T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume II

Chapter 30: Gyōji - [Pure] Conduct and Observance [of Precepts]-Part One

Shōbōgenzō Volume II

40 Kize,as in Master Ungo's words "Already being [a person who is it]. . . . "

41 Master Daiman Kōnin (688-761), successor of Master Daii Dōshin and the Fifth Patriarch in China.

42 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790), successor of Master Seigen Gyōshi. 43 Master Yakusan Igen (745-828), successor of Master Sekitō Kisen. 44 Sanjō jūnibun-kyō,the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching, are explained in detail in Chapter Twenty-four, Bukkyō. 45 Rentōeyō,chapter 19.

46 Inmo-futoku.

47 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch. 48 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744), successor of Master Daikan Enō. 49 Shimo-butsu. Shimomeans "what" and butsumeans "thing. " Master Daikan Enō's

words can also be interpreted as a question: "What is it that comes like this?" 50 Tenshōkōtōroku,chapter 8; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 1. 51 1242.

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[Chapter Thirty]

Gyōji

[Pure] Conduct and Observance

[of Precepts]

Part One

Translator's Note: Gyō means deeds, actions, or conduct; ji means observance of precepts. So gyōji means

"

pure conduct and observance of precepts.

" In

short, we can say that Buddhism is a religion of action. Gautama Buddha recognized the importance of action in our life, and he estab lished an ultimate philosophy dependent on action. In sum, the solu tion to all problems relies upon the philosophy of action, and therefore Master Dōgen esteemed action highly. In this chapter he quoted many examples of pure conduct and observance of precepts by buddhas and patriarchs. The contents of this chapter are thus very concrete, and encourage us in practicing our Buddhist life and observing the Buddhist precepts.

[111] In the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, there is always [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts]1 above which there is nothing. It con tinues in an unbroken cycle, so that there is not the slightest interval between establishment of the mind, training, bodhi,and nirvana: conduct and observance is a continuing cycle. For this reason, it is not doing that is forced from ourselves and it is not doing that is forced from outside; it is conduct and observance that "has never been tainted. "2 The virtue of this conduct and observance

maintains ourselves and maintains the external world. The import is that in the moment of my conduct and observance the whole earth and whole sky through the ten directions are totally covered by the virtue [of my conduct and observance]. Others do not know it, and I do not know it, but it is so. Thus, through the conduct and observance of the buddhas and the patriarchs, our own conduct and observance is realized and our own great state of truth is penetrated; and through our conduct and ob servance, the conduct and 163

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observance of the buddhas is realized and the buddhas' great state of truth is penetrated. It is due to our own conduct and observance that the virtue of this cycle exists. Through this means, every buddha and every patriarch abides as buddha, transcends as buddha, realizes the mind as buddha, and is realized as buddha, without any interruption. Through this conduct and observance, the sun, moon, and stars exist; through this conduct and observance, the earth and space exist; through this conduct and observance, object-andsubject, body-and-mind exist; through this conduct and observance, the four elements and five aggregates exist. Conduct and observance is not loved by worldly people but it may be the real refuge of all human beings. Through the conduct and observance of the buddhas of the past, present, and future, the buddhas of the past, present, and future are realized. Sometimes the virtue of this conduct and obser vance is evident, so the will arises, and we practice it. Sometimes this virtue is not apparent, so we neither see, nor hear, nor sense it. Although it is not apparent, we should learn in experience that it is not concealed—for it is not tainted by concealment and revelation or by continuance and disappearance. That, in the actual hiddenness of the present moment, we do not under stand what dependently originated dharmas there are in the practice of the conduct and observance that is realizing ourself, is because the grasping of conduct and observance is never a special state in a new phase.

3 Dependent origination is conduct and observance: we should painstakingly consider and learn in practice that this is because conduct and observance does not originate dependently.

4 The conduct and observance

that realizes such con duct and observance is just our own conduct and observance in the present moment. The present moment of conduct and observance is not the origi nal possession or the original abode of self. The present moment of conduct and observance does not depart from and come to, or leave and enter, self. The words "the present moment" do not describe something that exists prior to conduct and observance: the realization of conduct and observance itself is called "the present moment. " Therefore, one day of conduct

and ob servance is the seed of all the buddhas and is the conduct and observance of all the buddhas. To fail to practice this conduct and observance by which the buddhas are realized and by which their conduct and observance is practiced, is to hate the buddhas, is to fail to serve offerings to the buddhas, is to hate conduct and observance, is to fail to live together with and die 164

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together with the buddhas, and is to fail to learn with them and experience the same state as them. The opening flowers and falling leaves of the present are just the realization of conduct and observance. There is no polishing of mirrors or breaking of mirrors5 that is not conduct and observance. Therefore, if we aim to set aside conduct and observance, disregarding conduct and obser vance in the hope of concealing the wrong mind that wants to avoid prac ticing conduct and observance, even this is conduct and observance. On those grounds, [however,] intentionally to aim for conduct and observance, even though it may look like the will to conduct and observance, is to become the wretched son who threw away treasure in the homeland of his true father, and wandered astray through foreign lands.

6 During his time of wandering

astray, the winds and waters did not cause him to lose body and life; nonetheless, he should not have thrown away the treasure of his true father—for that is to lose, or to misunderstand, the Dharma treasure of the true father. Thus, [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts] is Dharma that is not to be neglected even for an instant. [117] The benevolent father, the great teacher, Śākyamuni Buddha, practiced [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts] deep in the mountains from the nineteenth year of the Buddha's lifetime to the thirtieth year of the Buddha's lifetime, when there was conduct and observance that realized the truth simultaneously with the earth and [all] sentient beings. Into the eightieth year of the Buddha's lifetime, still he maintained the practice in the mountains and forests, and maintained the practice in monasteries, never returning to the royal palace, never assuming control over the wealth of his land. He retained as his clothing7 a cotton saṃghāṭīrobe;8 throughout his life in the world he did not replace it—as, while in the world, he did not replace his one bowl. He did not stay alone for a single hour or a single day. He did not refuse offerings idly served to him by human beings and gods. He patiently endured the insults of non-Buddhists. In sum, his whole life of teaching was conduct and observance. The forms practiced by the Buddha, washing the robe and begging for food, are all nothing other than conduct and observance. [119] The eighth patriarch,

9 Venerable Mahākāśyapa, was the rightful

successor of Śākyamuni. Throughout his life he devotedly maintained the practice10 of the twelve dhūtas,

11 never tiring of them at all. The twelve dhūtas

are as follows: 1) Not to accept people's invitations, but to go begging for 128a

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food every day; also, not to accept the money for [even] a single meal for a monk. 2) To lodge on a mountain, not to lodge in someone's house, a populated district, or a village. 3) Never to beg clothes from people, and not to accept clothes that people offer, but to take the clothes of dead people that have been discarded by gravesides, and to mend [these clothes] and wear them. 4) To lodge under a tree in the countryside. 5) To eat one meal a day—this is called, for instance,

"

sunkasunnai.

"12 6) Not to lie down in the daytime or the nighttime, but only to sit, and when sleepy to walk about13

—this is called, for instance,

"

sunnaisashakyu.

"14 7) To have three robes, not to have other robes, and not to sleep in bedclothes. 8) To stay among graves, not in Buddhist temples and not in human society. Looking at the skulls and bones of dead people, to sit in zazen and pursue the truth. 9) Only to want to live alone, not to want to meet people, and not to want to sleep together with people. 10) First to eat fruit and then to eat a meal, but never to eat fruit after finishing a meal. 11) Only to want to sleep in the open, not sheltering under a tree. 12) Not to eat meat or dairy produce,

15 and not to apply herbal oil to the body. These are the twelve dhūtas. Venerable Mahākāśyapa did not regress and did not stray from them throughout his life. Even when he received the authentic transmission of the Tathāgata's right-Dharma-eye treasury, he never relented in these dhūtas. Once the Buddha said,

"You are already an old man, you should eat a monk's meal. " Venerable

Mahākāśyapa said,

"If I had not met with the Tathā gata's appearance in this world, I would have been a pratyekabuddha,living in mountains and forests all my life. Fortunately, I met with the Tathāgata's appearance in the world, and I have experienced the Dharma's goodness. Nevertheless, I will not eat a monk's meal in the end.

" The Tathāgata praised him. On another occasion,

Mahākāśyapa's body had become emaci ated because of his practice of the dhūtas, and it seems that many monks looked on him with disdain. Then the Tathāgata warmly summoned him and offered Mahā kāśyapa half of his seat; and Venerable Mahākāśyapa sat on the Tathāgata's seat. [So] remember, Mahākāśyapa was the senior member of the Buddha's order. We could not enumerate all the examples of [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts] that he practiced through his life.

[123] The tenth patriarch,

16 Venerable Pārśva, [swore] "through my life,

my side will not touch a bed.

" Although this was the pursuit of the truth of

an old man of eighty, he thereupon quickly succeeded to the one-to-one 166

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transmission of the great Dharma. Because he never let time go to waste, in only three years of effort, he received the one-to-one transmission of the right eye of saṃbodhi.

17 The Venerable One had spent sixty years in the womb, and he left the womb with his hair already white. "He vowed never

to sleep like a corpse, and so was called 'Kyō Sonja, ' the Side Saint. Even

in the dark, his hands radiating brightness, he could pick up the sutras of the Dharma.

" This was a mysterious trait with which he was born. [124] The Side Saint was approaching the age of eighty when he left home and dyed the robe. A young man of the region, having invited him [for the midday meal], said,

"Foolish fellow! Doddering old man! How can you be so dim? In general, those who have left family life have two practices: first they practice the balanced state; second they recite the sutras. [But] now you are [already] a feeble old man. There is nowhere for you to progress. Your foot prints will dirty pure streams. You will know the satisfaction of meals to no avail.

" At that time, hearing the denunciations, the Side Saint duly thanked the people present, and vowed to himself, "Until I understand

the meaning of the Tripiṭaka,

18 eradicate the desires of the triple world, attain the six mysti cal powers, and accomplish the eight kinds of release, 19 my side

shall not touch a bed.

" After that, he practiced walking about and sitting in stillness without missing a single day, and he meditated while standing still. In the daytime he studied and learned theory and teaching, and at night he quieted his thoughts and concentrated his mind. In three years of continuous effort, he mastered the Tripiṭaka, eradicated the desires of the triple world, and attained the wisdom of the three kinds of knowledge. People of the time, out of respect, therefore called him the Side Saint. 20

[126] So the Side Saint was in the womb sixty years before first leaving the womb. Might he not have been making his effort even in the womb? After leaving the womb, he was nearly eighty when he first sought to leave family life and learn the state of truth—one hundred and forty years after he was conceived! Truly, he was an outstanding individual; at the same time, this doddering old man must have been more doddering and old than anyone—he reached old age inside the womb, and reached old age outside the womb as well. Nonetheless, paying no attention to the scorn of people of the time, he singlemindedly and unrelentingly kept his vow, and thus his pursuit of the truth came to realization in only three years. Who could feel at ease looking at his wisdom 167

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and thinking of emulating him? Do not worry about old age. It is hard to know what this life is, whether it is a life or not a life, whether it is old or not old. The four views, [as we have seen] already,

21 are different; and the

views of all kinds of beings are different. Concentrating our resolve, we should just strive in pursuit of the truth.

22 We should learn in practice that in

pursuing the truth we are as if meeting life-and-death [itself]; it is not that we pursue the truth in life and death. People today imagine that they will set aside the pursuit of the truth when they reach fifty or sixty, or reach seventy or eighty: this is extremely stupid. We are conscious of having lived for so many years and months, but this is just the restless activity of the human soul, not the state of learning the truth. Do not notice whether you are in your prime or past it; determine solely to learn the state of truth and pursue the ultimate: emulate the Side Saint. Do not be particularly concerned about becoming a pile of dirt in a graveyard; give it no special consideration. If you do not singlemindedly strive to be saved, who will be inspired by whom? When we are vainly wandering in the wilds, skeletons without a master, we should realize right reflection—as if making an eye.

[129] The Sixth Patriarch23 was a woodsman in Shinshu district. It would be difficult to call him an intellectual. He had lost his father in infancy and had been brought up by his old mother; he made a living as a woodsman in order to support her. After hearing one phrase of a sutra at a town crossing, he left his old mother at once and went in search of the great Dharma. He was a man of great makings, rare through the ages. His pursuit of the truth was in a class by itself. To cut off an arm may be easy, but this severance from love must have been enormously difficult; this abandoning of obligation could not have been done lightly. Having devoted himself to the order of Ōbai,

24 he pounded rice day and night, without sleep or respite, for eight months. In the middle of one night, he received the authentic transmission of the robe and the bowl. Even after getting the Dharma, he still carried the stone mortar on his travels, and continued his rice-pounding for eight years. Even when he manifested himself in the world25 and preached the Dharma to deliver others, he did not set aside the stone mortar. This was maintenance of practice26 rare through the ages.

[130] Baso of Kōzei27 sat in zazen for twenty years and he received the intimate seal of Nangaku. It has never been said that he neglected zazen 168

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when, having received the Dharma, he saved others. When students first came to him, he unfailingly caused them intimately to receive the mindseal. 28 He was always first to go to communal work. Even into old age he did not let up. [Followers of] Rinzai today are in Kōzei's stream. [131] Master Ungan29 learned in practice alongside Dōgo30 in the order of Yakusan. Having made a pledge together, [Ungan and Dōgo] did not put their sides to a bed for forty years; with one taste, they investigated the state in experience. [Ungan] transmitted the Dharma to Great Master Gohon of Tōzan.

31 Tōzan said,

"Wanting to realize wholeness,

32 I have sat in zazen and

pursued the truth, for twenty years already.

" Now that truth has been transmitted far and wide.

[132] Great Master Kōkaku of Ungozan33 in former days resided in a hut on Sanpō Mountain,

34 at which time he was served meals from the gods'

kitchen.

35 The great master on one occasion, while visiting Tōzan, decisively attained the great state of truth, after which he returned once more to his hut. When the angels came again to serve food to the master, they searched for three days but could not find him. No longer expecting heavenly cuisine, he saw the great state of truth as his sustenance. We should try to imagine his determination.

[133] Zen Master Daichi36 of Hyakujōzan in former years was the attendant monk of Baso; from then until the evening he entered nirvana, he never had a day when he did not labor for the benefit of the monks and for the benefit of other people. Thankfully, the traces remain of his "A day without work is a day without food"

—Zen Master Hyakujō was already an old man, with

many years as a monk behind him, but in the communal work he still exerted himself alongside those in the prime of life. The monks felt sorry for him. Though people pitied him, the master would not quit. In the end, at work time they hid his work tools, and when they would not give the master [his tools], the master did not eat all day. His motive was that he was unhappy not to be able to join in with the work of the monks. This is called the tale of Hyakujō's "A day without work is a day without food.

" The profound customs of the

Rinzai sect which have swept through the great kingdom of Song today, and those of monasteries in all direc tions,

37 are in many cases the practice, as conduct and observance, of Hyakujō's profound customs. [134] When Master Kyōsei38 lived as master of [Kyōsei] Temple, the local deities could not see the master's face; for they had no means of doing so. 39

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[135] Zen Master Gichū40 of Sanpeizan in former times had been served meals from the kitchen of the gods. After he met Daiten, [however,] when the gods tried to find the master again, they could not see him. [135] The later master of Daii Mountain41 said,

"For twenty years42 I

have been on Isan Mountain. I have eaten Isan meals, I have shat Isan shit; but I have not studied the way of Isan.

43 I have only been able to raise44 a

castrated water buffalo. All day long it is in a state of conspicuous brightness. "

Remember, the one castrated water buffalo was raised by twenty years of conduct and observance on Isan Mountain. This master had previously learned in practice in Hyakujō's order. Quietly reflect on his state during those twenty years, and never forget it. Though there are people "who study the way of Isan,

" there may be few examples of conduct and observance that is "not to study the way of Isan.

