T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume III

Chapter 66: Shunjū - Spring and Autumn

Shōbōgenzō Volume III 13 Master Sōzan Honjaku (840-901), successor of Master Tōzan Ryōkai. 14 This group of stories can be found in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 17. See also Shinjishōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 28. 15 Gomyaku-ri-tenshin, "transforming the body inside the stream of words, " expresses

flexibility—maintenance of the purity of the Buddhist tradition does not call for a fighting attitude or a rigid outlook. 16 Kai-ko-fu-jin-tei, "the sea has dried and no sea bed is reached, " is a variation of the expression kai-ko-fu-ken-tei, "the sea has dried and no sea bed is seen" (see note 3; also Chapter Sixty-two, Hensan,paragraph 70). Instead of fuken, "not seeing,

" Master

Dōgen said fujin,

"not reaching the limit. "

17 Fujin-ze-kan. Fujin, "not reaching the limit, " suggests the Buddhist process as non attachment to an end result. Kan, "dryness,

" also suggests nonattachment. 18 Kanjō-yū-kan,literally, "on dryness, further drying. "

19 Mata-fuchi-ze-ka-shōku,translated in the story as "Even without knowing the words. . . "

is literally "Even without knowing that these are what chapter and verse. " Ka-shōku,

"what chapter and verse" or "what words, " can be interpreted as "What words, " that

is,

"words of the ineffable. "

20 Monsha-kai-sō,translated in the story as "those who hear all share the loss, " is literally

"those who hear all mourn. " Sō means to mourn or to lose someone. At the same time, in the compound sōshitsuit means "to lose. " The phrase sōshin-shitsumyō, "to

lose body and life,

" is an ironic expression of attaining the state of realization. See, for example, Chapter Sixty-seven, Soshi-sairai-no-i,paragraph 149. 21 Kumo o nashi, mizu o nasu, "becoming clouds and becoming water, " represents the

unhindered working of nature. In a poem in Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike, paragraph 224, Master Tendō Nyojō uses the phrase "the becoming of rain and the becoming of clouds" to express nature itself. 22 Tōrō-tai-tōrō,lit., "a stone lantern opposes a stone lantern, " means a stone lantern exists conspicuously as it is. The term tōrōis applied not only to the stone lanterns that are commonly seen in Japanese-style gardens but also to hanging lanterns, lanterns floated on water, etc. However, when Master Dōgen uses the term tōrōin the Shōbōgenzō,it is assumed that he has in mind a stone lantern in the garden of a Buddhist temple.

23 Modern-day Fukui prefecture. 24 1243.

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[Chapter Sixty-six]

Shunjū

233b3

Spring and Autumn

Translator's Note: Shun means "

spring

"

and jū, which is a corruption of shū, means

"

autumn.

" Shunjū, spring and autumn, expresses the seasons. In this chapter Master Dōgen describes the Buddhist attitude toward cold and heat. First Master Dōgen quotes a famous conversation on this subject between Master Tōzan Ryōkai and a monk. Then he discusses the comments of some ancient masters in order to explain the true meaning of the story. [127] Great Master Tōzan Gohon, 1 the story goes, is asked by a monk, "When

cold or heat come, how are we to avoid them?" The master says,

"Why do you not go to the place without cold and heat?"

The monk says,

"What is the place without cold and heat?" The master says "When it is cold, kill the ācāryawith cold. 2 When it is

hot, kill the ācāryawith heat. "3

Many have discussed this story in the past, and many should consider it in the present. Buddhist patriarchs inevitably have experienced it, and those who have experienced it are Buddhist patriarchs. Many Buddhist patriarchs of the past and present, in the Western Heavens and in the Eastern Lands, have seen this story as their real features. The realization of the features of this story is the reality of Buddhist patriarchs. That being so, we should clarify in detail the monk's question,

"When cold or heat come, how are we to avoid them?" That means detailed examination in experience of the very moment in which cold has come and of the very moment in which heat has come. Both the totality of cold and the totality of heat, in this "cold and heat, " are cold and heat themselves. Because they are cold and heat themselves, when they have come, they have come from the very brains4 of cold and heat themselves, and they are manifest from the very eyes of cold and heat themselves. On these very brains 309

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is the place without cold and heat. In these very eyes is the place without cold and heat. The founding patriarch's words,

"When it is cold, kill the

ācāryawith cold. When it is hot, kill the ācāryawith heat" are about the situation just at the moment of having arrived. "When it is cold,

" the expression

is "killing with cold,

" but "when it is hot,

" "killing with heat" need not always

be the expression. Cold is utterly cold, and heat is utterly hot. Even if we have been able to discover myriad koṭis of methods of avoidance, they are all like replacing a tail with a head.

5 Cold is just the vivid eyes of the ancestral

patriarchs. Heat is just the warm skin and flesh of my late master. [130] Zen Master Jōin Kōboku6 (who succeeded Master Fuyō and who was known as Master Hōjō) says:

Some among the sangha interpret as follows: "This monk's question has fallen into the relative already. Tōzan's answer returns to the absolute. In [Tōzan's] speech, the monk recognizes sound, and comes into the absolute. Tōzan then exits via the relative. " Interpretations

like this not only blaspheme the ancient saints but also daunt the perpetrators themselves. Have you not read the words that "When we listen to the understanding of ordinary people, though the reds and blues [it excites] in the mind may be beautiful before the eyes, if it is stored for long it makes for disease.

" In general, noble wayfarers, if

you want to master this matter, first you must know the founding patriarch's right Dharma-eye treasury. The comments and teaching of other Buddhist patriarchs are something like the murmurs of hot [water] in a [lacquered] bowl. Even so, I dare to ask you,

"What, in conclusion,

is the place without cold or heat? Do you understand or not?" A jeweled tower is a nest for a kingfisher, but a golden palace offers no shelter to a mandarin duck.

7

[132] This master is a descendant of Tōzan, a hero in the Patriarch's order. That being so, he clearly admonishes the many individuals who mistakenly prostrate themselves to Great Master Tōzan, the founding patriarch, inside the cave of the relative and the absolute. If the Buddha-Dharma were transmitted and received on the basis of limited consideration of the relative and the absolute, how could it have reached the present day? Wild kittens, barnyard bumpkins, who have never explored Tōzan's inner sanctum, people 310

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who have not walked the threshold of the truth of the Buddha-Dharma, mistakenly assert that Tōzan teaches people with his five positions of the relative and the absolute,

8 and so on. This is an outlandish insistence and a random insistence. We should not see or hear it. We should just investigate the fact that the founding patriarch possesses the right Dharma-eye treasury. [133] Zen Master Wanshi9 of Tendōzan in Keigenfu City10 (who succeeded Master Tanka and who was known as Master Shōgaku) says: This episode, if we discuss it, is like a game of gobetween two players. If you do not respond to my move, I will fool you completely. If we experience it like this, we will begin to understand Tōzan's intention. And Tendō cannot help adding a footnote: When we research it, this concrete place is without hot and cold. Already the blue depths have dried to the last drop. I tell you we can catch a giant turtle just by bending down. You are a laugh, dallying in the sand with a fishing rod. 11

Not denying the "game of go,

" for the present, how are the "two players"? If we call it "a game of gobetween two players, " there might be a handicap

of eight stones. With an eight-stone handicap, it is not a game of go,is it? If we are to discuss it, we should discuss it like this: the game of go is one player and an opponent meeting each other. Even so, we should mindfully consider, and should physically master, the state now expressed by Wanshi as "you do not respond to my move.

" "You do not respond to my move" says

"you can never be me.

" Do not pass over "I will fool you completely. "12 In

mud there is mud: those who tread in it wash their feet—and also wash their crown strings. In a pearl there is a pearl: when it shines it illuminates others and it illuminates itself.

[135] Zen Master Engo13 of Kassan Mountain14 (who succeeded Zen Master Goso Hōen and who was known as Master Kokugon) says: A bowl rolls around a pearl, and the pearl rolls around the bowl. The absolute in the relative, the relative in the absolute. 15

Of the antelope,

16 carrying its horns, there is no trace. Hunting hounds circle the forest and emptily skulk. 17

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The present expression "a bowl rolls around a pearl" is unprecedented and inimitable, it has rarely been heard in eternity. Hitherto, [people] have spoken only as if the pearl rolling in the bowl were ceaseless. The antelope is now holding up its horns in the emptiness. And the forest is now circling the hunting hounds.

[137] Zen Master Myōkaku18 of Shishōji on Setchōzan in Keigenfu City (who succeeded Master Hokutō [Kō]so,

19 and who was known as Master Jūken) says:

A guiding hand20 is as a cliff of ten thousand feet. Why should the relative and the absolute always be neatly arranged? A stately old mansion of lapis lazuli lights up a bright moon. A black guard dog,

21 hardy and keen, is vacantly padding up the

steps.

22

Setchō is a third-generation Dharma descendant of Unmon, and he may be called a bag of skin that has experienced satisfaction. Now, saying that "A guiding hand is as a cliff of ten thousand feet, " he indicates a singularly uncompromising standard, but [a guiding hand] may not always be like that. The present story of the monk's question and [Tō]zan's teaching is not necessarily about "bestowing a guiding hand or not bestowing a guiding hand, "23 and not

necessarily about "leaving the world or not leaving the world"; how much less does it rely on expression of the relative and the absolute. [People] seem unable to lay a hand upon this story without relying on the eyes of the relative and the absolute. That is because, lacking the nose ring which is [got by] visiting [a master] and requesting [instruction], they do not arrive at the periphery of the founding patriarch, and do not glimpse the great masters of the Buddha-Dharma. Picking up some new straw sandals, they should visit [a master] and request [instruction]. Stop recklessly saying that the Buddha-Dharma of the founding patriarch is the five positions of the absolute and the relative. [139] Master Shutaku24 of Tennei Temple in Tōkei district, 25 [titled] Zen

Master Chōrei, says:

Amid the relative exists the absolute; amid the absolute, the relative. Thousands of centuries floating downstream in the human world. How many times I have hoped to return, but to return has been impossible.

