Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  It seems that when the new comes, the new appears; when the old comes, the old appears. What reflects the old and the new is an old mirror.

  Xuefeng’s words may be interpreted thus: When a Korean person comes, a Korean person appears; when a Japanese person comes, a Japanese person appears. When a deva comes, a deva appears. When a human comes, a human appears.

  Even when we study coming and appearing in this way, we don’t necessarily know the roots and branches of appearing. It is just that we encounter appearing. We should not assume that coming and appearing are knowing and understanding.

  Xuefeng said, When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears. Does it mean that a barbarian’s coming is a barbarian’s appearing? The coming of a barbarian is the straightforward coming of a barbarian, and the appearing of a barbarian is the straightforward appearing of a barbarian. It is not that coming is for the purpose of appearing. Although an old mirror is an old mirror, you should study in this way.

  Xuansha came out and said, “What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden?” Clarify these words. What is the meaning of bright?

  He meant that the coming is not necessarily a barbarian. He meant that this bright mirror should not be regarded as a barbarian appearing.

  Although the coming of a bright mirror is the coming of a bright mirror, it is not the coming of two mirrors. Although it is not two mirrors, an old mirror is an old mirror; a bright mirror is a bright mirror. The realization of an old mirror and a bright mirror has been expressed by Xuefeng and Xuansha. Their words are the essence and form of the buddha way.

  Know that Xuansha’s words the coming of a bright mirror are seven penetrations and eight masteries, the crystal clarity of the eight-faceted jewel among enlightened statements. It is like [Sansheng’s words,] “I will go out immediately to meet a person,” and “As soon as I come out, I will guide the person.”

  Then, is the brightness of a bright mirror the same as or different from the oldness of an old mirror? Is the bright mirror old? Is the old mirror bright? Do not simply assume that the words an old mirror mean that it is bright.

  The essence of the words [by Xuansha] is “I am like this. You are like this. All ancestors in India are like this.” Quickly polish your understanding.

  An ancestor said, “An old mirror is polished.” Is it so with a bright mirror? How is it? Extensively study the words of the buddha ancestor.

  Xuefeng’s reply, Both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear, means the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear together at the moment of a bright mirror. What is the meaning of both disappearing? While the coming and appearing of the barbarian and the Chinese person do not hinder the old mirror, why do they both disappear?

  Even if Xuefeng said, When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears, and when a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears, the coming of a bright mirror is the coming of a bright mirror. Thus, the barbarian and the Chinese person who appear in an old mirror together disappear together. This being so, in these words by Xuefeng, there is an old mirror, a bright mirror. Be clear about the teaching that the moment when a bright mirror truly comes does not hinder the barbarian that appears in an old mirror.

  Xuefeng’s words When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears, when a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears do not indicate that the barbarian or the Chinese person come and appear on the face of an old mirror, on the back of an old mirror, or outside of an old mirror. His words do not indicate that the barbarian and the Chinese person come and appear together with an old mirror.

  Listen to Xuenfeng’s words. The moment of the barbarian and the Chinese person coming and appearing actualizes the coming and appearing of a barbarian and the Chinese person in an old mirror. To say that the mirror still exists when both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear is to be ignorant about appearing and to be negligent about coming. It is more than confusion.

  Then, Xuansha said, I have a different understanding. Xuefeng said, How do you understand? Xuansha said, Please ask me a question. Do not miss this request by Xuansha. It is not hurling insight between parent and child [master and student]. When Xuansha requested his master to ask him a question, he must have known what was going to be asked. When the thunder of questioning arises, there is no way to escape.

  Xuefeng said, What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden? This question is one piece of old mirror the parent and child investigate together.

