T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume II

Chapter 28: Butsu-kōjō-no-ji - The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

78 The words of Master Tōzan Ryōkai, quoted in the Keitokudentōroku,chapter 15 (also quoted in Chapter Sixty-two [Vol. III], Hensan). In China captured birds had string tied around their feet to stop them flying away. Having no strings under the feet means being free of all hindrances.

79 Master Wanshi was a Dharma successor of Master Tanka Shijun (d. 1119), who was an eighth-generation descendant of Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869). The lineage of Master Dōgen and Master Tendō Nyojō, however, is through another of the successors of Master Tanka Shijun, Master Shinketsu Seiryō. See Chapter Fifteen (Vol. I), Busso. 80 1242.

81 1157.

82 1242.

83 Corresponds to present-day Fukui prefecture. 84 1243.

134

[Chapter Twenty-eight] Butsu-kōjō-no-ji The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha

Translator's Note: Butsu means "buddha,

" kōjō means

"

ascend"

or

"be

beyond,

"

and ji means

"

"

matter,

so butsu-kōjō-no-ji means "the matter

beyond buddha

"

or

"the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. " These

words describe a buddha continuing Buddhist practice after attaining the truth. Attain ment of the truth is the practitioner '

s recognition that he or she has been buddha since the eternal past. Therefore, even though buddhas have attained the truth, they do not distinctly change their thought, their physical condition, their life, and their practice of zazen after hav ing attained the truth. They just continue with their lives, practicing zazen each day. Buddhas like this are called "beyond buddha "

"

or

ascendant buddhas "

because they are buddhas who do not look like buddhas, and who continue the same usual Buddhist life as the life they had before their enlightenment. Master Dōgen revered these ascendant buddhas very much. Ascendant buddhas like these are actual buddhas, and we cannot find buddhas other than they in this world. So in this chapter, Master Dōgen explained the matter of ascendant buddhas, quoting the words of many masters. [51] The founding patriarch, Great Master Gohon1 of Tōzan Mountain in Inshū2 is the intimate rightful successor of Great Master Muju3 of Unganzan in Tanshū.

4 He is the thirty-eighth patriarch ascending5 from the Tathāgata; and [the Tathāgata] is the thirty-eighth patriarch ascending from him. "The great master on one occasion preaches to the assembly, 'If you

physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha, you will truly possess the means to speak a little. ' A monk then asks, 'What is such speech?' The great master says, '[For example,] when speaking, ācārya,you are not listening.

' The monk says, 'Does the master himself listen [while speaking], or not?' The great master says, 'When I am not speaking, then I listen. '"6

135

121b

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

[53] The words spoken now on "the matter of the ascendant state of buddha" have the great master [Tōzan] as their original patriarch. Other Buddhist pa triarchs, having learned in practice the words of the great master, physically attain "the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. " Remember,

the "matter of the ascendant state of buddha" is beyond latent causes and is beyond the ful fillment of effects: even so, we can experience it to the full, by physically at taining the state of "when speaking, not listening. " Without

arriving at the ascendant state of buddha, there is no "physical attaining" of the ascendant state of buddha. Without "speaking, "7 we do not physically

attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. ["Speaking"] is beyond mutual revelation and beyond mutual concealment, and it is beyond mutual give and take. For this reason, when "speaking" is realized, this ["speaking"] is the matter of the ascen dant state of buddha. When the matter of the ascendant state of buddha is being realized, "the ācāryais beyond listening.

"8

"The ācāryais not listening" means "the matter of the ascendant state of buddha" itself is "not listening.

" Thus,

"When speaking, the ācāryais not

listening.

" Remember, speaking is neither tainted by listening nor tainted by not listening; therefore it is ir relevant to listening or not listening. The inside of "not listening" contains the ācārya,and the inside of "speaking" contains the ācārya; at the same time, [the state] is "beyond meeting a person or not meeting a person"9 and "beyond being like this or being not like this.

"10 At "the time when" the ācāryaspeaks, just then the ācāryais not listening. The import of this situation of not lis tening is that [the state] is beyond listening because it is restricted by the tongue itself;11 it is beyond listening because it is restricted by the ears them selves;12 it is beyond listening because it is pierced by the luminance of the eye; and it is beyond listening because it is plugged up by the body-and-mind. Because it is so, it is "beyond listening.

" We should never treat these states as "speaking. " "Being beyond

listening" is not exactly the same thing as "speaking": it is simply that "at the time of speaking,

" [the state is] "beyond listen ing.

" In the founding

patriarch's words,

"At the time of speaking, the ācāryais not listening, "

the whole expression, from beginning to end, of "speaking, " is like wisteria

clinging to wisteria; at the same time, it may be "speaking" en twining with "speaking" or ["speaking"] being restricted by "speaking" itself. The monk says,

"Does the master listen himself, or not?" These words do not indicate 136

Chapter Twenty-eight

that the master might listen to [his own] speaking; for the ques tioner is not the master at all, and [the question] is not about speaking. Rather, the aim of this monk is to ask whether or not he must learn in prac tice, while he is speaking, simultaneously to listen. For example, he aims to hear whether speaking is just speaking, and he aims to hear whether listen ing itself is just listening itself. And although I express it like this, [the ex pression] is beyond the tongue of that monk himself. We should definitely investigate the words of the founding patriarch Tōzan, "At the time when I am not speaking, then I listen.

"13 In other words, just at the moment of "speaking, " there is no

"simultaneous listening"14 at all. The realization of "just listening" must be at the time of "not speaking. " It is not that [Tōzan] idly passes over "the time" of "not speaking,

" waiting for "not speaking" [to happen]. At the moment of just listening he does not regard "speaking" as a by stander; for ["speaking"] is truly [only] a bystander. 15 It is not that, at the moment of "just listening,

" "speaking" has gone off and remained on one side. Nor is it that, at the moment of "speaking, " "just listening" is intimately hiding its body inside the eyes of the "speaking, " then to strike like a thunder bolt. Thus, when, in the case of the ācārya, "the time of speaking" is "not listen ing" and, in the case of "I, " "the time of not speaking" is "just listening, "

this state is "truly to possess the means to speak a little, " and is "to physically

attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. " That is, for example, to

physically attain the state of "at the time of speaking, just then listening. "16

For this rea son [Tōzan says,] "At the time when I am not speaking, just then I am listen ing.

" Though described thus, the matter of the ascendant state of buddha is not a matter prior to the Seven Buddhas; it is the matter of the ascendant state of the Seven Buddhas. [58] The founding patriarch, Great Master Gohon, preaches to the assembly, "You should know that there are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha.

" Then a monk asks,

"What is a human being in the ascendant state of buddha?" The great master says, "A non-buddha.

" Unmon17 says,

"We

cannot name it, and we cannot describe it, so we call it 'non-. '" Hōfuku18

says,

"Buddha is 'non-.

'" Hōgen19 says,

"As an expedient,

20 we call it

'buddha.

