T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume IV

Chapter 83: Shukke - Leaving Family Life

[Chapter Eighty-three]

Shukke

Leaving Family Life

Translator's Note: It was the custom in ancient India for people who wanted to pursue the truth to leave their family, and this custom was retained in Buddhist orders. It is said that Gautama Buddha first left his family life and began the life of a monk when he was twenty-nine years old. For this reason, Buddhist orders revere the tradition of transcending family life in pursuit of the truth, and Master Dōgen explains the custom in this chapter. [12] The Zen

'

enshingi1 says:

The buddhas of the three times all say that to leave family life2 is to realize the truth. The twenty-eight patriarchs in India and the six patriarchs in Tang China3 who transmitted the buddha-mind-seal were all śramaṇas.

4 Perhaps it was by strictly observing the Vinaya5 that they were able to become universal models for the triple world. Therefore, in practicing [za]zen and inquiring into the truth, the precepts are foremost. Without having departed from excess and guarded against wrong, how is it possible to realize the state of buddha and to become a patriarch? The method of receiving the precepts is [as follows]: The three robes6 and pātra7 must be provided, together with new and clean clothes. If you have no new clothes, wash [old clothes] clean. Never borrow robes and pātrato go onto the platform and receive the precepts. Concentrate wholeheartedly and be careful not to go against circumstances. To assume the form of the Buddha, to come into possession of the Buddha's precepts, to get what the Buddha received and used: these are not small matters. How could they be treated lightly? If we were to borrow robes and pātra,even if we mounted the platform and received the precepts we would not get the precepts at all. Unless we 147

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received [the precepts] again, we would be people without precepts throughout our life, fraternizing without reason in the lineage of emptiness, and accepting devout offerings in vain. Beginners in the truth have not yet memorized the Dharma precepts; it is masters, by not saying anything, who cause people to fall into this [wrongness]. Now I have spoken a stern exhortation. I dare to hope that you will engrave it on your hearts. If you have already received the śrāvakaprecepts8 you should receive the bodhisattva precepts. This is the first sign of having entered the Dharma.

[14] Clearly know, the buddhas' and the patriarchs' realization of the truth is nothing other than their leaving family life and receiving the precepts. The lifeblood of the buddhas and the patriarchs is nothing other than their leaving family life and receiving the precepts. Someone who has not left family life is never a Buddhist patriarch. To see the buddhas and to see the patriarchs is to leave family life and to receive the precepts. [15] Mahākāśyapa,

9 following the World-honored One, seeks to leave

family life and desires to deliver all things. The Buddha says, "Welcome,

bhikṣu!" [Mahākāśyapa's] hair and beard fall off by themselves, and a kaṣāyacovers his body.

10

When [a person] follows the Buddha and becomes free of all things, the excellent example of leaving family life and receiving the precepts is, in every case, like this one.

[15] The Great Prajñā Sutra,

11 fascicle 3, says:

The World-honored Buddha said,

"If a bodhisattva mahāsattvathinks,

"At some time, I will relinquish a throne and leave family life, on which day I will realize the supreme, right, and balanced state of bodhi; also on that day, I will turn the wonderful wheel of Dharma, causing countless, innumerable sentient beings to depart from dust and leave dirt, and causing them to have the pure Dharma-eye; at the same time, I will cause countless, innumerable sentient beings to end forever all excesses, and to liberate their mind and intuition; further, I will cause countless, innumerable sentient beings all to attain the state of not regressing or straying from the supreme, right, and balanced state of 148

Chapter Eighty-three

bodhi,

" [then] this bodhisattva mahāsattvawho wants to realize those things should learn the prajñāpāramitā.

"12

[16] In sum, the supreme state of bodhiis perfectly satisfied at the time of leaving family life and receiving the precepts. It never becomes perfect on a day other than the day of leaving family life. That being so, by bringing in the day of leaving family life, we actualize a day of realizing the supreme state of bodhi.And that which brings forth the day of realizing the supreme state of bodhiis a day of leaving family life. This leaving family life, which is to somersault, is the turning of the splendid Dharma wheel. This leaving family life itself causes innumerable sentient beings not to regress or to stray from the supreme state of bodhi.Remember, the situation in which selfbenefit and benefiting others become perfectly satisfied at this concrete place, and there is neither regression nor straying from anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi, is the leaving of family life and receiving of the precepts. Realizing the supreme state of bodhi,conversely, makes the day of leaving family life realize bodhi.Remember, in truth, that the day of leaving family life is beyond unity and difference. On the day we leave family life, we practice and experience three asaṃkhyakalpas. On the day we leave family life, we abide in the ocean of infinite kalpas and turn the splendid wheel of Dharma. The day of leaving family life is beyond the time of "meal time, "13 is beyond sixty

minor kalpas, has transcended the three times, and has gotten free from the brain. The day of leaving family life has transcended already the day of leaving family life. And though this may be so, when nets and cages are broken open, the day of leaving family life is just the day of leaving family life, and the day of realizing the truth is just the day of realizing the truth. [18] The Great Commentary,

14 number 13, says:

The Buddha is at Jetavana Park. A drunken brahman comes to the Buddha's place, wanting to become a bhikṣu.The Buddha instructs the other bhikṣus to give [the brahman] a shaved head and to put a kaṣāyaon him. When he sobers up, [the brahman] is astonished and bewildered to see that his form has suddenly changed into that of a bhikṣu,and he runs away at once. The other bhikṣus ask the Buddha, "Why did you permit the drunken brahman to become a bhikṣu,only now to go back [home]?" The Buddha says,

"This brahman for countless

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eons was without the will to leave family life. Now, as a result of getting drunk, he has momentarily established a bit of the will. Because of this circumstance, he will leave family life in the future. " There are

many kinds of stories like this one. Breaking of the precepts having left family life is better than keeping the precepts as a layperson, because with the precepts of a layperson we do not realize liberation. 15

[20] The point of the Buddha's instruction is clear. In the Buddha's teaching just to leave family life is fundamental, and that which has not left family life is not the Buddha-Dharma. While the Tathāgata was in the world, when various non-Buddhists devoted themselves to the Buddha-Dharma, having discarded their own false ways, they always requested at the outset to leave family life. Either the World-honored One himself graciously offered the words "Welcome bhikṣu!" or he instructed the other bhikṣus to shave [the newcomer's] hair and beard and cause [the newcomer] to leave family life and receive the precepts. In each case, the means for leaving family life and receiving the precepts were provided at once. Remember, when the Buddha's teaching has already covered body and mind, hair naturally falls from the head and a kaṣāyaclothes the body. Without the consent of the buddhas, hair and beard are not shaved off, the kaṣāyadoes not clothe the body, and the Buddhist precepts are impossible to receive. In sum, to leave family life and receive the precepts is [to experience] the personal affirmation of the buddhatathāgatas. [21] Śākyamuni Buddha says:

"Good sons! Seeing living beings who take pleasure in small things, whose virtue is scant and whose filthiness is accumulated, the Tathāgata to these people states,

'In my youth I left family life and attained anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi. ' And since I actually realized [the state of]

buddha, [my] eternity has been such as it is. Only to teach and transform living beings, by expedient means, so that they will enter the Buddhist truth, do I make statements like this.

"16

Thus, realization of the eternal is "In my youth I left family life. " Anuttara

samyaksaṃbodhiis "In my youth I left family life.

" When [the Buddha]

describes that "In my youth I left family life,

" living beings who, with scant

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virtue and accumulated filthiness, take pleasure in small things, also realize "In my youth I [will] leave family life. " At any place where we see, hear, and learn in practice the Dharma preaching that "In my youth I left family life,

" we meet the Buddha's state of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.When [the Buddha] delivers living beings who are taking pleasure in small things, to these people he states,

"In my youth I left family life and attained anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.

" Though I have described it like this, someone might ask, in conclusion,

"How important is the virtue of leaving family life?" I would say to that person,

"As important as your head!"

Shōbōgenzō Shukke

Preached to the assembly at Eiheiji in Fukui prefecture on the fifteenth day of the ninth lunar month in the fourth year of Kangen. 17

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Notes

1 The Zen

'

enshingi(Pure Criteria for Zen Monasteries) is a ten-fascicle text compiled by Master Chōrō Sōsaku in 1103. This quotation from the first fascicle also appears in Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku;Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai. 2 Shukke suru,lit.,

"to leave home,

" means: 1) to transcend family life, that is, to transcend the values of secular society; and 2) concretely to leave family life, that is, to assume the forms of a Buddhist monk. In the Shōbōgenzō, Master Dōgen affirms laypeople's pursuit of the Buddhist truth (which cannot begin without discarding the will to fame and gain—see Chapter Five [Vol. I], Jū-undō-shiki); at the same time, he strongly affirms the forms of a Buddhist monk. As a noun, shukkemeans "one who has left home,

" that is, a monk.

3 The version in Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai,abbreviates the subject to "the ancestral masters of successive generations.

" The original text may have been abbreviated or expanded during copying in China. It is also possible that Master Dōgen was quoting from memory.

4 Buddhist monks.

5 The rules of discipline, or precepts. 6 Kaṣāyas of five stripes, seven stripes, and nine or more stripes. See Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku.

7 The Buddhist almsbowl. See Chapter Seventy-eight, Hatsu-u. 8 Suggests precepts taken by Hinayana Buddhists (of which there are two hundred and fifty for monks and three hundred and forty-eight for nuns), as opposed to the sixteen bodhisattva precepts (explained in Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai). 9 Master Mahākāśyapa, the Buddha's successor and the first patriarch in India. 10 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 1.

11 In Sanskrit, Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra. 12 This paragraph is also quoted in Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku. 13 Literally,

"is beyond being called 'like meal time. '"

14 Daironstands for Daichidoron,lit., "Discussion of the Accomplishment that is Great 153

Chapter 84: Sanji-no-gō - Karma in Three Times

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV 15 16 Wisdom, " the Chinese translation by Kumārajīva of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa,a commentary on the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra,attributed to Master Nāgārjuna. A slightly different version of this paragraph is quoted in Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku. Lotus Sutra,Nyorai-juryō("The Tathāgata's Lifetime"). See LS 3.16. 17 1246.

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[Chapter Eighty-four]

Sanji-no-gō

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Karma in Three Times

Translator's Note: San means

"three,

"ji means

"time,

"

and gō means

"

conduct.

" In this chapter, sanji means three kinds of time lag and gō refers to both conduct and its effect.

1 Belief in cause and effect forms a central part of Buddhist philosophy. This is the reason why Master Dōgen wrote the chapter of the Shōbōgenzō titled Shinjin-inga (Chapter Eighty-nine), or "Deep Belief in Cause and Effect.

" He insisted that all things and phenomena in the universe are governed by the law of cause and effect, perfectly and without any exception. In accord with this theory, we should deny the existence of indeterminate events. But in our daily life it often seems that such accidents happen. So if Buddhism insists that the law of cause and effect is all-encompassing, it is necessary to explain the apparent existence of accidents. Buddhism explains these apparent accidents with the theory that there are three kinds of time lag between our conduct and the effect of our conduct. The effect of an action sometimes manifests itself at once, sometimes after a short time, and sometimes after a very long time. In the second and third cases, it is often difficult to believe that the whole world is governed completely by the law of cause and effect. But if we affirm that there are three kinds of time lag between conduct and its effect, we can affirm the validity of the law of cause and effect in all cases without exception. Master Dōgen explains the problem in this chapter.

[26] The nineteenth patriarch, Venerable Kumāralabdha, arrives at a country in central India, [where] a mahāsattvacalled Gayata2 asks, "In

my family, father and mother have always believed in the Three Treasures yet they have been beset by ill health and, in general, are disappointed in all their undertakings. My neighbor's family has long done the work of caṇḍālas,

3 yet their bodies are always in sound health and 155

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their doings harmoniously combine. What is their good fortune? And what is our guilt?" The Venerable One says,

"How could there be room

for doubt? In short, retribution for good and bad has three times. Generally, people only see that to the good [comes] early death; to the violent, long life; to the evil, fortune; and to the righteous, calamity; whereupon [people] say that there is no cause and effect and no wrongness or happiness. Particularly, they do not know that shadow and sound accord with [their sources], not differing by a thousandth or a hundredth and—even with the passing of a hundred thousand myriad kalpas— never wearing away.

"4 Then Gayata, having heard these words, at once relinquishes doubt.

5

[28] Venerable Kumāralabdha is, from the Tathāgata, the nineteenth recipient of the Dharma. The Tathāgata personally recorded his name. [Kumāralabdha] not only clarified and authentically received the Dharma of the one Buddha Śākyamuni; he also clearly realized the Dharma of all the buddhas of the three ages.

6 Venerable Gayata, after asking the present question, practiced and learned the Tathāgata's right Dharma following Venerable Kumāralabdha, and eventually became the twentieth ancestral master. In this case also, the World-honored One, from afar, had recorded that the twentieth patriarch would be Gayata. That being so, above all, we should learn the criteria of the Buddha-Dharma as thus decided by the ancestral masters. We should not mix with people of false views7 in the world today who neither know cause and effect, nor understand karmic retribution, nor know the three ages, nor distinguish between good and bad.

