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T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume III

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Chapter 57: Menju - Face-to-Face Transmission

[Chapter Fifty-seven]

Menju

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Face-to-Face Transmission

Translator's Note: Men means face, and ju means transmission. Menju means the transmission of the Dharma from a master to a disciple face to face. In Buddhism, what is transmitted from a master to a disciple is not only abstract theory but also something real, including actual conduct, physical health, and intuitional wisdom. Therefore the transmission of this real something cannot be actualized solely through explanations with words, or simply by passing on some manuscript. For this reason, the Dharma that Gautama Buddha taught has been transmitted in person from master to disciple since the days of Gautama Buddha. Without this personal contact, the Buddhist Dharma cannot be transmitted. In this chapter, Master Dōgen praises the transmission of the Buddhist Dharma and explains its importance. [161] "Then Śākyamuni Buddha, in the order on Vulture Peak in the Western Country, India, among an assembly of millions, picked up an uḍumbara flower and winked. At that time the face of Venerable Mahākāśyapa broke into a smile. Śākyamuni Buddha said,

'I possess the right Dharma-eye treasury

and the fine mind of nirvana. I transmit them to Mahākāśyapa. '"1

[162] This is the truth of the buddhas' and the patriarchs' face-to-face transmission of the right Dharma-eye treasury. Authentically transmitted by the Seven Buddhas, it reaches Venerable Mahākāśyapa. Through twentyeight transmissions from Venerable Mahākāśyapa, it reaches Venerable Bodhi dharma. Venerable Bodhidharma personally descends into China and gives face-to-face transmission to Great Master Taiso Shōshū Fukaku, Venerable Eka.

2 Through five transmissions, it reaches Great Master Daikan Enō of Sōkeizan. Through seventeen transmissions, it reaches my late master, the eternal buddha Tendō of Daibyakumyōzan in the district of Keigenfu in the great kingdom of Song. On the first day of the fifth lunar month, in the first 209

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year of the great Song era of Hōgyō,

3 Dōgen first burns incense and does

prostrations, on the elevated stage myōkōdai,to the late master Tendō, the eternal buddha; and the late master, the eternal buddha, first looks at Dōgen. Then, indicating the face-to-face transmission and bestowing it upon Dōgen, he says,

"The gate of Dharma transmitted face to face by the buddhas and the patriarchs has been realized.

" This is just the picking up of a flower on

Vulture Peak, it is the attainment of the marrow on Sūzan Mountain, 4 it is

the transmission of the robe on Ōbai Mountain,

5 and the face-to-face transmission on Tōzan Mountain. 6 This is the face-to-face transmission of the

eye-treasury of the Buddhist patriarchs. It is present only in our house; others have never experienced it even in a dream.

[164] This truth of the face-to-face transmission, because it was actually transmitted face to face to Śākyamuni Buddha in the order of Kāśyapa Buddha,

7 and because it has been maintained, is the face of the Buddhist Patriarch. Without the face-to-face transmission from the Buddha's face, we are not buddhas. Śākyamuni Buddha's direct meeting with Venerable [Mahā] kāśyapa is the immediate transmission. Even Ānanda and Rāhula cannot match the intimacy8 of the transmission to Mahākāśyapa. Even the great bodhisattvas9 cannot match the intimacy of the transmission to Mahā kāśyapa; they cannot sit in the seat of Venerable Mahākāśyapa. The Worldhonored One saw sharing his seat and sharing his robe with Mahā kāśyapa as his lifetime of buddha-behavior. The Venerable Mahākāśyapa, through face-transmission, mind-transmission, body-transmission, and eye-transmission, has intimately received the face-to-face transmission of the Worldhonored One; he has served offerings to, venerated, made prostrations to, and served homage to Buddha Śākyamuni. In thus pulverizing his bones and shattering his body, he has been through an unknown thousand myriad changes. His own countenance is beyond face and eyes; he has received the face-to-face transmission of the countenance of the Tathāgata. Śākyamuni Buddha really looks at Venerable Mahākāśyapa. Venerable Mahākāśyapa looks directly at Venerable Ānanda. Venerable Ānanda prostrates himself directly before the Buddha's face of Venerable Mahākāśyapa. This is the face-to-face transmission. Venerable Ānanda abides in and maintains this face-to-face transmission and, through contact with Śāṇavāsa, 10 he transmits

it face to face. Venerable Śāṇavāsa directly serves Venerable Ānanda, during 210

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which time "the face alone, together with the face"11 transmits and receives the face-to-face transmission. In this way the true ancestral masters of successive generations have each passed on the face-to-face transmission through the disciple regarding the master and the master seeing the disciple. If even one ancestor, one master, or one disciple failed to give or to receive the faceto-face transmission they would not be the buddhas and the patriarchs. For example, in causing a stream of faith to develop by channeling water, or in keeping a light burning which makes brightness eternal—even in koṭis of thousand myriad cases—root and branch are one. At the same time, [the transmission] is fleeting moments of cheeping and pecking. 12 This being so,

we have amassed an age of days and nights looking directly at Śākyamuni Buddha, and have amassed a generation of days and nights being illuminated by the presence of the Buddha's face. We do not know how countlessly many times this has continued, back and forth. We should quietly consider it, and be glad. It is the Buddha's eyes and the Buddha's countenance which have done prostrations to the Buddha-face of Śākyamuni Buddha, which have moved the buddha-eyes of Śākyamuni Buddha into our own eyes, and which have moved our own eyes into the Buddha's eyes. That which has transmitted this state face to face until the present, without missing a single generation, is this face-to-face transmission. The present several tens of generations of rightful successors are individual instances of the Buddha's face, and they receive the face-to-face transmission from the original Buddha's face. To make a prostration to this traditional face-to-face transmission is just to make a prostration to the Seven Buddhas and to Śākyamuni Buddha. It is to make a prostration and to serve offerings to the twentyeight Buddhist patriarchs from Venerable Mahā kāśyapa. The features and eyes of the Buddhist patriarchs are like this. To meet these Buddhist patriarchs is to meet Śākyamuni Buddha and the rest of the Seven Buddhas. It is the very moment in which Buddhist patriarchs intimately bestow the face-toface transmission of themselves; and it is buddhas of the face-to-face transmission giving the face-to-face transmission to buddhas of the face-to-face transmission. Using the complicated, they give the face-to-face transmission to the complicated, without any interruption at all. Opening their eyes, they give the eye-to-eye transmission and receive the eye-to-eye transmission through the eyes. Showing their faces, they give the face-to-face transmission 211

