T2582 Shōbōgenzō The True Dharma-Eye Treasury, Volume IV

Chapter 88: Kie-sanbō - Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures

Shōbōgenzō Volume IV

the Sthavira. In the third century after the demise of the Buddha, the Sarvāstivāda school emerged from the Sthavira.

" On the one hand, this historical opposition of the

two schools may not have been recognized in Master Dōgen's time. On the other hand, it may be argued that Master Dōgen strongly revered the true Buddhist lineage that affirms the existence of this world and at the same time he strongly revered the traditional Vinaya which belongs to that lineage, without discriminating between one sect and another.

84 Hokken became a monk in his childhood and departed for India in 399. After a sixyear journey filled with hardships ("brambles and thorns"), he traced the history of the Buddha, learned Sanskrit, and obtained Sanskrit texts of the Tripiṭaka (Sutra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma), before returning to China via Sri Lanka in 414. Back in China, he translated the Makasōgiritsu,together with Buddhabhadra, and other works. He died at the age of eighty-two (one account says eighty-six). 85 Shigustands for shishōgu,lit.,

"contributing-to-life goods,

" i.e., necessities of life.

The latter expression appears in Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku,paragraph 95. 86 Fukudensuggests the state in zazen. The kaṣāyais called fukuden-e, "field of happiness

robe.

"

87 The uḍumbaraflower is a symbol of the Buddha's state of mind, which, like the uḍumbaraflower, is rarely encountered. See Chapter Sixty-eight (Vol. III), Udonge. 88 Master Sōkei Reitō (666-760). He became a monk under Master Daikan Enō, whom he served until Master Daikan Enō's death. Then he took care of a pagoda in which Master Daikan Enō's kaṣāyawas preserved. He declined the emperor's invitation several times, staying on Sōkei Mountain until his own death at the age of ninetyfive. His posthumous title was Master Daigyō. 89 Master Daikan Enō (638-713). Sōkei is the name of the mountain on which he and Master Reitō lived. Master Daikan's family name was Ro. Before formally becoming a monk he worked on the temple grounds as a servant, pounding rice for the monks. See Chapter Thirty (Vol. II), Gyōji.

90 1255. This is one of the chapters of the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō. The structure of this chapter is similar to that of Chapter Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku, with Master Dōgen adding brief comments to excerpts from sutras. Master Dōgen died in 1253, two years before this concluding note was added, presumably by Master Koun Ejō.

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[Chapter Eighty-eight]

Kie-sanbō

Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures Translator's Note: Kie means "devotion to

"

or

"taking refuge in,

"

andsanbō

means

"Three Treasures

"

: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Buddha means Gautama Buddha and other people who have attained the same state as Gautama Buddha. Dharma means reality. Sangha means the Buddhist community of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The Three Treasures are of supreme value in Buddhism and Master Dōgen emphasized the importance of devoting ourselves to them. He says that devotion to the Three Treasures is the beginning and the end of Buddhism. [181] The Zen

'

enshingi(One hundred and twenty, question one) says, "Do you

revere Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or not?" Clearly, in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, what the Buddhist patriarchs have authentically transmitted is reverence for Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. If we do not take refuge in them, 1 we do not revere them; and if we do not revere them, we cannot take refuge in them. We accomplish the merit of this taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha whenever sympathetic communication of the truth2 takes place. Whether we are in the heavens above, the human world, hell, or states of demons and animals, if sympathetic communication of the truth occurs, we take refuge without fail. Once we have taken refuge, we develop [merit] in every life, in every age, in every location, and at every place; we pile up merit and heap up virtue, and we accomplish [the truth of] anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.Even if we happen to be led by bad friends and encounter hindrances of demons, so that we temporarily become one who cuts off good roots, or become an icchantika, 3

eventually we will continue with good roots, whose merit will develop. The merit of taking refuge in the Three Treasures is, in the end, not subject to decay. This "taking refuge in the Three Treasures" means, with concentrated 235

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pure belief—whether the age is one in which the Tathāgata is alive or whether it is after the Tathāgata's extinction—holding the palms together, lowering the head, and orally reciting the following: I, So-and-so,

From my present body until attainment of the Buddha's body, Take refuge in Buddha,

I take refuge in Dharma,

I take refuge in Sangha.

I take refuge in Buddha, most honored of bipeds. I take refuge in Dharma, honored as beyond desire. I take refuge in Sangha, honored among communities. I have taken refuge in Buddha,

I have taken refuge in Dharma,

I have taken refuge in Sangha.

4

[184] Resolving upon the distant buddha-effect of bodhi,we should thus bring into being a saṃnāha.

5 Then, although [this] body and mind, kṣāṇaby kṣāṇa,even now is appearing and disappearing, the Dharma body will long continue to thrive and will accomplish the state of bodhi,without fail. As for the meaning of "to take refuge" (literally, "to return to and to depend

upon"),

"to return" is "to devote oneself to, " and "to depend upon" is "to

submit to"; for this reason, we call it "taking refuge. " The form of "devotion"

is, for example, like a child belonging to its father. "Submission" is, for example, like a people depending upon their king. These are words for, in another word,

"salvation.

" Because the Buddha is our great teacher, we take refuge in him. Because the Dharma is good medicine, we take refuge in it. Because the Sangha is excellent friends, we take refuge in it. [Someone] asks: "For what reason do we take refuge solely in these three?" The answer is; "Because these three kinds [of treasure] are ultimate places of refuge and they can cause living beings to get free from life and death and to experience the great state of bodhi. Therefore we take refuge in them. These three kinds [of treasure], in conclusion, are of unthinkable merit.

"6

"Buddha"7 in India is pronounced buddaya8 and in China is translated as "the state of truth"9

—the supreme, right and balanced state of truth. Dharma 236

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in India is pronounced daruma10

—or pronounced donmu,

11 which is a variant

of the Sanskrit sound—and in China is translated as "the Law. " All dharmas,

good, bad, and indifferent, are called "dharmas, " but the present Dharma as

an object of devotion within the Three Treasures is Dharma as the Law. Sangha in India is pronounced sōgya12 and in China is translated as "harmonious community. " [The Three Treasures] have been praised like this. [186] "The Three Treasures as what abides and is maintained": statues and stupas are the Buddha Treasure; yellow paper on a red rod is the transmitted Dharma Treasure; shaving of the head, dyeing of robes, and the conventional form of the rules of discipline are the Sangha Treasure.

"The Three Treasures as [related to the Buddha's] teaching forms": Śākyamuni, the World-honored One, is the Buddha Treasure; the Dharma wheel he turned, and the sacred teachings that he propagated, are the Dharma Treasure; the five men, Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the others, 13 are the Sangha Treasure.