8

[29] These words "Retribution for good and bad has three times" mean 1) "retribution is received in the immediate present"; 2) "it is received in one's next life"; 3) "it is received latterly.

"9 These are called "the three times.

"

In practicing and learning the truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, from the very beginning we study and clarify this principle of karmic retribution in three times. Because they are not like that, many make mistakes and fall into the false view. Not only do they fall into the false view; they [also] fall into bad states10 and experience long periods of suffering. While they are failing to continue good roots, they lose much merit and the way to bodhiis long obstructed. Is it not regrettable? This karma in the three times covers [both] good and bad.

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[30] 1) Karma in which retribution is received in the immediate present: If, in this life, we produce and promote karma, and in this life we receive differently matured effects,

11 this is called "karma in which

retribution is received in the immediate present. "

That is to say, a person doing in this life either good or bad and then receiving in this life the corresponding retribution is called "karma in which retribution is received in the immediate present. "

[31] An example of doing bad and receiving in this life bad retribution: Once there was a woodcutter who went into the mountains and lost his way in the snow. The time was approaching dusk; the snow was deep and the cold was freezing: [the woodcutter] would be dead before long. Then he advanced into a dense wood whereupon he saw, already there in the wood, a bear whose body color was deep blue and whose eyes were like two torches. The man was scared half to death. [But] this was really a bodhisattva who had for the present received a bear's body. Seeing the [woodcutter's] distress and fear, [the bear] soothed and admonished him, saying,

"Now you must not be afraid. A father

and mother sometimes are treacherous to a child, [but] I now am completely without ill will toward you. " Then it stepped forward, lifted up

[the woodcutter], and carried him into a cave to warm his body. After letting him recuperate, it picked various roots and fruits and encouraged him to eat what he liked, and, afraid lest [the woodcutter's] coldness would not thaw, it hugged and lay [with him]. It thus tenderly nursed him for six days, until, on the seventh day, the weather cleared and the path became visible. The man had the will to return. The bear, having recognized [this] already, again picked sweet fruits and served these [to the man] until he was satisfied. It escorted him out of the woods and politely bade him farewell. The man dropped to his knees and said in thanks: "How can I repay your kindness?" The bear said, "Now I

want no other reward: I only hope that just as, in recent days, I have protected your body, you would act likewise toward my life. " The man

respectfully assented and, carrying his wood, he descended the mountain. He met two hunters, who asked him, "What kinds of creatures

have you seen in the mountains?" The woodcutter replied, "I have not

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275a

seen any other beast at all; I have only seen one bear. " The hunters

begged him,

"Can you show us, or not?" The woodcutter answered, "If you can give me a share of two-thirds, I will show you. " The hunters

thereupon agreed and together they set off. At length they slew the bear and divided its flesh into three. As the woodcutter, with both hands, went to take the bear meat, through the force of his bad karma both arms dropped off—like pearls on a string that is cut, or like chopped lotus roots. The hunters were alarmed [by this] and in astonishment they asked the reason [for it]. The woodcutter, ashamed, related the plot in detail. These two hunters berated the woodcutter, saying, "The

other already had for you this great benevolence! How could you have carried out now such evil treachery? It is a wonder that your body has not rotted!" At this, [the woodcutter] and the hunters together took the meat to donate to a saṃghārāma.Then an elder12 among the monks, who had got the fine wisdom [to know others'] wishes, immediately entered into the immovable state [of zazen] and reflected what kind of meat this was. Thereupon he knew that this was the flesh of a great bodhisattva who had produced benefit and joy for all living beings. At length, he left nonmovement and told the monks of this matter. The monks were shocked to hear it. Together, they gathered fragrant firewood to cremate the flesh, collected the remaining bones, erected a stupa, performed prostrations, and served offerings. Bad karma like this must—whether it waits for continuance or skips continuance— inevitably suffer its effect.

13

[34] Such is called "karma in which retribution for bad conduct is received in the immediate present.

" As a general rule, when we receive kindness, we

should intend to repay it. In being kind to others, [however,] do not seek reward. One who would bring treachery and harm upon a kind person, as in the present [story], will inevitably suffer the corresponding bad karma. May living beings never have the mind of this woodcutter! Out of the woods, when bidding [the bear] farewell, he says "How can I repay this kindness?" Yet at the foot of the mountain, when he meets the hunters, he greedily seeks two-thirds of the meat and, led by avarice, he slays that [which showed him] great kindness. May laypeople and those who have left home never have this 158

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mind that does not know kindness! Cutting by the force of bad karma, when it severs both hands, is faster than the cutting of a sword. [35] An example of doing good in this life and—with retribution being received in the immediate present—getting a good reward: Once upon a time, King Kaniṣka of the country of Gandhāra14 retained an androgyne who always supervised internal court affairs. On a temporary excursion beyond the city [walls], 15 he saw a herd of bulls, fully

five hundred in number, being led into the city. He asked the herder, "What kind of bulls are these?" [The herder] replied, "These bulls are

going to be castrated.

" At this, the androgyne immediately thought to himself,

"I, through long-held karma, have received an emasculate body. Now I shall use my wealth to rescue these bulls from [that] hardship. "

Eventually he paid their price and had them all set free. Through the force of good karma, this androgyne was caused at once to recover a male body. He profoundly rejoiced. Then he went back into the city and, standing still at the palace gate, he sent a messenger to inform the king that he wished to enter for an audience. The king summoned him to enter and asked in wonder for an explanation. Thereupon the andro gyne related the aforementioned episode in detail. The king, on hearing of it, was surprised and delighted. He generously bestowed precious treasures, promoted [the androgyne] to high office, and put him in charge of external affairs. Good karma like this must—whether it waits for continuance or skips continuance—inevitably receive its effect. 16

[37] Clearly, though the bodies of bulls and animals are not to be treasured, a person who saves them will receive good effects. How much more, by honoring the field of the kind and honoring the field of the virtuous, 17 will

we enact many kinds of good! Such is called "karma in which reward for good conduct is received in the immediate present. " There are many episodes

like these, arising from good and from bad, but there is not time to quote them all.

[38] 2) Karma that receives [retribution] in the next life: If, in this life, we produce and promote karma, and in a second life we receive differently matured effects, this is called "karma that receives [retribution] in the next life.

"

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That is to say, if people have committed in this life the five actions [leading to] incessant [hell], 18 they will inevitably fall into hell in their next life. "The next life" means the life following this life. For lesser sins, there are those who fall into hell in their next life, and there are also those who, because they have deserved the influence of latterly received [karma], do not fall into hell in the next life; [their karma] becomes karma of latter [retribution]. [But] for these five actions [leading to] incessant [hell], we invariably fall into hell with karma that receives [retribution] in the next life. "The next life" is also

called "a second life.

" The five actions [leading to] incessant [hell] are "1) to kill one's father, 2) to kill one's mother, 3) to kill an arhat, 4) to cause the Buddha's body to bleed, and 5) to disrupt the sangha of the Dharma wheel. "19

These are called "the five actions [leading to] incessant [hell], " and also

called "the five grave sins.

" The first three are killing, and the fourth is conduct that applies to killing. There is no way for the Tathāgata to be killed by a person; only to cause his body to bleed is considered a deadly [sin]. Those who are not subject to early death are: "bodhisattvas in their last body, bodhisattvas obstructed by one life in Tuṣita Heaven, 20 [the heavenly beings of]

the northern continent,

21 Jyotiṣka,

22 and the Buddha's doctor.

"23 Number five,

the sin of disrupting the sangha, is false and deceitful words. For these five deadly [sins] inevitably, with karma that receives [retribution] in the next life, we fall into hell. Devadatta24 committed three of these five actions [leading to] incessant [hell]. That is to say, he killed the bhikṣuṇīUtpalavarṇā, 25

and this bhikṣuṇīwas a great arhat. This is seen as his killing of an arhat. He attempted to kill the World-honored One by hurling a great boulder; the boulder then was blocked and shattered by a mountain god [but] a splinter flew off and struck the Tathāgata's toes. The toes were broken and naturally bled. This was the sin of causing the Buddha's body to bleed. [Devadatta] exhorted five hundred novices and foolish bhikṣus to go [with him] to the peak of Mount Gayā,

26 [where] he established separate practices. This was the sin of disrupting the sangha. As a result of these three grave sins, he fell into Avīci Hell. Today he is suffering incessant pain; even Devadatta, who was [formerly like] the four buddhas,

27 remains in Avīci. The bhikṣuKokālika,

28

in order to slander Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana29 in this life, groundlessly invoked the pārājikarule.

30 The World-honored One himself cautioned against it, and King Brahmā came down to prevent it, but [Kokālika] did not stop; 160

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he slandered the two venerable ones and fell into hell. When the bhikṣu[who mistook] the fourth dhyāna31 confronted the end of his life, he fell into Avīci Hell as a result of slandering the Buddha. Such is called "karma that receives [retribution] in the next life.

"

[42] 3) Karma that receives [retribution] latterly: If, in this life, we produce and promote karma, and consequently in a third life, or even hundred thousands of kalpas beyond that, we receive differently matured effects, this is called "karma that receives [retribution] latterly. "

That is to say, if people, having committed in this life either good or bad, feel the effect of good or bad karma in a third life or in a fourth life or even after hundred thousands of lives, this is called "karma that receives [retribution] latterly. " Most of a bodhisattva's three asaṃkhyakalpas32 of virtue is "karma that receives [retribution] latterly.

" Without knowing such truths

as this, practitioners often harbor doubt—as Venerable Gayata does when he is a layman, in the present [story]. If he had not met Venerable Kumāra labdha, it might have been difficult for him to resolve that doubt. When a practitioner's consideration is good, bad immediately ceases. When consideration is bad, good instantly ceases. [44] In the country of Śrāvastī33 once upon a time there lived two people, one who always practiced good, and another who always committed bad. The one who practiced good deeds had always practiced good deeds throughout his life and had never committed bad. The one who committed bad deeds had constantly committed bad deeds throughout his life and had never practiced good. When the one who practiced good deeds came to the end of his life, through the influence of bad karma that receives [retribution] latterly, a middle existence34 in hell suddenly appeared before him. Then he thought, "Throughout

my life I have always practiced good deeds and have never committed bad. I should be born in a heaven realm. What reason is there for this middle existence to appear before me?" Eventually the following thought arose: "I surely must have bad karma which is receiving [retribution] latterly. Because [bad karma] is now maturing, this middle existence in hell has appeared before me.

" Then he remembered the

good actions he had practiced through his life and he profoundly 161

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rejoiced. Because of his manifestation of [this] excellent consideration, the middle existence in hell disappeared at once and a middle existence in a heaven realm suddenly appeared before him. After this, when his life ended, he was born in the heavens above.

35

[45] This person who has always practiced good deeds not only considers "[Karma] that latterly receives [retribution] is present in my own body, which must inevitably suffer [retribution]"; he also considers further "For the good I have practiced throughout my life, also, I will surely receive [retribution] in future.

" This is the reason that he profoundly rejoices. Because this notion is true, the middle existence in hell immediately disappears, a middle existence in a heaven realm suddenly appears before him, and, when his life is over, he is born in the heavens above. If this person were a bad person, when his life ended and a middle existence in hell appeared before him he would think, "My practice of good throughout my life has been without merit. If good and bad exist, how could I be looking at a middle existence in hell?" At this time he would negate cause and effect and slander the Three Treasures. If he were like that, his life would end at once and he would fall into hell. Because he is not like that, he is born in the heavens above. We should clarify and know this truth.

[46] When the one who committed bad deeds came to the end of his life, through the influence of good karma that latterly receives [retribution], a middle existence in a heaven realm suddenly appeared before him. Then he thought,

"Throughout my life I have constantly committed

bad deeds and have never practiced good. I deserve to be born in hell. What reason is there for this middle existence to appear before me?" At length, the false view arose: he negated good and bad and different maturation of effects. Through the influence of the false view, the middle existence in a heaven realm disappeared at once and a middle existence in hell suddenly appeared before him. After this, when his life ended, he was born in hell.

36

[47] This person, as long as he has lived, has constantly committed bad and has never practiced a single act of good. Not only that: when his life ends and he sees a middle existence in a heaven realm appear before him, he does not recognize it as [karma] that latterly receives [retribution, and so 162

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he thinks] "All my life I have committed bad but I am going to be born in a heaven realm. Clearly, there was no good and bad at all. " Through the influence of the false view which negates good and bad like this, the middle existence in a heaven realm suddenly vanishes, a middle existence in hell instantly appears before him, and when his life is over he falls into hell. Thus, it was because of the false view that the middle existence in a heaven realm disappeared. Therefore, practitioners, you must never take the false view! Learn, until you use up your body, what is the false view and what is the right view. To begin with, negation of cause and effect, slandering of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and negation of the three ages37 and of liberation, are all the false view. Remember, our body in this life is not two and not three. If we idly fell into the false view and experienced, to no avail, the effects of bad karma, would that not be regrettable? When, while committing bad, we think that it is not bad, just because we wrongly consider that there will be no bad retribution, this does not mean that we will not experience the bad retribution. [49] Court Priest38 Kōgetsu asks Master Chōsha [Kei]shin, 39 "A past

master has said,

'After we have understood, karmic hindrances are originally void. Before we have understood, we must atone for longheld debts. ' How is it possible that ones such as Venerable Siṃha40 and Great Master the Second Patriarch41 atoned for their debts [so] completely?" Chōsha says,

'"Virtuous One! You do not know the original void. "

The other says,

"What is the original void?"

