Question 17: We have heard that in India and China there have been people in the past and present who realized the way on hearing the sound of bamboo being struck, or who understood the mind when seeing the color of blossoms. Great Master Shakyamuni was awakened to the way when he saw the morning star, and Venerable Ananda understood the dharma when a banner pole fell down. Furthermore, among the Five Houses after the six early ancestors in China, there were many who realized the mind-ground with one word or half a phrase. Not all of them necessarily practiced zazen in pursuit of the way; is this not so?
Answer: Of those who clarified the mind upon seeing a form, or who realized the way upon hearing a sound, not one had any intellectual thinking regarding the endeavor of the way and not one was concerned about their self other than their original self.
Question 18: People in India and China are straightforward by nature. As they are in the center of civilization, when buddha dharma is taught to them, they can immediately enter it. People in our country since ancient times have been bereft of compassionate wisdom, and it is difficult for the right seed of prajna to be nourished. This is because we are uncivilized. Is it not regrettable? Thus, the monks in our country are inferior to even the laity in those great countries. Our entire nation is foolish and narrow-minded, and we are deeply attached to visible merit and fond of worldly values. If such people do zazen, can they immediately realize buddha dharma?
Answer: What you say is correct. Among people in our own country, compassionate wisdom does not yet prevail, and their nature is rather coarse. Even if the true dharma is explained to them, its nectar becomes poisonous. They easily pursue fame and gain, and it is difficult for them to be free from delusion.
However, to enter the realization of buddha dharma, one does not need the worldly wisdom of humans and devas as a boat for fleeing the world. When the Buddha was alive, one person realized the four fruits of attainment when he was hit by a ball; another understood the great way by wearing a robe in jest. They were both ignorant people, like beasts, but with the aid of genuine trust they were able to be free from delusion. A laywoman serving food to an ignorant old monk sitting in silence was enlightened. This did not depend upon wisdom, scripture, words, or speech; it was only brought about by genuine trust.
Now, Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching has been spread in the billion worlds for about two thousand years. Those countries are not necessarily the countries of compassionate wisdom, and the people are not necessarily sharp and intelligent. However, the Tathagata’s true dharma in essence has a great inconceivable meritorious power, and spreads in those countries when the time is ripe.
If you practice with genuine trust, you will attain the way, regardless of being sharp or dull. Do not think that buddha dharma cannot be understood in this country because this is not a country of compassionate wisdom and people are foolish. In fact, everyone has the seed of prajna in abundance; it is only that they have rarely realized it and have not yet fully received buddha dharma.
This exchange of questions and answers may have been rather confusing; a number of times flowers of emptiness were made to bloom. However, since the meaning of zazen in pursuit of the way has not been transmitted in this country, those who wish to know about it may be regretful. Therefore, for the sake of those who wish to practice, I have recorded some of the essential teachings of the clear-eyed teachers, which I learned in China. Beyond this, guidelines for practice places and the regulations for monasteries are more than I can mention now. They should not be presented casually.
Our country lies to the east of the dragon ocean, far from China, but the Buddha’s teaching was transmitted eastward to Japan, about the time of Emperors Kimmei and Yomei. This is the good fortune of our people, yet the philosophy and rituals have been entangled, and authentic practice was not established. Now, if you make patched robes and mended bowls your whole life, build a thatched-roofed hut near a mossy cliff or white rock, and practice sitting upright, you immediately go beyond buddha and directly master the great matter of your life’s study. This is the admonition of Dragon Fang [Longya], the transmitted way of practice of Mount Rooster-Foot [where Mahakashyapa practiced]. Concerning the method of zazen, I would refer you to “Recommending Zazen to All People,” which I wrote during the Karoku Era [1225–1227].
Although a king’s edict is needed for spreading dharma in the country, if we think of the Buddha entrusting the dharma to kings and ministers on Vulture Peak, all the kings and ministers who have appeared in the billion worlds are born because of their wish from a previous birth to protect and guard buddha dharma. Where this teaching prevails, is there any place that is not a buddha land? Thus, spreading the way of buddha ancestors does not depend upon place or circumstance. Just consider that today is the beginning.
