Modern Japanese). The Gendaigo-yaku-shōbōgenzōcontains Dōgen's original text, notes on the text, and the text rendered into modern Japanese. Reference numbers enclosed in brackets at the beginning of some paragraphs of this translation refer to corresponding page numbers in the Gendaigo-yakushōbōgenzō,and much of the material reproduced in the notes comes from the Gendaigo-yaku-shōbōgenzō.

The Gendaigo-yaku-shōbōgenzōis based upon the ninety-five-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō,which was arranged in chronological order by Master Hangyō Kōzen sometime between 1688 and 1703. The ninety-five-chapter edition is the most comprehensive single edition, including important chapters such as Bendōwa(Chapter One) and Hokke-ten-hokke(Chapter Seventeen) that do not appear in other editions. Furthermore, it was the first edition to be printed with woodblocks, in the Bunka era (1804-1818), and so the content was fixed at that time. The original woodblocks are still preserved at Eiheiji, the temple in Fukui prefecture that Dōgen founded.

Sanskrit Terms

As a rule, Sanskrit words such as samādhi(the balanced state), prajñā(real wisdom), and bhikṣu(monk), which Dōgen reproduces phonetically with Chinese characters, read in Japanese as zanmai, hannya,and biku,have been retained in Sanskrit form.

In addition, some Chinese characters representing the meaning of Sanskrit terms that will already be familiar to readers (or which will become familiar in the course of reading the Shōbōgenzō) have been returned to Sanskrit. Examples are hō("reality,

" "law,

" "method,

" "things and phenomena"), usually translated

as "Dharma" or "dharmas"; nyorai("Thus-come"), always translated as "Tathāgata"; and shōmon("voice-hearer"), always translated as "śrāvaka. "

xvii

Translators' Introduction

There are places in the Shōbōgenzōwhere Dōgen himself, relying on his wide familiarity with Chinese sutras, traces the origin of Chinese characters back to Sanskrit words. A prominent example is dō("way, " "truth"), which, in

the opening paragraph of Chapter Seventy (Vol. III), Hotsu-bodaishin,Dōgen explicitly identifies with the Sanskrit term bodhi. Even in translating Chinese terms whose Sanskrit derivation Dōgen does not explicitly recognize, knowledge of the Sanskrit can still be very helpful. An early example is the adjective muiused in the opening sentence of Chapter One, Bendōwa,to describe zazen. Japanese dictionaries define muias "idle" or "inactive, " but Nishijima Roshi originally translated it as "natural. " In Buddhist sutras,

muirepresents the Sanskrit asaṃskṛta,which is defined in the Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionaryas "not prepared, not consecrated; unadorned; unpolished, rude (as speech).

" The Sanskrit dictionary definition, while by no

means an absolute criterion, supports Nishijima Roshi's interpretation that mui describes zazen as natural, or without intention; something as it is. Another example: The character ro,

"leakage,

" appears in the opening sentences of the Lotus Sutra,where it represents the Sanskrit āsrava.The Sanskrit-English Dictionarydefines āsravaas "the foam on boiling rice; a door opening into water and allowing the stream to descend through it; (with Jainas) the action of the senses which impels the soul towards external objects; distress, affliction, pain.

" Thus, in the second paragraph of Chapter Ten, Shoaku-makusa,the noun muro,

"no leakage,

" appears to describe the state without emotional distress, that is, the balanced and satisfied state of body-and-mind. This does not mean that muroshould be translated as "the state without emotional distress" or as "the balanced and satisfied state of body-and-mind, " but such meaning will

hopefully be conveyed by a literal translation such as "[the state] without excess" or "[the state] without the superfluous,

" supported by a note and a cross-reference

to the Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

Chinese Proper Nouns

In general Chinese proper nouns have been romanized according to their Japanese pronunciation—as Dōgen would have pronounced them for a Japanese audience. Thus, we have let the romanization of all names of Chinese masters follow the Japanese pronunciation, while also adding an appendix showing the Chinese romanization of Chinese masters' names. For other Chinese proper xviii

Translators' Introduction

names, we have used Chinese romanization only for terms such as the Shaolin Temple (in Japanese romanization Shōrinji), whose Chinese romanization may already be familiar to most readers.

Chinese Text

Dōgen wrote the Shōbōgenzōin Japanese, that is to say, using a combination of Chinese characters (squared ideograms usually consisting of many strokes) and the Japanese phonetic alphabet which is more abbreviated. Chinese of course is written in Chinese characters only. Therefore when Dōgen quotes a passage, or borrows a phrase, from a Chinese text—as he very often does—it is readily apparent to the eye as a string of Chinese ideograms uninterrupted by Japanese squiggles. We attempted to mirror this effect, to some degree, by using italics for such passages and phrases. (Editorial Note: In this BDK English Tripiṭaka Series edition, all such passages appear in quotemarks.) A pattern that occurs frequently in the Shōbōgenzōis a quotation of Chinese characters from a conversation between Zen masters, or from a sutra, followed by Dōgen's commentary, in which each Chinese character takes on new meaning. An early example is in the second paragraph of Chapter Two, Maka-hannyaharamitsu,where Dōgen quotes the Great Wisdom Sutra(Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra). The sutra says setsu sa ze nen,literally, "[the monk] secretly makes this

thought.

" As a conventional phrase, this just means "[the monk] secretly thinks. "

However, individually, the character setsu(secret) suggests something beyond thinking and sense perception, that is, something real; the character sa(make or work) suggests action; the character ze(this) suggests concrete reality; and the character nen(thought, idea, mindfulness) suggests not only thought but the monk's real state of mind. So Dōgen's commentary says that the monk's setsu sa ze nen("secretly working concrete mind") is real wisdom itself. In this way, Dōgen emphasizes that the words of the sutras and masters whom he reveres are not meant to convey only conceptual meaning. Those words are trying to bring us back to the reality that is prior to words. This is particularly true with respect to the Lotus Sutra.The Lotus Sutracontains the characters zekyō,

"this sutra.

" In several chapters of the Shōbōgenzō(specifically Chapter Fifty-two [Vol. III], Bukkyō,but see also Chapter Seventeen, Hokke-ten-hokke) the fact emerges that, in Dōgen's mind, this sutra and the real universe in which we live are identified. That being so, Dōgen, in his commentaries, seems to treat xix

Translators' Introduction the characters of the Lotus Sutranot as a stream of concepts but rather as a series of momentary mirrors, or independent blocks, of real form—to be brought in and rearranged as Dōgen sees fit. In such instances, readers will want to refer to the Chinese characters in question. Fortunately, due to the generosity of Mr. Tadashi Nakamae (who provided the computer) and the industriousness of Michael and Yoko Luetchford (who installed the software and created and input unavailable characters), we were able to reproduce the Chinese characters in the notes and in an appendix of Lotus Sutrareferences. (Editorial Note: In adherence to the publishing guidelines of the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, all Chinese characters have been omitted in this reprint edition. Interested readers may consult the original Windbell Publications edition, Master Dogen '

s Shobogenzo, Books 1-4.) The Meaning of Shōbogenzō, "True Dharma-eye Treasury" Shōmeans "right" or "true. " Hō,

"law,

" represents the Sanskrit "Dharma. "

All of us belong to something that, prior to our naming it or thinking about it, is already there. And it already belongs to us. "Dharma" is one name for what is already there.

Hōgen,

"Dharma-eye,

" represents the direct experience of what is already there. Because the Dharma is prior to thinking, it must be directly experienced by a faculty that is other than thinking. Gen, "eye,

" represents this direct experience that is other than thinking. Shōbōgen,

"true Dharma-eye,

" therefore describes the right experience of what is already there.

Zō,

"storehouse" or "treasury, " suggests something that contains and preserves the right experience of what is already there. Thus, Nishijima Roshi has interpreted Shōbōgenzō,

"true Dharma-eye treasury, " as an expression of zazen itself. All who benefit from this translation, myself included, should be profoundly grateful to Nishijima Roshi for his unceasing effort to clarify the real meaning of Shōbōgenzō.

SHŌBŌGENZŌ THE TRUE DHARMA-EYE TREASURY VOLUME I by

Dōgen

Chapter 1: Bendōwa - A Talk about Pursuing the Truth

[Chapter One]

Bendōwa

A Talk about Pursuing the Truth Translator's Note:Benmeans "to make an effort"

"to pursue,

" dōmeans

"the truth,

and wameans

a talk"

story.