Before my gate, as ever, weeds are growing in abundance. 26

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He also cannot help mentioning the absolute and the relative, and yet he has picked up something. Not denying that he has picked up something, what is it that,

"in the middle of the relative, exists"?27 [140] Master Busshō28 of Daii [Mountain] in Tanshū29 (who succeeded Engo and whose monk's name was Hōtai) says: Thanks to you,

30 I have penetrated the place without cold or heat. A withered tree has bloomed again. Laughable people who mark their boat in looking for a sword, 31

Still today are in cold ashes.

32

This expression has just enough power to tread upon the Board of Law33 and to receive it upon the crown of the head. [141] Zen Master Tandō Bunjun34 of Rokutan Pond35 says: In the moment of heat [I] kill [myself] with heat and in the moment of cold with cold.

Where heat and cold come from I do not care at all. Realizing the ends of space in action and remembering worldly matters at will.

The old master is crowned with a boarskin cap. 36

Now let us ask: What is the truth of the state of "not caring"?37 Speak at once! Speak at once!

[141] Zen Master Kazan Buttō38 of Kōshū39 (who succeeded Zen Master Bukkan Egon of Taihei Mountain and who was known as Master Shujun) says: Tōzan spoke of the place without cold and heat. Numerous Zen people have lost their way there. When it is cold I get in front of a fire, and when it is hot I employ means of keeping cool.

All my life I am able to avoid and escape cold and heat. 40

[142] This Master [Shu]jun is a Dharma grandchild of Zen Master Goso Hōen,

41 but his words are like those of a small child. Even so, in "All my life I am able to avoid and escape cold and heat, " there may be a hint of

future mature realization. In that case, "all my life" means "with my whole life,

" and "escaping cold and heat" means getting free of body and mind. In 313

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conclusion, although masters from many districts and in many ages have devoted themselves to flapping their lips like this, offering their eulogies to the ancients, they have never glimpsed the periphery of the founding patriarch Tōzan. The reason, if asked, is that they do not know what cold and heat are in the everyday life of a Buddhist patriarch, and so they randomly speak, for example, of "employing means of keeping cool and getting in front of a fire. "

It is especially pitiful that you [Shujun], though in the vicinity of venerable patriarchs, have not heard what "cold and heat" means. We should regret that the ancestral master's truth has died out. Knowing the form and stages of this "cold and heat,

" having passed instantaneously through periods of cold and heat and having utilized cold and heat, we should praise over again, with eulogies of the ancients and discussions of the ancients, the truth that the founding patriarch taught. Until we are at that level, the best thing for us is to know our own faults. Even the secular42 are aware of the sun and the moon and they maintain and rely upon the myriad things, but there are differences among them between the sacred and the clever, between gentlefolk and stupid fellows. Do not misunderstand that cold and heat in the Buddha's truth are the same as the cold and heat of stupid fellows. Just be diligent in practice at once.

Shōbōgenzō Shunjū

Preached to the assembly, a second time, deep in the mountains of Etsu district in the second year of Kangen.

43 At a Buddhist event,

44 I have

preached a Buddhist Kirin Sutra.

45 An ancestral

master said,

"Though there are many horns in

the herd, one kirinis enough.

"46

314

Notes

1 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan Donjō and the Eleventh Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 2 Jari represents the Sanskrit term of respect ācārya. In this case, it means "you. "

3 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 25. 4 Chōnei,

"brains,

" sometimes symbolizes the intellectual sphere, but in this case it means that which is fundamental or real as opposed to a concept. 5 I-tō-kan-bi,

"replacing a tail with a head,

" here suggests impracticality. Sometimes the same expression suggests changing from an intellectual attitude to a practical attitude. 6 Master Kōboku Hōjō (dates unknown), a successor of Master Fuyō Dōkai (1043-1118) who was the Eighteenth Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. Zen Master Jōin Kōboku is his posthumous title. 7 Kataifutōroku,chap. 26.

8 Henshōtō no go-i.See also Chapter Forty-nine, Butsudō,paragraph 166. 9 Master Wanshi Shōgaku (1091-1157), successor of Master Tanka Shijun. He became a disciple of Master Tanka Shijun at the recommendation of Master Kōboku Hōjō. When he was thirty-nine he became the master of Keitokuji on Mount Tendō, where he remained until his death.

10 Present-day Ningbo in northern Zhekiang. Master Dōgen was later to practice here on Mount Tendō under Master Tendō Nyojō. 11 Wanshizenjigoroku,chap. 4.

12 Master Wanshi's words describe the serious state of action in daily life. 13 Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135), successor of Master Goso Hōen, and editor of the Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record). Both Master Engo and Master Goso are quoted in Chapter Seventy-four (Vol. IV), Tenbōrin. 14 In Hunan province in southeast central China. 15 Hen-chū-shōand shō-chū-henare the first two of Master Tōzan's five positions. The other three are shō-chū-rai,

"the absolute coming to the middle, " hen-chū-shi,

"the

relative arriving at the middle, " and ken-chū-tō,

"both having arrived at the middle. "

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16 Reiyō, kamoshika,

"a serow,

" is any of several goat-like antelopes (genus Capricornis) of eastern Asia that are usually rather dark and heavily built, and some of which have distinct manes (Webster's). 17 Engozenjigoroku,chap. 9, "Eulogies of the Ancients. "

18 Master Setchō Jūken (980-1052). 19 Master Chimon Kōso (dates unknown). 20 Suishu,lit.,

"the hanging down of a hand, " means practical guidance bestowed from a master to a disciple.

21 Kanro.Kan was an area in China associated with this breed of dog. Romeans black. 22 Hekiganroku,no. 43.

23 Suishu-fusuishu,lit., "hanging down a hand, not hanging down a hand, " expresses a

distinction between a master's instruction of others and his or her own practice. The phrase appears in the commentary in the Hekiganroku,no. 43: "In the Sōtō lineage there is leaving the world and not leaving the world, and there is bestowing a guiding hand and not bestowing a guiding hand. "

24 Master Chōrei Shutaku (d. 1123), successor of Master Ōryū Isei. 25 Tōkei is literally "Eastern Capital. " It corresponds to a district in present-day Hunan province in east-central China. 26 Chōreishutakuzenjigoroku (Record of the Words of Zen Master Chōrei Shutaku). 27 Master Chōrei Shutaku's verse says hen-chū-u, "In the relative, exists. . . . " Hen,

"relative,

" originally means "one-sidedness. " Chūas a preposition means "in, " "inside,

"

or "in the middle of.

" Middle way is chūdō.Master Dōgen picked up the three characters hen-chū-u to suggest real existence in the middle way between extremes. 28 Master Busshō Hōtai (dates unknown), successor of Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135). 29 In present-day Hunan province in southeast central China. 30 Kimi,a polite form for "you, " here means Master Tōzan. 31 The Chinese book Shunjū(Spring and Autumn) by Roshi tells the story of a man who dropped his sword from a boat on a river, and tried to mark the place by putting a notch in his boat. He stubbornly searched under the notch, even though the boat had moved downstream.

32 Zenshūjukorenjutsūshū (Complete String-of-Pearls Collection of Eulogies to Past Masters of the Zen Sect), chap. 24. 33 Kōanrepresents kōan,which stands for kōfu āntoku,literally, "official government

law-text.

" This name was given to a board on which a new law was displayed. It is 316

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thus a symbol of universal law, or Dharma; the universe itself. See Chapter Three (Vol. I), Genjō-kōan.

34 Master Tandō Bunjun (1060?-1115), successor of Master Shinjō Kokubun. 35 Rokutan is the name of a pond within the grounds of Tōzan Temple in Kiangsi province in southeast China. 36 Zenshūjukorenjutsūshū,chap. 24. 37 Fukan-tei,

"state beyond cares.

" Master Tandō Bunjun said fukan, kan[se] zu, not care" or "I am not concerned. " Master Dōgen added the character tei, suggesting detachment as a concrete condition of the body-mind. "I do

"state,

"

38 Master Kazan Shujun (1078?-1134). He was the successor of Master Taihei Egon, and at the same time he received the direct instruction of Master Engo Kokugon. 39 In present-day Zhekiang province in east China. 40 Zenshūjukorenjutsūshū,chap. 24. 41 Master Goso Hōen (d. 1104), successor of Master Hakuun Shutan. Master Goso was the master of Engo Kokugon. 42 Zoku,

"secular,

" often in the Shōbōgenzō represents the teachings of Daoism and Confucianism. In this case, Master Dōgen may have been thinking of the Daoist text Shunjū.

43 1244.

44 Butsu-ji, a Buddhist event, suggests, for example, a memorial gathering on the anniversary of a person's death. Preaching by Master Tendō Nyojō at such an event is described in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 264. 45 The Daoist text Shunjūwas also known as the Rinkyō, "[Ki]rin Sutra.

a magical horned animal associated in Chinese legends with wise rule. "The kirinis

46 Master Seigen Gyōshi (d. 740), successor of Master Daikan Enō. The quotation means "To have just one outstanding student is enough. " It appears in the Keitokudentōroku, in the section about Master Seigen. 317

Chapter 67: Soshi-sairai-no-i - The Ancestral Master’s Intention in Coming from the West

[Chapter Sixty-seven] Soshi-sairai-no-i The Ancestral Master's Intention in Coming from the West Translator's Note: So means "

ancestor

"

or

"

patriarch" "

and shi means "

master

"

; thus soshi means "

ancestral masters or

"the ancestral master. "

The word sometimes, as in this case, indicates Master Bodhidharma. Sai "

means

west"

and rai means "

come.