  Xuansha said, One hundred broken pieces. These words mean one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand pieces. The moment of encountering the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden is one hundred broken pieces. To study and realize one hundred broken pieces is a bright mirror, because letting the bright mirror express itself must be in the form of one hundred broken pieces. Where miscellaneous pieces are hanging, there is the bright mirror. Do not try to peek into a moment when a bright mirror is not miscellaneous pieces or when there are no miscellaneous pieces. A bright mirror is just one hundred broken pieces. To face the one hundred broken pieces is to face a solitary sheer peak.

  Then, is the one hundred broken pieces spoken of by Xuansha an expression of an old mirror or a bright mirror? This is when you should ask for a turning word. This is no longer a talk about an old mirror or a bright mirror. You could still keep asking about an old mirror or a bright mirror. But, do sand, pebbles, and walls get to the tip of your tongue and not turn into one hundred broken pieces when you question Xuansha’s words?

  In what form are the broken pieces manifested? [I say:] The moon in an ancient blue sky.

  When Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, was walking with Sansheng, who would later become Zen Master Huiran, they saw a troop of monkeys.

  Xuefeng said, “Each of these apes carries an old mirror on its back.”

  Sansheng said, “Why do you call what is nameless for eons an old mirror?”

  Xuefeng said, “A scratch is made.”

  Sansheng said, “What’s the urgency? I don’t know the words.”

  Xuefeng said, “It is this old monk’s fault.”

  Investigate these words thoroughly. Apes means monkeys. But what are the apes Xuefeng saw? Ask in this way and endeavor further without minding the passage of time.

  Each carries an old mirror means that even if an old mirror is buddhas and ancestors, an old mirror can be beyond going beyond buddhas and ancestors. Each of these apes carries an old mirror on its back means that a mirror is neither large nor small, but just an old mirror. Carries on its back is like mounting a painting of the Buddha by gluing a piece of paper to its back. An ape has an old mirror mounted on it. But what kind of glue is used?

  Let me ask you: If an ape is backed by an old mirror, is an old mirror backed by an ape? An old mirror is backed by an old mirror. An ape is backed by an ape.

  Each . . . carries on its back must not be a groundless statement. It is an expression that is just right. Is the right expression an ape or an old mirror? What is the right expression? Are we or are we not already apes? Whom should we ask? To have an ape within the self is not known by self or other. The self is in the self; there is no need to look for it.

  Sansheng said, Why do you call what is nameless for eons an old mirror?

  This is an expression by Sansheng to authenticate an old mirror. Eons means before the emergence of a single mind, single thought. No name comes out for eons. Nameless is sun face, moon face, an old mirror face, a bright mirror face of these eons. When nameless is truly nameless, eons are not eons. When eons are not eons, Sansheng’s expression is beyond an expression.

  “Before the emergence of a single mind, single thought” is this very day. Temper your practice without missing this very day. Indeed, the statement nameless for eons is renowned. How can you call it an old mirror? A dragon head, a snake tail?

  Responding to Sansheng’s statement, Xuefeng should have said, “An old mirror. An old mirror.�
� But instead, Xuefeng said, A scratch is made.

  It means that a scratch has emerged. How can there be a scratch on an old mirror? A scratch is made must mean nameless for eons.

  A scratch means an old mirror is nameless for eons. A scratch on an old mirror is an entire old mirror. As Sansheng had not come out of the cave—a scratch on an old mirror—the question he asked is completely a scratch on an old mirror.

  Thus, study that a scratch can be made on an old mirror, and that what is scratched is also an old mirror. This is the study of an old mirror.

  Sansheng continued: What’s the urgency? I don’t know the words.

  He was asking what the urgency was. Was the urgency about today or tomorrow, self or other, the entire world of the ten directions or in the country of Great Tang? Investigate this thoroughly.

  Regarding I don’t know the words, there are expressed words, unexpressed words, and completed words. The teaching of words is actualized now.

  For example, how about the words, “I have attained the way simultaneously with sentient beings on the great earth”? In this way, words should not be like an elaborately woven brocade [decorative endeavor] or facing each other. It is like, “I don’t know who faces me” [as Emperor Wu said to Bodhidharma]; it is facing but not-knowing each other. It is not that there are no words, but just not-knowing. Not-knowing is a straightforward bare heart. It is bright and clear not-seeing.

