Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  The question What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India? is not only a question, or the teacher and student sharing the same view. At the very moment of asking, has not one of them seen through? How much has the other attained? In further give and take, neither one is wrong.

  Thus, there is missing the mark on top of missing the mark. Because it is missing on top of missing, it is continuous missing. Is it not receiving voidness and sending back an echo? Because vast spirit has no contradiction, The cypress tree in the garden.

  Without being an object, it cannot be a cypress tree. Even if it is an object, I am not using an object, and Reverend, please do not use an object to guide me.

  The cypress tree is not in an old shrine. As it is not in an old shrine, it is totally immersed. As it is totally immersed, “I have endeavored.” Because “I have endeavored,” I am not using an object. Then, with what does Zhaozhou teach? “I am like this.”

  Zhaozhou was asked by a monk, “Does the cypress tree have buddha nature?”

  Zhaozhou answered, “It does.”

  The monk said, “When does it become buddha?”

  Zhaozhou said, “When the sky falls to the ground.”

  The monk said, “When does that happen?”

  Zhaozhou said, “When the cypress tree becomes buddha.”

  Now, listen to these words of Zhaozhou, while not abandoning the questions of the monk. The times of Zhaozhou’s words, When the sky falls to the ground and When the cypress tree becomes buddha, are not separate.

  The monk questioned the cypress tree, buddha nature, becoming a buddha, and when. He also questioned the sky and falling.

  In response to the monk’s question, Zhaozhou said, It does, meaning the cypress tree has buddha nature. Fully explore this statement and freely let flow the life stream of buddha ancestors.

  That the cypress tree has buddha nature could not ordinarily be spoken of; it had not yet been spoken about. The cypress tree does have buddha nature. Clarify how: Is the status of the cypress tree that has buddha nature high or low? Inquire about its life span and physical dimensions. Ask about its social class and clan. Are hundreds and thousands of cypress trees in one class or in different families?

  Does the cypress tree become buddha, practice, and arouse the aspiration for enlightenment? Or does it become buddha but does not practice or arouse the aspiration for enlightenment? What kind of relationship exists between the cypress tree and the sky? Does the cypress tree become buddha when the sky falls because the treeness of the cypress tree is always the sky? Is the status of the cypress tree in the sky its beginning or ultimate stage? Investigate this thoroughly in detail.

  Let me ask Old Man Zhaozhou: “If you are one of the withered cypress trees sprouting from one root, what do you do?”

  That the cypress tree has buddha nature is not the understanding of those outside the way or those in the Two Lesser Vehicles. Nor has it been seen or heard of by teachers of sutras or treatises. Even further, can it be expounded by the flowery words of withered trees and dead ash? The followers of Zhaozhou alone study and investigate this.

  Zhaozhou’s indication “The cypress tree has buddha nature” raises such questions as: Is the cypress tree totally immersed in the cypress tree? Is buddha nature totally immersed in buddha nature? More than a few buddhas have explored these words, but not all those that have buddha faces investigate such words. Even among buddhas, there are some who can say them and some who cannot.

  The words When the sky falls to the ground do not refer to something impossible. Every time the cypress tree becomes buddha, the sky falls. Sounds of falling are not hidden, but are louder than hundreds and thousands of thunder strikes. The time when the cypress tree becomes buddha is provisionally within the twelve hours and yet is beyond the twelve hours. The sky that falls is not the same sky seen by ordinary people and sages, but an entirety of sky beyond that. Others do not see it. Zhaozhou alone sees it.

  The ground the sky falls to is not possessed by ordinary people or sages, but there is an entirety of ground beyond that. Light and shadow do not reach it. Zhaozhou alone reaches it. At the moment the sky falls, even the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers will face it.

  Who says that buddha nature unfailingly becomes buddha? Buddha nature is magnificence actualized after becoming buddha. Further, there is buddha nature that is born together and practiced together upon becoming buddha.