" Master Dōgen usually used the word bendōto indicate the practice of zazen, so Bendōwameans a talk about pursuing the truth, or a talk about the practice of zazen. This volume was not included in the first edition of the Shōbōgenzō.It was found in Kyoto in the Kanbun era (1661-1673), and added to the Shōbōgenzōwhen the ninety-five-chapter edition was edited by Master Hangyō Kōzen in the Genroku era (1688-1704). [11] When the buddha-tathāgatas, 1 each having received the one-to-one transmission of the splendid Dharma, experience the supreme state of bodhi, 2

they possess a subtle method that is supreme and without intention. The reason this [method] is transmitted only from buddha to buddha, without deviation, is that the samādhiof receiving and using the self3 is its standard. For enjoyment of this samādhi,the practice of [za]zen, in the erect sitting posture, has been established as the authentic gate. This Dharma4 is abundantly present in each human being, but if we do not practice it, it does not manifest itself, and if we do not experience it, it cannot be realized. When we let go, it has already filled the hands; how could it be defined as one or many? When we speak, it fills the mouth; it has no restriction in any direction. When buddhas are constantly dwelling in and maintaining this state, they do not leave recognitions and perceptions in separate aspects [of reality]; and when living beings are eternally functioning in this state, aspects [of reality] do not appear to them in separate recognitions and perceptions. 5The

effort in pursuing the truth6 that I am now teaching makes the myriad dharmas7 real in experience; it enacts the oneness of reality on the path of liberation. 8 At that moment of clearing barriers and getting free, how could this paragraph be relevant? 3

15a13

15b

15c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

[14]After I established the will to pursue the Dharma, I visited [good] counselors9 in every quarter of our land. I met Myōzen10 of Kennin [Temple]. Nine seasons of frosts and of flowers11 swiftly passed while I followed him, learning a little of the customs of the Rinzai lineage. Only Myōzen had received the authentic transmission of the supreme Buddha-Dharma, as the most excellent disciple of the founding master, Master Eisai12 —the other

students could never compare with him. I then went to the great kingdom of Song, visiting [good] counselors in the east and west of Chekiang13 and hearing of the tradition through the gates of the five lineages. 14At last I visited

Zen Master Nyojō15 of Daibyakuhō Mountain,

16 and there I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime of practice. After that, at the beginning of the great Song era of Shōjō,

17 I came home determined to spread the Dharma

and to save living beings—it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders. Nevertheless, in order to wait for an upsurge during which I might discharge my sense of mission, I thought I would spend some time wandering like a cloud, calling here and there like a water weed, in the style of the ancient sages. Yet if there were any true practitioners who put the will to the truth first, being naturally unconcerned with fame and profit, they might be fruitlessly misled by false teachers and might needlessly throw a veil over right understanding. They might idly become drunk with self-deception, and sink forever into the state of delusion. How would they be able to promote the right seeds of prajñā,

18 or have the opportunity to attain the

truth? If I were now absorbed in drifting like a cloud or a water weed, which mountains and rivers ought they to visit?19 Feeling that this would be a pitiful situation, I decided to compile a record of the customs and standards that I experienced firsthand in the Zen monasteries of the great kingdom of Song, together with a record of profound instruction from a [good] counselor which I have received and maintained. I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha's lineage. This may be a true mission.

[17] [The sutras] say: Great Master Śākyamuni at the order on Vulture Peak20transmitted the Dharma to Mahā kāśya pa.

21[The Dharma] was authentically transmitted from patriarch to patriarch and it reached Venerable Bodhi dharma. 22 The Venerable One himself went to China and transmitted the Dharma to Great Master Eka.

23This was the first transmission of the Buddha-4

Chapter One

Dharma in the Eastern Lands.

24 Transmitted one-to-one in this manner, [the

Dharma] arrived naturally at Zen Master Daikan,

25the Sixth Patriarch. At that

time, as the real Buddha-Dharma spread through the Eastern [Land of] China, it became clear that [the Dharma] is beyond literary expression. The Sixth Patriarch had two excellent disciples, Ejō of Nangaku26and Gyōshi of Seigen. 27

Both of them, having received and maintained the posture of Buddha, 28were

guiding teachers of human beings and gods alike. [The Dharma] flowed and spread in these two streams, and five lineages were established. These are the so-called Hōgen sect, Igyō sect, Sōtō sect, Unmon sect, and Rinzai sect. In great Song [China] today the Rinzai sect alone holds sway throughout the country. Although there are differences between the five traditions, the posture with the stamp of the Buddha's mind29is only one. Even in the great kingdom of Song, although from the Later Han dynasty30 onward philosophical texts had been disseminated through the country, and had left some impression, no one could decide which were inferior and which were superior. After the ancestral master came from the west, he directly cut to the source of the confusion, 31and spread the unadulterated Buddha-Dharma. We should hope that the same thing will happen in our country. [The sutras] say that the many patriarchs and the many buddhas, who dwelled in and maintained the Buddha-Dharma, all relied on the practice of sitting erect in the samādhiof receiving and using the self,

32 and esteemed [this practice] as the right way to disclose the state of realization. Human beings who attained the truth in the Western Heavens and Eastern Lands followed this style of practice. This [practice] relies on the mystical and authentic transmission of the subtle method from master to disciple, and the [disciple's] reception and maintenance of the true essence of the teachings.

[20] In the authentic transmission of [our] religion, it is said that this Buddha-Dharma,

33 which has been authentically and directly transmitted one-to-one, is supreme among the supreme. After the initial meeting with a [good] counselor we never again need to burn incense, to do prostrations, to recite Buddha's name, to practice confession, or to read sutras. Just sit and get the state that is free of body and mind. If a human being, even for a single moment, manifests the Buddha's posture in the three forms of conduct, 34

while [that person] sits up straight in samādhi,the entire world of Dharma assumes the Buddha's posture and the whole of space becomes the state of 5

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realization. [The practice] thus increases the Dharma joy that is the original state of the buddha-tathāgatas, and renews the splendor of their realization of the truth. Furthermore, throughout the Dharma worlds in ten directions, ordinary beings of the three states and the six states35 all become clear and pure in body and mind at once; they experience the state of great liberation, 36

and their original features appear. Then all dharmas experience and understand right realization and myriad things each put their Buddhist body into practice; in an instant, they totally transcend the limits of experience and understanding; they sit erect as kings of the bodhitree;37 in one moment, they turn the great Dharma wheel38 which is in the unequaled state of equilibrium;39 and they expound the ultimate, unadorned, and profound state of prajñā.These balanced and right states of realization also work the other way,

40 following paths of

intimate and mystical cooperation, so that this person who sits in zazen steadfastly gets free of body and mind, cuts away miscellaneous impure views and thoughts [accumulated] from the past, and thus experiences and understands the natural and pure Buddha-Dharma. Throughout each of the infinitesimal, innumerable seats of truth of the buddha-tathāgatas, [the practitioner] promotes the Buddha's work and spreads its influence far and wide over those who have the ascendant makings of a buddha, thus vividly uplifting the ascendant real state of a buddha. At this time, everything in the universe in ten directions—soil, earth, grass, and trees; fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles—performs the Buddha's work. The people that receive the benefit thus produced by wind and water are all mystically helped by the fine and unthinkable influence of the Buddha, and they exhibit the immediate state of realization. All beings who receive and utilize this water and fire spread the influence of the Buddha in the original state of experience, so that those who live and talk with them, also, are all reciprocally endowed with the limitless buddha-virtue. Expanding and promoting their activity far and wide, they permeate the inside and the outside of the entire universe with the limitless, unceasing, unthinkable, and incalculable Buddha-Dharma. [The state] is not dimmed by the views of these individuals themselves, however, because the state in the quietness, without intentional activity, is direct experience. If we divide practice-and-experience into two stages, as in the thoughts of common folk, each part can be perceived and understood separately. [But] if perception and understanding are mixed in, that is not the standard state of experience, 6

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because the standard state of experience is beyond deluded emotion. Although, in the quietness, mind and external world enter together into the state of experience and pass together out of the state of realization, [those movements] are the state of receiving and using the self.

