T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume III

Chapter 62: Hensan - Thorough Exploration

[Chapter Sixty-two]

Hensan

Thorough Exploration

Translator's Note: Hen means "

everywhere

"

"

or

widely,

"

and san means

"to visit"

or

"to study through experience. " Originally hensan described the custom Buddhist monks used to have of traveling around in order to meet excellent masters with whom they could be satisfied. But according to Master Dōgen, hensan, or

"thorough exploration, " is accomplished not by traveling around but by a Buddhist monk' s thorough exploration of the Buddhist state under one true master. In this chapter, Master Dōgen explains the true meaning of hensan.

[61] The great truth of Buddhist patriarchs is exploration of the ultimate state through and through, is "there being no strings under the feet"1 and is "the appearance of clouds under the feet. "2 Still, although it is like this, "the

opening of flowers is the occurrence of the world, "3 and "At this concrete place, I am always keen. "4 For this reason,

"A sweet melon, right through to the stem, is sweet. A bitter gourd, right through to the root, is bitter. "5 The

sweetness of sweetness, right through to the stem, is sweet. We have been exploring in practice6 the state like this. [62] Great Master Shūitsu7 of Genshazan, the story goes, is summoned by Seppō, who says to the master, "Bi of the dhūta!8 Why do you not go widely exploring?" The master says, "Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Lands; the Second Patriarch did not go to India in the west. "9 Seppō profoundly affirms this. 10

The principle of the state of thorough exploration described here is exploration of a somersault; it is the sacred truth, at the same time, not being practiced. "How could it have grades or ranks?"11 When Zen Master Nangaku Daie12 first visits13 the eternal buddha of Sōkei Mountain,

14 the eternal buddha says, "This is something coming like this. "15

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[Nangaku's] thorough exploration of this mud ball continues altogether for eight years. At last he expresses the conclusion16 of his thorough exploration to the eternal buddha, saying "Ejō has understood [why], when I first came here, the master received Ejō with [the teaching] 'This is something coming like this.

'"

The eternal buddha Sōkei says,

"How do you understand it?"

Then Daie says,

"To describe a thing does not hit the target. " This is the

realization of thorough exploration, and the realization of eight years. The eternal buddha Sōkei asks,

"Do you rely upon practice and experience or not?" Daie says,

"It is not that there is no practice and experience, but to taint it is impossible.

"

Thereupon Sōkei says,

"I am like that, you are also like that, and the buddhas and patriarchs of India were also like that. "17

After this, [Nangaku] thoroughly explores the state for another eight years. Counting from beginning to end, it is fifteen years of thorough exploration. [His] "coming like this" is thorough exploration. [His] opening the [Buddha] hall and meeting the buddhas and patriarchs, in [the realization that] "describing a thing does not hit the target" is still exploration of "also being like that.

" Since entering the picture and looking, he has thoroughly explored the state in sixty five-hundreds of thousand myriad koṭis of transformations of the body. 18 We do not esteem idly entering one monastery and leaving another monastery as thorough exploration. We esteem discovery with the whole of the eyes as thorough exploration. We esteem attainment of the ultimate through action as thorough exploration. To see, through to the end, how thick is the skin of the face: this is thorough exploration. [66] The point of Seppō's expression about thorough exploration is originally neither to encourage [Gensha] to leave the mountain nor to encourage him to travel north and south; it is to promote the thorough exploration that Gensha expresses as "Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Lands; the Second Patriarch did not go to India in the west. " It is like saying, for example,

"How could [this] not be thorough exploration?" Gensha's saying that Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Lands is not a random expression about coming and yet not coming; it is the truth that the earth is without an inch of land. What we call "Bodhidharma" is an acute case of the lifeblood. 19

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Even if the whole of the Eastern Lands suddenly sprang up in the extreme and waited upon him, that would not impinge upon his movement of his own body20

—nor indeed upon his turning around in the stream of [others'] words. 21

Because he does not come to the Eastern Lands, he looks the Eastern Lands in the face. Although the Eastern Lands meet with a buddha's face and a patriarch's face, it is not that he has come to the Eastern Lands; it is that he has grasped the state of a Buddhist patriarch and lost [his own] nostrils. In sum, land is beyond east and west, and east and west are not connected with land.

"The Second Patriarch did not go to India in the west": in thoroughly exploring India, he does not go to India. If the Second Patriarch goes to India, [his state] is [only] having lost an arm.

22 Now, why does the Second Patriarch

not go to India? He does not go to India because he has sprung inside [Bodhidharma's] blue eyes. If he had not sprung inside those blue eyes, he would go to India without fail. We esteem gouging out Bodhidharma's eyes as thorough exploration. Going to India in the west and coming to the Eastern Lands are not thorough exploration. We do not esteem going to Tendai23 or to Nangaku, 24 or traveling to Godai25 or to the heavens above, as thorough exploration. If we fail to see through and get free from the four oceans and five lakes,

26 the state is not thorough exploration. Visiting the four oceans and five lakes does not cause the four oceans and five lakes to experience thorough exploration but only makes it slippery on the road and slippery underfoot, thus causing us to forget thorough exploration. In general, because we see it as thorough exploration to explore to the end that "The whole universe in the ten directions is the real human body,

"27 we can investigate the real state

in which "Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Lands and the Second Patriarch did not go to India in the west.

" Thorough exploration is a big stone

being big and a small stone being small. It is, without disturbing stones, to let the big experience themselves and the small experience themselves. To experience hundred thousand myriads of things at hundred thousand myriads of places is not yet thorough exploration. Performance of hundred thousand myriads of bodily transformations within the stream of half a word: this is thorough exploration. For example, to work the earth and only to work the earth is thorough exploration. To pass from once working the earth, to once working the sky, to once working the four quarters and eight aspects, is not thorough exploration. Gutei's28 exploration of Tenryū, 29 and attainment of

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the one-finger state, is thorough exploration.

"Gutei's only raising one finger"30

is thorough exploration.

[70] Gensha preaches to the assembly,

"I and Old Master Śākyamuni

have experienced the same state.

"31

Then a monk steps forward and asks,

"I wonder what person you met.

"

The master says,

"The third son of the Sha family, on a fishing boat.

