T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume III

Chapter 52: Bukkyō - The Buddhist Sutras

[Chapter Fifty-two]

Bukkyō

The Buddhist Sutras

Translator's Note: Butsu means "buddha

"

or

"Buddhist,

"

and kyō means

"

"

"

sutra

or

scripture.

" So bukkyō means Buddhist sutras. Chapter Twentyfour in Volume I is also called Bukkyō, but in that chapter, kyō is a different word meaning

"teaching.

" In Buddhism, there are fundamentally two ways that are useful in pursuing the truth. One is practicing zazen, and the other is reading sutras. But some people emphasize the value of practicing zazen so strongly that they are blind to the value of reading Buddhist sutras, and so they deny the value of reading them. They insist that Buddhism is not philosophical theories, and therefore that to attain the truth we need only practice zazen, and that reading Buddhist sutras is useless or even detrimental to pursuing the truth. But Master Dōgen did not think so. He esteemed the value of reading sutras, and he thought that it was necessary to read Buddhist sutras in order to attain the truth. Therefore he recorded the true meaning of reading Buddhist sutras in this chapter. Furthermore, in Master Dōgen '

s thought,

Buddhist sutras are not only Buddhist scriptures, but they are also the universe itself, which shows us and teaches us the true meaning of our life. [21] "The method of teaching bodhisattvas, "1 and the method of teaching buddhas, exist in the here and now. 2 They are both tools of the great truth. The tools accord with the master, and the master uses the tools. For this reason, at the very moment of "sometimes following a good counselor"3 and "sometimes following the sutras, " which the Buddhist patriarchs of India and China have done without exception, establishment of the will, training, and experience of the effect, have no gap between each other at all. Establishing the will relies on the sutras and on a good counselor; training also relies on the sutras and on a good counselor; and experiencing the effect also is wholly intimate with the sutras and with a good counselor. The moment 139

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before, and a word after,

4 are both in the same state as the sutras and as a

good counselor. The moment itself, and the inside of a word, 5 are both in the

same state as the sutras and as a good counselor.

[23] Good counselors, in every case, are thoroughly versed in the sutras. "They are thoroughly versed" means that they see the sutras as their national land, and see the sutras as the body-mind. They have seen the sutras as the means of establishing the teaching for others, they have seen the sutras as their sitting, lying down, and walking, they have seen the sutras as father and mother, and they have seen the sutras as children and grandchildren. Because they have made the sutras into practice and understanding, good counselors have mastered the sutras. A good counselor washing the face and drinking tea6 is the eternal sutra itself. The saying that "the sutras produce good counselors" describes sixty strokes of Ōbaku's staff being able to produce children and grandchildren,

7 and three strikes [on a stone mortar]

on Mount Ōbai making possible the transmission of the robe and transmission of the Dharma.

8 It describes not only that: realizing the truth on seeing the peach blossoms, realizing the truth on hearing the sound of a bamboo, 9 and

realizing the truth on seeing a bright star, are all examples of the sutras producing good counselors. There are skinbags and fists who get eyes then get the sutras, and there are wooden dippers and lacquered tubs who get the sutras then get eyes. What has been called "the sutras" is the whole universe in the ten directions itself; there is no time or place that is not the sutras. They use the characters of consummate philosophy and they use the characters of secular philosophy; they use the characters of the heavens above and they use the characters of the human world; they use the characters of the world of animals and they use the characters of the world of asuras;10 they use the characters of the hundred weeds and they use the characters of ten thousand trees. Therefore, the long, the short, the square, the round, the blue, the yellow, the red, and the white, which are arranged in dense profusion throughout the universe in ten directions, are all the characters of the sutras, and they are the concrete surface of the sutras. We see them as the tools of the great truth, as the Buddhist sutras. This sutra is able to spread out over the whole of time and to spread throughout entire nations. It opens the gate of teaching people and does not forsake any human household over the whole earth. It opens the gate of teaching things and saves material beings throughout the earth. 140

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In teaching buddhas and teaching bodhisattvas, it becomes the whole earth and the whole universe. It "opens the gate of expedient methods, "11 it opens

the gate of "abiding in place,

"12 and, not forsaking one person or a half of

one, it "reveals true real form.

" To get this sutra, at this very moment, with

the thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization, and in the state without thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization, of buddhas or of bodhisattvas—though it is beyond the intentional doing of the individual—is the great aim of each person. The time of "decisively getting this sutra"13 is beyond past and present; because past and present are moments of getting the sutra, what is manifested before our eyes as the whole universe in ten directions is just "the getting of this sutra.

" When we read, recite, and become

versed in this sutra, the buddha-wisdom, natural wisdom, and untutored wisdom14 are realized prior to the mind and are realized prior to the body. At this time we do not have the doubt that [wisdom] may be a new and special state. When this sutra is being received, retained, read, and recited by us, the sutra is enfolding us. The situation before a line and around a word, and in scanning down and dwelling on a sentence, is, instantly, the scattering of blossoms and the making of garlands. We call this sutra the Dharma itself, and in it there are eighty-four thousand accumulations of Dharma preaching. In this sutra there are characters which are buddhas who have realized the balanced and right state of truth, there are characters which are buddhas who are presently living in the world, and there are characters which are buddhas who have entered parinirvāṇa.The arriving of reality and the leaving of reality15 are each a character in the sutra and are a line of Dharma written on the Dharma. Picking up a flower and winking an eye, and a face breaking into a smile, are just the eternal sutra authentically transmitted from the Seven Buddhas. Standing waist-deep in snow and cutting off an arm, doing prostrations and getting the marrow, are just the eternal sutra transmitted from master to disciple. The subsequent transmission of the Dharma and giving of the robe are just the arrival of the moment in which all volumes of the universal scripture are entrusted. Three strikes of the mortar and three sifts of the rice in the winnowing basket16 make the sutra hold out a hand to the sutra, and the sutra thus rightly succeeds the sutra. Furthermore, "This is

something coming like this"17 is a thousand sutras for teaching buddhas and is ten thousand sutras for teaching bodhisattvas.

"To explain a thing does not

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hit the target"18 nicely preaches the eighty thousand compilations and the twelve divisions [of the sutras].

19 Furthermore, a fist and a heel, a staff and a whisk, are eternal sutras and new sutras, sutras of existence and sutras of emptiness. Being part of the assembly and pursuing the truth, making the effort of sitting in zazen, are originally the Buddhist sutras that are right at the beginning and the Buddhist sutras that are right at the end. They are sutras written on leaves of the bodhitree, and sutras written on the faces of space. In sum, a Buddhist patriarch's one instance of movement and two instances of stillness, and his or her holding on and letting go, are naturally the closing and opening of the Buddhist sutras. Because we learn in practice that there being no ultimate extreme is the ultimate standard, we receive sutras and expel sutras through the nostrils and we receive sutras and expel sutras through the tips of the toes— [as] sutras were received and sutras were expelled before the birth of our parents and [as] sutras were received and sutras were expelled before the time of the King of Majestic Voice.

20 We receive sutras and preach sutras through mountains, rivers, and the earth, and we receive sutras and preach sutras through the sun, moon, and stars. Sometimes we retain sutras and transmit sutras with the self that precedes the kalpaof emptiness, and sometimes we retain sutras and transmit sutras with the body-mind that precedes face and eyes. We cause sutras like these to appear by breaking atoms, and we cause them to appear by breaking the Dharma world.