Chōsha says,

"Karmic hindrances themselves.

"

[Kōgetsu] asks again,

"What are karmic hindrances?"

Chōsha says,

"The original void itself.

"

Kōgetsu is wordless.

Chōsha then teaches him with the following verse: Supposed existence is fundamentally different from existence. Termination of the supposed also is different from nonexistence. The meaning of "nirvana is atonement" Is that the one essential state is utterly without discrimination. 42

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[50] Chōsha's answer is no answer.

43 It does not possess the truth that

Kumāralabdha teaches to Gayata. We should recognize that [Master Chōsha] does not know the principle of karmic hindrances. When descendants of the Buddhist patriarchs pursue the truth through practice and experience, they must first unfailingly clarify and know, in the manner of Venerable Kumāra labdha, this karma in three times. This [effort] is, already, the action of the ancestral patriarchs; we should not cease or neglect it. Besides this [karma in three times], there is indefinite karma, 44 and there are also eight kinds of

karma;45 we should broadly learn them in practice. People who have not clarified this truth of karmic retribution must not randomly call themselves the guiding teachers of human beings and gods. We will inevitably experience retribution in three times for bad karma, but if we confess and repent46 that will transform a heavy [sin] and cause [retribution] to be received lightly; it will also end our wrongdoing and make us pure. Further, if we take delight in good karma, that will promote [good karma] more and more. Everything depends on whether the making of karma is black or white. 47

[52] The World-honored One said,

"Even with the passing of hundreds

of kalpas, the karma that we make does not perish. When causes and conditions come together, effects and results are naturally received. "

"You all should know! If your actions are purely black, you will experience the maturation48 of purely black [effects]. If your actions are purely white, you will experience the maturation of purely white [effects]. If your actions are black and white, you will experience corresponding maturation of miscellaneous [effects]. For this reason, you should abandon actions that are purely black and that are a mixture of black and white. You should be diligent in practicing and learning actions that are purely white.

" Then all in the great assembly, having heard the Buddha's preaching, rejoiced and believed. 49

Shōbōgenzō Sanji-no-gō

Finished copying this, in the head monk's quarters at Eiheiji, on the ninth day of the third lunar month in the fifth year of Kenchō. 50

Ejō

164

Notes

1 Gōrepresents the Sanskrit karman,which means action or conduct. Like the word karma in current English usage, gōsuggests not only conduct itself but also the effects generated by conduct. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 2 Gayata became the twentieth patriarch in India. After receiving the Dharma from Master Kumāralabdha, he lived and taught in the city of Rājagṛha. 3 Caṇḍālas are outcastes, charged with such jobs as hunting, slaughter, and execution. 4 These words are also quoted in Chapter Eighty-nine, Shinjin-inga. 5 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 2.

6 Sanze,usually translated as "three times" (past, present, and future), but translated here as "three ages" in order to distinguish it from the sanji, "three times,

" of the

chapter title.

7 Jaken,

"false view,

" represents the Sanskrit mithyā-dṛṣṭi,which means false doctrine, heresy, or atheism—the view that negates cause and effect. It is the third of the five wrong views (Sanskrit: pañca-dṛṣṭayah). See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 8 The belief was widespread among people of Master Dōgen's time, in the Kamakura period, that Mahayana Buddhism was not concerned with good and bad conduct. 9 In the Buddha's time the Brahmanistic belief was widely held that a person is reborn in a better or worse world according to his or her conduct in this life. The Buddha used the spiritualistic idea of Brahmanism to emphasize the existence of cause and effect in the real world. Buddhist masters through the ages have criticized the idea that the spirit is reborn (see, for example, Chapter One [Vol. I], Bendōwa;Chapter Six [Vol. I], Soku-shin-ze-butsu), but expressions about past and future lives have remained in Buddhist explanations of cause and effect. At the same time, one human lifespan may be seen as consisting of a series of lives—as a schoolchild, trainee, worker, retiree, invalid, etc.

10 Akudō. San-akudō,the three evil states, are: 1) the state of hell, 2) the state of hungry ghosts, 3) the state of animals.

11 Ijuku-ka,from the Sanskrit vipāka-phala(maturation of effects). I, "different,

" emphasizes that different effects follow from different causes. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

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12 Jōza,lit.,

"senior seat,

" represents the Sanskrit sthavira, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

"elder.

" See Volume I,

13 Daibibasharon(Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣā-śāstra), fascicle 114. This is a commentary said to have been compiled by Master Vasumitra, the seventh patriarch in India, in cooperation with five hundred arhats belonging to the Sarvāstivāda school. 14 A king called Kaniṣka is said to have established the country of Gandhāra in the first or second century C.E. The Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionarystates that King Kaniṣka became a great patron of Buddhism following conversion by Master Aśvaghoṣa, the twelfth patriarch in India (though this raises a question as to the relative timing of the reign of King Kaniṣka and the compilation of the Abhidharma mahāvibhāṣā-śāstraby the seventh patriarch Master Vasumitra). 15 Jōmeans "castle" or "city.

" Some ancient Indian cities were surrounded by fortified walls.

16 Daibibasharon,fascicle 114.

17 Alludes to shi-fukuden,

"four fields of happiness": 1) shuden, "field of the [animal]

world,

" means happiness produced through kindness to animals; 2) kuden, "field of

the suffering,

" means happiness produced through kindness to needy people; 3) onden, "field of the kind,

" means happiness produced through repaying the kindness of one's parents; 4) tokuden,

"field of the virtuous,

" means happiness produced through repaying the kindness of the sacred practitioners of the three vehicles. 18 Go-mugen-gō,from the Sanskrit pañcāvīci-karmāṇi. Mugenstands for mugen-jigoku, "incessant hell,

" which represents the Sanskrit Avīci. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 19 Ha-hōrin-sō,

"disrupting the sangha of the Dharma wheel, " means establishing wrong

theories. Ha-katsuma-sō,

"disrupting the sangha of practice, " means establishing

wrong practices. The sin of disrupting the sangha is divided into these two categories. 20 See, for example, Appendix III, Ippyakuhachi-hōmyōmon,which is based on the preaching given by a bodhisattva in his last life in Tuṣita Heaven. He then descends to earth for one last life before becoming buddha. 21 In ancient Indian cosmology, human beings live on Jambudvīpa, the continent south of Mount Sumeru. The northern continent (Sanskrit: Uttarakuru) is inhabited by heavenly beings. 22 Jyotiṣka was a wealthy man and disciple of the Buddha who lived in Rājagṛha. It is said that he was born when his mother's body was cremated. 23 The Buddha's doctor was Jīvaka. He was the son of a courtesan and was abandoned by her shortly after birth, but was saved and brought up by a prince. As a young man he studied medicine for seven years at the famous university of Takkasīla (presentday Taxila in Pakistan). Thereafter he became the king's physician in Rājagṛha and a lay disciple of the Buddha.

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24 Devadatta was a cousin of the Buddha. In the Daibadatta("Devadatta") chapter of the Lotus Sutra,the Buddha praised him as a good friend and predicted that he would become a buddha. Nevertheless, Devadatta turned against the Buddha, as explained in this paragraph.

25 See Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku,paragraph 87. 26 Short for Gayāśīrṣa. This mountain is the present-day Brahmayoni, one mile west of the city of Gayā, which is sixty miles southwest of Patna in Bengal. The Chinese name for the mountain is Zōzu-sen, "Elephant Head Mountain.

" The peak was said

to have the shape of an elephant's head. 27 Shibutsu,

"four buddhas,

" are the four buddha images in the north, south, east, and west of a mandala. These four buddhas attend Vairocana Buddha in the center. Used here as an adjective, shibutsusuggests Devadatta's attitude, before he went astray, of service to the Buddha.

28 29 Kokālika was a disciple of Devadatta. Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana were two of the Buddha's ten great disciples. 30 A pārājikais a violation of the precepts warranting expulsion from the community. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 31 Shizen-bikuis the title of Chapter Ninety. 32 A bodhisattva is said to accumulate virtue for three asaṃkhyakalpas before becoming buddha.

33 Śrāvastī, the capital of Kośala, was sometimes treated as an independent country. 34 Chū-urepresents the Sanskrit antarā-bhava,originally a Brahmanistic concept describing the soul in its middle existence between death and rebirth. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

35 Daibibasharon,fascicle 69.

36 Ibid.

37 Sanze,past, present, and future. See note 6. 38 Gubuis the title of a priest who served the buddha images in those rooms of a palace that were devoted to Buddhist practice. 39 Master Chōsha Keishin (d. 868), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. 40 Master Siṃha, the twenty-fourth patriarch in India, is said to have been executed by the king of Kaśmīra (present-day Kashmir). 41 Master Taiso Eka. He also is said to have been killed. 42 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 3.

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43 The priest understood the original state of emptiness and the concrete restrictions of cause and effect as two separate things, so Master Chōsha wanted to suggest undivided reality. His intention was that the priest need not consider past karma, because there is only real existence, here and now. But Master Dōgen recognized in this a tendency to negate cause and effect.

44 Fujō-gō,short for fujō-ju-gō,

"karma in which [retribution] is received indefinitely, "

or karma that operates in indefinite periods. 45 The eight kinds of karma are: good karma that operates in the three times and in indefinite times, and bad karma that operates in the three times and in indefinite times. 46 Sangemeans, for example, reciting the following verse: ga-shaku-shozō-shoakugō, kai-yu-mushi-donjinchi, jū-shin-ku-i-shi-shoshō, issai-ga-kon-kai-sange, "The many

bad actions that I have done in the past,/All have stemmed, since times without beginning, from greed, anger, and delusion./They were produced from body, speech, and mind./I now totally confess and repent them all. "

47 "Black or white" means wrong or right, bad or good. 48 Ijuku,short for ijuku-ka,literally,

"different maturation of effects.

" See note 11.

49 Daihōshakkyō(Sanskrit: Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra), chap. 57. 50 1253. This is one of the twelve chapters Master Dōgen began in the last years of his life. The version translated here is the one included in the ninety-five-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō.The version contained in the twelve-chapter edition is slightly longer.

168

[Chapter Eighty-five] Shime

The Four Horses

Translator's Note: Shi means "four

"

and me means

"horses,

"

so shime

means four horses. An ancient Buddhist scripture, the Saṃyuktāgama, contains a story about four kinds of horses: horses that know the rider '

s intention at

the sight of the whip, horses that know the rider '

s intention when the whip touches their hair, horses that know the rider '

s intention when the whip touches their flesh, and horses that know the rider '

s intention when the whip reaches their bones. These differences between four kinds of horses are used as a simile for the differences between the levels of intuition that Buddhist students exhibit in studying Buddhism. Studying Buddhism is not based only on intellectual teachings; the ability to intuitively understand the master '

s

teachings is important, as Master Dōgen explains in this chapter using the simile of the four kinds of horses. [56] [A story of] the World-honored One: one day a non-Buddhist visited the place where the Buddha was, and he asked the Buddha, "I

do not ask for words. I do not ask for no words. "1

The World-honored One sat on his seat for a while. The non-Buddhist did venerative prostrations and praised him, saying "How excellent, World-honored One! Your great benevolence and great compassion have opened my clouds of delusion, and made me able to enter [the truth]. " Then he made a prostration and left. After the non-Buddhist had left, Ānanda said to the Buddha, "Through what attainment did the non-Buddhist say that he had been able to enter [the truth] and [then] praise you and leave?" The World-honored One said, "It was like a good horse in the world seeing the form of a whip and running. "2

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[57] Since the ancestral master's coming from the west until today, many good counselors have taken up this story and set it before people of learning in practice, at which times—either taking years or taking days and months— many have clarified it and believed and entered the Buddha-Dharma. It is called "the story of the non-Buddhist questioning the Buddha. " We should

know that the World-honored One performed the two kinds of establishment of the teaching: sacred silence and sacred preaching. Those who are able to enter through this [story] are all "like good horses in the world seeing the form of a whip and running.

" Those who are able to enter through that establishment of the teaching that is beyond sacred silence and sacred preaching, are also like this.

3

[58] The ancestral patriarch Nāgārjuna says,

"When I preach to people

phrases [of Dharma], it is as if fast horses are seeing the form of a whip and at once entering the right path.

" At any moment and in any circumstances,

whether listening to the Dharma of appearance and nonappearance [or] listening to the Dharma of the three vehicles and the One Vehicle, 4 we often

tend toward wrong paths, but when we are frequently able to see the form of a whip, we then enter the right path. If, following a master, we have met a human being, there is no place that is not the preaching of phrases [of Dharma] and there is no time when we do not see the form of a whip. Those who see the form of a whip at once, those who see the form of a whip after three asaṃkhyakalpas, and those who see the form of a whip after countless kalpas, [all] are able to enter the right path.