"32

The head-to-tail rightness experienced by "Old Master Śākyamuni" is naturally the same as the experience of Old Master Śākyamuni himself. And because the head-to-tail rightness experienced by Old Man Gensha is naturally the same as the experience of Old Man Gensha himself, Old Master Śākyamuni and Old Man Gensha are experiencing the same state. Old Master Śākyamuni and Old Man Gensha are investigating to the limit the experience of satisfaction and the experience of dissatisfaction: this is the principle of thorough exploration. Because Old Master Śākyamuni experiences the same state as Old Man Gensha, he is the eternal buddha. Because Old Man Gensha is in the same state as Old Master Śākyamuni, he is a descendant. We should thoroughly explore this truth, in detail. [Gensha meets] "The third son of the Sha family, on a fishing boat": we should clarify this point and learn it in experience. That is, in other words, to strive to thoroughly explore the moment in which Old Master Śākyamuni and Old Man Gensha simultaneously experience the same state. Old Man Gensha, who has met the third son of Sha on a fishing boat, is present, and is experiencing the common state. The third son of Sha, who has met a shaven-headed man on Genshazan, is present, and is experiencing the common state. We should allow ourselves to consider, and should allow others to consider, experience of sameness and experience of difference. Old Man Gensha and Old Master Śākyamuni are experiencing the same state and thoroughly exploring it. We should thoroughly explore, and should commonly experience, the truth that "the third son of Sha" and "I" have met a "What person.

"33 Unless the truth of thorough exploration is

actually manifest in the present, experience of the self is impossible and experience of the self is unsatisfactory; experience of others is impossible and experience of others is unsatisfactory; experience of "a person" is impossible, experience of "I" is impossible, experience of a fist is impossible, and experience of the eye is impossible—lifting the self by fishing the self34 is impossible, and rising up even before being fished is impossible. 35 When

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thorough exploration is perfectly realized already, it is free of "thorough exploration": "When the sea is dry its bottom is not seen; when human beings die no trace of their mind is retained.

"36 "The sea is dry" describes the whole

sea having totally dried up. At the same time, if the sea has dried up, a "sea bed" is not seen.

"Retaining no trace,

" and "total retention,

" are both in the

human mind. When human beings die our mind does not remain: it is because we have grasped death that "mind" does not remain. 37 Thus, we can conclude

that the whole human being is mind, and the whole of mind is a human being. We investigate in experience the front and back of each such partial thought. [74] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, on an occasion when veterans of the truth from many districts have assembled to request his formal preaching in the Dharma hall, gives the following formal preaching: The great truth is gateless.

It springs out beyond your brains.

As space, it transcends any path.

[Yet] it has already got inside the nostrils of Seiryō. 38

Meeting with it like this would be inimical to imitators of Gautama, And a womb of trouble for those of Rinzai.

Aye. . .

A great master tumbles, dancing in the spring breeze. Falling in amazement, apricot blossoms scatter a riot of crimson. 39

For the present formal preaching in the Dharma hall, the veterans of many districts have gathered at the time when my late master, the eternal buddha, is the abbot of Seiryōji in Kenkōfu City. 40 That they are "veterans

of the truth" means that they have been either the master's disciples or his companions on the zazen platform. While [themselves] the masters of many districts, they are, in this way, his old friends. How could their number not be great? It is an occasion on which they have assembled to petition [the master] for formal preaching in the Dharma hall. Veterans who totally lack something concrete to say are not among his friends, and not in that number of petitioning friends who, despite being great and valuable themselves, wait upon him and request [his preaching]. In general, my late master's state of thorough exploration is beyond the masters of other districts. In the last two or three hundred years in great Song China, there has been no eternal buddha 279

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to equal my late master.

"The great truth is gateless" describes four or five thousand willow quarters41 and twenty or thirty thousand music halls. In "springing out" of such places with the whole body, we employ no methods other than "springing out beyond the brain" and "getting inside the nostrils. "

Both are learning in practice. Those who have never experienced springing free beyond the brain and never experienced transformation of the body inside the nostrils, are not people of learning in practice and are not men of thorough exploration. We should learn the meaning of "thorough exploration" only under Gensha. When the Fourth Patriarch learned in practice for nine years under the Third Patriarch,

42 that was just thorough exploration. Zen Master Nansen [Fu]gan's43 living only in Chiyō district, 44 and not leaving

the mountains for a small matter of thirty years, was thorough exploration. The efforts to learn in practice of Ungan, Dōgo, 45 and the others, during forty

years on Yakusan Mountain, were thorough exploration itself. The Second Patriarch learned in practice for eight years on Sūzan Mountain, and explored the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow to the limit. Thorough exploration is just sitting and getting free of body and mind. The state at the present moment in which going is going there and coming is coming here, there being no gap between them, is thorough exploration with the whole body, and it is the whole body of "the great truth.

" Walking on, over Vairocana's head46 is the state without emotion.

47 And decisive attainment of the state like this is the conduct of a Vairocana. When we have mastered thorough exploration of "springing out,

" the state is that a gourd springs out of a gourd, and we have, for a long time, seen the top of a gourd as a practice place for singling out the state of buddha. Life is like a thread, 48 and a gourd performs thorough

exploration of a gourd. We have only seen that erecting a stalk of grass49 is thorough exploration.

Shōbōgenzō Hensan

Preached to the assembly in a hut at the foot of Mount Yamashibu on the twenty-seventh day of the eleventh lunar month in the first year of Kangen.

50

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Notes

1 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15: Master Tōzan is asked the meaning of action. He replies, "Straightway there should be no strings under the feet. " In China captured birds had

string tied around their feet to stop them flying away, so having no strings under the feet means being free of hindrances that pull one down. See also Chapter Twentyseven (Vol. II), Zazenshin,paragraph 44. 2 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 3, says,

"Haradai, having reverentially received the master's instruction, said,

'Pray lend me your mystical power.

' After he had spoken, clouds

appeared under his feet.

" Clouds appearing under the feet suggests the realization of concrete mystical power.

3 The words of the twenty-seventh patriarch, Master Prajñātara, quoted in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 2, describe the oneness in reality of phenomena (flowers) and substance (the world). 4 Master Tōzan's words quoted from the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15. See also Shinjishōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 55; Chapter Forty (Vol. II), Gabyō,paragraph 211. 5 The words of Master Engo Kokugon, recorded in the Engozenjigoroku, vol. 2. 6 "Exploring in practice" is sangaku, usually translated as "learn in practice. " San,

translated in the chapter title as "exploration, " literally means "visit" but not in a sightseeing sense; it includes the meaning of participation in, experience of, or devotion to something. The character san appears very frequently in the Shōbōgenzō in the compounds sangaku,

"learn in practice" or "learn by experience, " sankyū,

"investigate,

"

"master in practice,

" etc. Master Dōgen used it as a prefix to make a verb more suggestive of the real Buddhist process (i.e., not only learning knowledge but learning of a condition of body and mind). See also notes to Chapter Fifty-seven, Menju,paragraph 183. 7 Master Gensha Shibi (835-907), successor of Master Seppō Gison. Great Master Shūitsu is his posthumous title.

8 Bizuda. Bi is from the name Shibi. Zuda is a nickname derived from the Sanskrit word dhūta, which means hard or ascetic practice. The twelve dhūtas are listed in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji.See also LS 2.310. 9 It was inevitable for Master Bodhidharma to come to China, and it was inevitable for the Second Patriarch in China, Master Taiso Eka, to stay in China. They did not follow personal preferences.

