Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  The gate of skillful means is not a temporary art. It is the study of the entire world of the ten directions. It is taking up the reality of all things and studying it. Even if this gate of skillful means covers the world of the ten directions in the entire world of the ten directions, without being all bodhisattvas, this cannot be experienced.

  Xuefeng said, “The entire great earth is a gate of emancipation. Even if I invite people, they would not get through it.”

  Thus, know that although the entire great earth is a gate of emancipation, going in and out of it is not easy; there are not many who go in and out. Even if they are invited, they would not go in and out. Even if they are not invited, they would not go in and out. Those who step forward may miss it. Those who step backward may stand still. How so? If you try to have others go in and out of the gate, it moves farther away. If you have a gate that accepts others, it is possible for them to go in and out.

  Shakyamuni Buddha’s words opens the gate of skillful means demonstrate reality. Demonstrates reality is all through time in the beginning, middle, and end, independent from one another. When the gate of skillful means truly opens, it opens in the entire world of the ten directions. If you see the entire world of the ten directions at this very moment, you see a sight that has never been seen. That brings forth the entire world of the ten directions onefold, twofold, in three pieces, or in four pieces, and lets the gate of skillful means open. Thus, although the gate of skillful means is seen as opening equally, a number of entire worlds of the ten directions are seen as being actualized as a small part of opening the gate of skillful means. Such activities are due to the power of the sutra.

  Demonstrating reality is having the entire world hear the phrase the reality of all things and having the entire world attain the way. It is to let the entire person understand the meaning of the reality of all things and let the entire dharma emerge.

  This being so, the unsurpassable enlightenment of the Forty Buddhas, Forty Ancestors [from the Seven Original Buddhas to Huineng, the Sixth Chinese Ancestor], all belongs to this sutra. Enlightenment belongs to this sutra, and this sutra belongs to enlightenment. Both the sitting mat and the sounding board that are no other than unsurpassable enlightenment belong to this sutra. Taking up a flower and smiling, as well as bowing and attaining the marrow, belong to this sutra. This sutra belongs to these activities. This is opening the gate of skillful means and demonstrating reality.

  However, coarse people in recent Song China expound reality falsely without knowing the settling place and without seeing the treasure place. They further study the words of Laozi [Lao-tzu] and Zhuangzi [Chuang-tzu]. They say that these teachings are identical to the great road of buddha ancestors. They also insist that the Three Teachings are in accord, explaining that they are like the tripod of a worshipping bowl, which would tip over if it were without one of the legs. It is extreme stupidity, not worth examining.

  Do not accept that those who say such things have learned buddha dharma. The reasons for not doing so are as follows: We regard buddha dharma as having originated in India. The Buddha lived for eighty years and expounded dharma for fifty years, when he taught humans and devas. He transformed all sentient beings who entered the buddha way. After that, the twenty-eight ancestors authentically transmitted his teaching. This is the peak, the most wondrous and venerable. Various people outside the way and heavenly demons were all subdued by the Buddha. Humans and devas who have become buddhas and ancestors are countless.

  Although Confucianism and Daoism have not entered India, no one speaks of the buddha way as incomplete. If the Three Teachings had been one, when buddha dharma appeared in India, Confucianism and Daoism would have appeared. However, buddha dharma is “I alone am venerable above and under heaven.” Reflect on that time. Do not forget it.

  The phrase “accord of the Three Teachings” does not even come close to a child’s mumbling. Those who insist on this are those who destroy buddha dharma. There are so many of them. They take the appearance of guiding masters of humans and devas. Some of them have even become emperors’ teachers. Great Song China has been in the time of the decline of buddha dharma. Rujing, my late master, warned of this.

  Such people [who advocate the accord of the Three Teachings] are seeds of those in the Lesser Vehicles or those outside the way. For a couple of hundred years there have been such people who don’t know even the existence of reality. When they study authentic buddha dharma, they only speak of becoming free from birth and death. Also, there have been those who don’t know how to study the authentic dharma of buddha ancestors. They only understand imitating the ancients while living in a monastery. What a pity that the ancestral way is in decline! This is what venerable masters who have mastered the way deplore. Do not pay attention to the theories of such people. Just pity them.