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and receive the face-to-face transmission through the face—the face-to-face transmission is received and given at the place of the face. Utilizing the mind, they give the mind-to-mind transmission and receive the mind-to-mind transmission through the mind. Realizing the body, they give the body-to-body transmission of the body. Other nations in other directions also see this [transmission] as their original ancestor. [But] east of China the giving and receiving of the face-to-face transmission is present only in this house of the Buddha's right tradition. We have clearly received the transmission of the right eye with which to see the Tathāgata. When we do prostrations to the face of Śākyamuni Buddha, the fifty-one patriarchs13 and the founding Seven Buddhas are neither aligned side by side nor aligned in succession; rather, their faceto-face transmissions are all present in the same moment. One who never in a lifetime meets a master is not a disciple, and one who never meets a disciple is not a master. When [master and disciple] have definitely seen each other, have been seen by each other, have given the face-to-face transmission, and have succeeded to the Dharma, that is the realization of the truth which resides in the patriarchs' face-to-face transmission. Thus, [master and disciple] have directly taken on the brightness of the Tathāgata's face. In sum, even after thousands of years, or myriad years, or hundreds of kalpas, or koṭis of kalpas, this face-to-face transmission is the appearance of the face of, and the realization of the transmission from, Śākyamuni Buddha. [170] When this state of the Buddhist Patriarch has been realized, it is the realization of the images of the World-honored One, Mahākāśyapa, the fifty-one patriarchs, and the Seven Founders; it is the realization of their brightness, the realization of their body, the realization of their mind, the appearance of the tips of their toes, and the appearance of the ends of their noses. Even before a word is comprehended and even before understanding of half a word is transcended, when the master has seen the back of the disciple's head, and the disciple has regarded the master through the crown of the head, that is the authentic face-to-face transmission. Revere a face-toface transmission like this. Merely to appear to be manifesting a trace of the mind in the field of the mind is not always a great and valuable way of life. [But] the performance of the face-to-face transmission in the changing of the face,

14 and the presence of the face-to-face transmission in the turning of the head, may be face skin three inches thick15 or face skin ten feet thin, 212

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and just this skin of the face may be "the great round mirror of the buddhas. "16

Because the great round mirror is seen as the skin of the face, "inside and

outside have no flaws or blurs,

" and great round mirrors have passed on the

face-to-face transmission to great round mirrors. Those who have received the authentic transmission of the right Dharma that has met personally with Śākyamuni Buddha are even more familiar to us than Śākyamuni Buddha; and they cause to be visible, from the corner of the eye, Śākyamuni Buddhas who are "three and three before and behind.

"17 Therefore those who revere

Śākyamuni Buddha and long for Śākyamuni Buddha should revere and should honor this authentic tradition of the face-to-face transmission; we should do venerative prostrations to that which is hard to encounter and hard to meet. That is just to do prostrations to the Tathāgata, and to be given the face-toface transmission by the Tathāgata. Those who directly meet the face-to-face transmission of the Tathāgata as a conspicuous state which is authentically transmitted and learned in practice, whether they are the self that we used to see as ourselves or whether they are others, should be cherished and protected. In the house [of Buddha] there is an authentic tradition that those who do prostrations before the eight stupas18 are liberated from hindrances of wrongdoing and are able to feel the effect of the truth. This [stupa prostration] concretely establishes the state of Śākyamuni Buddha's realization of the truth at the place of his birth,

19 at the place of his turning the Dharma wheel,

20 at

the place of his realization of the truth,

21 and at the place of his nirvana;22 it

realized the great earth and realized the great space that have remained by the city of Kanyākubja23 and remained in Āmrapālivana. 24 Through prostration

to that which is realized as a stupa by sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, substances, sights, and other objects, [the prostrater] really feels the effect of practice of the truth. Prostration to these eight stupas is a discipline practiced throughout the Western Country, India; laypeople and monks, celestial throngs and human multitudes, vie to prostrate themselves and to serve offerings [to the stupas]. This is just the scroll of a sutra; Buddhist sutras are like this. There again, to practice the thirty-seven methods25 and thereby to accomplish the Buddhist effect in each instant of living, is to propagate along the omnipresent routes of the ancients the traces of the eternal practice and discipline of Śākyamuni Buddha; because he has made [these traces] clear for eternity, we can realize the truth. Remember, those eight towers of many 213

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stories [have seen] innumerable renewals of frosts and flowers, and wind and rain have often tried to broach them, but they have left their trace in space and left their trace in matter; the freedom with which they bestow their virtue upon people of the present has not diminished. And when we apply ourselves in the present to practicing those roots, powers, truths, and paths26 —

although there are disturbances27 and there is the obstacle of delusion28 —

when we practice and experience [the thirty-seven methods], their power is still fresh. Such is the virtue of Śākyamuni Buddha. Yet the present face-toface transmission is beyond comparison with those [stupas and methods]. The thirty-seven auxiliary bodhi methods have this face of the Buddha— and the buddha-mind, the buddha-body, the Buddha's truth, the Buddha's brightness, the Buddha's tongue, and so on—as their original root. The accumulated virtues of the eight stupas, likewise, have the Buddha's face and so on as their original foundation.

[176] Now, as students of the Buddha-Dharma, if we are to walk the vigorous road of penetration and liberation, we should, in the peace and quiet of day and night, carefully consider and wholeheartedly rejoice that our country is superior to other countries and our truth alone is supreme. In other regions the people who do not equal us are many. The reason our country and our truth are supreme and honored alone is that although the multitudes assembled on Vulture Peak instructed others throughout the ten directions, the rightful successor at Shaolin Temple was truly the educator of China, and the descendants of Sōkei have passed on his face-to-face transmission to the present. This is an excellent time for the Buddha-Dharma to enter afresh into the mud and into the water. If we do not experience the effect at this time, when will we experience the effect? If we do not cut delusion at this time, when will we cut delusion? If we do not become buddha at this time, when will we become buddha? If we are not a sitting buddha at this time, when will we be an acting buddha? Consideration [of these questions] should be meticulous. [178] When Śākyamuni Buddha graciously gives the face-to-face transmission to Venerable Mahākāśyapa, he says, "I possess the right Dharmaeye treasury and I transmit it to Mahākāśyapa. " At the order on Sūzan Mountain, Venerable Bodhidharma actually addresses the Second Patriarch with the words "You have got my marrow.

" Clearly, that which gives the face-toface transmission of the right Dharma-eye treasury, and that which becomes 214

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the face-to-face transmission of "You have got my marrow, " is nothing other

than this face-to-face transmission itself. At this very moment, when you see through and get free from your habitual bones and marrow, the face-to-face transmission of the Buddhist patriarchs is there. Even the face-to-face transmission of the great state of realization, and the face-to-face transmission of the mind-seal, are a singular state at a definite place. 29 Although they are not

the transmission of everything, we never enter into investigation of insufficiency of realization. 30 In conclusion, the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs is nothing other than a face giving and a face receiving, and the reception of a face and the giving of a face, beyond which there is nothing surplus and nothing lacking. We should rejoice in, delight in, believe in, and serve whatever has had the opportunity to meet this face-to-face transmission, even if it is our own features. Dōgen, on the first day of the fifth lunar month in the first year of the great Song era of Hōgyō,

31 prostrated myself to my late master

Tendō, the eternal buddha, and received his face-to-face transmission for the first time; I was then allowed some access to his inner sanctum. Barely free of body and mind, yet being able to maintain and rely upon the face-to-face transmission, I came back32 to Japan.

Shōbōgenzō Menju

Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in

the Yoshida district of Etsu district,

33 on the

twentieth day of the tenth lunar month in the

first year of Kangen.

