T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume I

Chapter 11: Uji - Existence-time

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

66 Hakki, a general of the founder of the Jin dynasty (who reigned from 255 to 250 B.C.E.). The general was famed for his excellence in military strategy. In this sentence, military ability and ability as a poet are opposed. 67 Senko-banko,lit.,

"thousand-ages old, ten-thousand ages old. "

68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 The theory that moral and immoral behavior produce different results is represented by the word ijuku,lit.,

"different maturation.

" This expresses the moral viewpoint.

The opposing theory is represented by the word toru, lit., "equal streams.

" This

expresses the scientific view of cause and effect; that is, the view that is not concerned with subjective evaluation of cause and effect. Shochūgo-zen, from the Introductory chapter (Jo) of the Lotus Sutra:"The Dharma that they should preach is good in the beginning, middle, and end. " (LS 1.40; see

also Chapter Seventeen, Hokke-ten-hokke.) Alludes to the Hōben("Expedient Means") chapter of the Lotus Sutra.See LS 1.68. Shomeans both birth and life.

Ichidaiji no innen.See Chapter Seventeen, Hokke-ten-hokke. The quotation is paraphrased from Daichidoron,the Chinese translation of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra.This treatise was largely compiled by Master Nāgārjuna. The Buddha's preaching was said to be like the roar of a lion. Master Engo Kokugon. This quotation also appears in Chapter Fifty (Vol. III), Shohōjissō. A child's expression of the truth and an old man's ability to practice are just reality— they do not rely upon interpretation by the subject. The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, often the day of the year on which the moon is most conspicuous. Many chapters of the Shōbōgenzōwere preached on this day.

78 1240.

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[Chapter Eleven]

Uji

Existence-time

Translator's Note:Umeans "

existence

"

and jimeans

"time,

"

so ujimeans

"

existent time,

"

"

or

existence-time.

" In this chapter Master Dōgen teaches us the meaning of time in Buddhism. As Master Dōgen explains in other chapters, Buddhism is realism. Therefore, the view of time in Buddhism is always very realistic. Specifically, time is always related with existence and existence is always related with momentary time. So in reality, the past and the future are not existent time; the present moment is the only existent time— the point at which existence and time come together. Also, time is always related with action here and now. Action can only be realized in time, and time can only be realized in action. Thus, the view of time in Buddhism reminds us of existentialism in modern philosophy. It is very important to understand the Buddhist view of time in order to grasp the true meaning of Buddhism. [29] An eternal buddha1 says, Sometimes2 standing on top of the highest peak, Sometimes moving along the bottom of the deepest ocean. Sometimes three heads and eight arms, 3

Sometimes the sixteen-foot or eight-foot [golden body]. 4

Sometimes a staff or a whisk, 5

Sometimes an outdoor pillar or a stone lantern. 6

Sometimes the third son of Chang or the fourth son of Li, Sometimes the earth and space. [30] In this word "sometimes, " time is already just existence, and all existence is time. The sixteen-foot golden body is time itself. Because it is time, it has the resplendent brightness of time. We should learn it as the twelve hours7 of today. The three heads and eight arms are time itself. Because they are time, they are completely the same as the twelve hours of today. We can 143

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never measure how long and distant or how short and pressing twelve hours is; at the same time, we call it "twelve hours.

"8 The leaving and coming of

the directions and traces [of time] are clear, and so people do not doubt it. They do not doubt it, but that does not mean they know it. The doubts which living beings, by our nature, have about every thing and every fact that we do not know, are not consistent; therefore our past history of doubt does not always exactly match our doubt now. We can say for the present, however, that doubt is nothing other than time. We put our self in order, and see [the resulting state] as the whole universe. Each individual and each object in this whole universe should be glimpsed as individual moments of time. 9

Object does not hinder object in the same way that moment of time does not hinder moment of time. For this reason, there are minds which are made up in the same moment of time, and there are moments of time in which the same mind is made up. Practice, and realization of the truth, are also like this.

10 Putting the self in order, we see what it is. The truth that self is time is like this. We should learn in practice that, because of this truth, the whole earth includes myriad phenomena and hundreds of things, and each phenomenon and each thing exists in the whole earth. Such toing-and-froing is a first step [on the way] of practice. When we arrive in the field of the ineffable, 11

there is just one [concrete] thing and one [concrete] phenomenon, here and now, [beyond] understanding of phenomena and non-understanding of phenomena, and [beyond] understanding of things and non-understanding of things. Because [real existence] is only this exact moment, all moments of existence-time are the whole of time, and all existent things and all existent phenomena are time. The whole of existence, the whole universe, exists in individual moments of time.

12 Let us pause to reflect whether or not any of

the whole of existence or any of the whole universe has leaked away from the present moment of time. Yet in the time of the common person who does not learn the Buddha-Dharma there are views and opinions: when he hears the words "existence-time" he thinks,

"Sometimes I became [an angry demon

with] three heads and eight arms, and sometimes I became the sixteen-foot or eight-foot [golden body of Buddha]. For example, it was like crossing a river or crossing a mountain. The mountain and the river may still exist, but now that I have crossed them and am living in a jeweled palace with crimson towers, the mountain and the river are [as distant] from me as heaven is from 144

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the earth.

" But true reasoning is not limited to this one line [of thought]. That is to say, when I was climbing a mountain or crossing a river, I was there in that time. There must have been time in me. And I actually exist now, [so] time could not have departed. If time does not have the form of leaving and coming, the time of climbing a mountain is the present as existence-time. 13

If time does retain the form of leaving and coming, I have this present moment of existence-time, which is just existence-time itself. 14 How could that time

of climbing the mountain and crossing the river fail to swallow, and fail to vomit, this time [now] in the jeweled palace with crimson towers?15 The three heads and eight arms were time yesterday; the sixteen-foot or eightfoot [golden body] is time today. Even so, this Buddhist principle of yesterday and today is just about moments in which we go directly into the mountains and look out across a thousand or ten thousand peaks; it is not about what has passed. The three heads and eight arms pass instantly as my existencetime; though they seem to be in the distance, they are [moments of] the present. The sixteen-foot or eight-foot [golden body] also passes instantly as my existence-time; though it seems to be yonder, it is [moments of] the present. This being so, pine trees are time, and bamboos are time. We should not understand only that time flies. We should not learn that "flying" is the only ability of time. If we just left time to fly away, some gaps in it might appear. Those who fail to experience and to hear the truth of existence-time do so because they understand [time] only as having passed. To grasp the pivot and express it: all that exists throughout the whole universe is lined up in a series and at the same time is individual moments of time. 16 Because

[time] is existence-time, it is my existence-time.

17 Existence-time has the

virtue of passing in a series of moments.

18That is to say, from today it passes

through a series of moments to tomorrow; from today it passes through a series of moments to yesterday; from yesterday it passes through a series of moments to today; from today it passes through a series of moments to today; and from tomorrow it passes through a series of moments to tomorrow. Because passage through separate moments is a virtue of time, moments of the past and present are neither piled up one on top of another nor lined up in a row; and, for the same reason, Seigen19 is time, Ōbaku20 is time, and Kōzei21 and Sekitō22 are time.

23 Because subject-and-object already is time,

practice-and-experience is moments of time. Going into the mud and going 145

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into the water,

24 similarly, are time. The view of the common person today, and the causes and conditions of [that] view, are what the common person experiences but are not the common person's reality.

25It is just that reality, for

the present, has made a common person into its causes and conditions. Because he understands this time and this existence to be other than reality itself, he deems that "the sixteen-foot golden body is beyond me.

" Attempts to evade

[the issue] by [thinking] "I am never the sixteen-foot golden body" are also flashes of existence-time; they are glimpses of it by a person who has yet to realize it in experience and to rely upon it. The [existence-time] that also causes the horse and the sheep26 to be as they are arranged in the world today, is a rising and falling which is something ineffable abiding in its place in the Dharma. The rat is time, and the tiger is time; living beings are time, and buddhas are time. This time experiences the whole universe using three heads and eight arms, and experiences the whole universe using the sixteen-foot golden body. To universally realize the whole universe by using the whole universe is called "to perfectly realize. "27 Enactment of the sixteen-foot golden

body28 by using the sixteen-foot golden body is realized as the establishment of the mind, as training, as the state of bodhi,and as nirvana; that is, as existence itself, and as time itself. It is nothing other than the perfect realization of the whole of time as the whole of existence; there is nothing surplus at all. Because something surplus is just something surplus, even a moment of half-perfectlyrealized existence-time is the perfect realization of half-existence-time. 29Even

those phases in which we seem to be blundering heedlessly are also existence. If we leave it utterly up to existence,

30even though [the moments] before and

after manifest heedless blundering, they abide in their place as existence-time. Abiding in our place in the Dharma in the state of vigorous activity is just existence-time. We should not disturb it [by interpreting it] as "being without, "31

and we should not enforceably call it "existence.

" In regard to time, we strive

to comprehend only how relentlessly it is passing; we do not understand it intellectually as what is yet to come. Even though intellectual understanding is time, no circumstances are ever influenced by it. [Human] skin bags recognize [time] as leaving and coming; none has penetrated it as existence-time abiding in its place: how much less could any experience time having passed through the gate?32 Even [among those who] are conscious of abiding in their place, who can express the state of having already attained the ineffable? Even [among 146

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those who] have been asserting for a long time that they are like this, there is none who is not still groping for the manifestation before them of the real features. If we leave [even bodhiand nirvana] as they are in the existence-time of the common person, even bodhiand nirvana are—[though] merely a form which leaves and comes—existence-time.

33

[38] In short, without any cessation of restrictions and hindrances, 34

existence-time is realized. Celestial kings and celestial throngs, now appearing to the right and appearing to the left, are the existence-time in which we are now exerting ourselves. Elsewhere, beings of existence-time of land and sea are [also] realized through our own exertion now. The many kinds of being and the many individual beings which [live] as existence-time in darkness and in brightness, are all the realization of our own effort, and the momentary continuance of our effort. We should learn in practice that without the momentary continuance of our own effort in the present, not a single dharmanor a single thing could ever be realized or could ever continue from one moment to the next.

35 We should never learn that passage from one moment to the next is like the movement east and west of the wind and rain. The whole universe is neither beyond moving and changing nor beyond progressing and regressing; it is passage from one moment to the next. An example of the momentary passing of time is spring. Spring has innumerable different aspects, which we call "a passage of time.

"36 We should learn in practice that the

momentary passing of time continues without there being any external thing. The momentary passing of spring, for example, inevitably passes, moment by moment, through spring itself.

37 It is not that "the momentary passing of

time" is spring; rather, because spring is the momentary passing of time, passing time has already realized the truth in the here and now of springtime. 38

We should study [this] in detail, returning to it and leaving it again and again. If we think, in discussing the momentary passing of time, that circumstances are [only] individual things on the outside, while something which can pass from moment to moment moves east through hundreds of thousands of worlds and through hundreds of thousands of kalpas, then we are not devoting ourselves solely to Buddhist learning in practice. 39

[40] Great Master Yakusan Kōdō,

40 the story goes, at the suggestion of

Great Master Musai,

41 visits Zen Master Kōzei Daijaku.

42 He asks,

"I have

more or less clarified the import of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions 147

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of the teaching.

43 But just what is the ancestral master's intention in coming from the west?"44

Thus questioned, Zen Master Daijaku says, "Sometimes45 I make him46

lift an eyebrow or wink an eye, and sometimes I do not make him lift an eyebrow or wink an eye; sometimes to make him lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is right, and sometimes to make him lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is not right. "

Hearing this, Yakusan realizes a great realization and says to Daijaku, "In Sekitō's order I have been like a mosquito that climbed onto an iron ox. "

[42]What Daijaku says is not the same as [what] others [can say]. [His] "eyebrows" and "eyes" may be the mountains and the seas, because the mountains and the seas are [his] "eyebrows" and "eyes. " In his "making himself

lift [an eyebrow],

" he may be looking at the mountains; and in his "making himself wink,

" he may be presiding over the seas. "Being right" has become

familiar to "him,

" and "he" has been led by "the teaching. "47 Neither is "not

being right" the same as "not making himself [act], " nor is "not making himself

[act]" the same as "not being right. "48All these [situations] are "existencetime. " The mountains are time, and the seas are time. Without time, the mountains and the seas could not exist: we should not deny that time exists in the mountains and the seas here and now. If time decays, the mountains and the seas decay. If time is not subject to decay, the mountains and the seas are not subject to decay. In accordance with this truth the bright star appears, the Tathāgata appears, the eye appears, and picking up a flower appears, 49 and

this is just time. Without time, it would not be like this. [44] Zen Master Kishō50 of the Shōken region is a Dharma descendant of Rinzai, and the rightful successor of Shuzan. 51On one occasion he preaches

to the assembly:

Sometimes52 the will is present but the words are absent, Sometimes the words are present but the will is absent, Sometimes the will and the words are both present, Sometimes the will and the words are both absent. 53

[44]The will and the words are both existence-time. Presence and absence are both existence-time. The moment of presence has not finished, but the moment of absence has come—the will is the donkey and the words are the horse;54 horses have been made into words and donkeys have been made into 148

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will.