41Therefore, [movements of mind

and the external world] neither stir a single molecule nor disturb a single form, but they accomplish the vast and great work of Buddha and the profound and fine influence of Buddha. The grass, trees, soil, and earth reached by this guiding influence all radiate great brightness, and their preaching of the deep and fine Dharma is without end. Grass, trees, fences, and walls become able to preach for all souls, [both] common people and saints; and conversely, all souls, [both] common people and saints, preach for grass, trees, fences, and walls. The world of self-consciousness, and [the world] of consciousness of external objects, lack nothing—they are already furnished with the concrete form of real experience. The standard state of real experience, when activated, allows no idle moment. Zazen, even if it is only one human being sitting for one moment, thus enters into mystical cooperation with all dharmas, and completely penetrates all times; and it therefore performs, within the limitless universe, the eternal work of the Buddha's guiding influence in the past, future, and present. For everyone it is completely the same practice and the same experience. The practice is not confined to the sitting itself; it strikes space and resonates, [like] ringing that continues before and after a bell. How could [the practice] be limited to this place? All concrete things42 possess original practice as their original features; it is beyond comprehension. Remember, even if the countless buddhas in ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, tried with all their power and all their buddhawisdom to calculate or comprehend the merit of one person's zazen, they could not even get close.

[26] Now we have heard how high and great is the merit of this zazen. [But] some stupid person might doubtingly ask,

"There are many gates to

the Buddha-Dharma. Why do you solely recommend sitting in zazen?"43 I say: Because it is the authentic gate to the Buddha-Dharma. [26] [Someone] asks,

"Why do you see it as the only authentic gate?"

I say: Great Master Śākyamuni exactly transmitted, as the authentic tradition, this subtle method of grasping the state of truth, and the tathāgatas of the three times44 all attained the truth through zazen. Thus the fact that 7

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[zazen] is the authentic gate has been transmitted and received. Furthermore, the patriarchs of the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands all attained the truth through zazen. Therefore I am now preaching [zazen] to human beings and gods as the authentic gate.

[27] [Someone] asks,

"That which relies upon receiving the authentic

transmission of the subtle method of the Tathāgata, or upon following the traces of the ancestral masters, is surely beyond the intellect of the common person. Reading sutras and reciting the names of buddhas, however, may naturally become the causes and conditions of enlightenment. But as for just idly sitting without doing anything, how can that be the means of getting enlightenment?"

I say: If you now think that the samādhiof the buddhas, the supreme and great Dharma, is idle sitting without doing anything, you are a person who insults the Great Vehicle.

45 [Such] delusion is so deep that it is like being

in the ocean and saying there is no water. [In zazen] we are already seated, stably and thankfully, in the buddhas' samādhiof receiving and using the self. Is this not the accomplishment of vast and great virtue? It is pitiful that your eyes are not yet open and your mind remains in a drunken stupor. In general, the state of the buddhas is unthinkable: intelligence cannot reach it. How much less could disbelief or inferior wisdom know the state? Only people of great makings and right belief can enter into it. For people of disbelief, even if taught, it is difficult to receive the teaching—even on Vulture Peak there were people [about whom the Buddha said,] "That they withdraw also is fine.

"46As a general rule, when right belief emerges in our mind, we should do training and learn in practice. Otherwise, we should rest for a while. Regret the fact if you will, but from ancient times the Dharma has been dry. Further, do you know for yourself any virtue that is gained from practices such as reading sutras and reciting names of buddhas? It is very unreliable to think that only to wag the tongue and to raise the voice has the virtue of the Buddha's work. When we compare [such practices] with the Buddha-Dharma, they fade further and further into the distance. Moreover, we open sutras to clarify the criteria that the Buddha taught of instantaneous and gradual practice, 47and those who practice according to the teaching are invariably caused to attain the state of real experience. This is completely different from aspiring to the virtue of attainment of bodhiby vainly exhaustingthe intellect. Trying 8

Chapter One

to arrive at the Buddha's state of truth [only] through action of the mouth, stupidly chanting thousands or tens of thousands of times, is like hoping to reach [the south country of] Etsu by pointing a carriage toward the north. Or it is like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. Reading sentences while remaining ignorant of how to practice [is like] a student of medicine forgetting how to compound medications. What use is that? Those who chant endlessly are like frogs in a spring paddy field, croaking day and night. In the end it is all useless. It is still more difficult for people who are deeply disturbed by fame and gain to abandon these things. The mind that craves gain is very deep, and so it must have been present in the ancient past. How could it not be present in the world today? It is most pitiful. Just remember, when a practitioner directly follows a master who has attained the truth and clarified the mind, and when the practitioner matches that mind and experiences and understands it, and thus receives the authentic transmission of the subtle Dharma of the Seven Buddhas,

48then the exact teaching appears clearly and is received and maintained. This is beyond the comprehension of Dharma teachers who study words.

49So stop this doubting and delusion and, following the teaching of a true master, attain in experience the buddhas' samādhiof receiving and using the self, by sitting in zazen and pursuing the truth. [32][Someone] asks,

"The Flower of Dharma50 and the teaching of the

Garland [Sutra],

51 which have now been transmitted into this country, are both ultimate expressions of the Great Vehicle. Moreover, in the case of the Shingon sect,

52 [the transmission] passed directly from Tathāgata Vairocana to Vajrasattva, and so [the transmission from] master to disciple is not at random. Quoting the principles which it discusses, that "Mind here and now is buddha" and "This mind becomes buddha,

"53 [the Shingon sect] proclaims

that we realize the right realization of the five buddhas54in one sitting, without undergoing many kalpas55 of training. We can say that this is the ultimate refinement of the Buddha's Dharma. What is so excellent then about the practice which you now solely recommend, to the exclusion of these other [practices]?"

I say: Remember, among Buddhists we do not argue about superiority and inferiority of philosophies, or choose between shallowness and profundity in the Dharma; we need only know whether the practice is genuine or artificial. Some have entered into the stream of the Buddha's truth at the invitationof 9

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grass, flowers, mountains, and rivers. Some have received and maintained the stamp of Buddha by grasping soil, stones, sand, and pebbles. Furthermore, the vast and great word56is even more abundant than the myriad phenomena. And the turning of the great Dharma wheel is contained in every molecule. This being so, the words "Mind here and now is buddha" are only the moon in water,

57 and the idea "Just to sit is to become buddha" is also a reflection in a mirror. We should not be caught by the skillfulness of the words. Now, in recommending the practice in which bodhiis directly experienced, I hope to demonstrate the subtle truth that the Buddhist patriarchs have transmitted one-to-one, and thus to make you into people of the real state of truth. Moreover, for transmission of the Buddha-Dharma, we must always take as a teacher a person who has experienced the [Buddha's] state. It is never enough to take as our guiding teacher a scholar who counts words; that would be like the blind leading the blind. In this, the lineage of the authentic transmission of the Buddhist patriarchs, we all revere wise masters who have attained the truth and experienced the state, and we cause them to dwell in and to maintain the Buddha-Dharma. This is why, when Shintōists of [the lineages of] yinand yang58 come to devote themselves, and when arhats who have experienced the fruit59 come to ask for Dharma, we give each of them, without fail, the means of clarifying the mental state. This is something that has never been heard in other lineages. Disciples of the Buddha should just learn the Buddha-Dharma. Furthermore, we should remember that from the beginning we have never lacked the supreme state of bodhi,and we will receive it and use it forever. At the same time, because we cannot perceive it directly, 60we are prone

to beget random intellectual ideas, and because we chase after these as if they were real things, we vainly pass by the great state of truth. From these intellectual ideas emerge all sorts of flowers in space:61we think about the twelvefold cycle62 and the twenty-five spheres of existence; and ideas of the three vehicles and the five vehicles63 or of having buddha[-nature] and not having buddha[-nature] are endless. We should not think that the learning of these intellectual ideas is the right path of Buddhist practice. When we solely sit in zazen, on the other hand, relying now on exactly the same posture as the Buddha, and letting go of the myriad things, then we go beyond the areas of delusion, realization, emotion, and consideration, and we are not concerned with the ways of the common and the sacred. At once we are roamingoutside 10

Chapter One

the [intellectual] frame, receiving and using the great state of bodhi.How could those caught in the trap of words compare [with this]? [37][Someone] asks,

"Among the three kinds of training64 there is training in the balanced state, and among the sixpāramitās65 there is the dhyāna pāramitā,both of which all bodhisattvas learn from the outset and all bodhisattvas practice, regardless of whether they are clever or stupid. The zazen [that you are discussing] now is surely [only] one of these. Why do you say that the Tathāgata's right Dharma is concentrated in this [practice of zazen]?" I say: The question arises because this right Dharma-eye treasury, the supreme and great method, which is the one great matter66 of the Tathāgata, has been called the "Zen sect.

