T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume I

Chapter 9: Keisei-sanshiki - The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

75 The eight kinds of beings: devas (gods), nāgas (dragons), yakṣas (demons), gandharvas (celestial musicians who feed on fragrances), asuras (angry titans), garuḍas (birds that hunt dragons), kiṃnaras (half horses, half men), and mahoragas (serpents). These fantastic beings existed in ancient Indian legends, so they were utilized in Buddhist sutras to suggest the diversity of the Buddha's audiences. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and, for example, LS 2.140.

76 Tenma.See note 65.

77 Sanze,past, present, and future; eternity.

78 Shika,arhatship, the ultimate state in Hinayana Buddhism. See note 55. 79 The ultimate state of a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. See note 43. 80 Tenrinjō-ō,from the Sanskrit cakravarti-rāja.In ancient Indian mythology there are four such kings who rule over the four continentssurrounding Mount Sumeru. They each have a precious wheel or cakra.

81 The god Indra. See note 16 and Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 82 There are several interpretations of the ten wrongs. One interpretation is that the ten wrongs are as follows: killing, stealing, adultery, telling lies, duplicitous speech, abusive slander, idle chatter, greed, anger, and holding wrong views. 83 The ten important precepts, or prohibitions, are as follows: not to take life, not to steal, not to lust, not to lie, not to sell or consume liquor, not to discuss the faults of other Buddhists, not to praise oneself, not to begrudge the Dharma or one's possessions, not to get angry, and not to insult the Three Treasures. See Chapter Ninety-four (Vol. IV), Jukai.

84 The five deadly sins are to kill one's father, to kill one's mother, to kill an arhat, to spill the Buddha's blood, and to disrupt the Buddhist order. 85 "They" is originally nanji("you"); see note 67.

86 For example, it is traditional to sprinkle water over the area where a precepts ceremony is to be held.

87 Kanrō,lit.,

In this case,

"sweet dew,

" from the Sanskrit amṛta,which means nectar from heaven. "nectar" means water.

88 Kimyō no rai,a prostration made as a symbol of devoting one's life. In a devotional prostration, the practitioner drops five parts of the body to the ground: left knee, right knee, left elbow, right elbow, and forehead.

89 Sei-mei no hi.This was the name given to the fifteenth day after the spring equinox. 90 1240.

108

[Chapter Nine]

Keisei-sanshiki

The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains Translator's Note:Keimeans "

river valley,

" seimeans

"

sound"

"

or

voice,

"

sanmeans

"

mountain,

"

and shikimeans

"form

"

"

or

color.

" So keisei-sanshiki means the voices of river valleys and the forms of mountains—that is, nature. In Buddhism, this world is the truth itself, so nature is a face of the truth. Nature is the material side of the real world, so it is always speaking the truth, and manifesting the law of the universe every day. This is why it has been said since ancient time that sounds of rivers are the preaching of Gautama Buddha and forms of mountains are the body of Gautama Buddha. In this chapter, Master Dōgen preached to us the meaning of nature in Buddhism. [209] In the supreme state of bodhi,Buddhist patriarchs who transmitted the truth and received the behavior have been many, and examples of past ancestors who reduced their bones to powder1 cannot be denied. Learn from the ancestral patriarch who cut off his arm, 2 and do not differ by a hair's breadth [from the bodhisattva who] covered the mud. 3 When we each get rid of our husk, we are not restricted by former views and understanding, and things which have for vast kalpas been unclear suddenly appear before us. In the here and now of such a moment, the self does not recognize it, no one else is conscious of it, you do not expect it, and even the eyes of Buddha do not glimpse it. How could the human intellect fathom it? [210] In the great kingdom of Song there lived Layman Tōba, whose name was Soshoku, and who was also called Shisen. 4 He seems to have been a real dragon in the literary world, 5 and he studied the dragons and elephants of the Buddhist world.

6He swam happily into deep depths, and floated up and down through layers of cloud. 7 Once he visited Lushan. 8 In the story he hears the sounds of a mountain stream flowing through the night, and realizes the truth. He makes the following verse, and presents it to Zen Master Jōsō:9 109

38c

39a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

The voices of the river valley are the [Buddha's] wide and long tongue,

10

The form of the mountains is nothing other than his pure body. Through the night, eighty-four thousand verses. On another day, how can I tell them to others?

When he presents this verse to Zen Master [Jō]sō, Zen Master [Jō]sō affirms it. [Jō]sō means Zen Master Shōkaku Jōsō, a Dharma successor of Zen Master Ōryū Enan.

11 [E]nan is a Dharma successor of Zen Master Jimyō Soen.

12Once, when Layman [Tōba] met Zen Master Butsuin Ryōgen, 13Butsu in gave him a Dharma robe, the Buddhist precepts, and so on, and the layman always wore the Dharma robe to practice the truth. The layman presented Butsuin with a priceless jeweled belt. People of the time said, "Their behavior

is beyond common folk.

" So the story of realizing the truth on hearing the river valley may also be of benefit to those who are later in the stream. It is a pity that, so many times, the concrete form of the teaching, preaching of Dharma by manifestation of the body,

14 seems to have leaked away. What

has made [Layman Tōba] see afresh the form of the mountains and hear the voices of the river valley? A single phrase? Half a phrase? Or eighty-four thousand verses? It is a shame that sounds and forms have been hiding in the mountains and waters. But we should be glad that there are moments in which, and causes and conditions whereby, [real sounds and forms] show up in the mountains and waters. The tongue's manifestation never flags. How could the body's form exist and vanish? At the same time, should we learn that they are close when they are apparent, or should we learn that they are close when they are hidden? Should we see them as a unity, or should we see them as a half?15 In previous springs and autumns, [Layman Tōba] has not seen or heard the mountains and waters but in moments "through the night,

" he is able, barely, to see and to hear the mountains and waters. Bodhisattvas who are learning the truth now should also open the gate to learning [by starting] from mountains flowing and water not flowing. 16 On the day

before the night during which this layman has realized the truth, he has visited Zen Master [Jō]sōand asked about stories of "the nonemotional preaching Dharma.

"17 Under the words of the Zen master, the form of his somersaulting is still immature,

18 but when the voices of the river valley are heard, waves 110

Chapter Nine

break back upon themselves and surf crashes high into the sky. This being so, now that the voices of the river valley have surprised the layman, should we put it down to the voices of the river valley, or should we put it down to the influence of Shōkaku? I suspect that Shōkaku's words on "the nonemotional preaching Dharma" have not stopped echoing but are secretly mingling with the sounds of the mountain stream in the night. Who could empirically affirm this situation as a single gallon?19And who could pay homage20 to it as the whole ocean? In conclusion, is the layman realizing the truth, or are the mountains and waters realizing the truth? How could anyone who has clear eyes not put on their eyes at once [and look] at the manifestation of the long tongue and the pure body?

[215] Another case: Zen Master Kyōgen Chikan21 was learning the truth in the order of Zen Master Daii Daien.

22 On one occasion, Daii says,

"You

are sharp and bright, and you have wide understanding. Without quoting from any text or commentary, speak a phrase for me in the state you had before your parents were born.

"23 Kyōgen searches several times for something to say, but he is not able. He deeply regrets the state of his body and mind, and looks through books that he has kept for years, but he is still dumbfounded. In the end, he burns all the writings he has collected over the years, and says,

"A rice cake that is painted in a picture24 cannot stave off hunger. Upon my oath, I shall not desire to understand the Buddha-Dharma in this life. I only want to be the monk who serves the morning gruel and midday meal.

" So saying, he spends years and months as a server of meals. "The

monk who serves the morning gruel and midday meal" means one who waits upon the other monks at breakfast and the midday meal;25 he would be like a "liveried waiter"26 in this country. While he is thus occupied, he says to Daii,

"Chikan is dull in body and mind and cannot express the truth. Would the master say something for me?" Daii says,

"I would not mind saying something for you, [but if I did so,] perhaps you would bear a grudge against me later.