  Keqin, Zen Master Yuanwu, said, “The coming and going of birth and death are the true human body.”

  Take up this statement, know yourself, and investigate buddha dharma.

  Changsha said, “The entire world of the ten directions is the true human body. The entire world of the ten directions is within the radiant light of the self.”

  This statement is not known by the elders of many monasteries in Great Song China today as something to study, not to speak of being studied by them. If you take this up and ask about it, they may blush and remain silent.

  Rujing, my late master Old Buddha, said, “The elders of many monasteries lack illuminating the past and illuminating the present. They haven’t mastered the meaning of buddha dharma. Being asked about the entire world of the ten directions and so forth, they don’t know the answer. It looks as though some of them had never heard of such a question.”

  After hearing this, I asked elders of monasteries such a question; few of them had heard about it. What a pity that they occupy their positions while uttering vain speeches!

  Once, Ying’an Tanhua said to monk Dehui:

  If you want to make understanding easy, get to the place of arousing the mind and moving thoughts during the twelve hours [all day]. If you have contact with these moving thoughts, you immediately understand what is ungraspable. It is like a great void that has no trace of void. Front and back are one. Both the knower and the known are invisible. Both implicit and explicit perish. Past, present, and future are equal. Upon arriving at this state, you are called a leisurely person of no more studying and no more doing.

  This is a phrase of Old Man Ying’an’s fully concerted expression. It appears that he chased a shadow and did not know the real meaning of ceasing.

  Is there not buddha dharma when the front and back are not one? What are the front and back? Also, he regards the void with no form as a statement of buddha ancestors. What does he regard as the void? In my opinion, he did not know or see the void. He did not take up or strike the void.

  Ying’an spoke of arousing the mind and moving thoughts. However, it is possible to say that the mind does not move. Then, how can you arouse the mind during the twelve hours of the day? Mind does not move and enter into the twelve hours of the day. The twelve hours do not move in twelve [separate] minds. If they did, how could you arouse the mind?

  What are moving thoughts? Do thoughts move or not-move? Do thoughts not-move or not not-move? What is movement? And what is not-movement? What do you call thoughts? Are thoughts in twelve hours? Is twelve hours in thoughts? Is there a moment when neither of them exists?

  Ying’an said, Get to the place . . . during the twelve hours, and you can make understanding easy. What do you call easy understanding? Do you say that it is easy to understand the way of buddha ancestors? However, as buddha dharma is beyond easy or difficult to understand, Nanyue and Mazu both practiced thoroughly with their teacher [Huineng].

  Ying’an said, you immediately understand what is ungraspable. This reveals that he had not even dreamed of the buddha ancestors’ way. With his ability, how can he speak of understanding easily or not? It is clear that he had not yet t
horoughly studied the great way of buddha ancestors. If buddha dharma were like this, how could it have reached this day?

  Even Ying’an was like this. Yet, if we look for someone like him among the elders of monasteries nowadays, it is impossible to meet one even for long eons. Even if we look piercingly hard, we cannot find anyone like Ying’an. Therefore, many people in recent times approve of him. However, it is hard to acknowledge that buddha dharma had reached him. He was still a latecomer on the monastic seats—an ordinary person. At least he had a spirit for knowing a true person. But, as they do not know a true person, elders nowadays do not know themselves,

  Although Ying’an had not mastered buddha dharma, he had studied the way. On the other hand, the elders of monasteries nowadays have not studied the way. While Ying’an heard good words, the words did not enter his ears and were not seen by his ears; they did not enter his eyes and were not heard by his eyes.