'"21

[59] In general, one who is a Buddhist patriarch beyond Buddhist patriarchs is the founding patriarch Tōzan. The reason [I say] so is that though 137

121c

122a

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

other individual buddhas and individual patriarchs are numerous, they have never even dreamed of [Tōzan's] words on the ascendant state of buddha. Even if he explained it to the likes of Tokusan and Rinzai, they would not be able to realize it in their own experience. The likes of Gantō and Seppō, 22

though they pulverized their own bodies,

23 were unable to taste the fist [of a

practical teacher]. The sayings of the founding patriarch, such as "If you physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha, you will truly possess the means to speak a little" and "You should know that there are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha,

" cannot be mastered in real experience only

through the practice-and-experience of one, two, three, four, or five24 tripleasaṃkheyas of hundred-great kalpas. The means are present [only] in those who have truly experienced learning in practice of the pro foundly secret path. We should know that "there are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha. "

[The state] is, in other words, the vigorous activ ity of playing with the soul. 25

That being so, we can know it by taking up [the study of] eternal buddhas, and we can know it by holding up a fist. Having gained insight like this, we know "a human being in the ascendant state of having buddha, "26 and we

know "a human being in the ascendant state of being without buddha. "27 The

present preaching to the assembly is not that we should become a human being in the ascendant state of buddha, and not that we should meet with a human being in the ascendant state of buddha; it is simply that we should, for the present, know that there are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha. When we acquire command of this pivot-point, we "do not know"28 a human being in the ascendant state of hav ing buddha, and we "do not know" a human being in the ascendant state of being without buddha. A human being in those ascendant states of buddha is a "non-buddha.

" When prone to doubts as to

what "non-buddha" is, we should consider [the following]: ["non-buddha"] is not called "non-buddha" because it is prior to the state of buddha, it is not called "non-buddha" be cause it is subsequent to the state of buddha, and it is not "non-buddha" because it surpasses the state of buddha. It is "non-buddha" solely because it is the ascendant state of buddha itself. We call it "non-buddha" because it has dropped off the face and eyes of a buddha and it has dropped off the body-and-mind of a buddha.

[63] Zen Master Jōin Koboku29 of Tōkei30 (a successor of Fuyō;31 his monk's name was Hōjō) preaches to the assembly: "Once you know that 138

Chapter Twenty-eight

there is the matter of the ascendant state of a Buddhist patriarch, you will truly possess the means to talk. Zen friends! Now tell me, what is this matter of the ascendant state of a Buddhist patriarch? There is a child, of an [ordinary] human family, whose six sense organs32 are incomplete and whose seven kinds of con sciousness33 are imperfect. He is a great icchantika, 34 without

the seeds of buddha-nature. When he meets buddha, he kills buddha. When he meets patriarchs, he kills patriarchs. Heaven cannot accept him, and even hell has no gate that would take him in. Monks! Do you know this person or not?" After a good while, he says,

"The one facing you now is not [a man

of] saindhava.

35 He sleeps a lot and talks a lot in his sleep. "36

[65] This "six sense organs being incomplete" describes "someone having switched the eyeballs with black beads, 37 someone having switched the

nostrils with bamboo tubes, and someone having borrowed the skull to make a shit-scooper . . . what is the truth of this state of switching?"38 For this reason,

"the six sense organs are incomplete.

" Because of the incompleteness

of his six sense organs, after passing through the inside of a furnace he has become a golden buddha, after passing through the inner depths of the great ocean he has become a mud buddha, and after passing through the inside of flame he has become a wooden buddha. 39 "The seven kinds of consciousness being imperfect" describes a broken wooden dipper. Though he kills buddha, he does meet with buddha; it is because he has met with buddha that he kills buddha. If he aimed to enter heaven, heaven would collapse at once. If he made for hell, hell would be instantly torn asunder. For this reason, when he is facing [others], his face [simply] breaks [into a smile], without any trace at all of saindhava. He sleeps a lot, and talks a lot in his sleep too. Remember, the truth of this is that "all mountains, and the whole earth, both are friends who know him well; and his whole body of jewels and stone is smashed into a hundred bits and pieces. "40 We should quietly

inves tigate and consider the preaching to the assembly of Zen Master Koboku. Do not be hasty about it.

[67] Great Master Kōkaku41 of Ungozan visits Founding Patriarch Tōzan. [Tō]zan asks him,

"What is the ācārya's name?" Ungo says, "Dōyō.

" The

founding patriarch asks further,

"Say again, in the ascendant state.

" Ungo

says,

"When I express it in the ascendant state, it is not named Dōyō. " Tōzan

says,

"When I was in Ungan's42 order, our exchange was no different. "43

139

122b

122c

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

[68] The present words of master and disciple we should without fail examine in detail. This "In the ascendant state it is not named Dōyō, " is the

ascendant state of Dōyō. We should learn in practice that in what has hith er to been [called] "Dōyō" there exists an ascendant state of "not being named Dōyō.

" Having realized the principle of "in the ascendant state not being named Dōyō,

" he is really Dōyō. But do not say that even in the ascendant state he might be "Dōyō.

" Even if [Master Ungo Dōyō], when he hears the founding patriarch's words "Say again in the ascendant state, " offers [another]

account of his understanding, which he perfectly communicates as "In the ascendant state I am still named Dōyō, " those [also] would just be words in the ascendant state. Why do I say so? Because, in a moment, Dōyō springs in through his brain and conceals himself in his body. And while concealed in his body, he conspicuously reveals his figure. [69] Zen Master Sōzan Honjaku44 visits Founding Patriarch Tōzan. [Tō]zan asks him,

"What is the ācārya's name?" Sōzan says, "Honjaku.

" The founding

patriarch says,

"Say again in the ascendant state. " Sōzan says,

"I do not say.

"

The founding patriarch says, "Why do you not say?" The master says, "It is

not named Honjaku.

" The founding patriarch affirms this. 45

[70] To comment: in the ascendant state words are not nonexistent; they are just "I do not say.

"46 "Why does he not say?" Because he is "beyond the name Honjaku.