"The Three Treasures as the body of theory": the Dharma body of five divisions14 is called the Buddha Treasure; the truth of cessation, 15

the state without intention, is called the Dharma Treasure; and the merits of students and those beyond study16 are the Sangha Treasure. "The Three Treasures [each] as a totality": experience and understanding of the great state of truth is called the Buddha Treasure; purity, being beyond taintedness, is called the Dharma Treasure; and ultimate principles making harmony, being without hesitation and without stagnancy, is called the Sangha Treasure. 17

[Past Buddhists] took refuge in the Three Treasures [as described] like this. Living beings of scant good fortune and small virtue do not hear even the names of the Three Treasures; how much less are they able to take refuge? [188] The Sutra of the Flower of Dharmasays:

These living beings of many sins,

With their bad conduct as direct and indirect causes, Even if they pass asaṃkhyas of kalpas

Do not hear the name of the Three Treasures.

18

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The Sutra of the Flower of Dharmais "the one great purpose"19 of the buddha-tathāgatas. Of all the sutras preached by Great Teacher Śākyamuni, the Sutra of the Flower of Dharmais the great king and is the great teacher. Other sutras and other Dharmas are all the subjects and the retinue of the Sutra of the Flower of Dharma.What is preached in the Sutra of the Flower of Dharmais just the truth; what is preached in other sutras always includes an expedient means, which is not the Buddha's fundamental intention. If we evoked preaching contained in other sutras in order to compare and appraise the Sutra of the Flower of Dharma,that would be backward. Without being covered by the influence of the merit of the Flower of Dharma, other sutras could not exist. Other sutras are all waiting to devote themselves to the Flower of Dharma. In this Sutra of the Flower of Dharmathere is the present preaching. Remember, the merits of the Three Treasures are supremely valuable and are supreme. [189] The World-honored One said:

Ordinary people, fearing oppression, often seek refuge in mountains and parks and in forests, solitary trees, caityas,

20 and so on. Such seeking

for refuge is not excellent and such seeking for refuge is not valuable. It is not possible, through such seeking for refuge, to be liberated from the many kinds of suffering. If beings take refuge in Buddha and take refuge in Dharma and Sangha, they will, in the reality of the Four Noble Truths, constantly observe with wisdom, knowing suffering, knowing the accumulation of suffering, knowing eternal transcendence of the many kinds of suffering, and knowing the eightfold noble path21 that leads to the balanced and peaceful state of nirvana. This taking refuge is most excellent and this taking refuge is supremely valuable. It is always possible, by thus taking refuge, to be liberated from the many kinds of suffering.

22

[190] The World-honored One clearly set it out for all living beings: living beings should not, fearing oppression, vainly seek refuge in mountain deities, demon deities, and the like, or seek refuge in non-Buddhist caityas. [Living beings] are never liberated through such seeking for refuge. Typically, following the wrong teachings of non-Buddhism, [people adhere to] "the ox precepts, 23

the deer precepts, the rākṣasa24 precepts, the demon precepts, the mute's precepts, the deaf person's precepts, the dog precepts, the chicken precepts, or 238

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the pheasant precepts; or they coat the body with ash; or they make their long hair into forms;25 or they sacrifice a sheep26

—at which time they first

recite dhāraṇīs and then kill it—or they perform fire rituals for four months;27 or they take air for seven days;28 or they serve to various gods offerings of hundred thousand koṭis of flowers; and all their desires by this means they [strive to] accomplish. There is no affirmation that such methods can become the cause of liberation. [Such methods] are not praised by the wise; they are to suffer in vain without good results.

"29 Because it is so, we must definitely

be clear that we are not idly devoted to wrong ways. Even if a method is different from these precepts, if its principle corresponds to the principle of [seeking refuge in] "solitary trees, caityas, and so on, " do not seek refuge

through it. The human body is hard to receive, and the Buddha-Dharma is rarely met. If we idly spent a lifetime as the follower of a demon deity, or if we passed many lives as beings descended from the false view, that would be lamentable. By swiftly taking refuge in the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, we should not only be liberated from the many kinds of suffering: we should accomplish the state of bodhi. [193] The Sutra of Rare Occurrences30 says:

Teaching the four continents and the six heavens in [the world of] desire, so that all attain the fourth effect, does not equal the merit of one human being's reception of the Three Devotions.

31

"The four continents" are the eastern, western, southern, and northern continents. Of these, the northern continent cannot be reached by the teaching of the three vehicles:32 to teach all living beings in that place, and to make them into arhats, would be seen as a very rare occurrence indeed. Even if such benefit existed, it could never equal the merit of guiding one human being to receive the Three Devotions. The six heavens, also, are imagined to be a place where living beings who can attain the truth are rare. Even if we caused those [living beings] to attain the fourth effect, that could never equal the greatness and the profundity of the merit of one human being's reception of the Three Devotions.

[194] The Ekottarāgama Sutra33 says:

There was a god of Trāyastriṃśa34 whose laments—when the five signs of decay35 appeared—that it would be born as a wild boar, were heard 239

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by Śakra-devānām-indra. Śakra, upon hearing this [god], summoned it and told it; "You should take refuge in the Three Treasures. " It immediately did as it had been instructed and thereby escaped birth as a wild boar. The Buddha preached the following verse: Beings that take refuge in Buddha,

Do not fall into the three evil states.

36

They end excesses and live [in the world] of humans and gods. They will arrive at nirvana.

After [the god] had received the Three Devotions it was born into a wealthy man's family. Further, it was able to leave family life and to realize the state of one beyond study.

In sum, the merit of taking refuge in the Three Treasures is beyond consideration: it is inestimable and infinite. [195] When the World-honored One was in the world, twenty-six koṭis of hungry dragons came together to the Buddha's place and, all of them shedding tears like rain, they addressed him: "Solely we beseech you! Have pity and save us, All-compassionate World-honored One! We remember during a past age, although we were able to leave family life in the Buddha-Dharma, we perpetrated to the full various bad actions like these, 37 and because of the bad

actions we expended countless bodies in the three evil states. Further, because of residual retribution, we have been born in the world of dragons, and have suffered extremely great agonies. " The Buddha told the

dragons,

"Now you must all receive the Three Devotions and singlemindedly perform good. By virtue of this cause you will meet, during the kalpaof the wise,

38 the last buddha therein, whose name will be Tower Arrival.

39 In the age of that buddha you will be able to expiate your sins.

" Then, when the dragons had heard these words, they all exhausted their lives with utmost sincerity, and each received the Three Devotions.