[180] Among those people who have never experienced and never learned in practice the truth that the face-to-face transmission of the Buddha's truth is like this, there was, during the Keiyu era35 in the reign of the great Song emperor Jinso, a certain Zen Master Shōko36 of Sempukuji. 37 In formal preaching in the Dharma hall he says: Great Master Unmon Kyōshin38 is present just now. Do you all see him or not? If you are able to see him, then you are in the same state as this mountain monk. Do you see him? Do you see him? You should realize this matter directly, then you will have attainment for the first time, and it will be impossible for you to delude yourselves. Now, [consider] 216a

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the example of Ōbaku in olden times. On hearing Master Hyakujō quote the story of Great Master Ba[so]39 letting out a yell, he chanced to have a great reflection. Hyakujō asked him: "Disciple, would you not like to succeed Great Master [Baso]?" Ōbaku said, "Although I

know of the great master, in short I have not met the great master. If I were to succeed the great master, I am afraid that I would forfeit my own children and grandchildren.

" Members of this assembly! At that

time, it was not even five years since the passing of Great Master Ba[so], but Ōbaku himself confessed to not meeting. We should know that Ōbaku's viewpoint was not mature; in short, he only had one eye. This mountain monk is not like that. I am able to know Great Master Unmon, I am able to meet Great Master Unmon, and I am quite able to succeed Great Master Unmon. Yet given that it is already more than a hundred years since Unmon entered nirvana, how can I today expound the principle of our intimate meeting? Do you understand it? People of penetration and people of attainment are able to certify it, but in the minds of the squinting and the inferior doubts and condemnation arise. Those who have been able to meet this state do not discuss it. Those who have not met it yet should look just now. . . . You have been standing for a long time without questions. Thank you. "40

[183] Now [Shōko], even if we permit that you know Great Master Un mon, and that you see Great Master Unmon, does Great Master Unmon personally see you, or not? If Great Master Unmon does not see you, it might be impossible for you to succeed Great Master Unmon. Because Great Master Unmon has never sanctioned you, not even you claim that "Great Master Unmon sees me.

" It is evident that you and Great Master Unmon have never met each other. Among the Seven Buddhas and all the buddhas of the past, present, and future, is there any Buddhist patriarch who has succeeded to the Dharma without meeting with another as master and disciple? You must never call Ōbaku immature in his viewpoint. How could you fathom Ōbaku's actions? How could you fathom Ōbaku's words? Ōbaku is an eternal buddha. He is at the limit of investigation41 of the succession of the Dharma. You have never seen, heard, or learned in practice, even in a dream, the truth of the succession of the Dharma. Ōbaku has received the Dharma from his master, and has maintained and relied upon the state of the patriarch. 42 Ōbaku

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meets with his master and sees his master. You do not see a master, do not know a patriarch, do not know yourself, and do not see yourself, at all. And there is no master who sees you. You have never experienced the opening of a master's eyes; in truth it is you whose viewpoint is not mature and whose succession to the Dharma is never mature. Do you know, or do you not know, that Great Master Unmon is a Dharma descendant of Ōbaku? How could you fathom the expressions of Hyakujō and Ōbaku? You cannot even fathom the expressions of Great Master Unmon. People who have the power of learning in practice take up the expressions of Hyakujō and Ōbaku, and people who have the directly accessible and settled state43 can fathom those expressions. You, being without learning in practice and without the settled state, cannot know them and cannot fathom them. The words that "[Ōbaku] does not receive the Dharma from Great Master Ba[so], even though 'it is not even five years since the passing of Great Master Ba[so], '" are truly not even

worth laughing at. A person who deserves to succeed to the Dharma will be able to succeed to the Dharma even after countless kalpas. A person who does not deserve to succeed to the Dharma can never succeed to the Dharma, even if [the elapsed time] is [only] half a day or a minute. You are an utterly witless and stupid man who has never seen the face of the sun and the face of the moon in the Buddha's state of truth. You talk of succeeding to Unmon even though "it is already more than a hundred years since Great Master Unmon entered nirvana"

—is it by virtue of some momentous ability that

you can succeed to Unmon? You are less reliable than a three-year-old child! People hoping to receive the Dharma from Unmon in another thousand years will probably have ten times your ability. Now I shall rescue you, so let us study for a while the story [of Hyakujō and Ōbaku].

44 Hyakujō's words

"Disciple, would you not like to succeed Great Master [Baso]?" never say "Go ahead and receive the Dharma from Great Master Ba[so]!"45 Studying for a while the story of a lion mustering all its strength and speed, 46 and

studying the story of a turtle trying to climb a tree upside down, 47 you should

investigate the vigorous road of stepping forward and stepping back. In succession of the Dharma, the power of learning in practice like this exists. Ōbaku's words "I am afraid that I would forfeit my own children and grandchildren" are utterly beyond your comprehension. Do you know who is expressed in the words "my own,

" and who the people described as "children

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and grandchildren" are? You should painstakingly study [Ōbaku's words] in practice. The words have been realized unconcealedly and conspicuously. [186] Nevertheless, a certain Zen Master Bukkoku Ihaku, 48 being ignorant

of the Buddhist patriarchs' succession of the Dharma, has listed Shōko among Unmon's Dharma successors. This may be a mistake. Students of later ages must not unknowingly think that learning in practice might be present in Shōko. If it is possible for the likes of you, [Shōko,] to receive the Dharma by relying on written words, then do people who are enlightened by reading written sutras all receive the Dharma from Śākyamuni Buddha himself? That is never so. Enlightenment based upon written sutras always requires the seal of approval of a true teacher. Shōko, you have not even read the record of Unmon's words as thoroughly as you say. Only people who have penetrated Unmon's words have received the Dharma from Unmon. You have never seen Unmon with your own eyes, you have never seen yourself with your own eyes, you have never seen Unmon with Unmon's eyes, and you have never seen yourself with Unmon's eyes. There are many such things that you have failed to investigate in experience. You should buy yourself new straw sandals, again and again, to search for a true teacher and receive the Dharma. You must not speak of succeeding Great Master Unmon. If you speak like that, you will just be a species of non-Buddhist. Even if Hyakujō himself were to speak as you have, it would be a great mistake. 218

Notes

1 The Daibontenōmonbutsuketsugikyō.See also Chapter Sixty-eight, Udonge. 2 Master Taiso Eka. Great Master Shōshū Fukaku is his posthumous title. 3 1225.

4 Indicates the transmission between Master Bodhidharma and Master Taiso Eka. 5 Indicates the transmission between Master Daiman Kōnin and Master Daikan Enō. 6 Indicates the transmission between Master Tōzan Ryōkai and Master Ungo Dōyō. 7 Kāśyapa Buddha is the sixth of the seven ancient buddhas, and Śākyamuni Buddha is the seventh. See Chapter Fifteen (Vol. I), Busso.

8 Shinmeans "immediate,

" "intimate,

" or "familiar" (see also notes to Chapter Fiftyone, Mitsugo). Ānanda and Rāhula were blood relatives of the Buddha who became two of his ten great disciples. Ānanda was the Buddha's half-brother; he eventually became the second patriarch in India as the successor of Master Mahākāśyapa. Rāhula was the Buddha's son.

9 Dai-bosatsu indicates, for example, Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who is usually depicted (mounted on a lion) as the left-hand attendant of Śākyamuni Buddha; and Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who is usually depicted (mounted on a white elephant) as the righthand attendant of Śākyamuni Buddha. 10 Śāṇavāsa was the successor of Ānanda and therefore the third patriarch in India. See Chapter Fifteen (Vol. I), Busso.