" So words in the ascendant state are "I do not say, " and "not

saying" in the ascendant state is "the not named. "47 Honjaku,

"not named,

"

is expression of the ascendant state. For this reason Honjaku is "the not named. "

So there is non-Honjaku,

48 there is "the not named" that has dropped [all things] off, and there is Honjaku who has dropped [all things] off. [71] Zen Master Banzan Hōshaku49 says, "Even a thousand saints do

not transmit the ascendant single path. "50

[71] These words "the ascendant single path" are the words of Banzan alone. He neither speaks of the matter of the ascendant state nor speaks of human beings in the ascendant state; he speaks of "a single path" as the ascendant state. The point here is that even if a thousand saints come vying head-to-head, the ascendant single path is "beyond transmission. " That it is

"beyond transmission" means that a thousand saints [each] preserves an individual standing that is beyond transmission. We can study it like this. Still, there is something further to say: namely, a thousand saints and a thousand 140

Chapter Twenty-eight

sages are not nonexistent and yet, saints and sages though they may be, "the

ascen dant single path" is beyond the orbit of saints and sages. [72] Zen Master Kōso51 of Chimonzan on one occasion is asked by a monk,

says,

"What is the matter of the ascendant state of buddha?" The mas ter "The head of the staff hoists up the sun and moon. "52

[73] To comment: the staff being inextricably bound to the sun and moon is the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. When we learn the sun and moon in practice as a staff, the whole cosmos fades away:53 this is the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. It is not that the sun and moon are a staff. "The [concreteness of the] head of the staff"54 is the whole staff. [74] In the order of Great Master Musai of Sekitō, 55 Zen Master Dōgo

of Tennōji56 asks,

"What is the Great Intent of the Buddha-Dharma?" The master says,

"It is beyond attainment, beyond knowing. " Dōgo says,

"In the

ascendant state, is there any further variation, or not?" The master says, "The

wide sky does not hinder the flying of the white cloud. "57

[75] To comment: Sekitō is the second-generation descendant of Sōkei. 58

Master Dōgo of Tennōji is Yakusan's59 younger brother [in Sekitō's order]. On one occasion he asks,

"What is the Great Intent of the Buddha-Dharma?" This question is not one with which beginners and late learners can cope. When [someone] asks about "the Great Intent, " they speak at a time when

they might already have grasped "the Great Intent. " Sekitō says,

"It is beyond

attainment, beyond knowing.

" Remember, in the Buddha-Dharma "the Great Intent" exists in the very first moment of sincere mind, and "the Great Intent" exists in the ultimate state. This Great Intent is "beyond attain ment. " Establishment of the mind, training, and acquiring of experience are not non existent: they are "beyond attainment. " This Great Intent is "beyond knowing. "

Practice-and-experience is not nonexistence and practice-and-expe rience is not existence: it is "beyond knowing" and it is "beyond attainment. " Again,

this Great Intent is "beyond attainment, beyond knowing. " The noble truths

and practice-and-experience are not nonexistent: they are "beyond at tainment, beyond knowing.

" The noble truths and practice-and-experience are not existent: they are "beyond attainment, beyond knowing. " Dōgo says,

"In the

ascendant state is there any further variation, or not?" If it is possible for this "variation" to be realized, the ascendant state is realized. A "variation" signifies an expedient means.

60 An expedient means signifies the buddhas and the 141

123a

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

123b

patriarchs. In the expressing of such [expedient means], the state should be "there being [something] further.

"61 Though it may be "there being something further,

" at the same time "there being nothing further"62 should not be allowed to leak away but should be expressed.

"The wide sky does not hinder the

flying of the white cloud" are the words of Sekitō. "The wide sky"63 is utterly

beyond hindering the wide sky, and the wide sky is beyond hinder ing the flying of the wide sky; at the same time,

"the white cloud"64 is utterly beyond

hindering itself, the white cloud.

"The flying"65 of the white cloud is beyond hindrance. And the flying of the white cloud does not hinder the fly ing of the wide sky at all. What is beyond hindering others is beyond hinder ing itself. It is not necessary that individuals "do not hinder" each other, and it cannot be that individual objects "do not hinder" each other. For this rea son, [each] is beyond hindrance, and [each] displays the essence and form of "the wide sky not hindering the flying of the white cloud. " At just such a moment, we

raise the eyebrows of these eyes of learning in practice and glimpse a buddha coming or meet a patriarch coming. We meet ourself coming and meet the other coming. This state has been called the truth of "asking once, being answered ten times.

" In the "asking once, being answered ten times" of which I now speak, [the one who] asks once must be a true per son and [the one who] answers ten times must be a true person.

[78] Ōbaku66 says,

"People who have left family life should know that there is a state which is the matter that has come [to us] from the past. For instance, Great Master Hōyū67 of Gozu who was a pupil of the Fourth Patriarch, 68 though his preaching was fluent in all directions, still never knew the pivotal matter of the ascendant state. If you have the eyes and brain of this state, you will be able to tell the false from the true among religious groups. "69

[79] The matter that has come from the past which Ōbaku expresses like this is the matter that has been authentically transmitted from the past by the buddhas and the patriarchs, buddha-to-buddha and patriarch-to-patriarch. It is called "the right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana. "

Though it is present in the self, it may be "necessary to know. "70 Though it

is present in the self, it is "still never known. "71 For those who have not re ceived the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha, it is never realized, even in a dream. Ōbaku, as the Dharma child of Hyakujō, 72 is even

more excellent than Hyakujō, and as the Dharma grandchild of Baso73 is 142

Chapter Twenty-eight

even more excellent than Baso. In general, among the ancestral patriarchs of [those] three or four generations, there is none who stands shoulder-toshoulder with Ōbaku. Ōbaku is the only one to have made it clear that Gozu was missing a pair of horns;74 other Buddhist patriarchs have never known it. Zen Master Hōyū of Gozusan was a venerable master under the Fourth Patriarch.

"His preaching was fluent in all directions": truly, when we compare him with sutra teachers and commentary teachers, between the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, he is not to be seen as insufficient. Regrettably, however, he never knew the pivotal matter of the ascendant state, and he never spoke of the pivotal matter of the ascendant state. If [a person] does not know the pivotal matter that has come [to us] from the past, how could he discern the true and the false in the Buddha-Dharma? He is nothing more than a man who studies words. Thus, to know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state, to practice the pivotal matter of the ascendant state, and to experience the pivotal matter of the ascendant state are beyond the scope of ordinary folk. Wherever true effort is present, [the state] is in evitably realized. What has been called "the matter of the ascendant state of buddha" means having arrived at the state of buddha, progressing on and meeting buddha75 again. It is just the same state as that in which ordinary people meet buddha. That being so, if meeting buddha is on the level of ordinary people's meeting buddha,

76 it is not meeting buddha. If meeting buddha is like ordinary people's meeting buddha, meeting buddha is an illusion. How much less could it be the matter of the ascendant state of buddha? Remember, the matter of the ascendant state of which Ōbaku speaks is beyond the comprehension of the unreliable people of today. To be sure, there are those whose expressions of Dharma are below the level of Hōyū, and there are the occasional few whose expressions of Dharma are equal to Hōyū, but they [all] may be Hōyū's older and younger brothers in Dharma; how could they know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state? Others, such as [bodhisattvas in] the ten sacred stages and three clever stages, do not know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state at all. How much less could they open and close the pivotal matter of the ascendant state? This point is the very eyes of learning in practice. Those who know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state are called human beings in the ascendant state of buddha; they physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha.

