Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  Zhaozhou said, If Bodhidharma means, “Someone who has reached the outside attains the skin, someone who has reached the inside attains the bones,” then tell me: What does someone who has reached even deeper inside get? Directly understand the meaning of outside [essential] and inside [essential]. When you discuss outside, skin, flesh, bones, and marrow are all outside. When you discuss inside, skin, flesh, bones, and marrow are all inside.

  This being so, these four Bodhidharmas altogether mastered hundreds and thousands of myriad bits and pieces beyond skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Do not suppose that you cannot go beyond the marrow. You can go threefold, fivefold beyond.

  This teaching of Zhaozhou, an ancient buddha, is a buddha’s words. It is not what other masters like Linji, Deshan, Guishan, and Yunmen either reached or dreamed of. How could they talk about it? Some careless elders of recent times do not even know that it exists. If you were to tell them about it, they would be shocked.

  Xuedou, Zen Master Mingjue, said, “Zhaozhou and Muzhou—both Zhous—are ancient buddhas.”

  The words of Zhaozhou, an ancient buddha, are realization of buddha dharma, understanding of expressions in the past.

  Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, said, “Zhaozhou is an ancient buddha.”

  The former buddha ancestor admired Zhaozhou as an ancient buddha, and the latter buddha ancestor admired Zhaozhou as an ancient buddha. Thus, we know that he was an ancient buddha who went beyond buddhas of the past and present. In this way, the entanglement of skin, flesh, bones, and marrow is an essential expression by an ancient buddha of “You have attained me.” Thoroughly study and examine this expression.

  It is said that Bodhidharma returned to India. I have learned that this is wrong. What Songyun saw on the road as Bodhidharma [heading west] could not have been actual. How could Songyun have discovered Bodhidharma’s destination? It is correct to learn and understand that his ashes were laid to rest in Mount Xionger after he passed away.

  Presented at the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery, Uji County, Yamashiro Province, on the seventh day, the seventh month, the first year of the Kangen Era [1243].

  VOLUME TWO

  MONASTERY CONSTRUCTION PERIOD

  1243–1245

  48

  THREE REALMS ARE INSEPARABLE FROM MIND

  GREAT MASTER SHAKYAMUNI said [in the Avatamsaka Sutra], “The three realms are inseparable from single mind. There is nothing outside of mind. Mind, the Buddha, and sentient beings are not divided.”

  This passage expresses a complete actualization of the Buddha’s life-time. A complete actualization of the Buddha’s lifetime is an utmost actualization of complete wholeness. Whatever effort it may embody, it is an effortless effort. Thus, the Tathagata’s words, The three realms are inseparable from single mind, are an entire actualization of the entire Tathagata. His whole lifetime is this single passage.

  The three realms are the entire world. This does not mean that the three realms are merely mind, because, however many crystal-clear facets they may have, the three realms are still the three realms. Even if you mistakenly see something outside the three realms, that is not correct at all.

  Inside, outside, and in between are all in the three realms. Beginning, later, and in between are all in the three realms.

  The three realms are seen just as the three realms. What is not seen as the three realms is the three realms seen incorrectly. In the three realms what is seen as the three realms are old nests [views] as well as new buds [views]. Old nests see the three realms and new buds see the three realms.

  Thus, Great Master Shakya said, “Nothing sees the three realms better than the three realms.”

  What is seen is no other than the three realms. The three realms are just seen as the three realms.

  The three realms are neither originally present nor arising at this moment. They neither appear spontaneously nor are they produced by causation. The three realms are not a matter of the beginning, middle, or end.

  You leave the three realms or you are present in the three realms. This is dynamic work encountering dynamic work, twining vines growing twining vines. Being present in the three realms, you are seen by the three realms. What is seen by the three realms is what is seen within the three realms. What is seen within the three realms is actualizing the three realms, is the three realms being actualized, and is actualizing the fundamental point.

  In this way, you cause the three realms to become actualized as aspiration, practice, enlightenment, and nirvana. This means [as the Buddha said,] these three realms are all my beings.

  Thus, Great Master Shakyamuni said, “Now these three realms are all my beings. All sentient beings in these realms are my children.”

  As these three realms are the Tathagata’s beings, the entire world is the three realms. These three realms are the entire world.

  Now these means the past, present, and future. The past, present, and future actualized do not hinder now these. Now these actualized affect the past, present, and future.

  My beings are the true human body of the entire world of the ten directions; a shramana’s single eye of the entire world of the ten directions. Sentient beings are the true human body of the entire world of the ten directions. Because each sentient being is a living being, they are beings.

  My children is the total actualization of the children. Thus, the children who receive body, hair, and skin from compassionate parents do not harm the body or ignore it and are regarded as the children actualized. Right now, it is neither that the parent is before and the children are after, nor that the children are before and the parent is after, nor that the parent and children stand shoulder to shoulder. This is the meaning of my children.

  Without inheriting it, you are [inherently] the Tathagata’s child. Without earning it, you are already the Tathagata’s child. It is beyond the aspect of coming and going. It is beyond the measure of large and small. It is beyond the discussion of old and young.