  Thus, the cypress tree and buddha nature are neither different sounds nor the same tune. That is to say, not necessarily either. What is this? Investigate thoroughly.

  Presented to the assembly of Kannondori Monastery, Uji County, Yamashiro Province, on the twenty-first day, the season of Iris Festival, the fifth month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242].

  37

  RADIANT LIGHT

  IN A FORMAL talk, Changsha, Great Master Zhaoxian, of Hunan, Great Song China, said, “The entire world of the ten directions is a shramana’s [monk’s] single eye. The entire world of the ten directions is a shramana’s everyday speech. The entire world of the ten directions is a shramana’s entire body. The entire world of the ten directions is the radiant light of the self. The entire world of the ten directions is within the radiant light of the self. In the entire world of the ten directions, there is not a single person that is not the self.”

  Make sure to endeavor in the practice of the buddha way. Those who practice should not be coarse or distant. Even so, there have been few practitioners of the way who have mastered this radiant light.

  Emperor Xiaoming of the Later Han Dynasty, China, was the fourth son of Emperor Guangwu. His given name was Zhuang, and his posthumous name was Emperor Xian. During his reign, in the tenth year of the Yongping Era [67 C.E.], Matanga and Dharmaratna introduced the Buddha’s teaching to China for the first time. At the scripture-burning platform they defeated the Daoists who had mistaken views, by demonstrating the miraculous power of the buddhas.

  Later on, in the Putong Era [520–527] during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Kingdom of Liang, Bodhidharma traveled from India to the south sea province of Guang. He was an authentic heir of the treasury of the true dharma eye. He was the twenty-eighth-generation dharma descendant from Shakyamuni Buddha. He hung his traveling staff at the Shaolin Temple, Shaoshi Peak, Mount Song. As the First Zen Ancestor in China, Bodhidharma transmitted dharma to Huike, the Second Ancestor, Zen Master Dazu. This is intimacy within the radiant light of buddha ancestors.

  Until that time no one in China had seen or heard of the radiant light of buddha ancestors. Who, then, was even aware of the radiant light of the self? Even though people had been carrying the radiant light within their heads and encountering it all the time, they still did not practice it as their own eyeballs. Thus, they do not clarify the shape and function of radiant light. Because they avoided encountering the radiant light, their radiant light was missing radiant light. Although missing is itself radiant light, they were immersed in missing.

  Those stinky skin bags who miss the point think that both buddha light and human light are red, white, blue, or yellow, like fire light or water light, pearl light or jewel light, the dragon king’s light, or sun or moon light. However hard they study with teachers and sutras, if they hear about the radiant light and think it must be like the way of a firefly, it is not the study with ultimate insight. There have been many like that from the Han, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties until now. Do not study with such dharma teachers of letters. Do not listen to such confused views of meditation teachers.

  The radiant light of buddha ancestors spoken of here is the entire world of the ten directions, as well as all buddhas and all ancestors, only buddha and buddha, buddha light, and light buddha. Buddha ancestors maintain buddha ancestors as radiant light. They practice and realize this radiant light and become buddhas, sit as buddhas, and realize buddhas.

  This being so, it is said [in the Lotus Sutra], “This light illuminates the eighteen thousand eastern buddha lands.” These words
are radiant light. This light is buddha light. Illuminating the east is the east illuminating. This east is not the east of the common world; it is the center of the world of phenomena, in the middle of the fist. Although it covers the east, the radiant light is eight ryo [ounces]. Study that there is east in this land and in other lands, and that there is east in the east.

  In regard to the eighteen thousand, ten thousand is half a fist, half this mind. It is not necessarily thousands. It is not tens of thousands or one million. The buddha land is within an eyeball. To see and hear the words illuminates the eighteen thousand eastern buddha lands, and to assume it is like extending a piece of white silk toward the east, is not the study of the way. The entire world of the ten directions is just the east. The east is called the entire world of the ten directions. This being so, there is the entire world of the ten directions. The words that express the entire world of the ten directions are heard by the eighteen thousand buddha lands.