"

[136] Master Jūshin,

45 [titled] Great Master Shinsai, of Kannon-in Temple in Jōshū46 first established the will to pursue the truth when he was sixty-one years old. Carrying a canteen and a traveling staff, 47 he set out on foot to visit

masters in all directions, constantly telling himself, "If there is a child of

seven who is superior to me, I shall question him or her at once. If there is an old man of a hundred who is inferior to me, I shall teach him at once. "48

With this attitude, he strove to learn Nansen's way for twenty years. When he was eighty, he first took residence as master of Kannon-in Temple to the east of Jōshū City, then taught and guided human beings and gods for forty years. He never petitioned donors with a single letter, and so the monk's hall was not large: there was no front hall49 and no rear stand. 50 Once a leg of the

[zazen] platform broke. He roped to it a charred piece of burned wood and carried on practicing for years and months. The temple officers asked to replace this leg of the platform, but Jōshū did not allow it. We should recognize here the usual customs of an eternal buddha. Jōshū lived in Jōshū from the age of eighty onward—after he had received the Dharma. He had received the authentic transmission of the right Dharma, and people called him "the eternal buddha.

" Others, who have never received the authentic transmission of the right Dharma, must be less important than the master. [At the same time] people other than he, not having reached the age of eighty, are likely to be stronger than the master. How might we, who are in our prime yet unimportant, equal him, the old man who is pro foundly venerable? We must spur 170

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ourselves to pursue the state of truth and to practice conduct and observance! For those forty years, they kept no worldly goods and in the stores there was no rice and grain. Sometimes they would gather chestnuts or sweet acorns for food; sometimes they would spin out a meal again and again. Truly, these were the usual customs of the dragons and elephants of the past, regulated conduct that we should love and admire.

[139] Once [Jōshū] preached to the assembly,

"If you spend your whole

life not leaving the monastery,

51 not talking for ten years or for five years,

no one will be able to call you a mute. Afterwards, how could even the buddhas do anything to you?"52 This preaches conduct and observance. Remember, by not talking for ten years or for five years we might seem to be stupid but even if, by virtue of the effort of not leaving the monastery, we are beyond talk, we are not mutes. The Buddha's state of truth is like this. Those who do not hear the voice of the Buddha's state of truth can never possess the truth that is a non-mute53 being beyond talk. So the finest example of conduct and observance is "not to leave the monastery. " "Not to leave the

monastery" is complete talk, in the state of liberation. The extremely stupid neither know themselves as non-mutes nor let themselves be known as nonmutes; no one prevents them, but they do not let themselves be known [as non-mutes]. Those who will not hear that to be a non-mute is to have attained the ineffable, and who do not know that [to be a non-mute] is to have attained the ineffable, are pitiful individuals. Quietly practice the conduct and observance of "not leaving the monastery": do not blow east and west with the east and west winds. Even if "for ten years or for five years" the spring breezes and autumn moons go unrecognized, the state of truth will be present, transparently free of sound and form. Expressing the truth in this state is beyond our own knowing and beyond our own understanding. We should learn in practice how valuable is each minute54 of conduct and ob servance. Do not wonder whether not-talking might be vacuous. Entry is one monastery. Getting out is one monastery. The way of the birds is one monastery. The entire universe is one monastery. 55

[141] Daibaizan is in the city of Kyōgenfu. Goshōji was established on this mountain, and its founder was Zen Master Hōjō.

56 The Zen master was

a man of the Jōyō district.

57 In former days, when visiting Baso's order, he

asked,

"What is buddha?" Baso said,

"The mind here and now is buddha.

"58

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Hearing these words, Hōjō realized the great state of reali zation under their influence. Consequently he climbed to the summit of Daibaizan, away from human society, and lived in solitude in a thatched hut, eating pine nuts and wearing clothes made from lotus leaves: there was a small pond on the mountain, and many lotuses grew in the pond. He sat in zazen and pursued the truth for more than thirty years. He saw and heard absolutely nothing of human affairs and he lost track of the passing years, only seeing the mountains all around go from green to yellow. One pities to imagine what the winds and frosts were like. In zazen, the master placed an eight-inch iron tower on his head, as if he were wear ing a crown. By endeavoring to keep this tower from dropping to the ground, he did not fall asleep. The tower remains in the temple today; it is listed in the records of the temple storehouse. This is how he pursued the truth until his death, never tiring of the effort. He had been living like this for years and months when a monk from Enkan's59 order happened to come onto the mountain looking for a staff. [The monk] lost his way on the mountain and unexpectedly came upon the site of the master's hut. When, to [the monk's] surprise, he saw the master, he asked, "Master,

how long have you been living on this mountain?" The master said, "I have

only seen the mountains all around go from green to yellow. " The monk

asked further,

"What is the way down from the mountain?" The master said, "Follow the stream down.

" The monk was struck. When he returned and told Enkan what had happened, Enkan said,

"In former days when I was in Kōzei60

I once met a certain monk, and I do not know what happened to him after that. This couldn't be that same monk, could it?" Eventually [Master Enkan] sent the monk to extend an invitation to the master, but [the master] would not leave the mountain. He replied with a verse: A withered tree, broken and abandoned, in a cold forest, However many times it meets spring, it does not change its mind. Passing woodsmen do not even look back.

Why should popular entertainers61 be keen to search it out? In the end he did not go. Later, when he decided to move even deeper into the mountains, he made the following verse: I shall never outwear the lotus leaves in the pond. The flowers of a few pines are more than a meal. 172

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Now my abode has been discovered by people in the world. I shall move my shack deeper into seclusion. Finally, he moved his hut further into the mountains. [145] Once Baso sent a monk especially to ask [Daibai Hōjō], "Master,

when you visited Baso in former days, what truth did you attain and then come to live on this mountain?" The master said, "Baso told me,

'The mind

here and now is buddha.

' Then I came to live on this mountain. " The monk

said,

"These days his Buddha-Dharma is different. " The master said,

"How

is it different?" The monk said,

"Baso says,

'It is neither the mind nor

buddha.

'" The master said,

"That old man! If he is out to disturb others, I will have no sympathy for him. Never mind about 'neither the mind nor buddha.

' For me, it is just that the mind here and now is buddha. " [The monk]

reported these words to Baso. Baso said, "The fruit of the Plum62 is matured. "

This story is known to all human beings and gods. Tenryū63 was an excellent dis ciple of the master, and Gutei64 was the master's Dharma grandchild. Kachi65 of Korea, retaining the transmission of the master's Dharma, became the first patriarch of that country. So the many masters in Korea today are the master's distant descendants. As long as he lived he was served and attended in everyday life by a tiger and an elephant66 who never vied against each other. After the master's death, the tiger and elephant carried rocks and carried mud to build the master a stupa. The stupa still stands today at Goshōji. The master's maintenance of [pure] conduct is praised by [good] counselors of the past and present alike. People of inferior wisdom do not know that they should praise him. To hold to the pretense that the Buddha-Dharma can exist amid greed for fame and love of gain is the small and stupid view. [147] Zen Master Hōen67 of Goso Mountain68 said, "When my master's

master69 first took up residence on Yōgi Peak, the rafters of the old roof were broken and the mischief of the wind and rain was severe, for it was the end of winter. The temple buildings and halls were all run down and the monks' hall was especially dilapidated: snow and hail covered the platforms so that there was nowhere to sit. Even the most aged veterans, snowy hair bristling on their crowns, swept away the snow, and monks of venerable years, with their graying eyebrows, seemed to harbor sorrow in their wrin kled brows. None of the monks could practice zazen in comfort. One patch-robed individual requested with utmost sincerity that [the monk's hall] be repaired, but 173

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the old master refused, saying,

'Our Buddha has said that this is the kalpa

of dissolution and even high cliffs and deep valleys are changing and inconstant. How can we expect to have everything as we please, and seek to call ourselves satisfied? The sacred people of olden times usually walked about under a tree or out in the open; this is an excellent example from the past, it is a profound custom of those who tread in bareness. Even though you have all left family life and are learning the truth, the move ments of your hands and feet are not yet harmonized. This [life as a monk] is only forty or fifty years. Who has time to spare for an opulent roof?' In the end he did not consent. The next day in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, he preached to the assembly,

'When Yōgi first took residence here as master, the roof and walls were barely held together, and the floor was scat tered all over with pearls of snow. Our necks contracting, we secretly grum bled. But we remembered the people of old who dwelled under trees. '" Finally [Master Goso

Hōen] did not give his permission. Yet patch-robed mountain monks from the four oceans and the five lakes longed to come and hang their traveling staffs in this order. We should be glad that so many people indulged themselves in the state of truth. We should imbue our minds with this state of truth, and should engrave these words on our bodies.

[150] Master [Goso Hō]en once preached,

"Conduct is not on a level

beyond thinking, and thinking is not on a level beyond conduct. " We should

attach importance to these words, considering them day and night, and putting them into practice morning and evening. We should not be as if blowing idly in the east, west, south, and north winds. Still less in this country of Japan— where even the palaces of kings and ministers do not have opulent buildings but only scant and plain ones—could those who have left home to learn the truth dwell at leisure in opulent buildings. If someone has got an opulent dwelling, it is without fail from a wrong livelihood; it is rarely from a pure one. [A building] that was already there is a different matter, but do not make plans for new buildings. Thatched huts and plain houses were lived in by the ancient saints and loved by the ancient saints. Students of later ages should yearn for their state and learn it in practice, and should never go against it. The Yellow Emperor,

70 and [emperors] such as Gyō71 and Shun,

72 although

secular men, dwelled under roofs of thatch—an excellent ex ample for the world. Shishi73 says,

"If we wish to reflect upon the conduct of the Yellow

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Emperor, it is [manifest] in Gōkyū Palace. If we wish to reflect upon the conduct of Gyō and Shun, it is [manifest] in Sōshō Palace. The Yellow Emperor's hall of brightness74 was thatched with straw, and it was called 'Gōkyū;' Shun's hall of brightness was thatched with straw, and it was called 'Sōshō. '" Remember, [the palaces called] "Gōkyū" and "Sōshō" both were thatched with straw. Now when we compare the Yellow Emperor, Gyō, and Shun with ourselves, the difference is beyond that between the heavens and the earth. [But] even these emperors used thatch for their halls of brightness. When even secular people live under thatched roofs, how could people who have left family life hope to live in lofty halls and stately mansions? That would be shameful. People of old dwelled under a tree or dwelled in the forest; these were abodes that both laymen and monks loved. The Yellow Emperor was the disciple of the Daoist Kōsei of Kodo.

75 Kōsei lived [in a cave] inside the crag named

"Kodo.

" Many of the kings and ministers of the great kingdom of Song today have carried on this profound custom. So even people immersed in dusty toil are like this. How could people who have left family life be inferior to people immersed in dusty toil? How could we be more sullied than people immersed in dusty toil? Among the Bud dhist patriarchs of the past, there were many who received the offerings of gods. Yet when they had attained the state of truth, the eyes of gods could not reach them, and demons had no connection to them. We should be clear about this principle. When the celestial hosts and those in the state of demons tread the path of a Buddhist patriarch's conduct, there is a way for them to approach a Buddhist patriarch. [But] Buddhist patriarchs widely transcend in experience all gods and demons, and gods and demons have no means by which to look up at them; so it is hard [for gods and demons] to draw near to a Buddhist patriarch. Nansen76 said,

"The practice of this old monk has been so weak that I have been spotted by a demon.

"77 Remember, to be spotted by a demon of no training is due to lacking power in one's practice.

[154] In the order of Master Shōgaku, [titled] Zen Master Wanshi, 78 of

Daibyakuhōzan,

79 a guardian deity of the temple said,

"I hear that Master

[Shō]gaku has lived on this mountain for ten years or so, but when ever I enter the abbot's reception hall looking for him, I am always unable to proceed and I have never detected him yet.

" [Here,] truly, we are meeting the traces

of a predecessor who possessed the state of truth. The temple on this mountain, 175

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Tendōzan, was formerly a small one. While Master [Shō]gaku was the resident master there, he cleaned away an assortment of Daoists' , nuns'

, and scholars'

temples, and established what is now Keitokuji. After the master passed away, a senior mandarin and court secretary called Ō Hakusho compiled a record of the master's deeds and achievements, at which time someone said, "You should record the fact that he supplanted the Daoist temple, the nuns' temple, and the scholars' temple, and established the present Tendōji. " The

court secretary said,

"That would not be appropriate. Such matters are not

related with a monk's merits.

" Many people at that time praised the court

secretary. Remember, the matters described above are secular work, they are not the merits of a monk.

[155] In general, when we enter the Buddha's state of truth for the very first time, we far transcend the triple world of human beings and gods. We should carefully investigate the fact that we are neither being used by the triple world nor being seen by the triple world. We should consider this and realize it in practice by means of body, speech, and mind, and by means of object and subject. The merit of the Buddhist patriarchs' conduct and obser vance originally possesses enormous benefit in leading human beings and gods to salvation, but human beings and gods never sense that they are being saved by the Buddhist patriarchs' conduct and observance. In practic ing and observing now the Buddhist patriarchs' great state of truth, do not distinguish between great hermits and small hermits,

80 and do not discuss sagacity or stupidity. Just throw away fame and gain forever and do not get caught in convoluted circumstances. Do not pass time in vain. [Act as if to] put out a fire burning on your head. Do not expect the great realization. The great realization is everyday tea and meals. Do not aspire to nonrealization. Nonrealization is the pearl in the topknot. 81

Simply, those who have homes and homelands should get free from their homes and homelands; those who have loved ones should get free from their loved ones; those who have fame should get away from their fame; those who have gain should get away from their gain; those who have fields and gardens should get away from their fields and gardens; and those who have family should get free from their family. They should also get free from the intention not to have fame, gain, and so on. Given that we get free from having, the prin ciple is evident that we should also get free from not having. This is itself a kind of conduct and observance. To make the throwing away of fame and gain into 176

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the one matter to be practiced and observed as long as one lives is the conduct and observance that has the depth and eternity of the Buddha's lifetime. This conduct and observance is inevitably practiced and observed by conduct and observance itself. Those in whom this conduct and observance is present should love their own body and mind, and should respect themselves. [158] Zen Master Kanchū82 of Daiji said,

"Explaining83 one yard is inferior to practicing one foot, and explaining one foot is inferior to practicing one inch.

"84 This sounds like an admonition directed to people present at that time who seemed to be negligent in practicing conduct and observance and to have forgotten real penetration of the Buddha's truth, but it does not mean that to explain a yard is wrong: it means that the merit of practicing a foot is much greater still than the merit of explaining a yard. Why should it be limited to measurements only in yards and feet? There should also be discussion of merits in terms of the difference between far-off Sumeru and a poppy seed. In Sumeru the whole is present, and in a poppy seed the whole is present: the great integrity of conduct and observance is like this. The present expression of the truth is not Kanchū expressing himself; it is the natural expression of Kanchū.

85

[159] Great Master Gohon86 of Tōzan Mountain said,

"I explain what I

am unable to practice and practice what I am unable to explain. "87 This is

the saying of the founding patriarch. The point is that practice illuminates a way through to explanation, and there are ways in which explanation leads through to practice. This being so, what we preach in a day is what we practice in a day. The point is, then, that we practice what is impossible to practice and preach what is impossible to preach.

[160] Great Master Kōkaku88 of Ungozan, having totally pene trated this teaching, said,

"In the time of explanation there is no trace of practice; in the time of practice there is no trace of explanation.

" This expres sion of the truth

is that practice-and-explanation is not nonexistent: the time of explanation is "a lifetime without leaving the monastery,

"89 and the time of practice is

"washing the head and going before Seppō.

"90 We should neither disregard

nor disarrange [the words that] "In the time of explanation there is no trace of practice, and in the time of practice there is no trace of explanation. "

[162] There is something that has been said by the Buddhist patriarchs since ancient times. It is that "If a person lives one hundred years without 177

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grasp ing the buddhas' state of the moment, that is worth less than living one day and being able to realize the state decisively.