55Presence is not related to having come, and absence is not related to not having come.

56 Existence-time is like this. Presence is restricted by presence itself; it is not restricted by absence. 57Absence is restricted by absence itself; it is not restricted by presence. The will hinders the will and meets the will. 58

Words hinder words and meet words. Restriction hinders restriction and meets restriction. Restriction restricts restriction. This is time. Restriction is utilized by objective dharmas, but restriction that restricts objective dharmas has never occurred.

59 I meet with a human being, a human being meets with a human being, I meet with myself, and manifestation meets with manifestation. Without time, these [facts] could not be like this. Furthermore, "the will" is the time of

the realized universe,

60"the words" are the time of the pivot that is the ascendant state,

61"presence" is the time of laying bare the substance, 62and "absence" is

the time of "sticking to this and parting from this. "63We should draw distinctions, and should enact existence-time, 64like this. Though venerable patriarchs hitherto have each spoken as they have, how could there be nothing further to say? I would like to say:

The half-presence of will and words is existence-time, The half-absence of will and words is existence-time. There should be study in experience like this. Making oneself65 lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is half existence-time, Making oneself lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is mixed-up existence-time,

Not making oneself lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is half existence-time,

Not making oneself lift an eyebrow or wink an eye is mixed-up existence-time.

When we experience coming and experience leaving, and when we experience presence and experience absence, like this, that time is existence-time. Shōbōgenzō Uji

Written at Kōshōhōrinji on the first day of winter in the first year of Ninji. 66

Copied during the summer retreat in the [first] year of Kangen67

—Ejō.

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Notes

1 Master Yakusan Igen. Keitokudentōroku,chapter 18. 2 Uji,orarutoki,as in the chapter title. In this case, ujiis an adverb, read as a[ru]toki, and meaning "sometimes.

" In the chapter title, ujiis a compound word, "existencetime.

"

3 This phrase refers to the wrathful images of Buddhist guardian deities, such as Aizenmyōō, the King of Love (Skt. Rāgarāja), whose figure generally has three angry faces and six arms.

4 Jōroku-hasshaku.One jōequals ten shaku,and one shakuis slightly less than a foot. Jōrokusuggests the sixteen-foot golden body, the idealized image of the standing Buddha. Hasshakucan be interpreted as representing the balanced image of the sitting Buddha.

5 Shujōis a staff used by Buddhist monks on their travels, and also used in Buddhist ceremonies. Hossuwas originally a fly whisk, but its function has become ceremonial. These are concrete things that have religious meaning. 6 In China and Japan, temple roofs have long eaves supported by pillars that stand outside of the temple building itself; temple pillars and stone lanterns are thus very common objects.

7 Jūni-ji,lit.,

"twelve times.

" In Master Dōgen's age, a day was divided into twelve periods. Master Dōgen suggests that magnificent real time in the balanced state is not different from the ordinary time of concrete daily life. 8 When we are waiting, twenty-four hours is long, and when we are pressed for time, twenty-four hours is short. So the length of a day is relative but we measure it as "twenty-four hours.

"

9 "Each individual" iszu-zu,lit., "head-head.

" "Each object" is butsu-butsu,lit., thing.

" "Individual moments of time" is ji-ji,lit., "time-time.

"

"thing-10 Like the will to the truth, Buddhist practice and realization are both real existence and real time.

11 Inmo no denchi. Inmomeans something ineffable (see Chapter Twenty-nine [Vol. II], Inmo). Denmeans field and chimeans earth. Denchisuggests a concrete area, or real state.

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12 "Individual moments of time" isji-ji no ji.

13 "Time that does not have the form of leaving and coming" means instantaneous time, as opposed to time as a linear progression. If we see time in this way, even a continuous process—like crossing a mountain—is moments of the present.

14 "Time that retains the form of leaving and coming" means linear time. If we see time in this way, even though the moment of the present has arrived and it will depart, it exists now. Master Dōgen's view of real time embraces both the view of time as a point and the view of time as a line, as well as the view of time as reality itself. 15 Past time swallowing present time suggests the inclusive character of time. Past time vomiting present time suggests the independence of the past and the present. 16 "Individual moments of time" isji-ji.See notes 9 and 12.

17 Go-uji,

"my existence-time,

" emphasizes that existence-time is not only a concept

but our own real life itself.

18 Kyōryakuor keireki. Kyōorkeimeans passing through, experience, the passage of time: it represents the linear aspect of time. Ryakuor rekisuggests a process through separate, successive stages; it represents the momentary aspect of time. A note on pronunciation: In Japanese, a Chinese character is read either in its kunyomiform (the native Japanese reading) or in its on-yomiform (imitating the Chinese pronunciation). However, the pronunciation of Chinese characters in China varied from age to age, so different readings of the on-yomiare possible. Kyōryakuapproximates the pronunciation used in the Wu dynasty (222-258 C.E.). Keireki approximates the pronunciation used in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-25 C.E.). Buddhist sutras in Japan are usually read according to the pronunciation used in the Wu dynasty. 19 Master Seigen Gyōshi, died 740.

20 Master Ōbaku Kiun, died between 855 and 859. A second-generation descendant of Master Baso.

21 Master Baso Dōitsu (704-788). See note 42.

22 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790). A successor of Master Seigen Gyōshi. See note 41. 23 The lives of all Buddhist masters are just moments of the present. 24 Symbols of daily struggles.

25 Hō,or Dharma.

26 The twelve hours of the Chinese day were represented by twelve animals: rat (12:00 midnight), ox (2:00 A.M.), tiger (4:00 A.M.), rabbit (6:00 A.M.), dragon (8:00 A.M.), snake (10:00 A.M.), horse (12:00 noon), sheep (2:00 P.M.), monkey (4:00 P.M.), chicken (6:00 P.M.), dog (8:00 P.M.), and boar (10:00 P.M.). These animals were also used to represent directions, the rat indicating north, the horse south, etc. 152

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27 The original sentence is constructed with combinations of only three Chinese characters, jin, kai, gu. "The whole universe" is jinkai; jin, "whole,

" works as an adjective, and kai,

"world,

" works as a noun.

"Universally realize" is kai-jin su; kai, "universally,

"

works as an adverb andjin su, "realize,

" works as a verb.

"Perfectly realize" is gujin su; gu,

"perfectly,

" works as an adverb, and jin, "realize,

" works as a verb. Gujin appears in the key sentence of the Lotus Sutra(1:68): "Buddhas alone, together with buddhas, can perfectly realize that all dharmas are real form. "

28 Jōroku-konjin suru,lit., it were a verb.

"to sixteen-foot golden body" —a noun phrase is used as if 29 Han-uji.Master Dōgen sometimes uses half to suggest something concrete, individual, or real, as opposed to an ideal (as in the verse in the final paragraph of this chapter). 30 Literally,

"If we leave it utterly up to him, " i.e., if we let go of subjective worries. "Him" refers to existence in the previous sentence. 31 Mu,

"nonexistence.

" Uand mu,

"existence and nonexistence, " are usually opposed. See for example, Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II), Busshō. 32 The gate suggests the dualism of illusions and their negation, or idealism and materialism. 33 The fact that all things—even bodhiand nirvana—are existence-time does not change, however the fact is interpreted. 34 Rarō,lit.,

"nets and cages.

" In China, silk nets (ra) and bamboo cages (ro) are used to catch and to keep small birds. 35 "Momentary continuance" and "continue from one moment to the next" are translations of kyōryaku. See note 18. 36 "The momentary passing of time" and "a passage of time" are also translations of kyōryaku.Spring has separate momentary aspects: the air is warm, flowers are open, birds are singing, etc. At the same time, we see it as an inclusive continuing process. 37 When we think about "passing" we usually imagine a subject passing through an external object, but this does not apply to the passing of time, because the momentary passing of time is complete in itself. 38 In the first clause, passing time and spring are separated; "the momentary passing of time" means the concept of the season spring, and "spring" means the concrete individual situations of spring—flowers blooming, birds singing, etc. In the second clause, Master Dōgen suggested the real springtime as the oneness of the conceptual and the concrete.

39 Time is not a factor within the universe, it is the universe itself. 40 Master Yakusan Igen (745-828). He became a monk at the age of seventeen and eventually succeeded Master Sekitō Kisen. Great Master Kōdō is his posthumous title. 153

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41 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790). He had his head shaved by Master Daikan Enō and eventually succeeded Master Seigen Gyōshi. He wrote the poem Sandōkai(On Experiencing the State), which is often recited in Sōtō sect temples. Great Master Musai is his posthumous title.

42 Master Baso Dōitsu (704-788); successor of Master Nangaku Ejō. Kōzei was the name of the district where he lived, and Daijaku is his posthumous name. The spread of Buddhism in China in the eighth century sprang from the efforts of Master Seki tō and Master Baso. 43 The three vehicles are the vehicles of the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha,and bodhisattva, as outlined by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra.The twelve divisions of the teachings are as follows: 1) sūtra,original texts, sutras; 2) geya,verses summarizing the prose content of sutras; 3) vyākaraṇa,the Buddha's affirmation that a practitioner is becoming a buddha; 4) gāthā,independent verses; 5) udāna,spontaneous preaching (usually the Buddha's preaching was prompted by questions from his followers); 6) nidāna, historical accounts of causes and conditions; 7) avadāna, parables; 8) itivṛttaka, stories of past occurrences (especially stories of past lives of the Buddha's disciples); 9) jātaka,stories of the Buddha's past lives; 10) vaipulya,extensions of Buddhist philosophy; 11) ad bhuta-dharma,records of miraculous occurrences; and 12) upadeśa, theoretical discourses. See also Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, and Chapter Twentyfour (Vol. II), Bukkyō. 44 The ancestral master means Master Bodhidharma, who introduced real Buddhism to China from India. See Chapter Sixty-seven (Vol. III), Soshi-sairai-no-i. 45 Arutoki,see note 2.

46 Kareliterally means "him" or "that one.

" Master Baso thought about his own behavior

objectively.

47 "The teaching" is kyō.In Master Baso's words, kyōis used as an auxiliary causative verb (pronounced seshimuru). Master Dōgen affirmed that Master Baso's behavior was moral and that he followed the teachings. At the same time, by combining the three characters ze, i,and kyō,(right, him, and make/teaching), Master Dōgen suggested the oneness of Master Baso's words and his state.

48 Immorality is not only inaction—positive action can also be immoral. And inaction is not always immoral—to do nothing is sometimes morally right. 49 The elements of the sentence suggest real situations in the Buddha's life—it is said that he realized the truth on seeing the morning star, and that he transmitted the truth to Master Mahākāśyapa by picking up an uḍum baraflower. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge.

50 Master Shōken Kishō, dates unknown; a successor of Master Shuzan Shōnen. Master Shōken was the fourth master in the succession from Master Rinzai, and the ninth master in the succession from Master Nangaku Ejō. It is said that he realized the truth 154

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in the order of Master Shuzan when discussing a story about a shippei(bamboo stick). Shōken is in modern-day Hunan province in east central China. 51 Master Shuzan Shōnen, died in 993 at the age of sixty-eight. A successor of Master Fuketsu Enshō.

52 Arutoki.See note 2.

53 "Present" is tō, ita[rite], which means to arrive, or to have arrived, to be present. "Absent" is futō, ita[ra]zu,which means not to arrive, or not to have arrived, to be absent.

54 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. 55 The poem seems to be abstract in content, discussing only words and will, but Master Dōgen interprets that the poem is also about concrete reality. 56 Presence, or "to have arrived,

" and absence, or "not to have arrived, " are states at the

moment of the present; they do not need to be seen as the results of past processes. 57 Presence restricted by itself means real presence as it is, i.e., presence that is not restricted by worrying about absence. 58 Both expressions,

the real will as it is.

"the will hinders the will" and "the will meets the will, " suggest

59 "Restriction" means being as it is. It is the state which real things already have, it is not something separate which can hinder real things. 60 Genjō-kōan. See Chapter Three, Genjō-kōan. 61 Kōjō-kanrei. Kōjō,

"ascendant,

" describes the state which is more real than thinking and feeling. See Chapter Twenty-eight (Vol. II), Butsu-kōjō-no-ji. 62 Dattai. Datsumeans to get free of, or to shed. Taimeans the body, the substance, the concrete reality.

63 Soku-shi-ri-shisuggests real behavior in Buddhist life. This and the three preceding expressions can be interpreted according to four phases: a general expression of reality, the concrete state which is more real than a generalization, the clear establishment of concrete facts in reality, and real action in daily life. 64 "Enact existence-time" is uji su—ujiis used as a verb. 65 Kare,as in Master Baso's words. See note 46. 66 The first day of the tenth lunar month, 1240. 67 1243.

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Chapter 12: Kesa-kudoku - The Merit of the Kaṣāya

[Chapter Twelve]

Kesa-kudoku

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The Merit of the Kaṣāya

Translator's Note: Kesarepresents the Sanskrit word kaṣāya, or Buddhist robe, and kudokumeans

"

virtue

"

"

or

merit.

