T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume IV

Chapter 74: Tenbōrin - Turning the Dharma Wheel

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135 Seppō addresses the assembly, "I have met you at Bōshutei Pavilion, I have met you on Usekirei Peak, and I have met you in front of the monks' hall. " Hofuku asks Gako,

"Let us forget for a while the front of the monks' hall. What about the meetings at Bōshutei Pavilion and Usekirei Peak?" Gako runs back to the abbot's quarters. Hofuku lowers his head and goes into the monks' hall. See Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 3, no. 91; see also Chapter Thirty-six (Vol. II), Kōmyō,paragraph 139. 136 "Two mirrors" suggests subject and object, their combination resulting in the undivided reality of the present moment. Right effort occurs in balanced consciousness of what is happening both inside and outside, here and now. 137 Sha-fu-tōzei,picked up from the parable in Lotus Sutra, Shinge("Belief and Understanding"). See LS 1.224. 138 The words of Master Bodhidharma expressing oneness between himself and each of four disciples. See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō,paragraph 90. 139 Biku,

"nose holes,

" i.e., nostrils, are a symbol of liveliness. Right balance is a lively state realized by ceasing the more sophisticated mental activities that take us away from the here and now.

140 Boku-shaku-ha,

"a wooden dipper is broken,

" means that a Buddhist practi tioner has become completely free from miscellaneous restrictive conditions. 141 Rakusō-rokunen,lit.,

"falling [among] weeds six years, " alludes to the Bud dha's six

years of ascetic practice in pursuit of the truth. 142 Kakai-ichiya,

"a flower opening one night,

" suggests the Buddha's experi ence of balance, on the night of his enlightenment, when he just sat in the lotus posture. 143 A monk asks Master Daizui Hōshin, "[They say that] when the holocaust at the end of a kalpais blazing, the great-thousandfold world will be totally destroyed. I wonder whether or not this place will be destroyed. " The master says,

"It will be destroyed.

"

The monk says,

"If that is so, should we just follow circumstances?" The master says, "We just follow circumstances.

" (Gotōegen,chap. 4; see also Chapter Thirty-seven [Vol. II], Shinjin-gakudō,paragraph 152.) 144 Issen-sanbyaku-rokujū-ku-bon no koan-genjo.The number one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine is thirty-seven multiplied by thirty-seven—suggesting that the whole that comprises the thirty-seven elements is present in each constituent element. 145 Present-day Fukui prefecture. 146 1244.

34

[Chapter Seventy-four] Tenbōrin

Turning the Dharma Wheel Translator's Note: Ten means "turn,

" hō means

"Dharma

"

or the Buddha

'

s

teaching, and rin means "

wheel"

—in Sanskrit, cakra. In ancient India a cakra was a wheel with pointed spokes, used as a weapon. The Buddha '

s

preaching was likened to the turning of a cakra, and thus tenbōrin, the turning of the Dharma wheel, refers to the preaching of Buddhism. In this chapter Master Dōgen explains the true meaning of preaching Buddhism. Before his explanation, he quotes the words of several masters on what happens when "

someone

realizes the truth and returns to the origin, " in order to illustrate the value of Buddhist scriptures written in China. Some people have insisted that only scriptures written in India qualify as being genuine "Buddhist scrip-"

tures,

and therefore the scriptures that were written in China do not expound true Buddhism. But Master Dōgen takes a wider view: he says that any scripture quoted by a true Buddhist master is a true Buddhist scripture, even if it was written outside of India. He insists that when a true Buddhist master quotes a scripture, that act confirms the scripture as a true Buddhist teaching. From this, Master Dōgen explains that the preaching of Buddhism can be done in all places and at all times, and these preachings thus have universal validity. At the same time, he asserts that to preach true Buddhism is to practice zazen throughout one '

s life.

[71] My late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, quotes: The World-honored One said, "When a person exhibits the truth and returns to the origin, space in the ten directions totally disappears. " The

master comments: "This is just the preaching of the World-honored One, but everyone has been unable to avoid producing odd interpretations of 35

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it. Tendō is not like that. When a person exhibits the truth and returns to the origin, a beggar boy breaks his almsbowl.

"1

[72] Master Hōen2 of Gosozan said,

"When a person exhibits the truth

and returns to the origin, space in the ten directions is jostling. "3

[73] Master Busshō Hōtai4 said,

"When a person exhibits the truth and

returns to the origin, space in the ten directions is just space in the ten directions. "5

[73] Zen Master Engo Kokugon6 of Kassan Mountain said, "When a

person exhibits the truth and returns to the origin, space in the ten directions puts on flowers over brocade.

"7

[73] Daibutsu8 says,

"When a person exhibits the truth and returns to the origin, space in the ten directions exhibits the truth and returns to the origin. "

[74] The expression quoted now, that "When a person exhibits the truth and returns to the origin, space in the ten directions totally disappears, " is

an expression in the Śūraṃgama-sūtra.

9 This same phrase has been discussed

by several Bud dhist patriarchs. Consequently, this phrase is truly the bones and marrow of Buddhist patriarchs, and the eyes of Buddhist patriarchs. My intention in say ing so is as follows: Some insist that the ten-fascicle version of the Śūraṃgama-sūtrais a forged sutra10 while others insist that it is not a forged sutra. The two arguments have persisted from the distant past until today. There is the older translation11 and there is the new translation;12 the version that is doubted is [not these but] a translation produced during the Shinryū era.

13 However, Master Goso [Hō]en, Master Busshō [Hō]tai, and my late master Tendō, the eternal buddha, have each quoted the above phrase already. So this phrase has already been turned in the Dharma wheel of Buddhist patriarchs; it is the Buddhist Patriarch's Dharma wheel turning. Thus, this phrase has already turned Buddhist patriarchs and this phrase has already preached Buddhist patriarchs. By reason of being preached by Buddhist patriarchs and preaching Buddhist patriarchs, even if a sutra is forged, once Buddhist patriarchs have preached and quoted it, it is truly a sutra of buddhas and a sutra of patriarchs, and it is the intimately experienced Dharma wheel of the Buddhist Patriarch. Even tiles and pebbles, even yellow leaves, even an uḍumbaraflower, and even a robe of golden brocade14 are, once picked up by Buddhist patriarchs, the Buddha's Dharma wheel and the 36

Chapter Seventy-four

Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury. Remember, when living beings transcend their reali zation of the right state of truth, they are Buddhist patriarchs, they are the teachers and students of Buddhist patriarchs, and they are the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of Buddhist patriarchs. They no longer see as their brothers the living beings who were formerly their brothers, for Buddhist patriarchs are their brothers. In the same way, even if every sentence of the ten fascicles is forged, the present phrase is a transcendent phrase, a phrase of buddhas and a phrase of patriarchs—one that should never be classed with other sentences and other phrases. Although this phrase is a transcendent phrase, we should not imagine that every sentence in the whole volume is, in essence and form, a saying of the Buddha or the words of a patriarch; we should not see [every sentence] as the eye of learning in practice. There are many reasons not to compare the present phrase and other phrases; I would like to take up one among them. What has been called "turning the Dharma wheel" is the behavior of Buddhist patriarchs. No Buddhist patriarch has ever gone without turning the Dharma wheel. In the real situation of turning the Dharma wheel [Buddhist patriarchs] use sound and form to get rid of sound and form; or they turn the Dharma wheel springing free of sound and form; or they turn the Dharma wheel scooping out the Eye; or they turn the Dharma wheel holding up a fist. This, at a place where nostrils are grasped or at a place where space is grasped,

15 is the Dharma wheel naturally turning

itself. To grasp the present phrase is, here and now, just to grasp the bright star, to grasp a nose, to grasp peach blossoms, or to grasp space: they are one. [To grasp the present phrase] is to grasp the Buddhist Patriarch and to grasp the Dharma wheel: they are one. This principle is definitely the turning of the Dharma wheel. Turning the Dharma wheel means striving to learn in practice throughout a life without leaving the temple grounds; it means requesting the benevolence of the teaching and pursuing the truth upon long platforms.

ShōbōgenzōTenbōrin

Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in

Etsu-u on the twenty-seventh day of the second

lunar month in the second year of Kangen.

16

37

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Notes

1 Nyojōoshōgoroku,pt. 2.

2 Master Goso Hōen (d. 1104), successor of Master Hakuun Shutan. 3 Hōenzenjigoroku,pt. 1. Chikujaku-gatsujaku, "jostling,

" is an onomato poeic expression

for the crunching of stones or gravel. It suggests a condition in which miscella neous concrete things are jostling against each other, rather than an idealistic notion of harmony. 4 Master Busshō Hōtai (dates unknown), successor of Master Engo Kokugon. 5 Kataifutōroku,chap. 26.