"91 This was not said by one

buddha or by two buddhas; this has been expressed by all the buddhas and has been practiced by all the buddhas. In a hundred thousand myriad kalpas of reciprocal life and death, one day of conduct and observance is the bright pearl in the topknot, is the eternal mirror that is born with and dies with [buddhas],

92 and is a day to be rejoiced in. The power of conduct and obser vance rejoices in itself. Those who have neither attained the power of conduct and observance nor received the bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs, do not treasure the body-and-mind of the Buddhist patriarchs and do not rejoice in the real features of the Buddhist patriarchs. The real features and bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs are beyond going, are thusgone, are thus-come, and are beyond coming: even so, in one day's conduct and observance they are unfailingly received. So one day may be very important. Idly to have lived a hundred years is a lamentable waste of days and months; it is to be a pitiable skeleton. Even if we are driven, as slaves to sight and sound, [every] day and month for a hundred years, if we practice conduct and observance for one day among those [years], then we will not only put into practice the whole life of one hundred years but will also save others' lives of one hundred years. The body and life for this one day is a body and life that should be venerated, a skeleton that should be venerated. Therefore, if our life lasts a single day, if we grasp the buddhas' state of the moment, this one day is worth more than many lives in vast kalpas of time. For this reason, before you have decisively realized the state, never spend a single day in vain. This one day is an important treasure that you should hate to lose. Do not liken its value to a one-foot gem. Never trade it for the black dragon's pearl. The sages of old treasured [a day] more than their body and life. We should quietly consider that the black dragon's pearl can be retrieved, and a one-foot gem also can be regained; but a day in a life of one hundred years, once lost, can never be found again. Is there any skillful means by which to get back a day that has passed? Such a thing has not been recorded in any book of history. Those who do not pass time in vain wrap the days and months in the bag of skin [which is themselves] so that [time] will not leak away. Thus it was that the ancient saints and past sages treasured the days and months, treasured time, more than their own eyes and more than 178

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their national lands. Here,

"passing in vain" means sullying oneself and disturbing oneself in the floating world of fame and profit. "Not passing [time]

in vain" means acting for the sake of the truth while already in the state of the truth. Once we have realized this state deci sively, we should never waste another day. We should solely practice for the sake of the truth, and preach for the sake of the truth. So we have seen the standard by which, since ancient times, the Buddhist patriarchs have not spent a day of effort in vain and we should reflect on it constantly. We should consider it on a slow, slow spring day, sitting by a bright window. We should not forget it in the hushed silence of a rainy night, sitting under a plain roof. How is it that time steals our efforts away from us? It not only steals away single days, it steals the merits of abundant kalpas. Why should time and I be adversaries? Regrettably, my own non-training makes it so—that is, my not being familiar with myself, my bearing a grudge against my self. Even the Buddhist patriarchs are not without their loved ones, but they have already abandoned them. Even the Buddhist patriarchs are not with out miscellaneous involvements, but they have already abandoned them. However we treasure the factors and circumstances [that we see] as self and others, they are impossible to hold onto; therefore, if we do not abandon loved ones, it may happen, in word and in deed, that loved ones abandon us. If we have compassion for loved ones, we should be compassionate to loved ones. To be compassionate to loved ones means to abandon loved ones.

[167] Master Ejō,

93 [titled] Zen Master Daie of Nangaku, in former days

served in the order of Sōkei,

94 where he attended [the master] through fifteen

autumns. Consequently, he was able to receive the transmission of the state of truth and to accept the behavior—as a jug of water is poured into another jug. We should venerate above all else the path of conduct of the ancient ancestors. The winds and frosts of those fifteen autumns must have brought him many troubles. Yet he purely and simply pursued the ultimate; he is an excellent model for students of later ages. In winter, he slept alone in an empty building, without charcoal for the stove. In the cool of a sum mer night, he would sit alone by a bright window, without a candle to burn. Even if devoid of a single recognition or half an understanding, it was the state beyond study, which is free of doing.

95 This may be conduct and obser vance. In general, once we have privately thrown away greed for fame and love of gain, 179

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the merit of conduct and observance simply accumulates day by day. Do not forget this principle.

"To describe a thing does not hit the target"96 is eight years of conduct and observance. It is conduct and obser vance that people of the past and present esteem as very rare, and which both the clever and the inept long for.

[169] Zen Master Chikan of Kyōgen [Temple],

97 while cultivating the

state of truth under Daii,

98 tried several times to express the truth in a phrase, but in the end he could not say anything. Out of regret for this, he burned his books and became the monk who served the gruel and rice. He thus passed years and months in succession. Later he went onto Butōzan and searched out the former traces of Daishō;99 he built a thatched hut and, abandoning everything, lived there in seclusion. One day he happened to be sweeping the path when a pebble flew up and struck a bamboo; it made a sound that led him suddenly to awaken to the state of truth. Thereafter he lived at Kyōgenji, where he made do in his everyday life with one bowl and one set of clothes, never replacing them. He made his home among oddly shaped rocks and pure springs, and lived out his life in restful seclusion. He was survived at the temple by many traces of his conduct. It is said that in his everyday life he did not come down from the mountain.

[170] Great Master Eshō100 of Rinzai-in Temple was a rightful successor of Ōbaku.

101 He was in Ōbaku's order for three years. Pursuing the truth with pure simplicity, three times he asked Ōbaku, at the instruction of the venerable patriarch Chin102 from the Bokushū district, "What is the Great Intent

of the Buddha-Dharma?,

" whereupon he tasted [the master's] stick again

and again, sixty times in all. Yet his zeal was not diminished. When he went to Daigu103 and realized the great state of realization, this also was at the in struction of the two venerable patriarchs Ōbaku and Bokushū. 104 They say

that the heroes of the Patriarch's order105 are Rinzai and Tokusan, 106 but how

could Tokusan be equal to Rinzai? Truly, someone like Rinzai is not to be classed with the rabble—and even the rabble of that time are outstanding compared with those who in recent times are outstanding. They say that [Rinzai's] "behavior was pure and simple"107 and his conduct and observance outstanding. Even if we tried to imagine how many instances and how many varieties there were of his [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts], we could never hit the mark.

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[172] Master [Rinzai] is in the order of Ōbaku. While he and Ōbaku are planting cedars and pines, Ōbaku asks the master, "Deep in the mountains,

what is the use of planting so many trees?" The master says, "First, they will

contribute to the beauty of the surroundings of the temple. Second, they will be a signpost for people in future.

" Then he strikes his mattock on the ground

twice. Ōbaku holds up his staff and says,

"You are like that now, but you

have already tasted thirty strokes of my staff!" The master makes the sound of snoring. Ōbaku says,

"In your generation our school will flourish greatly in the world.

"108

[173] So we should know that even after he had attained the state of truth, he took the mattock in his own hands and planted cedars and pines. It may have been because of this that [Ōbaku said] "In your generation our school will flourish greatly in the world.

" It may have been that the ancient

traces of the "pine-planting practitioner"109 had been directly transmitted in one straight line. Ōbaku himself also planted trees alongside Rinzai. In the past Ōbaku had practiced conduct and observance by leaving an assembly of monks and mixing in with laborers at Daian Temple, 110 where he swept

and cleaned the temple buildings. He swept and cleaned the Buddha hall. He swept and cleaned the Dharma hall. He did not expect conduct and obser vance to sweep and clean his mind. He did not expect conduct and observance to sweep and clean his brightness. This was when he met with Prime Minister Hai.

111

[174] The Tang emperor Sensō112 was the second son of Emperor Kensō.

113 He was quick-witted and clever from his childhood. He always loved to sit in the full lotus posture, and he would constantly be sitting in zazen in the palace. Emperor Bokushō114 was Sensō's older brother. [Once] during Bokushō's reign, as soon as government business had finished in the morn ing,

115 Sensō playfully ascended the dragon dais116 and assumed a posture of saluting the various retainers. A minister who saw this thought [Sensō] was insane, and he said so to Emperor Bokushō. When Bokushō came to see for himself, he patted Sensō and said,

"My brother is the brains117 of our family.

" At the time Sensō was just thirteen years old. In the fourth year of Chōkei,

118 Emperor Bokushō died. Bokushō had three sons. The first [became] Emperor Keisō, the second Emperor Bunsō, and the third Emperor Busō. Emperor Keisō119 died three years after acceding to his father's throne. 181

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Emperor Bunsō120 took the throne for one year, but court officials conspired to remove him. So when Emperor Busō121 came to the throne, Sensō, who had not yet come to the throne himself, was living in the kingdom of his nephew. Emperor Busō always called Sensō "my stupid uncle. " Busō was emperor

during the Eshō era122

—he was the man who abolished the Buddha-Dharma. [176] One day Emperor Busō summoned Sensō and ordered him to be put to death at once as punishment for climbing onto the throne of [Busō's] father in the past. He was laid in a flower garden behind the palace but when sewage was thrown over him, he came back to life. In due course [Sensō] left his father's kingdom and secretly entered the order of Zen Master Kyōgen. 123 He had his head shaved and became a śrāmaṇera—though he never received full ordination. With Zen Master Shikan124 as a traveling companion, he went to Rozan125 Mountain. The story goes that Shikan made his own verse on the subject of the falls, saying:

Carving out cliffs, passing through rock, never shirking toil, Lofty origins evident from afar.

By fishing for the śrāmaṇerawith these two lines, [Shikan] hoped to dis cover what person this was. The śrāmaṇeracontinued [the verse] as follows: How can the valley streams hold [the water] still? At last it will return to the ocean and make great waves. Reading these two lines, [Shikan] knew that the śrāmaṇerawas no ordinary man. Later [the śrāmaṇera] went to the order of National Master Enkan Saian126 of Kōshū district, where he was assigned as clerk to the head monk:127 at the time Enkan's head monk was Zen Master Ōbaku, 128 and so [the śramaṇera-clerk] was next to Ōbaku on the [zazen] platform. Once Ōbaku was in the Buddha hall doing prostrations to the Buddha when the clerk came in and asked,

"We do not seek out of attachment to Buddha. We do not seek out of attachment to Dharma. We do not seek out of attachment to Sangha. 129

Venerable Patriarch, what are you prostrating yourself for?" When he asked this question, Ōbaku just slapped the śrāmaṇera-clerk and told him, "I do

not seek out of attachment to Buddha. I do not seek out of attachment to Dharma. I do not seek out of attachment to Sangha. I always do prostrations like this.

" Having spoken thus, he gave [the clerk] another slap. The clerk 182

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said,

"What an extremely rude person!" Ōbaku said,

"This is just the place

where something ineffable exists. What else is there to explain as rude or refined?" He gave the clerk another slap. The clerk then desisted. After the demise of Emperor Busō, the clerk duly returned to secular society and acceded to the throne. Emperor Busō had initiated the abolition of the Buddha-Dharma, but Emperor Sensō immediately restored the Buddha-Dharma. From the time he assumed the throne, and all the time he was on the throne, Emperor Sensō always loved to sit in zazen. Before he assumed the throne, when he had left his father's kingdom and was traveling along the valley streams of a distant land, he had purely and simply pursued the truth. They say that after he assumed the throne he sat in zazen day and night. Truly, with his father the king already dead and then his brother also dying, and with his being put to death by his nephew, he might have looked like a pitiful destitute son. 130

But his zeal did not waver and he kept striving in pursuit of the truth. It was an excellent example, rare through the ages. It must have been heaven-sent conduct and observance.

[180] Master Gison of Seppōzan, [titled] Great Master Shinkaku, 131 after

he had established the [bodhi-]mind sat day and night in zazen, with out flagging and without aversion to the place—though there were long journeys between the monasteries where he hung his traveling staff, and between the lodgings on the way. Until Seppō first disclosed the state of imposing majesty, he practiced tirelessly, and he died together with zazen. In former days, in his quest to serve under [true teachers] "he nine times climbed Tōzan Mountain"132 "and three times visited Tōsu Mountain"133 —pursuit of the truth that

was rare through the ages. When people today are encouraging others to be pure and stern in their conduct and observance, they often cite Seppō's noble conduct. Seppō's uncertainty was like that of other people, but Seppō's sharpness was beyond other people. Conduct and observance is like that. People of the truth today should unfailingly learn Seppō's purity. [181] When we quietly look back upon Seppō's muscular exertion in learning in practice under [masters in] all directions, truly, his virtue might be that of having long possessed the sacred in his bones. Today, when we are attending the order of a master who has the state of truth and we really want to request and to partake in [the master's teaching], it is extremely difficult to find an opportunity to do so. [The order] is not only twenty or thirty indi vidual bags 183

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of skin; it is the [nameless] faces of hundreds or thousands of people. Each wishes to find his or her real refuge, so days on which the [master's] hand is imparted134 soon darken into night, and nights of pound ing the mortar135 soon brighten into day. Sometimes, during the master's informal preaching we have no ears or eyes, and so we vainly pass by [chances] to see and hear. By the time our ears and eyes are in place, the mas ter has finished speaking. While old drills—veteran patriarchs of venerable years—are already clapping their hands and laughing out loud, there seem to be precious few opportunities for us—as newly ordained juniors—even to get onto the edge of the mat. There are those who enter the inner sanc tum and those who do not enter, those who hear the master's conclusions and those who do not hear. Time is swifter than an arrow, the dewdrop life more fragile than a body. There is the anguish of having a teacher but being unable to partake in [the teaching], and there is the sadness of being ready to partake in [the teaching] but being unable to find a teacher—I have person ally experienced such matters. Great good counselors unfailingly possess the virtue of knowing a person, but while they are striving to cultivate [their own] state of truth, opportunities to get sufficiently close to them are rare. When Seppō in ancient times climbed Tōzan Mountain, and when he climbed Tōsu Mountain, he too must surely have endured such troubles. We should be inspired by his Dharma gymnastics of conduct and observance; not to research them in experience would be a shame.

Part Two

[185] The First Patriarch in China136 came from the west to the Eastern Lands at the instruction of Venerable Prajñātara.

137 For the three years of frosts and

springs during that ocean voyage, how could the wind and snow have been the only miseries? Through how many formations of clouds and sea mist might the steep waves have surged? He was going to an unknown country: ordinary beings who value their body and life could never conceive [of such a journey]. This must have been maintenance of the practice realized solely from the great benevolent will "to transmit the Dharma and save deluded emotional beings.

"138 It was so because "the transmission of Dharma" is

[Bodhidharma] himself; it was so because the transmission of Dharma is the entire universe; it was so because the whole universe in ten directions is the real state of truth; it was so because the whole universe in ten directions is 184

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[Bodhidharma] himself; and it was so because the whole universe in ten directions is the whole universe in ten directions. What conditions sur rounding [this] life are not a royal palace? And what royal palace is prevented from being a place to practice the truth? For these reasons, he came from the west like this.

139 Because "the saving of deluded emotional beings" is [Bodhi dharma] himself, he was without alarm and doubt and he was not afraid. Because "saving deluded emotional beings" is the entire universe, he was not alarmed and doubting and he was without fear. He left his father's kingdom forever, made ready a great ship, crossed the southern seas, and arrived at the port of Kōshū.

140 There would have been a large crew, and many monks [to serve the master] with towel and jug, but historians failed to record this. After [the master] landed, no one knew who he was. It was the twenty-first day of the ninth lunar month in the eighth year of the Futsū era141 during the Liang dynasty.

142 The governor of Kōshū district, who was called Shōgō, received [the master] displaying the proper courtesies of a host. He then duly wrote a letter notifying Emperor Bu,

143 for Shōgō was assiduous in fulfilling his duties. When Emperor Bu read the missive he was delighted, and he dispatched a messenger with an imperial edict inviting [the master] to visit him. It was then the first day of the tenth lunar month of that same year. [188] When the First Patriarch arrived at the city of Kinryō144 and met with the Liang Emperor Bu, the emperor asked him, "It would be impossible to list all the temples built, all the sutras copied, and all the monks delivered since I assumed the throne. What merit have I acquired?" The master said,

"No merit at all.

"

The emperor said,

"Why is there no merit?"

The master said,

"These things are only the trivial effects of human beings and gods, and the cause of the superfluous. They are like shadows following the form: though they exist, they are not the real thing. "

The emperor said,

"What is true merit?"

The master said,

"Pure wisdom being subtly all-encompassing; the body being naturally empty and still. Virtue like this is not sought by the worldly. "

The emperor asks further,

"What is the paramount truth among the sacred truths?"

The master said,

"It is [that which is] glaringly evident, and without any thing sacred. "

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The emperor said,

"Who is the person facing me?"

The master said,

"I do not know.

"

The emperor did not understand. The master knew that the time was not right.

145

So, on that nineteenth day of the tenth lunar month [the master] quietly left, traveling north up the [Yangzi] River. On the twenty-third day of the eleventh month of the same year he arrived at Rakuyō.