  Xuefeng said, It is this old monk’s fault. This statement may be interpreted to mean that Xuefeng admitted his mistake in the earlier expression. But it is not the case. This old monk is an accomplished master in the house [of the Buddha], who wholeheartedly practices being an old monk and nothing else. In one thousand changes and ten thousand transformations, into a god’s head and a demon’s face, the practice of the way is just being one old monk. Buddhas come and ancestors come, while myriad years arise in a single moment, yet the practice of the way is just being one old monk. The fault is the abbot’s being busy.

  Reflecting on this dialogue, Xuefeng is a horn of Deshan’s lineage, and Sansheng is an outstanding disciple of Linji. Both masters, being descendants of Qingyuan and Nanyue, equally hold respectable lineages. They maintained an old mirror in this way. This is a model for those who practice later.

  Xuefeng taught the assembly: “When the world is ten feet wide, an old mirror is ten feet wide. When the world is one foot wide, an old mirror is one foot wide.”

  Then Xuansha said, pointing to the furnace, “Tell us. How wide is that furnace?”

  Xuefeng said, “It is as wide as an old mirror.”

  Xuansha said, “Reverend master, your heels have not yet touched the ground.”

  Ten feet wide is called the world. The world is ten feet wide. One foot wide is called the world. The world is one foot wide. It is the ten feet wide of the present moment. It is the one foot wide of the present moment. There is no other one foot wide or ten feet wide than this.

  Reflecting on this dialogue, people in the secular world say that the size of the billion worlds, the inexhaustible world of phenomena, is immeasurable and boundless. But it is a limited view of themselves, similar to pointing to a nearby village. On the other hand [in buddha dharma], we take up the world and understand it as ten feet wide. Thus, Xuefeng said, When the world is ten feet wide, an old mirror is ten feet wide. When we study this ten feet wide, we get a glimpse of the breadth of the world.

  Hearing the phrase an old mirror, you may think it is like a thin sheet of ice. But it is not so. Although the breadth of ten feet is no other than the breadth of the world, you should investigate whether or not the outlook of an old mirror conforms to the boundlessness of the world.

  An old mirror is not like a pearl. Do not view it as bright or dark, square or round. Even if the world of the ten directions is one bright pearl, it is not exactly the same as an old mirror.

  This being so, an old mirror is not affected by the coming and appearing of a barbarian or a Chinese person. It is crystal clear vertically and horizontally all the way. An old mirror is neither multiple nor large. Wide indicates the measure of it. It does not mean breadth. Wide is like measuring two or three inches, or counting seven or eight pieces. In the arithmetic of the buddha way, great enlightenment and beyond enlightenment are counted as two or three ounces, and buddha ancestors are counted as fivefold or tenfold. Ten feet is the breadth of an old mirror. The breadth of an old mirror is singlefold.

  Xuansha said, How wide is that furnace? There is nothing hidden in this statement. Study it as a one-thousand-year-old and ten-thousand-year-old statement.

  When you see a furnace, who is the one that sees? When you see a furnace, it is not seven feet or eight feet. Xuansha’s question was not a confused statement. It actualizes something remarkable. It is like saying, “What has thus come?”

  How wide is not asking about the size in an ordinary way. It is an understanding of being emancipated right where you are. This should not be doubted. Listen to Xuansha’s words for a teaching that the characteristics of a furnace are beyond measurement. Do not drop the ball you are holding on the ground; just smash it. This is endeavor.

  Xuefeng said, It is as wide as an old mirror. Reflect quietly on these words. He did not say that the furnace is one foot wide. It is not that to say one foot is right and to say as wide as an old mirror is wrong. Just reflect on the practice of saying, It is as wide as an old mirror.

