Phenomena and Principle Are Like Box and Lid
Next Shitou says, “Phenomena exist like box and cover joining; principle accords like arrow points meeting.” “Phenomena” is a translation for ji, meaning particular things or beings. “Principle” is a translation of ri, the unity or universality of all beings. Shitou says that phenomena exist in accord with principle, and principle exists in accord with phenomena. “Phenomena exist like box and cover joining; principle accords like arrow points meeting” is actually just one sentence. This is rhetoric used in Chinese poetry to avoid repetition of the same two subjects. Each of the two clauses is about the way phenomena and principle exist and work together. We should read, “Phenomena and principle exist like box and cover joining; principle accords with phenomena like arrow points meeting.” Phenomena and principle, ji and ri, difference and unity, exist like box and cover joining. Each box is a different size with a lid that fits exactly. So there is no principle other than phenomena. Phenomena and principle are like box and cover, completely joined.
Arrow Points Meeting in the Air
“Arrow points meeting” is a reference to a classic Chinese story about two archery masters.111 One was the teacher and the other his excellent disciple. When the student felt his skill had surpassed his teacher’s, he challenged him. When they took aim at each other and shot, the arrows met in midair and fell to the ground. Both lived because they had equal skill. Shitou says that phenomena and principle, difference and unity, should meet like the arrows. Our practice is to actualize this relationship between difference and unity in each situation. For example, we cannot live by ourselves. We are part of a community, and yet no matter where I live, I am I. I cannot be another person, and yet to be a member of a community I have to transcend “I am I” and see the situation of the whole community. We have a point of view as an individual and also as a member of the sangha or community. We also have another “I” who sees the situation from both perspectives. The viewpoint of an individual person is in this case an example of difference. It’s very natural that I have an opinion different from other people. We shouldn’t negate our individual opinions, but as a member of a community, we have to see things as a whole. The most desirable condition is when both ways of seeing meet each other like the arrows shot by the masters. If we can perceive a situation like that, we can be really peaceful. It doesn’t happen very often because it’s really difficult. Our way of life is always like arrows missing each other. That’s why we have pain in our social lives. There is no way another person or a god can make these arrows meet. Our practice is to find the “appropriate situation” in which this person as an individual and this person as a member of the sangha can meet like a box and cover joining, or like two arrows in midair.
DO NOT WASTE TIME
Hearing the words, you should understand the source;
Don’t make up standards on your own.
If you don’t understand the path as it meets your eyes,
How can you know the way as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
But if you are confused, mountains and rivers block the way.
I humbly say to those who study the mystery,
Don’t waste time.
Words and Reality
This is the final message from Shitou to us. “Hearing the words, you should understand the source.” We have been reading and studying his words in this wonderful poem. He gives us the final advice that if we grasp what he has written as a theory, memorize his words, and build a system of concepts from his teaching, we will totally miss his point. All words and concepts are discriminatory. The basic function of words and concepts is to separate one thing from all other things. Even when we use the word “absolute,” we have already slipped into the opposite concept, “relative.” “Nondiscrimination” has meaning only in a dichotomy with “discrimination.” How can we go beyond the discrimination between “absolute” and “relative,” or “discrimination” and “nondiscrimination”? The only way is to see the source, the reality as it exists before being processed by our thinking mind. To do so, we need practice. Any theoretical system of concepts or thoughts is a distorted copy of reality. We can only practice it, experience it, and nod our head.
All doctrines, theories, and descriptions using words and concepts are distorted images of reality from our own point of view. When we realize this, even a distorted copy can be useful. However, if we mistake the distorted map for the true reality, we stray, making up our own standards of judgment.
Just Sitting on the Ground of Reality
Shitou asks, “If you don’t understand the path as it meets your eyes, how can you know the way as you walk?” When we wake up to reality, the Way is always in front of our eyes. We are born, live, and die within this reality. We never fall out of reality. And yet, we almost always lose sight of it. By just sitting and letting go of thought, we can be within reality. Just sitting allows us to put our entire being on the ground of reality. But usually, we make up our own standards and create our distorted version of reality. Therefore, we need to constantly practice letting go. When we place ourselves on the ground of reality, we will find the path we need to walk. Otherwise, we will be lost in the map made by our minds.
Practice Is Moment by Moment
“Progress is not a matter of far or near, but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block the way.” Our practice is not a race with others, a competition run from the starting point to the goal. It is not a matter of far or near. Our practice is moment by moment. When we awake, we are right in the middle of the Way. At the next moment, when we lose sight of reality, we are 100 percent off the mark. If we walk within a distorted map, no matter how long we practice, we wander far from the Way even though we are always right within the Way. We are blocked by mountains and rivers within our mind.
“I humbly say to those who study the mystery, don’t waste time.” No matter how hard we practice, if our practice is not based on true reality, we are wasting our time.
An unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect Dharma
is rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.
Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept,
I vow to taste the truth of the Tathāgata’s words.112
THIS IS A reasonably accurate English translation of the verse chanted before dharma talks at many American Zen centers. A more literal translation from the original Japanese is:
An unsurpassed, most profound, subtle, and wondrous Dharma,
even in a hundred thousand ten thousand kalpas, it is difficult to encounter.
I now see and listen, and I am able to accept and uphold it;
I vow (or wish) to understand the true meaning of the Tathāgata.
This seems to be a very simple verse. It says that since the Dharma, the Buddha’s teaching, is rarely encountered, now that I have met it, I want to deeply understand it. I think, however, that it takes some time to taste and really appreciate this verse.
In Japanese the first line is “Mujō jin jin mimyō no hō wa.” Mujō means “unsurpassed.” The first jin means “very” or “extremely,” and the second means “deep” or “profound.” So mujō jin jin means “highest and also deepest.” Mi means “very small” or “subtle,” something we cannot see with our unaided eyes. So the first line means that the Dharma or the Buddha’s teaching is the highest or ultimate, and also the deepest and most subtle.
Dharma has two meanings: the Buddha’s teachings, and the truth to which he awakened. So Dharma means both teachings about reality and the reality itself. This first line says that the Buddha’s teaching is the highest, deepest, and most subtle and wondrous of teachings. It also says that the reality to which Shakyamuni Buddha awakened is the highest, deepest, and most subtle and wondrous. “Highest” implies upward movement; “deepest” implies downward. In Buddhism this pair has special meaning. To go up means to see reality with wisdom or prajñā. To go down means to
use skillful means with compassion for all beings. The Buddha sees reality from the peak of wisdom and descends to help all beings awaken to and practice this reality. Mujō jin jin refers at the same time to the highest and deepest qualities of the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion. “Subtle and wondrous” describe something we can’t see with our eyes or our usual way of thinking.
The expression jin jin mimyō no hō is from the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important sources of Dōgen Zenji’s teachings. For Dōgen Zenji the Lotus Sutra was essential because it describes the Mahāyāna Way of the bodhisattva. The expression “most profound, subtle, and wondrous dharma” is from the second chapter, titled “Expedient Devices.” The first verse of the chapter in which this expression appears begins:
The Hero of the World is incalculable.
Among gods, worldlings,
And all varieties of living beings,
None can know the Buddha.
As to the Buddha’s strengths (bala), his sorts of fearlessness (vaiśāradya),
His deliverances (vimokṣa), and his samādhis,
As well as the other dharmas of a Buddha,
None can fathom them.113
This passage says that none can know the Buddha; no human being can understand who the Buddha is. “Fathom” means to measure the size of something. The English unit of length is the foot, which was originally based on the length of a human foot. We measure by comparison to familiar things. To measure means to understand or grasp. Without something familiar for comparison we cannot measure anything. When we measure the size of the universe, we use a unit like the light-year. Since we can’t experience a light-year, it is an abstraction, something meaningful only to scientists. To make meaningful measurements we must use our own experience as a yardstick. The Buddha and the Dharma are limitless and boundless and therefore cannot be measured. To comprehend something boundless, something infinite, we have to open our hand and become free of our yardsticks. We do this in zazen. When we stop measuring, we can understand something limitless. That is what the phrase “none can fathom them” means. This doesn’t mean that 99 percent of human beings are unable but that some very superior people, sages or enlightened ones, can fathom the boundless with their special yardsticks. No one can measure something limitless because all yardsticks are limited. We can’t measure without concepts based on our limited experience. When we open our hand and stop using our yardsticks, we can encounter something boundless. That’s our practice. That is the quality of this Dharma.
The Lotus Sutra continues with the passage that is the source of the expression “profound, subtle, and wondrous Dharma.”
Formerly, following numberless Buddhas,
He fully trod the various paths,
Those dharmas profound and subtle,
Hard to see and hard to understand.
Throughout countless millions of kalpas
He trod these various paths; [then]
On the platform of the Path, he was able to achieve the fruit.
This I fully know.114
“Kalpa” is an interesting expression. It is a unit of time, something like a light-year, which is defined in an unusual way. Imagine that a storehouse with a capacity of ten cubic miles is filled with poppy seeds. Once every century someone removes a single poppy seed. A kalpa is defined as the time it would take to empty the storehouse. The sutra says millions of kalpas, which effectively means never. The expression “is difficult to encounter even in a hundred thousand million kalpas” means we can never encounter the Dharma. But then it contradicts itself and says, “I now see and listen, and I am able to accept and uphold or maintain it.” The translation in the MZMC sutra book is “having it to see and listen to, remember and accept.” The word “having” is not strong enough. We have to uphold, maintain, and nurture it. It’s not enough to merely have the Dharma; we also have to cultivate it.