146 He accepted the

makeshift accommo dation of Shōrinji on Sūzan Mountain, where he sat facing the wall in silence all day long. But the ruler of the Wei147 dynasty also was too inept to recognize [the master], and he did not even know that this was cause for shame. The master was of the kṣatriyacaste in South India; he had been the crown prince of a great nation. He had long ago acquired familiarity with the ways of a royal palace in a great nation. In the vulgar customs of a small country there were habits and views that might be shameful to the prince of a great nation, but the mind of the First Patriarch was not moved: he did not abandon the country and he did not abandon the people. At that time, he neither prevented nor hated the slander of Bodhiruci;148 and the evil mind of the precepts teacher Kōzū149 [he considered] neither worthy of resentment nor even worth noticing. Despite [the master's] abundance of such virtue, people of the Eastern Lands considered him the equal of mere ordinary scholars of the Tripiṭaka150 and teachers of sutras and commentaries. This was extremely stupid; [they thought so] because they were trivial people. Some thought that [the master] was proclaiming a peculiar lineage of the Dharma called the "Zen sect,

" and that the sayings of other teachers—commentary teachers and the like—might amount to the same as the right Dharma of the First Patriarch. They were vermin who disturbed and dirtied the Buddha-Dharma. The First Patriarch was the twenty-eighth rightful succes sor from Śākyamuni Buddha. He left his father's great kingdom to rescue the living beings of Eastern Lands: whose shoulders could come up to his? If the First Patriarch had not come from the west, how could the living beings of Eastern Lands have seen and heard the Buddha's right Dharma? They would only have worried in vain over the sands and stone that are names and forms. Even those who have clothed themselves in fur and worn horns on their head, in a remote and distant land like ours, have now become able to hear our fill of the right Dharma. Now even peasants and plowmen, old country folk and 186

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village children, see and hear. It is totally due to the ances tral master's maintenance of the practice in crossing the seas that we have been saved. The natural climate of India was vastly superior to that of China, and there were also great differences in the rightness and wrongness of local customs. [China] was not a place to which a great saint who had received and retained the Dharma treasury would go, unless he were a man of great benevolence and great endurance. A suitable place of practice, where [the master] might live, did not exist, and the people who could know a per son were few. So he hung his traveling staff at Sūzan Mountain for a spell of nine years. People called him "the brahman who looks at the wall.

" Historians recorded his name in

lists of those learning Zen meditation, but it was not so. The right-Dharmaeye treasury transmitted from buddha to buddha and from rightful successor to rightful successor, was simply the ancestral master alone. [193] Sekimon's151 Rinkanroku152 says:

Bodhidharma first went from the land of the Liang dynasty to the land of the Wei dynasty. He passed along the foot of Sūzan Mountain, and rested his staff at Shōrin [Temple]. He just sat in stillness facing the wall, and only that—he was not practicing Zen medita tion. For a long time no one could understand the reason for that [sitting], and so they saw Bodhidharma as training in Zen meditation. Now, [the practice of] dhyāna153 is only one among many forms of conduct: how could it be all there was to the Saint? Yet because of this [practice], the people of that time who made chronicles subsequently listed him among those who were learning Zen meditation: they grouped him alongside people like withered trees and dead ash. Nevertheless, the Saint did not stop at [the practice of] dhyāna;and at the same time, of course, he did not go against [the practice of] dhyāna—just as the art of divination emerges from yinand yangwithout going against yinand yang. When the Liang Emperor Bu first met Bodhidharma, he asked at once, "What is the

paramount sacred truth?" [The master] replied,

"It is [that which is]

glaringly evident, and without any thing sacred. " [The emperor] went

on to say,

"Who is the person facing me?" Then [the master] said, "I

do not know.

" If Bodhidharma had not been conversant with the language of that region, how could [their conversation] have taken place as it did at that time?

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[195] Thus, it is evident that [the master] went from the Liang kingdom to the Wei kingdom. He passed along154 Sūzan Mountain and rested his staff at Shōrin [Temple]. He sat in stillness facing the wall, but he was not learning Zen meditation. Though he had not fetched with him a single sutra or text, he was the true authority who had brought with him the transmission of the right Dharma. Chroniclers, however, not being clear, listed him in sections about learning Zen meditation—this was extremely stupid and regrettable. While [the master] thus continued practicing155 on Sūzan Mountain, there were dogs who barked at the great ancestor:156 they were pitiful and extremely stupid. How could any who has a heart think light of [the master's] merciful kindness? How could any who has a heart not hope to repay this kindness? There are many people who do not forget even worldly kindness but appreciate it deeply: these are called human beings. The great kindness of the ancestral master is greater even than [the kindness of] a father and mother—so do not compare the benevolent love of the ancestral master even with [the love of] a parent for a child. When we consider our own lowly position, we might be alarmed and afraid. We are beyond sight of the civilized lands. 157 We were

not born at the center of civilization. We do not know any saints. We have not seen any sages. No person among us has ever ascended beyond the celestial world. People's minds are utterly stupid. Since the inception [of Japan], no person has edified the common people: we hear of no period when the nation was purified. This is because no one knows what is pure and what is impure. We are like this because we are ignorant of the substance and details of the two spheres of power158 and the three elements:159 how much less could we know the rising and falling of the five elements?160 This stupidity rests upon blindness to the phenomena before our very eyes. And we are blind because we do not know the sutras and texts, and because there is no teacher of the sutras and texts. There is no such teacher means that no one knows how many tens of volumes there are in "this sutra,

" no one knows how many

hundreds of verses and how many thousands of sayings there are in "this sutra": we read only the explana tory aspect of the sentences, not knowing the thousands of verses and tens of thousands of sayings. Once we know the ancient sutras and read the ancient texts, then we have the will to venerate the ancients. When we have the will to venerate the ancients, the ancient sutras come to the present and manifest themselves before us. The founder 188

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of the Han dynasty161 and the founder of the Wei dynasty162 were emperors who clarified the verses spoken by astrological phenomena and who interpreted the sayings of geological forms. When we clarify such sutras as these, we have gleaned some clarification of the three elements. The common folk [of Japan], never having been subjected to the rule of such noble rulers, do not know what it is to learn to serve a ruler or what it is to learn to serve a parent, and so we are pitiful even as subjects of a sovereign and pitiful even as members of a family. As retainers or as children,

163 we vainly pass by

[valuable] one-foot gems and vainly pass by [invaluable] minutes of time. There is no [Japanese] person who, having been born into an ancestry like this, would give up an important national office; we even cling to trivial official positions. This is how it is in a corrupt age: in an age of purity, [such things] might be rarely seen or heard. Living in a remote land like this and possessing lowly bodies and lives like these, if we had the opportunity to hear our fill of the Tathāgata

`

s right Dharma how could we have any hesitation

about losing these lowly bodies and lives on the way? Having clung to them, for what purpose could we relinquish them later? Even if [our bodies and lives] were weighty and wise, we should not begrudge them to the Dharma. How much less [should we begrudge] bodies and lives that are lowly and mean. Lowly and mean though they are, when we ungrudgingly relinquish them for the truth and for the Dharma, they may be more noble than the highest gods and more noble than the wheel[-turning] kings. In sum, they may be more noble than all celestial gods and earthly deities and all living beings of the triple world. The First Patriarch, however, was the third son of the king of Kōshi in South India. He was, to begin with, an offspring of the imperial lineage of India, a crown prince. His nobility and venerability were such that [people] in a remote nation in the Eastern Lands never knew even the forms of behavior by which they should serve him: there was no incense; there were no flowers; his seat and mat were scant; the temple buildings were inadequate. How much worse it would have been in our country, a remote island of sheer cliffs. How could we know the forms by which to revere the prince of a great nation? Even if we imitated them, they would be too intricate for us to understand: there might be different forms for lords and for the emperor, and courtesies large and small, but we would not be able to tell the difference. When we do not know how high or low we are, we do not maintain 189

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and rely upon the self. When we are not maintaining and relying upon the self, the most important thing to clarify is how high or low we are. [202] The First Patriarch was the twenty-eighth successor to the Dharma of Śākyamuni. The longer he remained in the state of truth, the weightier he became. That even a great and most venerable saint like this, following his master's instruction, did not spare body and life, was in order "to transmit the Dharma" and in order "to save the living.

" In China, before the First

Patriarch came from the west, no one had seen a disciple of Buddha who had received the one-to-one transmission from rightful successor to rightful successor, no patriarch had given the face-to-face transmission from rightful successor to rightful successor, and no meeting buddha had ever taken place. After that time also, no [patriarchs] other than the distant descendants of the First Patriarch ever came from the west. The appearance of an uḍumbara flower is an easy matter: one can count the years and months of waiting [for it to hap pen].

164 The First Patriarch's coming from the west will never happen again. Nevertheless, even people calling themselves the distant descendants of the First Patriarch—intoxicated [like] the great fool of the kingdom of So165 and never knowing the difference between a jewel and a stone—have thought that teachers of sutras and teachers of commentaries might stand shoulderto-shoulder with [the First Patriarch]. That is due to small knowledge and meager understanding. People who lack the right seeds of long-accumulated prajñādo not become the distant descendants of the Patriarch's truth; we should pity those who have idly wandered astray on the wrong path of names and forms. Even after the Futsū era of the Liang dynasty166 there were some who went to India. What was the use of that? It was the most extreme stupidity. Led by bad karma, they wandered astray through foreign lands. With every step they were proceeding along the wrong path of insulting the Dharma; with every step they were fleeing from their father's homeland. What was to be gained by their going to India? Only hardship and privation in the mountains and the waters. They did not study the principle that the West ern Heavens had come to the east and they did not clarify the eastward advance of the Buddha-Dharma, and so they uselessly lost their way in India. They have reputations as seekers of the Buddha-Dharma but they did not have any will to the truth with which to pursue the Buddha-Dharma, and so they did not meet a true teacher even in India. They only met fruit lessly with teachers of sutras 190

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and teachers of commentaries. The reason is that they did not have the right state of mind with which to pursue the right Dharma, and so—even though authentic teachers were still present in India—those [wanderers] did not get their hands upon the authentic Dharma. Some who went to India claimed to have met true teachers there [but] no mention was ever heard of who those teachers were. If they had met true teachers, they would naturally name some names. There was no [meeting] and so there has been no naming. [205] Again, there have also been many monks in China, since the ancestral master came from the west, who have continued to rely upon understand ing of sutras and commentaries and so failed to investigate the authentic Dharma. They open and read sutras and commentaries but are blind to the meaning of the sutras and commentaries. This black conduct is due not only to karmic influence of conduct today but also to bad karmic influence from past lives. If, in this life, they ultimately do not hear the true secrets of the Tathāgata's teaching, and do not meet the Tathāgata's right Dharma, and are not illuminated by the Tathāgata's face-to-face transmission, and do not use the Tathāgata's buddha-mind, and do not learn the usual customs of the buddhas; then their life must be a sad one. During the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties167 people like this abounded. Only people possessing the seeds of long-accumulated prajñāhave become the distant descendants of the ancestral master, some entering the gate of initiation without expectation and some liberating themselves from sand-counting,

168 but all having intelli gence, superior makings, and the right seeds of a right person. The stupid multitude have continued for long years to dwell only in the straw shacks of sutras and commentaries. That being so, [even the First Patriarch] did not assert that he would not retreat in the face of such severe difficulties. Even today, as we admire the profound attitude of the First Patriarch in coming from the west, if we spare the stinking bags of skin that are ourselves, in the end what will be the use of that?

[207] Zen Master Kyōgen169 said:

Making a hundred calculations and a thousand plans only for the sake of [our own] body,

We forget that the body will become dust in a grave.

Never say that the white-haired170 speak no words:

They are just the people to tell us of the underworld.

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So although we make hundreds of calculations and thousands of plans to spare [the body], eventually it nonetheless turns into a pile of dust in a grave. Worse still is to be fruitlessly scampering east and west in the employ of the king and citizens of a small nation, and therein being made to suffer countless hardships through innumerable bodies and minds. Those who think light of their own body and life because of a sense of loyalty seem un able to forget the custom of ritual suicide following the death of a lord. The way ahead for those driven by [such] obligation is only dark clouds and mists. Many people since ancient times have been used by small vassals and have thus thrown away their bodies and lives in the world of common folk. These were human bodies that should have been treasured, because they could have become vessels for the state of truth. Now we have met the right Dharma, we should learn the right Dharma in practice, even if it means throwing away bodies and lives as countless as the sands of the Ganges. For what is it worth relinquishing body and life: some futile small person, or the wide, great, profound, and eternal Buddha-Dharma? There can be no cause for either the wise or the inept to vacillate between advancing and retreating. We should quietly consider that before the right Dharma has spread through the world, even if people want to abandon their body and life for the right Dharma, they cannot do so: they might dearly love to be in our place today, meeting with the right Dharma. If, having met the right Dharma, we failed to abandon body and life, we would have cause to be ashamed of ourselves: if we were ever ashamed of anything, we would have to be ashamed of this fact. So the way to repay the great kindness of the ancestral master is with one day's conduct and observance. Have no regard for your own body and life. Do not cling to love, which is more dumb than that of birds and beasts—even if you feel love and attachment, it will not stay with you over long years. Do not remain content to rely upon family standing, which is equal to rubbish— even if you remain content at this, you will ultimately not enjoy a quiet life. The Buddhist patriarchs of old were wise: they all abandoned the seven treasures and thousands of children; they speedily relinquished jeweled palaces and red-lacquered buildings, see ing them as equal to spit and tears or seeing them as equal to filth and soil. This is the manner in which the Buddhist patriarchs of the past have always recognized the kindness and repaid the kindness of the Buddhist patriarchs of the past. Even the sick sparrow did not forget 192

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the favor it had received and was able to return the favor with [the gift of] three rings of public office.

171 Even the stricken turtle did not forget the favor

it had received and was able to return the favor with the seal of the office of Yofu.

172 How sad it would be, while having human faces, to be more stupid than animals. Our meeting Buddha and hearing Dharma in the present is benevolence that has come from the conduct and observance of every Buddhist patriarch. If the Buddhist patriarchs had not passed on the one-to-one transmission, how could it have arrived at the present day? We should repay the kindness contained in even a single phrase. We should repay the kindness contained in even a single dharma. How then could we fail to repay our debt of grati tude for the great blessing of the right-Dharma-eye treasury, the supreme great method. We should desire to forsake, in a single day, bodies and lives as countless as the sands of the Ganges. To the dead body we have aban doned for the sake of the Dharma, we ourselves will return in age after age to make prostrations and serve offerings; and it will be venerated, honored, guarded, and praised by all gods and dragons—for the truth [of abandonment for the Dharma] is inexorable. Rumors have long been heard, from India in the west, of the brahmans' custom of selling skulls and buying skulls: they honor the great merit in the skull and bones of a person who has heard the Law. If we fail now to abandon body and life for the truth, we will not attain the merit of hearing the Dharma. If we listen to the Dharma without regard for body and life, that listening to the Dharma will be ful filled, and this very skull will deserve to be honored. Skulls that we do not abandon today for the truth will some day lie abandoned in the fields, bleaching in the sun, but who will do prostrations to them? Who would want to sell or buy them? We might look back with regret upon the spirit [that we showed] today. There are the examples of the demon that beat its former bones, and the god that prostrated itself to its former bones.

173 When we think on to the time when

we will turn emptily to dust, those who are without love and attachment now will gain appreciation in future—the emotion aroused might be something akin to a tear in the eye of a person looking on. Using the skull that will turn emptily to dust, and which may be abhorred by people, fortunately we can practice and observe the Buddha's right Dharma. So never fear the cold. Suffering from the cold has never destroyed a person. Suffering from the cold has never destroyed the truth. Only be afraid of not training. Not training 193

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destroys a person and destroys the truth. Not training can destroy a person and can destroy the truth. Never fear the summer heat. The summer heat has never destroyed a person. The summer heat has never destroyed the truth. Not training can destroy a person and can destroy the truth. The acceptance of barley,

174 and the gathering of bracken175 are excellent examples from the Buddhist world and the secular world. We should not be like demons and animals, thirsting after blood and thirsting after milk. Just one day of conduct and observance is the actual practice of the buddhas. [214] Taiso, the Second Patriarch in China,

176 [titled] Great Master

Shōshū Fukaku, was a teacher of lofty virtue and a man of erudition, adored by both gods and demons, and esteemed by both monks and laymen. He lived for many years between the rivers Yi and Raku,

177 during which time

he widely read various books. He was considered to be one of the country's rare individuals, [the like of] whom a person could not easily meet. Because of his eminence in Dharma and the weight of his virtue, a mystical being sud denly appeared and told the patriarch,

"If you want to reap the fruit [of

your efforts], why do you linger here? The great truth is not far away. You must go south!" The next day he suffered a sudden headache, a stabbing pain. His master, Zen Master Kōzan Hōjō178 of Ryūmon Mountain in Rakuyō, was about to cure the pain when a voice from the sky said, "This is to change

the skull, it is not an ordinary pain.