11 Yuimen-yomenalludes to the familiar phrase from the Lotus Sutra,yuibutsu-yobutsu, "buddhas alone, together with buddhas.

12 Sotsu-taku no jinkisuggests the combined efforts of a baby chick and a mother hen to get the chick out of the egg—a metaphor for the efforts of disciple and master. 13 From Master Mahākāśyapa to Master Dōgen.

14 Kanmen,

"changing the facial expression"

—for example, genuinely smiling as Master

Mahākāśyapa did on seeing the Buddha pick up an uḍumbaraflower—is an example of an action that can only be done if there is both muscular movement and mental sincerity (oneness of body and mind).

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15 Menpi-kō-sansun,

crete.

"face skin three sunthick,

" symbolizes something real and con-16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Alludes to a poem by Master Geyāśata quoted in Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō: "The great round mirror of the buddhas/Has no flaws or blurs, inside or outside./[We] two people are able to see the same./[Our] minds, and [our] eyes, are completely alike.

Zengo-sansanmeans concrete individuals as opposed to an abstract ideal. See Shinjishōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 27; Chapter Forty-two, Tsuki,note 2. Shortly after the Buddha's cremation, various tribes laid claim to his ashes, which were therefore divided into eight parts. All recipients built a stupa to bury their share of the relics.

Lumbinī, on the outskirts of the city of Kapilavastu (present-day Tilaurakoṭ in Nepal). This city was destroyed in a military campaign against the Śākyas at around the time of the Buddha's death. When refugee Śākyas returned from exile, they rebuilt Kapilavastu at another site (present-day Piprāvā in India) and it was in a stupa here that the Śākyas deposited their share of the Buddha's relics.

The deer park of Ṛṣipatana (present-day Sārnāth) near the ancient city of Vārāṇasī (Benares). The archaeological site at Sārnāth has the remains of two stupas. The Dharmacakra Stupa, dating from the time of King Aśoka (third century B.C.E.), is thought to mark the spot where the Buddha gave his first preaching. The Dharmarājika Stupa, when demolished in 1794, was found to contain a stone urn which apparently contained a portion of the Buddha's relics that Aśoka had brought to Sārnāth from another original burial place.

A bodhitree on the bank of the Nairañjanā River near Uruvilvā (present-day Bodh gayā). Uruvilvā was a garrison town in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (the southern part of India's present-day state of Bihar). One of the portions of the Buddha's relics was entrusted to King Ajātaśatru of Magadha.

A śālagrove at the southern edge of Kuśinagara, capital of the ancient kingdom of Malla. The Mallas of Kuśinagara carried out the cremation of the Buddha's body and buried all the ashes at the cremation site. When other tribes laid claim to the Buddha's relics, however, the Mallas agreed to divide the relics into eight portions, keeping one portion for their own stupa at Kuśinagara. The names of the above four major sites of the Buddha's career are etched into the memory of monks in Japan who begin each formal meal by reciting: "Busshō-ka-pi-ra

"(The Buddha was born in Kapilavastu),

"Jō-dō-ma-ka-da

" (He realized the truth in Magadha),

"Seppō-ha-ra-na

(He preached the Dharma in Vārāṇasī),

"Nyu-metsu-ku-chi-ra

"(And entered nirvana

in Kuśinagara). . . .

Kanyākubja, one of the great ancient cities of Central India, was said to be the site of one of the eight stupas. The city was situated on a Ganges tributary in the modern district of Farrukhabad.

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24 A mango grove outside the city of Vesāli. One of the eight portions of the Buddha's relics is said to have been allocated to the Licchavis of Vesāli, but no record that they built a stupa at Āmrapālivana has been traced. However, Spahn and Hadamitzky's Japanese Character Dictionary states: "The covered bowl in which the Licchavis buried their share of the relics was unearthed in Vesāli in 1958. " Āmrapālivana means

"Āmrapāli's Grove.

" Āmrapāli was a Vesāli courtesan whose son by King Bimbisāra became a monk in the Buddha's order. It is said that when the Buddha and a following of monks reached Vesāli before the rains retreat in the last year of the Buddha's life, they camped at Āmrapālivana. 25 See Chapter Seventy-three (Vol. IV), Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō. 26 Kon, riki, kaku, dōrefers to the following: the five roots (go kon): belief, diligence, mindfulness, balance, wisdom; the five powers (go riki) arising from those five roots: belief, diligence, mindfulness, balance, wisdom; the seven limbs of the balanced state of truth (shichi tō kaku shi): selection of Dharma, diligence, joy, entrustment, detachment, balance, and mindfulness; and the noble eightfold path (hasshō dō), right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right state of balance. These are the latter twenty-five of the thirty-seven methods. Ibid.

27 Bonnō represents the Sanskrit kleśa ("afflictions"). Traditional examples of kleśas are greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, and false views. See Vol. I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms; see also notes to Chapter Forty-three, Kūge. 28 Waku-shō,

"layers of interference.

" Waku,

"delusion,

" again represents the Sanskrit kleśa. Shō,

"hindrance, obstacle,

" represents the Sanskrit āvaraṇa, which means "obstruction,

" "covering,

" "outer layer,

" or "mental blindness.

" See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, kleśāvaraṇa. 29 Ichigū no tokuchi,lit.,

"a one-corner special state" —not a universal abstraction. The face-to-face transmission can take place in a stuffy office, in a temple set in fragrant tea fields, on a crowded train, etc. 30 Because to have realized even ten percent is to have realized ten percent of the whole itself.

31 1225.

32 The same characters honrai, "originally came,

" appear in the first line of an oftenquoted poem by Master Bodhidharma: "I originally came to this land/To transmit the Dharma and to save deluded emotional beings./A flower is five petals opening;/The bearing of fruit is naturally realized. " See, for example, Chapter Forty-three, Kūge. 33 Modern-day Fukui prefecture. 34 1243.

35 1034 to 1037.

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36 Sempuku Shōko (dates unknown). He lived by the stupa of Master Unmon Bun'en, and was known by local people as the "Keeper of the Old Stupa. " He was already a

Buddhist teacher when, on reading the record of Master Unmon's words, he felt he had finally attained clear understanding, and therefore called himself a successor of Master Unmon.

37 Located in Kiangsi province in southeast China. 38 Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), successor of Master Seppō Gison. Great Master Unmon Kyōshin is his posthumous title. 39 Ba-daishi,literally,

"great horse master.

" Bastands for baso,

"horse patriarch,

" which

was the monk's name of Master Baso Dōitsu (709-788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejō. Master Baso was the master of Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814), and the grandfather-master of Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. ca. 855). 40 Chinchō, lit.,

"value [yourselves]" or "take good care of yourselves, " is a parting

salutation. See, for example, Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 241; Chapter Forty-five, Bodaisatta-shishōbō, paragraph 78. There were no questions from the audience, so Master Shōko finished his preaching and left the Dharma hall. Quoted from the Zokutōroku(Supplementary Record of the Torch), one of the Gotōroku(Five Records of the Torch), compiled during the Song era. 41 Kyūsanis here used as an adjective. These characters usually appear the other way round, in the verb phrase sankyū suru, "to investigate,

" "to master,

" "to investigate

in practice,

" "to master in experience,

" etc. Kyūmeans to investigate thoroughly. San means to go, visit, enter into, participate, or devote oneself to. Master Dōgen frequently uses sanin the compound sangaku,

"learning in practice,

" to indicate that Buddhist

learning is a process to which the whole body-mind is devoted; it is not merely intellectual study of theoretical principles or scientific study of objective data. 42 Master Baso.