" I means "intention "

"

or

aim.

" So

soshi-sairai-no-i means Master Bodhidharma '

s intention in coming from the west. It is said that in the sixth century Master Bodhidharma went from India (the west) to China (the east) to spread Buddhism, and that this event marked the transmission of true Buddhism to China. Master Bodhidharma was then called the First Patriarch in China and so Chinese Buddhists thought it very important to discuss Master Bodhidharma '

s intention in coming from the west. In this chapter, Master Dōgen picks up a famous discussion between Master Kyōgen Chikan and his disciple to explain the real meaning of Master Bodhidharma '

s intention in coming from the west. [147] Great Master Shūtō1 of Kyōgenji (who succeeded Daii2 and whose monk's name was Chikan) addresses the assembly: "A person3 has gone up a tree on a thousand foot precipice. In her mouth she is biting a branch of the tree. Her feet will not step onto the tree and her hands will not pull her onto the branch. Under the tree suddenly there appears [another] person who asks,

'What was the ancestral master's intention in coming from the west?' Just at that moment, if she opens her mouth to answer the other she loses body and life, and if she does not answer she goes against what the other is asking. Now say, just at such a moment, what are you able to do?" Then Ācārya Shō of Koto Mountain steps out from the assembly and says,

"I do not ask about when she has gone up the tree. Before she goes up a tree, please, Master, say what is the situation then?" 235a

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The master bursts into loud laughter. 4

[148] The present story has appeared in many commentaries and discussions of the ancients, but the individuals who have expressed its truth are few; for the most part, it seems that [people] have been completely dumbfounded. Nevertheless, if we consider [the story] by utilizing "not thinking, " and by utilizing

"non-thinking,

"5 effort on one round cushion with Old [Master] Kyōgen will naturally be present. Once we are already sitting, in the mountain-still state, upon the same round cushion as Old Kyōgen, we will be able to understand this story in detail even before Kyōgen opens his mouth. Not only will we steal Old Kyōgen's eyes and glimpse [the story]; drawing out Śākyamuni Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury, we will be able instantly to see through it. [149] "A person has gone up a tree on a thousand-foot precipice. " We

should quietly investigate these words. What is "a person"? We should not say that what is not an outdoor pillar is "a piece of timber. "6 We should not lose

sight of the fact that even a buddha's face and a patriarch's face breaking into a smile are the meeting of a self and another. The present place where "a person goes up a tree,

" is beyond "the whole earth" and beyond "the top of a hundred foot pole"; it is just "a thousand-foot precipice. " If there is dropping off,

7 it

happens in the concrete reality of "a thousand-foot precipice. "8 We experience

times of dropping and times of going up. 9 [The story] says that the person in the concrete reality of a thousand foot precipice "goes up a tree. " Remember

that she has experienced a time of "going up. " That being so, it is "a thousand

feet" up and it is "a thousand feet" down. It is "a thousand feet" left and it is "a thousand feet" right. This place is "a thousand feet. " That place is "a thousand

feet.

" A real person10 is "a thousand feet. " Going up a tree is "a thousand feet. "

The foregoing "thousand feet" may be like this. Now let us ask: How long is "a thousand feet"? We can say that it is as long as the eternal mirror, 11 as long

as a brazier,

12 and as long as a tombstone.

13 "The mouth is biting a branch of

the tree.

" What is "the mouth"? Even though we do not know the total extent of the mouth or the whole of the mouth itself, we may, for the present, know the location of the mouth by gradually moving along the branch of the tree, searching the branch and picking away leaves. It may be, for the present, that by gripping the branch of a tree, the mouth has been formed. Thus, the whole mouth is the branch, the whole branch is the mouth, the thoroughly realized body is the mouth, and the thoroughly realized mouth is the body. The tree 320

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steps upon the tree itself, and so [the story] says "the feet will not step onto the tree.

" It is like the feet stepping on the feet themselves. The branch pulls itself onto the branch, and so [the story] says "the hands will not pull her onto the branch.

" It is like the hands pulling themselves onto the hands. At the same time, the heels can still take forward steps and backward steps, and the hands can still make a fist and open a fist.

14 Now people—I and others—are prone

to think,

"She is hanging in space.

" But how could "hanging in space" be better

than "biting the branch"?15 "Under the tree suddenly there appears a person who asks,

'What was the ancestral master's intention in coming from the west?'" This "under the tree suddenly there appears a person" seems to suggest that there are human beings inside the tree—as if it might be a man-tree. A human being suddenly appearing under a human being and asking is just such [a state of unity].

16 In that state the tree is asking the tree, the human being is asking the human being, the whole tree is asking a question, and the whole of [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west is asking [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west. The questioner, in asking, is also biting the branch of the tree. Unless "the mouth is biting the branch, " there

can be no asking, no voice that fills the mouth, and no mouth full of speech. When we ask about the [ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west, we ask by biting onto [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west.

"If she opens her mouth to answer the other, she loses body and life. "

We should familiarize ourselves with the present words "if she opens her mouth to answer the other. . . .

" They suggest the possibility of answering the other without opening the mouth. In such an instance, she might not lose body and life. Even if there is [a choice between] opening the mouth and not opening the mouth, it cannot hinder the working of "a mouth biting the branch of a tree.

" Opening and closing are not necessarily the whole of a mouth, but in a mouth there are both opening and closing. Thus,

"biting the branch" is the

everyday condition of a whole mouth, and it is impossible for opening and closing to hinder the working of a mouth. Does "opening the mouth to answer the other" mean disclosing the branch of the tree and answering the other, or does it mean disclosing [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west and answering the other? Unless we disclose [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west in answering others, we do not answer [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west. Not to have answered 321

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others is to be holding onto life with the whole body; it cannot be called "losing body and life.

"17 [At the same time] if we have lost body and life already, to answer others is impossible.

18 Nevertheless, Kyōgen's mind does

not shrink from answering others: it may be that his state is just "having lost body and life.

" Remember, when we have not yet answered others, we are preserving body and life. When suddenly we answer others, we turn around the body and invigorate life. In conclusion, the mouth of each person being full is the state of truth, [in which state] we should answer each other, should answer ourselves, should ask each other, and should ask ourselves. This is the mouth biting the truth. The mouth biting the truth is called "the mouth biting the branch.

" When [this state] answers others, over the mouth it further opens a mouth. When it does not answer others, even if it "goes against what others are asking,

" it does not go against its own asking. So remember, the Buddhist patriarchs who have answered [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west are all experiencing the moment of "being up a tree and biting in the mouth the branch of the tree, " and they are continuing to

answer. The Buddhist patriarchs who have asked [the ancestral master's] intention in coming from the west are all experiencing the moment of "being up a tree and biting in the mouth the branch of the tree, " and they are continuing to ask.

[156] Master Jūken of Setchō,

19 Zen Master Myōkaku, says,

"To say

something up a tree is easy. To say something under a tree is difficult. 20 This

old monk will climb up the tree. Bring a question!"21 [In response to] the present "Bring a question!" even if you bring one with all your effort, the question will come too late: I am afraid that you will be asking after the answer. I ask venerable old drills everywhere, past and present: Is Kyōgen's loud laughter saying something up a tree or saying something under a tree? Is it answering [the ancestral Master's] intention in coming from the west, or is it not answering [the ancestral Master's] intention in coming from the west? See if you can say something!22 Shōbōgenzō Soshi-sairai-no-i

Preached while deep in the mountains of Etsu district on the fourth day of the second lunar month in the second year of Kangen.

23

322

Notes

1 Master Kyōgen Chikan (d. 898), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. Great Master Shūtō is his posthumous title. 2 Master Isan Reiyū (771-853), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. He lived on Mount Daii.

3 Nin, hitomeans a person or a human being. In this case, it has been assumed that the person who has gone up the tree is a woman. 4 Wanshizenjigoroku,chap. 3. See also Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 44. 5 While Master Yakusan Igen is sitting, a monk asks him, "What are you thinking in the mountain-still mountain-still state?" The master says, "Thinking about the concrete state of not thinking. " The monk says,

"How can the state of not thinking be thought about?" The master says, "It is different from thinking. " The story is quoted in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 24 and Chapter Twenty-seven (Vol. II), Zazenshin.See also Fukanzazengi, Rufubon (Vol. I, Appendix II); Chapter Fifty-eight, Zazengi; Chapter Seventy-two, Zanmai-ō-zanmai. 6 Moku-ketsu,

"wooden stake,

" here represents a general category. All wooden things are real entities, and so we should not always group them under a concept such as "wooden thing" or "piece of timber. "

7 Datsuraku,

"dropping off,

" commonly appears in the phrase shinjin-datsuraku, "dropping off of body and mind" or "getting free of body and mind. " See, for example,

Chapter Seventy-two, Zanmai-ō-zanmai. 8 Senjaku-kengai-ri.Master Dōgen suffixed the characters of the story senjaku-kengai, "thousand-foot precipice, " with ri,which literally means "in the back of" or "inside of,

" and hence,

"in the concrete reality of. "

9 Raku-ji ari, jō-ji ari, "there is a time of dropping, and there is a time of going up. "

10 Nyo-nin. In the story, read as hito . . . [ga] goto[ki], these characters mean "In the case that . . . a person. " Here, however, nyomeans "real. "

11 Kōkyōsymbolizes the mind. Masters Seppō and Gensha discuss the dimensions of the eternal mirror in Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 9. See also Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō,paragraph 165. 323

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12 Karo is an object with a conspicuous physical presence. In the Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 1, no. 38, Master Seppō and Master Gensha discuss the fact that the buddhas of the three times are in a brazier, turning the great wheel of Dharma. 13 Muhōtō, lit.,

"seamless stupa,

" is an oval tombstone carved in solid rock (hence "seamless") and placed on square steps, as a monument to a deceased monk. It is a concrete object with eternal meaning. Master Seppō and Master Gensha discuss the dimensions of a tombstone in Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 1, no. 60. See also Chapter Thirty-two (Vol. II), Juki,paragraph 38. 14 The self-containment implied by "a tree stepping on itself, " "feet stepping on themselves, " and so on, does not imply any loss of freedom of movement. 15 As an expression of the state of action, Master Dōgen preferred kan-jushi, tree branch,

" over ka-kokū,

"hanging in space.

