Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  The single path of going beyond is the utterance of Panshan alone. He did not say “buddha going beyond” or “someone going beyond,” but he said the single path of going beyond.

  It means that even if thousands of sages appear all together, the single path of going beyond is not transmitted. No transmission means a thousand sages protect that which is not transmitted. You may be able to understand in this way. But there is something further to say about this. It is not that a thousand sages or a thousand wise people do not exist, but that a single path of going beyond is not merely the realm of the sages or of the wise.

  Zhimen, Zen Master Guangzuo, was once asked by a monk, “What is going beyond buddha?”

  He said, “To hold up the sun and the moon on top of a staff.”

  This means that you are completely covered by the sun and the moon on top of a staff. This is buddha going beyond. When you penetrate the staff that holds up the sun and the moon, the entire universe is dark. This is buddha going beyond. It is not that the sun and the moon are the staff. On top of a staff means the entire staff.

  Daowu, who would later become Zen master of the Tianhuang Monastery, visited the assembly of Shitou, Great Master Wuji, and asked, “What is the fundamental meaning of buddha dharma?”

  Shitou said, “Not to attain, not to know.”

  Daowu said, “Is there a further turning point in going beyond?”

  Shitou said, “The vast sky does not keep white clouds from flying.”

  Now, Shitou is the second generation from Caoxi [Huineng]. Daowu of the Tianhuang Monastery is a younger dharma brother of Yaoshan. When Daowu asked Shitou about the fundamental meaning of buddha dharma, it is not a question asked by a beginner or someone who had recently started. Daowu asked this question when he was ready to understand the fundamental meaning if he heard it.

  Shitou said, Not to attain, not to know. Understand that in buddha dharma the fundamental meaning is in the initial aspiration, as well as in the ultimate level. This fundamental meaning is not to attain. It is not that there is no aspiration, no practice, or no enlightenment. But simply, not-attaining. The fundamental meaning is not to know. Practice-enlightenment is not nonexistent or existent, but is not to know, not to attain.

  Again, the fundamental meaning is not to attain, not to know. It is not that there is no sacred truth, no practice-enlightenment, but simply not to attain, not to know. It is not that there is a sacred truth and practice-enlightenment, but simply not to attain, not to know.

  Daowu said, Is there a further turning point in going beyond? It means that when the turning point is actualized, going beyond is actualized. Turning point is a provisional expression. The provisional expression is all buddhas, all ancestors. In speaking of it, there is further. Even if there is further, do not neglect going beyond. Speak accordingly.

  The vast sky does not hinder the white clouds from flying. These are Shitou’s words. The vast sky does not hinder the vast sky. Just as the vast sky does not hinder the vast sky from flying, white clouds do not hinder white clouds. White clouds fly with no hindrance. White clouds’ flying does not hinder the vast sky’s flying. Not hindering others is not hindering self.

  It is not that self and others need or have no hindrance. None of these requires no-hindrance or remains in no-hindrance. This is the no-hindrance brought out in the phrase The vast sky does not hinder the white clouds from flying.

  Right now, raise the eyebrow of the eye of study and see through the emergence of buddhas, ancestors, self, and others. This is a case of asking one question and answering ten. In asking one question and answering ten, the person who asks one question is the true person; the person who answers ten is the true person.

  Huangbo said, “Those who have left the household should understand things that have come from the past. Niutou, Great Master Farong, a disciple of Fourth Ancestor Daoxin, explained vertically and horizontally but did not know the key to the barrier of going beyond. With your own eye and brain you should discern the correct school from the incorrect.”

  Huangbo’s words things that have come from the past mean that which has been authentically transmitted from buddha ancestors. This is called the treasury of the true dharma eye, the wondrous heart of nirvana. Although it is in yourself, you should understand it. Although it is in yourself, it is beyond your understanding. Those who have not received authentic buddha-to-buddha transmission have never dreamed of it.

