Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  The sink for washing the face for the cloud hall [monks’ hall] is at an added area behind the hall. It is to the west of the illumination hall [study hall]. There is a building plan [that includes this area] transmitted until now. In residential huts and individual quarters, sinks for washing the face are situated in convenient places. The abbot’s place for washing the face is situated in the abbot’s quarters. Sinks for elder monks and senior teachers are also provided in convenient places. If the abbot sleeps in the cloud hall, he should wash his face at the sink behind the hall.

  When you get to the sink, hang the towel around your neck. Pull both ends forward from both sides of the neck, push the ends to the back under your armpits, cross the towel at your back, bring its ends to the front, and tie it on your chest. In this way the lapel of your day robe is covered by the towel and the sleeves are tied up higher than your elbows. The forearms and hands are exposed, just as when you tie a sash [for holding up tucked sleeves].

  In case you wash your face at the sink behind the monks’ hall, pick up a face-washing basin, get some warm water in the cauldron, and set it in the sink. If you are somewhere else, pour some warm water from the warm wooden tub.

  Then, use a willow twig. The way of chewing a willow twig has long been lost and there is no place for using it at monasteries in Great Song China. But we do have a place for using a willow twig at the Kichijo Mountain Eihei Monastery. So this is a current practice.

  First, chew a willow twig: Pick one with the right hand and chant a vow.

  The “Pure Practice” chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

  Holding a willow twig I vow:

  May all beings attain

  the true dharma and

  experience original purity.

  Before chewing the willow twig, chant:

  Chewing a willow twig I vow:

  May all beings attain

  a fang that subdues and

  crushes all delusions.

  Then chew the willow twig.

  The length of a willow twig can be four, eight, twelve, or sixteen times the thickness of a finger.

  Chapter 34 of the Great Sangha Precepts [Scripture] says, “Use the tooth sticks according to their length. The longest ones are the length of sixteen fingers thick, and the shortest ones are the length of four fingers thick.”

  Know that a tooth stick should not be shorter than four fingers thick. Ones that are longer than sixteen fingers thick do not fit. The thickness of a finger means that of the little finger. However, there are no restrictions on how thin the fingers can be [as a measuring standard]. The tooth stick is in the shape of the little finger; one end is thick and the other thin. You chew its thick end thoroughly into fiber.

  The Sutra of Three Thousand Guidelines for Pure Conduct says, “Do not chew more than three bu [three tenths of one sun (inch)] of it.”

  You chew the tooth stick repeatedly and brush the surface of the teeth as if you were polishing them. Brush and rinse several times. Mindfully brush the gums also. Brush and clean in between the teeth. With frequent rinsing, your mouth is cleansed. Then scrape the tongue.

  The Sutra of Three Thousand Guidelines for Pure Conduct says, “There are five guidelines for scraping the tongue: Do not practice excessively; stop when bleeding; do not make a large hand motion that may stain your robe; do not throw away the willow twig and hit someone else; always practice it in a sheltered place.”

  What is called “three tongue scrapings” means to scrape the tongue while holding water in your mouth three times. It does not mean scraping in three strokes. Remember to stop if you start bleeding. Scrape the tongue thoroughly in this way.

  The Sutra of Three Thousand Guidelines for Pure Conduct says, “Cleansing the mouth means to chew the willow twig, rinse the mouth, and scrape the tongue.”

  Thus, buddha ancestors and their descendants have protected and maintained the use of a willow twig.