[30] The twenty-seventh patriarch, the Venerable Prajñātara, says: My out-breath does not follow circumstances,

The in-breath does not belong in the world of aggregates. I am constantly reciting sutras like this.

A hundred thousand myriad koṭis of scrolls.

Never only one scroll or two scrolls.

21

Hearing these words of the ancestral master, we should learn in practice that sutras are recited in exhalation and inhalation. If we know [this] reciting of sutras, we will know the place where sutras exist. Because it is the reciter and the recited, reciting sutras and sutras reciting, it may be total knowing and total seeing.

[32] My late master constantly said,

"In my order,

22 we do not rely on

burning incense, doing prostrations, reciting names of buddhas, practicing 142

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confession, or reading sutras. Just sit, direct your energy into pursuing the truth, and get free of body and mind.

"

Few people clearly understand an expression like this. Why? Because to call "reading sutras" "reading sutras" is to debase it, and not to call it "reading sutras" is to be perverse.

"You are not allowed to talk and not allowed

to be mute: say something at once! Say something at once!" We should learn this truth in practice. Because this principle [of reading sutras] exists, a man of old23 has said,

"To read sutras we must be equipped with the eyes of reading sutras.

" Remember, if there had been no sutras from ancient times till today, there could be no expression like this. We should learn in practice that there is reading sutras that is "getting free,

" and there is reading sutras that is "nonreliance.

"24 This being so, each practitioner or half a practitioner who receives and retains the Buddhist sutras will inevitably become the Buddha's disciple. Do not learn at random the wrong views of non-Buddhists. Because the right Dharma-eye treasury which is being realized in the present is itself the Buddhist sutras, all things that exist as Buddhist sutras are the right Dharmaeye treasury. It is beyond unity and difference, and beyond self and others. Remember, the right Dharma-eye treasury is limitlessly abundant, but you will not clarify it entirely. Even so, you are exhibiting the right Dharma-eye treasury and you do not disbelieve it. The same should be true for the Buddhist sutras: they are limitlessly abundant, but you should hope to believe in and to practice a single verse or a single saying; you will not be able to understand eighty thousand. As one who is not a complete authority on the Buddhist sutras, never rashly say that the Buddhist sutras are not the Buddha-Dharma. Although those others25 can be heard boasting that they are the bones and marrow of the Buddhist Patriarch, when we look at them with right eyes they are just late learners who still rely on sentences. Some may be equal to those who have received and retained a single saying or a single verse, and there may be others who are inferior to those who have received and retained a single saying or a single verse. Never insult the Buddha's right Dharma on the basis of such sparse understanding. Nothing could have more virtue than the Buddhist sutras which are sound and form itself. Sounds and forms delude and disturb those others, who in any case still crave them. The Buddhist sutras do not delude and disturb those others. They should never insult the Buddhist sutras in their disbelief.

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[35] Nevertheless, for the last two hundred years or so in the great kingdom of Song, certain unreliable stinking skinbags have said, "We must not

keep in mind even the sayings of ancestral masters. Still less should we ever read or rely upon the teaching of the sutras. We should only make our bodies and minds like withered trees and dead ash, or like broken wooden dippers and bottomless tubs.

" People like this have vainly become a species of non-Buddhist or celestial demon. They seek to rely on what cannot be relied on, and as a result they have idly turned the Dharma of the Buddhist patriarchs into a mad and perverse teaching. It is pitiful and regrettable. Even broken wooden dippers and bottomless tubs are the Buddhist patriarchs' eternal sutra itself. Few Buddhist patriarchs have completely enumerated and classified the scrolls of this sutra. Those who say that the Buddhist sutras are not the Buddha-Dharma do not research the occasions on which the Buddhist patriarchs have relied upon the sutras, they do not study in practice the occasions on which Buddhist patriarchs manifest themselves following the sutras, and they do not know how deep the intimacy is between Buddhist patriarchs and the Buddhist sutras. Unreliable people like this are as [common as] rice, flax, bamboo, and reeds; they ascend the lion seat, and establish monasteries throughout the country as the teachers of human beings and gods. Because the unreliable have learned from the unreliable, they know no truths other than the unreliable. And because they do not know [the truth], they do not aspire to it, but "they pass from darkness into darkness. " It is pitiful. Because

they have never had the body-mind of the Buddha-Dharma, they do not know what the behavior of the body and working of the mind should be like. Because they do not clearly understand the principles of existence and emptiness, when someone asks them a question they randomly raise a fist, but they do not know the meaning of raising it. Because they do not clearly understand right and wrong ways, when someone asks them a question they hold up a whisk, but they do not know the meaning of holding it up. Sometimes, hoping to offer a guiding hand to others, they quote Rinzai's "four thoughts" and "four relations between reflection and action, " Unmon's "three

phrases,

" Tōzan's "three paths" and "five relative positions,

"26 and so on,

and see them as the standard for learning the truth. My late master Tendō was constantly laughing at this, saying,

"How could learning the state of

buddha be like that? We cause the great truth authentically transmitted by 144

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the Buddhist patriarchs to cover the mind and to cover the body again and again. When learning this state in practice, and aiming to master it, there is no time to spare; what free time could we have to fit in the sayings of later generations? Truly, we should know that old veterans in all directions have no will to the truth; it is evident that they do not learn in practice the bodymind of the Buddha-Dharma. "

[39] My late master's preaching was like this. Truly, Rinzai was a junior27 in Ōbaku's order; he received sixty strokes of the staff before he eventually visited Daigu28 and had the conversation about the mind of an old granny, under the influence of which he reflected on his past conduct and went back again to Ōbaku. Because rumor of this episode has resounded like thunder, [people] have thought that the Buddha-Dharma of Ōbaku was transmitted to Rinzai alone. Moreover, [people] have thought that he was even more excellent than Ōbaku. That is not true at all. Rinzai had stayed a short while in Ōbaku's order and followed the other monks, but when Venerable Patriarch Chen29 had prompted him, they say that Rinzai did not know what to ask. [Even] before clarification of the great matter, how could one who is standing on the ground to listen to the Dharma, 30 as a profound

devotee of learning in practice, be dumbfounded like that? We should know that he is not of the highest makings. Further, Rinzai has never had more zeal than his master, and sayings [of Rinzai] that surpass those of his master have never been heard. Ōbaku has expressions that outshine his master, he has great wisdom31 surpassing that of his master, he has expressed truth never before expressed by buddhas, and he has understood Dharma never before understood by patriarchs. Ōbaku is an eternal buddha who transcends past and present, he is even higher than Hyakujō, and he is even more of a genius than Baso. Rinzai does not possess such excellence of spirit. Why? [Because] Rinzai does not express any saying that has never been expressed before, even in a dream. He seems only to understand the many, forgetting the one, or to realize the one, forgetting the many. How could we see "the four thoughts" and so on as criteria32 for learning the Dharma, as if the taste of the truth were present in them? Unmon is a disciple of Seppō;33 though he has been able to operate as a great master to human beings and gods, it must be said that he is still at the learning stage.