6 Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135), successor of Master Goso Hōen, and editor of the Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record). See also Chapter Sixty-six (Vol. III), Shunjū; Chapter Eighty-nine, Shinjin-inga. 7 Engokoroku,chap. 8.

8 Master Dōgen. Daibutsuji was the original name of the temple now known as Eiheiji, which Master Dōgen founded 1244. However, this chapter was preached at Kippō Temple.

9 Shuryōgonkyō.The long title of the Chinese text in question is Daibucchōnyo rai mitsuinshūshōryōgishobosatsumangyōshuryōgonkyō, "Śūraṃgama-sūtra of the Great-Buddha-Head Tathāgata '

s Under standing of the Myriad Ways in which Bodhisattvas Secretly Rely Upon Practice and Experience. "This work, completed in 705, purported to be a translation of the Śūraṃgamasamādhinirdeśa,although its authenticity was doubted and it is no longer extant. The title of the original Sanskrit sutra means "Description of the Samādhi(state of balance in zazen) called Śūraṃgama ('Heroic March').

" Addressed to Bodhisattva Dṛḍhamati, it praises samādhias a state of valiant onward progress. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 10 Gikyō,

"forged sutras,

" describes Chinese texts that falsely purported to be translations of Sanskrit sutras. 11 Kūyaku,

"older translation(s),

" probably indicates Kumārajīva's translation. According to the Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary(JEBD), many Chinese translations of the Śūraṃgamasamādhinirdeśawere pro duced but only Kumārajīva's version is extant. In general, kūyaku,

"older translations,

" categorizes those Buddhist scriptures 39

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV

that were translated into Chinese between the time of Kumārajīva (344-413) and Xuanzang (Jp. Genjō; 600-664). Translations done before Kumārajīva's time are called koyaku,

"ancient translations.

" Included in the latter category are translations

by the Indian monk Lokakṣema who came to China in 147 and is said to have translated the Śūraṃ gama samādhinirdeśain around 185.

12 Shin-yaku,

"new translation(s),

" generally means translations done by the Chi nese

monk Xuanzang who, in 629, set off to India via Central Asia and Afghani stan in order to obtain original Sanskrit texts. After returning in 645 with the manuscripts of six hundred and fifty-seven texts, he produced over thirteen hundred fascicles of scriptures in Chinese and completed the Daitōsaiikiki,an extensive record of his travels. 13 Refers to the Daibucchōnyoraimitsuinshūshōryōgishobosatsumangyōshuryōgonkyō, the translation of the Śūraṃgama-sūtrathat Hanshi Mittai is said to have completed in the first year of the Shinryū era, 705. See note 9.

14 The phrases "uḍumbaraflower" and "robe of golden brocade" allude to the story of the transmission between the Buddha and Master Mahākāśyapa. The story, which is quoted many times in the Shōbōgenzō,comes from the Daibontenōmonbutsuketsu gikyō(Sutra of Questions and Answers between Mahābrahman and the Buddha), which is also suspected of being a forged sutra.

15 Alludes to a story about Master Seidō Chizō, who grasped air when asked to explain space, and Master Shakkyō Ezō, who grasped Master Seidō Chizō's nose. See Chapter Seventy-seven, Kokū.

16 1244.

40

Chapter 75: Jishō-zanmai - Samādhi as Experience of the Self

[Chapter Seventy-five]

Jishō-zanmai

252a3

Samādhi as Experience of the Self Translator's Note: Ji means

"

self,

" shō means

"to experience,

"

and zanmai

means "samādhi" or

"the balanced state.

" So jishō-zanmai means samādhi, as the state of self-experience. In this chapter Master Dōgen explains the meaning of jishō-zanmai, criticizing the wrong understanding of Master Daie Sōkō and his disciples. They understood jishō-zanmai as meaning an intellectual state referred to as "

enlightenment,

"

a state that they made their utmost efforts to attain. Master Dōgen did not agree with this belief. In this chapter he strongly criticizes Master Daie Sōkō and explains the true meaning of jishō-zanmai.

[79] What the buddhas and the patriarchs have authentically transmitted, from all the buddhas and the Seven Buddhas, is samādhias the state of experi encing the self. It is what is called "sometimes to follow a good counselor, sometimes to follow the sutras.

"1 This state is just the eyes of the Buddhist patriarchs. For this reason, the eternal buddha Sōkei asks a monk, "Do you rely upon practice

and experience, or not?" The monk says, "It is not that there is no practice and experience, but to taint it is impossible. "2 So remember, untainted practice and experience is the Buddhist patriarchs themselves, and is the Buddhist patriarchs' samādhias a thunderclap, wind, and rolling thunder. [80] Just in the moment of "following a good counselor, "3 sometimes

we see half of each other's face, sometimes we see half of each other's body, sometimes we see the whole of each other's face, and sometimes we see the whole of each other's body. There are instances of meeting in each other half of the self, and there are instances of meeting in each other half of the external world.

4 We experience in each other the state in which the head of a god is covered with hair, and we experience in each other the state in which the face of a demon is topped by horns. We have the experience of following 41

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circum stances5 while going among alien types, and we go on changing while living among like beings. In these situations we do not know how many thousand myriad times we throw away the body for the sake of the Dharma. And we do not know for how many koṭis of hundred kalpas we seek the Dharma for the sake of our own body. This is the vigorous activity of "following a good counselor"; and it is the actual condition of exploring the self and suiting the self. At the time of mutual realization in the wink of an eye, [this condition] possesses a smiling face; and on the occasion of prostration to attainment of the marrow, it cuts off an arm. In sum, from the time before and after the Seven Buddhas to beyond the time of the Sixth Patriarch the "good counselors" who have met themselves are not one and not two. And the "good counselors" who have met the external world are neither of the past nor of the present. In the moment of "following the sutras,

" when we investigate

the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the self and get free of the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the self, peach blossoms are seen protruding from the eyes themselves, and the sound of bamboo is heard thundering from the ears themselves.

[82] In general, when we follow and practice "the sutras, " "the sutras"

truly come forth. The meaning of "the sutras" is the whole universe in ten directions, mountains, rivers, and the earth, grass and trees, self and others; it is eating meals and putting on clothes, instantaneous movements and demeanors. When we pursue the truth following these texts, each of which is a sutra, countless thousand-myriad volumes of totally unprecedented sutras manifest themselves in reality and exist before us. They have lines of characters of affirmation that are conspicuous as they are; and their verses of characters of negation are unmistakably clear. When, becoming able to meet them, we muster the body-mind to learn in practice—therein using up long eons or making use of long eons—the destination that is thorough understanding6 inevitably exists. When we let go of body and mind in order to learn in practice—therein gouging out eternity7 or soaring beyond eternity— we inevitably realize the virtue of receiving and retaining [sutras]. The Sanskrit texts of India translated into Chinese books of Dharma now number not even five thousand fascicles.

8 Among these there are [sutras of] the three vehicles, the five vehicles, the nine parts, and the twelve parts;9 and they are all sutras that we should follow and practice. Even if we intended to avoid follow ing 42

Chapter Seventy-five

them, it would be impossible. Thus they have sometimes become the Eye10 and have sometimes become "my marrow.

"11 They are horns on the head

being right and a tail being right.

12 We receive this state from others and we

impart this state to others; at the same time, it is just the lively springing out of eyes themselves, which gets free of self and others, and it is just the transmis sion of "my marrow" itself, which is liberated from self and others. Because eyes and "my marrow" are beyond self and beyond others, Buddhist patriarchs have authentically transmitted them from the past to the past, and Buddhist patriarchs pass them on from the present to the present. There are sutras as staffs that preach the length and preach the breadth, 13 naturally

breaking "emptiness" and breaking "existence.

" There are sutras as fly whisks14

that cleanse snow and cleanse frost. There are one order and two orders of sutras as zazen. There are sutras as kaṣāyas with ten scrolls per volume. These are guarded and maintained by the Buddhist patriarchs. Following sutras like these we perform practice and experience, and attain the truth. Causing to exist sometimes god faces and human faces, and sometimes sun faces and moon faces, the effort of "following the sutras" is realized. At the same time, all instances of following good counselors and of following the sutras are just to follow the self. A sutra is naturally a sutra of the self, and a good counselor is naturally a good counselor of the self. That being so, thorough exploration of good coun selors15 is thorough exploration of the self. To take up the hundred weeds is to take up the self. To take up the ten thousand trees is to take up the self. We learn in practice that the self is inevitably efforts like these. In this learning in practice, we get rid of the self, and we experience the self as exact accordance.

16 For this reason, in the great

truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, there are concrete tools for experiencing the self and realizing the self, [but] if we are not Buddhist patriarchs as rightful successors we do not receive their authentic transmission. There are concrete tools that have been received from rightful successor to rightful successor, [but] if we are other than the bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs we do not receive their authentic transmission.

