T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume IV

Chapter 80: Tashintsū - The Power to Know Others’ Minds

[Chapter Eighty] Tashintsū

The Power to Know Others' Minds Translator's Note: Ta means "

others,

"shin means

"

mind,

"

andtsū (short

forjinzū) means "

mystical power. " Sotashintsū means "the mystical power to know others

'

minds.

" Some Buddhist groups believed it possible for Buddhist practitioners to attain a mystical power allowing them to see into others

'

minds. On this subject, there is a famous story concerning Master Nan

'

yō Echū'

s questioning of an Indian monk called Daini Sanzō. The story was often discussed, and the interpretations of five famous Buddhist masters are given in this chapter. Master Dōgen was not satisfied by their explanations and criticizes the views they expressed, in the process presenting us with his own views.

[209] National Master Echū1 of Kōtakuji in the Western Capital, 2 is a

man from Shoki in Esshū district. 3 His family name is Zen. After receiving the mind-seal, he lives on Hakugaizan in Tōsukoku Valley in Nan'yō district.

4 For more than forty years he never goes down from the temple gate, [but] rumor of his practice of the truth is heard even in the imperial capital. In the second year of Jōgen, 5 during the reign of the Tang emperor Shukusō, 6 the emperor sends his private messenger, Son Chōsin, to convey the decree that [the master] should come to the capital. [The emperor] receives [Master Echū] with the courtesies shown to one's master, and installs him by imperial decree at Seizen-in Monastery in the grounds of Sempukuji. 7 When Emperor Daisō8 takes the throne, he also sends for [the master] and has him stay at Kōtaku Temple.

9 During sixteen years there, [the master] preaches the Dharma according to [practitioners'] makings. At that time a certain Daini Sanzō10 from India arrives in the capital, saying, "I have attained the eye that intuits the minds of others. " The emperor decrees that the 117

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National Master should examine him. As soon as Sanzō meets the master he prostrates himself at once and stands to the [master's] right. The master says,

"Have you got the power to know others' minds?" [Sanzō] answers,

"I would not be so bold [as to say so]. "11

The master says,

"Tell me where [this] old monk is just now. "

Sanzō says,

"Master, you are the teacher of the whole country. Why have you gone to the West River to watch a boat race?" The master asks a second time, "Tell me where the old monk is just now.

"

Sanzō says,

"Master, you are the teacher of the whole country. Why are you on Tianjian Bridge12 watching [someone] play with a monkey?"

The master asks a third time, "Tell me where the old monk is just "

now.

Sanzō takes a good while but he does not know where [the master] has been. The master scolds him, saying, "You ghost of a wild fox, where is your power to know others' minds?" Sanzō has no answer. 13

[211] A monk asks Jōshū, 14 "Daini Sanzō does not see where the National Master is the third time. I wonder where the National Master is.

" Jōshū says,

"He is right on Sanzō's nostrils. "

[212] A monk asks Gensha, 15 "If he is already on [Sanzō's] nostrils, why does [Sanzō] not see him?" Gensha says, "Simply because of being enormously close. "

[212] A monk asks Kyōzan, 16 "Why does Daini Sanzō not see the National Master the third time?" Kyōzan says, "The first two times [the master's] mind is concerned with external circumstances;17 then he enters the samādhiof receiving and using the self, 18 and so [Sanzō]

does not see him.

"

[213] Kaie [Shu]tan19 says, "If the National Master is right on Sanzō's nostrils, what difficulty could [Sanzō] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been recognized that the National Master is inside Sanzō's eyeballs.

"

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[213] Gensha chides Sanzō: "You! Say! Have you seen at all, even the first two times?" Zen Master Myōkaku Jūken20 of Setchō says, "I am

defeated, I am defeated.

"21

[214] The odorous fists are many who, since ancient times, have made comments on and assertions about the story of how National Master Daishō22 tested Daini Sanzō, but there are five particularly venerable old fists among them. And although I do not deny that the insight and accuracy of each of these five vener able patriarchs are very insightful and accurate, there are many respects in which they have not glimpsed the conduct of the National Master. The reason, if asked, is that all concerned, past and present, have thought that the first two times Sanzō unerringly knew the National Master's situation. This is our ancestors' great error, and we students of later ages should not be ignorant of it. My present doubts about the five venerable patriarchs are twofold. First, [the venerable patriarchs] do not know the National Master's fundamental intention in examining Sanzō. Second, they do not know the National Master's body and mind.

[215] Now the reason I say that they do not know the National Master's fundamental intention in examining Sanzō is as follows: The first time the National Master says "Tell me where [this] old monk is just now, " his fundamental intention is to question whether Sanzō has eyes that see and hear the Bud dha-Dharma. He is questioning whether Sanzō has within himself the power to know others' minds, which belongs to the Buddha-Dharma. At this time, if the Buddha-Dharma were present in Sanzō, when asked "Where is the old monk just now?" he would have a way of getting the body out; he would manifest a practical means that was familiar to him. The National Master's words "Where is the old monk just now?" are as if to ask "What is the old monk?" "Where is the old monk just now?" asks "Just now is what kind of moment?" "Is where" asserts that "This place is where something ineffable exists.

" [The master's words] contain the truth of calling something ineffable "the old monk.

" The National Master is not necessarily an "old

monk,

" but "the old monk" is always a fist.

23 Daini Sanzō does not know

this idea because, although he has come from the faraway Western Heavens, he has not learned the Buddha's truth, and because he has only vainly learned the ways of non-Buddhists and the two vehicles. The National Master asks again "Tell me where the old monk is just now.

" And here again Sanzō offers

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futile words. The National Master asks once again,

"Tell me where the old

monk is just now.

" This time Sanzō takes a while but is dumb founded and without a response. Then the National Master scolds Sanzō, saying, "You

ghost of a wild fox, where is your power to know others' minds?" Even after being scolded like this, Sanzō still has nothing to say for himself. He does not respond. He has no through route. Nevertheless, the ancestors all think, in regard to the National Master's scolding of Sanzō, "The first two times

[Sanzō] knew where the National Master was; he does not know and does not see only at the third time, and therefore he is scolded by the National Master.

