Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  Even a broken wooden dipper and a barrel with no bottom are ancient sutras of buddha ancestors. There are few buddha ancestors who understand the number of scrolls and the contents of such sutras. To say that buddha sutras are not buddha dharma is not to observe the occasions when buddha ancestors used sutras, not to study the occasions when buddha ancestors emerged from sutras, and not to know the degree of intimacy between buddha ancestors and buddha sutras.

  Hasty people who say such things are as many as stalks of straw, flax, bamboo, and reed. They ascend the lion seats and lead monasteries all over as teachers of humans and devas. Those who are hasty have studied with teachers who were hasty and do not know what is hasty. As they do not know it, they do not wish to be otherwise. How sad that they follow the ignorant and remain ignorant!

  As they lack the body and mind of buddha dharma, they do not know how the manner of the body should be and how the state of the mind should be. As they have not clarified existence and beyond existence, when they are asked questions they merely raise a fist without knowing its meaning. As they have not understood the paths of right and wrong, when they are asked questions they raise a whisk without knowing its meaning. Or, upon guiding students, they take up Linji’s “Four Understandings” and “Four Illuminations,” Yunmen’s “Three Phrases,” Dongshan’s “Three Roads” and “Five Ranks,” and so on, as the standards of studying the way.

  Rujing, my late master, Priest Tiantong, often laughed about it and said, “How can buddha study be like that? The great road of buddha ancestors often speaks of the body and speaks of the mind. When we study it, there is no sufficient time to experience it thoroughly. With what leisure could we accept the latecomer’s phrases? Know that elders in many places lack way-seeking mind and clearly have not studied the body and mind of buddha dharma.”

  This is how Rujing taught the assembly.

  Indeed, Linji is a latecomer in the assembly of Huangbo. After receiving sixty blows of a staff, he went to study with Dayu. Upon hearing the story about an old woman’s heart, he reflected on his practice up until then, and went back to Huangbo. Hearing about this, people think that Linji alone succeeded in Huangbo’s buddha dharma. They even think Linji excelled Huangbo. This is not true at all.

  Although Linji studied in the assembly of Huangbo, when Venerable Chen encouraged him to ask questions, it is said that he did not know what to ask. When he had not yet clarified the great matter and listened to a dharma discourse as a student of the way, how could he be dumbfounded like this? Thus, we know he did not have an outstanding capacity to learn.

  Also, Linji never had the aspiration to exceed his teacher. None of his statements exceeded his teacher’s. On the other hand, Huangbo had statements that exceeded his teacher’s; he had the wisdom that exceeded his teacher’s. He spoke words that no other buddhas had spoken. He understood the dharma that no other ancestors had understood. Huangbo is an old buddha who went beyond past and present. He was more venerable than Baizhang, and more brilliant than Mazu.

  Linji did not have such excellent spirit. Why not? He did not make a statement even in a dream that had never been spoken since olden times. It looks as if he understood many while forgetting one, and he mastered one while troubled with many. How could we regard his “Four Understandings” as having a flavor of the way and use them as pointers for studying dharma?

  Yunmen was a student of Xuefeng. He was regarded as a great master of humans and devas, but he still had room to study. To regard Yunmen as attaining the most essential is sorrowful.

  What did buddha ancestors make the standard of studying the way before Linji came and before Yunmen emerged? Know that the work of the way was not transmitted to their houses.

  Because people do not have anything to depend upon, they say such things [as regarding buddha sutras as not being buddha dharma]. These people make out buddha sutras to be desolate. Do not follow them.

  If you throw away buddha sutras, you might as well throw away Linji and Yunmen as well. If buddha sutras were not meant to be used, there would be no water to drink and no dipper with which to scoop water.

  The teaching of the “Three Roads” and the “Five Ranks” of Dongshan, High Ancestor, are knots and wood grains [theories] and are not in the realm to be known by hasty people. His teaching has been authentically transmitted, and the buddha work is directly pointing. It cannot be compared with the teachings of other schools.

