T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume I

Chapter 13: Den-e - The Transmission of the Robe

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

162 "Korean" is Kōrai or Kōma. At that time, the Korean peninsula was divided into three states. The state called Kōrai existed from 918 to 1353. 163 Present-day Ningbo, in eastern China. 164 They did not have the kaṣāyaand pātra. 165 Alludes to a story originally contained in the Āgama sutras. See Chapter Thirteen, Den-e, paragraph 143.

166 The first day of winter means the first day of the tenth lunar month. 167 1240.

194

[Chapter Thirteen]

Den-e

The Transmission of the Robe

Translator's Note:Denmeans

"transmission

"

and emeans

"

robe,

"

so den-e

means

"transmission of the robe.

" The content of this chapter is very similar to that of the previous chapter, Kesa-kudoku. Furthermore, the date recorded at the end of each chapter is the same. But whereas the note at the end of Kesa-kudokusays

"

preached to the assembly at Kannon dōri kō shō hō rinji, "

the note to this chapter says

"

written at Kannondōrikōshōhōrinji. . . . "It thus

seems likely that Den-eis the draft of the lecture Master Dōgen was to give on October first, and Kesa-kudoku is the transcript of the lecture he gave on that day.

[125] The authentic transmission into China of the robe and the Dharma, which are authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha, 1 was done only

by the Founding Patriarch of Shaolin [Temple]. The Founding Patriarch was the twenty-eighth ancestral master after Śākyamuni Buddha. [The robe] had passed from rightful successor to rightful successor through twenty-eight generations in India, and it was personally and authentically transmitted through six generations in China; altogether it was [transmitted through] thirty-three generations in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands. The thirty-third patriarch, Zen Master Daikan, received the authentic transmission of this robe and Dharma on Ōbaizan in the middle of the night, and he guarded and retained [the robe] until his death. 2 It is now still deposited at Hōrinji on Sōkeizan. Many generations of emperors in succession requested that it be brought into the palace, where they served offerings to it; they guarded [the robe] as a sacred object. The Tang dynasty emperors Chūsō, Shukusō, and Taisō frequently had [the robe] brought to court and served offerings to it. Both when they requested it and when they sent it back, they would dispatch an imperial emissary and issue an edict; this is the manner in which they honored [the robe]. Emperor Taisō once returned the Buddha's robe to 195

56b

56c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

Sōkeizan with the following edict: "I now dispatch the great General Ryū Shūkei, Pacifier of the Nation, to receive with courtesy and to deliver [the robe]. I consider it to be a national treasure. Venerable priests, deposit it in its original temple. Let it be solemnly guarded by monks who have intimately received the fundamental teaching. Never let it fall into neglect. "

[127] Thus, the emperors of several generations each esteemed [the robe] as an important national treasure. Truly, to retain this Buddha's robe in one's country is a superlative great treasure, which surpasses even dominion over the [worlds] as countless as the sands of the Ganges in a three-thousandgreat-thousandfold world. We should never compare it with Benka's gem. 3

[A gem] may become the national seal of state, but how can it become the rare jewel which transmits the Buddha's state? From the Tang dynasty4 onward, the monks and laymen5 who admired and bowed to [the kaṣāya] were all, without exception, people of great makings who believed in the Dharma. If not aided by good conduct in the past, how else would we be able to prostrate this body in admiration to the Buddha's robe which has been directly and authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha? Skin, flesh, bones, and marrow that believe in and receive [the robe] should rejoice; those that cannot believe in and receive [the robe] should feel regret—even though the situation is of their own doing—that they are not the embryos of buddhas. Even secular [teaching] says that to look at a person's behavior is just to look at that person. To have admired and to have bowed now to the Buddha's robe is just to be looking at the Buddha. We should erect hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of stupas and serve offerings to this buddha robe. In the heavens above and in the ocean's depths, whatever has mind should value [the robe]. In the human world too, sacred wheel-turning kings6 and others who know what is true and know what is superior should value [the robe]. It is pitiful that the people who became, in generation after generation, the rulers of the land never knew what an important treasure existed in their own country. Deluded by the teachings of Daoists, many of them abolished the Buddha-Dharma. At such times, instead of wearing the kaṣāya,they covered their round heads with [Daoist] caps.

7 The lectures [they listened to] were

on how to extend one's lifespan and to prolong one's years. There were [emperors like this] both during the Tang dynasty and during the Song dynasty. These fellows were rulers of the nation, but they must have been more vulgar 196

Chapter Thirteen

than the common people. They should have quietly reflected that the Buddha's robe had remained and was actually present in their own country. They might even have considered that [their country] was the buddha land of the robe. [The kaṣāya] may surpass even [sacred] bones8 and so on. Wheel-turning kings have bones, as do lions, human beings, pratyekabuddhas, and the like. But wheel-turning kings do not have the kaṣāya,lions do not have the kaṣāya, human beings do not have the kaṣāya.Only buddhas have the kaṣāya.We should believe this profoundly. Stupid people today often revere bones but fail to know the kaṣāya.Few know that they should guard and retain [their own kaṣāya]. This situation has arisen because few people have ever heard of the importance of the kaṣāya,and [even these few] have never heard of the authentic transmission of the Buddha-Dharma. When we attentively think back to the time when Śākyamuni was in the world, it is little more than two thousand years; many national treasures and sacred objects have been transmitted to the present for longer than this. This Buddha-Dharma and buddha robe are recent and new. The benefit of their propagation through the "fields and villages,

" even if there have been "fifty propagations,

" is wonderful.

9

The qualities of those things10 are obvious [but] this buddha robe can never be the same as those things. Those things are not received in the authentic transmission from rightful successors, but this [robe] has been received in the authentic transmission from rightful successors. Remember, we attain the truth when listening to a four-line verse, and we attain the state of truth when listening to a single phrase. Why is it that a four-line verse and a single phrase can have such mystical effect? Because they are the Buddha-Dharma. Now, each robe and [all] nine kinds of robes11 have been received in the authentic transmission from the Buddha-Dharma itself; [the robe] could never be inferior to a four-line verse, and could never be less effective than a single phrase of Dharma. This is why, for more than two thousand years, all followers of the Buddha—those with the makings of devotional practice and of Dharma practice—have guarded and retained the kaṣāyaand regarded it as their body and mind. Those who are ignorant of the right Dharma of the buddhas do not worship the kaṣāya.

[132] Now, such beings as Śakra-devānām-indra and the Dragon King Anavatapta, though they are the celestial ruler of laymen and the king of dragons, have guarded and retained the kaṣāya.Yet people who shave the 197

57a

57b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

head, people who call themselves disciples of the Buddha, do not know that they should receive and retain the kaṣāya.How much less could they know its material, color, and measurements; how much less could they know the method of wearing it; and how much less could they have seen the dignified conventions for it, even in a dream?

[133] The kaṣāyahas been called since olden times "the clothing that wards off suffering from heat" and "the clothing of liberation. " In conclusion,

its merit is beyond measure. Through the merit of the kaṣāya,a dragon's scales can be freed from the three kinds of burning pain. When the buddhas realize the truth, they are always wearing this robe. Truly, although we were born in a remote land in [the age of] the latter Dharma, if we have the opportunity to choose between what has been transmitted and what has not been transmitted, we should believe in, receive, guard, and retain [the robe] whose transmission is authentic and traditional. In what lineage have both the robe and the Dharma of Śākyamuni himself been authentically transmitted, as in our authentic tradition? They exist only in Buddhism. On meeting this robe and Dharma, who could be lax in venerating them and serving 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. Further, we should vow to meet [the robe] and humbly to receive it upon the head in every life in every age. We are the stupid people of a remote quarter, born with a hundred thousand or so miles of mountains and oceans separating us from the land of the Buddha's birth. Even so, if we hear this right Dharma, if we receive and retain this kaṣāyaeven for a single day or a single night, and if we master even a single phrase or a single verse, that will not only be the good fortune to have served offerings to one buddha or to two buddhas: it will be the good fortune to have served offerings and paid homage to countless hundred thousand koṭis of buddhas. Even if [the servants] are ourselves, we should respect them, we should love them, and we should value them. [135] We should heartily repay the great benevolence of the ancestral master in transmitting the Dharma.

12Even animals repay kindness; how could

human beings fail to recognize kindness? If we failed to recognize kindness, we would be inferior to animals, more stupid than animals. People other than the ancestral masters who transmit the Buddha's right Dharma have never known the merit of this buddha robe, even in a dream. How much less could 198

Chapter Thirteen

they clarify its material, color, and measurements? If we long to follow the traces of the buddhas, we should just long for this [transmission]. Even after a hundred thousand myriads of generations, the authentic reception of this authentic transmission will [still] be just the Buddha-Dharma itself. The evidence for this is clear. Even secular [teaching] says, "One does not wear clothing different from the clothing of the past king, and one does not follow laws different from those of the past king.

" Buddhism is also like that. We should

not wear what is different from the Dharma clothing of past buddhas. If [our clothes] were different from the Dharma clothing of past buddhas, what could we wear to practice Buddhism and to serve buddhas? Without wearing this clothing, it might be difficult to enter the Buddha's order. [136] Since the years of the Eihei period,

13 during the reign of Emperor

Kōmei of the Later Han dynasty, monks arriving in the Eastern Lands from the Western Heavens have followed on each other's heels without cease. We often hear of monks going from China to India, but it is not said that they ever met anyone who gave them the face-to-face transmission of the Buddha-Dharma. They [have] only names and forms, learned in vain from teachers of commentaries and scholars of the Tripiṭaka.

