Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  Without wearing a robe and eating a meal, without exchanging words, and without the activities of the six sense organs and all other activities, there is no dharma-nature samadhi and there is no entering dharma nature.

  The actualized expression of just now was handed down from buddha to buddha through Shakyamuni Buddha. It was authentically transmitted from ancestor to ancestor through Mazu. It has been authentically handed down from buddha to buddha, from ancestor to ancestor, by means of dharma-nature samadhi. Buddhas and ancestors enliven dharma nature without the need to enter it.

  Even though dharma teachers of letters speak of dharma nature, it is not the dharma nature spoken of by Mazu. The statement that sentient beings who have not come out of dharma nature can never be dharma nature may happen to have a point. Yet, such a statement is three or four more pieces of dharma nature. Talks and activities to deny dharma nature are also dharma nature.

  Days and months in immeasurable eons are the passage of dharma nature. Present and future are also like this. Thinking that one is far from dharma nature, making the scale of one’s body the scale of body and mind is dharma nature. Both thinking and not-thinking are dharma nature. Those who think that water does not flow or trees do not grow and decay in what is called dharma nature are people outside the way.

  Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Aspects of thusness are no other than the nature of thusness.”

  Thus, flowers blossoming and leaves falling are the nature of thusness.

  But foolish people think that there cannot be flowers blossoming and leaves falling in the realm of dharma nature. If you think in this way, don’t ask others, but just pretend that your doubt is your expression. Repeat it a few times as if quoting from others. Then you will be able to be released from your doubt.

  Such a doubt is not wrong; it merely lacks clarity. Even after you have clarity, do not let your earlier thinking disappear.

  Flowers blossoming and leaves falling are no other than flowers blossoming and leaves falling. The thought that there cannot be flowers blossoming and leaves falling in dharma nature is itself dharma nature. It is thought that doubts and is released from doubt. Thus, it is thought that, as it is, is dharma nature. The entire thought of the thought of dharma nature has such a face [characteristic].

  No other than dharma nature, mentioned by Mazu, expresses eight or nine out of ten; but there is much he did not express. He did not say: “All dharma nature is without the need to leave dharma nature,” “All dharma nature is entirely dharma nature,” “All sentient beings are without the need to leave sentient beings,” “All sentient beings are a small part of dharma nature,” “All sentient beings are a small part of sentient beings,” “All dharma nature is half of sentient beings,” “Half of sentient beings are half of dharma nature,” “Beyond sentient beings is dharma nature,” “Dharma nature is beyond sentient beings,” “Dharma nature is released from dharma nature,” or “Sentient beings are released from sentient beings.”

  What we hear from Mazu is merely, No sentient beings have the need to come out of dharma-nature samadhi. But he did not say, “Dharma nature has no need to come out of sentient-being samadhi,” or “Dharma-nature samadhi goes in and out of sentient-being samadhi.”

  Furthermore, what is not heard from Mazu are: “Dharma nature becomes buddha,” “Sentient beings realize dharma nature,” or “Insentient beings do not have the need to come out of dharma nature.”

  Now, ask Mazu: “What do you call sentient beings? If you call dharma nature sentient beings, it is no other than ‘What has thus come?’ If you call sentient beings sentient beings, it is no other than ‘Your words are close but have not hit the mark.’”

  Tell me what it is. Tell me quickly.

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

  56

  DHARANI

  IF YOUR EYE of study is clear, your true dharma eye is clear. As your true dharma eye is clear, you have a clear eye of study. What authentically transmits this essential matter is no other than the power to see a great teacher. This is a great matter. This is a great dharani [total sustenance]. What is called a great teacher is a buddha ancestor. Always serve the buddha ancestor by bringing a towel and a water jar [as Yangshan did for Guishan].

  Thus, the disciple bringing tea and the teacher drinking it actualizes the essential heart. It actualizes miracles. The disciple bringing a basin of water and the teacher taking a wash is unaffected by the surroundings. It is being aware in the adjacent room of what is happening [as in the Guishan story].