40

[196] The Buddha himself, in saving the dragons, possessed no other method and no other technique: he simply imparted to them the Three Devotions. [The dragons] had received the Three Devotions in a past age when 240

Chapter Eighty-eight

they left family life but, as a result of karmic retribution, they had become hungry dragons, at which time no other method could save them. Therefore [the Buddha] imparted to them the Three Devotions. Remember, the Worldhonored One already has certified, and living beings should duly believe, that the merit of the Three Devotions is supremely valuable and is supreme, profound, and unthinkable. [The Buddha] did not cause them to recite the names of the buddhas of the ten directions: he simply imparted to them the Three Devotions. The Buddha's intention is profound: who can fathom it? Living beings today, rather than vainly reciting the name of every single buddha, should swiftly receive the Three Devotions. Do not be so dull as to squander great merit.

[197] At that time in the gathering there was a blind dragon woman. The inside of her mouth was swollen and inflamed and filled with all kinds of grubs, as if it were excrement; it was as foul as the uncleanness within a female organ—the stink of fish being hard to bear—and all kinds of things were feeding off it so that pus and blood oozed out. All parts of her body were constantly being bitten by mosquitoes, wasps, and various poisonous flies. The stinking organs of her body hardly bore perceiving. At that time, the World-honored One, with great compassion, seeing that dragon woman's blindness and her suffering of such distress, asked her,

"Little sister! What circumstances caused you

to acquire this wretched body? In past ages what actions have you done?" The dragon woman answered,

"World-honored One! This body

of mine is now beset with all kinds of suffering, and I do not have a moment of respite. Even if I wanted to describe [the suffering], it would be impossible to explain. I remember the past thirty-six koṭis [of years]. For hundreds of thousands of years I have been suffering like this in the state of a wretched dragon, without so much as a kṣāṇaof respite, day or night. The reason is that in the distant past, during the ninetyfirst kalpa,I became a bhikṣuṇīin the Dharma of Vipaśyin Buddha41 but I thought about matters of desire more than would a drunken man; even though I had left family life, I was unable to accord with the Dharma: I spread bedding in a saṃghārāma42 and committed any number of impure acts in order to indulge in passion and to feel great pleasure; or sometimes, greedily seeking the property of others, I appropriated 241

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an abundance of the offerings of the faithful. For such reasons as these, during the ninety-first kalpaI was always unable to receive the body of a god or a human being. I constantly stewed in the fires of the three evil states.

" The Buddha asked further,

"If it is so, at the end of these

middle kalpas, little sister, where will you be born?" The dragon woman answered,

"With the force of my past karma as causes and conditions, even if I am born in another world, when that kalpafinishes I will be blown back by the winds of bad karma and reborn in this state. " Then

that dragon woman, having spoken these words, made the following plea: "All-compassionate World-honored One! Please save me! Please save me!" At that time the World-honored One scooped some water in his hand and told the dragon woman,

"This water is called the medicine of wish-fulfilling joy. 43 Now, honestly speaking, I say to you: In

the distant past I cast aside body and life in order to save a dove, and to the end I did not waver in resolve or feel stinginess arise in my mind. If these words [of yours] are true, you will be completely cured of your terrible affliction.

" Then the World-honored Buddha took the water in his mouth and showered the body of that blind dragon woman. All her terrible afflictions and stinking organs were totally cured. Already cured, she pleaded as follows: "I now beg the Buddha that I may receive the Three Devotions.

" At this the World-honored One at once imparted

to the dragon woman the Three Devotions.

[200] This dragon woman, in the distant past in the Dharma of Vipaśyin Buddha, became a bhikṣuṇī:although she broke the precepts, she may have seen and heard what is penetrable and what is impenetrable in the Buddha-Dharma. Now she personally meets with Śākyamuni Buddha and begs that she might [again] receive the Three Devotions. Receiving the Three Devotions from the Buddha must be said to be [due to] densely accumulated good roots. The merit of [her] meeting the Buddha must inevitably have derived from the Three Devotions.

44 We are not blind dragons and are not in the bodies of animals, but we neither see the Tathāgata nor receive the Three Devotions under the Buddha. [Our] meeting Buddha is distant, and we should be ashamed. The World-honored One himself imparted [to the dragon woman] the Three Devotions: remember the merit of the Three Devotions is profound 242

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and immeasurable. When the god-king Śakra did prostrations to a wild fox and received the Three Devotions, everything rested upon the profundity of the merit of the Three Devotions.

45

[201] When the Buddha was staying in a banyan46 grove by the city of Kapilavastu,

47 Śākya-Mahānāma48 came to the Buddha's place and spoke thus: "What is an upāsaka?"49 The Buddha then explained to him,

"If any good son or good daughter is in sound possession of their faculties and receives the Three Devotions, this person is then called an upāsaka.

" Śākya-Mahānāma said,

"World-honored One! What is a

one-part upāsaka?" The Buddha said,

"Mahānāma! If [a person]

receives the Three Devotions and also receives one precept, 50 this

person is called a one-part upāsaka.

"51

Becoming a disciple of the Buddha invariably rests upon the Three Devotions. Whichever precepts we receive, we invariably receive the Three Devotions [first] and after that receive the precepts. Therefore, [only] through the Three Devotions is it possible to obtain the precepts. [203] The Dhammapada52 says: Once upon a time the god-king [Śakra], inwardly knowing that when his life ended he would be reborn as a donkey, lamented interminably and said,

"The only one who can save

me from this agony and misfortune is the Buddha, the World-honored One.

" Then he went to the Buddha's place, bowed his head to and prostrated himself upon the ground, and took refuge in the Buddha. His life ended there and then, before he had risen, and he was reborn in the womb of a donkey. The mother donkey broke her bit and smashed some clay pots at a china shop. The potter struck her. In due course this caused injury to her womb and [Śakra] reentered the body of a god-king. The Buddha said,

"As you let go of life, you were taking

refuge in the Three Treasures; returns from your sins have already ceased.

" The god-king [Śakra], on hearing this, attained the first effect. 53

[204] In general, in saving us from the agonies and misfortunes of the world, the Buddha, the World-honored One, is unsurpassed. For this reason the god-king [Śakra] hastens to the place of the World-honored One. While he is still prostrate on the ground his life ends and he is reborn in the womb 243

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of a donkey. Due to the merit of [Śakra's] devotion to the Buddha, the mother donkey breaks her bit and tramples on some pots at a china shop. The potter strikes her. This injures the body of the mother donkey, and the donkey in the womb is destroyed, whereupon [Śakra] reenters the body of a god-king. That upon hearing the Buddha's preaching [Śakra] attains the first effect is the influence of the merit of taking refuge in the Three Treasures. Therefore, the [power] that swiftly frees us from the agonies and misfortunes of the world, and which causes us to grasp in experience the supreme [truth of] bodhi,may be, in every case, the power of taking refuge in the Three Treasures. In general, the power of the Three Devotions not only frees us from the three evil states: it [also] reenters the body of the god-king Śakra. It not only attains effects and rewards in the heavens above: it [also] becomes sacred beings who are srotāpannas. Truly, the ocean of the merit of the Three Treasures is immeasurable and infinite. When the World-honored One was in the world human beings and gods experienced such happiness. Now, in a latter five hundred-year period following the extinction of the Tathāgata, how can human beings and gods do anything? At the same time, the Tathāgata's statues, śarīras, and so on, are still abiding in the present in the world. By taking refuge in these, we also will gain the kind of merit described above. [206] The Mizōukyō54 says: The Buddha said,

"I remember numberless

kalpas ago, on Mount Śita in the great kingdom of Vima, 55 there was a

wild fox being chased by a lion, about to become prey. While running away, [the fox] fell into a well. It could not get out and spent three days there until, resigning itself to death, it spoke the following verse: What a miserable fate!