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10 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 18. See also Chapter Four (Vol. I), Ikka-no-myōju. 11 Nan no kaikyū ka kore aranmeans, in other words, "How is it possible for any subdivisions to exist?" The phrase suggests the holistic viewpoint. Chinese source not traced. 12 Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744), successor of Master Daikan Enō. Zen Master Daie is his posthumous title.

13 Sanzuruin this case includes the meaning of entering the master's order as a disciple. See note 6.

14 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), successor of Master Daiman Kōnin. 15 Or "What is that comes like this?" See notes to Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo, paragraph 108.

16 Ichi-jakusu,

"conclusion,

" literally expresses placing a stone in a game of go. 17 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 1. In the Shinji-shōbōgenzōversion, Master Daikan Enō says,

"Just this untaintedness is that which buddhas guard and desire. You are like that, I am also like that, and the patriarchs of India were also like that. "

18 Tenshinmeans 1) transforming one's physical state, e.g., by putting on the kaṣāya, going for a walk, or listening to words of transformation such as "Profoundly believe in cause and effect!"; 2) moving one's body (from A to B) or changing one's standpoint. 19 Master Bodhidharma is not only an abstract concept. 20 Tenshin,as in note 18. The point here is the independence of Master Bodhidharma's action.

21 Gomyaku no honshin,lit.,

"turning over his body in the stream of words" or "somer saulting in mid-speech, " suggests a very flexible or accommodating attitude. 22 The fact that he cut off his arm would not have any meaning. 23 Tendai Mountain in Zhekiang province in east China, where Master Tendai Chigi established the training place which became the headquarters of the Tendai sect. 24 Nangaku Mountain is in Hunan province in southeast central China. 25 Godai Mountain is in Shanxi province in northern China. 26 The four oceans means the oceans of the north, south, east, and west. The definition of the five lakes has changed from age to age.

27 In Chapter Fifty, Shohō-jissō, Master Dōgen attributes this expression to Master Chōsha Keishin.

28 Master Gutei of Mount Kinka (dates unknown), successor of Master Kōshū Tenryū. He is said to have realized the truth when Master Tenryū showed him one finger. Thereafter, in answer to all question, Master Gutei just showed one finger. 282

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29 Master Kōshū Tenryū (dates unknown), successor of Master Daibai Hōjō. He is famous for transmitting "one-finger Zen" to Master Gutei. 30 Gutei-yui-ju-isshi.These characters appear in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 46. 31 Dōsan. Dōmeans "the same. " Sanis as in the chapter title. See note 6. 32 That is, Master Gensha himself. The story is recorded in the Rentōeyō, chap. 23. 33 Shimo-nin,a person whose state cannot be expressed with words. 34 Ji-chō-ji-jō. Jias a noun or pronoun means "self, " "myself,

" "oneself,

" etc.; and as

an adverb means "by oneself" or "by itself"; that is 1) "independently" or 2) "naturally, "

"spontaneously.

" Chōmeans to fish, as in Master Gensha's words chōgyo-sen, "fishing

boat.

" Jōmeans to go up.

35 Mi-chō-sen-jō.

36 These are common expressions of a complete change. In the following sentences, Master Dōgen considers the Buddhist meaning of each expression. 37 When we realize the state without illusion, the concept "mind" does not remain. 38 Seiryō means Master Tendō himself. 39 Nyojōoshōgoroku,vol. 1. 40 To the south of present-day Nanking. 41 Karyūkō,lit.,

light district.

"blossom and willow quarter, " means an area of pleasure houses, a red-42 The Fourth Patriarch in China is Master Daii Dōshin. His master, the Third Patriarch, is Master Kanchi Sōsan.

43 Master Nansen Fugan (748-834), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. 44 In present-day Anhui province in east China. 45 Master Ungan Donjō (782-841) and Master Dōgo Enchi (769-835) were two of the members of the order of Master Yakusan Igen. 46 Biru-chōjō-gyō alludes to the Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 1, no. 26: The Tang emperor Shukusō asks Master Nan'yō Echū, "What is the state without conflict?" The master says,

"Walk on, treading on Vairocana's head!" Vairocana is described in the Avataṃsaka-sūtraas ruling a realm of abundant time and space, where all things emit light and everything is contained in everything else. 47 The expression in the story, "the state without conflict, " is mujō-zanmai,

as the state without conflict. " "The state without emotion" is mujō-zanmai, as the state without emotion. "

"samādhi

"samādhi

48 Master Daiman Kōnin said, "The life of a person to whom the robe has been given 283

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49 is as if hanging by a thread. " In other words, the life of a Buddhist patriarch is very sincere. See Keitokudentōroku,chap. 3. In Chapter Sixty-nine, Hotsu-mujōshin,Master Dōgen describes picking up a stalk of grass and creating with it the sixteen-foot golden body (image of Buddha). Here "erecting a stalk of grass" represents one concrete action. 50 1243.

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Ganzei

229c3

Eyes

Translator's Note: Ganzei, which means "

eyeballs

"

"

"

or

eyes,

symbolizes

the viewpoint of Gautama Buddha, that is, the Buddhist viewpoint. In this chapter, Master Dōgen explains the meaning of the word ganzei, which appears frequently in the Shōbōgenzō, quoting Master Tendō Nyojō, Master Ungan Donjō, Master Tōzan Ryōkai, and other Buddhist masters. [79] If koṭis of thousand myriad kalpas of learning in practice are gathered together into a happy circle, it will be eighty-four thousand Eyes. 1

[80] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, while the master of Zuiganji,

2 in formal preaching in the Dharma hall addresses the assembly as follows:

Pure the autumn wind, bright the autumn moon. Earth, mountains, and rivers are clear in the Eye; Zuigan blinks and we meet afresh. Sending staffs and shouts by turns, they test the patch-robed monk. 3

"Testing the patch-robed monk" means verifying whether he is an eternal buddha. The hub of the matter is that [earth, mountains, and rivers] send staffs and shouts charging forth by turns; and he calls this "blinking. "4 The

vigorous state realized like this is the Eye. "Mountains, rivers, and the earth" are a creative occurrence, such as clear manifestation of the Eye, not happening. This is the autumn wind being pure, which is perfect maturity. It is the autumn moon being bright, which is perfect immaturity. The autumn wind's state of purity is beyond comparison even with the four great oceans. The autumn moon's state of brightness is clearer than a thousand suns and moons.

"Purity" and "brightness" are mountains, rivers, and the earth which are the Eye.