34 How could we esteem these as

having attained the root? They may be nothing more than sorry offshoots. 145

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Before Rinzai had arrived, before Unmon had appeared, what did Buddhist patriarchs rely upon as standards for learning the truth? So remember, in the houses of [Rinzai and Unmon], Buddhist conduct of the truth is not transmitted. Because [people] lack that which can be relied upon, they randomly expound such outlandish and confused theories. Such fellows recklessly ridicule the Buddhist sutras. Others must not follow the habit. If the sutras were to be discarded, Rinzai and Unmon might also need to be discarded. If we cannot rely upon the Buddhist sutras, we are without water to drink, and without a dipper to scoop water. There again, the founding patriarch's "three paths" and "five relative positions,

" as kernels [of the truth], are beyond the

area that the unreliable can know. He has received the authentic transmission of the fundamental principles, and has directly indicated Buddhist conduct; his can never be the same as other lineages.

[43] Furthermore, unreliable people say that the teaching of the Dao, the teaching of Confucius, and the teaching of Śākyamuni may each amount to the same in their conclusion; they just have temporary differences in their gates of entry. Sometimes they compare it to the three legs of a tripod. This is a notion widely discussed by monks in the great kingdom of Song today. When such people speak like this, the Buddha-Dharma has for them already vanished from the face of the earth. Further, we should say that not so much as an atom of the Buddha-Dharma has ever come to them. People like this, rashly attempting to express insight into the Buddha-Dharma, mistakenly say that the Buddhist sutras are not useful, and that in the lineage of the ancestral master there is a fundamental teaching which is transmitted separately. 35 They are small in nature, because they have not glimpsed the boundaries of the Buddha's truth. They say that we should not rely on the Buddha's sutras: then if they had sutras by the Patriarch36 would they rely on them, or would they not rely on them? There are many Dharmas in the Patriarch's truth that are as described in the Buddhist sutras. Should they be relied upon or discarded? If the Patriarch's truth were said to be separate from the Buddha's truth, who could believe in the Patriarch's truth? The ancestral master is the ancestral master because he has received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's truth. If there were an ancestral master who had not received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's truth, who could call him the ancestral master? We revere the First Patriarch because he is the twenty-eighth patriarch. 146

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If we spoke of a Patriarch's truth separate from the Buddha's truth, it would be difficult for there to be ten patriarchs or twenty patriarchs. That we revere the ancestral master because he has received the transmission from rightful successor to rightful successor is due to the importance of the Buddha's truth. With what features could an ancestral master who had not received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's truth meet face-to-face with human beings and gods? It would be more difficult still to turn around the profound will that adores the Buddha in order to follow anew an ancestral master who did not belong to the Buddha's truth. That the unreliable madmen of today idly scorn the Buddha's truth is because it is impossible for them to decide which Dharmas belong to the Buddha's truth. To compare, even for a moment, those teachings of the Dao and of Confucius, and the teaching of the Buddha, is not only pitifully stupid but is also the cause and conditions of wrong action and is the downfall of nations, because it is the undermining of the Three Treasures. The truths of Confucius and Laozi37 can never match the state of an arhat;38 how much less could they equal the state of balanced realization or the state of fine realization?39 [In] Confucianism and Daoism, they are able, barely, to discern in astronomical phenomena the vision and hearing of saints, but it is hard for them to clarify, in one life or in many lives, the cause-and-effect of the Great Saint. They are able, barely, to discern in nondoing the movement and stillness of the body-mind, but they can never clarify, in the limitlessness of the moment,

40 the reality of the whole universe in the ten directions. In short, the inferiority of the teachings of Confucius and Laozi to the teaching of the Buddha does not deserve to be discussed in terms of the separation of heaven and earth. Randomly to discuss them as one is to insult the Buddha-Dharma and to slander Confucius and Laozi. Though there is some accuracy in the teachings of Confucius and Laozi, how could the old veterans of recent times understand even a fraction of them, much less grasp them as a great handle upon ten thousand ages? In those [teachings] too there is instruction and training which the flotsam of today could not easily enact. There is no one who could even attempt to practice them. Not even a single atom can be identified with another atom; how much less could the late learners of today determine what the profound and mystical Buddhist sutras are? Not clearly understanding either of two factors, they just randomly express outlandish theories and confused words about unity.

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[49] In great Song [China] today such people sign their names under masters' titles and occupy positions of temple master. Without shame before the past and present, they stupidly make nonsense of the Buddha's truth. It is difficult to permit that the Buddha-Dharma is present in them. Old veterans like these, down to the last person, say: "Buddhist sutras are not the original intention of the Buddha's truth; the Patriarch's transmission is the original intention. In the Patriarch's transmission the mysterious, the profound, and the fine have been transmitted.

" Words like these are stupid in the extreme;

they are the talk of madmen. There is no mystery in the authentic transmission from the ancestral Master that differs from the Buddhist sutras, or even from a single word or half a word therein. Both the Buddhist sutras and the Patriarch's truth have been authentically transmitted and have spread from Śākyamuni Buddha. The Patriarch's transmission has been received only by rightful successors from rightful successors, but how could [rightful successors] not know, how could they not clarify, and how could they not read and recite the Buddhist sutras? A past master says,

"You delude yourself with the sutras.

The sutras do not delude you.

"41 There are many stories about past masters

reading sutras. I would like to say to the unreliable as follows: If, as you say, the Buddhist sutras should be discarded, then the Buddha's mind should be discarded and the Buddha's body should be discarded. If the Buddha's bodymind should be discarded, the Buddha's disciples should be discarded. If the Buddha's disciples should be discarded, the Buddha's truth should be discarded. If the Buddha's truth should be discarded, how could the Patriarch's truth not be discarded? If you discard both the Buddha's truth and the Patriarch's truth, you might become one person with a shaved head among a hundred secular people. Who could deny that you deserved to taste the stick? Not only would you be at the beck and call of kings and their retainers; you might also be answerable to Yamarāja.

42

[51] Recent old veterans, on barely obtaining a note from a king or a retainer, proclaim themselves to be masters of Buddhist temples and on this basis they speak the insane words described previously. There is no one to tell right from wrong. Only my late master laughed at these people [whose wrongness] was totally unrecognized by the old veterans of other temples. In general, we should not think that because monks are from a foreign land they must inevitably possess clear understanding of the truth, or that because 148

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they teach the emperor of a great nation they must inevitably have accomplished something. The living beings of foreign lands do not all have the makings of monks; the good ones are good, and the bad ones are bad. It may be that types of living beings are the same in the limitless triple worlds of the universe. Furthermore, those who possess the truth are not always chosen to become the teachers of the emperors of great nations; emperors also have difficulty knowing who possesses the truth. They make appointments merely on the basis of the recommendations they hear from their retainers. In the past and present there have been emperors' teachers who possessed the truth and many emperors' teachers who did not possess the truth. In a corrupt age, those appointed are people who do not possess the truth. In a corrupt age, those not appointed do possess the truth. What is the reason? It is because there are times in which a [true] person is known43 and there are times in which a [true] person goes unknown. We should not forget the past example on [Mount] Ōbai of Jinshū.

44 Jinshū was the teacher of emperors; he lectured

on the Dharma before bamboo screens, and preached the Dharma before bamboo blinds.

45 Moreover, he was the highest ranking of seven hundred noble monks. We should believe in the past example on Ōbai of temple servant Ro.

