Here is the place; here the way unfolds. The boundary of realization is not distinct, for the realization comes forth simultaneously with the full experience of buddha dharma. Do not suppose that what you attain becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your intellect. Although actualized immediately, what is inconceivable may not be apparent. Its emergence is beyond your knowledge.
Mayu, Zen Master Baoche, was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, “Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?”
“Although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent,” Mayu replied, “you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.”
“What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?” asked the monk.
Mayu just kept fanning himself.
The monk bowed deeply.
The actualization of the buddha dharma, the vital path of its authentic transmission, is like this. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind. The nature of wind is permanent; because of that, the wind of the buddha house brings forth the gold of the earth and ripens the cream of the long river.
Written around midautumn, the first year of the Tempuku Era [1233], and given to my lay student Koshu Yo of Kyushu Island. Revised in the fourth year of the Kencho Era [1252].
4
ONE BRIGHT PEARL
XUANSHA, GREAT MASTER Zongyi, of Mount Xuansha, Fu Region, China, of the Saha World, used to be called Shibei. His family name was Xie. When he was a householder, he loved fishing and boating on the Nantai River, doing as fishermen do.
At the beginning of the Xiantong Era [860–873] a golden-scaled fish came to him without his seeking it, and he suddenly had the urge to leave the dusty world. So he gave up his boat and went off into the mountains. He was thirty years old when he realized the precariousness of the floating world and the preciousness of the buddha way. Then he went to Mount Xuefeng and studied with Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, endeavoring in the way day and night.
One day, as he was leaving the mountain with his traveling bag to visit other monasteries to further his study, his toe hit a rock and began to bleed. In sharp pain he suddenly had a realization and said to himself, “If my body doesn’t exist, where does this pain come from?” So he went back to see Xuefeng.
Xuefeng said, “What’s happening, Ascetic Bei [Shibei]?”
Xuansha said, “No one can be fooled.”
Xuefeng loved his words and said, “Who doesn’t know these words, yet who else could say them?” Then he said, “Why doesn’t Ascetic Bei with the traveling bag go and study all over?”
Xuansha said, “Bodhidharma didn’t come to China. Huike didn’t go to India.”
Xuefeng praised him.
Although Xuansha was a fisherman who had never read sutras even in dreams, he focused on his intention to practice and was strongly determined. Xuefeng saw his practice excel in the community and regarded him as an outstanding student. The coarse cotton robe Xuansha had on all the time was worn out and tattered, so he put on a paper robe beneath it. He sometimes added dried mugwort grass to cover himself. He did not study with anyone other than Xuefeng. In this way, he acquired the capacity to inherit Xuefeng’s dharma.
Some years after attaining the way, Xuansha instructed his students, saying, “The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl.”
Once a monk asked him, “I heard that you said, ‘The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl.’ How should I understand this?”
Xuansha said, “The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. What do you do with your understanding?”
The next day Xuansha asked the monk, “The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand this?”
The monk said, “The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. What do you do with your understanding?”
Xuansha said, “I see that you have worked out a way to get through the demon’s cave on the black mountain.”
Xuansha is the first one to say, The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. It means the entire world of the ten directions is neither vast nor minute, neither square nor round. It is not neutral, not active, and not obvious. Because it is beyond the coming or going of birth and death, it is the coming and going of birth and death. Thus, past days have already left here and the present moment starts from here. When we investigate the entire world of the ten directions, who can see it as bits and pieces, who can talk about it as something solid?
The entire world of the ten directions means that you ceaselessly chase things and make them into the self, and you chase the self and make it into things. When emotions arise, wisdom is pushed aside. By seeing this as separation, teacher and student turn their heads and exchange their faces, unroll the great matter and harmonize their understanding. Because you chase the self and make it into things, the entire world of the ten directions is ceaseless. Because you take initiative, you do more than distantly see the essential matter.
One bright pearl is not merely the name [of an object] but an expression of understanding. Although there have been people who thought that it was only a name, one bright pearl directly experiences ten thousand years. While the entire past has not yet departed, the entire present is just now arriving. Here is the now of the body, the now of the mind. This is the bright pearl; it is not limited to grass and trees here and there, or even to mountains and rivers in the universe.
How should I understand this? These words appear to be the monk’s expression of ignorance, but the great function emerges right here, actualizing the great principle [that enlightenment encompasses time and space]. Step forward and penetrate one foot of water, one foot of wave, ten feet of pearl, ten feet of illumination.
In expressing his understanding, Xuansha said, The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. What do you do with your understanding? These words are an expression that buddhas inherit from buddhas, ancestors inherit from ancestors, and Xuansha inherits from Xuansha. If you do not want to inherit this expression, there may be a way not to do so. But even if you totally avoid it for a while, this expression arises all-inclusively right now.