  This is not only studying the essential heart of buddha ancestors, but encountering one or two buddha ancestors who are immersed in the essential heart. It is not only receiving miracles of buddha ancestors, but experiencing seven or eight buddha ancestors who are immersed in miracles.

  The miracles of all buddha ancestors are thoroughly experienced by this bundle of activities [of serving the teacher]. The essential heart of all buddha ancestors is thoroughly experienced by this single act. This being so, it is not inappropriate to greet your teacher by offering celestial flowers and celestial incense. Yet, you are a true descendant of buddha ancestors by greeting your teacher and offering the wholehearted dharani.

  The great dharani is a formal greeting. Because a formal greeting is a great dharani, you encounter the actualization of a formal greeting. The phrase “formal greeting” originated in China and has been widely used for a long time. It has not been transmitted by Indra or from India, but from buddha ancestors. It is not in the realm of sound or form. Do not wonder if it came from before or after the King of the Empty Eon.

  A formal greeting means burning incense and bowing. A root teacher is someone who has ordained you or has transmitted dharma to you. These two may be the same person. You stay with and see your root teacher. This is the dharani of making greetings. Be close to your teacher without long absences.

  At the beginning and the end of a practice period, on winter solstice as well as at the beginning and in the middle of a month, make a point to offer incense and bow to your teacher. A good time for this is before or after the morning meal.

  Dress formally and go to the teacher’s hall. To dress formally means to wear the kashaya, carry the folded bowing cloth, wear clean sandals and socks, and carry a stick of incense or a block of aloeswood. In this way you meet your teacher and make a greeting statement. Then your teacher’s attending monk readies an incense burner and lights a candle. If the teacher is seated on a chair, light the incense and offer it by setting it in the incense burner. If the teacher is behind the screen, set the incense in the burner outside the screen. If the teacher is lying down or having a meal, burn and offer the incense in the same manner.

  If the teacher is standing, say, “Master, please sit down.” Or say, “Master, please make yourself comfortable.” There are many other ways to ask your teacher to sit down. After your teacher is seated, you make a greeting statement while you bend forward in a formal manner. Then, you go to the incense burner in front of you and set upright the incense you have brought.

  This is the way for carrying and burning the incense: You carry it under the lapel of your robe, inside the robe above the belt, or inside a sleeve; this is up to you. After the greeting, you take the incense out. If the incense is wrapped in paper, you turn your upper body toward the left, take off the paper, hold up the incense with both hands [turn back, light it], and set it in the incense burner. Set it upright without leaning. After setting it, you turn around to the right in shashu, walk in front of your teacher, bow, and make a greeting statement. Then, you spread the bowing cloth, and bow.

  You bow nine or twelve times. After the bowing is over, fold up the bowing cloth and continue your greeting statement.

  Or, spread the bowing cloth once, make three formal bows, and offer seasonal greetings.

  The nine bows I have mentioned means spreading the bowing
cloth and making three most formal bows; repeat this three times without being interrupted by a seasonal greeting. This form has been handed down from the Seven Original Buddhas. This essential teaching has been authentically transmitted. That is why we follow this form. Such greetings have not been abandoned since ancient times.

  Besides these greetings, you bow to the teacher upon receiving dharma teachings or asking for materials to study. For example, when Huike expressed his understanding to Bodhidharma, he made three bows. Upon expressing the essence of the treasury of the true dharma eye, Huike made these bows. Know that bowing is the treasury of the true dharma eye. The treasury of the true dharma eye is a great dharani.

  When asking for instruction, one “hitting bow” has recently been practiced. An ancient way is bowing three times: to express gratitude for a teaching, three bows or nine bows are not necessarily practiced. It can be semiformal bows [bowing down with the face touching the fourfold bowing cloth] or six bows. These are both bowing down with the head touching the floor. They are called the utmost bowing in India. For this you hit the floor with your forehead. You repeat it until you start bleeding. The bowing cloth is spread in this case also. For one bow, three or six bows, you hit the floor with your forehead. This is called hitting bows.