" After spending years and months in such a state, [Chikan] enters Butōzan, following the tracks of National Master Daishō, 27 and makes a

thatched hut on the remains of the National Master's hermitage. He has planted bamboo and made it his friend. One day, while he is sweeping the path, a piece of tile flies up and strikes a bamboo with a crack. Hearing this sound, he suddenly realizes the great state of realization. He bathes and purifies himself, 111

39b

39c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

and, facing Daiizan, he burns incense and does prostrations. Then, directing himself to [Master] Daii, he says, "Great Master Daii! If you had explained it to me before, how would this thing have been possible? The depth of your kindness surpasses that of a parent. " Finally, he makes the following verse: At a single stroke I lost recognition. No longer need I practice self-discipline. [I am] manifesting behavior in the way of the ancients, Never falling into despondency.

There is no trace anywhere:

[The state] is dignified action beyond sound and form. People everywhere who have realized the truth, All will praise [these] supreme makings. He presents the verse to Daii. Daii says, "This disciple is complete.

"28

[218] Another case: Zen Master Reiun Shigon29 is a seeker of the truth for thirty years. One day, while on a ramble in the mountains, he stops for a rest at the foot of a hill and views the villages in the distance. It is spring, and the peach blossoms are in full bloom. Seeing them, he suddenly realizes the truth. He makes the following verse and presents it to Daii: For thirty years, a traveler in search of a sword. 30

How many times have leaves fallen and buds sprouted? After one look at the peach blossoms, I have arrived directly at the present and have no further doubts. Daii says,

"One who has entered by relying on external phenomena will never regress or falter.

"31This is his affirmation. What person who has entered could not rely on external phenomena? What person who has entered could regress or falter? [Isan's words] are not about [Shi]gon alone. Finally, [Shigon] succeeds to the Dharma of Daii. If the form of the mountains were not the pure body, how would things like this be possible? [220] A monk asks Zen Master Chōsha [Kei]shin, 32 "How can we make

mountains, rivers, and the earth belong to ourselves?" The master says, "How

can we make ourselves belong to mountains, rivers, and the earth?"33 This says that ourselves are naturally ourselves, and even though ourselves are mountains, rivers, and the earth, we should never be restricted by belonging. 112

Chapter Nine

[221] Master Ekaku of Rōya, [titled] Great Master Kōshō, 34 is a distant

descendant of Nangaku.

35 One day [Chōsui] Shisen,

36 a lecturer of a philosophical sect, asks him,

"How does pure essentiality suddenly give rise to

mountains, rivers, and the earth?" Questioned thus, the master preaches, "How

does pure essentiality suddenly give rise to mountains, rivers, and the earth?"37 Here we are told not to confuse mountains, rivers, and the earth which are just pure essentiality, with "mountains, rivers and the earth. " However, because

the teacher of sutras has never heard this, even in a dream, he does not know mountains, rivers, and the earth as mountains, rivers, and the earth. [222] Remember, if it were not for the form of the mountains and the voices of the river valley, picking up a flower could not proclaim anything, 38

and the one who attained the marrow could not stand at his own place. 39

Relying on the virtue of the sounds of the river valley and the form of the mountains,

"the earth and all sentient beings realize the truth simultaneously, "40

and there are many buddhas who realize the truth on seeing the bright star. Bags of skin in this state are the wise masters of the past, whose will to pursue the Dharma was very deep. People of the present should study their traces without fail. Now also, real practitioners who have no concern for fame and gain should establish similar resolve. In [this] remote corner in recent times, people who honestly pursue the Buddha-Dharma are very rare. They are not absent, but they are difficult to meet. There are many who drift into the monkhood, and who seem to have left the secular world, but who only use Buddhism as a bridge to fame and gain. It is pitiful and lamentable that they do not regret the passing of this life41 but vainly go about their dark and dismal business. When can they expect to become free and to attain the truth? Even if they met a true master, they might not love the real dragon. 42 My

late [master, the eternal] buddha, calls such fellows "pitiful people. "43They

are like this because of the bad they have done in past ages. Though they have received a life, they have no will to pursue the Dharma for the Dharma's sake, and so, when they meet the real Dharma they doubt the real dragon, and when they meet the right Dharma they are disliked by the right Dharma. Their body, mind, bones, and flesh have never lived following the Dharma, and so they are not in mutual accord with the Dharma; they do not receive and use [in harmony] with the Dharma. Founders of sects, teachers, and disciples have continued a transmission like this for a long time. They explain 113

40a

40b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

the bodhi-mind as if relating an old dream. How pitiful it is that, having been born on the treasure mountain, they do not know what treasure is and they do not see treasure. How much less could they [actually] get the treasure of Dharma? After they establish the bodhi-mind, even though they will pass through the cycle of the six states44 or the four modes of birth, 45 the causes

and conditions of that cyclical course will all become the actions and vows of the state of bodhi.Therefore, though they have wasted precious time in the past, as long as their present life continues they should, without delay, make the following vow: "I hope that I, together with all living beings, may hear the right Dharma through this life and through every life hereafter. If I am able to hear it, I will never doubt the right Dharma, and I will never be disbelieving. When I meet the right Dharma, I will discard secular rules and receive and retain the Buddha-Dharma so that the earth and sentient beings may finally realize the truth together.

" If we make a vow like this, it will naturally become the cause of, and conditions for, the authentic establishment of the mind. Do not neglect, or grow weary of, this attitude of mind. In this country of Japan, a remote corner beyond the oceans, people's minds are extremely stupid. Since ancient times, no saint has ever been born [here], nor anyone wise by nature: it is needless to say, then, that real men of learning the truth are very rare. When [a person] tells people who do not know the will to the truth about the will to the truth, the good advice offends their ears, and so they do not reflect upon themselves but [only] bear resentment toward the other person. As a general rule concerning actions and vows which are the bodhi-mind, we should not intend to let worldly people know whether or not we have established the bodhi-mind, or whether or not we are practicing the truth; we should endeavor to be unknown. How much less could we boast about ourselves? Because people today rarely seek what is real, when the praises of others are available, they seem to want someone to say that their practice and understanding have become harmonized, even though there is no practice in their body and no realization in their mind. "In delusion adding

to delusion"46 describes exactly this. We should throw away this wrongmindedness immediately. When learning the truth, what is difficult to see and to hear is the attitude of mind [based in] right Dharma. This attitude of mind is what has been transmitted and received by the buddhas, buddha to buddha. It has been transmitted and received as the Buddha's brightness, and as the 114

Chapter Nine

Buddha's mind. From the time when the Tathāgata was in the world until today, many people have seemed to consider that our concern in learning the truth47 is to get fame and gain. If, however, on meeting the teachings of a true master, they turn around and pursue the right Dharma, they will naturally attain the truth. We should be aware that the sickness described above might be present in the learning of the truth today. For example, among beginners and novices, and among veterans of long training, some have got the makings to receive the transmission of the truth and to pass on the behavior, and some have not got the makings. There may be some who have it in their nature to learn, in veneration of the ancients. There may also be insulting demons who will not learn. We should neither love nor resent either group. [Yet] how can we have no regret? How can we bear no resentment? Perhaps no one bears resentment because almost no one has recognized the three poisons as the three poisons.

48 Moreover, we should not forget the determination we had when we began the joyful pursuit of the Buddha's truth. That is to say, when we first establish the will, we are not seeking the Dharma out of concern for others, and, having discarded fame and gain [already], we are not seeking fame and gain: we are just singlemindedly aiming to get the truth. We are never expecting the veneration and offerings of kings and ministers. Nevertheless, such causes of and conditions for [the will to fame and gain] are present today. [Fame and gain] are not an original aim, and they are not [true] objects of pursuit. To become caught in the fetters that bind human beings and gods is [just] what we do not hope for. Foolish people, however, even those who have the will to the truth, soon forget their original resolve and mistakenly expect the offerings of human beings and gods, feeling glad that the merit of the Buddha-Dharma has come to them. If the devotions of kings and ministers are frequent, [foolish people] think,

"It is the realization of my

own moral way.