  Ying’an was like this in the past, but he must be self-enlightened by now. The seniors of monasteries in Great Song China today don’t look into the inside and outside of Ying’an, thus, sounds and forms are all outside of their realm. Such people do not know whether the reality of buddha dharma expressed by buddha ancestors is the words of buddha ancestors or not. This being so, none of the elders or other clumsy fellows in these two or three hundred years have seen and explained reality.

  Rujing gave a dharma talk in the abbot’s room one evening:

  I, Tiantong, have a calf tonight.

  The golden-faced Gautama takes up reality.

  Even if you want to buy it, it has no price.

  The chirp of a cuckoo is heard from above a solitary cloud.

  In this way, a venerable master who excels in the buddha way speaks of reality. Those who do not know and have not studied the buddha way do not speak of reality.

  This verse was presented around the third month, the second year of the Baoqing Era [1226] of Great Song China. It was close to the fourth time period late at night; I heard a drum hit three times in the north. I took up my [folded] bowing cloth, wore a kashaya, and went out of the cloud [monks’] hall. A plaque signaling permission to enter the abbot’s room was hanging.

  I followed other monks and went in the direction of the dharma hall. Passing the west wall of the dharma hall, I climbed up the west stairway of the Serene Light Hall [abbot’s quarters west]. I climbed up the west stairway of the Great Light Treasury Hall [abbot’s quarters east]. From the southern part of the standing screen, I approached the table with an incense burner, burned incense, and bowed. I thought that those who wished to enter the abbot’s room must be standing in line, but no other monk was there.

  A reed screen was hanging at the entrance of the Wondrous Plateau [abbot’s main quarters]. I heard the faint dharma voice of the great abbot priest. At that time Zukun, the practice coordinator from Xichuan, arrived and burned incense after me. When we quietly looked up at the Wondrous Plateau, we saw a crowd of monks standing from the east end to the west end of the hall. Then the dharma talk started, which I listened to while standing in the back of the crowd.

  Rujing told a story about Zen Master Fachang of Damei, living in the monastery. Many monks shed tears when they heard about Fachang’s assembly wearing lotus leaves and eating pine nuts. Rujing also told a detailed story about Shakyamuni Buddha’s practice period. Many listeners shed tears.

  Rujing then said, “A practice period here at Mount Tiantong is approaching. It is spring now, not cold and not hot. This is the time favorable for zazen. Fellow practitioners, why not do zazen?”

  Thus, he spoke and presented the above verse. After reading this verse, he struck the right side of his Zen chair with his right hand and said, “Now enter the room.”

  When some of the monks were inside the abbot’s room, Rujing said, “A nightingale chirps. Bamboo on the mountain cracks.” He spoke in this way but did not say anything more. Although many monks entered the room, they remained in silent awe.

  This way of inviting monks to enter the abbot’s room is not practiced in other monasteries. Rujing alone practiced in this way. At the time of his giving a dharma talk, the assembly of monks would stand around chairs and screens. As they kept standing, monks near the entrance would enter the room, and those who had finished visiting would go out of the gate of the abbot’s quarters as usual. The rest of the monks would keep standing, so they could see and hear the formal movement of those who entered the room as well as the dignified bearing of the abbot priest as he spoke. This format has not been found in other monasteries, where the seniors do not practice in this way.

  In the usual manner of entering the abbot’s room, monks try to get ahead of others, but in this way of entering the room, monks want to follow. Be aware of the difference in people’s minds.

  It is the first year of the Kangen Era [1243] now. The passage of time is swift, and it has been eighteen years since then. I don’t remember how many mountains and rivers I have crossed from Mount Tiantong to here, but I have been engraving in my body, mind, bones, and marrow his magnificent words and stunning phrases as reality. I believe Rujing’s dharma talk and the monks entering his room at that time have been memorable for many monks. It was a serene night while the faint light of the moon was leaking through the pavilion and nightingales were chirping continuously.

  Xuansha, Great Master Zongyi, was on his way to the dharma hall when he heard the swallow’s voice.