" This is a great mistake. The National Master's scolding of Sanzō scolds Sanzō outright for never having seen the Buddha-Dharma from the beginning, even in a dream. He does not scold Sanzō for having known the first two times but not knowing the third time. He scolds [Sanzō] outright for boasting that he has attained the power to know others' minds when in fact he does not know others' minds. The National Master first tests [Sanzō] by asking whether the power to know others' minds exists in the Buddha-Dharma. By saying "I would not be so bold, " [Sanzō] seems to affirm that

it exists. After that, the National Master thinks,

"If we say that the power to

know others' minds exists in the Buddha-Dharma, and if we cause the power to know others' minds to exist in the Buddha-Dharma, it should be in suchand-such a state. If expression of the state lacks the total manifestation of the state, it cannot be the Buddha-Dharma.

" Even if Sanzō narrowly managed

to say something the third time, if it had anything in common with the first two attempts it would not include expression of the state, and [the master] would have to scold him outright. In now venturing to ask three times, the National Master is asking again and again whether Sanzō is able to understand the National Master's question, and so he repeats the question three times. [218] The second [doubt] is that none of the ancestors has known the body and mind of the National Master. What I have called "the body and mind of the National Master" cannot easily be seen or known by Dharma teachers of the three baskets.

24 It is beyond even [bodhisattvas in] the ten

sacred stages and the three clever stages,

25 and it is not clarified by [bodhisattvas] at the place of as signment26 or in the state of balanced awareness. 27

How could a scholar of the three baskets, a common person, know the whole 120

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body of the National Master? We must affirm this principle with total certainty. To say that the body-mind of the National Master could be known or could be seen by a scholar of the three baskets is an insult to the Buddha-Dharma. To recognize that [the master's body and mind] might be on the level of a teacher of sutras and commentaries is the utmost madness. Do not learn that a person who has attained the power to know others' mind might be able to know the place where the National Master is.

[219] From time to time there are people who acquire the power to know others' minds as an ethnic custom of the Western Country, India. [But] no example has ever been heard of a person who, without relying upon establishment of the bodhi-mind and without relying on the right viewpoint of the Great Vehicle, has attained the power to know others' minds and by virtue of the power to know others' minds has realized the Buddha-Dharma. Even after acquiring the power to know others' minds, if a person proceeds, as a common person, to establish the will and to undergo training, he will naturally be able to experience and to enter the Buddha's truth. If it were possible to know the Buddha's truth only by virtue of the power to know others' minds, all the past saints would have first learned the power to know others' minds and then used that ability to know the buddha-effect. During the appearance in the world of even a thousand buddhas and ten thou sand patriarchs, such a thing will never be. Of what use are those who are unable to know the truth of the Buddhist patriarchs? We can say that they are of no use to Buddhism. One who has attained the power to know others' minds, and a common person who has not attained the power to know others' minds, may be exactly equal. In maintaining and relying upon the buddha-nature, a mind-reader and a common person may be the same. Students of the state of Buddha must never think that non-Buddhists and people of the two vehicles who have the five powers or the six powers28 are superior to the common person. A person who has only the will to the truth yet hopes to learn the Buddha-Dharma may be superior to [a person who has] the five powers or six pow ers—as the song of the kalaviṅka,

29 even in the egg, is superior to [the songs of] ordinary birds. Furthermore, what is called in India "the power to know others' minds, " should

be called "the power to know the images in others' minds. "30 [Mind readers]

may dimly detect, on the outer edges of perception, images arising in the 268b

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mind. In the absence of images in the mind, however, they are dumbfounded; that must be laughable. Moreover, the mind is not always mental images, and mental images are not always the mind. When the mind becomes the image,

31 the power to know others' minds cannot know it; and when the image becomes the mind, the power to know others' minds cannot know it. This being so, the five powers and the six powers of India are not equal to our mow ing weeds and working the fields in this country. They are of no use at all. For this reason, all the past masters in and to the east of China have not liked to practice the five powers and the six powers, because there is no need to do so. Even a one-foot gem can be necessary, [but] the five powers and the six powers are not necessary. Even a one-foot gem is not a treasure, [but] every inch of time is vital. How could a person who attaches importance to time want to learn the five or six powers? In sum, we should decisively affirm the principle that the power to read others' minds cannot reach the boundary of the Buddha's wisdom.

[223] For each of the five venerable patriarchs to have thought, on the contrary, that at the first two times Sanzō knew the situation of the National Master, is greatly mistaken. The National Master is a Buddhist patriarch. Sanzō is a common person. How could we even discuss a meeting between the two of them? First the National Master says,

"Tell me where the old monk

is just now.

" There is nothing hidden in this question; it contains a clearly manifest expression of the state. That Sanzō does not know it is not his fault. That the five venerable patriarchs neither hear nor see it is a mistake. The National Master has said already,

"Where is the old monk just now?" He

never says,

"Tell me where the old monk's mind is just now.

" He does not

say "Where are the old monk's thoughts just now?" [What he says] is an expression of the state that is ex tremely necessary to observe and to inspect. Nevertheless, [the five venerable patriarchs] neither know nor see it. They neither hear nor see the National Master's expression of the state, and for that reason they do not know the body and mind of a National Master— because one in whom there is expression of the state is called "National Master, " and because one who lacks expression of the state cannot be a National Master. Moreover, they cannot recognize that the National Master's bodymind is beyond big and small, and beyond self and others. They seem to have forgotten that he possesses the brains and possesses the nostrils. Though 122

Chapter Eighty

the National Master has no time free from practice, how could he intend to become Buddha! Therefore, we should not expect to meet him by referring to "Buddha.

" The National Master already possesses the body-mind of the Buddha-Dharma. We cannot fathom it through mystical powers and practice and experience, and we cannot suppose it by means of transcending thought and forgetting involvements. It is never hit by thinking or non-thinking. The National Master is beyond having the buddha-nature, is beyond not having the buddha-nature, and is beyond the body of space.

32 This state of the National

Master's body-mind is utterly beyond recognition. In the present lineage from the order of Sōkei, besides Seigen and Nangaku only National Master Daishō is such a Buddhist patriarch.

33 Now I would like to test and to defeat

each of the five venerable patriarchs.

[225] Jōshū says that because the National Master is right on Sanzō's nostrils, [Sanzō] does not see him. This expression has no meaning. How could the National Master be right on Sanzō's nostrils? Sanzō has never had nostrils. If we affirm that nostrils are present in Sanzō, then the National Master, from his side, should meet with Sanzō. A meeting of the National Master and Sanzō, if we affirm that there is one, may simply be a pair of nostrils facing a pair of nostrils.

34 Sanzō cannot really meet with the National Master at all. [226] Gensha says,

"Simply because of being enormously close.