  In the secular world also there are bows, such as nine types of bows.

  When you receive a dharma instruction, you can do indefinite bows. That is to bow ceaselessly, one hundred or one thousand times.

  These bows have been practiced in the assemblies of buddha ancestors. Follow the instructions of your teacher and practice it according to the guidelines. When bowing remains in the world, buddha dharma remains. When bowing disappears, buddha dharma disappears.

  In bowing to the root teacher who has transmitted dharma to you, you do so regardless of time and place. You bow while you lie down or while you have your meal. You bow while you use the toilet. You bow beyond the wall or beyond mountains and rivers. You bow beyond eons. You bow beyond the coming and going of birth and death. You bow beyond enlightenment and nirvana.

  Although you bow in various ways, your root teacher does not bow back but merely keeps the palms together. The teacher may move to make a slight bow, but this seldom takes place.

  You face north for such bowing. Your root teacher sits upright, facing south. You stand in front of the teacher, facing north, and bow to the teacher. This is an essential procedure. It has been taught that when your true faith of taking refuge arises, your bowing toward the north will always happen.

  Thus, when the World-Honored One was alive, all humans, devas, and dragons who took refuge in the Buddha, faced north and respectfully bowed to the World-Honored One.

  The five monks—Ajnatakaundinya, Assaji, Mahanaman, Bhadrika, and Vappa—were the first ones, after the Tathagata attained the way, to spontaneously stand up, face toward the north, and offer him bows. When those outside the way and demons give up wrong views and take refuge in the Buddha, they always face north and make an offering of bows.

  Since then, all those who have joined the assemblies of ancestors of the twenty-eight generations in India, and all generations in China, and all those taking refuge in the true dharma, without exception have bowed toward the north. This has been affirmed by the true dharma and not planned by teachers and disciples. This is a great dharani.

  [A sutra says,] “A great dharani is called complete enlightenment. A great dharani is called a formal greeting. A great dharani is to actualize bowing. A great dharani is called a kashaya. A great dharani is called the treasury of the true dharma eye.”

  By chanting this dharani, you calm and protect the entire great earth. By chanting this dharani, you calm and manifest the worlds of the entire directions. By chanting this dharani, you calm and actualize the realm of all time, you calm and create entire buddha realms, you calm and penetrate inside and outside the hut. Investigate thoroughly that a great dharani is just like this.

  All dharanis make this dharani their consonants and vowels. All dharanis are actualized as relations of this dharani. All buddha ancestors arouse aspiration, endeavor in the way, attain the way, and turn the dharma wheel from the gate of this dharani.

  This being so, you who are a descendant of buddha ancestors, should thoroughly investigate this dharani.

  To be wrapped in the robe of Shakyamuni Buddha is to be wrapped in the robes of all buddhas in the ten directions. To be wrapped in the robe of Shakyamuni Buddha is to be wrapped in a kashaya. A kashaya is an emblem of buddha assemblies. It is rare to encounter, rare to practice.

  We happen to have received human bodies, although we were born in a remote land. However ignorant we might be, the wholesome root of the dharani we nurtured in the past is manifested, and now we have encountered the dharma of Shakyamuni Buddha.

  When you bow to buddha ancestors who are nurtured by themselves or by others at places of one hundred grasses [in the midst of all phenomena], you experience Shakyamuni Buddha’s attainment of the way, effort in the way, and dharani—miraculous transformation. When you bow to ancient buddhas and present buddhas in countless billions of eons, it is the moment of being wrapped in Shakyamuni Buddha’s robe.

  Once your body is wrapped in a kashaya, you attain Shakyamuni Buddha’s flesh, hands and feet, head and eyes, marrow and brains, radiant light, and turning of the wheel of dharma. You wear a kashaya in this way. This actualizes the power of the robe. You vow and make offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha by maintaining, enjoying, protecting, and wearing the kashaya. By doing so, the practice of countless eons is thoroughly experienced.