[87] Because we learn in practice like this, during the transmission and reception to and from others, the transmission exists as "You have got my marrow" and "I transmit the right Dharma-eye treasury that I possess to Mahā kāśyapa.

" Preaching is not necessarily connected with self and others. 43

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Preaching for others is just preaching for the self. It is listening and preaching in which self and self experience the same state.

17 One ear is listening and

one ear is preaching, one tongue is preaching and one tongue is listening; and so on for eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; for the sense organs, their consciousness, and their objects. Going further, there is experience and there is practice with one body and one mind: it is the ears themselves listening and preaching and the tongue itself listening and preaching. Yesterday we were preaching to others an exception to the rule, but today we are preaching to ourselves an established rule.

18 In this way the faces of the sun line up one

after another and the faces of the moon line up one after another. To preach the Dharma and to practice the Dharma for the benefit of others is to hear the Dharma, to clarify the Dharma, and to experience the Dharma in our [whole] life at each mo ment.

19 Even in this present life if we are sincere in

preaching the Dharma to others, our own attainment of the Dharma is made easy. Or if we help and encourage other people to listen to the Dharma, our own learning of the Dharma receives good sustenance. We receive sustenance in our body and we receive sustenance in our mind. If we hinder others in listening to the Dharma, our own listening to the Dharma is hindered. To preach the Dharma and to listen to the Dharma with our [whole] body at each moment in our [whole] life at each moment is to hear the Dharma in every age, and is to listen again in the present age to the Dharma that was authentically transmitted to us in the past. We are born in the Dharma, and we die in the Dharma, and so, having received the authentic transmission of the Dharma while in the whole universe in ten directions, we listen to it in our [whole] life at each moment and practice it with our [whole] body at each mo ment. Because we can realize our [whole] life at each moment in the Dharma and make our [whole] body at each moment into the Dharma, we bring together both single molecules and the universal order and let them experience the Dharma. That being so, having heard a word in the east, we should preach it to a person on coming to the west. This is to use one self to make effort in listening and preaching as one act, and it is to practice and experience the eastern self and the western self as one self. In any event, we should be glad to, should hope to, and should resolve to bring the Buddha-Dharma and the patriarchs' truth close to our own body-mind, and to practice them. We should extend the practice from an hour to a day and from a year 44

Chapter Seventy-five

to a lifetime. We should let the Buddha-Dharma play as our soul. This is called not passing any life in vain. Do not think, on the contrary, that because we are not yet clear we should not preach for other people. If we expect clarification, we will not achieve it even in countless kalpas. Even if we have clarified human buddhas, we should further clarify heavenly buddhas. Even if we have clarified the mind of mountains, we should further clarify the mind of waters. Even if we have clarified dharmas arisen from causes and conditions,

20 we should further clarify dharmas that are beyond causes and conditions. Even if we have clarified the outer limits of a Buddhist patriarch, we should further clarify the ascendant state of a Buddhist patriarch. To intend to complete the clarification of these things in one generation, and thereafter to act for the benefit of others, is not diligent effort, is not to be a stout fellow, and is not learning in practice. In sum, as students of the truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, from the time we learn in practice one method or one standard, we let our will to teach others rise to pierce the heavens. We thereby get free of self and others. Going further, if we exhaustively explore the self, we will already have exhaustively explored the external world. And if we exhaustively explore the external world, we will already have exhaustively explored the self. Unless received from a master, this Buddhist standard cannot be realized in bodily experience, even by the innately intelligent. 21 If

the innately intelligent never meet a master, they do not know that which is beyond innate intelligence, and do not know that which is neither innate nor intelligence. Even if they are innately intelligent, they cannot thereby know the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs. After they learn it, they can know it. To realize the self in bodily experience and to realize the external world in bodily experience is the great truth of the Buddhist patri archs. We should just utilize our own beginner's state of learning in prac tice in order to experience communion with the beginner's state of learning in practice of the external world. From the stage of the beginner onward, to continue experiencing together both the self and the external world is to be in touch with the ultimate state of communion. As we work on the self, so we should promote the work of the external world. 22

[92] However, hearing the words "experience of the self,

" "realization

of the self,

" and so on, crude people think that we need not receive the transmission from a teacher but should study by ourselves. This is a great mistake. 45

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Those who wrongly conceive the thoughts and discriminations of subjective under standing, and who have no transmission from a master, are non-Buddhists of Indian naturalism. How could people who cannot discern this be people of the Buddha's truth? [There are those,] moreover, [who] when they hear the words "experience of the self,

" because they suppose it to be an accumulation of the five skandhas,

23 equate it with Hinayana self-discipline. 24 Many people

who do not know the difference between the Great Vehicle and the Small Vehicle experience themselves as the descendants of Buddhist patriarchs, but what person of clear eyes could be deceived by them? [93] In the Great Song era of Shōkō25 there is a certain Sōkō, 26 "Zen

Master Daie of Kinzan Mountain.

" Originally he is a student of sutras and commentaries. While traveling from district to district, he becomes a follower of Zen Master Ri27 of Senshū and studies Unmon's28 discussions of the ancients29 together with Setchō's eulogies30 and discussions of the ancients. This is the beginning of his learning in practice. Not understanding the ways of Unmon, he eventually practices in the order of Master Tōzan [Dō]bi, 31

but [Dō]bi in the end does not grant [that Sōkō entered] his inner sanctum. Master [Dō]bi is a Dharma child of Master Fuyō;32 we should never rank him with idle people seated in a back row. Zen Master [Sō]kō continues his learning in practice for rather a long time, but he is unable to grope for [Dō]bi's skin, flesh, bones, and marrow; still less does he know even of the existence of eyes inside atoms. On one occasion, as soon as he hears that in the truth of the Buddhist patriarchs there is a method [to request] the certificate of succession by burning incense on the elbow, 33 Sōkō eagerly requests the

certificate of succession from Master [Dō]bi. But Master [Dō]bi does not allow it. Finally, he says,

"If you want to succeed to the Dharma, do not be hasty.

34 Just be diligent here and now. The Buddhist patriarchs' transmission is not given at random. I do not begrudge you the transmission; it is simply that you are not yet equipped with eyes. "

Then Sōkō says,

"Originally endowed with right eyes, I am experiencing the self35 and realizing the self. How can you not give me the transmission?" Master [Dō]bi smiles and leaves it there. Later, [Sōkō] practices in the order of Master Tandō [Bun]jun. 36 One day,

Tandō asks Sōkō,

"Why are you missing half your nose today?" 46

Chapter Seventy-five Sōkō says,

"I am a disciple in the order of Hōbō. "37

Tandō says,

"Unreliable Zen priest. "38

While [Sō]kō is reading a sutra, Tandō asks, "What sutra are you reading?" Sōkō says,

"The Diamond Sutra.

"

Tandō says,

"This Dharma is even and balanced, without high and low. 39

Why is Ungozan high and Hōbōzan low?" Sōkō says,

"This Dharma is even and balanced, without high and low. "

Tandō says,

"You have managed to become a real archpriest. "40

On another day, while Tandō is watching the ten [hell] kings41 being cleansed, he asks the veteran monk Sōkō, "What is the name of this eunuch?" [Sō]kō says,

"His name is Ryō.

"42

Tandō rubs his head and says, "Why is it that, though my name is Ryō, I am without one of those hoods?" [Sō]kō says,

"The hood is missing, but the nostrils are very alike. "

Tandō says,

"Unreliable Zen priest. "

Tandō one day asks Sōkō, "Veteran monk Kō. You are able to understand at once the principles of my here-and-now Zen. If I let you explain it, you are able to explain it. If I let you experience it, you are able to experience it. If I let you conduct eulogies of the ancients, discussions of the ancients, informal talks,

43 general preaching, 44 and requests for the benefit of instruction, 45 you are able to conduct them. But there is just one thing that is not yet present in you. Do you know what it is, or not?" Sō[kō] says,

"What thing is not yet present?" Tandō says,

"You lack only this one kind of understanding: Aha!46 If you are without this one kind of understanding, when I preach to you in my quarters then you have Zen, but as soon as you leave my quarters you have lost it completely. When you are fully awake and thinking then you have Zen, but as soon as you fall asleep you have lost it completely. If you are like that, how can you deal with life and death?" Sō[kō] says,

"That is just Sōkō's doubt. "

Several years later, Tandō falls sick. Sōkō asks, "A hundred years after the master, whom should Sōkō rely upon in order to complete the great matter?" Tandō entrusts him as follows: "There is a man called Gon of Ha. 47 I

myself am not acquainted with him. Nevertheless, I am sure that if you meet 47

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him, you will be able to accomplish the [great] matter. Once you have met him, do not visit another. Practice [za]zen when born again in a later age. "48

[98] When we examine this story, [it is clear that] Tandō does not sanction Sōkō at all. Sōkō tries again and again to become enlightened but in the end he lacks one thing, and he neither supplies the one thing nor gets free of the one thing. Previously, Master [Dō]bi has refused Sōkō the certificate of succession, and urged him by saying, "You have something that is not yet mature.