" Remember that this title "Zen sect" was established in China and the east; it is not heard in India. When Great Master Bodhi dharma first stayed at Shaolin Temple in the Songshan Mountains, 67

and faced the wall for nine years, monks and laymen were still ignorant of the Buddha's right Dharma, so they called [Master Bodhidharma] a brahman who made a religion of zazen. Thereafter, the patriarchs of successive generations all constantly devoted themselves to zazen. Stupid secular people who saw this, not knowing the reality, talked at random of a zazen sect. Nowadays, dropping the word "

za,

"they talk of just the Zen sect.

68 This

interpretation is clear from records of the patriarchs. 69 [Zazen] should not be

discussed as the balanced state of dhyānain the six pāramitās and the three kinds of training. That this Buddha-Dharma is the legitimate intention of the one-to-one transmission has never been concealed through the ages. In the order on Vulture Peak in ancient times, when the Tathāgata gave the Dharma to Venerable Mahākāśyapa, transmitting the right Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana, the supreme and great method, only to him, the ceremony was witnessed directly by beings among the celestial throng which are present in the world above, so it must never be doubted. It is a universal rule that those celestial beings will guard and maintain the Buddha-Dharma eternally; their efforts have never faded. Just remember that this [transmission of zazen] is the whole truth of the Buddha's Dharma; nothing can be compared with it.

[40] [Someone] asks,

"Why, in discussing entry into the state of experience, do Buddhists recommend us to practice the balanced state of dhyāna solely by sitting, which is [only] one of the four forms of conduct?"70 11

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I say: It is difficult to calculate all the ways that buddhas have successively practiced since ancient times to enter the state of real experience. If we want to find a reason, we should remember that what Buddhists practice is reason in itself. We should not look for [a reason] besides this. But an ancestral master has praised [sitting] by saying,

"Sitting in zazen is the peaceful and

joyful gate of Dharma.

"71 So in conclusion the reason may be that, of the

four forms of conduct, [sitting is the most] peaceful and joyful. Furthermore, [sitting] is not the way practiced by one or two buddhas; all the buddhas and all the patriarchs possess this way.

[41][Someone] asks,

"In regard to this practice of zazen, a person who

has not yet experienced and understood the Buddha-Dharma may be able to acquire that experience by pursuing the truth in zazen. [But] what can a person who has already clarified the Buddha's right Dharma expect to gain from zazen?"

I say: We do not tell our dreams before a fool, and it is difficult to put oars into the hands of a mountaineer; nevertheless I must bestow the teaching. The thought that practice and experience are not one thing is just the idea of non-Buddhists. In the Buddha-Dharma practice and experience are completely the same. [Practice] now is also practice in the state of experience; therefore, a beginner's pursuit of the truth is just the whole body of the original state of experience. This is why [the Buddhist patriarchs] teach, in the practical cautions they have handed down to us, not to expect any experience outside of practice. And the reason may be that [practice itself] is the directly accessible original state of experience. Because practice is just experience, the experience is endless; and because experience is practice, the practice has no beginning. This is how both Tathāgata Śākyamuni and Venerable Patriarch Mahākāśyapa were received and used by the practice that exists in the state of experience. Great Master Bodhi dharma and the Founding Patriarch Daikan72 were similarly pulled and driven by the practice that exists in the state of experience. The examples of all those who dwelled in and maintained the Buddha-Dharma are like this. The practice that is never separate from experience exists already: having fortunately received the one-to-one transmission of a share of the subtle practice, we who are beginners in pursuing the truth directly possess, in the state without intention, a share of original experience. Remember, in order to prevent us from tainting the experience that is never 12

Chapter One

separate from practice, the Buddhist patriarchs have repeatedly taught us not to be lax in practice. When we forget the subtle practice, original experience has filled our hands; when the body leaves original experience behind, the subtle practice is operating throughout the body. Moreover, as I saw with my own eyes in great Song China, the Zen monasteries of many districts had all built zazen halls accommodating five or six hundred, or even one or two thousand monks, who were encouraged to sit in zazen day and night. The leader of one such order73 was a true master who had received the Buddha's mind-seal. When I asked him the great intent of the Buddha-Dharma, I was able to hear the principle that practice and experience are never two stages. Therefore, in accordance with the teaching of the Buddhist patriarchs, and following the way of a true master, he encouraged [everyone] to pursue the truth in zazen; [he encouraged] not only the practitioners in his order but [all] noble friends who sought the Dharma, [all] people who hoped to find true reality in the Buddha-Dharma, without choosing between beginners and late learners, without distinction between common people and sacred people. Have you not heard the words of the ancestral master74 who said, "It is not

that there is no practice-and-experience, but it cannot be tainted. " Another

[master] said,

"Someone who sees the way practices the way.

"75 Remember

that even in the state of attainment of the truth, we should practice. [44] [Someone] asks,

"The masters who spread the teachings through

our country in previous ages had all entered Tang China and received the transmission of Dharma. Why, at that time, did they neglect this principle, and transmit only philosophical teaching?"

I say: The reason that past teachers of human beings did not transmit this method was that the time had not come.

[45][Someone] asks,

"Did those masters of former ages understand this

method?"

I say: If they had understood it, they would have made it known to all. [45][Someone] asks,

"It has been said that we should not regret our life and death,

76 for there is a very quick way to get free of life and death. That is, to know the truth that the mental essence is eternal. In other words, this physical body, having been born, necessarily moves toward death; but this mental essence never dies at all. Once we have been able to recognize that the mental essence which is unmoved by birth and decay77 exists in our own 13

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body, we see this as the original essence. Therefore the body is just a temporary form; it dies here and is born there, never remaining constant. [But] the mind is eternal; it is unchangeable in the past, future, or present. To know this is called 'to have become free of life and death.

' Those who know this principle

stop the past [cycle of] life and death forever and, when this body passes, they enter the spirit world. When they present themselves in the spirit world, 78they

gain wondrous virtues like those of the buddha-tathāgatas. Even if we know [this principle] now, [our body] is still the body that has been shaped by deluded behavior in past ages, and so we are not the same as the saints. Those who do not know this principle will forever turn in the cycle of life and death. Therefore we should just hasten to understand the principle that the mental essence is eternal. Even if we passed our whole life in idle sitting, what could we expect to gain? The doctrine I have expressed like this is truly in accord with the truth of the buddhas and the patriarchs, is it not?" I say: The view expressed now is absolutely not the Buddha's Dharma; it is the view of the non-Buddhist Senika.

79According to that non-Buddhist

view, there is one spiritual intelligence existing within our body. When this intelligence meets conditions, it can discriminate between pleasant and unpleasant and discriminate between right and wrong, and it can know pain and irritation and know suffering and pleasure—all [these] are abilities of the spiritual intelligence. When this body dies, however, the spirit casts off the skin and is reborn on the other side; so even though it seems to die here it lives on there. Therefore we call it immortal and eternal. The view of that non-Buddhist is like this. But if we learn this view as the Buddha's Dharma, we are even more foolish than the person who grasps a tile or a pebble thinking it to be a golden treasure; the delusion would be too shameful for comparison. National Master Echū80 of great Tang China strongly cautioned against [such thinking]. If we equate the present wrong view that "mind is eternal but forms perish" with the splendid Dharma of the buddhas, thinking that we have escaped life and death when we are promoting the original cause of life and death, are we not being stupid? That would be most pitiful. Knowing that this [wrong view] is just the wrong view of non-Buddhists, we should not touch it with our ears. Nevertheless, I cannot help wanting to save you from this wrong view and it is only compassionate [for me] now [to try]. So remember, in the Buddha-Dharma, because the body and mind are originally one 14

Chapter One

reality, the saying that essence and form are not two has been understood equally in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, and we should never dare to go against it. Further, in the lineages that discuss eternal existence, the myriad dharmas are all eternal existence: body and mind are not divided. 81

And in the lineages that discuss extinction, all dharmas are extinction: essence and form are not divided.