  Emperor Xiang of the Tang Dynasty was the father of Emperors Mu and Xuan, and the grandfather of Emperors Jing, Wen, and Wu. On the night when he held a ceremony revering the Buddha’s relics in the palace, a radiant light appeared. Xiang was delighted. Most of his courtiers congratulated him the following morning.

  But there was a courtier called Han Yu, whose given name was Tuizhi, with the posthumous name Lord Wen. He had been studying as a lay student of buddha ancestors. He did not express congratulations.

  Emperor Xian said, “All other courtiers are congratulating me. My lord, why do you alone not do so?”

  Han Yu said, “I have read in Buddhist literature that buddha light is not blue, yellow, red, or white. It must have been the light of a guardian dragon god.”

  The Emperor said, “What is buddha light?”

  Han Yu was silent.

  Han Yu was a layperson who had a courageous spirit. He was a person turning the heavens and turning the earth. To study as he did is the beginning study of the way. Not to study in this way is to go against the way. Even if one expounds a sutra and causes heavenly flowers to rain down, if one does not get to this point, it is a vain endeavor. Even if bodhisattvas of the ten stages and three classes speak with the same voice as Han Yu, that is the aspiration for enlightenment, and that is practice-realization.

  Yet, there is something Han Yu did not understand about Buddhist literature. How did he study the words that buddha light is not blue, yellow, red, or white? If he had the ability to see that what is blue, yellow, red, or white is not buddha light, he should not see buddha light as blue, yellow, red, or white. If Emperor Xiang had been a buddha ancestor, he would have challenged him in this way.

  Thus, bright radiant light is one hundred grasses. The radiant light of one hundred grasses cannot give or take roots, stems, branches, and leaves as well as flowers, fruits, light, and colors.

  There is radiant light of the five paths, there is radiant light of the six paths. Where there is, how would you talk about the light and the radiance? How do the mountains and rivers appear all of a sudden?

  Study closely Changsha’s words, The entire world of the ten directions is the radiant light of the self. Study that radiant light is the self of the entire world of the ten directions.

  The coming and going of birth and death are the coming and going of radiant light. Going beyond ordinary and sacred is the blue and red of radiant light. Becoming a buddha and becoming an ancestor are the black and yellow of radiant light. It is not that there is no practice-realization; it is just defilement [expression] of radiant light. Grass, trees, tiles, and walls, as well as skin, flesh, bones, and marrow are the red and white of radiant light. Haze, mist, water, and rocks, as well as the path of a bird and the profound way, are rotating circles of radiant light.

  To see and hear the radiant light of the self are the actual realization of encountering buddha, the actual realization of seeing the Buddha.

  The entire world of the ten directions is the self. This self is the entire world of the ten directions. There is no way to avoid it. Even if there is a way to avoid it, it is the vital path of going beyond the self. The skull right now is seven feet tall. That is the shape, the form of the entire world of the ten directions. The entire world of the ten directions practiced and realized in the buddha way is the skull and skeleton, as well as skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.

  Yunmen, Great Master Daciyun Kuangzhen, is a thirty-ninth-generation descendant of the Tathagata, the World-Honored One. He transmitted dharma to Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao. Although he was a latecomer in the buddha’s assembly, he was a hero on an ancestral seat. Who can say that a radiant light buddha has not appeared on Mount Yunmen?

  Once, he ascended the teaching seat and said to the assembly, “Each and every person embodies the radiant light. If you try to see it, it is totally invisible. Then, what is each and every person’s radiant light?”

  No one in the assembly answered.

  Yunmen answered for them, “The monks’ hall, the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate.”

  Yunmen did not say that each and every person’s radiant light will appear later, has appeared in the past, or is appearing nearby. Clearly hear the words, Each and every person embodies the radiant light. Assemble one hundred or one thousand Yunmens and make them investigate together and speak in one voice. Each and every person embodies the radiant light is not Yunmen’s personal statement; everyone’s light takes itself up and makes this statement. Each and every person embodies the radiant light means all humanity embodies the radiant light.