"The patch-robed monk" is a Buddhist patriarch. One who— 285

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without preferring great realization, without preferring nonrealization, and without preferring before or after the sprouting of creation—is the Eye itself: this is a Buddhist patriarch. "Verification" is the clear manifestation of the Eye, is the realization of blindness, 5 and is the vivid Eye itself. "Meeting"

is mutual encounter.

6 Meeting, or mutual encounter, is the Eye being sharp, and the Eye being a thunderbolt. In sum, do not think that the whole body is big but the whole Eye might be small. Even those considered in past ages to be venerable and great have understood that the whole body is big but the whole Eye is small. This is because they were never equipped with the Eye. [83] Great Master Tōzan Gohon, 7 while in the order of Ungan, 8 comes

upon Ungan making sandals, whereupon the master says to Ungan, "I beg

you, Master, for the Eye. "

Ungan says,

"To whom did you give your own?" The master says,

"I do not have it.

"

Ungan says,

"You have. Where are you directing it?" The master is without words. Ungan says,

"The state of begging the Eye is itself the Eye, is it not?" The master says,

"It is not the Eye.

"

Ungan criticizes this. 9

Thus, learning in practice, when it is thoroughly conspicuous, "begs the

Eye.

" To pursue the truth in the cloud hall, to attend formal preaching in the Dharma hall, and to enter the room [for questions] in the abbot's reception hall, are to beg the Eye. In general, to follow other monks in leaving a practice, and to follow other monks in coming to a practice, are naturally the Eye itself. The truth that the Eye is beyond subject and beyond object is evident. [The story] says that Tōzan, already, has requested instruction10 by "begging the master for the Eye. " Clearly, one who is subjective will not be begged by others to instruct them, and one who is objective will not beg others for instruction. [Ungan] teaches, "To whom did you give your own?" There are times when the state is "your own, " and there are means of "giving it, to whomever.

" [Tōzan says] "I do not have it. " These are words naturally expressed by the Eye itself. We should quietly investigate the principle of, and learn in practice, the realization of words like this. Ungan says, "You

have. Where are you directing it?" The Eye of this expression is that the "not having"11 in "I do not have it, " is to have it and to be directing it somewhere. 286

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And to be directing it somewhere is to have it. We should realize that the expression is like this. Tōzan is without words. This is not bewilderment. It is a standard that his karmic consciousness has independently established. Ungan instructs,

"The state of begging the Eye is itself the Eye, is it not?" This is a sentence which blinks the Eye. It is the vivid shattering of the Eye. The point expressed here by Ungan is that the Eye begs the Eye, water draws water, mountains line up with mountains; we go among alien beings, 12 and

we live among our own kind.

13 Tōzan says,

"It is not the Eye.

" This is the

Eye singing out by itself. Where body, mind, intellectual recognition, forms, and grades which are "not the Eye" are present, we should meet that state as the vivid Eye manifesting itself. The buddhas of the three times, standing on the ground, have listened to the Eye turning the great wheel of Dharma and preaching the great wheel of Dharma.

14 In conclusion, in the inner sanctum

of investigation in practice, we establish the mind, undergo training, and experience the great truth of bodhi,by springing inside the Eye. This Eye is, from the beginning, neither subjective nor objective. Because there are no hindrances of any kind, a great matter like this also is without hindrances. For this reason, an ancestor15 says,

"How wondrous are the buddhas in the

ten directions! They are originally just the flowers in our eyes. "16 What is

expressed here is that the buddhas in the ten directions are the eye, and flowers in the eye are the buddhas in the ten directions. Our present backward steps and forward steps, sitting and sleeping, because they have received the power of the eye itself, are all like this.

17 They are holding on and letting go inside

the Eye.

[88] My late master, the eternal buddha, says, "Gouging out Bodhi dharma's Eye, I make it into a mud ball and work it into a person. " Loudly,

he says,

"Yes! The sea has dried right to the bottom. Waves surge so high that they hit the heavens.

"

He presents this teaching to a sea of monks18 in the abbot's quarters of Seiryōji. So he speaks of "working a person,

"19 and this is as if to say "fashioning a person. " Because of the work, each person possesses his or her own real features. He means, for example, that with Bodhidharma's Eye he has forged individual people. And he has forged people. The meaning of "working a person" is like this. Because each person is a person who has sat20 with the eye, a fist now striking people in the cloud hall, a staff striking people in the 287

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Dharma hall, and a bamboo stick and a fly whisk striking people in the abbot's quarters, are Bodhidharma's Eye itself. Having gouged out Bodhi dharma's Eye, [Master Tendō] makes it into mud balls to work into people, but people today call this by such names as "having an interview and requesting the benefit [of instruction],

" or "formal preaching in the morning and informal preaching in the morning,

" or "sitting and making effort.

" What sort of person

does he fashion? "Seas dry right to the bottom, and high waves hit the heav-"21 ens.

[89] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, praises the Tathāgata's realization of the truth, saying: Six years he stumbled in the undergrowth, the ghost of a wild fox. The whole body that sprang free was just the state of entanglement. He lost the Eye and had no object of pursuit. Now he deceives people saying that he was enlightened by the bright star.

"He has been enlightened by the bright star" is the comment of an onlooker just at the moment when [the Tathāgata] loses the Eye. This is the entangled state22 of "the whole body, " and so it is easily sprung. Pursuing the object we should pursue eliminates realization as an object of pursuit, and there is also nothing to pursue in nonrealization. [90] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, says:

It is the time when Gautama lost the Eye, In the snow, a single twig of plum blossoms! Now every place has become a thorn. Yet [I] laugh at the swirling of the spring wind. 23

To comment in brief, Gautama's Eyes are not only one, two, or three. The "losing" [described] now refers to which Eye? It may be that there is an Eye that is called "losing the Eye. " In the state like this, moreover, there is an Eye that is "a single twig of plum blossoms in the snow. " Stealing ahead

of spring, it leaks the spirit of spring. [92] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, says:

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Days and weeks of pouring rain! Completely clear skies!

Croaking of bullfrogs.

Singing of earthworms.

Eternal buddhas have never passed away. They are manifesting the diamond Eye. Aah!

The complicated! The complicated!24 "The diamond Eye" is days and weeks of pouring rain, is completely clear skies, is frogs croaking and worms singing. Because [eternal buddhas] have never passed away, they are eternal buddhas. And even when eternal buddhas pass away, [their passing] is never the same as the passing of people who are not eternal buddhas. [93] My late master, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, says:

The sun in the south grows distant. Inside the Eye shines light. Inside the nostrils passes breath. The endless continuation of the present, the winter solstice and New Year's Day, the growing distant of the sun and moon: [all] are free of connectedness. Such is the shining of light inside the eye, and the viewing of mountains in the sun. The dignified manner of being in such circumstances is like this.