124a

143

123c

Shōbōgenzō Volume II Shōbōgenzō Butsu-kōjō-no-ji Preached to the assembly at Kannondōri kōshōhōrinji on the twenty-third day of the third lunar month in the third year of Ninji. 77

144

Notes

1 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869). Great Master Gohon is his posthumous title. 2 A district of Jiangxi province in southeast China. 3 Master Ungan Donjō (782-841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen. Great Master Muju is his posthumous title. 4 A district in Hunan province in southeast China. 5 Kōjō,as in the title of the chapter. 6 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 12; Keitokudentōroku,chapter 15. Master Tōzan's words are also discussed in the chapter entitled Butsu-kōjō-no-jicontained in the twentyeight-chapter Himitsu-shōbōgenzō(see Vol. IV, Appendix One, Editions of the Shōbōgenzō). 7 Gowarepresents concrete action. 8 Fumon,

buddha itself.

"not listening" or "being beyond listening, " is an expression of the state of 9 Hōjin,

"meeting a person,

" and fuhōjin,

"not meeting a person" (see the end of paragraph 40 in Chapter Twenty-seven, Zazenshin), are both descriptions of the state of realization. The formula "A-not-A" suggests transcendence of both affirmative and negative expressions.

10 Inmo-fu-inmoalludes to the words of Master Sekitō Kisen. See Chapter Twenty-nine, Inmo.

11 Zetsu-kotsu,literally, "tongue-bone.

"

12 Jiri,literally,

"the inside of the ears. "

13 Waga-fugowa[no] ji[o] ma[tsu], sunawa[chi] ki[kan], literally, "Waiting for my time

of not speaking, then I will listen. " The usage of matsuis discussed in Chapter Thirtyfive, Hakujushi. 14 Sokumon. Soku, sunawa[chi] can function as an adjective, "simultaneous,

" "instantaneous,

" or as an adverb "immediately" or "just. " In Master Tōzan's words, as an adverb, sunawa[chi] means "just then. "

145

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

15 Bōkan,

"onlooker,

" means a party who is not involved in the action, or who is irrelevant. Master Tōzan is living in the moment of the present, and so when he is just listening his own speaking is forgotten.

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Up to here Master Dōgen has described the state at the moment of the present in terms of the independence of speaking and listening. Here his description is opposite: he describes both speaking and listening occurring in the same moment. The reversal suggests the difficulty of describing the state in words. Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), a successor of Master Seppō Gison. Master Hōfuku Jūten (?-928), also a successor of Master Seppō Gison. Master Hōgen Bun'eki (885-958), successor of Master Rakan Keichin. Hōben,from the Sanskrit upāya,as in the title of the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra.The chapter explains that the Buddha used expedient methods, or skillful means—for example, parables—to teach what is impossible to teach directly. A slightly different version is recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 72. Master Gantō Zenkatsu (828-887) and Master Seppō Gison (822-907) were both successors of Master Tokusan Senkan (780-865). Although Master Dōgen often praised Master Seppō, he was sometimes critical of Master Tokusan Senkan (see, for example, Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen [Vol. I], Shin-fukatoku). In general, Master Dōgen naturally revered his own lineage, which passed from Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790) to Master Tōzan Ryōkai, more than other lineages—such as the lineage that passed from Master Sekitō to Master Tokusan, or the lineage that passed from Master Nangaku Ejō to Master Rinzai.

Symbolizing dogged effort in pursuit of the truth. In the Tenzokyōkun(Instructions for the Cook), Master Dōgen relates the story of how he asked the chief cook of the temple on Mount Ikuō, "What are written characters?" The cook replied "One, two, three, four, five. " The question invited a more

abstract explanation, but the cook simply gave the most basic examples of written Chinese characters, for the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Rōzeikonmeans action in the state that is free of body and mind. In Chapter Sixtyeight (Vol. III), Udonge,Master Dōgen says that rōzeikonmeans just sitting in zazen and dropping off body and mind.

U-butsu-kōjō-nin.The same five characters appear in Master Tōzan's words, but by using the object particle "

o

"instead of the quotation particle "to

"before the verb

shiru(to know), Master Dōgen changed the meaning of u, a[ru]. In Master Tōzan's words a[ru] means "there are.

" Here u,

"having" or "existence,

" forms a compound

with butsu.The concept u-butsu,

"having buddha[-nature]" or "the real state of buddha, which is existence,

" is explained in Chapter Twenty-two, Busshō. 27 Mubutsu-kōjō-nin. Mubutsu,

"being without buddha[-nature]" or "the real state of 146

Chapter Twenty-eight

buddha, which is being without,

" is also explained in detail in Chapter Twenty-two, Busshō.In the context of this chapter,

"being without buddha" describes a buddha who is without self-consciousness of being a buddha. 28 Fu-chi surumeans not to know intellectually, or to transcend intellectual understanding. 29 Master Koboku Hōjō, (1071-1128).

30 In present-day Hunan province in east central China. 31 Master Fuyō Dōkai (1043-1118), successor of Master Tōsu Gisei and the forty-fifth patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage.

32 Rokkon:eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and mind. 33 Shichi-shiki.The first five kinds of consciousness correspond to the consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. The sixth and seventh can be interpreted as centers of proprioception (motor sense) and intellectual thought, respectively. 34 The Sanskrit word icchantikameans "one who pursues desires to the end, " and therefore who has no interest in pursuing the truth (see Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). Here Master Koboku suggests transcendence of intentional, or intellectual, pursuit of the truth.

35 The Sanskrit word saindhavameans "products of the Indus valley. " A parable in the

Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtratells of an intelligent servant who can guess which product— salt, a bowl, water, or a horse—the king wants, on hearing only the king's request of "saindhava.

" Hence, a person of saindhavameans someone who is quick and sensitive. See Chapter Eighty-one (Vol. IV), Ō-saku-sendaba. 36 Kataifutōroku,chapter 5; Rentōeyō,chapter 29. 37 Having black beads for eyeballs represents the state of non-emotion. "Black beads"

refers to the stone of the fruit of Aphananthe aspera(called muku no kiin Japanese). These stones, which are hard and black, were used as rosary beads. Aphananthe aspera is a large spreading tree, with big leaves resembling those of wisteria; in summer it produces yellow and white blossoms. 38 The phrases in quotemarks are in the form of a quotation from Chinese, but the source has not been traced.

39 A golden buddha is an ideal image, a mud buddha is a non-ideal image, and a wooden buddha is an everyday common object.

40 Gyokuseki-zenshin,

"the whole body of jewels and stones,

" suggests the ascendant

state of buddha as the combination of invaluable buddha-nature like jewels, and physical matter like stones. Hyaku-zassai, "smashed into a hundred bits and pieces, " is

Master Gensha's description of the eternal mirror manifesting concrete, real forms as they are (see Chapter Twenty [Vol. I], Kokyō). 147

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

41 Master Ungo Dōyō (?-902), successor of Master Tōzan and the thirty-ninth patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. Great Master Kōkaku is his posthumous title. 42 Master Ungan Donjō (782-841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen and the thirtyseventh patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 43 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 17.

44 Master Sōzan Honjaku (840-901), a successor of Master Tōzan. His posthumous title is Great Master Genshō.

45 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 17.

46 Fudō, i[wa]zu.The original words have no subject. They can be interpreted either as "I do/will not say" or as "it is beyond words.