Beset today by hardships,

I will lose my life in a hillside well.

All myriad things are inconstant.

I regret that my body was not eaten by the lion.

Namas!I take refuge in the buddhas of the ten directions. May they be notified that my mind is pure and unselfish. Then the god-king Śakra heard the naming of the buddhas. Awed, his hair standing on end, he became mindful of eternal buddhas. He thought to himself,

"I am alone and unprotected and without a guiding

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teacher; and addiction to the five desires is drowning me. " At once,

accompanied by a host of eighty thousand gods, he flew down to the well intending to investigate in full. Then he saw the wild fox at the bottom of the well, paws clawing the earth, unable to get out. The godking [Śakra] again thought to himself, and said, "Saintly person, perhaps

you consider that you are without ways or means. Although I now see the figure of a wild fox, you are assuredly a bodhisattva, not a common instrument; for, kind gentleperson, [the verse] you spoke previously was not common words. I beg you to preach for the gods the pivot of the Dharma.

" At this the wild fox called up in reply,

"Though you are

a god-king, you are uneducated. While a teacher of Dharma is down below, you yourself remain up above: entirely failing to practice courtesy, you ask [to hear] the pivot of the Dharma! The water of Dharma is pure and is able to save people. How can you intend to obtain for yourself [such a] tribute?" The god-king [Śakra] on hearing this was greatly ashamed. [But] the gods in attendance laughed in surprise, [saying,] "If the heavenly king alighted there would be no benefit at all. "

The god-king [Śakra] thereupon addressed the many gods: "Pray, do not harbor surprise or fear at this. It is [due to] my being stubborn and closed and lacking in virtue. Without fail we must hear from this [fox] the pivot of the Dharma.

" Then [Śakra] hung down a heavenly precious

robe, taking hold of which the wild fox emerged above. The gods served to it a meal of nectar. The wild fox, taking sustenance, gained the will to live. Unexpectedly, in the midst of calamity, it had come upon such good fortune that its mind was set dancing and its joy was boundless. The wild fox widely preached, for the god-king [Śakra] and all the gods, the pivot of the Dharma.

[208] This is called the story of the god-king [Śakra's] doing prostrations to an animal and making it his teacher. Clearly we have seen, the god-king [Śakra's] making a wild fox into his teacher may be proof of how hard it is to hear the name of Buddha, the name of Dharma, and the name of Sangha. The present fact that, aided by long-accumulated good, we are meeting the Dharma bequeathed by the Tathāgata, and that, night and day, we are hearing the precious appellations of the Three Treasures, will not regress with [the passing of] time. Just this may be the pivot of the Dharma. Even heavenly 245

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māra-pāpīyas56 may escape affliction by taking refuge in the Three Treasures. How much more may other beings be able, in respect of the merit of the Three Treasures, to "pile up merit and heap up virtue"? How could we fail to ponder it? In sum, in practicing the truth as disciples of the Buddha, we first, without fail, make venerative prostrations to the Three Treasures of the ten directions, request the presence of the Three Treasures of the ten directions, 57 burn incense

and scatter flowers before them, and we then, in due course, perform all practices. This is just an excellent vestige of the ancestors and an eternal convention of the Buddhist patriarchs. If any have never practiced the convention of taking refuge in the Three Treasures, know that theirs is the Dharma of non-Buddhists, and know that it may be the Dharma of heavenly demons. The Dharma of the buddhas and the patriarchs inevitably has, at its beginning, a ceremony of taking refuge in the Three Treasures. Shōbōgenzō Kie-sanbō

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

58 I finished copying from the

late master's initial draft. He had yet to reach the stage of an intermediate draft, a fair copy, and so on. Doubtless during the master's revision there would have been additions and deletions. Now such procedures are impermissible and so the master's draft reads as it is.

59

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Notes

1 Kie,lit.,

"returning to and depending upon, " represents the Sanskrit śaraṇa,which means "refuge" or "taking refuge. " See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 2 Kannō-dōkōmeans mystical communication between buddhas and living beings, or between the universe and living beings. See also Chapter Seventy (Vol. III), Hotsubodaishin,paragraph 196. 3 The Sanskrit icchantika,here represented phonetically, means one who pursues desires to the end. See Volume II, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. The meaning of the Sanskrit icchantikawas represented in Chinese either by dan-zenkon, "one who cuts off good

roots,

" or by shin-fugusoku,

"one who does not possess belief. " See also Chapter

Eighty-six, Shukke-kudoku.

4 Quoted from the Zen

'

enshingi,pt. 9. See also Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai. 5 The Sanskrit saṃnāhameans a suit of armor. See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 6 From the Daijōgishō,a twenty-fascicle commentary on Mahayana Buddhism written in China during the Sui dynasty (589-618). 7 Hotokeis the Chinese character meaning "buddha. "

8 Buddayais a transliteration of the Sanskrit Buddha. 9 Kakuconcludes the phrase mujō-shōtō-kaku, "supreme, right and balanced state of truth,

" which represents the meaning of the Sanskrit anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi.See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 10 Darumais a transliteration of the Sanskrit Dharma. 11 Donmuis a transliteration of the Pāli Dhamma. 12 Sōgyais a transliteration of the Sanskrit sangha. 13 The five bhikṣus: Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Bhadrika, Mahānāma, and Daśabala-Kāśyapa, who accompanied the Buddha in his ascetic practice and became the first monks of the Buddha's order.

14 Gobun-hōsshin("Dharma body of five divisions"), from the Sanskrit asamasamapañca-skandha.The five divisions are represented in Chinese as kaishin,the precepts body; joshin,the body of the balanced state; eshin,the body of wisdom; gedatsu-shin, the body of liberation; and gedatsu-chiken-shin,the body of knowledge of liberation. 247

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15 Mettai,the third of the Four Noble Truths. 16 Mugaku,lit.,

"no study,

" means one who has nothing more to study; that is, an arhat. Later in this chapter, the Sanskrit word arhat is represented phonetically and also by the term shika,

"fourth effect.