[94] My late master, the eternal buddha, while at Jōjiji in Rinan City, 25

gives the following formal preaching in the Dharma hall: This morning is the first of the second moon. The eyes of the fly whisk are bulging out; As bright as a mirror, as black as Japanese lacquer. Instantly they spring out, And swallow the cosmos in one gulp. Yet the students of this monk Are still battering into fences and battering into walls. In conclusion, what?

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Having given all, I am laughing heartily, And leave everything to the vagaries of the spring wind. The "battering into fences and battering into walls" described now is the totality of fences themselves battering and the totality of walls themselves battering. There is this Eye.

"This morning"; "the second moon"; "the first": these are each concrete instances of the Eye, and they are called "eyes of the fly whisk.

" Because they spring out instantly, it is this morning. Because they swallow the cosmos hundreds of thousands of times, it is the second moon. A moment of giving all is the first. The realized vivid state of eyes is like this.

Shōbōgenzō Ganzei

Preached to the assembly under Yamashibu Peak in Esshū26 on the seventeenth day of the twelfth moon in the first year of Kangen. 27

290

Notes

1 In general ganzeiis capitalized in this translation ("Eye") when the sense of Buddhist viewpoint is stronger than that of concrete eyeballs. 2 In Zhekiang province in east China. 3 This and the following quotations of Master Tendō's words are from the Nyojō oshōgoroku,vol. 1. 4 Tenkatsu. Tenmeans to let a drop fall, or to make a dot. Katsumeans blindness in an eye. Tenkatsu,

"blinking,

" therefore suggests the momentary freshness of what is seen.

5 Katsu.See note 4.

6 Sōken wa sōhō nari. In other words, Master Tendō's expression sōken, lit., "to see

each other,

" describes not only sense perception but reciprocality of subject and object.

7 Master Tōzan Ryōkai (807-869), successor of Master Ungan Donjō and the Eleventh Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. Great Master Gohon is his posthumous title.

8 Master Ungan Donjō (782-841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen. 9 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 14. 10 Shin-ekiliterally means "to request the benefit [of a master's instruction]. " See Chapter

Twenty-one (Vol. I), Kankin,paragraph 219. 11 Mu,

"not having" or "being without, " suggests the balanced condition in which there is nothing superfluous and nothing lacking. See Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō. 12 Irui-chū-gyō,

"going among alien beings,

" is an expression of independent action that appears often in the Shōbōgenzō.See, for example, Chapter Four (Vol. I), Ikkano-myōju,paragraph 101. 13 Dōrui-chū-shō,

"living among one's own kind, " expresses the Buddhist attitude from the other side—not only independence but also identification. 14 Seppō says: "The buddhas of the three times are inside the flame of the fire, turning the great wheel of Dharma.

" Gensha says: "The flame is preaching Dharma for the 291

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buddhas of the three times, and the buddhas of the three times are standing on the ground to listen.

" (Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 3, no. 88). Master Dōgen considers the story in detail in Chapter Twenty-three (Vol. II), Gyōbutsu-yuigi. 15 Master Rōya Ekaku (dates unknown), successor of Master Fun'yō Zenshō. 16 See Chapter Forty-three, Kūge,paragraph 49. 17 They are all in the state without separation into subject and object. 18 Kaishū, lit.,

"sea assembly" or "sea sangha. " The expression suggests the fact that there are no class distinctions among the members of a sangha. 19 Ta-nin. Tameans to strike, hit, or hammer out. Ninmeans a human being, a person, or people.

20 Tazameans to sit in zazen, as in the phrase shikantaza, tais a verb prefix that suggests concrete action. "just sitting.

" In this compound,

21 Master Tendō fashioned people who were not worried by the impermanence of reality. 22 Kattō,also translated as "the complicated. " See Chapter Forty-six, Kattō. 23 The same verse appears in Chapter Fifty-nine, Baike,paragraph 200. 24 Kattō.See note 22.

25 In Zhekiang province in east China. 26 Modern-day Fukui prefecture. 27 1243.

292

Chapter 64: Kajō - Everyday Life

[Chapter Sixty-four] Kajō

Everyday Life Translator's Note:Ka means "house

"

or

"home,

"

and jō means "

usual"

or

"

everyday.

" So kajō means "

everyday

"

"

or

everyday life. " People are often prone to think that religious matters should be different from daily life, being more sacred than and superior to daily life. But according to Buddhist theory, Buddhist life is nothing other than our daily life. Without daily life there can never be Buddhism. In China it was said that wearing clothes and eating meals are just Buddhism. In this chapter, Master Dōgen explains the meaning of kajō, everyday life, on the basis of Buddhism. [97] In general, in the house of the Buddhist patriarchs, [drinking] tea and [eating] meals are everyday life itself. This behavior of [drinking] tea and [eating] meals has long been transmitted and is realized in the present. Thus, the Buddhist patriarchs' vivid activity of [drinking] tea and [eating] meals has come to us. [98] Master [Dō]kai1 of Taiyōzan asks Tōsu, 2 "The ideas and words of a Buddhist patriarch are as everyday tea and meals. Beyond this, are there any other words with which to teach people or not?" Tōsu says,

"Say! The capital3 is under the emperor's direct rule. Is there also any dependence upon [the ancient rulers] U, Tō, Gyō, and Shun, 4 or not?"

Taiyō is about to open his mouth. Tōsu covers the master's mouth with his fly whisk and says, "By the time you first established the will, you already deserved thirty strokes. "

At this, Taiyō attains realization and does prostrations, then goes at once. Tōsu says,

"Come back a while, Ācārya!" Taiyō, in the end, does not turn his head. Tōsu says,

"Has the disciple arrived at the state without doubt?" Holding his hands over his ears, Taiyō leaves. 5

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[100] So we should clearly maintain and rely upon [the teaching that] a Buddhist patriarch's ideas and words are a Buddhist patriarch's everyday tea and meals. Coarse tea and plain food in everyday life are the ideas and words of a Buddhist patriarch. Buddhist patriarchs make tea and meals, and tea and meals maintain Buddhist patriarchs. That being so, we rely on no tea and meal energy outside of these [tea and meals], and we never waste the Buddhist patriarch energy in these [tea and meals]. "Is there also dependence

upon U, Tō, Gyō, and Shun, or not?" We should strive to learn in practice this manifestation of the view.

"Beyond this, are there any other words with which to teach people or not?" We should spring out in experience from the brains of this question. We should experiment and observe in experience whether we are able to spring out or unable to spring out. [101] Great Master Musai6 of Sekitō-an Hut on Nangakuzan says, I thatched a hut and have no wealth. Having finished a meal, I calmly look forward to a nap. 7

"[I] have finished a meal"

—[an experience] that he repeats, repeats again, and repeats over again—is the idea and words of a Buddhist patriarch who experiences meals. One who has not yet finished a meal is not yet satisfied with experience. At the same time, this truth of "calmness, having finished a meal,

" is realized before a meal, is realized during a meal, and is realized after a meal. To misunderstand that, in the house of "having finished a meal, "

there is [always] the eating of meals, is learning in practice of [only] four or five pints out of ten.