" Certainly, his "enormously close"35 can be left as it is, but still he has missed the point. What is "enormous closeness"? I guess that Gensha has never known "enormous closeness" or experienced "enormous closeness. " The reason, if

asked, is that he knows only that in being enormously close there is no seeing each other, but he does not know that mutual realization is "enormous closeness" itself. 36 We can say that in regard to the Buddha-Dharma he is the farthest of the far. To describe only the third time as enormously close would suggest that the state at the first two times was enormously distant. Now let us ask Gensha: What do you call "enormously close"? Are you describing a fist? Are you describing the Eye? From now on, do not say that nothing is seen in the state of "being enormously close.

"

[227] Kyōzan says,

"The first two times [the master's] mind is concerned with external circumstances; then he enters the samādhiof receiving and using the self, and so [Sanzō] does not see him.

" Kyōzan! Though you live in an

Eastern Land, you have extended your acclaim as a lesser Śākyamuni even to 123

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India in the west. Never theless, your words now contain a great error. The mind that is concerned with external circumstances, and the samādhiof receiving and using the self, are not different. Therefore you should not say that [Sanzō] does not see because of the difference between the mind that is concerned with external circumstances and the state of receiving and using the self. That being so, though you proffer a reason based upon the difference between the state of receiving and using the self and the mind that is concerned with external circumstances, your expression is not an expression at all. If you say, "When

I enter the samādhiof receiving and using the self, other people cannot see me,

" then the state of receiving and using the self can never experience the state of receiving and using the self, and there can be no practice and experience. Kyōzan! If you understand that Sanzō really believes that he sees where the National Master is the first two times, you are not yet a person who is learning Buddha. In short, Daini Sanzō neither knows nor sees where the National Master is, not only the third time but also the first two times. And if you are as the above expression suggests, Sanzō is not the only one who does not know the situation of the National Master; we might say that Kyōzan also has never known the situation of the National Master. Now I will ask Kyōzan: "Where is the National Master just now?" And at that moment, if Kyōzan makes to open his mouth, I will at once let out a yell.

[229] Gensha chides Sanzō, saying,

"Have you seen [the National Master]

at all, even the first two times?" The present utterance "Have you seen at all, even the first two times?" sounds as if it says what needs to be said. [But] Gensha should study his own words. The excellence of this remark is as it is. At the same time, it is not right, because it seems only to suggest that [Sanzō's] seeing is like not seeing.

37 Hearing the above, Jūken, Zen Master

Myōkaku of Setchōzan, says,

"I am defeated. I am defeated.

" When we have

seen Gensha's words as the truth we should say this, but when we do not see Gensha's words as the truth we should not say this.

[229] Kaie [Shu]tan says,

"If the National Master is right on Sanzō's nostrils, what difficulty could [Sanzō] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been recognized that the National Master is inside Sanzō's eyeballs. " This

again discusses only the third time. It does not criticize [Sanzō] as he should be criticized, for never having seeing at all, even the first two times. How could [Kaie] recognize that the National Master was on Sanzō's nostrils or inside his eyeballs? If he speaks like this, I must say that he has never heard 124

Chapter Eighty

the National Master's words. Sanzō has never had nostrils or eyes. Even supposing that Sanzō were to maintain and rely upon eyeballs and nostrils of his own, if the National Master came and entered those nostrils and eyeballs, Sanzō's nostrils and eyeballs would each instantly be split apart. Having been split apart, they would not be a haunt of the National Master. [230] None of the five venerable patriarchs knows the National Master. The National Master is an eternal buddha through all the ages and a Tathāgata for all the world. He has clarified and received the authentic transmission of the Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury, and has securely retained black bead eyes.

38 He passes the authentic transmission to the buddha of himself, and he passes the authentic transmission to the buddha of others. He has already experienced the same state as Śākyamuni Buddha, and yet he is investigating the state simultaneously with the Seven Buddhas. At the same time, he has experi enced the same state as all the buddhas of the three times. He has realized the truth before Emptiness King,

39 he has realized the truth after

Emptiness King, and he has realized the truth in the same state as, and just in the time of, the Buddha Emptiness King. The National Master has always seen the sahāworld as his national land; at the same time, "the sahā[world]"

is not necessarily present within his world of Dharma and not necessarily present within his whole universe in ten directions. And Śākyamuni Buddha, as the ruler of sahānations, neither usurps nor restricts the national land of the National Master—just as, for example, former and latter Buddhist patriarchs each have countless realizations of the truth, but they neither detract from nor restrict each other. The situation is like this because former and latter Buddhist patriarchs' realizations of the truth are restricted, in each case, by realization of the truth itself.

[232] With Daini Sanzō's failure to know the National Master as evidence, we should decisively affirm the principle that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, people of the Small Vehicle, do not know the periphery of a Buddhist patriarch. We should clarify and learn the National Master's intention in scolding Sanzō, as follows. Even if the National Master himself scolded [Sanzō] for knowing his situation the first two times and only failing to know the third time, that would be meaningless. To know two thirds of the whole is to know the whole itself. [Sanzō] would not deserve to be scolded for being like that. If he were scolded, it would not be for failing to know completely. Sanzō's attitude is 125

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an insult to the National Master. If [the National Master] scolded Sanzō on not being recog nized only the third time, who could believe in the National Master? With ability that had been able to know the first two times, Sanzō might scold the National Master. The National Master's intention in scolding Sanzō is this: he scolds [Sanzō] for totally failing all three times, from the outset, to know the National Master's situation, his thoughts, and his bodymind. He scolds [Sanzō] for never having seen, heard, or learned the Buddha-Dharma at all. With this intention, from the first time to the third time, he questions [Sanzō] with the same words. At the first try Sanzō says, "Master,

you are the teacher of the whole country. Why have you gone to the West River to watch a boat race?" Addressed thus, the National Master never agrees, "Yes, Sanzō, you have truly recognized the situation of the old monk"; he only repeats the question again and again, three times. Failing to recognize and failing to clarify this fact, old veterans in all directions, for several centuries since the time of the National Master, have delivered comments and set forth theories at random. The comments of each past individual are wholly irrelevant to the original intention of the National Master, and they do not accord with the fundamental teaching of the Bud dha-Dharma. It is pitiful that the old drills of the past have each blundered on in error. Now, if we say that there is the power to know others' minds in the Buddha-Dharma, there must be the power to know others' bodies, there must be the power to know others' fists, and there must be the power to know others' eyes. That being so, there must be the power to know our own mind, and there must be the power to know our own body. If the state is like this already, self-command of our own mind40 may be nothing other than "the power to know our own mind. "41 When expressions like this are realized, the state may be the power to know others' minds [that naturally emerges] from the self itself and from the mind itself. Now let us ask: Is it right to command the power to know others' minds or is it right to command the power to know our own minds? Speak at once! Speak at once! Setting that aside, [we can conclude that] "You have got my marrow" is just the power to know others' minds.