43 Jikishi no rakusho. Jikishi,lit., "directly indicated" or "directly indicatable, " means

not esoteric but open. The phrase appears in the final sentences of the Fukanzazengi. Rakusho,lit.,

"a place to settle down,

" suggests the balanced state of zazen. 44 Watō.In the Rinzai sect, which traces its lineage directly back to Master Ōbaku as the master of Master Rinzai, so-called kōans are called watō—see for example Master Sanshō Enen's use of the word in Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō.In the Shōbōgenzō Master Dōgen usually refers to such stories as innen, "causes and circumstances.

45 Master Hyakujō simply recognized his disciple's great admiration of Master Baso. He did not recommend Master Ōbaku to transcend face-to-face transmission. 46 Shishi-funjinsuggests the effort of one (like Master Ōbaku) who is more than up to the task at hand, but nonetheless devotes himself entirely to it. The words appear in chap. 52 of the Chinese translation of the Mahāprajñaparāmitā-sūtra, which uses 222

Chapter Fifty-seven

47 48 the metaphor of a lion chasing small prey to explain the singlemindedness necessary to pursue the truth. The phrase shishi-funjinhas remained a figure of speech used in modern Japanese; it means "like fury" or "with great power and speed. "

Uki-tō-jōjusuggests the effort of one (like Master Shōko) who is not up to the task at hand but nonetheless devotes himself entirely to it. A related story appears in chap. 5 of a Chinese anthology called the Zenrui (Zen Assortment) and in the Zokutōroku, chap. 5: "[A monk] asks Zen Master Kyōzan Unryō, 'What is the meaning of Hyakujō

rolling up his seat [to leave early] during Baso's formal preaching?' The master says, 'A mosquito climbing up the backside of an iron ox. ' [The monk] says,

'What does

that mean, in the end?' The master says, 'A black turtle climbing a tree upside down. '"

Master Hōun Ihaku, successor of Master Hōun Hoshu. He completed the editing of the thirty-chapter Zokutōrokuin 1101. Zen Master Bukkoku is his posthumous title. 223

Chapter 58: Zazengi - The Standard Method of Zazen

[Chapter Fifty-eight]

Zazengi

The Standard Method of Zazen

Translator's Note: Gi means a form, or a standard of behavior. Therefore zazengi means the standard method of zazen. Master Dōgen wrote several treatises about zazen. First he wrote Fukanzazengi ("Universal Guide to the Standard Method of Zazen"), in 1227, just after coming back from China. In the Shōbōgenzō he wrote Bendōwa ("A Talk about Pursuing the Truth, " Chapter One),

Zazenshin ("A Needle for Zazen,

" Chapter Twenty-seven),Zanmai-ō-zanmai

("The Samādhi That Is the King of Samādhis,

" Chapter Seventy-two), and this

chapter, Zazengi. The Fukanzazengi was the first text Master Dōgen wrote, and thus it was the first proclamation of his belief in zazen. The Bendōwa was an introduction to zazen written in an easy style and format to help us understand the fundamental theories of zazen. The Zazenshin contains a guiding poem on zazen, and Master Dōgen

s interpretation of it. The reason Master Dōgen used

poetry to interpret the meaning of zazen is that it is difficult to interpret the philosophical meaning of zazen in prose, because the ultimate meaning of zazen is something that cannot be explained with words. Master Dōgen felt that it was appropriate to suggest the ultimate philosophical meaning of zazen in poetry. But in this chapter, Zazengi, Master Dōgen explained only the formal method of practicing zazen. The existence of this chapter indicates how highly Master Dōgen revered the formal standard of zazen.

[189] To practice Zen is to sit in zazen.

1 For sitting in zazen a quiet place is

good. Prepare a thick sitting mat. Do not allow wind and smoke to enter. Do not allow rain and dew to leak in. Set aside an area that can contain the body. There are traces of those in the past who sat on a diamond [seat]2 or sat on a bed of rock;3 they all were seated on a thick carpet of grass. The sitting place should be bright; it should not be dark, day or night. To be warm in winter and cool in summer is the way. Cast aside all involvements and cease 217b

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the ten thousand things. Good is not considered. Bad is not considered. It is beyond mind, will, or consciousness, and beyond mindfulness, thought, or reflection. Do not try to become a buddha. Get free from sitting and lying down.

4 Take food and drink in moderation. Guard time closely. Love sitting in zazen as if putting out a fire on your head. The Fifth Patriarch on Ōbaizan5 had no other practices; he solely practiced zazen.

[191] When sitting in zazen, wear the kaṣāyaand use a round cushion. The cushion does not support the whole of the crossed legs; it supports the backside. Thus the underside of the folded legs is on the mat, and the bases of the backbone6 are on the cushion. This is the method of sitting used by the buddhas and the patriarchs when they sit in zazen. Either sit in the half lotus posture or sit in the full lotus posture. To sit in the full lotus posture put the right foot on the left thigh and put the left foot on the right thigh. The toes of each foot should be symmetrically aligned with the thighs, not out of proportion. To sit in the half lotus posture just put the left foot on the right thigh. Let the robe and gown hang loosely and make them neat. Place the right hand on the left foot; then place the left hand on the right hand, with the tips of the thumbs resting against each other. Keeping the hands like this, draw them toward the body. Let the tips of the thumbs meet in line with the navel. Sit erect, letting the body be right. Do not lean to the left, incline to the right, slump forward, or arch backward. It is essential that the ears are aligned with the shoulders and the nose is aligned with the navel. Let the tongue spread against the roof of the mouth. Let the breath pass through the nose. Let the lips and the teeth each come together. And let the eyes be open; the eyes should be neither wide open nor half-closed. Having regulated the body-mind like this, let there be one complete exhalation. Sitting in balance in the mountain-still state, think the concrete state of not thinking. How can the state of not thinking be thought? It is non-thinking. This is the real secret of zazen. Sitting in zazen is not learning Zen meditation. It is the great peaceful and joyful gate of Dharma. It is untainted practice and experience. Shōbōgenzō Zazengi

Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in

the Yoshida district of Esshū,

7 in the eleventh

lunar month, in the winter of the first year of

Kangen.

226

Notes

1 Sanzen wa zazen nari. Sanliterally means visit, enter into, or participate in. Zenrepresents the Sanskrit dhyāna,which means meditation, thought, reflection, or concentration—either the state or the practice thereof. Zazen, "sitting dhyāna,

" means the

concrete sitting practice itself. 2 The site of the Buddha's realization of the truth under the bodhitree at present-day Bodhgayā.