  Maintain old and young just as old and young of buddha ancestors. In this way, the parent is young while the child is old; the parent is old while the child is young; the parent is old while the child is old; and the parent is young while the child is young.

  One who studies the oldness of the parent is not the child. One who has not passed the youth of a child is not the parent. Thoroughly investigate the oldness and youth of the child and the oldness and youth of the parent. Don’t be negligent. There are a parent and a child who are born at the same time. There are a parent and a child who die at the same time. There are a parent and a child who are born beyond time. There are a parent and a child who die beyond time.

  Without hindering the compassionate parent, a child can be born. Without hindering the child, a compassionate parent is actualized.

  There are sentient beings with mind. There are sentient beings with no mind. There is a child with mind. There is a child with no mind. These children—my children—are all Shakyamuni Buddha’s heirs.

  All sentient beings of the past, present, and future in the entire ten directions are buddhas of the past, present, and future in the entire ten directions. My children of all buddhas are sentient beings. The compassionate parents of sentient beings are all buddhas.

  Thus, the flowers and fruit of one hundred grasses are my beings of all buddhas. Rocks and stones, large and small, are my beings of all buddhas. Their places of serene abiding are forests and fields. The forests and fields are their places of seclusion.

  However, the Tathagata only talked about my children. He did not speak about himself as the parent. Study this thoroughly.

  Great Master Shakyamuni said, “The responding, transformed, and dharma bodies of all buddhas do not go beyond the three realms. There are no sentient beings outside the three realms. Where else would the Buddha teach? Thus, I say that an outsider’s theory, in the Great Existence Sutra, that there is a storehouse of sentient beings outside the three realms is not a teaching of the Seven Original Buddhas.�
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  Investigate and clarify that the responding, transformed, and dharma bodies of all buddhas are always in the three realms. The three realms have no outside. The Tathagata is not outside. Walls are not outside.

  Because the three realms have no outside, sentient beings are not outside. Where else would the Buddha teach without sentient beings? What the Buddha teaches are always sentient beings.

  Know that the storehouse of sentient beings is a theory in the Great Existence Sutra outside the way. It is not in a sutra by the Seven Original Buddhas.

  What is inseparable from mind is not limited to one, two, or three realms. It is not outside the three realms. What is inseparable from mind cannot be mistaken. It is conceived by consciousness, and yet it is not conceived by consciousness. It is walls, tiles, and pebbles. It is mountains, rivers, and the great earth.

  Mind is skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Mind is taking up a flower and smiling. There is having mind, and having no mind. There is mind with a body, and mind with no body. There is mind before the body, and mind after the body. For the birth of a body, there is womb birth, egg birth, moisture birth, and transformation birth. For the birth of a mind, there is womb birth, egg birth, moisture birth, and transformation birth.

  Blue, yellow, red, and white are mind. Long, short, square, and round are mind. The coming and going of birth and death are mind. Year, month, day, and hour are mind. Dream, phantom, and empty flower are mind. Water, foam, splash, and flame are mind. Spring flowers and autumn moon are mind. All things that arise and fall are mind.

  However, they cannot be destroyed. Thus, there is mind where there are all things that are real. There is mind that is experienced only between a buddha and a buddha.

  Xuansha, Great Master Zongyi, asked Luohan Guichen, who would later become Great Master Zheying, “How do you understand the three realms inseparable from mind?”

  Luohan pointed to a chair and said, “Master, what do you call it?”

  Xuansha said, “A chair.”

  Luohan said, “Master, you don’t understand the three realms inseparable from mind.”

  Xuansha said, “I call it something made of bamboo and wood. How do you call it?”

  Luohan said, “I also call it something made of bamboo and wood.”

  Xuansha said, “Looking throughout the entire earth, I cannot find a single person who understands buddha dharma.”

  Xuansha asked, How do you understand the three realms inseparable from mind? What is understood and what is not understood are equally the three realms inseparable from mind. The three realms are not yet understood. So, Luohan pointed to a chair and said, Master, what do you call it? Know that how do you understand? is no other than what do you call it?

  Speak about Xuansha’s words, A chair. Are these words of understanding the three realms or not understanding the three realms? Are they or are they not words of the three realms? Are they an expression of a chair or of Xuansha? Try to express it thoroughly. Try to understand it thoroughly. Try to practice it thoroughly.

  Luohan said, Master, you don’t understand the three realms inseparable from mind. These words are like asking Zhaozhou, “Master, where do you live?” Zhaozhou may say, “East Gate,” or “South Gate.” He may say, “West Gate,” or “North Gate.” Furthermore, he may say, “East of Zhao Region [Zhaozhou],” or “South of Zhao Region.”

  Even if you understand the three realms inseparable from mind, you should still thoroughly investigate not understanding the three realms inseparable from mind. Furthermore, there are the three realms inseparable from mind beyond understanding and not understanding.