82 How could we say, on the contrary, that the body

is mortal but the mind is eternal? Does that not violate right reason? Furthermore, we should realize that living-and-dying is just nirvana;83 [Buddhists] have never discussed nirvana outside of living-and-dying. Moreover, even if we wrongly imagine the understanding that "mind becomes eternal by getting free of the body" to be the same as the buddha-wisdom that is free of life and death, the mind that is conscious of this understanding still appears and disappears momentarily, and so it is not eternal at all. Then isn't [this understanding] unreliable? We should taste and reflect. The principle that body and mind are one reality is being constantly spoken by the Buddha-Dharma. So how could it be, on the contrary, that while this body appears and disappears, the mind independently leaves the body and does not appear or disappear? If there is a time when [body and mind] are one reality, and another time when they are not one reality, then it might naturally follow that the Buddha's preaching has been false. Further, if we think that life and death are something to get rid of, we will commit the sin of hating the Buddha-Dharma. How could we not guard against this? Remember, the lineage of the Dharma which [asserts that] "in the Buddha-Dharma the essential state of mind universally includes all forms,

" describes the whole great world of

Dharma inclusively, without dividing essence and form, and without discussing appearance and disappearance. There is no [state]—not even bodhior nirvana—that is different from the essential state of mind. All dharmas, myriad phenomena and accumulated things, are totally just the one mind, without exclusion or disunion. All these various lineages of the Dharma assert that [myriad things and phenomena] are the even and balanced undivided mind, other than which there is nothing; and this is just how Buddhists have understood the essence of mind. That being so, how could we divide this one reality into body and mind, or into life-and-death and nirvana? We are already the Buddha's disciples. Let us not touch with our ears those noises from the tongues of madmen who speak non-Buddhist views.

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[51][Someone] asks,

"Must a person who is devoted to this zazen always

adhere spotlessly to the precepts?"

I say: Keeping the precepts, and pure conduct,

84 are the standard of the

Zen lineages and the usual habit of Buddhist patriarchs. [But] those who have not yet received the precepts, or who have broken the precepts, are not without their share [of the benefit of zazen].

[51][Someone] asks,

"Is there nothing to prevent a person who practices this zazen from also performing mantra and quiet-reflection practices?"85 I say: When I was in China, I heard the true essence of the teachings from a true master; he said that he had never heard that any of the patriarchs who received the authentic transmission of the Buddha-seal ever performed such practices additionally, in the Western Heavens or in the Eastern Lands, in the past or in the present. Certainly, unless we devote ourselves to one thing, we will not attain complete wisdom.

[52][Someone] asks,

"Should this practice also be undertaken by laymen

and laywomen, or is it performed only by people who have left home?" I say: An ancestral master has been heard to say that, with respect to understanding of the Buddha-Dharma, we must not choose between men and women, high or low.

[52] [Someone] asks,

"People who leave home get free of all involvements at once, so they have no hindrances in practicing zazen and pursuing the truth. How can a busy layperson devotedly do training and be at one with the unintentional state of Buddhist truth?"

I say: In general, the Buddhist Patriarch,

86 overfilled with pity, left open

a wide and great gate of compassion so that all living beings could experience and enter [the state of truth]; what human being or god could not want to enter? Thus, when we study the past and the present, there are many confirmations of such [experience and entry]. For instance, Taisō87and Junsō88were, as emperors, very busy with affairs of state [but] they pursued the truth by sitting in zazen and realized the Buddhist Patriarch's great truth. Both Minister Ri (Ch. Li) and Minister Bō (Ch. Fang), serving as [the emperor's] lieutenants, were the arms and legs of the whole nation [but] they pursued the truth by sitting in zazen and experienced and entered the Buddhist Patriarch'struth. This [practice-and-experience] rests only upon whether or not the will is present; it does not relate to whether the body stays at home or leaves home. 16

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Moreover, any person who profoundly discerns the superiority or inferiority of things will naturally have belief. Still more, those who think that worldly affairs hinder the Buddha-Dharma only know that there is no Buddha-Dharma in the world; they do not know that there are no worldly dharmas in the state of Buddha. Recently in great Song [China] there was [a man] called Minister Hyō (Ch. Feng), a high-ranking official who was accomplished in the Patriarch's truth. In his later years he made a poem in which he expressed himself as follows:

When official business allows, I like to sit in zazen.

I have seldom slept with my side touching a bed.

Though I have now become prime minister,

My fame as a veteran practitioner has spread across the four seas. This was somebody with no time free from official duties but, because his will to the Buddha's truth was deep, he was able to attain the truth. We should reflect on ourselves [in comparison] with him, and we should reflect on the present [in comparison] with those days. In the great kingdom of Song, the present generation of kings and ministers, officials and commoners, men and women, all apply their mind to the Patriarch's truth, without exception. Both the military and literary classes are resolved to practice [za]zen and to learn the truth. Those who resolve it will, in many cases, undoubtedly clarify the mental state. Thus, it can naturally be inferred that worldly affairs do not hinder the Buddha-Dharma. When the real Buddha-Dharma spreads throughout a nation the buddhas and the gods guard [that nation] ceaselessly, so the reign is peaceful. When the imperial reign is peaceful, the Buddha-Dharma comes into its own. Furthermore, when Śākyamuni was in the world, [even] people of heavy sins and wrong views were able to get the truth, and in the orders of the ancestral masters, [even] hunters and old woodcutters entered the state of realization, to say nothing of other people. We need only study the teaching and the state of truth of a true teacher.

[56] [Someone] asks,

"Even in the present corrupt world in this latter

age,

89is it still possible to realize the state of real experience when we perform this practice?"

I say: Philosophers have occupied themselves with such concepts and forms, but in the real teaching of the Great Vehicle, without discriminating 17

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between "right,

" "imitative,

" and "latter" Dharma, we say that all those who practice attain the state of truth. Furthermore, in this directly transmitted right Dharma, both in entering the Dharma and getting the body out, we receive and use the treasure of ourselves. Those who are practicing can naturally know whether they have got the state of real experience or not, just as people who are using water can tell by themselves whether it is cold or warm. [57] [Someone] asks,

"It is said that in the Buddha-Dharma once we have clearly understood the principle that mind here and now is buddha, even if our mouth does not recite the sutras and our body does not practice the Buddha Way, we are not lacking in the Buddha-Dharma at all. Just to know that the Buddha-Dharma originally resides in each of us is the whole of the attainment of the truth. There is no need to seek anything else from other people. How much less need we bother about pursuing the truth in zazen?"

I say: These words are extremely unreliable. If it is as you say, how could any intelligent person fail to understand this principle once it had been explained to them? Remember, we learn the Buddha-Dharma just when we give up views of subject and object. If knowing that "we ourselves are just buddha" could be called the attainment of the truth, Śākyamuni would not have bothered to teach the moral way in the past. I would like now to prove this through the subtle criteria of the ancient patriarchs: Long ago, there was a monk called Prior Sokkō90 in the order of Zen Mas ter Hōgen.

91 Zen Master Hōgen asks him,

"Prior Sokkō, how long have

you been in my order?"

Sokkō says,

"I have served in the master's order for three years already. "

The Zen master says,

"You are a recent member of the order. Why do you never ask me about the Buddha-Dharma?" Sokkō says,

"I must not deceive you, master. Before, when I was in the order of Zen Master Seihō, I realized the state of peace and joy in the Buddha-Dharma. "

The Zen master says,

"Relying upon what words were you able to enter?" Sokkō says,

"I once asked Seihō: Just what is the student that is I?92 Seihō said: The children of fire93 come looking for fire. "

Hōgen says,

"Nice words. But I am afraid that you may not have understood. "

Chapter One

Sokkō says,

"The children of fire belong to fire. [So] I understood that their being fire yet looking for fire represented my being myself yet looking for myself.

The Zen master says,

"I have become sure that you did not understand. If the Buddha-Dharma were like that, it could never have been transmitted until today.