" This is one of the demons [that hinder] learning of the truth. Though we should not forget the mind of compassion, we should not rejoice [to receive devotion]. Do you remember the golden words of the Buddha, "Even while the Tathāgata is alive, there are many who have hate and envy. "49

Such is the principle that the stupid do not recognize the wise, and small animals make enemies of great saints. [230] Further, many of the ancestral masters of the Western Heavens have been destroyed by non-Buddhists, by the two vehicles, 50 by kings, and

115

40c

41a

41b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

so on;51 but this is never due to superiority on the part of the non-Buddhists, or lack of farsightedness on the part of the ancestral masters. After the First Patriarch52 came from the west, he hung up his traveling stick in the Suzan Mountains,

53 but neither Bu (Ch. Wu) of the Liang dynasty nor the ruler of the Wei dynasty knew who he was.

54 At the time, there was a pair of dogs

known as Bodhiruci Sanzō55 and Precepts Teacher Kōzu. Fearing that their empty fame and false gain might be thwarted by a right person, they behaved as if looking up at the sun in the sky and trying to blot it out. 56They are even

more terrible than Devadatta,

57 who [lived when the Buddha] was in the

world. How pitiful they are. The fame and profit that they58 love so deeply is more disgusting than filth to the ancestral master. That such facts occur is not due to any imperfection in the power of the Buddha-Dharma. We should remember that there are dogs who bark at good people. Do not worry about barking dogs. Bear them no grudge. Vow to lead them and to guide them. Explain to them,

"Though you are animals, you should establish the bodhimind. " A wise master of the past has said,

"These are just animals with human

faces.

" But there may also be a certain kind of demon which devotes itself and serves offerings to them. A former buddha has said, "Do not get close

to kings, princes, ministers, rulers, brahmans, or secular people. "59 This is

truly the form of behavior that people who want to learn the Buddha's truth should not forget. [When] bodhisattvas are at the start of learning, their virtue, in accordance with their progress, will pile up.

[232] Moreover, there have been examples since ancient times of the god Indra coming to test a practitioner's resolve, or of Māra-pāpīyas60coming to hinder a practitioner's training. These things always happened when [the practitioner] had not got rid of the will to fame and gain. When the [spirit of] great benevolence and great compassion is profound, and when the vow to widely save living beings is mature, these hindrances do not occur. There are cases when the power of practice naturally takes possession of a nation. There are cases when [a practitioner] seems to have achieved worldly fortune. At such times, reexamine the case carefully. Do not slumber on without regard to the particular case. Foolish people delight in [worldly fortune] like stupid dogs licking a dry bone. The wise and the sacred detest it as worldly people hate filth and excrement.

116

Chapter Nine

[233] In general, a beginner's sentimental thinking cannot imagine the Buddha's truth—[the beginner] fathoms but does not hit the target. Even though we do not fathom [the truth] as beginners, we should not deny that there is perfect realization in the ultimate state. [Still,] the inner depths61 of the perfect state are beyond the beginner's shallow consciousness. [The beginner] must just endeavor, through concrete conduct, to tread the path of the ancient saints. At this time, in visiting teachers and seeking the truth, there are mountains to climb and oceans to cross. While we are seeking a guiding teacher, or hoping to find a [good] counselor, one comes down from the heavens or springs out from the earth.

62At the place where we meet him,

he makes sentient beings speak the truth and makes nonsentient beings63 speak the truth, and we listen with body and listen with mind. "Listening

with the ears" is everyday tea and meals, but "hearing the sound through the eyes"64 is just the ambiguous,

65 or the undecided,

66 itself. In meeting Buddha,

we meet ourselves as buddha and others as buddha, and we meet great buddhas and small buddhas. Do not be surprised by or afraid of a great buddha. Do not doubt or worry about a small buddha. The great buddhas and small buddhas referred to here are recognized, presently, as the form of the mountains and the voices of the river valley. In this the wide and long tongue exists, and eighty-four thousand verses exist; the manifestation is "far transcendent, " and the insight is "unique and exceptional.

"67 For this reason, secular [teachings] say "It gets higher and higher, and harder and harder. "68And

a past buddha says,

"It pervades69the sky and pervades the meridians.

" Spring

pines possess constant freshness, and an autumn chrysanthemum possesses sublime beauty, but they are nothing other than the direct and concrete. 70

When good counselors arrive in this field of earth,

71they may be great masters

to human beings and gods. Someone who randomly affects the forms of teaching others, without arriving in this field of earth, is a great nuisance to human beings and gods. How could [people] who do not know the spring pines, and who do not see the autumn chrysanthemum, be worth the price of their straw sandals? How could they cut out the roots? [236] Furthermore, if the mind or the flesh grow lazy or disbelieving, we should wholeheartedly confess before the Buddha. When we do this, the power of the virtue of confessing before the Buddha saves us and makes us 117

41c

42a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

pure. This virtue can promote unhindered pure belief and fortitude. Once pure belief reveals itself, both self and the external world are moved [into action], and the benefit universally covers sentient and nonsentient beings. The general intention [of the confession] is as follows: I pray that although my many bad actions in the past have accumulated one after another, and there are causes and conditions which are obstructing the truth, the buddhas and the patriarchs who attained the truth by following the Buddha's Way will show compassion for me, that they will cause karmic accumulations to dissolve, and that they will remove obstacles to learning the truth. May their virtue, and their gates of Dharma, vastly fill and pervade the limitless Dharma world. Let me share in their compassion. In the past, Buddhist patriarchs were [the same as] us, and in the future we may become Buddhist patriarchs. When we look up at Buddhist patriarchs, they are one Buddhist patriarch, and when we reflect upon the establishment of the mind, it is one establishment of the mind. When [the Buddhist patriarchs] radiate their compassion in all directions,

72 we can grasp favorable opportunities

and we fall upon favorable opportunities. Therefore, in the words of Ryūge,

"If we did not attain perfection in past lives, we should attain perfection in the present. With this life we can deliver the body that is the accumulation of past lives. The eternal buddhas, before they realized the truth, were the same as people today. After realizing the truth, people today will be eternal buddhas.

"

Quietly, we should master this reasoning. This is direct experience of realizing the state of buddha. When we confess like this, the mystical help of the Buddhist patriarchs is invariably present. Disclosing the thoughts in our mind and the form of our body, we should confess to the Buddha. The power of confession causes the roots of wrongdoing to dissolve. This is right training of one color;74 it is right belief in the mind and right belief in the body. At the time of right training, the voices of the river valley and the form of the river valley, the form of the mountains and the voices of the mountains, all do not begrudge their eighty-four thousand verses. When the self does not begrudge fame and gain and body and mind, the river valley and the mountains, similarly, begrudge nothing. Even though the voices of the river 118

Chapter Nine

valley and the form of the mountains continue throughout the night to produce, and not to produce, eighty-four thousand verses,if you have not yet understood with all your effort that river valleys and mountains are demonstratingthemselves as river valleys and mountains, who could see and hear you as the voices of the river valley and the form of the mountains? Shōbōgenzō Keisei-sanshiki

Preached to the assembly at Kannondōrikōshōhōrinji five days after the start of the retreat in the second year of Enō.

75

119

Notes

1 Symbolizing dogged perseverance in pursuing the truth. 2 Master Taiso Eka. See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji. 3 In a past life as a bodhisattva, the Buddha spread his hair over a muddy puddle so that his master, Dīpaṃkara Buddha, could walk over it. 4 The Chinese poet So Tōba (1036-1101). Tōba was the poet's pen name. Kojiis a title used for a lay Buddhist (see Chapter Eight, Raihai-tokuzui,note 49). Soshoku was his formal name. He also used the name Shisen. Like Buddhist monks, men of literature in China often had many different names. 5 Hitsukai,lit.,

"the ocean of the brush.

"

6 He read the writings of excellent Buddhist masters. 7 Master Dōgen praised his ability as a poet. 8 A region of China famed for its beautiful scenery. 9 Master Shōkaku Jōsō (1025-1091), successor of Master Ōryū Enan. 10 The wide and long tongue is one of the thirty-two distinguishing marks of the Buddha. 11 Master Ōryū Enan (1002-1069), successor of Master Sekisō Soen. He lived on Mount Ōryū and was regarded as the founder of the Ōryū sect. His posthumous title is Zen Master Fukaku.