14 They have not heard the

authentic tradition of the Buddha-Dharma. This is why they cannot even report that we should receive the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe, why they never claim to have met a person who has received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe, and why they never mention seeing or hearing a person who has received the transmission of the robe. Clearly, they have never entered beyond the threshold of the house of Buddha. That these fellows recognize [the robe] solely as a garment, not knowing that it is in the Buddha-Dharma [an object of] honor and worship, is truly pitiful. Rightful successors to the transmission of the Buddha's Dharma treasury also transmit and receive the Buddha's robe. The principle that the ancestral masters who receive the authentic transmission of the Dharma treasury have never gone without seeing and hearing15 the Buddha's robe is widely known among human beings and in the heavens above. This being so, the material, color, and measurements of the Buddha's kaṣāyahave been authentically transmitted and authentically seen and heard; the great merits of the Buddha's kaṣāyahave been authentically transmitted; and the body, mind, bones, and marrow of the Buddha's kaṣāyahave been authentically transmitted, only 199

57c

58a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

in the customs of the traditional lineage. [This authentic transmission] is not known in the various schools which follow the teaching of the Āgamas. 16

The [robes] that individuals have established independently, according to the idea of the moment, are not traditional and not legitimate. When our Great Master Śākyamuni Tathāgata passed on the right Dharma-eye treasury and the supreme state of bodhito Mahā kāśyapa, he transmitted them together with the buddha robe. Between then and Zen Master Daikan of Sōkeizan, there were thirty-three generations, the transmission passing from rightful successor to rightful successor. The intimate experience and intimate transmission of [the robe's] material, color, and measurements have long been handed down by the lineages, and their reception and retention are evident in the present. That is to say, that which was received and retained by each of the founding patriarchs of the five sects17is the authentic tradition. Similarly evident are the wearing [of the robe], according to the methods of former buddhas, and the making [of the robe], according to the methods of former buddhas, which "buddhas alone, together with buddhas, " through generations

have transmitted and have experienced as the same state—in some cases for over fifty generations and in some cases for over forty generations—without confusion between any master and disciple. The Buddha's instruction, as authentically transmitted from rightful successor to rightful successor, is as follows:

Robe of nine stripes Robe of eleven stripes Robe of thirteen stripes Robe of fifteen stripes Robe of seventeen stripes Robe of nineteen stripes Robe of twenty-one stripes Robe of twenty-three stripes three long [segments], one short [segment];18 or four

long, one short

three long, one short; or four

long, one short

three long, one short; or four

long, one short

three long, one short

three long, one short

three long, one short

four long, one short

four long, one short

200

Chapter Thirteen

Robe of twenty-five stripes Robe of two hundred and fifty stripes Robe of eighty-four thousand stripes19 four long, one short four long, one short

eight long, one short

[140] This is an abbreviated list. There are many other kinds of kaṣāya besides these, all of which may be the saṃghāṭirobe. Some receive and retain [the kaṣāya] as laypeople, and some receive and retain [the kaṣāya] as monks and nuns. To receive and to retain [the kaṣāya] means to wear it, not to keep it idly folded. Even if people shave off hair and beard, if they do not receive and retain the kaṣāya,if they hate the kaṣāyaor fear the kaṣāya, they are celestial demons20 and non-Buddhists. Zen Master Hyakujō Daichi21 says,

"Those who have not accumulated good seeds in the past detest the kaṣāyaand hate the kaṣāya;they fear and hate the right Dharma. "

[142] The Buddha says,

"If any living being, having entered my

Dharma, commits the grave sins or falls into wrong views, but in a single moment of consciousness [this person] with reverent mind honors the saṃghāṭirobe, the buddhas and I will give affirmation, without fail, that this person will be able to become buddha in the three vehicles. Gods or dragons or human beings or demons, if able to revere the merit of even a small part of this person's kaṣāya,will at once attain the three vehicles and will neither regress nor stray. If ghosts and living beings can obtain even four inches of the kaṣāya, they will eat and drink their fill. When living beings offend each other and are about to fall into wrong views, if they remember the power of the kaṣāya,through the power of the kaṣāyathey will duly feel compassion, and they will be able to return to the state of purity. If people on a battlefield keep a small part of this kaṣāya, venerating it and honoring it, they will obtain salvation.

"22

[143] Thus we have seen that the merits of the kaṣāyaare supreme and unthinkable. When we believe in, receive, guard, and retain it, we will surely get the state of affirmation, and get the state of not regressing. Not only Śākyamuni Buddha but all the buddhas also have preached like this. Remember, the substance and form of the buddhas themselves is just the kaṣāya.This is why the Buddha says,

"Those who are going to fall into wrong ways hate

201

58b

58c

59a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

the saṃghāṭi[robe].

" This being so, if hateful thoughts arise when we see and hear of the kaṣāya,we should feel sorry that our own body is going to fall into wrong ways, and we should repent and confess. Furthermore, when Śākyamuni Buddha first left the royal palace and was going to enter the mountains, a tree god, the story goes, holds up a saṃghāṭirobe and says to Śākyamuni Buddha,

"If you receive this robe upon your head, you will escape the disturbances of demons.

" Then Śākyamuni Buddha accepts this robe,

humbly receiving it upon his head, and for twelve years he does not set it aside even for a moment. This is the teaching of the Āgama sutras. Elsewhere it is said that the kaṣāyais a garment of good fortune, and that those who wear it always reach exalted rank. In general, there has never been a moment when this saṃghāṭirobe was not manifesting itself before us in the world. The manifestation before us of one moment is an eternal matter, 23 and eternal

matters come at one moment. To obtain the kaṣāyais to obtain the Buddha's banner. For this reason, none of the buddha-tathāgatas has ever failed to receive and to retain the kaṣāya. And no person who has received and retained the kaṣāyahas failed to become buddha.

[145] The method of wearing the kaṣāya:"To bare only the right shoulder" is the usual method. There is also a method of wearing [the kaṣāya] so that it covers both shoulders. When we wear both sides over the left arm and shoulder, we wear the front edge on the outside and the back edge on the inside. 24This

is one instance of Buddhist dignified behavior. This behavior is neither seen and heard nor transmitted and received by the various groups of śrāvakas: their scriptures on the teaching of the Āgamas do not mention it at all. In general, the dignified behavior of wearing the kaṣāyain Buddhism has been unfailingly received and retained by the ancestral masters who received the transmission of the right Dharma and who are present before us here and now. When receiving and retaining [the kaṣāya], we should unfailingly receive and retain it under such an ancestral master. The traditional kaṣāyaof the Buddhist patriarchs has been authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha without irregularity; it is the kaṣāyaof former buddhas and of later buddhas, the kaṣāya of ancient buddhas and of recent buddhas. When they transform25the state of truth, when they transform the state of buddha, when they transform the past, when they transform the present, and when they transform the future, they transmit the authentic tradition from the past to the present, they transmit the 202

Chapter Thirteen

authentic tradition from the present to the future, they transmit the authentic tradition from the present to the past, they transmit the authentic tradition from the past to the past, they transmit the authentic tradition from the present to the present, they transmit the authentic tradition from the future to the future, they transmit the authentic tradition from the future to the present, and they transmit the authentic tradition from the future to the past; and this is the authentic transmission of "buddhas alone, together with buddhas. " For this

reason, for several hundred years after the ancestral master came from the west, from the great Tang to the great Song [dynasties], many of those accomplished at lecturing on sutras were able to see through their own behavior; and when people of philosophical schools, of precepts, and so on entered the Buddha-Dharma, they threw away the shabby old robes that had formerly been their kaṣāya,and they authentically received the traditional kaṣāyaof Buddhism. Their stories appear one after another in Records of the Torchsuch as Den[tōroku], Kō[tōroku], Zoku[tōroku],Futōroku,and so on. 26When they

were liberated from the small view which is limited thinking about philosophy and precepts and they revered the great truth authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs, they all became Buddhist patriarchs. People today also should learn from the ancestral masters of the past. If we would like to receive and to retain the kaṣāya,we should receive the authentic transmission of, and should believe in, the traditional kaṣāya.We should not receive and retain a fake kaṣāya.The traditional kaṣāyameans the kaṣāyanow authentically transmitted from Shaolin [Temple] and Sōkei [Mountain];27its reception from the Tathāgata in the transmission from rightful successor to rightful successor has never been interrupted for even a single generation. For this reason we have exactly received the practice of the truth, and we have intimately obtained, in our own hands, the Buddha's robe; and this is the reason [we should receive the authentic transmission]. The Buddha's [state of] truth is authentically transmitted in the Buddha's [state of] truth; it is not left for lazy people to receive at leisure. A secular proverb says,

"Hearing a thousand times is not

as good as seeing once, and seeing a thousand times is not as good as experiencing once. " Reflecting on this, [we can say that] even if we see [the kaṣāya] a thousand times and hear of it ten thousand times, that is not as good as getting it once, and never as good as to have received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe. If we can doubt those who have authentic traditions, 203

59b

59c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

we should doubt all the more those who have never seen the authentic traditions even in a dream. To receive the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe may be closer [in experience] than to receive and to hear Buddhist sutras. Even a thousand experiences and ten thousand attainments are not as good as one realization in experience. A Buddhist patriarch is the realization of the same state of experience; we should never rank [a Buddhist patriarch] with common followers of philosophy and precepts. In conclusion, with regard to the merits of the kaṣāyaof the Patriarch's lineage, [we can say that] its authentic transmission has been received exactly; [that] its original configuration has been conveyed personally; and [that] it has been received and retained, together with the succession of the Dharma, without interruption until today. The authentic recipients are all ancestral masters who have experienced the same state and received the transmission of Dharma. They are superior even to [bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages and the three clever stages; we should serve and venerate them and should bow down to them and humbly receive them upon our heads. If this principle of the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe is believed just once by this body and mind, that is a sign of meeting buddha, and it is the way to learn the state of buddha. [A life] in which we could not accept this Dharma would be a sad life. We should profoundly affirm that if we cover the physical body, just once, with this kaṣāya, it will be a talisman that protects the body and ensures realization of the state of bodhi.It is said that when we dye the believing mind with a single phrase or a single verse we never lack the brightness of long kalpas. When we dye the body and mind with one real dharma,[the state] may be "also like this. "