" So kesa-kudokumeans the

merit of thekaṣāya.Being a realistic religion, Buddhism reveres our real life. In other words, Buddhism esteems our real conduct in daily life; wearing clothes and eating meals are very important parts of Buddhist life. In particular, the kaṣāyaand pātra,or Buddhist bowl, are the main symbols of Buddhist life. In this chapter Master Dōgen explains and praises the merit of the kaṣāya.

[49] The authentic transmission into China of the robe and the Dharma, which are authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha and from patriarch to patriarch, was done only by the Founding Patriarch of Sūgaku Peak. 1 The

Founding Patriarch was the twenty-eighth patriarch after Śākyamuni Buddha, the transmission having passed twenty-eight times in India from rightful successor to rightful successor. The twenty-eighth patriarch went to China in person and became the First Patriarch [there]. The transmission then passed through five Chinese [masters] and reached Sōkei, 2 the thirty-third patriarch,

whom we call "the Sixth Patriarch.

" Zen Master Daikan, the thirty-third patriarch, received the authentic transmission of this robe and Dharma on Ōbaizan3 in the middle of the night, after which he guarded and retained [the robe] throughout his life. It is still deposited at Hōrinji on Sōkeizan. Many successive generations of emperors devoutly asked for [the robe] to be brought to the imperial court, where they served offerings and made prostrations to it, guarding it as a sacred object. The Tang dynasty4emperors Chūsō (Ch. Zhongzong), Shukusō (Ch. Suzong), and Taisō5 (Ch. Daizong) frequently had [the robe] brought to the court and served offerings to it. When they requested it and when they sent it back, they would conscientiously dispatch an imperial emissary and issue an edict. Emperor Taisō once returned the buddha robe to 157

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Sōkeizan with the following edict: "I now dispatch the great General Ryū Shūkei,

6 Pacifier of the Nation, to receive with courtesy7 and to deliver [the robe]. I consider it to be a national treasure. Venerable priests, 8 deposit it

according to the Dharma in its original temple. Let it be solemnly guarded only by monks who have intimately received the fundamental teaching. Never let it fall into neglect.

" Truly, better than ruling a three-thousand-great-thousandfold realm of worlds as countless as the sands of the Ganges, 9 to see and

to hear and to serve offerings to the Buddha's robe as the king of a small country where the Buddha's robe is present, may be the best life among [all] good lives [lived] in life-and-death. Where, in a three-thousandfold world which has been reached by the Buddha's influence, could the kaṣāyanot exist? At the same time, the one who passed on the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya,having received the face-to-face transmission from rightful successor to rightful successor, is only the ancestral patriarch of Sūgaku Peak. The Buddha's kaṣāyawas not handed down through side lineages. 10The transmission to Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla, a collateral descendant of the twenty-seventh patriarch,

11 duly arrived at Dharma teacher Jō,

12 but

there was no authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya.Again, Great Master [Dōshin], the Fourth Patriarch in China,

13delivered Zen Master Hōyū14

of Gozusan but did not pass on the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya. So even without the transmission from rightful successors, the Tathāgata's right Dharma—whose merit is never empty—confers its wide and great benefit all through thousands of ages and myriads of ages. [At the same time] those who have received the transmission from rightful successors are not to be compared with those who lack the transmission. Therefore, when human beings and gods receive and retain the kaṣāya,they should receive the authentic transmission transmitted between Buddhist patriarchs. In India and in China, in the ages of the right Dharma and the imitative Dharma, 15

even laypeople received and retained the kaṣāya.In this distant and remote land in the present degenerate age, those who shave their beard and hair and call themselves the Buddha's disciples do not receive and retain the kaṣāya. They have never believed, known, or clarified that they should receive and retain [the kaṣāya]; it is lamentable. How much less do they know of the [kaṣāya's] material, color, and measurements. How much less do they know how to wear it.

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[54] The kaṣāyahas been called, since ancient time,

"the clothing of

liberation.

" It can liberate16 us from all hindrances such as karmic hindrances, hindrances of affliction, and hindrances of retribution. If a dragon gets a single strand [of the kaṣāya], it escapes the three kinds of heat. 17 If a bull

touches [a kaṣāya] with one of its horns, its sins will naturally be extinguished. When buddhas realize the truth they are always wearing the kaṣāya.Remember, [to wear the kaṣāya] is the noblest and highest virtue. Truly, we have been born in a remote land in [the age of] the latter Dharma, and we must regret this. But at the same time, how should we measure the joy of meeting the robe and the Dharma that have been transmitted from buddha to buddha, from rightful successor to rightful successor? Which [other] lineage has authentically transmitted both the robe and the Dharma of Śākyamuni in the manner of our authentic transmission? Having met them, who could fail to venerate them and to serve offerings to them? Even if, each day, we [have to] discard bodies and lives as countless as the sands of the Ganges, we should serve offerings to them. Indeed we should vow to meet them, humbly to receive them upon the head,

18 to serve offerings to them, and to venerate

them in every life in every age. Between us and the country of the Buddha's birth, there are more than a hundred thousand miles of mountains and oceans, and it is too far for us to travel; nevertheless, promoted by past good conduct, we have not been shut out by the mountains and oceans, and we have not been spurned as the dullards of a remote [land]. Having met this right Dharma, we should persistently practice it day and night. Having received and retained this kaṣāya,we should perpetually receive it upon the head in humility and preserve it. How could this only be to have practiced merit under one buddha or two buddhas? It may be to have practiced all kinds of merit under buddhas equal to the sands of the Ganges. Even if [the people who receive and retain the kaṣāya] are ourselves, we should venerate them, and we should rejoice. We should heartily repay the profound benevolence of the ancestral master in transmitting the Dharma. Even animals repay kindness; so how could human beings fail to recognize kindness? If we failed to recognize kindness, we might be more stupid than animals. The merits of this buddha robe and this Buddha-Dharma were never clarified or known by anyone other than the ancestral master who transmitted the Buddha's right Dharma. If we want to follow gladly the traces of the buddhas, we should just be glad about this 159

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[transmission]. Even after hundred thousand myriads of generations, we should esteem this authentic transmission as the authentic transmission. This [transmission] may be the Buddha-Dharma itself; the proof in due course will become evident. We should not liken [the transmission] to the dilution of milk with water. It is like a crown prince succeeding to the throne. When we want to use milk, if there is no milk other than this diluted milk [described above], although it is diluted milk we should use it. Even when we do not dilute it with water, we must not use oil, we must not use lacquer, and we must not use wine. This authentic transmission may also be like that. Even a mediocre follower of an ordinary master, providing the authentic transmission is present, may be in a good situation to use milk. [But] more to the point, the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha and from patriarch to patriarch is like the succession of a crown prince. Even secular [teaching] says,

"One does not wear clothing different from the official uniform of the previous reign.

"19 How could disciples of the Buddha wear [robes] different from the Buddha's robe?

[58]Since the tenth year of the Eihei era,

20 during the reign of Emperor

Kōmei (Ch. Mingdi) of the Later Han dynasty,

21 monks and laymen going

back and forth between the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands have followed on each other's heels without cease, but none has claimed to have met in the Western Heavens an ancestral master of the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha and from patriarch to patriarch; none has a record of the lineage of the face-to-face transmission from the Tathāgata. They have only followed teachers of sutras and commentaries, and brought back Sanskrit books of sutras and philosophy. None speaks of having met an ancestral master who is a rightful successor to the Buddha's Dharma, and none mentions that there are ancestral masters who have received the transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya.Clearly, they have not entered beyond the threshold of the Buddha's Dharma. People like this have not clarified the principle of the authentic transmission by Buddhist patriarchs. When Śākyamuni Tathāgata22 passed to Mahākāśyapa the right Dharma-eye treasury and the supreme state of bodhi,he transmitted them together with a kaṣāyareceived in the authentic transmission from Kāśyapa Buddha.

23 Received by rightful successor from

rightful successor, [the kaṣāya] reached Zen Master Daikan of Sōkeizan, the thirty-third generation. The material, color, and measurements[of the kaṣāya] 160

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had been transmitted intimately. Since then, the Dharma descendants of Seigen and Nangaku24 have intimately transmitted the Dharma, wearing the Dharma of the ancestral patriarchs and keeping the Dharma of the ancestral patriarchs in order. The method of washing [the kaṣāya] and the method of receiving and retaining [the kaṣāya] cannot be known without learning in practice in the inner sanctum of the legitimate face-to-face transmission of those methods.

[60]The kaṣāyais said to include three robes. They are the five-stripe robe, the seven-stripe robe, and the large robe of nine or more stripes. Excellent practitioners receive only these three robes, and do not keep other robes. To use just the three robes serves the body well enough. When we are attending to business or doing chores, and when we are going to and from the toilet, we wear the five-stripe robe. For doing good practices among the sangha, we wear the seven-stripe robe. To teach human beings and gods, and to make them devout, we should wear the large robe of nine or more stripes. Or, when we are in a private place we wear the five-stripe robe, when we go among the sangha we wear the seven-stripe robe, and when we go into a royal palace or into towns and villages we should wear the large robe. Or, when it is nice and warm we wear the five-stripe robe, when it is cold we put on the seven-stripe robe as well, and when the cold is severe we also put on the large robe. Once, in ancient times, the weather on a midwinter night was cold enough to split bamboo. As that night fell, the Tathāgata put on the five-stripe robe. As the night passed and it got colder, he put on the seven-stripe robe as well. Later on in the night, when the coldness reached a peak, he also put on the large robe. At this time, the Buddha thought,

"In future ages, when the cold is beyond endurance, good sons should be able to clothe their bodies adequately with these three robes.

"25

[62]The method of wearing the kaṣāya: "To bare only the right shoulder"26 is the usual method. There is a method of wearing [the kaṣāya] so that it goes over both shoulders, a form [followed by] the Tathāgata and veterans who are senior in years and experience: both shoulders are covered, while the chest may be either exposed or covered. [The method of] covering both 161

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shoulders is for a large kaṣāyaof sixty or more stripes. [Usually,] when we wear the kaṣāya,we wear both sides over the left arm and shoulder. The front edge goes over the left side [of the kaṣāya] and hangs over the [left upper] arm.

27 In the case of the large kaṣāya,[this] front edge passes over the left shoulder and hangs down behind the back. There are various methods of wearing the kaṣāyabesides these; we should take time to study them and should inquire into them.

[64]For hundreds of years, through one dynasty after another—Liang, Zhen, Sui, Tang, and Song28

—many scholars of both the Great and the Small

Vehicles have abandoned the work of lecturing on sutras, recognizing that it is not the ultimate, and progressed to learn the authentically transmitted Dharma of the Buddhist patriarchs; when they do so, they inevitably shed their former shabby robes and receive and retain the authentically transmitted kaṣāyaof the Buddhist patriarchs. This is indeed the abandonment of the false and the return to the true. [In discussing] the right Dharma of the Tathāgata, [we see] the Western Heavens as the very root of the Dharma. Many teachers of human beings, past and present, have established small views based on the sentimental and parochial thinking of the common person. Because the world of buddha and the world of living beings are beyond being limited and being unlimited, the teachings, practice, and human truths of the Mahayana and the Hinayana can never fit inside the narrow thoughts of common people today. Nevertheless, [common people] in China, acting at random, have failed to see the Western Heavens as the root, and have considered their newly devised, limited, small views to be the Buddha-Dharma. Such facts should never occur. Therefore if people today who have established the mind want to receive and to retain the kaṣāya,they must receive and retain the kaṣāyaof the authentic transmission. They must not receive and retain a kaṣāyanewly created according to the idea of the moment. The kaṣāyaof the authentic transmission means the one that has been authentically transmitted from Shaolin [Temple] and Sōkei [Mountain], 29 the one that has been

received by the Tathāgata's rightful successors without missing a single generation. The kaṣāyaworn by their Dharma children and Dharma grandchildren is the traditional kaṣāya.What has been newly created in China is not traditional. Now, the kaṣāyaworn by the monks who have come from the Western Heavens, in the past and present, are all worn as the kaṣāyaauthentically 162

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transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs. Not one of these monks [has worn a kaṣāya] like the new kaṣāyabeing produced in China today by precepts scholars. Dull people believe in the kaṣāyaof precepts scholars; those who are clear throw [such robes] away. In general, the merit of the kaṣāyatransmitted from buddha to buddha and from patriarch to patriarch is evident and easy to believe in. Its authentic transmission has been received exactly, its original form has been handed down personally, and it exists really in the present. [The Buddhist patriarchs] have received and retained it, and succeeded to each other's Dharma, until today. The ancestral masters who have received and retained [the kaṣāya] are all masters and disciples who experienced the state30 and received the transmission of Dharma. This being so, we should make [the kaṣāya] properly, according to the method for making the kaṣāya that has been authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs. This alone is the authentic tradition, and so it has long been experienced and recognized by all common and sacred beings, human beings and gods, and dragons and spirits. Having been born to meet the spread of this Dharma, if we cover our body with the kaṣāyaonly once, receiving it and retaining it for just a kṣāṇa or a muhūrta,

31that [experience] will surely serve as a talisman to protect us32 in the realization of the supreme state of bodhi.When we dye the body and mind with a single phrase or a single verse, it becomes a seed of everlasting brightness which finally leads us to the supreme state of bodhi.When we dye the body and mind with one real dharmaor one good deed, it may be also like this. Mental images arise and vanish instantaneously; they are without an abode. The physical body also arises and vanishes instantaneously; it too is without an abode. Nevertheless, the merit that we practice always has its time of ripening and shedding. The kaṣāya,similarly, is beyond elaboration and beyond non-elaboration, it is beyond having an abode and beyond having no abode: it is that which "buddhas alone, together with buddhas, perfectly realize.