" Then the patriarch told the master about

his meeting with the mystical being. When the master looked on top of [the patriarch's] skull, lumps had swelled up like five mountain peaks. [Master Kōzan] said,

"Your physiognomy is a good omen; you will surely attain realization. The reason the mystical being told you to go south must be that the great man Bodhidharma of Shōrinji is destined to become your master. "

[216] Hearing this advice, the patriarch left at once to visit Shōshitsuhō Peak. The mystical being was a truth-guarding deity that belonged to [the patri arch's] own long practice of the truth. At that time it was December, and the weather was cold. They say it was the night of the ninth day of the twelfth month. Even if there had been no great snowfall, we can imagine that a high peak deep in the mountains, on a winter night, was no place for a man to be standing on the ground outside a window: it would have been dreadful weather at that time of year, [cold enough] even to break the joints of bamboo. Nevertheless, with a great snow covering the earth, burying the 194

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mountains and submerging the peaks, [Taiso Eka] beat a path through the snow—how severe should we suppose it was? Eventually he arrived at the patriarch's room, but he was not allowed to enter. [The patriarch] seemed not to notice him. That night he did not sleep, did not sit, and did not rest. He stood firm, unmoving, and waited for dawn. The night snow fell as if without mercy, gradually piling up and burying him to his waist, while his falling tears froze one by one. Seeing the tears, he shed more tears; he reflected upon himself and reflected upon himself again. He thought to himself, "When people in the past sought the truth, they broke their own bones to take out the marrow,

179 they drew their own blood to save others from

starvation,

180 they spread their own hair over mud,

181 and they threw themselves off cliffs to feed tigers. 182 Even the ancients were like this, and who

am I?" As he thought such thoughts, his will became more and more determined. Students of later ages also should not forget what he says here: "Even the ancients were like this, and who am I?" When this is forgotten, even for an instant, there are eternal kalpas of depression. As [Taiso Eka] thought thus to himself, his determination to pursue the Dharma and to pursue the state of truth only deepened—perhaps he was like this because he did not see the means of purity as a means.

183 To imagine what it was like that night,

as dawn approached, is enough to burst one's gallbladder. The hair on one's flesh simply bristles with cold and fear. At dawn, the First Patriarch took pity on him and asked,

"What are you after, standing there in the snow for

such a long time?" Questioned thus, his tears of sorrow falling in ever greater profusion, the Second Patriarch said,

"Solely I beg, Master, that out of compassion you will open the gate to nectar and widely save all beings. " When

[Taiso Eka] had spoken thus, the First Patriarch said, "The buddhas' supreme

and wondrous state of truth is to persevere for vast kalpas to become able to practice what is hard to practice, and to endure what is beyond endurance. How can one hope to seek the true vehicle with small virtue and small wisdom, and with a trivial and conceited mind? It would be futile toil and hardship. " As he listened then, the Second Patriarch was by turns edified and encouraged. Secretly he took a sharp sword and severed his left arm. When he placed it before the master, the First Patriarch could then see that the Second Patriarch was a vessel of the Dharma. So he said, "When in the

beginning the buddhas pursued the truth, they forgot their own bodies for 195

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the sake of the Dharma. Now you have cut off your arm before me. In your pursuit also there is something good.

"

[220] From this time forward he entered the [master's] inner sanctum. He served and attended [the master] for eight years, through thousand myriads of exertions: truly he was a great rock beneath human beings and gods and a great guiding teacher of human beings and gods. Exertion like his was un heard of even in the Western Heavens: it happened for the first time in the Eastern Lands. We learn the face breaking into a smile from the ancient [saint], 184 but we learn

getting the marrow under [this] patriarch.

185 Let us quietly reflect: no matter

how many thousand myriads of First Patriarchs had come from the west, if the Second Patriarch had not maintained the practice, there could be today no satisfaction in learning and no handling of the great matter. Now that we today have become people who see and hear the right Dharma, we should unfailingly repay our debt of gratitude to the patriarch. Extraneous methods of repayment will not do: bodies and lives are not sufficient, and nations and cities are not important. Nations and cities can be plundered by others and bequeathed to relatives and children. Bodies and lives can be given over to the impermanent; they can be committed to a lord or entrusted to false ways. Therefore, to intend to repay our gratitude through such means is not the way. Simply to maintain the practice day by day: only this is the right way to repay our gratitude. The principle here is to maintain the practice so that the life of every day is not neglected, and not wasted on private pursuits. For what reason? [Because] this life of ours is a blessing left over from past maintenance of the practice; it is a great favor bestowed by maintenance of the practice, which we should hasten to repay. How lamentable, how shameful, it would be, to turn skeletons whose life has been realized through a share of the virtue of the Buddhist patriarchs' maintenance of the practice into the idle playthings of wives and children, to abandon them to the trifling of wives and children, without regret for breaking [precepts] and debasing [pure conduct]. It is out of wrongness and madness that [people] give over their body and life to the demons186 of fame and profit. Fame and profit are the one great enemy. If we are to assign weight to fame and profit, we should really appreciate fame and profit. Really to appreciate fame and profit means never to entrust to fame and profit, and thereby cause to be destroyed, the body and life that might become a Buddhist patriarch. Appreciation of wives, children, and relatives also should be like this. Do not 196

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study fame and profit as phantoms in a dream or flowers in space:187 study them as they are to living beings. Do not accumulate wrongs and retribution because you have failed to appreciate fame and profit. When the right eyes of learning in practice widely survey all directions, they should be like this. Even a worldly person who has any human feeling, on receiving charity through gold, silver, or precious goods, will return the kindness. The friendliness of gentle words and a gentle voice spurs, in all who have a heart, the goodwill to return the kindness. What kind of human being could ever forget the great blessing of seeing and hearing the Tathāgata's supreme right Dharma? Never to forget this [blessing] is itself a lifelong treasure. A skeleton or a skull that has never regressed or strayed in this maintenance of the practice has—at the time of life and at the time of death equally—such virtue that it deserves to be kept in a stupa of the seven treasures, and to be served offerings by all human beings and gods. Having recognized that we hold such a great debt of grati tude, we should without fail, without letting our life of dew-on-grass fall in vain, wholeheartedly repay the mountainlike virtue [of the Second Patriarch]. This is maintaining the practice. The merit of this maintaining the practice is already present in us who are maintaining the practice as patriarch or buddha. In conclusion, the First Patriarch and the Second Patri arch never founded a temple; they were free from the complicated business of mowing undergrowth,

188 and the Third Patriarch

and the Fourth Patriarch were also like that. The Fifth Patriarch and the Sixth Patriarch did not estab lish their own temples, and Seigen189 and Nangaku190 were also like that.

[225] Great Master Sekitō191 lashed together a thatched hut on a big rock and he sat upon the rock in zazen. He went without sleep day or night: there was no time when he was not sitting. He did not neglect miscellaneous chores; at the same time, he was always practicing zazen through the twelve hours. 192

That Seigen's school has now spread throughout the land, and that it is benefiting human beings and gods, is due to Sekitō's mighty firmness in maintaining the practice. Those present-day [followers of] Unmon193 and Hōgen194 who have clarified something are all the Dharma descendants of Great Master Sekitō.

[226] Zen Master Daii,

195 the thirty-first patriarch, after meeting at the

age of fourteen the great master who was the Third Patriarch, 196 labored in

his serv ice for nine years. Having already succeeded to the ancestral customs 197

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of the Buddhist patriarchs, he regulated the mind197 and went without sleep, his side never touching a bed for a small matter of sixty years. He spread his influence over friend and foe, and his virtue pervaded [the worlds of] human beings and gods. He was the Fourth Patriarch in China.

[227] In the [seventeenth] year of Jōkan,

198 Emperor Taisō, admiring

from afar the master's taste of the truth, and desiring to see for himself [the master's] style and color, issued an edict for him to come to the capital. Three times altogether the master offered to the throne letters of humble apology, eventually declining by citing ill health. The fourth time [the emperor] ordered his messenger: "If he will not come in the end, bring me his head.

" The messenger went to the mountain and warned

of the [emperor's] command. The master at once stretched out his neck toward the sword, his spirit and his complexion unblenched. The messenger was astonished at this. He returned and issued his report. The emperor's admiration grew all the stronger. He bestowed on [the master] a gift of precious silk, and let him have his own way.

199

[228] Thus, the Zen master the Fourth Patriarch did not see his body and life as his body and life. The conduct and observance that he maintained in not being close to kings and ministers200 is a singular example, encountered once in a thousand years. Emperor Taisō was a righteous ruler. A meet ing with him might not have been a bore; nevertheless, we should learn in practice that the conduct and observance of our illustrious predecessors was like this. Even as a ruler of men, [the emperor] still admired a man who would stretch out his neck toward the sword, not fearing to lose body and life. This [behavior] was not without reason: [the master] valued time and was exclusively devoted to conduct and observance. Offering letters [of refusal] to the throne three times is an example rare through the ages. In present degenerate times, there are [many monks] who positively want to meet with the emperor. 201 On the fourth

day of the intercalary ninth lunar month in the [second] year of Eiki202 in the reign of Emperor Kōsō,

203 [the master] suddenly bestowed upon his disciples

the following exhortation: "All the dharmas of the universe are totally liberated. You must each remember this, and spread the influence of the teaching into the future.

" When he had finished speaking, he sat still and died. He was seventy-two years of age. They enshrined him at the temple. On the eighth day 198

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of the fourth lunar month of the following year, the door of the shrine opened by itself, for no [apparent] reason, and the [master's] form seemed to be alive. After that his disciples did not dare to shut the door again. [230] Remember,

"all the dharmas of the universe are totally liberated. "

Dharmas are not empty, and dharmas are not anything other than dharmas; they are dharmas that are totally liberated. Here the Fourth Patriarch has his maintenance of the practice before entering the stupa, and he has his maintenance of the practice while already in the stupa. To see and hear that the living are inevitably mortal is the small view. To be of the opinion that the dead are without thinking and perception is small knowledge. In learn ing the truth, do not learn such shallow knowledge and small views. There may be those among the living who are immortal, and there may be those among the dead who have thinking and perception.

[231] Great Master Gensha Shūitsu204 of Fuzhou205 had the Dharma name of Shibi. He was from Binken county in Fuzhou. His family name was Sha. From his childhood he liked fishing. He sailed a small boat on the Nantai River, and got along with all the fishing folk. At the beginning of the Kantsū era206 of the Tang dynasty, when he was just over thirty years old, he suddenly desired to leave the [world of] dust. Abandoning his fishing boat at once, he devoted himself to the order of Zen Master Reikun207 of Fuyōzan, and shed his hair. He received full ordination from Precepts Teacher Dōgen of Kaigenji in Yoshō.

208 With patched clothes and straw shoes, and with

barely enough food to sustain him, he would always be sitting in stillness all day long. All the monks thought him peculiar. From the beginning he was on good terms in that Dharma order with Seppō Gison;209 their closeness was like that between master and disciple. Seppō called [Gensha's] hard practice "dhūta.

"210 One day Seppō asked,

"What is the substance of Bi of the dhūta?"

The master replied,

"In the end I just cannot be deceived by others.

" On

another day Seppō called him over and said,

"Bi of the dhūta,why do you

not go exploring?"211 The master said,

"Bodhidharma did not come to the

Eastern Lands. The Second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heavens. "

Seppō approved of this.

212 Eventually [Gensha] climbed Zōkutsuzan213 and

he and the master pooled their efforts to bind and build [a humble temple], where a group of profound individuals came together. The master [Seppō] allowed them to enter his room and glean his conclusions no matter whether 199

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it was dawn or dusk. If, among the students of the profound who came from all directions, there were any who had an unresolved problem, they would inevitably turn to the master and ask for his teaching. In such cases Master Seppō would say,

"Ask Bi of the dhūta!" Master [Gensha], in his charity, would then duly apply himself to the task unremittingly. Such behavior would have been impossible if it were not for his outstanding conduct and observance. His conduct and observance of "sitting in stillness all day long" is a rare example of conduct and observance. There are many who vainly run after sounds and forms but few people who practice "sitting in stillness all day long.

" Now, as students of later ages, and fearing that time is running out, we should practice "sitting in stillness all day long. "

[234] Master Chōkei Eryō214 was a venerable patriarch in the order of Seppō. Going back and forth between Seppō and Gensha, he learned in practice for a small matter of twenty-nine years. In those years and months he sat through twenty round cushions. People today who love zazen cite Chōkei as an excellent example of an adorable ancient—many adore him but few equal him. His thirty years of effort, then, were not in vain: once while he was rolling up a summer reed screen, he suddenly realized the state of great re alization. In thirty years he never returned to his home country, never visited his relatives, and never chatted with those on either side of him: he just directed his effort singlemindedly.

215 The master's maintenance of the practice was for thirty years. For thirty years, he saw his doubts and hesitation as doubts and hesitation: he should be called one of steadfast sharp makings, and should be called one of great qualities. Tidings of [such] firmness of resolve are heard "sometimes following the sutras.

" If we desire what we

should desire and are ashamed of what we should be ashamed of, then we may be able to meet with Chōkei. Honestly speaking, it is only because [people] lack the will to the truth, and lack skill in regulating their conduct, that they remain idly bound by fame and gain.

[235] Zen Master Daien216 of Daiizan, after receiving Hyakujō's affirmation, went directly to the steep and remote slopes of Isan Mountain and, befriending the birds and beasts, he tied together [a hut of] thatch and continued his training. He never shrank from the wind and snow. Small chestnuts served him for food. There were no temple buildings, and no provisions. Yet [here] he was to manifest his conduct and observance for forty years. Later, when the temple 200

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had become famous throughout the country, it brought dragons and elephants tramping to it. Even if you do want to establish a place for pure conduct, 217

do not set your human senti ments in motion: just be firm in your conduct and observance of the Buddha-Dharma. A place where there is training but no building is the practice place of eternal buddhas. We have heard from afar rumors of prac tice done on open ground or under a tree. These places have become sanctu aries218 forever. If a place contains the conduct and observance of just one person, it will be transmitted as a practice place of the buddhas. We should never let ourselves be wasted, as the stupid people of a degenerate age, on the futile construction of buildings. The Buddhist patriarchs never desired buildings. Those who have not yet clarified their own eyes and yet vainly construct temple halls and buildings are absolutely not serving offerings of Buddhist buildings to the buddhas: they are making their own dens of fame and gain.

[238] We should quietly imagine conduct and observance on Isan Mountain in those days of old. "Imagining" means thinking what it would be like

for us now to be living on Isan Mountain: deep in the night, the sound of rain with such force that it might not only cut through moss but even drill through rocks. On a snowy winter night, birds and wild animals would be few and far between; how much less might smoke from human chimneys be able to know us? It was a vigorous existence that could not have been so without conduct and observance in which [Master Isan] thought light of his own life and assigned weight to the Dharma. He was in no hurry to mow the undergrowth; he did not busy himself with construction work: he solely trained himself in conduct and observance, and strove in pursuit of the state of truth.