Those mental images28are without an abode and are irrelevant to what I possess; even so, their merits are indeed as described above. The physical body is without an abode; even so, it is as described above. The kaṣāya,too, is without an origin and also without a destination, it is neither our own possession nor the possession of anyone else; even so, it actually abides at the place where it is retained, and it covers the person who receives and retains it. The merits acquired [by virtue of the kaṣāya] may also be like this. When we make the kaṣāya,the making is not the elaboration29 of the common, the sacred, and the like. The import of this is not perfectly realized by [bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred or the three clever [stages]. Those who have not accumulated seeds of the truth in the past do not see the kaṣāya,do not hear of the kaṣāya, 204

Chapter Thirteen

and do not know the kaṣāya,not in one life, not in two lives, not even if they pass countless lives. How much less could they receive and retain [the kaṣāya]? There are those who attain, and those who do not attain, the merit to touch [the kaṣāya] once with the body. Those who have attained [this merit] should rejoice. Those who have not attained it should hope to do so. Those who can never attain it should lament. All human beings and gods have seen, heard, and universally recognized that the Buddha's robe is transmitted—both inside and outside the great-thousandfold-world—only in the lineage of the Buddhist patriarchs. Clarification of the configuration of the Buddha's robe also is present only in the lineage of the patriarchs, it is not known in other lineages. Those who do not know it and [yet] do not blame themselves are stupid people. Even if they know eighty-four thousand samādhi-dhāraṇīs, 30without receiving

the authentic transmission of the Buddhist patriarchs' robe and Dharma, without clarifying the authentic transmission of the kaṣāya,they can never be the rightful successors of the buddhas. How the living beings of other regions must long to receive exactly the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe, as it has been authentically received in China. They must be ashamed, their sorrow in their hearts must be deep, that they have not received the authentic transmission in their own country. Truly, to meet the Dharma in which the robe and the Dharma of the World-honored Tathāgata have been authentically transmitted is the result of seeds of great merit from past-nurtured prajñā.Now, in this corrupt age of the latter Dharma, there are many bands of demons who are not ashamed that they themselves lack the authentic transmission, and who envy the authentic transmission [of others]. Our own possessions and abodes are not our real selves. Just authentically to receive the authentic transmission; this is the direct way to learn the state of buddha. [153] In sum, remember that the kaṣāyais the body of the Buddha and the mind of the Buddha. Further, it is called "the clothing of liberation, " called

"the robe of a field of happiness,

" called "the robe of endurance,

" called "the

robe without form,

" called "the robe of compassion,

" called "the robe of the

Tathāgata,

" and called "the robe of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.

" We must

receive and retain it as such. In the great kingdom of Song today, people who call themselves students of the precepts, because they are drunk on the wine of the śrāvaka,are neither ashamed, regretful, nor aware that they have received the transmission of a lineage which is alien to their own clan. Having changed 205

60a

60b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

the kaṣāyathat has been transmitted from the Western Heavens and handed down through the ages from Han to Tang China, they follow small thoughts. It is due to the small view that they are like that, and they should be ashamed of [their] small view. Given that they now wear a robe [based on] their own small thinking, they probably lack many [other] of the Buddhist dignified forms. Such things happen because their learning of, and reception of the transmission of, the Buddhist forms, are incomplete. The fact is evident that the body and mind of the Tathāgata has been authentically transmitted only in the lineage of the patriarchs, and it has not spread into the customs of those other lineages. If they knew only one Buddhist form in ten thousand they would never destroy the Buddha's robe. Not having clarified even [the meaning of] sentences, they have never been able to hear the fundamental. [155] There again, to decide that coarse cotton is the only material for the robe runs deeply counter to the Buddha-Dharma; above all it ruins the buddha robe. Disciples of the Buddha should not wear [a robe made according to this rule]. Why? [Because] to uphold a view about cloth ruins the kaṣāya. It is pitiful that the views of the śrāvakaof the Small Vehicle are so tortuous. After their views about cloth have been demolished, the Buddha's robe will be realized. What I am saying about the use of silk and cotton is not the teaching of one buddha or two buddhas; it is the great Dharma of all the buddhas to see rags as the best and purest material for the robe. When, for the present, we list the ten sorts of rags among those [rags], they include silk, cotton, and other kinds of cloth too.

31 Must we not take rags of silk? If we are

like that, we go against the Buddha's truth. If we hated silk, we would also have to hate cotton. Where is the reason to hate silk or cotton? To hate silk thread because it is produced by killing is very laughable. Is cotton not the habitat of living things? Sentiment about sentience and insentience is not liberated from the sentiment of the common and sentimental: how could it know the Buddha's kaṣāya? There is further speaking of nonsense by those who bring forth arguments about transformed thread.

32 This also is laughable.

Which [material] is not a transformation? Those people believe the ears that hear of "transformation,

" but they doubt the eyes that see transformation itself. They seem to have no ears in their eyes, and no eyes in their ears. Where are their ears and eyes at the moment of the present?33Now remember, while we are collecting rags, there may be cotton that looks like silk and there may be 206

Chapter Thirteen

silk that looks like cotton. When we use it, we should not call it silk and we should not call it cotton; we should just call it rags. Because it is rags it is, as rags, beyond silk and beyond cotton. Even if there are human beings or gods who have survived as rags, we should not call them sentient, [but] they may be rags. Even if there are pine trees or chrysanthemums which have become rags, we should not call them insentient, [but] they may be rags. When we recognize the truth that rags are neither silk nor cotton, and that they are beyond pearls and jewels, rags are realized and we meet rags for the first time. Before views about silk and cotton have withered and fallen, we have never seen rags even in a dream. If we retain views about the cloth— even if we have spent a lifetime receiving and retaining coarse cotton cloth as a kaṣāya—that is not the authentic transmission of the Buddha's robe. At the same time, the various kinds of kaṣāyainclude cotton kaṣāya, silk kaṣāya, and leather kaṣāya:all of these have been worn by buddhas. They have the Buddhist merits of the Buddha's robe, and they possess the fundamental principle that has been authentically transmitted without interruption. But people who are not liberated from common sentiment make light of the Buddha-Dharma; not believing the Buddha's words, they aim blindly to follow the sentiment of the common person. They must be called non-Buddhists who have attached themselves to the Buddha-Dharma; they are people who destroy the right Dharma. Some claim to have changed the buddha robe in accordance with the teaching of celestial beings. In that case, they must aspire to celestial buddhahood. Or have they become the descendants of gods? The Buddha's disciples expound the Buddha-Dharma for celestial beings; they should not ask celestial beings about the truth. It is pitiful that those who lack the authentic transmission of the Buddha-Dharma are like this. The view of the celestial multitudes and the view of the Buddha's disciples are very different in greatness, but gods come down to seek instruction in the Dharma from the Buddha's disciples. The reason is that the Buddhist view and the celestial view are very different. Discard, and do not learn, the small views of śrāvakas of precepts sects. Remember that they are the Small Vehicle. The Buddha says, "One can repent for killing one's father or killing one's mother, but one cannot repent for insulting the Dharma.

"

[160] In general, the way of small views and foxlike suspicion is not the original intention of the Buddha. The great truth of the Buddha-Dharma is 207

60c

61a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

beyond the Small Vehicle. No one outside of the Patriarch's state of truth, which is transmitted with the Dharma treasury, has known of the authentic transmission of the great precepts of the buddhas. Long ago, [the story goes,] in the middle of the night on Ōbaizan, the Buddha's robe and Dharma are transmitted authentically onto the head of the Sixth Patriarch. 34 This is truly

the authentic tradition for transmission of the Dharma and transmission of the robe. It is [possible] because the Fifth Patriarch knows a person. 35Fellows

of the fourth effect and the three clever stages, as well as the likes of [bodhisattvas in] the ten sacred stages36 and the likes of commentary teachers and sutra teachers of philosophical schools, would give the [robe and Dharma] to Jinshū;37 they would not transmit them authentically to the Sixth Patriarch. Nevertheless, when Buddhist patriarchs select Buddhist patriarchs, they transcend the path of common sentiment, and so the Sixth Patriarch has already become the Sixth Patriarch. Remember, the truth of knowing a person and of knowing oneself, which the Buddhist patriarchs transmit from rightful successor to rightful successor, is not easily supposed. Later, a monk asks the Sixth Patriarch,

"Should we see the robe you received in the middle of the night on Ōbai[zan] as cotton, or should we see it as silk, or should we see it as raw silk?38In short, as what material should we see it?" The Sixth Patriarch says, "It is not cotton, it is not silk, and it is not raw silk. " The words of the Founding

Patriarch of Sōkei are like this. Remember, the buddha robe is not silk, not cotton, and not cotton crepe. Those who, on the contrary, heedlessly recognize [the robe] as silk, as cotton, or as cotton crepe are the sort who insult the Buddha-Dharma. How could they know the Buddha's kaṣāya? Furthermore, there are episodes of the precepts being taken with [the Buddha's] "Welcome!" That the kaṣāyagained by these [monks] is utterly beyond discussion of silk and cotton is the Buddha's instruction in the Buddhist truth. In another case, the robe of Śāṇavāsa when he is a layman is a secular garment, but when he leaves family life it becomes a kaṣāya.We should quietly consider this fact. We should not brush it aside as if we did not see or hear it. Moreover, there is a fundamental principle which has been authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha, and from patriarch to patriarch, and which the sort who count words in sentences cannot sense and cannot fathom. Truly, how could the thousand changes and the myriad transformations of the Buddha's truth belong in the limited area of ordinary folk? The [real state of] samādhiexists, 208