  Xuansha said, I call it something made of bamboo and wood. Penetrate the nodes and grains [phrase] of this statement unprecedented and never to be matched. Before he responded in this way, what had it been called? Had it been regarded as something made of bamboo and wood, crystal clear from beginning, middle, and end? Are Xuansha’s words an expression of the three realms inseparable from mind or beyond an expression of the three realms inseparable from mind?

  Know that even if Xuansha first spoke of the three realms as a chair, as inseparable from mind, or as the three realms, he now speaks of the three realms as something made of bamboo and wood.

  Luohan said, I also call it something made of bamboo and wood. This response is expressed between teacher and student, face to face, who studied together from head to tail. Investigate thoroughly if Xuansha’s words something made of bamboo and wood and Luohan’s words I also call it something made of bamboo and wood are the same or not, right to the point or not.

  Xuansha said, Looking throughout the entire earth, I cannot find a single person who understands buddha dharma. Also study these words carefully.

  Know that Xuansha simply called the three realms something made of bamboo and wood, and Luohan also called the three realms something made of bamboo and wood. They did not yet understand the three realms inseparable from mind. They did not go beyond understanding the three realms inseparable from mind. They did not express the three realms. They did not go beyond expressing the three realms inseparable from mind.

  Thus, ask Xuansha, “Even if you say, Looking throughout the entire earth, I cannot find a single person who understands buddha dharma, tell me: What do you call the entire earth?”

  Thoroughly investigate in this way.

  Presented to the assembly on Mount Yoshimine on the first day, the intercalary seventh month, the first year of the Kangen Era [1243].

  49

  SPEAKING OF MIND, SPEAKING OF ESSENCE

  SHENSHAN, WHO WOULD later become Zen Master Sengmi, was traveling with Dongshan, who would later become Zen Master Wuben.

  Dongshan pointed to a temple near the road and said, “Inside that temple someone is speaking of mind, speaking of essence.”

  Shenshan said,” Who is that?”

  Dongshan said, “My dharma uncle, your question has completely killed that person.”

  Shenshan said,” Who is speaking of mind, speaking of essence?”

  Dongshan said,” In death, find life.”

  Speaking of mind, speaking of essence is the great foundation of the buddha way. It actualizes buddhas and ancestors from there. Without speaking of mind, speaking of essence, there is no turning of the wondrous dharma wheel, no aspiration and practice, no attaining the way together with all beings on earth, no sentient beings beyond buddha nature.

  To take up a flower and blink is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. To bow and return to the original position is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. Bodhidharma going to the kingdom of Liang is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. To transmit the robe at midnight is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. To take up a staff is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. To lay down a whisk is speaking of mind, speaking of essence. All the merits of buddhas and ancestors are speaking of mind, speaking of essence.

  There is ordinary speaking of mind, speaking of essence. There is speaking of mind, speaking of essence by walls, tiles, and pebbles.

  It is said that when mind arises, various things arise, and when mind perishes, various things perish. Yet, there is a time when mind is no other than speaking, and there is a time when essence is no other than speaking.

  However, mediocre people who have not penetrated mind and have not mastered essence do not know speaking of mind, speaking of essence. They do not know talks on profundity or wonder. So, they say and teach that speaking of mind, speaking of essence are not words of buddha ancestors. Because they do not know speaking of mind, speaking of essence as speaking of mind, speaking of essence, they regard speaking of mind, speaking of essence as speaking of mind, speaking of essence. This happens because they do not examine openings and blockages in the buddha way.

  In a later time there was someone called Zonggao, Zen Master Dahui of Mount Jia, who said, “Because people nowadays are fond of speaking of mind, speaking of essence, and talks on profundity and wonder, they are delayed in attaining the way. When you th
row away both mind and essence, forget both profundity and wonder, and become free from the manifestation of these two aspects, you merge with realization.”

  This statement does not follow the teachings of buddha ancestors in sutras or reflect the gems of buddha ancestors. Because of this, Zonggao assumed that mind is merely intellect and awareness. He was not aware that intellect and awareness are [only a part of] mind. He mistakenly thought that essence is [limited to being] still and serene, and did not know about the existence or nonexistence of buddha nature, dharma nature. He had never seen thusness nature. Because of this, he had a mistaken view of buddha dharma.

  Instead, the mind that buddha ancestors speak of is skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. The essence that buddha ancestors maintain is a bamboo stick and a wooden staff. The profundity that buddha ancestors merge with in realization is pillars and lanterns. The wonder that buddha ancestors take up is knowing, seeing, understanding, and merging.

  From the beginning, buddha ancestors who are truly buddha ancestors listen to, expound, practice, and realize this mind essence. They maintain and practice the profound wonder. Those who do so are called descendants who study buddha ancestors. Otherwise, it is not studying the way.

  In this way Zonggao did not attain the way at the time for attaining the way, and did not go beyond attaining the way at the time for going beyond attaining the way. He missed both the time for attaining and beyond attaining.

  When Zonggao said throw away both mind and essence, he meant that a small portion of mind makes speaking [of it] possible. It is one out of one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, or one hundred million minds. When he said forget both profundity and wonder, only a small portion of talks on profundity is speaking.