5

[59] The Saṃyuktāgama Sutra6 says:

The Buddha told the bhikṣus,

"There are four kinds of horses. The first

sees the form of a whip, is startled at once, and follows the rider's will. The second is startled when [the whip] touches its hair, and then it follows the rider's will. The third is surprised after [the whip] touches its flesh. The fourth wakes up only after [the whip] has penetrated to the bone. The first horse is like one who hears of impermanence7 in another community8 and then is able to feel aversion. 9 The second horse is like one

who hears of impermanence in his or her own community and then is able to feel aversion. The third horse is like one who hears of the impermanence of his or her own parent and then is able to feel aversion. The 170

Chapter Eighty-five

fourth horse is like one whose own body suffers sickness and only then is able to feel aversion.

"10

[60] This is "the four horses" of the Āgama[Sutra]. It is studied whenever the Buddha-Dharma is learned in practice. Those who, as true good counselors, manifest themselves in the human world and in the heavens above and, as emissaries of the Buddha, become ancestral masters, inevitably have learned this [teaching] in practice, and they transmit it for the benefit of their students. Those who do not know it are not good counselors to human beings and gods. Those students who are close with the Buddha's truth, as living beings who have thickly accumulated good roots,

11 are inevitably able to hear this

[teaching]. Those who are far from the Buddha's truth neither hear it nor know it. So masters should plan to preach it without delay, and disciples should hope to hear it without delay. The meaning of this "to feel aversion" is as follows: "When the Buddha expounds the Dharma with a single utterance, living beings each understand according to their type. Some have fear. Some rejoice. Some feel aversion and detachment. Some cut doubt. "12

[61] The Sutra of the Great[Demise] says:

The Buddha said,

"Good sons! It is like training horses. Broadly there are four kinds [of horses]: Those which 1) are contacted through hair, 2) are contacted through skin, 3) are contacted through flesh, or 4) are contacted through bone, and which, according to those respective places of contact, obey the rider's will. The Tathāgata also is like that. With four kinds of Dharma, he controls and subdues living beings: 1) he preaches to them of life, and then they accept the Buddha's words, like [a horse], when its hair is touched, following the rider's will; 2) he preaches of life and aging, and then [living beings] accept the Buddha's words, like [a horse], when its hair and skin are touched, following the rider's will; 3) he preaches of life and also of aging and death, and then [living beings] accept the Buddha's words, like [a horse], when its hair, skin, and flesh are touched, following the rider's will; 4) he preaches of life and also of aging, sickness, and death, and then [living beings] accept the Buddha's words, like [a horse], when its hair, skin, flesh, and bone are touched, following the rider's will. Good sons! There is no certainty in a rider's training of a horse, [but] the World-honored 171

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Tathāgata's control and subjugation of living beings are assured and are never in vain. For this reason, the Buddha is titled 'Controller of Humans.

'"13

[63] This is called the "the four horses of the Nirvana Sutra. " No students

have failed to learn it, and no buddhas have failed to preach it. We hear it by following buddhas; whenever we meet and serve buddhas, we listen to it without fail; and whenever we receive the transmission of the Buddha-Dharma our preaching to living beings of this [teaching] continues, without flagging, through successive kalpas. When we finally arrive at buddhahood, we preach this [teaching] for bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, and for great orders of human beings and gods, as if it were the time of our first establishment of the will. For this reason, the seed of the treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is uninterrupted. Because it is like this, the preaching of buddhas is far removed from the preaching of bodhisattvas. Remember, the methods of a horse trainer are broadly of four kinds: to touch hair, to touch skin, to touch flesh, and to touch bone. We cannot read what the object is that is caused to touch hair, but mahāsattvas of the Dharma transmission understand that it might be a whip. At the same time, among methods of training horses, there may be those that employ a whip and those that do not employ a whip; the training of horses may not always be limited to the whip. [Horses] with a standing height of eight feet are called "dragon horses.

" These horses are seldom

trained in the human world. Further, there are horses called "thousand-mile horses" that run a thousand miles in a day. While running five hundred miles these horses sweat blood; after five hundred miles they are refreshed and swift. Few people can ride these horses, and few know how to train them. There are no such horses in China [but] there are in other countries. 14 We do

not read that every one of these horses [must] frequently be given the whip. Nevertheless, a past master has said,

"In training horses, we inevitably give

them the whip. Without the whip, horses are not trained. Such is the method of training horses.

" There are the present four methods: the touching of hair, skin, flesh, and bone. To touch skin and bone but not hair is impossible. To touch flesh and bone but not hair and skin is impossible. We have seen, therefore, that the whip is to be given. That this is not explained here in the present [quotation] is due to a lack in the sentences.

15 There are numerous places

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Chapter Eighty-five

like this in all sutras. The Tathāgata, World-honored One, Con troller of Humans,

16 is also like that [horse trainer]: he uses four kinds of Dharma to control and subdue all living beings,

"assuredly and never in vain.

" That is

to say, he preaches to them of life, whereupon some instantly accept the Buddha's words; he preaches to [living beings] of life and aging, whereupon some accept the Buddha's words; he preaches to [living beings] of life, aging, and sickness, whereupon some accept the Buddha's words; and he preaches to [living beings] of life, aging, sickness, and death, whereupon some accept the Buddha's words. Those who hear of the last three [can] never avoid the first one,

17 just as, in training horses in the world, aside from contact with hair there is no contact with skin, flesh, and bone. "He preaches to them of

life, aging, sickness, and death" means that the Tathāgata, the World-honored One, preaches to others of life, aging, sickness, and death. 18 This is not in

order to cause living beings to depart from life, aging, sickness, and death. He does not preach that life, aging, sickness, and death are just the truth, and he does not preach in order to make living beings understand that life, aging, sickness, and death are just the truth. His purpose is—by this preaching to others of life, aging, sickness, and death—to cause all living beings to grasp the reality of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.Thus "the World-honored Tathāgata's control and subjugation of living beings are assured and are never in vain. For this reason, the Buddha is titled 'Controller of Humans. '"

Shōbōgenzō Shime

On a day of the summer retreat in the seventh year of Kenchō,

19 I finished copying this from

the master's draft.

Ejō

173

278b

Notes

1 The intention of the non-Buddhist was to ask for teaching that transcends words. 2 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 27.

3 Those who are able to enter the truth through intuitional grasp of the state of just acting are like good horses.

4 The three vehicles are the ways of the śrāvaka(intellectual Buddhist), pratyekabuddha (sensual Buddhist), and bodhisattva (practical Buddhist). The One Vehicle is the way of the Buddha. The teaching of the three vehicles and the One Vehicle is preached by Gautama Buddha in the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra,Hiyu("A Parable"). See Chapter Seventeen (Vol. I), Hokke-ten-hokke. 5 Ben-ei,

instruction.

"the form of a whip" or "the image of a whip, " symbolizes the Buddha's

6 Zōagongyō,lit.,

"Miscellaneous Āgama Sutra,

"the third of the four Āgamas in Chinese translation. It was translated in fifty fascicles by Guṇabhadra, during the Liu Song dynasty (420-479).

7 Mujō,

"impermanence" or "inconstancy, " in this case means death or disaster. 8 Shūraku,lit., colony or community, represents the Sanskrit jana-kāyaor grāma.See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

9 En,

"aversion,

" in this case means aversion to the impermanence, inconstancy, or unreliability of situations in secular society. 10 Makashikanhogyōdenguketsu, vol. 2, chap. 5. 11 Zenkonmeans good actions as the roots of happiness. 12 Yuimakitsushosetsugyō,usually shortened to Yuimagyō(Vimalakīrtinirdeśa), Bukkokubon("Buddha Land") chapter. 13 Daihatsunehangyō(Sutra of the Great Demise;Sanskrit: Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra); fascicle 18, Bongyō-bon("Pure Conduct") chapter. Chōgo jōbu,lit., "controller-rider

of stout men,

" represents the Sanskrit puruṣa-damya-sārathi.See Volume II, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. This is one of ten epithets of a buddha, which are listed in Chapter Eighty-seven, Kuyō-shobutsu.

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14 15 16 17 18 19 It is said that in 138 B.C.E. a Chinese general called Zhang Qian traveled to Fergana (in present-day Uzbekistan) to buy some horses that, according to rumor, ran so fast that they sweated blood. The general found that in fact they bled because of a skin parasite. But he also learned that Fergana's merchants would pay a handsome price for silk. His emperor, Wudi, thereupon lifted an export ban that had been in force since the Chinese started weaving silk around 2000 B.C.E. and trading began along what was to become the Silk Road.

In the quotation from the Daihatsunehangyō,it is understood that what touches the horse's hair is a whip: the character ben, muchi,

"whip,

" does not appear in the quotation.

Nyorai-seson-jōgojōbuare three of the ten epithets of a buddha. Buddhist preaching is sometimes about aging, sickness, and death, but it is always about life.

The Buddha, while venerated and honored as the most sacred of beings, preaches to others about concrete mundane matters.

1255. This is one of the chapters of the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō that Master Dōgen began in the last years of his life. Master Dōgen died in 1253, two years before his successor Master Koun Ejō added the concluding note. 176

[Chapter Eighty-six]

Shukke-kudoku

The Merit of Leaving Family Life Translator's Note: Shutsu means "to get out of"

or

"to transcend.

" Ke means

"house,

" "home,

"

or

"family life,

"

and kudoku means

"

merit.

" So shukkekudoku means the merit of leaving family life. In this chapter Master Dōgen praised and emphasized the merit of leaving or transcending family life. Most people are brought up within a family, and the influence that our family has on us is often much stronger than we realize. The aim of studying Buddhism is to realize what the truth is. To achieve this, it is necessary for us to transcend our family life, because the habits we form and the influence that our family has on us tend to prevent us from seeing clearly what the truth is. This is why the merit of the tradition of leaving family life is revered in Buddhism, as Master Dōgen explains here. [69] Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna1 said: Someone asks, "With the lay

precepts,

2 we are able to be born in the heavens above, attain the bodhisattva way, and attain nirvana. Why then is it necessary to rely on the precepts of those who have left family life?"3 I reply: Although both [laypeople and monks] can attain salvation, still there is difficulty and ease. Laypeople's livelihoods have all sorts of jobs and duties; if they want to concentrate their minds on the truth and the Dharma, their trade will deteriorate; and if they concentrate on practicing their trade, matters pertaining to the truth will deteriorate. They should be able to practice the Dharma without selecting and without abandoning [one or the other], which is called "difficult. " If we

leave family life and part from secular society, to eradicate miscellaneous irritations and disturbances, and to concentrate the mind solely on practice of the truth, is called "easy. " Further, family life, being disorderly 177

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278c

and noisy, with many jobs and many duties, is the root of hindrances and the seat of many sins. It is called "very difficult. " If we leave family

life, we are like, for example, a person going off to stay in a deserted place, among empty fields, and making the mind whole so that there is no mind and no concern: we are already rid of inner thoughts, and external matters also have departed. As a verse says, 4

We sit in quietness among the trees of the forest, In the serene state, all evils evaporate. We placidly get a whole mind.

This pleasure is beyond the pleasure of gods. Others seek gain: wealth and status, Fine clothes and comfortable bedding. Such pleasures are not peaceful. In seeking gain there is no satisfaction. In patched robes we go begging for food, In movement and in stillness, minds constantly whole. With our own eyes of wisdom,

We reflect on the reality of all dharmas. The many kinds of Dharma gates, All, through balance, are entered by reflection. The mind of understanding and wisdom abides in serenity, It is beyond the triple world. Thus we see that when we leave family life, to observe the precepts and practice the truth is very easy. Further, leaving family life and observing the precepts gains countless criteria of virtue and regulation and puts us completely in possession of them all. For this reason, ones clothed in white5 should leave family life and receive ordination. 6 Further, in the Buddha-Dharma, the Dharma of leaving family life is the most difficult of all to practice, as [illustrated when] the brahman Jambu khādaka asked Śāriputra, "What is the most difficult thing in the Buddha-Dharma?"

Śāriputra answered,

[The brahman] asked further,

"Leaving family life is [most] difficult. "

"What difficulties are there in leaving family life?"

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[Śāriputra] answered,

"In leaving family life, to have inner comfort is difficult.

"

[The brahman asked] "When one has already attained inner comfort, what then is difficult?" [Śāriputra answered,] "To practice good ways is difficult. "

Thus, we should leave family life. Further, when a person leaves family life, the king of demons, in astonishment and sorrow, says, "This

person has scarcely any hindrances or wants! [This person] will surely attain nirvana and fall into the numbers of the Sangha treasure!" Further, in the Buddha-Dharma, people who have left family life, even if they break the precepts and fall into sin, after they have expiated their sins, they can attain liberation, as the bhikṣuṇīUtpalavarṇā explains in the Jātaka Sutra:7 When the Buddha is in the world, this bhikṣuṇī attains the six mystical powers and the state of an arhat. She goes into the houses of nobles and constantly praises the Dharma of leaving family life, saying to all the aristocratic ladies, "Sisters! You should leave

family life.

"

The noblewomen say,

"We are young and in our prime and our figures are at the height of beauty. To keep the precepts would be difficult. Sometimes we might break the precepts. "

The bhikṣuṇīsays,

"If you break the precepts, you break them. Just leave family life!"

