There are those who comprehend the merit of a kashaya touching their bodies even once, and there are those who don’t. Those who understand this merit should rejoice, and those who don’t should hope for it. Those who cannot should lament.
Within and outside the billion worlds, both humans and devas widely see, hear, and know that the buddha robe has only been transmitted inside the gate of buddha ancestors. Also, the facts about the buddha robe are known inside the ancestral gate alone, and not inside other gates.
Those who resent themselves for not knowing about the buddha robe are foolish. Even if they are well versed in eighty-four thousand samadhis and dharanis, if they have not authentically received the buddha ancestors’ dharma of the robe and have not clarified the authentic transmission of the kashaya, they are not authentic heirs of buddhas.
How many sentient beings in other realms would wish that the buddha robe had been authentically transmitted in their own lands just as it has been transmitted to China? They may be ashamed or have deep sorrow.
Indeed, we encounter the dharma of the Tathagatha, the World-Honored One’s authentically transmitted way of the robe. It is due to the seeds of great merit planted in the past. Nowadays, in this unwholesome time in the world of declining dharma, there are a number of groups of demons who are not ashamed of not having authentic transmission but are jealous of it. Where they abide and what they possess are not their true self. To authentically receive the true dharma alone is the straight path of studying the Buddha.
Know that a kashaya is the buddha body, buddha mind. It is called a robe of emancipation, a field of benefaction. It is called a robe of patience, a robe beyond form. It is called a robe of compassion, a robe of the Tathagata, a robe of unsurpassable, complete enlightenment. Receive and maintain it accordingly.
Nowadays in Great Song China, those who call themselves students of precepts [practitioners of the Precept School] are not ashamed, resentful, or even aware of receiving incomprehensible teachings in their house, because they are intoxicated with the wine of shravakas. Following their own minor thinking, such people have altered the kashaya that was transmitted from India and used for a long time through Han and Tang China. This is based on their limited views, of which they should be ashamed. If a robe that comes from such minor thinking is worn, much of the buddha form will be missing. Because they did not extensively study the buddha guidelines, they have created such a robe. It is clear that the body-mind of the Tathagata has been authentically transmitted in the ancestral gate alone, and has not flown into the work of their houses. If they had known the buddha guidelines even one out of ten thousand, they would not have destroyed the buddha robe in this way. They do not even clarify scriptural text and the essence of it.
Being confined to coarse cloth as the material for a kashaya grossly contradicts buddha dharma and in particular violates the buddha robe. A disciple of the Buddha should not wear such a violated robe. How so? Those who insist on coarse cloth only emphasize material and forget the spirit of the buddha robe. What a pity! The view of shravakas in the Lesser Vehicles misses the point. Let me say this: when their view on the cloth is crushed, the buddha robe emerges.
More than one or two buddhas have worn a kashaya made of silk that they denounce. According to the buddha guidelines, excrement-cleaning cloth is regarded as excellent pure material for making a kashaya.
Silk, cotton, and other kinds of cloth are listed among the ten types of excrement-cleaning cloth. Then, is it that silk cannot be used as excrement-cleaning cloth? Those who do not accept this go against the buddha way. If they exclude silk, they should exclude common cloth.
Why do they exclude silk? Because they say silk is produced by killing silkworms. This should be greatly ridiculed. Isn’t common cloth related to living beings? Without being liberated from the ordinary view of sentient and insentient, how can they know the buddha kashaya?
Also, there are those who explain silk as the product of incarnated bodies [of a tree god] and confuse others. This should also be ridiculed. What is not a product of transformative birth? Such people may trust their ears to hear about transformation but doubt their eyes that see transformation. It seems they have eyes but don’t have ears, or they have ears but don’t have eyes. Where are their ears and eyes?
Know that among the cloths you pick up, there can be silklike cloths and common cloths among them. When you use them for making a kashaya, you should not call it silk or common cloth, but just call it excrement-cleaning cloth. As it is excrement-cleaning cloth, it is neither silk nor common cloth. Even if a human or a deva turns into discarded cloth, it is not sentient but just discarded cloth. Even if a pine or chrysanthemum turns into discarded cloth, it is not insentient but just discarded cloth.
When you know that excrement-cleaning cloth is beyond silk and common cloth and beyond a jewel, excrement-cleaning cloth emerges and you encounter excrement-cleaning cloth. Those who haven’t given up discrimination between silk and common cloth have never dreamed of excrement-cleaning cloth. If those who make a kashaya of coarse cloth and maintain it for lifetimes are not aware of this way of seeing the material for a kashaya, this is not authentically receiving the buddha robe.
Among various types of kashaya, there are a common-cloth kashaya, a silk kashaya, and a leather kashaya. They are all worn by buddhas—buddha robes with buddha merit.