"

We must credit Master [Dō]bi with clarity in seeing a person's makings. "That which is just Sōkō's doubt" he does not penetrate, does not get free of, does not break open, and does not doubt as the great doubt. He has no state hindered by doubt. Heedlessly to have requested the certificate of succession is a rash attitude in learning in practice, an extreme lack of will to the truth, and an utmost lack of veneration of the ancients. 49 We must say

that he is without profound insight and without the makings of the truth. He is an extreme case of negligence in practice. Through greed for fame and love of profit, he wants to break into the inner sanctum of the Buddhist patriarchs. It is pitiful that he is ignorant of the Buddhist patriarchs' words. He does not understand that veneration of the ancients is just experience of the self, and he neither hears nor learns that to scour the bequeathed teachings of myriad generations50 is realization of the self. As a result, he has wrongness like this and he has self-delusion like this. Because he is like this, in the lineage of Zen Master Sōkō there is not one true nose ring, 51 or even half of

one, but there are many whose basis is unreal. Failure to understand the Buddha-Dharma and failure to not understand the Buddha-Dharma is like this. Monks of the present must painstakingly learn in practice. Do not be negligent and proud.

[100] Sōkō, according to Tandō's assignment, after Tandō's passing joins the order of Zen Master Engo at Tennei Temple in the capital. Engo one day ascends the seat of formal preaching.

52 Sōkō experiences

a mystical realization, and he reports his realization to Engo. [En]go says,

"Not yet. Although the disciple's state is like that, you have never clarified the great Dharma.

" On another day, in formal preaching in

the Dharma hall, Engo quotes Master Goso Hōen's words53 on phrases of existence and phrases of nonexistence.

54 Sōkō, on hearing these

words, attains the state of great peace and joy in the Dharma. Again 48

Chapter Seventy-five

he expresses his understanding to Engo. Engo laughs and says, der whether I deceived you?"55

"I won-[101] This is the story of how Zen Master Sōkō latterly practices under Engo. In Engo's order he is assigned the post of chief clerk, 56 but no definite

attainment is visible in him either before or after that time. In his own informal preaching and formal preaching57 he does not describe attainment. Remember, although chroniclers have said that he realized a mystical realization and have recorded that he attained the state of great peace and joy in the Dharma, he experienced no such thing. Do not think him important. He is a student of learning in practice, nothing more. Zen Master Engo is an eternal buddha, and the most venerable person throughout the ten directions. Not since Ōbaku58 has there been a venerable patriarch like Engo. He is an eternal buddha who might be rare even in other worlds, but there are few people or gods who know it; the sahākingdom is a pitiful place. Now, when we refer to the Dharma preaching of the eternal buddha Engo and examine the veteran monk Sōkō, it is apparent that [Sōkō] has never had wisdom that could match the master's, he has never had the same wisdom as the master, and much less has he ever realized, even in a dream, wisdom that surpassed the master's. So remember, Zen Master Sōkō is not equal to his master's virtue reduced by half. He merely relates to others lines from the Flower Adornment, Śūraṃgama,and other sutras, reciting them from memory; he has never had the bones and marrow of a Buddhist patriarch. In Sōkō's thoughts, the viewpoint retained by great and small hermits59 —those merely led by the spirits

that inhabit grass and trees—is the Buddha-Dharma. If he imagined this [viewpoint] to be the Buddha-Dharma, clearly, he has never mastered the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs. After Engo he does not travel to other districts and does not visit other good counselors but randomly leads monks in practice as the master of a big temple. The words he has left behind never reach the periphery of the great Dharma. Nevertheless, those who do not know think that Zen Master Sōkō is not abashed even next to the ancients. Those who see and who know have decisively con cluded that he is not enlightened. In the end, not having clarified the great Dharma, he is only babbling in vain. It is thus evident that Master [Dō]bi of Tōzan Mountain, being clear in his insight into the future, was certainly not wrong. Students of Zen Master Sōkō, even those of later ages, have never stopped resenting Master [Dō]bi. But Master 49

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[Dō]bi only refuses to sanction [Sōkō]. Master [Tandō Bun]jun's refusals are more severe than [the refusal] of [Dō]bi, who finds fault with [Sōkō] during each encounter. Yet [Sōkō's students] do not resent Master [Bun]jun. As how stupid should we see the people of the present and the past who have hated [Master Dōbi]? In general, although many in the great kingdom of Song call themselves the descendants of the Buddhist Patriarch, few have studied the truth, and so there are few who teach the truth. This point is also evidenced by the above episode. It was like this even in the Shōkō era. 60 The

present is incompa rably worse than that age. Now people have become leaders of monks without knowing what the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs might even be like. Remember, in the authentic transmission of the certificate of succession from buddha to buddha and from patriarch to patriarch, in India in the west and in China in the east, the lineage from Seigenzan61 is the authentic transmission. From the lineage of Seigenzan, the authentic transmission naturally passed to Tōzan, without ever being known by others of the ten directions. All those who know it are the descendants of Tōzan, and they impart themselves to monks through voice and word. Throughout his life Zen Master Sōkō has never understood the phrases "experience of the self" and "realization of the self.

" How much less could he have penetrated

other realities? And how much less could any later student following Zen Veteran Sōkō have understood the words "experience of the self"? In conclusion, expressions of the self and expressions of the external world expressed by Buddhist patriarchs inevitably include a Buddhist patriarch's body-mind and a Buddhist patriarch's eyes. Because they are a Buddhist patriarch's bones and marrow, they are be yond ordinary people's attainment of the skin. Shōbōgenzō Jishō-zanmai

Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in

Etsu-u on the twenty-ninth day of the second

lunar month in the second year of Kangen.

62

50

Notes

1 Waku-ju-chishiki, waku-ju-kyoganis a commonly recurring phrase in the Shōbōgenzō: see, for example, Chapter Ten (Vol. I), Shoaku-makusa,paragraph 6; Chapter Twenty (Vol. I), Kokyō,paragraph 129; Chapter Thirty-two (Vol. II), Juki,paragraph 35; Chapter Fifty-two (Vol. III), Bukkyō,paragraph 21, etc. 2 This conversation between the Sixth Patriarch (Master Daikan Enō) and Master Nangaku Ejō is recorded in the Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 1. See also Chapter Seven (Vol. I), Senjō;Chapter Twenty-nine (Vol. II), Inmo;Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan.

3 Chishikistands for zenchishiki,from the Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra,which means a good friend, a friend in virtue; that is, a good counselor who exemplifies the zazen life and helps and inspires others to live the zazen life. 4 Tameans the other or others, that which is outside, that which is external to the self, the external world.

5 Zuitarai,a variation of the traditional phrase zuitako, "following circumstances completely. " In these phrases rai,lit.,

"coming" or "having come,

" suggests an experience

that has continued to the present and ko,lit., "going" or "having gone,

" is emphatic.

Tais as in the preceding note.

6 Tsūrimeans to be thoroughly versed in the sutras. See Chapter Fifty-two (Vol. III), Bukkyō.

7 Chinchōliterally means "the first slight showing of a sign. " The expression also

appears in Chapter Fourteen (Vol. I), Sansuigyō;Chapter Thirty-eight (Vol. II), Muchūsetsumu,paragraph 173; and Chapter Sixty-three (Vol. III), Ganzei,paragraph 80, where it suggests the genesis of the universe ("the sprouting of creation"). Here it sug gests the time since the genesis of the universe, that is, eternity. 8 Hanman-jiku,literally,

bon-bodai-bunpō,note 112.

"half a myriad scrolls.

" Cf. Chapter Seventy-three, Sanjūshichi-9 See Chapter Twenty-four (Vol. II), Bukkyō. 10 Ganzei,that is, the view of Gautama Buddha. See Chapter Sixty-three (Vol. III), Ganzei.

11 Gozui,that is, the practical state of Master Bodhidharma. See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō.

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12 Zukaku-shō nari, bijō-shō nari,a variation of the familiar expression zushin-bishin, lit.,

"head-right, tail-right,

" i.e.,

"head-to-tail rightness" or "the state that is right from beginning to end.

"

13 Ōsetsu-jūsetsu,lit.,

"vertically preach and horizontally preach, " means to preach

without restriction in any direction. 14 Hossu,a ceremonial fly whisk. 15 Hensan chishiki refers to the custom of monks in China of traveling around to visit different teachers. See Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan. 16 Jiko o shōkai suru. Shōkaimeans to experience the state that is exactly the same as the state of Gautama Buddha. See for example Chapter Sixteen (Vol. I), Shisho; Chapter Forty-eight (Vol. III), Sesshin-sesshō. 17 In other words, the subjective self that receives stimuli through the senses, and the ob jective self that preaches or manifests itself in the external world, become one undivided whole. 18 Master Dōgen's variation of the Chinese expression sakujitsu-setsu-jōhō, konnichisetsu-fujōhō, "yesterday preaching an established rule, today preaching an exception to the rule.