  To bow to and make offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha is to bow to and make offerings to the root teacher who has transmitted dharma to you, and to bow to and make offerings to the root teacher who has shaved your head. This is no other than seeing Shakyamuni Buddha, offering dharma to Shakyamuni Buddha, offering dharani to Shakyamuni Buddha.

  Rujing, my late master, Old Buddha Tiantong, said, “To bow in deep snow [as Huike did], or to bow in rice bran [as Huineng did]—these are excellent examples, ancient precedents, great dharanis.”

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

  57

  FACE-TO-FACE TRANSMISSION

  ONCE, ON VULTURE Peak in India, in the midst of a vast assembly of beings, Shakyamuni Buddha held up an udumbara blossom and blinked. Mahakashyapa smiled. Then Shakyamuni Buddha said, “I have the treasury of the true dharma eye, the wondrous heart of nirvana. I entrust it to Mahakashyapa.”

  This is the meaning of transmitting the treasury of the true dharma eye, face to face, from buddha to buddha, from ancestor to ancestor. It was authentically transmitted through the Seven Original Buddhas to Mahakashyapa. From Mahakashyapa there were twenty-eight transmissions up to and including Bodhidharma. Venerable Bodhidharma himself went to China and gave face-to-face transmission to Huike, Great Master Zhengzong Pujue. There were five transmissions through to Huineng, Great Master Dajian of Mount Caoxi. Then there were seventeen transmissions through Rujing, my late master, Old Buddha Tiantong of the renowned Mount Taibai, Qingyuan Prefecture, Great Song.

  I first offered incense and bowed formally to Rujing in the abbot’s room—Wondrous Light Terrace—on the first day, the fifth month, of the first year of the Baoqing Era of Great Song [1225]. He also saw me for the first time. Upon this occasion he transmitted dharma to me, finger to finger, face to face, and said, “The dharma gate of face-to-face transmission from buddha to buddha, ancestor to ancestor, is actualized now.”

  This itself is holding up a flower on Vulture Peak, or attaining the marrow at Mount Song. It is transmitting the robe at Mount Huangmei, or the face-to-face transmission at Mount Dong. This is buddha ancestors transmitting the treasury of the eye face to face. It occurs only in our teaching. Other people have not even dreamed of it.

  Face-to-face means between buddha ancestors’ faces; when Shakyamuni Buddha was in the assembly of Ka
shyapa Buddha, he received this transmission from Kashyapa Buddha and has passed it on. There are no buddhas without receiving face-to-face transmission from the buddha face.

  Shakyamuni Buddha, by seeing Mahakashyapa, intimately entrusted him with the dharma. Ananda or Rahula were not equal to Mahakashyapa, who received the intimate entrustment. Nor were all the great bodhisattvas, who were unable to sit in Mahakashyapa’s seat.

  The World-Honored One and Mahakashyapa sat together on the same seat and wore the same robe. This occurred only once in the Buddha’s life. Thus, Mahakashyapa received the World-Honored One’s transmission directly face to face, mind to mind, body to body, and eye to eye. Mahakashyapa respectfully greeted Shakyamuni Buddha while making offerings and bowing formally. Thousands of times Mahakashyapa had pounded his bones and crushed his body. His face was no longer his own. Thus, he received the Tathagata’s face through face-to-face transmission.

  Shakyamuni Buddha saw Mahakashyapa in person. Mahakashyapa saw Venerable Ananda in person, and Ananda bowed formally to Mahakashyapa’s buddha face. This is face-to-face transmission. Ananda maintained this face-to-face transmission, closely guided Shanavasin, and transmitted face to face. When Shanavasin respectfully saw Venerable Ananda, he received face-to-face transmission, just face to face.

  Thus, the authentic ancestors of all generations have continued face-to-face transmission, disciple seeing teacher, and teacher seeing disciple. An ancestor, a teacher, or a disciple cannot be a buddha or an ancestor without having face-to-face transmission.