12 Master Jimyō (Sekisō) Soen (986-1039), successor of Master Fun'yō Zenshō. 13 Master Butsuin Ryōgen (1032-1098). Zen Master Butsuin is his posthumous title. 14 Genshin-seppō,

"manifesting body and preaching Dharma. " The expression derives

from chapter 25 (Kanzeon-bosatsu-fumon) of the Lotus Sutra,on Bodhisattva Avalo kiteśvara, who appears in different bodies in order to preach the Dharma to different beings. See LS 3.252.

15 Should we see them (idealistically) as an inclusive whole, or should we see them (materialistically) as a concrete half? 16 In other words, the study of nature is a gate of entry into Buddhism. Sanryū-sui-furyū,lit., "mountains flow, waters do not flow,

" expresses the relativity of nature.

121

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

17 Mujō-seppō, is the title of Chapter Fifty-three (Vol. III), which contains several stories about the preaching of Dharma by the nonemotional (i.e., nature). 18 His body did not somersault into the state of action under the master's words. 19 Isshōis a measure of capacity, approximately equal to 1.8 liters. 20 Chōshū,lit.,

"morning homage.

" The expression derives from the ancient custom in

China of making government decisions before the emperor in the morning. In this and the preceding sentence, Master Dōgen denies the two extreme views of materialism and idealism: only seeing things as isolated and concrete, and only revering general abstractions.

21 Master Kyōgen Chikan (d. 898), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. He originally took the precepts under Master Isan's master, Hyakujō Ekai, and later became a student of Master Isan himself. He wrote more than two hundred poems. 22 Master Isan Reiyū (771-853), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. Daii (or Isan) is the name of the mountain where he lived (Daiizan). The Tang emperor Sensō gave him the posthumous title Zen Master Daien. He became a monk when he was fifteen, and became a student of Master Hyakujō when he was twenty-three. He is known as the founder of the Igyō sect.

23 In other words, on the basis of the reality that transcends past, present, and future. 24 See Chapter Forty (Vol. II), Gabyō.

25 Monks only ate light snacks after the midday meal, so gruel for breakfast and the midday meal were the only two meals.

26 Baisenekisō.The job of the baisenekisōwas to wait on someone of high rank. 27 Master Nan'yō Echū (d. 775), successor of the Sixth Patriarch, Master Daikan Enō. National Master Daishō was his title as the emperor's teacher. After he retired, he built a hut on Mount Butō and lived there alone.

28 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 17. The version recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,in Chinese characters, is slightly different from the version in this chapter. 29 Master Reiun Shigon (dates unknown), also a successor of Master Isan Reiyū. 30 Symbolizing something very sharp and definite, or extreme. 31 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 55.

32 Master Chōsha Keishin (d. 868), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. At first he taught Buddhism by moving from place to place, without a temple of his own. After that he lived on Chōshazan. People at that time called him Shin Daichu or "Keishin the Tiger,

" because his teachings were so sharp and fast. Quoted several times in Chapter Sixty (Vol. III), Juppō.

33 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 16.

122

Chapter Nine

34 Master Rōya Ekaku, successor of Master Fun'yō Zenshō. Great Master Kōshō is his posthumous title. Rōya is the name of a mountain and of a district. 35 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744). Master Rōya Ekaku belonged to the eleventh generation after Master Nangaku Ejō, who was a successor of the Sixth Patriarch, Master Daikan Enō.

36 Chōsui Shisen (984-1038). He belonged to the Kegon sect, which is based on the study of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra(Garland Sutra). Before joining the Kegon sect, he had studied the Śūraṃgama-sūtra.

37 Chōsui Shisen's question and Master Rōya's question are exactly the same. Shisen asked about the relation between abstract essence and concrete reality. The master's rhetorical question suggested that the two factors are not different. See Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 6. 38 Refers to the story of the transmission between Gautama Buddha and Master Mahākāśyapa. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. IV), Udonge.

39 Refers to the story of the transmission between Master Bodhidharma and Master Taiso Eka, who prostrated himself three times and then stood at his own place. See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō.

40 The Buddha's description of his realization of the truth, as quoted in several sutras, for example, the second volume of the Shugyōhongikyō.

41 Kōin,lit.,

"light and shade,

" means passing time.

42 43 Shoko was a man who loved images of dragons. Seeing that Shoko's house was full of dragons, a real dragon decided to pay him a visit. But when Shoko saw the real dragon, he was struck with horror. The story of Shoko and the real dragon is contained in the Chinese book Sōji.

The words are originally from the Ryogonkyō (the Chinese translation of the Śūraṃ gama-sūtra). They were frequently used by Master Tendō Nyojō. 44 Rokushu,the six miserable states through which we pass according to the law of cause and effect: hell (symbolizing the state of suffering), hungry ghosts (symbolizing the state of greed), animals, asuras or angry demons, human beings, and gods. 45 Shishō,the four modes of birth: from the womb, from eggs, from moisture, and from metamorphosis. In Sanskrit, they are: jarāyuja, aṇḍaja, saṃsvedaja,and upapāduka. 46 Mei-chū-yū-mei.Master Dōgen used the same expression in the second paragraph of Chapter Three, Genjō-kōan.

47 Gakudō no yōjin,as in Master Dōgen's text Gakudōyōjinshū. 48 Sandoku,the three poisons: anger, greed, and delusion.

49 The Lotus Sutra, Hōsshi ("A Teacher of the Dharma") chapter. See LS 2.152. 123

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

50 Nijō,the first two of the four vehicles, which are namely: śrāvakas (intellectual Buddhists), pratyekabuddhas (sensory Buddhists), bodhisattvas (practical Buddhists), and buddhas.

51 The Western Heavens means India. It is said that Master Kāṇadeva, the fifteenth patriarch, was killed by non-Buddhists; Buddhamitra, the teacher of the twenty-first patriarch Vasubandhu, was defeated by non-Buddhists in a philosophical discussion; and Siṃhabhikṣu, the twenty-fourth patriarch, was executed by the king of Kaśmira (present-day Kashmir).

52 Master Bodhidharma. The twenty-eighth patriarch in India, and the First Patriarch in China.

53 In Chinese, Songshan. The Suzan Mountains have two main peaks. The eastern peak is called Taishitsu, and the western peak is called Shōshitsu. There were many Buddhist temples in these mountains. Shaolin (Jp. Shōrin) Temple, where Master Bodhidharma faced the wall in zazen, was on Shōshitsu Peak. 54 Related stories are in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji. 55 A north Indian who arrived in Luoyang in 508 and translated many Sanskrit texts into Chinese.

"Sanzō" was a title given to those versed in the Tripiṭaka. 56 They reportedly tried to poison Master Bodhidharma. 57 Devadatta was a cousin of the Buddha who became a monk in the Buddha's order, but later turned against him and tried to destroy the Buddhist order in cooperation with King Ajātaśatru (Jp. Ajase). 58 Nanjiis literally "you"

—an impolite form of address that Master Dōgen uses for the third person when criticizing. 59 In the Anrakugyō("Peaceful and Joyful Practice") chapter of the Lotus Sutra,the Buddha says to Mañjuśrī: "A bodhisattva mahāsattvashould not get close to kings, princes, ministers, and administrators. " See LS 2.244.

60 A deadly demon or devil. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and Chapter Seventy (Vol. III), Hotsu-bodaishin.

61 Dō-ō,lit.,

"inner sanctum.

"

62 Jū-chi-yūshutsu,

of the Lotus Sutra.