46 By changing his occupation from woodcutter to temple servant he had escaped from hauling firewood; still, he made it his job to pound rice. That his position was low is regrettable, but his leaving of secular life and transcendence of the monkhood, his attainment of the Dharma and reception of the robe, are an example unheard of since ancient times and absent even in India in the west; they are a rare and noble precedent set only in the Eastern Lands. It seems that even the seven hundred noble monks could not measure up to him, and that the dragons and elephants of the whole country could not follow in his traces. He is the Buddha's rightful successor, having properly taken his place in the succession as the thirty-third patriarch. 47 If the Fifth

Patriarch were not a good counselor with the ability to know a person, how could it be so? Consider a truth such as this quietly; do not be hasty about it. Hope to get the ability to know people. To fail to know a person is a calamity for self and others, and a calamity for the whole nation. Wide knowledge and skill in handling important matters are not necessary, but we should urgently seek the eyes to know a person and the ability to know a person. Without the ability to know a person, we will sink into depression for long 149

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ages. In conclusion, we should know that in the Buddha's truth there are inevitably Buddhist sutras; we should learn in practice, as the mountains and the oceans, their universal text and their profound meaning; and we should make them our standard for pursuing the truth. Shōbōgenzō Bukkyō

Preached to the assembly while lodging at Kippōji in the Yoshida district of Esshū, 48 in

the ninth lunar month in the autumn of the first year of Kangen.

49

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Notes

1 Kyō-bosatsu-hōsuggests the Lotus Sutraitself. See Chapter Seventeen (Vol. I), Hokketen-hokke;and for example LS 1.52. 2 Kono naka nimeans either "in this [time and place]" or "in these [Buddhist sutras]. "

Given that in this chapter reality and the Buddhist sutras are identified, both translations signify the same thing.

3 Chishiki,lit.,

"acquaintance,

" is short for zenchishiki,lit.,

"good acquaintance,

" which

represents the Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra. Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary defines kalyāṇamitraas "a friend of virtue; a well-wishing friend; a good counselor. "

See Vol. I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. Kalyāṇamitrais often translated as "spiritual friend,

" but in Master Dōgen's philosophy zen,

"goodness" or "virtue,

" is a practical

rather than a spiritual matter. See, for example, Chapter Ten (Vol. I), Shoaku-makusa. "A good counselor" means a teacher who can give concrete practical guidance on how to apply the principles of Buddhism in daily life. 4 Kisen-kugosuggests action—intuition before, consideration after. 5 Kichū-kuri.

6 Senmen-kissaalludes to a story about Master Isan Reiyū and his two disciples. See Chapter Twenty-five (Vol. II), Jinzū;Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 61. 7 Refers to the transmission between Master Ōbaku Kiun and his disciples Rinzai Gigen, Bokushū Dōmyō, etc. See also note 27.

8 Refers to the transmission between Master Daiman Kōnin and Master Daikan Enō, described for example in Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo,paragraph 99. 9 The stories of Master Reiun Shigon and Master Kyōgen Chikan realizing the truth in nature are recorded in Chapter Nine (Vol. I), Keisei-sanshiki. 10 Animals and asuras are two of the six states, rokudō:gods (devas), human beings, asuras (angry demons), animals, hungry ghosts, and beings in hell. 11 Lotus Sutra, Hōsshi: "This sutra opens the gate of expedient methods and reveals true real form.

" See LS 2.156; Chapter Fifty, Shohō-jissō.

12 Alludes to Lotus Sutra,Hōben:"The Dharma abides in its place in the Dharma,/And the form of the world is constantly abiding./Having recognized this in a place of the truth,/Guiding teachers teach it by expedient means. " (LS 1.120)

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13 Hittoku-zekyō.Source not traced.

14 Mushi-chi,lit.,

"no-master-wisdom,

" or untutored wisdom, means wisdom that develops intuitively without being taught. 15 Nyorai-nyoko. Nyorai,lit.,

"[One to whom] reality has arrived,

" representing the Sanskrit Tathāgata, is an epithet of the Buddha commonly used in the Buddhist sutras. 16 Another reference to the transmission between Master Daiman Kōnin and Master Daikan Enō; see note 8 and Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo. 17 Master Daikan Enō's words to Master Nangaku Ejō. See, for example, Chapter Sixtytwo, Hensan. 18 Master Nangaku Ejō's words to Master Daikan Enō. Ibid. 19 Jūni-bu, the twelve divisions of the sutras, or teaching, are explained in Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II), Bukkyō.

20 I-on-nō, the name of an ancient buddha, from the Sanskrit Bhīsmagarjitasvararāja. Lotus Sutra, Jōfugyō-bosatsu ("Bodhisattva Never Despise"): "In the eternal past, countless infinite, inconceivable asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there was a buddha named King of Majestic Voice.

" (LS 3.128)

21 Quoted from the Wanshijuko(Wanshi'

s Eulogies of the Ancients), by Master Wanshi

Shōgaku. The poem is also quoted in Chapter Twenty-one (Vol. I), Kankin. 22 Ga-kori,literally,

"in my concrete place.

"

23 Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), successor of Master Seppō Gison. Quoted in vol. 3 of the Unmonkyōshinzenjikōroku(General Record of Zen Master Unmon Kyōshin). 24 Fuyōgenerally means nonessential, needless, or useless. Here, however, fuyōsuggests a state of transcendence. Master Tendō's words are not a denial of the value of reading sutras but a recommendation to get the real state of reading sutras. Similarly, in Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II), Bukkyō, fuyōmeans 1) unnecessary, and 2) nonnecessity. 25 Nandachi,which literally means "you" in the plural, here refers to those who affirm Master Bodhidharma's zazen but negate study of the sutras, without understanding the true relation between zazen and the sutras.

26 These various categories are discussed in Chapter Forty-nine, Butsudō. 27 Goshō.These characters are taken from the story of Master Rinzai's practice under Masters Ōbaku and Daigu, recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 27. Master Dōgen also describes the episode in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 170: "[Rinzai] was in Ōbaku's order for three years. Pursuing the truth with pure simplicity, three times he asked Ōbaku, at the instruction of Venerable Patriarch Chen from 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. Then he went to Daigu and realized the great state of realization. . . . "

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28 Master Kōan Daigu (dates unknown), successor of Master Kisū Chijō and, like Master Ōbaku, a second-generation descendant of Master Baso Dōitsu. 29 Master Bokushū Dōmyō (780?-877?), successor of Master Ōbaku. His secular name was Chen, and Venerable Patriarch Chen was his nickname. 30 Ritsuchi-chōbō,

"standing on the ground to listen to the Dharma, " suggests the attitude

of those who were eager to listen to the Buddha's preaching on Vulture Peak. 31 Daichi,

"Great Wisdom,

" is the posthumous title of Master Ōbaku's master, Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814).

32 Shi-nan,literally,

"pointing-south.

" A shi-nan-shawas an ancient Chinese military vehicle topped by a wooden statue (on a magnetic base) whose arm always pointed south.

33 Master Seppō Gison (822-907), successor of Master Tokusan Senkan. 34 Gakuchi,

"the learning state,

" is opposed to mugaku,

for arhathood.

