Always maintain these three types of robes. Also, there is a sixty-panel sanghati robe. Maintain this.
Some sources say that the height of human bodies varies corresponding to the maximum life span, which ranges between 80,000 years and 100 years. Other sources say that the height of human bodies does not vary. It is a correct teaching to say it does not vary. But the heights of a buddha’s body and a human body are different. Human bodies can be measured, but the buddha’s body cannot. Thus, when Shakyamuni Buddha wore the past Kashyapa Buddha’s robe, it was neither too long nor too wide. When the future Maitreya Tathagata wears Shakyamuni Buddha’s robe, it will be neither too short nor too narrow. Be aware that a buddha’s body is beyond long and short. Brahma, the king of gods who resides high in the form realm, could not see the top of the Buddha’s head. Maudgalyayana, a disciple of the Buddha, traveled all the way to the Heaven of Shining Banner and still heard the Buddha’s voice. Thus, the Buddha was seen and heard near and far. How marvelous it is! All the merits of the Tathagata are like this. Keep this in mind.
A kashaya varies according to how it is sewn. It may be made of rectangular pieces sewn together, of narrow strips sewn in the same pattern onto one large piece, of one piece tucked and hemmed, or of one piece plain and flat. These are all authentic ways of sewing. You should choose the way of sewing to suit the cloth you have received. The Buddha said, “The kashayas of the buddhas of the past, present, and future are always stitched.”
In acquiring materials, purity is of primary concern. What is called excrement-cleaning cloth is regarded as being of utmost purity. Buddhas of the past, present, and future all recognize its purity. Cloth that is donated by faithful laypeople is pure. Cloth that is purchased in a marketplace with donated money is also pure. Although there are guidelines for the length of time to spend on sewing, we live in a remote land in a time of declining dharma, so the most important thing for you is to sew a kashaya when the trusting heart arises, and then receive it.
It is an essential characteristic of Mahayana that even a layperson, whether human or celestial, receives a kashaya. King Brahma and Shakyamuni both wore a kashaya. These are outstanding examples in the desire realm and in the form realm, and cannot be comprehended by ordinary human beings.
Lay bodhisattvas also wear kashayas. In China, Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty both wore a kashaya. Emperors Dai and Su [of the Tang Dyanasty] also wore a kashaya, studied with monks, and received the bodhisattva precepts. Other lay men and women of the past and present also have received a kashaya together with the Buddhist precepts.
In Japan, Prince Shotoku wore a kashaya and expounded such sutras as the Lotus Sutra and the Shrimala Devi Sutra, when he perceived the marvel of celestial flowers raining down. Since then the buddha dharma has spread widely in our country. Prince Shotoku was not only the Regent of the Nation, but also a guiding master of humans and devas. A messenger of the Buddha, he was both father and mother of sentient beings. Although the form, color, and measurements of a kashaya were not transmitted accurately in Japan, still, because of Prince Shotoku’s influence, we are able to see and hear about kashayas. If he had not introduced the Buddha’s teaching, it would have been a great loss to us.
Later, Emperor Shomu also received a kashaya and the bodhisattva precepts. In this way, even those who are on a throne or those who are retainers can receive a kashaya and the bodhisattva precepts. There is no wholesome fortune for humans that excels this.
Some sources say that the kashaya worn by laypeople is called “a single-stitch robe” or “a lay robe” and that double stitching is not used for that. Other sources say that when laypeople go to the practice place, they wear three types of dharma robes and use tooth-cleaning twigs, rinsing water, eating utensils, and sitting mats to engage in pure practice just as monks do. These are words of ancient masters. However, in the direct transmission of buddha ancestors, the kashaya given to kings, ministers, lay practitioners, and warriors is invariably double-stitched. Laborer Lu [Huineng] did receive the buddha kashaya when he was a layman, which is an excellent precedent.
The kashaya is a banner of the Buddha’s disciple. When you have received a kashaya, wear it respectfully every day.
First, put it on top of your head, place your palms together, and recite this verse:
Great is the robe of liberation,
the robe beyond form, the field of benefaction!
I wear the Tathagata’s teaching
to awaken countless beings.
Then put it on. Visualize your teacher, or visualize a stupa in the kashaya. Also recite this verse when you put on the kashaya after washing it.
The Buddha said, “When you shave your head and wear a kashaya, you are protected by all buddhas. Having left the household, you are given offerings by celestial beings.”
From this, know without doubt that as soon as you shave your head and wear a kashaya, you are guarded by all buddhas. With this protection, you fully realize unsurpassable enlightenment. Thus, you are given offerings by humans and devas.