  [The Wise and Fools Sutra says:]

  Once, the Buddha was with one thousand two hundred fifty monks in the Bamboo Grove of Rajagriha. It was the first day of the twelfth month. King Prasenajit prepared a meal for them. In the early morning he handed a willow twig to the Buddha, who received it, chewed it, and threw the rest onto the ground. It started growing into a tree; its roots and stems emerged thickly. It became five hundred yojna high. Its branches and leaves spread like clouds and covered all over. It opened blossoms as large as wheels. It bore fruit as large as jars. Its roots, stems, branches, and leaves were all made of seven treasures, which were extremely beautiful, reflecting and illuminating various colors, overshadowing the sun and the moon. Its fruits were as sweet as nectar and its fragrance permeated everywhere and pleased everyone. When the wind blew, the rustling of its branches and leaves created sublime music and expounded dharma, which no one tired of. Seeing this transformation, all people deepened their faith. The Buddha spoke of dharma in response to the understanding of all those who heard and opened their hearts. A great number of seekers received the buddha fruits and ascended to heaven.

  Thus, a way to make an offering to the Buddha is to offer a willow twig in the early morning. Then you offer various things. Although there are many stories about offering a willow twig to the Buddha and letting the Buddha use a willow twig, since you need to know it, I have now presented this story of King Prasenajit’s offering, which became a tall tree.

  On the same day, six teachers outside the way were defeated by the Buddha and ran away in fright. They all jumped into water and were drowned.

  [According to the Wise and Fools Sutra:] “Nine hundred million followers of the six teachers outside the way went to see the Buddha and asked him to make them his disciples. The Buddha said, ‘Come, monks.’ Then, they all became monks with their hair and beards dropped away and their bodies wrapped in dharma robes. The Buddha expounded essential dharma. Their desires being dissolved, they all became arhats.”

  In this way, because the Tathagata used a willow twig, humans and devas made offering of it to the Tathagata. We clearly know that chewing a willow twig is maintained by buddhas, bodhisattvas, and their disciples. Without using it, the way of using it will be neglected. It would be deplorable not to use it.

  The Indra’s Net Bodhisattva Sutra says:

  You, children of the Buddha, should practice asceticism day and night, doing zazen in winter and summer, and participate in a practice period in summer. Always use a willow twig, washing powder, three robes, a jar, bowls, a sitting mat, a walking stick, an incense bowl, a water bag, a towel, a knife, a flint stone, tweezers, a straw mat, sutras, a precept book, a Buddha image, and a bodhisattva image. When you bodhisattvas practice asceticism or wander one or two hundred li, you should always carry these eighteen items. Practice asceticism from the fifteenth day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the third month, and from the fifteenth day of the eighth month to the fifteenth day of the tenth month. During these periods carry these eighteen items just like the two wings of a bird.

  Do not leave out even one of these eighteen items. If you do not follow this teaching, it would be like a bird missing one of its wings. Even if it has the other wing, it would not be able to fly. Then, it would not be able to follow the path of birds. A bodhisattva is like this. Without being equipped with these eighteen types of wings, the practice of the bodhisattva way would not be possible.

  Among the eighteen items, a willow twig is listed first. It is the first thing to carry. Those who clarify the use of a willow twig are bodhisattvas who clarify buddha dharma. Those who do not yet clarify this have not yet dreamed of buddha dharma. This being so, seeing a willow twig is seeing a buddha ancestor.

  If someone asks you, “What is the essential matter?” say, “I have fortunately met Old Man Eihei chewing a willow twig.”

  This bodhisattva precept of the Indra’s Net Bodhisattva Sutra has been maintained in the past, present, and future by bodhisattvas of the past, present, and future. Thus, a willow twig has been maintained in the pa
st, present, and future.

  The Guidelines for Zen Monasteries says:

  The Indra’s Net Bodhisattva Sutra expounds the ten grave and forty-eight minor precepts. Be familiar with the precepts by reading and chanting them. Know how to maintain them, how not to violate them, how to be open to them, and how to control yourself. Depend on these sacred words uttered by the [Buddha’s] golden mouth and do not mistakenly follow mediocre fellows.

  Know that the teaching authentically transmitted by buddhas and ancestors is like this. To contradict it is not the buddha way, not buddha dharma, not the ancestral way.