"being without study,

" a synonym

35 Betsudenrefers to the idea kyōge-betsuden, "separate transmission outside the teachings. " Master Dōgen attacks this idea in Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II), Bukkyō. 36 "The Patriarch" means Master Bodhidharma. The people under discussion did not revere Buddhist sutras but claimed only to revere Bodhidharma's Zen. 37 Laozi was a Chinese philosopher of the sixth century B.C.E., known as the founder of Daoism.

38 The ultimate state of a śrāvaka,or intellectual Buddhist. 39 The penultimate and ultimate states of a bodhisattva. 40 Mujin-saidan, lit.,

"limitless separation,

" means the moment of the present that is completely cut off from past and future. 41 This probably alludes to the story about Masters Daikan Enō and Hōtatsu. See Chapter Seventeen (Vol. I), Hokke-ten-hokke. 42 Yama is the name of the god supposed by ancient Indians to rule the spirits of the dead. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 43 Chijin,

true.

"knowing a person,

" means the intuitive ability to know whether a person is 44 Ācārya Jinshū (d. 706), successor of Master Daiman Kōnin. He was the most excellent of seven hundred monks in the order of Master Daiman Kōnin on Ōbai Mountain, but could not match Master Daikan Enō who was living in the temple as a laborer. Posthumously titled Zen Master Daitsu. See also Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō. 45 Ācārya Jinshū was revered by the Tang emperor Chusō and Empress Wu (who usurped 153

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46 47 48 the throne from Chusō for twenty years from 684). The screens and blinds were to veil the emperors from view.

Ro-anja.Ro was the family name of Master Daikan Enō. Anja, "novice" or "temple

servant,

" described someone who worked in the temple as a servant, either with a view to becoming a monk or as a livelihood. Master Daikan Enō is the Sixth Patriarch in China, and the thirty-third patriarch counting from Master Mahākāśyapa. Corresponds to modern-day Fukui prefecture. 49 1243.

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[Chapter Fifty-three]

Mujō-seppō

The Non-emotional

Preaches the Dharma

Translator's Note:Mujō means the non-emotional and seppō means to preach the Dharma. Originally, mujō means inanimate or insentient things, so mujōseppō means inanimate things preach the Dharma. But Master Dōgen '

s usage

of the word mujō was wider than the usual usage, as if the words cover the whole of nature—human beings as well as mountains, rivers, and so on. Master Dōgen insisted that even inanimate things can preach the Dharma, and at the same time he insisted that human beings can preach the Dharma when they are not emotional. He insisted that any thing that is not emotional can preach the Dharma—a viewpoint that profoundly expresses the true nature of Buddhist preaching.

[57] Preaching the Dharma in preaching the Dharma is the realized universe that Buddhist patriarchs transmit to Buddhist patriarchs. This preaching the Dharma is the Dharma preaching. It is neither sentient1 nor insentient. 2 It is

neither intentional doing nor nondoing. It is not causally connected with doing and nondoing, and it is not something that arises from circumstances. At the same time, it does not follow the way of the birds; it is given to a Buddhist assembly. When the great state of truth is completely realized, preaching the Dharma is completely realized. When the Dharma treasury is transmitted, preaching the Dharma is transmitted. At the time of picking up a flower, preaching the Dharma is picked up, and at the time of transmitting the robe, preaching the Dharma is transmitted. For this reason, the buddhas and the patriarchs have, in like fashion, paid homage to preaching the Dharma since prior to the King of Majestic Voice,

3 and have practiced preaching the

Dharma as their original practice since prior to the buddhas themselves. Do not learn only that preaching the Dharma has been orchestrated by Buddhist 155

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patriarchs; Buddhist patriarchs have been orchestrated by preaching the Dharma. This preaching the Dharma is not merely the expounding of the eighty-four thousand gates of Dharma; it includes countless and boundless gates of Dharma preaching. Do not learn that later buddhas preach as Dharma the Dharma preaching of former buddhas. Just as former buddhas do not come back as later buddhas, so it is also in preaching the Dharma: former preaching of the Dharma is not used as later preaching of the Dharma. For this reason, Śākyamuni Buddha says, "In the same manner that the buddhas of the three times preach the Dharma, so now do I also preach the Dharma that is without distinction. "4 Thus, in the same way that buddhas utilize preaching the Dharma, buddhas utilize preaching the Dharma. And in the same way that buddhas authentically transmit preaching the Dharma, buddhas authentically transmit preaching the Dharma. Therefore, having been authentically transmitted from buddhas of the eternal past to the Seven Buddhas, and having been authentically transmitted from the Seven Buddhas to today, there exists "the non-emotional preaching the Dharma. " In this non-emotional

preaching the Dharma the buddhas are present, and the patriarchs are present. Do not learn that "I now preach the Dharma" expresses an innovation that differs from the authentic tradition. And do not experience the time-honored authentic tradition as if it were an old nest in a demon's cave. [61] National Master Daishō5 of Kōtakuji in the Western Capital6 in the great kingdom of Tang, the story goes, is asked by a monk, "Can

the insentient really preach the Dharma, or not?" The National Master says,

"They are always preaching ardently; they preach without interval. "

The monk says,

"Why do I not hear it?"

The National Master says,

"Whether or not you hear it yourself, you should not disturb others who do hear it. "

The monk says,

"I wonder what kind of person is able to hear it. "

The National Master says,

"Saints are able to hear it. "

The monk says,

"Does the Master hear it or not?" The National Master says,

"I do not hear it.

"

The monk says,

"If the Master himself does not hear it, how does he know that the insentient preach the Dharma?" 156

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The National Master says,

"It is convenient that I do not hear it. If I heard it I would be on the level of the saints, and then you would not be able to hear me preaching the Dharma. "

The monk says,

"So living beings are without the means [to hear]. "

The National Master says,

"I preach for living beings. I do not preach for saints.

"

The monk says,

The National Master says,

"What are living beings like after they hear?" "At that time they are beyond living beings.

"7

[62] Beginners and later students who wish to learn in practice the nonemotional preaching the Dharma should get straight into diligent research of this story of the National Master. "They are always preaching ardently; they preach without interval.

" "Always" is a concrete time of many instants. "They preach without interval": given that "preaching" is already manifest in reality, it is inevitably "without interval. " We should not learn that the manner in which "the insentient preach the Dharma" must necessarily be as in the case of the sentient.

8 [To suppose that the manner in which "the insentient preach the Dharma]" might accord with the voices of the sentient, and with the manner in which the sentient preach the Dharma, and thus to wrest voices from the sentient world and to liken them to the voices of the insentient world, is not Buddhism.

"The insentient preaching the Dharma" may not always be sound as matter—just as the sentient preaching the Dharma is not sound as matter.