" Arhathood is the fourth and final stage of a śrāvaka of the Small Vehicle (one who studies Buddhism intellectually). 17 Quoted from an untraced sutra, but a different redaction can be found in the Risshū shin gaku myōgu. 18 Lotus Sutra,Nyorai-juryō("The Tathāgata's Lifetime"). See LS 3.32. 19 Ichidaiji-innen.Lotus Sutra,Hōben("Expedient Means"). See LS 1.88-90. 20 In this case (as is clarified in Master Dōgen's commentary) caityas means non-Buddhist shrines.

21 Hasshi[no] shodo.See Chapter Seventy-three, Sanjūshichi-bon-bodai-bunpō. 22 Kusharon(Sanskrit: Abhidharmakośa-śāstra), fascicle 14. 23 Adherence to the ox precepts means imitating the life of an ox in one's daily life— a kind of ascetic practice.

24 A rākṣasais a demon that feeds on human flesh. 25 Refers to the matted-hair ascetics (Sanskrit: jaṭila) of the Buddha's time. 26 Blood sacrifices were common in ancient India. It is credited to the historical influence of Buddhism that the ritual sacrifice of animals is no longer widely practiced in India. 27 Various forms of fire cults existed in ancient India. For example, a Vedic-Brahmanist fire sacrifice was carried out by professional brahmans, who observed elaborate cultic prescriptions in order that the fire god Agni would carry the sacrifice up to the gods. Other fire ritualists tried to purify their own souls by burning their impurities in sacred flames. (See The History of Buddhism.)

28 Fū[o] fuku[su],

"take air [as medicine],

" probably suggests fasting. At the same time, an air cult is included in a list of twenty kinds of non-Buddhism. 29 Quotation from an untraced Chinese text, but some passages are found in the Daichidoron. 30 Keukyō,short for Bussetsukeukōryōkudokukyō,literally, "Sutra of the Buddha's

Preaching on Comparison of the Merits of Rare Occurrences. " The sutra was translated

from Sanskrit by Jñānagupta (522-600) during the Sui dynasty (589-618). The sutra does not contain the exact words quoted here; it is likely that this quotation was taken from a summary of the sutra.

31 Sanki[o] ukuru,

"to receive the Three Devotions,

" means to take refuge in Buddha,

Dharma, and Sangha at the beginning of the precepts ceremony. Receiving the precepts 248

Chapter Eighty-eight

means receiving these Three Devotions, followed by the Three Summarized Pure Precepts, followed by the Ten Bodhisattva Precepts. See Chapter Ninety-four, Jukai. 32 The continent north of Mount Sumeru is inhabited only by heavenly beings, and is thus out of bounds to Buddhists of the three vehicles; namely, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas. 33 The Ekkottarāgama-sutrais one of the four Āgamas in the Chinese version, said to have been first translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi in 384. The Dharmanandi translation, however, is lost. A later translation, which survives, was made by Gautama Sanghadeva in 397.

34 Trāyastriṃśa means the heaven of thirty-three gods, the second highest of the six heavens in the world of desire, situated on top of Mount Sumeru. Śakra-devānāmindra presides there, surrounded by eight gods in each of the four directions. See Volume III, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 35 The five signs that a heavenly being is about to die are: 1) its crown of flowers fades, 2) sweat flows from under its arms, 3) its clothes become soiled, 4) its body loses its glow, and 5) it becomes reluctant to sit in its original place. 36 San-akudō("three evil states") are hell, the state of hungry ghosts, and the state of animals.

37 Refers to an account earlier in the sutra.

38 Kengōrepresents the Sanskrit bhadra-kalpa, which is the present kalpa,so called because many buddhas will manifest themselves within its duration. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

39 Roshi, lit.,

"Tower Arrival,

" may represent the meaning of a Sanskrit name or it may

be a transliteration of the Sanskrit sound. The original Sanskrit has not been traced. 40 Daishūkyō(Sanskrit: Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra), fascicle 44.

41 The first of the seven ancient buddhas. See Chapter Fifteen (Vol. I), Busso. 42 Saṃghārāma,lit.,

"a resting place for the sangha"; that is, a temple.

43 Shindarushi-yakuwa. Shindarepresents the Sanskrit cintā,which means thought or wish (as in cintāmaṇi,

"wish-fulfilling gem"). Rushirepresents a Sanskrit term that has not been traced. Yakuwameans medicine or medicinal compound. The phrase is often rendered in Chinese characters as nyo-i-raku-sui,

"water of wish-fulfilling joy.

"

44 45 That is, her devotions to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha when becoming a bhikṣuṇī in the Dharma of Vipaśyin Buddha.

The story of Śakra and the wild fox is recorded later in this chapter (see paragraph 206). 46 Nikūdais a transliteration of the Sanskrit nyagrodha,which literally means "growing downward" and thus represents the banyan, or Indian fig tree, whose fibers descend from its branches to the earth, where they take root and form new stems. 249

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47 48 Kapilavastu was the name of the kingdom, and the capital thereof, inhabited by the Śākya clan, into which Gautama Buddha was born. Mahānāma was a member of the Buddha's family (the Śākyas) who devoted himself to the Buddha's order as a layman. 49 Upāsakameans a (male) lay Buddhist. 50 The five precepts taken by laypeople in the Buddha's time were sometimes taken one at a time.

51 Daihatsunehangyō,fascicle 34.

52 Hokkukyō(Sutra of Dharma Phrases). This is the first of fifteen books in the Khuddaka-nikāya,and the fifth of the five Nikāyas in the Pāli canon. The Dhammapada comprises four hundred and twenty-three verses. 53 Shoka,

"first effect,

" means the stage of the srotāpanna(stream-enterer), the first stage of a śrāvakaon the way to the fourth effect of arhathood. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms.

54 55 Mizōukyōstands for Mizōuinnenkyō(Sutra of Unprecedented Episodes). Mount Śita and the kingdom of Vima are legendary places in Jambudvīpa, the continent south of Mount Sumeru where human beings live. 56 Māra-pāpīyasare idealistic demons who inhabit the world of desire and deprive Buddhist practitioners of life.

57 For example, by walking around in a circle three times at the place of a ceremony, while reciting nan wu futuo ye, nan wu damo ye, nan wu seng jia ye, nan wu zushu pusa.In Japan, traditionally pronounced, "

namu fudoya, namu taboya, namu sūgyaya, namu susubusa

"("NamasBuddha! NamasDharma! NamasSangha! Namasthe ancestral masters and bodhisattvas!"). 58 1255; two years after Master Dōgen's death. 59 The final comment was almost certainly added by Master Dōgen's successor, Master Koun Ejō. This chapter is included in the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō compiled by Master Dōgen in his last years. 250

[Chapter Eighty-nine]

Shinjin-inga

294b3

Deep Belief in Cause and Effect Translator's Note: Shin means "deep

"

and shin (in this case pronounced jin) means

"belief.