" See Chapter Seventy-three, Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō,paragraph 16, note 28.

19 Shō-shō. Shōmeans life, birth, or appearance. Shō-shō, "life-life,

" or "whole life at

each moment,

" appears several times in this paragraph, along with the words shinshin, "body-body,

" or "whole body at each moment. "

20 Innen-shōhōmeans real entities that arise from direct or indirect causes. 21 Shōchi,

paragraph 217.

"the innately intelligent,

" are discussed in Chapter Twenty-six (Vol. II), Daigo, 22 By enjoying zazen, for example, we make our circumstances vigorous. 23 Go-un("five skandhas"), viz., rūpa,matter; vedana,feeling; saṃjñā,thought; saṃskāra,mental confor mation; and vijñāna,consciousness. See Chapter Seventy (Vol. III), Hotsu-bodaishin,paragraph 216, note 44. 24 Jichō.The Daichidoronnotes the following threefold division of the eightfold noble path: 1) "self-discipline/keeping of precepts": right speech, right action, right livelihood; 2) "self-purification/Zen practice": right mindfulness, right balance; 3) "self-control/wisdom": right view, right thinking, right effort. 25 1131-1162.

26 Master Daie Sōkō (1088-1163), nominally a successor of Master Engo Kokugon. He is regarded as the originator of "kōanZen. " His works include the Daie-shōbōgenzō (Daie

'

s Right Dharma-eye Treasury). His posthumous title is Zen Master Fugaku. 27 Master Myōkyō Shōri (dates unknown). 52

Chapter Seventy-five

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Master Unmon Bun'en (864-949), successor of Master Seppō Gison; regarded as the foun der of the Unmon sect, but see Chapter Forty-nine (Vol. III), Butsudō. Nenko means comments on the words and deeds of past masters. Juko,verses praising the words and deeds of past masters. Master Setchō Jūken (980-1052; successor of Master Chimon Kōso in the Unmon lineage) selected a hundred stories from the Keitokudentōroku,adding comments or eulogies to each. This work later formed the basis for the popular commentary Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record) by Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135).

Master Tōzan Dōbi (dates unknown), successor of Master Fuyō Dōkai. Master Fuyō Dōkai (1043-1118), successor of Master Tosu Gisei, and the forty-fifth patriarch in Master Dōgen's lineage. See, for example, Chapter Fourteen (Vol. I), Sansuigyō;Chapter Fifteen (Vol. I), Busso;Chapter Sixty-four (Vol. III), Kajō. Bikō,burning incense on the elbow or on the arm, was apparently an ancient cus tom performed when praying to gods or Buddha, or as an ascetic practice. In later ages, incense was burned not directly on the skin but in a censer suspended by a hook from the arm.

Up to here the sentences of this paragraph are constructed using hiragana,the Japanese phonetic alphabet, indicating that Master Dōgen was paraphrasing from the Chinese. From here the paragraph contains sentences of Chinese characters only, with hiragana used only for two short linking phrases.

Jishō.In the chapter title ji,

"self,

" is the object of shō,

"to experi ence.

" In Sōkō's

usage, however, jimay have been meant as an adverb "by myself, " and shōmay have

been meant to indicate the experience of so-called enlightenment, so that jishō[su] meant "I am realizing enlightenment by myself. "

Master Tandō Bunjun (1060-1115), a successor of Master Shinjō Kokubun. Also quoted in Chapter Sixty-six (Vol. III), Shunjū. Hōbō was the name of the mountain on which Master Tandō had his order, and so it is another name for Master Tandō himself. Sōkō did not accept responsibility for his own state.

Zusan[no] zenna. Zusanmeans 1) lit.,

"edited by To Moku" (a notori ously unreliable editor), and by extension, 2) "unreliable.

" Nastands for oshō,which in turn represents

the Sanskrit upādhyāya,teacher or preceptor. Oshōis used as an honor ific term for a senior monk.

Ze-hō-byōdō, mu-u-kōgeis a direct quotation from the Diamond Sutra. "Archpriest" is zasu-nu. Zasumeans the master of a temple of a lineage of intellectual study, and at the same time, in writings of the Rinzai sect such as the Hekiganroku (Blue Cliff Record), the title is used ironically to describe a zazen practitioner who understands Buddhism only intellectually. Nu, yatsumeans "slave, " "man servant,

"

or "fellow.

" It denotes lack of respect.

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41 Jūō,ten hell kings mentioned in the Jūōkyō(Ten Kings Sutra), are colorful guardian images.

42 Ryō was Master Tandō's name before he became a monk. Master Tandō probably seemed more common than Sōkō expected a Buddhist master to be, and so Sōkō saw a similarity between Master Tandō and the vulgar image of a hell king. 43 Shōsan,lit.,

"small participation,

" means unscheduled informal instruction or questions and answers, usually done in the master's quarters. Examples of shōsanare the preaching of Master Gensha Shibi quoted in Chapter Fifty (Vol. III), Shohō-jissō, paragraph 240, and that of Master Tendō Nyojō quoted at the beginning of Chapter Seventynine, Ango. 44 Fusetsu,lit.,

"general preaching,

" means informal preaching or general day-to-day lectures, not necessarily in the Dharma hall and not necessarily scheduled in advance. Fusetsuis less conversational than shōsanbut not as formal as jōdō, "formal preaching

in the Dharma hall.

" An example of fusetsuis Master Tendō's recital of the cuckoo poem in Chapter Fifty (Vol. III), Shohō-jissō,paragraph 234. 45 Shin-ekimeans a formal request for personal instruction. An example is Master Tōzan's request to Master Ungan to impart to him the Eye in Chapter Sixty-three (Vol. III), Ganzei,paragraph 83.

46 Kais an exclamation made on realizing a truth. 47 Gon Hasu is a nickname of Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135), successor of Master Goso Hōen, and editor of the Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record). Hasu is literally "a son of Ha country.

"

48 The information in this paragraph is contained in the Daiefugakuzenjishū monbuko (War Chest of the School of Zen Master Daie Fugaku), which was edited by Master Sōkō's disciple Dōken.

49 Keiko, lit.,

"consideration of the past" or "emulation of the ancients, " means daily

practice based on reverence of traditional standards. See also Chapter Seven (Vol. I), Senjō,paragraph 144.

50 Bandai o shōryō suru. Bandaimeans "ten thousand genera tions, " i.e., many past generations of Buddhist ancestors. Shōliterally means to traverse water and ryōmeans to hunt, but as a compound shōryōis often used in a literary context, meaning "to read extensively" or "to scour written sources. "

51 Habialludes to the ring used to lead a water buffalo by the nose. It means a person of self-control.

52 Shinzo,lit.,

[Dharma] hall.

"

"ascending the seat,

" is synonymous with jōdō,lit.,

"going up to the

53 Master Goso Hōen (d. 1104), successor of Master Hakuun Shutan. Quoted in Chapter Seventy-four, Tenbōrin.

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Chapter Seventy-five

54 Uku mukuis a reference to the four-phased system elucidated by Master Nāgārjuna, whereby the philosopher considers phrases of 1) existence, 2) nonexistence, 3) both, and 4) neither. See, for example, Chapter Eighty-one, Ō-saku-sendaba,paragraph 237.

55 These two stories are recorded in the Daiezenjitōmei(Inscriptions on the Stupa of Zen Master Daie).

56 Shoki,one of the six assistant officers in a large Buddhist temple: shuso,head monk; shoki,clerk assisting the head monk; zōsu,librarian; shika,guest supervisor; chiden, supervisor of the Buddha hall; and chiyoku,bath supervisor. 57 Fusetsu-shinzo. See notes 44 and 52.

58 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. between 855 and 859), successor of Master Hyakujō Ekai. 59 Daishō no inrin.The Chinese called hermits who concealed themselves in towns daiin, "great hermits,

" and hermits who lived in the forests and mountains shō-in, "small

hermits.

"

60 1131-1162.

61 Master Daikan Enō, the Sixth Patriarch in China, had three disciples who Master Dōgen esteemed very highly: Master Nan'yō Echū, Master Nangaku Ejō, and Master Seigen Gyōshi. Master Nangaku Ejō's successor was Master Baso Dōitsu, who is revered especially highly in the Rinzai sect. Master Seigen Gyōshi's line of succession passed to Master Sekitō Kisen, then to Master Yakusan Igen, to Master Ungan Donjō, and to Master Tōzan Ryōkai. Master Dōgen himself belongs to this lineage. 62 1244.