"Springing Out from the Earth, " is the title of the fifteenth chapter 63 In general, ujō,

beings. Mujō,

"sentient beings" means, for example, birds, animals, and human "nonsentient beings,

" or "the nonemotional,

" means, for example,

grass, trees, and stones. See Chapter Fifty-three (Vol. III), Mujō-seppō. 64 References to Master Tōzan's poem, quoted in Chapter Fifty-three (Vol. III), Mujōseppō: "How very wonderful! How very wonderful! The nonemotional preaching 124

Chapter Nine

Dharma is a mystery. If we listen with the ears, it is ultimately too difficult to understand. If we hear the sound through the eyes, we are able to know it. "

65 Kahitsu,or "why should it necessarily be?" See Chapter Three, Genjō-kōan, note 11. 66 Fuhitsu,or "not necessarily. "

67 The words "far transcendent" (keidatsu) and "unique and exceptional" (dokubatsu) are taken from Master Ungo Dōyō's preaching in the Rentōeyō,chapter 22: "When a single word is far transcendent, and unique and exceptional, then many words are not necessary. And many are not useful. " Datsu,

"transcendent,

" means to get rid of

something. So keidatsu,or "far transcendent, " suggests the state in which things are as they are, being far removed from the superfluous. 68 From the Rongo,the fundamental text of Confucianism. Ganen, a student of Confucius, praises Confucius (or his teaching) as follows: "When I look up at him, he gets higher and higher, and when I bore into him, he gets harder and harder. "

69 "More and more" and "pervades" are originally the same character, mi, iyo-iyo,used in the first quotation as an adverb (iyo-iyo) and in the second quotation as a verb (mi). 70 "The direct and concrete" is sokuze.These two characters are explained in detail in Chapter Six,Soku-shin-ze-butsu. 71 Denchi, or "paddy field,

" a symbol of the concrete state. 72 Shichitsu-hattatsu su,lit., "make into seven paths and eight destinations. "

73 Master Ryūge Kodon (835-923). A successor of Master Tōzan Ryōkai. 74 "Of one color" means pure or unadulterated. 75 1240.

125

Chapter 10: Shoaku-makusa - Not Doing Wrongs

[Chapter Ten] Shoaku-makusa Not Doing Wrongs Translator's Note: Shomeans or

"

many

"

not"

"

"

or

miscellaneous, " akumeans "

"

wrong

"bad,

So shoaku makusameans " makumeans or

"don

't,

"

and sameans "to do.

"

"

not doing wrong. "1 These words are quoted from a short poem called "The Seven Buddhas ' Universal Precept" :2 "Don

't do

wrong; do right; then our minds become pure naturally; this is the teaching of the many buddhas. " This poem tells us how closely the teaching of Buddhism is related to morals. In this chapter Master Dōgen teaches us the Buddhist theory of morality. Morality or ethics is, by its nature, a very practical problem. But most people are prone to forget the practical character of morality, and usually only discuss it with words or as an abstract theory. However, talking about morality is not the same as being moral. Morality is just doing right or not doing wrong. Here Master Dōgen explains real morality, quoting an interesting story about Master Chōka Dōrin and a famous Chinese poet called Haku Kyoi. [3] The eternal buddha says, Not to commit wrongs, 3

To practice the many kinds of right, 4

Naturally purifies the mind;5 This is the teaching of the buddhas. 6

This [teaching], as the universal precept of the ancestral patriarchs, the Seven Buddhas, has been authentically transmitted from former buddhas to later buddhas, and later buddhas have received its transmission from former buddhas. It is not only of the Seven Buddhas: "It is the teaching of all the buddhas. " We should consider this principle and master it in practice. These words of Dharma of the Seven Buddhas always sound like words of Dharma of the Seven Buddhas. What has been transmitted and been received one-to-oneis 127

42b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

just clarification of the real situation7 at this concrete place. This already "is the teaching of the buddhas"; it is the teaching, practice, and experience of hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of buddhas. [5] In regard to the "wrongs"8 that we are discussing now, among "rightness, " "wrongness,

" and "indifference,

" there is "wrongness.

" Its essence9

is just nonappearance.

10The essence of rightness, the essence of indifference, and so on are also nonappearance, are [the state] without excess, 11 and are

real form. At the same time,

12 at each concrete place these three properties13 include innumerable kinds of dharmas. In "wrongs, " there are similarities

and differences between wrong in this world and wrong in other worlds. There are similarities and differences between former times and latter times. There are similarities and differences between wrong in the heavens above and wrong in the human world. How much greater is the difference between moral wrong, moral right, and moral indifference in Buddhism and in the secular world. Right and wrong are time; time is not right or wrong. Right and wrong are the Dharma; the Dharma is not right or wrong. [When] the Dharma is in balance, wrong is in balance. 14[When] the Dharma is in balance,

right is in balance. This being so, when we learn [the supreme state of] anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi,when we hear the teachings, do training, and experience the fruit, it is profound, it is distant, and it is fine. [6] We hear of this supreme state of bodhi"sometimes following [good] counselors and sometimes following sutras. "15At the beginning, the sound

of it is "Do not commit wrongs.

" If it does not sound like "Do not commit wrongs,

" it is not the Buddha's right Dharma; it may be the teaching of demons. Remember, [teaching] that sounds like "Do not commit wrongs" is the Buddha's right Dharma. This [teaching] "Do not commit wrongs" was not intentionally initiated, and then intentionally maintained in its present form, by the common person: when we hear teaching that has [naturally] become the preaching of bodhi,it sounds like this. What sounds like this is speech which is the supreme state of bodhiin words. It is bodhi-speech already, and so it speaks bodhi.

16 When it becomes the preaching of the

supreme state of bodhi, and when we are changed by hearing it, we hope "not to commit wrongs,

" we continue enacting "not to commit wrongs, " and

wrongs go on not being committed; in this situation the power of practice is instantly realized. This realization is realized on the scale of the whole earth, 128

Chapter Ten

the whole world, the whole of time, and the whole of Dharma. And the scale of this [realization] is the scale of "not committing. " For people of just this

reality, at the moment of just this reality17

—even if they live at a place and

come and go at a place where they could commit wrongs, even if they face circumstances in which they could commit wrongs, and even if they seem to mix with friends who do commit wrongs—wrongs can never be committed at all. The power of not committing is realized, and so wrongs cannot voice themselves as wrongs, and wrongs lack an established set of tools. 18 There

is the Buddhist truth of taking up at one moment, and letting go at one moment.

19At just this moment, the truth is known that wrong does not violate a person, and the truth is clarified that a person does not destroy wrong. 20

When we devote our whole mind to practice, and when we devote the whole body to practice, there is eighty or ninety percent realization21 [of not committing wrongs] just before the moment, and there is the fact of not having committed just behind the brain.

22When you practice by garnering your own

body and mind, and when you practice by garnering the body and mind of "anyone,

"23the power of practicing with the four elements and the five aggregates is realized at once;24 but the four elements and five aggregates do not taint25 the self. [All things,] even the four elements and five aggregates of today, carry on being practiced; and the power which the four elements and five aggregates have as practice in the present moment makes the four elements and five aggregates, as described above, into practice. 26 When we

cause even the mountains, rivers, and the earth, and the sun, moon, and stars, to do practice, the mountains, rivers, and the earth, the sun, moon, and stars, in their turn, make us practice.

27 [This is] not a onetime eye; it is vigorous

eyes at many times.

28 Because [those times] are moments in which the eye is present as vigorous eyes, they make the buddhas and the patriarchs practice, make them listen to the teachings, and make them experience the fruit. The buddhas and the patriarchs have never made the teachings, practice, and experience tainted, and so the teachings, practice, and experience have never hindered the buddhas and the patriarchs.

29 For this reason, when [teachings,

practice, and experience] compel the Buddhist patriarchs to practice, there are no buddhas or patriarchs who flee, before the moment or after the moment, in the past, present, or future.

129

42c

43a

43b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

[10] In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down through the twelve hours,

30 we should carefully consider the fact that when living beings are becoming buddhas and becoming patriarchs, we are becoming Buddhist patriarchs, even though this [becoming] does not hinder the [state of a] Buddhist patriarch that has always belonged to us. In becoming a Buddhist patriarch, we do not destroy the living being, do not detract from it, and do not lose it; nevertheless, we have got rid of it. We cause right-and-wrong, cause-and-effect, to practice; but this does not mean disturbing, or intentionally producing, cause-and-effect. Cause-and-effect itself, at times, makes us practice. The state in which the original features of this cause-and-effect have already become conspicuous is "not committing, " it is ["the state] without

appearance,

" it is ["the state] without constancy, " it is "not being unclear,

"

and it is "not falling down"

—because it is the state in which [body and mind] have fallen away.