" In means

"

"

cause,

and ka (in this case pronounced ga) "

means

effect.

" So shinjin-inga means "deep belief in cause and effect. " It

is clear that Buddhism believes in cause and effect. But many so-called Mahayana Buddhists say that the Buddhist theory of belief in cause and effect belongs to Hinayana Buddhism, and that Mahayana Buddhists are able to transcend the rule of cause and effect. This belief, however, is wrong. Master Dōgen emphasizes in this chapter that to understand Buddhism it is very important to believe in the law of cause and effect. Chinese Buddhism contains a widely known story about a Buddhist priest who fell into the body of a wild fox because he denied the law of cause and effect, but who was saved by the words of Master Hyakujō Ekai. Many Buddhist students thought mistakenly that this story illustrates transcendence of cause and effect. But Master Dōgen points out their mistakes in this chapter. He explains clearly the true meaning of the story, and he affirms Buddhism '

s profound belief in the rule of cause and effect.

[3] When Master Ekai, Zen Master Daichi of Hyakujō, 1 gives his informal

preaching, generally present there is an old man. He always listens to the Dharma along with the assembly, and when the people in the assembly retire, the old man also retires. Then suddenly one day he does not retire. The master eventually asks him,

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

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

2 I used to preside on this mountain. Once a student asked me, 'Do

even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?' I answered,

'They do not fall into cause and effect. ' Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. Now I beg you, Master, 251

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to say for me words of transformation. 3 I long to be rid of the body of a wild fox.

" Then he asks,

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

The master says,

"Do not be unclear about cause and effect. "

The old man, under these words, realizes the great realization. He does prostrations and says,

"I am already rid of the body of a wild fox, and would like to remain on the mountain behind this temple. Dare I ask the master to perform for me the rites for a deceased monk?" The master orders the supervising monk4 to strike the block5 and to tell the assembly,

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

All the monks discuss this, [saying,] "The whole sangha is well and there is no sick person in the nirvana hall. 6 What is the reason for this?"

After the meal, the master is simply seen leading the monks to the foot of a rock on the mountain behind the temple, and picking out a dead fox with a staff. They then cremate it according to the formal method. In the evening the master preaches in the hall and discusses the preceding episode. Ōbaku7 then asks,

"The man in the past answered mistakenly with words of transformation, and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. If he had gone on without making a mistake, what would have become of him?"

The master says,

"Step up here. I will tell you.

"

Ōbaku finally steps up and gives the naster a slap. The naster claps his hands and laughs, and says,

"You have just expressed that a foreigner's8 beard is red, but it is also a fact that a red-beard is a foreigner. "9

[6] This story is in the Tenshōkōtōroku. 10 Still, people of learning in practice are not clear about the truth of cause and effect, and they make the mistake of idly negating cause and effect. It is pitiful that, with a wind of decay blowing all around, the Patriarch's truth11 has slipped into decline. "They do

not fall into cause and effect" is just the negation of cause and effect, as a result of which [the negator] falls into bad states. "Do not be unclear about

cause and effect" evidently is deep belief in cause and effect, as a result of which the listener gets rid of bad states. We should not wonder [at this], and should not doubt it. Among people of recent generations who profess to be "students of the Way of Zen practice, " most have negated cause and effect. How do we know that they have negated cause and effect? Namely [because] 252

Chapter Eighty-nine

they have considered that "do not fall" and "do not be unclear" amount to the same and are not different. Hence, we know that they have negated cause and effect.

[7] The nineteenth patriarch, Venerable Kumāralabdha, says: In brief, retribution for good and bad has three times. Common 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 [common people] say that cause and effect is nonexistent and that "wrongness" and "happiness" are meaningless. Particularly, they do not know that shadow and sound accord with [their sources], without a discrepancy of a thousandth or a hundredth and—even with the passing of a hundred thousand myriad kalpas—never wearing away.

12

Clearly we have seen that the ancestral patriarch never negates cause and effect. That present students of later ages do not clarify the ancestral founder's benevolent instruction is [due to] negligence in emulating the ancients. Those who are negligent in emulating the ancients and yet randomly call themselves good counselors to human beings and gods, are great nuisances to human beings and gods and are the enemies of practitioners. You people before and behind me! Never preach, with the purport of negating cause and effect, to junior students and late learners. That is false doctrine. It is not the Dharma of the Buddhist patriarchs at all. It is due to sparse study that you have fallen into this false view.

[9] Patch-robed monks and the like of present-day China often say: Though we have received the human body and have met the Buddha-Dharma, we do not know even the facts of one life or two lives. The former Hyakujō who became a wild fox has been able to know five hundred lives. Clearly, he might be beyond falling down as the result of karma. It may be that "Even if held by golden chains and black barriers, he does not abide. He goes forward among alien beings and, for the present, lets the wheel turn.

"13

The views and opinions of those who are called great good counselors are like this. But it is difficult to place such views and opinions inside the house of the Buddhist patriarchs. There are those among human beings, or 295a

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among foxes, or among other beings, who innately possess the power to see a while back into former states,

14 but it is not the seed of clear understanding:

it is an effect felt from bad conduct. The World-honored One has broadly expounded this principle for human beings and gods; not to know it is the utmost negligence in study. It is pitiful. Even knowing a thousand lives or ten thousand lives does not always produce the Buddha's teaching. There are non-Buddhists who already know eighty thousand kalpas [but their teaching] is never esteemed as the Buddha's teaching. To know barely five hundred lives is no great ability. The greatest ignorance of recent Zen practitioners of the Song dynasty lies just in their failure to recognize that "not falling into cause and effect" is a doctrine of the false view. It is pitiful that, in a place where the Tathāgata's right Dharma has spread, and while meeting the authentic transmission from patriarch to patriarch, they form wrong groups who negate cause and effect. Zen practitioners should urgently clarify the truth of cause and effect. The truth of the present Hyakujō's "not being unclear about cause and effect" is "not to be ignorant of cause and effect. "15 So the

principle is evident that if we initiate a cause we will feel the effect. [This] may be the assertion of the buddhas and the patriarchs. As a general rule, before clarifying the Buddha-Dharma, do not randomly preach the Dharma to human beings and gods.

[11] The ancestral master Nāgārjuna16 says:

If we deny the existence of cause and effect in the world, as do people of non-Buddhism, then there is no present or future; and if we deny the existence of cause and effect beyond the world,

17 then there are no

Three Treasures, Four [Noble] Truths, or four effects of a śramaṇa. 18

Clearly we should know that to deny the existence of cause and effect, whether in the world or beyond the world, must be non-Buddhism. "Denial

of the present" means: "The physical form exists at this place, but the spiritual essence since time immemorial has belonged to the state of enlightenment. The spiritual essence is just the mind, for the mind is not the same as the body.