42

Shōbōgenzō Tashintsū

Preached to the assembly at Daibutsuji in Etsu-u

on the fourth day of the seventh lunar month in

the third year of Kangen.

43

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Notes

1 Master Nan'yō Echū (d. 775), successor of Master Daikan Enō. 2 Seikei ("Western Capital"). There were five capitals in ancient China with this name. In this case, the capital corresponds to the present-day city of Luoyang in north Hunan, east China, in the Huang basin.

3 A district in modern-day Zhekiang province in east China. 4 In modern-day Hunan province in east China. 5 761.

6 Emperor Shukusō reigned from 756-763. He is also mentioned in Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku;in the notes to Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan(from the Shinji-shōbōgenzō, pt. 1, no. 26); and in Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku. 7 The suffix jiis translated here as "temple, " and the suffix inas "monastery.

"

8 Emperor Daisō reigned from 763-779. In Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku, paragraph 106, he is criticized alongside Shukusō for attaching to the throne. But he is praised in Chapter One (Vol. I), Bendōwa,paragraph 52, for sitting in zazen. 9 In this case "temple" is seiran. Seimeans "spiritual" or "pure. " Ranis de rived from

the Sanskrit saṃghārāma,lit.,

"a resting place for a company [of monks], " a term

equivalent to the Sanskrit pratyekabuddhavihāra. 10 Daini-sanzō. Daini literally means "Big Ears. " Sanzō represents the meaning of the Sanskrit Tripiṭaka, the three baskets of Sutra (discourses), Vinaya (discipline) and Abidharma (commentaries). The title Sanzō was given to a person who was accomplished in studying the Tripiṭaka. 11 Fukan,literally,

"I do not dare.

" In Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō,paragraph 73, Master Dōgen explains the characters as follows: "Ōbaku says, 'I would not be

so bold.

' In the land of Song when you are asked about an ability that you possess, you say these words 'I would not be so bold' to suggest that the ability is [your own] ability.

" So Sanzō is suggesting that out of modesty he does not want to boast about his power.

12 Tianjian is a large port city in northeast China, in Hopeh province, southeast of Beijing. 127

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13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Quoted directly from the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 5. The story is also discussed in Chapter Nineteen (Vol. I), Shin-fukatoku,as are the following comments of the five venerable patriarchs.

Master Jōshū Jūshin (778-897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. See also, for example, Chapter Thirty-five (Vol. II), Hakujushi. Master Gensha Shibi (835-907), successor of Master Seppō Gison. See also, for example, Chapter Four (Vol. I), Ikka-no-myōju. Master Kyōzan Ejaku (803-887), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. Shōkyōshin. Shō, wata[ru] literally means cross over or float across, and kyō, sakai means boundaries or external circumstances. In Master Kyōzan's usage, the phrase shōkyōshinsuggests the mind that is attached to external things and events. But in his commentary, Master Dōgen says that this mind and the balanced state (samādhi) are the same.

Jijuyo zanmai("samādhiof receiving and using the self"), the state of natural balance. Master Kaie Shutan (1025-1072), successor of Master Yōgi Hōe. Master Setchō Jūken (980-1052), a successor of Master Chimon Kōso. Zen Master Myōkaku is his posthumous title.

In this chapter, the five comments are all quoted directly in Chinese characters, whereas in Chapter Nineteen (Vol. I), Shin-fukatoku,direct quotes from the Chinese are interspersed with words and phrases in Japanese kana.The order in which the comments are quoted also changes: Master Kyōzan's comment comes first in Keitokudentōroku, third in this chapter, and last in Chapter Nineteen, Shin-fukatoku. Daishō is the posthumous title of Master Nan'yō Echū. The concept "old monk" is not always applicable to the National Master, but the self that he expressed as the old monk is always present. 24 Sanzō-hōshi,

"Dharma teacher of the Tripiṭaka.

" Hōshi,

"Dharma teacher,

" like Sanzō,

was a title sometimes used for scholar-priests and teachers of theory as opposed to monks who practiced zazen. See also note 10.

25 Jūshō-sanken,literally,

"ten sacreds and three clevers.

" A bodhisattva is said to pass

through fifty-two stages before becoming a buddha: ten stages of belief (phases one to ten); then thirty stages classed as the three clever stages (eleven to forty); then ten sacred stages (forty-one to fifty); then the penultimate stage of balanced awareness (fifty-one); and finally the ultimate stage of subtle awareness (fifty-two). 26 Fusho,short for isshō-fusho no bosatsu,lit., "a bodhisattva at the place of assignment

in one life"

—that is, stage fifty-two, also called myōkaku,subtle awareness. 27 Tōkaku,stage fifty-one.

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28 Explained in Chapter Twenty-five (Vol. II), Jinzū. 29 The kalaviṅkais said to be a bird of the Himalayas whose voice is so beautiful that no one ever tires of hearing it.

30 Tanentsu,

"the power to know others' ideas.

" The first meaning of the noun nenis

images in the mind—ideas, thoughts, illusions, wishes, dreams, Buddhist theories, etc. The second meaning of nen—which is not always easy to distinguish from the first—is the state of awareness of reality, or the image of reality as reflected in the balanced state of action. See also the discussion of mindfulness in Chapter Seventythree, Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō,paragraph 14. 31 Shin no nen naran tokimeans "when the mind becomes the image, " or "when the

mind becomes awareness,

" or "when the mind becomes awareness of the image.

"

The phrase suggests the state of undivided wholeness in the moment of the present— as for example, in the moment when an archer shoots an arrow at the target, or at the moment when a batter hits the ball.

32 Kokū-shin.The Garland Sutralists "ten states of buddha understood by their objective circumstances" (ge-kyō-jūbutsu), namely: the body of living beings, the body of a national land, the body of karmic reward, the śrāvakabody, the pratyekabuddhabody, the bodhisattva body, the body of the Tathāgata, the body of wisdom, the Dharma body, and the body of space.