  Many people think that Xuefeng was wrong in not saying, “one foot wide.” Investigate, however, the completeness of being wide. Reflect on one whole piece of an old mirror. Do not miss the practice of like. It is like [Xiangyan’s] saying, “Hold up a vital posture on the old path. Do not fall into stagnancy.”

  Xuansha said, Reverend master, your heels have not yet touched the ground. What he meant by reverend master, or reverend priest, is not necessarily Xuefeng. Xuefeng is a reverend master.

  Ask where the heels are. Investigate what the heels are. Investigate whether the heels are the treasury of the true dharma eye, the empty sky, the entire earth, or the life vein. Are they many, one, half, or one hundred thousand [heels]? Study in this way.

  What is the ground in your heels have not yet touched the ground? The great earth is called the ground according to the views of one kind of being. Among other beings, some see it as the inconceivable dharma gate of emancipation, while others see it as the place where all buddhas practice the way.

  So, what is the ground the heels are supposed to touch? Is the ground real existence or real nonexistence? Or, does the ground mean that there is not even an inch of it in the great way? Ask in this way and that way. Say it to self and others.

  Is it right or wrong that the heels touch the ground? Why did Xuansha say that Xuefeng’s heels have not yet touched the ground? At the very moment when there is not an inch of land on the great earth, touching the ground is not yet, and not touching the ground is not yet.

  Thus, your heels have not yet touched the ground is the activity of the reverend master. It is work of the heels.

  Guotai, Zen Master Hongtao of the Guotai Monastery, Mount Jinhua, Wu Region, was asked by a monk, “What is an old mirror that is not yet polished?”

  Guotai said, “An old mirror.”

  The monk asked, “What is an old mirror that is already polished?”

  Guotai said, “An old mirror.”

  Know that the old mirror spoken of now is an old mirror throughout the time when it is polished, before it is polished, and after it is polished. Thus, when you polish it, you polish the entire old mirror. It is not that you apply mercury or something else to an old mirror and polish it. Although it is not the self polishing or polishing the self, it is polishing an old mirror.

  It is not that an old mirror is dull when it is not yet polished. It is stained but not dull. It is an old mirror that has life.

  You polish a mirror and make it a mirror. You polish a tile and make it a mirror. You polish a tile and make it a tile. You polish a mirror and
make it a tile. Also, you polish but do not accomplish, or you accomplish but do not polish. These are all works in the house of buddha ancestors.

  Mazu of Jiangxi practiced with Nanyue, who intimately transmitted the mind seal to him. This was the beginning of polishing a tile.

  Living in the Chuanfa Temple, Mazu was engaged in continuous practice of zazen for over a decade. Ponder his sitting on a rainy night in a thatched-roof hut. There is no account that he skipped sitting on a cold platform when stranded by snow.

  When Nanyue visited his hut, Mazu stood up.

  Nanyue said, “What have you been doing these days?”

  Mazu said, “I have been just sitting.”

  Nanyue said, “What is your intention in just sitting?”

  Mazu said, “I intend to become a buddha.”

  Then Nanyue picked up a tile and started polishing it on a stone near Mazu’s hut.

  Mazu said, “Master, what are you doing?”

  Nanyue said, “Polishing a tile.”

  Mazu said, “Why are you polishing the tile?”

  Nanyue said, “I am trying to make a mirror.”

  Mazu said, “How can you polish a tile and make a mirror?”

  Nanyue said, “How can you do zazen and become a buddha?”

  People have been interpreting this great story for hundreds of years as Nanyue’s encouragement to Mazu. It is not necessarily so. The activity of a great sage is far beyond ordinary understanding.

  Without polishing a tile, how can a great sage have the skillful means to make a true person? The capacity of making a true person is the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors. Although it is fabricated, it is a furnishing [essential] of the house. Without being furniture or equipment, Nanyue’s teaching could not have been transmitted in the buddha house. In particular, this immediately guided Mazu. From this we know that the work authentically transmitted by buddha ancestors is no other than directly pointing.