55

Chapter 76: Dai-shugyō - Great Practice

[Chapter Seventy-six]

Dai-shugyō

Great Practice

Translator's Note: Dai means "

"

great,

and shugyō means

"

practice.

" So

dai-shugyō means

"

great practice.

" There is a famous Chinese story about Master Hyakujō Ekai and a wild fox; the story concerns the relation between Buddhist practice and the law of cause and effect. This relation is explained in two ways, each totally at odds with the other. The first explanation says that someone of great practice "does not fall into cause and effect" ; in other

words, it denies the influence of cause and effect upon someone of great practice. The other explanation says "do not be unclear about cause and effect" ;

in other words, it affirms the influence of cause and effect upon someone of great practice. But Master Dōgen considered the difference between these two explanations to be only a matter of intellectual thought, and that the situation in reality had no such dichotomy. He explained that someone of great practice transcends both the negation and the affirmation of the law of cause and effect, by acting here and now in the real world. [107] When Zen Master Daichi1 of Hyakujōzan in Kōshū2 (successor of Baso, called Ekai in his lifetime) gives informal instruction, an old man is generally present. He always listens to the Dharma along with the monks, and when the assembly retires, the old man also retires. Then unexpectedly one day he does not leave. The master eventually asks him,

"What person is this, standing before me?" The old man answers,

"I am not a person. In the past age of Kāśyapa Buddha,

3 I used to live [as master] on this mountain. 4 Once

a practitioner asked me, 'Do even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?' I answered, 'They do not fall into cause and effect.

'5 Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. Now I beg you, Master, to say for me a word 57

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of transformation.

6 I long to be rid of the body of a wild fox. " Then he

asks,

"Do even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?"

The master says,

"Do not be unclear about cause and effect. "7

At these words the old man immediately realizes the great realization. He does prostrations and says, "I am already rid of the body

of a wild fox, and would like to remain on the mountain behind this temple. Dare I ask the master to perform for me a monk's funeral ceremony?" The master orders the supervising monk8 to strike the block9 and to tell the assembly,

"After the meal, we will see off a deceased monk. "

All the monks discuss this among themselves, saying, "The whole

community is at ease and there is no sick person in the nirvana hall. 10

What is the reason for this?"

After the meal, the master is seen leading the monks to the foot of a rock on the mountain behind the temple, and picking out a dead fox with a stick. They cremate it according to the formal method. In the evening the master gives formal preaching in the Dharma hall and discusses the preceding episode. Ōbaku11 then asks,

"The man in the past gave a mistaken answer as a word of transformation, and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. If he had not made any mistake at any moment, what would he have become?"

The master says,

"Step up here. I will tell you. "

Ōbaku finally steps up and gives the master a slap. The master claps his hands and laughs, and says, "You have just expressed that a foreigner's12 beard is red, but it is also a fact that a red-beard is a foreigner. "13

[110] The kōan14 realized just now is "great practice" itself. As the old man says,

"Hyakujō Mountain in Kōshū" exists in the past age of Kāśyapa Buddha, and "Hyakujō Mountain in Kōshū" exists in the present age of Śākyamuni Buddha. This is a real "word of transformation. " Even so, the

Hyakujō Mountain of the past age of Kāśyapa Buddha and the Hyakujō Mountain of the present age of Śākyamuni Buddha are not one. Neither are they different. They are not three and three before, and not three and three 58

Chapter Seventy-six

after.

15 The Hyakujō Mountain of the past has not become the Hyakujō Mountain of the present. The present Hyakujō Mountain was not formerly the Hyakujō Mountain of Kāśyapa Buddha's time. Even so: there is the [old man's] pronouncement16 that "I used to live on this mountain"; the [old man's] teaching for the practitioner is akin to the teaching of the present Hyakujō for the old man; and the question that "once a practitio ner asked" is akin to the question that the old man asks now.

"When doing one thing, it is impossible

to do another; if we neglect the first move, we will be floored at the second. "17

The practitioner of the past asks,

"Do even people in the state of great practice

on the Hyakujō Mountain of the past fall into cause and effect, or not?" This question should certainly not be understood easily or in haste. The reason [I say so] is that for the first time since the Buddha-Dharma spread east during the Later Han era of Eihei,

18 and since the ancestral master came from the

west during the Liang era of Futsu,

19 due to the words of the old wild fox, we

hear the question of the practitioner of the past. It had never existed previously. So we can say that it is rarely heard. When we have groped for and grasped "great practice,

" it is just great "cause and effect"20 itself. Because this cause and effect is always the round fulfillment of causes and the complete fulfillment of effects, it has never accommodated discussion of falling or not falling and has never accommodated words of being unclear or not being unclear. If "They do not fall into cause and effect" is a mistake,

"Do not be unclear about cause

and effect" might also be a mistake. Even when mistakes are put in their place as mistakes, there is falling into the body of a wild fox, and there is getting free of the body of a wild fox. There is also a principle whereby "They do not fall into cause and effect,

" though a mistake in the age of Kāśyapa Buddha

is not a mistake in the age of Śākyamuni Buddha. Though in the present age of Śākyamuni Buddha "Do not be unclear about cause and effect" gets rid of the body of a wild fox, in the age of Kāśyapa Buddha a different principle may be real ized. In the old man's words "Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives,

" what is this "falling into the body

of a wild fox"? It is not that a wild fox which existed already lures in the former Hyakujō. And it is impossible for the former Hyakujō originally to be a wild fox. The assertion that the soul of the former Hyakujō leaves him and forces itself into the skin of a wild fox is non-Buddhism; and a wild fox cannot come up and suddenly swallow the former Hyakujō. If we say that the former 59

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Hyakujō subsequently changes into a wild fox, he must first get rid of the body of the former Hyakujō, so that he may then fall into the body of a wild fox. A [master of] Hyakujō Mountain can never be replaced by the body of a wild fox! How could "cause and effect" be like that? "Cause and effect" is neither inherent21 nor initiated:22 "cause and effect" never idly waits for a person. Even if the response "They do not fall into cause and effect" is wrong, [the respondent] may not always fall into the body of a wild fox. If falling into the body of a wild fox were the inevitable karmic result of mistakenly answering a practitioner's question, then the Rinzais and Tokusans of recent times, together with their followers, would have fallen into how many thousands and tens of thousands of wild foxes? Aside from them, the unreliable old veterans of the last two or three hundred years would be countless wild foxes. Yet none are heard to have fallen into [the bodies of] wild foxes. So many [wild foxes] would be more than enough to see and hear. You may say that they have not made [such a] mistake, but in fact there have been very many outlandish and confused answers much worse than "They do not fall into cause and effect.

" Those who cannot even be placed on the periphery

of the Bud dha-Dharma are indeed many. We should know them with the Eye of learning in practice—unless equipped with the Eye, we cannot tell them apart. In con clusion, we should never say that as a result of answering badly [a person] becomes the body of a wild fox, or that as a result of answering well [a person] does not become the body of a wild fox. This story does not say what the state is like after getting rid of the body of a wild fox, but presumably, wrapped in a bag of skin, there might be a pearl. [115] Contrary to this view, people who have never seen and heard the Buddha-Dharma say: "When we have completely got free of a wild fox, we return to the essential ocean of original enlightenment. 23 As a result of delusion,

we fall into the life of a wild fox for a while, but when we realize the great enlightenment we discard the body of a wild fox and return to the original essence.

" This is the non-Buddhist theory of returning to the original self; it is not the Buddha-Dharma at all. If we say that a wild fox is not the original essence and that there is no original enlightenment in a wild fox, that is not the Buddha-Dharma. If we say that when we realize the great enlightenment we have departed from and discarded the body of a wild fox, then it would 60

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not be the wild fox's great enlightenment, and we would make the wild fox serve no purpose. We should never say so.

24 [The story] says that by virtue

of a word of transformation from the present Hyakujō, the wild fox that the past Hyakujō has been for five hundred lives suddenly gets free of a wild fox. We should clarify this principle. If we assert that, "When a bystander

speaks a word of transfor mation, a bystander frees others from the body of a wild fox,

" then the moun tains, the rivers, and the earth have been speaking countless words of transformation since the past, and those many words of transformation have been repeated again and again. But in the past [the old man] has not got free of the body of a wild fox. He gets free of the body of a wild fox under a word of transformation from the present Hyakujō. This [assertion] casts deadly doubt upon the ancestor.