  Hasty people also say that the teachings of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism ultimately accord, while there are only differences in their gates of entry. Sometimes they compare these teaching to the tripod of a worshiping vessel. This is what monks in the country of Great Song frequently discuss.

  Buddha dharma has already left the ground and perished for those who speak in this way. Or, we can say that buddha dharma hasn’t reached them even in the shape of a minute particle. Such people try to explain the similarities of buddha dharma to other teachings and mistakenly say that buddha sutras are not necessary because there is a separate teaching within the gate of the ancestors. They say so because they haven’t glimpsed the boundary of buddha dharma with their minor capacity.

  They say buddha sutras should not be used. Then, would they use ancestor sutras? There are many teachings in the ancestral ways that resemble teachings of buddha sutras. How should they make selections for their use? If they say there is an ancestral way outside of the buddha way, who would believe in the ancestral way?

  Ancestors are ancestors because they authentically transmit the buddha way. How could those who have not transmitted the buddha way be called ancestors? We venerate Bodhidharma, the First Chinese Ancestor, because he is the Twenty-eighth Indian Ancestor. If you speak of the ancestral way outside of the buddha way, it should be difficult to acknowledge the Tenth Ancestor or the Twentieth Ancestor in India. We venerate ancestors who have succeeded in the person-to-person transmission because of the weightiness of the buddha way. With what face could those who have not authentically transmitted the buddha way encounter humans and devas? Furthermore, it is impossible to turn around the aspiration for longing for the Buddha and follow those who are not in the buddha way.

  Now, the reason why these insane, hasty people take the buddha way lightly is that they are unable to take up with determination the dharma that is inherent in the buddha way. The ignorance in comparing the Daoist and Confucian teachings with the Buddha’s teaching, even for the time being, is not only deplorable but creates conditions for wrong-doing, representing a decline of the nation. It shows the desolation of the three treasures.

  The ways of Confucius and Laozi cannot be compared with the way of the arhats. Further, how can they come close to bodhisattvas whose enlightenment is equal to buddhas or bodhisattvas of wondrous enlightenment? The teachings of Confucius and Laozi regard the insight of sages as great manifestation of the universe. But even in one lifetime or many lifetimes they can never clarify the cause and effect of great sages. Although they see the motion and stillness of body and mind as the doing of not-doing, they are unable to cut through and clarify the reality of the entire world of the ten directions. In fact, the teachings of Confucius and Laozi are inferior to buddha dharma by far more than the distance between heaven and earth. To discuss these teachings on the same level groundlessly slanders buddha dharma, and slanders Confucius and Laozi.

  Even if the teachings of Confucius and Laozi are fine and subtle, how can elders of recent times get a glimpse of them, even in countless years, let alone understand their outlines? They have instructions and trainings, which are not easily mastered by mediocre people nowadays. Yet, there is no one who tries to practice their teachings. The particle of one is not the same as that of the other. Furthermore, who among later practitioners would grasp the depth of buddha sutras? While clarifying none of the teachings, they groundlessly speak of the accord of the Three Teachings.

  Such people in Great Song China are awarded the title of Master and hold positions as teachers, being
shameless in the past and present, and confusingly interpret the buddha way. It is hard to admit that they have buddha dharma. These elders insist that buddha sutras are not the true intention of the buddha way, but that the ancestral transmission is the true intention in which extraordinary subtlety has been transmitted. These statements represent extreme stupidity expressed by mad and confused people.

  In contrast, not one line or half a phrase in the authentic transmission of ancestors has anything extraordinary that differs from buddha sutras. It is just that buddha sutras and the ancestral way have been equally transmitted and spread from Shakyamuni Buddha. However, the ancestral transmission has been carried on from heir to heir. How else should we know, clarify, and chant buddha sutras?

  A teacher of old said, “You are deluded about the sutras. The sutras don’t delude you.”

  There are a number of stories about ancient teachers reading buddha sutras.