9 Now, asking ourselves and asking others, we must endeavor to learn in practice what is the sentient state and what is the insentient state. That being so, we should painstakingly apply our mind to learning in practice how the non-emotional might preach the Dharma. Stupid people think that the rustling of trees in the forest, and the opening and falling of leaves and flowers, are the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, but they are not practitioners of the Buddha-Dharma. 10 If it were so, who could fail to know the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, and who could fail to hear the nonemotional preaching the Dharma? Let us reflect for a while: in the non-emotional world are there any "grass, " "trees,

" and "forests" or not? Is the nonemotional world infiltrated by "the emotional world" or not? [No.] To recognize, on the contrary, that grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles are the non-emotional is to 157

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be incomplete in learning. And to recognize the non-emotional as grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles, is not to have experienced satisfaction. Though we shall now consider the grass, trees, and so on that are seen by human beings, and discuss them as the non-emotional, those very grass, trees, and so on are beyond the common intellect. For there are great differences between the forests of the heavens above and those of the human world; the produce of a civilized nation is not the same as that of a remote land; and grass and trees in the ocean are totally unlike those in the mountains. Still more, there are trees that grow in space and there are trees that grow in clouds. Among the hundred weeds and myriad trees that sprout and grow amid wind, fire, and so on, there are generally those that can be understood as sentient, those that are not recognized as insentient, and those weeds and trees which seem to be humans and animals: sentient and insentient have never been clearly distinguished. Still more, when we see a hermit's trees, stones, flowers, fruits, hot springs, and cool waters, they are utterly beyond doubt—but how could they not be difficult to explain? Barely having seen the weeds and trees of China, or having become familiar with the weeds and trees of Japan, do not think that similar situations may be present through the whole universe in myriad directions.

[66] The National Master says,

"The saints are able to hear it.

" That is,

in orders where the non-emotional preaches the Dharma, the saints stand on the ground to listen.

11 The saints, and the non-emotional, both realize hearing and realize preaching. The non-emotional does indeed preach the Dharma to saints, but is it sacred12 or is it common? [It is neither.] In other words, after we have clarified the manner in which the non-emotional preaches the Dharma, we are able to realize in physical experience that what the saints hear is as it is. Having attained realization in physical experience, we are able to fathom the state of the saints. Thereafter we should learn in practice, further, action on the road through the night which transcends the common and transcends the sacred. The National Master says,

"I do not hear it.

" Do

not suppose that even these words are easy to understand. Does he not hear because he transcends the common and transcends the sacred, or does he not hear because he rips apart the nests of the common and the sacred? With effort like this, we should realize the [master's] expression. The National Master says,

"It is convenient that I do not hear it. If I heard it I would be 158

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on the level of the saints.

" This elucidation is never one truth or two truths. 13

The "convenient I" is beyond the common and the sacred; might the "convenient I" be a Buddhist patriarch? Because Buddhist patriarchs transcend the common and transcend the sacred, [what they hear] may not be exactly the same as what the saints hear. Researching the truth of the National Master's words "Then you would not be able to hear me preaching the Dharma, " we

should consider the bodhi of the buddhas and the saints. The point is this: when the non-emotional preach the Dharma the saints are able to hear, but when the National Master preaches the Dharma that concrete monk is able to hear. Day upon day and month after month we should endeavor to learn this truth. Now I would like to ask the National Master: I do not ask what living beings are like after they hear, but what are living beings like just in the moment of hearing you preach the Dharma? [68] The founding patriarch Great Master Tōzan Gohon, 14 while practicing under the ancestral patriarch Great Master Ungan, asks, "What

people are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma?" The ancestral patriarch Ungan says, "The non-emotional are able

to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma. "

The founding patriarch says,

"Does the master hear it or not?" The ancestral patriarch says, "If I hear it, then you will not be able to hear my preaching of the Dharma. "

The founding patriarch says,

"If that is so, I would [rather] not hear the master's preaching of the Dharma. "

The ancestral patriarch says, "You do not even hear me preaching the Dharma; how much less [do you hear] the non-emotional preaching the Dharma.

"

Then the founding patriarch sets forth the following verse and presents it to the ancestral patriarch: How very wonderful! How very wonderful! The non-emotional preaching the Dharma is a mystery. If we listen with the ears, it is ultimately too difficult to understand.

If we hear the sound through the eyes, we are able to know it. 15

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[69] The truth expressed now in the founding patriarch's words "What people are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma" should be painstakingly researched through the effort of one life and many lives. This question is also equipped with the virtue of an assertion. 16 And this

assertion has the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow; it is not only "the mind being transmitted by the mind.

"17 Transmission of the mind by the mind is

the pursuit of beginners and late learners, but there is a pivotal matter which has been authentically transmitted by means of the robe and authentically transmitted by means of the Dharma. How can people today expect to realize it as the ultimate in only three or four months of effort? The founding patriarch has already experienced the principle expressed in the past by the National Master that "The saints are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma,

" and yet he now asks further: "What people are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma?" Should we see this as affirmation of the National Master's words, or as non-affirmation of the National Master's words? Should we see it as a question or as an assertion? If he does not completely affirm the National Master, how could he speak words like these?18 And if he completely affirms the National Master, how could he understand words like those?19

[70] The ancestral patriarch Ungan says,

"The non-emotional are able

to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma.

" Following the authentic

transmission of this lifeblood, there can be learning in practice that is free of body and mind. Saying "The non-emotional are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma" may be, in essence and in form, [the same as saying] "the buddhas are able to hear the buddhas preaching the Dharma. "

An assembly that listens to the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, whether of sentient beings or insentient beings, whether of common people or sages and saints, may just be the non-emotional itself. Relying upon its essenceand-form, we can tell the true from the false among [masters of] the past and present. Even if they have come from India in the west, if they are not true ancestral masters of the authentic transmission, we should not rely on them. Even if they have been learning continually for a thousand myriad years, if they have not received the transmission as rightful successor to rightful successor, we cannot succeed them. Now that the authentic transmission has already spread throughout the Eastern Lands, it may be easy to tell the true 160

Chapter Fifty-three

from the false. We might be able to receive the bones and marrow of the buddhas and the patriarchs even by listening to the expression "living beings are able to hear living beings preaching the Dharma.

" When we hear the

words of the ancestral patriarch Ungan and listen to the words of the National Master Daishō, if we truly evaluate them,

"the saints" expressed in "The

saints are able listen" may be the non-emotional, and "the non-emotional" expressed in "The non-emotional are able to hear" may be the saints. What the non-emotional preaches is the non-emotional—because the non-emotional preaching the Dharma is the non-emotional itself. Thus, the non-emotional is the preaching of Dharma and the preaching of Dharma is the non-emotional. The founding patriarch says,

"If that is so, I would [rather] not hear the master's preaching of the Dharma. " The words "If that is so,

" which we now

hear, take up the principle that "the non-emotional are able to hear the nonemotional preaching the Dharma. " It is in accordance with the truth of the

non-emotional being able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma that "I do not hear20 the master's preaching of the Dharma. " The founding

patriarch at this time is not simply taking a back seat for the non-emotional preaching the Dharma; his own zeal to preach the Dharma to the non-emotional has shown itself and is piercing the sky. Not only does he physically realize that the non-emotional preaches the Dharma; in non-emotional preaching of the Dharma he has physically mastered [transcendence of] hearing and not hearing. Going further, in emotional preaching of the Dharma he has physically realized [transcendence of] preaching and not preaching—in preaching just past, preaching just now, and preaching just coming. And beyond that, in the preaching of the Dharma [that transcends] being heard and not being heard, he has completely clarified the truth [of knowing] that this is emotional and this is non-emotional.