I have written this to leave for people of excellence who aspire to practice buddha dharma and for true students who wander like waterweeds, seeking the way.
Midautumn day [the fifteenth day of the eighth month], in the third year of the Kanki Era [1231], by Dogen, who has transmitted dharma from Song China.
KOSHO MONASTERY PERIOD
1233–1243
2
MANIFESTATION OF GREAT PRAJNA
AVALOKITESHVARA BODHISATTVA, WHILE experiencing deeply the manifestation of prajna [wisdom beyond wisdom], clearly saw with the entire body that all five skandhas are empty. These five skandhas [streams of body and mind]—form, feeling, perception, inclination, and discernment—are fivefold prajna. Clear seeing is prajna. To expound this teaching, it is said [in the Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra] that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Form is form. Emptiness is emptiness [boundlessness]. One hundred grasses are thus. Myriad forms are thus.
The manifestation of the twelvefold prajna [the prajna of the six senses and their objects] means twelve types of entering [into buddha dharma].
There is the eighteenfold prajna: the prajna of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the prajna of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and objects of mind; also the prajna of the corresponding consciousness of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
There is the fourfold [noble truth] prajna: suffering, craving, freedom from suffering, and the path. There is the sixfold [manifestation] prajna: generosity, precepts, patience, vigor, contemplation, and prajna.
There is the singlefold prajna: unsurpassable, complete enlightenment, actualized at this very moment. There is the manifestation of the threefold prajna: the past, present, and future. There is the sixfold [great element] prajna: earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness. The fourfold [bodily posture] prajna: walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, common in daily activities.
In the assembly of Shakyamuni Buddha there was a monk who said to himself:
I will take refuge in this very profound manifestation of prajna. Although nothing arises or perishes in the midst of this manifestation of prajna, the precept skandha, the samadhi skandha, the wisdom skandha, the emancipation skandha, and the emancipation of views skandha are established. The fruits of entering the stream, of once-returning, of no-longer-returning, and of the arhat are established. The pratyeka-buddha’s enlightenment is established. The unsurpassable, complete enlightenment is established. Buddha, dharma, and sangha treasures are established. The turning of the wondrous dharma wheel and awakening sentient beings are established.
The Buddha read the monk’s mind and said to him, “That’s right, that’s right. The very profound manifestation of prajna is subtle and fathomless.”
This monk’s understanding was that taking refuge in all things is taking refuge in prajna that does not arise or perish. At the very moment of taking refuge, the prajna that establishes precepts, samadhi, wisdom, and awakening sentient beings is actualized. This prajna is called emptiness. So the actualization of emptiness is established. This is the manifestation of prajna that is extremely subtle and fathomless.
Indra asked Elder Subhuti, “Great reverend, if bodhisattvas, great
beings, want to experience the profound manifestation of prajna, how should they study?”
Subhuti said, “Lord Indra of Kausika, if bodhisattvas, great beings, want to experience the profound manifestation of prajna, they should study as they would study empty space.”
Thus, studying prajna is empty space, empty space is studying prajna.
Then, Indra asked the Buddha, “World-Honored One, if good men and women receive, recite, reflect upon, and explain to others the profound manifestation of the prajna you have explained, how should I protect them? Please teach me.”
Subhuti answered for the Buddha, “Lord Indra of Kausika, do you think there is anything you need to protect?”
Indra said, “No, great reverend, I don’t see anything I need to protect.”
Subhuti said, “Lord Indra of Kausika, if good men and women practice the profound manifestation of the prajna, which the Buddha has explained, that itself is protection. If they do so, they will not stray from it. So you should know that in case humans or nonhumans want to find a way to harm good men and women, it will not be possible. Lord Indra of Kausika, protecting the profound manifestation of prajna, which the Buddha has explained, and protecting the bodhisattvas who practice it, are not different from protecting empty space.”
Thus, know that receiving, reciting, or reflecting upon the profound manifestation of prajna is no other than protecting prajna. Intending to protect is receiving, reciting, and so forth.