3 Master Sekitō Kisen, for example, built his hut on a large flat rock and sat in zazen upon the rock.

4 Zaga, short for gyō-ō-zaga, kinds of daily activities. "walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, " the four

5 Master Daiman Kōnin. See, for example, Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō; Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji. 6 Haikotsu no shita.Anatomically speaking, this means the ischial tuberosities (the two knobbly protuberances at the bottom of the pelvis). These are the key weightbearing points in sitting. If they are positioned optimally on the sitting cushion, then it is possible for the weight of the whole head, neck, and back to be effortlessly transmitted via the pelvis into the ground. 7 Modern-day Fukui prefecture. 8 1243.

227

Chapter 59: Baike - Plum Blossoms

[Chapter Fifty-nine]

Baike

Plum Blossoms1

Translator's Note:Baike means plum blossoms. Master Dōgen loved plum blossoms very much and we can find many descriptions and poems about plum blossoms in his works. Master Tendō Nyojō, Master Dōgen '

s master,

also loved plum blossoms and so we can also find many poems about plum blossoms in his works. Plum blossoms may have been a great pleasure to Buddhist monks living in mountain temples when there were few consolations to relieve the hardship of winter—because plum blossoms bloom at the very beginning of spring, when there are no other flowers, and plum blossoms are both pretty and fragrant. In this chapter, Master Dōgen described the real situation of nature, quoting Master Tendō Nyojō' s poems and preachings on

plum blossoms.

[195] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, is the thirtieth abbot and great master of Tendō Keitokuji on Daibyakumyōzan, in the great Song district of Keigenfu.

2 In formal preaching in the Dharma hall he preaches to the assembly:

The first lines from Tendō this midwinter:3 Jagged and fanged4 is the old plum tree; Suddenly it flowers—one flower, two flowers, Three, four, five flowers—countless flowers. Its purity is not capable of pride. Its fragrance is not capable of pride. They spread out to create the look of spring and to fan the grass and trees.

Patch-robed monks each with bald head. Instantly changing are the raging wind and the hard rain, 229

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While, wrapping the earth in dragon-pattern robes, 5 the snow is

boundless.

The old plum tree is very unconstrained. The freezing cold rubs the nostrils, and they sting. 6

[197] "The old plum tree" that has been revealed now is very unconstrained; it suddenly flowers, and naturally bears fruit. Sometimes it makes the spring, and sometimes it makes the winter. Sometimes it makes a raging wind, and sometimes it makes a hard rain. Sometimes it is heads of patchrobed monks, and sometimes it is eyes of eternal buddhas. Sometimes it has become grass and trees, and sometimes it has become purity and fragrance. 7

Its instant mystical changes and mystical wonder are unfathomable: even the great earth and the high heavens, the bright sun and the pure moon, have established their merits relying upon the tree-merits of the old plum tree, [whose state] is entanglement knotting and entwining with entanglement. When the old plum tree suddenly flowers, "The opening of flowers is the

occurrence of the world.

"8 A moment in which flowers opening is the occurrence of the world, is spring having arrived. At this moment "one flower" is present as "the opening of five petals. "9 The time of this one flower is able

to include three flowers, four flowers, and five flowers; it includes hundreds of flowers, thousands of flowers, myriads of flowers, and koṭis of flowers; and it includes countless flowers. The opening of these flowers, in all cases, is the old plum tree's state of being unable to be proud of one twig, two twigs, or countless twigs. Uḍumbaraflowers, utpala10 flowers, and so on also are one twig or two twigs of flowers of the old plum tree. In sum, all cases of flowers opening are benevolent gifts of the old plum tree. The old plum tree is present in the human world and in the heavens above. It is in the reality of the old plum tree that the merits of human societies and of heavenly palaces are established. Flowers that number hundreds of thousands we call the flowers of human beings and gods. Flowers that number myriads of koṭis are the flowers of Buddhist patriarchs.

11 Such a moment we call "the buddhas'

appearance in the world,

"12 and we call "the ancestral master's 'originally coming to this land.

[200] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall preaches to the assembly:

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It is the time when Gautama got rid of the Eye,

In the snow, a single twig of plum blossoms

Now every place has become a thorn13

Yet [I] laugh at the swirling of the spring wind.

Now that this eternal buddha's Dharma wheel has been turned in the farthest extremes of the universe, it is the moment in which all human beings and gods attain the truth. Nothing is left uncovered by the benefit of [this] Dharma, which reaches even clouds, rain, wind, and water, and grass, trees, and insects. Turned by this Dharma wheel, even the heavens, the earth, and national lands are the state of vigorous activity.

"Hearing words never before

heard" means listening to these words.

"Attaining the unprecedented" means

getting the present Dharma. It is a wheel of Dharma which, in general, cannot be seen or heard without dreamy good fortune. In and around the one hundred and eighty states of the great kingdom of Song today there are mountain temples and village temples whose number is beyond calculation, and in which there are many monks. But most of them have never seen my late master, the eternal buddha; those who have seen him may be few. Those who have witnessed his words may be a still smaller minority. How then could the people who have met with him and saluted him be many? Those who have been allowed into his inner sanctum are not even a few. How much less could people be permitted to do prostrations to the late master's skin, flesh, bones, marrow, eyes, and features? My late master, the eternal buddha, does not easily grant monks' requests to stay at the temple. He usually says, "People who are accustomed to not having the will to the truth are not permitted in my place.

" He sends them away at once. Having got

rid of them he says,

"Without being a genuine person, what do they want

to do? Dogs like that disturb others. They cannot stay. " I have actually witnessed this; I have heard it with my own ears. I secretly thought to myself: "What wrongness do they have not to be permitted to remain with us even though they are people of this country? What luck do I have to be permitted not only to stay at the temple but also to come and go as I please in the [master's] inner sanctum, to do prostrations to his venerable form, and to listen to his words of Dharma, though I am a native of a distant foreign country? This excellent connection which has formed between us, in spite of my dullness, 231

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cannot be pure imagination.

" While my late master was spreading his influence through Song China there were still people who were able to enter into [the truth] along with people who were unable to enter. Now that my late master, the eternal buddha, has departed Song China, it may be darker than a moonless night. Why? I say so because at around the time of my late master, the eternal buddha, there were no other eternal buddhas like my late master, the eternal buddha. That being so, in now aspiring to see and hear the foregoing [preaching], we students of a later age should be mindful. Do not imagine that human beings and gods in other directions might be able to see and to hear, or might be able to learn in practice, a wheel of Dharma like the present one.