25 And if we assert that,

"The

mountains, rivers and the earth have never spoken words of transformation, "

then the present Hyakujō might ultimately lack the means to open his mouth. 26

Furthermore, many past masters through the ages have vied to assert that the expressions "not falling into" and "not being unclear about" [cause and effect] are equally valid. But if they have never attained bodily experience of "not falling into" and "not being unclear about" [cause and effect] within the stream of those very words, they consequently neither experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of falling into the body of a wild fox, nor experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of getting rid of the body of a wild fox. If the head is not right, the tail is never right. In the old man's words "Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives, " just

what is the subject that falls and just what is the object that is fallen into? In the very moment of falling into the body of a wild fox, what form and grades does the universe that has continued from the past have in the present? Why should the series of words "do not fall into cause and effect" result in "five hundred" repetitions? As for the one pelt of skin that is now "at the foot of a rock on the mountain behind the temple,

" from what concrete place should

we think that it has been able to come? To say "They do not fall into cause and effect" is to fall into the body of a wild fox, and to hear "Do not be unclear about cause and effect" is to get free of the body of a wild fox. Even though there are instances of falling in and getting free, they are just the "cause and effect" of the wild fox.

27 Nevertheless, since ancient times people

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have said: "Because 'they do not fall into cause and effect' is an expression that seems to refute cause and effect, [the speaker] falls down. " This assertion

is without reason; it is the asser tion of people who are in the dark. Even if the former Hyakujō has occasion to say "They do not fall into cause and effect,

" he has the state in which it is impossible for the "great practice" to delude others, and it is impossible for him to refute cause and effect. Alternatively it is said, "The meaning of 'do not be unclear about cause and effect, '

in other words, not being ignorant of cause and effect, is that because 'great practice' is transcendent 'cause and effect' itself, it gets rid of the body of a wild fox.

" Truly, this is eighty- or ninety-percent realization of the eyes of learning in practice. At the same time:

In the time of Kāśyapa Buddha,

[We] have lived on this mountain.

In the time of Śākyamuni Buddha,

[We] are living on this mountain.

Former body and present body,

The faces of the sun and the faces of the moon,

Shut out the ghost of a wild fox,

And manifest the ghost of a wild fox.

How could a wild fox know its life for five hundred lives? When someone says that a wild fox knows five hundred lives by using a wild fox's intelligence, then the wild fox-intelligence has not yet completely known the facts of one life, and a life has not yet rammed into a wild fox's skin. When a wild fox unfailingly knows its falling down, in each of five hundred lives, then reality is realized.

28 It does not completely know the whole of one life: there are instances of knowing and there are instances of not knowing. Given that body and knowing do not arise and pass together, it is impossible to count five hundred lives. If it is impossible to count [five hundred lives], the words "five hundred lives" might be a fabrication. If someone says that [a wild fox] knows by using intelligence other than a wild fox's intelligence, then it is not the knowing of a wild fox. What person could know these [five hundred lives] on a wild fox's behalf? Without any road of clear understanding through knowing and not knowing, we cannot speak of "falling into the body of a wild fox,

" and if there is no falling into the body of a wild fox, there can be 62

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no "getting free of the body of a wild fox.

" If there is neither falling in nor

getting free, there can be no "former Hyakujō.

" If there is no former Hyakujō,

there can be no "present Hyakujō"

—which cannot be conceded at random.

We should research in detail like this. Utilizing this reasoning, we should test and defeat all the fallacies that have been heard again and again throughout the Liang, Zhen, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties29 The old non-man, moreover, says to the present Hyakujō,

"Please perform for me the funeral ceremony

for a deceased monk.

" These words should not be like that. Since Hyakujō's time countless good counselors have not doubted, or been surprised at, these words. The point is this: how could a dead fox be a deceased monk, without having taken the precepts, without experience of summer retreats, 30 without

the dignified forms, and without the principles of a monk? If any such being may undergo at random the funeral ceremony for a deceased monk, all dead people who have never left family life, whoever they are, would have to be accorded the rites of a deceased monk. A dead upāsakaor upāsikā, 31 if a

request were forthcoming, would have to be accorded the rites of a deceased monk, as was the dead fox. When we look for such an example, there is none and we hear of none. No such ceremony has been authentically transmitted in Buddhism; even if we wanted to perform it, we would not be able to do so. The words [quoted] now that "Hya kujō cremates it according to the formal method" are not beyond doubt; it is possible that they are a mistake. Remember, there are set procedures for all the rites of a deceased monk, from efforts on entering the nirvana hall to pursuit of the truth on arriving at the bodhi garden,

32 and they are not done at random. Even if a dead wild fox from the foot of a rock claims to be the former Hyakujō, how could the conduct of a full monk33 be present in it? How could it have the bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs? Who will testify that it is the former Hyakujō? Do not despise and belittle the Dharma standards of the Buddhist patriarchs by idly accepting the transmogrification of the ghost of a wild fox as true. As the descendants of Buddhist patriarchs, attach weight to the Dharma standards of the Buddhist patriarchs. Never follow a request as Hyakujō does. It is hard to meet even one matter or one method; do not be influenced by secular vulgarity, and do not be led by human sentiment. In this country of Japan, the forms of buddhas and the forms of patriarchs have been hard indeed to meet and hard indeed to hear. Now that, on rare occasions, we are able to hear 63

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them and able to see them, we should revere them more pro foundly than the pearl in the topknot.

34 Unhappy people are not profound in religious conviction. It is pitiful. It is generally because they have never recognized the relative weight of things, and because they are without the wisdom of five hundred years and without the wisdom of a thousand years. Nevertheless, we should urge ourselves on and encourage others. Having been able to receive an authentic tradition from the Buddhist patriarchs—even if it is only one prostration and even if it is only one instance of upright sitting—we should profoundly feel great happiness and should rejoice in the great good fortune of having met what is difficult to meet. People who lack this mind, even if they meet the appearance in the world of a thousand buddhas, will not possess a single virtue, and will not be able to obtain a single benefit. They will just be non-Buddhists who idly attach themselves to the Buddha-Dharma. They may seem, in their mouths, to be learning the Buddha-Dharma, but real evidence of preaching the Buddha-Dharma can never be present in their mouths. In sum, if some person who has yet to become a monk—be it a king or a minister, be it Brahmadeva or Śakra-devānām-indra—comes asking for the rites of a deceased monk, never allow it. Tell them to come back when they have left family life, received the precepts, and become a full monk. People who are attached to conduct and its rewards in the triple world and who do not aspire to a noble position as one of the Three Treasures may come bringing a thousand dead skinbags to defile and to breach the rites of a deceased monk, but it would only be a most severe violation, and it would not produce any merit. If they wish to establish favorable relations with the merit of the Buddha-Dharma, they should promptly leave family life and receive the precepts, in accordance with the Buddha-Dharma, and become full monks.

[124] "In the evening the present Hyakujō gives formal preaching in the Dharma hall and discusses the preceding episode.

" The principle of this discussion is extremely dubious. What kind of discussion might they have? He seems to say that the old man, having already completed the process of five hundred lives, gets rid of his former body. Should the five hundred lives mentioned now be counted as in the human world? Should they be counted as in the state of a wild fox? Should they be counted as in the Buddha's truth? Furthermore, how could the eyes of an old wild fox glimpse Hyakujō? Those 64

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who are glimpsed by a wild fox may be the ghosts of wild foxes. Those who are glimpsed by Hyakujō are Buddhist patriarchs. 35 For this reason, Zen

Master Koboku Hōjō36 eulogizes [Hyakujō] as follows: Hyakujō has intimately experienced meetings with a wild fox; Questioned37 by it, he is greatly ruffled. 38

Now I dare ask all you practitioners,

Have you completely spat out a fox's drivel39 or not? Thus,

"a wild fox" is the Eye of "Hyakujō's intimate experience. " "To

have spat out a fox's drivel,

" even in a half measure, is to be sticking out the wide and long tongue40 and speaking for others a word of transformation. At the very moment of so doing, we get free of the body of a wild fox, get free of the body of Hyakujō, get free of the body of an old non-man, and get free of the body of the whole universe.

[126] Ōbaku then asks,

"The man in the past gave a mistaken answer as a word of transformation, and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. If he had not made any mistake at any moment, what would he have become?" This question is the realization of the words of the Buddhist patriarchs. Among the venerable patriarchs in the lineage from Nangaku41 there is none like Ōbaku, either before him or after him. Nevertheless, the old man never says "I answered the practitioner mistakenly, " and Hyakujō

never says "He had answered mis takenly. " Why does Ōbaku now casually

say "The man in the past gave a mistaken answer as a word of transformation"? If he says [Hyakujō] might be saying that the cause was the mistake, then Ōbaku has not grasped the great intent of Hyakujō. It is as if Ōbaku has never investigated the mistaken answers, and the answers beyond mistakes, that Buddhist patriarchs express. We should learn in practice that in this particular episode the past Hyakujō does not men tion a mistaken answer and the present Hyakujō does not mention a mistaken answer. Rather, using five hundred skins of wild foxes, each three inches thick, [the past Hyakujō] "has experienced life on this mountain,

"42 and for the benefit of practitioners he expresses it. Because the skin of a wild fox has pointed hairs in the liberated state, the present Hyakujō exists as one stinking skinbag, which, when we fathom it, is half a wild fox skin in the process of getting free. There is falling down and getting free that "at every moment is beyond mistakes, "43 and there

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is "cause and effect" that at every moment speaks words for others. They are the evident "great practice" itself. If Ōbaku were now to come and ask "If he had not made any mistake at any moment, what would he have become?" I would say,

"He would still have fallen down into the body of a wild fox. " If

Ōbaku asked,

"Why is it so?" I would say further, "You ghost of a wild fox!"