"33 Nevertheless, practitioners who receive and retain [the kaṣāya] always accomplish the merit that is thus to be gained, and they always arrive at the ultimate. Those without past good conduct—even if they pass through one life, two lives, or countless lives—can never meet the kaṣāya,can never wear the kaṣāya,can never believe in the kaṣāya,and can never clearly know the kaṣāya. In China and Japan today, we see that there are those who have had the opportunity to clothe their body once in the kaṣāya,and there are 163

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those who have not. [The difference] depends neither upon high or low status nor upon stupidity or wisdom: clearly it was determined by past good conduct. This being so, if we have received and retained the kaṣāya,we should feel glad about our past good conduct, and should not doubt the accumulation of merit and the piling up of virtue. If we have not got [the kaṣāya] yet, we should hope to get it. We should strive, without delay, to sow the first seeds [of receiving and retaining the kaṣāya] in this life. Those who are prevented by some hindrance from receiving and retaining [the kaṣāya] should repent and confess before the buddha-tathāgatas and the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. How living beings in other countries must wish, "If only the robe

and the Dharma of the Tathāgata had been authentically transmitted and were intimately present in our country, as they are in China!" Their shame must be deep, and their sadness tinged with resentment, that the authentic tradition has not passed into their own country. Why are we so fortunate as to have met the Dharma in which the robe and the Dharma of the Tathāgata, the Worldhonored One, have been authentically transmitted? It is the influence of the great merit of praj ñānurtured in the past. In the present corrupt age of the latter Dharma, [some] are not ashamed that they themselves have no authentic transmission, and they envy others who possess the authentic transmission. I think they may be a band of demons. Their present possessions and abodes which are influenced by their former conduct, are not true and real. Just to devote themselves34to and to venerate the authentically transmitted Buddha-Dharma: this may be their real refuge in learning [the state of] buddha. In sum, remember that the kaṣāyais the object of the buddhas' veneration and devotion. It is the body of the Buddha and the mind of the Buddha. We call it "the clothing of liberation,

"35"the robe of a field of happiness,

"36"the robe

without form,

"37 "the supreme robe,

" "the robe of endurance,

"38 "the robe of

the Tathā gata,

" "the robe of great benevolence and great compassion, " "the

robe that is a banner of excellence,

" and "the robe of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.

" We should receive and retain it like this, humbly receiving it upon the head. Because it is like this, we should never change it according to [our own] mind.

[71]As material for the robe, we use silk or cotton, according to suitability. It is not always the case that cotton is pure and silk is impure. There is no viewpoint from which to hate cotton and to prefer silk; that would be 164

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laughable. The usual method39 of the buddhas, in every case, is to see rags40 as the best material. There are ten sorts and four sorts of rags; namely, burned, chewed by an ox, gnawed by rats, from clothes of dead people, and so forth. 41

"The people of the five areas of India42 discarded rags like these in streets and fields, as if they were filth, and so they called them 'filthy rags. '43 Practitioners picked them up, washed them and sewed them, and used them to cover the body.

"44 Among those [rags] there are various kinds of silk and various kinds of cotton. We should throw away the view [that discriminates between] silk and cotton, and study rags in practice. When, in ancient times45 [the Buddha] was washing a robe of rags in Lake Anavatapta, 46 the Dragon

King praised him with a rain of flowers, and made prostrations of reverence. Some teachers of the Small Vehicle have a theory about transformed thread, 47

which also may be without foundation. People of the Great Vehicle might laugh at it. What kind [of thread] is not transformed thread? When those teachers hear of "transformation" they believe their ears, but when they see the transformation itself they doubt their eyes. Remember, in picking up rags, there may be cotton that looks like silk and there may be silk that looks like cotton. There being myriad differences in local customs it is hard to fathom [nature's] creation—eyes of flesh cannot know it. Having obtained such material, we should not discuss whether it is silk or cotton but should call it rags. Even if there are human beings or gods in heaven who have survived as rags, they are never sentient beings, they are just rags. Even if there are pine trees or chrysanthemums that have survived as rags, they are never insentient beings, they are just rags. When we believe the principle that rags are not silk or cotton, and not gold, silver, pearl, or jewel, rags are realized. Before we have got rid of views and opinions about silk and cotton, we have never seen rags even in a dream. On one occasion a monk asks the eternal buddha,

48 "Should we see the robe you received on Ōbai [Mountain] in the middle of the night as cotton, or should we see it as silk? In short, as what material should we see it?" The eternal buddha says,

"It is not cotton and it

is not silk.

" Remember, it is a profound teaching49 of the Buddha's truth that the kaṣāyais beyond silk and cotton.

[74]The Venerable Śāṇavāsa50is third in the transmission of the Dharma treasury. He has been endowed with a robe since birth. While he is a layman this robe is a secular garment, but when he leaves home51 it turns into a 165

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kaṣāya.In another case, the bhikṣuṇīŚukra,

52 after establishing the will and

being clothed in a cotton robe, has been born with a robe in every life and middle existence. On the day that she meets Śākyamuni Buddha and leaves home, the secular robe that she has had since birth changes instantly into a kaṣāya,as in the case of Venerable Śāṇavāsa. Clearly, the kaṣāyais beyond silk, cotton, and so forth. Moreover, the fact that the virtue of the Buddha-Dharma can transform body and mind and all dharmas is as in those examples. The truth is evident that when we leave home and receive the precepts, body and mind, object-and-subject, change at once; it is only because we are stupid that we do not know. It is not true that the usual rule53 of the buddhas applies only to Śāṇavāsa and to Śukra but not to us; we should not doubt that benefit [accrues] in accordance with individual standing. We should consider such truths in detail and learn them in practice. The kaṣāyathat covers the body of [the monks whom the Buddha] welcomes54 to take the precepts is not necessarily cotton or silk: the Buddha's influence is difficult to consider. The precious pearl within the robe55 is beyond those who count grains of sand. 56

We should clarify and should learn in practice that which has quantity and that which is without quantity, that which has form and that which is without form, in the material, color, and measurements of the kaṣāyaof the buddhas. This is what all the ancestral masters of the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, past and present, learned in practice and transmitted as the authentic tradition. If someone is able to see and to hear [a master] in whom there is nothing to doubt—the authentic transmission from patriarch to patriarch being evident—but fails, without reason, to receive the authentic transmission from this ancestral master, such smugness would be hard to condone. The extent of [this] stupidity might be due to unbelief. It would be to abandon the real and to pursue the false, to discard the root and to seek after branches. It would be to slight the Tathāgata. People who wish to establish the bodhimind should always receive the authentic transmission of an ancestral master. Not only have we met the Buddha-Dharma which is so difficult to meet: also, as Dharma descendants in the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya,we have been able to see and to hear, to learn and to practice, and to receive and to retain [the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya]. This is just to see the Tathāgata himself, it is to hear the Buddha's preaching of Dharma, it is to be illuminated by the Buddha's brightness, it is to receive 166

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and to use what the Buddha received and used, it is to receive the one-toone transmission of the Buddha's mind, it is to have got the Buddha's marrow, it is to be covered directly by Śākyamuni Buddha's kaṣāya, and it is Śākyamuni Buddha himself directly bestowing the kaṣāyaupon us. Because we follow the Buddha, we have devoutly57 received this kaṣāya. [78] The method of washing the kaṣāya: Put the kaṣāya,unfolded, into a clean tub, then immerse the kaṣāyain fragrant, fully boiled hot water, and leave it to soak for about two hours.

58Another method is to soak the kaṣāya

in pure, fully boiled ash-water59 and to wait for the water to cool. Nowadays we usually use [the] hot ash-water [method]. Hot ash-water is what we call aku-no-yuhere [in Japan].

60When the ash-water has cooled, rinse [the kaṣāya] again and again in clean and clear hot water. During the rinsing do not put in both hands to scrub [the kaṣāya] and do not tread on it. Continue until any dirt or grease has been removed. After that, mix aloes, sandalwood, 61or other

incense into some cold water and rinse [the kaṣāya]. Then hang it on a washing pole62 to dry. After it is thoroughly dry, fold it and put it in a high place, burn incense and scatter petals, walk round it several times [with the kaṣāya] to the right,

63and perform prostrations. After making three prostrations, six prostrations, or nine prostrations, kneel up and join the hands, 64 then hold the

kaṣāyaup with both hands, and in the mouth recite the verse [in praise of the kaṣāya].

65After that stand up and put on [the kaṣāya] according to the method. [80] 66The World-honored One addresses the great assembly: "In the ancient past when I was in the order of Buddha Jewel Treasury, 67 I was

Bodhisattva Great Compassion.

68 At that time, the bodhisattva

mahāsattvaGreat Compassion made the following vow before Buddha Jewel Treasury:

'World-honored One! If, after I became a buddha, there were living beings who had entered my Dharma and left home and who wore the kaṣāya—even if they were bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās69 who had accumulated heavy sins by violating the grave prohibitions, by enacting false views, or by contemptuously disbelieving the Three Treasures—and in a single moment of consciousness the reverence arose in their mind to honor the saṃghāṭirobe70 and the reverence arose in their mind to honor the World-honored One (the Buddha) or the Dharma and the Sangha but, World-honored One, even 167

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one among those living beings could not, in [one of] the three vehicles, 71

receive affirmation,

72 and as a result regressed or went astray, it would mean that I had deceived the buddhas who are present now in the worlds of the ten directions and in countless, infinite asaṃkheya kalpas, and I surely should not realize anuttara samyak saṃbodhi. 'World-honored One! After I have become a buddha, if gods, dragons, and demons, and human and nonhuman beings are able to wear this kaṣāya,to venerate, to serve offerings to, to honor, and to praise it, as long as those people are able to see a small part of this kaṣāya, they will be able not to regress while within the three vehicles. 'When living beings are afflicted by hunger or thirst—whether they are wretched demons, miserable people, or living beings in the state of hungry ghosts—if they are able to obtain a piece of the kaṣāya even as small as four inches,

73 they will at once be able to eat and drink

their fill and to accomplish quickly whatever they wish. 'When living beings offend each other, causing ill will to arise and a fight to develop—or when gods, dragons, demons, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, kum bhāṇḍas, piśācas, and human and nonhuman beings are fighting each other—if they remember this kaṣāya,in due course, by virtue of the power of the kaṣāya,they will beget the mind of compassion, soft and flexible mind, mind free of enmity, serene mind, the regulated mind of virtue, and they will get back the state of purity.

'When people are in an armed conflict, a civil lawsuit, or a criminal action, if they retain a small piece of this kaṣāyaas they go among these combatants, and if in order to protect themselves they serve offerings to, venerate, and honor it, these [other] people will be unable to injure, to disturb, or to make fools of them; they will always be able to beat their opponents and to come through all such difficulties. 'World-honored One! If my kaṣāyawere unable to accomplish these five sacred merits,

75it would mean that I had deceived the buddhas

who are present now in the worlds of the ten directions and in countless, infinite asaṃkheyakalpas, and in future I ought not to accomplish anuttara samyak saṃbodhior to do Buddhist works. Having lost the virtuous Dharma, I would surely be unable to destroy non-Buddhism. '

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Good sons!76At that time Tathāgata Jewel Treasury extended his golden right arm and patted the head of Bodhisattva Great Compassion, praising him with these words:

"Very good! Very good! Stout fellow! What you have said is a great and rare treasure, and is great wisdom and virtue. When you have realized anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi,this robe, the kaṣāya,will be able to accomplish these five sacred merits and to produce great benefit. "

Good sons! At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattvaGreat Compassion, after hearing the praise of that buddha, jumped endlessly for joy. Then the Buddha [again] extended his golden arm, with its hand of long, webbed fingers77 as soft as the robe of a goddess. When he patted the [bodhisattva's] head, the [bodhisattva's] body changed at once into the youthful figure of a man of twenty. Good sons! In that order the great assembly of gods, dragons, deities, gandharvas, and human and nonhuman beings, with folded hands78 venerated Bodhisattva Great Compassion; they served him offerings of all kinds of flowers; they even made music and offered that; and they also praised him in all kinds of ways, after which they abode in silence. 79

[86] From the age when the Tathāgata was in the world until today, whenever the merits of the kaṣāyaare quoted from the Sutra and the Vinaya80 of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, these five sacred merits are always considered fundamental. Truly, kaṣāyas are the buddha robes of the buddhas of the three times. Their merits are measureless. At the same time, to get the kaṣāyain the Dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha may be even better than to get the kaṣāya in the Dharma of other buddhas. The reason, if asked, is that in the ancient past, when Śākyamuni Buddha was in the causal state81 as the bodhisattva mahāsattvaGreat Compassion, when he offered his five hundred great vows before Buddha Jewel Treasury, he pointedly made the above vows in terms of the merits of this kaṣāya.Its merits may be utterly measureless and unthinkable. This being so, the authentic transmission to the present of the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the World-honored One, is the kaṣāyarobe. The ancestral masters who have authentically transmitted the right Dharma-eye treasury have, without exception, authentically transmitted the kaṣāya.The living beings who have received and retained this robe and humbly received it upon their heads have, without exception, attained the truth within two or 169

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three lives. Even when people have put [the kaṣāya] on their body for a joke or for gain, it has inevitably become the causes and conditions for their attaining the truth. [87]The ancestral master Nāgārjuna82 says, "Further, in the Buddha-Dharma, people who have left family life, 83 even if they break the precepts and fall into sin, after they have expiated their sins, they can attain liberation, as the bhikṣuṇīUtpalavarṇā explains in the Jātakasūtra:84When the Buddha is in the world, this bhikṣuṇīattains the six mystical powers85 and the state of an arhat. 86 She goes into the houses

of nobles and constantly praises the method of leaving family life, saying to all the aristocratic ladies, 'Sisters! You should leave family life. '

The noblewomen say,

'We are young and our figures are full of life and beauty. It would be difficult for us to keep the precepts. Sometimes we might break the precepts. '

The bhikṣuṇīsays,

'If you break the precepts, you break them. Just leave family life!'