31

[11] When we investigate them like this, wrongs are realized as having become completely the same as "not committing. " Aided by this realization,

we can penetrate32 the "not committing" of wrongs, and we can realize it decisively by sitting.

33 Just at this moment—when reality is realized as the "not committing" of wrongs at the beginning, middle, and end—wrongs do not arise from causes and conditions; they are nothing other than just "not committing.

"34Wrongs do not vanish due to causes and conditions; they are nothing other than just "not committing. " If wrongs are in balance, all dharmas are in balance. Those who recognize that wrongs arise from causes and conditions, but do not see that these causes and conditions and they themselves are [the reality of] "not committing, " are pitiful people.

"The seeds of buddhahood arise from conditions" and, this being so, "conditions arise from

the seeds of buddhahood.

" It is not that wrongs do not exist; they are nothing other than "not committing.

" It is not that wrongs exist; they are nothing other than not committing. Wrongs are not immaterial; they are "not committing. "

Wrongs are not material; they are "not committing. " Wrongs are not "not

committing;" they are nothing other than "not committing. "35[Similarly,] for

example, spring pines are neither nonexistence nor existence; they are "not committing.

"36An autumn chrysanthemum is neither existence nor nonexistence; it is "not committing. " The buddhas are neither existence nor nonexistence; they are "not committing. " Such things as an outdoor pillar, a stone 130

Chapter Ten

lantern, a whisk, and a staff are neither existence nor nonexistence;they are "not committing.

" The self is neither existence nor nonexistence; it is "not committing.

" Learning in practice like this is the realized universe and it is universal realization—we consider it from the standpoint of the subject and we consider it from the standpoint of the object. When the state has become like this already, even the regret that "I have committed what was not to be committed" is also nothing other than energy arising from the effort "not to commit.

" But to purport, in that case, that if "not committing" is so we might deliberately commit [wrongs], is like walking north and expecting to arrive at [the southern country of] Etsu. [The relation between] "wrongs" and "not committing" is not only "a well looking at a donkey";37 it is the well looking at the well, the donkey looking at the donkey, a human being looking at a human being, and a mountain looking at a mountain. Because there is "preaching of this principle of mutual accordance, " "wrongs" are "not committing.

"

The Buddha's true Dharma body38

Is just like space.

It manifests its form according to things, Like the moon [reflected] in water. 39

Because "not committing" is "accordance with things, " "not committing"

has "manifest form.

" "It is just like space": it is the clapping of hands to the left and the clapping of hands to the right. 40 "It is like the moon [reflected] in water": and the water restricted by the moon. 41 Such instances of "not committing" are the realization of reality which should never be doubted at all. [14]"Practice the many kinds of right. "42These many kinds of right are [classed] within the three properties43 as "rightness. " Even though the many

kinds of right are included in "rightness, " there has never been any kind of right that is realized beforehand and that then waits for someone to do it. 44

There is none among the many kinds of right that fails to appear at the very moment of doing right. The myriad kinds of right have no set shape but they converge on the place of doing right faster than iron to a magnet, 45 and with

a force stronger than the vairambhakawinds. 46 It is utterly impossible for

the earth, mountains and rivers, the world, a nation, or even the force of accumulated karma, to hinder [this] coming together of right. 47At the same time,

the principle that recognitions differ from world to world, 48 in regard to right,

131

43c

44a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

is the same [as in regard to wrong]. What can be recognized [as right] is called right, and so it is "like the manner in which the buddhas of the three times preach the Dharma.

" The similarity is that their preaching of Dharma

when they are in the world is just temporal. Because their lifetime and body size also have continued to rely totally upon the moment, they "preach the Dharma that is without distinction.

"49 So it is like the situation that right as

a characteristic of devotional practice50and right as a characteristic of Dharma practice,

51 which are far removed from each other, are not different things. Or, for example, it is like the keeping of the precepts by a śrāvakabeing the violation of the precepts by a bodhisattva. The many kinds of right do not arise from causes and conditions and they do not vanish due to causes and conditions. The many kinds of right are real dharmas, but real dharmas are not many kinds of right. Causes and conditions, arising and vanishing, and the many kinds of right are similar in that if they are correct at the beginning, they are correct at the end. The many kinds of right are "good doing"52 but they are neither of the doer nor known by the doer, and they are neither of the other nor known by the other. As regards the knowing and the seeing of the self and of the other, in knowing there is the self and there is the other, and in seeing there is the self and there is the other, and thus individual vigorous eyes exist in the sun and in the moon. This state is "good doing" itself. At just this moment of "good doing" the realized universe exists but it is not "the creation of the universe,

" and it is not "the eternal existence of the universe. " How much less could we call it "original practice"?53 Doing right is "good doing,

" but it is not something that can be fathomed intellectually. "Good doing" in the present is a vigorous eye, but it is beyond intellectual consideration. [Vigorous eyes] are not realized for the purpose of considering the Dharma intellectually. Consideration by vigorous eyes is never the same as consideration by other things. The many kinds of right are beyond existence and nonexistence, matter and the immaterial, and so on; they are just nothing other than "good doing.

" Wherever they are realized and whenever they are

realized, they are, without exception,

"good doing.

" This "good doing"

inevitably includes the realization of the many kinds of right. The realization of "good doing" is the universe itself, but it is beyond arising and vanishing, and it is beyond causes and conditions. Entering, staying, leaving, and other [concrete examples of] "good doing" are also like this. At the place where 132

Chapter Ten

we are already performing, as "good doing, " a single right among the many kinds of right, the entire Dharma, the whole body, 54 the real land, and so on are all enacted as "good doing. " The cause-and-effect of this right, similarly, is the universe as the realization of "good doing. " It is not that causes are before and effects are after. Rather, causes perfectly satisfy themselves and effects perfectly satisfy themselves; when causes are in balance the Dharma is in balance and when effects are in balance the Dharma is in balance. Awaited by causes, effects are felt, but it is not a matter of before and after; for the truth is present that the [moment] before and the [moment] after are balanced [as they are].

[19]The meaning of "Naturally purifies the mind" is as follows: What is "natural" is "not to commit, " and what "purifies" is "not to commit. " "The

[concrete state"]55 is "natural, " and the "mind"56 is "natural. " "The [concrete

state"] is "not committing, " the "mind" is "not committing. " The "mind" is

"good doing,

" what "purifies" is "good doing, " "the [concrete state"] is "good doing,

" and what is "natural" is "good doing. " Therefore it is said that "This is the teaching of the buddhas. " Those who are called "buddhas" are, in some cases, like Śiva,

57 [but] there are similarities and differences even among Śivas, and at the same time not all Śivas are buddhas. [Buddhas] are, in some cases, like wheel-turning kings, 58 but not all sacred wheel-turning kings are buddhas. We should consider facts like these and learn them in practice. If we do not learn how buddhas should be, even if we seem to be fruitlessly enduring hardship, we are only ordinary beings accepting suffering; we are not practicing the Buddha's truth. "Not committing" and "good doing" are "donkey business not having gone away and horse business coming in. "59

[20] Haku Kyoi60 of Tang China is a lay disciple of Zen Master Bukkō Nyoman,

61 and a second-generation disciple of Zen Master Kōzei Daijaku. 62

When he was the governor of Hangzhou63 district he practiced in the order of Zen Master Chōka Dōrin. 64 In the story, Kyoi asks, "What is the great

intention of the Buddha-Dharma?" Dōrin says,

"Not to commit wrongs. To practice the many kinds of right.

"65

Kyoi says,

"If it is so, even a child of three can express it!" Dōrin says,

"A child of three can speak the truth, but an old man of eighty cannot practice it. "

133

44b

44c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

Thus informed, Kyoi makes at once a prostration of thanks, and then leaves.