Even then, it would not be a matter of mistakes or no mistakes. Do not concede that Ōbaku's question is a proper question! If Ōbaku asked again, "What

would he have become?" I would say, "Are you able to grope the skin of the face, or not?" I would say further, "Have you got free of the body of a wild fox yet, or not?" I would say further, "Would you reply to that practi tioner 'They do not fall into cause and effect' or not?" But Hyakujō's words "Step up here and I will tell you" already include the expression "What will [he] become is just this!" Ōbaku steps up, having forgotten the past and oblivious of the future. His giving Hyakujō a slap is countless transmogrifications of a wild fox.

"Hyakujō claps his hands and laughs, and says, 'You have just

expressed that a foreigner's beard is red, but it is also a fact that a red-beard is a foreigner.

'" This expression is not the boldness of spirit that belongs to one hundred percent perfection;44 it is barely "eighty or ninety percent of realization. "45 As a rule, even when we acknowledge eighty- or ninety-percent realization there is not yet eighty- or ninety-percent realization, and when we acknowledge one hundred percent perfection there is nothing left of eightyor ninety-percent realization. That being so, I would like to say: Hyakujō's expression pervades all directions, Yet he still has not left the wild fox's den. Ōbaku's heels are touching the ground, Yet he seems to be stuck on the path of a praying mantis. 46

In a slap and a clap,

There is one, not two.

Red-beards are foreigners and foreigners' beards are red. Shōbōgenzō Dai-shugyō

Preached to the assembly at old Kippō Temple in Etsu-u on the ninth day of the third lunar month in the second year of Kangen. 47

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Notes

1 Zen Master Daichi is his posthumous title. The small text may have been added by a later editor.

2 A district in Kiangsi province in southeast China. 3 Kāśyapa Buddha is the sixth of the seven ancient buddhas. So the time of Kāśyapa Buddha means the eternal past.

4 Jūsan,lit.,

"to be in residence on a mountain,

" means to be a temple master.

5 Furaku-inga,i.e., not falling subject to karmic retribution. 6 Ichitengomeans a word that, when spoken and heard just at the right time and place, has the power to serve as a turning point in one's life. See also Chapter Sixty-one (Vol. III), Kenbutsu, paragraph 26.

7 Fumai-inga,i.e., believing without ambiguity in the law of cause and effect. The phrases furaku-inga,

"not falling into cause and effect,

" and fumai-inga,

"not being

unclear about cause and effect,

" are used throughout the Shōbōgenzōas paradigms of opposing views on causation. See in particular Chapter Eighty-four, Sanji-no-gō; Chapter Eighty-nine, Shinjin-inga;Chapter Ninety, Shizen-biku. 8 Inō,supervisor of monks in the zazen hall; one of the six main officers of a temple. 9 Byaku-tsuimeans to beat the top of an octagonal wooden pillar with a small wooden block in order to call the monks together. 10 Nehandō("nirvana hall"), a name for the temple infirmary. 11 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. between 855-859), successor of Master Hyakujō. 12 Kooriginally indicated a person from a region to the northwest of China, broadly corresponding to modern-day Kazakhstan and Russia. 13 Tenshōkōtōroku,chap. 8; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 2. Also quoted in Chapter Eighty-nine, Shinjin-inga.

14 Kōan,short for kōfu antoku, was originally the name given to a board on which a new official Chinese law was displayed. In Buddhism it came to mean 1) the concrete manifestation of the Dharma, that is reality or the universe itself, as in Chapter Three (Vol. I), Genjō-kōan;and, 2) a story that manifests the universal principles of the Buddha-Dharma.

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15 Zen sansan, go sansan,

"three and three before, three and three after, " suggests for

example the differences in the mountain in different seasons: white in winter, green in spring, blue in summer, yellow and red in autumn, etc. The real Hyakujō Mountain here and now is beyond any accumulation of past impressions. See also Chapter Forty-two (Vol. III), Tsuki,paragraph 3; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 27. 16 Kōanin this case may be interpreted as "something to be pondered on. "

17 These words of Master Kenpō, quoted from chap. 23 of the Rentōeyo,may be seen as a conclusion to the foregoing discussion of relations between the primary consideration—reality here and now—and secondary matters such as what happened in the past.

18 58-75 C.E. This is said to have been the time when the first Sanskrit sutras were translated into Chinese. 19 520-526.

20 Inga,

"cause and effect,

" expresses in the Shōbōgenzōnot only the law of causation but also reality itself as cause and effect in momentary operation. 21 Hon-u,literally,

"originally existing.

" Cf. note 23, hongaku.

22 Shiki.Cf. note 23, shikaku.

23 Hongaku. Honmeans "original" or "inherent. " Kakuis the Chinese character used

to represent the Sanskrit bodhi,which means a buddha's state of intuitive wisdom, or enlightenment. In the Tendai sect the concepts hongaku, "inherent enlightenment,

"

and shikaku,

"initiated enlightenment,

" represent opposing views of the buddhanature. It is said that this opposition set up a conflict in Master Dōgen's mind during his teenage years as a monk in the Tendai sect. The conflict was finally resolved when Master Tendō Nyojō recommended Master Dōgen to "just sit. "

24 Master Dōgen also affirms the state of a wild fox—as he says in Chapter Three (Vol. I), Genjō-kōan,for example, buddhas are those who have realized delusion. 25 "The ancestor" (the present Master Hyakujō) is a buddha; his words are the voice of na ture. If they think that his words have some special mystical power to transform, then they are casting aspersions on Master Hyakujō's real state as a buddha. 26 In other words, if the state of natural balance did not have in itself the power to effect change, then Master Hyakujō would be powerless. Hyakujō's action was conscious human inter vention, and at the same time it was natural. 27 Yako no ingameans not only "the karma of the wild fox" but the reality of the wild fox, the fox's real life.

28 Kōan-genjō suru.See notes 14 and 16.

29 That is, since Master Bodhidharma's coming from India during the Liang dynasty until the time of Master Dōgen's preaching during the Song dynasty. 68

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30 Gerō nashi,lit.,

"without summer year-ends"; in other words, without years as a monk. Traditionally, the years a person has been a monk are counted by the number of summer retreats passed.

31 Buddhist layman or laywoman.

32 Bodai-en,

"bodhigarden,

" means the temple cemetery.

33 Daisōmeans a full monk as opposed to a novice. 34 Alludes to an analogy in Lotus Sutra,Anrakugyō("Peaceful and Joyful Practice") chapter: "It is like the king releasing from his topknot/The bright pearl, and giving it./This sutra is honored/As supreme among all sutras. . . . " See LS 2.276.

35 Suggests affirmation of Master Hyakujō; in Chapter Sixty-one (Vol. III), Kenbutsu, Master Dōgen says that only a buddha can see a buddha. 36 Master Koboku Hōjō (d. 1150), a successor of Master Fuyō Dōkai. 37 Sanshōmeans to visit a master and ask for the teaching. 38 Because the question "Do even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and ef fect?" is impossible to answer with words alone. 39 Zen, yodare,as in the English "drivel, " includes both the meaning of saliva and of something with no value; nonsense.

40 Kōchō-zetsu,

"wide and long tongue,

" is one of the thirty-two distinguishing marks of the Buddha. See also Chapter Nine (Vol. I), Keisei-sanshiki,paragraph 210. 41 Nangaku-ka no sonshukumeans the lineage through Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744) to Master Baso Dōitsu (704-788) to Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814) to Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. ca. 855). Master Ōbaku was succeeded by Master Rinzai Gigen (d. 867), founder of the Rinzai sect.

42 Sō-jū-shi-zan,translated in the story as "I used to live [as master] on this moun tain. "

See note 4.

43 Tenten-fusaku,translated in the story as "If he had not made any mistake at any moment. . . .

"

44 Jūjō no shiiki:an ironic expression; perfection does not exist in reality. Cf. Fukanzazengi: shōten no shiiki, "the zeal that pierces the sky.

"

45 Hakkujō,words spoken by Master Dōgo Enchi in praise of an expression by Mas ter Ungan Donjō. See Chapter Thirty-three (Vol. II), Kannon,note 29; Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 2, no. 5.

46 The path of a praying mantis suggests a hesitant attitude—Master Dōgen praised Master Ōbaku's practical standpoint ("heels touching the ground"), but he wondered whether Master Ōbaku might still be worrying about making mistakes. 47 1244.

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