"

"biting a

16 Kore,lit.,

"this,

" refers to nin-ju,

"man-tree,

" that is, the condition in which there is no separation between human beings and trees—because, for example, human ashes nourish trees and oxygen from trees nourishes human beings. 17 Sōshin-shitsumyō,

"losing body and losing life,

" is used here as an ironic expression of attaining realization (i.e., getting into the activity of the moment and forgetting oneself).

18 In this sentence sōshin-shitsumyō, "losing body and losing life,

" may be understood

literally, or understood as suggesting loss of composure. 19 Master Setchō Jūken (980-1052), successor of Master Chimon Kōso. Zen Master Myōkaku is his posthumous title. He is also quoted in Chapter Sixty-six, Shunjū, paragraph 137.

20 It is easy to express peculiar ideas, but difficult to manifest the everyday state. 21 Bukkagekisetsuroku (Record of Bukka '

s Attacks on Knotty Problems), pt. 7. 22 Kokoromi[ni] i[e] mi[n] was a phrase used by Chinese masters, including Master Tendō Nyojō, to elicit the expression of a student's understanding. Shi, kokoro[miru] means to have a try, to make an attempt, dō, i[u] means to speak, to say something, to express oneself, and kan, mi[ru] means to see, to watch, or to examine. Traditionally in Japan these words have been interpreted as "Try to say something, and I will examine you,

" but according to recent scholarly investigation the phrase as a whole means "Try to say something!" or "See if you can express yourself!" Cf. Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 264: "Try to express it yourself"; Chapter Thirtytwo (Vol. II), Juki,paragraph 58: "Try to say something, and I will test you"; Chapter Forty-seven, Sangai-yuishin,paragraph 121: "See if you can answer this"; and Chapter Fifty-one, Mitsugo,paragraph 9: "Let them try to say something!" 23 1244.

324

[Chapter Sixty-eight]

Udonge

236a3

The Uḍumbara Flower

Translator's Note:Udonge means the flower of a type of fig tree called uḍumbara in Sanskrit. The uḍumbara tree (Ficus glomerata) is a large tropical tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae). Its flowers grow around the fruit, so they look like peel rather than flowers. Because of this, people in ancient India considered the uḍumbara to be flowerless. Consequently, they used the uḍumbara flower as a symbol of something that rarely happens;1 for example, the realization of the Buddhist truth. In a Buddhist sutra called the Dai bon tenō mon butsu ketsugikyō (Sutra of Questions and Answers between Mahābrahman and the Buddha) there is a story that one day Gautama Buddha showed an uḍumbara flower to an audience. No one could understand the meaning of Gautama Buddha

'

s suggestion other than Master Mahākāśyapa, who smiled. In Chinese Buddhism this story symbolized the transmission of the truth. So Master Dōgen used uḍumbara flowers to explain the meaning of the transmission. Because the Dai bon tenōmon butsu ketsugikyō was said to have been written in China, it was criticized by some Buddhists as not expressing Gautama Buddha '

s true intention. Master Dōgen, however, insisted in Chapter Seventy-four (Vol. IV), Tenbōrin, that even if a Buddhist sutra was produced in China, after its words have been discussed by Buddhist masters it becomes a Buddhist sutra that expresses the true intention of Gautama Buddha; we need not worry whether or not it was written in India. [160] Before an assembly of millions on Vulture Peak, the World-honored One picks up2 an uḍumbaraflower and winks. Thereupon the face of Mahā kāśyapa breaks into a smile. The World-honored One says,

"I possess the right Dharmaeye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana; I transmit them to Mahā kāśyapa. "3

The Seven Buddhas and the many buddhas are all in the same process of twirling flowers,

4 which they have practiced and experienced, and realized as 325

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236b

twirling of flowers the ascendant state,

5 and which they have torn open and

exposed as twirling of flowers down in the here and now. 6 Thus, inside the

concrete reality of twirling flowers, every instance of ascending and descending, or toward the self and toward others, or outside and inwards, and so on, is the totality of flowers displaying itself.

7 It is the dimension of flowers, the

dimension of buddha, the dimension of the mind, and the dimension of the body. All instances, however many, of the twirling of flowers, are individual instances of [the transmission from] rightful successor to rightful successor; they are the actual "existence" of the "transmission. "8 Indeed, forget the

World-honored One's twirling of a flower! When, just now, a flower-twirling World-honored One appears, that is the succession of the World-honored One. Because the time of twirling of flowers is the whole of time itself, it is experience of the same state as the World-honored One, and it is the same twirling of flowers. The meaning of "twirling flowers" is flowers displaying flowers:9 it is plum flowers, spring flowers, snow flowers, and lotus flowers. What has been called "the five petals of a plum flower"10 is the more than three hundred and sixty orders,

11 is the five thousand and forty-eight scrolls,

12

is the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching, and is the three clever and ten sacred stages. Therefore it is beyond the three clever and the ten sacred stages. The great treasury13 exists and miracles exist: they are described by "The opening of flowers is the occurrence of the world. "14 "A

flower is five petals opening and the bearing of fruit is naturally realized"15 describes the whole body already being hung upon the whole body. 16 Losing

the eyes on seeing peach blossoms,

17 and having the ears disappear on hearing

the green bamboo,

18 are present moments of twirling flowers. Being waist deep in snow and cutting off the arm, doing prostrations and attaining the marrow,

19 are flowers naturally opening. Pounding rice in a stone mortar and receiving the transmission of the robe in the middle of the night20 are flowers having already twirled. These are instances of the life-source contained in the hand of the World-honored One. In general, the twirling of flowers existed before the World-honored One's realization of the truth, it was simultaneous with the World-honored One's realization of the truth, and it has existed since the World-honored One's realization of the truth. Thus, flowers are realizing the truth. The twirling of flowers has transcended by far such separate periods of time. Every buddha's and every patriarch's establishment of the will to, 326

Chapter Sixty-seven

first steps in, practice and experience of, and maintenance of [the truth], are twirling flowers dancing like butterflies in the spring wind. This being so, because the World-honored Gautama is now putting his body into flowers and has shrouded his body in space, we call being able to grasp nostrils, and call having grasped space,

21 "the twirling of flowers.

" Twirling flowers are

twirled by eyes, twirled by mind-consciousness, twirled by nostrils, and twirled by flowers twirling. In general, the mountains, rivers, and the earth; the sun and moon, the wind and rain; people, animals, grass, and trees—the miscellaneous things of the present displaying themselves here and there— are just the twirling of the uḍumbaraflower. Living-and-dying and goingand-coming are also a miscellany of flowers and the brightness of flowers. Our learning in practice like this in the present is the continuing process of twirling flowers. The Buddha says,

"It is like the uḍumbaraflower, which

all love and enjoy.

"22 This "all" is Buddhist patriarchs of bodies apparent and hidden, and is the natural presence of brightness in grass, trees, and insects.

"All love and enjoy" describes the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of each individual just now being in the state of vigorous activity. Thus, all is totally the uḍumbaraflower. And so we call just this "rare. "

[165] "A wink" describes the moment in which, while [the Buddha] sat under the [bodhi] tree, the bright star took the place of his eyes. In this moment "the face of Mahākāśyapa breaks into a smile.

" The face has broken already,

and its place has been taken by the face of twirling flowers. In the moment of the Tathāgata's wink, we have already lost our eyes. This Tathāgata's wink is just the twirling of flowers. It is uḍumbaraflowers opening at will. Even to the present it has not ceased to be that, just in the moment of the twirling of flowers, all Gautamas, all Mahākāśyapas, all living beings, and all of us, are each holding out a hand and twirling flowers as one. Moreover, because we have samādhi as containment of the body inside the hand, 23 we call it

"the four elements and the five aggregates.

"24

[167] "My possessing it" is the "transmission,

" and the transmission is

my possessing it. The transmission is inevitably restricted by my possessing it.

"I possess" is cerebral. In order to understand it, we must understand it by getting a grip25 on cerebral thinking. When we take26 what I possess and change it into the transmission, that is maintenance of "the right Dharma-eye treasury. "

The ancestral master's coming from the west was the coming of twirling 327

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Shōbōgenzō Volume III

flowers.

27 Twirling flowers is called "playing with the soul. "28 "Playing with

the soul" means just sitting and dropping off body and mind. Becoming a buddha and becoming a patriarch is called "playing with the soul. " Putting

on clothes and eating meals is called "playing with the soul. " In sum, the

matter which is the ultimate criteria of a Buddhist patriarch is, in every case, playing with the soul. While we are being met by the Buddha hall, or while we are meeting with the monks' hall, variety in their flowers becomes more and more abundant, and light in their colors deepens layer upon layer. On top of that, in the monks' hall now the plate is taken and it cracks into the clouds. In the Buddha hall now a bamboo mouth organ is blown and it resounds to the water's bottom. At such times, [my late master] would accidentally begin to play29 a plum blossom tune. That is, my late master, the eternal buddha, would say:

It is the time when Gautama lost the Eye, In the snow, a single twig of plum blossoms! Now every place has become a thorn,

Yet [I] laugh at the swirling30 of the spring wind. 31

Now the Tathāgata's Eye has accidentally become plum blossoms, while the plum blossoms now have turned into all-pervading thorns. The Tathāgata is hiding his body in the Eye, and the Eye is hiding its body in the plum blossoms. The plum blossoms, having hidden their bodies in thorns, are now blowing back at the spring wind. And though it may be so, we can [simply] enjoy the music of the plum blossoms.