"

47 Fumyō, nazu[ke]zuin the story means "is not named, " but here suggests that which

cannot be named, the ineffable state. Not to say anything, in the case of buddha, is the ineffable state.

48 Hi-honjaku,as in hi-butsu,

"non-buddha,

" in paragraph 58.

49 Master Banzan Hōshaku (dates unknown), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu (709-788). His posthumous title is Great Master Gyojaku. 50 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 7.

51 Master Chimon Kōso (dates unknown), successor of Master Kyōrin Chōon and a seventh-generation descendant of Master Seigen Gyōshi. Master Setchō Jūken was a later master in Master Chimon's lineage.

52 The Bukkagekisetsuroku,last volume, chapter 4, no. 7. This record contains Master Engo Kokugon's discussions of Master Setchō Jūken's eulogies of past masters. 53 Jinkenkon kurashi. Jinmeans all or whole. Kenkonmeans northwest and southwest, representing all points of the compass. Kurashiliterally means to be dark. When we find the reality of concrete things, abstract inclusive concepts (such as "the whole cosmos") fade away.

54 Shūjō-tōjō. Shūjōmeans "staff.

" Tōmeans "head" and at the same time it is a symbol of a concrete thing. Jōmeans "upper" and also "on the basis of. " So shūjō-tōjō suggests

the concrete top of the staff, or the staff on the basis of concreteness. 55 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790), successor of Master Seigen Gyōshi and thirty-fifth patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. Great Master Musai is his posthumous title. Sekitō (lit.,

"on top of the rock") is the place where he built a hut. 56 Master Tennō Dōgo (748-807), a successor of Master Sekitō. He became a monk at the age of twenty-five. He was first a disciple of Master Kinzan Kokuitsu, then of Master Baso Dōitsu, before eventually entering Master Sekitō's order. 57 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 14; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2 no. 91. 148

Chapter Twenty-eight

58 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), who transmitted the Dharma to Master Seigen Gyōshi (660-740), who transmitted the Dharma to Master Sekitō. 59 Master Yakusan Igen (745-828) was, like Master Dōgo, a successor of Master Seki tō Kisen. 60 Hōben.See note 20.

61 Kō-u.In Master Dōgo's words, these characters mean "is there . . . further. "

62 Kō-mu.In Master Dōgo's words, these characters mean "further . . . or not. " Master

Dōgen described the same state from two sides. 63 Chōkū,lit.,

"long sky,

" represents the subject. 64 Hakuun,

"white cloud,

" represents the object.

65 Hi,

"flying,

" represents action.

66 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. ca. 855), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. He authored a book called Denshinhōyō(The Pivot of Dharma on Transmission of the Mind). His posthumous title is Zen Master Dansai. 67 Master Gozu Hōyū (594-657). He lived and practiced zazen on Gozusan, and is said to have realized the truth when Master Daii Dōshin, the Fourth Patriarch, visited him there.

68 Master Daii Dōshin (580-651), successor of Master Kanchi Sōsan. 69 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 9. 70 Suchi.In Master Ōbaku's words, read as subekara[ku] shi[rubeshi], these characters mean "you should know.

" They express a state that must be realized through effort. 71 In other words, it is beyond intellectual recognition. 72 Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. 73 Master Baso Dōitsu (709-788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejō. 74 Gozu is literally "Bull's Head. "

75 Kenbutsu,

"meeting buddha,

" is described in Chapter Sixty-one (Vol. III), Kenbutsu, as the state of living in reality. 76 Ordinary people are living in reality, but they understand meeting buddha as something other than simply living in reality. In that sense, they are not living in reality. In other words, their meeting buddha is not really meeting buddha. 77 1242.

149

Chapter 29: Inmo - It

[Chapter Twenty-nine]

Inmo

It

Translator's Note: Inmo is a colloquial word in Chinese, meaning "it,

"

"that,

"

"

or

what.

" We usually use the words

"it,

" "that,

"

"

or

what" to indicate something we do not need to explain. Therefore Buddhist philoso phers in China used the word inmo to suggest something ineffable. At the same time, one of the aims of studying Buddhism is to realize real ity, and according to Buddhist philosophy, reality is something ineffable. So the word inmo was used to indicate the truth, or reality, which in Buddhist philosophy is originally ineffable. In this chapter Master Dōgen explained the meaning of inmo, quoting the words of Master Ungo Dōyō, Master Saṃghanandi, Master Daikan Enō, Master Sekitō Kisen, and others. [85] Great Master Kōkaku1 of Ungozan is the rightful heir of Tōzan, 2 is the

thirty-ninth-generation Dharma descendant of Śākyamuni Buddha, and is the authentic patriarch of Tōzan's lineage. "One day he preaches to the assembly, 'If you want to attain the matter that is it, 3 you must be a person who is it. Already being a person who is it, why worry about the matter that is it?'"4 [86] In other words, those who want to attain "the matter that is it" must themselves be "people who are it. " They are already "people who are it": why should they worry about [attaining] "the matter that is it"?5 The point of this is that "directing oneself straight for the supreme truth of bodhi" is described, for the present, as "it. "6 The situation of this supreme truth of bodhiis such that even the whole universe in ten directions is just a small part of the su preme truth of bodhi:it may be that the truth of bodhiabounds beyond the universe. We ourselves are tools that it possesses within this universe in ten directions. How do we know that it exists? We know it is so because the body and the mind both appear in the universe, yet neither is ourself. The body, already, is not "I. " Its life moves on through days and months, and we cannot stop it even for an instant. Where have the red faces 151

124b

124c

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

[of our youth] gone? When we look for them, they have vanished without a trace. When we reflect carefully, there are many things in the past that we will never meet again. The sincere mind,

7 too, does not stop, but goes and

comes mo ment by moment. Although the state of sincerity does exist, it is not some thing that lingers in the vicinity of the personal self. Even so, there is something that, in the limitlessness, establishes the [bodhi-]mind. Once this mind is established, abandoning our former playthings we hope to hear what we have not heard before and we seek to experience what we have not experienced before: this is not solely of our own doing. Remember, it happens like this because we are "people who are it. " How do we know that we

are "people who are it"? We know that we are "people who are it" just from the fact that we want to attain "the matter that is it. " Already we possess the

real features of a "person who is it"; we should not worry about the alreadypresent "matter that is it. " Even worry itself is just "the matter that is it,

" and

so it is beyond worry. Again, we should not be surprised that "the matter that is it" is present in such a state. Even if "it" is the object of surprise and wonder ment, it is still just "it.

" And there is "it" about which we should not

be surprised. This state cannot be fathomed even by the consideration of buddha, it cannot be fathomed by the consideration of the mind, it cannot be fath omed by the consideration of the Dharma world, and it cannot be fathomed by the consideration of the whole universe. It can only be described "Already you are a person who is it: why worry about [attaining] the matter that is it?" Thus, the "suchness" of sound and form may be "it"; the "suchness" of body-and-mind may be "it"; and the "suchness" of the buddhas may be "it.