" Such understanding is just non-Buddhism. Some say: "When human beings die, they unfailingly return to the ocean of spiritual essence;19 even if they do not practice and learn the Buddha-Dharma, they will naturally return to the ocean of enlightenment, whereupon the wheel of life and death 254

Chapter Eighty-nine

will turn no more. For this reason, there will be no future. " This is the nihilistic

view of non-Buddhism.

20 Even if in form they resemble bhikṣus, those who hold such wrong opinions are not the Buddha's disciples at all. They are just non-Buddhists. In sum, because they negate cause and effect, they wrongly opine that the present and the future do not exist. Their negation of cause and effect is the result of failing to learn in practice under a true good counselor. One who has long studied under a true good counselor can never hold wrong opinions such as the negation of cause and effect. We should profoundly believe in and admire, and should humbly receive upon the head21 the benevolent instruction of the ancestral master Nāgārjuna. [13] Master Genkaku, Great Master Shinkaku of Yōka, 22 is an eminent

disciple of Sōkei.

23 Previously he has studied the Flower of Dharma of the Tendai [sect],

24 sharing a room with Great Master Sakei Genrō. 25 While he is

reading the Nirvana Sutra,

26 golden light floods the room and he attains forever the realization in which there is no birth. He proceeds to visit Sōkei [Mountain] and reports his experience to the Sixth Patriarch. The Sixth Patriarch in time gives his seal of approval. Later [Master Genkaku] produces "The Song of Experiencing the Truth,

"27 in which he says; "'Emptiness28 run wild negates cause and effect; and, in a morass of looseness, invites misfortune and mistakes. "29 Clearly we should know,

"the negation of cause and effect" is "the invitation of misfortune and mistakes.

" Past masters in former ages all were

clear about cause and effect. Late learners in recent ages all are deluded about cause and effect. [But] even in the present age, those who, with a dauntless bodhi-mind, learn the Buddha-Dharma for the sake of the Buddha-Dharma, will be able to clarify cause and effect as did the masters of the past. To say that there are no causes and no effects is just non-Buddhism. [15] The eternal buddha Wanshi30 comments on the aforementioned instance of cause and effect, in a eulogy to the ancients, as follows: One foot of water and a one-fathom wave. 31

[What happened] five hundred lives ago is of no consequence. Even as [people] discuss "not falling" and "not being unclear, "

Still they are forcing themselves into nests of entanglement. 32

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Do you understand, or not?

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If you are free and easy,

There is nothing to prevent me going "Ta! Ta! Wa! Wa!"33 Gods sing, spirits dance, and music naturally plays. In between hand claps, a chorus of hoorays.

The present words "Even as [people] discuss 'not falling' and 'not being unclear,

' still they are forcing themselves into nests of entanglement" just mean that "not falling" and "not being unclear" may amount to the same. In short, this instance of cause and effect has not completely expressed the theory thereof. The reason, if asked, is that although [Wanshi] has manifested before us the shedding of the body of a wild fox, he does not say that [the former Hyakujō], after escaping the body of a wild fox, will then be born in the human world, he does not say that [the former Hyakujō] will be born in the heavens above, and he does not say that [the former Hyakujō] will be born in any other state. [But these] are the areas of people's doubt. If he deserves, once rid of the body of a wild fox, to be born in a good state, he will be born in the heavens above or the human world; if he deserves to be born in an evil state he will be born in a state such as the four evil states. 34

After getting rid of the body of a wild fox, he cannot emptily exist without a place of appearance. The assertions that when living beings die they return to the ocean of spiritual essence, or that they return to the universal self, are both the views of non-Buddhists.

[17] Master Kokugon,

35 Zen Master Engo of Kassan Mountain, in a

eulogy to the ancients, says:

Fishes swim and water gets muddy,

Birds fly and feathers fall.

The supreme mirror36 is inescapable,

Great space is desolate and wide open.

Once a thing has passed, it is utterly distant. Five hundred lives originate solely from the great practice that is cause and effect.

A thunderbolt breaks the mountain and wind shakes the ocean, [But] pure gold forged a hundred times does not change its color. 37

Even this poem of praise has a tendency toward negation of cause and effect. At the same time, it has a tendency toward the eternity view. 38

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[18] Master Sōkō,

39 Zen Master Daie of Kinzan Mountain in Kōshū,

40

in a poem of praise, says:

"Not falling" and "not being unclear":

Are stones and clods,

Met along the path by any rice paddy.

Having crushed the silver mountain,

I clap my hands and laugh, ha! ha!, in every situation. In Minshū41 there lived that foolish Happy Buddha.

42

People of the Song dynasty today consider someone like this to be an instructing patriarch. But the view and understanding of Sōkō has never arrived [even] at the idea of bestowing the Buddha-Dharma through expedients. If anything, he has a tendency toward the view and understanding of naturalism. In all, for this [one] story, there are eulogies to the ancients and discussions of the ancients by more than thirty people. Not even one of them has suspected that "they do not fall into cause and effect" is the negation of cause and effect. It is pitiful that these fellows, without clarifying cause and effect, have uselessly idled away a lifetime in a state of confusion. In learning in practice the Buddha-Dharma, the first priority is to clarify cause and effect. Those who negate cause and effect are likely to beget the false view that craves profit, and to become a cutter of good roots. 43 In general, the truth of

cause and effect is vividly apparent and is not a personal matter: those who commit evil fall down, and those who practice good rise up, without a thousandth or a hundredth of a discrepancy. If cause and effect perished and became void, buddhas could not appear in the world and the ancestral master could not come from the west. In sum, it would be impossible for living beings to meet Buddha and to hear the Dharma. The truth of cause and effect is not understood by the likes of Confucius and Laozi. 44 It is clarified and

transmitted only by the buddhas and the patriarchs. Students in [this] degenerate age, being of sparse good fortune, do not meet a true teacher and do not hear the right Dharma, and for this reason they do not clarify cause and effect. If we negate cause and effect, as a result of this error, in a "morass of looseness, "

we will suffer "misfortune and mistakes.

" Even before we have committed

any evil other than negating cause and effect, the poison of this view, to begin with, will be terrible. Therefore, if people of learning in practice, seeing the 257

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bodhi-mind as foremost, wish to repay the vast benevolence of the Buddhist patriarchs, they should swiftly clarify causes and effects. ShōbōgenzōShinjin-inga

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

45 I copied this from the master's rough draft. He had yet to reach the stage of an intermediate draft or a fair copy. Doubtless there would have been revisions. Ejō46

258

Notes

1 Master Hyakujō Ekai (749-814), successor of Master Baso Dōitsu. Ekai was his monk's name used during his lifetime. Zen Master Daichi is his posthumous title. He lived on Mount Hyakujō in Kiangsi province in southeast China. 2 Kāśyapa Buddha is the sixth of the seven ancient buddhas, and so the time of Kāśyapa Buddha suggests the eternal past.