33 Master Daikan Enō transmitted the Dharma to these three masters on Mount Sōkei. Master Seigen Gyōshi became the ancestral master of Master Dōgen's lineage. Master Nangaku Ejō's successors include the ancestral masters of the Rinzai sect. 34 In this paragraph biku,

"nostrils,

" first symbolizes the vigorous Buddhist state, which Sanzō lacks; and second, means an ordinary pair of nostrils, which Sanzō has. Similarly, miru,

"to meet" or "to see,

" first suggests mutual realization between two buddhas; and second, two people meeting each other.

35 Master Dōgen affirmed Master Gensha's comment as meaning that Sanzō could not see what was right there in front of him (right in front of his nose!). 36 Master Gensha only recognized the situation (for example, in a tightly packed crowd) when two people do not notice each other because they are too close together. "Seeing

each other" and "mutual realization" are originally the same characters, sōken. 37 Master Dōgen is interested in whether or not Sanzō could see where the National Master was—right there in front of him!

38 Mokkansu-gen. Mokkansuare the black spherical seeds of the fruit of the aphananthe aspera;each seed is about the size of a pupil. Genmeans eyeball. Retaining blackbead eyes means remaining balanced and therefore detached. See also Chapter Twentyeight (Vol. II), Butsu-kōjō-no-ji,paragraph 65. 39 Kū-ō (Emptiness King), the name of a legendary eternal buddha who ruled the world during the kalpaof emptiness (the eternal past).

129

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV 40 Jishin no jinen, "taking hold by oneself of the mind of the self, " suggests self-regulation of the whole self through the practice of zazen. Various meanings of nen, including "take hold,

" "twirl,

" "utilize,

" and "comprehend, " are discussed in the notes to Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge. 41 Jishintsū.

42 The sentences from "Now let us ask" to the end of the paragraph are in Chinese characters only but were almost certainly composed by Master Dōgen himself. 43 1245.

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Chapter 81: Ō-saku-sendaba - A King’s Seeking of Saindhava

[Chapter Eighty-one]

Ō-saku-sendaba

270c3

A King's Seeking of Saindhava Translator's Note: Ō means "king,

" saku means

"to seek,

"

and sendaba is

a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit saindhava. Saindhava means "

products

of the Indus River basin.

" The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra contains a story which uses the multiple meanings of words to express the ambiguity of reality. When a king needs to wash his hands and requests saindhava, his servant will bring water. When the king is eating a meal and requests saindhava, the servant will bring salt. When the king wants to drink water and requests saindhava, the servant will bring a cup. And when the king wants to go out and requests saindhava, the servant will bring a horse. Buddhist monks in China often used this story to discuss the multiple meanings of words and the ambiguous nature of reality. In this chapter Master Dōgen explains the meaning of "A King

'

s Seeking of Saindhava" from his own unique viewpoint. [237] Words—no words;

Real wisteria and real trees; Feeding donkeys, feeding horses; Clear water and transparent clouds. 1

[238] Because this is the way it is already, In the Sutra of the Great Parinirvāṇa2 the World-honored One says: For example, it is like a great king telling his retainers, "Bring sain dhava!" Saindhavais one word for four products. The first is salt, the second is pots, the third is water, and the fourth is horses. These four things each have the same name. [Yet] a wise retainer is able to know [the meaning of] this word. If the king requests saindhavawhen about to wash, [the retainer] at once serves water. If the king requests sain dhavawhen eating, [the retainer] at once serves salt. If the king requests 131

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saindhavaafter eating, when he wants to drink water, [the retainer] at once serves a pot. If the king requests saindhavawhen he wants to go out, [the retainer] at once serves a horse. A wise retainer like this is able to understand in four ways a great king's secret talk. 3

[240] This king's seeking of saindhava,along with the retainer's serving of saindhava,have come to us from long ago. They have been transmitted in common with the Dharma robe. The World-honored One himself inevitably discussed them, and so his descendants have discussed them again and again. We can guess that those who have experienced the same state as the Worldhonored One have made saindhavainto their own practice. To those who are not in the same state as the World-honored One: When you buy some straw sandals and tread one step forward on foot, you will have got it already!4 Sain dhavain the house of the Buddhist patriarchs has secretly leaked out already, and so saindhavais present in the residences of great kings. [241] The eternal buddha Wanshi5 of Tendōzan in the Great Song city of Keigenfu,

6 in formal preaching in the Dharma hall, preaches to the assembly: To quote: "A monk asks Jōshū,

7 'How is it when a king seeks sain dhava?'" Jōshū bows with hands folded. 8 Setchō9 comments,

"It was

the seeking of salt and the serving of a horse. " Master [Wanshi] says,

"Setchō is an excellent master of a hundred years ago; Jōshū is an eternal buddha one hundred and twenty years of age. If Jōshū is right, Setchō is wrong. If Setchō is right, Jōshū is wrong. Now say: in the end, how is it? [I,] Tendō, cannot help adding a footnote. If we differ from it by a thousandth or a hundredth we miss it by a thousand miles. "

To understand is to beat about in the grass to scare snakes, 10

And not to understand is to burn money to attract demons. 11

Without preferences in regard to an uncultivated field is Old Gutei.

12

Extending his hand, [he tackles] what he picks up just now. 13

[242] During formal preaching in the Dharma hall my late master, the eternal buddha, would usually say,

"The eternal buddha Wanshi.

" But only

my late master, the eternal buddha, has met the eternal buddha Wanshi as an eternal buddha. In Wanshi's time there was a certain Sōkō, called "Zen Master 132

Chapter Eighty-one

Daie of Kinzan Mountain,

"14 who may have been a distant descendant of Nangaku.

15 The whole realm of the Great Song thinks that Daie might be equal to Wanshi. Moreover, some have thought that he is more of a person of the fact than Wanshi. This mistake has arisen because both monks and laypeople in the great kingdom of Song, being negligent in learning, are not yet clear in their eyes for the truth, are without clarity in knowing people, and are without the ability to know themselves. In Wanshi's comment the real establishment of the will is present. We should learn in practice the principle of the eternal buddha Jōshū bowing with hands folded. Just at that moment, is it the king's seeking of saindhava,or not? And is it the retainer's service of saindhava,or not? We should learn in practice Setchō's teaching that "It was the seeking of salt and the serving of a horse. " The "seeking of

salt" and the "serving of a horse" is each the king's seeking of saindhava and the retainer's seeking of saindhava.The World-honored One seeks sain dhavaand Mahākāśyapa's face breaks into a smile. The First Patriarch seeks sain dhavaand the four disciples serve a horse, salt, water, and a pot. 16 We

should learn the pivotal state which—at the moment when a horse, salt, water, or a pot and the seeking of saindhavabecome one—is the serving of a horse or the serving of water.