The World-Honored One said to Monk Junanaprabha:
The dharma robe brings forth the ten excellent merits: It covers your body, providing modesty and the practice of wholesome conduct. It protects you from cold, heat, insects, beasts, and snakes, and provides comfort in the practice of the way. It manifests the form of a mendicant home leaver and arouses joy in those who see it, relieving them of ill intentions. It is a sacred banner of humans and devas. It causes those who revere it and bow to it to be born in the heaven of purity. By wearing it, you arouse the thought of a sacred banner, avert wrongdoing, and bring forth benefaction. It has been dyed with subdued color to help you become free from the five-sense desires, undefiled by greed and attachment. It is the Buddha’s pure robe that transforms delusion forever and creates a wholesome field of benefaction. When you wear it your unwholesome actions will disappear and the path of the ten wholesome actions will increase moment by moment. It is like an excellent rice field that nurtures the bodhisattva mind. It is like armor that protects you from the poison arrows of delusion.
Thus, Monk Junanaprabha understood that, thanks to these ten excellent merits, all buddhas in the past, present, and future, all pratyeka-buddhas, shramanas, and pure home leavers, wear the kashaya while they sit on the sacred platform of emancipation, holding the sword of wisdom to subdue the demon of delusion, and together enter nirvana.
Then the World-Honored One said in a verse:
Listen carefully, Monk Junanaprabha.
The robe of the field of great benefaction has ten excellent merits:
While worldly clothes increase defilement,
the dharma robe of the Tathagata does not.
The dharma robe provides modesty, completes repentance,
and creates the field of benefaction.
It protects you from cold, heat, and poisonous creatures
and strengthens your way-seeking mind
for attaining the ultimate understanding.
Manifesting the form of a mendicant home leaver,
it frees people from greed and desire, removes five wrong views,
and helps you to hold authentic practice.
By revering and bowing to the sacred-banner kashaya,
you will have the benefaction of King Brahma.
When you wear the kashaya, visualize a stupa
creating benefaction, eliminating unwholesomeness,
and joining humans and devas.
The noble form of the kashaya arouses respect
in a true seeker who becomes free from worldly dust.
All buddhas praise it as an excellent field
most beneficial to sentient beings.
The inconceivable miraculous power of the kashaya
nurtures practice for enlightenment.
The sprout of practice grows in the spring field;
the splendid fruit of enlightenment is like a harvest in autumn.
T
he kashaya is true armor, impenetrable as diamond,
the deadly arrows of delusion cannot pierce it.
I have now recited the ten excellent merits of kashaya.
For eons, more comments could be made, but I’ll say this:
A dragon who wears even a shred of kashaya
can’t be devoured by a gold-winged garuda.
A person who holds a kashaya while crossing the ocean
will not fear dragons, fish, or harmful beings.
Lightning and thunder, heaven’s wrath,
will not frighten a monk who wears a kashaya.
When a layperson carries a kashaya with respect,
no evil spirits draw near.
When you arouse the beginner’s mind,
leave home and worldly affairs to practice the way,
demon palaces in the ten directions will tremble
and you will immediately realize the dharma king’s body.
These ten excellent merits encompass the wide-ranging merit of the buddha way. Understand clearly the merits expounded in these prose and verse lines. Do not put them aside after reading, but continue to study them phrase by phrase. These excellent merits come from the power of the kashaya, not from the power of a practitioner’s vigor or long practice.
The Buddha said, “The miraculous power of the kashaya is beyond thought.” It is not something ordinary people or wise sages can comprehend. When the dharma king’s body is immediately actualized, the kashaya is always worn. Those who do not wear a kashaya have never actualized the dharma king’s body.
The robe of utmost purity is one made of excrement-cleaning cloth. Its merits are clearly and extensively stated in sutras and commentaries of the Great and Lesser Vehicles, which you should inquire into and study broadly. You should also study about other materials for robes. Buddha ancestors who have always understood and transmitted the robe of excrement-cleaning cloth cannot be compared to those who have not.
The Agama Midiaka Sutra says:
Venerable assembly, suppose there is someone whose practice is pure in body, but not pure in speech and mind. If you see this person and feel disgust, the disgust needs to be removed.
Venerable assembly, suppose there is someone whose practice is not pure in body, but pure in speech and mind. If you see this person and feel disgust, the disgust needs to be removed. How is this removed?
Venerable assembly, it’s like a monk who practices outdoors and finds stained cloth. When he sees cloth discarded in the toilet which is stained with excrement, urine, mucus, or other impurities, he picks it up with his left hand, opens it with his right hand, tears it up, and saves the parts that are not stained or damaged.
Venerable assembly, suppose there is someone whose practice is not pure in body, but pure in speech and mind. Do not think of this practice as impure in body, but just think of this practice as pure in speech and mind. If you see the impurity and feel disgust, the disgust needs to be removed.
This is the way for a monk who practices outdoors and collects discarded cloths. There are four types as well as ten types of discarded cloths. When you collect cloths, you should save pieces without holes. Also, the parts heavily stained with urine and excrement are not taken. Save the pieces that can be washed clean.