They ask,

'If we break the precepts we will fall into hell. Why should we want to break them?'

She answers,

'If you fall into hell, you fall. '

The noblewomen all laugh at this, saying, 'In hell we would have

to receive retribution for our sins. Why should we want to fall [into hell]?'

The bhikṣuṇīsays,

'I remember in my own past life, once I became a prostitute, wore all sorts of clothes, and spoke in old-fashioned language. 87 One day I put on a bhikṣuṇīrobe as a joke, and due to this as a direct and indirect cause, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha88 I became a bhikṣuṇī. I was still proud then of my noble pedigree and fine features: vanity and arrogance arose in my mind, and I broke the precepts. Because of the wrongness of breaking the precepts I fell into hell and suffered for my various sins, but after I had suffered retribution I finally met Śākyamuni Buddha, transcended family life, and attained the six mystical powers and the truth of an arhat. Thus, I know that when we leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break the precepts, due to the precepts as direct and indirect causes we can attain the truth 170

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of an arhat. If I had only done bad, without the precepts as direct and indirect causes, I could not have attained the truth. In the past I fell into hell in age after age. When I got out of hell I became a bad person, and when the bad person died, I went back into hell, and there was no gain at all. Now therefore I know from experience that when we leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break the precepts, with this as a direct and indirect cause we can attain the bodhi-effect. '"89

[90]The primary cause of this bhikṣuṇīUtpalavarṇā90 attaining the truth as an arhat is just the merit of her putting the kaṣāyaon her body for a joke; because of this merit, and no other merit, she has now attained the truth. In her second life she meets the Dharma of Kāśyapa Buddha and becomes a bhikṣuṇī.In her third life she meets Śākyamuni Buddha and becomes a great arhat, equipped with the three kinds of knowledge and the six powers. The three kinds of knowledge are supernatural insight, [knowing] past lives, and ending the superfluous. The six powers are the power of mystical transmutation, the power to know others' minds, the power of supernatural sight, the power of supernatural hearing, the power to know past lives, and the power to end the superfluous.

91Truly, when she was only a wrongdoer she died and

entered hell to no avail, coming out of hell and becoming a wrongdoer again. [But] when she has the precepts as direct and indirect causes, although she has broken the precepts and fallen into hell, they are the direct and indirect causes of her attaining the truth at last. Now, even someone who has worn the kaṣāyafor a joke can attain the truth in her third life. How, then, could someone who has established pure belief, and who wears the kaṣāyafor the sake of the supreme state of bodhi,fail to accomplish that merit? Still further, if we receive and retain [the kaṣāya] throughout our life, humbly receiving it upon the head, the merit might be universal and great beyond measure. Any human being who would like to establish the bodhi-mind should receive and retain the kaṣāya,and humbly receive it upon the head, without delay. To have met this favorable age but not to have sown a Buddhist seed would be deplorable. Having received a human body on the southern continent, 92having

met the Dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha, and having been born to meet an ancestral master who is a perfectly legitimate successor to the Buddha-Dharma, if we idly passed up the chance to receive the kaṣāyawhich has 171

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been transmitted one-to-one and which is directly accessible, that would be deplorable. Now, in regard to the authentic transmission of the kaṣāya,the one authentic transmission from the ancestral master is right and traditional; other masters cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Even to receive and to retain the kaṣāyafollowing a master who has not received the transmission is still of very profound merit. But much more than that, if we receive and retain [the kaṣāya] from a true master who has quite legitimately received the face-to-face transmission, we may really be the Dharma children and the Dharma grandchildren of the Tathāgata himself, and we may actually have received the authentic transmission of the Tathāgata's skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. The kaṣāya,in conclusion, has been authentically transmitted by the buddhas of the three times and the ten directions, without interruption; it is what the buddhas, bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas of the three times and the ten directions have, in like manner, guarded and retained. [93]Coarse cotton cloth is the standard [material] for making the kaṣāya. When there is no coarse cotton cloth, we use fine cotton cloth. When there is neither coarse nor fine cotton cloth, we use plain silk. When there is neither [plain] silk nor cotton cloth, materials such as patterned cloth93 or sheer silk may be used; [these are all] approved by the Tathāgata. For countries where there is no plain silk, cotton, patterned cloth, sheer silk, or anything of the kind, the Tathāgata also permits the leather kaṣāya.Generally, we should dye the kaṣāyablue, yellow, red, black, or purple. Whichever color it is, we should make it a secondary color.

94The Tathāgata always wore a flesh-colored

kaṣāya;this was the color of the kaṣāya.The Buddha's kaṣāyatransmitted by the First Patriarch was blue-black, and made of the cotton crepe of the Western Heavens. It is now on Sōkeizan. It was transmitted twenty-eight times in the Western Heavens and transmitted five times in China. Now the surviving disciples of the eternal buddha of Sōkei,

95 who have all received

and retained the ancient customs of the Buddha's robe, are beyond other monks. Broadly, there are three kinds of robe: 1) "the robe of rags, " 2) "the

robe of fur,

" and 3) "the patched robe.

" "Rags" are as explained previously.

In "the robe of fur,

" the fine [down and] hair of birds and beasts is called "fur.

" "When practitioners cannot obtain rags, they pick up this [fur] and make it into the robe.

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and wearing, [cloth] that has become ragged and worn with age; we do not wear the fine clothes of the secular world. "96

[95] 97The venerable monk98 Upāli99 asks the World-honored One, "World-honored Bhadanta!100 How many stripes does the saṃghāṭi robe have?"

The Buddha says,

"There are nine kinds. What are the nine kinds? They are [the saṃghāṭirobe] of nine stripes, eleven stripes, thirteen stripes, fifteen stripes, seventeen stripes, nineteen stripes, twenty-one stripes, twenty-three stripes, and twenty-five stripes. The first three of those kinds of saṃghāṭirobe have two long segments and one short segment [in each stripe], and we should keep [the standard] like this. The next three kinds have three long [segments] and one short, and the last three kinds have four long and one short. Anything with more [segments per] stripe than this becomes an unorthodox robe. "101

Upāli again addresses the World-honored One, "World-honored

Bhadanta! How many kinds of saṃghāṭirobe are there?" The Buddha says,

"There are three kinds: larger, medium, and smaller.

102 The larger is three cubits long by five cubits wide. 103 The

smaller is two and a half cubits long by four and a half cubits wide. Anything between these two is called medium. "

Upāli again addresses the World-honored One: "World-honored Bhadanta! How many stripes does the uttarasaṃghāṭi104 robe have?" The Buddha says,

"It has only seven stripes, each with two long segments and one short segment.

"

Upāli again addresses the World-honored One, "World-honored

Bhadanta! How many kinds of seven-striped [robe] are there?" The Buddha says,

"There are three kinds: larger, medium, and smaller. The larger is three cubits by five, the smaller is a half cubit shorter on each side, and anything between these two is called medium. "

Upāli again addresses the World-honored One: "World-honored Bhadanta! How many stripes does the antarvāsa105 robe have?" The Buddha says,

"It has five stripes, each with one long segment and one short segment.

"

Upāli again addresses the World-honored One, "How many kinds

of antarvāsarobes are there?"

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The Buddha says,

"There are three kinds: larger, medium, and smaller. The larger is three cubits by five. The medium and the smaller are as before.

"106 The Buddha says,

"There are two further kinds of

antarvāsarobes. What are those two? The first is two cubits long by five cubits wide, and the second is two cubits long by four cubits wide. "

The saṃghāṭiis translated as "the double-layered robe, " the

uttarasaṃghāṭiis translated as "the upper robe, " and the antarvāsais

translated as "the under robe" or as "the inner robe. " At the same time,

the saṃghāṭirobe is called "the large robe, " and also called "the robe

for entering royal palaces" or "the robe for preaching the Dharma. "

The uttarasaṃghāṭiis called "the seven-striped robe, " or called "the

middle robe" or "the robe for going among the sangha. " The antarvāsa

is called "the five-striped robe, " or called "the small robe" or "the robe for practicing the truth and for doing work. "

[98]We should guard and retain these three robes without fail. Among saṃghāṭirobes is the kaṣāyaof sixty stripes, which also deserves to be received and retained without fail. In general, the length of a [buddha's] body depends on the span of its lifetime, which is between eighty thousand years107 and one hundred years.

108 Some say that there are differences between eighty thousand years and one hundred years, while others say that they may be equal. We esteem the insistence that they may be equal as the authentic tradition. 109The body measurements of buddhas and of human beings are very different: the human body can be measured, but the buddha body ultimately cannot be measured.

110Therefore, in the present moment in which Śākyamuni Buddha puts on the kaṣāyaof Kāśyapa Buddha, 111 [the kaṣāya] is not long

and not wide. And in the present moment in which Maitreya Tathāgata puts on the kaṣāyaof Śākyamuni Buddha, it is not short and not narrow. We should reflect upon clearly, decide conclusively, understand completely, and observe carefully that the buddha body is not long or short. King Brahmā, 112 though

high in the world of matter, does not see the crown of the Buddha's head. Maudgal yāyana,

113 having gone far into the World of the Bright Banner, does not discern the Buddha's voice: it is truly a mystery that [the Buddha's form and voice] are the same whether seen and heard from far or near. All the merits of the Tathāgata are like this, 114 and we should keep these merits in mind.

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[100] As regards [methods of] cutting out and sewing the kaṣāya,there is the robe of separate stripes,

115 the robe of added stripes,

116 the robe of

pleated stripes,

117 and the single-sheet robe,

118 each of which is a proper

method. We should receive and retain [the kind of robe] that accords with the [material] obtained. The Buddha says,

"The kaṣāyaof the buddhas of

the three times is invariably backstitched.

" In obtaining the material, again,

we consider pure material to be good, and we consider so-called filthy rags to be the purest of all. The buddhas of the three times all consider [rags] to be pure. In addition, cloth offered by devout donors is also pure. There again, [cloth] bought at a market with pure money is also pure. There are limits on the [number of] days within which the robe should be made, 119 but in the

present degenerate age of the latter Dharma, in a remote country, it may be better for us to receive and to retain [the robe] by doing the cutting and sewing whenever we are promoted by belief. It is an ultimate secret of the Great Vehicle that laypeople, whether human beings or gods, receive and retain the kaṣāya.King Brahmā and King Śakra120 have now both received and retained the kaṣāya,and these are excellent precedents in [the worlds of] volition and matter. Excellent [precedents] in the human world are beyond calculation. All lay bodhisattvas have received and retained [the kaṣāya].In China, Emperor Bu121 of the Liang dynasty and Emperor Yang122 of the Sui dynasty123both received and retained the kaṣāya.Emperors Taisō and Shukusō both wore the kaṣāya,learned in practice from monks, and received and retained the bodhisattva precepts. Other people such as householders and their wives who received the kaṣāyaand received the Buddhist precepts are excellent examples in the past and present. In Japan, when Prince Shōtoku124 received and retained the kaṣāya,and lectured on such sutras as the Lotus Sutraand the Śrīmālā Sutra,

125he experienced the miraculous omen of precious flowers raining from the heavens. From that time the Buddha-Dharma spread throughout our country. Though [Prince Shōtoku] was the regent of the whole country, he was just a guiding teacher to human beings and gods. As the Buddha's emissary, he was father and mother to many living beings. In our country today, although the materials, colors, and measurements of the kaṣāyahave all been misunderstood, that we can see and hear the word kaṣāyais due solely to the power of Prince Shōtoku. We would be in a sorry state today if, at that time, he had not destroyed the false and established the true. Later, 175

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Emperor Shōmu126 also received and retained the kaṣāyaand received the bodhisattva precepts. Therefore, whether we are emperors or subjects, we should receive and retain the kaṣāyaand we should receive the bodhisattva precepts without delay. There can be no greater happiness for a human body. [104] It has been said that "the kaṣāyas received and retained by laypeople are either called 'single-stitched' or called 'secular robes. ' That is, they are

not sewn with backstitches.