17

[245] Nansen18 one day on seeing Tō Impō19 coming toward him points to a water jar and says,

"The jar is circumstances. Inside the jar there is water. Without disturbing the circumstances, bring some water to this old monk.

" [Im]pō then brings the jar of water before Nansen and pours. Nansen leaves it at that.

20

Thus,

Nansen seeks water,

The ocean having dried right to the bottom. Impō serves a pot,

Tipped over and emptied out completely. And though they are like this, at the same time we should learn in practice that "in the reality21 of circumstances there is water, "22 and "in the reality of

water there are circumstances.

"23 To disturb water is immature, and to disturb circumstances is immature.

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[246] Great Master Kyōgen Shūtō,

24 the story goes, is asked by a monk,

"What is a king's seeking of saindhava?" [Kyō]gen says,

"Pass there and come here.

"

The monk leaves.

[Kyō]gen says,

"His stupid response [could] kill a person!"25 Now let us ask: Is the state Kyōgen expressed as "Pass there and come here" the seeking of saindhava,or is it the serving of saindhava?Try, if you will, to say something!26 Is the monk's having left that place the state that Kyōgen sought? Is it a state that Kyōgen served? Is it what Kyōgen originally expected? If it is not what [Kyōgen] originally expected, he should not say "His stupid response could kill a person!" If it is what [Kyōgen] originally expected, it could not be a stupid response that kills a person. What Kyōgen has expressed is the total effort of his whole career; even so, he has not been able to avoid losing his body and losing his life. 27 He is like the general of

a defeated army still talking of his bravery. In sum, the brains and the eyes that preach the yellow28 and describe the black29 are, naturally, the painstaking and meticulous seeking and serving of saindhava.Who could claim not to understand the taking up of a staff or the holding up of a fly whisk? At the same time, [the seeking and serving of saindhava] are not the state of people who play stringed instruments with the bridges glued. 30 Because these people

do not know that they are playing stringed instru ments with the bridges glued, they are not in the state.

[248] The World-honored One, one day, ascends the seat [of preaching]. Mañjuśrī claps the sounding block31 and says, "When we see into the

Dharma of the Dharma King, the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this.

" The World-honored One descends from the seat. Jūken, Zen Master Myōkaku32 of Setchōzan, says: An excellent practitioner among the forest's sacred ranks, 33

Knows that the Dharma edict of the Dharma King is not like that. If any in the assembly is an exponent of saindhava, Why does Mañjuśrī need to deliver a clap? So what Setchō says is this: if one clap is flawlessness through the whole body,

34 to have delivered it and not to have delivered it both may be 134

Chapter Eighty-one

the liberated state of flawlessness. If in the state like this, one clap is sain dhavaitself. And [the person] may be a person of the ineffable already; that is,

"an exponent of saindhava" in sacred ranks united as one forest. 35 Thus,

"The Dharma of the Dharma King is like this. " To be able to use the twelve

hours is to seek saindhava.To be used by the twelve hours is to seek sain dhava.We should seek a fist and should serve a fist. We should seek a fly whisk and should serve a fly whisk. Nevertheless, people in the temples of Great Song China today who call themselves veterans have never realized the state of saindhavaeven in a dream. How painful it is, how painful it is, that the Patriarch's truth is going downhill. 36 Do not shirk hard practice, and

you will surely succeed to the lifeblood of the Buddhist Patriarch. For example, when the question "What is buddha?" is put and the answer "The mind here and now is buddha" is given, what does that mean? Is this not sain dhava? We should painstakingly investigate who is described by "The mind here and now is buddha.

" Does anyone know that it is saindhava jostling? Shōbōgenzō Ō-saku-sendaba

Preached to the assembly at Daibutsuji in Esshū37 on the twenty-third day of the tenth lunar month in the third year of Kangen.

38

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135

Notes

1 This poem describes the world in which we live. The first line suggests that sometimes there are words to affirm things, and sometimes there are no words to affirm things. This is the first, or intellectual, phase. The second line suggests the concrete interrelationship between real things—here, for example, wisteria, which relies on a tree for support. The line can also be seen as representing the negation of words, phrases, ideas (the first phase) and passage into the area of concrete things (the second phase). In the third line people feed donkeys and people feed horses—suggesting action in daily life (the third phase). The final line suggests that in reality, water is just water and clouds are just clouds—things as they are. The poem also alludes to the philosophical system called shiku-funbetsuthat was elucidated by Master Nāgārjuna, the fourteenth patriarch in India.

2 The Daihatsunehankyō(Sanskrit: Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra). Sometimes known as the Sutra of the Great Demise,or, more commonly, the Nirvana Sutra. 3 Mitsugo,

"secret talk,

" is the title of Chapter Fifty-one (Vol. III), Mitsugo.Quoted from the Daihatsunehankyō, vol. 9, the Nyorai-sho-bon("The Nature of the Tathāgata") chapter. The sutra compares a king's request for saindhavawith the situation that the Tathāgata's nirvana is unchanging and eternal but its manifestation is changing and momentary.

4 From the Wanshizenjigōroku.

5 Master Wanshi Shōgaku (1091-1157), successor of Master Tanka Shijun. Master Wanshi is praised, for example, in Chapter Twenty-seven (Vol. II), Zazenshin. 6 Modern-day Ningbo, in northern Zhekiang province in east China. 7 Master Jōshū Jūshin (778-897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. 8 Shashu.With the fingers of the left hand curled around the thumb, the left fist is placed against the sternum; the right palm rests over the back of the left hand; forearms are held horizontal.

9 Master Setchō Jūken (980-1052), successor of Master Chimon Kōso. 10 A symbol of ineffective effort. Related passages appear in the Chinese book Inzui (Rhymes of Good Fortune).

11 A symbol of unreasonable behavior. There was a custom at Chinese funerals of placing coins (called "money for the six realms") in the coffin. Later the authorities 137

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV

prohibited the burying of money, and the custom of burning imitation paper money evolved. Related passages appear in the Chinese book Meihoki(Chronicles of the Underworld).