3 Ichitengo,lit.,

"one-turn words" or "turning words,

" means words that have the power

to transform another. See Chapter Sixty-one (Vol. III), Kenbutsu,note 9. 4 Inō,the supervisor of monks in the zazen hall, or rector; one of the six main officers. 5 Byaku-tsuimeans to beat the top of an octagonal wooden pillar with a small wooden block (tsui) in order to call the monks together.

6 "Nirvana hall" is what the temple infirmary was called. 7 Master Ōbaku Kiun (d. between 855 and 859), successor of Master Hyakujō. 8 Kooriginally indicated a person from the area to the northwest of China; that is, present-day Russia. 9 Tenshōkōtōroku,chap. 8; Shinji-shōbōgenzō,pt. 2, no. 2. Also quoted in Chapter Seventy-six, Dai-shugyō. 10 The Tenshōkōtōroku,second of the Gotōroku(Five Records of the Torch), was completed in the Tenshō era of the Song dynasty, about thirty years after the Keitokudentōroku.Its thirty chapters were compiled by Ri Junkyoku. 11 In this case the Patriarch's truth means Master Bodhidharma's Buddhism, centered in zazen.

12 Keitokudentōroku,chap. 2. Also quoted in Chapter Eighty-four, Sanji-no-gō. 13 These are the concluding two lines of a poem by Master Dōan Jōsatsu, one of ten of his poems quoted in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 29. Master Dōan Jōsatsu belongs to a side lineage of Master Seigen Gyōshi. These lines suggest that our efforts to order our lives are always in vain, so we should live freely and independently without worrying about cause and effect.

14 Shukutsūstands for shuku-jū-tsū,the power to know former states of existence. See Chapter Twenty-five (Vol. II), Jinzū.

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15 Master Dōgen explained the Chinese character mai, word kurashi,which means unclear, dark, or ignorant. "unclear,

" with the Japanese

16 The fourteenth patriarch in India. 17 Shusse,

"out of the world,

" means the Buddhist area as opposed to the secular world. 18 Makashikan,chap. 33. The four effects are 1) srotāpanna("stream-enterer"), 2) sakṛ dā gāmin("once-returner"), 3) anāgāmin("non-returner"), and 4) arhat. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 19 Shōkai,

"spirit world.

" The same term appears in Chapter One (Vol. I), Bendōwa. 20 Danken-gedō,lit.,

"cutting-off-view non-Buddhism, " represents the Sanskrit ucchedadṛṣṭi.This view denies continuation into the future of the moral cause and effect relation. It is opposed to jōken-gedō, "eternity-view non-Buddhism,

" from the Sanskrit

śāśvata-dṛṣṭi.These two opposing views are known as henken, "extreme views,

"

from the Sanskrit antagrāha-dṛṣṭi.See Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and note 38. 21 Chōdailiterally means humbly to receive some revered object (such as the kaṣāya) upon the head, as a sign of reverence. See Chapter Twelve (Vol. I), Kesa-kudoku. 22 Master Yōka Genkaku. Great Master Shinkaku is his posthumous title. Yōka is the name of the city where he was born. The information about him recorded here is contained in the Keitokudentōroku,chap. 5. 23 Master Daikan Enō (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch in China. 24 Tendai is the name of a mountain, of Master Tendai Chigi who lived there, and of the Tendai sect which he founded. The Tendai sect is based on the study of the Lotus Sutra(Sutra of the Flower of Dharma). 25 Sakei Genrō is the eighth patriarch of the Tendai sect. He died in 754 at the age of eighty-two.

26 That is, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra(Sutra of the Great Demise). 27 Shōdōka.This work is still commonly recited in Sōtō sect temples in Japan today. 28 Kū,

"emptiness,

" in this case suggests the concept of śūnyatāas understood in idealistic interpretations: the view that all is nothing; indifference, vacuity. See Volume I, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 29 Ka,

"mistakes,

" in the orginal Shōdōkais ka, wazawai, "calamity.

"

30 Master Wanshi Shōgaku (1091-1157), a successor of Master Tanka Shijun. See also, for example, Chapter Twenty-seven (Vol. II), Zazenshin. 31 Concrete things here and now. 32 Kattō.See Chapter Forty-six (Vol. III), Kattō. 33 The sounds of a baby, suggesting Master Wanshi's unworried state. 260

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34 The four evil states are hell, the world of pretas (hungry ghosts), the world of animals, and the world of asuras (angry demons).

35 Master Engo Kokugon (1063-1135), successor of Master Goso Hōen, and editor of the Hekiganroku(Blue Cliff Record). See also Chapter Sixty-six (Vol. III), Shunjū; Chapter Seventy-four, Tenbōrin.

36 A mirror symbolizes a standard, a criteria, or a law—in this case, used as a concrete simile for the law of cause and effect.

37 This world is very changeable, but at the same time, it has an immutable essence. Engozenjigoroku,chap. 19.

38 Jōken.In general, jōken,

"eternity view,

" and danken,

"cutting-off view,

" may be

interpreted as traditional expressions of the two extreme views that modern philosophy calls idealism (championed by Hegel) and materialism (championed by Marx). See also note 20.

39 Master Daie Sōkō (1089-1163), successor of Master Engo Kokugon. Master Sōkō was a leading proponent of so-called kōanZen, as opposed to mokushō ("silent illumination") Zen of Sōkō's contemporary, Master Wanshi Shōgaku. Master Dōgen often praised Master Wanshi as an eternal buddha (see, for example, Chapter Twenty-seven [Vol. II], Zazenshin), but strongly criticized Master Daie Sōkō (see, for example, Chapter Fortyeight [Vol. III], Sesshin-sesshō;Chapter Seventy-five, Jishō-zanmai). 40 Present-day Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhekiang province at the head of Hangzhou Bay.

41 A district in the east of present-day Zhekiang province. 42 Hōtai ("Canvas Bag"), so called because he wandered through China from temple to temple carrying a big bag containing all his belongings. He is the original "Happy Buddha" portrayed in statues with a fat belly and a big smile. According to one account, he died in 916. Another account dates his death as in the Tenpuku era of the Tang dynasty (901-903). Quoted from the Daiezenjigoroku,chap. 10. 43 Dan-zenkon,

"cutter of good roots,

" represents the Sanskrit icchantika,which suggests

one who is interested only in selfish ends. See Volume II, Glossary of Sanskrit Terms. 44 Confucious and Laozi are the founders of Confucianism and Daoism, respectively. 45 1255.

46 Master Dōgen's successor, Master Koun Ejō. Master Dōgen died in 1253, two years before Master Ejō wrote this. This chapter is one of the chapters of the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō,which Master Dōgen compiled in the final years of his life. 261