[169] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, says: What Reiun has seen is peach blossoms blooming, What Tendō has seen is peach blossoms falling. 32

Remember, peach blossoms blooming are what Reiun has seen: "he has arrived directly at the present and has no further doubts. "33 Peach blossoms

falling are what Tendō has seen. Peach blossoms open at the prompting of the spring wind, and peach blossoms fall being hated by the spring wind. The spring wind deeply hates the peach blossoms, but as the peach blossoms fall we will drop off body and mind.

328

Chapter Sixty-eight Shōbōgenzō Udonge Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in Etsu district on the twelfth day of the second lunar month34 in the second year of Kangen. 35

329

Notes

1 See, for example, Lotus Sutra,Hōben:"The Buddha addressed Śāriputra: 'Wonderful Dharma like this the buddha-tathāgatas preach only occasionally, just as the uḍumbara flower appears only once in an age.

'" (LS 1.88)

2 Nen, nen[jiru]. This character is rarely seen in modern Japanese but it appears frequently in the Shōbōgenzō. Nenliterally means to pinch, to pick up something between one's finger and thumb (tsumamuin modern Japanese), or to twirl, twist, or twiddle (hineru in modern Japanese). In the Shōbōgenzōit is also used with various wider meanings, including the following: 1) to take or to take up (e.g., Chapter Fourteen [Vol. I], Sansuigyō, paragraph 195: "the Buddhist patriarchs, when taking up water"; Chapter Eighteen [Vol. I], Shin-fukatoku,paragraph 82: "she should take three rice cakes and hand them over to Tokusan"; Chapter Thirty [Vol. II], Gyōji,paragraph 241: "to take up the clapper"), especially as a symbol of positive behavior (e.g., Chapter Twentytwo [Vol. II], Busshō,paragraph 35: "we should quietly take up and let go of the Sixth Patriarch's words"); 2) to hold something up to view, to display, to manifest (e.g., Chapter Fifty, Shohō-jissō, paragraph 234: "golden-faced Gautama is manifesting real form"); 3) to take something up as an issue, to bring attention to, to discuss (e.g., Chapter Twenty [Vol. I], Kōkyō,paragraph 166: "In taking up this world, we see it as ten feet"; Chapter Seventy-five [Vol. IV], Jishō-zanmai,paragraph 93: "discussions of the ancients"); 4) to take into the mind, to gather, grasp, comprehend (especially in the compound nenrai,e.g., Chapter Sixty-nine, Hotsu-mujōshin,paragraph 171: "To grasp snow mountains"); and 5) to summon up, muster, utilize (e.g., Chapter Sixty-nine, Hotsu-mujōshin, paragraph 181: "through the mustering of individual minds.

") See also note 26.

3 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 54. See also Chapter Forty-nine, Butsudō;Chapter Fiftyseven, Menju.The quotation paraphrases a section of the Nenge("Picking Up of a Flower") chapter of the Daibontenōmonbutsuketsugikyō.

4 Nenge,

"twirling flowers,

" means 1) action that manifests real phenomena, and 2)

real phenomena themselves in the world of action. See also note 9. 5 Kōjō no nenge. Kōjōmeans "ascending.

" In Chapter Twenty-eight (Vol. II), Butsukōjō-no-ji,Master Dōgen describes this as a process which continues after realization of the truth. Kōjō no nenge,

"twirling of flowers in the ascendant state,

" suggests realization of phenomena in the continuing process of Buddhist practice and experience. 331

Shōbōgenzō Volume III

6 Jikige no nenge. Jikigemeans 1) "direct descent" (see, for example, Chapter Twentyfive [Vol. II], Jinzū,paragraph 186: "Zen Master Daii is the thirty-seventh patriarch in the line of direct descent from Śākyamuni"), and 2) "the straight down" —a traditional expression of the here and now (see for example Chapter Three [Vol. I], Genjōkōan,paragraph 90: "the immediate present, and a single drop of water, are also like this"). Jikige no nengesuggests actual realization of concrete phenomena here and now, in which illusory concepts such as "a continuing process of realizing phenomena" are seen through.

7 Kon-ge-nen, or "the totality of flowers, twirling, " suggests all phenomena having

entered into one vivid picture in the balanced state of action. 8 Fuzoku-u-zai.In the quotation, u, a[ru] means "I possess, " but here it means "existence.

"

9 Ge-nen-ge,

they are.

"flowers twirling flowers,

" means phenomena manifesting themselves as 10 Baikeno goyō,

"a plum flower as five petals,

" represents the oneness of the whole and its parts. In Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike,paragraph 204, Master Dōgen writes that all the Buddhist patriarchs of India and China exist on the basis of this oneness of five petals and a plum flower. See also notes 15 and 16. 11 Kengōkyō (Sutra of the Kalpa of Wisdom) says, "Among the many lineages of the

all-embracing, there are more than three hundred and sixty orders, which are the causes and conditions of thousands of buddhas' establishment of the will. "

12 The Chinese chronicle Tōkisays, "The śramaṇaChishō edited the Kaigenshakkyō roku(Kaigen Era Records of Śākyamuni' s Teaching), which is altogether five thousand and forty-eight scrolls.

"

13 Daizō,

"great treasury,

" stands for daizōkyō,

"great treasury of sutras" or "the whole of the sutras" (see, for example, Chapter Twenty-one (Vol. I), Kankin). A monk asks Master Tōsu Daidō,

"In the teachings of the great treasury are there miracles or not?" The master says,

"To preach the teaching of the great treasury [is itself a miracle]. "

See Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15.

14 Ke-kai-sekai-ki.These are the words of Master Prajñātara, Master Bodhidharma's master. See also Chapter Forty-three, Kūge;Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike. 15 Ikke-kai-goyō, kekka-jinen-jō.These are the third and fourth lines of a four-line verse by Master Bodhidharma, quoted in Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike, paragraph 204. 16 Konshin-ze-i-kakonshin,

"the whole body already being hung upon the whole body, "

suggests the state of wholeness that can be realized when sitting in the lotus posture. 17 Refers to the experience of Master Reiun Shigon. See Chapter Nine (Vol. I), Keiseisanshiki. 18 Refers to the experience of Master Kyōgen Chikan. Ibid. 332

Chapter Sixty-eight

19 Refers to the transmission from Master Bodhidharma to Master Taiso Eka. See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji;Chapter Forty-six, Kattō. 20 Refers to the transmission from Master Daiman Kōnin to Master Daikan Enō. See Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo.

21 Master Shakkyō Ezō asks Master Seidō Chizō, "Do you understand how to grasp

space?" Seidō says,

"I understand how to grasp it.

" Shakkyō says,

"How do you grasp

it?" Seidō clutches at space with his hand. Shakkyō says, "You do not understand

how to grasp space.

" Seidō says,

"How do you grasp it, brother?" Shakkyō grabs Seidō's nostrils and pulls them. See Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 3, no. 49. The story is quoted in full in Chapter Seventy-seven (Vol. IV), Kokū. 22 The quotation appears to be from a sutra, but the source has not been traced. 23 Teri-zōshin-zanmai,

"samādhi in which the body is contained inside the hand" or "samādhias containment of the body inside the hand, " suggests a state of total integration of the body-mind such that each part of the body contains the whole. 24 Shidai,the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; and go-un,the five aggregates of form (rūpa), feeling (vedana), thinking (saṃjñā), habit formation (saṃskāra), and consciousness (vijñāna), represent total reality, which has not only phenomenal appearance but also real substance.

25 Habi shite, lit.,

"grasping by the nose,

" means keeping something in its place or restraining it within proper limits, as a water buffalo is restrained when its nose ring is grasped. See also Chapter Forty-four, Kobusshin,paragraph 58. 26 Nenjitehere means "taking" in the sense of using as a means. Nenjitethus sometimes functions as a prepositional phrase (e.g., Fukanzazengi:"the changing of the moment, through the means of a finger, a pole, a needle, or a wooden clapper"). 27 Nenge-rai,translated in the opening paragraph as "the process of twirling flowers. "

28 Rōzeikon. Rō, moteaso[bu] means to play or toy with: it suggests easy control and enjoyment. Sei means spirit, energy, vitality. Kon, tamashii means soul, spirit, or ghost, but the phrase tamashii o ireru,lit., "to put soul into,

" means to give life to,

to animate, to breathe life into. For the compound seikon,Spahn and Hadamitzky's Japanese Character Dictionarygives "energy, vitality. " Nelson's Japanese-English

Character Dictionary gives the phrase seikon tsu[kiru], "to lose all one's energy.

"

Thus, seikon means the soul as "the animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life; a person's total self" (Webster's)—that is, something vital, energetic, and whole rather than something ethereal. See also Chapter Twenty-one (Vol. I), Kankin,paragraph 199; Chapter Twenty-six (Vol. II), Daigo, paragraph 127; Chapter Twenty-eight (Vol. II), Butsu-kōjō-no-ji,paragraph 59. 29 Sui, fu[ku] is literally "to blow.

" Here it likens Master Tendō's poem to the playing of a wind instrument.

333

Chapter 69: Hotsu-mujōshin - Establishment of the Will to the Supreme

Shōbōgenzō Volume III 30 Ryōran[to shi te] fu[ku koto], literally, as in the preceding note. "blowing in a whirl. " Fu[ku],

"blowing,

" is

31 This verse also appears in Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike,paragraph 200; Chapter Sixtythree, Ganzei,paragraph 90. 32 Nyojōoshōgoroku,vol. 2. 33 Jikishi-nyokon-kō-fugi.This is the last line of the following verse by Master Reiun Shigon: For thirty years, a traveler in search of a sword./How many times have leaves fallen and buds sprouted?/After one look at the peach blossoms,/I have arrived directly at the present and have no further doubts. See Chapter Nine (Vol. I), Keisei-sanshiki, paragraph 218.