[204] "Plum blossoms in the snow" are the one appearance of the uḍumbaraflower. 14 How often does it recur in everyday life that, while looking at the right Dharma-eye treasury of our Buddha Tathāgata, we pass over the winking of an eye and do not break into a smile?15 Yet just now we have received the authentic transmission of, and have been struck by, the realization that plum blossoms in the snow are the very eye of the Tathāgata. Picking up this [realization], we make it into the eye on the forehead, 16 and we make

it into the eyeballs in the eyes. Further, when we get inside plum blossoms themselves, and perfectly realize plum blossoms, doubtful causes or circumstances never appear at all. Just this is the eye of "In the heavens above and under the heavens I alone am the Honored One,

"17 and it is honored

throughout the reality of the Dharma world. That being so, heavenly flowers in the heavens above, heavenly flowers in the human world, the mandārava flowers,

18 mahāmandārava flowers, mañjūṣaka flowers,

19 and mahāmañjūṣakaflowers that rain from the heavens, together with the miscellaneous flowers of limitless lands in the ten directions, are all the dependents of plum blossoms in the snow; for they have bloomed by receiving a part of the benefit of plum blossoms. The hundreds of koṭis of flowers20 are the dependents of plum blossoms; we should call them miniature plum blossoms. All other flowers, flowers in space, flowers on the ground, flowers in samādhi, and so on, are common flowers which are the large and small dependents of plum blossoms. Flowers that open in the lands which make up the hundreds of koṭis of lands inside a flower, 21 are all a portion of the benefit of

these plum blossoms. Beyond the benefit apportioned by plum blossoms, 232

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there is no other raindrop or dewdrop of benefit at all; life-blood totally derives from plum blossoms. Do not learn that the place where "snow is boundless" is only the Shōrin Temple in the Sūzan Mountains:22 "[snow is boundless]" is the Eye of the Tathāgata, it illuminates overhead and illuminates underfoot. Do not learn it as only the snow of a snow palace on a white mountain;23 it is the eye of the right Dharma of the aged Gautama. The five eyes24 are perfectly realized at this place. The thousand eyes25 may be roundly realized in this eye. Truly, there cannot be a single atom of "the real form of all dharmas" that the body-mind and the brightness of the aged Gautama do not perfectly realize. Though there are differences in the views of human beings and gods, and though the sentiments of the common and the sacred diverge, "the boundless expanse of snow" is "the earth, " and "the earth" is "the boundless expanse of snow. "26 Without "boundless expanses of snow,

" there is no

"earth" in the universe.

27 The getting together of the outside and the inside28 of this "boundless expanse of snow" is just the Eye of Old Gautama. Remember, flowers and the ground are totally without appearance. Flowers are without appearance.

29 Because flowers are without appearance, the ground is without appearance. Because flowers and the ground are totally without appearance, the Eye is without appearance. The words "without appearance" express the supreme state of bodhi.What is seen just in the moment of this [supreme bodhi] is "a single twig of plum blossoms. " What is expressed just

at this moment is "In the snow, a single twig of plum blossoms!" which is the vivid appearance30 of ground and flowers. The reason this [scene] is described further as "the boundless expanse of snow, " is that its whole outside-and-inside is "the boundless expanse of snow. "31 The whole universe is

the state of the mind, and the whole universe is a scene of flowers. 32 Because

the whole universe is a scene of flowers, the whole universe is plum blossoms. And because the whole universe is plum blossoms, the whole universe is Gautama's Eye.

"The now, the place that has arrived"33 is mountains, rivers, and the earth. The present matter34 and the present time35 are the realization at the present place36 of:

I originally came to this land,

To transmit the Dharma and to save deluded emotional beings. A flower is five petals opening;

The bearing of fruit is naturally realized.

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Though there is coming from the west and there is movement to the east, they are the present place that is the now of plum blossoms. The state in which the realization of now is like this, is described as "realizing thorns. "38 There

is the now of old branches and new branches on big limbs, and there is the present place of old twigs and new twigs on small stems. We should learn "places" as "having arrived" and we should learn "having arrived" as "now. "

The "inside"39 of "three, four, five" and six flowers is the inside of "countless flowers.

" A flower is equipped with inner virtues which are profound and universal, and it completely reveals outer virtues which are noble and great. This outside-and-inside40 is the blooming of a flower. It is "a single twig, "

and so there is no extraneous twig and no extraneous variety. He41 who calls "the presence of one twig" "the now" is Old Man Gautama. Because [the transmission] is "a single twig,

"42 it is transmitted from rightful successor to

rightful successor, and for this reason "My existence43 is the right Dharmaeye treasury and its transmission to Mahākāśyapa, " and "what you have

got"44 is "my marrow.

"45 Such realization of the present place is, wherever it occurs without exception, the great and valuable life, and therefore it is "five petals opening.

" Five petals are a plum flower. On this basis,

46 the Seven

Buddhist Patriarchs exist, and the twenty-eight patriarchs of India in the west, the six patriarchs47 of the Eastern Lands, and nineteen48 further patriarchs, exist. They are all five petals opening on a single twig, and are a single twig of five petals.

49 Having mastered "one twig,

" and having mastered "five

petals,

" we meet the authentic transmission of "plum blossoms in the snow. "

When we have transformed the body and transformed the mind inside the stream of the words "a single twig,

" a cloud and the moon are one, and the

river valley and the mountains are independent. Still, people who have never had eyes of learning in practice say: "The meaning of 'five petals' is that the five patriarchs of the Eastern Lands, and the First Patriarch, make a flower. When we list those five generations they are beyond past and present, former and latter, and so we describe them as five petals. " These words are not even

worth taking up to examine and defeat. Such people are not skinbags who practice under buddhas and practice under patriarchs; they are pitiful. How could the truth that "five petals are a flower" be of only the five patriarchs? Are patriarchs after the Sixth Patriarch not to be mentioned? That is inferior to the talk of small children. We should not see or hear it, even in a dream. 234

Chapter Fifty-nine

[212] My late master, the eternal buddha, on the first morning of the year says in formal preaching in the Dharma hall: A New Year's morning is the start of happiness, The myriad things are totally fresh. With respect, monks of the assembly, [I say to you:] The plum tree reveals early spring. 50

Upon quiet reflection, even if the venerable old drills of the past, present, and future are liberated in body throughout the ten directions, if they do not have the expression "The plum tree reveals early spring, " who can call them

individuals who have expressed the truth perfectly? My late master, the eternal buddha, stands alone as an eternal buddha among eternal buddhas. His purport is that, embraced by the plum tree's blooming, 51 myriad springs

have arrived early. Myriad springs are one or two of the virtues contained in a plum tree. Just one spring is able to make "the myriad things totally fresh, "

and to make the myriad dharmas into "a New Year's morning. " "Starting of

happiness" is rightness of the Eye. "The myriad things" expresses not only past, present, and future, but from before King of Majestic Voice to the eternal future. He is saying that [this] immeasurable and infinite past, present, and future is totally fresh, and so this [real] freshness has got free of "freshness. "

On this basis, [Master Tendō speaks of] "treating the monks of the assembly with respect"

—on the basis that his respectful treatment of the monks of the assembly is the state of the ineffable. [214] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, says in formal preaching in the Dharma hall:

If even a single word accords, 52

The ten thousand ages do not move. 53

Willow eyes are popping out on new twigs. Plum blossoms are filling up old branches. 54

That is to say, a hundred major kalpas of pursuing the truth55 are—from beginning to end—

"a single word according with [the Buddha's state]. " And

the effort56 of one instant of consciousness is—both before and after— "the

ten thousand ages not moving.

" That which makes new twigs flourish and [willow] eyes pop out is the new twigs themselves, and at the same time it 235

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is the [willow] eyes themselves. The principle holds that [willow] eyes are nothing other [than willow eyes]; at the same time, we investigate them as the new twigs. We should learn "the new" in practice, as "the total freshness of the myriad things.