[21] Kyoi, though descended from Haku Shōgun,

66 is truly a wizard of

the verse who is rare through the ages. People call him one of the twentyfour [great] men of letters. He bears the name of Mañjuśrī, or bears the name of Maitreya. Nowhere do his poetical sentiments go unheard and no one could fail to pay homage to his authority in the literary world. Nevertheless, in Buddhism he is a beginner and a late learner. Moreover, it seems that he has never seen the point of this "Not to commit wrongs. To practice the many kinds of right,

" even in a dream. Kyoi thinks that Dōrin is only telling him "Do not commit wrongs! Practice the many kinds of right!" through recognition of the conscious aim. Thus, he neither knows nor hears the truth that the time-honored67 [teaching] of the "not committing" of wrongs, the "good doing" of rights, has been in Buddhism from the eternal past to the eternal present. He has not set foot in the area of the Buddha-Dharma. He does not have the power of the Buddha-Dharma. Therefore he speaks like this. Even though we caution against the intentional commitment of wrongs, and even though we encourage the deliberate practice of rights, this should be in the reality of "not committing.

" In general, the Buddha-Dharma is [always] the

same, whether it is being heard for the first time under a [good] counselor, or whether it is being experienced in the state which is the ultimate effect. This is called "correct in the beginning, correct at the end, " called "the wonderful cause and the wonderful effect, " and called "the Buddhist cause and

the Buddhist effect.

" Cause-and-effect in Buddhism is beyond discussion of [theories] such as "different maturation" or "equal streams";68 this being so, without Buddhist causes, we cannot experience the Buddhist effect. Because Dōrin speaks this truth, he possesses the Buddha-Dharma. Even if wrong upon wrong pervade the whole universe, and even if wrongs have swallowed the whole Dharma again and again, there is still salvation and liberation in "not committing.

" Because the many kinds of right are "right at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end,

"69 "good doing" has realized "nature, form,

body, energy,

" and so on "as they are.

"70 Kyoi has never trodden in these

tracks at all, and so he says "Even a child of three could express it!" He speaks like this without actually being able to express an expression of the truth. How pitiful, Kyoi, you are. Just what are you saying? You have never 134

Chapter Ten

heard the customs of the Buddha, so do you or do you not know a three-yearold child? Do you or do you not know the facts of a newborn baby? Someone who knows a three-year-old child must also know the buddhas of the three times. How could someone who has never known the buddhas of the three times know a three-year-old child? Do not think that to have met face-toface is to have known. Do not think that without meeting face-to-face one does not know. Someone who has come to know a single particle knows the whole universe, and someone who has penetrated one real dharmahas penetrated the myriad dharmas. Someone who has not penetrated the myriad dharmas has not penetrated one real dharma.When students of penetration penetrate to the end, they see the myriad dharmas and they see single real dharmas; therefore, people who are learning of a single particle are inevitably learning of the whole universe. To think that a three-year-old child cannot speak the Buddha-Dharma, and to think that what a three-year-old child says must be easy, is very stupid. That is because the clarification of life, 71 and

the clarification of death, are "the one great purpose"72of Buddhists. A master of the past73 says,

"Just at the time of your birth you had your share of the lion's roar.

"74 "A share of the lion's roar" means the virtue of the Tathāgata to turn the Dharma wheel, or the turning of the Dharma wheel itself. Another master of the past75 says,

"Living-and-dying, coming-and-going, are the real

human body.

" So to clarify the real body and to have the virtue of the lion's roar may truly be the one great matter, which can never be easy. For this reason, the clarification of the motives and actions of a three-year-old child are also the great purpose. Now there are differences between the actions and motives of the buddhas of the three times [and those of children]; this is why Kyoi, in his stupidity, has never been able to hear a three-year-old child speaking the truth, and why, not even suspecting that [a child's speaking of the truth] might exist, he talks as he does. He does not hear Dōrin's voice, which is more vivid than thunder, and so he says,

"Even a child of three

could express it!" as if to say that [Master Dōrin himself] has not expressed the truth in his words. Thus [Kyoi] does not hear the lion's roar of an infant, and he passes vainly by the Zen master's turning of the Dharma wheel. The Zen master, unable to contain his compassion, went on to say, "A child of

three can speak the truth, but an old man of eighty cannot practice it. " What

he was saying is this:

135

45a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I 45b

A child of three has words which express the truth, and you should investigate this thoroughly. Old men of eighty say, "I cannot practice it,

" and you should consider this carefully. I leave you to decide whether an infant speaks the truth, but I do not leave the infant to decide. I leave you to decide whether an old man can practice, but I do not leave the old man to decide. 76

It is the fundamental principle to pursue, to preach, and to honor the Buddha-Dharma like this. Shōbōgenzō Shoaku-makusa Preached to the assembly at Kōshōhōrinji on the evening of the moon77 in the [second] year of Enō.

78

136

Notes

1 The meaning of shoaku-makusachanges in this chapter according to context. It can sometimes be interpreted as the imperative "Don't do wrong" or the ideal "not to do wrong.

" But sometimes it represents Master Dōgen's idea that morality is only a problem of action—the not-committing of wrong. 2 Shichibutsu-tsūkai. Shichibutsurefers to Śākyamuni Buddha and the six legendary buddhas who preceded him. See Chapter Fifteen, Busso. 3 Shoaku-makusa,lit.,

"Do not commit wrongs.

" Shomeans various, miscellaneous,

or all, and sometimes it simply expresses plurality. Akumeans evil, bad, wrongdoing, or wrong. Makusa,

"wrongs,

" suggests individual instances of wrongdoing as concrete facts, rather than wrong as an abstract problem. Maku,or naka[re], means "must not" or "don't!" Sa, ortsuku[ru], means to make, to produce, or to commit—it includes a suggestion of intention. It is useful to distinguish the characters sa and gyō;they both mean to do, but sahas more of a feeling of doing intentionally. This chapter contains the idea that, naturally, wrongdoing does not occur; i.e., without our intentional commitment, there is no wrong.

4 Shūzen-bugyō,lit.,

"devoutly practice the many kinds of good, " or "good doing of

the many kinds of right.

" Shūmeans many or many kinds of. Zenmeans good, or right. Shūzen,or "the many kinds of right, " suggests concrete instances of right as opposed to right as an abstraction. Buis a prefix denoting reverence or devotion. Gyō, or okona[u], means to do, to perform, to enact, or to keep moving along. Bugyō,or "good doing,

" has a feeling of doing what is natural, as opposed to intentional commitment. 5 Jijō-go-i.According to context, jican be interpreted either as by oneself or as naturally. The interpretation here is that the verse is not a recommendation to be moral but a proclamation of the Buddha's teaching that moral conduct is just purification of the mind. Accordingly, jihas been translated as "naturally. " Jōmeans to purify. Go,or

so[no], means "that,

" suggesting something concrete and specific. Imeans intention but here the meaning is more practical: it suggests the state of the mind (and body) in action.

6 Ze-shobutsu-kyō. Shobutsucan be interpreted as "the buddhas" or as "all the buddhas. "

In Pāli, the poem is: Sabba-pāpass akaraṇam,/kuselassūpasampada,/sacitta-pariyodapanaṃ,/etam buddhana sasanaṃ. 137

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

7 "Clarification of the real situation" is tsūshōsoku. Tsusuggests penetration, clarification, opening up, running through (or universality, as in tsukai,universal precept). Shōsoku originally means exhalation and inhalation, and by extension something that is heard from someone, news, actual circumstances, the real situation. 8 Shoaku,as in the original poem. 9 Shō.In the previous sentence,

is akushō, lit.,

"

essence.

"rightness" is zenshō,lit.,

"bad-essence"; and "indifference" is muki sho,lit., "good-essence"; "wrongness"

"not-described-10 In this sentence Master Dōgen begins his conceptual explanation of right and wrong by introducing the idea of instantaneousness. Nonappearance (mushō) describes the state at the moment of the present. 11 Murō,lit.,

"without leakage,

" from the Sanskrit (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms under āsrava), suggests the state in which things are as they are. 12 Master Dōgen is explaining right and wrong as reality. In the previous sentences he began by explaining them as inclusive concepts, in the first or conceptual phase. From here he explains them as concrete, individual, and relative facts, at the second or concrete phase. 13 Rightness, wrongness, and indifference. 14 Hōtō-akutō,or "Dharma in equilibrium, bad in equilibrium, " suggests the balanced

state in which a bad fact is seen as it is. 15 Waku-jū-chishiki and waku-jū-kyōgan.These phrases appear frequently in the Shōbōgenzō. 16 "Bodhi-speech" is bodai-go; "speaking bodhi" is go-bodai.Up to this sentence Master Dōgen affirms "Do not do wrong" as words of the truth. From the next sentence, he looks at the concrete reality of practice. 17 Shōtō-inmo-ji no shōtō-inmo-nin. Shōtō,or "exact, " suggests exactly this time and place. Shoto-inmo-ji,or "at just this moment" is a very common expression in the Shōbōgenzō.