They ask,

"If we break the precepts we will fall into hell. Why should we risk breaking them?" She answers,

"If you fall into hell, you fall. "

The noblewomen all laugh at this, saying, "In hell we would have

to receive [retribution for our] sins. Why should we risk falling [into hell]?"

The bhikṣuṇīsays,

"I myself remember during a past life I became a prostitute, wore all sorts of clothes, and spoke archaic words. One day, as a joke, I put on a bhikṣuṇī's robe, and due to this as a direct and indirect cause, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha8 I became a bhikṣuṇī. I was proud of my noble pedigree and fine features: vanity and arrogance arose in my mind, and I broke the precepts. Because of the wrongness of breaking the precepts I fell into hell and suffered for my 179

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various sins, but after suffering I finally met Śākyamuni Buddha, left family life, and attained the six mystical powers and the truth of an arhat. Thus, I know that when we leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break the precepts, due to the precepts as direct and indirect causes we can attain the truth of an arhat. If I had only done bad, without the precepts as direct and indirect causes, I could not have attained the truth. In the past I fell into hell in age after age. When I got out of hell I became a bad person, and when the bad person died, I went back into hell, and there was no gain at all. Now therefore I know from experience that when we leave family life and receive the precepts, with this as a direct and indirect cause—even if we break the precepts—we can attain the bodhi-effect.

"9

[75] Further, when the Buddha was at Jetavana Park, a drunken brahman came to the Buddha's place and sought to become a bhikṣu. The Buddha instructed Ānanda to give him a shaved head and to clothe him in the Dharma robe. Having woken from his drunkenness, [the brahman] was dismayed that his body had suddenly become that of a bhikṣu,and he ran away at once. All the bhikṣus asked the Buddha, "Why did you permit this brahman to become a bhikṣu?" The Buddha said,

"This brahman for countless kalpas had never

had any will at all to leave family life. Now, because of being drunk, he has temporarily established a bit of the will. With this as a direct and indirect cause, in the future he will leave family life and attain the truth. "

In various stories like this, the merit of leaving family life is immeasurable. Thus, those clothed in white, even if they possess the five precepts,

10 are not equal to those who have left family life. 11

[76] The World-honored One thus permitted the drunken brahman to leave family life and receive the precepts, seeing it as the first planting of the seed of attainment of the truth. Clearly, from ancient times until today, living beings who lack the merit of leaving family life have been forever unable to attain the buddha-state of bodhi.This brahman, because he was slightly12 drunk, momentarily established a bit of the will and, having his head shaved and receiving the precepts, he became a bhikṣu.The period before he sobered up was not so long, but the principle that this merit13 should be preserved, and should be promoted as a good root of attainment of the 180

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truth, is present in the World-honored One's golden words of true philosophy, and is the Tathāgata's original wish in manifesting himself in the world. All living beings, in the past, present, and future, definitely should believe and devoutly practice [this principle of leaving family life]. Truly, the establishment of the will and the attainment of the truth inevitably occur relying upon kṣāṇas.

14 This brahman's momentary merit of leaving family life is also like that. Still more, how could the merit of leaving family life and receiving the precepts for the whole of our present human lifetime and life be inferior to [the merit of] the drunken brahman? Sacred wheel-turning kings15 appeared more than eighty thousand years ago and ruled the four continents, being abundantly furnished with the seven treasures. At that time these four continents were all like the Pure Land. 16 The pleasure enjoyed by the wheel kings

is beyond expression in words. There are some [wheel-turning kings], it is said, who rule a three-thousandfold world. There are distinctions between [kings of] gold, silver, copper, and iron wheels, who rule one, two, three, or four continents,

17 [but] the bodies of them all are invariably free of the ten evils.

18 Even though such a sacred wheel-turning king is thus abundantly provided with pleasures, when a single white hair grows on his head, he abdicates the throne to the crown prince and with his own body he at once leaves family life, puts on the kaṣāya,and enters the mountains or forest to train, so that when his life ends, he is inevitably born in a Brahmā heaven. He puts this white hair from his own head into a silver casket, to be kept in the royal palace and transmitted to the next wheel[-turning] king. The next wheel[turning] king, when he too grows a white hair, does exactly the same as the previous king. The length of the life remaining to a sacred wheel-turning king after leaving home is beyond comparison with that of people today. A wheel[-turning] king is said to be already over eighty thousand [years old], and his body is endowed with the thirty-two signs;19 people today cannot equal him. Nevertheless, when he sees a white hair and realizes impermanence, he inevitably leaves home and practices the truth, in order to accomplish merit by performing spotless conduct. The kings of today cannot match the sacred wheel-turning kings. If they waste precious time amid greed, and fail to leave family life, they may regret it in future ages. Still more, in a minor nation in a remote land, although there are kings in name they do not have the virtue of kings; they are unable to confine their greed. [But] if they leave 181

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family life and practice the truth many gods will gladly protect them, dragon deities will respectfully guard them, and the Buddha-eyes of the buddhas might definitely authenticate them and rejoice. In her past as a prostitute, [the nun Utpalavarṇā] put on the bhikṣuṇīrobe not out of belief, but as a joke. Although this likely carried the sin of making light of the Dharma, by virtue of clothing her body in this robe, she met the Buddha-Dharma in a second age.

"The bhikṣuṇīrobe" means the kaṣāya. By virtue of jokingly wearing the kaṣāyashe met Kāśyapa Buddha in a second life, she left family life and received the precepts, and she became a bhikṣuṇī. Even though, as a result of breaking the precepts, she fell into hell and received [retribution for] her sins, because the merit [of wearing the kaṣāya] had not decayed, she finally met Śākyamuni Buddha. Meeting Buddha, hearing the Dharma, establishing the will, and doing training, she parted from the triple world forever and became a great arhat, equipped with the six powers and the three kinds of knowledge. Undoubtedly [her state] must have been the supreme truth. Therefore when, from the beginning, solely for the sake of the supreme state of bodhi,we distill pure belief and we believe in and receive the kaṣāya,the maturation of that merit will be swifter than [the maturation of] the merit of the prostitute. Still more, when for the sake of the supreme state of bodhiwe establish the bodhi-mind, leave family life, and receive the precepts, that merit might be immeasurable. Without a human body, this merit is rarely accomplished. In the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, 20 as monks

or as laymen, bodhisattvas and ancestral masters have been many, but none has equaled the ancestral master Nāgār juna. Only the ancestral master Nāgārjuna quoted stories such as those of the drunken brahman and the prostitute, in order to encourage living beings to leave family life and receive the precepts. This is the ancestral master Nāgārjuna's exact record of the golden speech of the World-honored One.

[81] The World-honored One said:

On the southern continent21 there are four kinds of supreme excellence: 1) meeting Buddha, 2) hearing the Dharma, 3) leaving family life, and 4) attaining the truth.

Clearly remember, these four kinds of supreme excellence are beyond the northern continent22 and beyond the various heavens. Now that, led by 182

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the power of long-accumulated good roots, we have received a supremely excellent body,

23 we should rejoicingly leave family life and receive the precepts. Do not waste the supremely excellent body of goodness, leaving its dewdrop life at the mercy of the wind of inconstancy. If we accumulate life after life of leaving family life, that will be the piling up of merit and heaping up of virtue.

24

[82] The World-honored One said:

In the Buddha-Dharma the effects and results of leaving family life are unthinkable. Even if a person erected a stupa of the seven treasures as high as the thirty-three gods,

25 the merit gained would be inferior

to that of leaving family life. Why? Because a stupa of the seven treasures can be demolished by greedy and malicious stupid people, [but] the merit of leaving family life is indestructible. Therefore if [someone] teaches men and women [of this merit], or sets free male and female servants, or permits citizens, or with his or her own body leaves family life and enters the truth, the merit is immeasurable. 26

[83] The World-honored One, clearly knowing the amount of the merit, made a comparison like this. Śrīvaddhi,

27 on hearing it, though he was an

old man of a hundred and twenty years, was compelled to leave family life and receive the precepts; he sat alongside children in the end seats, underwent training, and became a great arhat. Remember, the human body of our present life is temporarily formed through direct and indirect combinations of the four elements and the five aggregates, and it always has the eight kinds of pain.

28 Furthermore, kṣāṇaby kṣāṇa,it appears and disappears, utterly without cease. Still more, during a click of the fingers sixty-five kṣāṇas appear and disappear, but because we are dull we never know it. Altogether, in the passing of one day and night there are 6,400,099,980 kṣāṇas, 29 [in

each of which] the five aggregates appear and disappear, but we do not know it. It is pitiful that, even as we appear and disappear, we ourselves do not know it. This duration of the appearance and disappearance of a kṣāṇawas known only by the World-honored Buddha and by Śāriputra; though other saints have been many, not one of them has known it. Again, by virtue of just this fact of instantaneous appearance and disappearance, living beings produce good or bad karma. By virtue of this fact of instantaneous appearance 183

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and disappearance, living beings establish the will and attain the truth. [Our human body] is a human body that appears and disappears like this; even if we treasure it, it cannot stand still. Since time immemorial, there has never been a single person who, by begrudging [the human body], stood still. The human body is thus not our own but if we utilize it to leave family life and receive the precepts, we will experience the buddha-state that is as imperishable as a diamond, the anuttara samyaksaṃbodhiexperienced by the buddhas of the three times. What wise person would not gladly pursue [this state]? Hence, the eight sons of the past Buddha Sun Moon Light all renounced a royal position of dominion over four continents and left family life. 30 The

sixteen sons of the Buddha Universal Surpassing Wisdom each left family life.

31 While Universal Wisdom had entered the immovable state, they preached to the assembly the Flower of Dharma,

32 and they have now become

Tathāgatas of the ten directions.

"Eight myriad koṭis of people among the

masses led by the sacred wheel-turning king,

"33 their royal father, on seeing

the sixteen princes leave family life, also sought to leave family life, whereupon the king at once permitted them. The two sons of the King Resplendent, together with their royal father and his queen, all left family life. 34 Remember,

it is evident that whenever great saints have appeared, they have inevitably considered leaving family life to be the right Dharma. We should not say that these people left family life out of stupidity; knowing that they left family life out of wisdom, we should hope to do the same. In the time of the present Buddha Śākyamuni, Rāhula,

35 Ānanda,

36 and so on all left family life. Further,

there is [the example of] the thousand Śākyas leaving family life and the twenty thousand Śākyas leaving family life;37 we should call these excellent examples. From the five bhikṣus who left family life at the beginning38 to Subhadra who left family life at the end,

39 [all] people who devoted themselves

to the Buddha immediately left family life. Remember, its merit is immeasurable. Therefore, if people of the world have compassion for their children and grandchildren, they should let them leave family life without delay. If they have compassion for their fathers and mothers, they should recommend them to leave family life. For this reason, a verse says: If there were no past ages,

There could be no past buddhas.

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If there were no past buddhas,

There would be no leaving family life and receiving ordination. 40

This verse is a verse of the buddha-tathāgatas. It destroys the non-Buddhist assertion that past ages do not exist. So remember, leaving family life and receiving ordination are the Dharma of the past buddhas. While fortunately meeting a time to leave family life and to receive ordination—which actions are the wonderful Dharma of the buddhas—if we idly fail to leave family life and receive the precepts it would be hard to know what obstacle was the cause. With the subsisting body,

41 the lowest kind of thing, we can

accomplish the highest kind of merit. It may be the highest kind of merit in Jam budvīpa and in the triple world. While this human body in Jambudvīpa has still not disappeared, we should, without fail, leave family life and receive the precepts.

[88] An ancient saint42 said:

People who have left family life, even if they break the precepts, still surpass laypeople who receive and keep the precepts. Therefore the sutras solely encourage people to leave family life, and that benevolence is hard to repay. Further, to encourage [people] to leave family life is just to encourage people to practice venerable conduct; the effects and results gained [by this encouragement] surpass King Yama, 43 the wheel[turning] kings, and the god Śakra. Therefore the sutras solely encourage people to leave family life, and that benevolence is hard to repay. Such facts do not exist in encouraging people to receive and keep the precepts of a lay follower, and so the sutras do not verify it. 44

[89] Remember, if we have left family life, even if we break the precepts, that is better than not breaking the precepts as a layperson. As [acts of] devotion to the Buddha, leaving family life and receiving the precepts are, in every case, most excellent. The effects and results of encouraging others to leave family life are beyond the excellence of King Yama, beyond the excellence of a wheel[-turning] king, and beyond the excellence of the god Śakra. Even a vaiśya45 or a śūdra,

46 by leaving family life, will surpass a kṣatriya,

47 and

indeed surpass King Yama, surpass the wheel[-turning] kings, and surpass the god Śakra. The lay precepts are not like this; therefore we should leave 185

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family life. Remember, what the World-honored One taught, though unfathomable, was widely collected by a World-honored One and five hundred great arhats.

48 Truly, [therefore,] we have been able to know that truths in the Buddha-Dharma should be evident. Ordinary teachers of recent ages cannot fathom even the wisdom of the three kinds of knowledge and the six powers of one saint, much less [the wisdom of] the five hundred saints. [The five hundred] have known what ordinary teachers of recent ages do not know, have seen what [ordinary teachers] do not see, and have realized what [ordinary teachers] do not realize, but nothing known by ordinary teachers is unknown to [the five hundred saints]. So do not compare the dismal and foolish explanations of ordinary teachers with the words of saints of the three kinds of knowledge.