219 It is pitiable that an authentic patriarch who had received and maintained the right Dharma was troubled in the mountains by so much steep and rocky hardship. They say that Isan Mountain has ponds and streams, so the ice and fog must have been thick. It was a life of seclusion beyond a human being's endurance. Nevertheless, it is evident that his Buddhist state of truth and the profound solitude merged into one reality—we see and hear expressions of the truth that he practiced and observed in this state. We should not hear [these expressions] in a nonchalant posture. At the same time, conduct and observance does not recognize the debt of gratitude that we must strive to repay. That being so, even if we were listening nonchalantly, when we imagine 201

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the Isan Mountain of those days as if it were before our eyes in the present, how could any human-hearted student of later ages fail to be moved? Through the bodhi-power and the teaching influence of this conduct and observance on Isan Mountain, the wheel of wind220 does not move, the world is not broken, the palaces of gods are peaceful, and human nations are preserved. Even to those who are not the distant descendants of Isan, Isan may be an ancestral patriarch. Latterly, Kyōzan221 came there and served him. Kyōzan himself had been, in the order of the late master Hyakujō,

222 a Śāri putra223 with a hundred answers for every ten questions. Yet he waited upon Isan, spending a further three years of effort watching over a buffalo. 224 This was conduct and

observance that in recent times has become extinct: it is nowhere to be seen or heard. The three years of watching over the buffalo made it needless for him to ask any person to speak an expression of the truth. [241] Patriarch [Dō]kai225 of Fuyōzan was solely a font of realization of conduct and observance. When the ruler of the nation be stowed upon him the title of Zen Master Jōshō and a padded purple226 garment, the patriarch did not accept them; he wrote letters to the throne in which he politely refused them. The king was reproachful, but the master did not accept them in the end. His diluted gruel227 has transmitted to us the taste of Dharma. When he made his hut on Fuyōzan, the monks and laymen who flocked there numbered in the hundreds, but on a daily ration of one bowl of gruel, many withdrew. The master, according to his vow, did not go to meals offered by donors. On one occasion he preached to the assembly as follows:

In general, because those who have left family life dislike dusty (secular) toil, and seek to get free of life and death, we rest the mind, cease mental images, and cut off ensnaring involvements; therefore we are called those who have left family life. How could we regard offerings lightly and use them to indulge in a common life? We should straightaway let go of duality, and abandon the middle too. When we meet sounds and meet sights, we should be like rocks upon which flowers have been planted. When we see advantage and see fame, we should be as if dust has got into our eyes. Moreover, it is not that, since times without beginning, we have never before passed through [such detachment]. Neither is it that we do not know the condition. If we do not go beyond turning the head into a tail, [however,] we remain in that [upside-down] state. 228

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Why should we suffer the pain of greed and love? If we do not put an end to them here and now, what other time can we expect? Therefore, the saints of the past taught people that it is solely vital to exhaust the moment of the present. When we are able to exhaust the moment of the present, what fur ther problems can there be? When we have got the state in which there are no problems in our mind, even a Buddhist patriarch will be like an enemy. When everything in the world is naturally cool and pale229 we will then accord with the ideal230 for the first time.

Do you not remember Ryūzan,

231 who would not see anyone to

his dying day. And Jōshū,

232 who had nothing to tell anyone to his dying

day. Hentan233 gathered chestnuts for his meals. Daibai234 used lotus leaves as his clothes. Practitioner Shie235 wore only paper. Veteran monk Gentai236 wore only cotton. Sekisō237 established a withered tree hall238 where he sat and slept with the monks, wanting only to master his own mind. Tōsu239 had others take care of the rice, which they boiled together and ate in common: he wanted to be able to concentrate on his own original task. Now, in the saints listed above there is such distinction. If they had been without [such] excel lence, how could we delight in them?

Friends! If you too physically master this state, you will truly be faultless people. If, on the other hand, you fail to experience it directly, I am deeply afraid that in the future you will exhaust your energy in vain. Though there is nothing to attach to in the behavior of this mountain monk,

240 I have been privileged to become master of the temple: how could I sit by while our provisions were used up in vain, suddenly forgetting the legacy of the past saints? Now I hope to demonstrate, as best I am able, the attitude in which people of old lived as temple masters. I have discussed it with everyone and we have decided not to go down from the mountain, not to go to meals offered by donors, and not to have a monk in charge of raising donations;241 instead, we will ration the annual produce of the fields of this temple into three hundred and sixty equal parts, and use one ration every day, without increasing or reducing [the ration] according to the [number of] people [in the order]. If there is enough to make boiled rice, then we shall make rice; if there 203

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is not enough to make boiled rice, then we shall make gruel; if there is not enough to make gruel, then we shall make rice water. To welcome a newcomer we shall just have [plain] tea, not a tea ceremony. We will simply provide a tearoom, which each person may visit and use individually. We shall do our best to sever involvements and to pursue the state of truth solely.

Still more, vigorous activity surrounds us in abundance. There is no scarcity of beautiful scenery. The flowers know how to laugh, and the birds know how to sing. The timber horses whinny, and the stone bulls gallop. Beyond the sky, the greenness of the mountains fades. Beside our ears, the babbling spring loses its voice. On mountain peaks monkeys are squeaking. Dew moistens the moon in the sky. In the woods cranes call. The wind swirls around the pines in the clear light of dawn. When the spring breezes blow, withered trees sing dragon songs. 242 The

autumn leaves shrivel and the frozen forest scatters flowers. On the precious-stone steps are laid patch works of moss. People's faces have the [mild] air of haze and mist. Sounds are still. Situations are just as they are. In the sheer peace and solemnity, there is nothing to pursue. Before you all today, this mountain monk is preaching [the traditional teaching of] our lineage, which is just not to attach to expedients. Why should it ever be necessary to ascend [the seat of formal preaching in the Dharma] hall or to have entry into the [master's] room; or to take up the clapper or stand up the whisk; or to yell to the east and put a staff to the west; or to tense the brows and glare with the eyes, as if having an epileptic fit? That not only dismays veteran monks, it also insults the saints of the past. Do you not remember that Bodhidharma came from the west to the foot of Shōshitsuzan and faced the wall for nine years? And the Second Patriarch, standing in the snow and cutting off his arm, suffered what can only be described as hardship. Still, Bodhidharma never set down a single word and the Second Patriarch never requested a single phrase. Yet can we say that Bodhidharma did not teach others? Can we say that the Second Patriarch had not wanted to find a teacher? Whenever I come to preach about the behavior of the ancient saints, I always feel that there is nowhere to put myself, so ashamed am I of our weakness as people of later ages. How then could 204

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we serve each other offerings of exotic and delicious meals of a hundred tastes? We are equipped with the four things,

243 and so we must establish

the mind at once: having said that, I am only afraid that the behav ior of our hands and feet is so imperfect that we will pass remotely through lives and pass remotely through ages. Time is like an arrow, and we should profoundly hate to be losing it.

Although we are like this, still it is a fact that other people, relying upon their merits, have been delivered. This mountain monk is unable to force the teaching upon you, but, my friends, have you ever read the following verse by a person of old?244

Our meal is boiled foxtail millet, reaped from the mountain fields, For vegetables we have faded yellow pickles:

Whether you eat them is up to you.

If you choose not to eat, you are free to go east or west. With due respect, fellow practitioners, may each of you be diligent. Take good care of yourselves.

245

This is the very bones and marrow transmitted one-to-one by the ancestral patriarchs. There are many examples of [this] founding patriarch's conduct and observance, but for the present I have just cited this one instance. We students of later ages should long for, and learn in practice, the conduct and observance that the founding patriarch Fuyō practiced and refined on Fuyōzan. It is just the right standard of behavior [established at] Jetavana Park. 246

[250] Zen Master Daijaku247 of Kaigenji in Kōzei, in the Kōshū district, 248

whose name in his lifetime was Dōitsu, was from Juppōken county in Kanshū. 249 He served under Nangaku for more than ten years. Once he decided to visit his old home town, and he got halfway there. At half way he returned, and burned incense and performed prostrations, whereupon Nangaku wrote the following verse and gave it to Baso:

I recommend you not to return home,

If you return home the truth will go unpracticed.

Old women in the neighborhood

Will call you by your old name.

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He gave this Dharma preaching to Baso, who received it with veneration, and vowed,

"I shall never in any life travel toward Kanshū. " Having made

this vow, he never walked a single step toward the Kanshū district; he lived in Kōzei for the rest of his life, letting [monks from] the ten directions come to him. He expressed the truth only as,

"The mind here and now is buddha,

"

besides which he had not a single word of teaching for others. Even so, he was the rightful heir of Nangaku, and the lifeblood of human beings and gods.

[252] Just what is "not to return home"? How are we to understand "not to return home"? Returning to and from the east, west, south, and north is only our own selfish falling down and getting up: truly, "when we return

home, the truth goes unpracticed.

" [But] is the conduct of "returning home" main tained as "the truth going unpracticed"? Is the conduct maintained as beyond "returning home"?250 Why is "returning home, the truth going un practiced"? Is it hindered by non-practice? Is it hindered by self? [Nangaku] is not arguing that "Old women in the neighborhood will call you by your old name.

" [His words] are the expression of the truth of "old women in the neighborhood calling you by your old name. "251 By what means does Nangaku

possess this expression of the truth? By what means does Baso grasp these words of Dharma? The truth in question is that when we are go ing south, the whole earth similarly is going south. For other directions also the same must be true. To doubt that it is so, using Sumeru or the great ocean as a scale, and to hesitate, using the sun, moon, and stars as bench marks: this is the small view.

[253] The thirty-second patriarch, Zen Master Daiman, 252 was from Ōbai.

His secular name was Shū: this was his mother's surname. The master was born fatherless, as for example was Laozi. 253 He received the Dharma at

seven years of age,

254 after which, until the age of seventy-four, he exactly dwelled in and maintained the Buddhist patriarchs' right-Dharma-eye treasury. His secret transmission of the robe and the Dharma to the laborer Enō255 was conduct and observance in a class by itself. He did not let Jinshū256 know about the robe and the Dharma but transmitted them to Enō, and because of this, the lifetime of the right Dharma has been uninterrupted. [254] My late master Tendō257 was from the Etsu area. 258 When he was

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which he did not regress at all, even into his seventies. He was given a purple robe and a master's title259 from the emperor260 during the Kajō era, 261 but he

did not accept them at last. He wrote letters to the throne declining and expressing thanks. Monks in the ten directions all revered him deeply for this. The wise, far and near, all rejoiced. The emperor him self was delighted and presented him with a gift of tea. Those who knew what had happened praised the event as rare through the ages. Truly, this was real conduct and observance. The reason is that to love fame is worse than to break the precepts. To break the precepts is a momentary wrong: love of fame is a lifetime encumbrance. Do not, out of stupidity, fail to abandon [fame], and do not, out of ignorance, accept it. Not to accept it is conduct and observance. To abandon it is conduct and observance. That the six ancestral masters262 each has a master's title is, in every case, because an emperor decreed it after their death, not because they loved fame while they were in the world. So we should swiftly abandon the love of fame which is [the cause of suffering in] life and death, and we should aspire to the conduct and observance of the Buddhist patriarchs. Do not, through rapacious love, be equal to the birds and beasts. Greedily to love the trivial self is an emo tion possessed by the birds and beasts, a mental state possessed by animals. Even among human beings and gods, abandonment of fame and gain is considered unusual. But no Buddhist patriarch has ever failed to abandon them. Some have said that greed for fame and love of profit can work to the benefit of living beings, but their argument is grossly mistaken: they are non-Buddhists attaching themselves to the Buddha-Dharma; they are a band of demons who malign the right Dharma. If what they say is true, does it mean that the Buddhist patriarchs, having no greed for fame and profit, are of no benefit to living beings? That is laughable, laughable. There are [people other than Buddhist patriarchs], also, who benefit the living without greed—is it not so? Those who do not study such limitlessly many instances of benefiting the living, and who describe as "benefiting the living" what does not benefit the living, I say again: they may be demons. Living beings benefited by them might be beings destined to fall into hell. They should lament that they have spent their whole life in darkness; they should never claim that their stupidity benefits the living. Thus, though the master's title was the emperor's benevolent gift, writing a letter to decline it is an excel lent example from the eternal past, and it may be 207

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research for students of later ages. I met the late master in person: it was to meet a human being. From the age of nineteen, when my late master left his home district to go in search of teachers, he had striven in pursuit of the truth to the age of sixty-five,

263 without regressing and without straying at all. He did not get close to emperors and he was not seen by emperors. He was not on intimate terms with ministers and he was not on intimate terms with officials. Not only did he decline the purple robe and the master's title but also, his whole life through, he never wore a kaṣāyaof patterned cloth. For formal preach ing in the Dharma hall, or for [accepting] entry into the master's room, he always wore a black kaṣāyaand black monk's robes. He instructed the monks as follows:

In practicing [za]zen264 and learning the truth, the most impor tant thing is to have the will to the truth: it is the starting point of learning the truth. For two hundred years now, the truth of the ancestral master has been falling into disuse—it is lamentable. Needless to say, then, that skin bags who have expressed the truth, in even a single phrase, are few and far between.

[259] In former days I hung my traveling staff at Kinzan Mountain, 265 at which time the head of the table was Kō Busshō. 266 In formal

preaching in the Dharma hall he said,

"In the Buddha-Dharma, the

Way of Zen, you need not seek the words of others. Let each of you grasp the principle by yourself!" So saying, he paid no attention whatsoever to what happened inside the monks' hall. The monks, senior and junior, also were totally unconcerned; they were only interested in meeting and courting official guests. Busshō was singularly ignorant of the pivot of the Buddha-Dharma; he only craved fame and loved gain. If we could each grasp the principle of the Buddha-Dharma by ourself, how could there be old drills who went looking for teachers and searching out the truth? Truly, Kō Busshō never experienced [za]zen267 at all. Old veterans in all directions today who have no will to the truth are solely the offspring of Kō Busshō.How can the Buddha-Dharma exist in their hands? It is so regrettable, so very regrettable. When he spoke like this, Busshō's children and grandchildren would often be listening, but they did not resent him.

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[261] Again [Master Tendō] said,

"Practicing [za]zen is the dropping

off of body and mind. We need not burn incense, do prostrations, recite the Buddha's name, confess, or read sutras. When we are just sitting, we have attainment from the beginning.

"

In truth, through all directions of the great kingdom of Song today, the skinbags who profess to be Zen practitioners, and who call themselves the descendants of the ancestral founders, number not only one or two hun dred: they are [as numerous as] rice, flax, bamboos, and reeds. Nevertheless, we hear no rumor at all of any who recommends sitting for the purpose of sitting. Between the four oceans and the five lakes, only my late master Tendō did so. [Monks in] all directions praised Tendō with one voice, but Tendō did not praise [the monks of] all directions. At the same time, there were leaders of great temples who did not know of Tendō at all. This was because, although they were born in China as the center of civilization, they might be a lower species of bird or beast, who did not serve where they should have served but idly squandered their time. It is pitiful that people who never knew Tendō mistook the clamor of outlandish preaching and confused assertions for the traditional customs of the Buddhist patriarchs. My late master would usually say in his informal preaching:

From the age of nineteen, I widely visited monasteries in all directions, but there was no master who could teach people. Since the age of nineteen, I have not passed a single day or a single night without flattening the round cushion. Before the time when I took residence [as master] of a temple, I did not converse with the people of villages, because time is too precious. At places where I hung my traveling staff, I never entered or saw inside a hut or dormitory.

268 How much less could I expend effort

on outings and jaunts among the mountains and waters? Besides sitting in zazen in the cloud hall and the common areas, I would sit in zazen at quiet and convenient places, going alone to an upper floor or in search of some secluded spot. I always carried a round cushion inside my sleeve,

269 and sometimes I would even sit in zazen at the base of a crag. I always felt I would like to sit through the diamond seat270 —that was

the end which I hoped to gain. There were times when the flesh of my buttocks swelled up and burst. At these times, I liked zazen all the more. This year I am sixty-five. My bones are old and my brain is dull; 209

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I do not understand zazen. Even so, out of compassion for my brothers in the ten directions, I have become abbot of this temple, so as to counsel those who come from [all] quarters and to transmit the truth to the monks of the assembly. How can the Buddha-Dharma exist in the orders of the old veterans in all directions? So I preach like this in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, and I preach like this in my informal preaching. Further, he would not accept gifts of personal salutation from the monks who came from all directions.