18 Master Dōgen emphasizes that if we do not do wrong, there can never be any wrong. 19 Ichinen-ippō,lit.,

"one pinch, one release.

" Nen,to twist, pinch, or grasp, symbolizes positive action. Hō,to release, symbolizes passive action. 20 Master Dōgen denies the idea that something exists that can be called wrong, bad, or evil outside of our own conduct. 21 Hakkujō.See Chapter Thirty-three (Vol. II), Kannon. 22 Nōgo.The usual expression, which appears in the last sentence of this paragraph, is kisen-kigo,

"before the moment, after the moment. " The variation nōgo,

"behind the

brain,

" suggests the area in which action has taken place already. 138

Chapter Ten

23 Tare,lit.,

described.

"who,

" suggests someone ineffable, or a person whose state cannot be 24 The four elements and five aggregates symbolize all physical things and mental phenomena. 25 Zenna sezu,

"not tainted,

" expresses something as is. When we act we have to use physical things but they do not make us impure. 26 In this sentence, Master Dōgen suggests the oneness of concrete circumstances and Buddhist practice.

27 This sentence also suggests the mutual relation between a Buddhist practitioner and nature—in a more poetic style. 28 The Buddhist view is not a once-and-for-all realization, but it appears vigorously at many times.

29 "Unhindered" and "untainted" both express something as it is. Buddhist teachings, practice, and experience exist as they are. Buddhas and patriarchs live freely and independently, as they are.

30 Juni-ji,lit.,

"twelve hours,

" means the twenty-four hours of a day—at that time, the day was divided into twelve periods. See Chapter Eleven, Uji. 31 "Not committing" is makusa,as in the poem. "The state without appearance" (mushō) and "the state without constancy" (mujō) suggest concrete reality at the moment of the present from two sides—denial of momentary appearance and denial of continuous existence.

"Not being unclear [about cause and effect]" (fumai) and "not falling down into [cause and effect]" (furaku) represent opposing viewpoints about the reality of cause-and-effect (see Chapter Seventy-six [Vol. IV], Dai-shugyō;Chapter Eightynine [Vol. IV], Shinjin-inga). "Falling away" is datsuraku.Master Dōgen frequently quoted Master Tendō Nyojō's words that zazen is shinjin-datsuraku, "the falling away

of body and mind.

"

32 Kentokutetsu, or "can see thoroughly. "

33 Zatokudan,or "can sit decisively. " Master Dōgen often uses the word zadan, "sitcut" or "sit away,

" to mean transcending a problem by practicing zazen (see for example, Chapter Seventy-three [Vol. IV], Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunpō). But in this case, danis an adverb; "decisively.

"

34 Master Dōgen denies the idea that something called wrongness manifests itself from real circumstances, as if the wrongness and the reality might be two different things. In this paragraph he emphasizes that there is no wrongness separate from the reality of our momentary action.

35 Master Dōgen emphasized that wrong is only the problem of not doing wrong. 36 In other words, pine trees in spring exist as they are, without any intentional activity. 139

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

37 See Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 25. "Master Sōsan asks Ācārya Toku,

'It is said that

the Buddha's true Dharma body is just like space, and it manifests its form according to things, like the moon [reflected] in water. How do you preach this principle of mutual accordance?' Toku says,

'It is like a donkey looking into a well. ' The master

says,

'Your words are extremely nice words, but they only express eighty or ninety percent.

' Toku says,

'What would the master say?' Master Sōsan says, 'It is like the

well looking at the donkey.

'" The story expresses the mutual relation between subject and object.

38 Hōsshin,from the Sanskrit dharmakāya.In this case, the Dharma body represents the spiritual or abstract face of reality, and space represents the physical or objective face of reality. The poem suggests the oneness of the two faces. 39 This verse from the Konkōmyōkyō,quoted in the story of Master Sōzan and Ācārya Toku, is also quoted in Chapter Forty-two (Vol. III), Tsuki. 40 In this sentence, space means the place where action is done. 41 The image of the moon can be compared to the individual subject, and the water which surrounds the image can be compared to objective circumstances. Water reflecting the moon symbolizes the oneness of subject and object. The moon restricting the water suggests the fact from the other side, with subject and object reversed. 42 Shūzen-bugyō,lit.,

"devoutly practice the many [kinds of] good, " as in the original poem.

43 The three properties are rightness, wrongness, and indifference, as explained in the second paragraph.

44 Even though we can consider rightness abstractly, right itself can only be realized by action in the moment of the present. 45 Even though abstract rightness cannot manifest any form, in action right can manifest itself at once.

46 Very strong winds mentioned in ancient Indian legends. 47 In these opening sentences of the paragraph, Master Dōgen affirms the existence of right when realized by action. From the next sentence he explains right as something relative.

48 The usual example is water which fish see as a palace, gods see as a string of pearls, human beings see as water, and demons see as blood or pus. 49 Mufunbetsu[no] hō[o] toku,from the Hōben("Expedient Means") chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

"In the same manner that the buddhas of the three times/Preach the Dharma,/So now do I also/Preach the Dharma which is without distinction. " (LS

1.128)

50 Shingyō,or "practice based on belief" suggests, for example, the devotional practice of the Pure Land sects.

140

Chapter Ten

51 Hogyō,or "practice based on the teaching of Dharma, " suggests, for example, the

practice of the so-called Zen sects.

52 Bugyō,or "devout practicing" as in the original poem. 53 Hongyō,

"original practice,

" suggests practice done as our original situation, or practice done in the past, or sometimes practice done in past lives. See Chapter Seventeen, Hokke-ten-hokke.In this case, hongyōis one example of an abstract understanding of action.

54 Zenshin.See Chapter Seventy-one (Vol. III), Nyorai-zenshin. 55 "The" is go, sono,which means "that, " suggesting the concrete, real state. See note 5. 56 "Mind" is i, lit.,

"intention.

" In general, human intention is opposed to the natural way, but the message of this chapter is that the mind of morality is natural. 57 Jizaiten represents the god called Śiva in Sanskrit, the god of destruction and regeneration in the Hindu triad of Brahmā (creator), Śiva, and Viṣṇu (preserver). See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Ten-rin-jō-ō, from the Sanskrit cakravarti-rāja.Master Dōgen is urging us to come to a realistic understanding of what buddhas are. Master Chōkei Eryō asks Master Reiun Shigon, "What is the Great Intention of the

Buddha-Dharma?" Master Reiun says,

"Donkey business being unfinished, but horse business coming in.

" See Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 2, no. 56. Haku Kyoi, died in in 846 at the age of seventy-six. Haku was his family name. Kyoi (lit., Sitting Easy) was one of his pen names as a poet. He was also called Haku Rakuten. It is said that he attained the truth under Master Bukkō Nyoman, after which he became the governor of several districts, visiting masters whose temples were in his district and practicing zazen.

Successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Dates unknown. Master Baso Dōitsu (704-788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejō. Kōzei (or Jiangxi in Chinese pronunciation) was the name of the district where Master Baso lived. Zen Master Daijaku is his posthumous title. The capital of Chekiang, located at the head of Hangzhou Bay (an inlet of the East China Sea).

Master Chōka Dōrin, died in 824 at the age of eighty-four. He received the Dharma from Master Kinzan Kokuitsu, who belonged to a side lineage (going back to the Fourth Patriarch Daii Dōshin, but not going through Master Daikan Enō). Chōka means bird's nest; it is said that Master Chōka practiced zazen in, and lived in, a treehouse. Shoaku-makusa, shūzen-bugyō, as in the original poem. 141