  Say to those who are hasty, “If buddha sutras were to be cast away as you suggest, you might as well cast away buddha mind and buddha body. If you were to cast away buddha body and buddha mind, you might as well cast away buddha children. If you were to cast away buddha children, you might as well cast away the buddha way. If you were to cast away the buddha way, how should you not cast away the ancestral way? If you were to cast away the buddha way and the ancestral way altogether, you would be like a mere bald-headed farmer; who could say that you are not qualified to be beaten with a stick? You would not only be driven by kings and ministers, but tortured by Old Man Yama [King of Hell].

  Because elders in recent times merely carry certificates issued by kings and ministers, and call themselves the heads of monasteries, they speak of such insane things [as ignoring buddha sutras]. But no one is able to discern their statements. Rujing, my late master, alone laughed at them, while elders in other monasteries were not aware of the problem.

  In general, do not assume that monks in other countries must have words they have clarified, and that masters of emperors in large nations must have something they have mastered. Sentient beings in other countries do not necessarily carry the seeds of monkhood. Wholesome beings are wholesome, and unwholesome beings are unwholesome. In all three realms of the world of phenomena, types of sentient beings are similar.

  To be the master of the emperor, a person of the way is not necessarily selected. The emperor doesn’t know who is a person of the way. He only hears his courtiers’ recommendations and makes an appointment. In the past and present, there have been persons of the way who have become teachers of the emperor, while there also have been persons not of the way who have become teachers of the emperor. Those who are appointed in a murky age are not people of the way. Those who are not appointed in a murky age are people of the way. The reason for this is that there are ages when people of the way are recognized and there are ages when people of the way are not recognized.

  Do not forget that there was Shenxiu at the time of Huangmei. Shenxiu was a teacher of the emperor who expounded dharma facing the imperial screen. He was a senior monk among seven hundred high monks. Remember also that there was Worker Lu [Huineng] in the same assembly. After being a woodcutter, he became a monastery worker. He stopped carrying wood and worked at the task of pounding rice. Although he was regrettably low in status, he was distinguished in laity and excelled in monkhood, attaining dharma and receiving the robe. Such a thing had never been heard of even in India—a rare outstanding precedent that only occurred in China. The seven hundred high monks could not stand shoulder to shoulder with Worker Lu; dragons and elephants [excellent practitioners] in the nation had no way to find his trace. Truly, Worker Lu succeeded to the thirty-third ancestral position as a buddha heir. Had his teacher Hongren, the Fifth Chinese Ancestor, not been someone who could recognize a true person, it would not have been possible.

  Quietly ponder this point. Do not take it carelessly. Hope to attain the power of recognizing true persons. Not to be able to recognize true persons is a great sickness of self and other, a great sickness of the world. To have broad and great knowledge is not essential. Hurry and look for the eye and power to recognize true persons. Without this power, you would sink in vast eons.

  This being so, know that there are always buddha sutras in the buddha way, study the broad expressions and deep meanings with mountains and oceans, and make them the standard for the endeavor of the way.

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

  54

  INSENTIENT BEINGS SPEAK DHARMA

  SPEAKING DHARMA BY means of speaking dharma actualizes the fundamental point that buddha ancestors entrust to buddha ancestors. This speaking dharma is spoken by dharma.

  Speaking dharma is neither sentient nor insentient. It is neither creating nor not creating. It is not caused by creating or not creating. It doesn’t depend on conditions. This being so, just as birds fly in the air, speaking dharma leaves no trace. It is just given to Buddhist practitioners.

  When the great road is complete, speaking dharma is complete. When the dharma treasury is entrusted, speaking dharma is entrusted. When a flower is held up, speaking dharma is held up. When a robe is transmitted, speaking dharma is transmitted. In this way, all buddhas, all ancestors, have maintained speaking dharma since before the King of the Empty Eon. Expounding dharma has been their fundamental practice since the time before all buddhas.

  Do not think that buddha ancestors alone have brought forth speaking dharma. Speaking dharma has brought forth buddha ancestors. This speaking dharma is not limited to the teachings of eighty-four thousand dharma gates, but opens up the teachings of immeasurable, boundless gates.