While there is authentically transmitted teaching on kashaya, those who have not been freed from ordinary views make light of buddha dharma, do not believe in the buddha words, and try to follow ordinary thinking. They must be called people outside the way who have been entrusted with buddha dharma. They are among the group of those who destroy the true dharma.
Some also say that they have altered the buddha robe by following the teaching of devas. Perhaps they want to be a heavenly buddha or have become a type of deva. However, the Buddha’s disciples should expound buddha dharma to devas, instead of inquiring into the way of devas. How pitiful! Those who have not authentically received buddha dharma speak in this way.
Devas and the Buddha’s descendants hold varied views, and devas come down [to the human realm] to inquire of the Buddha’s descendants about dharma. It is because the deva views and the Buddha views are far different from each other.
Discard the minor views of shravakas in the Precept School, and do not accept their views. Know that they are views of the Lesser School.
The Buddha said, “Those who kill their parents repent, but those who slander the dharma do not.” Thus, the path of minor views and doubts are not the original intention of the Buddha. The great road of buddha dharma cannot be reached by the Lesser Vehicles. No one other than those in the ancestral way with the entrusted dharma treasure knows of the authentic transmission of the Buddha’s great precepts.
Long ago, at midnight on Mount Huangmei, the robe dharma of the Buddha was authentically transmitted to the top of Huineng’s head. This is indeed an authentic transmission of transmitting the dharma and the robe. This took place because Hongren knew who the true person was. Had Hongren been one of those of four fruits [arhats], bodhisattvas of three classes or ten stages, or of masters of treatises and scriptures, he would have transmitted the dharma and robe to Shenxiu and not to Huineng. However, because the buddha ancestor selected a buddha ancestor beyond the path of the ordinary or sacred, Huineng became the Sixth Ancestor. Know that the heir-to-heir practice of buddha ancestors knowing a person and knowing the self does not lie in a fathomable place.
Later, a monk asked Huineng, “Is the robe transmitted to you at midnight on Mount Huangmei made of common cloth, silk, or fine cotton? What is it, after all?”
Huineng said, “It is not made of common cloth, silk, or fine cotton.”
Remember these words of the High Ancestor of Caoxi. The buddha robe is beyond silk, common cloth, and cotton. Those who ignore this and groundlessly call it silk, common cloth, or cotton are slandering the buddha dharma. How can they know the buddha robe?
The lay clothes Shanavasin was wearing were transformed into a kashaya when he became a monk. Reflect quietly on this story. Do not ignore it as if you had not heard of it.
There is further teaching on the kashaya authentically transmitted from buddha to buddha, from ancestor to ancestor. Those who count letters are not aware of it and cannot fathom it. Indeed, how can the one thousand varieties and ten thousand transformations of the buddha way be limited to the realm of mediocre schools? There is samadhi and there is dharani. Those who count the sands of the Ganges do not see the pearl sewn inside the robe.
Regard the shape, color, and measurements of the kashaya authentically transmitted by buddha ancestors as the true base of all buddhas’ kashaya. This model has existed for a long time in India and China, from ancient times up to the present day. Those who discern right and wrong have realized it.
Even if there are those outside the ancestral way who call some robes kashayas, there are no true ancestors who allow them to be their branches and leaves [descendants]. How can they nurture the seeds of wholesome roots? How, then, can they attain the fruit?
Now, we do not only see and hear the buddha dharma that has not been encountered for vast kalpas, but we also see, hear, study, and maintain the buddha robe. This is no other than seeing the Buddha. This is to hear the buddha voice, radiate the buddha light, and experience the buddha experience. This is to receive the buddha mind from person to person, attaining the buddha marrow.
The material for making a kashaya should always be pure. Pure material is something that is donated by a donor with pure trust, bought in a marketplace, sent by devas, or given by dragon kings or demon kings. Pure donations or pure leather offered by the king or ministers can also be used.
Also, ten types of excrement-cleaning cloth are regarded as pure. They are: cloth chewed by oxen, cloth chewed by rats, burned cloth, cloth that is stained with menstrual blood, cloth stained in childbirth, cloth picked up at a shrine, cloth picked up at a cemetery, cloth for prayers, cloth given by the king and ministers, and shrouds.
These types of cloth are regarded as pure material for making a kashaya. They are discarded in the lay world but utilized in the buddha way. The values in the lay world and in the buddha way can be measured in this manner.
Thus, if you look for pure material, look for these ten types of cloth. Know what is pure and understand what is impure when acquiring them. Know the mind and understand the body. Acquire the ten types of cloth and think over the purity of silk and common cloth.