21

[74] In general, hearing the Dharma is not confined to the spheres of the ear as a sense organ or of auditory consciousness: we hear the Dharma with our whole energy, with the whole mind, with the whole body, and with the whole truth, from before the time our parents were born and from before the time of [King of] Majestic Voice until the limit of the future and into the limitless future. The Dharma is heard prior to the body and after the mind. There is benefit to be got in each of these cases of hearing the Dharma. Never say that there is no benefit in hearing the Dharma without the involvement of 161

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mind-consciousness. Those whose mind has ceased and whose body is spent22 are able to benefit from hearing the Dharma, and those who are without mind and without body23 are able to benefit from hearing the Dharma. The buddhas and the patriarchs, without exception, pass through series of such instants in becoming buddhas and becoming patriarchs. How can the common intellect be fully aware of the influence of the Dharma connecting with the body-mind? It is impossible for us fully to clarify the limits of the body-mind. The merit of hearing the Dharma, once sown as a seed in the fertile ground of the body-mind, has no moment of decay; sooner or later it will grow, and, with the passing of time, it is sure to bear fruit. Stupid people think: "Without progressing on the path of understanding, and unless our memory is good, even if we listen to the Dharma tirelessly there will be no benefit. The most important thing, whether in the human world or in the heavens above, is to devote one's body and mind to the pursuit of wide knowledge. If we immediately forget, and leave the seat a blank, what benefit can there be? What educational merit can it have?" They say this because they have not met a true teacher and have not seen a person of the fact. One who does not possess the traditional face-to-face transmission is said not to be a true teacher. One who has received the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha is a true teacher. [The time] that stupid people describe as [preaching the Dharma] being temporarily remembered in the mind-consciousness is the time when the merit of hearing the Dharma is subtly covering the whole mind and covering the whole consciousness. In this very moment, virtue is present which covers the body, which covers the moment before the body, which covers the mind, which covers the moment before the mind, which covers the moment after the mind, which covers causes, conditions, results, actions, forms, natures, substance, and energy, which covers buddhas, which covers patriarchs, which covers self-and-others, and which covers skin, flesh, bones, marrow, and so on. Realized throughout speaking and preaching and throughout [daily actions] such as sitting and lying down, the virtue pervades the meridians and pervades the sky. Truly, it is not easy to recognize such virtue of hearing the Dharma; nevertheless, if we come upon the great order of the Buddhist Patriarch and investigate the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, there will be no time when the good influence of preaching the Dharma does not lead us, and there will be no place 162

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where we do not spread the Dharma influence of hearing the Dharma. In this way, allowing moments and kalpas to be fleeting or slow, 24 we will see results

become real. We should not deliberately throw away wide knowledge; at the same time, we do not see it, in isolation, as the pivot. Practitioners should know this. The founding patriarch has realized it in physical experience. [78] The ancestral patriarch says,

"You do not even hear me preaching

the Dharma; how much less [do you hear] the non-emotional preaching the Dharma.

" Here, [confronted] with the founding patriarch's sudden manifestation of the state of continuing to experience, on the basis of real experience, the [Buddha's] state of real experience, the ancestral patriarch loosens his collar, and seals and certifies the state as the bones and marrow of the forefathers. [He is saying,] "Even while I am preaching, you are beyond hearing!" He does not speak thus because [Tōzan] is ordinary flotsam; he is certifying that the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, though multifarious, does not require the activation of the intellect. The succession that takes place at this time is truly a secret. Those in the states of the common and the sacred cannot easily arrive at it or glimpse it.

[79] Then the founding patriarch composes and presents to the ancestral patriarch Ungan a verse which says that "the mystery25 of the non-emotional preaching the Dharma" is "How very wonderful! How very wonderful!" So the non-emotional, and the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, are each difficult "to consider intellectually.

"26 How are we to see "the nonemotional" described here? We should learn in practice that it is beyond the common and the sacred, and beyond the sentient and the insentient. Common and sacred, sentient and insentient, are always, whether preached or not preached, within the orbit of intellectual consideration. The present "[nonemotional], " which may indeed be "a mystery,

" and "very wonderful,

" and

again "very wonderful" is beyond the wisdom and the consciousness of common people and sages and saints, and is beyond the reckoning of gods and human beings.

[80] "If we listen with the ears, it is ultimately too difficult to understand": Even with supernatural ears, or even with universal ears that pervade the whole world and all of time, when we aim to listen with the ears, "it is ultimately too difficult to understand.

" Even with an ear on a wall, or an ear on

a stick, we cannot understand the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, 163

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because it is beyond sound as matter. It is not that there is no "possibility of listening with the ears,

" but even if we exhaust hundreds of thousands of kalpas of effort,

"it is ultimately too difficult to understand. " [The non-emotional preaching the Dharma] has the dignity of the undivided truth which is originally beyond sound and form; it does not reside in nests and dens near the common and the sacred.

[82] "Hearing its sound through the eyes, we are able to know it. " Interpreting this expression, certain individuals think: "The activity of grass, trees, flowers, and birds being seen in the present by human eyes may be described as 'hearing sound through the eyes.

'" This point of view is completely mistaken and is not the Buddha-Dharma at all. The Buddha-Dharma has no such theory. When we learn in practice the founding patriarch's words "hearing sound through the eyes,

" the place where the sound of the non-emotional preaching the Dharma is heard, is the eyes27 themselves; and the place where the sound of the non-emotional preaching the Dharma is realized, is the eyes themselves. We must investigate the eyes still more widely. "Hearing sound"

through the eyes must mean the same as "hearing sound" through the ears; and for this reason,

"hearing sound through the eyes" can never be the same as "hearing sound" through the ears. We should not learn that "there are ears in the eyes,

" we should not learn that "eyes and ears are one, " and we should

not learn that "sound is realized inside eyes. " An ancient28 says,

"The whole

universe in the ten directions is a śramaṇa's one eye. " We should not consider,

by intellectual comparison, that to hear sound through this eye may be as in the founding patriarch's words "hearing sound through the eyes. " Although

we study the words of the ancient that "the whole universe in the ten directions is one eye,

" the whole of the ten directions is just one eye, and furthermore, there are thousands of eyes on the tips of the fingers, there are thousands of eyes of right Dharma, there are thousands of eyes in the ears, there are thousands of eyes on the tip of the tongue, there are thousands of eyes on the tip of the mind, there are thousands of eyes of the thoroughly realized mind, there are thousands of eyes of the thoroughly realized body, there are thousands of eyes on top of a stick, there are thousands of eyes in the moment before the body, there are thousands of eyes in the moment before the mind, there are thousands of eyes of death in death, there are thousands of eyes of liveliness in liveliness, there are thousands of eyes of the self, there are thousands 164

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of eyes of the external world, there are thousands of eyes in the concrete place of eyes, there are thousands of eyes of learning in practice, there are thousands of eyes aligned vertically, and there are thousands of eyes aligned horizontally. Thus, we study that the totality of eyes is the whole universe, but still this is not physical mastery of "the eyes. " We should make it an

urgent task to investigate, through the eyes, [the action of] just hearing the non-emotional preaching the Dharma. The point expressed now by the founding patriarch is that it is difficult for the ears to understand the nonemotional preaching the Dharma. It is the eyes which hear the sound. Going further, there are instances of the thoroughly realized body29 hearing the sound and instances of the whole body30 hearing the sound. Even if we fail physically to master hearing sound through the eyes, we must physically realize, and must get free from, [the truth that] "the non-emotional are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma,

" for this is the truth that

has been transmitted.