Chapter Thirteen

and [real practices of] dhāraṇī39 exist, [but] those who count grains of sand can never find [these] valuable pearls inside their clothes. We should esteem, as the right standard of the kaṣāyaof all the buddhas, the material, color, and measurements of the present kaṣāyathat has been received in the authentic transmission from Buddhist patriarchs. The precedents for it, in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, going back to ancient times and arriving at the present, are of long standing; and people who have distinguished the right [precedents] from the wrong have already transcended the state of enlightenment. Even though outside of the Buddhism of the patriarchs there are those who claim [to have] the kaṣāya,no original patriarch has ever affirmed [their robes] as the twigs and leaves [of the original kaṣāya]; how could [their robes] germinate the seeds of good roots?40How much less could they bear real fruit? We now not only are seeing and hearing Buddha-Dharma that we have not met in vast kalpas; we [also] have been able to see and to hear the Buddha's robe, to learn about the Buddha's robe, and to receive and to retain the Buddha's robe. This just exactly means that we are meeting the Buddha, we are hearing the voice of the Buddha, we are radiating the brightness of the Buddha, we are receiving and using the state received and used by the Buddha, we are receiving the one-to-one transmission of the mind of the Buddha, and we are getting the Buddha's marrow.

[165] For material to make the kaṣāyawe invariably use that which is pure. Pure describes material offered by a donor of pure faith, or bought at a market, or sent by celestial beings, or donated by dragons, or donated by demons, or donated by kings and ministers, or [even] pure leather. We may use all such material. At the same time, we esteem the ten sorts of rags as pure. The ten sorts of rags are namely:

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, 10) rags brought back [from a funeral].

[166] We esteem these ten sorts as especially pure material. In secular society they throw them away, [but] in Buddhism we use them. From these customs we can know the difference between the secular world and Buddhism. So when we want pure [material] we should look for these ten sorts. Finding 209

61b

61c

62a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

them, we can know what is pure and we can intuit and affirm what is not pure. We can know mind and we can intuit and affirm body. When we obtain these ten sorts, whether they are silk or whether they are cotton, we should consider their purity and impurity. If we understand that the reason we use these rags is to idly make ourselves shabby with shabby robes, that might be extremely stupid. Rags have [always] been used in Buddhism for their splendor and beauty. In Buddhism, what makes our attire shabby is clothes which have come from impurity—[clothes of] brocade, embroidered silk, silk twill, and sheer silk, [clothes of] gold, silver, precious gems, and so on. This is the meaning of shabbiness. In general, whether in the Buddhism of this land or of other worlds, when we use pure and beautiful [cloth], it should be of these ten sorts. Not only has it transcended the limitations of purity and impurity, it also is beyond the limited sphere of the superfluous and the absence of the superfluous.

41 Do not discuss it as matter or mind. It is not

connected with gain and loss. [The fact] is only that those who receive and retain the authentic transmission are Buddhist patriarchs; for when we are in the state of a Buddhist patriarch we receive the authentic transmission. To receive and to retain this [transmission] as a Buddhist patriarch does not depend on manifestation or nonmanifestation of the body, and does not depend on upholding or non-upholding of the mind, [but] the authentic transmission goes on being received. Absolutely, we should regret that in this country, Japan, monks and nuns of recent ages have, for a long time, gone without wearing the kaṣāya;and we should be glad that we can receive and retain [the kaṣāya] now. Even laymen and laywomen who receive and keep the Buddhist precepts should wear the five-stripe, seven-stripe, and nine-stripe kaṣāya. How then could people who have left family life fail to wear [the kaṣāya]? It is said that [everyone] from King Brahmā and the gods of the six heavens,

42 down to secular men, secular women, and male and female slaves, should receive the Buddhist precepts and wear the kaṣāya;how could bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs fail to wear it? It is said that even animals should receive the Buddhist precepts and wear the kaṣāya; how could disciples of the Buddha fail to wear the Buddha's robe? So those who want to become disciples of the Buddha, regardless of whether they are gods above, human beings, kings of nations, or government officials, and irrespective of whether they are laypeople, monks, slaves, or animals, should receive and keep the 210

Chapter Thirteen

Buddhist precepts and should receive the authentic transmission of the kaṣāya. This is just the direct way to enter authentically into the state of buddha. [170] "When washing the kaṣāya,you should mix miscellaneous powdered incense into the water. After drying [the kaṣāya] in the sun, fold it and put it in a high place, serve offerings to it of incense and flowers, and make three prostrations. Then, kneeling up, humbly receive it upon the head and, with the hands joined, render devotion by reciting the following verse:

How great is the clothing of liberation,

Formless, field of happiness, robe!

Devoutly wearing the Tathāgata's teaching,

Widely I will save living beings.

After reciting [this verse] three times, stand up on the ground and wear [the kaṣāya] devoutly.

"43

[170] During my stay in Song China, making effort on the long platform, I saw that my neighbor every morning, at the time of releasing the stillness, would lift up his kaṣāyaand place it on his head; then, holding his hands together in veneration, he would silently recite the verse. At that time, there arose in me a feeling I had never before experienced. [My] body was overfilled with joy, and tears of gratitude secretly fell and moistened the lapels of my gown. The reason was that when I had read the Āgama sutras previously, I had noticed sentences about humbly receiving the kaṣāyaupon the head, but I had not clarified the standards for this behavior and had not understood it clearly. 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 [me] this, and no good friend to tell [me] of it. How could I not regret, how could I not deplore, passing so much time in vain? Seeing it and hearing it now, I can rejoice in past good conduct. If I had been idly rubbing shoulders in the temples of my home country, how could I have sat shoulder-to-shoulder with this treasure of a monk who is actually wearing the Buddha's robe?" Sadness and joy were not one-sided. Tears of gratitude fell in thousands and tens of thousands. Then I secretly vowed,

"One way or another, unworthy

though I am, I will receive the authentic transmission of the right traditions 211

62b

62c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

of the Buddha-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 from buddha to buddha.

" The vow made at

that time has not now been in vain; the bodhisattvas, in families and out of families, who have received and retained the kaṣāyaare many. This is a matter in which to rejoice. People who have received and retained the kaṣāyashould humbly receive it upon their 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, " [but]

the merit of the authentic transmission of the kaṣāyais hardly encountered through the ten directions. In the tenth lunar month, in the winter of the seventeenth year of Kajō in great Song [China], two Korean44 monks came to the city of Keigenfu. One was called Chigen, the other Keiun. Both of them were always discussing the meaning of Buddhist sutras, and they were also men of letters. But they had no kaṣāyaand no pātra;they were like secular people. It was pitiful that though they had the external form of bhikṣus they did not have the Dharma of bhikṣus. This may have been because they were from a minor nation in a remote land. When people from our country who have the external form of bhikṣus travel abroad, they are likely to be the same as those two monks. Śākyamuni Buddha himself received [the kaṣāya] upon his head for twelve years, never setting it aside. As already his distant descendants, 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 it now toward the humble reception upon the head of the Buddha's robe, is a joyful and great happy event.

Shōbōgenzō Den-e

The first day of winter, in the first year of

Ninji.

45

Written at Kannondōrikōshōhōrinji

—a śramaṇawho entered Song [China] and

received the transmission of Dharma, Dōgen.

212

Notes

1 Chapter Twelve, Kesa-kudoku,begins butsu-butsu so-so, "from buddha to buddha,

and from patriarch to patriarch. " The difference presumably arose from Master Dōgen's feeling on the day.

2 "Until his death" is shōzen,lit., "life-before.

" In Kesa-kudokuthe expression is isshō, lit.,

"throughout his life.

" Again, the difference is incidental. 3 Benka was a man in ancient China who found a huge gem, one foot in diameter. He offered it to three kings, but none of them valued the gem at all. In this context, Benka's gem is simply used as an example of something that is very valuable, but not on the same level as the kaṣāya. 4 619-858.

5 "Monks and laymen" is originally "black and white, " symbolizing the clothes of monks and laymen respectively. 6 "Sacred wheel-turning kings" is ten-rin-jō-ō, from the Sanskrit cakravarti-rājya.These legendary kings were said to govern the four continents east, west, north, and south of Mount Sumeru. The king with the gold wheel rules all four continents, the king with the silver wheel rules all continents but the north, the king with the copper wheel rules the east and south, and the king with the iron wheel rules only the southern continent. 7 Yōkin, lit.,

"leaf-cloth.

"

8 Shari represents the Sanskrit śarīra, which literally means bones but which often suggests the Buddha's relics. 9 Nyakuden-nyakuri,

"fields and villages,

" and gojū-tenden,

"fifty propagations,

" allude

to a passage in the eighteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Zuiki-kudoku.See LS 3.72-74. 10 National treasures and sacred relics. 11 The nine kinds of robe are the robes of nine stripes, eleven stripes, thirteen stripes, fifteen stripes, seventeen stripes, nineteen stripes, twenty-one stripes, twenty-three stripes, and twenty-five stripes. 12 Refers to Master Bodhidharma's transmission of the Dharma into China. 213

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

13 58 to 76 C.E.

14 Sanzō,lit.,

"three storehouses,

" represents the Sanskrit Tripiṭaka, or three baskets, namely: precepts (Vinaya), Sutra, and commentaries (Abhi dharma). 15 "Seeing" means knowing the concrete form, and "hearing" means understanding the principles.