" For example, the time of "falling down on the ground"8 we understand, as it is, as "it"; and at the very moment, when we "get up, inevitably relying on the ground,

" we do not wonder that the "falling down" was "on the ground.

" There are words that have been spoken since ancient times, have been spoken from the Western Heavens, and have been spoken from the heavens above. They are: "If we fall down on the ground, we get up again on the ground. If we seek to get up apart from the ground, that is, in the end, impossible.

"9 In other words, those who fall down on the ground inevitably get up on the ground, and if they want to get up without relying on the ground, they can never do so at all. Taking up what is described thus, we have seen it as the beginning of attainment of great realization, and we have made it 152

Chapter Twenty-nine

into the state of truth that sheds body and mind. Therefore, if someone asks "What is the principle of the buddhas' realization of the truth?" we say "It is like someone who falls to the ground getting up on the ground. " Mastering

this [principle], we should penetrate and clarify the past, we should penetrate and clarify the future, and we should penetrate and clarify the very mo ment of the present.

10 "Great realization and nonrealization; returning to de lusion and losing the state of delusion; being restricted by realization itself and being restricted by delusion itself": each of these is the truth that some one who falls to the ground gets up relying on the ground. It is an expres sion of the truth in the heavens above and everywhere under the heavens, is an expression of the truth in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, is an expression of the truth in the past, present, and future, and is an ex pression of the truth of old buddhas and new buddhas. This expression of the truth is never imperfect in expression, and it does not lack anything in expression. Even so, it seems [to me] that only to understand the words like that, without also understanding them in a way which is not like that, is to fail to master these words. Although the expression of the truth of an eter nal buddha has been transmitted like that, still, when [eternal buddha] lis tens as eternal buddha to the words of the eternal buddha, there should be an ascendant state of listening. Though never spoken in the Western Heav ens and never spoken in the heavens above, there is another truth to be ex pressed. It is that if those who fall down on the ground seek to get up by rely ing on the ground, even if they spend countless kalpas, they will never be able to get up. They can get up by means of just one vigorous path. That is, those who fall down through reliance on the ground inevitably get up rely ing on the void, 11 and

those who fall down through reliance on the void inevitably get up by relying on the ground. Unless it is like this, getting up will, in the end, be impossible. The buddhas and the patriarchs were all like this. Suppose a person asks a question like this: "How far apart are the void and the ground?" If someone asks a question like this, we should answer that person like this: "The void and the ground are one hundred and eight thousand miles12 apart! "When we fall down through reliance on the ground, we inevitably get up relying on the void, and if we seek to get up apart from the void, it will be impossible at last. When we fall down through reliance on the void, we inevitably get up by relying on the ground, and if we seek to get up apart from the ground, 153

125a

125b

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

it will be impossible at last. " Someone who has never spoken such words has never known, and has never seen, the dimensions of the ground and the void in Buddhism.

[93] The seventeenth ancestral patriarch, Venerable Saṃghanandi, 13

whose Dharma successor in due course is Geyāśata, 14 on one occasion hears

bells hung in a hall ringing when blown by the wind; and he asks Geyāśata, "Is it the sound of the wind? Is it the sound of the bells?" Geyāśata says, "It

is beyond the ringing of the wind and beyond the ringing of the bells, it is the ringing of my mind.

" Venerable Saṃghanandi says, "Then what is the

mind?" Geyāśata says,

"The reason [it is ringing] is that all is still. " Venerable Saṃghanandi says, "Excellent! Excellent! Who else but you, disciple, could succeed to my truth. " Eventually, he transmits [to Geyāśata] the right-Dharma-eye treasury. 15

[94] Here, in the state beyond the ringing of the wind, we learn "my mind ringing.

" In the time beyond the ringing of the bells, we learn "my mind ring ing.

" "My mind ringing" is "it"; at the same time, "all is still.

"

Transmitted from the Western Heavens to the Eastern Lands, from ancient times to the present day, this story has been seen as a standard for learning the truth, but many people have misunderstood it [as follows]: "Geyāśata's words 'It is neither the ringing of the wind nor the ringing of the bells, it is the ringing of the mind' mean that there is in the listener, at just the moment of the present, the occurrence of mindfulness, and this occurrence of mindfulness is called 'the mind. ' If this mindfulness did not exist, how could the sound of ringing be recognized as a circumstance? Hearing is realized through this mindful ness, which may be called the root of hearing, and so he says 'the mind is ringing.

'

"

. . .

This is wrong understanding. It is like this because it is devoid of the influence of a true teacher. For example, it is like interpretations by commentary teachers on "subjectivism"16 and "proximity. "17 [Interpretation] like this is not profound learning of the Buddha's truth. Among those who have learned under rightful successors to the Buddha's truth, on the other hand, the supreme state of bodhiand the right-Dharma-eye treasury are called "stillness,

" are called "being free of doing, " are called "samādhi,

" and are

called "dhāraṇī.

" The principle is that if only one dharmais still, the ten thousand dharmas are all still. The blowing of the wind being still, the ring ing of 154

Chapter Twenty-nine

the bells is still, and for this reason he says "all is still. " He is saying that

"the mind ringing" is beyond the ringing of the wind, "the mind ringing" is

be yond the ringing of the bells, and "the mind ringing" is beyond the ringing of the mind.

18 Having pursued to the ultimate the close and direct state like this, we may then go on to say that it is "the wind ringing, " it is "the bells

ring ing,

" it is "the blowing ringing, " and it is "the ringing ringing. " The state

like this exists not on the basis of "Why should we worry about the matter that is it?" It is like this because "How can the matter that is it be related [to anything]?"19

[97] The thirty-third patriarch, Zen Master Daikan, 20 before having his

head shaved, is lodging at Hosshōji in Kōshū. Two monks there are hav ing a discussion. One monk says, "The flag is moving.

" The other monk says,

"The wind is moving.

" As the discussion goes endlessly back and forth like this, the Sixth Patriarch says, "It is beyond the wind moving and beyond the flag moving. You are the mind moving. "21 Hearing this, the two monks are instantly convinced.

22

[98] These two monks had come from India. With these words, then, the Sixth Patriarch is saying that "the wind" and "the flag" and "the moving" all exist as "the mind.