" The meaning of "Plum blossoms are filling up old branches" is that plum blossoms are the whole of [each] old branch, that they thoroughly realize [each] old branch, and that [each] old branch is just plum blossoms—or, for example, that blossoms and branches have entered into practice together, that blossoms and branches have grown together, and that blossoms and branches have become full together. 57 Because blossoms and

branches become full together, [the Buddha says:] "I possess the right Dharmaeye treasury and the fine mind of nirvana, and I transmit them to Mahā kāśyapa, " [at which time] each face fills the picking up of a flower, and every flower fills the smiling face.

[217] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall says to all the monks of the assembly: The willows58 are wearing belts;59

The plum blossom is clad in bracers.

Those bracers are beyond Shoku brocade61 and Benka's gem;62 they are what the plum blossom reveals. What the plum blossom reveals is I who am the marrow having got you.

[217] King Prasenajit64 invites Venerable Piṇḍola65 to a midday meal, upon which occasion the king asks,

"I have heard that the Venerable One

has intimately met Buddha. Is it true or not?" The Venerable One, lifting up an eyebrow with his hand, indicates affirmation. My late master, the eternal buddha, praises him as follows: By lifting an eyebrow he answers the question in part. He has met Buddha intimately, without any mutual deceit. To this day he deserves offerings from the four quarters. Spring is on the plum twigs, embraced by the coldness of the snow. 66

[219] This is the story of King Prasenajit asking the Venerable One if he has met Buddha or not met Buddha.

"Meeting Buddha" means becoming

buddha. To become buddha means to lift an eyebrow. If the Venerable One had only experienced "the [fourth] effect of arhathood"67 without being "a 236

Chapter Fifty-nine

true arhat,

"68 he could not meet Buddha. Without meeting Buddha, he could not become buddha. Without becoming buddha, he might be unable to attain the state of Buddha which is the lifting of an eyebrow. So remember, as a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha's face-to-face transmission, as one who, having already experienced the fourth effect, is awaiting his manifestation in the world as a later buddha, how could the Venerable One not be meeting Śākyamuni Buddha? This meeting Śākyamuni Buddha is not meeting with a buddha: we have learned in practice that the state in which we meet Śākyamuni Buddha as Śākyamuni Buddha, is meeting buddha. 69 King Prasenajit,

having been able to open these eyes of learning in practice, encounters a skilled hand70 lifting an eyebrow. [To grasp] the point of the words "He has met Buddha intimately,

" we should quietly possess eyes that experience

Buddha. This "spring" is beyond the human world and it is not confined to the buddha land; it is "on the plum twigs.

" How do we know that it is so?

"The coldness of the snow" is the lifting of an eyebrow. 71

[221] My late master, the eternal buddha, says:

The original features are without life and death.

Spring is in the plum blossoms, and has entered a picture. In picturing spring we should not picture willows, apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees; we should just picture spring. 72 To picture willows,

apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees is to picture willows, apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees; it is never to have pictured spring. It is not true that spring should not be pictured. Nevertheless, besides my late master, the eternal buddha, there is no one, from India in the west to China in the east, who has pictured spring. My late master, the eternal buddha, is the only sharp brush-tip to picture spring. The spring he is describing now is spring as a picture, and, because it has entered a picture, he need not summon any extra effort. He has let plum blossoms enter a picture and let them enter trees only so that they may usher in spring; it is a skillful means. 73 My late master, the

eternal buddha, by virtue of his clarity in the right Dharma-eye treasury, realizes the authentic transmission of this right Dharma-eye treasury through Buddhist patriarchs assembled in the ten directions in the past, present, and future. Thus he has penetrated the eye and has clarified plum blossoms. 237

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Shōbōgenzō Volume III

ShōbōgenzōBaike

On the sixth day of the eleventh lunar month in the fourth year of the Japanese era of Ninji, 74 at

Kitsureiji75 in the Yoshida district of Esshū, deep snow, three feet thick, covers the earth in a boundless expanse.

[223] If by chance some demon of the self appears and the plum blossom seem not to be the eye of Gautama, then think: what other dharma—perhaps having been cited as more apt than plum blossoms to be the eye—could be seen as the eye? And if at such a time we look for the eye elsewhere, then every moment will be in the state of being face-to-face without recognizing each other—because mutual encounter76 will not yet be realized. Today is not my today; it is the today of a great master. Simply let the eye of the plum blossoms be clear. Stop searching for anything further. [224] My late master, the eternal buddha, says: It is patently clear.

Stop searching back and forth for something behind the semblance of the plum blossom.

In the becoming of rain and the becoming of clouds the past-andpresent is naturally there. The past-and-present being empty, what end-point could there be? Thus, the becoming of clouds and the becoming of rain is the speaking and doing of the plum blossom. Floating clouds and falling rain are the plum blossom's thousands of twists and turns and myriad layers of color, its thousands of merits and myriad virtues.

"The past-and-present being naturally there" is the plum blossom; the plum blossom is called "the past-and-present. "77

[225] In the past, Zen Master Hōen78 says: The north wind mixes with snow and shakes the valley forest. Though the myriad things have sunk under cover, regret is not deep. The only presence is the mountain plum trees, which are full of spirit. Before December they are already spewing the mind for all the coldness of the year.

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Chapter Fifty-nine

Now, without penetrating the concrete situation of plum blossoms it is hard to know the mind [that is ready] for all the coldness of the year. A bit of the virtue of the plum blossoms, mixed with the north wind, has become the snow. Clearly, that which draws the wind, makes the snow, brings order to the year, and causes the myriad things of the valley forest to exist, is totally the power of the plum blossoms.

[226] The veteran monk Taigen Fu80 praised the realization of the truth as follows:

I remember at the beginning, before realization, Each call of the painted long horn was a call of sorrow. Now there are no idle dreams on my pillow.

I leave the plum blossoms to blow, in gusts large and small. Veteran monk Fu was formerly a giver of lectures. Enlightened by the cook81 of Kassan Mountain,

82 he realized the great state of realization, which is the plum blossoms letting the spring wind blow, in gusts large and small. 239

Notes

1 Baike. In Japan, the tree referred to as ume is accurately translated as a Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) in order to distinguish it from sumomowhich means plum, or Japanese plum. However, given that plum trees include numerous kinds of trees and shrubs of the genus Prunus, where no distinction is necessary baike has been translated as plum blossoms.

2 Present-day Ningbo in northern Zhekiang province. 3 Tendō-chūtō[no] dai-ikku.Tendō is the name both of Master Tendō Nyojō and of the temple. Chūtō,

"midwinter,

" means the middle of the three winter months, that is the eleventh lunar month. Dai-ikku,

"first line(s) of verse,

" can be interpreted as a metaphor

for the first branches of plum blossoms.

4 The branches and twigs of a plum (Japanese apricot) tree protrude at many irregular angles.

5 Konmeans the white ceremonial robes, gorgeously embroidered with dragon patterns, which were worn by ancient Chinese emperors.

6 Nyojōoshōgoroku,final volume.

7 In these sentences Master Dōgen suggests that the plum tree is so conspicuously real in the scenery of nature that everything in nature depends upon it. 8 Ke-kai-sekai-ki,the words of Master Prajñātara, expressing the oneness of phenomena (flowers) and reality (the world).

9 Alludes to the words of Master Bodhidharma (quoted in full later in this chapter): "I originally came to this land,/To transmit the Dharma and to save deluded emotional beings./A flower is five petals opening,/The bearing of fruit is naturally realized. "