34 The second lunar month would have been around spring: plum blossoms would have already fallen, but peach blossoms might have been in bloom. 35 1244.

334

[Chapter Sixty-nine]

Hotsu-mujōshin

Establishment of the Will

to the Supreme

Translator's Note:Hotsu means "to establish,

" mujō means

"

"

supreme,

and

shin means

"

mind"

"

or

will.

" Hotsu-mujōshin means the establishment of the will to the supreme truth. In the original sentences of this chapter we do not find the words hotsu-mujōshin; but the words hotsu-bodaishin, which mean "the establishment of the bodhi-mind, "

appear many times. Therefore, the title Hotsu-mujōshin may have been selected to distinguish this chapter from the next chapter, Hotsu-bodaishin. Furthermore, the two chapters end with exactly the same words:

"Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in the Yoshida district of Esshū on the fourteenth day of the second lunar month in the second year of Kangen [1244].

" We need to consider how the two chapters are related. Dr. Fumio Masutani has suggested that Hotsu-mujōshin was preached for laypeople who were working on the construction of Dai butsu ji (later called Eiheiji), and that Hotsu-bodaishin was preached on the same day for monks. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to prove this theory conclusively, but the content of the two chapters does lend it some support. Both hotsu-mujōshin and hotsu-bodaishin mean the will to pursue the Buddhist truth, which can never be pursued for any purpose other than the truth itself. Master Dōgen highly esteemed this attitude in studying Buddhism, and he explains the importance of establishing the will to the truth in these two chapters. [171] The Founding Patriarch in the western kingdom1 says, "Snow Mountains2 are like great nirvana. "3

Remember, he likens what should be likened. [Snow Mountains and nirvana] should be likened because they are experienced directly and are straightforward. To grasp what are called "Snow Mountains" is to liken them to Snow Mountains. To grasp great nirvana is to liken it to great nirvana. 335

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[172] The First Patriarch in China says, "The mind in every instance is

like trees and stones.

"4

What is described here as "the mind" is the mind as it is. 5 It is the mind

as the whole earth. Therefore it is the mind as self-and-others. "The mind in

every instance"

—the mind of a person of the whole earth, of a Buddhist patriarch of the whole universe in the ten directions, and of gods, dragons, and so on—is trees and stones, beyond which there is no mind at all. These trees and stones are naturally unrestricted by limitations such as "existence, "

"nonexistence,

" "emptiness,

" and "matter.

" With this mind of trees and stones we establish the [bodhi-]mind and realize practice and experience—for the mind is trees and the mind is stones. By virtue of this trees as mind and stones as mind, thinking here and now about the concrete state of not thinking6 is realized. After seeing and hearing the traditional teaching7 of this trees as mind and stones as mind, we rise above the flotsam of non-Buddhism for the first time. Before that, we are not of the Buddha's truth. [174] National Master Daishō8 says, "Fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles are the mind of eternal buddhas.

"9

We should examine exactly where the present fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles are, and we should ask "What is it that is being realized like this?"10 The mind of eternal buddhas is not the other side of the King of Emptiness;11 it is being satisfied with gruel and being satisfied with rice, 12 or being satisfied

with grass and being satisfied with water. 13 To take in such truths and then to sit as buddha and become buddha is called establishment of the mind. [175] In general, in regard to causes of and conditions for establishing the bodhi-mind, we do not bring the bodhi-mind from elsewhere; we establish the mind by taking up the bodhi-mind itself. "To take up the bodhi-mind"

means to take a stalk of grass and to make a buddha, or to take a tree without roots14 and to make a sutra. It is to serve sand to the Buddha, 15 or to serve

rice-water to the Buddha.

16 It is to offer a ball of food to living beings, 17 or

to offer five flowers to the Tathāgata. 18 To practice a bit of good at the prompting of another, or to be cajoled by a demon into doing prostrations to Buddha, are also the establishment of the bodhi-mind. It is not only that: it is "to know that a home is not one's home, to forsake one's home and to leave home, to go into the mountains and practice the truth, and to do devotional practice and Dharma practice"; it is to build buddhas and to build stupas; it is to read 336

Chapter Sixty-nine

sutras and to be mindful of the Buddha;19 it is to preach the Dharma to an assembly; it is to search for masters and research the truth; it is to sit in the full lotus posture; it is to make a prostration to the Three Treasures; and it is once to call namas buddha!20 The causes and conditions of eighty-thousand such Dharma aggregates21 are, in every case, the establishment of the mind. Some [people] have established the mind in a dream and attained the truth;22 some have established the mind in drunkenness23 and attained the truth; some establish the mind and attain the truth amid flying flowers and falling leaves;24 some establish the mind and attain the truth amid peach blossoms and green bamboo;25 some establish the mind and attain the truth in the heavens above;26 and some establish the mind and attain the truth in the sea.

27 In all these cases, in the state of having established the bodhi-mind, the bodhi-mind is being established further. In the [oneness of] body-andmind, the bodhi-mind is being established. In the body-mind of the buddhas, the bodhi-mind is being established.

28 In the very skin, flesh, bones, and

marrow of the Buddhist Patriarch, the bodhi-mind is being established. Thus, our present building of stupas, building of buddhas, and so on, are just the establishment of the bodhi-mind itself. They are the establishment of the mind which leads directly to realization of buddha, and we must never abandon them midway. They are called merit achieved without doing, 29 and

called merit achieved without becoming.

30 They are "the reflection of true

reality,

"31 and "the reflection of the Dharma-nature"32; they are the buddhas' concentrated state of samādhi, they are the attainment of the buddhas' dhāraṇī, they are the anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi-mind,

33 they are arhathood,

and they are the realization of Buddha. Apart from this there is no method which is free of doing or free of becoming.

[179] Nevertheless, stupid people of the Small Vehicle say: "The building of images and erecting of stupas is achieved through intentional doing;34 we should set it aside and not perform it. Ceasing thought and concentrating the mind is nondoing. Nonarising and non-becoming are true reality. Observing and practicing the real form of the Dharma-nature is nondoing. " They have

made such assertions into their custom in India in the west and in the Eastern Lands, from ancient times to the present. This is why, although they commit heavy sins and deadly sins, they do not build images or erect stupas; and, although they dirty themselves in thickets of dusty toil, they are not mindful 337

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of the Buddha and they do not read sutras. These are people who not only ruin the potential of human beings and gods but also negate the buddhanature of the Tathāgata. It is truly regrettable that, having lived at the time of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, they have become enemies of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; that, having climbed the Three Treasure mountain, they return empty-handed; and that, having entered the Three Treasure ocean, they return empty-handed. Even if they meet the appearance in the world of a thousand buddhas and ten thousand patriarchs, they will have no chance of attaining salvation and they will lack the means of establishing the mind. They are like this because they do not follow the sutras and do not follow [good] counselors. Many are like this because they follow false teachers of non-Buddhism. We should quickly throw away views and opinions that efforts such as building stupas are not the establishment of the bodhi-mind. Washing out the mind, washing out the body, washing out the ears, and washing out the eyes, we should not see or hear [those views and opinions]. We should just devote ourselves to the right Dharma, following the Buddhist sutras and following [good] counselors, and should practice the Buddha-Dharma. [181] In the great truth of the Buddha-Dharma, the sutras of the greatthousandfold [world]35 are present in an atom, and countless buddhas are present in an atom. Each weed and each tree are a body-mind. Because the myriad dharmas are beyond appearance, even the undivided mind is beyond appearance.

36 And because all dharmas are real form, every atom is real form. Thus, one undivided mind is all dharmas, and all dharmas are one undivided mind, which is the whole body.

37 If building stupas were artificial, buddhahood, bodhi,reality as it is, and the buddha-nature, would also be artificial. Because reality as it is and the buddha-nature are not artificial, building images and erecting stupas are not artificial. They are the natural establishment of the bodhi-mind: they are merit achieved without artificiality, without anything superfluous. 38 We should definitely decide, believe, and understand that efforts such as building images and erecting stupas are establishment of the bodhi-mind. Through these efforts hundred millions of kalpas of practice and vows will be promoted. [These efforts] are establishment of the mind which will not be overturned in hundred millions of koṭis of myriad kalpas. They are called "meeting Buddha and hearing the Dharma. " Remember, to

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build a buddha or to build a stupa by gathering wood and stone, by heaping up mud and earth, and by collecting gold, silver, and the seven treasures, 39

is to build a stupa or to build an image by gathering undivided mind, 40 is to

make a buddha by accumulating emptiness upon emptiness, 41 is to build a

buddha through the mustering of individual minds,

42 is to build a stupa by

amassing stupa upon stupa,

43 and is to build a buddha by causing momentary

instances of buddha44 to be realized. This is why a sutra says, "At the time

of this consideration, the buddhas of the ten directions all appear. "45 Remember, when one individual's thinking is making a buddha, thinking buddhas of the ten directions all appear. And when one dharmais being made into a buddha, all dharmas are being made into a buddha.