[102] My late master, the eternal buddha, preaches to the assembly: "I remember the following: A monk asks Hyakujō, 'What is a miracle?' Hyakujō

says,

'Sitting alone on Great and Mighty Peak. '8 Monks, do not be disturbed.

Let the fellow kill himself by sitting for a while. If someone today were suddenly to ask, 'Ācārya [Nyo]jō, what is a miracle?' , I would only say to them,

'How could anything be a miracle?' Finally, what? The pātraof Jōji9 having passed to Tendō, I eat meals.

'"10

In the everyday life of a Buddhist patriarch there is always a miracle; it has been called,

"sitting alone on Great and Mighty Peak. " Even though we

now hear "Let the fellow kill himself by sitting, " [his sitting] is still a miracle.

And there is something even more miraculous than that; it has been called, 294

Chapter Sixty-four

"the pātraof Jōji passing to Tendō, and eating meals. " A miracle, in every

instance and for every person, is always "eating meals. "11 This being so,

"sitting alone on Great and Mighty Peak" is just "eating meals. " The pātra is

used for eating meals and what is used for eating meals is the pātra. For this reason [the master speaks of] "Jōji pātra" and "Tendō eating meals. "12 After

satisfaction, there is recognition of meals. After completely eating a meal, there is satisfaction. After recognition, there is satisfaction with meals. And after satisfaction there is still eating meals. Now then, what is the pātra? In my opinion, it is beyond [the description] "It is only a piece of wood" and it is not "as black as Japanese lacquer. "13 How could it be unyielding stone? How could it be an iron man? It is bottomless, 14 and it is without nostrils. It

swallows space in one gulp, and space receives it with joined hands. [105] My late master, the eternal buddha, on one occasion while addressing an assembly in the abbot's quarters of Zuigan Jōdo Zen-in Temple in Daishū,

15 says,

"When hunger comes I eat a meal, when tiredness comes I sleep. Forges span the universe.

"

"Hunger coming" is the vivid state of a person who has eaten meals already. For a person who has not experienced eating meals, hunger is impossible. So remember, we for whom hunger may be an everyday state are, decidedly, people who "have finished a meal.

" "Tiredness coming" may be further tiredness experienced in tiredness. It has totally sprung free from the top of the brains of tiredness. Therefore, it is a moment of the present when, in vivid activity through the whole body, the whole body is totally turned around. "Sleeping"

is sleeping that borrows the eyes of Buddha, the eyes of Dharma, the eyes of wisdom, the eyes of patriarchs, and the eyes of outdoor pillars and stone lanterns. [106] My late master, the eternal buddha, upon proceeding from Zuiganji in Daishū to his assignment at Jōjiji in Rinanfu City, 16 says in formal preaching

in the Dharma hall:

Half a year I ate meals and sat on Banpō Peak, Shut off by thousand myriads of mists and clouds. Suddenly, a thunderclap17 resounded. The color of spring in the capital is apricot-blossom crimson. 18

The teaching of the Buddhist patriarchs who administered the teaching during the age of the Buddha was, in every case, "sitting on Banpō Peak and

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eating meals.

" Mastery of the transmission of the Buddha's wisdom and life is just realization of the vivid state of "eating meals. " "Half a year of sitting on

Banpō Peak" is called "eating meals. " "The enclosing mists and clouds" are incalculable. Though the "thunderclap" is "sudden, " the "spring color" of "the

apricot blossoms" is nothing other than crimson. "The capital" means each

present instance of naked sincerity. 19 The ineffable state of these situations is "eating meals.

" Banpō is the name of the peak [on which stands] Zuiganji. [108] My late master, the eternal buddha, addressing the assembly on one occasion in the Buddha hall of Zuiganji in Keigenfu City20 in Minshū, says: The golden and fine form21

Is to get dressed and to eat meals. That is why I bow to you.

22

I sleep early and get up late.

Aye. . .

Talk of the profound and preaching of the fine are enormously free. Sternly be on guard lest a twirling flower inflames you. This instant, we should already have seen through the heavy burden. "The

golden and fine form" describes getting dressed and eating meals. Getting dressed and eating meals are the golden and fine form. Never grope around asking what person gets dressed and eats meals. Do not say that someone else is the golden and fine form. Then your state will be this expression of the truth. [One to whom the master says] "That is why I bow to you" is like that. When I have already started eating the meal, you bow with joined hands and eat the meal. Because we sternly guard against twirling flowers, 23 we are like that.

[110] Zen Master Enchi Daian24 of Chōkei-in Temple in Fukushū, says in formal preaching to the assembly in the Dharma hall: Daian lived on Isan Mountain for thirty years, Eating Isan meals,

Shitting Isan shit,

Not learning Isan Zen,

Just watching over a castrated water buffalo. When it strayed into the grass, I dragged it out. When it invaded another's seed patch, I whipped it. Though disciplined for a long time already, 296

Chapter Sixty-four

As a pitiful creature, it suffered people's remarks. Now it has turned into a white ox on open ground. 25

It is always before me. All day long it is in a state of conspicuous brightness. Even if driven away, it does not leave. 26

We should clearly receive and retain this preaching. Thirty years of effort in an order of Buddhist patriarchs are eating meals, with no miscellaneous worries at all. When the vivid state of eating meals is realized, supervision of a castrated water buffalo is naturally the standard. [112] Great Master Shinsai of Jōshū27 asks a newly arrived monk, "Have

you ever been here before?" The monk says,

"Yes, I have.

"

The master says,

"Have some tea.

"

Later he asks another monk, "Have you ever been here before?" The monk says,

"No, never before.

"

The master says,

"Have some tea.

"

A chief of the temple office28 asks the master, "Why [did you say] 'Have some tea,

' to the monk who has been here before and also [say] 'Have some tea' to the monk who has never been here before?" The master calls to the chief. The chief answers.

The master says,

"Have some tea.

"29

"Here" is beyond the brain, is beyond the nostrils, and is beyond Jōshū district. Because it springs free from "here, " it "has already arrived here"30 and it "has never been here before. "31 "This place is the place where the ineffable exists, "32 but they discuss it only as "having already arrived" and "never having been before.