" It is also said that "when laypeople go to a place of [practicing] the truth, they should be equipped with the three Dharma robes, a willow twig,

127 rinsing water,

128 mealware, and a sitting cloth;129 they should practice the same pure practices as bhikṣus. "130

[105] Such were the traditions of a master of the past. 131 However, [the

tradition] that has now been received one-to-one from the Buddhist patriarchs is that the kaṣāyas transmitted to kings, ministers, householders, 132 and common folk, are all backstitched. An excellent precedent is that [Master Daikan Enō] had already received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kaṣāya as the temple servant Ro (Ch. Lu).

133 In general, the kaṣāyais the banner of a disciple of the Buddha. If we have already received and retained the kaṣāya, we should humbly receive it upon the head every day. Placing it on the crown of the head, we join the hands and recite the following verse: Daisai-gedatsu-fuku(How great is the clothing of liberation,) Musō-fukuden-e(Formless, field of happiness, robe!) Hibu-nyorai-kyō(Devoutly wearing the Tathāgata's teaching,) Kōdo-shoshujō(Widely I will save living beings.) After that we put it on. In the kaṣāya,we should feel like [our] master and should feel like a tower.

134 We also recite this verse when we humbly receive [the kaṣāya] on the head after washing it. [107] The Buddha says,

When we shave the head and wear the kaṣāya, We are protected by the buddhas.

Each person who transcends family life Is served by gods and humans.

Clearly, once we have shaved the head and put on the kaṣāya, we are protected by all the buddhas. Relying on this protection of the buddhas, [a 176

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person] can roundly realize the virtues of the supreme state of bodhi. Celestial throngs and human multitudes serve offerings to such a person. 135The World-honored One says to the bhikṣuWisdom-Brightness, 136

"The Dharma robe has ten excellent merits: 1) It is able to cover the body, to keep away shame, to fill us with humility and to [make us] practice good ways.

137 2) It keeps away cold and heat, as well as mosquitoes, harmful creatures, and poisonous insects, [so that we can] practice the truth in tranquility. 3) It manifests the form of a śramaṇa138 who has left family life, giving delight to those who behold it and keeping away wrong states of mind. 4) The kaṣāyais just the manifestation to human beings and gods of a precious flag; those who honor and venerate it are able to be born in a Brahmā heaven. 139 5) When we wear

the kaṣāya, we feel that it is a precious flag; it is able to extinguish sins and to produce all kinds of happiness and virtue. 6) A fundamental rule in making the kaṣāyais to dye it a secondary color, 140 so that it keeps

us free from thoughts of the five desires,

141 and does not give rise to

lust. 7) The kaṣāyais the pure robe of the Buddha; for it eradicates afflictions142 forever and makes them into a fertile field. 8) When the kaṣāyacovers the body, it extinguishes the karma of sins and promotes at every moment the practice of the ten kinds of good. 143 9) The kaṣāya

is like a fertile field; for it is well able to nurture the bodhisattva way. 10) The kaṣāyais also like a suit of armor; for it makes the poisoned arrows of affliction unable to do harm. Wisdom-Brightness! Remember, through these causes, when the buddhas of the three times, and pratyekabuddhas and śrāvakas, and pure monks and nuns, cover the body in the kaṣāya,[these] three groups of sacred beings sit as one on the precious platform of liberation, take up the sword of wisdom to destroy the demons of affliction, and enter together into the many spheres of nirvana which have one taste.

" Then the World-honored One speaks

again in verse:

Bhikṣu Wisdom-Brightness, listen well!

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Dharma attire fends off social shame,

But fills us with the humility that produces a field of happiness. It keeps away cold and heat, and poisonous insects; Firming our will to the truth, it enables us to arrive at the ultimate.

It manifests [the form] of a monk and keeps away greed; It eradicates the five views144 and [promotes] right practice. To look at and bow to the kaṣāya's form of a precious banner, And to venerate it, produces the happiness of King Brahmā. When a disciple of the Buddha wears the robe and feels like a tower,

This produces happiness, extinguishes sins, and impresses human beings and gods.

True śramaṇas, of modest appearance, showing respect, Are not tainted in their actions by secular defilements. The buddhas praise [the kaṣāya] as a fertile field, They call it supreme in giving benefit and joy to living beings. The mystical power of the kaṣāyais unthinkable, It can cause us to practice deeds that plant the seeds of bodhi, 145

It makes the sprouts of the truth grow like spring seedlings, The wonderful effect of bodhibeing like autumn fruit. [The kaṣāya] is a true suit of armor, as hard as a diamond; The poisoned arrows of affliction can do no harm. I have now briefly praised the ten excellent merits, If I had successive kalpas to expound them widely, there would be no end.

If a dragon wears a single strand [of the kaṣāya], It will escape [the fate of] becoming food for a garuḍa. 146

If people retain this robe when crossing the ocean, They need not fear trouble from dragonfish or demons. When thunder roars, lightning strikes, and the sky is angry, Someone who wears the kaṣāyais fearless. If one clothed in white147 is able personally to hold and retain [the kaṣāya],

All bad demons are unable to approach.

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If [that person] is able to establish the will and seeks to leave home,

Shunning the world and practicing the Buddha's truth, All the demon palaces of the ten directions will quake and tremble,

And that person will quickly experience the body of the Dharma King.

148

[113] These ten excellent merits broadly include all the merits of the Buddha's truth. We should explicitly learn in practice the merits present in [these] long lines and [short] verses of praise, not just glancing over them and quickly putting them aside, but studying them phrase by phrase over a long period. These excellent merits are just the merits of the kaṣāyaitself: they are not the effect of a practitioner's fierce [pursuit of] merit through perpetual training. The Buddha says, "The mystical power of the kaṣāyais

unthinkable"; it cannot be supposed at random by the common person or sages and saints. In general, when we "quickly experience the body of the Dharma King,

" we are always wearing the kaṣāya.There has never been anyone, since ancient times, who experienced the body of the Dharma King without wearing the kaṣāya.

[114] The best and purest material for the robe is rags, whose merits are universally evident in the sutras, precepts, and commentaries149 of the Great Vehicle and Small Vehicle. We should inquire into [these merits] under those who have studied them widely. At the same time, we should also be clear about other materials for the robe. [These things] have been clarified and authentically transmitted by the buddhas and the patriarchs. They are beyond lesser beings.

[115] The Middle Āgama Sutra150 says:

Furthermore, wise friends!151 Suppose there is a man whose bodily behavior is pure but whose behavior of mouth and mind is impure. If wise people see [the impurity] and feel anger they must dispel it. Wise friends! Suppose there is a man whose bodily behavior is impure but whose behavior of mouth and mind is pure. If wise people see [the impurity] and feel anger they must dispel it. How can they dispel it? Wise friends! They should be like a forest bhikṣu152 with rags, looking 179

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among the rags for worn cloth to be thrown away, and for [cloth] soiled by feces or urine, or by tears and spit, or stained by other impurities. After inspecting [a rag, the bhikṣu] picks it up with the left hand and stretches it out with the right hand.

153 If there are any parts that are not

soiled by feces, urine, tears, spit, or other impurities, and which are not in holes, [the bhikṣu] tears them off and takes them. In the same way, wise friends, if a man's bodily behavior is impure but the behavior of mouth and mind is pure, do not think about his body's impure behavior. Only be aware of his pure behavior of mouth and mind. If wise people feel anger at what they see, they must dispel it like this. [117] This is the method by which a forest bhikṣucollects rags. There are four sorts of rags and ten sorts of rags. When gathering those rags, we first pick out the parts that have no holes. We should then also reject [the parts] that cannot be washed clean, being too deeply soiled with long-accumulated stains of feces and urine. We should select [those parts] that can be washed clean.

[117] The ten sorts of rags: 1) Rags chewed by an ox, 2) rags gnawed by rats, 3) rags scorched by fire, 4) rags [soiled by] menstruation, 5) rags [soiled by] childbirth, 6) rags [offered at] a shrine, 7) rags [left at] a graveyard, 8) rags [offered in] petitional prayer, 9) rags [discarded by] a king's officers, 154

10) rags brought back from a funeral.

155These ten sorts people throw away;

they are not used in human society. We pick them up and make them into the pure material of the kaṣāya. Rags have been praised and have been used by the buddhas of the three times. Therefore these rags are valued and defended by human beings, gods, dragons, and so on. We should pick them up to make the kaṣāya;they are the purest material and the ultimate purity. Nowadays in Japan there are no such rags. Even if we search, we cannot find any. It is regrettable that [this] is a minor nation in a remote land. However, we can use pure material offered by a donor, and we can use pure material donated by human beings and gods. Alternatively, we can make the kaṣāya from [cloth] bought at a market with earnings from a pure live-lihood. Such rags and [cloth] obtained from a pure livelihood are not silk, not cotton, and not gold, silver, pearls, patterned cloth, sheer silk, brocade, embroidery, and so on; they are just rags. These rags are neither for a humble robe nor for a 180

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beautiful garment; they are just for the Buddha-Dharma. To wear them is just to have received the authentic transmission of the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the buddhas of the three times, and to have received the authentic transmission of the right Dharma-eye treasury. We should never ask human beings and gods about the merit of this [transmission]. We should learn it in practice from Buddhist patriarchs.

Shōbōgenzō Kesa-kudoku

[120] During my stay in Song China, when I was making effort on the long platform, I saw that my neighbor at the end of every sitting156 would lift up his kaṣāyaand place it on his head; then holding the hands together in veneration, he would quietly recite a verse. The verse was: Daisai-gedatsu-fuku(How great is the clothing of liberation,) Musō-fukuden-e(Formless, field of happiness, robe!)

Hibu-nyorai-kyō(Devoutly wearing the Tathāgata's teaching,) Kōdo-shoshujō(Widely I will save living beings.)

At that time, there arose in me a feeling I had never before experienced. [My] body was overwhelmed with joy. The tears of gratitude secretly fell and soaked my lapels. The reason was that when I had read the Āgama sutras previously, I had noticed sentences about humbly receiving the kaṣāyaon the head, but I had not clarified the standards for this behavior. Seeing it done now, before my very eyes, I was overjoyed. I thought to myself, "It is a pity

that when I was in my homeland there was no master to teach this, and no good friend to recommend it. How could I not regret, how could I not deplore, passing so much time in vain? Now that I am seeing and hearing it, I can rejoice in past good conduct. If I had vainly stayed in my home country, how could I have sat next to this treasure of a monk,

157 who has received the transmission of, and who wears, the Buddha's robe itself?" The sadness and joy was not one-sided. A thousand myriad tears of gratitude ran down. Then I secretly vowed: "One way or another, unworthy though I am, I will become a rightful successor to the Buddha-Dharma. I will receive the authentic transmission of the right Dharma and, out of compassion for living beings in my homeland, I will cause them to see and to hear the robe and the Dharma that have been authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs. " The vow I

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made then has not been in vain now; many bodhisattvas, in families and out of families,

158 have received and retained the kaṣāya.This is something to rejoice in. People who have received and retained the kaṣāyashould humbly receive it upon the head every day and night. The merit [of this] may be especially excellent and supremely excellent. The seeing and hearing of a phrase or a verse may be as in the story of "on trees and on rocks, "159 and the seeing

and hearing may not be limited to the length and breadth of the nine states. 160

The merit of the authentic transmission of the kaṣāyais hardly encountered through the ten directions. To [encounter this merit] even if only for one day or for one night may be the most excellent and highest thing. [123] In the tenth lunar month in the winter of the seventeenth year of Kajō161 in great Song [China], two Korean162 monks came to the city of Kei genfu. 163 One was called Chigen and one was called Keiun. This pair were always discussing the meaning of Buddhist sutras; at the same time they were also men of letters. But they had no kaṣāyaand no pātra,like secular people. It was pitiful that though they had the external form of bhikṣus they did not have the Dharma of bhikṣus.

164 This may have been because they

were from a minor nation in a remote land. When Japanese who have the external form of bhikṣus travel abroad, they are likely to be the same as Chigen and such. Śākyamuni Buddha received [the kaṣāya] upon his head for twelve years, never setting it aside.

165We are already his distant descendants, and we should emulate this. To turn the forehead away from prostrations idly done for fame and gain to gods, to spirits, to kings, and to retainers, and to turn instead toward the humble reception upon the head of the Buddha's robe, is joyful.

Preached to the assembly at Kannondōri kō shōhōrinji, on the first day of winter, 166 in

the first year of Ninji.

167

182

Notes

1 Master Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth patriarch in India and the First Patriarch in China, who introduced the practice of zazen from India. He lived at Shaolin Temple, one of the many Buddhist monasteries that already existed in the Songshan Mountains in the northwest of China.