  However, willow twigs are not seen in Great Song China nowadays. When I first saw various mountains and monasteries there in the fourth month of the sixteenth year of the Katei Era [1224], monks and people of high and low status in or out of government did not know about willow twigs. As none of the monks knew about them, they would be embarrassed and confused when I asked them about willow twigs. What a pity that the pure dharma has diminished!

  Those who cleanse their mouths use a brush. It is made of horse hair cut about one sun long and planted like a horse mane in about a two-sun-long rectangle on one end of a cow horn, six or seven sun long, and three-tenths of a sun thick. They wash their teeth with such a brush. It is not suited as a tool for monks. As it is an impure tool, it is not a tool for buddha dharma. Even laypeople who worship devas should avoid such a brush.

  Such bushes are also used by monks and laypeople for removing dust from their shoes or brushing their hair. They vary in size but are the same type of tool. Yet, they are only used by one person out of ten thousand.

  So, monks and laypeople in Great Song China have bad breath. When they speak, their breath can be smelled two or three shaku away, which is hard to bear. Those who call themselves reverend teachers who have attained the way, or guiding masters of humans and devas, are not aware of the way to rinse the mouth, scrape the tongue, and chew a willow twig. The decline of the great way of buddha ancestors is beyond measure.

  Risking our dewdroplike life in crossing the ocean of ten thousand li and crossing mountains and rivers of a foreign land, we seek the way. However, it is our lamentable fortune to see such a decline of dharma. How much of the pure dharma has perished before us? It is regrettable, truly regrettable.

  On the other hand, both monks and laypeople in and out of the imperial court in Japan see and hear about a willow twig. To do so is to hear and see the buddha light. But their way of chewing a willow twig is not in accordance with the way, and the practice of brushing the tongue has not been transmitted; their practice is coarse. Compared with those in Song who don’t know about a willow twig, people here are aware of the excellent practice. Sorcerers also use willow twigs. Know that a willow twig is a tool for being away from the dusty world. It is a means for cleansing.

  The Sutra of Three Thousand Guidelines for Pure Conduct says:

  There are five ways for using a willow twig: Cut wood according to the guidelines; crush the willow twig according to guidelines; do not chew more than one-third of the willow twig; for the gum where a tooth is missing, put the willow twig inside the gap and chew it three times; wash your eyes with the rinsing water.

  We now cup the water we used for chewing the willow twig in the right hand and rinse the mouth; this comes from the teaching of the Three Thousand Guidelines for Monks. This has been taught in Japanese households since olden times.

  The way of scraping the tongue was transmitted [from China] by Eisai. Before you discard the willow twig after use, you tear it from its chewed end into two pieces. Place the sharp side of one of the torn pieces onto the tongue and scrape it. Then, put water in your cupped right hand, rinse the mouth, and scrape the tongue several times. You keep scraping with the blade of the torn willow twig almost until the tongue starts to bleed.

  When you rinse the mouth, chant this mantra from the Avatamsaka Sutra to yourself:

  By my rinsing the mouth and teeth,

  may all beings

  face the gate of pure dharma

  and attain ultimate emancipation.

  Rinse a number of times while washing inside the mouth, including the back of the lips, the bottom of the tongue, and the bottom of the upper jaw, with the front tips of the index finger, middle finger, and ring finger, as if you were licking them. If you have just eaten oily food, use acacia powder.

  After using the willow twig, discard it behind the screen. Snap your fingers three times after discarding it. There is a bucket for discarded willow twigs at the sink in the back of the monks’ hall. Discard it somewhere else in other places. Spit out the water for rinsing the mouth outside the bucket.

  Next, wash your face: Scoop up some warm water in the face basin with your hands and wash all over from the forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nostrils, inside the ears, and jaws, to the cheeks. First, take some warm water [with a dipper], and wet and rub all parts. Do not leak saliva or snivel into the water. While washing in this way, do not waste the warm water by overflowing the basin or splattering. Wash your face until it is filthless and the grease is removed. Wash the back of the earlobes so that there is no liquid there. Wash inside the eyelids so that there is no sand in the eyes. Wash the hair and top of the head also. This is a sacred procedure. After washing the face and draining the water, snap your fingers three times.