[85] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, says, "A bottle gourd

vine entwines with a bottle gourd.

"31

This is Dharma preaching of the non-emotional state, 32 in which the

ancestral patriarch's right eyes have been transmitted and in which the bones and marrow have been transmitted. Relying upon the truth that all Dharma preaching is in the non-emotional state, the non-emotional preach the Dharma, which is the ancient standard, and the non-emotional preaches Dharma to the non-emotional. What do we call "the non-emotional"? Remember, those who listen to the non-emotional preaching the Dharma are just it. What do we call "preaching the Dharma"? Remember, not knowing oneself to be the non-emotional is just it.

[86] Great Master Jisai33 of Tōsuzan in Jōshū34 (successor of Zen Master Suibi Mugaku, called Daidō Myōkaku in his lifetime, also called the eternal buddha Tōsu),

35 the story goes, is asked by a monk,

"What is the non-emotional preaching the Dharma?" The master says, "No abusive language.

"36

What Tōsu expresses here is the very Dharma plan of eternal buddhas and the ordinance of the patriarchs. Such [preaching] as the non-emotional preaching the Dharma, and Dharma preaching of the non-emotional is, in short, not to speak abusive language. Remember, the non-emotional preaching the Dharma is the whole charter of the Buddhist patriarchs. Followers of 165

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Shōbōgenzō Volume III Rinzai and Tokusan cannot know it; only Buddhist patriarchs devote themselves to its investigation. Shōbōgenzō Mujō-seppō Preached to the assembly at Kippōji in the Yoshida district of Esshū37 on the second day of the tenth lunar month in the first year of Kangen.

38

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Notes

1 Ujō. U means "having.

" Jō means "feelings" or "emotion. " In general ujō means

"sentient beings" or "the sentient. "

2 Mujō. Mu means "not having" or "without. " Conventionally, opposed to "sentient beings,

" mujō means "insentient things" or "the insentient"; that is, trees, rocks, fences, walls, etc. At the same time, in this chapter it also means "the non-emotional"; that is, the state without emotion, or reality, which is beyond emotion. 3 The name of a buddha of the infinite past, mentioned at the beginning of the twentieth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Myō-shōgun-ō-honji ("The Story of King Resplendent"). (LS 3.128)

4 Lotus Sutra,Hōben.See LS 1.128. 5 Master Nan'yō Echū (d. 755), successor of Master Daikan Enō. National Master Daishō is his posthumous title. 6 Seikyō, literally,

"Western Capital.

" There were five cities in Tang China with this name, but here it refers to the city that is present-day Luoyang, in the Huang basin in northern Hunan, east China. 7 A slightly different version of the story appears in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 28. 8 Because the state of the sentient (ujō) is sometimes emotional, but the state of the insentient (mujō) is always non-emotional, that is, balanced—in this part, Master Dōgen distinguishes between the two states. 9 Just as a Buddhist lecture is not only sound but also has meaning, so a mountain stream not only produces sound but also expounds Buddhist teaching. See, for example, Chapter Fourteen (Vol. I), Sansuigyō. 10 In Master Dōgen's view, nature can only teach us the truth when we ourselves are balanced (non-emotional).

11 Ritsu-chi-chō,

"standing on the ground,

" suggests politeness and eagerness to hear. Master Seppō said,

"The buddhas of the three times are inside the flame of the fire, turning the great wheel of Dharma. " Master Gensha replied: "The flame is preaching Dharma for the buddhas of the three times, and the buddhas of the three times are standing on the ground to listen. " See Chapter Twenty-three (Vol. II), Gyōbutsu-yuigi. 167

Shōbōgenzō Volume III

12 Shōas a noun means "saint" or "sacred being" (as in the National Master's words), and as an adjective means "sacred. "

13 It is an expression of the whole truth of the National Master, who lived not by hard and fast rules but by freely changing his behavior to suit circumstances—he kept his teaching at a level that could be understood by the listener. 14 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan Donjō. 15 In general, ears represent intellectual understanding whereas eyes represent intuitive understanding, or the viewpoint of real experience. The story is recorded in the Shinjishōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 48; Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15. 16 Shimo-nin,lit.,

"a what person,

" means a person in the ineffable state. 17 Ishin-denshindescribes intuitive communication among human beings. The phrase also appears in Chapter Forty-six, Kattō. 18 Because Master Tōzan completely affirms the National Master, he wants to investigate further the National Master's words that the saints are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma.

19 Because Master Tōzan completely affirms the National Master, he absorbs the National Master's words without trying to understand them intellectually. 20 Fumonsounds in the story like a statement of Master Tōzan's willingness to forego hearing Master Ungan's preaching ("[I would rather] not hear"), but Master Dōgen's interpretation here is that fumon, "not hearing" or "being beyond hearing, " expresses

Master Tōzan's non-emotional state. 21 The final sentence of the paragraph may be interpreted as an expression of Master Tōzan's practice of zazen (which is itself preaching of the Dharma). In the instructions for zazen in the Fukanzazengi, Shinpitsubon, Master Dōgen writes: "If a thought, feeling, or emotion arises, just be aware of it. "

22 Shinmetsu-shinmotsu no mono,

"mind-ceased body-sunk beings,

" suggests, for example, practitioners who feel too sleepy to concentrate on a Buddhist lecture. 23 Mushin-mushin no mono suggests practitioners who are in the state of action, and who are thus working as an integrated whole that is indivisible into "mind" and "body.

"

24 Jisetsu-kōha o tonzen nara shime te, "allowing moments and kalpas to be fleeting or slow,

" suggests patience in the face of passing time, which is sometimes fast (e.g., when we are lost in play) and sometimes slow (e.g., when we are waiting for something painful or boring to end).

25 Fushigi.As a compound these three characters mean mystery, wonder, miracle, marvel, etc. Individually, fumeans "not" or "beyond, " shimeans "think,

" and gimeans "discuss,

" "deliberate,

" or "consider intellectually.

"

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26 Shigi su.See preceding note. 27 Gensho,as in Master Tōzan's words, literally means "eyes-place. " Sho,which means

"place" or "seat,

" is suffixed to gen,

"eyes,

" to indicate the eyes as the seat of sight; that is, the eyes as a concrete organ. 28 Master Chōsha Keishin. See Chapter Sixty, Juppō. 29 Tsūshin-jo,

"the thoroughly realized body as a sense organ. " The term tsūshin,

"thoroughly realized body, " is explained in Chapter Thirty-three (Vol. II), Kannon. Jois explained in note 27.

30 Henshin-jo.Ibid.

31 Also quoted in Chapter Forty-six, Kattō. 32 Seppō-mujō.The reversal of mujō and seppō makes the non-emotional the object preached as the Dharma instead of the subject that preaches the Dharma. 33 Master Tōsu Daidō (819-914), successor of Master Suibi Mugaku. Great Master Jisai is his posthumous title. 34 In present-day Anhui province in east China. 35 The explanation in parentheses, which appears in the source text in small characters, may have been added by an editor other than Master Dōgen himself. 36 Akku na[shi], literally, "not to bad-mouth.

" In the version of this conversation recorded in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15, the master's answer is given as only aku, "bad.

"

This probably reflects an error of omission by the editor of the Keitokudentōroku. 37 Corresponds to modern-day Fukui prefecture. 38 1243.

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