It is extremely foolish to assume that a robe made of excrement-cleaning cloth is used merely for shabby appearance. This type of robe has been used in the buddha dharma to dress cleanly and magnificently. In the buddha dharma, to wear a poor-looking robe means to wear an impure robe made of brocade, gold, silver, and rare jewels.
In the buddha way of this and other worlds, to use a clean and magnificent robe means to use a robe made of one of the ten types of cloth. This is not only going beyond purity and impurity but also becoming free from the realm of delusion and no-delusion, going beyond form and consciousness, while not being concerned with gain and loss.
Those who wholeheartedly receive and maintain the authentic transmission are buddha ancestors because when they are buddha ancestors they receive authentic transmission. They receive and maintain this, authentically transmitted, as buddha ancestors not depending on the emergence and no-emergence of body or mind.
It is lamentable that monks and nuns have not worn a kashaya for a long time in Japan. Rejoice that you receive and maintain it now. Lay men and women who receive and maintain the precepts should wear a kashaya of five, seven, or nine panels. How should home leavers not wear it?
It is said that those who are Indra and the Six Deva Kings of the desire realm, up to male prostitutes, female prostitutes, and servants, should receive the buddha precepts and wear a kashaya. How, then, should the Buddha’s descendants not wear the buddha robe? Even animals should receive the buddha precepts and wear a kashaya. Why should buddha children not wear the buddha robe?
In this way, those who are the Buddha’s descendants, regardless of being devas or humans, the king and officials, beyond the boundaries of laity, home leavers, servants, and animals, should receive the buddha precepts and a kashaya. This is indeed a straight way to the buddha place.
When you wash a kashaya, sprinkle powdered incense and flower petals into water. When the kashaya is washed, rinsed, and dried, you should fold it, set it on a high place, and venerate it with incense and flowers: After making three bows, kneel down and place it on your head, put your palms together, and chant 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.
Chant this three times. Then, stand up and put it on.
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 the robe verse quietly with palms together. This was the first time I had seen the putting on of the kashaya in this way and I rejoiced, tears wetting the collar of my robe. Although I had read this verse of venerating the kashaya in the Agama Sutra, I had not known the procedure. At that moment, I saw it with my own eyes. In my joy I also felt sorrow 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. 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 I will compassionately show people in my land the buddha ancestors’ authentically transmitted dharma robe.
The vow I made at that time must not have been in vain, thanks to the invisible assistance of true trust. The buddha children who receive and maintain the kashaya now should endeavor in the practice of revering it day and night. This brings forth genuine merit. The effect of seeing and hearing one line of the kashaya verse may extend to trees and rocks. The power of the authentically transmitted kashaya is rare to encounter in the ten directions.
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 they did not have kashayas or bowls as if they had been laypeople. What a pity! They had shaven heads but did not have the manners of monks. This was perhaps because they had come from a small country in a remote land. When monks from Japan visit other countries, they might be like these monks.
During the twelve years of his practice before attaining the way, Shakyamuni Buddha venerated the kashaya without putting it aside. As his 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 written at the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the first day of winter, the first year of the Ninji Era [1240]. Dogen, Shramana who has transmitted dharma from Song China.
15
MOUNTAINS AND WATERS SUTRA
MOUNTAINS AND WATERS right now actualize the ancient buddha expression. Each, abiding in its condition, unfolds its full potential. Because mountains and waters have been active since before the Empty Eon, they are alive at this moment. Because they have been the self since before form arose
, they are emancipation actualized.
Because mountains are high and broad, their way of riding the clouds always extends from the mountains; their wondrous power of soaring in the wind comes freely from the mountains.
Priest Daokai of Mount Furong said to the assembly, “The green mountains are always walking; a stone woman gives birth to a child at night.”
Mountains do not lack the characteristics of mountains. Therefore, they always abide in ease and always walk. Examine in detail the characteristic of the mountains’ walking.
Mountains’ walking is just like human walking. Accordingly, do not doubt mountains’ walking even though it does not look the same as human walking. The buddha ancestor’s words point to walking. This is fundamental understanding. Penetrate these words.
Because green mountains walk, they are permanent. Although they walk more swiftly than the wind, someone in the mountains does not notice or understand it. “In the mountains” means the blossoming of the entire world. People outside the mountains do not notice or understand the mountains’ walking. Those without eyes to see mountains cannot notice, understand, see, or hear this reality.
If you doubt mountains’ walking, you do not know your own walking; it is not that you do not walk, but that you do not know or understand your own walking. Since you do know your own walking, you should fully know the green mountains’ walking.
Green mountains are neither sentient nor insentient. You are neither sentient nor insentient. At this moment, you cannot doubt the green mountains’ walking.
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Page 26