The next day Xuansha asked the monk, The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand this? This is an expression that takes up yesterday’s statement and, adding another layer, blows it back today. His question today pushes down yesterday’s nodding laugh.
The monk said, The entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl. What do you do with your understanding? Speak! This is riding the robber’s horse to chase the robber [the self looking for the self]. An authentic buddha speaking to you walks in the midst of various beings. Now turn the light inward and illuminate yourself. How many ways do you understand this? You may say, “seven pieces of milk cake” or “five pieces of herb cake.” Yet, there is teaching and practice south of Xian and north of Tan [anywhere].
Xuansha said, I see that you have worked out a way to get through the demon’s cave on the black mountain. Know that the sun face and moon face have not switched over since ancient times. The sun face emerges with the sun face, and the moon face emerges with the moon face. So, even in the sixth month [height of summer], do not say your nature is hot. The timeless thusness of this one bright pearl is boundless. It is just that the entire world of the ten directions is one bright pearl, not two or three. The entire body is one true dharma eye, the true body, a single phrase. The entire body is illumination; the entire body is the entire mind. When the entire body is the entire body, there is no hindrance. It is gently curved and turns round and round.
With the power of the bright pearl manifesting in this way, Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya see form and hear sound; old buddhas and new buddhas reveal their bodies and expound dharma. At this very
moment the bright pearl hangs in space or is sewn inside the robe; it is hidden under the gill [of a dragon] or in the hair. This is one bright pearl, the entire world of the ten directions. Although it is sewn inside the robe, do not try to hang it outside the robe. Although it is hidden under the gill or in the hair, do not try to take it out.
A man sewed a valuable pearl inside the clothes of a dear friend who was drunk [as told in the Lotus Sutra]. A dear friend always gives a valuable pearl. When a pearl is sewn inside one’s clothes, one is always drunk. This is one bright pearl, the entire world of the ten directions. All things, turning or not turning [seen when one is drunk or sober], are one bright pearl. Knowing the bright pearl is one bright pearl. This is how it is with one bright pearl.
This being so, although you may say, “I am not a bright pearl,” you should not doubt. Whether you doubt it or not, such doubt comes from a limited view. Limited views are merely limited.
How lovely is one bright pearl’s infinite colors and shades! Bits and pieces of its colors and shades express the entire world of the ten directions. No one can take it away, or throw a tile at it in the marketplace. Do not be concerned about falling or not falling into cause and effect in the six paths. Not ignoring cause and effect, from beginning to end, is the face of the bright pearl, is the eye of the bright pearl.
To think or not to think one hundred times about what the bright pearl is or is not is like gathering and binding weeds [to trap yourself]. But when you clarify the body and mind as the bright pearl through the dharma words of Xuansha, you understand that mind is not the self.
Who is concerned whether or not appearing and disappearing are the bright pearl? Even if you are concerned, that does not mean you are not the bright pearl. It is not something outside of the bright pearl that causes practice and thought. Therefore, forward or back, your every step in the demon’s cave on the black mountain is one bright pearl.
Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery, Uji County, Yamashiro Province, on the eighteenth day, the fourth month, the fourth year of the Katei Era [1238].
5
REGULATIONS FOR THE AUXILIARY CLOUD HALL AT THE KANNONDORI KOSHO GOKOKU MONASTERY
THOSE WHO HAVE way-seeking mind and wish to abandon fame and gain should enter. Those who are half-hearted and lack sincerity should not enter. If the entry is a mistake, after some consideration one may be asked to leave.
Know that when the way-seeking mind is aroused within, there is immediate freedom from fame and gain. In the vastness of the billion worlds, true heirs of dharma are rare. In spite of the long history of our country you should make the present moment the true source, having compassion for later generations by giving emphasis to the present.
The assembly of students in the hall should blend like milk and water to support the activity of the way. Although now for some period you are either guest or host, later you will be buddha ancestors equally throughout time. Therefore, you should not forget the feeling of gratitude. It is rare to meet one another and practice what is rare to practice. This is called the body and mind of buddha dharma; you will certainly become a buddha ancestor.
Having left your home and birthplace, now you depend on clouds and you depend on water. The support to you and your practice given by this assembly of students surpasses that which was given by your father and mother. Your father and mother are temporarily close to you in birth and death, but this assembly of students is your companion in the buddha way of enlightenment for all time.