[264] Minister Chō271 was of the ancestral line of the sacred sovereign272 of the Kajō era;273 he was a general of the Minshū274 army, and the District Envoy for Promotion of Agriculture. When he invited my late master to come to the capital of the district and to ascend the seat of formal preaching, he presented a donation of ten thousand pieces of silver. After my late master had finished his formal preaching, he thanked the minister and said, "As is

the custom, I have left my temple and ascended the seat of formal preaching, and I have proclaimed the right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana, in order respectfully to offer happiness to your late father in the realm of the departed. But I would not dare to accept this silver. Monks have no need for this kind of thing. With thousands and tens of thousands of thanks for your generosity, I will humbly return [the silver] as it formerly was. " The

minister said,

"Master, this humble officer is fortunate to be the relative of his majesty the emperor, so I am honored wherever I go, and I have riches in veritable abundance. Today is the day to celebrate my late father's happiness in the next world, and so I wished to contribute some thing to the realm of the departed. Master, why will you not accept? This has been a day of abundant happiness. In your great kindness and great compas sion, retain without further ado this small donation.

"275 My late master said,

"Minister! Your order is a

very grave matter, and I dare not decline. I only have [the following] excuse. When I ascended the seat of formal preaching and preached the Dharma, was the minister able to hear me clearly or not?" The minister said, "This

humble officer listened with pure joy.

" My late master said,

"Minister, you

have appreciated my words sagaciously, and I cannot hide my awe. I would like to ask further, while you graced us with your kind attendance, conferring 210

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great happiness, and this mountain monk was upon the lecture seat, what Dharma was I able to preach? Try to express it yourself. If you are able to express it, I shall respectfully accept the ten thousand pieces of silver. If you are unable to express it, then let your emis saries keep the silver. " [Chō]

Teikyo rose and said to my late master, "With respect, Master, this morning your Dharma presence, your movement and stillness, were full of health and happiness.

" My late master said,

"That is [only] the state that I manifested. What state did you get by listening?" The minister faltered. My late master said,

"The happiness of the departed has been roundly realized. Let us leave the contribution to the decision of your late father himself. " So saying, [the

master] took his leave and [Chō] Teikyo said, "I do not resent your not accepting [the gift]. I am very glad to have met you. " With these words, he saw my

late master off. Many monks and laypeople, east and west of the Setsu River, 276

praised this event, which was recorded in the diary of the attendant monk Hei. Attendant monk Hei said,

"This old master is a person [whose like] cannot be found. How could he be easily met anywhere else?" Is there any among people in all directions who would not have accepted the ten thousand pieces of silver? A person of old said, "When we see gold, silver, pearls, and jewels, we should see them as filth and soil. " Even if we see them as gold

and silver, it is the traditional custom of monks not to accept them. In my late master this observance was present. In other people this observance was absent. My late master always used to say, "There has not been a counselor

like me for three hundred years. You must all painstakingly strive in pursuit of the truth.

"

[269] In the order of my late master, there was a certain Dōshō, a man from the Minshū district of the western province of Shoku, 277 who belonged

to the Daoist tradition. He was in a group of five companions who together made the following vow: "In our lifetimes we shall grasp the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, or else we shall never return to our home country. "

My late master was especially delighted at this, and he let them walk and practice the truth278 as one with the monks. When arranging them in order, [however,] he positioned them below the bhikṣuṇīs279 —an excellent example, rare through the ages. 280 In another case, a monk from Fukushū, 281 whose

name was Zennyo, made the following vow: "Zennyo shall never in this life travel one step toward the south282 but shall solely partake in the Buddhist 211

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patriarchs' great truth.

" There were many such characters in the order of my late master—I saw them with my own eyes. Though absent from the orders of other masters, this was the conduct and observance of the [true] order of monks in the great kingdom of Song. It is sad that this atti tude of mind is absent among us [Japanese]. We are like this even in an age when we can meet the Buddha-Dharma: in an age when we could not meet the Buddha-Dharma, our bodies and minds would be beyond even shame. [271] Let us quietly consider: a lifetime is not so long, [and yet] if we are able to speak the words of a Buddhist patriarch—even if three and three [words] or two and two—we will have expressed the state of truth of the Buddhist patriarchs themselves. Why? [Because] the Buddhist patriarchs are the one ness of body and mind, and so the one word or the two words will be totally the warm body-and-mind of a Buddhist patriarch. That body-and-mind comes to us and expresses as the truth our own body-and-mind. At just the moment of speaking, the state of expressing the truth comes and expresses our own body-and-mind. It may be that "with this life we can express the body that is the accumulation of past lives.

"283 Therefore, when we become buddha or become a patriarch, we go beyond being buddha and go beyond being a patriarch. 284 Words spoken

by conduct and observance, [even if only] three and three or two and two, are like this. Do not chase after the empty sounds and forms of fame and gain. Not to chase them may be the conduct and observance transmitted one-to-one by the Buddhist patriarchs. I rec ommend you, whether you are a great hermit or a small hermit,

285 a whole person or half a person, throw away the ten thousand things and the myriad involvements, and maintain the practice of conduct and observance in the state of the Buddhist patriarchs.

ShōbōgenzōGyōji

Written at Kannondōrikōshōhōrinji, on the fifth

day of the fourth lunar month in the third year

of Ninji.

286

212

Notes

1 Gyōji. Gyō,

"conduct" or "practice, " can be interpreted as standing for bongyō,which represents the Sanskrit brahmacarya, "pure conduct.

" Ji,

"maintaining" or "keeping, "

can be interpreted as standing for jikai, "keeping the precepts" or "observing the rules of discipline.

" The phrase jikai-bongyōappears, for example, in Chapter One (Vol. I), Bendōwa,paragraph 51. Alternatively, gyōjican be interpreted as "maintaining the practice.

"

2 Katsu[te] zenna[se] zumeans there has been no separation of means and end. Master Dōgen's Zazenshin,in Chapter Twenty-seven, says "There has been no taintedness. "

3 Grasping of conduct and observance is a state of action, not a state of intellectual enlightenment.

4 In other words, conduct and observance is reality; "dependent origination" is only an explanation of reality. 5 Makyō,

"polishing a mirror, " means practice in the Buddhist state (see, for example, Chapter Twenty [Vol. I], Kokyō). Hakyō, "breaking a mirror, " means getting free of idealism.

6 Alludes to the parable in the Shinge("Belief and Understanding") chapter of the Lotus Sutra. See LS 1.236. 7 Eji su.In this compound, e, as verb.

"clothing,

" functions as object and ji, "retain,

" functions

8 The large robe. See Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku. 9 Counting Śākyamuni Buddha as the seventh of the seven ancient buddhas. 10 "Maintained the practice of" is gyōji su.See notes 1 and 7. 11 Ascetic practices listed, for example, in the Daibikusanzenyuigikyō (Sutra of Three Thousand Dignified Forms for Ordained Monks), and the Bussetsujūnizudakyō (Sutra of the Twelve Dhūtas Preached by the Buddha). The section in quotes is a direct quotation from the Chinese. 12 Represents the sound of a Sanskrit word; the original word has not been traced. 13 Kinhin,from the Sanskrit caṅkrama.The traditional rule for kinhinin Japan is issokuhanpō, "one breath per half-step. "

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14 Represents the sound of the Sanskrit naiṣadyika. 15 Daigo.The Spahn/Hadamitzky Japanese Character Dictionarygives daias "whey" and goas "a kind of butter-cream.

" In Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1 no. 8, Master Baso's feeling of satisfaction on hearing the teaching of Master Nangaku Ejō is described as "like having drunk daigo.

"

16 Counting Master Mahākāśyapa as the first patriarch in India. 17 The inclusive and integrated state of truth. 18 Sanzō,lit.,

"three stores,

" i.e., the Tripiṭaka,

and Abhidharma (commentaries).

"three baskets": Sutra, Vinaya (precepts), 19 Hachi-gedatsu,from the Sanskrit aṣṭa vimokṣāḥ. 20 The paragraph is in the form of a quotation, written in Chinese characters only, but the source has not been traced.

21 Shiken("four views") are the views of human beings, demons, fish, and gods who see water as water, pus, a palace, and a string of pearls, respectively. See, for example, Chapter Three (Vol. I), Genjō-kōan;Chapter Fourteen (Vol. I), Sansuigyō. 22 Bendō-kufumeans to make effort in zazen. 23 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), successor of Master Daiman Kōnin. 24 Ōbai means Master Daiman Kōnin. Ōbai was the name of the mountain where he lived.

25 Shusse,

"to manifest oneself in the world,

" means to become the master of a big temple. 26 Gyōji.See note 1.

27 Master Baso Dōitsu (704-788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejō. 28 Shin-in,short for butsu-shin-in, "buddha-mind-seal" which, in Chapter Seventy-two (Vol. III), Zanmai-ō-zanmai,Master Dōgen identifies with the full lotus posture. 29 Master Ungan Donjō (782-841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen and the thirtyseventh patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 30 Master Dōgo Enchi (769-835), also a successor of Master Yakusan Igen. 31 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan. Great Master Gohon is his posthumous title.

32 Ippen,literally,

"one piece.

" In the Fukanzazengi, Shinpitsubon,alluding to these words, Master Dōgen teaches: "Forgetting circumstances forever, to naturally realize wholeness. This is the secret of zazen. "

33 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. 214

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34 Sanpō-an was the name of Master Ungo's hut itself. Sanpō is the name of the mountain and anmeans hut, cell, or hermitage. 35 Legend says that when Buddhist practitioners are pursuing enlightenment, they are served meals by angels, but after they realize the truth the angels do not come any more.

36 Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Master Daichi is his posthumous title.

37 Master Hyakujō was instrumental in establishing the customs of Zen monasteries in China. He compiled the Koshingi (Old Pure Criteria), which later formed the basis for the Zen

'

enshingi,a work frequently quoted in the Shōbōgenzō. 38 Master Kyōsei Dōfu (864-937), successor of Master Seppō Gison. He later became master of Ryūsatsuji.

39 Buddhist practitioners, when they are doing Buddhist practice, are said to be invisible to gods and demons.

40 Master Sanpei Gichū (781-872), successor of Master Daiten Hōtsū (d. 819). He first studied under Master Shakkyō.

41 Master Enchi Daian (d. 883), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. One of his elder brothers in Master Hyakujō's order was Master Isan Reiyū (771-853). When Isan became the master of Daii Mountain, Master Enchi helped him run the temple; after Master Isan's death, Master Enchi became the second master of Daii Mountain. 42 The quotation in Chapter Sixty-four (Vol. III), Kajō,taken from the Keitokudentōroku, chapter 9, says thirty years. It is possible that in this chapter Master Dōgen was quoting from memory.

43 Ibid.,

"Isan Zen.

"

44 Ibid.,

"watch over.

"

45 Master Jōshū Jūshin (778-897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. 46 In present-day Hopeh, in northeast China. 47 Byōshaku,the canteen and staff, are two of the eighteen possessions a monk is supposed to have. Shakustands for shakujō,lit., "tin and staff,

" a wooden staff with a metal

top holding metal rings (Sanskrit: khakkhara). The rings are intended to rattle as the monk walks, so as to warn off wild animals. 48 Master Dōgen paraphrases the same words of Master Jōshū in Chapter Eight (Vol. I), Raihai-tokuzui.

49 Zenka,a corridor in front of the zazen hall proper where the temple officers sit. 50 Kōka,a washstand located behind the zazen hall. 215

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51 Sōrin,lit.,

"thicket-forest,

" represents the Sanskrit piṇḍavana,which literally means a round mass of forest, a clump of trees, and by extension a gathering of Buddhist practitioners at one place. Usually, sōrinsuggests a place for Buddhist practice. 52 A slightly different version is quoted in Chapter Thirty-nine, Dōtoku.Again, it is possible that Master Dōgen was quoting from memory. 53 Fu-akansuggests someone who does not talk about Buddhism but just lives quietly in a Buddhist temple.

54 Sun-in, literally,

"an inch of shadow.

"

55 The four subjects of these four sentences may be understood as a progression through four phases: 1) nyū,

"entry" into Buddhist practice with the ideal of realizing the truth; 2) shutsu,

"getting out" of the area of idealism (while remaining in the area of Buddhist practice); 3) realizing chōro, "the way of the birds,

" that is, the path by

which all interferences are transcended; 4) realizing henkai, "the entire universe" or

the Dharma itself.

56 Master Daibai Hōjō (752-839), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. 57 In present-day Hupei province in east China. 58 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 79. 59 Master Enkan Saian (?-842), also a successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. 60 Kōzei is where Master Baso had his order. 61 Eijin,

"people from Ei,

" were renowned as accomplished singers of vulgar songs. Here "people from Ei" suggests Buddhist masters who attracted popularity. 62 The master's name Daibai means "Great Plum. "

63 Master Tenryū, successor of Master Daibai Hōjō. His history is not known, but he is famous for transmitting "one-finger Zen" to Master Gutei. 64 Master Gutei (dates unknown), successor of Master Tenryū. He used to live in a hut but at the instigation of a nun who scolded him, he set off to visit many masters and met Master Tenryū. He is said to have realized the truth when Master Tenryū showed him one finger. Thereafter, in answer to all questions, Master Gutei just showed one finger.

65 Dates unknown.

66 Tigers and elephants symbolize excellent Buddhist practitioners. 67 Master Goso Hōen (1024-1104), successor of Master Hakuun Shutan. 68 Goso means Gosozan, lit.,

"Fifth Patriarch Mountain"; this is the mountain from where Master Daiman Kōnin spread the Dharma. It is in present-day Hupei province in east China.

216

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69 Master Yōgi Hōe (992-1049), successor of Master Sekisō Soen and succeeded by Master Hakuun Shutan.

70 Kōtei (Ch. Huangdi), supposed to have reigned 2697-2597 B.C.E. 71 Reigned 2356-2255 B.C.E.

72 Reigned 2255-2205 B.C.E. These three emperors, Kōtei, Gyō, and Shun, belong to the period of Chinese history called the legendary age of the five rulers. 73 Shishi(Ch. Shizi), is the name of the book and also the name of the author, Shishi. The book was written in the Warring States era (475-221 B.C.E.) of the Zhou dynasty. 74 Meidō,

business.

"hall of brightness,

" means the building where the emperor conducted political 75 The legend of the Yellow Emperor's visit to the Daoist sage Kōsei is described in Chapter Fourteen (Vol. I), Sansuigyō.

76 Master Nansen Fugan (748-834), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. 77 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 18.

78 Master Wanshi Shōgaku (1091-1157), successor of Master Tanka Shijun. See Chapter Twenty-seven, Zazenshin.

79 Daibyakuhōzan, lit.,

"Big White Mountain,

" is another name of Mount Tendō, where

Master Dōgen met Master Tendō Nyojō.

80 A poem by Ō Kōkyo, a Chinese poet of the Later Jin dynasty (936-946), says: "Small hermits conceal themselves in hills and thickets,/Great hermits conceal themselves in palaces and towns.

"

81 Alludes to Lotus Sutra, Anrakugyō("Peaceful and Joyful Practice"): "It is like the king releasing from his topknot/The bright pearl, and giving it./This sutra is honored/As supreme among all sutras,/I have always guarded it,/And not revealed it at random./Now is just the time/To preach it for you all. " (LS 2.276-78.) Nonrealization,

that is, the real state that is beyond realization, is already present. At the same time, it is not simply the materialistic denial of enlightenment, which can easily be grasped by anyone.

82 Master Daiji Kanchū (780-862), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. 83 Setsu, to[ku] means 1) to explain in words, and 2), to preach or manifest in action or in words. See, for example, Chapter Thirty-eight, Muchū-setsumu;Chapter Fortyeight (Vol. III), Sesshin-sesshō. 84 The original units corresponding to inch, foot, and yard are sun, shaku, jō.One sun is 1.193 inches; ten sun(11.93 inches) is one shaku;and ten shaku(119.3 inches) is one jō.Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 77; Keitokudentōroku,chapter 9. 217

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85 Kanchū[no] ji-i-dōmeans, in the first case, words that Kanchū expresses through his own intention, and in the second case, words that naturally emerge from Kanchū. Ji mizuka[ra], onozuka[ra] means both "oneself" and "naturally. "

86 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan Donjō and the thirtyeigth patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 87 Keitokudentōroku,chapter 9.

88 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. 89 The words of Master Jōshū, quoted in paragraph 139 of this chapter. In Chapter Thirtynine, Dōtoku,Master Dōgen asserts that to spend a lifetime without leaving the monastery is to express the truth.