At this Sokkō became embarrassed and distressed, and he stood up [to leave]. [But] on the road he thought,

"The Zen master is [respected] throughout

the country [as] a good counselor, and he is a great guiding master to five hundred people. There must surely have been some merit in his criticism of "

my wrongness.

[Sokkō] goes back to the Zen master to confess and to prostrate himself in apology. Then he asks,

"Just what is the student that is I?"

The Zen master says,

"The children of fire come looking for fire.

Under the influence of these words, Sokkō grandly realized the Buddha-Dharma. Clearly, the Buddha-Dharma is never known with the intellectual understanding that "we ourselves are just buddha. " If the intellectual understanding

that "we ourselves are just buddha" were the Buddha-Dharma, the Zen master could not have guided [Sokkō] by using the former words, and he would not have admonished [Sokkō] as he did. Solely and directly, from our first meeting with a good counselor, we should ask the standards of practice, and we should singlemindedly pursue the truth by sitting in zazen, without allowing a single recognition or half an understanding to remain in our minds. Then the subtle method of the Buddha-Dharma will not be [practiced] in vain. [61][Someone] asks,

"When we hear of India and China in the past and present, there are those who realized the state of truth on hearing the voice of a bamboo, or who clarified the mind on seeing the colors of the flowers. 94

Furthermore, the Great Teacher Śākyamuni experienced the truth when he saw the bright star, Venerable Ānanda95 realized the Dharma when a temple flagpole fell, and not only that: among the five lineages following from the Sixth Patriarch96 many people have clarified the mental state under the influence of a single word or half a line of verse. Had they all, without exception, pursued the truth by sitting in zazen?" 19

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I say: We should know that these people of the past and present who clarified the mind on seeing forms and who realized the truth on hearing sounds, were all without intellectual doubt in pursuing the truth, and just in the moment of the present there was no second person.

[62] [Someone] asks,

"In India and China, the people are originally

unaffected and straight. Being at the center of the civilized world makes them so. As a result, when they are taught the Buddha-Dharma they understand and enter very quickly. In our country, from ancient times the people have had little benevolence and wisdom, and it is difficult for us to accumulate the seeds of rightness. Being the savages and barbarians97 [of the southeast] makes us so. How could we not regret it? Furthermore, people who have left home in this country are inferior even to the laypeople of the great nations; our whole society is stupid, and our minds are narrow and small. We are deeply attached to the results of intentional effort, and we like superficial quality. Can people like this expect to experience the Buddha-Dharma straight away, even if they sit in zazen?"

I say: As you say, the people of our country are not yet universally benevolent and wise, and some people are indeed crooked. Even if we preach right and straight Dharma to them, they will turn nectar into poison. They easily tend toward fame and gain, and it is hard for them to dissolve their delusions and attachments. On the other hand, to experience and enter the Buddha-Dharma, one need not always use the worldly wisdom of human beings and gods as a vessel for transcendence of the world.

98 When the Buddha was in

[the] world, [an old monk] experienced the fourth effect [when hit] by a ball,

99 and [a prostitute] clarified the great state of truth after putting on a kaṣāya;100 both were dull people, stupid and silly creatures. But aided by right belief, they had the means to escape their delusion. Another case was the devout woman preparing a midday meal who disclosed the state of realization when she saw a stupid old bhikṣu101 sitting in quietness. This did not derive from her wisdom, did not derive from writings, did not depend on words, and did not depend on talk; she was aided only by her right belief. Furthermore, Śākyamuni's teachings have been spreading through the threethousand-world only for around two thousand or so years. Countries are of many kinds; not all are nations of benevolence and wisdom. How could all people, moreover, possess only intelligence and wisdom, keenness [of ear] 20

Chapter One

and clarity [of eye]? But the right Dharma of the Tathāgata is originally furnished with unthinkably great virtue and power, and so when the time comes it will spread through those countries. When people just practice with right belief, the clever and the stupid alike will attain the truth. Just because our country is not a nation of benevolence or wisdom and the people are dullwitted, do not think that it is impossible for us to grasp the Buddha-Dharma. Still more, all human beings have the right seeds of prajñāin abundance. It may simply be that few of us have experienced the state directly, and so we are immature in receiving and using it.

[65]The above questions and answers have come and gone, and the alternation between audience and speaker has been untidy. How many times have I caused flowers to exist in flowerless space?102 On the other hand, the fundamental principle of pursuing the truth by sitting in zazen has never been transmitted to this country; anyone who hoped to know it would have been disappointed. This is why I intend to gather together the few experiences I had abroad, and to record the secrets of an enlightened teacher, 103so that they

may be heard by any practitioner who desires to hear them. In addition, there are standards and conventions for monasteries and temples but there is not enough time to teach them now, and they must not be [taught] in haste. [66] In general, it was very fortunate for the people of our country that, even though we are situated east of the Dragon Sea and are far separated by clouds and mist, from around the reigns of Kinmei104and Yōmei, 105the Buddha-Dharma of the west spread to us in the east. However, confusion has multiplied over concepts and forms, and facts and circumstances, disturbing the situation of practice. Now, because we make do with tattered robes and mended bowls, tying thatch so that we can sit and train by the blue cliffs and white rocks, the matter of the ascendant state of buddha becomes apparent at once, and we swiftly master the great matter of a lifetime of practice. This is just the decree of Ryūge [Mountain],

106 and the legacy of Kukkuṭapāda [Mountain].

107 The

forms and standards for sitting in zazen may be practiced following the Fukanzazengiwhich I compiled in the Karoku era. 108

[68] Now, in spreading the Buddha's teaching throughout a nation, on the one hand, we should wait for the king's decree, but on the other hand, when we recall the bequest of Vulture Peak, the kings, nobles, ministers, and generals now manifested in hundred myriad koṭis of realms all have gratefully 21

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accepted the Buddha's decree and, not forgetting the original aim of earlier lives to guard and maintain the Buddha's teaching, they have been born. [Within] the frontiers of the spread of that teaching, what place could not be a buddha land? Therefore, when we want to disseminate the truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, it is not always necessary to select a [particular] place or to wait for [favorable] circumstances. Shall we just consider today to be the starting point? So I have put this together and I will leave it for wise masters who aspire to the Buddha-Dharma and for the true stream of practitioners who wish, like wandering clouds or transient water weeds, to explore the state of truth.

Mid-autumn day, [in the third year of] Kanki. 109

Written by the śramaṇa110 Dōgen, who entered Song [China] and received the transmission of the Dharma.

Shōbōgenzō Bendōwa

Notes

1 Shobutsu nyorai.The expression derives from the Lotus Sutra(see LS 1.88). Nyorai represents the Sanskrit word tathāgata,which means "one who has arrived in the state of reality.

" It is the highest epithet of a buddha. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 2 Anoku-bodai,short for anokutara-sanmyaku-sanbodai,which is a transliteration of the Sanskrit phrase anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi. Bodhimeans "perfect wisdom, " "the

truth,

" or "the state of truth.

" See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

3 Jijuyō-zanmai. Jimeans "self,

" jumeans "to receive,

" and yōmeans "to use.

" Zanmai

represents the Sanskrit word samādhi(see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). Samādhiis explained from many viewpoints in the Shōbōgenzō,for example as jishō-zanmai, samādhi as self-experience; as hosshō-zanmai,samādhi as Dharma-nature; as kaiin-zanmai,samādhi as the state like the sea; and as zanmai-ō-zanmai,the samādhi that is king of samādhis. Jijuyō-zanmaisuggests the state of natural balance that we experience when making effort without an intentional aim. 4 Hōhas a wide range of meanings: Dharma, dharmas (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms), law, things and phenomena, method, reality, etc. "This Dharma" suggests the method

of zazen and at the same time the reality of zazen. 5 In the state of zazen, our consciousness is whole. 6 "Effort" is kufu;"pursuing the truth" is bendō,as in the chapter title Bendōwa.Master Dōgen used the words kufu-bendōto express zazen itself. 7 Banpō,lit., ten thousand dharmas; in other words, all things and phenomena. See note 4.

8 Shutsuro. Shutsumeans "to get out" and romeans "path" or "road. " The Fukanzazengi

contains the phrase shusshin no katsuro, "the vigorous road of the body getting out, "

that is, the state of vigorous action in which our body gets free from intellectual worries and sensory attachments.