  Huangbo, as the dharma heir of Baizhang, exceeds Baizhang and, as a dharma descendant of Mazu, exceeds Mazu. In three or four generations of the ancestral school, there was no one who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Huangbo. Huangbo alone made it clear that Niutou [Ox Head] did not have two horns. Other buddha ancestors had not noticed it.

  Niutou, Zen Master Farong of Mount Niutou, was a respected teacher, a disciple of Dayi Daoxin, the Fourth Ancestor. When compared to that of Indian or Chinese sutra masters and treatise masters, his discourse was not inadequate. But regrettably he had not realized the key to the barrier of going beyond.

  If you do not have the key to the barrier of things that have come from the past, how can you discern correct from incorrect in buddha dharma? You are merely someone who studies words and phrases. Thus, knowing, practicing, and realizing the key to the barrier of going beyond is not something ordinary people can accomplish. However, where there is true endeavor, the key is realized.

  Going beyond buddha means that you reach buddha, and going further, you continue to see buddha. It is not the same as sentient beings’ seeing buddha. Therefore, if your seeing buddha is merely the same as sentient beings’ seeing buddha, it is not seeing buddha. If your seeing buddha is merely the same as sentient beings’ seeing buddha, it is seeing buddha mistakenly; how can you experience going beyond buddha?

  Know that Huangbo’s words going beyond cannot be understood by careless people of these times. Their dharma discourses cannot reach that of Niutou. Even if their dharma discourses equaled that of Niutou, they would be merely Niutou’s dharma brothers. How can they have the key to the barrier of going beyond? Other bodhisattvas of the ten stages or three classes can never have the key to the barrier of going beyond. How can they open and close the barrier of going beyond? This is the eye of study. One who has the key to the barrier of going beyond goes beyond buddha, realizing through-the-body going beyond buddha.

  Presented to the assembly at the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the twenty-third day, the third month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242].

  30

  THUSNESS

  YUNJU, GREAT MASTER Hongjue of Mount Yunju, an heir of Dongshan, is a thirty-ninth-generation dharma descendant of Shakyamuni Buddha. He is an authentic ancestor of the Dongshan School. One day he said to the assembly, “You are trying to attain thusness, yet you are already a person of thusness. As you are already a person of thusness, why be worried about thusness?”

  It means that one who aspires to experience thusness is immediately a person of thusness. If so, why be worried about thusness?

  For the time being, we will regard the teaching by Yunju, “immediately getting to unsurpassable enlightenment,” as thusness. Within this unsurpassable manifestation of enlightenment, the entire world of the ten directions is but a small portion; enlightenment exceeds the boundary of the entire world.

  You are an accoutrement that exists in the entire world of the ten directions. How do you know it to be thus? You know it because your body and mind are not you; they appear in the entire world of the ten directions.

  Your body is not you; your life is transported, moving in time without stopping even for a moment. Where has your youthful face gone? When you search for it, there is no trace. When you ponder deeply, there are many from the past whom you cannot encounter again. The pure mind does not stay; it comes and goes in fragments. Even if there is truth, it does not stay within the boundary of yourself.

  Because of thusness, you arouse a boundless aspiration for enlightenment. Once th
is aspiration arises, you let go of what you have been playing with. You come forward to hear what you have never heard and realize what is not yet realized. This is not at all self-doing. Know that it is so because you are a person of thusness.

  How do you know that you are a person of thusness? You know it because you want to attain thusness. As you already have the face and eye of a person of thusness, do not worry about thusness now. Even if you worry, it is thusness not to be worried about.

  Also, do not be startled at the thusness of thusness. Even if there is thusness that you are startled at or wonder about, it is thusness. It is thusness not to be startled at.

  Do not measure this with the yardstick of buddha or mind. Do not measure it with the yardstick of the world of phenomena or the entire world. It is just If you are already a person of thusness, why be worried about thusness?

  This being so, thusness of sound and form is thus; thusness of body and mind is thus; thusness of all buddhas is thus.