  Do not think that dharma spoken by earlier buddhas was spoken by later buddhas. Just as earlier buddhas don’t become later buddhas, earlier speaking dharma does not become later speaking dharma. Thus, Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Just as all buddhas in the three worlds spoke dharma, I now speak indiscernible dharma.”

  In this way, just as each buddha employs speaking dharma, all buddhas employ speaking dharma. Just as each buddha transmits speaking dharma, all buddhas transmit speaking dharma.

  Insentient beings’ speaking dharma was transmitted from the ancient buddhas to the Seven Original Buddhas, and it has been transmitted from the Seven Original Buddhas to the present day. In this speaking dharma by insentient beings there are all buddhas, all ancestors. Do not think that the dharma I am speaking now is something new that has not been transmitted. Do not think that what has been transmitted since ancient times is an old pit of demons.

  Huizhong, National Teacher Dazheng of the Guangzhai Monastery in the city of Xijing, in Great Tang, was asked by a monk, “Do insentient beings understand dharma when it’s spoken?”

  Huizhong replied, “Obviously, insentient beings always speak dharma. The speaking never stops.”

  The monk asked, “Why don’t I hear it?”

  Huizhong said, “You don’t hear it, but that doesn’t mean others don’t hear it.”

  The monk said, “Tell me, who hears it?”

  Huizhong responded, “All the sages do.”

  The monk asked, “Do you hear it, sir?”

  “No, I don’t hear it.”

  The monk persisted, “If you don’t hear it, how do you know that insentient beings understand this dharma?”

  Huizhong responded, “This fortunate person doesn’t hear it. If I did, I would be equal to all sages. Then you could not hear me expound dharma.”

  The monk said, “If so, human beings would be left out.”

  Huizhong said, “But I speak to humans, not to sages.”

  The monk asked, “What happens to sentient beings after they hear you?”

  Huizhong responded, “They are no longer sentient beings.”

  Beginners and latecomers who look into insentient beings speaking dharma should directly study this story of Huizhong.

  Huizhong sa
id, Obviously, insentient beings always speak dharma. The speaking never stops. Always is a part of all time. The speaking never stops means there is no break in speaking dharma. Just because insentient beings do not use the voice or the manner of sentient beings in speaking dharma, you should not suppose that the way insentient beings speak dharma is different from the way sentient beings speak dharma.

  The buddha way does not appropriate the voice of sentient beings and apply it to the voice of insentient beings. Insentient beings do not necessarily speak dharma with a voice heard by the ears. Similarly, sentient beings do not speak dharma with the voice heard by the ears. Now ask yourself, ask others, and inquire, “What are sentient beings? What are insentient beings?”

  In this way, concentrate and study closely what insentient beings always speak dharma is. Foolish people may think that the sound of trees, or the opening and falling of leaves and flowers, is insentient beings speaking dharma. Such people are not studying buddha dharma. If it were so, who would know and hear insentient beings speaking dharma? Reflect now: are there grass, trees, and forests in the world of insentient beings? Is the world of insentient beings mixed with the world of sentient beings? Furthermore, to regard grass and trees as insentient beings is not thoroughgoing. To regard insentient beings as grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles is not enough.

  Even if you hold a human view that regards grass, trees, and so on as insentient, you cannot grasp them by ordinary thinking. The reason is that there is a distinct difference between trees in heaven and trees in the human world. Those that grow in China and those that grow elsewhere are not the same. Plants in the ocean and those on mountains are completely different. Furthermore, there are trees that spread in space and trees that spread in clouds. Among hundreds of grasses and myriad trees that grow in air or in fire, there are those that should be understood as sentient, and those that should not be seen as insentient. There are grasses and trees that are like humans and beasts. They cannot be classified as either sentient or insentient. In sorcery, the trees, stones, flowers, fruits, and water are difficult to speak of even if you believe what you see. It is impossible to generalize about things in all corners of the world only by seeing and knowing about grass and trees in Japan.