[91] The Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣā-śāstra,[fascicle] 120, says: Even one who establishes the will and leaves family life is already called a sacred being; how much more one who has attained the state of indulgence toward the Dharma.

49

Remember, to establish the will and leave family life is to be called a sacred being.

[91] In Śākyamuni Buddha's five hundred great vows, 50 vow number

one hundred and thirty-seven is:

In future, after I have realized the right state of truth, if there are any men who, in my Dharma, want to leave family life, I vow that they will be free of hindrances—namely, infirmity, loss of mindfulness, confusion, pride, lack of awe, being stupid and without wisdom, abundant preoccupations, and distraction of the mind. Otherwise, I shall not realize the right state of truth.

Vow number one hundred and thirty-eight is:

In future, after I have realized the right state of truth, if there are any women who want, in my Dharma, to leave family life, to learn the truth, and to receive the great precepts, I vow that I will cause them to accomplish [this]. Otherwise, I shall not realize the right state of truth. Vow number three hundred and fourteen is:

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In future, after I have realized the right state of truth, if there are any living beings who lack good roots51 but while experiencing a good root feel love and delight in their mind, I shall cause them, in the Buddha-Dharma in a future age, to leave family life and learn the truth, and shall cause them peacefully and steadfastly to abide by the sacred and pure ten precepts.

52 Otherwise, I shall not realize the right state of truth. [93] Remember, the good sons and good daughters who have left family life today all have been assisted by the power of the great vows made in the ancient past by the World-honored One, and [thus] they have been able, without hindrances, to leave family life and receive the precepts. The Tathāgata already, through his vows, is causing us to leave family life. Clearly we have seen that it is the most valuable and the highest great merit. [94] The Buddha said:

Moreover, if there is anyone who, following me, shaves beard and hair and wears a kaṣāyawithout receiving the precepts, even those who serve offerings to this person will be able at last to enter the castle of fearlessness. For such reasons do I preach like this. 53

Clearly we see that if [a person] shaves his beard and hair and wears the kaṣāya,even without receiving the precepts, those who serve offerings to this [person] will enter the castle of fearlessness. [95] Further he said,

"If, again, there is a person who, for my sake, has left family life and who, even without taking the precepts, shaves his beard and hair and wears a kaṣāya,those who, through non-Dharma, trouble or harm this [person], will even injure the Dharma bodies and reward bodies54 of the buddhas of the three times, because they will eventually be filled with the three evil states.

"55

[95] The Buddha said:

If there are any living beings who, for my sake, have left family life and who shave beard and hair and wear the kaṣāya,even if they do not retain the precepts, they all have been stamped already by the seal of nirvana.

56 Further, if anyone, through non-Dharma, disturbs those who have left family life without retaining the precepts, or reviles and humiliates them, or insults them, or strikes, binds, or cuts them using hand, 187

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sword, or stick; or steals their robes and pātra;or steals miscellaneous necessities of life, then such a person injures the real reward bodies of the buddhas of the three times and offends the eyes of all human beings and gods—because this person wants to conceal the seeds that the buddhas possess of the right Dharma and of the Three Treasures; because [this person] prevents gods and human beings from getting benefit and causes them to fall into hell; and because [this person] promotes and replenishes the three evil states. 57

Remember, if [people] shave their hair and [wear] the dyed robe, even if they do not retain the precepts, they are stamped by the seal of supreme and great nirvana. If a person troubles them, [this person] injures the reward bodies of the buddhas of the three times. That may be equal to a grave sin. Clearly, we have seen that the merit of leaving family life is directly proximate to the buddhas of the three times.

[97] The Buddha said:

In general, those who have left family life should not commit wrong. If they commit wrong, that is not to have left family life. The body and mouth of a person who has left family life should be in mutual accord. If they are not in mutual accord, that is not to have left family life. Forsaking father, mother, brothers, wife and child, relatives, and acquaintances, I left family life to practice the truth. That was just the time [when I was able to] accumulate virtuous realizations; it was never a time to accumulate nonvirtuous realizations.

"Virtuous realization"

means having compassion for all living beings, as if they were babies. Nonvirtuous realization is different from this.

58

In general, the inherent nature of leaving family life is "to have compassion for all living beings as if they were babies.

" This state is just "not committing

wrong" and is "body and mouth in mutual accord.

" When such behavior is

present already in leaving family life, its merit is as described now. [98] The Buddha said:

Furthermore, Śāriputra,

59 if bodhisattva mahāsattvas want, on the very

day of leaving family life, to realize anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi; and [want], on that very day, to turn the Dharma wheel, so that when they 188

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turn the Dharma wheel countless asaṃkhyas of living beings depart from dust and leave dirt and amidst all dharmas attain purity of the Dharma-eye, and [so that] countless asaṃkhyas of living beings attain the state beyond perception of all dharmas; and [if bodhisattva mahāsattvas want] to attain liberation from the mind of excesses, and [want] to enable countless asaṃkhyas of living beings to attain the state of not regressing or straying from anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi, [then bodhisattva mahāsattvas] should learn the prajñāpāramitā. "60

This "bodhisattvas who learn the prajñāpāramitā" means the patriarchs. At the same time, [the truth of] anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi,in every case, is accomplished "on the very day of leaving family life. " However, when [bodhisattvas] practice and experience [the truth] for three asaṃkhyakalpas or practice and experience it for countless asaṃkhyakalpas, they do not taint it with "limited" and "limitless.

" Students should remember this.

[100] The Buddha said:

If a bodhisattva mahāsattvathinks,

"At some time, I will relinquish a

throne and leave family life, on which day I will realize the supreme, right, and balanced state of bodhi;also on that day, I will turn the wonderful wheel of Dharma, causing countless, innumerable sentient beings to depart from dust and leave dirt, and causing them to have the pure Dharma-eye; at the same time, I will cause countless, innumerable sentient beings to end forever all excesses, and to liberate their minds and intuition; further, I will cause countless, innumerable sentient beings all to attain the state of not regressing or straying from the supreme, right, and balanced state of bodhi,

" [then] this bodhisattva mahāsattva

who wants to realize those things should learn the prajñāpāramitā. 61

This is [the Buddha's] gracious expounding of the merit of his descending to be born in a royal palace, as a bodhisattva in the last body, and his "relinquishing the throne, realizing the right truth, and turning the Dharma wheel to save living beings.

"

[101] Prince Siddhārtha62 took from Chandaka's63 side a sword whose hilt of the seven treasures was adorned with maṇi64 and miscellaneous embellishments. He grasped that sword in his right hand and drew it 189

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from its scabbard. With the left hand he at once took hold of the conchlike topknot of his hair, which was deep blue, the color of an utpala. 65

Wielding the sharp sword himself in his right hand, he cut off [the topknot]; with his left hand he held it aloft and threw it into the air. At this Śakra-devānām-indra greatly rejoiced, with a mind he had rarely experienced, and held aloft the prince's topknot, not letting it fall to the ground. With a fine heavenly robe, [Śakra] received [the topknot] and kept it. Then the gods served to it their most excellent heavenly offerings. 66

[102] This is how Śākyamuni Tathāgata, when formerly a prince, scaled the ramparts in the middle of the night, went in the daytime to the mountains, and cut the hair from his own head. At that time, gods of the Heavens of Pure Abiding67 came [down] to shave his head and to offer him the kaṣāya. Such [actions] are always the auspicious omens of a Tathāgata's manifestation in the world, and [such] are the usual methods of the World-honored Buddhas. There are no buddhas who realized buddha while remaining in family life, [not] even one buddha among all the buddhas of the three times and the ten directions. Because in the past there were buddhas, the merit of leaving family life and receiving the precepts exists. Living beings' attainment of the truth inevitably depends upon their leaving family life and receiving the precepts. In sum, the merit of leaving family life and receiving the precepts is that they are just the usual method of the buddhas, and therefore their merit is immeasurable. Within the sacred teaching there is explanation of lay realization of buddha, but it is not the authentic tradition. There is explanation of the female body realizing buddha, but this also is not the authentic tradition. 68 [The tradition] that the Buddhist patriarchs authentically transmit is to leave family life and realize buddha.

[103] [At the time of] the fourth patriarch, Venerable Upagupta, there is a rich man's son called Dhītika.

69 He comes to bow before the Venerable One, and seeks to leave family life. The Venerable One says, "Will you leave family life with body or leave family life with mind?" [Dhītika] replies,

"My seeking to leave family life is not for the

sake of body and mind.

"

The Venerable One says,

"If not for the sake of the body and mind,

who leaves family life at all?"

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[Dhītika] replies,

"In general, those who leave family life are without me and mine. Because they are without me and mine, the mind does not arise and pass.

70 Because the mind does not arise and pass, the state is just the normal state of truth.

71 Buddhas, similarly, are normal. Their

mind is without shape or form. And their body also is like that. "

The Venerable One says,

"You will realize great realization and

your mind will naturally penetrate to the ultimate. It is good that, through devotion to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, you will inherit the sacred seeds and cause them to flourish.

"72 Then he lets [Dhītika] leave

family life and receive ordination.

73

[105] Now to meet the Dharma of the buddhas and to leave family life is the most excellent effect and result. Its method is neither for the sake of me,nor for the sake of mine,nor for the sake of body and mind:it is not that body and mindleave family life. The truth that leaving family life is beyond me and mine is like this. Because it is beyond me and mine,it may be the method of the buddhas. It is simply the usual method74 of the buddhas. Because it is the usual method of the buddhas, it is beyond me and mineand beyond body and mind. It is beyond comparison with the triple world. Because it is like this, leaving family life is the supreme method. It is neither sudden nor gradual; it is neither constancy75 nor a state without constancy; it is neither an arrival nor a departure; it is neither to abide nor to become; it is neither wide nor restricted; it is neither great nor small. It is beyond becoming and beyond non-becoming. Ancestral masters of the one-to-one transmission of the Buddha-Dharma, without exception, leave family life and receive the precepts. The truth of Dhītika meeting now, for the first time, with Venerable Upagupta and seeking to leave family life, is like this. He left family life and received ordination, learned in practice under Upagupta, and eventually became the fifth ancestral master. [107] The seventeenth patriarch, Venerable Saṃghanandi, is the son of King Treasure Adornment76 of the city of Śrāvastī. 77 Able to speak

from birth, he always praises Buddhist matters. At the age of seven he grows averse to worldly pleasures and, in verse, he addresses his parents as follows:

Bowing to the ground before my great benevolent father, With vandana78 to the mother of my bones and blood, 191

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I now desire to leave family life.

Hopefully, I beseech you, because you are compassionate. His father and mother firmly put a stop to this. At last, when he goes all day without eating, they permit him to leave home at home. 79 They name

him Saṃghanandi,

80 and order the śramaṇaZenrita81 to be his teacher. [Thus] he accumulates nineteen years without ever regressing or growing weary. [But] the Venerable One is always thinking to himself, "My body

resides in the royal palace. How can this be called leaving family life?" One evening a heavenly brightness falls upon [the earth], and [Saṃ gha nandi] sees a path, flat and level. Unconsciously he walks slowly forward. About ten miles on he arrives before a great rock containing a stone cavern, inside which he at once settles into quietness. 82 The father, having

missed his son, banishes Zenrita out of the country in search of his son, [but] they do not know where he is. In the following ten years the Venerable One attains the Dharma and receives affirmation, after which he goes, teaching as he travels, to the kingdom of Madai. 83

[108] The term "leaving home at home" was first heard at this time. But, aided by long-accumulated good, [Saṃghanandi] found the level road in the heavenly brightness and he finally left the royal palace and went to the stone cavern—truly an excellent example. Those who dislike worldly pleasures and abhor secular dust are the sacred ones. Those who love the five desires84 and forget about getting free are the common and the stupid. Though the emperors Daisō and Shukusō85 frequently associated with monks, they still were greedy for the royal position, which they never abdicated. Layman Ro,

86 having left his parent, became a patriarch; [that] is the merit of leaving family life. Layman Hō87 threw away treasure but failed to throw away dust; [that] might be called extremely stupid. Mister Ro's bodhi-power and Mister Hō's emulation of the ancients do not deserve to be compared. Those who are clear inevitably leave family life. Those who are dull end [their lives] at home, which is the cause and conditions of black karma. [110] Zen Master Nangaku Ejō one day spontaneously speaks the following praise: "In general, leaving family life is Dharma without appearance.

88 In the heavens above and in the human world, there is nothing to surpass it.

"89

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"Dharma without appearance" means the right Dharma of the Tathāgata; therefore, in the heavens above and in the human world, it is supreme. As to the meaning of "the heavens above,

" there are the six heavens in the world

of desire, there are eighteen heavens in the world of matter, and four kinds [of heavens] in the world of non-matter, [but] none is on a par with the truth of leaving family life.

[111] Zen Master Banzan Hōshaku says:

Zen friends! Appropriate learning of the truth is like the earth holding aloft a mountain without recognizing the mountain's solitary steepness, or like a stone containing a jewel without recognizing the jewel's flawlessness. If [learning the truth] is like this, we call it leaving family life. 90

The Buddhist Patriarch's right Dharma is not necessarily connected with recognition and non-recognition. Leaving family life is the Buddhist Patriarch's right Dharma, and so its merit is evident.