  For example, when you understand the moment of falling to the ground as thusness, you will not doubt the moment of falling to the ground at the moment of getting up.

  Since ancient times, these words have been spoken in both India and the deva world: “One who falls to the ground uses the ground to stand up. One who ignores the ground and tries to stand cannot.” The meaning is that those who fall down on the earth stand up on the earth; it is impossible to get up without using the earth.

  Some people interpret this as great enlightenment, which is the desirable way to become free from body and mind. Thus, when being asked how buddhas attain the way, they say that it is like those who fall to the ground and use the ground to stand up.

  Thoroughly investigate this and penetrate the views from the past, the future, and this very moment. Great enlightenment, beyond enlightenment, further delusion, and loss of delusion are immersed in enlightenment, immersed in delusion. They all fall to the ground and get up using the ground.

  This is an expression above the heavens and below the heavens. It is an expression from India and China, from the past and present. It is an expression of old and new buddhas. It leaves nothing uncovered and lacks nothing.

  This being so, those who only understand thus but miss beyond understanding thus have not thoroughly studied this expression. Even though the expression of an old buddha has been passed down as thus, when you hear the expression of an old buddha as an old buddha, you should inquire beyond.

  Even if it had not been spoken in India or in the deva world, you should say something further in this way: “If one who falls to the ground uses the ground to stand up, it is not possible even for immeasurable eons.”

  Here is one vital path for getting up: “One who falls to the ground uses the sky to stand up. One who falls to the sky uses the ground to stand up.” Without being thus, you can never get up. This has always been the way with all buddhas and ancestors.

  Someone may ask, “How far apart are the sky and the ground from each other?” In response to such a question, you might reply, “The sky and the ground are eighteen thousand miles apart. One who falls to the ground uses the sky to stand up. One who ignores the sky and tries to stand cannot. One who falls to the sky uses the ground to stand up. One who ignores the ground and tries to stand cannot.”

  Those who are unable to express this have not yet known and seen the measure of the ground and the sky in the buddha way.

  Sanghanandi, the Seventeenth Ancestor, acquired his dharma heir, Gayashata, in the following way:

  Hearing a wind bell ringing outside the hall, he asked Gayashata, “Is it the wind or the bell that is ringing?”

  Gayashata said, “Neither the wind nor the bell. It is the mind ringing.”

  Sanghanandi asked, “What is the mind?”

  Gayashata said, “Altogether serene.”

  Sanghanandi said, “Splendid, splendid. Who other than you will succeed in my path?”

  Thus, the treasury of the true dharma eye was transmitted to Gayashata.

  This is to study that the mind is ringing while the wind is not ringing. This is to study that the mind is ringing while the bell is not ringing. Even if the mind ringing is thus, it is altogether serene.

  This story was transmitted from India to China and has been regarded as a standard for study of the way, but many have misunderstood it as follows: Gayashata’s statement—Neither the wind nor the bell. It is the mind ringing—means that at the very moment of listening, a thought arises. This arising of a thought is called mind. Without this mind-thought, how can one relate to the sound of the bell ringing? Because listening manifests with this thought, it should be regarded as the root of listening. Therefore, Gayashata said, It is the mind ringing.

  This is a wrong view. They say this because they have not acquired the power of authentic teachers. This is like an interpretation by commentators in linguistics, but it is not the deep study of the buddha way.

  On the other hand, those who have studied with authentic heirs of the buddha way take up unsurpassable enlightenment, the treasury of the true dharma eye, and call it serene, nondoing, samadhi, or dharani. The meaning of this is that when even one single thing is serene, myriad things are serene. If the blowing of the wind is serene, the ringing of the bell is serene. This is why Gayashata said, “Altogether serene.”

  You may say the mind that is ringing is not the wind ringing; the mind that is ringing is not the bell ringing; the mind that is ringing is not the mind that is ringing. Investigate thusness intimately and just say, “The wind rings. The bell rings. The blowing rings. The ringing rings.” You realize thusness not because why be worried about thusness? but because “why pursue thusness?”