16 Many Hinayana Buddhist traditions are based on the teachings of the Āgama sutras. 17 Master Tōzan, Master Rinzai, Master Hōgen, Master Isan, and Master Unmon. See Chapter Forty-nine, Butsudō.

18 That is, three long segments and one short segment in each stripe. 19 In Buddhist sutras, eighty-four thousand signifies a very large number. 20 Tenma, celestial demons, symbolize idealistic people who disturb Buddhism. 21 Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814), a successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Zen Master Daichi is his posthumous title.

22 This is a summarized list of the five sacred merits of the kaṣāya,from chapter 8 of the Higekyō(Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka-sūtra). A longer enumeration of the five sacred merits, from the same sutra, appears in Chapter Twelve, Kesa-kudoku, paragraph 80. 23 Chōgō no ji,lit.,

"a matter in long kalpas.

"

24 When the kaṣāyahas been opened behind the back and the strings tied, and the left and right hand are holding the top corners of the kaṣāya,the border running vertically down from the right hand is zento,

"the front edge,

" and the border running vertically

down from the left hand is koto,

"the back edge.

" The right hand brings the top of

the "front edge" around the front of the body and over the left shoulder. 25 "Transform" is ke.The character often appears in the compound kyoke, lit., transform,

" that is, to teach, to educate, or to instruct.

"teach-26 Refers to the Gotōroku(Five Records of the Torch), compiled during the Song period (960-1297), namely: 1) Dentōrokuor Keitokudentō roku(Keitoku Era Record of the Transmission of the Torch), completed by a monk called Dōgen in 1004, the first year of the Keitoku era. It contains the histories of one thousand seven hundred and one Buddhists, from the seven ancient buddhas to Master Hōgen Bun'eki (855-958). 2) Kōtōroku orTenshōkō tōroku(Tenshō Era Record of the Widely Extending Torch), compiled by the layman Ri Junkyoku during the Tenshō era (1023-1031). 3) Zokutōroku (Supplementary Record of the Torch), completed by MasterIhaku of Bukkōku Temple in 1101, during the Kenchū-seikoku era. 4) Rentōeyō(Collection of Essentials for Continuation of the Torch), completed in 1183 and published in 1189. 5) Futōroku or Kataifutōroku(Katai Era Record of the Universal Torch), compiled by Master Shōju of Raian Temple during the Katai era (1201-1204). 27 That is, from Master Bodhidharma and Master Daikan Enō. 214

Chapter Thirteen

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Of the believing mind described above. Sa,to produce, to make, or to do, sometimes represents the Sanskrit saṃskṛta, which describes elaboration or artificiality. Sathus includes the connotation of intentional effort. See Chapter Ten, Shoaku-makusa.Master Dōgen describes zazen as musa, "without elaboration" or "un adorned,

" that is, natural.

Samādhimeans the balanced state, and dhāraṇī means a mystical formula. So samādhidhāraṇīs are mystical formulae, the incantation of which is supposed to lead the practitioner into the balanced state. The ten sorts of rags are given at the end of paragraph 165 in this chapter. The point of the classification is to determine how rags were discarded, not their original material. Some people thought that silk is the result of an artificial process, and is therefore not natural.

To hear with the eyes and to see with the ears suggests inclusive intuition, as opposed to discriminating intellectual recognition and sensory perception. The story of the transmission between Master Daiman Kōnin and Master Daikan Enō is contained in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji. Chōjō ni,

"on top of the head,

" suggests

the behavior of placing the kaṣāyaon the head in veneration. The ability to know a true person is discussed at the end of Chapter Fifty-two (Vol. III), Bukkyō.At the time of the transmission, Master Daikan Enō was employed as a laborer at the temple.

A śrāvakapasses through four stages: 1) srotāpanna(entry into the stream), 2) sakṛdāgāmin(the state of being subject to one return), 3) anāgāmin(the state which is not subject to returning), and 4) arhat (the fourth effect, which is the ultimate state of the śrāvaka). A bodhisattva passes through fifty-two stages or states: ten stages of belief, thirty states classified as the three clever stages, ten sacred stages, the balanced state of truth (tōkaku), and finally the fine state of truth (myōkaku). Ācārya Jinshū was the most intelligent monk in Master Daiman Kōnin's order, accomplished at poetry and revered by emperors. See Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Kokyō. "Raw silk" means silk that has not been dyed.

Master Dōgen interpreted dhāraṇīs as concrete practices that have real power. See Chapter Fifty-five (Vol. III), Darani.

Zenkonmeans good conduct as the root of happiness.

Rōand murō, which represent the Sanskrit āsravaand anāsrava,suggest the presence and absence of emotional distress.

Rokutenor roku-yoku-ten,are the six heavens of the world of volition, or (as in this case) the gods therein.

215

Chapter 14: Sansuigyō - The Sutra of Mountains and Water

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

43 This paragraph is in the form of a quotation from a sutra in Chinese. The content is the same as the second half of paragraph 78 on washing the kaṣāyain the previous chapter, Kesa-kudoku.But that paragraph is written in Japanese, whereas this paragraph is written in Chinese characters only. 44 "Korean" is sankan,

"three Koreas.

" In Kesa-kudokuthe word is Kōrai, which was the name of one of the three states comprising the Korean peninsula at that time. 45 The first day of the tenth lunar month, 1240. 216

[Chapter Fourteen]

Sansuigyō

The Sutra of Mountains and Water

Translator's Note: Sanmeans

"

mountains,

" suimeans

"

"

water

—rivers,

lakes, and so on. Sansuisuggests natural scenery, or nature itself. Kyō or gyō means Buddhist sutras. So Sansuigyōmeans mountains and water, or nature, as Buddhist sutras. Buddhism is basically a religion of belief in the universe, and nature is the universe showing its real form. So to look at nature is to look at the Buddhist truth itself. For this reason Master Dōgen believed that nature is just Buddhist sutras. In this chapter he explains the real form of nature, giving particular emphasis to relativity in nature. [175] The mountains and water of the present are the realization of the words of eternal buddhas. Both [mountains and water] abide in place in the Dharma, having realized ultimate virtue. Because they are in the state before the kalpa of emptiness, they are vigorous activity in the present. Because they are the self before the sprouting of creation, they are real liberation. The virtues of the mountains are so high and wide that we always realize moral virtue which can ride the clouds by relying on the mountains, and we unfailingly liberate the subtle effectiveness which follows the wind by relying on the mountains. [176] Master Kai1 of Taiyōzan preaches to the assembly, "The Blue

Mountains are constantly walking. The Stone Woman bears children by night.

" Mountains lack none of the virtues with which mountains should be equipped. For this reason, they are constantly abiding in stillness and constantly walking. We must painstakingly learn in practice the virtue of this walking. The walking of mountains must be like the walking of human beings; therefore, even though it does not look like human walking, 2 do not doubt the

walking of the mountains. The words preached now by the Buddhist Patriarch are already pointing to "walking,

" and this is his attainment of the fundamental.

We should pursue to the ultimate his preaching to the assembly about "constant walking": it is because [the mountains] are walking that they are "constant. "3

217

63a

63b

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

The walking of the Blue Mountains is swifter than the wind, but human beings in the mountains do not sense it or know it. Being "in the mountains"4 describes the "opening of flowers" in the "[real] world. "5 People out of the

mountains never sense it and never know it—people who have no eyes to see the mountains do not sense, do not know, do not see, and do not hear this concrete fact. If we doubt the walking of the mountains, we also do not yet know our own walking. It is not that we do not have our own walking, but we do not yet know and have not yet clarified our own walking. When we know our own walking, then we will surely also know the walking of the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are already beyond the sentient and beyond the insentient. The self is already beyond the sentient and beyond the insentient. We cannot doubt the present walking of the Blue Mountains. [Though] we do not know how many Dharma worlds we should use as a scale when taking in the Blue Mountains, we should investigate in detail the walking of the Blue Mountains as well as our own walking. There should be investigation both of backward steps6 and of stepping backward. 7 We

should investigate the fact that just at the moment before the sprouting of creation, and since before the King of Emptiness,

8 walking—in forward steps

and backward steps—has never stopped even for an instant. If the walking ceased, the Buddhist patriarchs could not manifest themselves in reality. If there were an end to the walking, the Buddha-Dharma could not reach the present day. Forward walking never ceases, and backward walking never ceases. The moment of forward walking does not oppose backward walking, and the moment of backward walking does not oppose forward walking. 9

We call this virtue "the mountains flowing,

" and we call it "the flowing mountains.

" The Blue Mountains master in practice the act of walking and the East Mountain learns in practice the act of moving on water; therefore, this learning in practice is the mountains' learning in practice. The mountains, without changing their body and mind, with the face and eyes of mountains, have been traveling around learning in practice. Never insult them by saying that the Blue Mountains cannot walk or that the East Mountain cannot move on water. It is because of the grossness of the viewpoint of the vulgar that they doubt the phrase "the Blue Mountains are walking. " It is due to the

poorness of their scant experience that they are astonished at the words "flowing mountains. " Now, not even fully understanding10 the words "flowing 218

Chapter Fourteen

water,

" they are drowned in prejudice and ignorance. This being so, they esteem as defining concepts, and esteem as lifeblood, their enumeration of the accumulated virtues [of mountains].

11 The act of walking exists, the act

of flowing exists, and moments in which mountains give birth to mountain children exist. By virtue of the fact that mountains become Buddhist patriarchs, Buddhist patriarchs have manifested themselves in reality like this. 12Though

there may be eyes in which grass, trees, soil, stones, fences, and walls are realized, that moment is beyond doubt and beyond disturbance; it is not "total realization.

" Though moments are realized in which [the mountains] are seen to be adorned with the seven treasures, [those moments] are not "the real refuge.