2 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), successor of Master Daiman Kōnin. Sōkei is the name of the mountain where he lived.

3 Ōbai Mountain was where Master Daiman Kōnin had his Buddhist order. 4 Tang dynasty (618-907).

5 Chūsō (reigned, with an interruption of several years, 684-710) was the fourth emperor of the Tang dynasty. Emperors Shukusō (r. 756-763) and Taisō (r. 763-780) were students of Master Nan'yō Echū (d.775). See for example, Chapter Eighty (Vol. IV), Tashintsū.

6 Chingoku Dai Shōgun Ryū Shūkei. Chingoku,lit.,

title given to generals. Dai shogunmeans great general.

"Pacifier of the Nation,

" was a

7 Chōdai. Chōmeans the top of the head, and daimeans humbly to receive, so chōdai literally means humbly to receive something upon the head, as a sign of respect. 8 Kei,

"you,

" is a term of address for lords, officials of high rank, etc. 9 Muryō-gōga-sha.Variations of this expression appear in many places in the Lotus Sutra.See, for example, LS 2.166 and 3.214.

10 Bōshutsu. Bō,lit.,

"side,

" describes a bystander, or something of secondary importance. Shutsumeans to depart or to sprout. So bōshitsumeans collateral descendants or collateral lineages. Master Dōgen revered the one line that he considered to be authentic, and so to some degree, he considered all other lineages of secondary importance. Master Dōgen's line is through Master Daikan Enō's successor, Master Seigen Gyōshi. At the same time, Master Dōgen revered Master Daikan Enō's other successors, Master Nan'yō Echū and Master Nangaku Ejō. Masters Baso Dōitsu, Nansen Fugan, Jōshū Jūshin, Hyakujō Ekai, Ōbaku Kiun, Rinzai Gigen, Isan Reiyū, Kyōgen Chikan, Kyōzan Ejaku, and Reiun Shigon were some of the descendants of Master Nangaku Ejō.

11 Master Prajñātara, successor of Master Puṇyamitra and master of Master Bodhi dharma. 183

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An image of a bodhisattva called Bhadrapāla (lit., kept as a guardian of the temple bathhouse. "Good Guardian") is sometimes

12 Jō Hōsshi, died in 414 at the age of thirty-one. Hōsshi, "Dharma teacher" was a title

used for Buddhist priest-scholars and teachers of theory. As a layman, Jō worked as a scribe and studied the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi, but after reading the Vimalakīrti Sutrahe came to believe in Buddhism and assisted Kumārajīva in the translation of Buddhist sutras.

13 Master Daii Dōshin, died in 651. See Chapter Fifteen, Busso. 14 Master Gozu Hōyū, died in 657 at the age of sixty-four. He was a collateral successor of Master Daii Dōshin (whose direct successor was Master Daiman Kōnin). It is said that after living on Gozu Mountain and devoting himself to zazen, Master Hōyū was visited by Master Daii Dōshin and thereupon attained the truth. 15 Buddhist scholars divided time following the Buddha's death into three periods: 1) shōbō,

"right Dharma,

" the first five hundred years during which time Buddhism flourished; 2) zōbō,

"imitative Dharma,

" an intermediate period of one thousand

years; and 3) mappō,

"latter Dharma,

" the next ten thousand years during which Buddhism degenerates. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms under saddharma. 16 Gedatsu,used here first as a noun and then as a verb, represents the Sanskrit word vimukti(setting at liberty, release, deliverance, final emancipation). 17 Sannetsu,the three heats, or the three kinds of burning pain. One explanation is as follows: 1) the pain of hot wind and sand being blown against the skin; 2) the pain of a violent wind that takes away jeweled clothes and jeweled ornaments; and 3) the pain of being eaten by a garuḍa,a dragon-eating bird. 18 Chōdai.See note 7.

19 This quotation appears in the Kōkyō(Book of Filial Piety), a text of Confucianism. It is quoted as an example of reverence of tradition in secular society. 20 67 C.E.

21 The Later (or Eastern) Han dynasty, 25-220 C.E.It is said that Buddhist sutras were first translated into Chinese and transmitted into China in 67 C.E. 22 23 Shakamuni-nyorai. Shakamuniis the phonetic rendering in Chinese characters of the Sanskrit Śākyamuni—sage of the Śākya clan. Nyorai, lit., "thus-come,

" represents

the Sanskrit Tathāgata.

Kāśyapa Buddha is the sixth of the seven ancient buddhas, Śākyamuni Buddha being the seventh.

24 Master Seigen Gyōshi and Master Nangaku Ejō. See note 10. 25 This paragraph is quoted from the Daijōgishō. 184

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26 Hentan-uken.These four characters appear in several places in the Lotus Sutra.See, for example, the opening paragraph of the Shinge("Belief and Understanding") chapter (LS 1.222).

27 The folded kaṣāya(folded lengthwise into eight) is first hung over the left shoulder, with the top of the kaṣāyaover the front of the body (so that the single string faces the front). The two corners of the top of the kaṣāyaare flush with each other. The left hand takes the top left-hand corner of the kaṣāyaand the right hand takes the top right-hand corner of the kaṣāya.The kaṣāyais then opened behind the back, and the right hand brings the top right-hand corner of the kaṣāyaunder the right arm and round to the front, and then hangs it over the left shoulder and left upper arm. So "both sides" means the left and right sides of the top of the kaṣāya,and "the front edge" refers to the upper border of the part of the kaṣāyathat is held in the right hand. 28 The Liang dynasty (502-556); the Zhen dynasty (557-589); the Sui dynasty (589-618), the Tang dynasty (618-907); and the Song dynasty (960-1279). 29 Master Bodhidharma lived at Shaolin Temple; Master Daikan Enō lived on Sōkei Mountain.

30 "Experienced the state" is shōkai. Shōmeans to experience; kaimeans to agree or to fit. Shokaimeans to experience the same state as the Buddha. 31 Measurements of time in India. According to one explanation, sixty-four kṣāṇas pass in the clicking of the fingers, and thirty muhūrtas pass in a day. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

32 Goshin-fushi,lit.,

"a card to guard the body.

" Cards bearing lucky words, called omamoriin Japanese, are often sold as talismans at shrines and temples. 33 The Lotus Sutrasays that buddhas alone, together with buddhas, can perfectly realize that all dharmas are real form. Master Dōgen is emphasizing that the kaṣāyais instantaneous and real, therefore beyond understanding. 34 Onorealso means "our" or "ourselves.

" These two sentences also apply to us.

35 Gedatsu-fuku.

36 Fukuden-e.

37 Musō-e.The kaṣāyais without form in the sense that it is a simple rectangular sheet of cloth. These first three phrases all come from the verse which is recited in veneration of the kaṣāya.See paragraph 105 in this chapter.

38 Ninniku-e,lit.,

endurance or patience.

"enduring-humiliation robe.

" Ninnikurepresents the Sanskrit kṣānti,

39 "Usual method" is jōhō. Jōmeans constant or eternal, and at the same time usual or common. Hōmeans method, or Dharma.

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40 "Rags" is funzō-e. Fun means excrement, and sō(pronounced zō) means to sweep or "to be swept.

" Emeans robe, clothes, or clothing. Funzōrepresents the Sanskrit pāṃsu-kūla,which means a dust heap or a collection of rags out of a dust heap used by Buddhist monks for their robes. Funzō-ehas been translated either as "rags" or as "a robe of rags,

" according to the context.

41 The ten sorts of rags are given in paragraph 117 in this chapter. The first four of these are also known as the four sorts of rags. 42 Literally,

"people of the five Indias.

" Ancient India is said to have been divided into five regions: east, west, central, south, and north. 43 Funzō-e,see note 40.

44 The section beginning with "The people of the five Indias" to here is in the style of a quotation from a Chinese text. 45 Many legends like the one referred to in this sentence appear in stories of the Buddha's past lives as a bodhisattva.

46 Lake Anavatapta was thought to be located north of the Himalayas as the source of the four great rivers of India. It was said to be the home of the king of dragons, and was called the lake where there is no suffering from heat. 47 Keshi,

"processed thread.

" The process of producing silk entails boiling the cocoon while the silkworm is still alive. Some people worried that the production of silk violated the precept of not taking life in vain, and thought that silk should not be used as a material for the kaṣāya.

48 The eternal buddha refers to Master Daikan Enō, who received the kaṣāyafrom Master Daiman Kōnin in the middle of the night on Ōbai Mountain. See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji.

49 Genkun,lit.,

"black instruction.

"

50 Born about a hundred years after the death of the Buddha, Master Śāṇa vāsa eventually became the third Indian patriarch, succeeding Master Ānanda. The Sanskrit word śāṇavāsaliterally means flaxen clothes. 51 Shukke,lit.,

IV), Shukke.

"leave home,

" means to become a monk. See Chapter Eighty-three (Vol. 52 Senbyaku-bikuni. Senbyaku,

"fresh-white" represents the Sanskrit śukrawhich means bright, clear, pure, white, or spotless. Volume 8 of the Senjūhyakuenkyōsays that the bhikṣuṇī(Buddhist nun) Śukra was born wearing a pure white robe that never needed washing, and that when she became a nun, the robe changed into a kaṣāya. 53 Jōhō.See note 39.

54 "Welcomed" is zenrai,representing the Sanskrit svāgata, "Welcome!" The Pāli scriptures 186

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say that the Buddha accepted his followers into the monkhood simply by saying "Ehi bhikkhu

"("Welcome, monk").

55 The pearl within the robe alludes to the Gohyaku-deshi-juki("Affirmation of Five Hundred Disciples") chapter of the Lotus Sutra,which tells the story of a drunken man whose friend plants a valuable pearl in his clothes. Five hundred arhats compare themselves to the man who unknowingly carries the pearl, because they have been content with inferior wisdom instead of obtaining the buddha-wisdom (LS2.114). 56 "Those who count grains of sand" means scholars. The original characters sansa, "count sand,

" come from the poem Shōdōkaby Master Yōka Genkaku. He said, "They know no respite from analyzing concepts and forms; having entered the ocean, they vainly exhaust themselves by counting grains of sand. "

57 The Japanese suffix translated as "devoutly" is the honorifictate matsuruform, invariably used by Master Dōgen to express reverence for the Buddha but usually ignored in this translation due to the lack of a suitable equivalent in English. 58 The day was divided into twelve periods. The original characters hito-toki indicate one such period, that is, two hours.

59 Aku.The ash must have been used to make the water more alkaline. In this case the word akuis written with the Chinese character for ash (kai) and the Chinese character for water, sui,but the word akuis originally Japanese, not Chinese. 60 "Hot ash-water" is kaitō,a Chinese word formed by the character for ash (kai) and the character for hot water (tō). Aku-no-yuare Japanese words written in kana,the phonetic Japanese alphabet. Akumeans ash-water (see previous note) and yumeans hot water.

61 Sendanis given in Kenkyusha

'

s New Japanese-English Dictionary as margosa. At

the same time, sendanoriginally represents the Sanskrit candana,sandalwood. 62 Jōkan,lit.,

"pure pole,

" a bamboo or wooden pole suspended horizontally at about head height. See Chapter Seven, Senjō.

63 An ancient Indian custom to show reverence for people or sacred objects. 64 Koki-gasshō. Komeans foreign and kimeans to kneel with the hips extended, as the Chinese noticed that foreigners sometimes kneeled. Joining the hands (gasshō) means holding the palms together, fingers pointing upward, fingertips in front of the nostrils. 65 The verse is: Daisai-gedatsu-fuku/musō-fukuden-e/hibu-nyorai-kyō/kōdo-shoshujō. Loosely translated: "How great is the clothing of liberation./ Though without form it is the robe of real happiness./Wearing the Buddha's teaching,/I will save living beings everywhere.

" See paragraph 105.

66 The following long quotation from the Higekyō(in Sanskrit, Karuṇāpuṇḍarīkasūtra) is originally one paragraph. It has been divided in this translation for ease of reading.

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67 Hōzō,from the Sanskrit ratnagarbha.Ratnagarbha Buddha is a legendary past buddha who appears in the Higekyō.He encouraged Śākyamuni Buddha and Amitābha Buddha (a symbol of eternal life) to establish the will to the truth. 68 Daihi,lit.,

"great compassion,

" from the Sanskrit mahākaruṇā.This is another name

of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. See Chapter Thirty-three (Vol. II), Kannon. 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 The four groups of Buddhists: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The Sanskrit root saṃghāṭmeans to join or fasten together, suggesting the kaṣāyaas a robe composed of miscellaneous rags. The saṃghāṭi robe (in Japanese, sōgyari-e) means the large robe.

That is, as either a śrāvaka(intellectual Buddhist), pratyekabuddha(sensory Buddhist), or bodhisattva (practical Buddhist).

"Affirmation" is kibetsu,from the Sanskrit vyākaraṇa. Vyākaraṇais the Buddha's affirmation that a practitioner will become a buddha in the future. This sentence includes the first of the five sacred merits mentioned later in the paragraph. The first merit is that all who revere the kaṣāyaand the Three Treasures can receive affirmation. Originally, four sun.One sunis slightly over an inch.