" For this reason my late master says, "What person in

a painted tower33 or a tavern could come to meet Jōshū and enjoy Jōshū's tea?" In sum, the everyday life of Buddhist patriarchs is nothing other than drinking tea and eating meals. Shōbōgenzō Kajō

Preached to the assembly under Yamashibu Peak in Etsu district on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Kangen. 34

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Notes

1 Master Fuyō Dōkai (1043-1118), successor of Master Tōsu Gisei, and the Eighteenth Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 2 Master Tōsu Gisei (1032-1083), successor of Master Taiyō Kyōgen. 3 Kanliterally means "the region around the capital that is ruled directly by the emperor. "

So Master Tōsu's words are a truism. 4 Emperors Gyō and Shun ruled at the end of the legendary age of the Five Rulers (2852-2205 B.C.E.). Emperor U (r. 2205-2197 B.C.E.) was the founder of the Xia dynasty. Emperor Tō (r. 1766-1753 B.C.E.) was the founder of the Shang dynasty. 5 Rentōeyō,chap. 28.

6 Master Sekitō Kisen (700-790), successor of Master Seigen Gyōshi and the Eighth Chinese Patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. 7 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 30. 8 Daiyūhō,

Hyakujō had his order.

"Great and Mighty Peak" is another name for Hyakujōzan where Master 9 Master Tendō Nyojō left Jōji Temple in 1225 in order to become the master of Tendō Temple, and he gave this preaching on the day he took up residence at Tendō Temple. The pātra, Buddhist almsbowl, is the subject of Chapter Seventy-eight (Vol. IV), Hatsu-u.

10 Nyojōoshōgoroku,vol. 2. Also quoted in Chapter Seventy-eight (Vol. IV), Hatsu-u. 11 Kippan,

"eating meals,

" is here used as a representative example of a basic activity of everyday life.

12 Jōji and Tendō are the names of the two temples and at the same time the names of Master Tendō Nyojō himself. Jōji-hatsu-u, "Jōji pātra,

" suggests the bowl not as an abstraction but as something actually used and realized in the life of the master. Tendōkippan,read in the quote as " . . . to Tendō, and [I] eat meals, " here means "the eating

of meals [realized by] Tendō, " that is, real eating of meals. 13 Koku-nyo-shitsu,

"as black as Japanese lacquer, " are words used by Master Tendō himself to describe the hossu, or ceremonial fly whisk (see Chapter Sixty-three, Ganzei,paragraph 94). Master Dōgen is suggesting here that the pātrais so profound that it defies any such description. 299

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14 Muteimeans bottomless or without a base. The pātrais rounded at the bottom and therefore has no supporting rim or base; at the same time, the word muteisuggests that the state of a pātrais bottomless or unfathomable. 15 A coastal district of Zhekiang province, bordering the East China Sea. 16 Also in Zhekiang province.

17 The thunderclap symbolizes the invitation to become master of Jōji Temple. 18 Nyojōoshōgoroku,vol. 1.

19 Sekiseki-jōjō,lit.,

"red-red instance-instance,

" is a variation of the common expression sekishin-henpen,lit.,

"red mind fragment-fragment,

" i.e., sincerity at every moment. See also Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō,paragraph 162; Chapter Thirty-seven (Vol. II), Shinjin-gakudō,paragraph 156. 20 Present-day Ningbo in northern Zhekiang. 21 Alludes to the golden hue of the Buddha, one of his thirty-two distinguishing signs. 22 Yo[tte] ware nanji o rai[su], "Therefore I bow to you,

" is thought to derive from a

story involving Master Gensha Shibi, although a definitive source has not been traced. The point is that, in performing simple acts like getting dressed and eating meals, master and disciple are each furnished equally with Buddhist virtue. 23 Nenge,

"the picking up of a flower,

" alludes to the story of the transmission between the Buddha and Master Mahākāśyapa on Vulture Peak (see Chapter Sixty-eight, Udonge). Here it is an example of a stimulus that might tend to make a Buddhist practitioner feel spiritual.

24 Master Enchi Daian (793-883), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. He became a monk under Master Ōbaku, then joined Master Hyakujō's order along with Master Isan Reiyū. After Master Isan's death in 853, Master Enchi became the master of Isan Mountain. Later he retired to Chōkei-in Temple. Zen Master Enchi is his posthumous title.

25 Alludes to the Lotus Sutra.See LS 1.166. 26 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 9.

27 Master Jōshū Jūshin (778-897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. Jōshū district is in modern-day Hubei province.

28 Inju,also called kansu,

"prior,

" is one of the main temple officers charged with general administration of the monastery. 29 Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 33; Rentōeyō,chap. 6. 30 Sō-tō-shikanin the story means "been here before, " but the literal meaning of tōis to arrive. Therefore sō-tō-shikan,lit., "arrived here before" or "arrived here already, "

suggests the state at the moment of the present. 300

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31 Fu-sō-tō-shikan, the moment of the present. "never been here before" or "never arrived here before, " also describes

32 In response to a question from Rinzai, Fuke overturns a dinner table. Master Rinzai says,

"Very coarse person!" Fuke says, "This place is the place where something ineffable exists. Explain it as coarse or explain it as fine. " Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 96. See also notes to Chapter Fifty-six, Senmen,paragraph 124. 33 Garō,

"painted tower" suggests a grand and luxurious building. 34 1243.

301

Chapter 65: Ryūgin - The Moaning of Dragons

[Chapter Sixty-five] Ryūgin

The Moaning of Dragons Translator's Note:Ryū means "dragons,

"

and gin means "

sing,

" "

chant,

"

"

or

moan.

" Dragons, of course, are not living animals but are mythical creatures. So it would be very strange for dragons to sing or moan; in short, it is impossible for dragons to sing or moan. But in ancient China people used the word ryūgin,

"

moaning of dragons "

"

or

whispers of dragons, "

as a symbol

of something mystical in nature or in the universe—for example, in the expression koboku ryūgin. Koboku means "

withered trees "

; the words conjure an image of a lonely, desolate landscape of withered trees, where we feel we can hear something that is not a sound. This concept later entered into Buddhist explanations. The moaning of dragons is not a sound but something that cannot be heard with the ears alone; that is, quietness, nature, the universe, or reality. Buddhism is not simple mysticism, and so we should not readily believe in the existence of something mystical. At the same time, we should not limit reality to the area of sensory perception. On this basis, Master Dōgen explains the meaning of ryūgin, "the moaning of dragons, " in this chapter. [116] Great Master Jisai of Tōsuzan in Jōshū, 1 the story goes, is asked by a monk,

"Among withered trees does the moaning of dragons exist or not?" The master says, "I say that inside of skulls exists the lion's roar. "2

Talk of withered trees and dead ash is the original teaching of non-Buddhists. But the withered trees of which non-Buddhists speak and the withered trees3 of which Buddhist patriarchs speak may be very different. Even though non-Buddhists talk of withered trees, they do not know withered trees; how much less could they hear the moaning of dragons? Non-Buddhists have thought that withered trees might be trees in decay; they have understood that [withered trees] cannot meet spring. The withered trees of which the Buddhist patriarchs speak are in the learning in practice of "the sea having 303

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dried.