" Even today, although [people] hear the Sixth Patriarch's words they do not know the Sixth Patriarch's words: how much less could they ex press the Sixth Patriarch's expression of the truth? Why do I say so? Because, hearing the words "you are the mind moving, " to say that "you are

the mind moving" just means "your minds are moving, " is not to see the

Sixth Patriarch, is not to know the Sixth Patriarch, and is not to be the Dharma descendants of the Sixth Patriarch. Now, as the children and grand children of the Sixth Patriarch, speaking the truth of the Sixth Patriarch, speaking with the physical body, hair, and skin of the Sixth Patriarch, we should say as follows: The words "You are the mind moving" are fine as they are, but we could also express it as "You are moving. " Why do we say so? Because "what is moving" is "moving, " and because "you" are "you. " We say so

because "[you] already are people who are it. "

[99] In his former days the Sixth Patriarch is a woodsman in Shinshu. He knows the mountains well and knows the waters well. Through his effort under the green pines he has eradicated roots, but how could he know of the eternal teachings that illuminate the mind, when one is at one's ease, by a 155

125c

126b

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

126a

bright window?23 Under whom could he learn cleaning and sweeping? In the marketplace he hears a sutra: this is not something that he himself has expected, nor is it at the encouragement of anyone else. Having lost his fa ther as a child, he has grown up looking after his mother, never knowing that in his [woodsman's] coat lies hidden a pearl that will light up the cosmos. Suddenly illuminated [by the Diamond Sutra], he leaves his old mother and goes in search of a counselor—it is an example of behavior rare among men. Who can make light of kindness and love? [But] attach ing weight to the Dharma, he makes light of his debt of gratitude and so is able to abandon it. This is just the truth of "Those who have wisdom, if they hear [the Dhar ma],/Are able to believe and understand at once. "24 This "wis dom" is neither

learned from other people nor established by oneself: wis dom is able to transmit wisdom, and wisdom directly searches out wisdom. In the case of the five hundred bats,

25 wisdom naturally consumes their bod ies: they have no body and no mind [of their own] at all. In the case of the ten thousand swimming fishes, 26 due neither to circumstances nor to causes, but because wisdom is intimately present in their bodies, when they hear the Dharma they "understand at once. " It is beyond coming and beyond entering: it is like the spirit of spring27 meeting springtime, for example. Wisdom is beyond intention and wisdom is beyond no intention. Wisdom is beyond consciousness and wisdom is beyond unconsciousness. How much less could it be related to the great and the small? How much less could it be discussed in terms of delusion and realization? The point is that although [the Sixth Patriarch] does not even know what the Buddha-Dharma is, never having heard it before and so neither longing for it nor aspiring to it, when he hears the Dharma he makes light of his debt of grati tude and forgets his own body; and such things happen because the body-and-mind of "those who have wisdom" is already not their own. This is the state called "able to believe and understand at once. "

No one knows how many rounds of life-and-death [people] spend, even while possessing this wisdom, in futile dusty toil. They are like a stone enveloping a jewel,

28 the jewel not knowing that it is enveloped by a stone, and the stone not know ing that it is enveloping a jewel. [When] a human being recognizes this [jewel], a human being seizes it. This is neither something that the jewel is expecting nor something that the stone is awaiting: it does not require knowledge from the stone and it is beyond thinking by the jewel. 29 In other

156

Chapter Twenty-nine

words, a human being and wisdom do not know each other, but it seems that the truth is unfailingly discerned by wisdom. There are the words, "Those

who are without wisdom doubt,/Thus losing it forever. "30 "Wisdom" is not

necessarily related to "having" and "wisdom" is not necessarily related to "being without"; at the same time, there is "existence"31 in the spring pines at one moment, and there is [the real state of] "being without"32 as the autumn chrysanthemums. At the moment of this "wisdom" as "being without, "33 the

whole truth of saṃbodhi34 becomes "doubt, " and all dharmas are "doubt.

"35

And at this moment,

"to lose forever is just to act. "36 Words that should be

heard, and Dharma that should be experienced, are totally "doubt. " The entire

world, which is not me, has no hidden place; it is a single iron track, which is not anyone, for ten thousand miles. 37 While, in this way, twigs bud, "In

the buddha lands of the ten directions,/There only exists the One-Vehicle Dharma.

"38 And while, in this way, leaves fall, "The Dharma abides in its

place in the Dharma,/And the form of the world is constantly abiding. "39

Because "this already exists"40 as "the matter that is it, " it exists in "having

wis dom" and in "being without wisdom, " and it exists as the face of the sun and as the face of the moon. Because he is "a person who is it, " the Sixth

Patriarch is illuminated. Consequently, he goes directly to Ōbaizan and pros trates himself to Zen Master Daiman, 41 who lodges him in the servants' hall. He pounds rice through the night for eight short months, then once, late into the night, Daiman himself secretly enters the pounding room and asks the Sixth Patriarch,

"Is the rice white yet or not?" The Sixth Patriarch says, "It

is white, but not yet sifted.

" Daiman pounds the mortar three times, and the Sixth Patriarch sifts the rice in the winnowing basket three times. This is said to be the time when the state of truth becomes consonant between master and disciple. They do not know it themselves, and it is beyond the understanding of others, but the transmission of the Dharma and the transmission of the robe are just at "that" exact moment. [105] Great Master Musai42 of Nangakuzan, on one occasion, is asked by Yakusan,

43 "The three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching44 I roughly know. [But] I have heard that in the south there is direct pointing at the human mind, realizing the nature and becoming buddha. Frankly, I have not clarified [this] yet. I beg you, Master, out of compassion, to teach "45

me.

157

126c

127a

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

[106] This is Yakusan's question. Yakusan in the past had been a lecturer; he had thoroughly understood the meaning of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching. So it seems there was no Buddha-Dharma at all that was unclear to him. In those days different sects were never estab lished; just to clarify the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching was accepted as the customary way of learning the teaching. That many people today, out of stupidity, individually establish principles and suppose the Buddha-Dharma, is not the legitimate standard in Buddhism. The great master says,

"To be like that is impossible. 46 Not to be like that is impossible. To be like that or not to be like that is altogether impossible. What do you make of it?" These are the words spoken by the great master for Yakusan. Truly, because "to be like that or not to be like that is altogether impossible, "

"to be like that is impossible" and "not to be like that is impossible. " "Like

that" describes "it.

" It is not [a matter of] the limited usefulness of words and not [a matter of] the unlimited usefulness of words: we should learn "it" in the state of impossibility, and we should inquire into "impossibility" in the state of "it.

" It is not that this concrete "it, " and "the impossible,

" are

rele vant only to the consideration of buddhas. To understand it is impossible. To realize it is impossible. [108] Zen Master Daikan47 of Sōkeizan, on one occasion, teaches Zen Master Daie48 of Nangaku,

"This is something49 coming like this. "50 These

words say that being like this is beyond doubt, for it is beyond understanding. Because "this is something,

" we should realize in experience that all the myriad things are truly "something. " We should realize in experience that every single thing is truly "something. " "Something" is not open to doubt: "it comes like this.