9 Chishiki,short for zenchishiki,from the Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra(see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms).

10 Zenkō. Zen stands for Myōzen; kōis an honorific. Master Myōzen and Master Dōgen set off together in 1223 to investigate Buddhism in China. Master Myōzen died on May 5, 1225, at the age of forty-one, in the Ryōnenryō Dormitory at Tendōzan. Before 23

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becoming the disciple of Master Eisai, Master Myōzen had learned the teachings of the Tendai sect on Mount Hiei.

11 The seasons of autumn and spring, respectively. 12 Master Eisai (1141-1215), who went to China and introduced the transmission of the Rinzai sect into Japan.

13 A province in eastern China, bordering the East China Sea. 14 The so-called Sōtō, Rinzai, Hōgen, Igyō, and Unmon sects. See Chapter Forty-nine (Vol. III), Butsudō.

15 Jō Zenji, Master Tendō Nyojō (1163-1228), successor of Master Setchō Chikan. Usually referred to in the Shōbōgenzōas Senshi, "my late master.

16 Daibyakuhō, lit.,

"Great White Peak,

" is another name for Tendōzan, where Master Tendō Nyojō led the order from 1224 until his death. 17 The Shōjō era was from 1228 to 1233. 18 Real wisdom. See Chapter Two, Maka-hannya-haramitsu. 19 In order to find a true teacher. 20 Vulture Peak (Skt. Gṛdhrakūṭa) is so called because the silhouette of the mountain resembles a vulture. The Buddha often preached there. 21 Master Mahākāśyapa, the first patriarch in India. 22 Master Bodhidharma (sixth century), the twenty-eighth patriarch in India and the First Patriarch in China.

23 Master Taiso Eka, the Second Patriarch in China. 24 Tōchi(Eastern Lands): China. Master Dōgen commonly referred to India and China as saiten-tōchi,

"the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands. "

25 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch in China. 26 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744).

27 Master Seigen Gyōshi (d. 740), the Seventh Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 28 Butsu-in,lit.,

"Buddha-seal.

" Incan be interpreted as a seal of approval, that is, certification. Or it can be interpreted as concrete form, or posture. 29 Butsu-shin-in,lit.,

"Buddha-mind-seal.

" In Chapter Seventy-two (Vol. III), Zanmaiō-zanmai,Master Dōgen says that the Buddha-mind-seal is the full lotus posture itself.

30 The Later Han dynasty was from 25 to 221 C.E. 24

Chapter One

31 Literally,

"cut the roots of the arrowroot and wisteria. " These two vines symbolize something confused or complicated. See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō. 32 Jijuyō-zanmai;the state of natural balance, see note 3. 33 Buppō,

"Buddha-Dharma,

" or "Buddhist method,

" in this case means zazen itself. 34 Sangō,the three kinds of conduct or behavior; that is, behavior of body, speech, and mind.

35 Sanzu,lit.,

"three courses,

" or the three miserable states or worlds, are hell, the world of hungry ghosts (pretas), and the world of animals. Rokudō,lit., "six ways" or the

six human states, are the three miserable worlds plus the worlds of demons (asuras), human beings, and gods (devas). See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 36 Dai-gedatsu-chi.Daimeans great. Gedatsurepresents the Sanskrit vimukti,which means to get free of all hindrances. Chimeans state. 37 The Sanskrit bodhimeans the state of truth. The Buddha attained the truth sitting under a pipal tree (Ficus religiosa). In Buddhist countries this tree is called the bodhi tree.

38 Tenbōrin,turning of the Dharma wheel, symbolizes Buddhist preaching. See Chapter Seventy-four (Vol. IV), Tenbōrin. 39 Mutōdō,lit.,

"equality without equal, " from the Sanskrit asamasama. The expression appears in the Heart Sutra(see Chapter Two, Maka-hannya-haramitsu), and in the Lotus Sutra(LS 3.270).

40 Toward the practitioner—the practice influences both object and subject. 41 Jijuyō no kyōgai,lit., balance. See note 3.

"the area of receiving and using self, " that is, the state of natural 42 Hyakutō, lit.,

"hundreds of heads,

" suggesting miscellaneous concrete things. 43 Questions and answers are not separated in the source text. They have been separated here for ease of reading. 44 Sanze,the past, present, and future; eternity. 45 Daijō,Mahayana Buddhism. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, Mahayana. 46 Taiyakukei.See LS 1.86-88. 47 Tonzen-shugyō. Tonzenstands for tongo, "instantaneous realization, " and zengo,

"gradual realization.

" These represent two views of realization—as occurring just in the moment of practice, and as a process continuing over a long line of moments— based on the two views of time. 48 The seven ancient buddhas were Vipaśyin, Śikhin, Viśvabhū, Kraku cchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa, and Śākyamuni (see Chapter Fifteen, Busso). Belief in the Seven 25

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Buddhas reflects the belief that the Dharma is eternal, predating the historical Buddha, Śākyamuni.

49 Hōsshi.In Master Dōgen's time some priests in the Tendai sect had this title. 50 Hokkeshū. Hokkestands for Hokkekyō,

"Sutra of the Flower of Dharma,

" the Lotus

Sutra. Shūmeans religion or sect. Hokkeshūwas the name formerly used for the Tendai sect, which was established in China by Master Tendai Chigi based on the Lotus Sutra.It was introduced into Japan by Master Saichō (767-822). 51 Kegonkyō,lit.,

"Kegon teaching,

" means the teaching of the Kegon sect, which was also established in China, based on the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (Jp. Kegonkyō;Garland Sutra), see note 79. It was introduced into Japan in 736. 52 Shingonshū.The Shingon sect is derived from Vajrayana Buddhism. Master Kūkai went to China and brought the teachings of the Shingon sect back to Japan in 806. Vajrayana Buddhism reveres Vajra sattva, the Diamond Buddha, who is said to have received the transmission from Vairocana, the Sun Buddha. 53 "Mind here and now is buddha" is soku-shin-ze-butsu—the title of Chapter Six. mind becomes buddha" is ze-shin-sa-butsu.

"This

54 That is, the five buddhas in the mandala used in the esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon sect. A mandala is a pictorial representation with Vairocana Buddha in the middle surrounded by buddhas to his north, south, east, and west. 55 Go, orkō,represents the sound of the Sanskrit kalpa,which means an infinitely long time. A kalpawas explained, for example, as the time it would take to wear away a large boulder if a heavenly being brushed it once every three years with its sleeve. 56 Kōdai no monji,lit.,

"the wide and great characters,

" suggests Dharma as not only

the accumulation of material phenomena but also something that has meaning. 57 An image of the moon, not the moon itself. 58 Meiyōno shintō.Meiyōmeans "yinand yang.

" Shintō, lit.,

"Way of the Gods,

" is the

ethnic spiritual religion of Japan. The idea of two lineages of Shintō, the yinand the yang, seems to have originated with attempts of the Shingon sect to reconcile its teachings with indigenous Japanese beliefs. 59 An arhat is a person who has attained the ultimate state (the fourth effect) of a śrāvaka (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms), that is, the ultimate level of abstract Buddhist learning. The arhat is the subject of Chapter Thirty-four (Vol. II), Arakan. 60 "Perceive it directly" is jōtō,short for jōju-gattō,lit., "receiving a hit.

" Generally,

jōtōmeans to be struck by reality directly in momentary experience. In the last section of his independent work Gakudō yōjin shū(Collection of Concerns in Learning the Truth), Master Dōgen explains jōtō,or "receiving a hit, " as follows: "Using this body

and mind, we directly experience the state of buddha. This is to receive a hit. "

Chapter One

61 Kūge,

"flowers in space,

" symbolizes images. See Chapter Forty-three (Vol. III), Kūge. 62 Jūni-rinden,the twelvefold cycle of cause and effect, from the Sanskrit dvādaśānga pratītyasamutpāda(see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). See, for example, LS 2.56. 63 Sanjō,"three vehicles,

" or the three kinds of Buddhists, are explained in Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II),Bukkyō.They are the śrāvaka,who relies on the theory of four philosophies; the pratyekabuddha,who relies on the theory of dependent origination (the twelvefold cycle of cause and effect); and the bodhisattva, who relies on the six pāramitās (the six accomplishments). The five vehicles are these three, plus human beings and gods.