  He said [in his dharma talk], “The swallow’s voice deeply speaks of reality and well expounds the heart of the dharma.”

  Then, he descended from the teaching seat.

  Later, a monk asked him for teaching by saying, “I don’t understand it.”

  Xuansha said, “Go away. No one believes you.”

  You may think that Xuansha’s statement, The swallow’s voice deeply speaks of reality means that swallows alone deeply speak of reality. But it is not so. He did hear the chirping of swallows on his way. It is not that swallows were speaking of reality. It is not that Xuansha was speaking of reality. They were not divided into two, but at that very moment there was speaking of reality.

  Study this story thoroughly for now. There was Xuansha’s walking on his way there. There was hearing the chirping of swallows. There was a statement, The swallow’s voice deeply speaks of reality and well expounds the heart of the dharma. There was descending from his teaching seat. There was a monk asking him by saying, I don’t understand it. There was Xuansha saying, Go away. No one believes you. The monk’s statement, I don’t understand it, was not necessarily asking about reality, but was a life vein of buddha ancestors—bones and marrow of the treasury of the true dharma eye.

  Know that whether this monk had asked for instruction by saying, “I understand it,” or by saying, “I speak it,” Xuansha would invariably have said, Go away. No one believes you. It is not that Xuansha said, Go away. No one believes you because the monk understood it but said he did not understand it.

  Indeed, even if you are an ordinary person and not like this monk, you experience the reality of all things. When reality is actualized in this way at this time and place, you are directly connected to the life vein of buddha ancestors. In the lineage of Qingyuan, this was actualized [by Xuansha].

  Know that reality is an authentic vein that has been transmitted from heir to heir. All things are only a buddha and a buddha thoroughly investigated. Only a buddha and a buddha are splendid just as they are.

  Presented to the assembly of the Yoshimine Temple, Echizen Province, Japan, in the ninth month, the first year of the Kangen Era [1243].

  52

  INTIMATE LANGUAGE

  ACTUALIZING THE FUNDAMENTAL point, you realize the great road maintained by all buddhas. “You are like this. I am like this. Keep it well,” is revealed.

  Yunju, Great Master Hongjiao, was asked by an imperial minister who brought an offering, “The World-Honored One had intimate language, and Mahakashyapa did not conceal it. What was the World-Honored
One’s language?”

  Yunju said, “Your Excellency.”

  “Yes,” he responded.

  Yunju asked, “Do you understand it?”

  The minister said, “No, I don’t.”

  Yunju said, “If you don’t understand it, the World-Honored One had intimate language. If you understand it, Mahakashyapa did not conceal it.”

  Yunju, a teacher of humans and devas, is the fifth-generation direct heir of Qingyuan. A great sage of the ten directions, he guides sentient beings and insentient beings. The forty-sixth-generation heir of the buddhas [including the Seven Original Buddhas], Yunju spoke dharma for buddha ancestors. Celestial beings sent offerings to his Three Peak Hut, but after he received dharma transmission upon attaining the way, he went beyond the realm of devas and no longer received offerings from them.

  The World-Honored One had intimate language, and Mahakashyapa did not conceal it had been transmitted by the forty-six buddhas through Yunju. Still, these words were the original face of Yunju. This understanding cannot be grasped by ordinary humans. It does not come from outside. It has not existed from the beginning. It is not newly acquired.

  The intimate language spoken of here was not only put forth by Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-Honored One, but also by all buddha ancestors. When there is the World-Honored One, there is intimate language. When there is intimate language, Mahakashyapa does not conceal it. Since there are hundreds and thousands of World-Honored Ones, there are hundreds and thousands of Mahakashyapas. Study this point without fail, as if cutting through what is impossible to cut through. Investigate it in detail little by little, hundreds and thousands of times, instead of trying to understand it all at once. Do not assume that you understand it right away. Yunju was already a world-honored one, so he had intimate language and Mahakashyapa did not conceal it. But do not regard the minister’s response to Yunju as intimate language.