"

ShōbōgenzōInmo

Preached to the assembly at Kannondōrikōshōhōrinji on the twenty-sixth day of the third lunar month in the third year of Ninji. 51

158

Notes

1 Master Ungo Dōyō (?-902). Great Master Kōkaku is his posthumous title. 2 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan Donjō. 3 Inmo[no] ji,or "the matter of the ineffable. " Master Dōgen uses these words of Master Ungo Dōyō in the Fukanzazengi. 4 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 17. 5 In these sentences Master Dōgen explained the Chinese characters of the story using a combination of Chinese characters (in quotemarks) and Japanese kana. 6 Inmois used not only as a noun representing the state that is the subject of the chapter ("it,

" "suchness,

" "the ineffable"), but also as a common adverb, adjective, or pronoun ("so,

" "like this,

" "like that,

" "such,

" "such a state,

" "as it is,

" "the very [moment],

"

"in such a way,

" "thus,

" etc.); many instances of these latter cases of the term inmo occur throughout this chapter. Though in some sense incidental, this frequent usage has the effect of emphasizing the inconspicuous, ever-present, and normal nature of the state Master Dōgen is describing. 7 Sekishin,lit.,

"red mind,

" means naked mind or sincere mind. 8 Chi[ni] yo[rite] taoruru monooriginates in the words of Master Upagupta, the fourth patriarch in India. The Saiikiki(History of Western Lands), a widely-read Chinese book on the history of countries west of China, contains the following: Vasubandhu, (the twenty-first patriarch) first made fun of the Mahayana on the basis of the Hinayana. His elder brother, Asaṅga, pretended to be sick in order to get Vasubandhu to visit him, and then he opened [a sutra of] Mahayana teachings and said, "Someone who

disparages what he has not read is a non-Buddhist. " So Vasubandhu tried reading the Garland Sutras, and he was convinced by them. He joked, "I should cut off my tongue with a sword to atone for my wrongness. " Asaṅga said,

"Someone who falls down

on the ground also stands up relying on the ground. The tongue that slandered in the past can sing the praises of the state of repentance that you have now. " Eventually

[Vasubandhu] went into the mountains, opened and read [the teachings of] the Mahayana, and made the Jūjiron(Commentary on the Ten States). Master Dōgen picked up the words to explain the ineffable state of reality as a very concrete situation in daily life. The ground symbolizes that which is concrete. 9 Direct quotation of Master Upagupta's words from the Keitokudentōroku,chapter 1. 159

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

10 Shōtō-inmo-ji,

"at this very moment" or "at just such a moment, " is a phrase that

appears in most chapters of the Shōbōgenzō. 11 Kūmeans "emptiness,

" "space,

" "the immaterial,

" "bareness,

" "the sky,

" etc. In this

context, kū,

"the void,

" means that which is devoid of material substance, the immaterial—in other words, ideas—as opposed to chi, "the ground" which represents the concrete, that which has material substance. 12 Jūman-hassen-ri.One riis equal to 2.44 miles. We are expecting a philosophical answer, so Master Dōgen surprises us with a big concrete distance. 13 Master Saṃghanandi, successor of Master Rāhulabhadra. 14 Master Geyāśata, the eighteenth patriarch in India. 15 The original story (written in Chinese characters only) is quoted in the Keitokudentōroku,chapter 2. This is an indirect quotation written in Japanese. 16 Eshu,lit.,

"reliance on the subject, " is one of the roku-rigo-shaku,or "six interpretations of separation and synthesis. "

17 Ringon,

"proximity,

" is another of the six interpretations. In contrast to the subjective method of interpretation, it proceeds opportunistically by examining objective facts close at hand.

18 Shinmei,

"the mind ringing,

" is a direct suggestion of the state of reality in zazen— in which there is no separation of agent and action. 19 Master Dōgen replaced ure[en], "worry about getting,

" in Master Ungo's words with kan[sen],

"be related with.

" Master Ungo's words include a denial of subjective attempts to relate to the state. Master Dōgen went one step further and suggested that the state described by Master Geyāśata transcends all relations. 20 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), successor of Master Daiman Kōnin. Master Daikan Enō is the thirty-third patriarch counting Master Mahākāśyapa as the first, and the Sixth Patriarch counting Master Bodhidharma as the First Patriarch in China. He is usually called the Sixth Patriarch. 21 Jinsha shindō.In Master Dōgen's interpretation, these characters mean "you are the mind moving"

—a description of the reality that is the mind. The alternative interpretation is that jinsha shindōmeans "your minds are moving" —a criticism of the

monks.

22 Tenshōkōtōroku,chapter 7. 23 A bright window suggests a good place for reading sutras. Master Daikan Enō was free of wrongness and illusions, but he was not familiar with verbal Buddhist teaching and he did not have a human teacher. 24 The Lotus Sutra, Yakusō-yu("Parable of the Herbs"): The Dharma King who breaks "existence,

"/Appears in the world/And according to the wants of living beings,/ 160

Chapter Twenty-nine

Preaches the Dharma in many ways. . . ./The wise if they hear it,/Are able to believe and understand at once,/The unwise doubt and grieve,/Thus losing it forever. (LS 1.272.)

25 The Saiikikitells the tale of a merchant who, passing near the southern sea, stayed the night at the foot of a big withered tree. He lit a fire because it was cold, and began to read the Abidharma commentaries. The fire set light to the tree, but five hundred bats inside the tree chose to burn to death rather than to miss hearing the reading of the Abidharma.

26 In Hoku Ryō's (Northern Liang dynasty) translation of the Konkōmyōkyō,ten thousand fishes who heard the reading of a Buddhist sutra were reborn as angels in Tuṣita Heaven.

27 Tōkun,lit.,

"Eastern Lord,

" is the god of spring. The spirit of spring meeting spring suggests a fact at one moment of the present, as opposed to a process. 28 The jewel symbolizes wisdom and the stone symbolizes the layers of interference that surround the state of wisdom. 29 Realization in zazen, for example, is the innate function of a human being; it is prior to learned mental faculties such as expectation, knowledge, and thinking. 30 Lotus Sutra, Yakusō-yu(LS 1.272). The edition of the Lotus Sutra (Hokkekyō) published by Iwanami has gike,

"doubt and grieve,

" but here Master Dōgen has written gike, "doubt and wonder,

" or "doubt.

"

31 Uin the phrase uchimeans "having [wisdom], " but here it means real existence. 32 Muin the phrase muchimeans "being without [wisdom], " but here it means the real state that is called mu,

"being without.

" See also Chapter Twenty-two, Busshō. 33 Muchi.In the Lotus Sutra muis a preposition, "without,

" and chiis a noun,

"wisdom";

but in Master Dōgen's interpretation muand chiare two nouns in apposition: "the state of being without, wisdom. "

34 The Sanskrit word saṃbodhimeans the inclusive and integrated state of truth. 35 "Doubt" here suggests the truth as the unknown. 36 The Lotus Sutrasays sunawa[chi] kore yo-shitsu,literally, "which is to lose forever.

"

Master Dōgen changed the order of the characters, saying yo-shitsu soku i, "to lose

forever is just to act"

—to be rid of all hindrances is the state of just sitting. 37 Banri-ichijōtetsu,

"a single iron track for ten thousand miles, " means a unified entity.

38 Lotus Sutra, Hōben("Expedient Means"). See LS 1.106. "Twigs bud" suggests the

manifestation of miscellaneous concrete phenomena, which is opposed to the eternal situation of the Dharma described in the Lotus Sutra. 39 ILotus Sutra, Hōben("Expedient Means"). See LS 1.120. 161