In this translation the important word “now” is omitted. When we merely think about the Dharma and try to “get it,” we are unable to. As long as we try to grasp it with our intellect, we are unsuccessful because it’s impossible. The word “now” means at this present moment, the only reality. The past is already gone and the future has yet to come. Neither is reality. Only this moment, now, is reality. And yet this now is strange and wondrous. We cannot grasp it because it has no length. If it did, we could cut it in half. Suppose I want to speak the word “now.” When I make the initial sound na-, the rest of the sound, ow, still lies in the future; and when I do the ow, the na- is already past. So when is the present? The present is nothing. It is empty. So the past and future are never here, and the present is empty. It’s really wondrous, and we cannot understand it. We experience reality, actually live our lives and do things, and yet everything is empty. When we try to grasp it there is no substance.
Reality is empty like a phantom. This is the meaning of “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” This is reality. This present moment, which is zero or empty, is the only reality. It is the only time we can meet the Dharma by letting go of our limited measurement, our conventional ways of seeing and judging. To see the Dharma, the reality, we must open our hand and just accept that reality. There is no sound, and yet we have to listen for and accept this boundless Dharma. We cannot discuss the absolute. Argument doesn’t work. When we discuss the nature of the Dharma, we discuss our insight, our understanding of reality. Each of us has a different life experience and different ways of seeing things. Our opinions or expressions of this reality can differ. We can discuss or argue, and yet reality itself cannot be the object of meaningful argument.
All we can do is simply accept, maintain, and uphold it. “Maintain” means to use it. “Use” doesn’t mean I use the Dharma, in the sense that the Dharma is the object of my activity. Instead it means we are the Dharma itself. There is no truth or reality outside ourselves. We cannot be outside reality. We are born into and live in this reality, this Dharma. Since we are part of the Dharma, we can’t observe it from outside. Everything we do in our day-to-day lives is a manifestation of this boundless Dharma. The limitless, unsurpassed, most profound Dharma should be manifested through practice with our small, limited, impermanent body and mind. Practice means more than sitting zazen in the zendō. It includes practice outside of the zendō. Our practice, our life, is the only way to manifest this infinite Dharma. The only time we can see, listen, accept, and maintain this Dharma is right now.
The Lotus Sutra continues:
As to such great fruit and retribution as these,
Such varied doctrines of nature and marks,
I and the Buddhas of the ten directions
Are the only ones who can know these things.
These dharmas cannot be demonstrated;
Words, which are only signs, are quiescent in them.
Among the remaining kinds of living beings
None can understand them,
Except for the multitude of bodhisattvas,
Whose power of faith is firm.
The phrase “nature and marks,” which refers back to what Shakyamuni Buddha says in the prose section preceding this verse, is essential to an understanding of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Buddha is speaking to Śāriputra, one of his ten great disciples: “Śāriputra, we need speak no more. Why is this? Concerning the prime, rare, hard-to-understand dharmas, which the Buddha has perfected, only a Buddha and a Buddha can exhaust their reality, namely, the suchness of the dharmas.”115 “Suchness of the dharmas” is a translation for shohō jissō. Shohō means “myriad dharmas” or “all beings.”Ji means “true or real,” and ssō is “form.” So jissō means “reality” and “all dharmas or beings.” This Dharma is the reality of all beings, not something abstract that exists outside the phenomenal world. It is the reality of all phenomenal things, including ourselves.
The sutra continues, “the suchness of their marks, the suchness of their nature, the suchness of their substance.” “Marks” is translation of sō, which means “form.” “
Nature” is the characteristics of each thing. The original word translated here as “substance” is tai. It means “body,” not substance—something impermanent or egoless. Each thing has its own body: a book, clothing, water, grass, a person—all have bodies. The list continues with “the suchness of their powers, the suchness of their functions.” Each being has its own power or energy. It’s not a dead thing. And anything with power or energy has function. Even though it doesn’t move visibly, a mountain has functions. Dōgen Zenji says that mountains are always moving, always walking.
Finally, “the suchness of their causes, the suchness of their conditions, the suchness of their effects, the suchness of their retributions, and the absolute identity of their beginning and end.”
These “ten suchnesses” were discussed in the beginning of the chapter 5. As we saw there, the first five suchnesses of all beings refer to the uniqueness of each being. And the next four imply that each and every unique being can exist only within relation with others within the network of interdependent origination throughout entire time and space.
The tenth suchness is the “absolute identity of their beginning and end.” “Beginning” refers to the first suchness and “end” to the ninth, the retributions. These nine points are not independent aspects of our being but rather only one, because we cannot separate them. This last, tenth suchness is difficult to understand. Each being is unique and yet is connected with all beings, from the beginningless beginning to the endless end. When we take one being, we take all beings and all times. Nothing is substantial. Everything is empty. When we try to grasp with our intellect, using concepts, we become neurotic. When we grasp one aspect, we miss another. When we try to understand the difference between beings we differentiate and miss the connections between them. When we focus on the relationships between all beings, we miss the uniqueness of this being. These two basically contradictory aspects of the true reality of all beings are expressed in the Heart Sutra as “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” In “Sandōkai” the same reality is expressed as merging of difference (ji) and unity (ri).
Living by Vow Page 28