64 Sangaku,from the Sanskrit tisraḥ śikṣāḥ,are the precepts (śīla), the balanced state (dhyāna, usually translated as "meditation"), and wisdom (prajñā). See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

65 The Sanskrit word pāramitāmeans that which has arrived at the opposite shore, an accomplishment. Rokudō,the six pāramitās, are giving (dāna), keeping the precepts (śīla), patience (kṣānti), diligence (vīrya), the practice of meditation (dhyāna), and real wisdom (prajñā). The Sanskrit dhyānawas rendered into Chinese and Japanese as chanor zen.

66 Ichidaijiappears in the Lotus Sutra.See LS 1.88-90 and Chapter Seventeen, Hokketen-hokke. 67 The Songshan Mountains consist of two main peaks, Taishitsu to the east, and Shōshitsu to the west. These mountains contained many Buddhist temples; Shaolin Temple was on Shōshitsu Peak.

68 The zazen sect is zazenshū,lit., lit.,

"dhyānasect,

" or Zen sect.

"sitting dhyānasect.

" Dropping the zagives zenshū, 69 Kōroku,

"broad records,

" and goroku,

"record of the words.

" See Bibliography.

70 Shigi,walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. 71 Zazen wa sunawachi anraku no homon nari.These words may originate with Master Chōro Sōsaku, who was the editor of the Zenenshingi (Pure Criteria for Zen Monasteries). Master Dōgen quotes the same words in the Fukanzazengi(see Appendix II). The word anraku,

"peaceful and joyful" or "stable and comfortable, " is contained in

the title of the fourteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "Anrakugyō"("Peaceful and

Joyful Practice").

72 Master Daikan Enō. See note 25. 73 Master Tendō Nyojō.

74 Master Nangaku Ejō. The conversation between Master Daikan Enō and Master Nangaku Ejō is recorded in Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 1. See also Chapter Seven, Senjō; Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo;and Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan. 27

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75 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 5, in the section on Master Honjō. 76 Shōji,lit.,

(Vol. IV).

"life and death" or "living-and-dying, " is the title of Chapter Ninety-two 77 Shōmetsu. Shōmeans not only "life" but also "birth" and "appearance. " In this paragraph shōmetsuhas also been translated as "appearance and disappearance. "

78 Shōkai,lit.,

"essence-ocean.

79 The Avataṃsaka-sūtra(Jp. Kegonkyō; Garland Sutra) records many questions put to the Buddha by a brahman called Senika. See Chapter Six, Soku-shin-ze-butsu. 80 Master Nan'yō Echū (675?-775), successor of Master Daikan Enō. "National Master"

was his title as teacher of the emperor. See for example Chapters Six, Eighteen, Nineteen, and Forty-four (Vol. III). 81 For example, the Sarvāstivāda school, rendered as setsu-issai-u-bu,or "the school that preaches the existence of all things, " held that dharmas have a real existence in the past, present, and future. This school flourished in India for many centuries and was widely studied in China and Japan. 82 "Extinction" is jakumetsu,which was sometimes used as a translation of the Sanskrit nirvana, but which here is opposed tojōjū, "eternal existence.

" Thus,

"lineages that

discuss extinction" roughly correspond to the Śūnyatā school, or kūmon,i.e., the school that stressed the teachings of śūnyatā,which deny that there can be any static existence.

83 The Sanskrit word nirvāṇaliterally means the extinction of a flame. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, nirvana.

84 Jikai-bongyō. Bongyōrepresents the Sanskrit brahmacarya(see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). Gyōji,lit.,

"conduct and keeping" or "practice and continuance, " is the title

of Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II). 85 Shingon-shikan no gyo. Shingon,lit., "truth-word,

" means mantra. The use of mantras is characteristic of the esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon sect. Shikan,lit., "ceasing

and reflecting,

" representing the Sanskrit words śamatha(quietness) and vipaśyanā (insight, reflection), is a practice of the Tendai sect: the method of practice is almost the same as the practice of zazen explained by Master Dōgen, but in the Tendai sect the practice is not regarded as sufficient in itself. 86 Bussois the title of Chapter Fifteen. Translated as "Buddhist patriarchs, " it refers to

the Buddhist patriarchs in general; when capitalized, as "the Buddhist Patriarch, " it

usually refers to the Buddha or to Master Bodhi dharma. 87 Taisō, a Tang emperor who reigned from 763 to 779, and a student of Master Nan'yō Echū.

88 Junsō, another Tang emperor, who reigned from 805 to 806. 28

Chapter One

89 Matsudai. Mastands for mappō, "latter Dharma.

" The years after the Buddha's death were divided into three periods: shōbō, "right Dharma,

" the first five hundred years during which the Dharma would flourish;zōbō, "imitative Dharma,

" the next one

thousand years during which the Dharma begins to pale; and mappō, "latter Dharma,

the next ten thousand years during which the Dharma degenerates. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, under saddharma. 90 Sokkō-kan-in.Sokkō is the monk's name; kōis an honorific used for both priests and laymen, approximately equivalent to sanin modern Japanese. Kaninor kansuis one of the six main officers of a large temple. 91 Master Hōgen Bun'eki (885-958), successor of Master Rakan Keichin and founder of the Hōgen sect.

92 Gakunin no jiko. Gakunin,student, was used by a student to refer to himself. Jiko means "self.

" So Sokkō's question was "What am I?" 93 Byōjō-dōji. Byōor heiis the third calendar sign, read as hinoe,or "older brother of fire.

" Jōor teiis the fourth calendar sign, read as hinoto,or "younger brother of fire. "

Dōjimeans child. The words "The children of fire come looking for fire" suggest the real effort of a practitioner to pursue what is already there. 94 These examples of Buddhist masters realizing the truth are recorded in detail in Chapter Nine, Keisei-sanshiki. 95 Master Ānanda was the second patriarch in India, the successor of Master Mahā kāśyapa. 96 Master Daikan Enō.

97 Ban-i.As the center of civilization, the Chinese supposed the existence of four groups of barbarians surrounding them. These included the nan-ban,the savages of the south and the tō-i,the barbarians of the east. So the words "savages and barbarians" suggest people living to the south and east of China, including the Japanese. 98 Shussecan be interpreted either as "to transcend the secular world" or as "to manifest oneself in the world.

" In the latter usage, the words usually mean to become the master of a large temple.

99 A young monk wanted to play a joke on a stupid old monk who lived in the Buddha's order. So he led the old monk into a dark room and hit him with a ball, saying, "You

have got the first effect. " He hit him again and said, "You have got the second effect. "

Then he hit him a third time and said, "You have got the third effect. " Finally he hit

him one last time and said, "You have got the fourth effect. " Strangely, when the old monk came out of the dark room he had actually experienced the fourth effect. Shika, the fourth effect, refers to the state of an arhat, that is, the ultimate state of Hinayana Buddhism.

100 The story of the prostitute who put on a kaṣāya(Buddhist robe) as a joke is recorded in Chapter Twelve, Kesa-kudoku. 29

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101 A Buddhist monk (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). 102 Here kūge,

"flowers in space,

" represents abstract images as opposed to reality. (In Chapter Forty-two [Vol. III], Kūge,flowers in space and real flowers are identified.) 103 Master Tendō Nyojō.

104 539-571.

105 585-587.

106 Master Ryūge Kodon (835-923), successor of Master Tōzan Ryōkai, lived on Ryūge Mountain and made many poems praising the beautiful scenery of nature. 107 Master Mahākāśyapa, successor of the Buddha, is said to have died on Kukkuṭapāda Mountain in Magadha.

108 The Karoku era was from 1225 to 1227. Master Dōgen returned to Japan in the late summer of 1227 and wrote his first draft of the Fukanzazengi (Universal Guide to the Standard Method of Zazen) shortly thereafter. The initial version is called Shinpitsubon, " Original Edition.

" After revising this edition, Master Dōgen finally arrived at the Rufubon,

"Popular Edition.

" See Appendix II.

109 The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, 1231. 110 Monk (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). 30

Nguồn: BDK America — English Tripiṭaka (bdkamerica.org).