" Though visions are realized [of the mountains] as the area in which buddhas practice the truth, [those visions] are not necessarily something to be loved. Though some have got the brains to realize a vision [of the mountains] as the unthinkable merit of the buddhas, reality is not merely this. 13

Every "realization" is an instance of object and subject. We do not esteem such ["realizations"] as the Buddhist patriarchs' action in the state of truth: they are one-sided and narrow views.

14 The moving of circumstances and

the moving of mind are criticized by the Great Saint. 15 Explanations of mind

and explanations of the nature16 are not affirmed by the Buddhist patriarchs. Seeing the mind and seeing the nature17 is the animated activity of non-Buddhists. Staying in words and staying in phrases is not the speech of liberation. There is [a state] that has got free from states like these: it is expressed "the Blue Mountains are constantly walking" and "the East Mountain moves on water.

" We should master it in detail.

[182] [In the words] "The Stone Woman bears children by night" time, in which the Stone Woman bears children, is called night. In general, there are male stones and female stones, and there are neither male nor female stones, whose practical function supports the heavens and supports the earth. There are heavenly stones and there are earthly stones—as the secular say, but few people know.

18 We should know the facts of childbirth: At the time of childbirth, are parent and child both transformed? How could we learn in practice only that childbirth is realized as [the parent] becoming the parent of a child? We should learn in practice, and should penetrate to the end, that the time of [the child] becoming the child of the parent is the practice-andexperience of the reality of childbirth. 219

63c

64a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

[183] Great Master Unmon Kyōshin19 says,

"The East Mountain moves

on water.

" The point realized in these words is that all mountains are an East Mountain, and every East Mountain moves on water.

20 Thus [mountains]

such as the nine mountains of Mount Sumeru have been realized, and they have practiced and experienced.

21 This state is called "the East Mountain.

"

Nevertheless, how could Unmon be liberated in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, the practice-and-experience, and the vigorous activity of the East Mountain.

22

[184] At the present time in the great kingdom of Song, there is a group of unreliable23 fellows who have now formed such a crowd that they cannot be beaten by a few real [people]. They say that the present talk of the East Mountain moving on water, and stories such as Nansen's sickle, 24 are stories

beyond rational understanding. Their idea is as follows: "A story which involves images and thoughts is not a Zen story of the Buddhist patriarchs. Stories beyond rational understanding are the stories of the Buddhist patriarchs. This is why we esteem Ōbaku's use of the stick and Rinzai's shout, 25 which

are beyond rational understanding and which do not involve images and thoughts, as the great realization before the sprouting of creation. The reason that the expedient means of many past masters employ tangle-cutting26phrases is that [those phrases] are beyond rational understanding. " Those fellows

who speak like this have never met a true teacher and they have no eyes of learning in practice; they are small dogs who do not deserve to be discussed. For the last two or three hundred years in the land of Song there have been many such demons and shavelings [like those] in the band of six. 27 It is pitiful

that the great truth of the Buddhist Patriarch is going to ruin. The understanding of these [shavelings] is inferior even to that of śrāvakas of the Small Vehicle; they are more stupid than non-Buddhists. They are not laypeople, they are not monks, they are not human beings, and they are not gods; they are more stupid than animals learning the Buddha's truth. What the shavelings call "stories beyond rational understanding" are beyond rational understanding only to them;28the Buddhist patriarchs are not like that. Even though [rational ways] are not rationally understood by those [shavelings], we should not fail to learn in practice the Buddhist patriarchs' ways of rational understanding. If ultimately there is no rational understanding, the reasoning which those [shavelings] have now set forth also cannot hit the target. There are many of 220

Chapter Fourteen

this sort in all directions of Song China, and I have seen and heard them before my own eyes. They are pitiful. They do not know that images and thoughts are words and phrases, and they do not know that words and phrases transcend images and thoughts. When I was in China I laughed at them, but they had nothing to say for themselves and were just wordless. Their present negation of rational understanding is nothing but a false notion. Who has taught it to them? Though they lack a natural teacher, they have the non-Buddhist view of naturalism. Remember, this "The East Mountain moves on water" is the bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs. Waters are realized at the foot of the East Mountain;29 thereupon mountains ride the clouds and walk through the sky. The crowns of the waters are mountains, whose walking, upward or downward, is always "on water. "30 Because the

mountains' toes can walk over all kinds of water, making the waters dance, the walking is free in all directions31 and "practice-and-experience is not nonexistent.

"32Water is neither strong nor weak, neither wet nor dry, neither moving nor still, neither cold nor warm, neither existent nor nonexistent, neither delusion nor realization. When it is solid it is harder than a diamond; who could break it? Melted, it is softer than diluted milk; who could break it? This being so, it is impossible to doubt the real virtues that [water] possesses. For the present, we should learn in practice the moments in which it is possible to put on the eyes and look in the ten directions at the water of the ten directions. This is not learning in practice only of the time when human beings and gods see water; there is learning in practice of water seeing water.

33 Because water practices and experiences water, there is the investigation in practice of water speaking water. We should manifest in reality the path on which self encounters self. We should advance and retreat along the vigorous path on which the external world exhausts in practice the external world, and we should spring free.

[189] In general, ways of seeing mountains and water differ according to the type of being [that sees them]: There are beings which see what we call water as a string of pearls,

34 but this does not mean that they see a string

of pearls as water. They probably see as their water a form that we see as something else. We see their strings of pearls as water. There are [beings] which see water as wonderful flowers; but this does not mean that they use flowers as water. Demons see water as raging flames, and see it as pus and 221

64b

64c

65a

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

blood. Dragons and fish see it as a palace, and see it as a tower. Some see [water] as the seven treasures and the maṇi gem;35 some see it as trees and forests and fences and walls; some see it as the pure and liberated Dharmanature; some see it as the real human body;36 and some see it as [the oneness of] physical form and mental nature. Human beings see it as water, the causes and conditions of death and life. Thus, what is seen does indeed differ according to the kind of being [that sees]. Now let us be wary of this. Is it that there are various ways of seeing one object? Or is it that we have mistakenly assumed the various images to be one object? At the crown of effort, we should make still further effort. If the above is so, then practice-and-experience and pursuit of the truth also may not be [only] of one kind or of two kinds; and the ultimate state also may be of thousands of kinds and myriad varieties. When we keep this point in mind, although there are many kinds of water, it seems that there is no original water, and no water of many kinds. At the same time, the various waters which accord with the kinds of beings [that see water] do not depend on mind, do not depend on body, do not arise from karma, are not self-reliant, and are not reliant upon others; they have the liberated state of reliance on water itself. This being so, water is beyond earth, water, fire, wind, space, consciousness, and so on. Water is beyond blue, yellow, red, white, or black and beyond sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, or properties; at the same time, as earth, water, fire, wind, space, and so on, water is naturally realized. Because the nations and palaces of the present are like this, it may be difficult to state by what and into what they are created. To assert that they hang on the circle of space and the circle of wind37 is not true to ourselves and not true to others; it is to speculate on the basis of the suppositions of the small view. People make this assertion because they think that, without somewhere to hang, [dharmas] would not be able to abide. 38

[193] The Buddha says,

"All dharmas are ultimately liberated; they are

without an abode.

"39 Remember, although they are in the state of liberation, without any bonds, all dharmas are abiding in place.

40 Even so, when human

beings look at water, the only way we see it is as flowing ceaselessly. This flowing takes many forms, each of which is an example of the human view: [Water] flows over the earth, flows through the sky, flows upward, and flows downward. It flows in a single winding brook, and it flows in the nine [great] depths.

41 It rises up to form clouds, and it comes down to form pools. The 222

Chapter Fourteen

Bunshi42 says,

"The way of water is to ascend to the sky, forming rain and dew, and to descend to the earth, forming rivers and streams. " Now even the

words of a secular person are like this. It would be most shameful for people who call themselves the descendants of the Buddhist Patriarch to be more ignorant than secular people. We can say that the way of water is beyond the recognition of water, but water is able actually to flow. Water is [also] beyond non-recognition, but water is able actually to flow. [195] "It ascends to the sky and forms rain and dew. " Remember, water

rises up immeasurably high into the sky above to form rain and dew. Rain and dew are of various kinds corresponding to [the various kinds of] worlds. To say that there are places not reached by water is the teaching of śrāvakas of the Small Vehicle, or the wrong teaching of non-Buddhists. Water reaches into flames, it reaches into the mind and its images, into wit, and into discrimination, and it reaches into realization of the buddha-nature. 43

[195] "It descends to the earth to form rivers and streams. " Remember,

when water descends to the earth, it forms rivers and streams. The vitality of rivers and streams can become sages. Common and stupid folk today assume that water is always in rivers, streams, and oceans. This is not so. Rivers and oceans are realized in water.

44Thus, water also exists in places which are not

rivers and oceans; it is just that when water descends to the earth, it takes effect as rivers and oceans. Further, we must not understand that social worlds cannot exist or that buddha lands cannot exist at a place where water has formed rivers and oceans.

45Even inside a single drop, countless buddha lands

are realized. This does not mean that there is water within buddha lands, and does not mean that there are buddha lands inside water. The place where water exists is already beyond the three times and beyond the world of Dharma. Even so, it is the universe in which water has been realized. Wherever Buddhist patriarchs go water goes, and wherever water goes Buddhist patriarchs are realized. This is why Buddhist patriarchs without exception, when taking up water, have treated it as [their] body and mind and have treated it as [their] thinking. This being so, that water rises up is not denied in any text, within [Buddhism] or without. The way of water pervades upward and downward, vertically and horizontally. At the same time, in the Buddhist sutras, "fire and

wind rise upward, earth and water settle downward.