"4 The sea having dried is a tree having withered, and a tree having withered is [the vivid state of] "meeting spring. " A tree not being disturbed is the withered state. The mountain trees, ocean trees, sky trees, and other trees of the present, are just withered trees. Even a sprouting bud is the moaning of dragons among withered trees. Even [a tree] of a hundred thousand myriad fathoms is the descendant of withered trees. The form, nature, substance, and energy of the withered state are the withered stumps which Buddhist patriarchs have described, and are other than withered stumps— there are trees in mountains and valleys and there are trees in fields and villages. Trees in mountains and valleys are usually called "pines and oaks. "

Trees in fields and villages are usually called "human beings and gods. "

"Leaves spread out from roots":5 we call this state "a Buddhist patriarch. "

"Root and branch should return to the fundamental":6 this is just learning of the state. What exists in the state like this is the long Dharma body of a withered tree, or the short Dharma body of a withered tree. Those who are not withered trees never moan the moaning of dragons, and those other than withered trees do not get rid of "the moaning of dragons. " "However many

times [this withered tree] meets spring, it does not change its mind":7 this is the moaning of dragons that has become totally dry. It does not belong on the scale do, re, mi, fa, and so. At the same time, do, re, mi, fa, and so are two or three former and latter instances of the moaning of dragons. That being so, this monk's expression "Among withered trees does the moaning of dragons exist or not?"

, which has been realized as a concrete question for the first time in countless kalpas, is the realization of a comment in itself. 8

Tōsu's words "I say that inside of skulls exists the lion's roar"9 mean "Is there anything that is covered?" [They mean] "The effort to curb ourselves and to promote others is ceaseless. " [And they mean] "Skulls are littering the whole countryside.

"

[119] Great Master Shūtō10 of Kyōgenji, the story goes, is asked by a monk,

"What is the truth?"

The master says,

"The moaning of dragons among withered trees. "

The monk says,

"I do not understand.

"11

The master says,

"Eyes in skulls.

"

Thereafter, a monk asks Sekisō, 12 "What is the moaning of dragons among withered trees?"

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[Seki]sō says,

"A trace of joy still being retained. "

The monk says,

"What are eyes in skulls?" [Seki]sō says,

"A trace of consciousness still being retained. "

On another occasion, a monk asks Sōzan, 13 "What is the moaning of dragons among withered trees?" [Sō]zan says,

"The bloodline being unbroken. "

The monk says,

"What are eyes in skulls?" [Sō]zan says,

"Dryness being without limit. "

The monk says,

"I wonder if there are any who are able to hear. "

[Sō]zan says,

"Over the whole earth there is no one who does not hear. "

The monk says,

"I wonder what words the dragons moan. "

[Sō]zan says,

"Even without knowing the words, those who hear all share the loss.

"14

[121] The listeners and moaners we are discussing now are beyond the level of moaners who moan about dragons. This melody is the moaning of dragons itself.

"Among withered trees" and "in skulls" are beyond inside and outside and beyond self and others; they are the moment of the present and the moment of eternity. "A trace of joy still being retained" is horns growing further on a head. "A trace of consciousness still being retained" is skin having been shed completely. Sōzan's words "The bloodline being unbroken" describe the truth being noninimical, and the body being turned around in mid-speech.

15 "Dryness being without limit" is the sea having dried and the bottom not being reached. 16 Because not reaching the limit is dryness itself,

17 in the state of dryness we continue to dry. 18 Saying "Are there any who hear?" is as if to say "Are there any who cannot?" "Over the whole earth there is no one who does not hear. " I would like to ask further: Setting aside for a while "there is no one who does not hear, " tell me, before "the whole earth" exists, where then is the moaning of dragons? Speak at once! Speak at once! "I wonder what words the dragons moan. " We should ask this question. Moaning dragons are naturally a sound being voiced, or a matter being taken up, in the mud. They are the passing of air inside the nostrils. "We do

not know what words these are"19 describes the existence, in words, of dragons. "Those who hear all share the loss":20 how sorrowful it is! The moaning of dragons that has now been realized by Kyōgen, Sekisō, Sōzan, and the others becomes clouds and becomes water. 21 Without speaking of the truth, 305

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without speaking of eyes or skulls, just this is the moaning of dragons in a thousand melodies and in ten thousand melodies. "A trace of joy still being retained" is the croaking of bullfrogs. "A trace of consciousness still being retained" is the singing of earthworms. Relying on this state, "the bloodline

is unbroken,

" and a gourd succeeds a gourd. Because "dryness is without limit,

" outdoor pillars gestate and give birth and a stone lantern stands out against a stone lantern.

22

Shōbōgenzō Ryūgin

Preached to the assembly under Yamashibu Peak in Etsu district23 on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Kangen. 24

306

Notes

1 Master Tōsu Daidō (819-914), successor of Master Suibi Mugaku. Great Master Jisai is his posthumous title. The simplicity of Master Tōsu's life on Tōsuzan in his home district of Jōshū (in present-day Anhui province in east China) is mentioned in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 241. See also Chapter Forty-two, Tsuki. 2 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 15.

3 Koboku,

"withered trees" or "dead trees,

" in Buddhism symbolizes the vivid state of non-emotion, or people in the vivid state of non-emotion. The zazen hall of a Buddhist temple is sometimes called koboku-dō,

"withered tree hall.

" See, for example, Chapter

Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 241.

4 Kaiko,

"the sea has dried,

" represents a real situation that has changed completely (see also Chapter Sixty-three, Ganzei,paragraph 88). The character for "withered" and for "dried" are the same: ko.

5 Ne ni yotte ha bunpu su.Quoted from the poem Sandōkai(On Experiencing the State) by Master Sekitō Kisen.

6 Honmatsu subekaraku shū ni kisu beshi. Ibid. Honmatsu means root and branch, means and ends, substance and detail, or the important and the trivial. 7 Ikutabi ka haru ni au te kokoro o henze zuis the second line of the following verse by Master Daibai Hōjō: "A withered tree, broken and abandoned, in a cold forest,/However many times it meets spring, it does not change its mind./Passing woodsmen do not even look back./Why should popular entertainers be keen to search it out?" See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji,paragraph 141. 8 Watōmeans a kōan;that is, a comment or story in which the truth is expressed. See also notes to Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kōkyō,paragraph 162; and Chapter Thirty-six (Vol. II), Kōmyō,paragraph 126.

9 Shishi-ku,

"lion's roar,

" symbolizes the Buddha's preaching.

10 Master Kyōgen Chikan (d. 818), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. 11 This line follows the version in the Keitokudentōroku.In the Shinji-shōbōgenzōthe monk's second line is "What is a person in the state of truth?" 12 Master Sekisō Keisho (807-888), successor of Master Dōgo Enchi. 307