Rujing, my late master, Old Buddha, said:
The entire body is a mouth [wind-bell] hanging in empty space,
regardless of the wind from the east, west, south, or north,
joining the whole universe in chiming out prajna.
Ting-ting, ting-ting, ting-ting.
This is an authentic heir of buddha ancestors speaking prajna. The entire body is prajna. The entire other is prajna. The entire self is prajna. The entire east, west, south, and north is prajna.
Shakyamuni Buddha said:
Shariputra, sentient beings should dedicate themselves and pay respect to this prajna just as to the living Buddha. They should reflect upon the manifestation of prajna just as they dedicate themselves and pay respect to the Buddha, the World-Honored One. Why so? Because the manifestation of prajna is no other than the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The Buddha, the World-Honored One, is no other than the manifestation of prajna. The manifestation of prajna is itself the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The Buddha, the World-Honored One, is the manifestation of prajna. Why so? Shariputra, unsurpassable, complete enlightenment of all tathagatas has emerged from the manifestation of prajna. Shariputra, bodhisattvas, great beings, pratyeka-buddhas, arhats, never-returners, once-returners, stream enterers have all emerged from the manifestation of prajna. Shariputra, the ten ways of wholesome actions in the world, the four stages of meditation, the four samadhis in formlessness, and the five miraculous powers have all emerged from the manifestation of prajna.
Thus, the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is the manifestation of prajna. The manifestation of prajna is all things. All things are aspects of emptiness—not arising [beyond arising], not perishing, not defiled, not pure, not increasing, and not decreasing. To actualize the manifestation of prajna is to actualize the Buddha, the World-Honored One.
Look into this. Study this. To dedicate yourself and take refuge in the manifestation of prajna is to see and uphold the Buddha, the World-Honored One. It is to be the Buddha, the World-Honored One, seeing and accepting.
Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Monastery on a day of the summer practice period in the first year of the Tempuku Era [1233].
3
ACTUALIZING THE FUNDAMENTAL POINT
AS ALL THINGS are buddha dharma, there is delusion, realization, practice, birth [life] and death, buddhas and sentient beings. As myriad things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death. The buddha way, in essence, is leaping clear of abundance and lack; thus there is birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas. Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread.
To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening.
Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings. Further, there are those who continue realizing beyond realization and those who are in delusion throughout delusion.
When buddhas are truly buddhas, they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas. However, they are actualized buddhas, who go on actualizing buddha.
When you see forms or hear sounds, fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately. Unlike things and their reflections in the mirror, and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water, when one side is illumined, the other side is dark.
To study the way of enlightenment is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.
When you first seek dharma, you imagine you are far away from its environs. At the moment when dharma is authentically transmitted, you are immediately your original self.
When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind, you might suppose that your mind and essence are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self.
Firewood becomes ash, and does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is after and the firewood before. Understand that firewood abides in its condition as firewood, which fully includes before and after, while it is independent of before and after. Ash abides in its condition as ash, which fully includes before and after. Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death.
This being so, it is an established way in buddha dharma to deny that birth turns into death. Accordingly, birth is understood as beyond birth. It is an unshakable teaching in the Buddha’s discourse that death does not turn into birth. Accordingly, death is understood as beyond death.
Birth is a condition complete in this moment. Death is a condition complete in this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not crush the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.
When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you may assume it is already sufficient. When dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing. For example, when you sail out in a boat to the middle of the ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular, and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round nor square; its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this.
Although there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach. In order to learn the nature o
f the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.
A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims, there is no end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it flies, there is no end to the air. However, the fish and the bird have never left their elements. When their activity is large, their field is large. When their need is small, their field is small. Thus, each of them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally experiences its realm. If the bird leaves the air, it will die at once. If the fish leaves the water, it will die at once.
Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish. You can go further. There is practice-enlightenment, which encompasses limited and unlimited life.
Now, if a bird or a fish tries to reach the end of its element before moving in it, this bird or this fish will not find its way or its place. When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point; for the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others’. The place, the way, has not carried over from the past, and it is not merely arising now. Accordingly, in the practice-enlightenment of the buddha way, to attain one thing is to penetrate one thing; to meet one practice is to sustain one practice.
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Page 13