Ancient Indian storytellers invented these colorful beings that later found their way into Buddhist sutras. Gandharvas are fragrance-devouring celestial beings, asuras are demons that oppose gods, garuḍas are dragon-eating birds, kiṃnaras are halfhorses, half-men, mahoragas are serpents, kumbhāṇḍas, lit., "having testicles like

jars,

" are demons that feed on human energy, and piśācas are demons that eat flesh. The five sacred merits are that those who wear, venerate, or retain a piece of the kaṣāya1) will be able to receive affirmation, 2) will not regress, 3) will be able to satisfy hunger and thirst, and other wishes, 4) will be able to remain peaceful in hostile situations, and 5) will be protected in times of conflict. Zen-nanshi represents the Sanskrit word kulaputra,with which the Buddha commonly addressed his Buddhist audiences.

Webbed fingers and toes are the fifth of the thirty-two distinguishing marks of a buddha.

Shashu.In shashuthe fingers of the left hand are curled round the thumb, and the left hand is placed against the chest, the left forearm being held horizontal. The right hand is placed, palm down, on the back of the left hand, the right forearm also being held horizontal.

The Higekyō,chapter 8 (the chapter on how the bodhisattvas received their affirmation in past lives).

Sutra and Vinaya are two of the three "baskets" (piṭakas), or kinds of Buddhist teachings. Vinayameans guidance, discipline, instruction, or teaching; that is, the precepts 188

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and related writings. The Tripiṭaka (three baskets) consists of Sutra, Vinaya (precepts), and Abhidharma (commentaries).

81 Inchi,

"causal state,

" means the state that caused the Buddha to become a buddha. 82 Master Nāgārjuna was the fourteenth patriarch in India, the successor of Master Kapimala and the teacher of Master Kāṇadeva. He lived sometime around the period 150-250 C.E.This passage is a Chinese translation of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, which is thought to have been written and compiled mainly by Master Nāgārjuna himself.

83 Shukken in,or "people who have left home"; monks and nuns. 84 Honshōkyō,lit.,

a bodhisattva.

"Past Lives Sutra.

"Legendary stories of the Buddha's past lives as 85 See explanation in the following paragraph. 86 The ultimate state of a śrāvaka,or intellectual Buddhist, which is identified with the state of buddha. See Chapter Thirty-four (Vol. II), Arakan. 87 It was the custom in Asian pleasure houses for prostitutes to use old-fashioned language. The custom remained in Japan until the end of the Edo era (1868). 88 See note 23.

89 Daichidoron,chapter 30. This section is also quoted near the beginning of Chapter Eighty-six (Vol. IV), Shukke-kudoku.

90 In the Chinese translation of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa,the Sanskrit name Utpalavarṇā, which means "color of the blue lotus, " is represented as Ubara-ke. Ubara

is a phonetic rendering of utpala(blue lotus) and kemeans flower. Here the name is Renge-shiki,

"Lotus Flower Color.

"

91 See Chapter Twenty-five (Vol. II), Jinzu,and the Glossary of Sanskrit Terms under abhijñā.

92 Ancient Indians imagined a universe of four continents surrounding a big mountain, with celestial beings in the north and human beings in the south. So the southern continent means the human world. 93 Ryō, aya. Ayahas a pattern woven into a diagonal weave. 94 E-jiki,lit.,

"broken color,

" that is, not a bright, attractive primary color. The kaṣāya is not dyed a primary color.

95 Master Daikan Enō, the Sixth Patriarch in China. 96 The section beginning "When practitioners cannot obtain rags" to here is in Chinese characters only, indicating that it was quoted directly from a Chinese text. 97 From here to paragraph 98 is a passage from the Konponissaiubu hyaku ichi katsuma 189

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(One Hundred and One Customs of the Mūla sarvāsti vādin School). In Chinese characters, the Sarvāstivāda school is setsu-issai-u-bu, "the school that preaches that all

things exist.

" Master Dōgen esteemed their teaching especially highly. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and Chapter Eighty-seven (Vol. IV), Kuyō-shubutsu. 98 "Venerable monk" is guju,lit.,

"possessing longevity,

" which represents the meaning

of the Sanskrit āyuṣmat,a term of reverence used for the Buddha's disciples. The word āyuṣmatliterally means a vital or vigorous person, a person of long life. 99 Upāli was one of the Buddha's ten great disciples, said to be foremost in maintaining the Vinaya. Before becoming a monk he was a barber at the royal palace. 100 Daitoku-seson,lit.,

"World-honored Great Virtuous One.

" Daitokurepresents the

Sanskrit bhadanta, an epithet of the Buddha. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 101 Hanō,lit.,

"broken patched-[robe].

" Nō,

"patches,

" suggests the Buddhist robe itself. 102 Jō, chū, ge, lit.,

"upper, middle, and lower.

"

103 Cubit is chū,lit.,

"elbow,

" representing the Sanskrit hasta,which means forearm or cubit. The cubit, or nobechūin Japanese, is the basic unit of measurement in making a kaṣāya.It is not a fixed distance; it is obtained by measuring the distance from the elbow to the tip of the fist, or the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, of the person who will wear the kaṣāya. 104 The Sanskrit uttarasaṃghāṭimeans an upper- or outergarment. This robe would be worn for doing prostrations, listening to formal lectures, and the meeting for confession. 105 The Sanskrit antarvāsameans an inner- or undergarment. 106 As in the case of the uttarasaṃghāṭirobe, the smaller is a half cubit shorter on each side, and anything between these two is called medium. 107 It is said that Maitreya Buddha will manifest himself in this world when he is eighty thousand years old.

108 The Fuyōkyō,from the Sanskrit Lalitavistara-sūtra,says that the Buddha lived for one hundred years.

109 Master Dōgen did not deny the existence of differences in length, but at the same time he suggested that, in the phase of action, relative differences are not important. 110 The buddha body is a real state at the moment of the present, not only physical matter. 111 See note 23.

112 The creator deity in Hindu mythology. 113 Maudgalyāyana was one of the Buddha's ten great disciples. It is said that he and Śāriputra, the sons of brahmans from neighboring villages, were good friends. Maudgal yāyana was said to be foremost in mystical abilities. The World of the Bright Banner 190

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is an imaginary western realm where buddhas are living. The Daihōshakkyō(from the Sanskrit Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra), chapter 10, contains a story in which Maudgalyāyana goes into the World of the Bright Banner. 114 That is, the merits of the Buddha are beyond relative considerations. 115 These names are explanatory rather than accurate translations of the original Chinese characters.

"The robe of separate stripes" is katsu-setsu-e,lit.,

"divided-and-cut robe";

for this robe the individual segments of each stripe are sewn together, then the stripes are sewn together, and finally the borders are sewn and fastening tapes added. 116 Zetchō-e,lit.,

"[unknown character]-leaf robe"; this is basically one large sheet of uncut cloth onto which long thin strips are sewn to create the stripes and borders. 117 Shō-yō-e, lit.,

it is pleated to create the stripes.

"gathered-leaf robe"; this is again one large sheet of uncut cloth, but 118 Man-e—the meaning of the former character is not known; this is a single sheet of cloth with only the fastening tapes added, and sewn only around the borders. 119 The time limits were five days for the saṃghāṭirobe, four days for the seven-striped robe, and two days for the five-striped robe.

120 Indian legends say that King Brahmā is king of the world of volition, and King Śakra (i.e., Śakra-devānām-indra) is king of the world of matter. 121 Emperor Bu, or Wu, (464-549), reigned from 502 to 549. His conversation with Master Bodhidharma when the latter arrived in China is recorded in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji.

122 Emperor Yang (569-617), reigned from 605 to 617.

123 Taisō and Shukusō were emperors of the Tang dynasty (618-906), who lived at the time of Master Nan'yō Echū. See note 5.

124 Prince Shōtoku (573-620) was the primary organizer of the early Japanese state. He promoted Buddhism as the state religion.

125 The full name of the sutra is the Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda-sūtra.See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

126 Emperor Shōmu, reigned in Japan from 724 to 749.

127 The use of the willow twig to clean the teeth is explained in Chapter Fifty-six (Vol. III), Senmen.

128 Potable water would be kept in a small corked bottle, for drinking or for rinsing the mouth.

129 The sitting cloth, orzagu,is spread on the floor for formal prostrations. 130 Both quotations are from the Makashikanhogyōdenguketsu,a Chinese commentary 191

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on the Makashikan,which is a record of lectures by the Chinese Master Tendai Chigi, founder of the Tendai sect.

131 "Master of the past" is ko-toku,lit., "ancient merit" or "meritorious person of the past.

" These words appear frequently in the Makashikan. 132 "Householder" is koji.See Chapter Eight, Raihai-tokuzui. 133 Ro was Master Daikan Enō's name before he became a monk. The story of how he worked as a temple servant in the order of Master Daiman Kōnin is related in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji.

134 These represent the first two of the eight venerative images, or feelings, associated with wearing the kaṣāya:1) feeling like a tower (because of sitting up straight), 2) feeling like the Buddha ("our master"), 3) feeling solitude and peace, 4) feeling compassion, 5) feeling veneration, 6) feeling humility, 7) feeling repentance, and 8) feeling as if one has dispelled greed, anger, and stupidity and obtained all the teachings of a monk.

135 The following passage is from Vol. 5 of Daijōhonshōshinchikankyō. 136 Chikō. The Sanskrit name of this monk is not known. 137 "Good ways" is zenhō,lit.,

"good law.

" Observance of zenhō,or the moral rule of the universe, is the second of the three universal bodhisattva precepts (see Chapter Ninety-four [Vol. IV], Jukai).

138 The Sanskrit śramaṇameans a striver, a mendicant, or a Buddhist monk. 139 The first of the four dhyānaheavens in the world of matter is said to consist of three heavens: Brahma-pāriṣadya, Brahma-purohita, and Mahā-brahman. Beings in these heavens, having left the world of volition, are not troubled by sexual desire. 140 E-jiki.See note 94.

141 The five desires are desires associated with sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. 142 Bonnō,representing the Sanskrit kleśa. 143 The ten kinds of good are abstention from the ten kinds of wrong: 1) killing, 2) stealing, 3) adultery, 4) lying, 5) two-faced speech, 6) abusive slander, 7) gossip, 8) greed, 9) anger, and 10) devotion to wrong views. 144 Goken,

Terms.

"five views,

" represents the Sanskrit pañca dṛṣṭayaḥ.See Glossary of Sanskrit 145 The Chinese characters bodai, are used interchangeably.

"bodhi,

"and the character dō,

"truth,

" in the next line

146 Literally,

Terms.

"a golden-winged king of birds, " that is, a garuḍa.See Glossary of Sanskrit 192

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147 Byaku-e, lit.,

"a white robe,

" represents the Sanskrit avadāta-vāsana. 148 Hō-ō,

"Dharma King,

" is an epithet of the Buddha. 149 The Tripiṭaka (three baskets) of Buddhist teachings. See note 80 and the Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

150 Chūagongyō(Skt. Madhyamāgama;Pāli: Majjhima-nikāya). The Āgama sutras relate concrete information about the behavior and speech of the Buddha and his disciples in their daily life.

151 Shoken,

"wise ones" or "(ladies and) gentlemen, " is a term of respect used when addressing an assembly.

152 Arannya-biku. Arannyarepresents the Sanskrit araṇyawhich means forest. A forest bhikṣusuggests a monk who lives a solitary life in the forest. See also Chapter Ninety (Vol. IV), Shizen-biku.

153 Traditionally, the right hand is kept pure. 154 Suggests uniforms discarded by promoted officers. 155 Ōkan-e,lit.,

"robes of going and returning, " that is, cloth used as a funeral shroud and then brought back after the ceremony. 156 "End of sitting" is kaijō,lit., "release of stillness.

" Traditionally, the clapping of a wooden board at the end of zazen is called shō-kaijō, "small release of stillness, " and

the ringing of the bell is called dai-kaijō, "great release of stillness. "

157 Sōbō,or "sangha treasure. "

158 Zaike-shukke,laypeople and monks. 159 Nyakuju-nyakuseki,

"trees and rocks,

" alludes to the story of the Buddha's past life recorded in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra.When he was the "Child of the Himalayas" pursuing the truth in the mountains, a demon told him the first two lines of a fourline poem: "Actions are without constancy;/ Concrete existence is the arising and passing of dharmas.

" The demon said it was too hungry to tell the child the last two lines, so the child offered his own body as a meal for the demon if it would recite the last two lines. So the demon recited the last two lines: "After arising and passing have ceased,/The stillness is pleasure itself. " The child preserved the verse for posterity by writing it on some nearby trees and rocks in his own blood, before being eaten by the demon.

160 The nine states means China. 161 1223. The seventeenth year of the Kajō era was, in fact, 1224. However, the original sentence also identifies the year under the Chinese dating system in which characters from two separate lists are combined. These two characters—ki, mizunoto,the younger brother of water, or the tenth calendar sign; and mi, hitsuji,the sheep, or the eighth horary sign—identify the year as 1223. 193