[112] Zen Master Gigen91 of Rinzai-in Temple in Chinshū92 says: In general, those who have left family life should be able to intuit the normal and true view: to intuit [the state of] buddha, to intuit [the state of] demons, to intuit the true, to intuit the false, to intuit the common, and to intuit the sacred. If they are able to intuit like this, they are called true leavers of family life. If they do not distinguish between demons and buddhas, they have just left one nest and entered another nest, and they are called ordinary beings who are producing karma; they still cannot be called true leavers of family life.

93

This "normal and true view" means deep belief in cause and effect, deep belief in the Three Treasures, and so on.

"To intuit buddha" means to be clear

in mindfulness of the virtues of buddha [both] in the causal process and in the resultant state. We definitely distinguish between the true and the false, and the common and the sacred. If we are unclear with regard to demons and buddhas, we sacrifice learning of the truth and regress and deviate in learning the truth. When we sense the doings of demons, if we do not follow those doings, pursuit of the truth does not regress. This is called the method of a true leaver of family life. Those who randomly consider demon-doings to be the Buddha-Dharma are many; it is a wrongness of recent ages. Students, 193

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without delay, should know [the state of] demons and should clarify and practice and experience [the state of] buddha.

[114] At the time of the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa,

94 Bodhisattva

Mahākāśyapa said to the Buddha,

"World-honored One! A Tathāgata

is perfectly equipped with the power to know the nature of others. 95

You surely knew that Sunakṣatra96 would cut off his good roots. Through what causes and circumstances did you permit him to leave family life?"

The Buddha said,

"Good son! In the past, when I first left family

life, my younger brother Nanda,

97 my cousins Ānanda and Devadatta,

my son Rāhula, and suchlike98 all followed me in leaving family life and practicing the truth. If I had not allowed Sunakṣatra to leave family life, that man in due course would have been able to inherit the position of king; free to exercise that power, he would have destroyed the Buddha-Dharma. In view of these causes and circumstances, I immediately permitted him to leave family life and practice the truth. Good son! If the bhikṣuSunakṣatra had not left family life but still cut off his good roots, in countless ages there would have been no benefit at all. Now, after leaving family life, although he has cut off good roots, he has been able to receive and to retain the precepts; to serve and to venerate aged veterans, eminent patriarchs, and people of virtue; and to practice and to learn from the first dhyānato the fourth dhyāna. 99

These are called good causes. Good causes like these can give rise to good ways. Once good ways have arisen, we can practice and learn the truth. Once we have practiced and learned the truth, we will be able to attain the state of anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.For this reason, I allowed Sunakṣatra to leave family life. Good son! If I had not allowed the bhikṣuSunakṣatra to leave family life and receive the precepts I could not be called a Tathāgata equipped with the ten powers. 100 Good

son! A buddha reflects whether living beings possess good ways or nonvirtuous ways. This man [Sunakṣatra], although he possesses both such ways, before long may cut off all good roots and possess [only] nonvirtuous roots. For what reasons? [Because] ordinary beings like him do not associate with good friends, do not listen to the right Dharma, do not think of good, and do not act in accord with the Dharma. Due 194

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to such causes and circumstances, he may cut off good roots and possess [only] nonvirtuous roots.

"101

[117] Remember, although the Tathāgata, the World-honored One, is clearly aware that ordinary beings might become cutters of good roots, 102 in

order to bestow upon them the causes of good, he permits them to leave family life: it is great benevolence and great compassion. Becoming a cutter of good roots is the result of not associating with good friends, not listening to the right Dharma, not thinking of good, and not acting in accord with the Dharma. Students today, without fail, should associate closely with good friends. "A good

friend" means one who maintains that buddhas exist and who teaches that there is wrongness and happiness. One who does not negate cause and effect is called "a good friend" and called "a good counselor.

" The preaching of such a person

is the right Dharma itself. To think about this truth is "to think good. " To act

in this manner may be "to act in accord with the Dharma. " Therefore, irrespective of whether ordinary beings are familiar to us or unfamiliar, we should just encourage them to leave family life and receive the precepts. Do not heed whether or not they will regress in future and do not worry whether or not they will practice. This may truly be Śākyamuni's right Dharma. [118] The Buddha addressed the bhikṣus: "Remember, King Yama once opined,

'I will some day get free from this suffering. I will be born in the human world. By obtaining a human body, I will then be able to leave family life, shave beard and hair, wear the three Dharma robes, and learn the truth as one who has left family life. ' Even King

Yama had this idea. Much more, you all now have obtained a human body and have been able to become śramaṇas. Therefore, bhikṣus, you should mindfully practice the actions of body, speech, and mind and should not cause imperfections to occur. You should eliminate the five fetters103 and cultivate the five roots.

104 Bhikṣus such as you are should

do such training.

" Then the bhikṣus, hearing the Buddha's preaching, rejoiced and devoutly practiced.

105

[119] Clearly we have seen, the longing for a life in the human world, even of King Yama, is like this. A human being who has already been born should, without delay, shave his beard and hair, wear the three Dharma robes, and learn the Buddha's truth. These are the merits of the human world that 195

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are beyond other worlds. To have been born in the human world yet nonetheless wantonly to pursue a political path or a worldly career, idly spending one's life as the servant of kings and ministers, encircled by dreams and illusions, and in later ages to proceed toward pitch darkness still without anything upon which to rely, is extremely stupid. Not only have we received the rarely received human body; we have [also] encountered the rarely encountered Buddha-Dharma. We should immediately cast aside all involvements and should swiftly leave family life and learn the truth. Kings, ministers, wives, children, and relatives, inevitably, are encountered everywhere, [but] the Buddha-Dharma, like the uḍumbaraflower,

106 is hardly ever encountered.

In conclusion, when impermanence suddenly arrives, kings, ministers, friends and relatives, servants, wives and children, and precious treasures are of no help; each person simply proceeds to the underworld107 alone. What accompanies us is only our good or bad karma. When we are about to lose the human body, our regret at the loss of the human body might be deep. While we retain a human body we should quickly leave family life. Just this may be the right Dharma of the buddhas of the three times. [121] For those who have thus left family life there are four kinds of practice of the Dharma, namely:

"[T]he four reliances":108 1) throughout one's life to sit beneath trees, 2) throughout one's life to wear robes of rags, 3) throughout one's life to beg for food, 4) throughout one's life, in case of illness, to take old medicine.

109 One who practices each of these methods truly is called one who has left family life, and truly is called a monk. If we do not practice them we are not called monks. For this reason, they are called practices of the Dharma by those who have left family life. Now, in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, what is authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs is just "practices of the Dharma by those who have left family life.

" The state of "a whole life without leaving

the temple forest"110 is directly furnished with these practices of the Dharma, the four reliances. This is called "practicing the four reliances. " If [someone]

goes against this and establishes five reliances, remember, it is false Dharma: who could believe in it, and who could affirm it? What is authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs is the right Dharma. To leave family life 196

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in accordance with this [right Dharma] is the highest and most valuable human happiness. Therefore, in the Western Heavens of India, Nanda, Ānanda, Devadatta, Aniruddha,

111 Mahānāma,

112 and Bhadrika,

113 who were all grandsons of King Siṃhahanu,

114 and who were of the most noble kṣatriyacaste,

quickly left family life. It may be an excellent example for later generations. Those today who are not kṣatriyas should not begrudge their bodies. For those who are not even princes, what could there be to begrudge? [The royal Śākyas], coming from the noblest [position] in Jam budvīpa, arrived at the noblest [position] in the triple world:115 this was just leaving family life. Kings of lesser nations, and the Licchavi116 multitudes, vainly treasuring what did not deserve to be treasured, taking pride in what did not warrant pride, and staying where they should not have stayed, failed to leave family life: who could not see them as inept, and who could not see them as extremely stupid? Venerable Rāhula was the son of the Bodhisattva, and the grandson of King Śuddhodana, who would have bequeathed the throne to him. Nevertheless, the World-honored One pointedly caused him to leave family life. Know that the Dharma of leaving family life is supremely valuable. As the disciple foremost in exact observance,

117 [Rāhula] even today has not yet

entered nirvana, but actually abides in the world as a field of happiness for living beings. Among the ancestral masters of the Western Heavens who transmitted the Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury, the princes who left family life have been many. Now the first patriarch in China was the third royal son of the king of Kōshi.

118 Not attaching importance to his royal status,

he received and retained the right Dharma: we have been able clearly to see that leaving family life is supremely valuable. Having a body that cannot rank alongside those [princes], yet being in a position to leave family life, how could we not hasten [to do so]? For what kind of tomorrow should we wait? If we leave family life in haste, without waiting for [the next] exhalation or inhalation, that might be wise. We should remember also that the benevolence of the master under whom we leave family life and receive the precepts may be exactly equal to that of a father and mother.

[125] The Zen

'

enshingi,fascicle 1, says:

The buddhas of the three times all say that to leave family life is to realize the truth. The twenty-eight patriarchs of the Western Heavens 197

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and six patriarchs of the Land of Tang who transmitted the buddhamind-seal were all śramaṇas. Perhaps it was by strictly observing the Vinaya that they were able to become universal models for the triple world. Therefore, in practicing [za]zen and inquiring into the truth, the precepts are foremost. Unless we have already departed from excess and guarded against wrong, how can we realize the state of buddha and become patriarchs?119

Even if a temple forest120 is in decay, still it may be a gardenia grove, 121

a place beyond common trees and common grass. 122 Or it is like milk diluted

with water. When we want to use milk, we should use this milk diluted with water [but] should not use any other substance. Therefore, the authentic tradition, which is that "the buddhas of the three times all say that to leave family life is to realize the truth, " is supremely valuable. There are no buddhas of the three times who fail to leave family life. Such is the right Dharma-eye treasury, the fine mind of nirvana, and the supreme [truth of] bodhi, which the buddhas and the patriarchs authentically transmit. Shōbōgenzō Shukke-kudoku

A day of the summer retreat in the seventh year of Kenchō.

123

198

Notes

1 The fourteenth patriarch in India.

2 In Master Nāgārjuna's time, there were two hundred and fifty precepts for monks and three hundred and forty-eight for nuns. Lay Buddhists observed five precepts. 3 Shukke,i.e., monks.

4 Master Nāgārjuna quoted the poem from an older Buddhist sutra or commentary. 5 Laypeople.

6 Gusokukai,from the Sanskrit upasaṃpadā,means taking the two hundred and fifty precepts for a monk or three hundred and forty-eight precepts for a nun. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

7 The Honshōkyō,legendary stories of the Buddha's past lives as a bodhisattva. 8 Kāśyapa Buddha is the sixth of the seven ancient buddhas, the seventh being Śākyamuni Buddha. 9 Daichidoron(Sanskrit: Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa), chap. 30. The Mahā prajñā pāramitopadeśais considered to be Master Nāgārjuna's commentary on the Pañca viṃśati sāha srikāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra(see notes 60 and 61). This section of the Daichidoronis also quoted in Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku,paragraph 87. 10 Gokai("five precepts"), from the Sanskrit pañca-śīlā:1) not to kill, 2) not to steal, 3) not to commit adultery, 4) not to lie, 5) not to drink alcohol. These five precepts are still a standard observed by laypeople in Hinayana Buddhist countries such as Thailand. 11 Daichidoron, chap. 30. See also Chapter Eighty-three, Shukke, paragraph 18. 12 The diminutive wazukani,

"slightly,

" suggests that, relative to the importance of

leaving family life, the fact that the brahman was drunk was not so important. 13 The merit of wanting to leave family life.

14 Moments. It is said that one click of the fingers takes sixty-five kṣāṇas. 15 Tenrinjō-ō,

"sacred wheel-turning kings,

" from the Sanskrit cakravarti-rāja,feature

in sutras such as the Lotus Sutra,for example, LS 2.60. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

16 Jōdo ("Pure Land"), from the Sanskrit Sukhāvatī, suggests an ideal realm. 199

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17 For example, it was said that a king with a gold wheel rules all four continents; a king with a silver wheel rules the east, west, and south continents; a king with a copper wheel rules the east and south continents; and a king with an iron wheel rules only the southern continent.

18 The ten evils are killing, stealing, adultery, lying, flattery, abusive words, duplicitous speech, greed, anger, and wrong views.

19 Refers to the thirty-two distinguishing marks on the body of a buddha. 20 The Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands refer to India and China, respectively. 21 Nanshū suggests Jambudvīpa, the continent south of Mount Sumeru on which human beings are living; that is, the human world.

22 Hokushū, from the Sanskrit Uttarakuru, the northern continent; an ideal realm of everlasting bliss.

23 I.e., a human body.

24 Shakku-ruitoku.The expression originates in the Lotus Sutra.See, for example, LS 2.218-220.

25 Sanjūsan-ten,

"thirty-three gods,

" representing the Sanskrit Trāyastriṃśa, are said to live on the top of Mount Sumeru in the second of the six heavens in the world of desire. Śakra-devānām-indra is in the center surrounded by eight gods in each of the four quarters. See Volume III, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 26 Kengukyō,fascicle 4.