  Radiant light means each and every person. Each and every person takes up the radiant light and sees its body, mind, and environs. There is a person where each and every radiant light embodies a person. There is a person where radiant light is the self. There is a person where each and every person embodies a person. There is radiant light where each and every radiant light embodies radiant light. There is embodiment where each and every embodiment embodies. There is each and every where each and every [self] embodies each and every.

  Thus, know that the radiant light that each and every person embodies is each and every person that is actualized. It is each and every person that each and every light embodies.

  Let me ask you, Yunmen, “What do you call each and every person? What do you call radiant light?”

  Yunmen said, Then, what is each and every person’s radiant light? This question is radiant light; it is a statement that kills doubt. Thus, each and every person who responds to it is a person of radiant light.

  No one in the assembly answered. Even if they had had hundreds and thousands of statements to make, they chose to express themselves by not responding. This is the treasury of the true dharma eye, the wondrous heart of nirvana, authentically transmitted by buddha ancestors.

  Yunmen spoke for them: The monks’ hall, the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate. Spoke for them means Yunmen spoke for himself, he spoke for the assembly, he spoke for the radiant light, he spoke for the monks’ hall, the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate.

  However, what did he call the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate? He may not have called the whole assembly of monks, as well as everyone else, the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate. How many buddha halls, kitchens, and monastery gates did he mean? Which is Yunmen, the Seven Original Buddhas, the four times seven [twenty-eight Indian ancestors], the two times three [the first six Chinese ancestors], the fist, or the nostril?

  Even if the buddha hall, the kitchen, and the monastery gate are buddha ancestors, they cannot avoid being each and every person. Thus, there is no each and every person [that does not embody radiant light]. In this way, there is no buddha in the hall of being buddha, no buddha in the hall of being no buddha. There is buddha of being light, buddha of no light, no buddha light, and being buddha light.

  Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, said to the assembly, “I have met each and every person in front of the monks’ hall.”

>   This is the moment when Xuefeng’s entire body is an eyeball. This is the moment when Xuefeng meets Xuefeng and the monks’ hall meets the monks’ hall.

  Regarding the statement by Xuefeng, Baofu asked Ehu, “Setting aside being in front of the monks’ hall for the moment, at which Land View Pavilion or Crow Stone Peak did Xuefeng meet each and every person?”

  Ehu quickly walked back to the abbot’s quarters.

  Baofu entered the monks’ hall.

  This is the emergence of an outstanding statement. This is the meaning of meeting. This is meeting the monks’ hall.

  Dizang, Great Master Zheying of the Dizang Monastery, said, “The tenzo [head cook] enters the kitchen.”

  This statement reaches a time long before the Seven Original Buddhas.

  Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery at the fourth segment of the third night period, the second day, the sixth month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242]. It has been raining for a long time, and raindrops keep dripping from the eaves. Where is the radiant light? The assembly must look and break through Yunmen’s words.

  38

  BODY-AND-MIND STUDY OF THE WAY

  WITHOUT PRACTICE, THE buddha way cannot be attained. Without study, it remains remote.

  Nanyue, Zen Master Dahui, said, “It is not that there is no practice and no realization; it is just that they cannot be divided.”

  Not to study the buddha way is to fall into the realm of outsiders and those without enlightenment. All preceding and succeeding buddhas without exception practice the buddha way.

  For the time being let us say there are two approaches to studying the buddha way: to study with mind and to study with body.

  To study with mind means to study with various aspects of mind, such as consciousness, emotion, and intellect. After resonating with the way and arousing the aspiration for enlightenment, take refuge in the great way of buddha ancestors and devote yourself to the practice of way-seeking mind. Even if you have not yet aroused the way-seeking mind, follow the examples of buddha ancestors who did arouse the way-seeking mind in former times.