  Huineng, who would later become the Thirty-third Ancestor, Zen Master Dajian, was staying at the Faxing Monastery, in Guang Province, before his head was shaved.

  There were two monks from India debating. One of them said, “The banner is flapping.”

  The other said, “The wind is flapping.”

  They went back and forth and could not settle the question. Then Huineng said, “It is not the banner that is flapping. It is not the wind that is flapping. It is your mind that is flapping.”

  Hearing this, the monks immediately agreed with him.

  In this way, Huineng expressed that the wind, the banner, and the flapping are altogether the mind. Even if you hear Huineng’s words now, you may not understand them. How, then, do you experience his words? How does this expression of thusness emerge?

  Hearing his words, It is your mind that is flapping, you may think that he meant “It is your mind that is flapping.” If so, not seeing Huineng or not knowing Huineng, you are not a dharma descendant of Huineng.

  As a descendant, in order to experience Huineng’s words and experience them by receiving his body, hair, and skin, you should thus say: “Let go of the words It is your mind that is flapping, and say, ‘It is you that is flapping.’”

  How does this expression of thusness emerge? It is because what flaps is what flaps, and you are you. As he was already a person of thusness, this expression of thusness emerges.

  In his early life, Huineng was a woodcutter in Xin Province. He thoroughly understood mountains and rivers. Even as he endeavored and cut to the original source, how could he have contemplated inside a luminous window and studied in stillness the ancient teaching to illuminate the mind? With whom could he have studied to cleanse himself with snow?

  One day in a marketplace he heard someone chanting a sutra. It was neither what he was waiting for nor what others had recommended to him. Having lost his father when quite young, he had been the sole support of his mother. He did not know that one bright pearl hidden in the robe could illuminate and break open the entire universe.

  As soon as he attained clarity, he left his old mother and looked for a teacher. It is a rare case for people. No one takes the obligation and love toward parents lightly. But since he regarded dharma as weightier than his obligation and love, he left h
is mother. This is the meaning of the words [in the Lotus Sutra] “If you hear with wisdom, you trust and understand what you hear immediately.”

  This kind of wisdom can neither be acquired from someone else nor be aroused by oneself. Wisdom is transmitted to wisdom; wisdom searches for wisdom. Once, wisdom formed the bodies of five hundred bats [who listened to the dharma]; they had no other bodies and minds. At another time, wisdom was intimate within the bodies of ten thousand fish; even without conditions or causes, they could immediately attain understanding upon hearing the dharma.

  Wisdom neither comes nor enters. It is just like when the god of spring encounters spring. Wisdom is neither with thought nor without thought. Wisdom is neither with mind nor without mind. How can it be concerned with large or small? How can it be discussed as delusion or enlightenment?

  It means that without knowing what buddha dharma is and without having heard it, one does not look for and wish for it. But upon hearing dharma, one regards obligations as less weighty and forgets about oneself. It is because the body-and-mind that has wisdom is no longer the self. This is called you trust and understand what you hear immediately.

  We do not know how many rounds of birth and death we go through wastefully in the dusty world, in spite of having this wisdom. It is just like a stone containing jade; the jade does not know that it is inside the stone, and the stone does not know that it contains the jade. A person discovers and removes the jade. This is not what the jade expected or what the stone was waiting for. It does not depend on the stone’s view or the jade’s thought. Likewise, although a person and wisdom are not acquainted with each other, without exception the way is heard by wisdom.

  It is said [in the Lotus Sutra] that one with no wisdom who doubts will be lost forever. Although wisdom is neither being nor nonbeing, there is the being of a timeless spring pine and the nonbeing of fallen chrysanthemum blossoms. At the moment of no-wisdom, unsurpassable enlightenment becomes doubt; all things are altogether doubted. At that moment, one is lost forever; the words one hears and the things to realize become no other than doubt.