" There is something to

be learned in practice in this "upward" and "downward. " That is, we [must]

223

65b

65c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

learn in practice the Buddha's teaching of "upward" and "downward, " as follows: The place where earth and water go, we think of as "downward. "46We

do not think of downward as a place where earth and water go. 47 The place

where fire and wind go is "upward.

" The "world of Dharma" should not always

be related to measurements upward, downward, and in the four diagonals;48 at the same time, the four elements, the five elements, the six elements, and so on, relying on the concrete place to which they go, just momentarily establish the four-cornered Dharma world.

49It is not to be assumed that the Heaven of

Thoughtlessness50 is above and that the Avīci51 Hell is below. Avīci is the whole world of Dharma, and Thoughtlessness is the whole world of Dharma. Still, when dragons and fish see water as a palace, they are probably like people looking at a palace, utterly unable to recognize that it is flowing away. If an onlooker were to explain to them,

"Your palace is flowing water,

" the

dragons and fish would likely be as startled as we were now to hear the assertion that mountains are flowing. Further, it may also be possible to maintain and to rely upon [the assertion] that there is such preaching in [every] railing, stair, and outdoor pillar of a palace or a mansion. Quietly, we should have been considering this reasoning and we should go on considering it. [199] If we are not learning the state of liberation at the face of this place, we have not become free from the body and mind of the common person, we have not perfectly realized the land of Buddhist patriarchs, and we have not perfectly realized the palaces of the common person. Although human beings now are profoundly confident that the inner content of the seas and the inner content of the rivers is water, we still do not know what dragons, fish, and other beings view as water and use as water. Do not stupidly assume that every kind of being uses as water what we view as water. When people today who are learning Buddhism want to learn about water, we should not stick blindly in only the human sphere; we should move forward and learn water in the Buddha's state of truth. We should learn in practice how we see the water that Buddhist patriarchs use. Further, we should learn in practice whether there is water or whether there is no water in the houses of Buddhist patriarchs.

[200] Mountains have been the dwelling places of great saints since beyond the past and present. All the sages and all the saints have made the mountains into their inner sanctum and made the mountains into their body 224

Chapter Fourteen

and mind; and by virtue of the sages and the saints the mountains have been realized. We tend to suppose, with respect to mountains in general, that countless great saints and great sages might be gathered there; but after we have entered the mountains there is not a single person to meet. There is only the realization of the vigorous activity of mountains. Not even the traces of our having entered remain. When we are in the secular world gazing at the mountains, and when we are in the mountains meeting the mountains, their heads and eyes are very different. Our notion that [the mountains] are not flowing and our view that [the mountains] are not flowing may not be the same as the view of dragons and fish.

52 While human beings and gods, in our own

world, are in our element, other beings doubt this [notion and view of ours], or they may not even doubt it. This being so, we should study the phrase "mountains flow" under Buddhist patriarchs; we should not leave it open to doubt.

53Acting once54 is just "flowing"; acting once [more] is just "not flowing. " One time round is "flowing"; one time round is "not flowing. " Without

this investigation in practice, it is not the right Dharma wheel of the Tathāgata. An eternal buddha55 says,

"If you want to be able not to invite the karma of

incessant [hell],

56 do not insult the right Dharma wheel of the Tathāgata. "

We should engrave these words on skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, we should engrave them on body and mind, on object-and-subject, we should engrave them on the immaterial, and we should engrave them on matter; they are [already] engraved "on trees and on rocks"57 and they are [already] engraved "in fields and in villages.

"58 We generally say that mountains belong to a

country, but [mountains] belong to people who love mountains. Mountains always love their occupiers, whereupon saints and sages, people of high virtue, enter the mountains. When saints and sages live in the mountains, because the mountains belong to these [sages and saints], trees and rocks abound and flourish, and birds and animals are mysteriously excellent. This is because the sages and saint have covered them with virtue. We should remember the fact that mountains like sages and the fact that [mountains] like saints. That many emperors have gone to the mountains to bow before sages and to question great saints is an excellent example in the past and the present. At such times, [the emperors] honor [the sages and saints] with the formalities due to a teacher, never conforming to secular norms. Imperial authority exerts no control whatever over the mountain sages. Clearly, the 225

66a

66b

66c

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

mountains are beyond the human world. On Kōdō59[Mountain] in the bygone days of Kahō,

60 the Yellow Emperor61 visited Kōsei, crawling on his knees and kowtowing to beg [instruction]. Śākyamuni Buddha left the palace of his father, the king, to enter the mountains, but his father, the king, did not resent the mountains. The royal father did not distrust those in the mountains who would teach the prince, whose twelve years of training in the truth were mostly spent in the mountains. The revelation of [the prince's] destiny as the Dharma King also took place in the mountains. Truly, not even the wheel[turning] kings hold sway over the mountains. Remember, the mountains are beyond the boundaries of the human world and beyond the boundaries of the heavens above; we can never know the mountains with the human intellect. If [their flowing] is not to be compared with flowing in the human world, who can doubt the flowing, the non-flowing, and the other activities of the mountains?

[205] Again, since the ancient past, there have been from time to time sages and saints who lived by the water. When they live by the water, there are those who fish fishes, those who fish human beings, and those who fish the state of truth. Each of these is in the traditional stream of those who are "in the water.

" Going further, there may be those who fish themselves, those who fish fishing, those who are fished by fishing, and those who are fished by the state of truth.

62 In days of old, when Master Tokujō63 suddenly left

Yakusan Mountain to live amidst the river's mind, he got the sage64 of the Katei River. Was this not fishing fishes? Was it not fishing human beings? Was it not fishing water? Was it not fishing himself? A person who is able to meet Tokujō is Tokujō;65 and Tokujō's "teaching people"66 is [a human being] meeting a human being. It is not only that there is water in the world; there are worlds in the world of water. And it is not only in water that such [worlds] exist. There are worlds of sentient beings in clouds, there are worlds of sentient beings in wind, there are worlds of sentient beings in fire, there are worlds of sentient beings in earth, there are worlds of sentient beings in the world of Dharma, there are worlds of sentient beings in a stalk of grass, and there are worlds of sentient beings in a staff. Wherever there are worlds of sentient beings, the world of Buddhist patriarchs inevitably exists at that place. We should carefully learn in practice the truth which is like this. In conclusion then, water is the palace of real dragons; it is beyond flowing 226

Chapter Fourteen

and falling. If we recognize it as only flowing, the word "flowing" insults water, because, for example, [the word] forces [water] to be what is other than flowing itself. Water is nothing but water's "real form as it is. " Water

is just the virtues of water itself; it is beyond "flowing. " When we master

the flow and master the non-flow of a single body of water, the perfect realization of the myriad dharmas is realized at once. With mountains too, there are mountains contained in treasure, there are mountains contained in marshes, there are mountains contained in space, there are mountains contained in mountains, 67 and there is learning in practice in which mountains are contained in containment.

68 An eternal buddha69 says,

"Mountains are

mountains. Water is water.

" These words do not say that "mountains" are "mountains"; they say that mountains are mountains. This being so, we should master the mountains in practice. When we are mastering the mountains in practice, that is effort "in the mountains. " Mountains and water like

this naturally produce sages and produce saints. Shōbōgenzō Sansuigyō70

Preached to the assembly at Kannondōri kō shōhōrinji on the eighteenth day of the tenth lunar month in the first year of Ninji. 71

227

Notes

1 Master Fuyō Dōkai (1043-1118), a Buddhist patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage, the forty-fifth patriarch from the Buddha. Having succeeded Master Tōsu Gisei, Master Fuyō preached Buddhism on Mount Taiyō and elsewhere until he refused a title and a purple robe from the emperor and was banished. When he was eventually pardoned, he built a thatched hut on Mount Fuyō and lived there in the style of the ancient patriarchs.

2 Gyōho,or "going steps.

" In the quotation, and elsewhere in Master Dōgen's commentary the expression is unpo,or "transporting steps. " Both expressions mean walking.

3 Jōmeans both constant and eternal. Both meanings are relevant here: action makes things balanced (for example, pedaling a bicycle) and action gives things eternal meaning.

4 Sanchū. Chūmeans "in" or "in the state of,

" and Master Dōgen sometimes uses the

character to mean "in the state of reality.

" So sanchumeans in the mountains or in

the reality of the mountains.

5 Sekairi no kekai.This alludes to the words of Master Prajñātara, kekai-sekai-ki, "the

opening of flowers is the occurrence of the world, " suggesting that the real world

itself is just the appearance of phenomena. See for example Chapter Forty-three (Vol. II), Kūge.

6 Taiho.In the FukanzazengiMaster Dōgen describes zazen as taiho,a backward step (to our original state). Taihomeans concrete backward steps. 7 Hotaimeans stepping backward as a principle. We should not only investigate concrete backward steps (for example, by sitting in zazen, lifting weights, doing prostrations, having a bath, etc.) but also investigate the meaning of stepping backward (for example, by reading the Shōbōgenzō,studying the function of the autonomic nervous system, drawing inferences from trial and error in daily life, etc.). 8 Kū-ōis identified with Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, or King of Majestic Voice, the first buddha to appear in the kalpaof emptiness. See the Lotus Sutra,chapter 20,Jōfugyō-bosatsu("Bodhisattva Never Despise"). 9 Each action is done at an independent moment of the present. 10 "Fully understand" is shichitsu-hattatsu,lit., "pass through seven directions and arrive

at eight destinations,

" suggesting thorough understanding from many viewpoints. 229

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

11 Vulgar people do not value the unthinkable reality of mountains, but they esteem the characteristics of mountains which they are able to enumerate. 12 Kakunogotoku,

"like this,

" indicates what is already present here and now. Kakunogotokuin Chinese characters is nyoze,which Master Dōgen uses as an expression of reality as it is. See Chapter Seventeen, Hokke-ten-hokke. 13 By denying the four views Master Dōgen emphasized the fact that reality cannot be grasped by intellectual thinking.