The ten types of discarded cloths are those that have been chewed by cows, gnawed by rats, burned, stained by menstrual blood, stained during childbirth, used as a shrine robe, found in a cemetery, used as an offering with a prayer, given by royalty, and used as a shroud. These cloths are abandoned by people and not ordinarily used anymore. You pick them up and turn them into pure material for the kashaya.
This is what buddhas in the past, present, and future admire and use. Thus, discarded cloths have been respected and guarded by humans, devas, and dragons. You should pick up such discarded cloths, the material of utmost purity, to create a kashaya. There is no robe like this in Japan now. Even if you look for one, you don’t encounter it. How sorrowful! Even if you search, you won’t find one in this small, remote country.
To make a kashaya, you should use pure material given by donors, offered by humans or devas, or purchased with the earnings from pure livelihood. Discarded cloth, as well as cloth obtained by pure livelihood, is neither silk, cotton, gold, silver, jade, nor brocade, but is nothing other than discarded cloth. It is used not for making tattered or elegant clothes, but just for the sake of buddha dharma. To wear this cloth is to transmit the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of buddhas of the past, present, and future, to transmit the treasury of the true dharma eye. Do not ask humans and devas about the power of the robe. Just study it with buddha ancestors.
POSTSCRIPT
Once, when I was in Song China, practicing on a long sitting platform, I observed the monks around me. At the beginning of zazen in the morning, they would hold up their kashayas, place them on their heads, and chant a verse quietly with palms together:
Great is the robe of liberation,
the robe beyond form, the field of benefaction!
I wear the Tathagata’s teaching
to awaken countless beings.
This was the first time I had seen the kashaya held up in this way, and I rejoiced, tears wetting the collar of my robe. Although I had read this verse of veneration for the kashaya in the Agama Sutra, I had not known the procedure. Now, I saw it with my own eyes. In my joy I also felt sorry that there had been no master to teach this to me and no good friend to recommend it in Japan. How sad that so much time had been wasted! But I also rejoiced in my wholesome past actions [that caused me to experience this]. If I had stayed in my land, how could I have sat side by side with the monks who had received and were wearing the buddha robe? My sadness and joy brought endless tears.
Then, I made a vow to myself: However unsuited I may be, I will become an authentic holder of the buddha dharma, receiving authentic transmission of the true dharma, and with compassion show the buddha ancestors’ authentically transmitted dharma robes to those in my land. I rejoice that the vow I made at that time has not been in vain, and that there have been many bodhisattvas, lay and ordained, who have received the kashaya in Japan. Those who maintain the kashaya should always venerate it day and night. This brings forth most excellent merit. To see or hear one line of the kashaya verse is not limited to seeing and hearing it as if we were trees and rocks, but pervades the nine realms of sentient beings.
In the tenth month of the seventeenth year of the Jiading Era of Song China [1224], two Korean monks visited Qingyuan Prefecture. One was named Zixuan, and the other Jingyun. They were men of letters who often discussed the meaning of sutras, but just like laypeople they did not have kashayas or bowls. What a pity! They had shaven heads but not the manners of monks. This was perhaps because they had come from a small country in a remote land. When some monks from Japan visit other countries, they might be like Zixuan and his company.
During the twelve years of his practice before attaining the way, Shakyamuni Buddha venerated the kashaya without putting it aside. As a remote descendant, you should keep this in mind. Turn your head away from worshipping heaven, gods, kings, and retainers for the sake of name and gain, and joyfully dedicate yourself to venerating the buddha robe.
This was presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the first day of winter, the first year of the Ninji Era [1240].
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TRANSMITTING THE ROBE
BODHIDHARMA, THE HIGH Ancestor of Mount Song, alone transmitted the authentic teaching of the robe to China. He is the twenty-eighth-generation ancestor from Shakyamuni Buddha. In India twenty-eight generations of ancestors transmitted this teaching from heir to heir. Then six generations of ancestors clearly transmitted it in China. Altogether, thirty-three generations of ancestors transmitted it in India and China.
Huineng, Zen Master Dajian, the Thirty-third Ancestor, received a robe from Hongren at midnight on Mount Huangmei and maintained it for the rest of his life. This robe is still enshrined at the
Baolin Monastery in Mount Caoxi [where he taught].
Over the generations, one emperor after another requested that this robe be brought to the palace. When it was, people made offerings and bowed to it. Thus, the robe has been worshipped as a sacred object. Emperors Zong, Su, and Dai of the Tang Dynasty occasionally invited the robe to be brought to the palace for worship. Each time it was brought and each time it was returned, the emperor issued an edict and ordered an imperial messenger to accompany it. This is how they paid reverence to the robe.
Once, when Emperor Dai sent this buddha robe back to Mount Caoxi, he proclaimed: “We order Liu Chongjing, the Nation’s Chief General, to transport the robe with great respect. We regard this robe as a national treasure. You should place it in the main temple with appropriate procedures. Make sure that the monks are notified of our command and unfailingly protect the robe.”
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Page 24