27 Fukuzō, lit.,

"Wealth Increaser,

" represents the Sanskrit Śrīvaddhi, the name of a wealthy man from Rājagṛha who appears in fascicle 4 of the Kengukyō.Already a centenarian, he asked Śāriputra if he could become a monk, but Śāriputra refused, saying that Śrīvaddhi was too old. The Buddha, however, thereafter allowed him to become a monk. 28 The eight kinds of pain are the pain of 1) birth, 2) aging, 3) sickness, 4) death, 5) separation from loved ones, 6) association with those one dislikes, 7) seeking what cannot be attained, 8) building up of the five aggregates (strong desire). 29 In a twenty-four hour period there are sixty-four hundred million, ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty kṣāṇas.

30 Alludes to Lotus Sutra,Jo("Introductory"). See LS 1.42-44. 31 Lotus Sutra,Kejō-yu("Parable of the Magic City"). See LS 2.58. 32 Ibid. See LS 2.62.

33 Ibid. See LS 2.60.

34 Lotus Sutra,Myō-shōgon-ō-honji("The Story of King Resplendent"). See LS 3.302. 35 Rāhula was the Buddha's son.

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36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Ānanda was the Buddha's cousin and the second patriarch in India. Śākya was the name of the clan into which the Buddha was born, hence the name Śākyamuni,

"Sage (muni) of the Śākyas.

"

Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Bhadrika, Mahānāma, and Daśabala-Kāśyapa. These five were ordered by the Buddha's father, King Śūddhodana of the Śākyas, to accompany the Buddha in his ascetic practice. They left the Buddha when he abandoned asceticism, but when they heard his first turning of the Dharma wheel, they became the first monks of the Buddha's order.

Subhadra was a brahman who, shortly before the Buddha's death, became the last of the Buddha's disciples to become a monk.

Daibibasharon,chap. 76. Also quoted in Chapter Eighty-seven, Kuyō-shobutsu. Eshin. Emeans "to rely upon,

" and shinmeans "body.

" Eshinmeans the body as the

basis of consciousness; that is, the physical body. Refers to the seventh Indian patriarch, Master Vasumitra, who, together with a large number of collaborators known as the five hundred arhats, compiled the Abhidharma mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra(the Chinese translation is called Daibibasharonin Japan) about four hundred years after the Buddha's death. In Sanskrit, Yamarāja, the king of the underworld who decides the fate of the dead according to their virtue.

Daibibasharon,fascicle 66. Yue[ni] kyō [ni] shō[se]zu.The Daibibasharonhas yue [ni] kyō [ni] to[ka]zu:"therefore the sutras do not mention it. "

A vaiśyais a peasant or worker belonging to the third of the four castes in the ancient Indian social system. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. A śūdrais a servant belonging to the lowest of the four castes, whose only social role was to serve those of the three higher classes: brāhmaṇa(brahman), kṣatriya, and vaiśya. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. A kṣatriyais a member of the military or ruling class, the second of the four castes. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

Again, this refers to Master Vasumitra and the five hundred arhats who compiled the Abhi dharmamahāvibhāṣā-śāstraat the Fourth Council, held in the kingdom of Kaniṣka.

49 Ninpō,

"indulgence toward the Dharma,

" is traditionally interpreted as an expression of the state in which a person recognizes the Four Noble Truths. Ninrepresents the Sanskrit kṣānti,which Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionarydefines as "patience, indulgence; the state of saintly abstraction. " At the same time, it can be

interpreted as representing a different character pronounced nin,meaning "recognition. "

See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

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50 The Higekyō(the Chinese translation of the Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka-sūtra) actually lists only three hundred and thirty-five vows. In Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku,Master Dōgen also quotes vows from the Higekyōand refers to the five hundred great vows. 51 Zenkon,

"good roots,

" means good actions as the roots of happiness. 52 The Ten Serious Prohibitions are included in the sixteen bodhisattva precepts which, by Master Dōgen's time, were taken by both monks and laypeople in China and Japan. These sixteen precepts are a condensed version of the two hundred and fifty precepts observed by monks and the three hundred and forty-eight precepts observed by nuns in Hinayana Buddhism. (See Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai). 53 Daishūkyō(Sanskrit: Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra), fascicle 53. 54 Hōsshin,

"Dharma body,

" from the Sanskrit dharmakāya,means a buddha's body seen as an inclusive entity with real value or meaning. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. Hōjin,

"reward body,

" from the Sanskrit saṃbhogakāya(lit.,

"enjoyment body"), means the concrete physical body seen as the result of actions and circumstances in the past. See Volume II, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 55 The three evil states are the states of beings in hell, hungry ghosts, and animals. 56 Nehan-in,

"seal of nirvana,

" is the fourth of four hō-in,

"Dharma seals" (Sanskrit:

dharmoddāna), which are 1) all is suffering, 2) all dharmas are without self, 3) all actions are inconstant, and 4) the quiet and still state of nirvana. These four Dharma seals, or concrete characteristics of the Buddha-Dharma, are said to distinguish the teaching of Buddhism from non-Buddhism.

57 Daishūkyō,fascicle 53.

58 Daihatsunehangyō(Sutra of the Great Demise;Sanskrit: Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra), fascicle 23.

59 Śāriputra, who died while the Buddha was still alive, was one of the Buddha's ten great disciples. The Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya-sūtra(more commonly known as the Heart Sutra) is addressed to Śāriputra, and represents the core teachings of all Sanskrit Prajñā pāramitā literature. See Chapter Two (Vol. I), Maka-hannya-haramitsu. 60 Makahannyaharamitsukyō,fascicle 1. The Makahannyaharamitsukyōis Kumārajīva's translation of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra. 61 Daihannyaharamitsukyō,fascicle 3. The Daihannyaharamitsukyō,translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Xuanzang in 659, is a six hundred-fascicle collection of the sixteen Prajñāpāramitā sutras which make up the great bulk of Prajñāpāramitā literature. The second of these sixteen sutras is the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñā pāramitā-sūtra. 62 Siddhārtha; lit.,

given name as a prince.

"he who has fulfilled the aim (of his coming), " was the Buddha's

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63 Chandaka was a servant employed by King Śūddhodana as Prince Siddhārtha's charioteer. 64 Maṇiare pearls or jewels. 65 Utpalais a blue lotus. 66 Butsuhongyōjikkyō,fascicle 18. The Butsuhongyōjikkyōis a sixty-fascicle biography of the Buddha translated into Chinese by Jñānagupta. 67 Jōgoten,

"Heavens of Pure Abiding, " are described as the realm where an anāgāmin (non-returner) is reborn. There are said to be five of these heavens, located in the fourth dhyānaheaven in the world of matter. 68 When a person leaves family life and realizes the state of buddha, that person's social standing and gender are irrelevant. 69 Dhītika was a native of Magadha. He eventually succeeded Master Upagupta, becoming the fifth patriarch in India. 70 In other words, the mind is realized in each moment of the present. 71 Jōdō. Jōmeans constant, usual, or normal. Dō, "Way,

" frequently represents the Sanskrit bodhi,which means the Buddhist state of truth. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

72 The causes of the state of buddha. 73 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 1. 74 Jōhō. Jō,

"usual,

" appears in Master Dhītika's phrase. Jōdō, see note 71. Hōmeans method or Dharma. "normal state of truth"; 75 Jō,as in notes 71 and 74. 76 Hō-shōgon-ō,

vyūha rāja.

"Treasure Adornment.

" The Sanskrit equivalent is probably Ratna -77 Śrāvastī was the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kośala. 78 The Sanskrit vandanameans to venerate or to perform an act of veneration. 79 Zaike-shukke.He remained at home in the royal palace but formally became a monk. 80 Saṃghanandi means "Sangha Joy. "

81 Zenrita represents the sound of the Sanskrit Rāhulata. Not much is known about his life history.

82 Enjakustands for enza-jakujō, "settled sitting in quietness, " an expression for zazen. Enis used interchangeably with an,which means peaceful, stable, or settled. 83 The Sanskrit equivalent of Madai is Madhi. This story is quoted from the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 2. 203

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84 The five desires correspond to the five senses: desires for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations.

85 Daisō and Shukusō were Tang dynasty emperors who lived at the time of Master Nan'yō Echū. See Chapter Eighty, Tashintsū. 86 Ro koji.Ro was the family name of Master Daikan Enō, the Sixth Patriarch in China. The story of him leaving his mother is recorded in Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji. The concept koji,which represents the Sanskrit gṛhaparti, "householder,

" is explained

in Chapter Eight (Vol. I), Raihai-tokuzui.See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 87 Layman Hōun (?-808). Originally a disciple of Master Sekitō Kisen, he later received the Dharma from Master Baso Dōitsu, although he never became a monk. See also Chapter Seventy-three, Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō;Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 1, nos. 5, 88, 99.

88 Mushōmeans "without appearance" or "non-birth. " In the latter meaning, it is sometimes used as a synonym for nirvana. In the former meaning, "without appearance"

describes 1) the eternity of time, which is without a beginning; and 2) the reality of the present moment, which is cut off from the past and future and therefore without appearance or disappearance. See also the discussion in Chapter Twenty-three (Vol. II), Gyōbutsu-yuigi.

89 Tenshōkōtōroku,chap. 8.

90 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 7.

91 Master Rinzai Gigen (c. 815-867), successor of Master Ōbaku Kiun. 92 In modern-day Hopeh province in northeast China. 93 Rinzaieshōzenjigoroku.

94 The term parinirvāṇa,

"complete extinction,

" represents the Buddha's death, as distinct from nirvana,

"extinction,

" which represents the state of nonattachment that the Buddha realized during his lifetime. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 95 One of the ten powers of a Tathāgata. See note 100. 96 Zenshō, lit.,

"Good Star,

" represents the Sanskrit Sunakṣatra. It is said that Sunakṣatra served the Buddha as an attendant monk but later returned to the secular world and slandered the Buddha and his teaching. The Daihatsunehankyōcites him as an example of an icchantika(one who pursues personal desires in the extreme), in whom arose the wrong view that there is no Buddha, Dharma, or nirvana. As a result, he fell into Avīci Hell even during his lifetime.

97 Nanda was the son of the Buddha's father, King Śuddhodana, by Śuddhodana's second wife, Mahāprajāpatī. The Buddha's mother, Mahāmāyā, died soon after the Buddha's birth.

98 Suggests other members of the Śākya clan who were in line to become king. 204

Chapter Eighty-six

99 The four dhyānas are a categorization of the state in zazen into four stages. See Chapter Ninety, Shizen-biku.

100 Nyorai-gusoku-jūriki,

"ten powers with which a Tathāgata is equipped, " represents

the Sanskrit daśa-tathāgata-balāni.See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. A traditional interpretation of the ten powers is as follows: 1) knowing right and wrong, 2) knowing which karmic effects follow from which causes, 3) knowing the various balanced states (four dhyānas, eight states of liberation, three samādhis, etc.), 4) knowing the superior or inferior qualities of others, 5) knowing the desires of others, 6) knowing the states of others, 7) knowing the destinations of others (nirvana, hell, etc.), 8) knowing the past; 9) knowing life and death, 10) knowing how to end excesses. 101 Daihatsunehankyō,fascicle 33.

102 Dan-zenkon,

"cutter of good roots,

" represents the Sanskrit icchantika,which means one who pursues to the end his or her personal wishes, desires, or inclinations, and who therefore has no belief in the Buddha and no interest in doing good and not doing wrong. See Volume II, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 103 Goketsu.The five fetters, according to one interpretation, are: 1) greed, 2) anger, 3) conceit, 4) envy, and 5) meanness. At the same time, ketsu, "that which ties or hinders,

"

represents the Sanskrit kleśa,

"affliction.

" The Vijñānavāda school enumerates six

mūla-kleśaor fundamental afflictions: 1) rāga(vehement desire), 2) pratigha(anger), 3) mūḍha(confusion), 4) māna(self-conceit), 5) vicikitsā(doubt), and 6) dṛṣṭi(wrong views). Sometimes the former five are regarded as one group, and the five wrong views, pañca dṛṣṭayah,are regarded as a second group. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

104 Gokon("five roots"), from the Sanskrit pañcendriyāṇi.In Sanskrit they are: 1) śraddhā (belief), 2) vīrya(diligence), 3) smṛti(mindfulness), 4) samādhi(the balanced state), and 5) prajñā(wisdom). See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. These roots of good conduct are listed in Chapter Seventy-three, Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō,and in the penultimate chapter of the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō, Ippyakuhachi-hōmyōmon(see Appendix III). 105 Kiseinhongyō,fascicle 4. The literal meaning of ki-se-in-hongyōis "Sutra of Past Occurrences of Causes in the World.

"

106 The uḍumbarais a kind of mulberry tree that grows in India. Its flowers form a peel, so it appears to have no flowers. Ancient Indians used the uḍumbaraflower as a symbol of something very rare, saying that the flower bloomed only once every three thousand years. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge. 107 Ōsen,literally,

the earth.

"Yellow Spring.

" In the Daoist tradition in China, yellow represents 108 Shi-e,

"four reliances,

" are listed in the Daijōgishō,fascicle 2.

109 Chinkiyaku.The Zengaku-daijitensays that this referred to medicines that had fallen 205