[183] Śākyamuni Buddha says,

"When the bright star appeared, I, together

with the earth and all sentient beings, simultaneously realized the truth. "

So establishment of the mind, training, bodhi,and nirvana may be [such] "simultaneous"46 establishment of the mind, training, bodhi, and nirvana. The body-mind of the Buddha's truth is grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles, and is wind, rain, water, and fire. Utilizing these so that the Buddha's truth is realized is just the establishment of the mind. Grasping space, we should build stupas and build buddhas. Scooping water from mountain streams, we should build buddhas and build stupas. This is establishment of the truth of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi,and it is hundred thousand myriads of establishments of the one establishment of the bodhi-mind. Practice and experience is also like this. When we hear, on the contrary, that the establishment of the mind is a one-off occurrence, after which the mind is not established again, and that training is endless [but] experience of the effect is a one-off experience, we are not hearing the Buddha-Dharma, we have not come upon the Buddha-Dharma, and we are not meeting the Buddha-Dharma. Thousands of koṭis of establishments of the mind are, inevitably, occurrences of the one establishment of the mind. Thousands of koṭis of people's establishment of the mind are occurrences of the one establishment of the mind. And one establishment of the mind is thousands of koṭis of establishments of the mind. Practice and experience, and preaching the Dharma, are also like this. 47 If it

were not such things as grass and trees, how could the body-mind exist? If they were not the body-mind, how could grass and trees exist? Apart from grass and trees, there are no grass and trees; therefore [grass and trees] are 238b

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like this. Sitting in zazen and pursuing the truth is establishment of the bodhimind. Establishment of the mind is beyond oneness and difference, and sitting in zazen is beyond oneness and difference; they are beyond repetition, and beyond division. All things should be investigated like this. If the whole process of gathering grass, trees, and the seven treasures, and building stupas and building buddhas, were intentional doing and therefore useless for realizing the truth, then the thirty-seven auxiliary bodhimethods48 would also be intentional doing, and each instance of mustering the body-mind of a human being or god of the triple world in order to do training would be intentional doing, and realization of the ultimate state would be impossible. Grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles, and the four elements and five aggregates, are all equally "the mind alone,

"49 and are all equally "real form.

"50 The whole universe in ten directions, and the true and real buddha-nature, are both the Dharma abiding in the Dharma's place. In the true and real buddha-nature, how could there be such things as "grass" and "trees"? How could grass, trees, and so on not be the true and real buddha-nature? All dharmas are beyond "intentional doing" and beyond "nondoing"; they are real form. Real form is real form as it is, and the as-it-is is the body-mind here and now. With this body-mind we should establish the mind. Do not be averse to treading in water or treading on rocks. Just to take one stalk of grass and make it into the sixteen-foot golden body, or to take one particle of dust and construct an eternal buddha's stupa or shrine, is the establishment of the bodhi-mind itself. It is to meet Buddha, to listen to Buddha, to meet Dharma, to listen to Dharma, to become Buddha, and to act as Buddha.

[187] Śākyamuni Buddha says,

"Upāsakas and upāsikās,

51 good sons

and good daughters, serve to the Three Treasures offerings of the flesh of wives and children, and serve to the Three Treasures offerings of the flesh of their own bodies. When bhikṣus have received devout offerings, how could they be remiss in practice?"

Clearly, to serve to the Three Treasures offerings of food and drink, clothes, bedding, medicine, monks' lodgings, fields and woods, and so on is to serve offerings of the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of one's own body and of wives and children. Those who have thus entered the ocean of virtue of the Three Treasures are of the one taste.

52 Because they are of the one taste

already, they are the Three Treasures. [The condition] for the virtue of the 340

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Three Treasures actually to be realized in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of one's own body and of wives and children, is diligent effort in pursuing the truth.

53 Now, upholding the nature and the form of the World-honored One, we must grasp the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the Buddha's truth. The devout offering of the present is the establishment of the mind. How could receiving bhikṣus be remiss in practice? We should be right from the head to the tail. Thus, at whatever moment a single particle of dust is established, the undivided mind will be established accordingly. If the undivided mind is established first, it will not be long before undivided space is established. [189] In summary, when the sentient and the insentient establish the mind, they are able to plant for the first time a seed of the buddha-nature. If they [then] wholeheartedly practice by embracing the four elements and five aggregates, they will attain the truth. [Again,] if they wholeheartedly practice by embracing grass, trees, fences, and walls, they will be able to attain the truth— because the four elements and five aggregates,

54 and grass, trees, fences, and

walls,

55 are experiencing the same state, because they share the same nature, because they are of the same mind and the same life, and because they are of the same body and the same makings. Thus, in the orders of Buddhist patriarchs, many have pursued the truth by taking up the mind of grass and trees. This is a characteristic of establishment of the bodhi-mind. The Fifth Patriarch56 at one time was a being who practiced the Way by planting pines. 57 Rinzai experienced the effort of planting cedars and pines on Ōbaku zan. 58 There was the

old man Ryū who planted pine trees on Tōzan Moun tain.

59 By taking on the

constancy of pines and oaks, they scooped out the Eye of the Buddhist patriarchs. This was real manifestation of the identity of power in playing with the lively Eye and clarification of the Eye. To build stupas, to build buddhas, and so on, are to play with the Eye,

60 are to taste the establishment of the mind, and are

to use the establishment of the mind. Without getting the Eye of building stupas and so on, there is no realization of the Buddhist patriarchs' truth. After getting the Eye of building buddhas, we become buddhas and become patriarchs. The words that "building stupas and so on eventually turns to dust and is not real merit, whereas training in which nothing arises is solid and enduring and is not tainted by dust and dirt,

"61 are not the Buddha's words. If stupas turn to

dust, the state without arising62 also turns to dust. If the state without arising is beyond turning to dust, then stupas also cannot turn to dust. "This is where

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something ineffable is taking place.

" Explain it as intentional doing or explain it as nondoing!63

[192] A sutra says,

"When bodhisattvas, in living and dying, first establish the mind, they solely pursue the truth of bodhi;they are steadfast and unshakable. The virtue of that singlemindedness is deep and vast without limit. If the Tathāgata were to analyze and explain it, even for whole kalpas, he would not be able to finish.

"64

Clearly know: to establish the mind by grasping life and death is "the sole pursuit of bodhi.

" "That singlemindedness" must be the same as a single stalk of grass and a single tree—because it is a single moment of living and a single moment of dying. At the same time, the depth of its virtue is without limit, and the vastness of its virtue is without limit. Even if the Tathāgata analyzes this [virtue], making whole kalpas into words, there will be no finish. Because when the sea dries up the sea bed remains and because even when a person dies the mind may remain, [all things] are "not able to be finished. " Just as the depth and vastness of "that singlemindedness" are without limit, the depth and vastness of a weed, a tree, a rock, and a tile also are without limit. If a weed or a rock is seven feet or eight feet, "that single mindedness" is seven feet or eight feet, and establishment of the mind is also seven feet or eight feet. In conclusion, to go deep into the mountains to consider the Buddha's truth may be easy, [but] to build stupas and to build buddhas is very difficult. Although each is accomplished through diligence and tirelessness, actively grasping the mind and being grasped by the mind may be much different. Through the piling up of such establishments of the bodhi-mind, Buddhist patriarchs are realized. ShōbōgenzōHotsu-mujōshin

Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in the Yoshida district of Esshū65 on the fourteenth day of the second lunar month in the second year of Kangen.

66

342

Notes

1 Saigoku[no] kōsomeans Gautama Buddha. 2 Setsuzan ("Snow Mountains") means the Himalayas. 3 Kōsonshukugoroku,chap. 2. 4 Shin-shin-nyo-bokuseki, or shin-shin [wa] bokuseki[no] goto[shi], literally, mind is like trees and stones. " Ibid.

"mind-5 Shin-nyo. Nyo, goto[shi], which in the quotation means "is like, " here means "as it

is" or "itself.

"

6 Shiryō-ko-fushiryō-tei, "thinking the concrete state of not thinking, " is Master Yakusan

Igen's description of what he was thinking in zazen. See, for example, Chapter Twentyseven (Vol. II), Zazenshin;Chapter Fifty-eight, Zazengi. 7 Fūshō. Fū means atmosphere, style, customs, habits, and shō means voice. Fūshō therefore means the voice that emerges from the practice of Buddhist habits, that is, the traditional Buddhist teaching. 8 Master Nan'yō Echū (d. 775), successor of Master Daikan Enō. National Master Daishō is his posthumous title. 9 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 28. See also Chapter Forty-four, Kobusshin. 10 Ko[re] shimo-butsu inmo genjōis a variation of Master Daikan Enō's famous phrase ko[re] shimo-butsu inmo rai, "What is it that comes like this?" or "This is something coming like this.

" See, for example, Chapter Sixty-two, Hensan.Here Master Dōgen substituted genjō,

"to be realized,

" for rai,

"to come.

"

11 Kū-ō (King of Emptiness) is identified with King of Majestic Voice (from the Sanskrit Bhīṣmagarjita svara rāja), the first buddha to appear in the kalpa of emptiness. See, for example, LS 3.128.

12 Shuku-soku han-soku,

"being satisfied with breakfast and being satisfied with the midday meal.

" This phrase appears elsewhere in the Shōbōgenzō,e.g., Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō,paragraph 73; Chapter Thirty-four (Vol. II), Arakan,paragraph 91. 13 Sō-soku sui-soku.This phrase does not appear elsewhere. It suggests, for example, the contented state of a castrated water buffalo—described by Master Enchi Daian in Chapter Sixty-four, Kajō,paragraph 110. 343

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14 In a legendary conversation between a woman and the god Indra, a tree without roots is cited as something that cannot be. The story is recorded in the Rentōeyō,chap. 1. 15 Alludes to a story in the Aikuōkyō (King Aśoka Sutra): a child who is playing in the sand when the Buddha comes by on an almsround puts an offering of sand into the Buddha's almsbowl, and by virtue of this act of generosity he later becomes King Aśoka.

16 Chap. 8 of the Daichidoronrecords that an old woman served rice water to the Buddha. 17 The Bibasharon(Sanskrit Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣā-śāstra) says, "There was a person

who, by offering a ball of food, was able to plant a good root of salvation. " In Thailand

today, for example, monks eat rice from their pātra by forming it into a ball and picking it up in the hand.