Do not look for a chance to go out. But, if necessary, going out is permitted once a month. People in the past lived in the remote mountains and practiced far away in the forests. Not only were they free from nearly all worldly affairs, but they also relinquished all relationships. You should learn the heart of their hiding brilliance and obscuring traces. Now is the time for the fire on your head to be brushed off. Is it not sad if you waste this time, concerning yourself with secular affairs? Life is impermanent and unreliable. No one knows where and when this dew-like existence will drop from the grass. Not recognizing impermanence is truly regrettable.
Do not read books in the hall, even Zen texts, and do not bring in personal correspondence. In the hall you should endeavor in the way of realizing the great matter. When facing the bright window, you should illuminate the mind with the authentic teaching. Do not waste a moment. Concentrate your effort.
Day or night, always inform the director of the hall where you are going to be. Do not play around according to your own impulses; your actions affect the discipline of the entire assembly. Who knows? This may be the last day of your life. It would be truly regrettable to die while indulging in pleasures.
Do not be concerned with the faults of others. Do not see others’ faults with a hateful mind. There is an old saying that if you stop seeing others’ faults, then naturally seniors are venerated and juniors are revered. Do not imitate others’ faults; just cultivate virtue. The Buddha prohibited unwholesome actions but did not tell us to despise those who practice unwholesome actions.
Whether carrying out either important matters or trifles, always consult with the director of the hall. Those who do things without consulting with the director of the hall should leave. If you neglect the formality of guest and host, you can understand neither the true nor the conditional.
Inside or near the hall, do not put your heads together and talk loudly. The director should prohibit this.
Do not do chanting circumambulation in the hall.
Do not hold or carry beads in the hall. Do not enter or leave with your hands hanging down.
Do not chant the names of buddhas or sutras in the hall. However, this is permitted when supporters request sutra chanting on a particular occasion. Do not spit, blow your nose, or laugh loudly. Be sobered by the fact that the work of the way is not yet mastered. Regret the subtle passage of time, which is eating away this opportunity for practice of the way. Then you may have the sense of being a fish in a small puddle.
Those assembled in the hall should not wear brocade but rather things like paper robes. Those who understood the way in the past were all like this.
Do not enter the hall intoxicated with wine. If you do so by accident, you should make a formal repentance. Do not have wine brought into the hall. Do not enter the hall smelling of onions.
Quarreling persons should go out of the hall, because their quarreling not only hinders their own work in the way but also that of others. Those who see such quarreling and do not stop it are equally at fault.
Those who do not follow the guidelines of the hall should be removed. Those who are amused by or in sympathy with such students are also at fault.
Do not show the inside of the hall to visiting monks or laypeople, as this may disturb the students. Do not speak loudly with guests near the hall, and do not talk about practice in a self-praising way, in order to get offerings. However, those who have a long-standing intention to practice or those who are on pilgrimage may be allowed inside. In such cases, always consult the director of the hall beforehand.
Practice zazen in this hall just as in the monks’ hall. Never neglect early morning zazen or the evening practice instruction period.
At mealtime, those who drop monks’ bowls or utensils on the floor should be fined according to the regulations of the monastery.
The admonitions of buddha ancestors should always be followed. The pure guidelines of the monastery are to be inscribed in your bones and mind.
Wish to be serenely composed for your entire life and to practice the way free of expectations.
These regulations are the body and mind of the ancient buddhas. Respect and follow them.
This was written on the twenty-fifth day, the fourth month, the first year of the En’o Era [1239].
6
THE MIND ITSELF IS BUDDHA
WHAT BUDDHAS AND ancestors have maintained without exception is “The mind itself is buddha.” However, this particular expression was not
known in India; it was first heard in China.
Many students misunderstand this teaching, as they do not file a file about it [examine it thoroughly]. Because they do not file a file, they fall into a group of those outside the way. Upon hearing the phrase The mind itself is buddha, ignorant people think that the thoughts and awareness of ordinary beings, who have not aroused the aspiration for enlightenment, are already buddhas. They think in this way because they have not yet met an authentic teacher.
Shrenika, who lived in India, was one of those outside the way. This was his theory:
The great road lies within this body right now. How it works is easy to know: The soul [everlasting consciousness] discerns pain and pleasure, cold and heat, aching and itching. It is not obstructed by things and is not concerned with objects. While things come and go and objects are born and perish, the soul exists without changing. It pervades all sentient beings both ordinary and sacred.
Although there are flowers of emptiness, which are false reality, as soon as an embracing wisdom appears even for a moment, things disappear and objects perish. The soul, the original nature, alone is clearly permanent. When the body is broken, the soul comes out of it unbroken. It is just like the owner of a house on fire who comes out of it safely.
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Page 14