  Then, dry your face with the towel. Wipe it well and dry it completely. After that, untie the towel, fold it in half, and hang it over the left elbow.

  At the sink behind the monks’ hall, face-washing towels for common use are provided. They are pieces of white cloth. There is also a wooden box with charcoal fire in it [to dry hands]. There is no lack of towels for everyone. Dry your face and head with one. You can also use your own towel.

  At the time of washing the face, do not make noise by allowing a dipper to drip, or in any other way. Do not splatter the warm water and wet a nearby place.

  Reflect quietly and rejoice that although we live in the last five hundred years [of the three periods of five hundred years after the time of Shakyamuni Buddha] in a faraway island of a remote country, as our wholesome karma from the past has not decayed, we have authentically received the awesome procedure of ancient buddhas, practice it, and realize it without staining it. Walk with light steps and speak quietly while returning to the cloud hall.

  The huts for elder practitioners need to have sinks for washing the face. Not to wash the face goes against the guidelines. At the time of washing the face, skin medicine may be used.

  Chewing a willow twig and washing the face is the true dharma of ancient buddhas. It should be practiced and realized by those who practice the way with way-seeking heart. If warm water is not available, use cold water, which also is an old way, ancient dharma. When warm or cold water is not available in the early morning, wipe your face thoroughly, spread fragrant herbs or incense powder, then bow to the Buddha, burn incense, chant sutras, and do zazen.

  Without washing the face, all the practices would lack authenticity.

  Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the twenty-third day, the tenth month, the first year of En’o Era [1239].

  POSTSCRIPT

  In India and China, all people, including kings, princes, ministers, officials, laity, monks, noble and ordinary men and women, and farmers, wash their faces. They have face-washing basins in their homes, made of silver or hard tin. They offer washing their faces to the shrines of devas and gods. They offer washing their faces to the stupas of buddha ancestors. Both laypeople and monks, after washing their faces, dress up and bow to devas, gods, ancestors, and parents. They bow to their teachers, the three treasures, myriad spirits in the three realms, and the lords of the ten directions. Nowadays, farmers, rural workers, fishermen, and woodcutters don’t forget to wash their faces. Yet, they do not chew willow sticks.

  In Japan, the king, ministers, the young and old, the noble and ordinary, laity and monks, don’t forget to chew a willow twig and ri
nse their mouths. But they don’t wash their faces. One gain, one loss.

  To maintain both washing the face and chewing the willow twig is to fulfill what is lacking. It is the illuminated presence of buddha ancestors.

  Presented again to the assembly of the Yoshimine Temple, Yoshida County, Echizen Province, on the twentieth day, the tenth month, the first year of the Kangen Era [1243].

  Presented once more to the assembly of the Eihei Monastery, Kichijo Mountain, Yoshida County, Echizen Province, on the eleventh day, the first month, the second year of the Kencho Era [1250].

  9

  RECEIVING THE MARROW BY BOWING

  IN THE PRACTICE of unsurpassable, complete enlightenment, what is most difficult is to find a guiding teacher. The guiding teacher should be a strong person, regardless of being a male or female. The teacher should be a person of thusness, with excellent knowledge and wild fox [transformative] spirit, whether living in the past or present. This is the face [essence] of attaining the marrow, the guiding virtue. This is “not ignoring cause and effect,” and “You and I are just this.”

  After you encounter your guiding teacher, practice diligently in the endeavor of the way, casting off myriad conditions, without sparing a moment. Practice with heart, practice with beyond heart, practice even with half a heart. In this way, brush off the fire on your head [practice with urgency], or stand on your toes [practice intensely].