12 Master Gutei of Mount Kinka, who was famous for his "one-finger Zen. " It is said

that he answered questions by just raising one finger; see Chapter Sixty-two (Vol. III), Hensan,paragraph 66.

13 Wanshizenjigōroku.

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Master Daie Sōkō (1089-1163), a successor of Master Engo Kokugon. Daie Sōkō was a proponent of so-called kōanZen who denigrated Master Wan shi's traditional practice of zazen (see Chapter Twenty-seven [Vol. II], Zazenshin) as mokushō ("silent illumination") Zen. Sōkō himself is denigrated in Chapter Seventy-five, Jishō-zanmai. Master Nangaku Ejō (677-744), successor of Master Daikan Enō. The Dharma was transmitted from Nangaku Ejō through Baso Dōitsu, Hyakujō Ekai, and Ōbaku Kiun to Rin zai Gigen, founder of the Rinzai sect. Daie Sōkō belonged to this lineage. See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō.

A horse, salt, water, and a pot are objective things. Seeking is the subjective function of the mind. At the place where object and subject are one, there is serving (action). Master Nansen Fugan (748-834), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Master Godai Impō (dates unknown), also a successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. was his family name before becoming a monk.

"Tō"

Suggests Master Nansen's affirmation of Master Impō's behavior. Keitokudentōroku, chap. 8; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, no. 64.

Chūmeans "inside" (as in the story: "Inside the jar there is water. "). At the same

time, in the Shōbōgenzō, chūsometimes means "in the state of" or "the reality of. "

See, for example, notes to Chapter Twenty-two (Vol. II), Busshō;Chapter Thirtyeight (Vol. II), Muchū-setsumu. Kyō-chū sui a[ri]. This is Master Nansen's phrase with kyō, "circumstances,

" substituted

for hei,

"jar.

" Master Dōgen suggests that in concrete cir cumstances real things (like water) exist.

Sui-chū kyō a[ri]. Dōgen's characteristic reversal of elements suggests the interde pendence of subject and object. Master Kyōgen Chikan (d. 898), successor of Master Isan Reiyū. Great Master Shūtō is his posthumous title.

Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record), no. 92.

Kokoromi[ni] ko[u] i[e] mi[n] is a more polite version of the phrase kokoromi[ni] i[e] 138

Chapter Eighty-one

mi[n], which is discussed in the notes at the end of Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Soshi-sairai-no-i. Ko[u], which literally means to request or to invite, is added to make the sentence more polite. 27 Sōshin-shitsumei,

"losing body and losing life, " suggests that Master Kyōgen was defeated. At the same time, it suggests that, looking at the monk's behavior, Master Kyōgen came back to reality. 28 Ou[o] to[ku],

"preaching the yellow,

" means manifesting the Buddhist state. Ou, "yellow,

" suggests the color of the earth in China, and thus alludes to something realistic or down to earth. 29 Koku[o] i[u],

"describing the black,

" suggests the behavior of Buddhist patri archs. Koku,

"black,

" means the misconceptions, wrong views, and bad habits that Buddhist patriarchs by skillful means bring to the attention of their students. 30 Alludes to the movable bridges positioned under the strings of a koto, Japanese harp. Playing a koto with its bridges glued symbolizes blind adherence to fixed ideas or rules, inflexibility, and corresponding lack of sensitivity to actual conditions or real needs.

31 Byaku-tsui. Byakuliterally means "white, " but here it is used as a verb meaning to make conspicuous, to sound. Tsuistands for tsui-chin, "clapper and sounding block. "

The tsui,or clapper, is a small wooden block used as a mallet to strike the chin,which is an octagonal wooden pillar usually three or four feet high. Byaku-tsuimeans to attract everyone's attention by striking the sounding block. 32 Master Setchō Jūken (see note 9). Zen Master Myōkaku is his posthumous title. 33 Resshō-sō-chū,lit.,

"inside a thicket of lines of the sacred, " means in a monas tery

where many Buddhist practitioners are sitting in rows. Sōstands for sōrin,lit., "thicketforest,

" from the Sanskrit piṇḍavana,which means a place where many practitioners are gathered for Buddhist practice. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 34 Konshin-muku,literally, "the whole body without holes. "

35 Resshō-issō.Master Dōgen substituted issō,lit., "one thicket" or "the whole monastery, "

for Master Setchō's sō-chū,lit., "inside a thicket" or "in a monastery. " Master Dōgen's

intention may have been to eliminate any sense of disjuncture conveyed by the phrase resshō,

"ranks of the sacred.

"

36 Ku[naru] kana ku [naru] kana, sodō-ryōilooks like the words of Master Tendō Nyojō. Sodō-ryōi,

"the decline of the Patriarch's truth, " is a phrase used by Master Tendō in Chapter Sixteen (Vol. I), Shisho,paragraph 21. 37 Esshū is another name for Etsu-u, the ancient district corresponding to present-day Fukui prefecture. Shūmeans state or district and umeans 1) sky or roof, and 2) the boundary of a country. Master Dōgen seems to use the two terms interchangeably. 38 1245.

139

Chapter 82: Ji-kuin-mon - Sentences to Be Shown in the Kitchen Hall

[Chapter Eighty-two]

Ji-kuin-mon

Sentences to Be Shown

in the Kitchen Hall

Translator's Note: Ji means

"to show,

" kuin means the kitchen hall of a temple, and mon means "

sentences.

" So ji-kuin-mon means

"

sentences to be

shown in the kitchen hall.

" This chapter was not originally included in the Shōbōgenzō, but when Master Hangyō Kōzen edited the ninety-five-chapter edition in 1690, he included this chapter along with Bendōwa (Chapter One, Vol. I) and Jū-undō-shiki (Chapter Five, Vol. I). Master Dōgen placed great value on the activity of cooking in Buddhist temple life, and wrote his views down in a book called Tenzokyōkun (Instructions for the Cook). The reason that he wrote the book, and the reason he revered the activity of cooking in the temple, originates with his experiences in China. Just after arriving in China, he met an old monk who took pride in being the cook in his temple, and who explained to Master Dōgen that cooking is Buddhist practice itself. Later, Master Dōgen came across another old monk who was diligently drying seaweed for the monks

'

meals, and he realized how important is the activity of cooking meals for the practitioners in the temple. [3] On the sixth day of the eighth lunar month in the fourth year of Kangen1 I preached to the assembly as follows:

In preparing meals for the sangha,

To do so with reverence is fundamental. During the authentic transmission of the Dharma from the distant land of India and the authentic transmission of the Dharma from the near nation of China, since the Tathāgata's passing, gods have served to the Buddha and the sangha heavenly offerings, and kings have served to the Buddha and the sangha offerings of royal fare. In addition, [meals] were offered from the 141

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homes of wealthy people and householders, and offered from the homes of vaiśyas and śūdras.