14 Ichigu no kanken,lit.,

"one-corner pipe-views.

"

15 "Great Saint" means the Buddha. Moving circumstances (like a pot) and moving mind (like water) is the theme of a story about Master Nansen Fugan and Master Godai Impō (see Chapter Eighty-one [Vol. IV], Ō-saku-sendaba). Though the words of the story and the words here are slightly different, the point is the same: that separation between subject and object can be transcended by action in the moment of the present.

16 Sesshin-sesshō,or "expounding the mind and expounding the nature, " is the title of

Chapter Forty-eight (Vol. III), Sesshin-sesshō.

17 Kenshin-kenshō.People in Japan who pursue enlightenment by thinking about kōans (Buddhist stories) often call the enlightenment they pursue kenshō, "seeing the nature.

"

18 Subjectively or romantically, we assign gender or other human characteristics to things in nature. Objectively or scientifically, we do not. Master Dōgen's viewpoint is beyond subjective and objective views. A Buddhist knowing of stones is more real than the romantic descriptions found, for example, in secular Chinese literature. 19 Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), a successor of Master Seppō Gison, who was a sixth-generation descendant of Master Seigen Gyōshi. It is said that there were never less than a thousand students in Master Unmon's order, and that in his thirty years of spreading Buddhism he produced more than ninety successors. Great Master Kyōshin is his posthumous title as founder of the Unmon sect. 20 An East Mountain means a real mountain.

21 Master Dōgen illustrated the principle in the previous sentence with the concrete example of Mount Sumeru and the eight mountains that surround it. 22 Master Dōgen criticizes Master Unmon in, for example, Chapter Fifty-two (Vol. III), Bukkyō.

23 "Unreliable" is zusan,lit.,

"edited by Zu [or To].

" It is said that poems edited by To

Moku of the Song dynasty were very irregular and unreliable. Therefore people of the time used the words "edited by Zu (or To)" to represent unreliability. 24 Master Gan of Mount Nansen in Chishu district (Master Nansen Fugan, 748-834) is doing chores on the mountain. A monk comes by and asks the master, "Where does

230

Chapter Fourteen

Nansen's road lead?" The master holds up his sickle and says, "I got this sickle for

thirty pennies.

" The monk says,

"I didn't ask about you paying thirty pennies for the sickle. Where does Nansen's road lead?" The master says, "And now that I can use

it, it is really handy.

" (Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 54). The monk wanted to know what Master Nansen considered to be the aim of his life, but he asked his question as if asking for directions. Master Nansen recommended the monk not to be conscious only of the idealistic aim but also to recognize concrete facts. The monk insisted that he also wanted to know what the real aim of our life is. Master Nansen's answer was that he was acting in reality.

25 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. c. 855) was known for striking his disciples, including Master Rinzai Gigen (c. 815-867), to impress on them that reality is different from thinking and feeling (see for example Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 27). Master Rinzai used to achieve the same result by yelling katsu!(ibid.). 26 Kattō,

"arrowroot and wisteria,

" "entanglement,

" or "the complicated,

" is the title

of Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō. 27 Rokugon-tokushi.The band of six shavelings in the Buddha's order were Nanda, Upananda, Kālodāyin, Chanda, Aśvaka, and Punarvasu. It is said that their misconduct caused the formulation of precepts. Tokushi,shaveling (lit., "bald child") means someone who becomes a monk in form but who has no will to the truth. 28 The original word, nanji,means "you. " Master Dōgen usually uses this form when directing criticism at someone to whom he does not need to be polite. 29 Rivers, streams, lakes, etc. are not only an abstraction but are realized at the foot of a real mountain.

30 In other words, on the basis of reality. 31 Shichijū-hachi-ō,lit.,

"seven horizontals and eight verticals. "

32 Shushō-soku-fu-mu.Master Nangaku Ejō's expression of practice and experience in zazen. See Chapter Seven, Senjō;Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo;and Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan.

33 Master Dōgen uses the formula A sees A, A meets A, A restricts A, A succeeds A, etc., to suggest the real existence of A. 34 Alludes to the metaphor of issui-shiken, "one water, four views.

" The goddesses who

are sometimes depicted floating in the sky in old Buddhist pictures see water as a string of pearls. Fish see water as a palace or as beautiful flowers. Demons hate water as pus and blood, because it puts out their fires and washes away their impurities. Human beings see water as water. See also Chapter Three, Genjō-kōan. 35 The Sanskrit maṇi, which means gem, in this case suggests the cintā maṇi,a fabled gem capable of fulfilling every wish, said to be obtained from the Dragon King of the sea.

231

Shōbōgenzō Volume I

36 Shinjitsu-nintai,the words of Master Chōsha Keishin. See Chapter Thirty-seven (Vol. II), Shinjin-gakudō;Chapter Forty-seven (Vol. III), Sangai-yuishin;Chapter Fifty (Vol. III), Shohō-jissō; Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan;and Chapter Ninetyone (Vol. IV), Yui-butsu-yo-butsu. 37 In ancient Indian cosmology, the physical world is constructed of five elements, called five wheels or five circles (pañca-maṇḍalakain Sanskrit): circles of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. (Interpreting the concepts more broadly: solids, liquids, combustion, gases, and space.)

38 See also discussion of a steelyard in Chapter Thirty-eight (Vol. II), Muchū-setsumu. 39 The Daihōshakkyō,fascicle 87.

40 Jū-i,

"abide in place,

" is short for jūhō-i,

appears in the second sentence of this chapter. "abide in place in the Dharma,

" which

41 Kyū-enrefers to nine famous deep river pools in China. 42 Bunshiis a Daoist book in ten volumes. The book is said to have been written during the Sui dynasty (581-618) but some scholars suspect that it was written later and falsely dated earlier.

43 Examples such as the humidity of a flame, the dryness of wit, and realization in the sounds of the valley streams, negate the common-sense conception of the scope of water.

44 Rivers and water, or entity and substance, are one. 45 Reality (rivers and oceans) includes both the material (water), and the meaningful (human worlds, Buddhist lands).

46 Concepts like "downward" originate with concrete facts like the location of earth and water (see Chapter Forty-two [Vol. III], Tsuki). 47 We remember that "downward" is only a concept, not an actual place. 48 Shi-i,or "four corners"

—northwest, southwest, southeast, and northeast. 49 Hōgū-hokkai. Hōsuggests shihō,the four directions—north, south, east, and west. Gūsuggests shigū,the four corners. Hōgū-hokkaisuggests concrete reality, as opposed to "the world of Dharma" as a religious concept. 50 Musōten,from the Sanskrit asaṃjñi-sattvāḥ,is explained as a group of heavens in the world of matter.

51 Avīci is the Sanskrit name for the worst kind of hell. 52 In the view of dragons and fish, mountains may be flowing. 53 Given that even things which we take for granted are open to doubt, we should rely upon Buddhist patriarchs' teaching.

232

Chapter Fourteen

54 Nen-itsu,lit.,

"to pick up one.

" Nenmeans to pinch, or to pick up; it suggests an action. Itsumeans one.

55 Master Yōka Genkaku, in his poem Shōdōka. 56 Mugen-jigoku,

Avīci.

"incessant hell,

" or "hell without respite,

" represents the Sanskrit

57 Nyakuju-nyakuseki.Alludes to the story of the Buddha's past life recorded in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra.See note 159 in Chapter Twelve, Kesa-kudoku. 58 Nyakuden-nyakuri.Alludes to the Lotus Sutra(3.72-74). See note 9 in Chapter Thirteen, Den-e. 59 The name of a mountain in modern Kansu province in China. The Daoist sage Kōsei lived in a cave on Kōdō Mountain.

60 Kahō, lit.,

"Flower Fiefdom,

" was a legendary utopian realm.

61 Kōtei, the Yellow Emperor, was the third of the five rulers in the legendary period of Chinese history (dates estimated as 2852-2205 B.C.E.). He visited Kōsei to ask the secret of immortality. The story is recorded in volume four of the Daoist text Sōshi,attributed to Zhuangzi.

62 The action of fishing connects subject (fisherman) and object (fish), so Master Dōgen uses fishing to suggest the principle of the mutual relation between subject and object in action.

63 Master Sensu Tokujō (dates unknown), a successor of Master Yakusan Igen (745-828). After receiving the Dharma from Master Yakusan he went to live on a river in the Katei Valley of the Shushu district, working as a boatman (sensumeans boatman), and hoping to find among his passengers a human being with the will to the truth. Master Tokujō's brother disciple Master Dōgo Enchi (769-835) recommended Master Kassan Zenne (805-881) to go and visit Master Tokujō by the river. They had a lively conversation, at the conclusion of which Master Tokujō said that if we fish out all the river's waves (that is, if we do the impossible), we can meet the fish with the golden scales (realize our ideal) for the first time. Master Kassan covered his ears, and thus received Master Tokujō's affirmation. Finally, Master Tokujō told Master Kassan to go deep into the mountains and just teach the Dharma to one student or half a student. Master Dōgen quoted at length this story about Master Tokujō and Master Kassan in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 1, no. 90. 64 Master Kassan Zenne.

65 In Chapter Sixty-one (Vol. III), Kenbutsu,Master Dōgen teaches that a person in the state of buddha is meeting buddha. In this sentence, he substitutes Tokujō for buddha. 66 Hito o sessuru,lit.,

kōsen shō setsu jin,

"to receive people.

" The story in the Shinji-shōbōgenzōsays zaike "he received people on a boat on the Katei River. "

233