90 The story of the monk who expressed the truth by washing his head and going before Master Seppō Gison to have his head shaved is also contained in Chapter Thirtynine, Dōtoku. 91 The words of the Buddha, quoted in Keitokudentōroku,chapter 2, in the section on Master Saṃghanandi.

92 See Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kokyō.

93 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744), successor of Master Daikan Enō. Zen Master Daie is his posthumous title.

94 Master Daikan Enō. See paragraph 129.

95 Alludes to the words of Master Yōka Genkaku in the Shōdōka:"A person who is through with study and free of doing, who is at ease in the truth, does not try to get rid of delusion and does not want to get reality.

" See also Vol. I, Appendix Two,

Fukanzazengi.

96 Master Nangaku's words to Master Daikan Enō after he had been in Master Daikan Enō's order for eight years. See Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan. 97 Master Kyōgen Chikan (?-898), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. 98 Master Isan Reiyū.

99 Master Nan'yo Echū (?-775), successor of Master Daikan Enō. National Master Daishō is his title as the teacher of the emperor.

100 Master Rinzai Gigen (815?-867), successor of Master Ōbaku. Great Master Eshō is his posthumous title.

101 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. ca. 855), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. 102 Master Bokushū Dōmyō (780?-877?), successor of Master Ōbaku. Chin-sonshuku, Venerable Patriarch Chin, was a name given to him later. 218

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103 Master Kōan Daigu (780-862), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. 104 The story of Master Rinzai's encounters with the masters Bokushū, Ōbaku, and Daigu is recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 27. 105 Sosekigenerally refers to the Buddhist lineages in China stemming from Master Bodhi dharma.

106 Master Tokusan Senkan (780-865), successor of Master Ryūtan Sōshin. See, for example, Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen (Vol. I), Shin-fukatoku. 107 Gyogo-junitsu.The four characters come directly from the story quoted in the Shinjishōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 27. 108 Quoted from the Rinzaizenjigoroku. 109 Saishō-dōsha,

"one of the way of planting pines, " is another name for the Fifth Patriarch in China, Master Daiman Kōnin (688-761). See Chapter Twenty-two, Busshō,paragraph 22.

110 Daian-shōja. Shōjaliterally means "spiritual house" or "spiritual hut" —suggesting

that the temple was not grand. 111 The story of Master Ōbaku's encounter with Prime Minister Hai is recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 9. 112 Emperor Sensō reigned 847-860. 113 Emperor Kensō reigned 806-821. 114 Emperor Bokushō reigned 821-825. 115 It was customary in the Chinese court to conduct political business first thing in the morning.

116 Ryūshō,

"dragon dais,

" a raised platform serving as the emperor's throne. 117 Eichū,literally,

"excellent helmet.

"

118 824.

119 Emperor Keisō reigned 825-827. 120 The historical records say that Emperor Bunsō reigned 827-841. 121 Emperor Busō reigned 841-847. 122 841-847.

123 Master Kyōgen Chikan (see paragraph 169). 124 Master Kankei Shikan (?-895), mentioned earlier in this chapter in paragraph 141; a successor of Master Rinzai. 219

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125 Ryozan (Ch. Lushan), is a mountain famed for its beauty. There are said to be several hundred Buddhist temples on the mountain. 126 Master Enkan Saian (?-842), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Kokushi, Master,

" is his title as the teacher of Emperor Sensō. "National

127 Shoki,the clerk assisting the head monk, was one of the six assistant officers of a big temple.

128 Master Ōbaku eventually became the successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. Both Master Hyakujō Ekai and Master Enkan Saian were disciples of Master Baso Dōitsu. 129 Quoted from the Yuimakyō (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra). 130 Gūshi,

"wretched son,

" again alludes to the parable in the Shinge("Belief and Understanding") chapter of the Lotus Sutra. See notes to paragraph 111. 131 Master Seppō Gison (822-907), successor of Master Tokusan Senkan. Great Master Shinkaku is his posthumous title.

132 The mountain where Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869) had his order. 133 The mountain where Master Tōsu Daidō (819-914), and Master Tōsu Gisei (1032-1083) had their orders. 134 Jushu,

"imparting of the hand,

" means a teacher's personal instruction or guidance. 135 Tashō,

"pounding the mortar,

" suggests the efforts of Master Daikan Enō and Master Daiman Kōnin described earlier in this chapter. 136 Master Bodhidharma (d. ca. 528), successor of Master Prajñātara. He was the twentyeighth patriarch in India (counting from Master Mahākāśyapa) and the First Patriarch in China.

137 Master Prajñātara was the twenty-seventh patriarch in India. 138 The fourth line of Master Bodhidharma's poem, quoted in Chapter Forty-three (Vol. III), Kūge:"A flower is five petals opening,/Effects naturally are realized./I originally came to this land,/To transmit the Dharma and save deluded emotional beings. "

139 In other words, he came from India not because of idealism but because of reality. 140 Present day Guangzhou. This part of China was the most active in terms of contact with foreign countries.

141 527. The Futsū era was 520-527.

142 The Liang dynasty was 502-557.

143 Emperor Bu, or Wu, reigned 502-550. 144 In present-day Jiangsu province, in east China, bordering on the Yellow Sea. 145 The section of dialogue from paragraph 188 to here is quoted directly from the Chinese. 220

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146 Present-day Luoyang, a city in the Huang basin in northern Hunan province in east China.

147 The one hundred sixty-nine years between 420 and 589 were the epoch of division between north and south China. During this epoch, in the south, the Liu Song (420-479), Southern Qi (479-502), Liang (502-557), and Chen (557-589) dynasties prevailed. In the north, the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535) and the Western Wei dynasty (535-589) prevailed.

148 Bodhiruci was a monk from North India who came to Luoyang in 508. He was one of the main translators of Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese during the Northern Wei dynasty. He is said to have tried to poison Master Bodhidharma out of jealousy. 149 Precepts teacher Kōzū participated in the translation of the Jūjikyōron (Sutra of Commentaries on the Ten States), and he made a commentary on the same text. He is also said to have tried to poison Master Bodhidharma. 150 Sanzō,lit.,

"three stores,

" represents the Sanskrit Tripiṭaka, the three baskets of Sutra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. The Chinese gave the title "Sanzō" to scholar-monks from India, such as Bodhiruci, who were versed in the Tripiṭaka. 151 Master Kakuhan Ekō (1071-1128). He lived at Ruitokuji in the Sekimon district. 152 The Sekimon-rinkanroku, lit., "Sekimon's Forest Record,

" published in 1107. It has

two volumes containing over three hundred fascicles describing the words, deeds, and teachings of Buddhist patriarchs. 153 Zenna,representing the sound of the Sanskrit dhyāna, here represents the practice of zazen itself. "meditation" or "concentration,

"

154 Kyōgyō,read here as keikō,means to walk along, or to pass along, in order to get from A to B.

155 Kyōgyō,read here as kinhin,means walking as a Buddhist practice, maintaining the balanced state of body and mind. In Japan kinhinis performed very slowly, the standard being issoku-hanpō,or half a step for each breath. 156 Gyōliterally means "high" or "far away. " At the same time, Gyō is the name of an emperor in the legendary period of Chinese history, who is supposed to have ruled 2356-2255 B.C.E. In this context gyōmeans Master Bodhidharma as a great man or a great founder.

157 Chūdō,lit.,

refer to China.

"middle lands,

" and chūka,lit.,

"middle flower [of civilization], " both

158 Nihei:1) civilian power, 2) military power. 159 Sansai:1) the heavens, 2) the earth, 3) people. 160 Gosai:1) wood, 2) fire, 3) earth, 4) metal, 5) water. 221

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161 Kōsoliterally means "founding patriarch" or "founder. " The founder of the Han

dynasty ruled 206-194 B.C.E.

162 Taisō,lit.,

"big patriarch,

" also is a term used for the founding emperor of a dynasty. In this case it refers to Dobutei, the founder of the Northern Wei dynasty who ruled 386-409.

163 Shimeans child or disciple.

164 The uḍumbaraflower is said to bloom once every three thousand years. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge.

165 So is the name of an ancient kingdom in China where a man called Benka found a big rough gemstone ("Benka's gem") and offered it to the king, but the king could not recognize its value.

166 That is, after Master Bodhidharma had come to China (in the last year of the Futsū era, 527).

167 Sui (ca. 581-618); Tang (618-ca. 907); Song (960-1279). 168 Counting sand symbolizes the boring work of Buddhist scholars. 169 Master Kyōgen Chikan. See paragraph 169.

170 Hakuhatsu,

"white-haired,

" in this case suggests the corpse of an old person. 171 Refers to a Chinese legend recorded in the Zokuseikaiki (Tales from Sei, Part Two): A nine-year-old boy called Yoho saved an injured sparrow. The sparrow repaid him with four white rings, which led Yoho to assume the three top official posts in the land. 172 Refers to another Chinese legend, recorded in the Shinshoretsuden,the collection of biographies contained within the book Shinsho (Writings of the Shin Dynasty). A man called Koyu saved a turtle in distress, and as a result he later rose to the public office called Yofu. (The seal of the office of Yofu depicted a turtle.) 173 The Aikuōhiyukyō (Sutra of the Parable of King Aśoka) contains the story of a traveler who saw an angel prostrating to a corpse lying beside the road. The traveler asked why, and the angel said that its body had done only good deeds when alive and so the angel had been born in heaven. Further on, the traveler saw a demon beating a corpse. The demon explained that this body had done only bad, and so it had become a demon.

174 The Chūhonkikyō (Middle-length Sutra of Past Occurrences) has a chapter entitled Butsujikibabaku,

"How the Buddha Ate Horses' Barley.

" The chapter relates how the

brahman king Akidatsu (Sanskrit name not traced), after inviting the Buddha and five hundred disciples to a meal, became busy and forgot to serve food to the sangha, so they made do with barley meant for the horses.

175 Alludes to an episode in the Shikietsuden,the collection of biographies in the book Shiki (Historical Records). A warrior-king of the Zhou dynasty (1122-255 B.C.E.) 222

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conquered the country of In, after which two former nobles of In took refuge in the mountains, preferring to eat bracken than to eat the new king's millet. 176 Master Taiso Eka, successor of Master Bodhidharma. 177 Yi and Raku are the names of rivers in the Kanan district of China. The place between them is Luoyang (pronounced Rakuyō in Japanese). The kings of the Zhou dynasty (1122-255 B.C.E.) made their capital in Luoyang, and the city also served as the capital of later dynasties such as the Later Han, Western Jin, Later Wei, Sui, etc. 178 Master Kōzan Hōjō, Master Taiso Eka's original teacher. 179 This may refer to a story in the Daihannyagyō (Heart Sutra): Bodhisattva Jōtai visited Bodhisattva Hōyū (Sanskrit: Dharmagupta) and heard the teaching of the great real wisdom, but he had nothing to serve as an offering, so he sold his own body and served his own marrow as an offering.

180 The Kengukyōcontains the story of a king of Jambudvīpa who stabbed himself and served up his own blood in order to save a hungry demon. 181 Refers to a story in the Daihōshakkyō:Before Śākyamuni realized the truth, he revered people who had already realized the truth so much that he spread his hair over a muddy puddle so that the Buddha Dīpaṃkara could walk over it. 182 Refers to a story in the Konkōmyōkyō:Makasatta, the third son of the king of Makara dei (Sanskrit: Mahāratha), seeing that a mother tiger that was suckling seven cubs was about to die of hunger, fed the tiger his own body. 183 He did not see purification as a means to an end. He was free from ulterior motives. 184 Master Mahākāśyapa, whose face broke into a smile when the Buddha showed his audience an uḍumbaraflower. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge. 185 The story of Master Bodhidharma telling Master Taiso Eka, row,

" is recorded in Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō. "You have got my mar-186 Rasetsurepresents the sound of the Sanskrit rākṣasawhich means an evil or malignant demon.

187 Mugen-kūge,

"flowers in space,

" symbolize illusions.

188 Chisō,lit.,

"mowing weeds,

" means clearing a site for the building of a temple. 189 Master Seigen Gyōshi (?-740), successor of Master Daikan Enō. Master Dōgen's lineage is through Master Seigen.

190 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744), also a successor of Master Daikan Enō. The Rinzai sect traces its lineages back to Master Nangaku. 191 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790), successor of Master Seigen Gyōshi. Sekitōliterally means "rock top.

"

223

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192 Jūniji no zazen,

"twelve-hour zazen,

" means zazen all day long.

"Twelve hours" in

Master Dōgen's time was a whole day and night, twenty-four hours in our time. 193 Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), founder of the Unmon sect. See Chapter Fortynine (Vol. III), Butsudō. 194 Master Hōgen Bun'eki (885-958), founder of the Hōgen sect. Ibid. 195 Master Daii Dōshin (580-651), successor of Master Kanchi Sōsan, is the thirty-first patriarch counting from Master Mahākāśyapa. He is the Fourth Patriarch in China, counting from Master Bodhidharma.

196 Sanso-daishi,lit.,

"Great Master the Third Patriarch,

" is Master Kanchi Sōsan,

successor of Master Taiso Eka and the Third Patriarch in China. 197 Sesshin,literally,

"to collect/gather together/concentrate the mind. " Recently, the

same two characters have been used as a name for short zazen retreats. 198 Jōkan-kibō.The Jōkan era corresponds to the reign of the Tang dynasty emperor Taisō (627-650). Kibō,the tenth calendar sign and the fourth horary sign, identifies the year as the seventeenth year of the Jōkan era: 643. 199 This paragraph is quoted directly from the Keitokudentōroku. 200 Alludes to Lotus Sutra, Anrakugyō.See LS 2.244. 201 From this point onward, this paragraph is in Chinese characters only; quoted from the Keitokudentōroku.

202 The Eiki era was 650-656. Shingai,the eighth calendar sign and the twelfth horary sign, identifies the year as the second year of the Eiki era: 651. 203 Emperor Kōsō reigned 650-684.

204 Master Gensha Shibi (835-907), successor of Master Seppō Gison. Gensha was the name of the mountain/temple where Master Gensha lived. Shibi was his hōmyō,literally, Dharma name, i.e., the name he received when he became a monk and used thereafter in his lifetime. It was the custom in China not to use the Dharma name after a monk's death but to use a posthumous name or title, which, in Master Gensha's case, was Great Master Shūitsu.

205 Fuzhou (Jp. Fukushu) is in present-day Fujian province in southeast China, bordering on the Formosa Strait.

206 The Kantsū era was 860-874.

207 Master Fuyō Reikun, successor of Master Kisō Chijō. 208 In Jiangxi province in southeast China. 209 Master Seppō Gison (822-908), successor of Master Tokusan Senkan. 224

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210 The twelve dhūtas are listed earlier in this chapter, in the section on Master Mahā kāśyapa, paragraph 119. 211 Hensan, or "thorough exploration,

" is the title of Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III). 212 These episodes are also discussed in Chapter Four (Vol. I), Ikka-no-myōju. 213 Zōkotsuzan, lit.,

"Elephant Bone Mountain,

" is another name for Mount Seppō.

214 Master Chōkei Eryō (854-932), successor of Master Seppō Gison. 215 Senitsu ni kufu su.The same phrase appears in the Fukanzazengiand suggests the practice of zazen.

216 Master Isan Reiyū (771-853), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. Zen Master Daien is his posthumous title.

217 Bonsetsu. Bonrepresents the Sanskrit brāhma,moral, pure, sacred; or brahmacarya, pure conduct. Setsurepresents the Sanskrit kṣetra,which means place, land, or temple. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

218 Kekkai,lit.,

"bounded areas,

" from the Sanskrit sīmā-bandha,are discussed in Chapter Eight (Vol. I), Raihai-tokuzui.

219 Kufu-bendō,a favorite expression of Master Dōgen's to suggest zazen itself. 220 Furinrefers to wind as one of the five elements, or five wheels (from the Sanskrit pañca-maṇḍalaka): earth, water, fire, wind, and air. 221 Master Kyōzan Ejaku (807-883), successor of Master Isan. 222 Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814).

223 Śāriputra was said to be the most excellent of the Buddha's ten great disciples. In Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 61, Master Isan says "The mystical powers and the wisdom of you two disciples (Kyōzan and Kyōgen) are far superior to those of Śāri putra and Maudgalyāyana.