18 The Zuiōhongikyō (Sutra of Auspicious Past Occurrences) describes buying five flowers for five hundred silver coins and serving those flowers to Śākyamuni Buddha. 19 Nenbutsu,

"mindfulness of the Buddha,

" represents the meaning of the Sanskrit

buddhā nu smṛti. Sometimes nenbutsu specifically means "to recite the Buddha's name" (see, for example, Chapter Seventy-two, Zanmai-ō-zanmai,paragraph 233); but here the literal translation has been preferred. 20 Namu-butsurepresents the sound of the Sanskrit devotional formula namas buddha. The Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionarydefines namasas "bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, adoration (by gesture or by word). "

21 Hō-un,

"Dharma aggregates,

" is here used as a general term for the elements of the Buddhist process which Master Dōgen has just listed. Un represents the Sanskrit skandha,which Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionarydefines as "an aggregate, a part, a division, or (with Buddhists) a constituent element of being. "

22 See, for example, Lotus Sutra,Anrakugyō:"And in the action of a dream the king of a nation/Forsakes his palace, his followers,/And the five desires for the superior and fine,/And he goes to a place of the truth./At the foot of a bodhitree,/He sits on the lion seat,/Pursues the truth for seven days,/And attains the wisdom of the buddhas. "

(LS 2.282)

23 In 1837 Master Ōsen Mujaku published a twenty-volume commentary on quotations contained in the Shōbōgenzō.Out of humility he called it Shōtenzokuchō(lit., A Commentary to Follow Martens). This alludes to the Chinese saying "dogs' tails following martens' tails,

" which derided government officers who wore a marten's tail from their cap to denote high rank but who were not capable officers. The Shōtenzokuchōtraces the example of establishing the bodhi-mind in drunkenness to the Daichidoron. 24 Hige-rakuyō.The Shōtenzokuchōtraces these words to the Bibasharon. 25 Tōka-suichiku. Tōka,

"peach blossoms,

" refers to the realization of Master Reiun

Shigon, and suichiku,

"green bamboo,

" refers to the realization of Master Kyōgen

Chikan. See Chapter Nine (Vol. I), Keisei-sanshiki. 344

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26 The Shōtenzokuchōcites the Mirokujōshōkyō(Sutra of Maitreya '

s Ascent and Birth

in Tuṣita Heaven), and the Shakubukurakangyō (Sutra of the Defeat of the Arhat). 27 The Shōtenzokuchōcites the Lotus Sutra,Daibadatta("Devadatta"): Mañjuśrī said, "I, in the sea, am constantly preaching only the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. " (LS 2.218)

28 It may be helpful to remember, especially if reading the text aloud, that the "bo "bodhi"is pronounced with a long "o" (as in "abode"). "of

29 Mui no kudoku,

"merit achieved without artificiality. " I,

"doing,

" often carries the

connotation of artificiality, intentionality, or interference. Mui, "without doing,

" as

an adjective means "without artificiality" or "natural, " and as a noun means "nondoing, "

i.e., letting things be as they naturally are, not doing anything superfluous. In his poem Shōdōka,Master Yōka Genkaku speaks of zetsugaku-mui[no] kandō-nin, "a

person at ease in the truth, who is through with study and free of doing. " In the opening

sentence of Chapter One (Vol. I), Bendōwa,Master Dōgen describes zazen as saijōmui no myōjutsu, "a subtle method that is supreme and without intention. " See also

asaṃskṛtaand saṃskṛtain Vol. I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 30 Musa no kudoku. Musa, "non-becoming,

" represents the negation of idealistic effort. 31 Shinnyo-kan.The Yōrakuhongyōkyō(Sutra of Past Deeds as a String of Pearls) says that muso-kan,

"reflection in which there are no [separate] forms, " is called shinnyokan,

"reflection of true reality. "

32 Hōsshō-kan.The Yōrakuhongyōkyō says that issai-shuchi-kan, causal grounds of all things, " is called hosshō-kan,

"reflection of the

"reflection of the Dharma-nature. "

33 The will to the supreme right, balanced, and integrated state of truth. See Vol. I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 34 U-i,literally,

"with doing.

" U-i as an adjective means "artificial" and as a noun means "intentional doing" or "artificiality. "

35 Daisen,

"great thousand,

" stands for sanzen-daisen-sekai, "three-thousand-greatthousandfold world, " that is, the domain of a buddha. Such a domain is thought to comprise one billion (one thousand to the power of three) worlds. 36 Fushō,

"beyond appearance" or "not appearing, " describes the state at the moment of the present. All things, even wholehearted devotion to Buddhist practice, are instantaneous. Master Dōgen explains this meaning of fushō, "not appearing,

" in Chapter

Three (Vol. I), Genjō-kōan,paragraph 87. See also Chapter Forty-three, Kūge,paragraph 40. 37 Zenshinsuggests the universe as the whole body of the Tathāgata. See Chapter Seventy-one, Nyorai-zenshin. 38 Murō,lit.,

"without leakage" or "without excess, " represents the Sanskrit anāsrava (see Vol. I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms). The Lotus Sutra begins by associating 345

Shōbōgenzō Volume III

arhathood with the ending of shoro, Chapter Thirty-four (Vol. II), Arakan. "all excesses" or "all superfluities. " See LS 1.8;

39 Shippō,

"seven treasures" or "the precious seven, " from the Sanskrit sapta ratnāni, are for example gold, silver, coral, pearls, jewels, moonstones, and agates. 40 Isshin.

41 Kū-kū.

42 Shin-shin.

43 Tō-tō.

44 Butsu-butsu.The elements isshin,lit., "one mind"; kū-kū,lit.,

"emptiness-emptiness"

or "space-space"; shin-shin,lit., "mind-mind"; tō-tō,lit.,

"stupa-stupa"; and butsubutsu,lit., "buddha-buddha" follow the characteristic progression of Master Dōgen's thought from the general and inclusive through the individual and increasingly concrete to the suggestion of momentary realization of reality in action. 45 Sa-ze-shi-i-ji, juppō-butsu-kai-gen,from the Lotus Sutra,Hōben(LS 1.124). Ze-shii means "this consideration" or "attention to the concrete. "

46 Dōji here means "sameness in time"; that is, identity of subject and object in the present moment: the Buddha's realization of the truth had oneness of subject and object in the here and now, and our establishment of the will to the truth also has oneness of subject and object in the here and now. 47 Kakunogotoshi,

"like this,

" means in the state of total integration—all moments being contained in one moment and subject and object being indivisible. 48 Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpōis the title of Chapter Seventy-three (Vol. IV). 49 Yuishin.See Chapter Forty-seven, Sangai-yuishin. 50 Jissō.See Chapter Fifty, Shohō-jissō. 51 Laymen and laywomen.

52 Ichi-mi,lit.,

"[people of] one taste,

" is a term applied to people united by a common cause, e.g., a gang of conspirators or a group of partisans. At the same time, "one

taste" may be interpreted literally as the essence of the Dharma; in the Fukanzazengi, Shinpitsubon,Master Dōgen writes of hō-mi shin[o] tasu[ke], "the taste of the Dharma

lifting the spirit" or "the flavor of the Dharma soothing the soul. "

53 Shōgon no bendō-kufu suggests the daily practice of zazen. Shōgon, "diligence,

" means

steady application rather than short bursts of intense effort. The character read as bendō here is written elsewhere in the Shōbōgenzōin a different form, also read as bendō; see for example Chapter One (Vol. I), Bendōwa. Benis a simplified form of several old characters; the character used here, ben,means "to apply effort, to put one's energy into a certain task,

" in which the middle radical represents strength. The compound 346

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kufu, which is equivalent to another form also read as kufuin modern Japanese, originally represented a craftsman's application of mental energy to the planning and performance of construction work. In the Shōbōgenzō, kufumeans 1) to strive, to make effort, and 2) to consider, to apply one's mental faculties, to think out the means of doing something (see also notes to Chapter Thirty-nine [Vol. II], Dōtoku,paragraph 193). Master Dōgen often used bendō-kufu, "effort in pursuing the truth" or "directing one's energy into practicing the truth, " as an expression of zazen itself. 54 Shidai go-un,

"four elements and five aggregates, " are the constituent elements of being in traditional Buddhist philosophy. 55 Sō-moku-shō-heki,

"grass, trees, fences, and walls, " are concrete objects familiar to everybody. Master Dōgen saw these and the four elements and five aggregates as completely the same.

56 Master Daiman Kōnin, the Fifth Patriarch in China. 57 Saishō-dōja,

"pine-planting pilgrim.

" The words come from a story quoted in Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō,paragraph 22. See also Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji, paragraph 173.

58 See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 172. 59 Ryū is mentioned in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 17, in the section on Master Tōzan Shiken. Tōzan Mountain was home to the order of Master Tōzan Ryōkai and Master Tōzan Shiken.

60 Rō-ganzei,

action.

"to play with the Eye,

" means to enjoy easy mastery of the viewpoint of 61 Jinnai,

"dust and dirt,

" alludes to the following verse by Ācārya Jinshū: "The body is the bodhitree,/The mind is like the stand of a clear mirror./At every moment we work to wipe and polish it/To keep it free of dust and dirt. " See Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō,paragraph 134. 62 Mushō means "nonarising, " "nonappearance,

" or "nonbirth.

" Sometimes mushō

means "not being subject to rebirth on the wheel of samsara, " and as such is used as a synonym for nirvana.

63 Alludes to the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 96: In response to a question from Rinzai, Fuke overturns a dinner table. Master Rinzai says, "Very coarse person!" Fuke says, "This is where something ineffable exists. Explain it as coarse or explain it as fine. "

64 Shinyaku Kegongyō,lit., New Translation of the Flower Adornment Sutra,is the name of the edition of the Garland Sutra translated during the years of the Jin dynasty (265-420 C.E.).

65 Modern-day Fukui prefecture. 66 1244.

347