2 Acts of reverence, in each such instance of serving offerings, are polite and sincere. Beings in the heavens above and in the human world, by employing the most respectful courtesies and by showing their reverence with the most honorific words, are well able to make preparations for the service of meals and other offerings. This has profound meaning. Now, even though we are deep in remote mountains, we should directly receive the authentic transmission of the polite manners and words of a temple kitchen.

3 This, in the heavens above or in the human world, is to learn the Buddha-Dharma.

[5] For instance, call gruel4 "honorable gruel" or call it "morning gruel"; do not call it [just] gruel. Call lunch "the honorable midday meal" or call it "lunchtime"; do not call it [just] lunch. Say "would you make the rice white?"; do not say "pound the rice!" In regard to washing rice, say "would you cleanse the rice?"; do not say "dunk the rice!" Say "please choose some ingredients for the honorable side dish";5 do not say "choose some vegetables!" Say "would you prepare some honorable soup?"; do not say "boil the soup!" Say "would you prepare some honorable broth?"; do not say "make the broth!" Say that "the honorable lunchtime rice" or "the honorable morning gruel" has been "cooked nicely.

" Treat with such respect all utensils containing rice and gruel. Disrespect invites misfortune and mistakes; it never has good effects. While the midday meal or the morning gruel is being prepared, people must not breathe on the rice, on the side dish, or on any other item. Do not touch even dried items with a sleeve of your gown. If a hand has touched head or face do not, before washing, touch with the hand any mealware or the meals6 themselves. If you scratch an itchy part of the body at any time during the preparation—from sorting the rice to cooking the rice and making the soup—be sure to wash the hand. At places where the meals are prepared, we may recite lines of Buddhist sutras and words of the ancestral masters, but do not speak worldly words or dirty talk. In general, use the polite form to describe the presence of rice, vegetables, salt, soy sauce, and the various other items. Do not say [in the plain form] "there is rice" or "there are vegetables. " When monks and novices pass by a place where the midday meal or morning gruel are present, they should join hands and bow the head. Spilled vegetables, spilled rice, and so on should be put to use7 after the meal. As 142

Chapter Eighty-two

long as a meal is unfinished, do not violate [this rule]. Kindly protect and care for the utensils used in preparing the meals; and do not use them for other purposes. Do not let them be touched by the hand of anyone who has come from lay society and who has not yet washed the hands. Vegetables, fruit, and so on that have come from laypeople and that have yet to be purified should be rinsed, incensed, and exposed to fire, and then offered to the Three Treasures and to the monks of the sangha. In the mountains and temples of Great Song China today, dumplings, dairy cakes, steamed cakes, and so on that have come from laypeople are re-steamed before being served to the monks. This purifies them. They are not served without being steamed. [8] These items are just a few among many. Understand their gist, venerable cooks of the kitchen hall, 8 and put them into practice. In all your myriad duties, never violate the standard. Each of the aforementioned articles, Is the lifeblood of the Buddhist patriarchs, And the Eye of a patch-robed monk. Non-Buddhists have never known them, Heavenly demons cannot abide them: Only disciples of the Buddha Are able to receive their transmission. Main officers of the kitchen hall! Understand them and do not forget them. 9

Displayed10 by the founding monk, Dōgen. [9] [The Master of] Eiheiji, Now addresses the main officers: Henceforth,

If it is already past noon, When a dānapati11 offers cooked rice, It will be kept for the next day. [But] if [the offering] is cakes, fruit, Or any kind of gruel or suchlike, Even in the evening, let us eat it. 12

It is the "medicine"13 of the orders of Buddhist patriarchs. 143

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Shōbōgenzō Volume IV Moreover, it is an excellent trace of those in Great Song China Who possessed the state of truth. The Tathāgata permitted underclothes for monks in snowy mountains. On this mountain we too permit medicine during the season of snow. 14

The founder of Eiheiji, Kigen (his seal)15 144

Notes

1 1246.

2 Vaiśyas are workers or peasants; śūdras are servants or slaves. These are the third and fourth of the four classes in the Indian caste system. 3 Kōshaku-kyoku, literally,

"Fragrance Accumulation's office. " The Vimalakīrti Sutra

says that the Buddhist layman Vimalakīrti obtained food from a Tathāgata called Fragrance Accumulation (Kōshaku) with which to serve the sangha. 4 Gruel and breakfast were synonymous. 5 "Side dish" is sai,literally, "vegetables.

" In this case the character suggests sōzai, which means a side dish. A standard meal in a Japanese temple consists of a large bowl of rice or gruel, a medium bowl of miso soup, a small bowl of pickles, and one or two side dishes (usually vegetables, an egg, tofu, etc.). 6 "Meals" is sai-shuku,literally, only two meals.

"midday meal and [morning] gruel. " These were the

7 For example, to feed domestic animals. 8 Ku-in kōshaku,literally,

"Kōshakus of the kitchen hall. " See note 3.

9 This paragraph (in the style of a gāthā,four-line verse) is written in Chinese characters only but it was almost certainly written by Master Dōgen himself. 10 Ji, shime[su], lit.,

"to show,

" appears in the concluding sentence of most chapters, and is translated as "preached [to the assembly. . . ]. " But this chapter was written in the form of a notice to be read by monks of the kitchen hall. 11 A donor.

12 In Buddhist monasteries in hot countries it is often forbidden to eat after the midday meal.

13 Yaku-seki,literally,

"medicine stone.

" One traditional interpretation is that, to keep warm, monks sometimes wrapped up a heated stone and kept it by their lower abdomen. The stone was called yaku-seki,and the same name was given to a supper that had the same warming effect. But this interpretation is open to doubt. A simpler explanation is that sekirefers to the stone needle used in acupuncture treatment and thus yaku-sekiis a single concept: "medicine. " In relatively cold countries like China 145

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV

14 15 and Japan Buddhist monks ate meals in the evening, and they called these evening meals "medicine.

"

Master Dōgen also wrote these sentences in Chinese characters, but they are separated from the preceding gāthāin the source text. Kigen is one of Master Dōgen's names. Master Dōgen signed the name "Kigen" and stamped his seal next to it. 146